happy birthday kelly
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I am not sure where to write this, I have been looking all over the grace website. I need help. I am lost spiritualy. I have lost god in my life, I came to Grace last Sunday 01/18 and I got to the front doors but I was intimitated and couldn’t get myself to come in. I guess I am trying to reach out to someone. If you are not interested in helping, please just delete this I guess. I need to find god and jesus again and I don’t think I can do it on my own.
Comment by JT — January 22, 2009 @ 5:35 pm
Dear JT,
You are not alone. The quest to find and know Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is a personal and daily constant, within every soul ever created.
Right now, take in the deepest breath you can, hold it, then exhale slowly.
You have done ALL of that on your own.
Or did you?
“The Kingdom of Heaven is within”, claimed Christ. God is within YOU.
It is reasonable to ask “Why am I so confused and lost, if God is so close?”
Well, have you ever polished the furniture on a bright, sunny day? It gleams with fresh polish, but as you stare into the light, tiny flickers of dust and dirt are floating by in random directions. As clean as you have made everything, there is dirt flying around everywhere, and it will land on the furniture anew.
Our world is filled with dirt, and confusion.
You are not lost; you have not been polished in a while. Just as that furniture above must be repolished or layers of dirt will accumulate, YOU must draw close to the light to find the dust in you.
Jesus said: “I am the Light”. Well, as you draw close to Him within yourself, you will polish the heavenly established soul within JT. It is a daily life event, nay moment-by-moment!
A fellow named Enoch “walked with God”. He did it so often that they became the best of friends and one day, Enoch simply walked with God to heaven.
Think you are confused alone, and solely?
Here is Rachel at another site under religious discussion:
Rachel said…
dang it, i was really hoping for a debate here. I wanted to know people’s thoughts.
I fit into the diagram right about where you are, but probably leaning a little more towards the free will side.
January 24, 2009 5:23 PM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is NO debate at that site, so I move it here on your behalf, JT.
“Free Will” trumps predestination and folks are way to the right of the chart of debate as they follow Christ.
When I hear a sentence like that, it is so full of “churchy” words and “religiosity”, and “churchianity” that I want to run as you do, JT.
When the church was being established (Book of Acts, read some of it….but read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, first) there were no big buildings like Grace, or the myriad number of churches in town.
Believers in Jesus Christ met in the homes of believers. You do not have to go to a building to know Christ. As you drew air inside yourself above, you can depend upon the Holy Spirit to reveal God to you.
But, when I am going somewhere, I like input from someone who has travelled there before me. They can tell me the tourist spots to avoid, and the best spots to savor.
THAT is what early Christians did with one another in their homes, and the Holy Spitit comforted and counseled them.
What the Holy Spirit, Christ, and Father have done in the past, is done NOW and at all times in the future.
Catholics will tell you “We are the One, True, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.”
This is true, but error has entered over the centuries.
Protestants will tell you they have corrected those errors and returned to what Jesus originally wanted of his followers
(a short Protestant Reformation there, if you will).
The reformation of 500 years ago has not stopped, for the Holy Spirit is STILL, in this day, giving the love and grace of the Father to all who seek him. BOTH Catholics and Protestants fail to see that often. We think of the BUILDINGS before the people.
We keep busy, busy, busy with activity instead of simply sitting quietly with God.
Fortunately, we serve a living God. And He lives within you, JT.
You have spent much of your life with people. Family? Friends? Coworkers? Neighbors? Community? People are everywhere and each that you contact over the time of your life, have an influence. This is what I call a horizontal relationship. In any direction you look left and right, there are people in your history.
Many folks take their cues on God, from the folks they have met “horizontally”. This is like building a roof before a basement when you want to be in the House of God.
The Cross has a “horizontal”, but it also has a “vertical”. You have established many horizontal relationships and that is fine.
Trying to know God is trying to establish a vertical relationship. Putting your soul in alignment with Heaven and God!
Imagine if knowing God, making a vertical relationship had been done first!
Much of the horizontal choices made instead, would have been avoided.
Put it together now and you have a Cross of vertical and horizontal. Jesus went and died on a Cross to make ALL relationships between God, and all people, loving and right once again.
I read of a lady lamenting to her husband in the car. She said to him: “When we first dated, you used to sit close to me as we drove places and you cuddled your arm around me so snug and tight. NOW, you NEVER do that!”
He replied: “Who moved?”
The driver is still clearly in the driver’s seat. The driver is God. Who moved away from the snuggles and love? We do; each time we sin.
Can it be light and dark at the same time in the same spot? Nope.
Can a Holy God be close to a sinning person? Nope.
Why do we move away from God and His love?
Free Will —- because we CAN. So we do.
But He has never stopped wanting us sitting close enough to snuggle.
On the other hand, He wants to snuggle with those who truly love Him. Wouldn’t YOU?
Sinners choose their sin of choice….ALL of us.
And all those choices and sins are a way of saying to God, “I choose them, over you”. We move away from God.
Sin is deadly to souls.
Christ died for a reason. US.
He picks up the check. He pays the bill and the price WE owe. And, He does it so that we can move closer to the driver and be in love again.
I would urge you to read the bible as His love note to JT.
I would urge you to read Romans 12: 1-2
and write those two verses down.
Then, read Philippians 4:8 and write it down.
Romans verse tells you what to do with YOUR life.
Philippians verse tells you HOW.
WE are the church. The Kingdom of Heaven is within us. Since we have no spot to meet, maybe Rachel will say “Anyone who wants to is welcome to have church at the house of my blog right here. Speak up folks. We are brothers and sisters and need to help our family.
Love God.
Love One Another.
I hope that helps a bit JT.
You are a different person than the little baby your parents held in their hands. Then again, you are the very same person, eh?
Same with God. You were crafted by Him personally and have grown and changed
(free will does that to all of us).
But you are also the same person to God as on day one.
He wants to staff all the available places in Heaven with people who love Him, keep His Commandments, and follow His voice….as a bride and groom follow each other’s voice.
Welcome home, JT.
Comment by Danny Lucas — January 25, 2009 @ 2:41 pm