"I don't want to help someone who is clearly in need because I am afraid of what it will cost me, and/or I don't approve of their lifestyle;" how many times has this thinking shown up?
I'm so glad God doesn't look at us this way. We are not perfect. Only God is perfect. We do a lot of things that God doesn't approve of, and we all need a lot of help. God helps creyentes (believers) continuously while also making us better. God also doesn't break off His eternal relationship with us because of our behavior. God loves us each and every day forever. Romans 5:8-10 Complete Jewish Bible says, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in that the Messiah died on our behalf while we were still sinners. Therefore, since we have now come to be considered righteous by means of his bloody sacrificial death, how much more will we be delivered through him from the anger of God’s judgment! For if we were reconciled with God through his Son’s death when we were enemies, how much more will we be delivered by his life, now that we are reconciled!"
We have known for a long time that families don't spend enough quantity and quality time together, yet resistance exists to making substantial improvement. "Fear is a disease that eats away at logic and makes man inhuman," says Marian Anderson, singer and civil rights advocate. Creyentes are people of faith.
One area of substantial improvement in family life is for countries globally to adopt one-year or more of paid employment leave.
Let's leave behind the one-size-fits-all thinking. Why mandate that one year or more of paid leave has to be taken all at once? Some may want to split it in various ways. One example is a dad works part of the work day, then uses leave for part of the work day while a mom does likewise in a way that their children are never in day care. I had a former supervisor who told me that quality day care is just too expensive especially when first beginning a career. She and her husband solved the problem by he worked days, and she worked nights before their children went to school. She said while this worked economically, physically and relationally it was exhausting. One year or more of paid leave would have helped this creative couple.
Does anyone have employment benefits that include one year or more of paid leave?
One year or more of paid leave is not just for married people and/or parents. While one of my single, Christian friends did not have as much as one year of paid leave, she would accrue a large leave balance so that she could take mission trips to Africa and Latin America. During these trips she would participate in distributing food, clothing, shoes, medical supplies and the Word of God. Singles with and without children can use one year or more of paid leave.
Earning money is essential to survival and progress (cash is efectivo,) and so is voluntarism in America and other countries globally. Former President John Fitzgerald Kennedy said, "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country."
One year or more of paid leave should be granted without any necessity of giving the reason for its use.
Sometimes we need long-term paid time to grieve the loss of a family member. In America since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion 55 million babies have been killed. Since China's one-child policy was implemented in the 1970s more than 336 million babies have been killed by abortion; that's more Chinese baby boys and baby girls have lost their lives to abortion than the combined total population of the United States of America and Australia.
A lot of lost family members need to be grieved. Chen Guangcheng is one person helping with the grieving process and working to stop loss of life. Chen Guangcheng is married to Yuan Weijing and has two children. Guangcheng, his family, friends and others have been subjected to persecution. He became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy. Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest.
Guangcheng, a blind self-taught lawyer, surprised China by escaping from house arrest in April 2012 and entering the US embassy in Beijing. A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng lives in New York with his wife and children.
Last Tuesday he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.
A Japanese proverb says, "One arrow can easily break; ten arrows do not easily break."
Many people are needed to speak up and to push for the implementation of one-year or more of paid employment leave and an end to all types of abortion and involuntary sterilization.
Showing posts with label Selfishness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Selfishness. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
No Ordinary Love
Christopher ("Christ-bearer") Yuan writes in his book, Out Of A Far Country, co-authored with his mother, Angela Yuan, "As I continued to read the Bible, I came across Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 (NASB)--passages normally used to condemn gays and lesbians to a fiery fate. "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination." But I realized that God didn't call lesbians and gay men abominations He called it an abomination. What God condemned was the act, not the person. For so long, I had gotten the message from the Christian protestors at gay-pride parades that the God of the Bible hated people like me, because we were abominations. But after reading these passages, I saw that God didn't hate me; nor was he condemning me to an inescapable destiny of torment. But rather, it was the sex he condemned, and yet he still wanted an intimate relationship with me."
Not only does God want an intimate relationship with lesbians and gay men, He wants an intimate relationship with everyone who will receive God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost (1 X 1 X 1 = 1). God wants Colossians 1:4 Amplified Bible to be true of all believers (saints): "For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus [the leaning of your entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness] and of the love which you [have and show] for all the saints (God’s consecrated ones)."
Avoid segregating the sexes. The more each us knows the truth about sexuality, the more we know about God, who is the Truth. God on purpose made people male and female to show qualities God possesses. Genesis 1:27 Nueva Traducción Viviente dice, "Así que Dios creó a los seres humanos a su propia imagen. A imagen de Dios los creó; hombre y mujer los creó." Genesis 1:27 English Standard Version says, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."
Instead of hiding sexuality, celebrate it in holiness. Colossians 1:10-11 Amplified Bible is a prayer to God for both singles and married people: "That you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God [with fuller, deeper, and clearer insight, acquaintance, and recognition]. [We pray] that you may be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory, [to exercise] every kind of endurance and patience (perseverance and forbearance) with joy."
Some singles do not persevere in singleness. A proverb from Ethiopia and Kenya says, "Hasty marriages bring hasty divorces." Enjoy lots of relationships with both men and women. Spending lots of time together is a good way to learn to love people in the way they really liked to be loved. Single or married God uses relationships to remove selfishness from us.
Bishop T.D. Jakes says in his sermon, "Love Story," "Marriage does not work until a man dies. There's a wild nature in him that has to die, and every now and then it kicks up. And you got to kill it again. And if you don't kill it, it will destroy what you got." Jakes goes on to say in "Love Story," "Christ gave Himself. Let the men say, 'Give it up.'"
Wives too have to give it up in order to love their husbands the way their husbands want to be loved. More men than women enjoy strippers. Instead of sexual immorality, why not put together a strip tease for your husband only with props particular to his tastes and perhaps ben wa, or Oriental love balls, into your vagina to stimulate you for what's coming?
What are some out-of-the-ordinary things you have done for love?
Not only does God want an intimate relationship with lesbians and gay men, He wants an intimate relationship with everyone who will receive God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost (1 X 1 X 1 = 1). God wants Colossians 1:4 Amplified Bible to be true of all believers (saints): "For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus [the leaning of your entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness] and of the love which you [have and show] for all the saints (God’s consecrated ones)."
Avoid segregating the sexes. The more each us knows the truth about sexuality, the more we know about God, who is the Truth. God on purpose made people male and female to show qualities God possesses. Genesis 1:27 Nueva Traducción Viviente dice, "Así que Dios creó a los seres humanos a su propia imagen. A imagen de Dios los creó; hombre y mujer los creó." Genesis 1:27 English Standard Version says, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."
Instead of hiding sexuality, celebrate it in holiness. Colossians 1:10-11 Amplified Bible is a prayer to God for both singles and married people: "That you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God [with fuller, deeper, and clearer insight, acquaintance, and recognition]. [We pray] that you may be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory, [to exercise] every kind of endurance and patience (perseverance and forbearance) with joy."
Some singles do not persevere in singleness. A proverb from Ethiopia and Kenya says, "Hasty marriages bring hasty divorces." Enjoy lots of relationships with both men and women. Spending lots of time together is a good way to learn to love people in the way they really liked to be loved. Single or married God uses relationships to remove selfishness from us.
Bishop T.D. Jakes says in his sermon, "Love Story," "Marriage does not work until a man dies. There's a wild nature in him that has to die, and every now and then it kicks up. And you got to kill it again. And if you don't kill it, it will destroy what you got." Jakes goes on to say in "Love Story," "Christ gave Himself. Let the men say, 'Give it up.'"
Wives too have to give it up in order to love their husbands the way their husbands want to be loved. More men than women enjoy strippers. Instead of sexual immorality, why not put together a strip tease for your husband only with props particular to his tastes and perhaps ben wa, or Oriental love balls, into your vagina to stimulate you for what's coming?
What are some out-of-the-ordinary things you have done for love?
Friday, March 1, 2013
Coming Out
In the movie la mujer de mi hermano Ignacio is married to the drop-dead gorgeous, smart and kind, Zoe. Ignacio is highly successful in his work. Ignacio and Zoe live in a stunning house. One would think this would be the kind of couple that has sublime sex sometimes multiple times daily.
But Ignacio limits sex to Saturdays only.
While Ignacio has multiple issues, he doesn't present as an intentionally mean person. He goes to church and has a friendly relationship with the priest and his mother. In one scene Ignacio is concerned that a sexy, sleeveless black dress that Zoe wants to wear to church is not appropriate.
However, it's not her dress that is the problem, but Ignacio's failure to sexually satisfy his wife, Zoe. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 7:3 New Living Translation Bible, "The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs."
The Apostle Paul also writes in Ephesians 5:25 Contemporary English Version Bible, "A husband should love his wife as much as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it." Whenever we receive a now and eternal relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost (1 X 1 X 1 = 1), we are giving up control of our life and turning the control over to God. God is anti-self-centeredness. God is love and works through us to not only love God but also love ourselves and other people. 1 John 4:7-11 English Standard Version Bible says, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
Because Zoe and Ignacio cannot have a child biologically and Ignacio refuses to have sex with Zoe except on Saturdays, Zoe decides to have sex with Ignacio's brother, Gonzalo. Sex with Gonzalo feels divine with all the licking, sucking, touching and kissing that should be inside her marriage. But sinful sex outside marriage also causes Zoe to cry and to renew her efforts to have more sex with her husband, Ignacio, who she really wants but they don't know how to have a marriage relationship.
Zoe is sad. Jill Scott writes in her poem "Blue" from her book The Moments, the Minutes,the Hours The poetry of Jill Scott:
"I put food coloring in my bath yesterday
Sat in a pretty blue
Let the drops fall from my finger tips
Onto my breast and my stomach
I just wanted to look how I feel
Without you."
Turns out that Ignacio likes men sexually. Ignacio sometimes uses his business trips to have sex with men.
God wants us to receive Him, talk to Him about His Bible and to really learn how to overcome homosexuality, other forms of sex outside of marriage and other sins and to live in enjoyable, beautiful, good relationships. Yes, homosexuality and other forms of adultery can be given up without settling for an unsatisfying life.
Christopher Yuan was in dental school and had a time where he had anonymous sexual encounters with men daily. He was also an illegal drug user and dealer. But God, a mom who prayed and fasted for seven years for Yuan's deliverance, a prison sentence and a HIV diagnosis caused Yuan to go from prisoner to professor. Today Yuan teaches at Moody Bible Institute and has a speaking ministry (christopheryuan.com). Some ex-gays are single like Yuan. Others are married with children like Pastor Mike Goeke, who is married to Stephanie Goeke. The Goeke children are Margaret, Frances and Peter.
While we are all born with a sin nature, we don't have to stay naked without God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit (like water has three states: liquid, ice, gas/steam) living on the inside of believers. Every day is a good day to receive God and grow in relationship with Him and people.
Please share stories about coming out of sexual sin into sexual victory.
But Ignacio limits sex to Saturdays only.
While Ignacio has multiple issues, he doesn't present as an intentionally mean person. He goes to church and has a friendly relationship with the priest and his mother. In one scene Ignacio is concerned that a sexy, sleeveless black dress that Zoe wants to wear to church is not appropriate.
However, it's not her dress that is the problem, but Ignacio's failure to sexually satisfy his wife, Zoe. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 7:3 New Living Translation Bible, "The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs."
The Apostle Paul also writes in Ephesians 5:25 Contemporary English Version Bible, "A husband should love his wife as much as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it." Whenever we receive a now and eternal relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost (1 X 1 X 1 = 1), we are giving up control of our life and turning the control over to God. God is anti-self-centeredness. God is love and works through us to not only love God but also love ourselves and other people. 1 John 4:7-11 English Standard Version Bible says, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
Because Zoe and Ignacio cannot have a child biologically and Ignacio refuses to have sex with Zoe except on Saturdays, Zoe decides to have sex with Ignacio's brother, Gonzalo. Sex with Gonzalo feels divine with all the licking, sucking, touching and kissing that should be inside her marriage. But sinful sex outside marriage also causes Zoe to cry and to renew her efforts to have more sex with her husband, Ignacio, who she really wants but they don't know how to have a marriage relationship.
Zoe is sad. Jill Scott writes in her poem "Blue" from her book The Moments, the Minutes,the Hours The poetry of Jill Scott:
"I put food coloring in my bath yesterday
Sat in a pretty blue
Let the drops fall from my finger tips
Onto my breast and my stomach
I just wanted to look how I feel
Without you."
Turns out that Ignacio likes men sexually. Ignacio sometimes uses his business trips to have sex with men.
God wants us to receive Him, talk to Him about His Bible and to really learn how to overcome homosexuality, other forms of sex outside of marriage and other sins and to live in enjoyable, beautiful, good relationships. Yes, homosexuality and other forms of adultery can be given up without settling for an unsatisfying life.
Christopher Yuan was in dental school and had a time where he had anonymous sexual encounters with men daily. He was also an illegal drug user and dealer. But God, a mom who prayed and fasted for seven years for Yuan's deliverance, a prison sentence and a HIV diagnosis caused Yuan to go from prisoner to professor. Today Yuan teaches at Moody Bible Institute and has a speaking ministry (christopheryuan.com). Some ex-gays are single like Yuan. Others are married with children like Pastor Mike Goeke, who is married to Stephanie Goeke. The Goeke children are Margaret, Frances and Peter.
While we are all born with a sin nature, we don't have to stay naked without God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit (like water has three states: liquid, ice, gas/steam) living on the inside of believers. Every day is a good day to receive God and grow in relationship with Him and people.
Please share stories about coming out of sexual sin into sexual victory.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Divorced = Eliminated from the Race?
Thank God for Hazel Scott. Before Oprah there was Hazel. Hazel was the first African-American woman to host her own nationally syndicated television show in musical format.
In a time when most television hosts were men, The Hazel Scott Show aired on July 3, 1950.
Sometimes people do not notice a mistake, or they are afraid to point out a mistake. The general manager of the mint in Chile was fired in February 2010 after thousands of 50-peso coins were discovered with the name of the country spelled Chiie instead of Chile. The coins had been in circulation for two years before the error was reported.
Sometimes people create situations. Scott was eventually accused of being a Communist or Communist sympathizer, her contract was not renewed and the show was canceled in September 1950.
Multi-talented Scott played piano, trumpet and saxophone professionally. She sang and acted on Broadway and in film, arranged songs, wrote songs and didn't let racism or sexism stop her from working the dynamic range of her talents and serving as a Civil Rights activist.
Scott was born June 11, 1920, in Port au Spain, Trinidad. As a toddler she began to play piano. When she was a tween in 1932 her father, R. Thomas Scott, died.
Scott and her mother, Alma Long Scott, toured together. The younger Scott made her first appearance at Carnegie Hall, playing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23.
Scott was playing regular nightclub gigs by age 15, started her own radio show the following year and performed in her first Broadway revue when she was 18. Read my article, "Youth Uprising," for more on talented youth. Please leave an on-line comment about talented youth and/or African-Americans.
Life was not perfect. Later in life, Scott attempted suicide twice. Please leave an on-line comment about Satan trying to take out someone successful who bounced back.
In 1945 in Connecticut Scott, a Catholic, married Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., a Baptist minister and U.S. Congressman, who was the first person from New York of African American descent to be elected to Congress and became a powerful and prominent national politician. The couple had one child, Adam Clayton Powell III, who is the first black to direct a major national radio news network, National Public Radio.
Scott and Powell Jr. divorced in 1960 after a separation. I don't know why they divorced. Bishop T.D. Jakes says in his sermon, Love Story, "Marriage does not work until a man dies. There's a wild nature in him that has to die, and every now and then it kicks up. And you got to kill it again. And if you don't kill it, it will destroy what you got." Jakes goes on to say in Love Story, "Christ gave Himself. Let the men say, 'Give it up.'" International Christian Minister Ravi Zacharias says about a husband and wife, "The Bible tells us to mutually submit to one another." International Christian Minister Joyce Meyer says in her sermon, Hindrances to a Good Marriage, that her ministry did a questionnaire and the number one and two reasons the respondents reported for trouble in marriage are:
1) lack of communication/not knowing how to communicate
2) selfishness/pride.
Dr. Derek Grier says in his Ministry Minute "Strong Marriage," "We really have no idea how selfish and how self-centered we are until we commit to spend the rest of our lives loving and making decisions with another person."
Please leave an on-line comment about the causes for trouble in marriage and/or divorce.
Scott did not succumb to a pessimistic view of life: "All good things must come to an end;" "If it is not one thing, it's another;" "This is as good as it gets." Cavett Robert says, "If you don't think every day is a good day, just try missing one." After her divorce Scott went to Paris, France.
Learn to relate well, so that you can date and mate well.
Scott married Ezio Bedin, a comedian, on January 19, 1961.
Scott opened the door for African Americans in the arts. Today America and the world is filled with the talents of African-American entertainers who dared to try something different using the talents God gave them.
God made it so that no two snowflakes are the same. Likewise even though today more than 7 billion people live on planet earth, God made it so that no two people are alike. Even twins have different fingerprints and odor prints! By swabbing the scene of a crime, investigators can compare the scent samples taken from suspects with those taken at the scene of a crime.
God likes diversity displayed in daily living. Dr. Cindy Trim says,"Revelation without application is frustration." Let your unique light shine according to Matthew 5:14-16 New Living Translation Bible which says, "You are the light of the world--like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father."
Please share an on-line comment reporting good deeds.
In a time when most television hosts were men, The Hazel Scott Show aired on July 3, 1950.
Sometimes people do not notice a mistake, or they are afraid to point out a mistake. The general manager of the mint in Chile was fired in February 2010 after thousands of 50-peso coins were discovered with the name of the country spelled Chiie instead of Chile. The coins had been in circulation for two years before the error was reported.
Sometimes people create situations. Scott was eventually accused of being a Communist or Communist sympathizer, her contract was not renewed and the show was canceled in September 1950.
Multi-talented Scott played piano, trumpet and saxophone professionally. She sang and acted on Broadway and in film, arranged songs, wrote songs and didn't let racism or sexism stop her from working the dynamic range of her talents and serving as a Civil Rights activist.
Scott was born June 11, 1920, in Port au Spain, Trinidad. As a toddler she began to play piano. When she was a tween in 1932 her father, R. Thomas Scott, died.
Scott and her mother, Alma Long Scott, toured together. The younger Scott made her first appearance at Carnegie Hall, playing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23.
Scott was playing regular nightclub gigs by age 15, started her own radio show the following year and performed in her first Broadway revue when she was 18. Read my article, "Youth Uprising," for more on talented youth. Please leave an on-line comment about talented youth and/or African-Americans.
Life was not perfect. Later in life, Scott attempted suicide twice. Please leave an on-line comment about Satan trying to take out someone successful who bounced back.
In 1945 in Connecticut Scott, a Catholic, married Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., a Baptist minister and U.S. Congressman, who was the first person from New York of African American descent to be elected to Congress and became a powerful and prominent national politician. The couple had one child, Adam Clayton Powell III, who is the first black to direct a major national radio news network, National Public Radio.
Scott and Powell Jr. divorced in 1960 after a separation. I don't know why they divorced. Bishop T.D. Jakes says in his sermon, Love Story, "Marriage does not work until a man dies. There's a wild nature in him that has to die, and every now and then it kicks up. And you got to kill it again. And if you don't kill it, it will destroy what you got." Jakes goes on to say in Love Story, "Christ gave Himself. Let the men say, 'Give it up.'" International Christian Minister Ravi Zacharias says about a husband and wife, "The Bible tells us to mutually submit to one another." International Christian Minister Joyce Meyer says in her sermon, Hindrances to a Good Marriage, that her ministry did a questionnaire and the number one and two reasons the respondents reported for trouble in marriage are:
1) lack of communication/not knowing how to communicate
2) selfishness/pride.
Dr. Derek Grier says in his Ministry Minute "Strong Marriage," "We really have no idea how selfish and how self-centered we are until we commit to spend the rest of our lives loving and making decisions with another person."
Please leave an on-line comment about the causes for trouble in marriage and/or divorce.
Scott did not succumb to a pessimistic view of life: "All good things must come to an end;" "If it is not one thing, it's another;" "This is as good as it gets." Cavett Robert says, "If you don't think every day is a good day, just try missing one." After her divorce Scott went to Paris, France.
Learn to relate well, so that you can date and mate well.
Scott married Ezio Bedin, a comedian, on January 19, 1961.
Scott opened the door for African Americans in the arts. Today America and the world is filled with the talents of African-American entertainers who dared to try something different using the talents God gave them.
God made it so that no two snowflakes are the same. Likewise even though today more than 7 billion people live on planet earth, God made it so that no two people are alike. Even twins have different fingerprints and odor prints! By swabbing the scene of a crime, investigators can compare the scent samples taken from suspects with those taken at the scene of a crime.
God likes diversity displayed in daily living. Dr. Cindy Trim says,"Revelation without application is frustration." Let your unique light shine according to Matthew 5:14-16 New Living Translation Bible which says, "You are the light of the world--like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father."
Please share an on-line comment reporting good deeds.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Robbing God and Our Family
"So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a bottle of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulders, and he sent her and the youth away. And she wandered on [aimlessly] and lost her way in the wilderness of Beersheba." -- Genesis 21:14 Amplified Bible
While God desired for Ishmael and Hagar to move away from Isaac, Sarah and Abraham, and Isaac to receive Abraham's inheritance, God didn't say that Abraham had to send Ishmael and Hagar away in poverty. Abraham was financially rich but not rich in sharing in some of his relationships with women and children.
Ishmael is bone of Abraham's bone, flesh of his flesh, and Abraham was in a long-term, sexual relationship with Hagar, yet all Abraham gives them to live off is some bread and a bottle of water! If he told them he loved them, his actions contradicted his words.
The love of God can be shown through the use of money. Luke 16:9 New Living Translation Bible says, "Here's the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home."
What Martin Luther King, Jr., said in his sermon entitled "Paul's Letter to American Christians" could be said to Abraham and to many fathers and mothers today. He said, "I am afraid that many among you are more concerned about making a living than making a life. . . . God never intended for one group of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth, while others live in abject deadening poverty. God intends for all of his children to have the basic necessities of life, and he has left in this universe "enough and to spare" for that purpose. So I call upon you to bridge the gulf between abject poverty and superfluous wealth."
The Bible supports what Martin Luther King, Jr., said. 1 Timothy 6:17-19 Amplified Bible says, "As for the rich in this world, charge them not to be proud and arrogant and contemptuous of others, nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches, but on God, Who richly and ceaselessly provides us with everything for [our] enjoyment. [Charge them] to do good, to be rich in good works, to be liberal and generous of heart, ready to share [with others], In this way laying up for themselves [the riches that endure forever as] a good foundation for the future, so that they may grasp that which is life indeed."
Some men became financially rich because they delegated extensive parental responsibilities to the mother(s) of their children. Don't be fooled time and money are connected. It takes time to earn money. It takes time to parent. More of Abraham's time was spent earning money while more of Sarah's and Hagar's time was spent parenting and maintaining a home. Abraham worked animals for money while Sarah and Hagar worked to parent and to maintain their home being financially supported by Abraham. Abraham was involved in the parenting of Isaac, but when Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away with only bread and a bottle of water Abraham failed to provide for Ishmael and Hagar. Perhaps he falsely believed that he was right to pass off his responsibility to God, government and/or others. Abraham's failure has an immediate and life-long impact on Ishmael and Hagar. Hagar wandered around, lost her way and both her and Ishmael experienced starvation.
Hagar had repeatedly for a long time opened her body to Abraham. I wonder if the experience with Abraham left such high levels of bitterness, fear, unforgiveness, anger, pain, humiliation and resentment in Hagar that she never married. Sexual relationships outside of marriage are part of our model and training for marriage. Abraham through one of his servants chooses a wife for Isaac, but Hagar chooses a wife for Ishmael. The Bible makes no mention of a husband for Hagar.
Many single parents today have gone through child support enforcement because a parent failed to provide financially. In spite of these failures, most singles will marry. Nine out of ten people get married. Half of all American marriages end in divorce. Many divorces are in part caused because one former spouse was the primary breadwinner while the other primarily raised their children; the breadwinner felt that the childcare person should earn more money while the childcare person felt that the breadwinner should parent more; and they both began to engage in selfish behaviors aimed at punishing each other for not doing what he or she wanted instead of trying to learn about and appreciate each other and each other's work. When we don't feed off of each others goodness, we are opening the door to feeding off each others badness. For example, say a husband is the primary breadwinner and the wife is the primary parent, and the husband decides to withhold finances from his wife who in turn withholds sex from her husband. A husband is not to treat a wife as a child to be held to a "budget" with reporting of receipts for all expenditures to him while he is exempt from the budget and receipt reporting and has attempted to implement these practices that are not mutally agreed to. A wife is not to withhold sex from her husband without mutual consent for sex is a fundamental part of a marriage. God designed sublime sex to be about giving to and receiving from each spouse without strings attached. When we are mistreated, we tend to respond with mistreatment.
When sex becomes a bargaining piece to gain proper money or something else, instead of the sublime sex God designed for marriage, prostitution is introduced into a marriage. 1 Corinthians 6:15 New Living Translation Bible says, "Don't you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never!" A man who withholds finances from his wife enables her to become a prostitute (sex for money deal) and has introduced adultery into his marriage. Eventually, through a divorce she could take a large sum of his money and all the while cause his carnal nature to squench the Holy Spirit on his inside. Proverbs 6:26 Amplified Bible says, "For on account of a harlot a man is brought to a piece of bread, and the adulteress stalks and snares [as with a hook] the precious life [of a man]."
Perhaps spouses are having difficulty understanding the Bible because that which is understood is not being fully lived blocking further growth. We grow in our relationship and understanding of God by living in His ways. We cannot be intimate and evil. By allowing and agressively causing love to shrivel up, our hearts are exposed and unprotected. Proverbs 4:23 Amplified Bible says, "Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life."
A husband is supposed to be like Jesus Christ. A husband has to live the Word of God in order to have authority. Jesus Christ lived the Word, and consequently had authority. Mark 1:22 Amplified Bible says, "And they were completely astonished at His teaching, for He was teaching as One Who possessed authority, and not as the scribes."
Adultery isn't just sexual; it's also spiritual, emotional, intellectual, physical and financial. For example, maybe your heart belongs to your job or your business or your education instead of your spouse? Or maybe your heart belongs to raising your children and is closed off to your spouse? Some spouses try to keep their spouse ignorant of the true financial condition of the family and/or keep them short of finances as a way to control them. The nervous system controls our body. Each thought, emotion and action result from nervous system direction. Some spouses try to replace God as the nervous system of the marriage resulting often in multiple bad behaviors some of which are financial abuse, intimidation and behaviors designed to instill fear, shame and/or lust in someone else. Being physically present in a house but emotionally unavailable brings fear, anxiety and worry to family because Biblical love is shown through good behavior. Meanwhile some spouses seize their children like property that can only be managed by him or her. Some parents treat the other parent not as an equal parent but as help. Adultery is pervasive inside many marriages sucking the life out of these marriages. Bad behavior is not birthed or nurtured in isolation. Proverbs 6:32 Amplified Bible says, "But whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks heart and understanding (moral principle and prudence); he who does it is destroying his own life."
Bad behavior no matter how small or large always impacts more than one person negatively for a long time. Maybe if Abraham had sent Ishmael and Hagar away with a superabundance of goods and goodwill and continued to offer these throughout their lives, not only would Ishmael, Hagar, Abraham, Sarah and Isaac be blessed, but probably the conflicts we are having in the Middle East today would be substancially fewer because we often repeat generation after generation the behavior of our parents.
When we help those who are less fortunate than ourselves, we also help ourselves. God chastised Sodom and Gomorrah for overcompution of food while others were eating inadequately and even starving. Ezekiel 16:49 Amplified Bible says, "Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, overabundance of food, prosperous ease, and idleness were hers and her daughters'; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy."
God enabled some to become wealthy for their necessities and enjoyments and the necessities and enjoyment of others. When we don't share, we are being selfish, and we are stealing. Stealing is short-sighted. Selfishness is short-sighted. We cannot sin with impunity. We are to pursue love, truth and justice for all. God's people are kings and queens. Abraham is a king. A mother counsels her son, Lemuel, who is a king in Proverbs 31 about how kings are to behave. Proverbs 31:7-8 New Living Translation Bible says, "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice."
When we rob God and our family we are robbing our earthly and eternal legacy. Long after our careers and money are gone the way we treated our family will be passed on generation after generation.
Stop generational selfishness and stealing today, and nurture generational abundance. Proverbs 1:23 Amplified Bible says, "If you will turn (repent) and give heed to my reproof, behold, I [Wisdom] will pour out my spirit upon you, I will make my words known to you."
While God desired for Ishmael and Hagar to move away from Isaac, Sarah and Abraham, and Isaac to receive Abraham's inheritance, God didn't say that Abraham had to send Ishmael and Hagar away in poverty. Abraham was financially rich but not rich in sharing in some of his relationships with women and children.
Ishmael is bone of Abraham's bone, flesh of his flesh, and Abraham was in a long-term, sexual relationship with Hagar, yet all Abraham gives them to live off is some bread and a bottle of water! If he told them he loved them, his actions contradicted his words.
The love of God can be shown through the use of money. Luke 16:9 New Living Translation Bible says, "Here's the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home."
What Martin Luther King, Jr., said in his sermon entitled "Paul's Letter to American Christians" could be said to Abraham and to many fathers and mothers today. He said, "I am afraid that many among you are more concerned about making a living than making a life. . . . God never intended for one group of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth, while others live in abject deadening poverty. God intends for all of his children to have the basic necessities of life, and he has left in this universe "enough and to spare" for that purpose. So I call upon you to bridge the gulf between abject poverty and superfluous wealth."
The Bible supports what Martin Luther King, Jr., said. 1 Timothy 6:17-19 Amplified Bible says, "As for the rich in this world, charge them not to be proud and arrogant and contemptuous of others, nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches, but on God, Who richly and ceaselessly provides us with everything for [our] enjoyment. [Charge them] to do good, to be rich in good works, to be liberal and generous of heart, ready to share [with others], In this way laying up for themselves [the riches that endure forever as] a good foundation for the future, so that they may grasp that which is life indeed."
Some men became financially rich because they delegated extensive parental responsibilities to the mother(s) of their children. Don't be fooled time and money are connected. It takes time to earn money. It takes time to parent. More of Abraham's time was spent earning money while more of Sarah's and Hagar's time was spent parenting and maintaining a home. Abraham worked animals for money while Sarah and Hagar worked to parent and to maintain their home being financially supported by Abraham. Abraham was involved in the parenting of Isaac, but when Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away with only bread and a bottle of water Abraham failed to provide for Ishmael and Hagar. Perhaps he falsely believed that he was right to pass off his responsibility to God, government and/or others. Abraham's failure has an immediate and life-long impact on Ishmael and Hagar. Hagar wandered around, lost her way and both her and Ishmael experienced starvation.
Hagar had repeatedly for a long time opened her body to Abraham. I wonder if the experience with Abraham left such high levels of bitterness, fear, unforgiveness, anger, pain, humiliation and resentment in Hagar that she never married. Sexual relationships outside of marriage are part of our model and training for marriage. Abraham through one of his servants chooses a wife for Isaac, but Hagar chooses a wife for Ishmael. The Bible makes no mention of a husband for Hagar.
Many single parents today have gone through child support enforcement because a parent failed to provide financially. In spite of these failures, most singles will marry. Nine out of ten people get married. Half of all American marriages end in divorce. Many divorces are in part caused because one former spouse was the primary breadwinner while the other primarily raised their children; the breadwinner felt that the childcare person should earn more money while the childcare person felt that the breadwinner should parent more; and they both began to engage in selfish behaviors aimed at punishing each other for not doing what he or she wanted instead of trying to learn about and appreciate each other and each other's work. When we don't feed off of each others goodness, we are opening the door to feeding off each others badness. For example, say a husband is the primary breadwinner and the wife is the primary parent, and the husband decides to withhold finances from his wife who in turn withholds sex from her husband. A husband is not to treat a wife as a child to be held to a "budget" with reporting of receipts for all expenditures to him while he is exempt from the budget and receipt reporting and has attempted to implement these practices that are not mutally agreed to. A wife is not to withhold sex from her husband without mutual consent for sex is a fundamental part of a marriage. God designed sublime sex to be about giving to and receiving from each spouse without strings attached. When we are mistreated, we tend to respond with mistreatment.
When sex becomes a bargaining piece to gain proper money or something else, instead of the sublime sex God designed for marriage, prostitution is introduced into a marriage. 1 Corinthians 6:15 New Living Translation Bible says, "Don't you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never!" A man who withholds finances from his wife enables her to become a prostitute (sex for money deal) and has introduced adultery into his marriage. Eventually, through a divorce she could take a large sum of his money and all the while cause his carnal nature to squench the Holy Spirit on his inside. Proverbs 6:26 Amplified Bible says, "For on account of a harlot a man is brought to a piece of bread, and the adulteress stalks and snares [as with a hook] the precious life [of a man]."
Perhaps spouses are having difficulty understanding the Bible because that which is understood is not being fully lived blocking further growth. We grow in our relationship and understanding of God by living in His ways. We cannot be intimate and evil. By allowing and agressively causing love to shrivel up, our hearts are exposed and unprotected. Proverbs 4:23 Amplified Bible says, "Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life."
A husband is supposed to be like Jesus Christ. A husband has to live the Word of God in order to have authority. Jesus Christ lived the Word, and consequently had authority. Mark 1:22 Amplified Bible says, "And they were completely astonished at His teaching, for He was teaching as One Who possessed authority, and not as the scribes."
Adultery isn't just sexual; it's also spiritual, emotional, intellectual, physical and financial. For example, maybe your heart belongs to your job or your business or your education instead of your spouse? Or maybe your heart belongs to raising your children and is closed off to your spouse? Some spouses try to keep their spouse ignorant of the true financial condition of the family and/or keep them short of finances as a way to control them. The nervous system controls our body. Each thought, emotion and action result from nervous system direction. Some spouses try to replace God as the nervous system of the marriage resulting often in multiple bad behaviors some of which are financial abuse, intimidation and behaviors designed to instill fear, shame and/or lust in someone else. Being physically present in a house but emotionally unavailable brings fear, anxiety and worry to family because Biblical love is shown through good behavior. Meanwhile some spouses seize their children like property that can only be managed by him or her. Some parents treat the other parent not as an equal parent but as help. Adultery is pervasive inside many marriages sucking the life out of these marriages. Bad behavior is not birthed or nurtured in isolation. Proverbs 6:32 Amplified Bible says, "But whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks heart and understanding (moral principle and prudence); he who does it is destroying his own life."
Bad behavior no matter how small or large always impacts more than one person negatively for a long time. Maybe if Abraham had sent Ishmael and Hagar away with a superabundance of goods and goodwill and continued to offer these throughout their lives, not only would Ishmael, Hagar, Abraham, Sarah and Isaac be blessed, but probably the conflicts we are having in the Middle East today would be substancially fewer because we often repeat generation after generation the behavior of our parents.
When we help those who are less fortunate than ourselves, we also help ourselves. God chastised Sodom and Gomorrah for overcompution of food while others were eating inadequately and even starving. Ezekiel 16:49 Amplified Bible says, "Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, overabundance of food, prosperous ease, and idleness were hers and her daughters'; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy."
God enabled some to become wealthy for their necessities and enjoyments and the necessities and enjoyment of others. When we don't share, we are being selfish, and we are stealing. Stealing is short-sighted. Selfishness is short-sighted. We cannot sin with impunity. We are to pursue love, truth and justice for all. God's people are kings and queens. Abraham is a king. A mother counsels her son, Lemuel, who is a king in Proverbs 31 about how kings are to behave. Proverbs 31:7-8 New Living Translation Bible says, "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice."
When we rob God and our family we are robbing our earthly and eternal legacy. Long after our careers and money are gone the way we treated our family will be passed on generation after generation.
Stop generational selfishness and stealing today, and nurture generational abundance. Proverbs 1:23 Amplified Bible says, "If you will turn (repent) and give heed to my reproof, behold, I [Wisdom] will pour out my spirit upon you, I will make my words known to you."
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
How to Stop Spinning Out of Control
Sometimes we are in relationships with believers and certain interactions repeatedly spin out of control. Neither one of us wanted to end up in sins of anger, envy, selfishness, etc., but we seem to repeatedly move there. Often these interactions condition us to have a mindset of fear regarding how we will behave in certain circumstances. Fearing the worst behavior or something less than the best behavior is not believing the best. God calls us to the best. 1 Corinthians 13:7 Amplified Bible says, "Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]."
As believers, "Esperamos." Our hope and confidence is not in someone's ability to change to good behavior, but in God's ability to change someone. As long as our hope and confidence is in people we will be prone to expect failure, and we will try to flee and/or fight as a means of protecting ourselves from sin. Placing our confidence in God and walking in love is not operating with unrealistic thoughts about human behavior. Rather love sees and understands the truth about ourselves and others and turns us over to God for the ability to do good in increasing likeness of God.
Examine ourselves. Ask questions like, "What behavior am I afraid he/she will do?;" "Why do I respond in fear?" Then ask God to set us free from the fearful thought pattern that is motivating us to respond in an unloving way. Ungodly fear entangles us in more sin because wisdom declines and low expectations increase.
God has already placed Himself in believers giving us self-control to master the fear and to respond in love.
When we are walking in self-control we are in God's will. We don't have a perfect body yet, so we will not walk in perfect self-control. A Japanese proverb says, "Fall down seven times, get up eight times."
God is already aware of and taken care of all the sins we ever did, are doing and will do. When we are imperfect, but chasing God, God is willing to make the changes we ask Him. 1 John 3:22-23 Amplified Bible says, "And we receive from Him whatever we ask, because we [watchfully] obey His orders [observe His suggestions and injunctions, follow His plan for us] and [habitually] practice what is pleasing to Him. And this is His order (His command, His injunction): that we should believe in (put our faith and trust in and adhere to and rely on) the name of His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and that we should love one another, just as He has commanded us."
Contact Michele Jackson and Rafael Fowler at email address michefrancesjackson@gmail.com to join our live relationship group to conquer fear and to live in love and self control among other things. God created us and preserves our life from fertilization through birth, youth, old age and beyond death for people who are African, European, Asian, Hispanic, male, female, working all different kinds of assignments at all different kinds of hours and with different minds and abilities and with multiple mixtures of these characteristics. God created us to have a good relationship with Him and to be in relationships with people who are just right for us.
As believers, "Esperamos." Our hope and confidence is not in someone's ability to change to good behavior, but in God's ability to change someone. As long as our hope and confidence is in people we will be prone to expect failure, and we will try to flee and/or fight as a means of protecting ourselves from sin. Placing our confidence in God and walking in love is not operating with unrealistic thoughts about human behavior. Rather love sees and understands the truth about ourselves and others and turns us over to God for the ability to do good in increasing likeness of God.
Examine ourselves. Ask questions like, "What behavior am I afraid he/she will do?;" "Why do I respond in fear?" Then ask God to set us free from the fearful thought pattern that is motivating us to respond in an unloving way. Ungodly fear entangles us in more sin because wisdom declines and low expectations increase.
God has already placed Himself in believers giving us self-control to master the fear and to respond in love.
When we are walking in self-control we are in God's will. We don't have a perfect body yet, so we will not walk in perfect self-control. A Japanese proverb says, "Fall down seven times, get up eight times."
God is already aware of and taken care of all the sins we ever did, are doing and will do. When we are imperfect, but chasing God, God is willing to make the changes we ask Him. 1 John 3:22-23 Amplified Bible says, "And we receive from Him whatever we ask, because we [watchfully] obey His orders [observe His suggestions and injunctions, follow His plan for us] and [habitually] practice what is pleasing to Him. And this is His order (His command, His injunction): that we should believe in (put our faith and trust in and adhere to and rely on) the name of His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and that we should love one another, just as He has commanded us."
Contact Michele Jackson and Rafael Fowler at email address michefrancesjackson@gmail.com to join our live relationship group to conquer fear and to live in love and self control among other things. God created us and preserves our life from fertilization through birth, youth, old age and beyond death for people who are African, European, Asian, Hispanic, male, female, working all different kinds of assignments at all different kinds of hours and with different minds and abilities and with multiple mixtures of these characteristics. God created us to have a good relationship with Him and to be in relationships with people who are just right for us.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
6 Ways to Forgive for Real
We can hear messages teaching us to forgive people year after year and still refuse to forgive. Why? We are unwilling and/or unable to stop making excuses. Many excuses exist. Let's look at six excuses. Then let's look at the truth and receive the truth to break free of the excuses sabotaging our lifestyle of forgiveness.
1) EXCUSE: "If they would treat me nice, then I would forgive them." TRUTH: No matter what someone does, we can forgive them. Jesus Christ did; He forgave those who were killing Him! Luke 23:33-34 Amplified Bible says, "And when they came to the place which is called The Skull [Latin: Calvary; Hebrew: Golgotha], there they crucified Him, and [along with] the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. And Jesus prayed, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they divided His garments and distributed them by casting lots for them."
Forgiveness helps many people including ourselves. Forgiveness gives the offending person over to God the Father and frees our mind from grudges and other negativity toward the person, toward ourselves and toward God. If we have grudges, then our mind is filled with hate instead of love.
We cannot give what we have not received. If we have a grudge instead of love in our mind, then we will give out the grudge instead of love further damaging our relationships with God, self and other people.
Every day someone will probably do something that we will need to forgive. We may respond like the Yiddish saying, "I complain, and I keep going." We may also respond by training ourselves to think thoughts like: "I keep chatting with God instead of spewing poisonous complaining;" "I keep chatting with God. He will teach me how to think, talk and act." Then chat away with God about our specific thoughts and relationships.
Sharing a lot about everything, every day with God helps us to get comfortable with God. God wants us to seek a relationship with Him that includes our true selves. Phoniness is painful and blocks openness, loving truth and intimacy. Matthew 6:7-13 the Message Bible says, "The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They're full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this: Our Father in heaven, Reveal who you are. Set the world right; Do what's best— as above, so below. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. You're in charge! You can do anything you want! You're ablaze in beauty! Yes. Yes. Yes."
2) EXCUSE: "They cut out my heart; I can't let go of what they did and are still doing." TRUTH: Love lets go of harmful thoughts, speech and behaviors. God says to "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39). Love includes spiritual and mental health. Sick people saturate their mind with passive, pessimistic, putrid unforgiving thoughts. A ministry friend of mine says, ". . . forgiveness is fertilizer for a crop of love." Proverbs 23:7 Amplified Bible says, "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he." If we think unforgiving thoughts, then we will act in the hostility of unforgiving behaviors. Hostility is not the hallmark of believers; love is. God the Son Jesus Christ says in John 13:34-35 the Message Bible, "Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other."
People will hurt us frequently. God is able to heal the hurt each time, so that we keep on loving people. Healing can begin by talking to God about it. We can cooperate with God to cleanse our minds of wrong thinking. The past dynamics of a relationship do not stop us from doing good in the present. Learn from the past; don't live in it. Every day is new; we have a new opportunity to forgive. When we are not thinking, talking and acting in love, we are not like God, we are not being His agents of love in the earth realm. Love is central and essential to everyone and to everything at all times.
We like Jesus Christ may talk to God the Father and say, "Father, I place my life in your hands" (Luke 23:46 Message Bible). Our life is not our own. Hold back nothing. Release all control of our life into our loving and capable God. We don't know it all; God does. We can't do it all; God can. Cooperate with God to kill our unforgiving thoughts and behaviors, so that the love of God in us can arise and overflow onto others.
3) EXCUSE: Saying "We need to talk," or "Let's talk" while meaning "You did me wrong. I'm totally innocent. Now I'm going to straighten you out." TRUTH: Discussion grows with diversity of conversational topics shared delightfully while continuously doing the work with God and self to operate in forgiveness. Come out of the roles of stiff bore, bum, bitch, etc. Acknowledge, accept and admit our bad behavior while engaging in frequent conversation that contains more than correction. Examine ourselves against the Word of God: Are we irresistible or repulsive? Allow others to examine us to obtain the most objective truth. Receive the truth.
Many of the people crucifying Jesus Christ had no idea that He is God. While many hurt us intentionally, there are also many who hurt us and have no idea that they are hurting us. Everyone does not think alike. Everyone does not have the same understanding and approach to life.
Sometimes we want people to talk to us in a way that they are not currently capable of doing. To facilitate understanding we may try to operate like Krishna Menon who delivered a nine hour, non-stop speech at the United Nations.
Speak less. Listen and try to understand more. We may think we know the motivation behind a person's speech and behavior, but what we think we know may be false, and if not, then listening and trying to understand people shows we care about them and are loving. Proverbs 18:13 Amplified Bible says, "He who answers a matter before he hears the facts--it is folly and shame to him."
We are not always right. Presume competence in people. Empathy is essential to good relationships. Everyone has feelings even those who seem incapable of tenderness. Genghis Khan said about his divorce from Queen Ibaka completed for political reasons, "You have entered into my heart and limbs."
4) EXCUSE: "I can be and do good all by myself. I am strong enough. I don't need God to regularly forgive people." TRUTH: Anyone and anything has the potential to wear us out causing us to stop practicing forgiveness. Good relationships require continuous cooperation with God to implement continuous change. Sadly some people will only change a little because they are only willing to do a little work with God and others will not change at all because they refuse to cooperate with God, but we don't have to be one of them! Roman Empress Theodora I, wife of Emperor Justinian I, did not start out life as royalty. She spent time selling her sexual skills, became a Christian, and instead of sinking in remorse over sexual sin went on with her husband to grant extensive rights for women and to bring the Gospel to Africa. Theodora, which is Greek for "God's gift," had laws passed that prohibited forced prostitution and closed brothels. She created a convent where former prostitutes could support themselves and expanded the rights of women in divorce and property ownership, instituted the death penalty for rape, forbade exposure of unwanted infants and the killing of wives who committed adultery and gave mothers some guardianship rights over their children. Theodora and Justinian sent missionaries to sixth century Nubia which became a Christian African kingdom.
1) EXCUSE: "If they would treat me nice, then I would forgive them." TRUTH: No matter what someone does, we can forgive them. Jesus Christ did; He forgave those who were killing Him! Luke 23:33-34 Amplified Bible says, "And when they came to the place which is called The Skull [Latin: Calvary; Hebrew: Golgotha], there they crucified Him, and [along with] the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. And Jesus prayed, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they divided His garments and distributed them by casting lots for them."
Forgiveness helps many people including ourselves. Forgiveness gives the offending person over to God the Father and frees our mind from grudges and other negativity toward the person, toward ourselves and toward God. If we have grudges, then our mind is filled with hate instead of love.
We cannot give what we have not received. If we have a grudge instead of love in our mind, then we will give out the grudge instead of love further damaging our relationships with God, self and other people.
Every day someone will probably do something that we will need to forgive. We may respond like the Yiddish saying, "I complain, and I keep going." We may also respond by training ourselves to think thoughts like: "I keep chatting with God instead of spewing poisonous complaining;" "I keep chatting with God. He will teach me how to think, talk and act." Then chat away with God about our specific thoughts and relationships.
Sharing a lot about everything, every day with God helps us to get comfortable with God. God wants us to seek a relationship with Him that includes our true selves. Phoniness is painful and blocks openness, loving truth and intimacy. Matthew 6:7-13 the Message Bible says, "The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They're full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this: Our Father in heaven, Reveal who you are. Set the world right; Do what's best— as above, so below. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. You're in charge! You can do anything you want! You're ablaze in beauty! Yes. Yes. Yes."
2) EXCUSE: "They cut out my heart; I can't let go of what they did and are still doing." TRUTH: Love lets go of harmful thoughts, speech and behaviors. God says to "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39). Love includes spiritual and mental health. Sick people saturate their mind with passive, pessimistic, putrid unforgiving thoughts. A ministry friend of mine says, ". . . forgiveness is fertilizer for a crop of love." Proverbs 23:7 Amplified Bible says, "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he." If we think unforgiving thoughts, then we will act in the hostility of unforgiving behaviors. Hostility is not the hallmark of believers; love is. God the Son Jesus Christ says in John 13:34-35 the Message Bible, "Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other."
People will hurt us frequently. God is able to heal the hurt each time, so that we keep on loving people. Healing can begin by talking to God about it. We can cooperate with God to cleanse our minds of wrong thinking. The past dynamics of a relationship do not stop us from doing good in the present. Learn from the past; don't live in it. Every day is new; we have a new opportunity to forgive. When we are not thinking, talking and acting in love, we are not like God, we are not being His agents of love in the earth realm. Love is central and essential to everyone and to everything at all times.
We like Jesus Christ may talk to God the Father and say, "Father, I place my life in your hands" (Luke 23:46 Message Bible). Our life is not our own. Hold back nothing. Release all control of our life into our loving and capable God. We don't know it all; God does. We can't do it all; God can. Cooperate with God to kill our unforgiving thoughts and behaviors, so that the love of God in us can arise and overflow onto others.
3) EXCUSE: Saying "We need to talk," or "Let's talk" while meaning "You did me wrong. I'm totally innocent. Now I'm going to straighten you out." TRUTH: Discussion grows with diversity of conversational topics shared delightfully while continuously doing the work with God and self to operate in forgiveness. Come out of the roles of stiff bore, bum, bitch, etc. Acknowledge, accept and admit our bad behavior while engaging in frequent conversation that contains more than correction. Examine ourselves against the Word of God: Are we irresistible or repulsive? Allow others to examine us to obtain the most objective truth. Receive the truth.
Many of the people crucifying Jesus Christ had no idea that He is God. While many hurt us intentionally, there are also many who hurt us and have no idea that they are hurting us. Everyone does not think alike. Everyone does not have the same understanding and approach to life.
Sometimes we want people to talk to us in a way that they are not currently capable of doing. To facilitate understanding we may try to operate like Krishna Menon who delivered a nine hour, non-stop speech at the United Nations.
Speak less. Listen and try to understand more. We may think we know the motivation behind a person's speech and behavior, but what we think we know may be false, and if not, then listening and trying to understand people shows we care about them and are loving. Proverbs 18:13 Amplified Bible says, "He who answers a matter before he hears the facts--it is folly and shame to him."
We are not always right. Presume competence in people. Empathy is essential to good relationships. Everyone has feelings even those who seem incapable of tenderness. Genghis Khan said about his divorce from Queen Ibaka completed for political reasons, "You have entered into my heart and limbs."
4) EXCUSE: "I can be and do good all by myself. I am strong enough. I don't need God to regularly forgive people." TRUTH: Anyone and anything has the potential to wear us out causing us to stop practicing forgiveness. Good relationships require continuous cooperation with God to implement continuous change. Sadly some people will only change a little because they are only willing to do a little work with God and others will not change at all because they refuse to cooperate with God, but we don't have to be one of them! Roman Empress Theodora I, wife of Emperor Justinian I, did not start out life as royalty. She spent time selling her sexual skills, became a Christian, and instead of sinking in remorse over sexual sin went on with her husband to grant extensive rights for women and to bring the Gospel to Africa. Theodora, which is Greek for "God's gift," had laws passed that prohibited forced prostitution and closed brothels. She created a convent where former prostitutes could support themselves and expanded the rights of women in divorce and property ownership, instituted the death penalty for rape, forbade exposure of unwanted infants and the killing of wives who committed adultery and gave mothers some guardianship rights over their children. Theodora and Justinian sent missionaries to sixth century Nubia which became a Christian African kingdom.
Theodora I helped women without hating men. Better than the love affair and marriage between celebrities Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher which ended in divorce is the love affair and marriage of Christians Justinian and Theodora, who is 20 years his senior, that ended in her death and his profuse weeping.
5) EXCUSE: "I am smart. I am informed. I know to forgive." TRUTH: Knowing and doing are separate. I haven't admitted to God and myself that I know to forgive, but I don't do it. Forgiveness is a lifestyle not an intellectual pursuit or a practice to be used selectively. Matthew 18:21-22 the Message Bible says, "At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, "Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?" Jesus replied, "Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven."
We even need to forgive those we do not like. Why let their behavior occupy our mind? South African political prisoner against apartheid who became the first democratically-elected South African president Nelson Mandela says, "It always seems impossible, until it is done."
6) EXCUSE: "I know to forgive, but this situation is too hard for me." TRUTH: While some things are too difficult for us by ourselves, we can receive God and His power to do the difficult. Receive and nurture a relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost. A relationship with God comes with the benefit of having the ability/power to forgive anyone and anything. Acts 1:6-8 the Message Bible says, "When they were together for the last time they asked, "Master, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Is this the time?" He told them, "You don't get to know the time. Timing is the Father's business. What you'll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world." Forgiveness is part of a Christian's witness. If we have God, we have the ability and power to forgive. God in us has to be cultivated. Don't be like Solomon who had Wisdom, but didn't always use it in his relationships with women.
Like God is Love, God is Forgiveness. God is who and what He is with everyone and everything. How good or how bad people are does not control God's person and behavior. It doesn't have to control ours either. Romans 5:7-11 New Living Translation Bible says, "Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God."
They cut my heart out or any other excuse to not forgive someone can be replaced by the Truth. God is able to give us a new heart filled with love for the lovable and unlovable. We have no excuses. Let go of a static, sinful view of our relationship with God and others. Clinging to excuses exposes a hard heart. Changing hearts is not a one-time event but a continuous relationship with God that overflows to people and every thing. Ezekiel 11:19 Amplified Bible says, "And I will give them one heart [a new heart] and I will put a new spirit within them; and I will take the stony [unnaturally hardened] heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh [sensitive and responsive to the touch of their God]."
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