Song of Solomon 4:6: “Until the day break, and the shadows flee, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense.” Mountain climbing, some saying simply “because it is there” but that really doesn’t get it in the spirit world now does it? That verse tells us a couple of things, we are going somewhere, to the mountain of myrrh, where we will die to our flesh and shed all the excess junk we are carrying on this trip, because the higher we climb the more junk and baggage we will toss to lighten the load and make it easier to climb. The hill of frankincense, the place of effective spiritual intercession is our goal and we have determined that we will get there and we will stay there until day breaks over the spirit world and the shadows of death and hell flee away. The myrrh is a mountain and the hill is frankincense because the hardest part of dying to our own flesh and coming to the place of purification that we can stand in that place of prayer, it is NOT about being a great person or most “spiritual” it is about having a heart for God. As David said, the one thing he would seek after to inquire in the temple and worship God in the beauty of HIS holiness, (not ours) once that is accomplished the intercession isn’t quite daunting a task. It takes a determination, a very wise man once chatted with me about a very simple biblical truth, “many are called but few are chosen” many are saved and are happy right where they are and that is perfectly okay, but God is looking for those who seek more, who are aware of the needs of others and KNOW there are greater works to be done in these precious, blessed last days. They have the heart as Isaiah’s which echoes “Here am I Lord, send me” and those will be his chosen vessels to accomplish the works and bring in the harvest. There are nine spiritual gifts, and I do believe there will be people who the Lord flows these gifts through on an as needed basis. So many have chosen not to seek the gifts God has given them, but the work still has to get done and I do believe it will be by a multi-tasking army. So some may start climbing that mountain and decide it is a little too steep and the trip is just not worth it, and ask “How do we even know anything is up there anyway?” Some may have to stop on the way and reach down to help another back up and there may be times that we are carrying each other until strength returns. You have to know why you want to climb that mountain, I determined long ago that I’d climb the bloody thing or I would die on the way up, because I know my motivation, I know my prayers to the only one who holds it all in his nail scarred hands, when I just want to tell him just how much I can’t do this, how I just simply cannot go one more step, I remember, I remember he was completely stripped, beaten beyond recognition and brutally nailed to a cross and displayed for the whole world to ridicule and he did it because he had a mountain to climb, the hill of the ultimate intercession, a hill named Calvary, the intercession to save all of mankind, and the only way for him to do that was to climb that hill. Then I remember, he forever holds me, I have no strength in me, but through him I can do all things, and I ask myself what am I climbing for anyway? I climb on behalf of every child that lives in horror and abuse, I climb for every animal tortured, I climb for every victim of ethnic cleansing after seeing the hollow soul stripped eyes on CNN of the genocidal rape victims of the Taliban, I climb for every elderly person that lives at the complete mercy of others in nursing homes and privately. I climb out of my pain, the awareness that there are stripe scars on my soul so deep that they are my cross to be borne, and a very personal vendetta against hell itself, to see it brought to its knees and maybe the chance to scream a list of “things that are just not nice to do to people” at Satan when Jesus casts him and his angels into an eternal fire of hell. If you could see this mountain in the spirit world, I think you would have to compare it to stairs, the light of that place being the soft glow of lamplight and a single file journey, an ascension upward of prayers, starting with the gathering censers of incense ( prayers of the saints) and as they persist, maybe feeling like they aren’t getting anywhere at first, oh, but it is, as they climb higher and higher, a change takes place, that cumbersome clothing will become robes, symbolic of the covering of the righteousness of God.
The censers of incense will become the effectual, fervent spoken prayer of the righteous offered up in the presence of God unlike anything some of them have ever known. The Holy Spirit leads us, the Holy Ghost overtakes us, and while you know all that, there is a manifestation of his presence, just as when he came to the disciples and Paul, you may not see him but you will know he is standing right there. On that mountain top, or after the ascension of those spiritual “stairs”, however you choose to relate to it, it will be “Ask and it shall be given” And if this is your desire, get your motivation, remember those you “climb” for, keep climbing till you reach the top.
Psalm 65:4:“Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts; we will be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even thy holy temple.”
Psalm 12:7: “For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, Now will I arise, saith the Lord: I willset him in safety from him that puffeth (torments) at him.” Remember why you climb, and climb.
Φλογίζω/original post:01/17/2015. All rights reserved. Rev. Nina Brown Johnson 2015 REVISTED 08/20/2021
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
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.
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
“Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?
I raised thee up(awakened) under the apple tree:…” Song of Solomon 7:5
The wilderness the daughters of God have been very acquainted with since the dawn of time. Since the fall of man, the enemy has ensured that we would be considered no more than property and every day countless of us are raped, abused, forced into prostitution and in many countries we are still property at the complete mercy of often unmerciful husbands.
While in other corners of the world, unable to carry lineage names daughters are aborted and others sold into slavery. Christianity of old.
Tainted by MEN also seemed to teach that women are inferior but the truth is far from that. My biggest struggle in coming to Christ was this very topic, I was like, Why are women always the bad ones? Misguided teaching of confused or intentionally biased doctrine has kept many away and who could blame them? Many modern women who have been left to support their children completely alone, who have struggled to pay their bills, put food on their tables, educate themselves and their children, just barely surviving through the world.
And if they happen into the wrong church they will hear that they are of a lesser value to God than their male counterparts. To “fit in” they will need to change everything about themselves and sit down and above all shut up. Even after God had enlightened me to the truth and helped me understand his word, I still had trouble wrapping my head around a few things. I did most of intense studying before my child was school aged, after everyone was asleep and my house cleaned, I would stay up and read until I could not function any longer.
One night I happened upon Judges 19 which in my opinion contains the most disturbing and gruesome story in the entire Bible. It mirrors the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, ironically found in Genesis 19, when Lot had offered his virgin daughters to the deviant, demon possessed pagans, who were demanding he turn over his male visitors to them, “that they may know them” translated, so they could gang rape them.
The Bible clear to point out that Lot offered these girls with a “do whatever you want to them” agreement to try to get them to take them instead of the male visitors.
To break Judges 19 down, a Levite had a concubine, it says she “played the harlot”. I’m not sure how that worked since she was “kept” for that purpose, double standards of the day, which still equate in our culture as the difference between a guy being a “player” and a woman being a “slut”.
Another problem Jesus addressed when he came to earth, he wants two people married, period. Enlightening them to their double standards when they wanted judgment against the adulterous woman, of course it takes two, but they seemed to have forgotten to bring her partner in this sin before the Lord, His answer to them translating to this, if they themselves had no sin, go ahead hit her.
Standing in front of a Holy God they couldn’t do it.
But at the time of Judges, men could have as many women as they wanted but it was never God’s plan. To get on with the story, she went back to her father’s house, so he comes after her to talk her into coming back, finally she agreed, and after being detained several days they went on their way.
He refused to stay anywhere other than lands belonging to the tribes of Israel and insisted on traveling to a city of the tribe of Benjamin, they had nowhere to stay, so an old man invited them to stay with him, pleading that they not stay outside, soon just as with Sodom, there were men at his door demanding he turn over this man to them that they “may know him”.
Picture perfect to Sodom, only lacking the presence of the angels that saved Lot’s daughters. So the old guy offers his daughter and the concubine, again with the agreement to whatever they wanted to them, just do not touch the man.
They refused, they still wanted the man, so the guy just takes the concubine and throws her out to them and they repeatedly gang rape her until the morning and then they let her go.
She makes it to the door of the house where she collapses, she just lies there helplessly until he gets up, opens the door and finds her and he actually tells her quite simply, to get up they have to get going, needless to say she is dead. He dismembers her body into twelve parts and sends a part to each of the tribes and war is waged. It wasn’t that they raped her or that she was dead that bothered him, it was because they destroyed his property.
I read this and I was alone with my shock and absolute horror and knowing the Lord, I just asked “Why, Why are we of so little value?” These “men” would not even try to fend off these monsters, not even try to muster up an ounce of anything remotely resembling courage to fight for themselves.
Forget chivalry, or protection, an ounce of some sort of compassion, but to just offer these women as less than nothing and to do it to save themselves. I just could not understand it.
I do understand that at the time the thought of this being done to men was so unthinkable that they were desperate to prevent it. But they could have tried to prevent it for happening to any of them.
The God I know would never sanction this stuff or ever condone it and I was in tears, and it just hit me to keep reading, the bottom line is this, at the very end of Judges, “In those days there was no king in Israel: Every man did what was right in his own eyes.”
This was never God!
He never put these things in men’s hearts and for years it was falsely taught and still is in many places.
Men still do what is right in their own eyes and only God can make them see the truth. But it is time for the awakening of his daughters.
No matter what false beliefs that women have been brainwashed by, we have to let them know that this is not what Jesus is about. He does not hate women and did not create us to be objects of amusement to fulfill the twisted lusts of men nor to be their gender indentured servants.
If we are ever to see those that are oppressed be saved and free, they have to know the truth about him and who he is and most of all who they are in him.
A forgotten child, much like David, when no one would even waste their time to call him to be presented before Samuel the Prophet, because in their eyes why would a prophet possibly want to speak with someone so unimportant and simple?
A forgotten child from the greatest of tribes, who just happened to be a woman, a sister to the twelve tribes of Israel, a forgotten child that no one bothers to mention because she was not as important as her brothers, or so they thought.
Dinah, the seventh child Leah bore to Jacob, a woman who also a thing or two about pain and substandard treatment, who had been raped and used as a bargaining chip which led to a mass slaughter.
Her bloodline STILL offering an inheritance. because she was one of the tribe.
The most prophetic beauty with Dinah is the meaning of her name, “JUDGEMENT.”
It is awakening time for the sisters, the beautiful, forgotten army who have a straight shot to the heart of the Father.
You are so strong, so powerful, and yet, you do not even know WHO YOU ARE in HIM, and so unaware of your predestined place in this end time end game.
You are the spiritual virgins and maidens forever following to proclaim the majesty, beauty, and holiness of the Kings of Kings.
It is the love and proclamations that Hannah, and Mary, and never forget Mary Magdalene, He came to her first because she needed him the most.
Take your place in the kingdom, it is not going to be accomplished with half an army. The adoration and praises from hearts that have known sorrows and pain that men can never begin to understand.
A relationship to God who will bring justice for others on behalf of the cries of the souls of his daughters. Unlike the time of Judges, unlike the women who are your sisters the world over, who are oppressed and in bondage.
You have access to a King, the King, and The King over heaven, and earth, and the entire universe, He will plead their cause if you bring them before his throne in that secret prayer closet. He will bring justice for those your tears flood the altar for, when you allow your soul to be awakened under that tree, awakened by a love so strong, so powerful, so consuming that you wear that love as a covering for the whole world to see.
“I AM the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among the thorns so is my love among the daughters. as the apple tree among the trees of wood so it my beloved among the sons.
I sat down under his shadow with great delight his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me into the banqueting house and his banner of me was LOVE” Song of Solomon 2:1-4
Translated: KNOW HIM for who HE IS, allow his love to bloom in you, in spite of the valleys and thorns, breathe in his sweetness and lift you up out of those ashes and hide in the secret place of the Most High, under the shadow of his wings, taste the goodness of his salvation and let him bring you into his house of feasting and the love of Jehovah Nissi is his war flag over his daughters and the love is the secret to it all.
Φλογίζω / 02/05/2015. All rights reserved. Rev. Nina BrownJohnson 2015
For later posts in the realm of all things feminine, check these out:
REVISTED:08/01/2019 I like to revisit these older posts, because sometimes we just need to be reminded of who Jesus REALLY is and who he has called us to be in him.
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
Mothers, we are formed in their bodies, they feed us, diaper us, love us and nurture us. They dry our tears and relieve all our fears. They chase the boogey men away. Spend sleepless nights by our bedside when we are sick.
Their love and patience pour over us as we spend hours crying through all the heartaches of puppy love and the growing pains that only a mother’s comfort can see us through. My own mother always had an awesome ability that allowed her even in the worst possible circumstance to see so beyond the crisis at hand and see a better time in the future. And I have truly been through a thing or two, including having to file for a restraining order at the ripe old age of eighteen and my mother always reassured me of several things.
#1. Things always look brighter after a good night sleep. We often worry about bad things that never actually happen.
#2. No matter how bad that day may seem, one day we really do look back and whatever it was that almost broke us will seem like a nightmare that never really even happened.
#3. An old, old one which is true and will always be true, whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.
You know she was right on all counts, and she still is!
I always thought if I could even be “half the woman” that she is I would do well. She is beautiful inside and out and has such a dignity and grace about her that is almost regal and loves Jesus more than life itself.
Mothers are like beautiful jewels, they come in a variety of colors, shapes and sizes. Each one exquisitely crafted by the master’s hand.
Maybe your birth mother or maybe the mother God chose just for you by joining you together through adoption.
Maybe He chose your grandmother or Aunt as the defining maternal hand to guide you, love you, teach you, and above all nurture you in Him.
Nevertheless, we all know there is no one, no one like our mother.
The relationship between Mary and Jesus is such a beautiful example of this one-of-a-kind bond. We know the story, Mary the blessed virgin, to whom an angel came to proclaim that she would give birth to the Son of the Almighty God, who had in fact created her.
Without a doubt she was scared to death, how do you conceive without a mate? An answer which came when she was overshadowed by the Holy Ghost.
How do you knowingly carry the Son of God inside your body?
How do you tell your future husband and your family that this is true, and it really happened to you? How do you travel ninety miles on a donkey and give birth in a stable surrounded by his beautiful animal creations knowing this child is the one to save all of creation?
How do you accept the gifts of frankincense, gold, and myrrh brought from faraway lands by wise men on bended knee who have been led there by a star to pay honor and tribute to the King of all Kings?
How do react when the shepherds come to worship him, relaying that the message of his arrival had been proclaimed to them by the host of heaven who proceeded to sing praises to the glory of God in the Highest as heaven came down and kissed earth?
How do you give the offering of the poorest of poor when dedicating him, never, ever worrying about providing for him?
How do you hear a prophecy from one who had been promised he would not see death until he beheld the face of this promised child, when that prophecy is that “a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also”?
As this child grows and maternal instincts take over, as he is held, loved, learns to crawl, walk and says his first words, has his first bumps and bruises and one day decides to stay behind and talk with the elders rather than join the caravan his family traveled with.
How do you understand, when you ask why he did this and he asks you “Did you not know I must be about my Father’s business?”,
I will tell you how, he was her baby, even though he was divine, she knew he was God’s Son, but she was human, and she was his mother and like all of us, that was her baby and as she watched him grow, he became what he was…her son whom she loved more than life itself.
Fast forward twenty-one years after pondering what did he mean by this, as he begins his ministry and watching his miracles (she had to know he held this power because she asked him to do something for her friends at the wedding when he turned the water into wine, which was his first public display of this power) she watched as her own people hated him and threatened his life, she watched as his ministry grew.
She knew of his arrest and public torture and finally seeing him bloody, beaten beyond recognition and carrying a wooden beam to his execution, his battered body falling under the weight of it. And unable to go to him, to hold him, to touch his face, to tell him everything would be okay and this was still her baby and there was nothing in the universe she could do to stop it because it was the piercing of her soul. There would be no words to describe her sorrow.
How could her beautiful son who hung nailed to a cross, nearing death look down and want to be sure his mother would be cared for before dying, because he was her firstborn son.
John 19:25-27 “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, (John) he saith unto his mother Woman, behold thy son!
Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.”
They seriously wrote the book, the ultimate story of love between a mother and child, and a wonderful example to us about the love and respect we should have for own mothers.
I hope all have a blessed Mother’s Day and if you have lost your Mother, rejoice in knowing just as Jesus and Mary we reunited and are together forever and ever, you will be also. And if you know a lady who maybe has lost her children or they are “too busy” for her, please, please consider “adopting” her for Mother’s Day.
A card, flowers or just a visit can change her world. Because loneliness is one “disease” we can cure!
Remember Jesus said if you do it for one of his little one’s (saints) you’ve done it for him! Because He is the King and these ladies are precious, precious jewels that help make up his Majestic crown! They are precious to him! Φλογίζω 2014 Revised 2019 & 2020/ May 08, 2022,
*Post Note: My beautiful mother mentioned above has since went home to be with Jesus, I was blessed beyond words to be her child.
This is my mother Helen and me in 1977, She wanted us to have a mom & daughter picture taken, and this was like back in the day when you had to actually go have them done and hope for the best.
She was so mad at the photographer for using a black background with her black hair and of course she didn’t even know until she received the finished package, but it is a wonderfully precious memory.
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
“And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat (at the dinner table), there came a woman having an alabaster box (flask) of ointment of spikenard,very precious (costly); and she brake the box and poured it on his head.” Mark 14:3
Before we begin, I do want to take one more opportunity to absolutely STRESS that these teaching CAN NOT be viewed with the carnal mind.
We live in the world and the world associates love, longing, and the desire to have ones soul entwined as something sensual and carnal but dealing with the teaching of Christ and the Church as His Bride and the love and extremely intimate relationship that He desires IS spiritual, IT IS the love of your soul, which is why it can not be viewed or studied without salvation and the understanding that all things have to be compared spiritually.
And there are so many sites dedicated to nothing more than what they consider “apostasy” and they assert that if someone has had an experience different from their own that they are obviously a heretic, and many denominations conclude that the outpouring of the Spirit, and the gifts, and especially tongues and prophecies were only for the time of the disciples, mainly during the writing of the book of Acts.
BUT they are wrong and the Bible even teaches us that there are different manifestations of the Spirit and I for one declare what I KNOW to be true and maybe they just need to pray to experience these things BEFORE they malign others. SO there is my disclaimer!
EVERYTHING is symbolic and ALL the teachings of the Bible APPLY to us now. God had it written through His Holy Revelation as a guidebook for all the generations that would come after its completion.
NOTHING else is needed and if anyone believes that those teachings are outdated or for certain times then how would He want us to navigate our way now? That is the trouble with that argument.
It DOES apply and the symbolism, once He has taught you to “read” it is where the answers to many of our questions are found. So on that note, let’s get going!
In our verse, she FOUND him, she made a CONSCIOUS effort to seek him, she did not wait for “fate” to allow her a chance meeting. We have to get out of the thinking that what we seek will “just happen” and “if it is meant to be it will” that may be all well and good, but David PROCLAIMED in Psalm 27:8:
“When thou saidst, SEEK YE MY FACE, MY HEART SAID UNTO THEE, THY FACE, LORD, WILL I SEEK.”
Song of Solomon 3:1-4: “By NIGHT on my bed I SOUGHT HIM WHOM MY SOUL LOVETH, I sought him, but I found him not.
I WILL RISE now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I WILL SEEK HIM WHOM MY SOUL LOVETH; I sought him but I found him not. The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?
It was but a LITTLE that I passed from them, but I FOUND HIM WHOM MY SOUL LOVETH; I HELD HIM, AND WOULD NOT LET HIM GO….”
We are encouraged through theses verses and MANY more to SEEK, so IF we are already saved, WHY would we be told to SEEK?
Because there IS more, for David was to be promoted from shepherd boy to thrice anointed King, whose throne WILL stand forever.
I am sure the disciples would have been saved once they did indeed accept Christ as the Messiah, BUT it was when they heeded His words “FOLLOW ME” that their discipleship was enacted.
And our lady the church, in the above verses from Solomon, had SEARCHED and SEARCHED, and could NOT even sleep because her heart longed and searched for the ONE she knew that her soul must find.
And as those verse point out, finding him was NOT easy, she HAD TO RISE UP and move OUT of her comfort zone.
The “watchmen” evidently thought she was a little far out considering they ‘found” her, leading us to think that they questioned what on earth was she doing. But she told them, asking them Where is he? They were obviously of no help since we are told that shortly after she did find him and would not lose what she had found.
And that is about where Mary of Bethany found herself, she HAD sought and she found him at the dinner table and in her desperation, she did “pass by the watchmen” those that held the dinner that she had not been invited to, she CAME ANYWAY.
And that is sometimes what it takes to get some alabaster breaking, the willingness to not care what anyone else thinks of you or your worship of the Lord, how crazy they think you are or what a fanatic they accuse of being.
The ONLY thing she brought with her was her alabaster flask, alabaster in its purestform is snow white (dig, the symbolism) but it the iron it is exposed to that produces the faded color and “veining” but it remains translucent, and it’s softness it what makes it so delicate and easily carved and with enough water it will dissolve but under the wrong conditions it will become hard as any other rock.
Can you see “US”, our feminine state in the alabaster?
He does create us pure as snow, but enough hardness, hurt, and “iron” of this life will dull that white turning it as burnt amber with all the fine lines and cracks from those things that have almost broken us, forming the veining throughout the piece but it still retains its translucency, still allowing light to pass through, even in its darkened state, and while not a perfect image, what the vessel truly holds can still be somewhat seen through the marred surface.
We ARE the alabaster vessels, and the hardness will soften and vanish completely away once that “vessel” is washed over by “living” waters.
Her flask held spikenard, still heralded as an anointing oil, but the secret to this is the flowers of the plant is comes from, the flowers are pink and bell-shaped, beautiful and fragrant, again super feminine, just like we like to be, we want to feel our best, feel feminine, and as the plant “wears” it’s pretty pink bells, so do we.
BUT what we see on the surface is NOT always a reflection of what lies underneath and this plants has some serious roots.
How about our roots? What lies beneath our surfaces, what is so deep, so horrid, so hidden, that we can not even bring ourselves to dig it up?
But to get this oil, you have to deal with the roots, and it is funny, if the roots are stored they are prone to bacteria and infection, they also have the ability to shoot off and grow more roots, (troubles) and it to get the oil the roots must be CRUSHED. Destroying the root BUT producing something so beautiful in return.
In our story it was EXPENSIVE, worth around a years wages, so in our spirits what is the worth of our OWN alabaster boxes?
What caused the fading, veining, and cracks? What was the price paid for everything contained in that vessel?
Tears, heartaches, betrayals, and mistakes, coercions, and outright attacks. Was that price so high that, like some of us, that the vessel is all you even have left? If you know there are things to be dealt with, roots that cost you your peace, joy, and happiness, cracks in that alabaster that has left you feeling worthless and unloved, or cheated and betrayed, or wounds of loss that seem to have destroyed any hope for your present, much less hope of a future. SEEK HIM.
Jeremiah 29:13 :”And ye SHALL seek me, and FIND me, when YOU SEARCH FOR ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART.”
Find him, take your vessel and BREAK IT, scripture says: Isaiah 53:5…..”the CHASTISEMENT of OUR PEACE was UPON HIM;…”
He GIVES us HIS peace when we are willing to break and allow everything in us to be poured out and if you are have trouble with things that just won’t seem to go away and fighting the same emotional battles over and over again, give it to Him because He wants to make you new but you have to let Him, and take the vessel of your heart, your soul, to him, your will, your fears, take it ALL, it has to break, and those roots must be crushed, there is no other way.
True freedom is given at the feet of Jesus, your enemies can not touch you, your past can not haunt you, and those roots, once crushed will never sprout up again!
Εξυπιζω NBJ 2017
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
“And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat (at the dinner table), there came a woman having an alabaster box (flask) of ointment of spikenard,very precious (costly); and she brake the box and poured it on his head.” Mark 14:3
Before we begin, I do want to take one more opportunity to absolutely STRESS that these teaching CAN NOT be viewed with the carnal mind.
We live in the world and the world associates love, longing, and the desire to have ones soul entwined as something sensual and carnal but dealing with the teaching of Christ and the Church as His Bride and the love and extremely intimate relationship that He desires IS spiritual, IT IS the love of your soul, which is why it can not be viewed or studied without salvation and the understanding that all things have to be compared spiritually.
And there are so many sites dedicated to nothing more than what they consider “apostasy” and they assert that if someone has had an experience different from their own that they are obviously a heretic, and many denominations conclude that the outpouring of the Spirit, and the gifts, and especially tongues and prophecies were only for the time of the disciples, mainly during the writing of the book of Acts.
BUT they are wrong and the Bible even teaches us that there are different manifestations of the Spirit and I for one declare what I KNOW to be true and maybe they just need to pray to experience these things BEFORE they malign others. SO there is my disclaimer!
EVERYTHING is symbolic and ALL the teachings of the Bible APPLY to us now. God had it written through His Holy Revelation as a guidebook for all the generations that would come after its completion.
NOTHING else is needed and if anyone believes that those teachings are outdated or for certain times then how would He want us to navigate our way now? That is the trouble with that argument.
It DOES apply and the symbolism, once He has taught you to “read” it is where the answers to many of our questions are found. So on that note, let’s get going!
In our verse, she FOUND him, she made a CONSCIOUS effort to seek him, she did not wait for “fate” to allow her a chance meeting. We have to get out of the thinking that what we seek will “just happen” and “if it is meant to be it will” that may be all well and good, but David PROCLAIMED in Psalm 27:8:
“When thou saidst, SEEK YE MY FACE, MY HEART SAID UNTO THEE, THY FACE, LORD, WILL I SEEK.”
Song of Solomon 3:1-4: “By NIGHT on my bed I SOUGHT HIM WHOM MY SOUL LOVETH, I sought him, but I found him not.
I WILL RISE now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I WILL SEEK HIM WHOM MY SOUL LOVETH; I sought him but I found him not. The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?
It was but a LITTLE that I passed from them, but I FOUND HIM WHOM MY SOUL LOVETH; I HELD HIM, AND WOULD NOT LET HIM GO….”
We are encouraged through theses verses and MANY more to SEEK, so IF we are already saved, WHY would we be told to SEEK?
Because there IS more, for David was to be promoted from shepherd boy to thrice anointed King, whose throne WILL stand forever.
I am sure the disciples would have been saved once they did indeed accept Christ as the Messiah, BUT it was when they heeded His words “FOLLOW ME” that their discipleship was enacted.
And our lady the church, in the above verses from Solomon, had SEARCHED and SEARCHED, and could NOT even sleep because her heart longed and searched for the ONE she knew that her soul must find.
And as those verse point out, finding him was NOT easy, she HAD TO RISE UP and move OUT of her comfort zone.
The “watchmen” evidently thought she was a little far out considering they ‘found” her, leading us to think that they questioned what on earth was she doing. But she told them, asking them Where is he? They were obviously of no help since we are told that shortly after she did find him and would not lose what she had found.
And that is about where Mary of Bethany found herself, she HAD sought and she found him at the dinner table and in her desperation, she did “pass by the watchmen” those that held the dinner that she had not been invited to, she CAME ANYWAY.
And that is sometimes what it takes to get some alabaster breaking, the willingness to not care what anyone else thinks of you or your worship of the Lord, how crazy they think you are or what a fanatic they accuse of being.
The ONLY thing she brought with her was her alabaster flask, alabaster in its purestform is snow white (dig, the symbolism) but it the iron it is exposed to that produces the faded color and “veining” but it remains translucent, and it’s softness it what makes it so delicate and easily carved and with enough water it will dissolve but under the wrong conditions it will become hard as any other rock.
Can you see “US”, our feminine state in the alabaster?
He does create us pure as snow, but enough hardness, hurt, and “iron” of this life will dull that white turning it as burnt amber with all the fine lines and cracks from those things that have almost broken us, forming the veining throughout the piece but it still retains its translucency, still allowing light to pass through, even in its darkened state, and while not a perfect image, what the vessel truly holds can still be somewhat seen through the marred surface.
We ARE the alabaster vessels, and the hardness will soften and vanish completely away once that “vessel” is washed over by “living” waters.
Her flask held spikenard, still heralded as an anointing oil, but the secret to this is the flowers of the plant is comes from, the flowers are pink and bell-shaped, beautiful and fragrant, again super feminine, just like we like to be, we want to feel our best, feel feminine, and as the plant “wears” it’s pretty pink bells, so do we.
BUT what we see on the surface is NOT always a reflection of what lies underneath and this plants has some serious roots.
How about our roots? What lies beneath our surfaces, what is so deep, so horrid, so hidden, that we can not even bring ourselves to dig it up?
But to get this oil, you have to deal with the roots, and it is funny, if the roots are stored they are prone to bacteria and infection, they also have the ability to shoot off and grow more roots, (troubles) and it to get the oil the roots must be CRUSHED. Destroying the root BUT producing something so beautiful in return.
In our story it was EXPENSIVE, worth around a years wages, so in our spirits what is the worth of our OWN alabaster boxes?
What caused the fading, veining, and cracks? What was the price paid for everything contained in that vessel?
Tears, heartaches, betrayals, and mistakes, coercions, and outright attacks. Was that price so high that, like some of us, that the vessel is all you even have left? If you know there are things to be dealt with, roots that cost you your peace, joy, and happiness, cracks in that alabaster that has left you feeling worthless and unloved, or cheated and betrayed, or wounds of loss that seem to have destroyed any hope for your present, much less hope of a future. SEEK HIM.
Jeremiah 29:13 :”And ye SHALL seek me, and FIND me, when YOU SEARCH FOR ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART.”
Find him, take your vessel and BREAK IT, scripture says: Isaiah 53:5…..”the CHASTISEMENT of OUR PEACE was UPON HIM;…”
He GIVES us HIS peace when we are willing to break and allow everything in us to be poured out and if you are have trouble with things that just won’t seem to go away and fighting the same emotional battles over and over again, give it to Him because He wants to make you new but you have to let Him, and take the vessel of your heart, your soul, to him, your will, your fears, take it ALL, it has to break, and those roots must be crushed, there is no other way.
True freedom is given at the feet of Jesus, your enemies can not touch you, your past can not haunt you, and those roots, once crushed will never sprout up again!
Εξυπιζω NBJ 2017
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desired to make one wise,she took the fruit thereof,….” GENESIS 3:6
I think we all know that one, the seduction of Eve by the serpent, all he really had to do was convince her of a few points. It looked good, really good at the time and she really wanted to feel smart, smarter than her Creator and the serpent even managed to convince her that not only would she not die but that she would become as God.
BAD, BAD idea and unfortunately today we have the daughters of Eve, who have now fallen to some very bad advice and are also thinking they are as God, when it comes to the very gift God has given us, the gift of life, the priceless gift to reproduce and bring life into this world and we are now deceived into believing we have the right to destroy that life.
In a few short hours, America will have a new President, and all his personal mess and misogyny aside, I am quite happy about it. Please DO NOT get me wrong, he could very well be bad mess, he could in fact be a proverbial “King Saul” waiting to happen, BUT as we stand now, the tide has changed in hope for the better, concerning the anti-God laws that have already came to rest on the head of America, so I feel like with the absence of even more pagan laws being enacted that we have been given a tad bit more time before the judgment train lands in our station.
But believe me, it will, if we do not act and act fast as believers, we are not going to undo what has already been done, but God did spare Nineveh a little while longer and maybe we will be too, but not forever.
As you know I had taken a little break because I have not been really well and hoped to come back with a groovy new site and flowers, sunshine, and encouragement, but as I had not be near my computer I had missed a few email news letters and after checking those and streaming through what I had “missed out on”, I quickly discovered that, no, we would not have flowers but we would have tears, sorrow, and repentance as a comeback.
As the Women’s march takes place in protest to Trump, I really want to be one of the first and one of the MANY who say, THEY DO NOT SPEAK ON MY BEHALF!
And I want to clarify a few things because it is so easy for people to accuse us of holding on to traditional “brainwashed” views, well, I can assure all that the only brain washing I have had took place when my soul, mind and spirit was cleansed by the Word of God and sanctification by the Holy Spirit and until that point I was just like those I now desire to reach.
I WAS a feminist, I WAS a liberal democratic, and I was on the band wagon of great rebellion of the daughters of Eve, who have to vehemently proclaim that MEN had no right to decide what we should do or how we should do it.
And you know what? That IS all it really comes down to, and once I was saved, I realized much as the character of Ebenezer Scrooge, portrayed by Alistair Simms in the 1951 version of “Scrooge” as he sang “I never did know anything!” and I realized that everything I had believed was actually backward to the truth, and all I had been taught was wrong, not right and we ARE natural beings BEFORE we become spiritual.
This is rebellion, but it is rebellion, not against men but against God. It is great to have our rights and be free and I really think men are also to blame, just as Adam was guilty with Eve. Men have used the Bible wrongly and misrepresented God’s views on women through the ages to the point that many women think He hates them and this is the biggest lie that Satan has ever told.
The deception he has hit us with is so much greater than what he did to her, because he has women DESTROYING themselves from the inside out and claiming feminism when killing the very, most precious part of us that makes us women in the first place.
And there is something so horrifying on a primal level when it is now COMMON in America to have celebrities laugh about abortions, wear insanely vulgar pins that state “Don’t—- with us, Don’t—- without us” as a champion for abortion, dresses with big “I (heart) Abortions” on them, panderers laughing about selling baby body parts because they want a sport car.
Women willfully killing their own children as a form of contraception, when there are many, many contraceptives available, even one popular magazine with a coat hanger on the cover that stated without abortion they would resort back to “that”.
We have options on top of options, there is still the tried and true, just so no method but there is no excuse anywhere for abortion over contraceptives. And flip that coin for the horrific reality that homosexual men are ADOPTING babies, while mothers CHOOSE to slaughter them.
You want the cold hard facts? The highest year for abortions in America was actually 1981 with one MILLION, three-hundred thousand, seven hundred and sixty being performed according to the CDC.
In the grand scheme of it all, we have taken lessons from the Spartans in ancient Greece (infanticide was also committed in ancient Rome) who murdered their own babies if they were thought to be weak, the Babylonians buried infants under the foundations of their homes for “good luck”, oh but we modern Americans are so totally civilized!
The main reasons reported for abortions are, not being “ready” for a baby, having other plans for life, afraid to tell partner (Yeah, sounds like they really need to keep sleeping with him) what about the baby, whose little heart is beating as it forms gently, securely inside the safety of Mama’s womb only to suddenly have its head crushed in, cut apart and vacuumed out? Think the baby doesn’t feel it?
I really want to be careful, I do truly have a sorrow in my heart for all women, especially young ones who have been coerced and sometimes forced to have an abortion and I pray God will help them but the ones I am referring to are NOT victims they are AGENTS.
To get to some more facts about killing ourselves from the inside out, more numbers 2011, seven hundred, thirty thousand, three-hundred, and twenty-two abortions according to the CDC, but much higher according to other sources, now 2012, a strange thing happened, DEATHS OUTNUMBERED BIRTHS, and births have been on the decline for years.
Wonder why? Could it may be because we are killing all the babies? If you get time please research this, you will be shocked at many of the facts and the CDC site gives you info on ALL years recorded. We don’t have to worry about global threats or diseases, we are wiping out our own people and destroying our own society from the inside out and just as that spirit of Pharaoh that called for the execution of the Hebrew babies and Herod calling for the great slaughter, we have allowed the enemy to convince us to do the job for him.
Now the purpose of this post, NEW DANGER, abortions rates are actually declining but they will not stay that way if the entertainment industry has anything to do with it, web search “ABC scandal baby it’s cold” that simple, most probably heard about it but I had missed hearing about it, but anyway, it is a television show and they decided it was a great idea to have the main character have an abortion, and the heartlessness to title it “Baby it’s cold” is only mirrored in despicable, sick, perversion by the fact that they used “Silent Night” as the theme song during the abortion.
If you have any discernment going on, you can seriously feel “what” you’re dealing with just watching the clip, it reminds me of the Bible story of Tophet when the people burned their children alive as sacrifices and played the music to drown out the sounds of their screams.
So truly sick, when I think I have seen it all…. But that is the thing, Hollywood dictates modern culture and now these shows are doing what they have always done and desensitizing minds, while even encouraging countless young viewers that is no big deal, it is even okay to laugh, look at the title, the world is a hard place, no place to bring a baby into, so go for it, everyone else is. And as with all infections it will spread.
Time to stand up like never before, speak out when ever you can especially to young people, it takes two and it is high time that men start taking responsibility also, God never created women to be inferior or abused, men are going to have to “man” up, grow up, and be what God called them to be and treat women with respect and women to bury the hatchet, everyone needs a good old-fashioned class in abstinence, you know society changed, GOD DIDN’T, HIS idea is still one man one woman, MARRIED.
But please, if you do watch all these “protests” and rights marches, please pray while you watch, pray the curse of rebellion will be broken, it has nothing to do with birth control, it comes down to “It is my baby and I DECIDE if it lives” because they want to think they are wiser than God, Pray their eyes will be opened, the cloak covering the truth will be removed and they will SEE the truth and the entirety of that truth.
Pray that their ears WILL NOT be protected by the “music of Tophet” that they will hear the cries of the innocent, the unborn, pray their hearts will feel compassion as Pharaoh’s daughters heart filled with compassion when she heard the cry of Moses, Pray the will repent.
Our country is still very divided and we must not forget the fight we have just endured. we all often ask, “Where were the Christians when prayer was taken from schools?” and then we must all answer the same answer, sleeping on the job, feeling a little to at ease. Soldiers should never feel that at ease! God has given us a victory but the battle still wages and to keep our freedom, we must continue to stand for those who can not stand for themselves and one baby aborted is one too many and the only way it will stop is when people see the truth.. it is wrong and it will always be wrong. Until the daughters of Eve become the Daughters of the King, we can not forget.
I don’t know about you but I honestly can not handle the thought of a billion little babies destroyed simply because they are inconvenient, but I’ll leave it at ROMANS 1, after without natural affection, you know the NATURAL love mother to child, human to human, ROMANS 1:32 ……..not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do them.” that is what we are dealing with.. if change does not come, don’t be shocked in the future, if THE FUTURE does not come.
Σαλπιζω Φλογίζω NBJ 26
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
Beauty, what a word. What a list of infinite definitions. EVERYONE has a different definition of what is beautiful and yet we often find ourselves feeling the pressure of a senseless society to attempt to obtain those unclear and ever evolving levels of the standard of beauty.
This had been rattling around in my head for quite a while, but once I began to pray the way He led me was quite unexpected. With the holiday happenings, most of us feel that we NEED to look our best and of course with the busiest time of the year, that is sometimes even harder and once nature and time comes into play… well the temptation of all the vast beauty “solutions” become harder to resist.
We all have “THOSE” people to deal with, you know the ones that you really don’t know if they are a “test” on patience and tongue bridling or if they are just sent from the devil to make you feel inferior and that your head belongs in a bag.
The root of it has NOTHING to do with how we really look, it has to do with our perceived ACCEPTANCE and self-worth and all the Botox in the world cannot produce the true glow of what God has ordained to shine in us.
And I know so many ladies who suffer the onslaught of remarks and jabs at their self-worth. Our family actually knows one lady who manages to insult everyone that she runs into. She is a constant barrage of “You are looking old, you need to get something done” and forever running down others who are not even present, with so and so “Sure has let themselves go” and she seems to have a chart of exactly what each person should weigh, and in her mind she is the score keeper on status quo of how we all should appear.
My family and I ran into her awhile back and I seriously prayed the entire time, I was like Lord, please don’t let her start because if she hurts one of mine with her words, I really don’t know that I could not have “returned” her the favor with some advice of my own concerning her own appearance. But Jesus is awesome like that, she did not say a word, I’m sure she said plenty the moment we were gone but I know those biting words “come out of the abundance of her own heart” and that is truly sad.
I detest hearing anyone comment on people’s weight and have lost the control over my tongue on more than one occasion. I hate it, probably because I struggled and struggled being skinny and flat chested (still flat chested) during my teen years as my friends “blossomed” and all I heard was “that a good puff of wind could blow me away” you often hear the hurtful remarks in the other direction but believe me, people are mean because they are just mean and they will find a way to hurt you no matter your size because your size is really not their issue.
The issue is to hurt you to feel better about themselves. Funny story with that, my husband briefly worked with a guy that we hadn’t seen in probably twenty years and my husband said one of the first things he had asked was about my weight, a few weeks later, Lo, and behold, “test?/temptation?” we ran into him and I truly could have had a sadistic field day going off on his fallen attributes, but I didn’t, sure is nice to know my body shape meant so much to him.
God has brought me along way from that little girl who so desperately needed acceptance, because the acceptance I needed to gain COULD never be achieved, not through make-up, not through dating a virtual army, not through any one man because who I need to “prove” my worth to no longer existed and would have never accepted it, if I were dipped in gold I would still have been utterly worthless.
But see THIS is where all this comes from in all of us and society has run wild with it. I do not own a scale, and I will never allow one brought into my home, I don’t need the drama, I’m going to weigh what I am going weigh. I do wrestle with fear that Marty Stuart is gonna call and want his hair back, (no offense to him, it looks good on him, not so much on me) while other days the clowns would declare me their leader because the “fro knows” and the fro knows humidity well, and it will burst through any styling product with an absolute vengeance and all the lines, droops and scarves made of neck flesh bear witness to the fact that the old “Brown” mare ain’t as young as she used to be.
But when my thirty-six year old niece who is very beautiful informed me that she wanted to get the new “double chin” therapy, I was just disturbed. This is a major epidemic and there are plenty of celebrities that have taken plastic surgeries to the extreme in searching for the fabled fountain of youth that they now look more like cartoon characters and there is nothing remotely attractive about any of it.
So here is what He enlightened me to, because we know He does not approve of vanity, intentional or unintentional and THERE IS NOTHING WRONG IN WANTING TO LOOK YOUR BEST, He wants us to feel beautiful, but BEAUTIFUL IN HIM, that does not start looking in the mirror at our own face, nor does it start by looking in the eyes of another for approval.
It does not start with hair, faces, bodies, clothes or any other decorative ornamentation known to man. It happens feet first and works its way up. REVELATION 4:11 : ” Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for THOU HAST CREATED ALL THINGS, AND FOR THY PLEASURE THEY ARE AND WERE CREATED.”
That includes US. We all have some type of creativity because God puts that in all of us, whether it is culinary masterpieces, floral arranging, crafts, sewing, woodworking, pottery, on and on, but we ENJOY what we create and we create it they way WE want it. So also, HE CREATED US, THEY WAY HE WANTED US.
Beauty is not found in the three-inch heels encasing the soles of our feet, it is found in our souls touching HIS feet and “uncovering” that mystery, it is an intimacy and a place of humble worship, not worshiping the fashion gods, but worshipping the true and living God. True beauty is found not in becoming obsessed with our “beauty” but becoming obsessed with HIS BEAUTY.
And that my dear friends is from the inside out and will rock you to your core and produce a glow that everyone will know. Now why do I think you have to pursue this?
Humility, a fully aware willingness to surrender, willingness to submit, all those “s” words that strike horror and outrage into our proud little minds in our new self-righteous, always right society, to a being that is supernatural, all-powerful, and holds life, death and heaven and hell in His hand and allow His complete control over your soul, your body, your will and allow Him to take you into that inner sanctum of His Holy Presence where you will worship in the absolute BEAUTY OF HIS HOLINESS and there you will find your self-worth and you will find a beauty that can never be bought, dyed, or injected into you.
How do I know that we “resist” this intimacy with the Lord? Our go to book on issues of the church concerning her King;
Song of Solomon:1:7: ” Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flocks to rest at noon: for WHY SHOULD I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?”
Wasn’t a question of love, the love was there, it was a question to the submission in humility, she wanted all the answers up front, she questioned WHY SHOULD she have to appear to be of a more questioned character, WHY should she have to “lower” herself in her pursuit of him? It would be good enough for “others” to do that, but oh, no not her. See the religious snobbery there? Remember we were created, we did not create Him.
You can see the foreshadowing for this need of surrender, and not just surrender to salvation, in Ruth, we’ll pick it up as Naomi advised her in more or less a marriage proposal to Boaz, as he was by right a kinsmen.
RUTH 3: 3-11: “Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment (best clothes) upon thee, and get thee down to the floor: and make not thyself known unto the man, UNTIL he shall have done eating and drinking.
And it shall be, when he lieth down, that thou shalt mark the place where he shall lie, and shalt go in, and uncover his feet, and lay thee down; and he will tell thee what thou shalt do.”
Want to stop there for just a second, notice she listened to wisdom, she was clean and presented herself at her best (take that spiritually), she was to not interrupt him, as with Solomon’s “stir not up my love until he pleases” WE WAIT ON THE LORD, not jump up and down and demand an audience with him, she was then to uncover his feet, that place of intimacy and THEN LAY HER SELF DOWN, leaving all that she was, SO SHE COULD HEAR HIM.
Picking back up at verse five: ” And she said unto her, ALL that thou sayest unto me, I WILL DO. And she went down unto the floor, and did according to all that her mother in law bade her. And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of corn: and she came softly, and uncovered his feet, and laid her down.
And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was afraid (startled), and turned himself; and behold, a woman lay at his feet. And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth, thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt (garment corner) OVER thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsmen.”
Think about the Lord “lifting up His countenance” on us, that is His APPEARANCE, His protection, His covering all the way around us.
Verse 10,11: ” And he said, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter: for thou hast shewed more kindness in thy latter end than in thy beginning, inasmuch as thou followedst NOT young men, whether poor or rich.
And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requires ( ask); for the city of people know that thou art a virtuous woman.”
Notice she was BLESSED of the Lord for not pursing the other “things” but pursing the RIGHT path. This union would ultimately produce King David and we will now pay a visit to another lady who laid herself at the feet of the ultimate production of that bloodline:
Mark 5:25-34: “And a certain woman which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had SUFFERED many things of many physicians, and had spent ALL she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse.
When she heard of Jesus, came in the press (crowd) BEHIND, and TOUCHED HIS GARMENT. For she said, IF I MAY TOUCH BUT (even) HIS CLOTHS, I SHALL BE MADE WHOLE.
And straightway,(immediately) the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus immediately knowing in himself that virtue (POWER) had gone out of him, turned him to the press and said, Who touched my clothes?
And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, KNOWING what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter,thy faith has made the whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.”
Now as most know, to have any bleeding made the woman unclean and under mosaic law, no one could go near her, but the beauty of Jesus is that transcends all laws and human conditions and she knew just making it to His feet would indeed heal her completely.
Mary proclaimed that her soul did magnify the Lord, when she was overshadowed by the Holy Ghost the magnification of His Presence through her and in her soul brought forth that conception, as His power went forth to heal the terrified lady at His feet, as Mary Magdalene found forgiveness, love, and unimaginable peace at His feet, we also will only find what we need in His presence.
Don’t buy into the world view of finding it any other way, don’t buy into the lies that you are of a lesser value based on idiotic notions of this world. You will never know who you are or what beautiful really is until you lay yourself, all of yourself, all the insecurities, hurts, wounds down and “uncover” the truth of time well spent at the feet of the only one worthy of praise, the only one who possesses true beauty and the only one who can make you feel beautiful when His love beams through you.
1 SAMUEL 2:1-4: “And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the Lord: my mouth is enlarged (smiles) over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation, There is NONE holy as the Lord: for there is NONE beside thee: NEITHER is there any other rock like our God. Talk no more exceeding proudly; let NOT arrogancy come out of your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are broken; and They that stumbled are girded with strength.“
Φλογίζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2016
This is absolutely my favorite Praise and worship song. And so perfectly descriptive of Him.
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
“We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God. We will set up our banners: the Lord fulfil all thy petitions. Now Know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; he will hear (answer) him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of HIS RIGHT HAND. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but WE WILL REMEMBER THE NAME OF THE LORD OUR GOD. They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright. SAVE, LORD; LET THE KING HEAR US WHEN WE CALL.” PSALM 20:5-9
Dealing with our subject, the protective shield of God and his right hand that forever holds us when we feel like we are going to fall. Dealing with submission, first God never designed us to submit to evil people.
“Resist the devil and he will flee from you” and “Never GIVE PLACE to the devil” are to me, proof positive of this. I use those verses often because they are so clear and point blank and they are not followed with a clause stating that this is void if you are in a relationship with the person that the devil is using to torment you.
But once you come into the faith, your relationship with GOD trumps ALL other relationships and if you stay together in the marriage, the believer will sanctify the unbeliever. However if they are mean and nasty to you, here is your answer:
1 CORITHIANS 7:15: “BUT, IF THE UNBELIEVING DEPART,(LEAVES) LET HIM DEPART. A BROTHER OR SISTER IS NOT UNDER BONDAGE IN SUCH CASES: BUT GOD HATH CALLED US TO PEACE.”
Operative word there, PEACE, remember Jesus tells us to take upon us His yoke which IS light and EASY to bear. HE IS the Prince of Peace, so why would he want you tied to someone who never lets you see a moment of it?
Why women have always been persecuted in these ways is for one reason and one reason only, if you have been hurt, wounded, and abused and your trust has been destroyed by men, how can you possibly submit your soul Jesus, who is male?
Even the word submission has negative conations in our world. It is viewed as weakness, or ineptness, or giving up. But in the spirit world it is a BEAUTIFUL thing. Remember “God is NOT A MAN” Jesus came here as a man, but He is not a man. And “it is IMPOSSIBLE” for him to lie” what He says He means. When He says HE WILL give you peace and life more abundantly, and joy UNSPEAKABLE, HE REALLY MEANS IT.
“He maketh rich (In spiritual things) and adds NO SORROW with it.” HE IS beautiful, merciful, kind, and when you come to Him in prayer, He will NEVER ask you “where have been?” or “why on earth did you do that?” He will NEVER remind you of your sins, failures, or mistakes. BUT, here it is, YOU have to be willing to TRUST HIM, and that is what true submission is.
You have to be willing to lay down your own thoughts, your fears, and your problems at HIS feet. The hardest part is letting Him see your soul, all of your soul, every hurt, every scar, and every single wound that you have tried to hide. All your tears, because in the world we are brainwashed with “never let them see you cry”, this is BACKWARD to the word of God, even Jesus wept.
I promise once that surrender takes place and you really, really let Him in, you will know love unlike anything you have ever imagined or could feel from a human. You will understand things you never understood. And you will KNOW the King of Kings and the absolute Lord of Lords and the power of His resurrection.
This is the place where you and HIM become one and words can never describe Him, or His presence and the most astounding attribute IS HIS GENTLENESS and overwhelming meekness. You will understand just who fights for you, that fierce protection of that banner of His love that waves over you and your soul being shrouded under the shadow of the Almighty and there aren’t enough mortal men on earth or demons from hell that can penetrate HIS shield over your soul or touch His power in any way.
The hardest thing to surrender is our pain but just remember something, His pain was put on public display, that crown of thorns piercing into Him as the thoughts the enemy sends pierces our minds. He was savagely beaten ( I always have to point this out because it was so profound to me, but according to scripture, it relays this way, had you known Jesus and saw Him everyday, once they were through with him He had been beaten so badly that you would NOT have been able to recognize Him) He was stripped completely nude and NAILED to a cross. He understands pain, He understands humiliation. And He will never hurt or humiliate us.
In the meantime, if you are in a bad situation or trying to overcome one, I want to give you some scriptures to help you:
“The Lord IS on my side; I will not fear: What can man do unto me? PSALM 118:6
” When I cry unto the thee, then shall mine enemies be turned back: This I know for GOD IS with me.” Psalm 56:9
“What shall we the say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” ROMANS 8:31 (Actually you should just read all of ROMANS 8, it will give you a whole new prospective on how God feels about His children.)
“In GOD have I put my TRUST: I will NOT be afraid what man can do unto me.” PSALM 56:11
” The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and DELIVERETH THEM OUT OF ALL THEIR TROUBLES. THE LORD IS NIGH ( NEAR, CLOSE TOO) UNTO THEM THATARE OF A BROKEN HEART; AND SAVETH SUCH AS BE OF A CONTRITE (CRUSHED) SPIRIT. Many ARE the afflictions of the righteous: BUT the lord delivereth him out of them all.” PSALM 34:17-19
Seek HIM, and HIS will for your life and don’t settle for less and HE will in his time send you a mate that will treat you the way you deserve and most importantly one suited for marriage to a daughter of the King!
Φλογίζω-εξυπνιζω/ ΝΒ 2016
If you have never heard this please listen. This is one of the best description possible.
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
“Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden (held) me up, and thy GENTLENESS hath made me great.” PSALM 18:35
I write from two places warnings, judgments, and scriptures that flood my soul and my own soul and all the things I wish someone had told me before I had destroyed my pre-Christ life. This will be a Bare soul moment! We will be working back on the shield and a continuance to “Awakening/The Forgotten Child” .
The greatest plague Christianity has ever faced is the biased, outright oppressive teachings that have been held against women. The old school “obey” marriage rule, as for the record, dealing with obedience, the scripture only says that “children are to obey their parents in the Lord” and when you apply this, if a person had ungodly parents who encouraged them to sin, and go against the word of God, then the children would NOT be under this rule because it applies to GODLY parents but it does not apply to married couples but we will get into what it does mean in a little bit.
Back to the oppression, women have since the dawn of time been owned, beaten, and viewed as baby making servants who are to bow to their master husbands. And if Satan didn’t get you with that he has an army out there waiting to make sure that some point in life that it will be driven home that you are inferior and created for the sexual pleasure of men and nothing more.
The true damage comes when it is falsely taught and I believe intentionally in most cases, and they TRY TO HIDE BEHIND GOD’S NAME TO JUSTIFY IT. But I am here to tell you some playhouses are going fall and it will fall on their heads because they have used their position in the family unit for cruelty and twisted His word to make it seem right, well, I assure you that one day they are not gonna wanna play there anymore! It is my job to reply these things and they have hid their sins behind him long enough and they will no longer have a cloak for that sin.
First of all if you have been in one of these relationships or a victim of satan’s hench boys, please let Jesus heal you and I’ll get into that in part two (which will post today also) and I promise I never go there without personal experience and scripture to back me up. And in my own life, Satan has had an ax at my feet since the moment I came from my mother and I had scars so deep that God had to fill me with the Holy Ghost to even acknowledge certain things so He could deal with them. I understand the MISPLACED guilt, shame, hatred, resentment, and self loathing that comes with it. And I understand the flip side of that coin and how if untreated it will send us on a hell-bent path of self-destruction that requires a true miracle of God to return from. That is the reaction the enemy wants, and he rarely lets up. When you are faced with unwelcome attitudes in church settings it is even more difficult and after a while you do really just get to the point that you don’t know whether to pray for them or slap ’em and drag them to the altar. But I think it would be cool sometimes, if the Lord would just send something that body parts would just fall off on the spot! Yes, I know that is mean, what I am going to say? I am human and God is nowhere near those messes. And I am telling you this so you will know to never base God or your relationship with Him on other people’s actions. And if these things have happened or happen to you, don’t think it is just something wrong with you. Children of God or not, we live in the devil’s world and everyone at church is not always actually saved. And if you are in a relationship where you are treated with anything other than love and respect GET OUT OF IT NOW. They don’t change, you can’t change them, only the Lord can and only when THEY WILL LET HIM.
Let’s look at what God says about anger and angry people.
“ Make NO FRIENDSHIP (that would be ANY kind of relationship) WITH AN ANGRY MAN; AND WITH A FURIOUS MAN THOU SHALT NOT GO ( have nothing to do with them). Lest thou learn his ways and GET A SNARE TO THY SOUL.” PROVERBS:22:24,25
“AN ANGRY MAN STIRRETH UP STRIFE, AND A FURIOUS MAN ABOUNDS IN TRANSGRESSIONS.” PROVERBS 29:22
” As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a contentious ( argumentative) man to kindle strife.” Proverbs 15:18
That says all there is to say and love has nothing to do with it because true love never hits, belittles, or hurts you. And you ARE much to valuable and precious to God for Him to want you to have anything less for your life. God’s plan was only for one man, one woman becoming as ONE, and in one is all there is, no me, no you, but US.
That was his plan. He also NEVER condoned the multiple wives and chicks on the side from the Old Testament. A lot of people think because it is in the O.T. that it means it’s okay but THAT IS NOT what it means. The Old Testament is stories about humans, making bad, bad mistakes and God forgiving them for those mistakes and teaching them a better way. It is stories about what NOT to do! I really believe He wants ALL His daughters to know HIM for who HE IS.
No matter where you are in your life, if your like the woman at the well who was living with a guy and had evidently been there and done that four times before or like Mary at His feet, who had made mistakes, mistakes which Simon sure never wanted her to forget, or the woman whom they were going to stone for committing adultery (of course they didn’t bring the man, no they let their buddy go, he was just doing what guys do, right?) BUT every single time Jesus met these ladies with what HE does best, HIS LOVE, HIS FORGIVENESS, and HIS ARMS OPEN WIDE. THE command for what HE WANTS you to have in a marriage:
EPHESIANS 5:25-33: “HUSBANDS LOVE YOUR WIVES, EVEN AS CHRIST ALSO LOVED THE CHURCH, AND GAVE HIMSELF (DIED) FOR IT. That he might (would) sanctify and cleanse it WITH THE WASHING OF THE WATER BY THE WORD. That he might (would) 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 (should) men love their wives as their own bodies, He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; BUT NOURISHETH AND CHERISHETH IT, EVEN AS THE LORD THE CHURCH; For WE ARE members OF HIS BODY, OF HIS FLESH, AND OF HIS BONES.
FOR THIS CAUSE SHALL A MAN LEAVE HIS FATHER AND HIS MOTHER, AND SHALL BE JOINED UNTO HIS WIFE, AND THEY SHALL BE ONE FLESH. This is the 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 REVERENCE (RESPECT, HONOUR) HER HUSBAND.” And that is HIS thoughts on it!
Please join me for part 2 and we’ll look at TRUE SUBMISSION, WHY IT IS A SPIRITUAL MUST, AND THE MEANING OF THE SHIELD OF THE KING.
Φλογίζω εξυπνιζω/ ΝΒ 2016. Revisited 10/14/2020
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
“Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?
I raised thee up(awakened) under the apple tree:…” Song of Solomon 7:5
The wilderness the daughters of God have been very acquainted with since the dawn of time. Since the fall of man, the enemy has ensured that we would be considered no more than property and every day countless of us are raped, abused, forced into prostitution and in many countries we are still property at the complete mercy of often unmerciful husbands.
While in other corners of the world, unable to carry lineage names daughters are aborted and others sold into slavery. Christianity of old. Tainted by MEN also seemed to teach that women are inferior but the truth is far from that. My biggest struggle in coming to Christ was this very topic, I was like, Why are women always the bad ones? Misguided teaching of confused or intentionally biased doctrine has kept many away and who could blame them? Many modern women who have been left to support their children completely alone, who have struggled to pay their bills, put food on their tables, educate themselves and their children ,just barely surviving through the world.
And if they happen into the wrong church they will hear that they are of a lesser value to God than their male counterparts. To “fit in” they will need to change everything about themselves and sit down and above all shut up. Even after God had enlightened me to the truth and helped me understand his word, I still had trouble wrapping my head around a few things. I did most of intense studying before my child was school aged, after everyone was asleep and my house cleaned, I would stay up and read until I could not function any longer.
One night I happened upon Judges 19 which in my opinion contains the most disturbing and gruesome story in the entire Bible. It mirrors the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, ironically found in Genesis 19, when Lot had offered his virgin daughters to the deviant, demon possessed pagans, who were demanding he turn over his male visitors to them, “that they may know them” translated, so they could gang rape them.
The Bible clear to point out that Lot offered these girls with a “do whatever you want to them” agreement to try to get them to take them instead of the male visitors.
To break Judges 19 down, a Levite had a concubine, it says she “played the harlot”. I’m not sure how that worked since she was “kept” for that purpose, double standards of the day, which still equate in our culture as the difference between a guy being a “player” and a woman being a “slut”.
Another problem Jesus addressed when he came to earth, he wants two people married, period. Enlightening them to their double standards when they wanted judgment against the adulterous woman, of course it takes two, but they seemed to have forgotten to bring her partner in this sin before the Lord, His answer to them translating to this, if they themselves had no sin, go ahead hit her.
Standing in front of a Holy God they couldn’t do it.
But at the time of Judges, men could have as many women as they wanted but it was never God’s plan. To get on with the story, she went back to her father’s house, so he comes after her to talk her into coming back, finally she agreed, and after being detained several days they went on their way.
He refused to stay anywhere other than lands belonging to the tribes of Israel and insisted on traveling to a city of the tribe of Benjamin, they had nowhere to stay, so an old man invited them to stay with him, pleading that they not stay outside, soon just as with Sodom, there were men at his door demanding he turn over this man to them that they “may know him”.
Picture perfect to Sodom, only lacking the presence of the angels that saved Lot’s daughters. So the old guy offers his daughter and the concubine, again with the agreement to whatever they wanted to them, just do not touch the man.
They refused, they still wanted the man, so the guy just takes the concubine and throws her out to them and they repeatedly gang rape her until the morning and then they let her go.
She makes it to the door of the house where she collapses, she just lies there helplessly until he gets up, opens the door and finds her and he actually tells her quite simply, to get up they have to get going, needless to say she is dead. He dismembers her body into twelve parts and sends a part to each of the tribes and war is waged. It wasn’t that they raped her or that she was dead that bothered him, it was because they destroyed his property.
I read this and I was alone with my shock and absolute horror and knowing the Lord, I just asked “Why, Why are we of so little value?” These “men” would not even try to fend off these monsters, not even try to muster up an ounce of anything remotely resembling courage to fight for themselves.
Forget chivalry, or protection, an ounce of some sort of compassion, but to just offer these women as less than nothing and to do it to save themselves. I just could not understand it.
I do understand that at the time the thought of this being done to men was so unthinkable that they were desperate to prevent it. But they could have tried to prevent it for happening to any of them.
The God I know would never sanction this stuff or ever condone it and I was in tears, and it just hit me to keep reading, the bottom line is this, at the very end of Judges, “In those days there was no king in Israel: Every man did what was right in his own eyes.”
This was never God!
He never put these things in men’s hearts and for years it was falsely taught and still is in many places.
Men still do what is right in their own eyes and only God can make them see the truth. But it is time for the awakening of his daughters.
No matter what false beliefs that women have been brainwashed by, we have to let them know that this is not what Jesus is about. He does not hate women and did not create us to be objects of amusement to fulfill the twisted lusts of men nor to be their gender indentured servants.
If we are ever to see those that are oppressed be saved and free, they have to know the truth about him and who he is and most of all who they are in him.
A forgotten child, much like David, when no one would even waste their time to call him to be presented before Samuel the Prophet, because in their eyes why would a prophet possibly want to speak with someone so unimportant and simple?
A forgotten child from the greatest of tribes, who just happened to be a woman, a sister to the twelve tribes of Israel, a forgotten child that no one bothers to mention because she was not as important as her brothers, or so they thought.
Dinah, the seventh child Leah bore to Jacob, a woman who also a thing or two about pain and substandard treatment, who had been raped and used as a bargaining chip which led to a mass slaughter.
Her bloodline STILL offering an inheritance. because she was one of the tribe.
The most prophetic beauty with Dinah is the meaning of her name, “JUDGEMENT.”
It is awakening time for the sisters, the beautiful, forgotten army who have a straight shot to the heart of the Father.
You are so strong, so powerful, and yet, you do not even know WHO YOU ARE in HIM, and so unaware of your predestined place in this end time end game.
You are the spiritual virgins and maidens forever following to proclaim the majesty, beauty, and holiness of the Kings of Kings.
It is the love and proclamations that Hannah, and Mary, and never forget Mary Magdalene, He came to her first because she needed him the most.
Take your place in the kingdom, it is not going to be accomplished with half an army. The adoration and praises from hearts that have known sorrows and pain that men can never begin to understand.
A relationship to God who will bring justice for others on behalf of the cries of the souls of his daughters. Unlike the time of Judges, unlike the women who are your sisters the world over, who are oppressed and in bondage.
You have access to a King, the King, and The King over heaven, and earth, and the entire universe, He will plead their cause if you bring them before his throne in that secret prayer closet. He will bring justice for those your tears flood the altar for, when you allow your soul to be awakened under that tree, awakened by a love so strong, so powerful, so consuming that you wear that love as a covering for the whole world to see.
“I AM the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among the thorns so is my love among the daughters. as the apple tree among the trees of wood so it my beloved among the sons.
I sat down under his shadow with great delight his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me into the banqueting house and his banner of me was LOVE” Song of Solomon 2:1-4
Translated: KNOW HIM for who HE IS, allow his love to bloom in you, in spite of the valleys and thorns, breathe in his sweetness and lift you up out of those ashes and hide in the secret place of the Most High, under the shadow of his wings, taste the goodness of his salvation and let him bring you into his house of feasting and the love of Jehovah Nissi is his war flag over his daughters and the love is the secret to it all.
Φλογίζω / 02/05/2015. All rights reserved. Rev. Nina BrownJohnson 2015
For later posts in the realm of all things feminine, check these out:
REVISTED:08/01/2019 Because sometimes we just need to be reminded of who Jesus REALLY is and who he has called us to be in him.
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
Mothers, we are formed in their bodies, they feed us, diaper us, love us and nurture us.
They dry our tears and relieve all our fears. They chase the boogey men away. Spend sleepless nights by our bedside when we are sick.
Their love and patience pour over us as we spend hours crying through all the heartaches of puppy love and the growing pains that only a mother’s comfort can see us through. My own mother always had an awesome ability that allowed her even in the worst possible circumstance to see so beyond the crisis at hand and see a better time in the future. And I have truly been through a thing or two, including having to file for a restraining order at the ripe old age of eighteen and my mother always reassured me of several things. #1. Things always look brighter after a good night sleep. We often worry about bad things that never actually happen. #2. No matter how bad that day may seem, one day we really do look back and whatever it was that almost broke us will seem like a nightmare that never really even happened. #3. An old, old one which is true and will always be true, whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.
You know she was right on all counts and she still is! I always thought if I could even be half the woman she is I would do well. She is beautiful inside and out and has such a dignity and grace about her that is almost regal and loves Jesus more than life itself. Mothers are like beautiful jewels, they come in a variety of colors, shapes and sizes. Each one exquisitely crafted by the Master’s hand. Maybe your birth mother or maybe the mother God chose just for you by joining you together through adoption.
Maybe He chose your Grandmother or Aunt as the defining maternal hand to guide you, love you, teach you, and above all nurture you in Him. Nevertheless we all know there is no one, no one like our Mother. The relationship between Mary and Jesus is such a beautiful example of this one of a kind bond. We know the story, Mary the blessed virgin, to whom an angel came to proclaim that she would give birth to the Son of the Almighty God, who had in fact created her. Without a doubt she was scared to death, how do you conceive without a mate? An answer which came when she was overshadowed by the Holy Ghost. How do you knowingly carry the Son of God inside your body? How do you tell your future husband and your family that this is true and it really happened to you?
How do you travel ninety miles on a donkey and give birth in a stable surrounded by his beautiful animal creations knowing this child is the one to save all of creation?
How do you accept the gifts of frankincense, gold, and myrrh brought from far away lands by wise men on bended knee who have been led there by a star to pay honor and tribute to the King of all Kings?
How do react when the shepherds come to worship him, relaying that the message of his arrival had been proclaimed to them by the host of heaven who proceeded to sing praises to the glory of God in the Highest as heaven came down and kissed earth? How do you give the offering of the poorest of poor when dedicating him, never, ever worrying about providing for him? How do you hear a prophecy from one who had been promised he would not see death until he beheld the face of this promised child, when that prophecy is that “a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also”?
As this child grows and maternal instincts take over, as he is held, loved, learns to crawl, walk and says his first words, has his first bumps and bruises and one day decides to stay behind and talk with the elders rather than join the caravan his family travelled with.
How do you understand, when you ask why he did this and he asks you “Did you not know I must be about my Father’s business?”, I will tell you how, he was her baby, even though he was divine, she knew he was God’s son but she was human and she was his mother and like all of us, that was her baby and as she watched him grow, he became what he was. Her son whom she loved more than life itself. Fast forward twenty-one years after pondering what did he mean by this, as he begins his ministry and watching his miracles (she had to know he held this power because she asked him to do something for her friends at the wedding when he turned the water into wine, which was his first public display of this power) she watched as her own people hated him and threatened his life, she watched as his ministry grew. She knew of his arrest and public torture and finally seeing him bloody, beaten beyond recognition and carrying a wooden beam to his execution, his battered body falling under the weight of it.
And unable to go to him, to hold him, to touch his face, to tell him everything would be okay and this was still her baby and there was nothing in the universe she could do to stop it because it was the piercing of her soul.
There would be no words to describe her sorrow. How could her beautiful son who hung nailed to a cross, nearing death look down and want to be sure his mother would be cared for before dying, because he was her firstborn son.
John 19:25-27 “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, (John) he saith unto his mother Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother!
And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.” They seriously wrote the book, the ultimate story of love between a mother and child, and a wonderful example to us about the love and respect we should have for own mothers.
I hope all have a blessed Mother’s Day and if you have lost your Mother, rejoice in knowing just as Jesus and Mary we reunited and are together forever and ever, you will be also.
And if you know a lady who maybe has lost her children or they are “too busy” for her, please, please consider “adopting” her for Mother’s Day.
A card, flowers or just a visit can change her world. Because loneliness is one “disease” we can cure! Remember Jesus said if you do it for one of his little one’s (saints) you’ve done it for him! Because He is the King and these ladies are precious, precious jewels that help make up his Majestic crown!
They are precious to him! Φλογίζω 2014
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
Song of Solomon 4:6: “Until the day break, and the shadows flee, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense.” Mountain climbing, some saying simply “because it is there” but that really doesn’t get it in the spirit world now does it? That verse tells us a couple of things, we are going somewhere, to the mountain of myrrh, where we will die to our flesh and shed all the excess junk we are carrying on this trip, because the higher we climb the more junk and baggage we will toss to lighten the load and make it easier to climb. The hill of frankincense, the place of effective spiritual intercession is our goal and we have determined that we will get there and we will stay there until day breaks over the spirit world and the shadows of death and hell flee away. The myrrh is a mountain and the hill is frankincense because the hardest part of dying to our own flesh and coming to the place of purification that we can stand in that place of prayer, it is NOT about being a great person or most “spiritual” it is about having a heart for God. As David said, the one thing he would seek after to inquire in the temple and worship God in the beauty of HIS holiness, (not ours) once that is accomplished the intercession isn’t quite daunting a task. It takes a determination, a very wise man once chatted with me about a very simple biblical truth, “many are called but few are chosen” many are saved and are happy right where they are and that is perfectly okay, but God is looking for those who seek more, who are aware of the needs of others and KNOW there are greater works to be done in these precious, blessed last days. They have the heart as Isaiah’s which echoes “Here am I Lord, send me” and those will be his chosen vessels to accomplish the works and bring in the harvest. There are nine spiritual gifts, and I do believe there will be people who the Lord flows these gifts through on an as needed basis. So many have chosen not to seek the gifts God has given them, but the work still has to get done and I do believe it will be by a multi-tasking army. So some may start climbing that mountain and decide it is a little too steep and the trip is just not worth it, and ask “How do we even know anything is up there anyway?” Some may have to stop on the way and reach down to help another back up and there may be times that we are carrying each other until strength returns. You have to know why you want to climb that mountain, I determined long ago that I’d climb the bloody thing or I would die on the way up, because I know my motivation, I know my prayers to the only one who holds it all in his nail scarred hands, when I just want to tell him just how much I can’t do this, how I just simply cannot go one more step, I remember, I remember he was completely stripped, beaten beyond recognition and brutally nailed to a cross and displayed for the whole world to ridicule and he did it because he had a mountain to climb, the hill of the ultimate intercession, a hill named Calvary, the intercession to save all of mankind, and the only way for him to do that was to climb that hill. Then I remember, he forever holds me, I have no strength in me, but through him I can do all things, and I ask myself what am I climbing for anyway? I climb on behalf of every child that lives in horror and abuse, I climb for every animal tortured, I climb for every victim of ethnic cleansing after seeing the hollow soul stripped eyes on CNN of the genocidal rape victims of the Taliban, I climb for every elderly person that lives at the complete mercy of others in nursing homes and privately. I climb out of my pain, the awareness that there are stripe scars on my soul so deep that they are my cross to be borne, and a very personal vendetta against hell itself, to see it brought to its knees and maybe the chance to scream a list of “things that are just not nice to do to people” at Satan when Jesus casts him and his angels into an eternal fire of hell. If you could see this mountain in the spirit world, I think you would have to compare it to stairs, the light of that place being the soft glow of lamplight and a single file journey, an ascension upward of prayers, starting with the gathering censers of incense ( prayers of the saints) and as they persist, maybe feeling like they aren’t getting anywhere at first, oh, but it is, as they climb higher and higher, a change takes place, that cumbersome clothing will become robes, symbolic of the covering of the righteousness of God.
The censers of incense will become the effectual, fervent spoken prayer of the righteous offered up in the presence of God unlike anything some of them have ever known. The Holy Spirit leads us, the Holy Ghost overtakes us, and while you know all that, there is a manifestation of his presence, just as when he came to the disciples and Paul, you may not see him but you will know he is standing right there. On that mountain top, or after the ascension of those spiritual “stairs”, however you choose to relate to it, it will be “Ask and it shall be given” And if this is your desire, get your motivation, remember those you “climb” for, keep climbing till you reach the top.
Psalm 65:4:“Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts; we will be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even thy holy temple.”
Psalm 12:7: “For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, NOW WILL I ARISE, saith the Lord: I WILL set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.” Remember why you climb, and climb.
Φλογίζω/original post:01/17/2015. All rights reserved. Rev. Nina BrownJohnson 2015
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
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.
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
Ashes, sometimes all that is all that is left of what once was your life all that was held precious and dear, all that is left of what once was and most importantly what will be never again. Maybe you feel that way today, maybe you have wounds that are so deep, wounds that are […]
Φλογιζω SOUL FOCUS 