Tag Archives: Love of God

by

DOUBLE -EDGED PART 4 UNBRIDLED / LOVES ULTIMATE JUSTIFICATION

Picture it, you are walking down the street and you witness an elderly man with a cane lose his balance and fall to the ground, the man next to him, whom you fully expect to gently help him back on his feet instead starts cursing him, kicking him the ribs demanding that he get up, yelling the entire time to as the elderly man who is now crying, trying to raise himself up under the sharp kicks, the young man’s angry voice bellows through the night, “YOU are such an embarrassment! YOU can’t even walk right!”

He goes on to tell the elderly man that he is nothing but a burden and asking him why he doesn’t just die, the elderly man shaking and crying manages to get up and regain his step and obediently replies “I’m sorry, Son.”
Picture the things we as human never see, picture the horrors that go on behind closed doors and in nursing homes, and mental health institutions, all the unthinkable abuse and all the soul destructive words that are spoken.
Picture all at once, all of the dreadful news stories that have haunted your thoughts and now think about just how many you have never heard because they have never been told because as of yet no one knows.
Just how mad does it make you? 
How bad does it hurt YOUR soul? 
What would you do if you were able to stop this and so much more?
Could you turn your eyes from the mothers who are crying because they are watching their children literally starve to death?
Could you turn your eyes from those imprisoned and those sold into slavery for the sick perversion of some and the greed of many?
Could you turn your eyes from those who were crying out for justice for the atrocities they experience everyday as life?
PROVERBS 15:3: “The EYES OF THE LORD are in every place, BEHOLDING THE EVIL AND THE GOOD.”
Knowing in yourself the anger, hurt, and bewilderment you as a human feel when faced with these issues.
How do you think HE FEELS?
We determined that HE IS gentle, mild, beautiful, Holy, and merciful to the point of dying to save mankind.
Remember HE sees what you can’t, and HE sees the ENTIRE WORLD, but HE ALSO HEARS the cries of them all!

Psalm 34:15: The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and HIS EARS ARE OPEN UNTO THEIR CRY.”

Since the dawn of time people have asked the question of how can He destroy the world?
How can He bring judgment and wrath and an absolute annihilation of what is now the world as we know it?
Well, let me ask you, how can He not?
The only reason He hasn’t is out of mercy, to give the lost a little more time.

2 PETER 3:9,10:” The Lord is is not slack concerning his promise (to return and judge the earth) as some men count slackness;
BUT IS LONG SUFFERING US WARD (TOWARD US) NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH, BUT THAT ALL SHOULD COME TO REPENTANCE.
BUT the day of the Lord WILL come as a thief in the night: IN which the heavens shall PASS AWAY WITH A GREAT NOISE, AND THE ELEMENTS SHALL MELT WITH FERVENT HEAT, the EARTH also and the works that are therein SHALL BE BURNED UP.”

People use every reason in the book to avoid salvation, but here is the reality, while they slow poke around, He is being patient in His return for their sake’s and in the meantime those who suffer are forgotten by those who are just self-willed and stout-hearted against him.

The day is soon coming that HIS MERCY will flood this earth IN DIVINE WRATH.
Because HE IS merciful, those who have accepted Him will be taken out-of-the-way.

Those who are left can accept Christ, refuse the mark of the beast and be beheaded, again one more chance out, because of mercy.

Saved or not, those in Babylon at the time of its destruction will be as the cut trees that fall where they are, as they are, no notice, no warning, what it is, is what it will be and no one knows that answer, but we do know through God’s word it will happen.

The money preachers and gurus are forever on their sowing in and finding favor kicks.
But I’ll tell you a little secret THERE IS NOTHING, AND I MEAN NOTHING ON THIS EARTH YOU WANT TO SOW IN RIGHT NOW MORE THAN MERCY!
Show mercy in every possible area that you can because to make it we will need shown much mercy.
HOSEA 6:6:“FOR I DESIRED MERCY, and NOT SACRIFICE; and knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.“

PSALM 89:14:  “JUSTICE and JUDGMENT ARE the habitation (FOUNDATION)
of THY THRONE: MERCY and TRUTH SHALL GO BEFORE THY FACE.”

PSALM 18:25-28,30: “With the MERCIFUL thou wilt shew thyself MERCIFUL; with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright.
With the PURE IN HEART thou wilt shew thyself PURE; AND WITH THE FROWARD (DEVIOUS) THOU WILT SHEW THYSELF FROWARD (SHREWD).
For thou wilt SAVE THE AFFLICTED PEOPLE; BUT WILL BRING DOWN HIGH LOOKS (THE HAUGHTY).
For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will lighten my darkness.
As for God, HIS WAY IS PERFECT: the WORD of the Lord is tried (proven):

HE IS A BUCKLER (SHIELD) to ALL WHOM TRUST IN HIM.”

So, you see IT IS His love that will rescue them, save them, and above all forever deliver them from evil.
Don’t ask why he doesn’t just change the evil people; HE gives everyone that choice.
HE only offers freewill, either do good or choose to do evil, THEY have chosen evil over good.
HE WILL SAVE THOSE WHO CRY UNTO HIM.

ISAIAH 40: 10,11:“BEHOLD, the Lord God WILL COME
with strong hand (strength), and his arm shall rule for him: BEHOLD, his reward IS WITH HIM, AND HIS WORK IS BEFORE HIM.
HE SHALL FEED HIS FLOCK LIKE A SHEPHERD: HE SHALL GATHER THE LAMBS WITH HIS ARM, AND CARRY THEM IN HIS BOSOM, AND SHALL GENTLY LEAD THOSE THAT ARE WITH YOUNG.”

PSALM 72:4-9,11-14: He shall judge (BRING JUSTICE ON THEIR BEHALF) the poor of the people, HE SHALL SAVE THE CHILDREN of the needy, and BREAK INTO PIECES THE OPPRESSOR (utterly destroy the ones who have hurt them).
They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations.
HE SHALL COME down like rain upon the mown grass; as shower that water the earth.
In HIS days shall the righteous flourish; and the abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.
HE SHALL have dominion also from sea to sea, and from river to river unto the ends of the earth.
They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; AND HIS ENEMIES SHALL LICK THE DUST.
YEA, ALL KINGS SHALL FALL DOWN BEFORE HIM; ALL NATIONS SHALL SERVE HIM.
FOR HE SHALL DELIVER THE NEEDY WHEN HE CRIETH; THE POOR ALSO, AND HIM THAT HATH NO HELPER.
HE SHALL SPARE THE POOR AND NEEDY, AND SHALL SAVE THE SOULS OF THE NEEDY.
HE SHALL REDEEM THEIR SOUL (LIFE) FROM DECEIT (OPPRESSION)
AND PRECIOUS SHALL THEIR BLOOD BE IN HIS SIGHT.”
His perfect, righteous judgment and justice, SAVING those who need it and ending forever what we on earth can’t, the reason for the bodies from one end of earth to the other…they have shown NO mercy.
JAMES 2:13:“FOR HE SHALL HAVE JUDGMENT WITHOUT MERCY, THAT SHEWETH NO MERCY; and MERCY REJOICETH AGAINST (TRIUMPHS OVER) JUDGMENT.”

Sorry this font is huge, something went wrong there 🙂 The caps are NOT shouting it just emphasizes the points I want to make.

Φλογιζω / All Rights Reserved/ NBJ 2015 / original post 10/06/2015/ Revisited 2021 & 02/10/2022

Rev. Nina Brown Johnson *Repost 02/10/2023

Complete Series:  DOUBLE-EDGED PART 1 / LOVE, OR THE LACK THEREOF

DOUBLE-EDGED PART 2 / FANNING THE FLAME…..

DOUBLE-EDGED PART 3 / LOVESICK….




by

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ah, but I do beg to differ…

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

And talk about beautiful fragrances…

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

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

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

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

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

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

Trust him, just TRUST him.

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

For series posts, please click links:

Angels, Roses, & True Love/ Intro

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

by

DOUBLE -EDGED PART 4 UNBRIDLED / LOVES ULTIMATE JUSTIFICATION

Picture it, you are walking down the street and you witness an elderly man with a cane lose his balance and fall to the ground, the man next to him, whom you fully expect to gently help him back on his feet instead starts cursing him, kicking him the ribs demanding that he get up, yelling the entire time to as the elderly man who is now crying, trying to raise himself up under the sharp kicks, the young man’s angry voice bellows through the night, “YOU are such an embarrassment! YOU can’t even walk right!”

He goes on to tell the elderly man that he is nothing but a burden and asking him why he doesn’t just die, the elderly man shaking and crying manages to get up and regain his step and obediently replies “I’m sorry, Son.”
Picture the things we as human never see, picture the horrors that go on behind closed doors and in nursing homes, and mental health institutions, all the unthinkable abuse and all the soul destructive words that are spoken.
Picture all at once, all of the dreadful news stories that have haunted your thoughts and now think about just how many you have never heard because they have never been told because as of yet no one knows.
Just how mad does it make you? 
How bad does it hurt YOUR soul? 
What would you do if you were able to stop this and so much more?
Could you turn your eyes from the mothers who are crying because they are watching their children literally starve to death?
Could you turn your eyes from those imprisoned and those sold into slavery for the sick perversion of some and the greed of many?
Could you turn your eyes from those who were crying out for justice for the atrocities they experience everyday as life?
PROVERBS 15:3: “The EYES OF THE LORD are in every place, BEHOLDING THE EVIL AND THE GOOD.”
Knowing in yourself the anger, hurt, and bewilderment you as a human feel when faced with these issues.
How do you think HE FEELS?
We determined that HE IS gentle, mild, beautiful, Holy, and merciful to the point of dying to save mankind.
Remember HE sees what you can’t, and HE sees the ENTIRE WORLD, but HE ALSO HEARS the cries of them all!

Psalm 34:15: The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and HIS EARS ARE OPEN UNTO THEIR CRY.”

Since the dawn of time people have asked the question of how can He destroy the world?
How can He bring judgment and wrath and an absolute annihilation of what is now the world as we know it?
Well, let me ask you, how can He not?
The only reason He hasn’t is out of mercy, to give the lost a little more time.

2 PETER 3:9,10:” The Lord is is not slack concerning his promise (to return and judge the earth) as some men count slackness;
BUT IS LONG SUFFERING US WARD (TOWARD US) NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH, BUT THAT ALL SHOULD COME TO REPENTANCE.
BUT the day of the Lord WILL come as a thief in the night: IN which the heavens shall PASS AWAY WITH A GREAT NOISE, AND THE ELEMENTS SHALL MELT WITH FERVENT HEAT, the EARTH also and the works that are therein SHALL BE BURNED UP.”

People use every reason in the book to avoid salvation, but here is the reality, while they slow poke around, He is being patient in His return forfor their sake’s and in the meantime those who suffer are forgotten by those who are just self-willed and stout-hearted against him.

The day is soon coming that HIS MERCY will flood this earth IN DIVINE WRATH.
Because HE IS merciful, those who have accepted Him will be taken out-of-the-way.

Those who are left can accept Christ, refuse the mark of the beast and be beheaded, again one more chance out, because of mercy.

Saved or not, those in Babylon at the time of its destruction will be as the cut trees that fall where they are, as they are, no notice, no warning, what it is, is what it will be and no one knows that answer, but we do know through God’s word it will happen.

The money preachers and gurus are forever on their sowing in and finding favor kicks.
But I’ll tell you a little secret THERE IS NOTHING, AND I MEAN NOTHING ON THIS EARTH YOU WANT TO SOW IN RIGHT NOW MORE THAN MERCY!
Show mercy in every possible area that you can because to make it we will need shown much mercy.
HOSEA 6:6:“FOR I DESIRED MERCY, and NOT SACRIFICE; and knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.“

PSALM 89:14:  “JUSTICE and JUDGMENT ARE the habitation (FOUNDATION)
of THY THRONE: MERCY and TRUTH SHALL GO BEFORE THY FACE.”

PSALM 18:25-28,30: “With the MERCIFUL thou wilt shew thyself MERCIFUL; with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright.
With the PURE IN HEART thou wilt shew thyself PURE; AND WITH THE FROWARD (DEVIOUS) THOU WILT SHEW THYSELF FROWARD (SHREWD).
For thou wilt SAVE THE AFFLICTED PEOPLE; BUT WILL BRING DOWN HIGH LOOKS (THE HAUGHTY).
For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will lighten my darkness.
As for God, HIS WAY IS PERFECT: the WORD of the Lord is tried (proven):

HE IS A BUCKLER (SHIELD) to ALL WHOM TRUST IN HIM.”

So, you see IT IS His love that will rescue them, save them, and above all forever deliver them from evil.
Don’t ask why he doesn’t just change the evil people; HE gives everyone that choice.
HE only offers freewill, either do good or choose to do evil, THEY have chosen evil over good.
HE WILL SAVE THOSE WHO CRY UNTO HIM.

ISAIAH 40: 10,11:“BEHOLD, the Lord God WILL COME
with strong hand (strength), and his arm shall rule for him: BEHOLD, his reward IS WITH HIM, AND HIS WORK IS BEFORE HIM.
HE SHALL FEED HIS FLOCK LIKE A SHEPHERD: HE SHALL GATHER THE LAMBS WITH HIS ARM, AND CARRY THEM IN HIS BOSOM, AND SHALL GENTLY LEAD THOSE THAT ARE WITH YOUNG.”

PSALM 72:4-9,11-14: He shall judge (BRING JUSTICE ON THEIR BEHALF) the poor of the people, HE SHALL SAVE THE CHILDREN of the needy, and BREAK INTO PIECES THE OPPRESSOR (utterly destroy the ones who have hurt them).
They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations.
HE SHALL COME down like rain upon the mown grass; as shower that water the earth.
In HIS days shall the righteous flourish; and the abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.
HE SHALL have dominion also from sea to sea, and from river to river unto the ends of the earth.
They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; AND HIS ENEMIES SHALL LICK THE DUST.
YEA, ALL KINGS SHALL FALL DOWN BEFORE HIM; ALL NATIONS SHALL SERVE HIM.
FOR HE SHALL DELIVER THE NEEDY WHEN HE CRIETH; THE POOR ALSO, AND HIM THAT HATH NO HELPER.
HE SHALL SPARE THE POOR AND NEEDY, AND SHALL SAVE THE SOULS OF THE NEEDY.
HE SHALL REDEEM THEIR SOUL (LIFE) FROM DECEIT (OPPRESSION)
AND PRECIOUS SHALL THEIR BLOOD BE IN HIS SIGHT.”
His perfect, righteous judgment and justice, SAVING those who need it and ending forever what we on earth can’t, the reason for the bodies from one end of earth to the other…they have shown NO mercy.
JAMES 2:13:“FOR HE SHALL HAVE JUDGMENT WITHOUT MERCY, THAT SHEWTH NO MERCY; and MERCY REJOICETH AGAINST (TRIUMPHS OVER) JUDGMENT.”

Sorry this font is huge, something went wrong there 🙂 The caps are NOT shouting it just emphasizes the points I want to make.

Φλογιζω / All Rights Reserved/ NBJ 2015 / original post 10/06/2015/ Revisited 2021 & 02/10/2022 Rev. Nina Brown Johnson




by

“Delight yourself in him”

“Thy hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.

They that fear thee will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped in they word.

I know O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to they word unto thy servant.

Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy law is my delight.

Let the proud be ashamed; for they have dealt perversely with me without a cause; but I will meditate in thy percepts,

Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have thy testimonies.

Let my heart be sound (blameless) in thy statutes; that I may not be ashamed.” Psalm 119:73-80 JOD

You know as you study Psalm 119, the overwhelming thought of the entire chapter is teaching us about the WORD and the power of that word to renew, restore, and even resurrect what is dead.

And as we are told in John 1:1: “In the Beginning, WAS the Word, and the WORD WAS WITH GOD, AND THE WORD WAS GOD.”

Drop it down to verse 14, and it further explains, “And the WORD WAS MADE FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US, (and we beheld HIS glory, the glory as of the ONLY begotten SON OF GOD.”

We are also given so much comfort in knowing that the WORD is also our powerful our spiritual weapon, as it is the sword of the Spirit, the WORD of God, as we are war against the enemies that seek to destroy our souls. And the more of his word held safe inside of herat, where no one, can take it, the sharper and more effect that sword will be. As God promised us.

Isaiah 55:11: “So shall my WORD be that goeth forth out of my mouth; It shall NOT returned to me void (unfulfilled), BUT IT SHALL ACCOMPLISH THAT WHICH I PLEASE, AND IT SHALL PROSPER IN THAT THING WHERETO I SEND IT.”

So if it is one verse that comes to mind, hold onto that one verse, such as “The Lord IS my Shepherd, I shall NOT want.” Psalm 23:1

“The LORD is my rock,and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I WILL TRUST; my buckler (shield), and the horn (strength) of my salvation, and my high tower.”Psalm 18:2

“The Lord IS my strength and my shield; my heart TRUSTETH in him, and I AM HELPED; therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise thee. The Lord is THEIR strength, and he IS the saving strength of his anointed.” Psalm 28:7,8

If you notice in our passage from Psalm 119, that this is also his request to be a light, a help,an encouragement to other believers.

And to do that we need hope ourselves, so that we can share that hope with others that by seeing God’s love shining through you, they will have hope through or their own journey.

The Bible gives us the road map to peace, love, and joy, there will surely be pain, sorrow, and suffering, but always, always remember it is ONLY for a little awhile, and we live because HE LIVES.

And this the reminder we are given, Acts:27,28a: “That they SHOULD seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him (in the HOPE that they grope for), and FIND HIM, though he be NOT far from every one of us. For IN him WE live, and move, and have our being,..”

And what he is saying with, is that God is NEVER as far away as we think, and even to those who have NOT accepted him YET, he is closer that they would ever know.

Because we ONLY exist because HE CREATED US, we only function, breathe, eat or sleep because he has blessed us to do so. And once we understand the simple truth that LOVES US.

Once we understand that he loves us not because of anything we have done or have left undone, he just loves us. That’s it, HE JUST LOVES US! How fabulous is that? We don’t have to earn it, or try to work to keep it, HE JUST DOES BECAUSE THAT IS JUST WHO HE IS.

And he wants us to joy in that, “listen” to Isaiah 58:14: “Then shalt thou DELIGHT thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; FOR THE MOUTH OF THE LORD HATH SPOKEN IT.“

When the Bible reference “high places” to me, it is always symbolic over overcoming and that God will in fact bless you in those areas that you were once caused to stumble by others who have hurt you or by circumstance or attacks by the enemy and those who serve him.

As we “read”earlier God promised that his WORD will do exactly whatever God desires for it to do. And God gives us that confirmation at the end of the last passage, that this is his WORD and he has SPOKEN it.

We have discussed the WORD, the POWER of his Word and that he loves you and WANTS you to be free in him and he WANTS you to allow your heart to DELIGHT itself in the love, companshioship, and grace of the one who knew you BEFORE even your parents knew you.

He wants you to rest in that love!

So I will end it with the verse, this WORD for you!

Psalm 37:4: “DELIGHT thyself also in the Lord; and HE SHALL GIVE THEE THE DESIRES OF THINE HEART.“

May God bless you with his love and peace and keep you in his care!

Φλογιζω NBJ 2020/ Rev. Nina Brown Johnson

I have used this song before but if you have never heard please listen, the lyrics are so perfect to describe the price Jesus paid for us at the cross and the love that we can never even begin to understand that he has for us, so much that he gave up his life, so we could live in him, and as he rose, he will one day resurrect us unto him, and until that day, DELIGHT yourself in that love, that love that IS him.

by

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ah, but I do beg to differ…

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

And talk about beautiful fragrances…

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

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

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

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

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

Trust him, just TRUST him.

Φλογιζω NBJ 2020/ Rev. Nina Brown Johnson

For series posts, please click links:

Angels, Roses, & True Love/ Intro

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

by

Relinquishing Regret

“Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to thy mercy remember me for thy goodness’ sake O Lord. Good and upright IS the Lord: therefore he will teach sinners in the way. The meek (humble) will he guide in judgment(justice): and the meek he will teach his way.

ALL the paths of the Lord are MERCY and TRUTH unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. For thy name’s sake, O, Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great.” Psalm 25: 7-11

Nothing can eat away our life, our health, and our soul quite like guilt. The most self destructive of all human emotions and the biggest of all burdens that are to be brought and LEFT AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS. 

It is often the binding tie that satan uses to hold his prisoners captive, convincing them in themselves that they DO NOT deserve to be free from the chains of actions taken yesterday whose consequences are forever now written.

He uses it on Christians, who even though they have come to the cross, they have failed to lay down that burden and continue to beat and badger themselves over and over again, not accepting the truth of forgiveness and allowing that guilt and regret to taint and rob the joy and peace that Jesus provided at the cross.

When we are constantly emotionally punishing ourselves over and over, the enemy has little to fear because we are doing his job for him. Why does he need to accuse the brethren when the brethren accuse themselves?

Regret WIIL make you sick, it WILL make you miserable, and it can very well lead you to hell, IF you allow guilt and regret to prevent you from accepting God’s salvation.

We can think we are not worth but Jesus thought we were VERY MUCH WORTH IT and He gave His life for ALL our sins. ALL of our mistakes, shortcomings, and failures and to hold the guilt rather than accepting forgiveness is making our guilt our god.

Regret is just guilt’s enabler, a life spent pondering things we could have and should have done is again a life, precious, given of God, completed wasted in endless analytical thoughts of how things could have been different.

Guilt and regret have no place in your life, they are past tense only and to bring them with you in the present is only sabotaging your future and the well-being and futures of all you interact with and have influence with.

As we know I am BIG on preaching influence because WE all have influence, even if you live alone, you have the POWER to impact others, someway, somehow, or maybe due to your availability, there is a ministry of service and outreach with “your name written all over it”, just waiting in the background, until you are ready to shed guilt and regret, send them packing, and spread your spiritual wings and let God lead you where HE ALREADY PREDESTINED FOR YOU TO GO!

But if your holding guilt and regret, He is NOT going to just reach down and jerk them out of your hands, YOU HAVE TO BE WILLING TO LET THEM GO! Then He can give you all the good things of His mercy and His Truth that HE WANTS TO GIVE YOU.

The verses above, for me is the absolute guide to repentance, quoted them many, many times myself and when I was first saved it was reading these verses over and over through floods and rivers of tears.

We have ALL messed up, we have ALL sinned, we have ALL been best friends with guilt and regret, but Jesus is faithful and HE wants us to let them go and TRUST in Him and forget all those things and press on, IN HIM.

And the ONLY way to true freedom IS found in Him and His blood and the washing by that blood, we can’t drink them away, can’t snort them away, and your sure not going to wish them away, all the methods people use in attempt to dull their inner pain always ends the same, once your down and the crash comes your only more messed up and deeper and deeper in that sinking pit and NOTHING is going away, more regret is just being added.

Continuing in Psalm 25:12-22: ” What man (human) is he that feareth the Lord? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. HIS SOUL SHALL DWELL AT EASE (in goodness) and his seed (descendants) shall inherit the earth.

The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew (cause them to know) his covenant. Mine (my) eyes are ever toward the Lord; FOR HE SHALL PLUCK MY FEET OUT OF THE NET. Turn thee unto me, (please come to me) have mercy upon me; for I am desolate (lonely) and afflicted.

THE TROUBLES OF MY HEART ARE ENLARGED (burdened with worry, guilt, regret) ;O BRING THOU ME OUT OF MY DISTRESSES. LOOK UPON MINE AFFLICATION AND MY PAIN; AND FORGIVE MY SINS. Consider mine enemies (negative emotions and even ourselves ARE enemies); for they hate me with a cruel hatred.

O keep my soul, and DELIVER ME: let me not be ashamed; for I put my TRUST IN THEE. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I WAIT ON THEE (wait IN FAITH on thee). Redeem Israel, O, God, out of ALL his troubles.”

Jesus is more than willing to heal us in these places, if we only ask. So many are trapped in prisons of heartache, regret, and remorse but PLEASE, PLEASE, as a minister of HIS GRACE, I am pleading with you, DON’T STAY THERE.

We ALL have those spans of time we dearly wish would could go back and change.. but we can’t. What we CAN change is how those times can be used to propel you into your destiny and in to the kingdom where you can maybe one day use those lessons learned to help another NOT make the same choices.

As my very wise sister always says, it really is like burying something dead and going back and digging up rotten old bones.Take them to the cross and leave them there and never think about them again.

God gives us beauty for ashes, to produce ashes something has had to burn. Don’t wait another moment, You can talk to God anywhere,  you don’t have to be in a church house, HE WILL MEET YOU WHEREVER YOU ARE.

STOP being your own enemy and unwittingly sabotaging your own life, lay guilt and regret, and all that hurts you today, on HIS altar and let it all be burned away. Let a NEW day unfold because you will never EVER know freedom until you are FREE in Him. Blessing and Peace to you in Jesus’ name.

Φλογίζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2017     Original Post 02/27/2017 Revisited 02/14/2021 Praying this will be a blessing to someone today! Also my beautiful sister who is referenced above as since went home to be with Jesus, two years now on the 16th, but her love,words, and wisdom live on, so today, please don’t let anything, anything keep you away from funding peace in Jesus, He is there, and He is only a heartbeat away.

 

 

by

DOUBLE -EDGED PART 4 UNBRIDLED / LOVES ULTIMATE JUSTIFICATION

Picture it, you are walking down the street and you witness an elderly man with a cane lose his balance and fall to the ground, the man next to him, whom you fully expect to gently help him back on his feet instead starts cursing him, kicking him the ribs demanding that he get up, yelling the entire time to as the elderly man who is now crying, trying to raise himself up under the sharp kicks, the young mans angry voice bellows through the night, “YOU are such an embarrassment! YOU can’t even walk right!”

He goes on to tell the elderly man that he is nothing but a burden and asking him why doesn’t he just die, the elderly man shaking and crying manages to get up and regain his step and obediently replies “I’m sorry, Son.”
Picture the things we as human never see, picture the horrors that go on behind closed doors and in nursing homes, and mental health institutions, all the unthinkable abuse and all the soul destructive words that are spoken.
Picture all at once, all of the dreadful news stories that have haunted your thoughts and now think about just how many you have never heard because they have never been told because as of yet no one knows.
Just how mad does it make you? 
How bad does it hurt YOUR soul? 
What would you do if you were able to stop this and so much more.
Could you turn your eyes from the mothers who are crying because they are watching their children literally starve to death?
Could you turn your eyes from those imprisoned and those sold into slavery for the sick perversion of some and the greed of many?
Could you turn your eyes from those who were crying out for justice for the atrocities they experience everyday as life?
PROVERBS 15:3: “The EYES OF THE LORD are in every place, BEHOLDING THE EVIL AND THE GOOD.”
Knowing in yourself the anger, hurt, and bewilderment you as a human feel when faced with these issues.
How do you think HE FEELS?
We determined that HE IS gentle, mild, beautiful, Holy, and merciful to the point of dying to save mankind.
Remember HE sees what you can’t and HE sees the ENTIRE WORLD, but HE ALSO HEARS the cries of them all!

Psalm 34:15: The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and HIS EARS ARE OPEN UNTO THEIR CRY.”

Since the dawn of time people have asked the question of how can He destroy the world?
How can He bring judgment and wrath and an absolute annihilation of what is now the world as we know it?
Well, let me ask you, How can He not?
The only reason He hasn’t is out of mercy, to give the lost a little more time.

2 PETER 3:9,10:” The Lord  is not slack concerning his promise ( to return and judge the earth) as some men count slackness;
BUT IS LONG SUFFERING US WARD (TOWARD US) NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH, BUT THAT ALL SHOULD COME TO REPENTANCE.
BUT the day of the Lord WILL come as a  thief in the night: IN which the heavens shall PASS AWAY WITH A GREAT NOISE, AND THE ELEMENTS SHALL MELT WITH FERVENT HEAT, the EARTH also and the works that are therein SHALL BE BURNED UP.”

People use every reason in the book to avoid salvation, but here is the reality, while they slow poke around, He is being patient in His return  for their sake’s and in the meantime those who suffer are forgotten by those who are just self-willed and stout-hearted against him.

The day is soon coming that HIS MERCY will flood this earth IN DIVINE WRATH.
Because HE IS merciful, those who have accepted Him will be taken out-of-the-way.

Those who are left can accept Christ, refuse the mark of the beast and be beheaded, again one more chance out, because of mercy.

Saved or not,  those in Babylon at the time of its destruction will be as the cut trees that fall where they are, as they are, no notice, no warning, what it is, is what it will be and no one knows that answer, but we do know through God’s word it will happen.

The money preachers and gurus are forever on their sowing in and finding favor kicks.
But I’ll tell you a little secret THERE IS NOTHING, AND I MEAN NOTHING ON THIS EARTH YOU WANT TO SOW IN RIGHT NOW MORE THAN MERCY!
Show mercy in every possible area that you can because to make it we will need shown much mercy.
HOSEA 6:6:“FOR I DESIRED MERCY, and NOT SACRIFICE; and knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.“

PSALM 89:14:  “JUSTICE and JUDGMENT ARE the habitation (FOUNDATION)
of THY THRONE: MERCY and TRUTH SHALL GO BEFORE THY FACE.”

PSALM 18:25-28,30: “With the MERCIFUL thou wilt shew thyself MERCIFUL; with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright.
With the PURE IN HEART thou wilt shew thyself PURE; AND WITH THE FROWARD (DEVIOUS) THOU WILT SHEW THYSELF FROWARD (SHREWD).
For thou wilt SAVE THE AFFLICTED PEOPLE; BUT WILL BRING DOWN HIGH LOOKS (THE HAUGHTY).
For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will lighten my darkness.
As for God, HIS WAY IS PERFECT: the WORD of the Lord is tried (proven):

HE IS A BUCKLER (SHIELD) to ALL WHOM TRUST IN HIM.”

So you see IT IS His love that will rescue them, save them, and above all forever deliver them from evil.
Don’t ask why he doesn’t just change the evil people, HE gives everyone that choice.
HE only offers freewill, either do good or choose to do evil, THEY have chosen evil over good.
HE WILL SAVE THOSE WHO CRY UNTO HIM.

ISAIAH 40: 10,11:“BEHOLD, the Lord God WILL COME
with strong hand (strength), and his arm shall rule for him: BEHOLD, his reward IS WITH HIM, AND HIS WORK IS BEFORE HIM.
HE SHALL FEED HIS FLOCK LIKE A SHEPHERD: HE SHALL GATHER THE LAMBS WITH HIS ARM, AND CARRY THEM IN HIS BOSOM, AND SHALL GENTLY LEAD THOSE THAT ARE WITH YOUNG.”

PSALM 72:4-9,11-14: He shall judge (BRING JUSTICE ON THEIR BEHALF) the poor of the people, HE SHALL SAVE THE CHILDREN of the needy, and BREAK INTO PIECES THE OPPRESSOR ( utterly destroy the ones who have hurt them).
They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations.
HE SHALL COME down like rain upon the mown grass; as shower that water the earth.
In HIS days shall the righteous flourish; and the abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.
HE SHALL have dominion also from sea to sea, and from river to river unto the ends of the earth.
They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; AND HIS ENEMIES SHALL LICK THE DUST.
YEA, ALL KINGS SHALL FALL DOWN BEFORE HIM; ALL NATIONS SHALL SERVE HIM.
FOR HE SHALL DELIVER THE NEEDY WHEN HE CRIETH; THE POOR ALSO, AND HIM THAT HATH NO HELPER.
HE SHALL SPARE THE POOR AND NEEDY, AND SHALL SAVE THE SOULS OF THE NEEDY.
HE SHALL REDEEM THEIR SOUL (LIFE) FROM DECEIT (OPPRESSION)
AND PRECIOUS SHALL THEIR BLOOD BE IN HIS SIGHT.”
His perfect, righteous judgment and justice, SAVING those who need it and ending forever what we on earth can’t, the reason for the bodies from one end of earth to the other…they have shown NO  mercy.
JAMES 2:13:“FOR HE SHALL HAVE JUDGMENT WITHOUT MERCY, THAT SHEWTH NO MERCY; and MERCY REJOICETH AGAINST (TRIUMPHS OVER ) JUDGMENT.”

Sorry this font is huge, something went wrong there 🙂 The caps are NOT shouting it just emphasizes the points I want to make.

Φλογιζω / All Rights Reserved/ NBJ 2015 /REVISTED 2021 REV. N. Brown Johnson