Category Archives: Alabaster Breaking

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“THIS IS THAT”

“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all were in one accord in one place.

And suddenly  there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave the utterance.

Now when this was noised abroad (told), the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?

And how hear we every man in our own tongue (language), wherein we were born?

Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia.

Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews, and proselytes.

Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?

Others mocking said, These men are filled with new wine,

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words.

For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.” Act 2: 1-16

I am sure everyone has seen reports of the great revival that is manifesting as all the woes. and troubles,  and terrors are bringing the birth pains of this world to an excruciating deliverance.

We have been seeing for years now those events which Jesus told us were the beginning of the sorrows, and as the world is in that spiritual labor with pain and suffering on all sides, but the beauty to be revealed will far outweigh the pain

So many of us have lived for this very moment in time, the fulfillment of all that Jesus promised and the fulfillment of those promises.

And all this will go hand in hand, as the troubles increase so will the number of salvations.

But, as the old saying goes, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!” I know I had included this in a post once but I can’t remember which one, I have almost six hundred on here, so I am clueless what I titled it,as I do get funky with those sometimes:)

I used the passage above to correlate with this, I know I have used it before but it had to be again, I wanted to share this.

I want to share what I believe is coming with this, I believe we are in the realm of what we have been waiting for, and many that believed that also, and have went on home now, but like those of Hebrews chapter eleven, they died still believing this would one day come.

And it has been stirring, I had an absolute divine revelation of such, May 19,2012, I had an appointment to preach and those of us there were worshipping and the Spirit fell in an incredible way,  now this was a Spirit filled church, there were two, one of which was my late sister, who had the awesome gift along with tongues that allowed them to sing in tongues, which is a sound unlike anything you could ever imagine,we had a wonderful pastor, who has also went on now, but God blessed our services, but this particular night was profound.

As we worshipped the Spirit just came and every person’s gift manifested, and this was simultaneously, the entire group with different manifestations of the Spirit, and I heard  crystal clear a portion of that verse above.

And when I got home, I went to Book of Joel, but I had to go to the Book of Acts to find what was spoken to me, it referenced Joel, but it was stated in Acts.

I was so amazed by what I had saw and what I had heard that I wrote down the date, I couldn’t even tell you now what my sermon was on that night, but I can tell you what really held the importance of that moment.

And I believe that is what we are going into, as the harvest is coming in, we will see manifestations of the gifts and miracles unlike anything this world has ever seen or will ever see again.

The simplistic truth of miracles is this, they are for those who do not believe, they are to show onlookers that what has transpired has no human explanation and are of the supernatural realm, that is why the disciple prayed  for the signs and wonders to follow them and as Jesus told us they do follow those who believe.

I don’t want to get into that too much, but it’s been quite clear why  we hadn’t seen those things as we should in the American churches

There has been some much animosity in ministry at least from my prospective  there is so much one-upmanship, and “Anything you can do I can do better” attitudes that go on behind the scenes that it’s no shock the false doctrines have taken such a hold, but that’s all over now, because we are in the days that there will be that separation and the works will be done through those who are now being prepared while those who couldn’t get past a false sense of competition will be in for a sad realization, think of that as when Moses realized his disobedience prevented him from entering the promised land.

The fire now is for them who are falling at the feet of Jesus, with true humility and repentance, desiring only His forgiveness, mercy, and grace.

When we truly have Christ, it is no longer about us, or even this world, it is about bringing all we can to Him, for His glory and for the Kingdom, and to see souls who were tormented made free, and the greatest goal, to witness his Kingdom come to this earth and Him take His rightful place as King

To sum it all up, hold on to your hats, as the saying goes, the crazy is just going to get crazier, the woes are going to grow dreading more woeful, but as the manifested glory falls, it will be unparalleled in wonder.

Joel 2:1-31: “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is at hand;

A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains; a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even the years of many generations.

A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.

The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.

Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.

Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.

They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:

Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.

They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.

The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withhold their shining.

And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Who knoweth is he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him: even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?

Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:

Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chambers, and the bride out of her closet.

Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine inheritance to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?

Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people.

Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine,a nd oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen.

But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savor shall come up, because he hath done great things.

Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things.

Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.

Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.

And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.

And I will restore to you the years the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.

And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.

And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD you God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.

And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come.

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.”

All winding up, all coming together, and as always if you have not received the salvation of the Lord as yet, do not hesitate and if you desire more of him, pray and seek His face and you will never be the same!

Blessing and Peace till next time!

Φλογιζω NBJ 2023/ Rev. N. Brown Johnson

 

 

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Angels, Roses, & True Love Part 4 “Truest Love of All”

“As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you; continue ye in my love.

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

These things I command you, that ye love one another. 

If the world hate you ye know that it hated me before it hated you.  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world,but I have CHOSEN you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”  John 15:9-18   

Love is the most misunderstood word in existence, and love in its truest sense is often left undiscovered.

When Jesus gave us these words, which he went on in verse twenty to remind us to, “REMEMBER the word that I have said unto you…” as He went on to warn them that we can never expect to be treated any differently than he was.

We are truly judged by the company we keep and often once you started keeping company, as our old Southern sayings go, with Jesus, you will find out pretty fast who your real friends are, which in most cases, will then mean were. 

So often all of us at one time or another have been hit with the old routine of “If you really loved me…” and you know that is the biggest trap the enemy has ever set.

People who really love you will NEVER play that game, they will NEVER use the love that they know you have for them as a tool against you, to manipulate and control you or to coerce you into to bending to their will and never caring at all about you or your feelings.

So that my friends is the state of the world, and just as Jesus said, the world, referring to those people, people who do not honor God or his teachings and sure do not want you to honor him, they will hate you. 

Being human will all need to feel love and we need acceptance and the enemy plays on those needs because he knows where our greatest weakness lies.

That it why it is imperative to cultivate a relationship with Jesus and of course if you have never accepted salvation, that is where you must start.

Think about that, just as he told us, there is NO GREATER LOVE, the love of God, the one who created you, just as He told the Prophet Jeremiah… “BEFORE, I formed thee in the belly  I knew thee”…  and he knew you, me, and every other person who was or ever will be created.

And His love, mercy, and grace will never fail.

He gives this freely, openly, honestly, no strings attached, no deals to be made.

He just gives all that He is and He gives from the moment He brings you into this world through all the ups, downs, of life until your golden years.

He gives us that hope, that choice, and that offer to open that door as He beckons for you to open your heart and as He also promises that even as time fades from us that He is there.

Isaiah 46:4: “And even to your old age I am he and even to your hoar hairs (gray hairs) will I carry you; I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.”

Now those are the words of God Himself promising us that even to the end of everything, He will carry us, deliver us, and as He also promised in scripture elsewhere, He will never leave us or forsake us.

THAT is Love.   

So, you see no matter where you are, where you have been, none of it matters.

God wants you right where you are, and maybe the enemy has lied to you, convincing you that God has already called too many times, or you have went too far or that your family, relationships, or circumstance disqualifies you from ever being able to serve God, again one of the biggest lies of all.

Jesus loves you and He died on the cross to save you, and it is  never too late until you take your last breath.

He will save you, all you have to do is ask him into your heart, because He will not just force you  accept him,  or force you to accept the greatest gift of all, His love the only true love, and a love that will never fail.

And as I leave you, I want to leave you with this question, Why spend life never knowing what you cannot know until you have accepted it?

I know that was a tongue twister, meaning this, never dismiss the thought of the existence of God or the relationship that is waiting for you, a relationship of peace and love, and truly knowing God, until you have at least sought Him.

Before I was saved I did not understand that either.

I always thought of God as just out in Heaven, we could pray to him and I believed in Him but never understood what it meant to know His presence, and no one can know that or understand that until they are saved.

This is how it works… you believe, you ask and then you know.

He is not in the business of proving Himself to us before we believe, we believe and then He reveals Himself to us. that is the part the world that he referred to is missing, and they do hate him or rather the belief in Him, because their hearts are so darkened and their minds so blinded that they do not believe in anything, they live in the moment, never believing that there is more.

Falsely thinking that this world, this life is all that there is, and as the Bible teaches us, if we only had hope in this life, and our only confidence was in the things of this world we would be miserable.

He proved how much He loves us, enough to die for us, and there is no greater nor will there ever be a greater love than that of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for reading, sorry that I was running so late with this series that was supposed to be for Valentine’s Day, but God knows everything and His timing is perfect so I hope in some way this will bless you TODAY!

Φλογιζω NBJ 2020/ Rev. Nina Brown Johnson REVISTED 02/16/2022 & 02/12/2023 

Series posts: Angels, Roses, & True Love/ Intro

Angels, Roses, & True Love : Part 2 “Angels”

Angels,Roses,& True Love/ part 3 “A rose by only one name”

by

“He’s got ya…”

“Then the eleven disciples went way into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted.

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to all things whatsoever I have commanded you; 

And, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. A-men,”  Matthew 28:16-20  

I am sure that you are very familiar with those verses, and I have used them many times myself over the years.

And when my thoughts for this post were hitting, I had actually thought about a television commercial. And I know how strange that may sound, and it wasn’t about the product or service offered, it was about the support. 

A trainer is encouraging a person by telling her “I got you” and that has always just reminded me of how Jesus encourages us, that when storms that we had expected to cease somehow still swirl all around us and the battles that we have entered into full of hope, faith, and determination assured that victory will come and we can find ourselves doubting, questioning as that battle seems to go on endlessly in an exhausting dead heat. 

We often wonder and question, much like the disciples that found themselves doubting, just like Thomas when he had doubted that Jesus rose from the dead. And they found themselves in the place that he had destined them to be, the place they were told to go.

That is the deal with the doubt and uncertainty that comes at us when life goes upside down, the first thought the enemy brings to us is, “IF”, IF you were where you should be with the Lord, none of this would be happening.” 

Has that ever gone through your mind?

I am sure, if we would be honest, this has gone through many minds. Because that is how the enemy uses doubt and it is one of his more powerful weapons, and that is how you have to view, nothing more, nothing less. 

As I have “preached” many times in this little blog, reiterating Romans 8:38,39 NO ONE and NOTHING can ever separate us from God so the enemy uses doubt to cause us to separate ourselves from God through the false belief that somehow, we are out of his will when nothing in our lives feels like it could possibly be his will. 

It causes us to THINK…RETHINK… and finally OVERTHINK everything that we have been taught about the Word of God and about God and make us completely question our relationship with him. So, don’t!

Try out a new weapon of your own. Change your battleplan.

Jesus promised us many things but it ultimately up us to believe those promises and sometimes we have to look at things differently, because how we view a situation, or an expected outcome is not always how he views it and when those things go a way not of our choosing NEVER means that he does not love and NEVER means that he has suddenly changed his mind and DECIDED to go against his own word and forsake us.

He will NEVER do that.

And once we understand that we can see truly step back away from our battles and see the truth that we can’t fight life and we certainly cannot fight death, but we can have peace in knowing that he is the ONLY one who holds our tomorrow and the only reason we can get through today.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.

For as the rain cometh down, and snow from heaven, and returneth not thither (it does not go back up), but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void (empty, without fruit) but it shall ACCOPMLISH that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I send it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace…” Isaiah 55:8-11a 

Trust him, remember his promises and don’t let doubt steal that joy, joy that you need, joy that is your strength, the joy OF the Lord, joy not in this world but the joy in knowing that the God of the universe loves you! 

He’s “got” you and he is NEVER going to let you go and know that it is in that joy in him, joy in soul, not to be confused with being joyous in this world, it is hard to be cheerful when your heart is broken, so no, it is not cheerful joy, it is the joy in salvation and the promise of eternity.

And that is the joy that will bring you out of the wilderness and lead you forth out of that battle in his peace.

“RESTORE unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free (generous) spirit.” Psalm 51:12 

For something to be restored it had to have already be possessed, And when we start our journey with Jesus we are full of that joy, the joy that comes with the realization that his grace and mercy had spared our through our days of darkness and sin.  

Then as we mature in him and life comes as life does we find ourselves in that doubt… forgetting that joy.

He never changes, he accepts and loves us just as much as he did the day we accepted his salvation, the change lies within us. that why he tells us of his thoughts and our thoughts, and I have been very guilty of this myself, we have our thoughts of what should happen on earth but he gave us promises NOT of this earth and our true hope and salvation are not of this earth.

Being human, we want all the promises fulfilled here (and some are) but our hope is supposed to rest in the ETERNAL outcome. And that is your joy, that is your hope, that EVERY single morning while you are in this world, on this earth, HIS mercy is renewed every single morning and His mercy endures FOREVER. NOTHING will ever change that, nothing. 

Get in your prayer closet and spend time with him in the Holy Ghost, let heaven bless earth.

Remember those words that will NEVER return to him unfruitful… I AM WITH YOU ALWAY… 

And He’s got ya! He did not create you, love you, so that he could then just suddenly decide to you out to the wolves! Jesus does not work that way!

Have a blessed week! Love and peace till next time…  Praying it’ll be a blessing to you TODAY!!

Rev. Nina Brown Johnson / phlogizo360 2019   *REVISITED 07/20/2021, Φλογιζω NBJ/2021 AND***REVISTED 09/02/2022*** 

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Angels, Roses, & True Love Part 4 “Truest Love of All”

“As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you; continue ye in my love.

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

These things I command you, that ye love one another. 

If the world hate you ye know that it hated me before it hated you.  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world,but I have CHOSEN you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”  John 15:9-18   

Love is the most misunderstood word in existence, and love in its truest sense is often left undiscovered.

When Jesus gave us these words, which he went on in verse twenty to remind us to, “REMEMBER the word that I have said unto you…” as He went on to warn them that we can never expect to be treated any differently than he was.

We are truly judged by the company we keep and often once you started keeping company, as our old Southern sayings go, with Jesus, you will find out pretty fast who your real friends are, which in most cases, will then mean were. 

So often all of us at one time or another have been hit with the old routine of “If you really loved me…” and you know that is the biggest trap the enemy has ever set.

People who really love you will NEVER play that game, they will NEVER use the love that they know you have for them as a tool against you, to manipulate and control you or to coerce you into to bending to their will and never caring at all about you or your feelings.

So that my friends is the state of the world, and just as Jesus said, the world, referring to those people, people who do not honor God or his teachings and sure do not want you to honor him, they will hate you. 

Being human will all need to feel love and we need acceptance and the enemy plays on those needs because he knows where our greatest weakness lies.

That it why it is imperative to cultivate a relationship with Jesus and of course if you have never accepted salvation, that is where you must start.

Think about that, just as he told us, there is NO GREATER LOVE, the love of God, the one who created you, just as He told the Prophet Jeremiah… “BEFORE, I formed thee in the belly  I knew thee”…  and he knew you, me, and every other person who was or ever will be created.

And His love, mercy, and grace will never fail.

He gives this freely, openly, honestly, no strings attached, no deals to be made.

He just gives all that He is and He gives from the moment He brings you into this world through all the ups, downs, of life until your golden years.

He gives us that hope, that choice, and that offer to open that door as He beckons for you to open your heart and as He also promises that even as time fades from us that He is there.

Isaiah 46:4: “And even to your old age I am he and even to your hoar hairs (gray hairs) will I carry you; I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.”

Now those are the words of God Himself promising us that even to the end of everything, He will carry us, deliver us, and as He also promised in scripture elsewhere, He will never leave us or forsake us.

THAT is Love.   

So, you see no matter where you are, where you have been, none of it matters.

God wants you right where you are, and maybe the enemy has lied to you, convincing you that God has already called too many times, or you have went too far or that your family, relationships, or circumstance disqualifies you from ever being able to serve God, again one of the biggest lies of all.

Jesus loves you and He died on the cross to save you, and it is  never too late until you take your last breath.

He will save you, all you have to do is ask him into your heart, because He will not just force you  accept him,  or force you to accept the greatest gift of all, His love the only true love, and a love that will never fail.

And as I leave you, I want to leave you with this question, Why spend life never knowing what you cannot know until you have accepted it?

I know that was a tongue twister, meaning this, never dismiss the thought of the existence of God or the relationship that is waiting for you, a relationship of peace and love, and truly knowing God, until you have at least sought Him.

Before I was saved I did not understand that either.

I always thought of God as just out in Heaven, we could pray to him and I believed in Him but never understood what it meant to know His presence, and no one can know that or understand that until they are saved.

This is how it works… you believe, you ask and then you know.

He is not in the business of proving Himself to us before we believe, we believe and then He reveals Himself to us. that is the part the world that he referred to is missing, and they do hate him or rather the belief in Him, because their hearts are so darkened and their minds so blinded that they do not believe in anything, they live in the moment, never believing that there is more.

Falsely thinking that this world, this life is all that there is, and as the Bible teaches us, if we only had hope in this life, and our only confidence was in the things of this world we would be miserable.

He proved how much He loves us, enough to die for us, and there is no greater nor will there ever be a greater love than that of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for reading, sorry that I was running so late with this series that was supposed to be for Valentine’s Day, but God knows everything and His timing is perfect so I hope in some way this will bless you TODAY!

Φλογιζω NBJ 2020/ Rev. Nina Brown Johnson REVISTED 02/16/2022

Series posts: Angels, Roses, & True Love/ Intro

Angels, Roses, & True Love : Part 2 “Angels”

Angels,Roses,& True Love/ part 3 “A rose by only one name”

by

Angels, Roses, & True Love/ Part 3 “A rose by only one name”

“The wilderness and the solitary (desert) place shall be glad for them: and the desert shall blossom as the rose.

It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and signing; the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.

Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm (make firm) the feeble knees. Say unto them that are of a fearful heart (are afraid), Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you.

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

Then the lame man shall leap as a hart (a deer), and the tongue of the dumb (mute) shall sing; for in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desert.

And the parched ground shall become a pool and thirsty land springs of water; in the habitation of dragons (jackals),where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

And an highway shall be there, and a way (road), And it shall be called The way of Holiness;  the unclean shall not pass over it: but is shall be for those; the wayfaring men (those who walk the road), though fools, shall not err therein (will not go astray).

No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed of the Lord shall walk there. 

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.   Isaiah 35

Well to get started, Happy leap day, Happy leap year, Happy Sadie Hawkins Day! That is a lot for a day that only comes every four years!

It is cold and snowy in my part of the world, looked quite like a post card this morning, absolutely gorgeous with snow covering every branch of every tree and glittering down sparkling as the sun tried to shine through.

And it is a beautiful refreshing change from this time yesterday, as I was feeling a little ” Bob crackit-ish” having just came out of a nineteen-hour power outage caused by a fallen tree…ah the joys of electric heat. 

And things can and do change fast sometimes, like the old saying, “What a difference a day can make.”

Like our passage above, I know that seemed excessive, an entire chapter, but it is needed. God often works in our lives the same way, one day is catastrophic, your entire world crashing around you, such as in the first verse, a spiritual wilderness, a barren deserted land in which you feel that you have found yourself helplessness alone.

Then Jesus comes in and lets us know that He is already there, He is in that place with you and for you, and in those places of solitude is the very place that God often uses to bring that gladness and joy of his presence to us.

This is why the desert can be “glad” for us, and why it can be a place, starting out with feelings of lonely abandonment and quickly becoming a beautiful, fruited land in where find a renewing and strengthening of your personal relationship with God.

A place in which you learn complete trust and complete surrender while gaining faith and complete confidence in his power over your life and the blessed knowledge that he is doing something wonderful in you despite what everything around you may be saying to the contrary.

And the blooming of that rose, a rose not only blooming but blossoming into perfection out of the parched dry ground.

A rose that would seem doomed to never in bud given the hardness of the soil in which it is planted but once those sweet waters come bringing the glory and joy of the land over that land, everything will change.

Wasn’t it Shakespeare’s famous line that told even by any name a rose would smell just as sweet?

Ah, but I do beg to differ…

“I AM the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. As my lily among the thorns, so is my love among the daughters.” Song of Solomon 2:1,2

And talk about beautiful fragrances…

“Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness; therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows (more than any other), All thy garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia…” Psalm 45: 7, 8 (a) 

No name greater, no fragrance sweeter than our God, the only true rose, the only rose whose love does bloom in us, even in the middle of a desert and who is the lily producing a beautiful, sweet fragrance covering and replacing the smell of the awful ash left by what had once consumed our life.

That sweet aroma of that lily, whose beauty shines forth even from among the painful thorns as we go through the valleys of this world, as all the “dragons”, all that would hurt and hinder are made silent and renewing, as that fresh grass growing starts to take place.

So, you see, you can’t stop, you cannot give up, because where you are today can change in twinkling of an eye. The place of the desert that you may feel will engulf you may very well be the place you look back on one day with a higher knowledge and understanding that if it had not been for that desert, you may have never be given the only truly perfect rose.  

“Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour (aroma).”  Ephesians 5:1,2

Nothing, absolutely nothing that can be sweeter or any rose more beautiful than Jesus.

Trust him, just TRUST him.

Φλογιζω NBJ 2020/ Rev. Nina Brown Johnson REVISTED 02/15/2022

For series posts, please click links:

Angels, Roses, & True Love/ Intro

Angels, Roses, & True Love : Part 2 “Angels”

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ASCENSION PART 1 “NIGHT WATCHMEN”

The sun may be shining, but it is night. The birds may be singing but it is night. For most, everything may appear well-lit and crystal clear but in the spirit world it is night.
For the addict who is one hit away from the mouth of hell, it is night. For the prostitute who is one trick away from the wrong John, who will be the devil incarnate come to assure her entrance into hell, it is night.
For the bullied teenager who is one razor blade away from ending it all, it is night. For those widowed and alone, whose loneliness eats away at their souls more viciously than any cancer, it is night.
For those persecuted and imprisoned for their beliefs or simply for the sick pleasure of the forces of hell, still the brightest of days with the greatest, blinding magnification of the sun is the suffocating blackness of the  most darkest of nights.
Night Watchmen, those hired to protect and oversee the goods and properties of their employer.
These particular watchmen actually being the biblical laborers hired in at that vital eleventh hour, because as dusk starts closing in, that harvest must not only be gathered, it must also be protected from the beasts of the field that attack to destroy it, even while the laborers work exhaustively to gather it.
As it is the eleventh hour, this work must be done in complete unity, all while following one light that will light their way through the rows, showing both the ready crops and revealing the awaiting dangers.
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105
These are the night watchmen of the Lord, they stand in the night hours when destruction and mischief are most common, and sin tries to take cover under the darkness of night.
While the rest of the world “sleeps”, these are they who will keep vigil, pray down strong holds, plead the blood of the Lamb over ones they have never even known and through intercessory prayer they will make a difference between life and death. They will through that prayer under the unified anointing of God will stand in the gap and make up the hedge around those who are unable to do it for themselves.
Their petitions before the throne of grace will break chains of abuse and addictions and the anointing of God will break the chains of abuse and addictions.
“BEHOLD, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord.” Psalm 134:1
Watchmen know who they are, and Night watchmen even more so.

Be vigilant, do not get discouraged and know that the power of the anointing of the secret prayers you pray alone are known of God, “who sees in secret, and will reward you openly”.

Ask that your prayers be accepted in agreement of unity with all those who are called as you are.
Know this also that as this is the last Psalm in the “Songs of Degrees” (steps, stairs) and just as being “compassed about with songs in the night”, this is going somewhere, it is blessed and it is beginning of the “prayers of the saints.”
Φλογίζω/ Original Post:01/01/2015. All rights reserved. Rev. Nina Brown Johnson

**REVISITED 03/05/2021**   REVISTED again 08/17/2021 because now more than ever we need to

stand in prayer for those who are suffering persecution.

Please consider reading the remainder in this series, the links are below.

ASCENSION Part 2 INTERCESSION

ASCENSION Part 3 CLIMB

AWAKENING / THE FORGOTTEN CHILD

Resurgence of Ruth/

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Have you heard?

“And it came to pass, that when Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? and they said unto him, WE HAVE NOT SO MUCH AS HEARD WHETHER THERE BE ANY HOLY GHOST.” ACTS 19:1,2

Now this is much like the scriptural fact that “How can you believe upon Him in whom you have not heard?” These men HAD been baptized into John’s baptism, by all rights they WERE saved but yet they were missing a crucial element to there salvation, the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.

And I KNOW all the arguments, I KNOW that there are more than enough that believe that this was only for the disciples and these moments in time. And I will not even go there because I have a better question for their answer. How can you KNOW that for certain, if you have NEVER experienced HIM?

Sure, if you have never  known a fact for yourself, YOU CAN SAY with self assured fervor that this is no longer given and BELIEVE in yourself to be right and yet be so completely wrong. 

The common knowledge is this, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that you are given at the exact breath that you accept Christ as your Savior.

The Holy Spirit leads us,and guides us, gently nudges us in the right direction and will flat out warn us to stumbling blocks or snares that the enemy has set, and will also convict us of our own self righteousness and unsavory behavior.

No disputing that anywhere. But there is so much more, much,much more and it seems that what was once sought after, prayed for, fasted for, has now has been left for the pages of a denominational history book.

That is a major problem. God has not changed. The gifts and callings have not changed. The fruit of the Spirit has not changed. He is the same God that called out Abraham, He is the same God that spoke to Moses, and performed every mighty act recorded from front to back in His Holy word. Ancient of Days, STILL THE SAME. And the Holy Ghost is STILL very much active, alive and quite well.  

The only change that came was to us and our desire of Him and we absolutely have to get back to those old paths from a generation ago because what we are going to lose is irreplaceable. THEY WILL NEVER KNOW IF THEY HAVE NEVER EVEN HEARD OF HIS EXISTENCE and that is a sad state, I have been saved for sixteen years and I could probably count on one hand the times this subject has been addressed that I have heard.

We need more than ever to teach on Him, preach on Him and pray that the gift that He blessed the Disciples with would come again, that at the laying on of the hands others would receive.

So if you have never accepted Jesus as your Savior, don’t hesitate, you will never know the true meaning of love, and the depth of the deepest peace until you know the Master of it all.

If you are saved and have never been filled with the Holy Ghost, Well, Now YOU HAVE HEARD!

Start praying, you pour your heart out to Him and He will do the rest and THEN your walk will be easier, YOU WILL BE RENEWED in ways you never, ever thought possible, and you will KNOW, and I do mean, without a shadow of a doubt the PRESENCE and overshadowing of Jesus, and everything will make sense and struggles that have held you in bondage will cease and you will never ever be the same!

 Φλογιζω

** Original post date: 01/30/2016**

Reverend Nina Brown Johnson / Φλογιζω 2020/NBJ  

A little more food for thought… Love & peace till next time!

PLEASE WAKE UP !!!

If you only knew…

“Change your clothes”

“Designed, Resigned, & Refined”

Have a Blessed Pentecost!

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Angels, Roses, & True Love part 3 “Truest Love of All”

“As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you; continue ye in my love.

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

These things I command you, that ye love one another. 

If the world hate you ye know that it hated me before it hated you.  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world,but I have CHOSEN you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”  John 15:9-18   

Love is the most misunderstood word in existence, and love in its truest sense is often left undiscovered.

When Jesus gave us these words, which he went on in verse twenty to remind us to, “REMEMBER the word that I have said unto you…” as He went on to warn them that we can never expect to be treated any differently than he was.

We are truly judged by the company we keep and often once you starting keeping company, as our old Southern sayings go, with Jesus, you will find out pretty fast who your real friends are, which in most cases, will then mean were. 

So often all of us at one time or another have been hit with the old routine of  “If you really loved me…” and you know that is the biggest trap the enemy has ever set. People who really love you will NEVER play that game, they will NEVER use the love that they know you have for them as a tool against you, to manipulate and control you or to coerce you into to bending to their will never caring at all about you or your feelings.

So that my friends is the state of the world, and just as Jesus said, the world, referring to those people, people who do not honor God or his teachings and sure do not want you to honor him, they will hate you. 

Being human will all need to feel love and we need acceptance and the enemy plays on those needs because he knows where our greatest weakness lies. That it why it is imperative to cultivate a relationship with Jesus and of course if you have never excepted salvation, that is where you must start.

Think about that, just as he told us, there is NO GREATER LOVE, the love of God, the one who created you, just as He told the Prophet Jeremiah… “BEFORE, I formed thee in the belly  I knew thee”…  and he knew you, me, and ever other person who was or ever will be created.

And His love, mercy, and grace will never fail, and He gives this freely, openly, honestly, no strings attached, no deals to be made.

He just gives and he gives from the moment He brings you into this world through all the ups, downs, of life until your golden years, He gives that hope, that choice, and that offer to open that door as He beckons for you to open your heart and as He also promises that even as time fades from us that He is there.

Isaiah 46:4: “And even to your old age I am he and even to your hoar hairs (gray hairs) will I carry you; I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.”

Now those are the words of God Himself promising us that even to the end of everything, He will carry us, deliver us, and as He also promised in scripture elsewhere, He will never leave us or forsake us. THAT is Love.   

So you see no matter where you are, where you have been, no of it matters, God wants you right where you are, and maybe the enemy has told you that God has called to many times, or you have went to far or that your family, relationship, or circumstance disqualifies you from ever being able to serve God, again one of the biggest lies of all.

Jesus loves you and He died on the cross to save you, and it is  never too late until you take your last breathe, He will save you, all you have to do is ask him into your heart, because He will not just force you  accept him,  or force you to accept the greatest gift of all, His love the only true love, and a love that will never fail.

And as I leave you, I want to leave you with this question why spend life never knowing what you can not know until you have accepted it?

I know that was a tongue twister, meaning this, never dismiss the thought of the existence of God or the relationship that is waiting for you, a relationship of peace and love, and truly knowing God, until you have at least sought Him.

Before I was saved I did not understand that either.

I always thought of God as just out in Heaven, we could pray to him and I believed in Him but never understood what it meant to know His presence and no one can know that or understand that until they are saved.

This is how it works… you believe, you ask and then you know.

He is not in the business of proving Himself to us before we believe, we believe and then He reveals Himself to us. that is the part the world that he referred to is missing, and they do hate him or rather the belief in Him, because their hearts are so darkened and their minds so blinded that they do not believe in anything, they live in the moment, never believing that there is more.

Falsely thinking that this world, this life is all that there is, and as the Bible teaches us, if we only had hope in this life, and our only confidence was in the things of this world we would be miserable.

He proved how much He loves us, enough to die for us, and there is no greater nor will there ever be a greater love than that of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for reading, sorry that I was running so late with this series that was supposed to be for Valentine’s Day, but God knows everything and His timing is perfect so I hope in some way this will bless you TODAY!

Φλογιζω NBJ 2020/ Rev. Nina Brown Johnson

Series posts: Angels, Roses, & True Love/ Intro

Angels, Roses, & True Love : Part 2 “Angels”

Angels,Roses,& True Love/ part 3 “A rose by only one name”

 

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Angels,Roses,& True Love/ part 3 “A rose by only one name”

“The wilderness and the solitary (desert) place shall be glad for them: and the desert shall blossom as the rose.

It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and signing; the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon,  they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.

Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm (make firm) the feeble knees. Say unto them that are of a fearful heart (are afraid), Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you.

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

Then the lame man shall leap as a hart (a deer), and the tongue of the dumb (mute) shall sing; for in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desert.

And the parched ground shall become a pool and thirsty land springs of water; in the habitation of dragons (jackals),where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

And an highway shall be there, and a way (road), And it shall be called The way of Holiness;  the unclean shall not pass over it: but is shall be for those; the wayfaring men (those who walk the road), though fools, shall not err therein (will not go astray).

No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed of the Lord shall walk there. 

And the ransomed  of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; the shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.   Isaiah 35

Well to get started, Happy leap day, Happy leap year, Happy Sadie Hawkins Day! That is a lot for a day that only comes every four years!

It is cold and snowy in my part of the world, looked quite like a post card this morning, absolutely gorgeous with snow covering every branch of every tree and glittering down sparkling as the sun tried to shine through.

And it is a beautiful refreshing change from this time yesterday, as I was feeling a little ” Bob crackit-ish” having just came out of a nineteen hour power outage caused by a fallen tree…ah the joys of electric heat. 

And things can and do change fast sometimes, like the old saying, “What a difference a day can make.”

Like our passage above, I know that seemed excessive, an entire chapter, but it is needed. God often works in our lives the same way, one day is catastrophic, your entire world crashing around you, such as in the first verse, a spiritual wilderness, a barren deserted land in which you feel that you have found yourself helplessness alone.

Then Jesus comes in and lets us know that He is already there, He is in that place with you and for you, and in those places of solitude is the very place that God often uses to bring that gladness and joy of his presence to us.

This is why the desert can be “glad” for us, and why it can be a place, starting out with feelings of lonely abandonment and quickly becoming a beautiful fruited land in where find a renewing and strengthening of your personal relationship with God.

A place in which you learn complete trust and complete surrender while gaining faith and complete confidence in his power over your life and the blessed knowledge that he is doing something wonderful in you despite what everything around you may be saying to the contrary.

And the blooming of that rose, a rose not only blooming but blossoming into perfection out of the parched dry ground.

A rose that would seem doomed to never in bud given the hardness of the soil in which it is planted but once those sweet waters come bringing the glory and joy of the land over that land, everything will change.

Wasn’t Shakespeare’s famous line that told even by any name a rose would smell just as sweet?

Ah, but I do beg to differ…

“I AM the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. As my lily among the thorns, so is my love among the daughters.” Song of Solomon 2:1,2

And talk about beautiful fragrances…

“Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness; therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows (more than any other), All thy garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia…” Psalm 45: 7, 8 (a) 

No name greater, no fragrance sweeter than our God, the only true rose, the only rose whose love does bloom in us, even in the middle of a desert and who is the lily producing a beautiful sweet fragrance covering and replacing the smell of the awful ash left by what had once consumed our life.

That sweet aroma  of that lily, whose beauty shines forth even from among the painful thorns as we go through the valleys of this world, as all the “dragons”, all that would hurt and hinder are made silent and renewing, as that fresh grass growing starts to take place. So you see, you can’t stop, you can not give up, because where you are today can change in twinkling of an eye. The place of the desert that you may feel will engulf you may very well be the place you look back on one day with a higher knowledge and understanding that if it had not been for that desert you may have never be given the only truly perfect rose.  

“Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour (aroma).”  Ephesians 5:1,2

Nothing, absolutely nothing that can be sweeter or any rose more beautiful than Jesus.

Trust him, just TRUST him.

Φλογιζω NBJ 2020/ Rev. Nina Brown Johnson

For series posts, please click links:

Angels, Roses, & True Love/ Intro

Angels, Roses, & True Love : Part 2 “Angels”

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“He’s got ya…”

“Then the eleven disciples went way into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted.

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to all things whatsoever I have commanded you; 

And, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. A-men,”  Matthew 28:16-20  

I am sure that you are very familiar with those verses, and I have used them many times myself over the years.

And when my thoughts for this post were hitting, I had actually thought about a television commercial. And I know how strange that may sound, and it wasn’t about the product or service offered, it was about the support. 

A trainer is encouraging a person by telling her “I got you” and that has always just reminded me of how Jesus encourages us, that when storms that we had expected to cease somehow still swirl all around us and the battles that we have entered into full of hope, faith, and determination assured that victory will come and we can find ourselves doubting, questioning as that battle seems to go on endlessly in an exhausting dead heat. 

We often wonder and question, much like the disciples that found themselves doubting. just like Thomas when he had doubted that Jesus rose from the dead. And they found themselves in the place that he had destined them to be, the place they were told to go.

That is the deal with the doubt and uncertainty that comes at us when life goes upside down, the first thought the enemy brings to us is, “IF”, IF you were where you should be with the Lord, none of this would be happening.” 

Has that ever went through your mind?

I am sure, if we would be honest, this has went through many minds. Because that is how the enemy uses doubt and it is one of his more powerful weapons, and that is how you have to view, nothing more, nothing less. 

As I have “preached” many times in this little blog, reiterating Romans 8:38,39 NO ONE and NOTHING can ever separate us from God so the enemy uses doubt to cause us to separate ourselves from God through the false belief that somehow we are out of his will when nothing in our lives feels like it could possibly be his will. 

It causes us to THINK…RETHINK… and finally OVERTHINK  everything that we have been taught about the Word of God and about God and make us completely question our relationship with him. So don’t!

Try out a new weapon of your own. Change your battleplan.

Jesus promised us many things but it ultimately up us to believe those promises and sometimes we have to look at things differently, because how we view a situation or an expected outcome is not always how he views it and when those things go a way not of our choosing NEVER means that he does not love and NEVER means that he has suddenly changed his mind and DECIDED to go against his own word and forsake us. He will NEVER do that.

And once we understand that we can see truly step back away from  our battles and see the truth that we can’t fight life and we certainly can not fight death but we can have peace in knowing that he is the ONLY one who holds our tomorrow and the only reason we can get through today.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.

For as the rain cometh down, and snow from heaven, and returneth not thither (it does not go back up), but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void (empty, without fruit) but it shall ACCOPMLISH that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I send it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace…” Isaiah 55:8-11a 

Trust him, remember his promises and don’t let doubt steal that joy, joy that you need, joy that is your strength, the joy OF the Lord, joy not in this world but the joy in knowing that the God of the universe loves you! 

He’s “got” you and he is NEVER going to let you go and know that it is in that joy in him, joy in soul, not to be confused with being joyous in this world, it is hard to be cheerful when your heart is broken, so no, it is not cheerful joy, it is the joy in salvation and the promise of eternity.

And that is the joy that will bring you out of the wilderness and lead you forth out of that battle in his peace.

“RESTORE unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free (generous) spirit.” Psalm 51:12 

For something to be restored it had to have already be possessed, And when we start our journey with Jesus we are full of that joy, the joy that comes with the realization that his grace and mercy had spared our through our days of darkness and sin.  

Then as we mature in him and life comes as life does we find ourselves in that doubt… forgetting that joy.

He never changes, he accepts and loves us just as much as he did the day we accepted his salvation, the change lies within us. that why he tells us of his thoughts and our thoughts, and I have been very guilty of this myself, we have our thoughts of what should happen on earth but he gave us promises NOT of this earth an dour true hope and salvation are not of this earth.

Being human we want all the promises fulfilled here(and some are) but our hope is supposed to rest in the ETERNAL outcome. And that is your joy, that is your hope, that EVERY single morning while you are in this world, on this earth, HIS mercy is renewed every single morning and His mercy endures FOREVER. NOTHING will ever change that, nothing.  Get in your prayer closet and spend time with him in the Holy Ghost, let heaven bless earth remember those words that will NEVER return to him unfruitful… I AM WITH YOU ALWAY… 

And He’s got ya! He did not create you, love you, so that he could then just suddenly decide to you out to the wolves! Jesus does not work that way!

Have a blessed week! Love and peace till next time…  Praying it’ll be a blessing to you TODAY!!

Rev. Nina Brown Johnson / phlogizo360  2019   REVISITED 07/20/2021, Φλογιζω NBJ/2021

If you have never heard this, please check it out, (from YouTube)

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“Misplaced pearls”

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy; I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”And of course that was Jesus speaking in John 10:10

And you may be wondering just what that has to do with pearls… EVERYTHING! Pearls ARE precious, most of us own a strand,we wear them on important occasions, and days we just want to dress up a little but there is something so secret, so beautiful, so feminine that many of us love the feeling of wearing a strand of  beautiful pearls with our favorite pair of jeans.

WHY? What on earth could be so different about these perfect little orbs that sets them so far apart from other “jewels” that may be considered EVEN more beautiful like diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, or even jade and all stones semi-precious?

Could it because of the association pearls have ALWAYS been associated with PURITY and INNOCENCE?

Forever the choice jewelry of BRIDES everywhere and do you remember reading that I did write that this entire blog is stir up and awaken us to the realization that we are part of a soon to take place wedding?

THE WEDDING OF THE AGES, with the KING OF THE UNIVERSE AS THE GROOM, COMPLETE WITH A TRULY ANGELIC CHOIR, AND THE HOST OF HEAVEN AS HIS WEDDING PARTY! 

Revelation 20:9: “And he said unto me, Write, BLESSED ARE THEY WHICH ARE CALLED UNTO THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB.And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”

And we are encouraged throughout the Bible to be prepared, to have on our “wedding garments” as John saw:

“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, PREPARED as a bride adorned for her husband.” Revelation 21:2

And at this wedding we ALL get to wear our pearls! But sometimes we misplace them, or the “thief” comes and truly steals them, hides them from us, or just rips the strand apart and they plunge to the ground, whirling in  a hundred directions and landing a thousand miles apart and we are left with the task of trying to recover every single pearl and restring the entire necklace.

But you know, we are not that talented because our true pearls were master crafted and ONLY He can put that necklace together again.

One of the ways pearls have been worn over the ages is a symbol of mourning because the little seed pearls look like tear drops and pearls were chosen by brides as a representation of purity, chastity, innocence, beauty, and mostly importantly for here, NEW BEGINNINGS.

Spiritually we are BORN with those beautiful pearls AS a gift from our Father when He created us.

And THOSE pearls ARE our innocence, our purity, and our beauty in Him. But LIFE and the enemy have  a way of sneaking in and either getting us to take off those pearls and lay them aside and sometimes in moments of repeatedly putting them on, only to decide to take them back off, we end up misplacing them.

And sometimes we have taken them off, laid them down on a nightstand and the enemy has stolen them, hid them, and laughed as we beg for them back.. all the while telling us that had we really wanted them we would have never been in that bed anyway and now we don’t deserve them back.

And I think the hardest would be when you did not take them off, the enemy came with destruction and ripped them off your neck and being left absolutely helpless trying to gather them through your tears as they roll across the floor.

Can you see it? Can you see the innocence and the purity that the enemy HAS stolen, killed, and destroyed concerning the sisters and daughters IN the world and those who are SAVED and STILL struggle with surrendering completely to God for fear of what the enemy has LIED to them about?  

Jesus IS the RESTORER, He wants nothing more than to RESTORE every single part of us. We are the ones who have the problem actually LETTING Him do that because we are often so afraid to let Him see what needs shown, EVEN though He already sees it, He already knows it.

You can be saved and still be holding on to something so deep, so painful that whether you know it or not really does IMPACT everything about your life, your happiness, and your joy. And to have true fulfillment in who He created you to be and who He wants you to be on this earth, you have to ask yourself, Where are those pearls?

And if NONE of this applies to you, that is great and just pray for the 99.9% that it does apply to.

Virginity or rather the loss thereof.. which is usually, in our present world the real point that starts so many women down the spiral to places He never intended His daughters to walk because that is something so precious and was only EVER meant to be shared in a holy union and that is why so many women have felt disillusioned, lost, and instead of feeling loved, have been left feeling completely empty and this sets them up to repeat this over and over again because so many feel like once that have started this path, the can never go back BUT I promise you can get off that path any time you choose.

Our society has brain washed women into giving themselves completely away simply because the world tells them that is what they are supposed to do.

Satan IS a liar and the father of lies, you will never find “love” in anything the world has to offer and sex is just satan’s completely carnal counter to what God had intended to be beautiful and it will never make you feel anything, when it is all said and done, than worse than you did before it happened.

Virginity is an absolute blessed state. So taking that obvious “loss” off the table. Pearls can be lost and damaged by our relationships to our father’s, fathers are supposed to protect us, nurture us and not everyone has that relationship or if you have had a father who is just emotionally distant, you are losing the pearls of security knowing that someone is looking out for you and that there is someone who will love you unconditionally and dry all your tears.

Maybe you had a great childhood and a wonderful Dad but marriage was the misplacement of your pearls.

If trust is broken when you have given someone your heart, your life, every part of all you are and it is supposed to be forever and either he turns out to be a jerk or worse a cheating batterer, because those two go hand in hand, well that is a recipe for a whole different disaster.

So, if as you have read this, you are feeling tears swell up just a little, I want to challenge you, we all KNOW our hearts, we all KNOW our hurts, wounds, and raging resentments, write them down, in your own private time, write them down, every single thing as far back as you can go that has hurt you, made you question your self-worth, and especially things that have made you feel like you have lost “yourself” and of course it is going to hurt and it will probably hurt like no tomorrow. 

Don’t be surprised if you see things that you never noticed, times where people were manipulating you and you never realized, times that you can see in retrospect that led to bad decisions and self-destructive behavior later on.

If you worry someone will find your innermost secrets, burn it or shred it in  a million pieces and flush it when you are through.

But it is necessary because it frees you and helps you recognize things for what they really are.

Wounds, memories, and mistakes that DO NOT define who you are, and we have to acknowledge these areas in order to TRULY give it all to Christ.

He is a perfect gentleman and He wants to help you and make all things new and HE DOES already KNOW every single detail of your life BUT He will not force His way into your life, but wants you to come to Him, KNOWING that He does NOT judge you and will NOT be asking WHY on earth did you do that?

Nor will He ask, WHAT were you thinking? He is nothing like anything most have been taught and I promise once you start “searching” for those pearls and being honest about “where” your life, in your past they had been misplaced or “where” they were stolen or THOUGHT destroyed by an event that you HAD NO CONTROL over.

HE CAN MAKE IT ALL NEW, I can not stress that enough, And I promise once that “alabaster” starts to crack, you will know, you will probably feel like your cracking too, but we HAVE to break to be made new and HE WILL NEVER LET YOU BREAK BEYOND REPAIR, so do not be afraid, LET HIM hold you and wipe away every tear and place upon your neck an even more precious strand, whose cost is beyond measure, and this new strand will never be misplaced again.

Join me next time and we’ll check out some alabaster!

Εξυπνιζω NBJ 2017 Reverend Nina Brown Johnson

Love this song! And this IS what you need to know!

*Authors note* This series originally posted on “Alabaster Breaking”, my sister site, that no longer exists. I found it very difficult to maintain both sites and just transferred those posts to this, my main site. Thank you

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“Grinding the ax” #4 “STRANGLE HOLD”

“Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest thy be discouraged.” Colossians 3:21

Our fathers, the first and foremost man in our formative years. And if you have a good one, that is great and will be a guaranteed blessing over your entire life. But what about the fathers who are warned in the verse above?

This verse is actually almost verbatim in Ephesians 6:4:” And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath; but bring them up in the nurture (training) and admonition OF the Lord.”  

So we are being told what NOT to do and exactly what we should do. Children who are constantly “ridden” by their parents, who are made to feel whether intentionally or unintentionally that they are never quite good enough, or “perform” well enough to “earn” the love that they should have naturally received from that parent.

I do know this verse specifies fathers, but we know the damage mothers can do is equally as damaging.

And we could pull a truck load of stats on the completely dysfunctional mother/son relationships that are often prominent among serial killers.

So what I want to focus on the relationship of fathers to daughters and the relationships that are formed later in life.

I also want to bring into the mix the fact that often when women have had extremely dominating fathers and whether that consisted of physical abuse alongside the obvious emotional damage that is caused, that seems to put the pattern in place.

But testosterone is a funny thing and soul debilitating dominance lorded over women is not ALWAYS by their fathers. It can come later in life through a boyfriend, husband, or even male friends who can become quite the material for a medieval tale of when black knights begin to suffer from white knight syndrome .

When “friendship” leads to the need to control your life, and demand answers for your every move that is no longer friendship, that IS control. Male dominance has been and is still our toughest battle regardless of what role that male has in our life.

But for some, it is a short path from growing up with a horrid father to marrying an even worse husband.

So how did it start? People taking the word of God and their DISTORTED view of God and applying THEIR carnality to it. Just as God answered it in his word: 

Judges 21:25: “In those days there was no king in Israel: EVERY MAN DID THAT WHICH WAS RIGHT IN HIS OWN EYES.”

And things have certainly NOT been right and are still NOT right.

But with the revelation of Isaiah 33:22: “For the Lord IS our judge, the Lord IS our lawgiver, the Lord IS our king; HE WILL SAVE US.”

We know things can and must change. Cruelty and wickedness hiding behind the disguise of goodness and righteousness is nothing new.

The devil himself pretending through the serpent to be a friend to Eve, the wicked all through the Bible whispering into the ears of those who would hear, plans of how to destroy another and thereby having them also destroy themselves.

“Spare the rod, spoil the child” taken so far out of context and USED specifically as a Biblical justification for nothing more than truly sadistic people to senselessly beat children.

If you doubt me on that, web search a few cases of children being adopted and even born into supposedly christian families taken away, rescued out of horrendous abuse. People have even written books advocating these UNGODLY practices.

The old Testament ALSO had a law on stoning your son.. IF he were  a drunkard.. how many little kids drink again?

Listen what Jesus told the Pharisees when they were hassling him about the OT marriage laws.

Mark 10:3-5; “And he answered and said,unto them, What did Moses command you? and they said, Moses suffered (PERMITTED) to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. 

And Jesus answered and said unto them, (Because) For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.”

Meaning that they WERE given these severe laws because of their own hardness.

But God reveals His thoughts through His word, James 2:13: “For he SHALL have judgment WITHOUT mercy who hath shewed (shown) NO MERCY; and mercy rejoiceth against (TRIUMPHS OVER) judgment.” 

It is like this, just because we are technically allowed to do something DOES NOT mean that is what God desires for us to do it.

Micah 6:8:” He hath shewed thee, O man, ( all people), what IS good; and what doth (does) the Lord require of thee,  but to do justly and LOVE MERCY (loving kindness),and to walk humbly with thy God? 

So if all of this coupled with stories such as when the angel of the Lord put the smack down on Balaam and lined him out for hitting the donkey (Numbers 22:27-33),  doesn’t prove that God want us to ALL be kind toward each other and to also BE treated kindly, I don’t know what more could.

Just as treating children harshly came from the thoughts of people doing what they wanted.

We also got pulled into the “submission” trap. The Bible does truly say, “wives submit unto your own husbands” but again that is something that has been taken and RAN wild with, as if we were some sort of inferior creation that God placed here for men.

Oh I don’t think so.

Submission means to RESPECT your husband, to care about his feelings and not treat him like dirt, don’t make fun of him, and emotionally emasculate him by being that “brawling” woman spoken of in Proverbs.

God’s intentions for this was that the husband SHOULD be exactly what His word said for him to be.

And in this a husband was to be “submitted” to, as in a place of safety and a place of trust, such as that verse goes on to say “as unto the Lord”.

And I would love to hear the excuses that so many are going to try to give the Lord as to why they betrayed this TRUST that he had given them with their wives and children, and it’s not going to be a pretty picture!

So it DOES NOT mean we are subservient, or a lesser in God’s eyes.

It means that we SHOULD have that protective, nurturing, place if we ever need and at times we all do.

We covered His word in the last post of how He EXPECTS His daughters to be treated and seeing that even in a nation where women have many rights and “hold our own” we can all attest to our numbers of domestic violence, for all the strides we have made, in this area, we have gone backward!

We ARE more free. We HAVE more resources. We HAVE better laws and protection. So what went wrong? Why do we have these statistics that say we are NOT free by any stretch of imagination?

We are still trapped somewhere in our psyches by the lies of the past and the misogynistic teachings of generations before and we want to HIDE that pain and we are giving over to absolutely FALSE sense of shame by not speaking out.

That is what the enemy WANTS and just as he lied to Eve, he is lying to so many women about their past and keeping them in a “strangle hold” that prevents them from moving FORWARD.

Merriam-Webster definition two of the term “STRANGLE HOLD” is this: “A FORCE OR INFLUENCE THAT CHOKES OR SUPPRESSES FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT OR EXPRESSION.”  

If we have that past or are presently living with dominance, harshness, physical, or emotional abuse that is exactly what is happening to us.

The reason the devil has perfected it is because if you have had these experiences with men, especially fathers or husbands, HOW on earth can you “submit” to a being who is male?

When women are brainwashed into BELIEVING that they are subservient and God hates them, why would they seek Him?

The devil bagged and tagged on this one and we have to stop him!

We stop him by NOT taking anyone’s word for who we are or who God created us to be. Study God’s word and discover for yourself!

And when you reach the verses stating that “women are to be silent” and  “i suffer not a woman to teach…” STUDY the background with a good dictionary/history Bible and you will find that Paul was talking to a specific group of people AT THAT TIME. Because a group of women were “gunning” for him and trying to bring in false teachings and for that PERIOD IN TIME, he forbade them to speak so he could PROTECT the Gospel.

Need a little more reassurance, dig this, Galatians 3:23,28: “But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith that should afterwards be revealed.

Wherefore  the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

But after THAT faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For YE ALL ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD by faith in Jesus Christ. 

For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.  There is NEITHER Jew nor Greek,  there is NEITHER bond nor free, THERE IS NEITHER MALE NOR FEMALE; FOR YE ARE ALL ONE IN CHRIST.”

That is a good verse to put to anyone who wants to argue Paul’s teachings with you…. he wrote that. He wrote the verses used to silence women and he wrote the verse that proved otherwise,  all true, but taken out of context by those who WANT to twist those verses to justify their own prejudices.

It’s time to separate God from the men who claim to represent him! If you are dealing with these issues or dealing with the past issues, PLEASE talk to Him, talk to Him just as if he were in the room sitting there.

I promise He does hear and tell Him how you feel, TRUTHFULLY how you feel, if you end up in tears and “I HATE…” starts coming out of your mouth, LET IT COME because the only way we recover is through submitting that to God and HE KNOWS how we feel and when you have been hurt and are trying to work past it.

God is not going to hold that against you, it is normal to feel that way and once you let it go, you will NO LONGER feel that.

But you have to get it out, ALL of it, at His feet, Hebrews 4:15: “For we have NOT an high priest which cannot be touched WITH THE FEELINGS OF OUR INFIRMITIES…” 

Which means Jesus suffered through all the things we do and HE DOES UNDERSTAND any possible thing you could tell Him and he understands with love, compassion, and gentleness toward you and He wants to take it away and give you peace and be those protective arms that hold you through your tears.

But first we must decide that we are slaves no more and no more will we live in the devil’s strangle hold.

There is NO shame in having been a victim and there is courage in admitting that you are a survivor. There is NO shame in needing out NOW and fear is perfectly normal when fighting for your freedom.

We just have to decide which we are WILLING to be. Think about these verses: Isaiah 53:4-6,11: ” Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed; neither shall thou be confounded (disgraced); for thou shalt not be put to shame; for thou SHALT FORGET the shame of thy youth, and SHALT NOT REMEMBER the reproach of thy widowhood any more. 

For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. 

For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused (suffered rejection) saith thy God.  

O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, (tormented and battered by ‘storm”)  and NOT comforted. behold, I WILL lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy FOUNDATIONS with sapphires.”

He knows, and He alone can give us that comfort that we have not been given, He alone see the pain of every season we can go through.

And He alone can lay for us that beautiful foundation, built upon Him and His TRUTH. Trust Him, know Him and most of all, let Him know you!

Related posts: “Grinding the ax” 1 “acknowledgement”

“Grinding the ax” 2… “Real Love?”

“Grinding the ax” #3 “Anger Danger”

*Authors note* This series originally posted on “Alabaster Breaking”, my sister site, that no longer exists. I found it very difficult to maintain both sites and just transferred those most to this, my main site. Thank you

Εξυπνιζω NBJ 2017

Revisited post: 06/15/2019

 

 

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“Grinding the ax” #3 “Anger Danger”

“And the Lord said unto Cain, WHY art thou wroth (angry)? and WHY has thou countenance fallen?

IF thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest NOT well, SIN LIETH AT THE DOOR, and unto thee shall be his desire (sins desires IS for you), and thou shalt rule over him (you SHOULD rule over the sin, not vice versa).

And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew (killed) him.” Genesis 4:6,7

Think about this, this was NOT just friendly advice, this was GOD himself warning Cain that his anger had led sin to his door and for him to NOT allow it to take him over.  Just as Jesus warned Peter Luke 22:31:….“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.”  

WHO he is quite clear, Revelation 12:12: “Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them, Woe unto the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, HAVING GREAT WRATH (ANGER), because he knoweth he hath but a SHORT TIME.”

Not quite a shock that anger is one of his favorite games and as the Lord warned those before us, we must also KNOW what His word says about anger but most importantly KNOW to avoid those who wield it as a sword of control.

Anger IS a perfectly normal emotion, think of all the times God wanted to destroy the Hebrews during times of disobedience but Moses would plead for them and God would turn his anger.

And many other examples of the holy anger of God all throughout the Old Testament.

Think of how gentle, merciful, and kind Jesus is and just how far He would have been “pushed” to really get that angry, then by explaining these verses in a way that we could understand them through His actions.

Matthew 21:12,13: “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast (drove) OUT all of them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew (overturned) the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves.

And he said unto them, It is written, MY HOUSE SHALL BE A HOUSE OF PRAYER, but ye have made it A DEN OF THIEVES.”  

So there IS a justifiable anger but we have to let it go and Ephesians 4:26,27, explains exactly why: “BE YE ANGRY, BUT SIN NOT: let the sun NOT go down on your wrath (do not take that anger to bed) NEITHER GIVE PLACE (an opportunity to snare you) TO THE DEVIL.”

It is perfectly okay to get angry but the snare comes when that anger is allowed to take root as the Bible tells us, Hebrews 11:14,15: “FOLLOW  (pursue) peace with ALL men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.  

Looking DILIGENTLY lest ANY man FAIL (fall short) of the grace of God; Lest ANY ROOT OF BITTERNESS SPRINGING UP TROUBLE YOU, AND THEREBY MANY BE DEFILED (causing many to fall).”

Finally, THIS is the word of God concerning fellowship with those who are angry and violent. 

Proverbs 22:24,25: ” Make NO friendship with an ANGRY man; and with a FURIOUS man thou SHALT NOT GO; Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.”  

Proverbs 29:22:“An ANGRY man STIRRETH UP STRIFE, and a FURIOUS man abounds in transgression.” 

Proverbs 26:21:”As the coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so IS a CONTENTIOUS man to kindle strife.”

Proverbs 15:18: “A WRATHFUL man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.”

Proverbs 16:29: ” A VIOLENT man enticeth his neighbor, and leadeth him into the way that is NOT good.” 

Proverbs 11:17: “The MERCIFUL man doeth good to his own soul: but he that is CRUEL troubleth his own flesh. 

Proverbs 12:10:” A RIGHTEOUS man regardeth (cares for) the life of his beast (pet, animal, etc) but the tender mercies of the WICKED ARE CRUEL (meaning even the “best” they can do is STILL cruelty).

Just a sampling from ONE book of the Bible!

It is very easy to see what God’s word advises us… DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THEM. 

I do realize it is NOT easy to get out of these relationships but the Bible also states in Proverbs 21:19:” It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a CONTENTIOUS and ANGRY woman.”

So see it is across the board, male, female, applies to us ALL, we are told to avoid them at all costs.

Now for prayers when dealing with violent people and uncertain circumstance: 

Psalm 140:1,4:”DELIVER me, O Lord, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man.  KEEP (protect) ME, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;

PRESERVE me from the violent man; who have purposed to overthrow my goings (schemed to destroy).” 

Psalm 71:2-4:” DELIVER me in thy righteousness, and cause me to ESCAPE; incline thine ear unto me, and SAVE ME. Be thou my strong habitation (hiding place) whereunto I might continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me, FOR THOU ART MY ROCK AND MY FORTRESS.

DELIVER ME, O, GOD OUT OF THE HAND OF THE WICKED, OUT OF THE HAND OF THE UNRIGHTEOUS AND CRUEL MAN.” 

Psalm 56:3-4,9,11:”What time I am afraid I WILL TRUST IN THEE. In God will I praise his word, In God I have put my TRUST; I WILL NOT FEAR WHAT FLESH CAN DO UNTO ME.” 

“When I cry unto thee, THEN shall mine enemies turn back: This I know for GOD IS FOR ME. ”

“In God have I put my TRUST: I WILL NOT FEAR WHAT MAN CAN DO UNTO ME.” 

Psalm 27:1:”The lord IS my light and salvation; WHOM SHALL I FEAR? the Lord IS the STRENGTH of my life; OF WHOM SHALL I BE AFRAID?” 

Psalm 17:4:”CONCERNING the works of men, BY THE WORD OF THY LIPS, I HAVE KEPT ME FROM THE PATHS OF THE DESTROYER.”

I want to end it right here: Romans 8:31: “WHAT shall we then say to THESE THINGS? { the questions and circumstances of life} IF GOD BE FOR US, WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?  

I had planned to combine this with submission but it ran long so please catch the next one as we continue on our journey. May God Bless you and heal and deliver everyone who is faced with these decisions.

Εξυπνιζω NBJ 2017

More in this series:    “Grinding the ax” 1 “acknowledgement”

                                         “Grinding the ax” 2… “Real Love?”

                                         “Grinding the ax” #4 “STRANGLE HOLD”

*Authors note* This series originally posted on “Alabaster Breaking”, my sister site, that no longer exists. I found it very difficult to maintain both sites and just transferred those posts to this, my main site. Thank you

Revisited 06/14/2019

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“Grinding the ax” 2… “Real Love?”

“For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth (observes) all of his goings. His own iniquities shall take (entrap) the wicked himself, and he shall be holden (caught) with the cords (binding ropes) of his own sin.” Proverbs 5:21,22

Going to go a little in reverse with these scriptures. But I do have a question, why is ABUSE among family or spouses “domestic” abuse?

Of course I am being  a little flip here, but does it mean it is “tame” and completely unlike random “stranger” attacks?  Is is permissible BECAUSE it is interwoven into a family unit? Obviously so and THAT is the problem and THAT is why we are so quick to dismiss it.

But as I said with the start of this. GOD DOES NOT WANT YOU TO BE ABUSED, MISTREATED IN ANY WAY, OR EVEN MILDLY “TALKED DOWN” TO.

I have asked this question many times, but if God wanted this for ANYONE, male or female (because there ARE many abused men also) why on earth would Jesus have allowed Himself to be tortured and beaten before the crucifixion?

WHY would He had went through that IF His will was for His children to be in abusive relationships?

And so many women have suffered senselessly having been BRAINWASHED by the notion that this IS God’s will because they had taken vows.

What about the common “To LOVE, HONOR, and CHERISH” vow, most men have taken?

And of course we are all outraged at the treatment women suffer through in many more oppressed parts of the world, (as WE should be) BUT if as Americans our rates of abuse are through the roof, HOW can we encourage and be examples to others to fight for that freedom, if we allow ourselves to be victims behind closed doors?

Got to get our own houses in order before we tell others how to arrange their furniture.

And people could ask of me, what gives me a right to speak about any of it, well, as with this blog’s title, I have learned a lot at the feet of Jesus, and I have been through A LOT and I can point to my own teen years, restraining order and later living through the nightmare of acquaintance stalking (which I will probably share my story soon about, that one is still a tough one and I have wrestled with just how far I want to go with that).

But through it all, Those experiences ARE what lead me to God and how I do understand the”cause and effect” of the aftermath of falling into the traps the enemy has set for us and the self-destructive road it will lead us down, IF we do not seek divine intervention BEFORE we hit that intersection.

We all start in the SAME place, we want to be loved and we want to be accepted but people who have been hurt, and wounded TEND to attract predators and the reason for this, as it was explained to me, is that they literally sense that vulnerability in you and this explains why it is OVER and OVER and OVER for so many UNTIL the let the Lord break that yoke.

Because it IS a yoke. And it IS a yoke of desiring freedom for others BUT believing deep down inside that you yourself DO NOT deserve that freedom and that mindset is just part of the grand trap and I know with the American numbers of one in three women who ARE living in these relationships, obviously someone or many someones FEEL this way.

My starting verse I chose because of something a guy actually told me once that his girlfriend had said to him, and people wear many “faces” and usually the guys we come to discover have been so dreadful to their mates ARE the very ones, most likely voted to be, well, “less likely” and have high praise from others and with the same eeriness that interviewed neighbors of serial killers often portray, the echoed words are usually, “He SEEMED like such a great guy…..” and statements such as, “He was ALWAYS polite and courteous….” classic!

And Lucifer was ALSO the most beautiful of God’s creations and can TRANSFORM into an “angel of light” BUT he is still the same old evil being, just dressed up in a more appealing costume.

That is the thing, UNTIL we as a society and individuals DECIDE to have  a zero tolerance for how we allow OURSELVES to be treated, it is not going to stop.

The cycles are not going to end and without God and determination that it stops, those generational chains of not only being prone to becoming an abuser but also those chains of being psychologically prone to becoming  a victim, are never going to come off.

And everyone HAS to stop making excuses for others, male, female, whatever. If you feel like you have to make excuses for how they treat you, YOU DO NOT NEED THAT PERSON IN YOUR LIFE.

I want to break this into two groups. Marital and non-martial. But we run into one more problem that needs dealt with when tackling this subject.

God INTENDED for sexual relationships to be under the sanctification of marriage, SO if you are in a relationship that has become sexual, SPIRITUALLY, you ARE already “married” to that person and the soul damage is still going to be just as great.

Everyone likes to argue the fact, that you don’t “need a piece of paper” to prove love.

Well, in this case, is not the paper, it IS the act of consummation that does it.

Satan has turned people against marriage and commitment based on the “freedom” theory.

The lack of marriage does NOT protect you from anything and can actually set people up for far worse.

So we are running our scriptures from that point, the word of God concerning, men, women, love, and marriage. 

MARRIAGE: 1 Corinthians 7: 2-15: ” Nevertheless, to avoid fornication (which IS still a sin, regardless of what the world has to say) let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.

Let the husband render due benevolence (affection); and likewise also the wife unto the husband.

The wife hath not power over her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife {are you seeing this is MUTUAL teaching?}

Defraud (deprive) ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that satan tempt you NOT for your incontinency. 

But I speak this by permission, and NOT of commandment. {Paul was expressly HIS heart-felt beliefs on the subject}

For I would (wish) that all were even as myself (celibate). But every man (person) hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that. I say this to the unmarried and widows.

It is good for them if they abide even as I. But if they can not contain (exercise control), let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn (with passion).

And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:

But and IF she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away (divorce) his wife.

But to the rest speak I, not the Lord; If any brother hath a wife that believeth NOT, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him NOT put her away.

And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and he be pleased to dwell with her, let her NOT leave him.

For the unbelieving husband IS sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife IS sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.

But if the unbelieving depart, LET HIM DEPART. A brother or sister IS NOT under bondage in SUCH cases: but GOD HATH CALLED US TO PEACE.” 

You can see from these scriptures that there IS equality and that there IS times that we should part ways with each other. Paul was so careful to address the differences between what is acceptable for believers and for those who are not yet.

But NO ONE is under bondage to another human being.

Same chapter, verse 23, declares this beautifully: “Ye are BOUGHT with a price; BE YE NOT SERVANTS OF MEN.”

Think about the starter verse from part 1 in this series, ” ..for OF whom a man (person) IS overcome, OF THE SAME IS HE BROUGHT IN BONDAGE.”

God DOES deliver us, God saves us, BUT if we can easily allow ourselves snared BACK into that same trap and just stick the title of “love” on it.

Bad relationships have NOTHING to do with love. Think about these verses:

1 John 4:18: “There is NO fear in love; but perfect love (God’s love) casteth OUT fear; because FEAR HATH TORMENT….” 

1 Corinthians 13 :4-8: “Charity (LOVE) suffereth long (long-suffering means endurance in difficult situations), and IS KIND; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not: (doesn’t brag on) itself, is NOT puffed up (prideful).

Doth NOT behave itself unseemly (rudely). seeketh NOT her own (isn’t self absorbed),  is NOT easily provoked (does NOT fly into fits of rage),  thinketh NO evil;

Rejoiceth NOT in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

Beareth all things, Believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity (LOVE) NEVER FAILS….” 

So back to the beginning.. WHAT exactly does the Lord see when He sees interactions between couples?

Malachi 2:14,15: “Yet ye say, Wherefore (why)? Because the Lord HAS BEEN WITNESS BETWEEN THEE AND THE WIFE OF THY YOUTH, AGAINST WHOM THOU HAST DEALT TREACHEROUSLY; 

YET, SHE IS THY COMPANION, AND THE WIFE OF THY COVENANT.

And did he not make one? { God’s marriage commandment that TWO SHALL BECOME AS ONE} Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed (children). THEREFORE TAKE HEED TO YOUR SPIRIT, AND LET NONE DEAL TREACHEROUSLY AGAINST THE WIFE OF HIS YOUTH.”

Colossians 3:11: “Husbands LOVE your wives and BE NOT BITTER AGAINST THEM.” 

EPHESIANS 5:25-33: “Husbands LOVE your wives, EVEN AS CHRIST LOVED THE CHURCH, AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR IT:

That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 

SO OUGHT MEN TO LOVE THEIR WIVES AS THEIR OWN BODIES, He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

For NO man ever yet hate his own flesh; but NOURISHETH AND CHERISHETH IT, EVEN AS THE LORD THE CHURCH:

FOR WE ARE MEMBERS OF HIS BODY, HIS FLESH, AND OF HIS BONES, 

FOR THIS CAUSE SHALL A MAN LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, AND SHALL BE JOINED UNTO HIS WIFE, AND THEY TWO SHALL BE ONE FLESH.

 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 

Nevertheless LET EVERY ONE OF YOU IN PARTICULAR SO LOVE HIS WIFE EVEN AS HIMSELF; AND THE WIFE SEE THAT SHE REVERENCES (RESPECTS) HER HUSBAND.” 

Ask yourself this, does the relationship you are in fit THIS criteria?

Does the love you feel from the other person fit THIS criteria?

Or does that “love” come with the “torment” of fear?

Think about it and please join me next time and we’ll see what the Bible says about dealing with angry people,and the truth about submission, you might be quite surprised.

Εξυπνιζω NBJ 2017

To read series:     “Grinding the ax” 1 “acknowledgement”

                                “Grinding the ax” #3 “Anger Danger”

                                “Grinding the ax” #4 “STRANGLE HOLD”

*Authors note* This series originally posted on “Alabaster Breaking”, my sister site, that no longer exists. I found it very difficult to maintain both sites and just transferred those posts to this, my main site. Thank you

Revisited post: 6/13/2019

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“Grinding the ax” 1 “acknowledgement”

2 Peter 2:19 (a): “For of whom a man (person) is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.”

So many women either are there, have been there, and done that, and keep going back and doing it again, and again.

Why do so many have problems with this issue?

This does cross-reference to sin but it can apply to many situations in life. And that is exactly what I am using it for.

Domestic violence and unhealthy relationships that so many get trapped in and KEEP getting trapped in.

The psychology behind all this is truly mind numbing, you could study it from every possible angle and condition and still never truly understand what makes people evil or what makes people stay in relationships with evil people.

But Biblically, we have EXTREMELY clear answers but as we know often these answers have been twisted through the years to fit into a religious male agenda.

And I am not saying all Christian guys, pastors, or teachers hold these views. FAR FROM IT, but the ones who have held those views, more so in the days of old have more than damaged the cause for women’s rights and equality.

Women are destroying themselves, staying in theses relationships, allowing these false beliefs and false views on what they should be, need to be, and especially are expected of God to be.

This is such a double-edged sword topic because I know of a certainty many women who are feminists want NOTHING to do with God because of these falsely taught beliefs and then others suffer in these relationship because they BELIEVE God expects them too.

And it is ALL wrong, wrong, and wrong!

And after “refreshing” my brain with the new stats, obviously whatever we are doing as a society is NOT working.

Common knowledge abusers often came from home of abuse. Men who as children saw their mothers abused by their fathers. Women who as children witnessing the abuse of their mothers.

And everyone growing up with all the wiring and all the wrong data being programmed into them and when they are faced with the same situation later in life that default reaction takes over.

Not always, but often and you can trace the “target” on one’s head that attracts predators to some other traumatic event, but nevertheless, it is still a target.

Here’s some stats: The leading cause of injuries for women in the United States is abuse, to the tune of around slightly over four billion dollars a year being spent on medical costs of those abuse.

Every nine seconds a woman is beaten or assaulted.

Worldwide, one in three women are beaten or coerced into sex or other forced activity. 

Threats or threatened suicide by their boyfriend affect one in five teenage girls.

One in four women suffer violent attacks at least once in their lifetime, usually before the age of twenty-five.

One in ten women are raped by their partners. Men who beat their partners and ALSO beat their children are a staggering sixty-two percent.

And pets are also usually victimized. {which should be an easy one, IF a guy hurts you, he sure as Hades isn’t going to care who else he hurts, ESPECIALLY someone you love, these people ARE evil and we must realize that}

And for the record, if you are in one of these relationships, as the adult, it is your responsibility to not only get yourself out of this relationship but you are the ONLY way of getting the children, pets, and whoever else that may be vulnerable and unable to take action for themselves, out of harm’s way. These people are not going to change, until they want to change and  there is NO SUCH THING as toughing it out for the children.

As the Bible states, Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and (even) when HE IS OLD, HE WILL NOT DEPART FROM IT.”

It does not matter what school or society teaches, what shapes all of us is what OUR parents teach us and what we learn in our own homes. And that can take a lifetime to overcome if it is not the RIGHT teachings and how to correctly, respectfully interact with one another.

They are being damaged with every passing moment they are subjected to this dysfunctional lifestyle and if you want your son to grow up to batter the women in his life  just keep letting him to see his father or any man beat you.

And if you want to almost guarantee your daughter to be someone’s future punching bag then keep allowing her to see you beaten and verbally abused and YOUR responses in taking him back time after time after time and trying to hold it all together with the age-old excuse “He doesn’t mean it”, or “He loves us in his own way.” 

He does MEAN it and He does not love anyone but himself.

I am sorry but NO ONE NEEDS ANY ONE SO MUCH THAT THEY WILL LITERALLY RISK THEIR LIVES RATHER THAN GET OUT OF THAT RELATIONSHIP.

 Love does not hit and love should never hurt.(but we’ll get into what the Bible teaches on that in a following post in this series) loneliness, fear, not being “able to make it without them” are not valid excuses, and I did say excuse because we have to quit making excuses for them, that’s why we have an epidemic.

Would you not want protection from a stranger that just walked up to you and beat you senseless?

Would you not want that person prosecuted so that he could not hurt anyone else? There is NO difference, the only difference is the difference we make in justifying it.  

Men whose fathers abused their mothers have double the rate of abusing women. Women are not always the victim of a father, husband, or boyfriend.

Talk about “friends like that…” fifty-three percent of rapes are committed against women by their “friends”.

 Thirty-six percent of women who have reported aggravated assaults have been assaulted by their “friends”.

And twenty-two percent of  the women who are murdered are murdered by their “friends”. 

It’s not just family, and friends, twenty-four percent of stalking victims are stalked by acquaintances and thirteen percent are stalked by complete strangers.

Even with all these truly horrific numbers the most terrifying thought is that we allow it. 

 We allow it individually and we allow it as a society and  women who have been subjected to  a lifetime of abuse, often going from growing up with an abusive father, marrying an abusive husband, or dating abusive men, (often the same kind of man, over and over) and finally finding themselves in a place of hopelessness with no self-esteem, riddled with false guilt and false shame trapped in a prison of the mind. And I want to show you through this series that God does NOT want that for you.

And for other women, even after overcoming the original bondage of abuse, still become entangled in other relationships and self depreciating patterns that are just as deadly and just as damaging to the soul. 

But hopefully this is a “thinking point” and if you are in this situation, please get out and I know that is sometimes easier said than done. But get out and allow Jesus to start that healing process and again we’ll get into a lot of Bible teachings about how God WANTS you to be treated and believe me it is with the highest love, respect, and absolutely cherished.

And we’ll look at how trying to live with damaged souls, not dealing with that damage, only lead us to more snares and pitfalls.

And explain the title a little better.

Information taken from below listed sources and I encourage for more information to check out these sites and learn more, especially the warning signs that you could be in a dangerous relationship. Please join me next time and until then please check out the song below. Our ONLY peace…..

Εξυπνιζω NBJ 2017 

6/12/19 I wanted to revisit this series because I just want to remind the world that Jesus loves His people and He wants you to live in peace and safety.

*Authors note* This series originally posted on “Alabaster Breaking”, my sister site, that no longer exists. I found it very difficult to maintain both sites and just transferred those posts to this, my main site. Thank you

To read this entire series:

“Grinding the ax” 2… “Real Love?”

“Grinding the ax” #3 “Anger Danger”

“Grinding the ax” #4 “STRANGLE HOLD”

Information taken from the following sources:

domestic violence statics .org

ace treatment centers.org 

ending stalking in america (esia). org

There are countless resources on this subject.

 

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“Misplaced pearls”

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy; I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”And of course that was Jesus speaking in John 10:10

And you may be wondering just what that has to do with pearls… EVERYTHING! Pearls ARE precious, most of us own a strand,we wear them on important occasions, and days we just want to dress up a little but there is something so secret, so beautiful, so feminine that many of us love the feeling of wearing a strand of  beautiful pearls with our favorite pair of jeans.

WHY? What on earth could be so different about these perfect little orbs that sets them so far apart from other “jewels” that may be considered EVEN more beautiful like diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, or even jade and all stones semi-precious?

Could it because of the association pearls have ALWAYS been associated with PURITY and INNOCENCE?

Forever the choice jewelry of BRIDES everywhere and do you remember reading that I did write that this entire blog is stir up and awaken us to the realization that we are part of a soon to take place wedding?

THE WEDDING OF THE AGES, with the KING OF THE UNIVERSE AS THE GROOM, COMPLETE WITH A TRULY ANGELIC CHOIR, AND THE HOST OF HEAVEN AS HIS WEDDING PARTY! 

Revelation 20:9: “And he said unto me, Write, BLESSED ARE THEY WHICH ARE CALLED UNTO THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB.And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”

And we are encouraged throughout the Bible to be prepared, to have on our “wedding garments” as John saw:

“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, PREPARED as a bride adorned for her husband.” Revelation 21:2

And at this wedding we ALL get to wear our pearls! But sometimes we misplace them, or the “thief” comes and truly steals them, hides them from us, or just rips the strand apart and they plunge to the ground, whirling in  a hundred directions and landing a thousand miles apart and we are left with the task of trying to recover every single pearl and restring the entire necklace.

But you know, we are not that talented because our true pearls were master crafted and ONLY He can put that necklace together again.

One of the ways pearls have been worn over the ages is a symbol of mourning because the little seed pearls look like tear drops and pearls were chosen by brides as a representation of purity, chastity, innocence, beauty, and mostly importantly for here, NEW BEGINNINGS.

Spiritually we are BORN with those beautiful pearls AS a gift from our Father when He created us.

And THOSE pearls ARE our innocence, our purity, and our beauty in Him. But LIFE and the enemy have  a way of sneaking in and either getting us to take off those pearls and lay them aside and sometimes in moments of repeatedly putting them on, only to decide to take them back off, we end up misplacing them.

And sometimes we have taken them off, laid them down on a nightstand and the enemy has stolen them, hid them, and laughed as we beg for them back.. all the while telling us that had we really wanted them we would have never been in that bed anyway and now we don’t deserve them back.

And I think the hardest would be when you did not take them off, the enemy came with destruction and ripped them off your neck and being left absolutely helpless trying to gather them through your tears as they roll across the floor.

Can you see it? Can you see the innocence and the purity that the enemy HAS stolen, killed, and destroyed concerning the sisters and daughters IN the world and those who are SAVED and STILL struggle with surrendering completely to God for fear of what the enemy has LIED to them about?  

Jesus IS the RESTORER, He wants nothing more than to RESTORE every single part of us. We are the ones who have the problem actually LETTING Him do that because we are often so afraid to let Him see what needs shown, EVEN though He already sees it, He already knows it.

You can be saved and still be holding on to something so deep, so painful that whether you know it or not really does IMPACT everything about your life, your happiness, and your joy. And to have true fulfillment in who He created you to be and who He wants you to be on this earth, you have to ask yourself, Where are those pearls?

And if NONE of this applies to you, that is great and just pray for the 99.9% that it does apply to.

Virginity or rather the loss thereof.. which is usually, in our present world the real point that starts so many women down the spiral to places He never intended His daughters to walk because that is something so precious and was only EVER meant to be shared in a holy union and that is why so many women have felt disillusioned, lost, and instead of feeling loved, have been left feeling completely empty and this sets them up to repeat this over and over again because so many feel like once that have started this path, the can never go back BUT I promise you can get off that path any time you choose.

Our society has brain washed women into giving themselves completely away simply because the world tells them that is what they are supposed to do.

Satan IS a liar and the father of lies, you will never find “love” in anything the world has to offer and sex is just satan’s completely carnal counter to what God had intended to be beautiful and it will never make you feel anything, when it is all said and done, than worse than you did before it happened.

Virginity is an absolute blessed state. So taking that obvious “loss” off the table. Pearls can be lost and damaged by our relationships to our father’s, fathers are supposed to protect us, nurture us and not everyone has that relationship or if you have had a father who is just emotionally distant, you are losing the pearls of security knowing that someone is looking out for you and that there is someone who will love you unconditionally and dry all your tears.

Maybe you had a great childhood and a wonderful Dad but marriage was the misplacement of your pearls.

If trust is broken when you have given someone your heart, your life, every part of all you are and it is supposed to be forever and either he turns out to be a jerk or worse a cheating batterer, because those two go hand in hand, well that is a recipe for a whole different disaster.

So, if as you have read this, you are feeling tears swell up just a little, I want to challenge you, we all KNOW our hearts, we all KNOW our hurts, wounds, and raging resentments, write them down, in your own private time, write them down, every single thing as far back as you can go that has hurt you, made you question your self-worth, and especially things that have made you feel like you have lost “yourself” and of course it is going to hurt and it will probably hurt like no tomorrow. 

Don’t be surprised if you see things that you never noticed, times where people were manipulating you and you never realized, times that you can see in retrospect that led to bad decisions and self-destructive behavior later on.

If you worry someone will find your innermost secrets, burn it or shred it in  a million pieces and flush it when you are through.

But it is necessary because it frees you and helps you recognize things for what they really are.

Wounds, memories, and mistakes that DO NOT define who you are, and we have to acknowledge these areas in order to TRULY give it all to Christ.

He is a perfect gentleman and He wants to help you and make all things new and HE DOES already KNOW every single detail of your life BUT He will not force His way into your life, but wants you to come to Him, KNOWING that He does NOT judge you and will NOT be asking WHY on earth did you do that?

Nor will He ask, WHAT were you thinking? He is nothing like anything most have been taught and I promise once you start “searching” for those pearls and being honest about “where” your life, in your past they had been misplaced or “where” they were stolen or THOUGHT destroyed by an event that you HAD NO CONTROL over.

HE CAN MAKE IT ALL NEW, I can not stress that enough, And I promise once that “alabaster” starts to crack, you will know, you will probably feel like your cracking too, but we HAVE to break to be made new and HE WILL NEVER LET YOU BREAK BEYOND REPAIR, so do not be afraid, LET HIM hold you and wipe away every tear and place upon your neck an even more precious strand, whose cost is beyond measure, and this new strand will never be misplaced again.

Join me next time and we’ll check out some alabaster!

Εξυπνιζω NBJ 2017

Love this song! And this IS what you need to know!

*Authors note* This series originally posted on “Alabaster Breaking”, my sister site, that no longer exists. I found it very difficult to maintain both sites and just transferred those posts to this, my main site. Thank you

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“Not for sale”

“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32

It has been truly awesome to watch the steady uprising of women who are tired of being chased around the proverbial desks. Those who have grown weary of the sexual harassment and unwelcome comments that have plagued women since the dawn of our time outside the garden.

I love how all have drawn courage from the others and rising one by one, proclaiming that they are simply not taking it any more. It has produced  a beautiful domino effect, as we watch powerful male after powerful male fall one on top the other. And that is TRUE feminism.

But we still have battles to fight, and roads to pave, because although we are TO BE considered “equal” on the surface while LIVING daily lives in a sub-culture of the under current of  being “fair game” in the workplace and honestly, many other places, we know we still have  along way to go.

We had only skimmed the surface and NOW we are dragging  the net and hauling all the predators out of our waters.

As a little girl I grew up during the feminist movement and I do realize that was a privilege because societal chains were being broken as many celebrities began using their star power to influence those just like me, the younger generation with their messages of equality sans ownership.

And as an American, I KNOW how blessed we are.

I know that in many countries our sisters live under the rule of men and even younger male relatives that they must “ask permission” of before making any decisions. The have NO rights, NO rights for freedom, NO rights for themselves, and no legal recourse whatsoever, and feel that they have NO way out, and often they don’t.

So we are blessed, we have the right to make our voices be heard. We have the rights to truly pursue those things that our constitution PROMISED us.

We have the right to seek legal remedy (though that has often been a bad one-sided joke, favoring the male) but fortunately that also is changing.. for the better. And we are blessed among nations in having those rights, that have been won through hard-fought battles.

Now time has come and the most basic of battles is being fought. But you know, as far as we have come, we are never going to get to where we need to go until we realize WHO we are.

I really think what happened along the way is that as we fought for those rights and became a prominent force outside of the home and as more women chose not to marry and the enemy spoon fed us the line of sexual freedom, it left us as vulnerable prey to the wolves of the world because the were NO clear-cut rules.

Only now they can use the “misunderstanding” plea. The is no way to EVER misunderstand someone’s unwanted, unwelcome attention. There is NO way to misunderstand lewd comments and gestures.

But for years, decades, eons, women had felt forced to tolerate this behavior as “part of life”, part of being in a “man’s world”. God never intended this as part of life, nor did He ever intend this to be a man’s world.

We ARE all created equal, at birth we ARE equal, and in God, as scripture states, “….There IS NEITHER male nor female; for ye are ALL one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28

We have allowed OURSELVES to be silenced, no one did that to us, we feel for that trick and now, finally awakening has come but we also need to awake to the truth. The truth of Jesus Christ.

The truth that all the beautiful reasoning’s of the heart and soul of the woman IS there because we were created by a beautiful Holy God who chose to place those things inside of in identifying us, as just that, womankind.

Different, because we are CREATED to be different and to ever buy into the lie that we are to just “grin and bear it” and accept behavior that hurt us, degrade us, and humiliate us as just “part of life” has been a greater tragedy that any prejudice shown us.

And while accepting this pack of lies that in order to play on an equal field we have to allow ourselves to be covered and in filth and mud from the other players, we have also bought into the biggest of those lies against us, that God is a woman-hater who is responsible for arranging the players on that field.

We have been guilty of selling ourselves for “nought”, which means nothing. We have accepted this offer for our “rights” that still keep us bound in chains of substandard humanism.

When Christ died to make us FREE, He came that we might not only have life but have it more abundantly and our freedom WAS purchased by Him in His blood.

Not given to us by any man or demanded through the court ordered through passage of laws. But given through Him and His death on the cross. He said, that we WILL know THAT truth and THAT truth WILL make us free.

NOW is the time, the time, as all this comes to light, as this “discussion” (I fail to see what there is to discuss, when “keep your hands off and your nasty thoughts to yourself ” should be evident and go without saying in ANY workplace) but as the discussion is finally taking place, it is prime time to also win women back to Christ through the TRUE Gospel.

Which is love, mercy, kindness, and best of all ABSOLUTE equality, protection and justice for us, and for all who have been oppressed. Embrace it! Whatever you ministry is, or if you have just felt led and not actually started a ministry yet. Pray about it and do it!

Take every opportunity given during this time of awaking, as women awake to the realization that we do not have to suffer this and we can change the world for our daughters and our daughters daughters, if time stands.

Through the example of only one person standing against any injustice, others are encouraged and inspired, and strengthened to also make that stand.

Wherever He has placed you today, use that place to stand and show others the truth and wisdom, and power in the word of God and encourage them to STOP selling themselves for nothing and to NEVER sell out their identity in God.

Εξυπνιζω NBJ 2017

 

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Finding Paris

“The wilderness and the solitary (desert, lonely, desolate) place shall be glad for them, and the solitary place shall be glad for them and the desert SHALL rejoice and BLOSSOM AS THE ROSE.” Isaiah 35:1

Finding Paris, strange I know but trust me this is not going to be a world travel post but hopefully a travel to the inner space of ourselves and all those emotions and hopes, and dreams that old man time tends to run roughshod over and with the passage of time we forget that we even had those dreams.

The notion of “romantic” Paris is probably as old as dirt but the mention of the name usually brings to mind, roses, beauty, the Eiffel tower, whose reach toward the sky can be quite a reflection of reaching higher and the sheer romance of all it all will stir the feminine heart in a way unlike any other place on earth.

When as little girls do we first have those feelings that we are DIFFERENT, is in when we sneak into the perfumes, jewelry, and all the “womanly” treasures often found on the dressers of our mothers?

And for me there was nothing quite like the beautiful stationery that my big sister used when writing mushy love letters to her boyfriend who was in the army.

I’d watch her put the gold seal on the envelope and could not wait until I was big enough to have fancy gold seals and write mushy love letters!

And there was nothing quite like sitting playing with my doll watching her and Mom try new lipsticks and hairdo’s together because I SO was going to wear make up and do my hair just like them one day.

And I know you have your memories of when all things feminine, and beautiful stirred in you.

No matter what kind of a childhood you have had, even if it was not influenced by your own mother, there was still a lady, a grandmother, someone that you looked up as a what being female was all about.

There is always still some thread in time that influenced you and stirred thoughts in your heart and your soul that led to the journey of “finding Paris”, that beautiful place of womanhood that we are all eventually led to.

With me I really had to hold on, after my sister married and my mom started worked the majority of my time was spent with my brothers and that could be a whole other post series!

Hard to stay focused on future femininity with daily wrestling, name calling, and “gas” contests going on constantly between them, but thank goodness for afternoon television visits with Ginger Grant 😉 

So WHAT were your hopes, dreams, and destination as you planned as a child? Bear them in mind.

Usually, we do find “Paris”, when we are around fifteen or sixteen, we blossom, discover our own style, we grow inside and become more self-aware, and often more assertive in being allowed who we want to be.

There is a freedom in knowing who we are as women but life changes so fast, especially when we are young.

As as the clock starts to tick the newness wearing off, things never quite measuring up to what our expectations had been, and real life sets in.

Soon the moon over the tower loses luster and doesn’t shine quite so brightly and the captivating scents of jasmine and lilac fade, and petals start to fall from those beautiful roses.

Life does that, bad relationships do that, like countless women who married young, married FOREVER, expecting the road ahead to be filled with happiness, family and Prince Charming only to find that Prince Charming was in reality, the Prince of Persia, (a Biblical reference to Lucifer) that lied, cheated, and battered them and always managed to convince them that they were to blame.

And choosing to leave, others have been faced with being single mothers, taking on the role of both parents, doing the back breaking work of often working two jobs to provide and the double duty task of feeding, clothing, laundry, housework, not one moment for themselves or to worry about what they may need or even want because their children come first.

Others, for a multitude of reasonings, become entangled in bad lifestyle choices and professions that leave you in place alright, but it certainly isn’t paris.

And those who have had good lives but have suffered loss of family, friends, and worse of their children, have actually lost parts of themselves and have a hard time trying to move forward because their hearts long for the happy days of the past, the days when the still had those who have gone on.

The dreams of long ago have but vanished and just making it through the day, week, or month becomes the focus.

No joy, no hope, and no more believing for a “magical” age or time when things will change because as we become jaded, we lose hope, we lose faith, and we lose the ability to see past circumstances to see that “paris” is still really there, it still exists, we just have to find our way back to it and we have to find a way to rekindle the desire to even want to go there.

Last time we talked about aging and the fact that TIME is NOTHING to God, AGE is nothing to God.

He has ALL power in heaven and earth, and time bends to his will.

The scripture above so perfectly reflects what goes on in so many of us, the wilderness, the places we find ourselves in but can’t find our way out.

The lonely deserts, lonely, barren times in life when it seems that nothing you have planted will ever grow and all your best efforts are met with scorching thirst.

But it is in journeying to this place that you will find refreshment, you will find joy, and your hard, dry places will blossom with a beauty you have never known, God created us to have all those wonderful feelings and He wants you to feel loved, beautiful, and precious, and priceless in Him and only He can renew, restore, and rejuvenate all the areas inside and out in each of us that need refreshed.

That really is what it all about, you are still you, you are still the same person you were when He created you, NOTHING can ever change your core being. If you find yourself in a desert you need to stop and take stock, don’t look at the desert, don’t beat yourself up or question how you ended up there.

Ecclesiastes 7:10: “Say NOT thou, What IS THE CAUSE that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.”

Which means that we are not to question that the past was better than our present and in doing so we are not asking the right question.

REMEMBER where you were going, what you wanted to accomplish, REVIVE your hopes, REMEMBER your dreams and ask God to show you what He wants you to see in that place.

It’s like the alabaster breaking, which will we soon get to, we have to want change, we have to be to the point that it is all or nothing and in that place your rose will again bloom and it will bloom abundantly and you will be made completely new.

Jesus NEVER touched or touches a life without that life being made COMPLETELY new, new thoughts, new joy, new peace, and a renewed hope that THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING and your life is a book not yet written. 

Of course, He knows the plans, but for us it is ALL BLANK PAGES AND A CLEAN SLATE and with that you can dream again, you can hope again, and you can feel beautiful, feminine, and BE exactly WHO HE CREATED YOU TO BE!

Don’t be so sure life is “over” when it has even yet begun!

So go, go find Paris! If you thought the first time was good, the second time is going to blow your mind! 

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33

Have A Blessed Week! Εξυπιζω NBJ 2017

 

 

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Resurgence of Ruth

“Now when every maids turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, ( for so were the days of their purification accomplished), to wit, six months with the oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women.” Esther 2:12

This is the scariest post I’ll ever write.. for me anyway! The first ANYTHING is always the scariest, just like the first impressions we all sometimes worry about making.

And I think we all, especially as women have those secret places in our hearts and souls that we may not always want to share.

Not because we are unwilling or prideful but because they are so personal, so private and your personal worship of the Lord IS private, it IS personal and pouring your heart out and pouring your soul out, seriously pouring out every single thing in you at His feet is something not many would want an audience for.

And for me, I know “Simon’s”, I have even written about “Simon’s” and I really don’t like their condescending stares any more than any of you do, and I am sure many of you have a few “Simon’s”, male or female, all your own to contend with.

But as Isaiah 53:12 says of Jesus: “Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; BECAUSE HE HATH POURED OUT HIS SOUL UNTO DEATH;…”   

And if I can’t pour out my love, my worship, my heart for Him,and to Him and about Him, then honestly I have no business asking Him for anything especially asking to be in His Presence.

Neither would anyone else who is unwilling to wear that love and that praise for all the world to see, no matter who it is in the world that is seeing.

And we will get into all that when the timing is right and that is where the “myrrh” will come in very handy.

But here we are and I KNOW there is so much more for the daughters, the sisters, the literal “maidens” of Christ.

And I KNOW as I have read the Book of Ruth, and was studying over a little something last night, that as Ruth was allowed to sit at the TABLE with the REAPERS and have a meal, that the “left over” grain that FELL to the ground as the reapers came by became her lot to collect, that WE also have much to be gathered that has fallen and just been left laying on the ground.

To background the next verses, a lady named Naomi and her husband, who was of Bethlehem Judah and their two sons moved to Moab because of famine and her husband died.  The sons married two women from there, but Moab was pagan, and eventually the two sons died and Naomi was left with her and her daughters-in-law, so she decided to return to her own land as the famine had since lifted.

She asked her daughters-in-law to go back to their own families and remarry, because at that time, women were solely dependent on husbands, sons, kindness of or others, or so it would have seemed.

After many tears and much lingering, Orpah decided to go her way, but Ruth absolutely refused to leave Naomi.

Now God is awesome, He has ALWAYS been awesome, and always will be awesome. And many of the Old Testament laws he laid down were actually designed to PROTECT women, but over the course of time, so much has been “preached” through many men, who seem to not notice many of the things the Lord actually said and prefer to twist scriptures to enslave us rather than lead us to freedom, but that is another subject, I’d better bet get back to this one.

God had a provision that  during harvest grain that fell was left so that the poor or hungry could come by and gather it so that they would also have food.. told you, HE IS AWESOME. So they make it back to Bethlehem, and this verse is really important to their entire purpose of what we have before us, not just this post, but where this should be leading.

Ruth 2: 2: ” And Ruth the Moabitess, said unto Naomi, Let me NOW go to the field, and glean ears of corn after HIM IN WHOSE SIGHT I SHALL FIND GRACE.And she said unto her, Go my daughter.”

So she ends up in the field of Boaz, and I don’t want to get all hung up here, we’ll be in and out of their business enough as our journey goes, but for this we just need a little more background, basically they meet, they talk, and we will pick it up at verse fourteen:

“And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither (you come here) and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And SHE SAT BESIDE THE REAPERS: And he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left.”

We know we are also in harvest season and just as Jesus told us “the harvest truly is great but the laborers are few” we also know that traditionally what has been reaped by the men of God working the fields of the world, but I truly believe the greatest amount of that “wheat” of the kingdom is still lying on the ground in the fields of this world, lying in drug addictions, poverty, abuse, and chains they can not break themselves out of without divine intervention from God.

And I truly believe that much of this harvest belongs to His daughters,  that have been invited to sit at His table and been fed from His table with things that He personally has given them and then they will set by the reapers and glean the fields.

But just like Esther, you can not just sit yourself down at the table of a King, there is preparation. Of course this is not about salvation, we do not prepare ourselves to be saved, we only ask, God saves us.

This is about those who are already saved preparing to take their place in the Bride that we were told to be prepared to be.

So now you can see a little where this entire blog will be headed, embracing who we are, learning the Bible truth about who HE says we are, NOT what has been and still often is drilled into our heads, but HIS WORD to us, and preparing to sit at that table with our King and glean those fields with the absolute resurgence of the character and virtue of our Sisters Esther and Ruth, because that is what it is going to take to get our job done.

Φλογιζω Σαλπιζω Εξυπιζω NBJ 2017

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Resurgence of Ruth

“Now when every maids turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, ( for so were the days of their purification accomplished), to wit, six months with the oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women.” Esther 2:12

This is the scariest post I’ll ever write.. for me anyway! The first ANYTHING is always the scariest, just like the first impressions we all sometimes worry about making.

And I think we all, especially as women have those secret places in our hearts and souls that we may not always want to share.

Not because we are unwilling or prideful but because they are so personal, so private and your personal worship of the Lord IS private, it IS personal and pouring your heart out and pouring your soul out, seriously pouring out every single thing in you at His feet is something not many would want an audience for.

And for me, I know “Simon’s”, I have even written about “Simon’s” and I really don’t like their condescending stares any more than any of you do, and I am sure many of you have a few “Simon’s”, male or female, all your own to contend with.

But as Isaiah 53:12 says of Jesus: “Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; BECAUSE HE HATH POURED OUT HIS SOUL UNTO DEATH;…”   

And if I can’t pour out my love, my worship, my heart for Him,and to Him and about Him, then honestly I have no business asking Him for anything especially asking to be in His Presence.

Neither would anyone else who is unwilling to wear that love and that praise for all the world to see, no matter who it is in the world that is seeing.

And we will get into all that when the timing is right and that is where the “myrrh” will come in very handy.

But here we are and I KNOW there is so much more for the daughters, the sisters, the literal “maidens” of Christ.

And I KNOW as I have read the Book of Ruth, and was studying over a little something last night, that as Ruth was allowed to sit at the TABLE with the REAPERS and have a meal, that the “left over” grain that FELL to the ground as the reapers came by became her lot to collect, that WE also have much to be gathered that has fallen and just been left laying on the ground.

To background the next verses, a lady named Naomi and her husband, who was of Bethlehem Judah and their two sons moved to Moab because of famine and her husband died.  The sons married two women from there, but Moab was pagan, and eventually the two sons died and Naomi was left with her and her daughters-in-law, so she decided to return to her own land as the famine had since lifted.

She asked her daughters-in-law to go back to their own families and remarry, because at that time, women were solely dependent on husbands, sons, kindness of or others, or so it would have seemed.

After many tears and much lingering, Orpah decided to go her way, but Ruth absolutely refused to leave Naomi.

Now God is awesome, He has ALWAYS been awesome, and always will be awesome. And many of the Old Testament laws he laid down were actually designed to PROTECT women, but over the course of time, so much has been “preached” through many men, who seem to not notice many of the things the Lord actually said and prefer to twist scriptures to enslave us rather than lead us to freedom, but that is another subject, I’d better bet get back to this one.

God had a provision that  during harvest grain that fell was left so that the poor or hungry could come by and gather it so that they would also have food.. told you, HE IS AWESOME. So they make it back to Bethlehem, and this verse is really important to their entire purpose of what we have before us, not just this post, but where this should be leading.

Ruth 2: 2: ” And Ruth the Moabitess, said unto Naomi, Let me NOW go to the field, and glean ears of corn after HIM IN WHOSE SIGHT I SHALL FIND GRACE.And she said unto her, Go my daughter.”

So she ends up in the field of Boaz, and I don’t want to get all hung up here, we’ll be in and out of their business enough as our journey goes, but for this we just need a little more background, basically they meet, they talk, and we will pick it up at verse fourteen:

“And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither (you come here) and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And SHE SAT BESIDE THE REAPERS: And he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left.”

We know we are also in harvest season and just as Jesus told us “the harvest truly is great but the laborers are few” we also know that traditionally what has been reaped by the men of God working the fields of the world, but I truly believe the greatest amount of that “wheat” of the kingdom is still lying on the ground in the fields of this world, lying in drug addictions, poverty, abuse, and chains they can not break themselves out of without divine intervention from God.

And I truly believe that much of this harvest belongs to His daughters,  that have been invited to sit at His table and been fed from His table with things that He personally has given them and then they will set by the reapers and glean the fields.

But just like Esther, you can not just sit yourself down at the table of a King, there is preparation. Of course this is not about salvation, we do not prepare ourselves to be saved, we only ask, God saves us.

This is about those who are already saved preparing to take their place in the Bride that we were told to be prepared to be.

So now you can see a little where this entire blog will be headed, embracing who we are, learning the Bible truth about who HE says we are, NOT what has been and still often is drilled into our heads, but HIS WORD to us, and preparing to sit at that table with our King and glean those fields with the absolute resurgence of the character and virtue of our Sisters Esther and Ruth, because that is what it is going to take to get our job done.

Φλογιζω Σαλπιζω Εξυπιζω NBJ 2017

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“Dreaming in Greek”

My that is hard to read!!! Can you read it? Well, neither can I! But I know what it says and something very similar looking changed my life and my misperceptions about “listening” for the “voice” of God.

“But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that HE IS, and that HE IS a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6

Now the dictionary define faith as COMPLETE TRUST, and we know so many wonderful faith scripture and verses and teachings that we should all have the faith to absolutely move mountains…umm.. if we had the faith and if we had the prayer of faith and the faith to believe the impossible and yet did absolutely nothing with faith.

Then as James 2:17-26 tells us “Even so faith, IF IT hast not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, if a man may say, thou hast faith, and I have works: shew (show) me thy faith without thy works.

and I will shew you my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God: thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know (do you want to know) , O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered Isaac his son upon the altar?  Seest thou (do you see) how faith wrought (was working) with his works, and by works was faith made perfect (complete)?

And the scripture WAS fulfilled which saith ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS IMPUTED (accounted) UNTO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS; and he was called the Friend of God.

Ye see then how that by works a man (meaning human person) is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and sent them out another way?

For AS THE BODY WITHOUT THE SPIRIT IS DEAD, SO FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD.”

So to see what we have going on here, the key things to remember is that God EXPECTS us to have COMPLETE TRUST in Him, what is Word says, and what He prompts in our spirits, even when we do not understand.

Story after story in the Bible paints us a beautiful picture of this and the two stories from James are prime examples, as we are told in Hebrews chapter eleven.. better known as THE FAITH CHAPTER.. verses seventeen-nineteen:

“By FAITH Abraham, when he was tries (tested), offered up Isaac and he that received the promises offered up his only begotten son. Of whom it was said, That IN Isaac shall thy seed be called: ACCOUNTING THAT GOD WAS ABLE TO RAISE HIM UP, EVEN FROM THE DEAD;”…

And Rahab, whose story starts in Joshua chapter two who risked her own life hiding the men of God, verses nine-eleven:

“And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.

For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Rea Sea for you, when you came out of Egypt; and what you did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.

And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: THE LORD YOUR GOD, HE IS GOD IN HEAVEN ABOVE, AND IN EARTH BENEATH.”

She goes on to ask that that if she has been of help, that they spare her and her family and Joshua 6:25: ” And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father’s household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even to this day (her descendants) because she hid the messengers, which Joshua had sent to spy out Jericho.”

So she believed in God and acted on that faith in trusting Him she did what was right even when it could have gone terribly wrong, she BELIEVED that He would reward her for her faith.. and HE DID! 

And we see also in our verse from James, that he stops to point out that it IS good to believe, but the DEVILS ALSO BELIEVE, they KNOW God is real but yet the try to destroy the Kingdom and all that God holds dear. 

But he is saying that we must also use that faith, that trust in God to step out into what God is calling you, leading you to do. And remember that if God goes before you your enemies are more afraid that you may even know because it is HIM, His name and His work that IS IN YOU when you are IN Him.

 I want to encourage you today and I want to share my own story, not that I will never be in the league of these people but our stories are our stories and they are for today and they are for the Rea Seas of our generations, and the walls of our generations Jericho.

My ministry, (may be not much to many but priceless to me) unbeknownst to me…was evidently given birth to from something as simple, yet so strange as dreaming in Greek, sounds crazy, I know, and you have to really believe and really believe that God does truly work in mysterious ways to get this.

I had been given promises and had been given my calling through prophecy and of course, the laying on of hands, just as the Bible tells us will happen, and I had been given words and promises during prayer at other times, things that although I never doubted God, I also never saw how these things would come to be.

And as I got into live ministry, it became more and more confusing to wrap my head around what I knew would eventually come to pass, our trouble as humans.. the more we try to understand the less we do, because it is not always our job to understand.. it is our job to BELIEVE in faith and walk out in that faith.

So years ago, after I had been called, I started having these dreams…reoccurring dreams of nothing but line after line written of what I thought (again, shouldn’t have been thinking ) was letters of the English Alphabet and strange symbols, no commas, no periods, no stopping just row after row.

So I told my prayer partner that I really needed prayer that I thought I was just losing it and she prayed and I still did not understand.. a couple of months later, my husband and I were watching a travel show and I saw a street sign and I was like, Oh my goodness, that IS it, it was Greek.

The letters that look like English, that look like a, o, k, p, i, v and so on are actually not English and the weird symbols, Φ, λ, π, and as I like to call it, “the pitch fork thingy” φ, are just part of the Greek alphabet.

Of course I would love to have those lines, and lines out of my head to decipher but I now believe that it was not for me to decipher but for me to “look at”, ponder and maybe see a “different” path of ministry that I would have never seen otherwise.

But you know, people could be like, the chick is just crazy… but crazy or not, the Bible proves that sometimes we are led “outside the box” and we are shown things for a brief moment just to see if we will do a double take and ask “What on earth…?” and when He has our attention, He will do exactly what ever He wants to do because we have shown that we are open to Him and willing to have for a work that we KNOW is IMPOSSIBLE for us but TRUST Him that if He said it, it would come to be.

Writing the Word had been in my heart, my soul, and I have notebooks upon notebooks of scriptures from years ago, because I felt the need to write things down, and write and write, and write… and I had written letters to the Editor when prompted and had an overwhelming need to share the Word of God in a written format because people could read it in private and it could deal with “heavier” subjects without people feeling like they were being stared at or judged, and if they wanted to cry, they could cry, they could receive it, read it, and respond any way they wanted because it was personal just between them and God.

But I could not see a way of this happening and I played around with a couple of ideas, but at the time, it was just not panning out. In the meantime, my prayer partner had told me about something they had seen while praying, it was a word, written on a very specific place (won’t get into that right now) but anyway they said it was beautiful and they could not read it because it was foreign, so now I am excited trying to figure out what all this means and how certain things are still going to take place, because sometimes as humans, we do not understand God’s timetable.

And what we think is coming next week, could still be ten years in the making. So God opened a door that blew my mind, a chance to write for a church, already established, already existing, NOTHING for me to have to do , as I had been thinking there would be, “to make happen”.

HE already had it all lined up. I did NOT have a computer, or internet, didn’t even know how to use a computer, all I had was my trusty typewriter, but EVERY step of the way, He showed me that if I would step OUT of my comfort zone, He would do the rest!

Now I honestly don’t know how I lived without this baby, but that is another story! 🙂 anyway, I prayed and prayed, and prayed, what to write, how to present it and I now had my trusty Bible Greek book, I purchased as I was “in search of” and I by absolute faith, took one word as my prayer word and just nonchalantly added it to the bottom of the blog , I thought, they are going to think I am really out there and disassociate themselves from me, but amazingly they didn’t.

And I later wrote a post to explain the meaning of the name DOWN LOW OΝ PHLOGIZO (Φλογιζω) and promised at some point in the future to elaborate further as to why it was in Greek.

As time went, I shared my posts with my prayer partner because I know the FAITH she had and the support she had given, and one day just as nonchalantly as I had written Φλογίζω at the bottom of my posts.. she said, “By the way, I meant to tell you, that word I saw, is ON the bottom of your posts.”

I was like.. I have looked, I have thought, I have prayed and it was staring me in the face every single time I wrote!

So let me ask YOU, what just might be staring YOU in the face today? What word has He given you? What path has He called your feet to walk but may seem just a little too far away to ever reach?

Be encouraged, look for what you can’t see and BELIEVE when you do see it, even if you don’t understand what you are even seeing, one day you will understand and I now know the “mountains” my feet were meant to “travel” on with the Gospel, maybe aren’t the faraway mountains of distant lands that I could not understand HOW I would ever travel to.

But the irony in all to “ιζω” Greek words, which my curious daughter discovered is actually archaic and “went out of style” and usage around the fifteenth century, and the suffix meant “reason” and we now use “ize” instead.. so you know like “evangel-ize“.. feet not on actual mountains spiritual feet travelling “upon the mountains, over the world-wide web.

So NOW I would ask you to please check out my newest venture, the third and final spiritual Greek baby “Εξυπνιζω”, as “Φλογίζω” meant to “set on fire”, and “inflame with passion” joined by “sibling” “Σαλπιζω”, which means to “sound a trumpet”, Εξυπνιζω the new one means “awaken” and the site name is “Alabaster Breaking” which is pretty self-explanatory, it will be mainly for His daughters, and Lord willing, I will continue this one also, but if you get a moment please check it out at http://alabasterbreaking.wordpress.com of course, there’s not much there yet.

Never doubt the will and purpose for your life and never take for granted that you are just dreaming in Greek!

Love & Peace, for ever and always!

Φλογίζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2017

 

 

 

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Εξυπνιζω Mission Statement

Hi! First of all, THANK YOU for checking out Alabaster Breaking! Some of you may know my work from baresoulphlogizo.com  or its Greek name Φλογίζω Σαλπιζω, also on WordPress.

I would like to welcome you to my newest work Εξυπνιζω (pronounced ex-oop-nid-zo) the Greek word means to “awaken” and as my work on phlogizo tends to be based on messages for today’s world and the judgments that will follow. I will continue to post on that site and I will be pulling some content from that site here because I feel the messages are important for women of today.

I do feel that the Lord is leading me to have a separate blog just for His daughters and deal with a variety of subjects and with all my work, I hope we laugh and sometimes we will cry, and sometimes we will just enjoy being EXACTLY who He created us to be.. His daughters that He wants to shower His love on and that He wants to feel special, priceless, and most of all ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL IN HIM! And AWAKEN to Him, His will and His Holy Presence.

Of course we will walk down some painful paths dealing with many of the wounds and scars that life leaves us with and learn through His Word the healing and deliverance that is waiting for us.. once we allow our alabaster jars to start breaking.

Hopefully we will also have many moments that are not quite so tear filled and get into a few fun “mommy moments” and “priceless pet pick me -ups”, holiday celebrations, and thoughts and see Him in all the events of daily life that seem so common, but in the plan of the Father… NOTHING is common!

So please share this  journey with me as we rise as the force who will flood the throne room and bring change to this hurting world, and may He bless you now and always!

Always, Love & Peace! Sister Nina

I chose this song for my “mission” because I truly feel it says it all! Please listen.. it will redirect you to the YouTube site.. truly worth a listen.

 

 

 

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ASCENSION PART 1 “NIGHT WATCHMEN”

The sun may be shining, but it is night. The birds may be singing but it is night. For most, everything may appear well-lit and crystal clear but in the spirit world it is night.
For the addict who is one hit away from the mouth of hell, it is night. For the prostitute who is one trick away from the wrong John, who will be the devil incarnate come to assure her entrance into hell, it is night.
For the bullied teenager who is one razor blade away from ending it all, it is night. For those widowed and alone, whose loneliness eats away at their souls more viciously than any cancer, it is night.
For those persecuted and imprisoned for their beliefs or simply for the sick pleasure of the forces of hell, still the brightest of days with the greatest, blinding magnification of the sun is the suffocating blackness of the  most darkest of nights.
Night Watchmen, those hired to protect and oversee the goods and properties of their employer.
These particular watchmen actually being the biblical laborers hired in at that vital eleventh hour, because as dusk starts closing in, that harvest must not only be gathered, it must also be protected from the beasts of the field that attack to destroy it, even while the laborers work exhaustively to gather it.
As it is the eleventh hour, this work must be done in complete unity, all while following one light that will light their way through the rows, showing both the ready crops and revealing the awaiting dangers.
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105
These are the night watchmen of the Lord, they stand in the night hours when destruction and mischief are most common, and sin tries to take cover under the darkness of night.
While the rest of the world “sleeps”, these are they who will keep vigil, pray down strong holds, plead the blood of the Lamb over ones they have never even known and through intercessory prayer they will make a difference between life and death. They will through that prayer under the unified anointing of God will stand in the gap and make up the hedge around those who are unable to do it for themselves.
Their petitions before the throne of grace will break chains of abuse and addictions and the anointing of God will break the chains of abuse and addictions.
“BEHOLD, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord.” Psalm 134:1
Watchmen know who they are, and Night watchmen even more so.

Be vigilant, do not get discouraged and know that the power of the anointing of the secret prayers you pray alone are known of God, “who sees in secret, and will reward you openly”.

Ask that your prayers be accepted in agreement of unity with all those who are called as you are.
Know this also that as this is the last Psalm in the “Songs of Degrees” (steps, stairs) and just as being “compassed about with songs in the night”, this is going somewhere, it is blessed and it is beginning of the “prayers of the saints.”
Φλογίζω/ Original Post:01/01/2015. All rights reserved. Rev. Nina Brown Johnson

**REVISITED 03/05/2021**

 

 

Please consider reading the remainder in this series, the links are below.

ASCENSION Part 2 INTERCESSION

ASCENSION Part 3 CLIMB

AWAKENING / THE FORGOTTEN CHILD

Resurgence of Ruth/