prayer

Sovereign, Almighty Creator, Daddy God,

Thank You for showing Yourself real and true.  In a place where reality is a carnal, ridiculous t.v show and truth is redefined as null, nonexistent, or relative and arbitrary.

So few cling to You anymore.  Even those who seemed to be Your own are turning away to satisfy their itching ears.  I think that's the most disappointing: when those who claim Your truth, love, and salvation pursue the world's version of it...which is a lie and nothing at all, yet the consequences are eternally devastating.

Redeeming Hero of the universe, allow failure to come so that a greater miracle can be done ...to widen our faith and to show Yourself sovereign and worthy of glory.

Come rescue us in this epic life we participate in.  We need our Hero to redeem us from the hand of the enemy and cause us to live happily ever after in Your holy and perfect presence.

Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

loss of man's favor = REJOICING!

"...And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as he had before...
The Lord said...I will be with you. (ESV)
...I see your father's countenance that it is not favorable toward me as it was before; but the God of my father has been with me. (NKJV)..."

~Genesis 31:1-7

Loss of favor with men does not mean loss of favor with God.  

Hallelujah for that!

"Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake." ~Matthew 5:11 

I know I'm being particular,
but I sorta hope my "leap for joy" looks like this one.

"Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast our your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake.  Rejoice in that day and leap for joy!  For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets." ~Luke 6:22-23

(For a gal who loves people, and loves people to love her; this is a really potent and necessary truth.  Help me to rejoice in these seasons, Lord!)

Corrie knew what was right

...One day a Jewish woman brought

her baby, small and weak.

The baby cried. The frightened mother

found it hard to speak.

So when a minister arrived

to get his watch repaired,

it seemed to Corrie he was sent

in answer to her prayers.

His house was more secluded;

they'd be seer there with him.

She asked if he would take

the baby and the mother in.

"No, no!" he said instinctively.

His fear showed in his eyes.

"That Jewish baby could cost all

of us our very lives."

Although he was a Christian man

and knew the Jews' grim plight,

some Christians were too scared to do

what Corrie knew was right.

~Corrie Ten Boom, Shining in the Darkness

by Maloche, published by YWAM

I hope this Kori will always do what she knows is right...

...no matter what.

When I was first saved, my precious mentor, Renee Carson, told me that I ought to make Corrie Ten Boom my namesake.  I wish I could make it so.  But she is so much more than me.
How I admire her courage in the midst of fear.

Having read and studied so much recently about World War II, and the rise of the Nazi party and Hitler in Germany; I see many similarities around me here in the U.S.: intense regulations; an aggressive attempt to strip people of their right to worship, speak, and be self-sufficient; losing our freedoms in exchange for the government's "protection"; and the list goes on.

I don't want to be fearful, nor do I want to be naive of what really could be coming.

I hope that if things get ugly around here, I will always do what I know is right.  I pray for this end.

I want to be brave.
I want to be righteous.
I want to be a world-changer.
I want to set an example for my children.
I want freedom for us forever.
I want God's kingdom to come here on earth as it is in heaven.

my thoughts on gay marriage...there may be subsequent posts on this

Obama made his grand announcement last week that he supports same-sex marriage.  And so a wave of controversy, argument, and intolerance (and not the kind you think) ensued.



I sometimes wish that the reality was that we could just warmly get along with one another accompanied by no standards and no judgments, and an acceptance of the drastic differences among us.  I wish I, like many who claim themselves to be Christians (but are in fact clinging to and promoting heresy), could embrace simply as a varying point-of-view the issue of homosexuality...but I can't.  It is not me who decides anything...nor is it any other human being on the planet.  There IS a God and He is sovereign... I am neither of these things.  I must cling to Him, His Word, and His ways.  I can not reinterpret what He has clearly stated.  I can not accept that which is unproved by science...that homosexuality is simply a difference like ethnicities and gender...it is not.

Marriage. Ordained and created by God.  Man and woman.  A picture on earth of His relationship with the church.  Jesus, the Bridegroom; we, His bride.  He gives His life for us and will come for us.

"Marriage is not mainly about being or staying in love... It is about showing in real life the glory of the gospel." ~John Piper

To promote marriage in homosexual relationships is wrong.  Marriage is God-ordained.  Homosexuality is God-condemned.  The institution of God-created marriage and family can not be hijacked by the ungodly and the wicked.

I love all of my gay friends.  I wish them to be full of joy and hope and peace.  And I want nothing withheld from them, but... I love God more and I trust Him wholly.  And He is clear.

I wish that I could affirm them but I can't; and my silence on and avoidance of the issue of homosexuality is not serving them at all.  I want to speak the truth and guide them, but I don't want to hurt their feelings or shame them.  And so I end up saying nothing.  But to say nothing is to cause them more harm eternally.

"Faithful are the wounds of a friend;

but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful."
(Pr. 27:6)

I want to be a faithful friend.

I am not communicating this well. Why?  Because this is one of the things in the Bible that I'm not sure I totally like.  Yet, my disliking it doesn't matter.  God is God.  I am not.  He is right.  I am not.

After my first cruise ship contract, I questioned so much about God and His ways.  I didn't like that the way to salvation is narrow.  I didn't like that we had no choice as to our existence, yet we were still responsible to choose the right way or perish in everlasting torture.  I didn't like that I couldn't live my life the way I wanted and follow what seemed right to me.  I didn't like any of these things.  And I wrestled with it over and over in my mind, in conversations with Christians and non-Christians, yet the truth rang in my heart.  God's Word IS truth...even if I don't like it.  HE is the boss.  He is in control.  He is God; I am not.  Nor should I pretend to be.  Nor should I twist His flawless Word to appease my own desires.  He is God.  The rules are the rules and the consequences are the consequences...no matter what I think.  He will not change to appease me...nor should He.  His ways are far above my own.  His thoughts are far above mine.  I can only grasp a comparatively microscopic grain of His infinite wisdom.  And so HE rules.  And it will ever be so.   Glory to the perfect Creator of heaven and earth God!

So, if He says something must be the way it must be, then I must accept it.  I don't have a choice.  I can refuse to believe it...for now, but the reality remains...even if I deny it.  One day EVERY knee shall bow and EVERY tongue will confess that He is Lord.

In this vapor life that is here for a moment and then gone, let's choose Him.  Because eternity is so very long...especially in torment.  And is eternal torment really worth a vapor's length of time living the way we want? (Jas. 4:14)

To my beloved, confused, deceived friends: Oh how I love you.  I wish you would choose life abundant.  I wish you would turn from these temptations that I know desperately overwhelm you.  I, too, have sins that I struggle against.  Things that overwhelm me at times and I think I can't possibly continue to live my life this way.  But He knows the way I take, and when it is over, I shall come forth as gold. (Job 23:10)  So, can you, precious one.  Don't choose the easy way.  Don't choose the wide path.  These lead to destruction.  Please choose righteousness.  Choose to turn from your wicked ways.  Choose Him.  And let Him help you through your temptations and struggles.  Cry out to Him.  He is a refuge, a very present help in time of trouble.  And our fleeting life will pass and we will ultimately have the victory!


Oh let Him deliver you.

If I Wanted America To Fail...

"...I wouldn't change a thing."

Are you celebrating Harvey Milk Day?

So, I'm still trying to figure out where I stand on the whole homosexuality issue in public policy...but one thing's for certain: I absolutely do not approve of the advocacy, activism, and promotion of this unhealthy, harmful lifestyle being brainwashed into normalcy for American children in public schools...on my tax dollar nonetheless.  It is sick.  It is confusing.  And it is dangerous.

Keep your hands off the children!!!!

Bonhoeffer

I finally finished Bonhoeffer.  Yes, it took me about 2 months...maybe 3.  Not because it isn't interesting, but merely because my attention span is short, I'm reading at least 50 other books at the same time to my children, and I just don't have a lot of time to leisurely read books...though, I still determine to read..even if at a slow pace.

Anyway, a great book.  Eric Metaxas (the author) has written our favorite Thanksgiving book: Squanto & The Miracle of Thanksgiving.  So, I was already acquainted with him.  While reading this story of the life of a truly heroic German Christian during one of the very worst times in history, our beloved Chuck Colson has passed on. Chuck Colson, Break Point radio ministry founder, a faithful servant to prison ministry, a redeemed man himself having had his hands dirtied by the Nixon Watergate scandal has passed on in these last few days.  Not coincidentally, Eric Metaxas is replacing the voice of Chuck Colson on his radio ministry, Breakpoint.  Eric Metaxas is knowledgable, wise, and righteously speaking forth truth to all who will hear it.  I have even seen Eric on Real News from The Blaze on GBTV.

I encourage you to read this story for the benefit of educating yourself on another angle of Hitler's Germany and World War II; for the benefit of the exhortation to deepen your own commitment to Christ; and to expand your mind to unconventional ideas that just don't make their way naturally to the typical human brain.  I sure am glad God creates the Dietrich Bonhoeffer's of the world to challenge the rest of us pea-brained Christians.  ;)

I will leave you to chew on this:

"To delay or fail to make decisions may be more sinful than to make wrong decisions out of faith and love..." (p.218-219) 

He seemed to want to warn everyone to wake up and stop playing church. (p.122) 

Bonhoeffer talked about how the German penchant for self-sacrifice and submission to authority had been used for evil ends by the Nazis; only a deep understanding of and commitment to the God of the Bible could stand up to such wickedness. "It depends on a God who demands responsible action in a bold venture of faith, he wrote, "and who promises forgiveness and consolation to the man who becomes a sinner in that venture."  Here was the rub: one must be more zealous to please God than to avoid sin.  One must sacrifice oneself utterly to God's purposes, even to the point of possibly making moral mistakes.  One's obedience to God must be forward-oriented and zealous and free, and to be a mere moralist or pietist would make such a life impossible. (p. 446-447)

Be zealous for a good thing always. (Gal. 4:18)