This helped my day!

 The guests at a certain hotel were being rendered uncomfortable by repeated strumming on a piano,done by a little girl who had no knowledge of music. They complained to the proprietor with a view of having the annoyance stopped. 'I am sorry you are annoyed' he said. 'But the girl is a child of  one of my very best guests. I can scarcely ask her not to touch the piano. But her father,who is away for a day or so,will return tomorrow. You can then approach him,and have the matter set right.' When the father returned, he found his daughter in the reception-room and, as usual,thumping on the piano. He walked up behind the child and, putting his arms over her shoulders, took her hands in his,and produced some most beautiful music. Thus may it be with us, and thus will it be, some coming day. Just now , we can produce little but clamour and disharmony; but one day the Lord Jesus will take our hands of faith and prayer, and use them to bring forth the music of the skies."

ANON (Taken from an E.M. Bounds' book on prayer.)


Isn't that worth praising the Father for!

I did another one of my research projects....lol!


For the longest time, I've thought that iniquity had to do with your mind. I wanted to find out what God was forgiving. 




in·iq·ui·ty
1. Gross immorality or injustice; wickedness.
2. A grossly immoral act; a sin.
3.absence of moral or spiritual values; "the powers of darkness"
4.Condition


A condition.
To me it is like in C.S Lewis' "Great Divorce" when the bus passenger was no longer complaining.They were a complaint.


Psalm 32:5
Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.

Isaiah 53:6
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.


He forgave our condition. We being wicked were forgiven by the very one whom we sinned against.

Can you do that?
Love someone who hates and deeply hurts you more than those that are kind to you?

I know that brings me to tears.

Love himself clothed us in light revealing to us who we are.

What is more shocking is that he didn't turn away in disgust. Instead we are his children and we receive an inheritance.


I hope that this post encourages you to "fight the good fight and finish the course" for stored up for those who do is righteousness.

I feel like I'm falling in love remembering truths about the Lover.

The Gavel.

  Here is a thought. When was the last time you judged someone? When you looked down at a homosexual? When you looked down on someone for sinning in an area you felt God could not forgive? I know I have. It is also easy to look down on those who do judge.

Christ did not judge the adulteress woman. In fact, he told those who would have her stoned (as is the custom in Jewish history) that the one without sin could cast the first stone. No one could. But also how easy is it to say the  Pharisees were evil people. If you look back in history, they saved Israel from a lot of idolatry. Judas Maccabees stood up for what was the truth then.

What got me thinking about this controversial  subject is a movie entitled "To Save A Life."   In it, a guy named Jake learned how to care for the un-lovely of this world. I could not do this movie justice. Anyways, think about it. Christ did not hang around with the "Godly." He fellowshipped with revolutionaries, prostitutes, thieves who he died beside, fishermen (one in particular named Peter),tax collectors who people considered traitors, and the list goes on. the point is...I am too "godly" for Christ.

I in particular have judged my family, friends (especially best friends), as people who do sin as  if I myself am God. He commanded me as a follower of Christ( a Christian by what the world calls today)  to love my enemies, bless those who speak bad about me...but instead, I judge people. This is hatred. James Heinrich Arnold wrote "a man who admonishes(corrects) his brother without love is a murderer.

Also, I judge God himself. I ask him why things in my life have happened to me. Why he lets people die lonely. In the movie I heard a thought that I've heard before, but it never hit me so hard. Why do I let people become lonely? Young people today cling to Gandhi's words "Be the change you want to see in the world."

Can you imagine in the mind of the prodigal son's dad? He did not judge his son. He ran to him and embraced him. Though the son hurt him, he loved his son. I cannot judge anyone. I pray Christ will make his love enter me. 

WE ARE TO LOVE. GOD DOES LOVE EVERYONE. HIS JUSTICE IS PURE.

(Sorry this post is written so raw, I didn't know how else to write it)

Becoming Needy

 How often do you think that everything in  your life is going how you would like it? You feel God is in control right? That you are in perfect peace with The Creator?

Or

Does it seem that your entire life seems to be on the verge of crashing down on you? That your good intentions seem to cause pain to others, and sometimes end up causing an inhibition of growth in your friends and family?


I tend to like the first option. To feel like you are always in God's will, always encouraging people, and you feel good about yourself. I mean, who doesn't like to be liked, have joy all the time, and to be full of life?

It makes you love to be a Christian.

But as we look at the life of Christ's disciples, we see that no one who follows the Father ever seem to have any life in this world. Peter went from being a fisherman to a "fisher of men (which wasn't a popular job as we can see in Acts)" and also denied the very one he swore under oath to protect, Paul became so hated that he was flogged multiple times, shipwrecked, and killed for his faith. Doesn't seem like a very fulfilling life, now does it?

Then there is God. He used Peter's experience in denying Him to cause Peter to learn to deny his own strength in himself. How often do I deny my own self and not know if I do love Christ and can only answer
Him  "only you know." That is when we feel the power of His love, when we are weak in ourselves.

He is our strength and help in hard times.

God  used Paul's experience before he ever  knew Christ. He made a way for Paul to really fear himself. He caused a major stir in everyone when he became one of the very people he persecuted. Paul mentioned later to people that were trying to become perfected in the flesh that he was. I mean, he did have everything before he became a disciple of the Way. He was highly respected by Romans and many Jews alike. He was good in the eyes of man. He'd  be the guy who thinks that he is doing God's work, zealous to do what he thinks is of God.....

Then, FLASH!

 The very person he thinks that he is serving he finds out that he is persecuting. I just wrote this  paragraph and automatically flashed back to my past. I was a "zealous" servant of God, looked good in many people's eyes(LOL),and went through an experience that I  thought made me a good person who God was proud of. Then, one day, I woke up to find that all of my zeal was gone, my love for others "mysteriously" disappeared, and I saw a little of the person who I was. He then chose to spread his cloak of Love over me.

The feeling of him is like no other thing. There is no human word to explain it. Now outside of Him, there is no life.

He should be our focus everyday.

I over heard a good friend say to someone the other day, "Don't ask if God will let you do something, ask if it would be pleasing to Him."

Thank you so much Shammah.

 I hope that that would be true of all of us. 

Our purpose

I'm pretty full tonight. I just got through my first (of this year) "two people meeting" an hour ago. It was very enlightening. The facts don't matter of how I got there, the exciting thing is what I got out of it.
  
  First of all, I wanted to share something I've been thinking about lately.I have been wearing a ring on my wedding finger for about a week now. People ask me why, but until now I've held out. The ring helps remind me that the relationship that Christ started with me (others as well) is like a marriage. I am unmarried by the world's standards, but I'm joined to Christ in the standards that really count. I'm reminded to keep my thoughts about how I can please him. It's a radical idea, but big changes  are caused by little steps.

Anyways, back to what I learned. I was reminded how Christ called us not to live how we want to, do what ever we dream of, or even feel happy all of the time. He wants to totally destroy our lives, make us ask for death, and to hunger for him. When we truly are emptied of our reputations, pride,and emotional stabilities (for myself) he pours himself into us. We then find out that all of our pain,struggles, and hard times are for one thing. To rid us of everything but him. We are become like a child. The more time we spend with him, the more we are fulfilled. Separation becomes our fear. He becomes our all in all and we desire nothing else. Even in our low times, he is right there. It is such an amazing God we serve!

Awoken from a deep sleep.

Ever felt like you were missing something in your life? I am currently experiencing  this very thing. I started school last week, and have been running blind lately. I cannot tell you much more other than that I wake up some nights out of a dead-sleep feeling very weird. I truly hope none of this is complaining! I guess this is the best time to seek God the most. There is no way that that what's happening is an accident. It is God's hand on my life. I love to understand too much of what he is doing, that I don't trust him out of blind faith. This is the same faith that all disciples of Christ must have. Being with the people of God is for me like being raised from the dead(In theory). First, you of course, are DEAD. No question about that. You hear a voice that tells you to wake up. You have this weird feeling as hands touch your heart, all of a sudden they squeeze. Your heart slowly starts,but one problem, no life blood. You feel empty. The voice then connects a itself to you, and you start to feel... warmth. All of your organs start to work, but you GASP....No Air! Then as if on cue, the voice breathes in your lungs. As you try to wake up you realize that you can't. Your  eyes refuse to open. And the voice says "In time." "Just be patient, you need help." You feel hands touch your eyelids..then all of a sudden, a blinding light floods your pupils. When your eyes adjust, You see not one face, but MANY! This is how it has been for me. It takes the hands of Christ through brothers and sisters around me to bring me to life. They are how God reaches this living creature called Benjamyn. Well hope this made sense and was not complaining.

Wow moment

I just started my first class at University of Tennessee(Selmer branch) tonight. I really could not believe I was there to tell you the truth. Nothing in me should have had the nerve to go through with enrolling. I truly know that it was God that helped me to be able to get everything together for my registration. I mean, I was within a week of not being able to go  because I would have missed the deadline. But, since a friend (Amy Pennington) told me that school started January 19th vs. my thought of sometime in March, I made it. My class tonight was Visual Art,which is amazing in it's self, but not half as much as having a friend in that class with me! I got to see Ken S. in my class tonight, so I knew God was backing me up. I am very happy that I am able to do things with God's people. If tomorrow brings me losing my grant or anything else God may send, I feel that it would be his will. For the moment, I really enjoy having this opportunity to expand my knowledge and to hopefully become clay in the Potter's hands with my direction towards a medical field.

I really hope that I can pass this experience on to others. God wants to use us for his purpose, but he needs us to give up hope that we can do it for him and to know that the only way God uses us is if we allow ourselves to be directed by him. He allows us to be a tool in his work, for he is the hands we need to move at all! Just like Mother Theresa stated " I am only a pencil in the hand of Christ." I  hope to remember that for years to come. For it is not what we can do for Christ, but what he does through us and in us that matters most in his kingdom.That's my thoughts for tonight, I hope it didn't sound too lofty....because God really shows the fruit the day we least expect the test."POP QUIZ!" LOL...I hope that helped lighten it up a little!:-)

A few of my poems

"What sort of God"

What sort of God would create a creature

who would come to despise his name,

What sort of king would take his servants

to become his sons and daughters,

What sort of master would take
the place of criminals and thieves,

And bear the pain of  their sins
on his shoulders?

Only for the few?

This love  is deep,
it is inhuman love

It contains all things,
Above all,
the absolute loss of  self.

A freedom from the chains
of depression and guilt.

"A Prayer of praise"

The greatest thing your disciple's life can do,
is point to you!

You gave us a will,
a gift we can give,

Your death was not your only sacrifice,
for your love is greater than that of your messengers.

Your word is your life you left us to live,
you tread the path
and you point the way.

You are all in all,
A shepherd with us all the way