Trapped by bars of the past or freed to live in the present

There was a guy in world history named Paul.  He was a brilliant man.  Might even have had a photographic memory.  Paul was also a craftsman and came from good genetic stock.  Likely his parents were positioned well in government.  Paul had it all, yet Paul was in prison for what he believed and actions dictated by his beliefs.

One would think to be in prison would be the end of God's opportunity to use a person for international impact.  In Paul's case, it was only the beginning.  His writings and observations have impacted mankind for our entire existence… 

It seems to me many people live in prison.  Some behind iron bars, others behind the bars of past circumstance.  Both can be equally confining.  I suspect being confined by the bars of historical circumstance are far more confining then iron bars.  Consider Paul again.  He was confined by iron bars and continued to have tremendous impact on the world.

In prison or out of prison, Paul was effective in his walk with Christ and his impact on the world.  The question for each of us is, "Has our response to life's circumstance created a prison we choose to live life in?" 

This seems a bit muddy.  I'll try to clean the thought up.  Supposing as a child, you were abused by your father or someone else.  From that vantage point or perspective, you have come to view life.  After all, if you can't trust your father, who can you trust?  Supposing in the abuse, you are taught to believe the lie, you have no value.  Why else would you be abused?  Right?  It only took me a couple of lines to build a more solid prison around you than Paul had with iron.  I hurt for you and I and the prison we live in.

There is a way out.  It is at the feet of Jesus….
 
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“Build faith into expectations”~priest

You all know Paul.  He wrote a bunch of stuff about successful living a Christian life in the midst of hell on earth.  He was tortured in body, soul and spirit more times than he could remember.  Yet, he passionately loved Jesus and lived a life worthy of his calling.  Here is a great principle for you and I to adopt in our life.  Paul says it like this…

"Also, prepare a guest room for me, for I hope that through your prayers I will be restored to you."~Paul

In your and my life, this thought would play out in our looking to the future of what we want and desire according to God's will and purpose.  Then, physically do something that points you toward your expectations.  In Paul's case, he wanted to visit his friends.  He was in chains literally and the visit was an impossibility.  But in faith, he asked his friends to prepare a room for him.  Then, it was time to pray…

Today.  Look to the future.  Prepare a room.  Pray.  It's time…

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Sometimes being outside the box is a good thing

I am blogging in Chick-fil-A listening to Christian music. How incredibly unique is that? The place closes on Sunday, also. While the world blows off God and demands ownership of Sunday, Chick-fil-A gives it back to God. The corporation is incredibly profitable and there is a waiting line to manager a franchise.  

Thank you Chick-fil-A for blesses the world with your faithfulness to God! Eat mo chikin!

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“When a command conflicts with a principle, which rules?”~priest

WHAT!? A priest doesn't know everything?  Well.  Shuck my corn!

As I reach into my pocket and take out my last $2 to give to a bum, the thought comes to my mind: "Be a good steward of what God has given you."  I take the $2, give it to the bum and say, "God bless".

OK.  Here is the rub.  The Word says to give to the poor quite explicitly.  The Word has a principle that says to be good stewards of what God has given us.  Is it possible for a command to conflict with a principle?  I don't know.  Maybe.

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Paul was not a wimp and suffered that his friends might live…

Paul is my hero.  He ran a good fight.  He was not afraid of suffering for Christ.  He was not ashamed for the life he uniquely lived.  He encouraged others to life a similar life. This page is from a personal letter to his friend Timothy and is powerful.  Enjoy!

For this cause, I remind you that you should stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control. Therefore don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but endure hardship for the Good News according to the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before times eternal, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the Good News. For this, I was appointed as a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this cause I also suffer these things.

Yet I am not ashamed, for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed to him against that day.

Paul words are powerful. Consider living your life according to God's purpose and grace.  God bless. archie

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The gift of tongues would have come in handy.

I was sitting in McDonald's yesterday.  There was an older hispanic gentleman sitting at a table next to mine.  He sleeping.  I was blogging on my computer and thinking about the old guy across from me.  I had a "throw down" Bible.  I figured I might have an opportunity to give it to him when he woke up.

Very shortly, he woke up and mumbled some stuff.  I walked over and commented about how cold it was getting outside.  I handed him a couple dollars.  He took them, stuffed them in his pocket and nodded back to sleep.  There was a table full of teenagers watching to interchange between he and I.  

In a bit, he woke up for good.  He started talking, not to anyone, just talking and staring at the table.  He was talking in spanish.  Much of what he had to say  cursing.  He could curse in both spanish and english.  But he only spoke in spanish.   Interesting…. I begin praying, but what to pray?

Time for the pop quiz: When a person is talking gibberish, how do you know if the person is mentally unstable or demonically possessed?  I guess if you don't believe in demon possession, it only leaves crazy.  Personally, I'm ok with the concept of demonic "crazy out of your head" possession.  

I kept my Bible and begin praying for his sanity.  I prayed God would restore his mind.  I prayed God would drive out the demons.  I kept praying and hoping he would regain his sanity.  I wondered what it would be like to have demons exorcized in McDonalds.  I wondered if there were any pigs around.  

He and I left at the same time.  Me getting in my car and him trying to get across a busy street.  I like to think my prayers were heard and God will speak into the confusion of his mind.  I don't know if I did all I was suppose to do.  I just know I tried…

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Does God hear the slot machine prayer?

There are times when I pray and immediately I can see God at work fulfilling my wishes.  But there are other times when I pray and I see and get nothing.  What is up with that?  What happens when you pray to the god of slot machines and don't see God do anything?

Some simplify the Sunday School answer to God always answers.  He either says, "Yes", "No" or "Later".  I know the answer to be much deeper than that and likely even devalues God with the simplicity of the taught Sunday School answer.  My God seems to be a bit mysterious in the way He operates.  How about yours?

There is one thing I know to be true.  When you pray in the will of God, things happen.  People struggle knowing the will of God.  Somethings are easy.  Read His Word.  Everything there is within His will.  The Word says, "Love".  So pray for Love.  God will hear.  

Knowing the will of God in buying a new car, may be a bit more difficult to discern His will.  His Word does not say to go buy a new red Porsche, but it doesn't explicitly say to not buy the Porsche of your dreams.  So what do you do?  How will you pray with expectations of seeing God at work?

You might try this.  Bow your head and worship the Father.  Tell Him thank you for life and all He has blessed you with.  While in worship pick up His Word and read it.  Appreciate that you are reading the very Words of God.  Incredible.  Then, ask God for what you should pray.  This part is awesome.  

Don't go to the slot machine god of the skies.  Go to your heavenly Father.  Say, "Father.  I have lots of issues, but today I want to pray according to your will.  For what shall I pray?"  God will immediately open your mind to His thoughts and His will.  Pray in His will, not yours.  

Then remember, revelation dictates action.  Get up and Act up for Jesus!  I love that thought, "Get up and Act up for Jesus!"

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“Pray to God to change all the possibilities in my life. Please pray for my husband,he is call Fred.”~Apphia

A visitor to 37stories last night says, "i am 24 year old,am facing difficult challenges in my right,it very moment i feel like given up .God bless" and also asks for prayer. "Pray to God to change all the possibilities in my life. Please pray for my husband,he is call Fred."~Apphia

I am blessed as I am sure you are, that a person with heart and soul has stumbled across an oasis of love in the desert of the Internet.  God's presence is being felt through His God Spots, literally around the world. 

I will pray for Apphia and I have hope you will pray, also.  I believe Apphia will know the presence of God and will be encouraged to continue the race.  It would be encouraging to Apphia if you would post an encouraging comment.  Thank you.  Archie
 
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God Spot: I wondered. I had Awe.” ~Jack

Guest Post by: Jack Frost 

I will not make a doctrine of this…but, I wonder….

We live in a fallen world. We know that. We believe that. We live that.
We live in a physical world. We see that. We feel that. We know that.
We live in a spiritual world. We see that. We feel that. We know it because we experience it.

So. Permit me to limit to these three at this time….

In our fallen world, we see sin abound. We see sickness and we see pain and we see massive injustice. We see far more than this, but we also understand it is tied very inextricably to the spiritual world.

In our spiritual world, we see forces of evil and forces of God in combat. We see the struggle for good to overcome evil. We see a constant battle to deny the power of God in everyday life. We see times of wonderful communion and times of absolute beauty and worship.

With the spiritual world, we do battle and participate in the process of trying to live in the Age to Come as we live physically in This Present Evil Age.

How often CAN we bring things into the spiritual world that are firmly a part of the physical world?

Example: Moses was told to take his rod (a physical stick, possibly formed to be comfortable in the hand and a useful tool and weapon) and throw it into the spiritual world. It became a serpent…and then he pulled it back into the physical world.

Moses again: Take the same rod, and strike a rock- both in the physical world. Follow the direction of God and in supernatural ways we do not understand, the physical act moved something in the spiritual world and the physical world reacted by water flowing from a rock.

We know of times with Elijah and Elisha where they spoke regarding things in the physical world that became subject to the spiritual world.

So. In this time. In this age. We continue to live in This Present Evil Age, while also living in The Age To Come….and Jesus said 'greater things than these….' and 'signs and wonders will follow….': Is it possible that we would see and perform 'miracles' if we were to grasp and live within that understanding that we MUST pull the physical world into the spiritual world in order for the spiritual world to be able to impact the physical?

I'm not after a formula. I'm wondering about understanding.

In part, this came about as we headed home from Nashville late last night. It was pushing midnight, and it is just under 70 miles of mostly dark interstate to our little house on the lake. And we weren't 3 miles into the trip when the engine began stuttering and missing….and I stopped at the first place and bought drygas stuff to help clear the lines. It didn't help. The further along we went, the worse it got, and I had no place to turn to for help. Then the transmission began some funny thing of seeming to drop out of overdrive into some in-between gear…not overdrive, not 3rd…and yet there isn't a 4th….and the engine would work better in that gear. 

Worried that I would be stranded with wife and two kids in the hills of Southern TN with the outdoor temps right around 14 degrees, I turned to Father and just asked for help. And this is the thought that then came to me. And in that I began to 'see' my Suburban being moved in a form into a spiritual world. At this point, I began to wonder. Moses and Elijah and all did what they did with natural materials. Did it work with things made by man? 

I don't have answers. I know over the miles, the engine continued to miss, but it lessened. The transmission began to go back to a more normal operation. None of it quit entirely, but enough that I was no longer fearful of being stranded 50 or 60 miles from friends that might help us on a Monday morning at 12:30am…most need sleep as they go to work or school early. 

So as I drove into our drive and parked (strange thing, those words and concept), I Wondered. I had Awe. Not that we had made it, but that an entirely new understanding is breaking upon me. 

How often do I lose the awareness of the Worlds in which I live?

How often can I see a change in one world if I can see it brought into another?

Curiosity abounds.

Your Brother-in-grace,
Jack

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“Revelation presumes action seems certain,” ~priest

Some things are certain in life.  The thought that revelation presumes action seems certain.  Why else would God reveal truth?

God's Word is meant to be shared.  There are limitless venues from which God's Word is propagated.  Sometimes, it is shared in traditional worship services.  Sometimes, it is shared "one-on-one" in personal relationship.  God's Word is even shared by those yelling it from a street corner.

I was in Honduras years back, helping to build a missionary compound.  We took a break and went into the small town near by.  There was a man standing on a street corner proclaiming God's Word at the top of His lungs.  From the raspy sound in his voice, you can tell this was not the first time he had been out.  

Jesus tells us that there are those who proclaim the Word and there are those who hear the Word.  For those that hear the Word, their life is forever impacted.  With revelation from God, action follows and life begins.  Satan goes to work attempting to destroy any good thing God is in the process of creating.  Many times Satan is successful in stealing the blessings intended for you and I.  

Uniquely when we are steadfast in our walk with Jesus, we are blessed to produce fruit some thirty times, some sixty times and some one hundred times.  

As we begin the new year, hear God's Word.  
Keep your eyes focused on Jesus.  
Believe He will walk with you through the storm.  
In Jesus name, bind satan.  

I pray God's protection on you and your family.  
There is wonderful fruit just waiting to be picked.  

"The farmer sows the word. 

4:15 The ones by the road are the ones where the word is sown; and when they have heard, immediately Satan comes, and takes away the word which has been sown in them. 

4:16 These in the same way are those who are sown on the rocky places, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with joy. 

4:17 They have no root in themselves, but are short-lived. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they stumble. 

4:18 Others are those who are sown among the thorns. These are those who have heard the word, and the cares of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 

4:20 Those which were sown on the good ground are those who hear the word, and accept it, and bear fruit, some thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times.” ~Jesus

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