Grumpy Was One of the 7 Dwarves (not one of the 12 apostles)

1 Thessalonians 5:14-25 says, "But we appeal to you brothers: warn the idle, encourage the faint-hearted, give your support to the weak. Exercise patience toward everyone. See to it that no one pays back evil for evil (offense for offense), instead, try to be helpful to one another (believers) and to all people (the lost). Always be cheerful, pray unceasingly (in the spirit), under all circumstances, give thanks, for such is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not stifle the Spirit, do not despise prophetic utterance, but test it all, and retain what is good. Keep away from evil in every form and may the God of peace Himself make you holy through and through, may your whole being-spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful and He will accomplish it. Brothers, pray for us. (parenthetical statements are mine)

Pray for me as I write this and as you read this. I am a recovering grump-aholic, and I want to expose this for what it is--a sinful lifestyle, a breeding ground for deception, an invite to a fleshly, carnal, wicked existence that is against the way Holy God wants us to live.

Lord! Thanks you for your Word! Please, Father, let the sword of the Spirit divide our soul and spirit, our joints and marrow and discern the thoughts and intents of our hearts(Hebrews 4:12) Cut away, O Lord, anything that is unfruitful or vile and offense to your holiness. "Let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my ROCK and my REDEEMER!" (Psalm 19:14)
I believe by YOUR Word that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, so LORD (Holy Spirit)--take that which is cut off of us and consume it till it is nothing but a sweet smelling fragrance to You!

Brothers and sisters, I believe that each day when we get up in the morning that it's sort of like when God confronted Cain with the condition of His heart-- (Genesis 4:5-7) Cain was very angry and his face fell. Adonai said to Cain, "Why are you so angry? Why so downcast? If you are doing what is good, shouldn't you hold your head high? And if you don't do what is good, sin is crouching at the door- it wants you, but you can rule over it."

Anyone who knows the Bible story knows Cain did not do what is right. He ended up murdering His own brother, Abel, because he was angry at God. The story continues today as there have been countless "Cains" and "Abels" throughout history. We are angry at someone or something else, and we take it out on those who are innocent and those closest to us. Now, I'm not saying that everyone is going to murder another person, but please see the connection here: "man looks on the outward appearance while God looks at your heart."(1 Samuel 16:7)To Him, having hate in your heart toward someone is the same as murder! If you allow a grumbling, complaining heart, it will dwarf the life of God within you!

When I was trying to think of a title to this note, I asked the Lord what I should name it. The title came and my first reaction was: "That sounds dumb." The Lord replied with a question: "Who would you rather be like?" The answer is rather obvious--God was able to use the apostles to preach the Gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead, etc. In short, you could change the world and lay the foundation of the Faith by which we still stand with Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. As far as I know, the 7 dwarfs were never used by God to do anything! And if you want to take the very real story of our faith and make it seem like a stupid fairy tale, go ahead and fashion your life like a grumpy dwarf. The world is watching us and they need hope! They need love! They oftentimes have nothing to live for.

So, as the Apostle Paul said,"Imitate me as I imitate Christ."(1 Cor. 11:1) If you can imagine with me the 1 Thessalonians 5:14-25 passage, but think of it in terms of living based on how you feel, please do. You might start to get a picture of how much trouble this can cause (please remember that this is a confession as well as a message. I can personally vouch for the trouble I've been in and God gets me out! Glory to Him!). The 'it's all about me' version of the Bible passage would be: "Brothers, become the idle, discourage everyone! Exercise impatience with everyone. Revenge is fine, because they deserve it! Always be grumpy, pray when you feel like it and under all circumstances make excuses and snuff out the Spirit. Do it your own way. Despise any sort of correction (who are they to tell me what to do?) Accept everything you hear, retain what is bad. Wander toward evil (I was only curious) and may the god of yourself make you corrupt and miserable through and through. May your whole being, spirit and soul and body, be kept filthy and blaming everyone else for my sin til Jesus comes! He who calls you is unseen, so trust in man who is seen. It's so much easier. Brothers, GRIPE WITH US!"

This may sound like an absurd way to say it. I tell you the truth when I say many who call themselves Christians live like this! Brothers and sisters, we are in a battle zone called earth. The world, the flesh, and the Devil are daily realities; but so is God's goodness, kindness, power, love, healing, deliverance, mercy, forgiveness, blessings, peace, etc. We get to choose each day which we will embrace. We need to arm ourselves with God's armor on the outer and a good attitude on the inner-man(Romans 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires).

Romans 8:5-11 says, "For those who are under the control of the flesh are fleshly-minded, but those who are under control of the spirit are spiritually minded. And to be fleshly minded means death, while spiritual mindedness means life and peace, because fleshly mindedness is hostile to God; it is not submissive to God's law, in fact it cannot be so those who are controlled by the flesh are unable to please God. You, however, are not controlled by the flesh but by the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God is at home in you. If, on the other hand, anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, He does not belong to Him. But if Christ is in you, then the body is dead on account of sin, but the spirit is alive on account of righteousness. If, then the spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead will through the Spirit that dwells in you also make your mortal bodies alive."

You see, we must be able to live; not from the surface, but deeper, where the spirit dwells. "out of our bellies will flow streams of living water" (John 7:38). Our bodies, no matter how long we've been walking with God, are contaminated by sin. They love sin! If you look at the condition of the world, you can easily tell that sin is not dead. But we, however, are dead to sin (the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord-Romans 6:23). So when we do sin, it pays death, and if you keep on that path without repentance, your wages will start to earn overtime! But it is all death to us who have the spirit of holiness in us. Romans 6:2 says, "How shall we, who have died to sin still live in it?" So we are buried with Him in death through baptism in order that, just as Christ rose from the dead through the Father's glorious power, so we too shall conduct ourselves in A NEW WAY OF LIVING!

Till Death Do Us Part

I have had the blessing of having no divorces on my side of the family. My wife has had the unfortunate experience of having divorces on her side. We've both seen the destructive effects when a covenant of marriage is broken. But, is it really broken?

The Word of God tells us "the things that are seen are temporary. The things that are unseen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:18) While a divorce paper is very real, agreed upon by both people, and sanctioned by a judge; it is seen, and therefore temporary. It's not worth the paper it's written on! A covenant is an unseen thing, and therefore eternal. It is between God and two people, and it remains in effect until one of the spouses dies. No matter what human courts may say, the heavenly court declares: OVERRULED!

I have seen a couple that has been divorced, but still acts like they're married, while at the same time trying to prove to the world and each other just how "single" they are. What God has joined together, let no man separate! No matter how hard you try, you can't undo something eternal.

And now a word for the men: on observing this particular couple I mentioned, another person commented to me that "even after divorce, he's still whipped!". Now, this is a put-down to the man based upon the belief that a 'real man' would assert his will over a woman at all times, and if he does anything less, he's a wimp.

As I heard this statement, I began to think about the bride of Christ--the Church. We are told in Ephesians 5:25-30 " Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her, in order that by cleansing her by means of the washing in water he may sanctify her through his word, so that he may present the church to himself gloriously having no spot or any such thing, but holy and blameless. In similar way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. One who loves his wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but he nourishes and carefully protects, just as Christ treats the Church for we are members of his body."

....So, Jesus was whipped for His bride! "By His stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5) He wasn't coerced, forced, or manipulated either. He was the truest man to ever walk the face of the earth and he declared,"No one takes my life from me. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it up again!" (John 10:18)

So, this macho "real man" stuff is a bunch of garbage. Real men lay their lives down for their wives. Real men lay their lives down for others. "Greater love has no man than this than he who lays his life down for his friend." (John 15:13)

Check Your Aim

I was raised in the church and in a christian home, and I have marvelled at how many people I have known that have fallen away from the Lord.

The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Sin is like a warrant used by the enemy to enter into our lives. When we choose sin over God's way of living, it is literally like giving our enemy a right to enter our lives and steal, kill, and destroy! Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly! Don't allow the enemy to ruin your life!

When I say "sin", I mean "missing the mark". There is one "bulls eye"--one standard--and that's the holiness of the Almighty God; anything less than that is SIN! "Sin" is originally a term used in archery for anything other than a bull's eye. Jesus Christ is the only one to ever hit the target!

The enemy of our souls (whose aim is to steal, kill and destroy) has distorted in our fallible minds the ideas of holiness and sin. You can easily see that after a few generations of this distorted view, people would literally be shooting wherever and whenever they wanted to! This would lead to utter chaos and an all out war(in the physical realm).

Satan's position in warfare is a usurper and deceiver--one who has no lasting authority of his own. So, because of this, he seeks to take other's authority and use it as if it were his own. We, as men and women, were created in God's image, with His authority to rule the earth. Satan has corrupted us since the beginning. History has shown that even corrupted authority is still very powerful! Judging from the state of our world, you can see he's had great success in making many parts of the globe steal, kill, and destroy. It doesn't matter whose flag you are under; if there is hate in your heart, you are doing the will of the devil!

Jesus called it what it was in His day, and I'm attempting to do the same in my day. The wicked Jews in Jesus's day proudly asserted,"We have Abraham as our father!" He (Jesus)was friends with Abraham, so told them,"You do the will of your father, the devil. He was a murderer from the beginning!"

I have seen many people professing to be Christians, but their lives are so full of hate, lies, anger, and unforgiveness that it makes me wonder who they are following. Jesus is kind. He is the truth. He only has righteous anger. He is FULL of forgiveness! It's time we did a heart check because man looks on the outward, but God looks at the heart! (Hebrews 4:13) And There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

The end of every story is a lot more than just "being good" or "doing the right thing". This is war, and there is a victor! So there is a loser as well. Jesus has won the victory by his own shed blood and resurrection. The war rages on though, til the end of this age.

The choice belongs to every man, woman and child. Who will you serve? Who will be your master? The moral of children's (and adult's) lessons should be: "You, in your life, will either have total victory or total defeat!" I know the spirit of compromise would say there are a lot of "gray" areas, but the Holy Spirit says,"Choose this day whom you will serve!"

We are ever so thankful for God's kindness that leads us to repentance and His grace that covers us every day! Without His kindness and grace, I would have been lucky to be a smudge on the pages of history, much less make my mark with intelligible speech!

Let Your Requests Be Made Known to God

Philipians 3:3,"For it is we who are the circumcision (we've had our hearts changed by God), we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh (any part of our human ability)."

1 Corinthians 3:18-23,"Let no one fool himself. If someone among you thinks he is wise (by this world's standards), let him become 'foolish' so that he may become really wise. For the wisdom of this world is nonsense, as far as God is concerned; in as much as the Old Testament says,'He traps the wise in their own cleverness,' and again, 'Adonai knows that the thoughts of the wise are worthless.' So let no one boast about human beings, for all things are yours--whether Paul or Apollos or Peter (or fill your favorite name in the blank) or the world or life or death or the present or the future: they belong to you, and you belong to the Messiah, and the Messiah belongs to God."

For anybody who's been following my blog, this is sort of a follow-up to one I wrote a few months back called 'Be Anxious For Nothing'. There are just so many things that we all put our trust into, that if we are not careful, we could end up putting our 100% trust into man and completely forget about God. It must sadden Him because He has provided for us not only the diagnosis, but also the cure to many things that plague us every day.

In a sense, it's so easy to trust Him, just like a child. You receive a word from your father, and you trust it...simple as that. Rich Mullins put it this way in the song 'Growing Young': "For we are children no more, we have sinned and grown old, our father still waits and he watches down low as the crying boys come running back to His arms and be growing young." It gets difficult to trust Him if you're also trying to listen to everybody else's voice. Some people will think you're crazy and some people will think you're of the devil and some people will think you're an idiot; and these people thinking, saying, and accusing you might be those closest to you. But Jesus said: "Consider the cost."

So, we have to be willing to face ridicule, rejection, and whatever else the world throws at us. John 15:18 says," If the world hates you, keep in mind it hated me first." I sensed the Lord asking me today,"Who do you put your trust into?" I immediately began considering white coats. Doctors have white coats. A lot of people trust doctors. I trust doctors a little. But a lot of people put more faith in them than they should. In no way, am I trying to speak against their fine profession, I just know that as humans, everybody has their limits, imperfections, etc. There are things that I'm looking for that no man can teach me. There are things that need healing that no medical school knows how to heal.

I'm trying to get my own attention and anybody else's back on God. Revelation 19:13 says,"He was wearing a robe that had been soaked in blood, and the name by which He is called is 'THE WORD OF GOD'." Now, that's a white coat that I can put my 100% trust into! "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how He went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with Him." -Acts 10:38.

I declare to you the truth: God is still with us! His name is Emmanuel and we are joint heirs with him. John 14:12 says,"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father. and I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it."

Matthew 1:23b says,"They will call Him Emmanuel--which means'God with us'." His name hasn't changed, and He hasn't changed. He's still with us and we can still trust Him 100%. You can trust whoever you want to, but man with his limited knowledge can only take you so far. There is no limit to God. The man in the white coat with the stethoscope has to gain all his knowledge from a book. Jesus, the one in the white robe dipped in blood, IS THE WORD! He's shared His authority with us.

I'm A Bapti-Costal!

This is dedicated to scared people of any demonination in any church that white knuckles their church services that prevents the free-flowing of the Spirit of God.

I used to be skeptical, afraid, and quite harshly judgemental of charismatic christians and healing, deliverance, etc.
"Now, I ARE one!" -Pastor Wayne Sanders
(I stole your line, Pastor Wayne)

Let me take you back to a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit that scared me silly! I was somewhere between 16-18 yrs of age, living with my parents, dating a girls from a Pentecostal church. I asked my dad about going to a pentecostal church service, and he said something to the effect of "check it out, tell me what you think." So, I went and there was a whole lot of stuff that was very outside of my neat little baptist expectation of what a church service should be. I tolerated it enough, thinking: "wow, these people are kooky!"

That was only the beginning! They cleared the chairs away for the prayer ministry time. I said to myself: "Whoa. What's going on here?" So the girl I was with got "slain" or whatever. Many things were going on, and I was basically shaking in my skater shoes, actively condemning everything around me and wondering when this weird stuff was going to be over! With all the good Pentecostals doing various things, I was left standing alone in the middle. Then, the minister looked at me directly in the eye and said,"Young man, the Lord has His hand on you!"

Well, at that point, my reaction was this: "If His hand is on me, then He can find me outside, because I'm outta here!" I spent the rest of the service outside.

Fast forward 11 years (thank God for His patience). My life had pretty much been a tailspin downward past that previous point. I moved out of my parent's home, got married, and I found out just WHAT was lurking in my soul that I had been suppressing with constant stimuli (media, TV, going everywhere, basically distracting myself from a broken and angry and hurting heart). Man, it was like taking a bunch of sleeping bees and kicking their nest! You can ask my wife and she'll tell you that our first few years together were hardly pleasant. I believe "hell on earth" was a popular phrase people use to describe situations less serious than what we went through. This is where my Christian upbringing with all the Bible that I knew and all the training that people had tried to instill in me came into play. I was basically running like the prophet Jonah and constantly seeing the inside of many, many whale stomachs. I am very thankful for my upbringing; I knew mentally that everything that I was doing was wrong and all the Scripture and prayer created sort of a bedrock in the darkness I was in so that I actually didn't go as deep into trouble as I could have.

I was so messed up that God had to get really creative to get my attention. He's a very creative Creator. A series of prophetic words directed straight at my heart cut through all of that darkness. My desire to be in control of my life had gotten me nowhere fast. The Holy Spirit began moving in me mightily, but only to the degree that I allowed Him to pry open my clenched fists. I gave Him what was killing me so He could give me what I was dying to receive.

Bringing us up to the present, the night I got baptised in the Holy Spirit the same way Acts 2 Christians did, I had an experience almost identical to the one I had run from so many years earlier; but I was at a place of brokenness and need and I KNEW I needed to go deeper than I was. For all the rules and theology and all the wonderful teachings of Christianity, they can't save you. Only the Author can. So, I allowed His hand to rest on me. It was an amazingly powerful experience. In less than a year, I've spoken in new tongues, broken curses, cast out demons, and experienced healings just like Mark 16:17 said should be the experience of every believer (no expiration date was given...it's not a cup of yogurt).

No matter where you're at in your experience with God, or if you're nowhere, just imagine a pool that goes from 3 inches deep to the bottom of the deepest trench in the ocean. Just know that you can always go deeper. Going deeper is sometimes scary, but that is where the "conforming to the image of Christ" really starts to shape you. Up in the "3 inches deep" area is where the crybabies who pee themselves play. The victory in Christ, all of the "meat" Scriptures, the blessings that are chock full in that book are all in the Deep End. I'm going down. Anybody else want to come?

Abba's Son, P.H.D.

There are those who try to explain a collective lack of faith. Theology sounds well-studied and I respect it and appreciate it. However, it does not make my failures hurt any less. My educated idiot box (my mind) agrees with theological stances. The problem is, though, that God is beyond anyone's mind. He cannot be explained. He cannot be manufactured, and any attempt to do so will leave me in a bad place in life. Though legally salvation is mine, and I am a child of God, I can live like an orphan; struggling through everything and going to man for my manna!

I declare to everyone the truth whenever I can! Our Father is better than any of us know. We are children of God! "Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God". There is a large difference between a "child" of God and a "son" of God. A child may know every theological truth that man has fashioned; though he is immature in actual, real miracle working faith! A "son" is led by the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead! Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever!

Don't get me wrong; sombody's salvation, or lack thereof, is a 100% consecrated issue. I never truly know. That's God's business, not mine. I try to pay little attention to the "weeds" ( tares among the wheat), and I spend my time planting "seeds" (the pure Word of God, unadulterated by man's thinking and tradition).

I am speaking now in definitions. A "believer" should believe. A "doubter" should doubt. We are believers! The Word of God states in James that "He who doubts should not expect anything from God." Faith and childlike trust is the only acceptable currency in the Kingdom of God. Theology is for grownups! We are called to become like little children, or we shall never see the Kingdom of God!

I have had relationship struggles with people for a long time. I've always been fiery and many people who oppose my stances do so dutifully, faithfully, and consistently. I can understand why, because the majority of my life I was burning for the wrong reason and fighting the wrong fights. I was blind and dumb as a box of rocks! But I've been changed! God has cleared my vision, and I burn only for Him now. The Holy Spirit is the One to tell me whether to "stoke" or to "choke" the flames.

The Lord has led me to speak now about King Asa of Judah (found in 2 Chronicles). King Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord because he tore down idols. However, in Asa's thirty-sixth year of reigning, the King of Israel went to war against him. He had the option of relying on the Lord or relying on the help of the king of Aram. He decided to bribe the king of Aram to help him. The story continues with a prophet: "At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him,'Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram as escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.'" The story then continues with Asa becoming ill: "In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians. Then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and rested with his fathers."

If you are trusting God, that is all the insight you need. All other sight is outsight (not insight!) because it is outside of the will of God! Asa could have continued in a path of blessing, but he trusted too much in men. He trusted the king of Aram and not God. He trusted his physicians and not God. God is our deliverer and God is our healer.

I am Abba's son and P.H.D. stands for a "perfect and holy daddy", because that's what Abba is and I am His.

high functioning or overcoming?

I'm not going to pretend to know much about physical disorders and such, but i have come to know there is a distinction between high functioning and not.
Revelation 21:7 " He said to me, It is done, I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. To him who is thirsty , i will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.HE WHO OVERCOMES WILL INHERIT ALL OF THIS , and i will be his God ,and he will be my son (or daughter) . But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile , the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts (rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, so is manipulation) the idolaters and the liars-their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. "this is the second death"

Why is it always the list is longer on the ways you can miss the mark (sin) , than on how to do it right? I think Jesus knew our weak state, that we are made of dust, with hearts that are so easily deceived and led astray. "Prone to wander , Lord i feel it , prone to leave the God i love" I challenge anyone who calls Jesus "lord" to aim higher than what i have dubbed "sin management" I spent much of my life as a high functioning sinner, i had the whole routine worked out! I could talk a good talk (depending on who was around) I knew a lot of Bible , and could sound like i had it all figured out. Praise God he blew that false identity out of the water!

I encourage you, let the holy spirit speak to you personally about everything in your life, let him in to every detail. He has called us to be OVERCOMING SAINTS! Anything less than that, is a compromise with the world, the flesh , and the devil. In a war (spiritual ) we know that our God is absolutely right , and that any thing else that is not 100% holy, is most definitely Not from Him!

Let him call the shots , not you ! there are grey areas is the many arguments people raise about 1000's of issues, but there is no grey area with our heavenly father. It's either holy , or not!
Let him make you into an overcomer! Read the word for the many promises he makes to the overcomers. Any sacrifice you make now , in an effort to purify your life , will reap great rewards in walking in victory now, and eternally enjoying his presence as an overcomer!