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Thank you Ciny. I haven't found that place yet.

[dema]

Day 8

The Jews were expecting a leader to lead them to dominance according to the law. They were expecting a legalistic solution to their oppression. But God had given indications that perhaps the law wasn’t the total solution that they believed.

If you look at the geneology of Jesus as it is written in Matthew, you will find that the women who are mentioned all are outside the law in some way. And many of them are also ancestors of David, the greatest king that Israel ever knew.

Tamar was married to Judah’s son. The son died. As was the custom, she was then married to his brother. The brother sinned against her and God struck him dead. So, Judah didn’t marry her to the third brother. She wanted children. So she posed as a harlot and seduced Judah and got his signet ring in payment. When she became pregnant, that ring saved her from being stoned.

Rahab was the harlot in Jericho who helped Joshua.

Ruth was a Moabitess And as such was excluded from the congregation of the Lord. And yet she has her own Biblical book. It is a beautiful story of loyalty.

Bathsheba isn’t even mentioned by name in this geneology – she is “She who was the wife of Uriah.”

The greatest king of Israel had a lot of imperfection in his heritage and in his life. And David is an ancestor of Jesus.

The inclusion of all into God’s plan is an idea that is revealed slowly. The Samaritans are half-Jews and were ostracized. Jesus himself appeared to ostracize them at times.

Matthew 10:5
American Standard Version (ASV)
5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and charged them, saying, Go not into any way of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans:

And yet, Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan. (Luke 10, starting with verse 30.) The two people who passed the hurt man were Jewish officials. But the Samaritan showed compassion. This is a major revelation into the views of God. Particularly when taken in the context of the overall conversation.

Luke 10:25-29
American Standard Version (ASV)
25 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and made trial of him, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
26 And he said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.
28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor?
Who is my neighbor? A Samaritan could be a Jew’s neighbor? How could there be supremacy if a Samaritan could be a Jew’s neighbor? Israel didn’t want neighbors. They wanted their birthright. They wanted to rule.

But God had plans of acceptance – of opening his arms and welcoming us all. God had plans of us living by the law of love.

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Jesus at times seemed to exclude the Gentiles, such as the Canaanite woman he called a dog, and yet he ministered to the Samaritans and used a story about a Samaritan as the illustration of a good neighbor. Samaritans were of mixed Jewish blood. Did he come to the Jews and the part Jews?

He also ministered to a Centurian, who was a Roman and not even part Jewish.

Matthew 8
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
5 And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, 6 and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” 7 Jesus *said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” 10 Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.

But maybe he ministered to this Centurian out of obedience to authority? Jesus paid taxes – when his taxes were due he told Peter to cut open a fish and inside the fish there was a coin of the appropriate amount. So, was healing the Roman’s servant just obedience to authority?

Obedience to authority? From the man who repeatedly spoke back to the Jewish authorities? The man who overturned tables in the temple? In the temple? The TEMPLE! Was it just a good deed?

The disciples were confused after Jesus died. They were confused because he died. Jesus had dropped a lot of hints about death and resurrection, some of them were misinterpreted in his trial. But his followers didn’t understand. The disciples really didn’t get it. He wasn’t fulfilling the whole prophesy. He was dead and he hadn’t done what they had been taught he would do.

Think about how the disciples lived and were raised. They would have been taught in religious schools up to a certain age. They would have observed a certain level of religious activity. Perhaps they were sincere in their worship of God. Perhaps they only observed what society demanded. But, the basic position of the Jews in history and the basic outline of the prophecies of the Messiah would have been familiar to them. The Jews were being oppressed by the Romans. In times like that, the sermons and teachings about the Messiah would have been stepped up. This was a prophesy of hope, of overcoming, of VICTORY. And the slant that these teachings were given would have been colored by the political situation. We see enough of the Pharisees in the New Testament to be able to imagine how they would have taught. We have seen politicians and preachers who were like that in our own time. Society as a whole would have had the feeling of being in high school – with the authorities always around, looking on, telling you what you could or couldn’t do, making you do little punishments when they felt like doing so. The Romans could boss people around, and the Pharisees could as well.

This man, Jesus, was supposed to be the leader of the Pharisees. And he insulted the people who should have been his followers over and over again. The Pharisees were the good guys. Weren’t they? Why did Jesus keep taunting them? He was supposed to be one of THEM. An authority. A mighty man. But, he rode around in fishing boats and preached in fields. He loved the masses. He saw each individual. He healed unimportant people and only occasionally ministered to a Centurian or a property owner.

Jesus confounded the rich man, saying that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, but with God all things are possible. Wasn’t the Messiah supposed to BE rich? Wasn’t he supposed to be victorious? Who was this man? How can this be? This isn’t the way it is SUPPOSED to be! It isn’t the way we pictured it! It isn’t. I don’t understand.

From the beginning of humanity, God has been showing mercy. And love. From the time he clothed Adam and Eve instead of blowing them to smitherenes, God has been being kinder than his word. Loving. Welcoming. God knows the heart. Sometimes his vengeance against the wicked made humanity think that he was wrathful. But the mercy is woven throughout the Bible, and the true fulfillment of this mercy is an amazing mystery. Something to behold.

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Day 10

Elijah was a might man of God. He spoke up when it wasn’t politically expedient to do so. God had protected him in miraculous ways. Elijah had been used to bring a little boy back to life. And he had been the hands of God in performing an amazing show of God’s strength in I Kings 18. He had soaked wood with water and then God had lit it on fire in order to sacrifice an ox, while the prophets of Baal could not get dry wood to catch on fire without tinder.

Elijah had prayed that it would not rain. And it had not rained in 7 years, and Elijah prayed for rain, and it rained. He was an AMAZING man of God.

And yet, after all this, Elijah was exhausted. And in his exhaustion he panicked. And then he had thoughts of wanting to die. And thoughts of self-doubt.

1 Kings 19
1 Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” 3 And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. 4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough; now, O LORD, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.” 5 He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him, “Arise, eat.” 6 Then he looked and behold, there was at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 The angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you.” 8 So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.


And what did God do? Did God blast him, or tell him that because he had lost faith that he was now a worthless piece of humanity? Did God blame him or hurt him or strike him dead?

No!

God sent an angel to minister to him. To bake him bread and wait on him while Elijah rested and recovered.

God loves you and knows that you are human. When we are weak, THEN he is strong. God wants you to need him. And God will send a ministering angel when you need one most.

Lewis Carroll said that “Life is what takes place between the pauses.” (Wise words from the Cheshire cat.)

We need pauses. We need to be quiet with God. And we also need rest. Jesus spent a lot of quiet time with God.

Be good to yourself. Give yourself the pauses you deserve.

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God created Adam and Eve – and they multiplied. And evil entered into the world. And God destroyed all humanity except for Noah and his family. And they multplied. And gradually one by one shoots of humanity were excluded from God’s plan. David warred and destroyed city after city. God commanded that nations be crushed and punished the Hebrews when they were not. And yet this is written to these excluded people.
Ephesians 3
The Message (MSG)
1-3This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so-called. I take it that you're familiar with the part I was given in God's plan for including everybody. I got the inside story on this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief.
4-6As you read over what I have written to you, you'll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God's Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I've been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board.
7-8This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God's way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.
How is this? Is it a contradiction?

In teaching math, or in explaining engineering, I have frequently found that I cannot give an explanation that will satisfy the listener – unless they go to school for about three years first. How much more difficult it must be for God. And yet there are hints:

The Book of Ruth
The Good Samaritan
The Centurian
The Canaanite Woman

We know that exposure to temptation can lead to sin. Solomon, the wisest man on earth was corrupted. But sometimes, good rises up elsewhere. And the great mystery was and is that God sent the savior to all peoples. ALL Peoples. As time went on the shoots of the olive tree had been broken off and broken off and broken off. And here, through God’s son, the opportunity has been given to bring them back and graft them on again.

What a wonderful surprise. We are accepted. We are loved. We are accepted.

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As I was writing the devotional, I realized that this is very much the same situation of sexual abuse. The abuse tears off the branches. Just like in the Old Testament where a patriarch sinned, the children and the children's children were excluded from God. But once in a while, God would take someone in.

In sexual abuse, the hurt and the pain are so damaging, that it is very difficult for this bare branch, this person stripped away from the roots to God and society, to ever get reattached. And in the Old Testament, the reattachment would have been a rare case, worthy of being noted. But, Jesus died for our sins and the Bible is most explicit about how he was beaten for our healing and his blood washes us white as snow. Jesus came to graft us back in.

I think there is a misinterpretation about life. Life is a fire. The Bible calls it a fire. My fire and your fire aren't the same fire. But I have a fire and you do, too. In fact, sometimes the people with the least flame going on are the ones who do worst - picture spoiled rich people and the drunkenness, drug abuse, general dissapation and deaths at a young age. Rich people can enter the kingdom of heaven, but it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

If we approach life knowing that it is a fire, then maybe we can face the fact that we suffer more easily. And cherish the times and days when we aren't suffering. That sounds fatalistic - but when you compare your own life to perfection, it causes dismal depression. I find that it is far more positive to just start counting blessings one by one. And I have read so much history, and the poor with a few pretty things and a few surviving children often are so much happier than we.

I believe, from what I have seen and read - which is a lot, that so much of unhappiness is in having enormous expectations followed by focusing on the bad. We should do much the opposite. we should have expectation that our rewards will come in the next world and focus on the blessings we have.

Sexual abuse is a horrible fire. So is rheumatoid arthritis, or cystic fibrosis or a number of other diseases that can strike at an early age and cause pain until death. So is being born to watch half your children die, to live with lice all your life, and to not know whether you are going to eat that day.

The Holy Spirit came as a fire. Do you think that is a coincidence? Doesn't God usually mean something with what is written in the Bible. It is a fire - a purifier. Fire burns away the impurities in metal, but it melts the metal in doing so. What does God need to do to melt you?

I think I've been melted. More than once. How about you?

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I think God's plan is a lot more layered and detailed than what the Bible or anything else teaches us. I think that one of the tests is that God says to love our neighbor as ourself and when Jesus was asked who our neighbor was, he told the story of this member of an ostracized race and how he was a good neighbor (the good Samaritan - the Samaritans were ostracized). So, I think what the Bible is saying is "Love and don't judge" and I think one of the tests is that that means that we have a situation just like that of the Jews and the Samaritans - the Moslems worship the same God but not in the approved way. And so the test is - can we still love and not judge? We don't have to reason it through - Joyce Meyer repeats often that we reason too much. Whatever the plan or lack thereof for the Moslems, we have clear instructions - we are to love and not judge. Period.

Since we know our instructions - why do we need to know anything else?

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Blame is a lie of the devil:

Ephesians 1:4
New American Standard Bible (NASB)

4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love

We are blameless - in Jesus. He washed us clean. We are free of shame and blame. We are free indeed.


What doesn't kill us makes us strong - we've all heard that. The Bible says something similar.

James 1:3-7
New American Standard Bible (NASB)

3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,


We have to let enduring have its perfect result. What does that mean? I can't explain. But, I know that it has to do with attitude and going to God.

God gives without reproach.

James 1:5
Amplified Bible (AMP)

5If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him.


God isn't trying to find fault with us. Goodness knows he could if he wanted to. But that isn't God.

We need to let go of the burdens that are keeping us from God's grace. Let them go.

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You were washed clean at communion But then you sinned the same night. I'm sorry you got dirty again so soon. But, Jesus is always availalble to forgive you. Keep in mind, Jesus wants to pick you up out of the mud and wash you off and hug and kiss you - but the devil wants you to feel like you have to stay muddy and walk around muddy in front of everybody and that everybody can see the mud. but that just isn't true.

Jesus wants to wash you and hug you and heal you. And he wants you to then be a witness to other hurt people about his healing powers. Jesus is the healer.

Who needs a physician? What did Jesus say about needing a physician?


Matthew 9
American Standard Version (ASV)


11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Teacher with the publicans and sinners?

12 But when he heard it, he said, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick.

13 But go ye and learn what this meaneth, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

Remember that there is none righteous? No not one?

When we are weak, then he is stong.

But we are supposed to ACCEPT the free gift that Jesus has given. How would you feel if you had done everything that you could possibly do to give someone a perfect gift and then they would not take it? What if you had worked and worked and worked for thirty years. And as a result you had been hurt and given everything you had to give this person a gift and then when you gave it to them and you were expectently watching their face - then they handed it back to you and said, "No, I'm not good enough for this gift, take it back."

How disappointed would you feel?

How can Jesus undie because you don't feel worthy of his gift? How can Jesus take the beatings back to the store and return them? Should Jesus go back and have a night out on the town with his buddies because you won't accept the gift of his perfection? He worked hard to give you a gift - a present, something free to you. All you have to do is appreciate it. And accept it.

And he is waiting, like you would be if you had worked your whole year in shop class and made the most beautiful dresser for your mom who had always had to keep her clothes in cardboard boxes - he's waiting, expecting you to scream in delight and throw your arms around his neck like you would never let go.

He doesn't care that you yelled at him last night. He wants to give you a gift. And he wants you to be delighted and accept it.

Accept that you are totally acceptable to Jesus and that what he wants to do is to love you and love you and love you. And it hurts him so much when you are crying and wailing and won’t let him touch you. Let him touch you. Let him hold you. Accept the comfort that is above all other comfort.

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Guilt is a very big joy stealer. And joy is very important on many levels.

1. Why would someone else want what we have?
2. When can you listen to God? When you are depressed?
3. What do you do when you have joy? I thank and praise God. What is most important?
4. When do you accept the most from God? When are you most willing to step out of your comfort zone?
5. When do you have the most faith?

The answer is that when you are filled with Joy, you tend to also be filled with many of the other gifts of the spirit. You tend to be a willing conduit for God.

Guilt and shame and blame tend to put you into a dark closet. Guilt should last just long enough for you to confess your sins. And once they are confessed, they should fly away like a bat in the night.

John 17:13
New International Version (NIV)


13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.

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My husband is a narcissist. You can look it up if you like. I did a lot of research on it. And I realized that the devil is the ultimate Narcissist.

Lucifer was a beautiful angel. But he didn't want to be second to God. And so he led a revolt with 1/3 of the angels. He was defeated, but ever since then he roams around seeking to devour.

His techniques are to make God look bad by doing anything he can to twist Christianity and other religions. To make counterfeit religions, to encourage others to be like him and think that they are better than othe religious leaders. Jim Jones, Osama bin Laden....

In our lives, he keeps us thinking about the devil's own accomplishments. Keeps us thinking about the self-serving egotistical people who are just like him. Beautiful and evil - and totally self-serving.

The devil tries to keep us thinking about our sins and what we did wrong - keep us belittled. And also keep us focused on what he did - because the hurts and mistakes we keep dwelling on glorify him.

He convinces us to try to figue out ad infinitum how we were deceived - this is like playing a football playbook film over and over and over - one where the opponent won. The first few times we learn something. After that, we do nothing but glorify our opponent.

He uses Bible verses against us - he did this to Jesus too. Pray for those who persecute you. He twists this - because we need to let them go and move on. How can we do that if we are stuck praying for them? Yes, we need to pray for them and give them to God but then we need to mentally and spiritually walk away.

The devil takes good things that are of benefit to us and tries to get us stuck there - staring at him and what he did in awe.

The devil is a Narcissist.

There is a time for every purpose under heaven. We need to see what is happening, deal with what we can, discover if we need extensive psychological help and most of all, prevent it from happening again. This is a good thing.

But the devil likes the attention he gets in this stage, and he tries to keep people there. Looking at him and the person who acts just like him.

To move on, you have to think of something else. You have to do something else. You can't not think about Chocolate by trying to figure out how not to think about chocoalte. Go to the gym, have some lemonade, call a friend. That is how to not think about chocolate.

There is a time, and then the time passes. And another time should follow.

[dema]

I have been paralyzed by the thought of trusting a man - personally - intimately.

And man I know was talking to me. He had a partial knowledge of my fear. And in the talk, he told me "I am nothing of myself. I am only something through my salvation. I cannot do it myself."

And suddenly, the gripping fear dissolved.

We read the verses to ourselves. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." "When we are weak, then He is strong." "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not unto your own understanding."

We spend all this time and effort learning to trust God instead of our own pain and weakness - but then we think we need to trust other people. That isn't right. In fact, it is an unfair burden on the other people.

We need to trust Christ in the other person - that is the only thing we can trust on a personal level. And to do that, our spirit needs to recognize their spirit. Our Holy Spirit needs to rise up inside of us and say, "I KNOW you."

I think of the greetig scene between Elizabeth and Mary.

Mary Visits Elizabeth
39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
Mary’s Song
46 And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,