THE SIN OF SODOM and A PRAYER

I was watching a video on you tube the other night ( I don't remember which one) and someone pointed out that the sin of Sodom was not only homosexuality and "going after strange flesh", sharing this verse (which I believe also represents the Sin of the USA, corporately in many ways… ):

EZEKIEL 16:49-50
49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

It is sobering…  Where is the love these days…? Who is interceding in obedience for the lost, weak and needy ( such as the children and helpless ones…) We are the hands and feet of Jesus, here, called to love "the least of these", one another, and feed the hungry. Lord help us each do our part, however you lead us. Without love we are nothing. Love is patient kind and humble… We don't need to throw our pearls to swine  (mockers and God haters) when there are needy people who are waiting to be fed. Lord, lead us... Amen

Stay, remain, abide in the Word first and foremost!

I wrote this last week after meditating on the book of James and some things the Lord has been teaching me...

James 4:
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

The Lord is reminding me of how we need to stay in the Word, reading and meditating on it, day and night as it says in Psalm 1. We can sing it, breathe it, and live it, everyday. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, as Jesus said, every word ... The sword of the Spirit is the word of God!! In these times of warfare (the evil day) we need to abide in His Word. We need not just milk, but also meat to be strong in these desert, deceptive and dangerous times!  The Word builds our faith ( which is the shield from the fiery darts of the enemy!). The Word feeds our spirit man with strength and hope and love. Are we hungry for it?! Or are our spiritual senses dulled by other things? If our spiritual hunger is dulled then we need to humble ourselves with prayer and fasting-
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.  ( James 4...)

Too may distractions out there and everywhere that can keep us away from feeding on the Word, which should be first and foremost! We have to learn to hear from the Lord through our own walk with Him, so we can learn to discern good from evil. The Scriptures, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, are the very words Jesus used in the wilderness when he was tempted by the devil!! In this hour of temptation ( for the whole earth) we need to be grounded in the Truth of God's Word, first and foremost, growing in the knowledge of God, in humility. We need to dare to be holy and set apart unto the Lord!! Lord help us as we press on to know You and Your ways more and more! Let us not settle for a mediocre spiritual life. Let us not be deplorably lukewarm! We need to be hot and on fire because Your love compels us, oh Christ our King..!!

It's very hard for the children these days....

There are several things on my heart the Lord wants me to share. It all ties together somehow. It may take a few posts...

Once we are born again with the Spirit of Truth in us, one of the names of the Holy Spirit, we begin to SEE all the lies we've been fed all our lives. The world is strong, powerful evil and highly deceptive and seductive in most every way and we need to unplug as much as possible from the "system". Yes, we are in it but should not be of it. But too many "Christians" have been way more "of it".  It is called IDOLATRY.  Cultural or nominal Christianity counts for nothing. Jesus said the only thing that counts is "a new creature."

But we've been lied to, even by the mainstream churches, that it's okay to be plugged into the world, it's entertainment and values, when deep down God's children know it's wrong on so many levels that they see others participate in. We do not live in a Christian nation. There has never been such a thing, and there won't be until the kingdom of God. America is falling because of her pride and greed. I don't know if she is Babylon literally, as in the whore of Babylon. I have often truly wondered, for more than 12 years...

All that to say, that it is PRIDE that causes the fall, and PROUD she has been and still is... So in this sense she is like the whore.... She thinks she is so blessed and rich and great and slowly she is crumbling and it's been speeding. But after a while she will come down with a crash...

And what of all the little children and youth indoctrinated into its' selfish, money seeking, fame seeking, system and lies.... with hardly anywhere to turn. All the while their parents let them drown, or ignore their drowning because they are too busy pursuing the almighty dollar or whatever else is deemed " acceptable" by this wicked society. It's just sickening and it gets to you after a while how corrupt and twisted everything has become. LIES LIES LIES. That is why we are SEEING the fall, if we have courage and eyes to accept it, and only the LORD allows for that.

Many "Christians" are not truly born again if they are following the world so comfortably. That is not real fruit. They have not been truly born of the Spirit, or they have fallen asleep by their idolatry or acceptance of the world's ways and all its' evil changes and progressions in depravity (as with accepting homosexuality as one obvious example and there are MANY)

Yes, we must throw down ALL idols and turn to the Lord before it is too late. REPENTANCE is a daily aspect of our walk with the LORD. If it is not there or encouraged by your "church" or good friends then you may need to consider whether you re in fact in the FAITH, as in the real walk of faith with Jesus Christ! He is the only savior from the destruction coming upon this land, this land that thought and thinks herself herself so high and mighty... Don't  you too be proud or you will fall with her! Only THE LORD can save you-- not your church, not your family, not your own efforts, not your friends, not your money in the bank, not your nice house or good job, not your health or statuts, not your popularity or good talents, not your doctors or counselors, not your budget or your degree, not your position or knowledge, not your previous success or good luck, not your vacations or days off, not your medicines, not your special meetings or groups, not your significant other or mate ....Only Jesus Christ.

The Lord is the only one to fear. Fear of man will prove to be a snare.... It always does. We are to fear the Lord daily because we are living in PERILOUS times and He ALONE can keep us and rescue us. We must return wholeheartedly to the Lord...Only a remnant will be saved...

Awesome word about being rescued!!

Hi, you all, whoever reads this and is a Truth lover : )...
Jesus our LORD and SAVIOR is so amazing and wonderful...
Wanted to share this encouraging devotional from David Wilkerson ( awesome preacher... who died a few years back) It is just such a timely word of comfort for God's people... Had to share it in light of the urgent times we are living in... David Wilkerson was also a prophet of these last days.

Blessings and love in JESUS and leave me a comment if this touches your spirit...as it did mine
What an awesome LORD we have.... Lift up His Name!!

CHECK IT OUT:
http://davidwilkersontoday.blogspot.com/2009/10/deliverer.html

Waking up?

Wishing more people would wake up to the times we are living in. I know the Lord is really trying to wake up His bride. But those who only go though the motions of doing the Christian thing are not really discerning the times or they don't want to. They love their predictable comfortable lives too much and don't respond to the Lord's nudging it seems. Too many are slumbering and the LORD in His love is trying to wake people up. But with all the deception around too many get seduced away…
There are seductive spirits roaming rampantly, and they are really destructive spirits.
It is better to be afflicted and see and obey than to be comfortable, pampered and deceived and slipping away. There is no middle ground. We go one way or the other, especially in these last days. Deceptive, seducing spirits are running RAMPANT and only by abiding in Christ and being filled with the Holy Spirit can we discern and escape. It's too easy to fall asleep. Warriors should not be found sleeping in a battlefield …. !!  Wake up church!

Luke 10:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Read Luke 10 and tell me we are not living in these very end times Jesus is speaking about… Yes, we do not know they day or hour but we are called to watch and pray!

Luke 12:
54 And he said also to the people, When you see a cloud rise out of the west, immediately you say, There comes a shower; and so it is.
55 And when you see the south wind blow, you say, There will be heat; and it comes to pass.
56 You hypocrites, you can discern the appearance of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that you do not discern this time?

I know the Lord speaks to those who are listening and reveals things. We must draw close to Him, staying in the Word, "praying always"( Luke 10:36) and speaking the truth in love, by His grace… Jesus said in John 10 ( emphasis mine)
²⁷ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
²⁸ And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
²⁹ My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
³⁰ I and my Father are one.
   
So sheep HEAR and FOLLOW and are kept by their awesome Shepherd! Praise the LORD! 

Is this really church? ( part 2)

It isn't the real church. It just is not. Perhaps a few of God's children are there. I'm not one to say how many, but the whole system is wordly and deep down I have always known it, in every church institution I participated in, in one way or another. The Lord would only lead me to each place for about a year max and then get me out, quick. 

I believe God is calling many of his true children out of counterfeit Christianity, which has spread like wildfire. I will cover that some in the next post (the wildfire part). I saw the need of a transitional post and this is it, explaining my departure from the last church I visited in the last 8 months. I just wanted to clarify that I did not go regularly by any means and that the Lord kept me from getting "plugged in" or sucked into all their little agendas. Having said that, and confirming that I am not a part of that church, my following post will make more sense... Am thankful how the Lord always gets me out at the right time... I know there was a purpose in my going there when I did, and meeting some of the people I did. It remains to be seen whether or not the few individual friendships I thought I made will endure... I hope, but from experience I can't not hold my breath. I know a couple friends have shown real love and I believe that will endure and I hope the church does not corrupt them too much, sad to say. I want to pray for all my brothers and sisters, that they can discern truth from error, by loving the truth enough. And Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. The Scriptures also say that the Lord rewards those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).  He must be Lord. He must lead, not man. Do we follow men or the Lord? Do we seek the Lord's will in all things, daily? Do we walk in the flesh, or the Spirit? Do we listen more to men than to God?

Is this really "church" ( Part 1)

I "go" to the Sunday service, the big production set up for the day. Everyone is all smiles, dressed their best. The music/worship band is up front ready to go. Is it weird that they are up on an elevated "stage"? No that's just normal these days. Worship can still happen there, right?   I think about these things after I sit down. I feel uncomfortable as there were no seats in the back, where I usually like to sit and sort of hide, be out of radar.

Why did I go? I don't know. I wanted my daughter to be around other children with God fearing parents. I don't mean parents who are afraid of God. No, I mean parents who know and love God. Maybe we will meet some. I am pretty new at this church, haven't gone consistently. But it was Mother's day this past last Sunday and we needed to be around other believers, my daughter and I.
I am a single, separated mom of one school age daughter, whom I home school. Times have been rough to say the least. My separation was a necessary escape from an oppresive man. I endured more than 10 years with him.

Anyway, we have been lonely at times for real friendship during our trials, so I thought I should give church another go, to make some new friends. It's not that I am counting on the church system itself to meet my needs or anything. I have learned that it can't and won't. But I can still make friends in spite of it. I have in the past.

We started going to this church 8 months ago. Of course when you are new, some people will flock to you to welcome you, etc. I was so needy and broken when I first visited, I immediately went up for prayer and did so the first several Sundays there. Thankfully, it was helpful in some ways, as some caring people prayed for me. My soul was hungry and I would even take the kindness of strangers.
I had prayed for God to lead me, and I went to the service very reluctantly. But it really ended up not being so bad after all.

But things turned sour soon after, because expectations were set on me regarding what I needed to do to "fit in" to the church, and for my own good. They were all well intentioned, of course, and I sort of felt like I owed it to them after their kind prayers. So I was sucked in a bit. I was invited to take this Alpha Course which I knew was for unbelievers or new believers. I prayed it through and decided it would be okay to check it out, just for the sake of fellowship ( they offered a free meal too) and meeting kind folks.

I don't regret taking the course. It was a good course, even for a pretty grounded believer like myself. But what bothered me is that the only way for me to maintain communication with these new "friends" was to go to their meetings and follow their agendas. Why does it have to be so darn structured and controlled? No one asks. They just accept and follow.

Well, as long as I was part of their little group, they were there for me, if they saw me Wednesday night. So I went and tried to enjoy the good and share what I could, in whatever squeezed time allotments I was permitted to.  It worked out okay for a bit. The folks there prayed for me a few times and also helped me move, which was huge. I suppose God gave me favor and help there through the people willing, and I was thankful.

But I started to feel like this "project" of theirs, that they really had no time for unless I was conforming to their way of doing things. My desire to just "hang out" and naturally develop friendship was not really reciprocated. They had to plug me in to their next bible study of whatever program they thought I needed. It would have been fine to be part of their small group except the group had such a tightly controlled and specific agenda. After the first meeting I saw it was not a good fit. It felt demanding and constraining for me and I already had too much else on my plate with the trials of being newly separated. so I decided not to continue going and of course no one had time for me outside of that. Did I blame them? No, their lives are full with the agendas they chose to follow. But I don't want to live my life that way, without any margin or space to just be a friend to people. If I am constantly controlled by planned meetings and expectations, then there is no room for much else. I wonder is there any room left to be led by the Holy Spirit for these people with such structured lives?  Do they think following all these agendas is really following the Lord?

The thoughts I have

In this blog I hope to share my thoughts and observation about many things pertaining to God, life, faith, the times we are living in, what poses as spirituality and so on. I "think" so many things that I want to share. I know it is the LORD who reveals many things to me, by His grace.
I don't know who else observes these things, I'm sure some do, but it will be good to write it all out, as He leads. I have felt compelled to for some time. Maybe it will help someone else... Hope so. Also, read my profile, I am a work in progress and do not claim to know everything!