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What is freedom?

The fourth of July has been an odd time in my life over the years. Sometimes it has been in good seasons and other years in tougher seasons. The day represents our freedom from British rule. It stands as the day we declared our independence from British authority and took our own authority as a new nation. There are many ways people celebrate. Some gather and eat and play games. Some rest and relax. Others go boating or doing what they love to do. There are several who are first responders or have jobs that require them to work. So like my own varying degrees of memories, Amercians vary how they spend the time on this day.

One of the hallmarks of American independence day is the fireworks display. There are many things that take place as symbols but this one has history beyond our Independence Day. First invented by the Chinese, fireworks were used for celebrations and deployed to scare off evil spirits. As time went on they were used in celebrations from holidays, to royal events, religious events, ect. Then, on July 2, 1776, John Adams declared they would be used in our celebrations annually for the day we became Independent. So on July4, 1777, there was the first anniversary of our nations signing of The Declaration of Independence with fireworks being used. Since then, they have been widely used on the 4th across the nation.

Fireworks were also what later became ammunitions for war. The Chinese developed cannons and arial weapons from this technology. Of course over time other nations including Britain and America used weapons of war. The fight for freedom took violence. War is not pretty nor is it peaceful. It eventually can bring peace of sorts though. While taking place it requires a winner and a loser. A life preserved by death of the opposing. Freedom truly must be protected and fought for in you wish to keep it. When I watched the fireworks display take place this year I was reminded of the song “The Star Spangled Banner” by Francis Scott Key. This now our national anthem of course. History says that Mr. Key was at the battle of Baltimore. The British in the days prior pounded Washington D.C. in battle and now set sights on Baltimore. Fort McHenry was taking fire and as the 13th of September 1814 closed it looked like hell fire coming down. Francis Scott Key said “It seemed as though mother earth had opened and was vomiting shot and shell in a sheet of fire and brimstone.” Mr. Key attempted to plead with the British to cease and let a friend of his flee Baltimore to no avail. As the battle seemed like it was over, he noticed a sole American flag waving in defiance at the Fort while rounds and mortars exploded all around. Night set in, the attack continued. With no sign of surrender by the Americans, the pounding took place for 25 straight hours. As the next day’s sunlight came up, Mr. Key was inspired and moved by what he saw, The sole American flag still waving in complete defiance of the major damage of the British military offense. The Americans withstood the night and defended against land and sea attacks that were unrelenting. Although the American forces eventually retreated, they were able to regroup in Baltimore and defend the city. Britain sustained heavy casualties and it cost them. Fireworks have a history beyond celebrations.

Watching the explosions go off reminded me of war. This symbol that we all like to see and excites us inside, the fireworks, means more. The explosion that kids either cover their ears for or laugh and shout over seem to give joy. However, my first thought was different this time. It represented the sacrifices of men and women in lines of fire. Defending the freedom they hold. Defending the freedoms of the ignorant who have never nor may ever fight to the death. These fireworks meant more this year. They stand for war. As Christians first, Americans secondly, we are at war. The explosions and colors became more than a symbol and stirred me deeply. Each boom and bright light display was a collision of good and evil. Darkness being invaded by light. The light of day invaded by the darkness of night and the fireworks invading to take back the space with violent light!

Dear Christian, you are at war. You are at war on many fronts. It is violent and just as Fort McHenry it is a “by sea and by land” attack. The war of the flesh, the war of the world, the war of Satan against the seed of Christ is taking place. You and I were born into a war. We can become bystanders but at some point we will be forced in life to choose a side. You will be forced to choose. You can either go to sleep and deny it. You can stay isolated and “keep to yourself.” You can sin and turn back and live in the world joining the enemy because that is easier than becoming a casualty of war. These first two choices do not bring eternal freedom. The freedom to sin and do what you like is temporary. The freedom to isolate and have temporary peace comes at a cost. The cost is no relationships that will stand for eternity. The only choice a true Christian has is war!

Daily, we are to die. Paul stated this meaning die out in the sense of your plans and desires first. It should be Jesus by way of The Holy Ghost who plans and directs your life and desires. Proverbs 16 says a man’s heart plans his way in life BUT GOD orders his steps! Is God ordering your foot steps? Are you following HIS marching orders? Your desires have paths but do these life choices lead you to fight the good fight of faith? The good war of trusting Jesus with more than your Salvation? Do you trust Jesus Christ when HE leads you to war? Simply being saved does not qualify you as a Christian if you convert and then retreat to isolation. Simply confessing to Jesus and then turning back to the world’s ways and sin means you betrayed The One who leads the Armies of Heaven. Jesus said “The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force.” Jesus said “Count the cost.” The cost of becoming a disciple. Following Jesus Christ will 100% lead to war and you must prepare for that as you grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. The weapons of war are spiritual. They are not physical first. The Holy Spirit must have your soul first. Then you physically do things in faith. This will bring opposing forces your way. Are you prepared for war?

As a new convert, I saw men and women of God go to war for me. Then go to war for those unchurched, unsaved in the world. I felt the call to ministry. I didn’t understand it. I jumped in and was asked to jump in with little preparedness. It cost me a lot. I have stuck in there with Jesus though. He gave me grace after grace. I have found most church people do not understand the call to ministry. I have found most Pastors and ministers do not fully understand it either. We see success in war and mimic it. We used scripture as much as possible and if we “experience” something, even if it’s not in scripture, we use that too. Wisdom is relying on The Holy Ghost, The Holy Scriptures, and the agreeing of the two to guide your soul to war! That is what you call true discernment. Trusting The two to lead you correctly in Spiritual war. I lost many battles but have stayed in for the war. I am winning battles now through Christ because I am learning to fight Godly ways. The stages of training develop the disciple to begin to wage war. Where are you in your enlistment in God’s army? Are you a new recruit needing to know your God? Are you in the army and in training? Do you need development? Do that and engage where The Spirit is calling you at the moment. Are you trained? Are you ready for war? Baptized in The Holy Spirit? Your next step is to go into the world and fight! As a new convert, I wanted fireworks when Jesus was calling me to prepare the ammunitions. Find your rank and position and become 100% committed to your God. Then HE will promote you in due time as HE alone knows what you can handle and do to give HIM glory! Do not sit back though when God calls you up! Go! Fight and stand for Christ!

Some days the war comes to us. We must stand in defiance as that glorious flag at Fort McHenry. It took fire as Francis Scott Key said: Unrelenting shells and fire. The next morning laden in smoke, fire, and echoes of gunfire there it stood! It was as if it were protected by a force beyond this world. This flag moved Mr. Key so much he wrote this poem that caught like wild fire. Then turned to a song that we sing at virtually every public gathering. The memory of what we all have in common. Freedom! We can be different but we all desire to live and express ourselves before God. Are you like this lone flag? When are comes are you pulled low and tucked away in surrender? Are you standing up unwavering? Smells of war, smoke, and death upon you but life within spiritually? Scars, charred blackness but holding strong? The fact is we will suffer as Christians. You aren’t supposed to leave Earth with a perfect body and no scars. You are expected to take damage and keep going. The suffering and scars and smell of war upon you are a sign of the freedom you fight for! It’s not that you are perfect but that you are being perfected! It is a sign of was as you lost instead a sign that The Only Victorious One has held you! He has protected you. Just as that flag stood and it seemed was invisibly protected so are you! You may feel as if you are losing and going to lose. BUT God in you will keep you! Do you trust HIM? Really deep down trust HIM? Even when your own mind says “quit.” Do you still stand? Even when your own flesh betrays you and desires to quit. Do you stand tall in that dark night? War comes. What side are you on? You must pick one or the other.

Finally, The war was won when The French came to our aid. Considered rebels, The American colonists fought against the large British army. We were not supposed to win based on the numbers and resources. As war waged, the spirit of the colonists and the determination to win became steadfast. Eventually the French military joined us Americans. This was enough manpower and resources to overcome the British and force them to finally surrender. 1783 was the year the treaty was signed. It became official that America was independent! Jesus said once he would ascend to Heaven, he was going to send us The Comforter. The Holy Spirit to dwell in us! Humanity saw Jesus die for our sins and legally pay our debt. This is The Gospel. Mankind has access to be called innocent in the eyes of a Holy God! The Holy Spirit was then sent to dwell inside of the follower of Jesus. This is the plan for The Kingdom. The battle instructions. To overcome your flesh, to overcome this world, to overcome Satan who oversees evil in this world, you must have The Holy Spirit. It is essential. Jesus said “You will receive POWER once The Holy Spirit has come upon you.” This infilling is what sets you into the army and ready for war. Victory is 100% eminent when you are infilled with The Spirit. Just like the French coming to the Americans, The Spirit comes to our aid. Trust and repentance in Jesus begins the New Birth conception as a Christian. Being full of The Spirit equips you for war and guarantees the loss of sin and Satan over your soul! The French joined us in 1781. It wasn’t instantly an ending to war. It did give a down payment for victory. The Bible says The Holy Spirit in us is God’s downpayment for what we will see in Heaven! TOTAL VICTORY! As Christians, our lives are a “two years agreement” to join and win this Kingdom war! Do you have The Spirit? If not, ask God today for it! Get baptized in The Holy Ghost and get into the army that is guaranteed to win. Do you have The Spirit and are at home? Not at war with the enemies of God? Pray and sincerely get back into close communication with God. What is the next step God wants you to take to get back into this war. You are needed, others depend on you so they can be liberated, set free, and join you. Maybe the reason you’re oppressed is because you haven’t reached the brother or sister you’re supposed to! The brother or sister who will become your fellow solider and hold you up! I was held up and led to Christ by a close friend. Years later, when he was about to give up and lose all, I held him up. Brothers in arms. This is the call by our General. Not just a General though! The God of all Creation! The God who came to personally speak to each individual soldier!

Freedom comes with a fight. You don’t have to look for it. The evil will encroach and look to invade the entire world and all souls. Fireworks can be viewed as symbols of our war and VICTORY! Or you can choose to let fireworks be a symbol of fun and pleasure at someone else’s cost of time, money, resources, and safety. You can sit back protected by your brothers and sisters or you can train and take up arms and fight. What freedom do you choose today? Temporary freedom and fleeing comfort? Or do you desire more? Do you choose eternal freedom and complete comfort to the likes we have never comprehended? Jesus promised the eternal! It is there for you and because of Jesus Christ, HE made victory free for us to gain! He won what we couldn’t and now we choose today what side we are on. Choose wisely, sincerely, and know the costs! As for me, as for my family, we have chosen freedom in Christ and are willing to fight to the death for it.

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What do you do when you feel like giving up

I was a runner in middle school and high school. I ran cross country and track but cross country was my focus. I remember how hard some days were to practice. Other days were easier to practice. It was as if I could simply will myself to do whatever I wanted. The hard days were opposite. I would have to fight for each foot step forward. It was like my feet were covered in concrete -very heavy. Those days it was simple though it was as if I was lighter than air. Although I wasn’t the best runner on our team, I was a scoring running and we were in contention for sectional champs every year I was in high school. It took commitment and determination to be on the team and to improve performance each year.

I remember my coach and my friends pushing me to be better and step up on some days. On days we would train on hills, we would sprint 50-100 yards up a very very steep hill. We would sprint up and jog down and repeat. Then lengthen out the sprints. It was the hardest training but was what made us so much stronger. One day I took it easy and remember my best friend looking at me and calling me out. He challenged me to keep up with him. Looking back he even slowed down some to pace me and challenge me to pass him. Although he was a better runner, he knew I needed encouragement to improve and challenge him. I remember my coach yelling to us to keep form, breathe, drive into the hill as we struggled up it while exhausted. He was helping us mentally focus. This way once in a race, it was automatic to overcome the hills. It was our coach and team pushing each other to be better that got us to the state meet championship one of our years. We became a legitimately good team from a commitment to be the best we could be.

Fast forward years later, I was a new Christian convert at 30 years old. The problem was that due to consequences, I was also divorced and having so much trouble transitioning in this really broken season of life. Everything around me seemed to be unstable and disintegrating daily. In my spiritual life, everything was vibrant and growing; flourishing in fact. Each day was new. I literally woke up to each day being different than the last and it was unpredictable. I was learning to truly live by faith because I was not sure what the end of a week would even look like. The only peace was when I had my children with me or when I was in prayer or reading the Bible. There was comfort from church and being with believers but that wasn’t every day or all of the time. I felt like I was running uphill each hour that passed. The further I pushed the steeper the climb. The further I pushed the more fatigue I experienced. For each time a friend would pray for me, it was like my friend pulling for me to keep up with him. For each moment I read the Bible and found these great people of God understood suffering, it was as if God was coaching me to stay in form and lean in. Life was extremely difficult but there seemed to be “a team” atmosphere to being part of The Church.

There was also a purpose to church. The purpose was to be redeemed back to Jesus Christ. Not to be lost in sin and end up in hell. This is the basic fact that we are alienated from God due to sin. It is through Jesus Christ alone we are saved and redeemed in the Spirit. That does not negate the evil or negative experiences of life on Earth. Saved or unsaved, we all experience the affects of evil and sin in the human experience. I was quickly finding out that consequences of bad choices do not always dry up once you become a Christian either. The good part is that God takes all of our negative experiences and suffering and uses them for a greater purpose -for us humans to know God more clearer and understand Him better until we meet Him face to face. Suffering isn’t pleasurable. It is necessary and can bring benefit if we do not get offended over them. This is another subject and post but forgiveness is paramount in Christianity. It is how we do not get and stay offended. We stay open to God.

One day I was driving home from work. I can still take you to the very stretch of highway from this memory. The weather was gloomy, rainy and cold. It was the afternoon. I had just received some bad news. Another set back in my disintegrated former life. I was so down and defeated I was crying while driving. It was an ugly cry too. Not the kind you want while driving. I was praying and begging God to relieve this suffering. It was too heavy and I just wanted to quit. I wanted to keep my life with Jesus but let go of my responsibilities. INCLUDING my role as a father. It just seemed to heavy at this point and maybe my children were better off without me like some were telling me. Many men have done such because of the weight. I understand the struggle of a single/divorced father. I do not judge the absent father as if he should be condemned. If you walked in his shoes (or mine) you would understand. If you haven’t I beg you to show mercy and reserve you judgment without cause. It is the hardest place in life to be. Stripped of your rights but obligated to provide on some one else’s terms. I commend the men who stay in the fight but be slow to judge those who don’t. The weight of this load is the same for all who carry it. Very few men are evil enough to simply abandon their children without remorse. As for me, in that day of ultimate weakness, I was asking God to let me out of this. It was the hardest hill I had every climbed to this point.

When I was ready to tell God what I was going to do, a small pickup truck pulled up next to me in the other lane and kept pace with me. I tried to ignore him for a moment while I was crying and praying. But he was persistent and was honking his horn at me. He would slow up and then speed up and was doing his best to get my attention. Finally when I looked over, I saw a hispanic man with the biggest smile on his face wave at me. I was taken. This did not fit the moment I was in and it took me from my little bubble of defeat. After he knew he had my attention he grabbed his Bible which had a big cross on the front and pressed it against his side window. Then with the other hand he pointed to it and nodded his head up and down with that big smile. As he put his Bible down, he gave me an emphatic thumbs up and smiled again. Then he drove off quickly passing me. I knew instantly in my heart what just happened. This was God’s direct message to me from a complete stranger telling me: “Keep pushing! Keep fighting to care for your children. Do not give up even though it is hard and hurts. You CAN make it!” God does truly do mysterious things to gain our attention! How much does God love us that He would speak to us by using others to communicate? This wasn’t a coincidence. It had never happened before to me nor has since. My faith was encouraged that day and I refused to give up being a dad and refused to walk away from my responsibilities. Yes, it was difficult with suffering involved. God has a plan though and my role was to follow Him.

Just like running, I had people pushing me. I had God “coaching” me with a greater destination in mind. Often when we think we are too tired to finish or keep pace, we have more in the tank. Spiritually, we have an unending supply of power. If you are filled with The Holy Ghost, you cannot be harmed too much. You cannot be beaten down too far. You may buckle at times. You may not be able to effortlessly live life. You are however given a way out, the power to get up in due season, and to boldly step into the place God is calling you to go. This is in spite of the conditions, consequences, or enemies in your life. The Bible says we must endure to the end to be saved in Matthew 24:13. This isn’t a threat of failure. It is a promise that you can make it. It is also a promise that if you make it you will be saved. It is a guarantee from God. If we endure to the end indicates there is an end to your suffering. Either in season or life, you shall see an end to it! That gives me comfort to follow Jesus another day even the heavy days where I feel like concrete and don’t know how to move forward. The Lord told us in John 14:26 He will send The Comforter, The Holy Spirit to us. We will have redemption from sin and the comfort of God to overcome all evil and suffering. Matthew 28:20 Jesus tells the disciples that He is with us until the end of the world. We are not alone. Although it may feel like it, once we are in Christ, we are never alone.

Jesus said he would be with us and in the midst of two or three of us who are together in His name. The beautiful thing is we also have each other. No, not everyone understands your suffering. However, you are not alone because some else on Earth has experienced what you have by and large. If you are a single/divorced parent, I relate. If you have lost a child, someone else has too. If you lost your job, your house someone else has too. Maybe you are suffering from mental illness. Many do silently. You are not alone. I can relate to this also. The key is coming to Christ. To be free from sin so we can be redeemed and become children of God. In turn, we also have God always with us, and when we are bold and look for help, we find other Christians who we can lean on. Do not give up. Do not stop following Jesus. Yes, there are moments we feel isolated or alone. Yes, there is suffering. There is also an end to all of this at some point. I currently am thankful that I stayed faithful to God and his leading in my life back then. I am thankful for divine intervention. I am thankful for Christian friends who encouraged me on the journey. There is a day we will see God face to face and have total peace. There is a day our friends and family will experience it with us if we all surrender to Jesus Christ. It will all be worth it. That year we made it to the state championship was special. It was worth the sacrifice and dedication. Those summer practices months prior paid off. The hills were worth it. How much more is it worth while in the spiritual? The days we suffer and still choose to praise God for His goodness in spite of pain? The days we look beyond our pain to see the comfort of another we sacrifice for? The days we see Jesus looked beyond pain and rejection to see the salvation and comfort of us? If I could pay forward what this man did for me that day on my ride home, it would be this: Get as close to Jesus as you can. Expose all of your heart to Him and trust him. When you suffer, pray a lot. Be very honest in prayer but instead of getting offended, keep your heart open to God. Even if you cannot seem to move forward in this moment, stand and let God help you. Ask Him for friends to be sent into your life to help encourage you (not live your life). Trust that one day this will be over and you will have relief. One day it will all be over and we will see Jesus Christ face to face and it will be something we cannot even understand! It will be worth it all. It is ok to cry to be weak and to know you are not the only one. Someone else has experienced this too and if you don’t know them, Jesus himself had suffered all for us. Just hold on and do not give up! It may seem like all you can do is say “yes” to Jesus on some days. If that’s all you have that’s good enough for today. In the end, we win. As Paul the Apostle said, run the race of life to win. That winning will be in The Spirit where it’s everlasting.

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Do you have a spending problem?

The prodigal son is a parable mentioned only in the gospel written by Luke. It is Luke chapter 15 verses 11-32. In order to understand what I am writing I would recommend reading this passage from the Bible. I would like to highlight some points from this passage that Jesus spoke here. I am hoping it opens our eyes up in a way that we can learn how to handle relationships better. Yes, this passage is about salvation and a right standing in God. Yes, it is referring to the Jewish nation and the fact that Jesus Christ came to save us all from sin. Yes, it is about a loving Father who will forgive if the wayward child will just return. There are some great practical points though about how we treat each other as well. There is also a common belief about this run away son that is somewhat misunderstood and I’d like to make some clarification about him as well.

Here is the summary a father has two sons. The older son who seems to do what he is told. The younger son who decides he is better off leaving home and going out on his own. This younger son asks his father for his portion of whatever he would get as an inheritance. Then after he gets it, he leaves to live life recklessly. There is a famine which caused great difficulty and this son spent all he had. He had nothing and decided he was better off going home and becoming a servant to his father. As he approaches home, his father runs to him and greets him and welcomes him back home. He celebrates his son’s return and the older brother becomes upset and appears quite jealous about the whole situation. The father tries to reason with his eldest son but this does not work. The eldest son is seen rejecting the youngest son who is at this father’s celebration. This is how the parable ends. There are three main people here to examine.

The first person here is the father. He has wealth. He has two sons that we are told about. This father does not hold back from his sons. He gives to them what is asked. It appears as if he gives them anything they want. I do not believe this is completely true though. I believe the intent of the parable is that the father is God. Jesus is teaching this from the point that God gives to us very liberally. He gives us a lot of grace and gives us a lot of talents and skills. He provides us with life but also with free will. He allows us to make decisions for ourselves. There is a limit to these things though. I do believe God wants us to live according to His ways. Because we are apart from Him, Jesus died as the sacrifice so we can be reconciled back to Him. We return to God through Jesus Christ. The fact that He allows us to find our way through life while constantly reaching out to us is a sign of divine Grace and Mercy. We are literally placed in a world where we have to come to terms with God. Either we deny him or accept him. We are allowed to do what we like with our free will. This is what I see the father giving in the parable. This father was willing to let his son figure it out because he knew what was right. You can stand with integrity as a parent when you have taught your children to live a Christian life. As a parent if you have lived a Christian life to the best of your ability in front of them, you have given them the best life lessons. If you have taught them The Gospel and invited them to live this way, you have done well. Most importantly, if you have lived this Christian life by faith you have done it correctly. It is one thing to teach and obey. It brings life when you do it because your faith is totally in Jesus Christ. When you have done this you place your children up to make their own decisions on how they will live. If a child decides to live contrary, it is not because you did something wrong. Likely, it is because they are human and we all each individually will answer to God one day. It is a struggle to let go of a child who wants to do things opposing but you can still pray for them and most importantly love them and pull for them in life. They need that support to and it may be that unconditional love that brings them back. In this Scripture the father runs to greet his son who is still far off. This implies the father was searching close to home anticipating the son’s return. In this culture a man running to a lower ranked person was considered weak and undignified. We see a father who is willing to overlook his appearance for a restored relationship with his loved son. There is a lot here we can learn as parents.

The older son seems to have it all together. He is seen in the field working. This son appears to do things to please his father. He is obedient apparently. This son does not ask for anything. What we see at the end of this parable speaks about this son’s heart. He gets really upset that his younger brother came back after disrespecting their father. Maybe he felt it disrespected the family honor. More important was that he was upset that there was a party going for him. The older brother may not even have been upset about his brother being home. Maybe it was the great attention and love shown to him after he messed up. No matter what caused it, we see the older brother is offended. He is upset with the father. It is important that no matter what God does in the lives of others, we should not judge that from our hearts. We may think they did something really wrong and should be held accountable. We may know that someone did great harm to themselves or other people. However, if they return to Jesus Christ, they can be forgiven. If we are like the older son we would look like this: A Christian person living in faith and doing the best we can to please Jesus. If we are like this as a saved follower of Christ then we are forgiven of our sins. We can celebrate that everyday. We have a father who is willing to allow us to celebrate and celebrates with us. Our problem is when someone who has hurt us comes to God for themselves. It is easy to hold a grudge. It is easy to be unforgiving. Our flesh wants payback when we have been hurt by someone. It is easy to give advice. Easy to tell a friend that they should forgive a cheating spouse or forgive an abusive person when they were hurt. It is easy until this happens to you. Then it is your turn to forgive. This is harder because now it affects you personally, not someone else. What if they ask for forgiveness and then ask God when they repent for doing something wrong? Can you then forgive them? You must! It is difficult for some of us to forgive, sure! BUT YOU MUST FORGIVE! This older son was not willing to forgive or accept that his father had a love based on WHO his sons were, NOT WHAT they did! I have tried my very best as a father to express how I love my children for who they are as people. As individuals they are so important to me. What they do or don’t do is important but not essential to be my love for them. This son, this older brother clearly missed out of understanding the love that the father had for him. He doesn’t understand it so much so that when the younger son is restored, he cannot comprehend what is happening. Let us not be like this. There is freedom letting God be the judge of mercy and consequences. It is a damning place to assume the mercy/judgement seat of God and sit there.

The last person to view here is the young son. I want to view him from a standpoint not often mentioned. The prodigal standpoint. If you know this scripture your first thought is: “I have heard this before. The prodigal. He was ran away. He came back. Nothing new.” Well, hold on because I don’t hear this brought up much and want to share it. Maybe you’ll hear something that will help you out. The term “prodigal son” is often looked at as “wayward son.” Meaning he is disobedient or rebellious. This is a person who is not close to God and doesn’t want to be. This is not an incorrect implication of the scripture. The problem is the word prodigal doesn’t mean this at all. Those are contextual thoughts based on his behavior. The fact is the son had a spending problem. Prodigal means: Having or spending recklessly or lavishly. This is the adjective or description of prodigal. The noun (person who is prodigal) means: A person who spends recklessly or lavishly. This prodigal son had an issue with wasting what he had. It was a character issue. A heart issue for this son. He just couldn’t be satisfied or content. Notice this, the father tells the older son that he had anything his father owned to his disposal at any time. So this implies the younger son did too! We tend to think he took his inheritance and ran off because he didn’t have anything. Wrong thinking. He was already entitled to anything he wanted. He simply needed to ask the father. This is proven because he asks his father for his inheritance and got it! What can we learn? That we all have a spending problem. We want to take what is considered a precious resource and spend it recklessly. God gave us life. He gave us time to use and spend life how we choose to! We have free will and a brain. We are given opportunity. Some in life are granted a lot more and some much less. However, in God’s hands, we can spend our lives in incredible ways! The problem? We all come with a built it spending problem. We want to be pleased. We search for what makes us feel good or entertain us. We desire to make ourselves pleased and don’t want to wait for satisfaction. One day, we end up feeling lost, broken, empty, or mentally down. When we have spent all we could and enjoyed as much pleasure as possible, there comes a day we ask: “What is the point?” Solomon asked this question in Ecclesiates. Well, when we trust in God’s will, His word, and come back to Him, we find worth. We find purpose and fulfillment spiritually. See this father gave his son all of the spiritual relationship he wanted. The son still had a spending problem in his heart. He didn’t understand that spending life on yourself constantly will never fulfill you. It took him spending all to see that he couldn’t actually get what he was offered at home. This is when he comes back. He doesn’t even return with the intent on being a son. He says I will work for my fathers approval. The father, in true love, doesn’t say: “Earn my love.” He just offers it. The son saw that the servants were hired and taken care of because they worked for it. They were well cared for I bet. But a son would not have to work to get anything. It was just his. This is how God sees us as His in Christ. We cannot earn a spot in line for favor. We just get favor. The only thing to do? Return to The Father. The spending problem is a heart issue. This is why Jesus forgives the porn addict, the drug addict, the judgmental person, the proud, the murder, even those who do detestable things. He forgives all who come to him with a whole heart to repent. This is because these sins are all spending problems. We lavishly try to please ourselves. The way it manifests is different from one person to another. Many factors cause one person to desire one thing that another would be repulsed by. Often we judge others actions because what they do sinfully does not appeal to us. So we say: “I would never do that!” This may be so but the real question should be: “What is it I am doing sinfully?” or “What did I do in my past in sin?” If we focus on our spending issues, we will less likely want to judge others for theirs. In God’s eyes, we are all wrong. The beautiful thing of it all is that Jesus forgives us and restores us. We don’t have to go back as a hired servant who has to earn our way back to please God. He fills us with His Spirit (or refills us) when we sincerely and whole heartedly return to Him. When we are full of The Spirit, we find peace with God and contentment in our soul. We begin to spend wisely. Over time, we begin to spend life the way God intends. This is called spiritual growth.

We are all three of these people in our lifetimes. Most of us will live to be in all of these positions. Even if you are not a parent. You will likely be in a relationship where you give and teach someone who is under your influence. You will likely be a peer to someone who is more reckless than you. You will likely be more reckless than someone else in your life who is on a friendship level with you. A big lesson to learn here is: What response pleases God? Depending of what “person” in the parable you happen to be will determine what response is best. Relationships tend to be messy and require a lot to be successful. Forgiveness is a big part of them. True spiritual contentment is found in Jesus Christ. He alone grants us eternal life and in Him we find all that we need or want. Let’s find our way home and celebrate with our friends and family!

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What is failure?

Proverbs 24:15-16

15 Lie not in wait as a wicked man against the dwelling of the righteous;
    do no violence to his home;
 16 for the righteous falls seven times and rises again,
    but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.

Proverbs 16: 1-2 & 9

1 The plans of the heart belong to man,
    but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
    but the Lord weighs the spirit.[a]

9 The heart of man plans his way,
    but the Lord establishes his steps.

Merriam Webster’s defines failure as: Omission of occurrence or performance. A state of inability to perform a normal function. A lack of success.

These three definitions really help clarify what failure is to us humans. Often we use the word failure but do not consider what we are saying about a person or situation. The scriptures above will give some structure to this also. From a Christian standpoint, failure is viewed differently than what we probably think. We don’t think like God thinks. We don’t consider the big picture nor can we see it without God giving us the ability to see from His perspective.

I talk to so many people who are very hard on themselves. I used to be a perfectionist and was quite hard on myself. It can still be a struggle from time to time. Today’s society seems to be so critical of everyone around them. We know more or know better than “that guy who…(insert something/someone you are judging). “If I were them I would…” is a common saying for this age. Here is the problem, you are not that person and you are likely not in that situation -Especially when it comes to celebrities. Many of them were from poor or dysfunctional backgrounds. It is easy to make mistakes and be noticed for them when you are constantly being put in the public eye. The main point is many people struggle with their self image and with how they perceive what others think of them. Then the same issue is true for the opinionated people. They struggle to live up to some expectation and end up judging the rest of the world due to their poor value system. This is all too toxic! It comes down to one thing:

Failure

When we fail, we often see it as final. A permanent issue that is not changeable. Then we run from it or fight to deny it. What we are doing is trying to ignore it happened or erased the fact that it did. Then justify why we cannot change it from within ourselves. I am only speaking to a small portion of this topic but it is because I want to address how we are often dysfunctional in our approach to failure and our understanding of what failure is supposed to be in our lives. We end up living up to fake expectations, put on masks for others, and end up empty and hollow inside. The outside can look good but we are beat down by our toxic way we handle failure. Understanding failure and how to handle it is what determines your success and quite possibly your salvation.

I used to follow sports heavily. My absolute favorite sport to watch used to be college basketball. Growing up watching the 90’s teams play for a title was how I spent my evenings in a snowy cold upstate NY as a teen. One of my best friends was a Georgetown fan and I was a Syracuse fan. This brought a lot of trash talking and some fighting. What is amazing is how teams would compete yearly and once in a while your team would knock off that Duke team or North Carolina or Kentucky team who was really good. I looked up the statistics for all time winning percentage of head coaches in college basketball. The ten best coaches in history are between 78%-84%. This means they failed to win 16%-22% of their games. Losing every 5 or 6 nights means they lost once a week every season! I am talking about the great coaches like Al McGuire, Adolph Rupp, John Wooden, and in todays game Mark Few (the winningest coach of all time by %). These are men of men when it comes to the sport and they did not have a perfect record. I can almost guarantee that in their mind set, while they set to win every night, there is something in them that allows for reset and a “let’s go” mentality. You cannot win the next game when you are focused on the last loss. Similarly, you cannot move on in life when you are focused on the last mistake you made to the point you won’t let go of it. You cannot move on in life when you are blaming everyone else who affected your life as to why you cannot prosper. I can assure you that these coaches may have been tough on players. However, like God, they were doing it to mine out the best and teach them how to play to their best potential. To make the potential become the actual. The moments they were easy on them was relational to show them they are appreciated for who they were not the achievements or lack thereof. Failure was in the process but it didn’t define these coaches or teams. The statistics do prove they failed at times though. Interesting how we view this one subject. Here is the take away: Accept responsibility and then make adjustments. This is how champions are made.

I heard this in some music a couple years ago. Falling is learning to stand. This is the key to failure! When we fail it is a lack of success, poor response, or inactivity. Maybe you failed on purpose. Maybe it was ignorance. So many reasons can cause us to fail. Often we lack the ability to understand why things happen or what we should do when something happens. This is why faith is so important. This is why Jesus Christ is our only answer as Christians. God’s wisdom created the Earth and all things in it. He is the Maker. His manufacturer’s instructions is The Bible. The answers in how to live and respond in life are included here. The grace of God is that we can fail and get up and try again! It is a matter of the heart. IF you intend to do evil and harm, you will be judged for it unless you repent and truly honestly seek God for forgiveness and follow His ways. You may also have consequences of those things even if reconciled to God. IF you fail but are trying to live the best you can, God makes room to let you work things out. We still need to repent and seek God when we sin, we just have a posture of heart that is not set on evil and harm. There are often consequences here also but God is merciful with those who are truly following Him. As for the daily perfectionist. Let’s look at this from the practical. Failure is something we can learn from. We generally see our failure and want to run. But the best thing we can do is look at it without obsessing and pray over it. Ask God: “What can I learn from this?” Was this something I could’ve done differently? Was this something that I had no control over and it would have happened anyway? When I look at some of my largest failures in life, they are in relationships. I have come to learn from them instead of run and repeat them. I am uprooting thoughts and behaviors that do not glorify God or keep me close to those who love me and I love them. Forgiveness allows me to move on from me or from an offender. Asking what I can learn helps me to not repeat things I shouldn’t. Letting go doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt or wasn’t negative. It means I had not figured out how to do something positively. I have not figured out how to glorify God with a proper response to something in life. I have not figured out how to love others as Jesus loves me. Failure is an opportunity to make things right. It is not always a death sentence like we imagine it is! The posture of your heart determines this.

Falling is learning to stand. This statement has helped me a lot. If I could stand up when I was 6 months old I would have! I had to build up to it and learn to walk. By 12 months old I was running on two feet. The key was not viewing failure as falling. Failure was quitting! This is how a Christian life is. We have to learn to stand in areas we cannot. It takes The Holy Ghost to do this! HE makes us strong. BUT you have to be weak for God to make you strong. So failure is just something you and I have to accept. Not become complacent but accept rather than shun as a toxic response. A lack of success if failure. Therefore, since I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, I just haven’t succeeded yet. Since Jesus said He will never leave or forsake me, I have strength available at all times. I haven’t figured out how to live life in every area as a fully mature Christian BUT I am learning to! My only failure that is permanent is quitting. True failure is walking away and giving up. It is straight death to the Christian. All other failure can teach us to stand up and live right. To be bold in spirit and love unconditionally. To be who Christ has called us to be while giving to others and not running out!

The above scriptures are such a help. First is that a righteous person gets up when they have fallen. The scripture doesn’t say it was the righteous person’s fault or another’s. However, verse 15 indicated he is knocked down by wickedness. So when you crack under pressure or expectations of others, remember that the righteous get up! Get up! Take your issue(s) to God. Search His word for the way to get up! Dig in and follow The Lord’s ways. He will lead you in paths of righteousness and in due time you will rise! It is a promise from God! Prosperity is not a material thing! It is a spiritual thing. You can prosper and have peace with God even with failures in life. It is how you work through them. The second verse affirms this. We make our plans to do things in life. God establishes or cements our steps. What I have come to learn is “perfection” on Earth as a Christian means wholly and totally following Jesus Christ the best I can. Truthfully openly living with God daily. Not hiding from Him or trying to impress other people. When I make a mistake I ask for forgiveness. I don’t hide. Then I pray to learn from it. If its a repeated thing, I really pray and study the word and look for help. Success comes at some point. In my life as a Christian, God has never failed me in this area. I am far from perfect but the flaws He has uprooted in me have come from this attitude and approach to follow Jesus. He promises that he will never leave or forsake us. He is always with us. We can boldly come to prayer and be heard. We are given a promise of abundant life. So why do many live below God’s promises? I truly believe it is because failure is viewed as final rather than a segment. If failure were grammatical, it would be a statement. Sadly, we often view it as the period! Time to change our view and approach to this subject! Learn to stand, don’t accept defeat! Get up and learn to move on friend!

To those who struggle to let go of shame, it is not the period on your life sentence if you are ready to give it to God! Your mistake was a sentence in the paragraph of life. That is all. To those who struggle to forgive and see failure in everyone else, put it into the hands of Jesus completely and watch the judgement, resentment, bitterness, and personal guilt leave! Letting go of offense means letting go of failures. Letting go means you can grab righteousness instead of someone’s failures. To those who are perfectionists, look at failure as a need to adjust approach for God’s intended outcome. No more blame game! If you struggle within relationships, seek godly counsel and God’s word (first). Pray and look for God to give you strength to stand up the right way. Learn to live in a godly way with people and view failures as learning to do life correctly. Some people need to be distanced, others brought closer. Have God help you here. It is truly odd how we will view failure as final when it doesn’t have to be the period on your life story. It may be a sentence. That sentence can be followed up with “then he/she rose up.”

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Anxiety, peace, and the hidden argument

Philippians 4:6-8

6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

This was the very first set of verses in the Bible that I can remember seeing and reading when I was truly intent on reading the Bible to know who God is. I read them from the front page inside by newly gifted Bible. My life had spiraled out of control and I was flat on my back. I had hit rock bottom. I was repentant through a series of events and The Lord reaching out to me. In my response to God and with the help of my brother I began to pray and seek after God. To know Him and know who I was to Him. My brother penned a dedication with these verses as the keynote message. They were encouraging and sound spiritual advice with God’s word in the center. It was June 2007 and my life was being transformed. Albeit tumultuous, God had plans of peace and stability for my future. I had no idea the spiritual weight or power these verses carried. I also had no understanding how timeless or relevant these verses are in all ages of time on Earth. These first verses have shaped my faith more than any others.

I want to tap into a few take aways from these scriptures and it may be possible that you have never noticed the take aways here. I hope after reading you draw close to God in a greater way. These verses are often quoted to encourage believers. This is good but there is some untapped power here and when you get ahold of that power in The Spirit, you will experience true peace in due time.

The verses imply a sincere request by Paul to take your concerns to God and we will be guided into God’s peace. Peter wrote also that we ought to bring our cares to God because God cares for us. So this principle is valid in scripture that we should take ourselves before God. Ask Him things, request things of God. A side note of caution. A friend of mine a couple years ago said something profound. She said “I have learned to thank God for the times He has told me no in prayer. God’s no is leading me to His yes for whatever I am praying about.” Do not get impatient with God when you do not get the response you expected! We pray because we do not know what to expect. If we knew what to expect all of the time we wouldn’t need faith or Jesus anyway. Paul begins by saying “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication” Whatever worries your soul needs to be taken to God in prayer. This is obvious. Supplication is also included with prayer. If prayer is “the what” supplication is “the how” that we get our worries, concerns, and thoughts to God. I truly believe this is why most who struggle do not see breakthrough: Supplication. The study notes of The Spirit-Filled Life Bible say this: “Supplication is more than petitioning, but suggests an intensity of earnestness in extended prayer- not to gain merit by many words, but to fully transfer the burden of one’s soul into God’s hands. Prayer and peace are closely connected.” I have struggled to learn how to bring my prayers in with supplication to God. Are you transferring your worries and fears? Is this a faith act when you pray? Are you praying and allowing the burden to be transferred in The Spirit? This will work your faith and align you in prayer. It will align you in God’s will. This is take the “No” from God to where your requests line up with His “Yes.”

The next thing we see is “with thanksgiving make your requests known to God.” Are you thanking God for what He is doing presently? We all make requests to God but are you thankful while doing so? Finally, God’s peace is not something we humans understand. We who have lived a Spirit filled Christian life for any length of time have experienced God’s supernatural peace. HOWEVER, we do not understand it. We cannot so don’t try. You will experience something that you cannot fully understand or describe. That is what is called supernatural. It’s not of our nature. It is like when you are a child and ask mom: “How did you know that you were in love with Dad?” My mom’s response was this: “It’s hard to explain, you just do. It is something that just happens and when it does you will know it.” This is God’s peace. This is why when God asks us to do something, by faith we should. We cannot understand what comes from God until we experience whatever is supposed to happen God’s way. Peace comes and makes all things right -Even when all things are not right. I believe the peace of God is directly related to God’s presence. The Bible says God is near the broken hearted. Finally this peace from The Holy Ghost will guard our soul and thoughts through Christ Jesus. We are guarded and we have a peace. You personally may be in a terrible position in life. You can still have God’s peace in this moment though. It is as if The Holy Spirit comes in and rests with you, in you, even in the moment of confusion or pain, ect. To sum it up Paul is writing telling believers to quit worrying and take all of our concerns to God and transfer the weight to Him. Do this with a thankful attitude and The Holy Spirit will come in with such a peace that you will be settled inside even when you can’t explain it!

So how are you doing? Seriously, how are you right now? Reading this I assume you are alone or at least not interacting with others at the moment. Can you take a moment to make an honest actual real assessment of your current life? Can you take off the mask and say not everything is perfect or alright? If you aren’t anxious or suffering at this moment, then begin to think and pray for someone else. When the time comes, I hope this will come to remembrance. If you are anxious or suffering then I hope this will help. As I said, Paul is telling believers to go to God in prayer and transfer the burden into God’s possession. Give over things to God. I used to struggle heavily with anxiety and depression. At one point was on medication for it. During my Christian conversion, I not only came off of medication but was healed from these two issues. I will tell you that they have come back at me in certain seasons. God has brought me through those seasons through. He can heal you too. I struggled so bad with anxiety that I sometimes wouldn’t go in public. I would avoid people. I avoided talking in public to strangers at times. One day in particular, I stopped to get gas in my car on my way to work. I went in to get coffee and pay for the gas. I stopped short of getting a cup of coffee because I was so full of anxiety that morning. The reason why was because I thought people would think I was weird for the type of creamer or amount of sugar I would load my coffee cup with. You may think this is ridiculous. That is ok if you do. In that season of life I was so beat down and very far from God. My mind was so twisted from so much that had happened to me. The core issue was poor relationships. I had never really had a proper relationship in my life to that point. My communication skills were poor and I lacked trust and openness with others. So anxiety and depression led my emotions to decide what actions to take for everything. The Lord, over time, healed me and I began to learn how to have proper meaningful relationships. This is still a work in progress personally. The core issue for me was lack of meaningful relationships with God and with others. This led to so much anxiety and depression. I believe that I am not alone the more I talk with people about life. I now have that peace from God. When I do not, I know it’s time to pray about my relationships. It is time to pray for others. This is because when God’s peace is missing, it is often due to relationships. It may be me who is in the wrong. It may be someone else. We are not reconciled somehow.

I wanted to share this about relationships because Paul wrote about them to us in the Bible. When we read these key verses, we often address anxieties or conflicts and use these verses to draw close to God. When we are not drawing close to God’s peace it could be because you have a people problem. It may be you. Philippians 4:2-3 says “ I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. 3 Yes, I ask you also, true companion,[b] help these women, who have labored[c] side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.” Here is what these two verses are talking about. There were two women in the local church who had a major disagreement and opposed each other. We can figure this out because Paul took the time to address these two women by name in a letter to the church. I doubt the issue was minor due to this case. He also asks for the help of another to mediate and mend the relationship where possible. Imagine being at odds with someone and you are called out by intervention to come together and forgive and move on? That is what we see here. It wasn’t done with intentions to embarass them. It was done with the highest intent to bring unity and love. We know this because Paul is writing in chapter 3 about pressing on in Christ and letting nothing stand in the way. What is one of the strongest tools of the devil? The answer is offense/unforgiveness. They bring division and isolation. A lack of peace from The Spirit. Maybe you can connect some dots now…

As Paul urges deeply the need to reconcile we read that we should rejoice and be gentle to each other. Then the key scriptures about prayer and peace come. Now it all makes more sense. We struggle personally. Each one of us has fear or doubt in life somewhere at some point. I believe most of our conflict comes because we are at odds with others. Either directly or indirectly due to closed minded opinions of how we think the world should be. This world is The Lords though. We should be gentle on the opinions we hold. Could it be today that we carry undue pressure because of our divisions? Could it be that we are disconnected and we are fooled thinking we are truly connected? Paul preaches about unity with Christ, then addresses the disunity of these women. He then says to take all concerns to God and do not stop until you have given it completely over to Jesus. When do you know you’ve completely given it over? You will have supernatural peace about it. It is likely that the peace you seek will come when you are connected to other believers without bias, hypocrisy, or ill thought. Relationships in harmony with God himself were the main reason Paul wrote these verses. It wasn’t for your personal prosperity! These verses were for your personal connection so you would NEVER be alone again! You will no longer be alienated from God or others who are true Christians.

Considering the time of year, reach out to those people prayerfully. Forgive them because Jesus loves and forgives you. Ask for forgiveness where needed. Jesus wants see us reconciled our differences as much as possible. Love other people who have been bad to you or ignorantly offended you. Maybe they didn’t know they hurt you. Agree to disagree with someone who doesn’t believe everything you do. While you may not compromise beliefs, you can express the love of Christ. Remember Jesus loved you when you were sinning against him. Maybe loving someone who disagrees with you is how Jesus will get through to them if they are wrong in life. I have learned that most of my anxieties have left when I effectively transferred my cares to God. I have learned most of my anxieties do not return when I am seeking to love others like Jesus loves me. Not asking for a beneficial return but simply giving opportunity for The Spirit of God to do what He wills. This peace sets in. It becomes welcome in my soul. The junk food of my opinions is less palatable each moment God’s peace gets between me and someone else. I do not understand the peace of God completely but I know it comes this way. It is meant to between our relationships. You, me, and the rest of the world we interact with. The days we are living in now need this peace between us more than ever. The church truly needs unity and peace where possible so we can see God’s glory.

My proposal to you is this: If you are feeling worried or anxious about anything, go to God with it continuing until the burden is transferred to Him. If the issues are from broken relationships, with proper actions, reconcile them. Sometimes it isn’t possible to do so with another but in that case you can through The Holy Spirit. If you will do this, a great peace will settle you. If relationships are difficult for you, study on healthy relationships. Get help and grow as a Christian, as a person.Do not allow fear or shame to stop you from this. Agree to forgive others. Trust God where you were taken advantage of and know that HE alone will add back anything that was taken away from you no matter how difficult that sounds to accept.

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Survival in the valley

“We had just got on the road to drive home. My wife and I were leaving North Carolina and headed back west out of North Carolina. They western part of the state is an adventure to drive through. The interstate (and all roads really) go directly through the Appalachian mountain range. As we drove through the beautiful fall scenery we passed up and down elevation. We would twist left and right around corners. Often both up or down and left or right at the same time. The speed limit is reduced in this area out of caution. It would be very easy to lose control and end up in a very bad accident out of ignorance. Eventually, we ended up in a few valleys. The time was passing in the afternoon and the sun was beginning its route downward behind the mountains. Though driving west and facing the sun, these valleys are so deep between the mountains we began to be overshadowed. Meaning we did not see the sun nor were we in direct sunlight. We had light with us but not that direct warmth of the sun shining into the windshield. Honestly I was relieved to be able to see clearly for a moment! It was in one of these valleys I had a small bit of anxiety for a brief second. I began to think why? Why am I anxious? Quickly, The Lord had given me an answer. You are sensing conditions similar to your past. “You are in a valley physically but it resembles the emotional and spiritual valleys you had come out of in the past.” Said The Lord. I began to think about this and scripture started to flood my mind. The physical valley was becoming a teachable moment in that moment.

As I thought about the similarities of the valley I began to ponder why the anxiety. Then the answer came from The Lord. “Your response to survive the valley was for you to control the environment. You have tried to survive without my help before you knew ME. You did your best to control the environment. However, just as the sun I created shines directly on the mountain tops so is my light present with you in the valley.” This was a watershed moment for me! I was gaining understanding spiritually in this moment while physically experiencing a lesson from The Holy Spirit. This is similar to how the disciples sat with Jesus and ate and asked “Why” “What did that mean Lord.” Then as I continued to drive I immediately asked my wife to begin to take pictures of these mountains and valleys. They do not even come close to displaying the sheer size and reality as being in the moment while driving in them. She was wondering why I was so excited and wanted these images. Then I told her God was showing me some things. The Lord began to open my heart and let me understand some more. When we are in the valley HE is there also! The Lord is omnipresent. He can be and do whatever HE wants in His Creation. Everything is under His control -everything. All of the sudden the presence of God relieved my anxiety for that moment and The Lord explained the whole thing to me.

When we go into a valley we often struggle because of our flesh; our humanity struggles. We were born into sin: separation from God’s perfect presence. Innately we are looking to do whatever we can to gain control because we are trying to survive. We are sentenced to die. We also have the breath of life in us. We are willed by God to live. Try to kill yourself by simply holding your breath. You cannot do it. You will eventually begin to breath because your body will force itself to try and live. The breath of life will not allow you to take your life without some tool besides your own body. BUT the body is also sentenced to die. You will die someday. So internally mankind struggles trying to live while knowing it is going to die. What is the solution? Control! If we can somehow manipulate life we can get the most out of it or live longer at least. It is part of the insanity that sin created inside of us. We were created to live forever but cannot like we are currently. Out of this deep inner desire to control comes multiple things. Manipulation, anxiety, depression, madness, fear, physical force, panic, ect. There are also some better things that come from it: a deep desire to get up and find an answer. Thank God HE gave us an answer for this age: Jesus Christ. The Lord gives to us hope. We are given faith. We are given peace. When we are saved and reconciled to God, we are given these things and more in The Spirit. These Spiritual things are stronger than the human Earthly things in the material word we live in. They appear weak but in reality are stronger.

What I began to be taught from God was becoming simple to understand as I passed through the valleys. I desire to control so I can create my own safety and preserve my own life. If I were in these mountain valleys alone I would need to build a shelter. Then I would need a fire. Then weapons would be needed. I would need to forage food and use my (lackluster) hunting skills. I could make it out here with a plan! I would have a ton of fear and a ton of mental anguish out here but I would survive! Oddly God allowed me to see this is how many Christians approach spiritual life. When we are on the mountain tops of life, we take it easy. God is so present with us that we just enjoy the light. The direct presence of God. The provision. We don’t expect enemies here. We don’t expect them because if they were here God would simply flick them off of us. Most of us have been taught that Satan hates the presence of God so he wouldn’t show up on the mountaintop. This is not true because God commanded Him to give a report at the throne of God in Job but that is another blog post, I digress. Well, the fact is the devil does sit in the valleys of life. He lurks in the shadows. He also is in the other areas of the mountain as well. We just do not see the need to worry about him on the mountain top much. WHY? Simple: God’s directly there! You see in the valley, it’s dark. The valley doesn’t have direct sunshine and in the spirit there’s God’s presence but its often “feeling” like less or non-existent. That is carnal thinking and mind set though. You see the light goes wherever it can. Even in the valley I was traveling in, I didn’t need headlights on. I could see perfectly fine. So it is God is with us in the valley. I also noticed the richest soil and the largest amount of plant life was in the valley. The minerals and soil is sent downhill in natural process. Water, gravity, and natural seasons allow the nutrients needed for an environment of growth are in the valley. The water in the valley is filtered from on high also. The more I thought, the more I saw that there was abundant life in the valley. It was all around. There was not just survival but lots of life in the valley! Nature seemed to be testifying of God to me. Spiritually, we have no control in the valley. That is at its core your problem. It is my problem. It is mankind’s problem. We desire total control and in the valley God is stripping it all away from us! It is like torture to the flesh! It invokes all of the carnal survival skills like fear, anxiety, ect. This is so God can draw all of those sinful things out of our souls. He is extracting it from us in the valley. God is teaching us to rest in Him in the valley. Here is the kicker: The mountains were tall and steep. They were intimidating. The fact that bears are out there was a fearful thought. But the worst thing was the shadow! It represented darkness. It gave the overwhelming feeling of hopelessness and a need to just give up. The shadow was the most menacing foe. I can run from a bear or shoot it or something. I can climb a mountain. I cannot stop the shadow in anyway but Jesus Christ, The Light of the world can! I have learned something in this drive. The next time I have fear or doubt, I have to just rest in The Holy Spirit. Say to myself “Be still my soul.” I must embrace the words of our wonderful Saviour. “I WILL NEVER leave or forsake YOU.” I absolutely will memorize and begin to live in faith like David the king. “Though I walk the the valley of the SHADOW of death I will fear no evil.” It is all just a battle from within. Yes, the spirits and demons of hell try to attack. Their attack is this: To whisper lies to you and touch your spirit and persuade you to believe their lies. Then the flesh will quiver in a sign of acceptance of the lie. Next you’ll convince yourself that what you feel is real so it must be true. This is how the enemy tries to control us. The enemies of the spirit attempt to manipulate our flesh and thinking so we will try and control our own destinies. The remedy is and has always been The Holy Spirit! Simply free fall in the spirit into His presence and promises. Simply make decisions and then actions based on the word of God. Be a doer and watch the desire for control slip away. Do this all in faith in Jesus Christ and you are guaranteed victory. It may not happen when you feel it is time but it will happen when The Lord knows it is time!

I have become comfortable in the valleys of life now. I know that God’s presence is as much in the valley as on the mountain top. Light is light no matter the directness of it. Think on that for a moment. Read that one liner again and truly think about it. The light is never less. Where light is present you will have things visible. One day we will directly be before the King and it will be better than the current way we experience our lives with God. That does not mean God is not with us currently. I am convinced HE IS! I am comfortable in the valley because there are many resources in the valley. We just need to look around and see what God sees not see our need to control every stinking thing! God created the valley so He also has resources in it. Life is there, even if it is not the type we want. There are still provisions here. I am finally comfortable in the valley with shadows. This is because without light you do not get a shadow! When I was in sin I was in a valley of death with no way out! The light of God shined in my life and I saw the shadows I once feared but didn’t see. A shadow of death is only revealing The God of light! One day this curtain will be removed and the full spiritual life will be experienced in present time! The shadow is only the curse of Adam’s sin. That’s why it is so scary in the valley. We think we are forsaken but when you get a true understanding, by faith, that you are not alone and the shadow will one day be cast away, there will never be a “bad” season of life again for you! You will suffer things but you will learn to embrace and praise God in the suffering. This is because it’s temporary and expected since the world is a fallen place. The valley is one of the most important places of life. It is there we find God truly by faith because we cannot control a thing. You do not and will not find faith inside yourself on the mountain top moments. Those are the moments God just presents things. Faith is found and developed in the valley. The nutrients and minerals are there. The purified water is there. The Spirit nourishes us there. I will never view valleys the same way again after this drive.