Category Archives: Jesus Christ

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“And neither do I…”

“PLEAD my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.” Psalm 35:1,2

I love the fact that the word “plead” is already capitalized in the text, relating to us the urgency and desperation in which David’s heart CRIED OUT to the Lord.

Really a PLEA we hear echoed through the New Testament in the many VOICES that CRIED out to Jesus whenever and wherever he passed by.

We are given the account of Bartimaeus in both Mark 10 and Luke 18.

I decided to go with this passage and underline and highlight what we will look at later.

Luke 18:35-43: “And it came to pass, that as he (Jesus) was come nigh to Jericho, a certain blind man sat begging: 

And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant, and they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.

And he CRIED, saying, JESUS, thou son of David, HAVE MERCY ON ME.

And they that went BEFORE rebuked him, that he should hold his peace (basically just told him to shut up), but HE CRIED SO MUCH THE MORE,THOU SON OF DAVID, HAVE MERCY ON ME. 

And Jesus stood, (stood still), and commanded him to be brought unto him; and when he was come near, he asked him, Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? 

And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight.

And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee. And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and ALL the people we they saw it, gave praise unto God.”

The striking note with this story is how badly this man was treated, treated by those who should have been voluntarily taking his hand and walking him to Jesus and asking Jesus to restore him on his behalf! 

But instead as he cried out to Jesus, they tell him to “Be quiet”.

Did they maybe just want to keep him “begging”?

Did they want to keep others at “arm’s length” away from Jesus, while they themselves were constantly privileged to sit at the table with the absolute King?

But as the cry grew louder JESUS HEARD, and you know Jesus probably heard him the first time and was just letting it play out, considering he commended the man on his faith, as he did others who lifted their cries over the voices that told them to cease and those who suffered rejection by their peers in order to gain an audience with the King.

Jesus stopped, stood still and granted him his petition to the glory of God and the key word there, ALL who saw it, glorified God!

Matthew 20 gives us an account of two men who desired sight from the Lord crying out for him to “Have MERCY on us, O Lord, son of David.” 

These men ALSO were told to “Be quiet” and AGAIN they CRIED that much louder. AGAIN, Jesus stood still, asked their request and granted it and I love this verse:

Matthew 20:34:” “So Jesus had COMPASSION on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.” 

John chapter 9 tells of the divine restoration of sight by Jesus that ENRAGED the Pharisees and Jews so much that the man and his parents were brought in to be questioned because they did even believe that he had been blind, nor did they believe that he had been healed and STILL debated Jesus power and questioned his deity.

And the parents were so AFRAID of being “put out of the synagogue” so AFRAID of excommunication by the “church” that they said the man must speak on his on behalf.

CHOOSING  the”church” crowd” instead of Christ.

CHOOSING to crumble under the threat of condemnation rather than to follow after blessed spiritual consummation.

Talking about CONDEMNATION, the VERY FINE LINE between winning people to Christ and destroying those who ALREADY belong to Christ.

Let’s take a cold hard look at the word itself and think of it in terms of PROPERTY.

We ALL belong to God.

Period, and yes, that is period, 🙂 

The words of GOD, Ezekiel 18:4: ” Behold, ALL SOULS ARE MINE; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”

We know that  Jesus came into the world as a perfect, sinless, lamb to be a ransom for US. ALL those souls that ALREADY belong to God, but through sin had became enslaved.

The enemy having us all held hostage in bondage to him through those sins.

And as with most hostage situations a ransom is required.

1 Timothy 2:4-6: “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 

For there is ONE mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus: WHO GAVE HIMSELF A RANSOM FOR ALL, to be testified in due time.”  

We know from this verse that God is telling us, HIS desire is that ALL should be saved, and we are told in another scripture concerning Jesus, that he is “NOT WILLING that ANY should perish but that ALL should come to repentance.” 

The other key word there is repentance.

We have to repent, 2 Corinthians 7:10: “For godly sorrow worketh (produces) repentance to salvation not to be repented of (regretted) but the sorrow of the world worketh (produces) death.”

To try to wrap this up and put a bow on the thought I’m trying to bring with this all hinges on this next verse:

Philippians 1:15-17: “SOME indeed preach Christ EVEN of ENVY and STRIFE: and SOME of GOOD WILL:

The one preach Christ EVEN of CONTENTION, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds:

But the other of LOVE, knowing that I am set for the defense of the Gospel.”

The Holy Spirit convicts people of sin, the Holy Spirit urges people to their need of salvation, as ministers and representatives of Christ, our job and our job alone is to be a LIGHT to those people and to show those people the way as we have been shown.

But often we engage in a war among ourselves as to how that should be done, just as the disciples and the crowds that tried to silence those who cried out when JESUS ears are open to those cries!

We often engage in “ministerial” war of those who do PREACH the Gospel but with contentions and anger CONDEMNING those whom God has set apart that they should be saved.

And in those painful damning condemnations while they verbally hammer and bash “sins” and verbally spew out THEIR own personal thoughts of what the punishment for those sins should be, they are failing to remember one major fact… WE WERE ALL SINNERS, and it WAS HIS WILL THAT WE ALL SHOULD BE SAVED.

And as Paul so eloquently described those differences, we understand the truth of how so many who profess Christ and profess to be his agents can attack others with such CONDEMNATION.

And it truly can be compared to a “building or property CONDEMNED through the practice of “EMINENT DOMAIN” the property is already OWNED of God, but through the guilt and shame of sin, that “property” is LEGALLY CONDEMNED, so that the EVEN after having been “purchased” and paid for, that property can STILL be taken from the rightful owner by having it declared UNFIT and held under the domain of another.

And in the Spirit world, we know WHO wants that domain, and as those in our stories above, for whatever reason, would rather rebuke another while they are helpless than to SHARE that good news of the Gospel.

It is a sad state and is really fueling the battle against false teaching, making all who preach mercy through repentance clumped in the category with those that teach of envy and strife.

That is what often happens, if we are not ever aware of who we listen to and what voice we choose to hear.

Maybe today you are battling with that same old feeling of condemnation, EVEN after having received Christ.

Maybe through something said or done the enemy is trying to take that “domain” over you, trying to drag you back, telling you that you are “unfit”.

Don’t listen, ONLY listen to Jesus, even you have “fallen short” and WE ALL DO, repent, talk to him, get whatever it may have been under his blood, because what is so often failed mentioned, is the fact that JESUS IS MERCY, His MERCY is unsearchable, and the word tells us that mercy is renewed EVERY single morning.

That godly sorrow leads to us to forgiveness but that constant screaming of condemnation leads us to spiritual death.

YESTERDAY is DEAD, gone, only alive in your mind and those who would use your yesterday against you, don’t fall for it!

Be like those WHO CRIED ALL THE LOUDER! The more “they” tell you to be quiet, the more you should call out to him!

And stay away from those who try to scream “CONDEMNED” at you and over your life, their ONLY desire is to exercise religious snobbery and false superiority over you, and believe me those who preach in that will receive the greater condemnation.

We are warned by James 3:1 that as teachers of the Gospel we WILL receive the GREATER condemnation because we are HELD to the standards that we hold others to. So we will have that STRICTER rule to be measured by. 

The best example of the TRUE mercy of Jesus that should always be remembered whenever you may wrestle against the feeling of condemnation is the very familiar story of the woman who was brought to Jesus, her accusers HOPING that he would CONDEMN her to death by stoning, were met with met by something the were not quite ready for, their own thirst for her blood being given them to drink when he QUESTIONED their own sin, as Jesus told them “whoever among them” that was WITHOUT sin should cast the first stone.

And we may know these verses well, but we will read them again,

John 8:9-11: “And they which heard IT, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 

And she said, No man, Lord, and Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”  I love that!

He WAS and IS the standard lifted up against the enemy!

He stands and he stands ALONE in the face of all that rises up to condemn us, condemnation from real enemies, enemies from our past, or that enemy of guilt within ourselves, or even the enemy of our own sinful flesh, as this lady who was snared in sin.

He is quick to forgive but we are also REQUIRED to go, but SIN NO MORE. 

We started with David, let’s end with David. 

David had sinned in “numbering” Israel, once he fell under conviction for that sin, he was given a choice of penalties for that sin and while weighing that decision, this was David’s answer to the prophet, Gad.

2 Samuel 24:14: “And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait (distress): let us fall now into the hand of the Lord;FOR HIS MERCIES ARE GREAT: and let me NOT fall into the hand of man.”

Always, always wait for the last word to be from the Lord, his mercy and his mercy alone has the final say!

God Bless you and thanks for reading! Have a wonderful mid-week and know above all on this earth that Jesus Christ LOVES you and He WANTS to save you. 

If you have already accepted that precious gift of his salvation, and maybe have stumbled just a little or even a lot,  Get up and GO ON!

GO ON to know him more!

He died for YOU, ME, and ALL of us and in that glorious resurrection He gave us victory, this world is not the end and this world is not forever!

One day we will be in His glory eternal and forever at his feet…  and as his word tells us, “LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU” AND “LET NO MAN TAKE YOUR CROWN”!

Concerning the kingdom of God, no one can take from you what you will NOT surrender!

Φλογιζω Σαλπιζω NB 2018

Revisited 04/21/2023

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Majesty

He, who created the heavens and the earth. He who created the stars and flung them out into the universe calling each by name.
One special star destined to one day lead the wise travelers to the manger in which he was laid.
He visited the earth, which he had held in his hand, walking the dust-covered roads as a mortal man.
Shining his marvelous light into even the darkest night.  His very name, being as an ointment poured forth caused mountains to fall, waves to roar and demons to flee.
When  soldiers came to arrest him, he answered, “I AM HE” his spoken identity so powerful that it sent them falling to the ground.
Nations destroyed by his hand, kings brought to their knees, the mighty of the earth brought to absolute nothingness.
He, who sent plagues, hail, blackness, and death upon all of Egypt for the sake of his chosen. Yet the maidens and virgins, love struck forever follow to proclaim him in all his glory as the majestic King.
His garment perfumed with aloes, cassia, and myrrh symbolic of his purity, healing, and humility and a beautiful heart of servitude.
Hannah and Mary exalting him with almost identical prayers, because in his mercy and grace he had made them to rejoice and he who is Holy had done unto them mighty things.
The voice that spoke into existence the universe, the heavens, the earth and seas and all that was, is or ever will be.
The voice that thunders in the heavens and sounds of many waters, that same voice in a still small way gave courage to the discouraged prophet, that same voice reassured a distraught father that his daughter was not dead but only asleep.
The voice that cried out to his father in the garden that the cup might pass from him, the voice that cried out from the cross it is finished, will one day proclaim that it is done.
“He (God) is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered? Which removeth the mountains, and they know it not; which overturned them in his anger. Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. Which commandeth the sun and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars.
Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the seas.” Job 9:4-8
Commanding the waters and rivers to not overpass boundaries which he has set.
Commanding the wind and waves that they should cease, walking upon the sea he had created, stretching forth his hand to a frightened Peter, so he could lift him up yet again.
Those hands, that fashioned Adam from clay, that forms us in our mother’s womb, those hands forever reaching out as they as they touched and healed, opened blinded eyes, gave hearing to deaf ears, made the lame leap for joy and freed the prisoners of demonic forces on earth.
Then those beautiful outstretched hands were bound and brutally nailed to a cross.
The Feet that graced his gardens in Heaven and walked his palace floor, the feet Mary had washed with her tears and dried with her hair.
Those feet were then placed one atop the other and nailed completely through.
Those feet will soon one day stand atop Mt Olives, the mountains unable to bear the presence of their creator, will split helplessly into.
The breath, so powerful that at the creation of Adam, it held the ability to bring even dust to life. That breath gave itself over unto death on the cross because it was the price to be paid, that he might save us.
The angels of heaven proclaim his praise, the beasts around the throne never cease to cry “Holy, Holy, Holy,” and yet, he chose to call us friends.
John announced that he baptized with water but that a greater would come and baptize with fire and the Holy Ghost. Jesus himself, stating he had a baptism to be baptized with.
All the power of the universe manifesting at his resurrection, re-entering his dead body with enough force and heat to burn his image into the highly controversial shroud, which also bore the proof over one hundred lash wounds that had torn his flesh to shreds.
An image that no process  or technology  known to man, even to this day can reproduce.
John, trying to convey all the works he did after his resurrection before his ascension, finally conceded to this “And there are also many things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose the world itself could not contain the books which should be written. Amen.” John 21:25
As so beautifully written in Solomon, This is our beloved. Maybe that is why the angels keep it simple, “Praise Ye, Jehovah!”
The Lord himself stating “Ye are my witnesses saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he; before me there was no God formed; neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no savior. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses saith the Lord, that I am God.” Isaiah 43:10-12
“To whom then will ye liken me or to whom shall I be equal? saith the Holy One” 
 Isaiah 40:25
“To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me that we may be like.”
Isaiah 46:5
So I, like all of those that came before me, am at a loss for words, there are truly not enough words in any language, or enough books in the entire world that could ever fully describe his beauty, his complexity, his mercy or his grace.
If I may echo his words, who could be compared? Bar none in his perfection, splendor, and majesty he truly stands absolutely alone.

 Φλογίζω  Original Post Date : May 03, 2014 FOWC/Avenue .All Rights Reserved N. Brown Johnson / Baresoulphlogizo 2015

REVISITED 02/17/2021 as we begin the Holy Days, May you be blessed in Him! 

Revisited yet again 03/30/2023

 

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“Abiding In The Field….”

Beautiful fields, prairie fields at the peak of the season flowing with wildflowers and butterflies.

Mown fields, lush green pastures as far as the eye can see just begging to be used as the ultimate reunion of love as two run toward each other to embrace.

Peaceful fields bordered by crystal clear flowing streams as sheep happily graze without a care in the world as their shepherd watches over them.

But there are other fields….  Fields of dry, brown grass withered by the scorch of the sun, patches of soil left exposed and cracked lacking the relief of gentle expected rains that did not come.

Fallow field that require the tedious backbreaking work of removing all the stone and working that ground until it can produce once again.

With the changing seasons of this life WE ARE THOSE SHEEP and those laborers. And we find ourselves in many different fields.  The Prophet Jeremiah bought a filed for an inheritance, even though EVERYTHING was going to fall apart, this was the purchase of the FUTURE.

Jeremiah 32:14 : “Thus SAITH  the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Take the evidences (deeds), this evidence (deed) of the purchase, BOTH WHICH IS SEALED, and THIS EVIDENCE WHICH IS OPEN; and put them in an EARTHEN VESSEL, that they may continue (last) many days. For thus SAITH the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; HOUSES AND VINEYARDS SHALL BE POSSESSED AGAIN IN THIS LAND.”

And we’ll go to another Bible account and visit Ruth, a lady who found herself in a “foreign” field and how that field held blessing beyond anything she could have imagined for her life at that time.

Ruth whose compassion and love for her grieving, widowed  Mother in Law who was now also childless would not allow her to abandon her and run back to Moab in search of a new husband, soon found herself in an unknown foreign field, being advised as to what she must do in order for them to survive.

As she gleaned that field, working to take what had been left to feed those who were hungry, she unknowingly caught the eye of the one who owned the field! 

Ruth 2:8,9: ” Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? GO NOT to glean in another field, NEITHER go from hence ( do not leave from here) BUT ABIDE HERE fast (close) by my maidens: LET THINE EYES BE ON THE FIELD THAT THEY DO REAP and go thou after them (follow them) : and have I not charged the young me that THEY SHOULD NOT TOUCH THEE? (they had been told to leave her alone and let her work ) and when thou art athirst (thirsty) GO UNTO THE VESSELS, and DRINK THAT WHICH THE YOUNG MEN HAVE DRAWN ( they were SUPPOSED to SHARE with her their water and allow her access to THEIR water jugs). 

We’ll keep the advise Ruth had heeded in mind and we will journey on through the Bible and pay a visit to those who were also were also diligently minding the tasks of their field.

Luke 2:8-20 ” And there were in the same country SHEPHERDS ABIDING IN THE FIELD, KEEPING WATCH OVER THEIR FLOCKS BY NIGHT. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the GLORY OF THE LORD SHONE ROUND ABOUT THEM: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people. FOR UNTO YOU IS BORN THIS DAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID A SAVIOUR, WHICH IS CHRIST THE LORD. 

And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And SUDDENLY there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host PRAISING GOD, and saying, GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST, AND ON EARTH PEACE, GOD WILL TOWARD MEN.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them INTO HEAVEN, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and SEE this thing which is come to pass, which the LORD HATH MADE KNOWN UNTO US.  and they came WITH HASTE, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

And when THEY HAD SEEN IT, THEY MADE IT KNOWN abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

BUT Mary kept all these things, and PONDERED THEM IN HER HEART.

And the SHEPHERDS RETURNED, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.”

So that promised redemption, those open deeds, the things made known and crystal clear and those deeds that had been sealed, the birth of a King coming in a way no one could see, born in poverty to parents whose offering would be two turtle doves, the offering given by the poorest of the poor, those deeds to the inheritance of all of eternity had been kept in that earthen vessel which would be born of a virgin and in the lineage of another who obeyed the field command.

As God allowed love to blossom in that field between Ruth and Boaz, a love whose embrace led to the birth of their great-grandson  who would be King David whose bloodline would be honored in the ultimate fulfillment of those deeds, those promises of OWNERSHIP of a nation and the world that would come in that earthen vessel born in that humble manger in the body of Jesus Christ.

The shepherds who were doing their job watching over their sheep AT NIGHT (I’m not even getting it to that YET, oh, but it is coming) were rewarded by the proclamation of the news to ends all news given straight BY THE VOICES OUT OF HEAVEN ITSELF!

So about those fields, had Jeremiah took it upon himself to ignore the voice of the Lord and think well, why buy a place that will be destroyed?

What if Ruth had decided that another field with kinder maidens would be more enjoyable?

What if the young men tried to run Ruth away and hoarded all the water that she was dependent on to strengthen her during gleaning?

What if the shepherds had not abided by their flock? They would have NEVER heard from heaven!

Mary kept it and pondered it, she knew who her baby was and that was enough for her.

Whatever field you find yourself in today, please stay there, if it is beautiful and fertile, let the Lord lead you and bless that beautiful place and season in your life, don’t doubt it, run through that field and embrace!

If you find yourself being urged to “purchase” what appears dead or hopeless, heed the voice of the Lord, only He knows His plans and He alone will bring life back to what APPEARS hopeless.

If your field is stone and you have worked until your back breaks and your hands bleed and you have cried so many tears that you can’t even remember the last time you smiled, DON’T GIVE UP!

I promise when that last stone is ripped from the ground and that soil is soft and 

God sends those refreshing rains of spring, what you have sown also watered by all those tears is going to spring up into a harvest so plentiful and beautiful that you will rejoice and thank Him for giving you the strength to not give up.

Shepherds take heed that stay by your sheep DURING THIS NIGHT, and don’t let the water boys hoard that which is meant to be shared with those God has sent to glean the leftovers FROM YOUR FIELD and never cease to hear the voice of that heavenly host praising God, they beheld His glory but I promise you, we who are faithful will also behold Him and it will be a glory unlike any that has been as of yet but we have to be listening in our field.

HE IS THE I AM THAT IS and me and my little fire baby Φλογιζω will stay in our field and you stay in yours, you will never regret it!

Φλογίζω / NBJ 2015 Original post date: 12/12/2015 *Revisited 12/07/2019 & * 12/04/2020 & Revisited 12/17/2021 & 11/25/22

 

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“A Heart to Hear the Hope…”

“And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. 

He shall be great, and he shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:

And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing that I know not a man (am a virgin)?

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing (one) which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:31-35

Nothing, nothing like the story of the conception and birth of Jesus Christ! Nothing like reading how the angels appeared and praised God as the proclaimed the greatest message ever delivered on this earth!

Remember that message? Luke 2:8-15: ” And there were shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were so afraid (terrified).

And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and good will toward men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone AWAY from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us NOW GO even unto Bethlehem, and SEE this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath MADE KNOWN UNTO US.”

I know we go over that and over that, but we should!

It is worth remembering every single day! Especially on those days when you may not feel like there is anyone who knows your heart or what you may be going through! God sent his best, his SON, Himself to this earth and he came in the sweetest, most humble way because that is who he is.

As Herod sought to have all the baby boys slaughtered in hope of destroying this one child, a child that could not be destroyed because his time “had not yet come” and hell knew, the devil knew what that child meant to this world, which is exactly why they wanted him killed.

It wasn’t Herod’s insane jealously over what he felt was a threat to his throne, that may have been the seed that satan planted in his mind to have him go to such atrocious and heart-breaking lengths, but it was the greater plan to destroy one of the greatest gifts (among the innumerable) that Christ brought to this earth.

So what was really born on that night as the world carried on, all gathered to be taxed, all having a place to stay with warmth and as Mary gave birth and laid her baby in a manger, of all places, the world did not notice and had they known who this child was there would have been those that would have gladly given her their room and their bed, bed like so many of us now no one had a clue as to what was really being born that night.

We can sometime fail to GO and to SEE what God wants us to too, once the “angels” have gone away, meaning, it can be so easy when we are new, fresh, and just washed in the blood of the Lamb, but time and life being life can make us jaded and we can quickly forget the very truths that we were once so grateful to find.

Hope, hope was born that day into this world, hope, not like the world had known but living, breathing, and crying in the still of the night.

Hope whose hand, if we will faithfully hold, and give it the proper place and respect in our lives can never be truly stolen away because the hope that came into this world with the Birth of Christ is hope, as himself, is is not of this world, as as is not subject to any thing in this world.

Not emotion, not death, not powers, politics, not anyone “hating on ya” nothing can steal that, if you don’t let it!

Christ came to save us through his teachings, his example, his miraculous, birth, his horrific death, and above all his magnificent, glorious resurrection from that death. He lived out his very teaching that we “are in the world but not of the world” and that for his believers that not a hair on our head would perish EVEN through death and that was the hope he gave us.

Hope that this life is not it, it is nothing, these mortal bodies are nothing compared to the glorious resurrection to come, a resurrection with a new body, a body that will never get tired, grow old, become sick, never to die again, resurrected into the world without end.

A world where he will be fully known as who he is and he will reign forever.

FOREVER. PERIOD.

He gives us hope in this life but the hope his birth brought was a much greater hope, it is the hope in him for eternity, this is one of the ways the Bible puts it:

1 Corinthians 15:17-22: “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they which are fallen asleep in Christ (have died believing salvation) are perished.

If in THIS life ONLY we have hope in Christ, we of all men are most miserable (pitiable).

But now Christ IS risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept (have died). For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made ALIVE.”

Is there any greater hope? I think not!

Have a blessed holiday, full of love to him, mercy and truth and the hope that he brought, and that hope is not in this world, it is not in yesterday, tomorrow, or even today, that hope is IN him and him alone and in the promise of the world after this world, the world which is yet to come and all the yesterday and tomorrows and today’s it will bring.

That is your hope, just as Paul said, if we have hope in Christ just in our present time, we are pitiful, and would be truly hopeless!

Our hope is to be in him now and for the future, so far into that future that we may be among those resurrected from the graves and that changes the perspective about the true importance of today or any day.

Don’t get me wrong with that our days are important to God and how we live is very important to him, but don’t let your hope “rest” in these temporal days, let your hope SHINE, let the hope of eternity which Jesus let your life be as that star was for us and for the wise men, shine for him, there are yet greater things to come!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!  Thanks for reading!  Reverend Nina Brown Johnson/Φλογιζω NBJ 2019   Revisited 12/21/2021 Have a blessed Christmas and a New Year, may it be filled with hope, love, and the never-ending peace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

“That men may know that thou whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high over all the earth.” Psalm 83:18

 

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“Abiding in the field….”

Beautiful fields, prairie fields at the peak of the season flowing with wildflowers and butterflies.

Mown fields, lush green pastures as far as the eye can see just begging to be used as the ultimate reunion of love as two run toward each other to embrace.

Peaceful fields bordered by crystal clear flowing streams as sheep happily graze without a care in the world as their shepherd watches over them.

But there are other fields….  Fields of dry, brown grass withered by the scorch of the sun, patches of soil left exposed and cracked lacking the relief of gentle expected rains that did not come.

Fallow field that require the tedious backbreaking work of removing all the stone and working that ground until it can produce once again.

With the changing seasons of this life WE ARE THOSE SHEEP and those laborers. And we find ourselves in many different fields.  The Prophet Jeremiah bought a filed for an inheritance, even though EVERYTHING was going to fall apart, this was the purchase of the FUTURE.

Jeremiah 32:14 : “Thus SAITH  the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Take the evidences (deeds), this evidence (deed) of the purchase, BOTH WHICH IS SEALED, and THIS EVIDENCE WHICH IS OPEN; and put them in an EARTHEN VESSEL, that they may continue (last) many days. For thus SAITH the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; HOUSES AND VINEYARDS SHALL BE POSSESSED AGAIN IN THIS LAND.”

And we’ll go to another Bible account and visit Ruth, a lady who found herself in a “foreign” field and how that field held blessing beyond anything she could have imagined for her life at that time.

Ruth whose compassion and love for her grieving, widowed  Mother in Law who was now also childless would not allow her to abandon her and run back to Moab in search of a new husband, soon found herself in an unknown foreign field, being advised as to what she must do in order for them to survive.

As she gleaned that field, working to take what had been left to feed those who were hungry, she unknowingly caught the eye of the one who owned the field! 

Ruth 2:8,9: ” Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? GO NOT to glean in another field, NEITHER go from hence ( do not leave from here) BUT ABIDE HERE fast (close) by my maidens: LET THINE EYES BE ON THE FIELD THAT THEY DO REAP and go thou after them (follow them) : and have I not charged the young me that THEY SHOULD NOT TOUCH THEE? (they had been told to leave her alone and let her work ) and when thou art athirst (thirsty) GO UNTO THE VESSELS, and DRINK THAT WHICH THE YOUNG MEN HAVE DRAWN ( they were SUPPOSED to SHARE with her their water and allow her access to THEIR water jugs). 

We’ll keep the advise Ruth had heeded in mind and we will journey on through the Bible and pay a visit to those who were also were also diligently minding the tasks of their field.

Luke 2:8-20 ” And there were in the same country SHEPHERDS ABIDING IN THE FIELD, KEEPING WATCH OVER THEIR FLOCKS BY NIGHT. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the GLORY OF THE LORD SHONE ROUND ABOUT THEM: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people. FOR UNTO YOU IS BORN THIS DAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID A SAVIOUR, WHICH IS CHRIST THE LORD. 

And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And SUDDENLY there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host PRAISING GOD, and saying, GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST, AND ON EARTH PEACE, GOD WILL TOWARD MEN.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them INTO HEAVEN, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and SEE this thing which is come to pass, which the LORD HATH MADE KNOWN UNTO US.  and they came WITH HASTE, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

And when THEY HAD SEEN IT, THEY MADE IT KNOWN abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

BUT Mary kept all these things, and PONDERED THEM IN HER HEART.

And the SHEPHERDS RETURNED, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.”

So that promised redemption, those open deeds, the things made known and crystal clear and those deeds that had been sealed, the birth of a King coming in a way no one could see, born in poverty to parents whose offering would be two turtle doves, the offering given by the poorest of the poor, those deeds to the inheritance of all of eternity had been kept in that earthen vessel which would be born of a virgin and in the lineage of another who obeyed the field command.

As God allowed love to blossom in that field between Ruth and Boaz, a love whose embrace led to the birth of their great-grandson  who would be King David whose bloodline would be honored in the ultimate fulfillment of those deeds, those promises of OWNERSHIP of a nation and the world that would come in that earthen vessel born in that humble manger in the body of Jesus Christ.

The shepherds who were doing their job watching over their sheep AT NIGHT (I’m not even getting it to that YET, oh, but it is coming) were rewarded by the proclamation of the news to ends all news given straight BY THE VOICES OUT OF HEAVEN ITSELF!

So about those fields, had Jeremiah took it upon himself to ignore the voice of the Lord and think well, why buy a place that will be destroyed?

What if Ruth had decided that another field with kinder maidens would be more enjoyable?

What if the young men tried to run Ruth away and hoarded all the water that she was dependent on to strengthen her during gleaning?

What if the shepherds had not abided by their flock? They would have NEVER heard from heaven!

Mary kept it and pondered it, she knew who her baby was and that was enough for her.

Whatever field you find yourself in today, please stay there, if it is beautiful and fertile, let the Lord lead you and bless that beautiful place and season in your life, don’t doubt it, run through that field and embrace!

If you find yourself being urged to “purchase” what appears dead or hopeless, heed the voice of the Lord, only He knows His plans and He alone will bring life back to what APPEARS hopeless.

If your field is stone and you have worked until your back breaks and your hands bleed and you have cried so many tears that you can’t even remember the last time you smiled, DON’T GIVE UP!

I promise when that last stone is ripped from the ground and that soil is soft and 

God sends those refreshing rains of spring, what you have sown also watered by all those tears is going to spring up into a harvest so plentiful and beautiful that you will rejoice and thank Him for giving you the strength to not give up.

Shepherds take heed that stay by your sheep DURING THIS NIGHT, and don’t let the water boys hoard that which is meant to be shared with those God has sent to glean the leftovers FROM YOUR FIELD and never cease to hear the voice of that heavenly host praising God, they beheld His glory but I promise you, we who are faithful will also behold Him and it will be a glory unlike any that has been as of yet but we have to be listening in our field.

HE IS THE I AM THAT IS and me and my little fire baby Φλογιζω will stay in our field and you stay in yours, you will never regret it!

Φλογίζω / NBJ 2015 Original post date: 12/12/2015 *Revisited 12/07/2019 & * 12/04/2020 & Revisited 12/17/2021 & 11/25/22

 

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“A heart to hear the Hope…”

“And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. 

He shall be great, and he shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:

And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing that I know not a man (am a virgin)?

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing (one) which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:31-35

Nothing, nothing like the story of the conception and birth of Jesus Christ! Nothing like reading how the angels appeared and praised God as the proclaimed the greatest message ever delivered on this earth!

Remember that message? Luke 2:8-15: ” And there were shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were so afraid (terrified).

And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and good will toward men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone AWAY from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us NOW GO even unto Bethlehem, and SEE this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath MADE KNOWN UNTO US.”

I know we go over that and over that, but we should!

It is worth remembering every single day! Especially on those days when you may not feel like there is anyone who knows your heart or what you may be going through! God sent his best, his SON, Himself to this earth and he came in the sweetest, most humble way because that is who he is.

As Herod sought to have all the baby boys slaughtered in hope of destroying this one child, a child that could not be destroyed because his time “had not yet come” and hell knew, the devil knew what that child meant to this world, which is exactly why they wanted him killed.

It wasn’t Herod’s insane jealously over what he felt was a threat to his throne, that may have been the seed that satan planted in his mind to have him go to such atrocious and heart-breaking lengths, but it was the greater plan to destroy one of the greatest gifts (among the innumerable) that Christ brought to this earth.

So what was really born on that night as the world carried on, all gathered to be taxed, all having a place to stay with warmth and as Mary gave birth and laid her baby in a manger, of all places, the world did not notice and had they known who this child was there would have been those that would have gladly given her their room and their bed, bed like so many of us now no one had a clue as to what was really being born that night.

We can sometime fail to GO and to SEE what God wants us to too, once the “angels” have gone away, meaning, it can be so easy when we are new, fresh, and just washed in the blood of the Lamb, but time and life being life can make us jaded and we can quickly forget the very truths that we were once so grateful to find.

Hope, hope was born that day into this world, hope, not like the world had known but living, breathing, and crying in the still of the night.

Hope whose hand, if we will faithfully hold, and give it the proper place and respect in our lives can never be truly stolen away because the hope that came into this world with the Birth of Christ is hope, as himself, is is not of this world, as as is not subject to any thing in this world.

Not emotion, not death, not powers, politics, not anyone “hating on ya” nothing can steal that, if you don’t let it!

Christ came to save us through his teachings, his example, his miraculous, birth, his horrific death, and above all his magnificent, glorious resurrection from that death. He lived out his very teaching that we “are in the world but not of the world” and that for his believers that not a hair on our head would perish EVEN through death and that was the hope he gave us.

Hope that this life is not it, it is nothing, these mortal bodies are nothing compared to the glorious resurrection to come, a resurrection with a new body, a body that will never get tired, grow old, become sick, never to die again, resurrected into the world without end.

A world where he will be fully known as who he is and he will reign forever.

FOREVER. PERIOD.

He gives us hope in this life but the hope his birth brought was a much greater hope, it is the hope in him for eternity, this is one of the ways the Bible puts it:

1 Corinthians 15:17-22: “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they which are fallen asleep in Christ (have died believing salvation) are perished.

If in THIS life ONLY we have hope in Christ, we of all men are most miserable (pitiable).

But now Christ IS risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept (have died). For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made ALIVE.”

Is there any greater hope? I think not!

Have a blessed holiday, full of love to him, mercy and truth and the hope that he brought, and that hope is not in this world, it is not in yesterday, tomorrow, or even today, that hope is IN him and him alone and in the promise of the world after this world, the world which is yet to come and all the yesterday and tomorrows and today’s it will bring.

That is your hope, just as Paul said, if we have hope in Christ just in our present time, we are pitiful, and would be truly hopeless!

Our hope is to be in him now and for the future, so far into that future that we may be among those resurrected from the graves and that changes the perspective about the true importance of today or any day.

Don’t get me wrong with that our days are important to God and how we live is very important to him, but don’t let your hope “rest” in these temporal days, let your hope SHINE, let the hope of eternity which Jesus let your life be as that star was for us and for the wise men, shine for him, there are yet greater things to come!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!  Thanks for reading!  Reverend Nina Brown Johnson/Φλογιζω NBJ 2019   Revisited 12/21/2021 Have a blessed Christmas and a New Year, may it be filled with hope, love, and the never-ending peace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

“That men may know that thou whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high over all the earth.” Psalm 83:18

 

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“And neither do I…”

“PLEAD my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.” Psalm 35:1,2

I love the fact that the word “plead” is already capitalized in the text, relating to us the urgency and desperation in which David’s heart CRIED OUT to the Lord.

Really a PLEA we hear echoed through the New Testament in the many VOICES that CRIED out to Jesus whenever and wherever he passed by.

We are given the account of Bartimaeus in both Mark 10 and Luke 18.

I decided to go with this passage and underline and highlight what we will look at later.

Luke 18:35-43: “And it came to pass, that as he (Jesus) was come nigh to Jericho, a certain blind man sat begging: 

And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant, and they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.

And he CRIED, saying, JESUS, thou son of David, HAVE MERCY ON ME.

And they that went BEFORE rebuked him, that he should hold his peace (basically just told him to shut up), but HE CRIED SO MUCH THE MORE,THOU SON OF DAVID, HAVE MERCY ON ME. 

And Jesus stood, (stood still), and commanded him to be brought unto him; and when he was come near, he asked him, Saying, What wilt thou that i shall do unto thee? 

And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight.

And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee. And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and ALL the people we they saw it, gave praise unto God.”

The striking note with this story is how badly this man was treated, treated by those who should have been voluntarily taking his hand and walking him to Jesus and asking Jesus to restore him on his behalf! 

But instead as he cried out to Jesus, they tell him to “Be quiet”.

Did they maybe just want to keep him “begging”?

Did they want to keep others at “arm’s length” away from Jesus, while they themselves were constantly privileged to sit at the table with the absolute King?

But as the cry grew louder JESUS HEARD, and you know Jesus probably heard him the first time and was just letting it play out, considering he commended the man on his faith, as he did others who lifted their cries over the voices that told them to cease and those who suffered rejection by their peers in order to gain an audience with the King.

Jesus stopped, stood still and granted him his petition to the glory of God and the key word there, ALL who saw it, glorified God!

Matthew 20 gives us an account of two men who desired sight from the Lord crying out for him to “Have MERCY on us, O Lord, son of David.” 

These men ALSO were told to “Be quiet” and AGAIN they CRIED that much louder. AGAIN, Jesus stood still, asked their request and granted it and I love this verse:

Matthew 20:34:” “So Jesus had COMPASSION on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.” 

John chapter 9 tells of the divine restoration of sight by Jesus that ENRAGED the Pharisees and Jews so much that the man and his parents were brought in to be questioned because they did even believe that he had been blind, nor did they believe that he had been healed and STILL debated Jesus power and questioned his deity.

And the parents were so AFRAID of being “put out of the synagogue” so AFRAID of excommunication by the “church” that they said the man must speak on his on behalf.

CHOOSING  the”church” crowd” instead of Christ.

CHOOSING to crumble under the threat of condemnation rather than to follow after blessed spiritual consummation.

Talking about CONDEMNATION, the VERY FINE LINE between winning people to Christ and destroying those who ALREADY belong to Christ.

Let’s take a cold hard look at the word itself and think of it in terms of PROPERTY.

We ALL belong to God.

Period, and yes, that is period, 🙂 

The words of GOD, Ezekiel 18:4: ” Behold, ALL SOULS ARE MINE; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”

We know that  Jesus came into the world as a perfect, sinless, lamb to be a ransom for US. ALL those souls that ALREADY belong to God, but through sin had became enslaved.

The enemy having us all held hostage in bondage to him through those sins.

And as with most hostage situations a ransom is required.

1 Timothy 2:4-6: “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 

For there is ONE mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus: WHO GAVE HIMSELF A RANSOM FOR ALL, to be testified in due time.”  

We know from this verse that God is telling us, HIS desire is that ALL should be saved, and we are told in another scripture concerning Jesus, that he is “NOT WILLING that ANY should perish but that ALL should come to repentance.” 

The other key word there is repentance.

We have to repent, 2 Corinthians 7:10: “For godly sorrow worketh (produces) repentance to salvation not to be repented of (regretted) but the sorrow of the world worketh (produces) death.”

To try to wrap this up and put a bow on the thought I’m trying to bring with this all hinges on this next verse:

Philippians 1:15-17: “SOME indeed preach Christ EVEN of ENVY and STRIFE: and SOME of GOOD WILL:

The one preach Christ EVEN of CONTENTION, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds:

But the other of LOVE, knowing that I am set for the defense of the Gospel.”

The Holy Spirit convicts people of sin, the Holy Spirit urges people to their need of salvation, as ministers and representatives of Christ, our job and our job alone is to be a LIGHT to those people and to show those people the way as we have been shown.

But often we engage in a war among ourselves as to how that should be done, just as the disciples and the crowds that tried to silence those who cried out when JESUS ears are open to those cries!

We often engage in “ministerial” war of those who do PREACH the Gospel but with contentions and anger CONDEMNING those whom God has set apart that they should be saved.

And in those painful damning condemnations while they verbally hammer and bash “sins” and verbally spew out THEIR own personal thoughts of what the punishment for those sins should be, they are failing to remember one major fact… WE WERE ALL SINNERS, and it WAS HIS WILL THAT WE ALL SHOULD BE SAVED.

And as Paul so eloquently described those differences, we understand the truth of how so many who profess Christ and profess to be his agents can attack others with such CONDEMNATION.

And it truly can be compared to a “building or property CONDEMNED through the practice of “EMINENT DOMAIN” the property is already OWNED of God, but through the guilt and shame of sin, that “property” is LEGALLY CONDEMNED, so that the EVEN after having been “purchased” and paid for, that property can STILL be taken from the rightful owner by having it declared UNFIT and held under the domain of another.

And in the Spirit world, we know WHO wants that domain, and as those in our stories above, for whatever reason, would rather rebuke another while they are helpless than to SHARE that good news of the Gospel.

It is a sad state and is really fueling the battle against false teaching, making all who preach mercy through repentance clumped in the category with those that teach of envy and strife.

That is what often happens, if we are not ever aware of who we listen to and what voice we choose to hear.

Maybe today you are battling with that same old feeling of condemnation, EVEN after having received Christ.

Maybe through something said or done the enemy is trying to take that “domain” over you, trying to drag you back, telling you that you are “unfit”.

Don’t listen, ONLY listen to Jesus, even you have “fallen short” and WE ALL DO, repent, talk to him, get whatever it may have been under his blood, because what is so often failed mentioned, is the fact that JESUS IS MERCY, His MERCY is unsearchable, and the word tells us that mercy is renewed EVERY single morning.

That godly sorrow leads to us to forgiveness but that constant screaming of condemnation leads us to spiritual death.

YESTERDAY is DEAD, gone, only alive in your mind and those who would use your yesterday against you, don’t fall for it!

Be like those WHO CRIED ALL THE LOUDER! The more “they” tell you to be quiet, the more you should call out to him!

And stay away from those who try to scream “CONDEMNED” at you and over your life, their ONLY desire is to exercise religious snobbery and false superiority over you, and believe me those who preach in that will receive the greater condemnation.

We are warned by James 3:1 that as teachers of the Gospel we WILL receive the GREATER condemnation because we are HELD to the standards that we hold others to. So we will have that STRICTER rule to be measured by. 

The best example of the TRUE mercy of Jesus that should always be remembered whenever you may wrestle against the feeling of condemnation is the very familiar story of the woman who was brought to Jesus, her accusers HOPING that he would CONDEMN her to death by stoning, were met with met by something the were not quite ready for, their own thirst for her blood being given them to drink when he QUESTIONED their own sin, as Jesus told them “whoever among them” that was WITHOUT sin should cast the first stone.

And we may know these verses well, but we will read them again,

John 8:9-11: “And they which heard IT, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 

And she said, No man, Lord, and Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”  I love that!

He WAS and IS the standard lifted up against the enemy!

He stands and he stands ALONE in the face of all that rises up to condemn us, condemnation from real enemies, enemies from our past, or that enemy of guilt within ourselves, or even the enemy of our own sinful flesh, as this lady who was snared in sin.

He is quick to forgive but we are also REQUIRED to go, but SIN NO MORE. 

We started with David, let’s end with David. 

David had sinned in “numbering” Israel, once he fell under conviction for that sin, he was given a choice of penalties for that sin and while weighing that decision, this was David’s answer to the prophet, Gad.

2 Samuel 24:14: “And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait (distress): let us fall now into the hand of the Lord;FOR HIS MERCIES ARE GREAT: and let me NOT fall into the hand of man.”

Always, always wait for the last word to be from the Lord, his mercy and his mercy alone has the final say!

God Bless you and thanks for reading! Have a wonderful mid-week and know above all on this earth that Jesus Christ LOVES you and He WANTS to save you. 

If you have already accepted that precious gift of his salvation, and maybe have stumbled just a little or even a lot,  Get up and GO ON!

GO ON to know him more!

He died for YOU, ME, and ALL of us and in that glorious resurrection He gave us victory, this world is not the end and this world is not forever!

One day we will be in His glory eternal and forever at his feet…  and as his word tells us, “LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU” AND “LET NO MAN TAKE YOUR CROWN”!

Concerning the kingdom of God, no one can take from you what you will NOT surrender!

Φλογιζω Σαλπιζω NB 2018

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O Jerusalem….. “ROUND ABOUT”

“Then said Solomon, The Lord hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. But I have built an house of habitation for thee, and a place for the dwelling for ever. And the king turned his face, and blessed the whole congregation of Israel; an all the congregation of Israel stood.

And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who hath with his hands fulfilled that which he spake with his mouth to my father David, saying, Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build an house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be a ruler over my people Israel:

BUT I HAVE CHOSEN JERUSALEM, THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE THERE; ” 2 Chronicles 6:6 

About all that can be said when watching news reports about the outrage concerning President Trump recognizing Jerusalem as Capital of Israel and plans to move the embassy there is one word… WOW.

Everyone, even reportedly the Pope does not want this to happen. As you can read from the verses above, Jerusalem already has an owner, Jehovah God, who said HIMSELF that Jerusalem is HIS CHOSEN.

I am truly glad that President Trump did this, whether there were motives or not because it needed to be done and God also told us that if anyone blesses Israel, He in turn would bless them and likewise if any curses Israel, He would curse them. Sometimes it is hard to see who is who but one look at this mess and it is very easy to distinguish who the cursed shall be.

I also fear the overall implications of what IS being ushered in. I am also blown away by just how many oppose Israel’s rightful claim to Jerusalem, I believe many oppose it, especially the ones who know the truth, not because of political beliefs but they simply wish to delay the inevitable and I would suppose maybe the have reservations concerning what they truly believe in their own hearts or that they fear their own hearts are not ready to stand in the day of the Lord as He takes His rightful place as King over the Earth, and that rule will be from Israel and HIS capital WILL be Jerusalem.

It is quite humorous that squatters would fight over land that they have no real claim to… until the real land owner returns. There is the constant argument about world peace… there IS no world peace… no WILL THERE BE PEACE until He reigns on this earth.

For those who like to argue it, I would like to refresh the world to the words of Jesus Christ himself from two different verses:

Matthew 10:34: “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I am come not to send peace, but a sword.”

Okay, first Jesus truly gives His followers and those who love Him peace and that Is His desire for them, but what we are talking about here, is this sin stricken world, a world that denies His very existence, a world of filth and depravity, and a world that is void of the true peace that will reign as He reigns.

Just because you have a cease-fire and take a brief time out from your ethnic prejudices and stop trying to kill one another for a month or two, does in no way make for true peace any ones heart.

Think about what Simeon told Mary at Jesus’ dedication, Luke 2:35: “( Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) THAT THE THOUGHTS OF MANY HEARTS MAY BE REVEALED.”

That is the sword, a sword to reveal, just as in the days of Moses, who was for God and who was against Him. To reveal those who will stand and those who will cave to their fellow-man. Who will please God and who will please men.

That is thoughts and intents of the heart, as Hebrews 4:12 explains that piercings purpose: “For the word of God is quick (LIVING), and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, PIERCING even to the DIVIDING ASUNDER (cutting in half) of the soul and the spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and IS A DISCERNER (able to judge) OF THE THOUGHTS AND INTENTS (intentions) OF THE HEART.”  

People who live in a fairy tale land of rainbows and flowers and have no enemies would never have a reason to show forth secret hidden anger, rage, and race based hatreds. But let that sword of division weld and the truth of brotherly love is put to the test.  Just as He taught us, it is EASY to love those who love us but when it comes to those who hate us that makes for a different set of rules.

I will be completely honest, there has always been certain groups that I absolutely detest because I never understood how they could hate people they do not even know, or  how they could really believe that they are superior to anyone because of skin color and this was before I knew Christ and I know He had to still be helping me because it dawned on me one day that to hate them because of WHAT they are made me no different from them. Hate is still hate, it’s like the death penalty, take someone’s life because they have taken a life, two murders and no one lives. It is illogical.

But I am not going to pretend I like these people, I don’t and I do pray that they repent.  Luke 12:49-56: “I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, (how I wish) if it (it were) already be kindled?

But I have a baptism to baptized with; and how am I straitened (distressed) till it be accomplished!  Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth?

I tell ye, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 

And he said unto all the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be a heat (hot weather) ; and it cometh to pass.

Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?” 

This is those scriptures that are so easily avoided by the candy coats.

He is telling us in no uncertain terms of what would take place on this earth and it IS and it IS part of the divine plan of reconciling us, humankind back unto Himself once and for all.

When he died on the cross for all our sins, He allowed us through Him to be reconciled back into the Father. And this ALL must come to pass as the wheat are separated from the tares and those who should reign with Him in New Jerusalem are being revealed. And even though this is all leading up to Armageddon, we still have a long way to go even after Armageddon to see the finality of the devils eternal damnation to a lake of fire. He is still yet to be bound one thousand years and loosed one more time to do what he is obviously very good at.. deceiving the nations.

So don’t be hating on The Donald.. it HAS to happen. REMEMBER it IS God who LEADS them into the battle of Armageddon. 

Jesus told us this, Luke 21: 20:  “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed about (surrounded) with armies, then know that the desolation is nigh (near)  at hand.” 

As all these things come to pass.. let them come because just as Jesus rebuked Peter for speaking that His death should not come, this is much the same. And here is why,  Zechariah 12:1-3: ” The burden (prophecy) of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundations of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling (drunkenness or reeling) unto all the people round about, when they shall be the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.

And in that day will I make JERUSALEM a burdensome (very heavy) stone for all people (peoples); ALL THAT BURDEN THEMSELVES WITH IT SHALL BE CUT TO PIECES, THOUGH THE PEOPLE OF THE EARTH BE GATHERED TOGETHER AGAINST IT.”  

He said that very clearly.  And if you would like to see an example of this TODAY, just go search news and check out their protests. They are REELING with anger, DRUNK with hatred and they ARE burdening themselves with a land that the one who CREATED has already CHOSEN FOR HIMSELF! 

But there is so much to this, such as how it is really priming things up for the antichrist to come into play and the final battle.

Love ya and thanks for reading! God Bless you and keep your eyes on the sky!

Φλογιζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2017

 

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Taken

“Until the day in which he was taken up , after that  through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: To whom also he shewed (presented) himself alive after his passion (suffering) by many infallible (unmistakable) proofs, being seen of the forty days, and speaking to them of things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

And being assembled together with them, commanded that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but WAIT for the PROMISE of the Father,  which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

For john truly baptized with water; be ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. (not many days from now).

When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou (will you) at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel? 

And he said unto them, It is NOT for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. (authority) BUT ye shall receive power after when the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.

And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received (covered) him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly TOWARD heaven, behold, two men stood BY THEM in white apparel;

Which also said, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? THIS SAME JESUS, WHICH IS TAKEN FROM UP FROM YOU INTO HEAVEN, SHALL SO COME IN LIKE MANNER AS YE HAVE SEEN HIM GO INTO HEAVEN.” Acts 1:2-11

Undoubtedly the scariest subject for most humans, the second coming, the rapture, and all the horror that shall befall earth in the end days. God has done some seriously major work in me.. If I were not me, I would not believe that I am the same person who was so horrified by these events and even being a believer and eagerly awaiting His return, I would still be in terror if it were not His hand and His grace over me.

And for most it is very fearful to think about it, much less talk about these events. As I say, I did not grow up in church, but I know I was blessed to receive serious divine intervention, but my Dad was in and out of church and my Mom had been raised in church but as a family, the snares of the enemy had run roughshod over what could have been and we were left with what was.

So even though my Dad tried, he did not have the support of a family to help him stay the course and as a family, his often stern behavior did not make us want to go running to service with him. And that is not a blame thing.. that is reality.. we ALL need a support system and as Christians, we are to shine a light to our unsaved family members.

We all NEED each other, if we are going to make it home. But all is well now and when I was saved it was my sister and Him that came and prayed with me when I received the Holy Ghost and we were baptized (well his second) on the same day, so we all try to help one another stay the course and we have been blessed in that.

Back to my point, even though I was not in church with my Dad, we would read together often, and I thank God so much NOW for the blessing I was being given at the time that I did not even realize was anything other than doing what I was asked, a good lesson in NEVER taking for granted something that may seem common, it may be so much more, that will one day actually CHANGE your present and certainly impact your FUTURE and your divine destiny.

I was about thirteen and we had been reading and I still had his Bible in my room and for some reason i just went to the book of Revelation and I always had this thing, that I really, really “got” Jesus but reading the stories of the Old Testament, GOD ABSOLUTELY SCARED ME TO DEATH!

And once I read some of Revelation, I just looked out of my window and it was just this overwhelming feeling of “it is already here” and I just was horrified and I just put the Bible away and tried to block it out. And so when I tell people that I really REALLY understand how scary it can be, I really do!

That is why we need the Holy Ghost, only He can enlighten us to things so far BEYOND our comprehension and only He can ease those fears of the future, and only He can show us the necessity in these things and help us understand that the fulfillment of all scriptures is NOT the END but it is rather THE BEGINNING.

Scriptural references in comparison to childbirth as absolute right on the mark because labor IS sorrow, labor IS painful, and birth IS a very bloody process BUT once that child is born, the JOY, PEACE, and CONTENTMENT is well worth every single moment of it.

And rather than fear scaring people about the return and the tribulation, we must begin to TEACH on these things so they will be ready, as He is coming for a “bride who hath made herself ready” and view it as the beautiful birth of the “firstfruits” of a kind” and look forward to that expected end and not be so caught up in anticipating and dreading the pain. 

Romans 8:19-23: “For THE EARNEST EXPECTATION of the creature (creation) WAITED for the manifestation of the sons of God.

For the creature (creation) was made subject to vanity (decay),not willing BUT BY REASON OF HIM WHO HATH SUBJECTED the same IN HOPE.

Because the creature (creation) ITSELF shall BE DELIVERED from THE BONDAGE OF CORRUPTION (futility) INTO GLORIOUS LIBERTY OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD.

For we know that the whole creation GROANETH AND TRAVAILETH (suffers birth pangs) TOGETHER until now.

And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan, within ourselves, WAITING (EAGERLY AWAITING) FOR THE ADOPTION, TO WIT (be sure to understand) the REDEMPTION OF OUR BODY.” 

So to be certain that as the Bible tells us, ALL these things MUST come to pass before that Glorious and wondrous day. And Jesus told us many times, so shouldn’t we also tell others? And then also tell them about what also comes NEXT?

Matthew 24:30,31:  “And THEN shall appear the SIGN of the Son of man in heaven: and THEN shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall SEE the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and shall GATHER together his elect  (chosen ones)  from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

 Mark 14:61,62 : ” But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and he said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?

 And Jesus said, I AM and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and COMING IN THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN.” 

Luke 21:27,28:  “THEN shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things come to pass, THEN look UP, and LIFT up your heads; for YOUR REDEMPTION draweth nigh.” 

That redemption that ALL of creation longs for and we are to eagerly await. So don’t be afraid, just believe, and rejoice in knowing that in that day, as He said, ALL things will be made new!

I did not want to get repetitive.. so there is a list below of much more on the rapture and the signs Jesus spoke of, and that we’ll get us ready for the final part of this on His earthly reign and what a beautiful, beautiful time that will be!

 

Φλογιζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2017

For more teachings on end time please read: 

   ANCIENT, BUT NOT ALIEN / The deception

   ARRHYTHMIA (HEART SERIES PART 1)

   HEART FAILURE ( HEART SERIES PART 2)

   FLAT LINED ( HEART SERIES PART 3)

   CARDIAC SHOCK (HEART SERIES PART 4)

 

 

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“Feet First”

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.

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“UNCOMMON”

“On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went upon the house to pray about the ninth hour: And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready (was preparing food) he fell into a trance.

And saw heaven opened, a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been ( looked like) a great sheet knit (bound) at the four corners, and let down to the earth: Wherein (inside) were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.

And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have NEVER eaten any thing that is COMMON or unclean.

And THE VOICE SPAKE UNTO HIM THE SECOND TIME, WHAT GOD HATH CLEANSED, THAT CALL THOU NOT COMMON. This was done THRICE (THREE TIMES): and  the vessel was received up again into heaven.” Acts 10:10-16

Now this was Jesus giving Peter a little wake up call, because Peter had misunderstood the work of the Gospel and thought it was only to the Jews and he kept all the laws concerning whom he should socialize with and his thoughts toward them. but Jesus wanted him to be clear that what HE CLEANSED WAS FAR FROM COMMON.

Kinda funny when you think about it, here Jesus is telling Peter, eat this and Peter wants to argue about it, with his reply, “No, No, not going to happen BECAUSE I have NEVER eaten such things! We’re kinda like that sometimes aren’t we? God sees us, the us HE CREATED, HIS CHILD, and ALL THE POTENTIAL of our life and we’re like “Not so, Lord” BECAUSE I ……… and we give Him all of OUR reasons why we are just common, no good rotten sinners saved by grace who could never live up to His plan for our life.

Once Peter understood his mission to go pray for one, that he would have considered as such, he then understood the vision.

ACTS 10:28,29: ” And he (Peter) said unto them, YE KNOW that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation: BUT GOD HATH SHEWED (SHOWN) ME THAT I SHOULD NOT CALL ANY MAN COMMON OR UNCLEAN. Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying (objection), as soon as I was sent for…….”

 This can be a two-way street. Sometimes we can have the wrong opinion of others that God has cleansed and ones that he wants to cleanse. Sometimes we can forget that ALL HIS CHILDREN ARE CREATED EQUAL. A good point for this is when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus in the garden and Peter lopped off one of the soldiers ear and Jesus put it back on.

 Now Jesus did warn Peter that if you live by the sword, you must die by the sword, but one other note, even though the soldier was there to take Jesus he was still God’s child. And if you have two children and one is acting like a jerk you still do not want ANY OF YOUR CHILDREN HARMED whether they are being jerks at the moment or not, you still love them.

He feels the same way about us, all the saved and YES those who are not saved, all the messed up people who don’t know who they are in Him YET. And if we are not careful in how we treat them, they may never know. Back to us, sometimes our worst enemy is our self. God saves, heals us and we can’t get past the mind-set of who we were. We keep seeing, the sin, the mistakes, and failures THAT HE ALREADY did away with. We have an identity crisis in the worst possible way.

So today, if you are wrestling either with people who never want you to forget who you were ( stay away from them and don’t play it) or you are having trouble believing who YOU ARE in Him. I want to talk to you!  Please know that we can never change our past, do not let anyone beat you up over it because they have one too! But the main thing is to accept and really accept that it is gone, it is over and the person you were before Christ NO LONGER EXISTS. Please do not destroy your present and future with thoughts that are NOT OF GOD, He does not do that to us. That is the enemy that keeps reminding you, and every time it happens quote verses, here is a good one:

ISAIAH 43:18 “Remember ye not the former things, NOR consider the things of old.”

Study His word and in prayer learn who you are in Him. One of the biggest hindrances to the work God wants to do in these last days is the reluctance to just be who we are in Him. We often feel that we have to dress like this or that, or be more like this one or that one. But the truth is, HE CREATED US EXACTLY THE WAY HE WANTED US!

We are to never be anyone else and if they love God they will accept you for you! Because He does, and we are all different, we have different callings, different gifts and our personalities are created to help us achieve those things He has set before us. He actually refers to us as a special treasure, set apart, and different.

So please never think you are common, you are any thing but! You are actually quite uncommon, and that means rare and precious to HIM! God doesn’t deal in common, He deals in foreknown, predestined, and preordained, before the foundations of the earth!

So no matter how low, and insignificant  YOU may be FEELING, YOU ARE VERY SPECIAL TO HIM! AND DON’T  BE CALLING HIS TREASURE COMMON!!!!   Sending you Love and much peace in your coming week!

Φλογίζω Σαλπιζω  Rev. N. Brown Johnson 2016

 

 

 

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“Abiding in the field….”

*Archived*

Beautiful fields, prairie fields at the peak of the season flowing with wildflowers and butterflies.

Mown fields, lush green pastures as far as the eye can see just begging to be used as the ultimate reunion of love as two run toward each other to embrace.

Peaceful fields bordered by crystal clear flowing streams as sheep happily graze without a care in the world as their shepherd watches over them.

But there are other fields….  Fields of dry, brown grass withered by the scorch of the sun, patches of soil left exposed and cracked lacking the relief of gentle expected rains that did not come. Fallow field that require the tedious backbreaking work of removing all the stone and working that ground until it can produce once again.

With the changing seasons of this life WE ARE THOSE SHEEP and those laborers. And we find ourselves in many different fields.  The Prophet Jeremiah bought a filed for an inheritance, even though EVERYTHING was going to fall apart, this was the purchase of the FUTURE.

Jeremiah 32:14 : “Thus SAITH  the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Take the evidences (deeds), this evidence (deed) of the purchase, BOTH WHICH IS SEALED, and THIS EVIDENCE WHICH IS OPEN; and put them in an EARTHEN VESSEL, that they may continue (last) many days. For thus SAITH the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; HOUSES AND VINEYARDS SHALL BE POSSESSED AGAIN IN THIS LAND.”

Ruth whose compassion and love for her grieving, widowed  Mother in Law who was now also childless would not allow her to abandon her and run back to Moab in search of a new husband, soon found herself in an unknown foreign field, being advised as to what she must do in order for them to survive. As she gleaned that field, working to take what had been left to feed those who were hungry, she unknowing caught the eye of the one who owned the field! 

Ruth 2:8,9: ” Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? GO NOT to glean in another field, NEITHER go from hence ( do not leave from here) BUT ABIDE HERE fast (close) by my maidens: LET THINE EYES BE ON THE FIELD THAT THEY DO REAP and go thou after them (follow them) : and have I not charged the young me that THEY SHOULD NOT TOUCH THEE? (they had been told to leave her alone and let her work )  and when thou art athirst (thirsty) GO UNTO THE VESSELS, and DRINK THAT WHICH THE YOUNG MEN HAVE DRAWN ( they were SUPPOSED to SHARE with her their water and allow her access to THEIR water jugs). 

Luke 2:8-20 ” And there were in the same country SHEPHERDS ABIDING IN THE FIELD, KEEPING WATCH OVER THEIR FLOCKS BY NIGHT. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the GLORY OF THE LORD SHONE ROUND ABOUT THEM: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people. FOR UNTO YOU IS BORN THIS DAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID A SAVIOUR, WHICH IS CHRIST THE LORD.  And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And SUDDENLY there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host PRAISING GOD, and saying, GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST, AND ON EARTH PEACE, GOD WILL TOWARD MEN.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them INTO HEAVEN, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and SEE this thing which is come to pass, which the LORD HATH MADE KNOWN UNTO US.  and they came WITH HASTE, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

And when THEY HAD SEEN IT, THEY MADE IT KNOWN abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. BUT Mary kept all these things, and PONDERED THEM IN HER HEART. And the SHEPHERDS RETURNED, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.”

So that promised redemption, those open deeds, the things made known and crystal clear and those deeds that had been sealed, the birth of a King coming in a way no one could see, born in poverty to parents whose offering would be two turtle doves, the offering given by the poorest of the poor, those deeds to the inheritance of all of eternity had been kept in that earthen vessel which would be born of a virgin and in the lineage of another who obeyed the field command.

As God allowed love to blossom in that field between Ruth and Boaz, a love whose embrace led to the birth of their great-grandson  who would be King David whose bloodline would be honored in the ultimate fulfillment of those deeds, those promises of OWNERSHIP of a nation and the world that would come in that earthen vessel born in that humble manger in the body of Jesus Christ.

The shepherds who were doing their job watching over their sheep AT NIGHT (I’m not even getting it to that YET, oh, but it is coming) were rewarded by the proclamation of the news to ends all news given straight BY THE VOICES OUT OF HEAVEN ITSELF!

So about those fields, had Jeremiah took it upon himself to ignore the voice of the Lord and think well, why buy a place that will be toast?

What if Ruth had decided that another field with kinder maidens would be more enjoyable?

What if the young men tried to run Ruth away and hoarded all the water that she was dependent on to strengthen her during gleaning?

What if the shepherds had not abided by their flock? They would have NEVER heard from heaven!

Mary kept it and pondered it, she knew who her baby was and that was enough for her.

Whatever field you find yourself in today, please stay there, if it is beautiful and fertile, let the Lord lead you and bless that beautiful place and season in your life, don’t doubt it, run through that field and embrace!

If you find yourself being urged to “purchase” what appears dead or hopeless, heed the voice of the Lord, only He knows His plans and He alone will bring life back to what APPEARS hopeless.

If your field is stone and you have worked until your back breaks and your hands bleed and you have cried so many tears that you can’t even remember the last time you smiled, DON’T GIVE UP!

I promise when that last stone is ripped from the ground and that soil is soft and  God sends those refreshing rains of spring, what you have sown also watered by all those tears is going to spring up into a harvest so plentiful and beautiful that you will rejoice and thank Him for giving you the strength to not give up.

Shepherds take heed that stay by your sheep DURING THIS NIGHT, and don’t let the water boys hoard that which is meant to be shared with those God has sent to glean the leftovers FROM YOUR FIELD and never cease to hear the voice of that heavenly host praising God, they beheld His glory but I promise you, we who are faithful will also behold Him and it will be a glory unlike any that has been as of yet but we have to be listening in our field.

HE IS THE I AM THAT IS and me and my little fire baby Φλογιζω will stay in our field and you stay in yours, you will never regret it!

Φλογίζω / NBJ 2015 Original post date: 12/12/2015 Revisited 12/07/2019 & *12/04/2020*

 

 

by

Majesty

He, who created the heavens and the earth. He who created the stars and flung them out into the universe calling each by name.
One special star destined to one day lead the wise travelers to the manger in which he was laid.
He visited the earth, which he had held in his hand, walking the dust-covered roads as a mortal man.
Shining his marvelous light into even the darkest night.  His very name, being as an ointment poured forth caused mountains to fall, waves to roar and demons to flee.
When  soldiers came to arrest him, he answered, “I AM HE” his spoken identity so powerful that it sent them falling to the ground.
Nations destroyed by his hand, kings brought to their knees, the mighty of the earth brought to absolute nothingness.
He, who sent plagues, hail, blackness, and death upon all of Egypt for the sake of his chosen. Yet the maidens and virgins, love struck forever follow to proclaim him in all his glory as the majestic King.
His garment perfumed with aloes, cassia, and myrrh symbolic of his purity, healing, and humility and a beautiful heart of servitude.
Hannah and Mary exalting him with almost identical prayers, because in his mercy and grace he had made them to rejoice and he who is Holy had done unto them mighty things.
The voice that spoke into existence the universe, the heavens, the earth and seas and all that was, is or ever will be.
The voice that thunders in the heavens and sounds of many waters, that same voice in a still small way gave courage to the discouraged prophet, that same voice reassured a distraught father that his daughter was not dead but only asleep.
The voice that cried out to his father in the garden that the cup might pass from him, the voice that cried out from the cross it is finished, will one day proclaim that it is done.
“He (God) is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered? Which removeth the mountains, and they know it not; which overturned them in his anger. Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. Which commandeth the sun and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars.
Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the seas.” Job 9:4-8
Commanding the waters and rivers to not overpass boundaries which he has set.
Commanding the wind and waves that they should cease, walking upon the sea he had created, stretching forth his hand to a frightened Peter, so he could lift him up yet again.
Those hands, that fashioned Adam from clay, that forms us in our mother’s womb, those hands forever reaching out as they as they touched and healed, opened blinded eyes, gave hearing to deaf ears, made the lame leap for joy and freed the prisoners of demonic forces on earth.
Then those beautiful outstretched hands were bound and brutally nailed to a cross.
The Feet that graced his gardens in Heaven and walked his palace floor, the feet Mary had washed with her tears and dried with her hair.
Those feet were then placed one atop the other and nailed completely through.
Those feet will soon one day stand atop Mt Olives, the mountains unable to bear the presence of their creator, will split helplessly into.
The breath, so powerful that at the creation of Adam, it held the ability to bring even dust to life. That breath gave itself over unto death on the cross because it was the price to be paid, that he might save us.
The angels of heaven proclaim his praise, the beasts around the throne never cease to cry “Holy, Holy, Holy,” and yet, he chose to call us friends.
John announced that he baptized with water but that a greater would come and baptize with fire and the Holy Ghost. Jesus himself, stating he had a baptism to be baptized with.
All the power of the universe manifesting at his resurrection, re-entering his dead body with enough force and heat to burn his image into the highly controversial shroud, which also bore the proof over one hundred lash wounds that had torn his flesh to shreds.
An image that no process  or technology  known to man, even to this day can reproduce.
John, trying to convey all the works he did after his resurrection before his ascension, finally conceded to this “And there are also many things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose the world itself could not contain the books which should be written. Amen.” John 21:25
As so beautifully written in Solomon, This is our beloved. Maybe that is why the angels keep it simple, “Praise Ye, Jehovah!”
The Lord himself stating “Ye are my witnesses saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he; before me there was no God formed; neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no savior. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses saith the Lord, that I am God.” Isaiah 43:10-12
“To whom then will ye liken me or to whom shall I be equal? saith the Holy One” 
 Isaiah 40:25
“To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me that we may be like.”
Isaiah 46:5
So I, like all of those that came before me, am at a loss for words, there are truly not enough words in any language, or enough books in the entire world that could ever fully describe his beauty, his complexity, his mercy or his grace.
If I may echo his words, who could be compared? Bar none in his perfection, splendor, and majesty he truly stands absolutely alone.

 Φλογίζω  Original Post Date : May 03, 2014 FOWC/Avenue .All Rights Reserved N. Brown Johnson / Baresoulphlogizo 2015

REVISITED 02/17/2021 as we begin the Holy Days, May you be blessed in Him! 

Revisited yet again 03/30/2023