Falling Birds, Dead Fish, and Hyper Senses

Just walking along minding my own business, when all of a sudden (What the...?) I'm beaned with several hundred birds falling from the sky...dead...not me, the birds. After I shake this off, I continue to my favorite fishing spot and stand aghast at hundreds of fish floatings at the surface...dead again, (still not me but the fish). I rush back home (OOOOO it's the end of the...) and I immediately prepare for the "Apocalypse".

Just so you know ... this didn't really happen but I could have .....woooooooooooo!

Getting the shivers because of a few birds falling from the sky? Feeling that the end is near because fish are floating? WOW ....what are you going to do about it?

Sorry but stuff will continue to happen, but when God's wrath is let loose it won't be a few birds, or a few fish...it will be COMPLETELY DEVASTATING. Read the little glimpse into the real deal below (and only a small portion of the catastrophes):

Revelation 8 

1 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
2 And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him
much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.
5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
6 And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound .
7 The first angel sounded , and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up , and all green grass was burnt up .
8 And the second angel sounded , and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part
of the sea became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died ; and the third part of the ships were destroyed .
10 And the third angel sounded , and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became * wormwood;
and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter .
12 And the fourth angel sounded , and the third part of the sun was smitten , and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened , and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
13 And I beheld , and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound !

What is the worry? Isn't your life securely hid in Christ and Heaven for sure? Not sure???? Get sure! THEN ...reach out to others if your senses have hyper-activated...make sure they know.

It appears that we grow closer to His coming than when we first began this journey. Don't take time for granted...take it as a gift to live for Him and redeem this time gift for the sake of others.

HLFA

Jeff


Please don't be affraid to contact me if you feel unsure about your relationship with Jesus.

ralph_spinach@comcast.net

Noisy Bags

We live in a BIZARRE day...

Good is called bad ...bad is good, especially for the News.

Talent is spotlighted even if the gifted are reprobate or rude.

Character is degraded as old fashioned.

Sluggards are rewarded with entitlement and extended handouts.

The loudest whiner gets the attention even if the whiner is totally ignorant.

Credentials can be purchased or bullied instead of being earned.

Actually depraved men have always done their best to do their worst to get the most from those who do the most to do right.

Frito Lay invested a sizable fortune in a green initiative to make their "plastic" bags BIODEGRADABLE....{ After being lambasted for years as the scourge of the country side,(plastic bags blowing everywhere, mostly from people too lazy to dispose of their trash properly)}. They finally developed a bag that will breakdown in a compost pile in 14 weeks ...when it hit the market here is what happened:

SunChips bag proves it not easy being 'green'
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Noisy bag proves it's not easy being 'green'-- What happens when being "green" also means being LOUD?
In April 2009, Frito-Lay, the snack-chip company, announced that all the bags for its SunChips would be made from plant material, meaning the bags would leave no waste behind. The problem was the new bag had an unusual molecular structure that made it noisy. How noisy?
-- So noisy that people compared opening a bag to the sounds of lawnmowers and jet engines.
-- So noisy that SunChips sales have fallen by more than 11 percent in the past year.
-- So noisy that Frito-Lay has decided to go back to the original packaging on most flavors.
-- So noisy "Face Book" protests started
-- So noisy Frito-Lay Canada offered ear plugs
Frito-Lay says it will continue to try to find better ways to create environmentally friendly chip bags.

Not much different than Jesus' DayWhen there was an opportunity to do right.....

Matthew 9
23 And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise,
24 JESUS said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.
25 But when the people were put forth , he went in , and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.

There will always be noisy opposition against those who choose to love Jesus openly ... those who trust Him for the impossible ... those who chose to love others, instead of using and abusing others.

If you must be a NOISY BAG ...let it rip!

HLFA,

Jeff

Big Nose...Or A Beautiful Ornament

Laying down for a few moments, slightly under and near the Christmas tree, I closed my eyes just briefly to reminisce...Oh Christmas moments long ago, wee little crumb grabbers in total excitement and hope of what miracle might be discovered there for Christmas Morning!

I was actually chuckling out loud over the many funny memories...and it kind of bothered the dog...so she did something she rarely does...stuck her cold wet nose on my ear. (I'm not quite sure of the Greek word I used at that moment, possibly Huerisko) Immediately my eyes flew open, and staring me right in the face was a BIG Golden Nose. AAAAAAUGH! "Hey bub, that's your big nose in a golden globe shaped Christmas ornament" ....woe! ..pretty gross, possibly some golden goobers up there!!

But as I moved back just a little to get proper focus ...the nose disappeared and a shiny golden ornament took its purposely arranged place among the rest of the beauty of the Tree. The most beautiful thing about the tree is not its superficial decor but the underlying message of the hope of a more awesome tree, horribly but purposely decorated with the Body of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. DECORATED FOR US!!

Well in a big way, during this heart quickened season ...we are his ornaments. As people look on and see us, do they find a big gaudy blur that takes His love message way out of focus

OR do we concentrate on the ornaments that clarify faith? Like a beautiful woman below is the focus of the ornaments:

1 Peter 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

Oh to be decorated with ornaments that clarify His Love...not just a big golden nose!

Every Christmas is a little rough on me because I constantly bump into those who won't even entertain the thought of going to a church. Almost always it is because of the gross ornaments that have offended them that they have found hanging off of "Christians" ... pride, power, insult, offense, ignorance, and just down-right seperative rudeness.

It might be a good year to re-decorate our lives for Christ -
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Great place to start. ...get rid of the "big nose!"

Merry Christmas,

HLFA

Jeff 

Christmas Creation

Do you find your heart during this season... Once finding it, is it...longing...hoping...caring...hoping...longing..............sighing from your inner most being?

Once upon a time, an insignificant group of people sat in the darkness of the cold hours of the night. Like most nights, these people were captured in the longing: The longing for that flash on the horizon that announces that "daylight is coming". The longing for the constellations of Heaven fade into the day; the longing for the true light that begins to melt into peace. Peace that can deliver us from the anxiety caused by the unknown, the unseen, and the fears that creep in with the shadows created by the lesser lights of the night.

THIS particular night...an event would bring a change the way they would look at the skys forever. An event with such majesty that it would tenderize their longing hearts for the rest of their earthly lives. These insignificant people would experience the heavens burst open and eternity would spill forth and out, in full innocence and glory right before their very eyes.

A furious army of eternity's defenders ...would pass through the void, appear in the temporal sky, and would joyfully and boldly announce the Healing of the Eden's breech... "Peace due to God's Will and desire, which would be to all who would receive God's Love Gift, Jesus, who would restore the broken relationship with God and Men".

"You shall find" the "New Borne" Babe...the Alpha...bundled in grave clothes...Alive and resting in a feed trough..........WOW! there couldn't be a more appropriate place for Shepherds to find the food for their longing souls but in the common ground of the familiar...a feed trough.

Our God is so surprisingly and appropriately AMAZING!

He is Emanuel - GOD with us. Able to pay for our sins, able to save us from our sins, able to deliver us from death, able to sustain us in eternal life...and all by meeting us in the familiar.

Right where we are ...take a few moments in the media induced hustle and bustle of this season, get out under the star filled sky ...remember, thank, love and long for Jesus' next burst from eternity...that will call us away once and for all (who love His appearing) into Eternal Christmas, New Creation.

O does your heart long for Him?

HLFA,

Jeff

Stay Real???

Superman got his cape caught in a telephone booth as he tried to fly away. It yanked him back and he stepped on his "Clark Kent" glasses while tearing his cape in the process. Two identities marred. Easy fix ? Oh yeah! ...new cape and new glasses...nothing lost but time; but even that he fixed by flying backwards at the speed of light. No one noticed but him.

NO ONE NOTICED BUT HIM ... HE DID WHAT HE NEEDED TO DO TO RETAIN HIS IDENTITY... HOW DO WE RETAIN OUR IDENTITY IN THE MIDST OF A CHANGING WORLD AROUND US.We all experience successes and failures. How we handle these moments actually can define our identities unless we have a way to reset. Don't allow success or failure make you unrecognizable ..."I don't know who you are!" If that phrase comes your way from someone you love ...BETTER LISTEN.

After a miraculous recruitment of disciples in Luke 5 ... Jesus cures a Leper, a most contagiously infected and rejected individual; covered by his disease, controlled by his disease, untouchable because of his disease ...Cured by Jesus after a very tactile embrace from the Savior. The impossible done, He was now on the public broadcast system (though Jesus said go show yourself to the priest and keep it hush-hush) due to human nature's fascination with Miracles. Jesus did one big one and his fame spread like a wildfire. Success ...what does he do so he doesn't lose his identity? Let's take peek ......

Luke 5:15-16
But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear , and to be healed by him of their infirmities. Jesus' response to the overwhelming success and fame ...He lets it go to His head???? And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed .

Let's look at what this means through the revelation of the words ..."He retreated back to who He was... in a place void of success, and He communed with the Father".

Whether it be success or failure ...the place to go is to "who we are in Him". Don't sacrifice the integrity of your eternal relationship with Him for a few measly, tasty, temporal crumbs in this fading life.

True Success is found in our relationship with Jesus. Sink your energies into cultivating the most amazing GIFT life on this side of Heaven...Knowing Him and the power of His Resurrection.

Love Jesus Openly because you've retreated to Him in the Solitary.

HLFA,

Jeff

Lost in the Mix

One of the most frustrating things about being a musician is hoping the performance matches the heart.
...The music should carry the message.
... The music and the message should work together to convey the soul of the performer to touch the soul of the listener.

One of the most frustrating things about being a teacher is hoping the lesson matches the heart.
... The illustration of truth should reveal the truth.
... The lesson and the truth should work together to convey the soul of the teacher to touch the soul of the student.

One of the most frustrating things about being a lover of Christ is hoping our conversation (way of life) matches His heart.
... Our life should carry His message of life.
... Our walk and our talk should work together to convey the soul of the Spirit to touch the soul of those we come in contact with.

What causes the message to be lost in the mix: is the perception of "the moment" and what to do with the reality we are facing. 


Get a picture of this snip-it from a Biblical story (below) ...70 years the Children of Israel have been in ungodly Babylon ...free at last and in their own land, they stand before a "new" temple structure ... it is being raised from the rubble of the once glorious Solomon's Temple ... there are two groups of people at this dedication service: The Ancient who had seen the FIRST temple and "the People" , those who had never seen the temple because they were born in Babylon. The Ancient are a mixture of those type of people who hang on to the past and those who rejoice in the day ...the People are mixed with those who cling to the NEW and those who rejoice in the day. .........hear the words that recorded the moment: Ezra 3:12 - 13 

"But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy: So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off." 


Doesn't this sound a little like the gatherings that we call "Church"? Woe is me songs, Woe is me throngs droning Woe is me statements like "it wasn't like this in the olden days".
People weep because of change, not realizing that He who never changes (because He is always relevant), makes all things new! NEW ...what does that mean to you?

HOLD ON - SOMETHING IS BEING LOST IN THE MIX! 


Maybe Jesus has been lost in the mix ... though we've been unfaithful, we've never been disowned ...yet we act either like spoiled brats who scream when we don't get our own way, or orphans begging for moldy bread in the darkened alleys of a faceless city. Get out of your useless pity party and quit coddling your favorite sin ....rise up and take full advantage of this life abundant He has given...this life of Joy unspeakable with Him. 


Do you feel that it was easier before you came to Christ?(this thought may be revealing) Something is wrong ...and you are not wanting to face it ... Jesus has been lost in the mix of you choices in life. Slow down, simplify, focus on the star, the babe wrapped in swaddling cloth, the celebrated life, the cross, the tomb, the sky, the field....
Focus on Jesus ...He's standing right in the middle of the confusion ...calling your name ... 

Matthew 11:28-29  - Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden , and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 


May our lives make a joyful noise that draws others to Jesus.

HLFA,

Jeff

Incredible Security

21st Century Buzz Words often filter into our everyday lives 

...and then the Challenge comes from the air waves, the shop floor, the CEO office and even the Pulpit: 

"Get out of your comfort zone!" and you will find ???????? 

What ever it is that they say you are looking for, that thing you have always wanted. 

And of course since they are the experts they must know what they are talking about. Right? 

NOT ALWAYS! 

Definition: The comfort zone is a behavioral state within which a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk .

Some of us think that reduction of anxiety and minimizing risk is something that happens when we are IN CONTROL ... others think that the reduction of anxiety and risk happens because we put things in HIS CONTROL.

Earth to brain: SORRY to inform you but we are still here ... not home yet!
Here is a truth to consider - Our faith's firmness is not measured by the reduction of anxiety or by increasing or decreasing the risk.

FAITH COMES BY HEARING ... HEARING BY THE WORD OF GOD ... FAITH IS THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR.
FAITH IS NOT MEASURED BUT GROWS BY HEARING THE WORD OF GOD AND BECOMES SUBSTANCE AS IT GROWS.

Why is it that the motivation to get out of the comfort zone always seems to carry fear of being forsaken? If we don't do this or if we do this we could be forsaken...maybe even forsaken by God.

Romans 9:29 - And as Esaias said before Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.(Isaiah 1:9 - Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.)

Matthew 27:46 - And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying , Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Hebrews 13:5 - Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have : for he hath said , I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

"LEFT" Romans 9:29, Isaiah 1:9
(Prophesy of Jesus being forsaken, for us)

"FORSAKEN" Matt.27:46
(Jesus crying out, forsaken, for us)
"FORSAKE" Hebrews 13:5
(Promise to His, to us ..never forsaken).

Give your faith a break from fear of being forsaken ...Hear the fact that Jesus was forsaken for you, and He will not forsake you. Get out your comfort zone ???? Not totally sure what they're wanting me to do but maybe I need to get out of my "fear" zone.

HE hath said -- I will never leave you, nor forsake you.

HLFA,

Jeff

Unseen Riches Are Not Useless, But Lint???

I pulled at and pulled out my pockets to see if it were true;
You know what I mean ...just to prove our poverty to someone else we will show them the true emptiness of the "money-less pocket situation"...
AND WE MAY FIND A SURPRISE AWAITING THE REVERSAL OF THE POCKET MATERIAL.
UREEKA ...(that is what it sounds like --but this is how it is spelled)

Eureka!!! LINT! cooooool!
New Jeans can produce a beautiful blue lint after the initial washing and seems to be an endless supply of it as the days go on.

Oh the power of lint ...
1. Always shared with coins...at the point of purchase.
2. Mixed up in bottom pocket paperwork.
3. We create screens for it in dryers.
4. The dryer balls of it are found everywhere in the LAUNDRY room if we are careless in our house cleaning.
5. Creative people have made artwork out of it?
6. Survival people use it to start rescue and camp fires.

FOR THE MOST PART UNSEEN....
But this unseen stuff can reap havoc if a spark ignites it in a home...
But this unseen stuff has aided in burning down homes....................
UNSEEN STUFF CAN RESCUE OR DESTROY --wow, but .....SO??

Romans 9: 20 -23
20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God ? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known , endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

God's plan for the most part works behind the doors of the Heavenly Potter Shop, the Heavenly
Laundry and the Heavenly "impossible" Cafe.

2 Corinthians 4:18 - While we look not at the things which are seen , but at the things which are not seen : for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 

Since the unseen is so important to Him, it ought to be of prime importance to us. 

Hebrews 11:1 - Now faith is the substance of things hoped for , the evidence of things not seen . 

1 Corinthians 2:9 - But as it is written , Eye hath not seen , nor ear heard , neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 

Cooperation with God's lint operation becomes the biggest blessing in our lives and the lives of those we touch ....SURPRISE, I LOVE YOU! The amazing power behind something so soft and yet hidden in the bottom of a pocket.

OUR LIVES 

HIDDEN IN HIM 

GIVEN TO REACHING THE LOST 

CAN CHANGE ETERNAL DESTINATIONS 

2 Corinthians 4:7 - But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

Be careful ...this power of the unseen can be very disruptive ... hopefully for ever. 

COOOOOOL ...some more lint .....pray in secret, for your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

HLFA,

Jeff

"Oh My Soul! He Dropped the 'F' Bomb!"

Can you believe it? Old news, but in the greatest country on the planet, our second in command thinks there is absolutely nothing wrong with blurting out a totally disgusting and inappropriate word... some news commentators laughingly called it the "F" bomb. 

I call it "heart revealing". What was this man thinking?

Fiduciary ....Food ...Fat ...Friends .....I DON'T THINK SO! .... slip of the tongue ...rebellious phopaux ...??????? Some even thought it was cool!!!

It probably is far more important to know what God is thinking....

Deuteronomy 32:20 - And He said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward ( REBELLIOUSLY PERVERSE) generation, children in whom is no faith.

Below is a partial descriptive resume for the negative attributes necessary to join their "F" Bomb club.
Proverbs 30:11-14 (pleased don't join this club!)
11 There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother. (Parent dis-respecters and dis-owners)
12 There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. (Personal Sin & Guilt deniers)
13 There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up . (Idolatrous Self Worshipers)

It is almost embarrassing but members of this club have infiltrated every area of our lives ...music, TV, radio, movies, magazines, the Net, the market place, business, the office, the church and even our Homes (there - the home - is no doubt the root of the problem).

"Oh, you are such prudes, fuddy dud-dies!"
Why because We always drop God's F-word ...FAITH?

Do the math that is to follow .....
1 heart space with only so much room for Jesus.
1 heart space cluttered by acceptable crud space = less room, and even sometimes, no room for Jesus.
1 heart space torn by the struggle to Love Sin or Love Him = war.
1 heart space receiving eternal truth from His Word = growing room for Jesus = Victory.

Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord ...be turned off by the crud (Sin) ...make room for Him.

HLFA,

Jeff

Breaking News: A Tornado Stole the Fire at a Picnic for the Mute

What a beautiful day for a picnic! ...Gray skies, billowing clouds, ominous thundering sounds in the distance, and debris flying everywhere around the picnic site, BUT EVERYONE IS OK, and NO ONE'S TALKING. The perfect setting for their annual Mute Picnic.

In Psalm 58 there is some amazing insight to God's attitude and actions towards those too quick in announcing their own personal righteousness(attained apart from the love of God's righteousness) but mute when it comes to righteous judgment (attained by ignoring God's love for sinners)... Very scary words like -
The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: Let them melt away as waters let them be as cut in pieces. As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away : like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. PRETTY SCARY!!!

What is even scarier is that these people blend into the congregation of the Righteous...you know? (The Saved, the Born Again, His Kids) ...these people are found right in the midst of the assembly of God's people. These "Mute" actually have a contagious affect on the congregation as a whole.

As I was reading this I actually stumbled over this verse like one with impaired vision without his glasses trying to walk through a room of blurry obstacles ...Oh I love it when God makes me think about eternal concepts....

Psalm 58:9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind , both living, and in His wrath. Here is a loose but devotional translation of this statement ... Before your large cooking pan can begin to sense the start up heat needed to prepare for a much needed meal --a tornado will come in and remove not only those who are under the firey wrath of God but those who have been revived also. QUESTION ... Without a meal we have what???? ..........hunger. Without meals for a long period of time we have ...........starvation. Nothing available to put in the pot may be evidence of a famine.

Sounds alot like the lives of individuals all across this land ...NOTHING IN POT, TRYING TO START THE FIRE ...a whirlwind of useless activitiy all around them carries away their much needed sustenance from Above. Before they are even aware of the Famine, they are right in the middle of it.

Amos 8:11 KJV
Behold, the days come , saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

Are we in the midst of this famine?

Micah 6:8 KJV
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Matthew 5:6 KJV
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled .

Don't go out like the mute assembly who shut their mouths when something is very wrong in the Kingdom.

HLFA,

Jeff