Pounced on, attacked, and harassed by demons - not so according to psalm 91!

I'm looking at psalm 91! And contrasting it to what I've been taught.
"When you are doing Gods will, expect to be attacked and bashed and harassed by the devil!"

Yet, in reading psalm 91 " Yes, because God's your refuge, the High God your very own home, Evil can't get close to you, harm can't get through the door." This is a completely different message.

Another section says, " Fear nothing—not wild wolves in the night,not flying arrows in the day, Not disease that prowls through the darkness, not disaster that erupts at high noon. Even though others succumb all around drop like flies right and left,no harm will even graze you. You'll stand untouched, watch it all from a distance, watch the wicked turn into corpses."

So why the the teaching that if you do Gods will, you'll get attacked left and right? Is it a simple lack of understanding of who God is? Or is it something else? A way of discouraging stepping out in faith? A form of control? A distraction and a hinderance? A lie!?

Yet, it is preached by "Christians"! No wonder the church is confused and apathetic!

Essentially, the teaching is that if you step out and get "on the front line" you'll be pounced upon by every demon in existence. It also teaches that God is weak and unable to protect His own! Psalm 91 tells a completely different story. A biblical and truthful story - that if you abide in the shelter of the Most High - nothing can hurt you! "Stepping out" needs to happen when you are going where God wants you to go, and when He wants you to go there - otherwise "stepping out" is exactly that - stepping out from under Gods protection!

I know where I'd rather be...

May Gods blessings shower down upon you. And may you be coated in the dust of your Rabbi!

Australian Watcher On The Wall
http://australianwatcheronthewall.blogspot.com.au

Massive satellite ears and tiniest of whispers...

I had this thought, and it kinda smacked me in the back of the head!

Ok, a little background before I get to the thought, which is actually more if a question!

I was taught that you only need the tiniest of whispers to speak to the devil, i.e., telling him where to go. Yet, if I read certain things, (this is only surface reading, not any indepth study), the bible has a passage that talks about the devil going back and forth across the earth, basically seeing what he can see.

My understanding of the devil is that, unlike God, he is NOT omni-anything! God is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent, He sees all and knows all and hears all. So, logically speaking, if God is that, and the devil is nothing more than a CREATED being, how, if he happens to be roaming in America,  can he possibly hear my tiniest of whispers in Australia? Unless he has ears the size of giant satellite dishes!

Yes, one or more of his minions might hear, but, again, my understanding is that there is a limited number of them too! So, the chances of the devil or one of his minions hearing my tiny whisper is getting smaller and smaller!

Next question, what if the devil or one of his cohorts happens to be in the building or with a person? Surface level reading again, the bible doesnt say that Jesus whispered to any demons. He spoke normally to them. What he spoke was usually something along the lines of shut up and get out. One exception is where we get a "conversation" with legion! But if you look a little deeper there, do some study in the way Jesus spoke, you will find his question was asked to the MAN and NOT the demons! And again, not tiniest whisper!

My conclusion:because the devil and his limited number of cohorts/minions cant be everywhere, all the time, knowing and hearing everything, when you or I stumble across one or more of them, we should speak calmly, and plainly to them in a manner much the same way as Jesus did - shut up and get out!!  Oh, and I think that it is only God who hears our tiniest of whispers!

I think I'll add this one to the list of crap I've been taught! Here's an idea, test everything anyone has ever told you about anything! Its not only how you learn, but its also how you limit you chance of some "wise" person deceiving you! Not everyone gets everything right 100% of the time! Only Jesus, God the Father or the Holy Spirit can do that! (Yes, even I screw up and make mistakes - I am human after all)!

If you have any questions - go ask God! He's the one most highly qualified to answer every question you have! Asking me may get you a right answer, but it may not!

May Gods blessings shower down upon you. And may you be coated in the dust of your Rabbi!

Australian Watcher On The Wall
http://australianwatcheronthewall.blogspot.com.au

And another piece of dragon skin falls to the floor!

People need time to to see and admit they have crap (baggage, sin, unforgiveness, resentment)...

When God rocked up to my lounge room. For an instant, it was like He held a huge mirror. I looked. I saw. I turned away. Disgusted. Repulsed. Yet – He still loved. It was me I saw. Me. I cant even begin to describe what I looked like! I recognised me, but I didn't. I think that it was only by Gods help that

I recognised me. Here I am – years later. Waiting for him to continue pulling off the dragon skin piece by piece! I tried for years to pull it off myself, and found the struggle to be exhausting. I required help!

Help requires submission. And there lies the problem. Faith. Trust. For me – both of those blown apart! Not just shattered. Exploded. Gone.

 Submission requires trust. How do you submit when you have no ability to trust?

 He came. He saw. He loved. He held. When I couldn't, He did!

Submission requires faith. How do you submit when you have no understanding of faith and how it works?

 He came. He showed. He gave the ability. He brought to life what others had killed. Him. Only Him.

The One who has the power to create heaven and earth. The One who has the power to raise Christ from the dead. He saw. Me. He looked. He didn't turn away. He wasn't repulsed. He wasn't disgusted. He opened His arms and said, lets do this together. He still says lets do this together.

 He gave. Life for my death. Faith for my lack. Love for my hate and anger. More love for my rage. And healing where I needed it most. He gave forgiveness for my unforgiveness. He gave grace for my crimes. He gave mercy. And He gave yet more grace.

 Talk about long-suffering! Abounding in love and slow to anger! That's what His word says about Him. Abounding in love and slow to anger. Me – I was abounding in hate and quick to anger! Yet, He still saw. He still loved.

And another piece of dragon skin falls to the floor!

 I am the fiery dragon, hell bent on keeping all at bay. Only One can get through my defences. Only One has the power to survive my fire! And He doesn't come with a sword to kill. He comes with love. To heal. To transform. To rescue. To make free.

 He doesn't bring chains. He breaks them. Where others have tried to tame the wild beast. He sits and waits. Waits for the beast to learn that He will not cause more harm. While there will be pain as chains are removed. He does not come to cause harm! He comes to bring healing and freedom.

 People think that one should heal the beast before setting it free. But healing can't happen while it is in chains.

His wisdom runs deep!

He understands the heart. He formed the heart. He sets the beast free, then heals it! Transforms it into the person He created it to be!

And another piece of dragon skin falls to the floor!

absolutes, humanistic beliefs, the world falls into caos!!

I sat down today to do some more of my current assignment. And I looked at the statement I had made about Jesus having absolute authority over everyone! Then this thought hit me: Humanistic psychology doesn't believe that! But then that thought continued into the following:

If there are no absolutes, as humanistic psychology believes, then I don't have to surrender myself to Jesus or enthrone Him as Lord. I can keep myself as lord instead.
 
Having no absolutes removes from me the need for God. I can then be free to do what ever I want to whomever I want, and I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. And because there are no absolutes, truth is now relative, and no longer fundamental and absolute, I can say that there is no truth. And because of all this, God obviously doesn't exist! Or maybe He or She does exist! There are no absolutes after-all! I wasn't there when this world happened, I can not definitively say how it did or didn't happen!
 
Oh look, the very first problem that has arisen from a lack of absolutes is indecision! I cant make up my mind, I cant decided things, I can no longer sleep at night, because my indecision is driving me insane!
 
And because God either does or doesn't exist, He or She either did or didn't create humans! And this lack of absolutes leaves far more than just the foul taste of indecision, it has left an uncertainty of creation! The creator either does or doesn't exist, so earth either was or was not created! Meaning that humans either were or were not created. But, this opens the door for some instability!
 
Lets just believe this piece of obvious rubbish over here called evolution! It's got some very major holes in it, but at least it has stability. Either that or we could believe this other theory or idea... that earth was populated with animals and humans by aliens. That gives an element of stability too!
 
And because there are no absolutes, people can believe what they want! And, because either having had crawled out of pond scum, or left abandoned by aliens, means I can still do whatever I want! I can still enthrone myself as lord!
 
And because humans either crawled out of pond scum or were left abandoned, human life is hardly sacred. We were left on our own, to our own devices. I can do what I please – included in that is my right (because I am my own lord, I now have rights) to kill my unborn baby, and anybody else’s unborn babies for that matter! I can declare that is it is a right to kill... we can now kill the unborn, we can now kill the old, and in that we will add the disabled, and the useless, and pretty soon there will be no-one left but me!
 
And if I decide I need to kill my neighbour, I can claim temporary insanity, if I pay my lawyer enough he or she will get me off with minimal requirements on my behalf! And I can go on telling the ever widening void in my heart to shut up and sit down, because I am lord!
 
I am the only one who cares about me, I am the only one who’s going to look after me, so I'm going to do whatever it takes to get me to where I want me to be! (No matter to those who gets trampled underfoot!)
 
And if I am a leader of a country, then I'm going to use all my practiced ambition, manipulation, abuse and whatever else to take over that country over there (because I want the land and its resources more than they do!). And because, today, I'd like to believe that some of humans are not as advanced or as evolved as the rest of us, I'm going to say to my citizens that those in that country no longer deserve to exist. We need the land and resources more than they, and we are more advanced or evolved than they! Thus, genocide has been legitimised! Those less evolved or less advanced beings no longer have the right to live!
 
I am my own god and I am president – I can do whatever the hell I want!
 
And it is now, with shock, dismay and enraged anger that someone would dare tell me that God does in fact exist, that there are in fact absolutes, that I am a sinner, that I need saving.
 
How dare they present to me their archaic beliefs. How dare they speak to me about the things I have fought for years to silence in my heart! How dare they tell me that heartless aliens didn't seed earth. How dare they tell me that humans didn't evolve from goop! How dare they tell me that there is a benevolent God who loves me, cherishes me, died for me and offers me grace and forgiveness!
 
What's worse than all that is that this God now demands that I shift my carcass off my throne and put Him there instead! They tell me that I don't have the qualifications to rule the world, let alone myself! And they tell me that there is nowhere in the universe where I can get those qualifications!
 
I spent years silencing this in my heart, and it is as if they have been secretly listening to my hearts silent screams! How dare this God come to the fore! How dare He and His followers upset my equilibrium! And now, I am pushed into the corner and my only response is to remove all trace of this God from the constitution, schools, workplaces, hospitals, homes, heads and hearts! And if they don't want to let it go, then they can go – to prison, or worse! I simply can not accept that I am a sinner and need anything!
 
I did all this myself! I had no help. Where was God when I prayed for the abuse to stop? He didn't answer, because He didn't exist! I stopped it! So why do I need someone else to save me? I already did that! Why do I need a saviour? I've been on my own for so long! Why did some Gods son feel the need to die for me?
 
I know how this world works – you do everything you can to get everything you want, everything you don't want and everything that is left over that you might want, but don't need! Then, you die … alone … cold … hungry … with no friends! So what is the point of wanting or having a saviour?

How do you share the good news of Jesus with a person in this state of mind? How does one introduce this person to Jesus?

atonement

Jesus died on the cross to give us atonement, which refers to the forgiving or pardoning of sin through the death of Jesus Christ. The implications of atonement for Christians are huge! 

Firstly, Jesus was our substitute (Hebrews 9:28, 1 Timothy 2:6, Mark 10:45). Part of atonement is justification, which is where God removes the sin of the guilty and counts them as righteous, because of Christ's obedience and death.

The next part of the process is reconciliation, which refers to the removal of enmity or sin between humans and God. This was done so we could have relationship with Him and He could “walk with us in the cool of the evening”, as He did in the garden with Adam and Eve.

Propitiation is the removal of Gods wrath with the gift of Jesus. God had wrath because of our sin, Jesus became our gift by dying in our place. (1 Thessalonians 5:9) Because of love and the offer of atonement, we swapped places.

Redemption is the last part. It is being set free from bondage, or sin, by payment of a price, Jesus. Because of redemption, we get union with Christ. We are redeemed by God, and are now able to live in obedience to Him out of our love for and gratitude to Him.

humanistic psychology and Christianity

Humanistic psychology says that there is no God and therefore there are no absolutes. Without absolutes one is bound to loose oneself in the world, causing many problems. Whereas, the Christian believes that there is a God and that He created every human in His image, therefore there is an absolute, which all life is based on! The Christian counsellor is therefore in a position to be a compass or guidance for the one who is lost, in order for them to not only find who they are, but also to find their creator.

Recognising that as humans, we are created in Gods image as an absolute, is a good starting place to be able to find oneself! Understanding that our identity should be based on what God says about us imperative to healthy living, in body soul and spirit.

Humanistic psychology says that evolution is acceptable and accepted, therefore we are a product of our environment, which should only be true in relation to the weather helping us decide what we will wear in order to maintain appropriate body temperature! Christians believe that we are created in Gods image, we were fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). Therefore, we are not a product of our environment, we did not crawl out of pond scum, become a multitude of different creatures before finally ending up human! Being fearfully and wonderfully made comes with responsibilities. If we attempt to deny our created image, then we not only attempt to call God a liar, but we also make ourselves look foolish before our creator!

Humanistic psychology says that we were determined (chemically, environmentally, and genetically), therefore sin is a sickness or a disease. The bible says that sin entered through one man (Adam) and redemption/salvation came through one man (Jesus). (Romans 5:12-21) The bible clearly states that we need to repent of our sin, we are each responsible for our own actions, we can not pass the blame on to someone else or call it something else! (Acts 2:38, Ezekiel 14:6, Revelation 2:5...) Because sin entered, that opened the door for death to freely enter. According to Cruden's Complete Concordance (Youngman's Edition), sin is any thought, word, action, omission, or desire contrary to the law of God. For original corruption, or the depravity and naughtiness of our corrupt nature, which is prone to all evil. It is more than obvious here that sin is not a disease or sickness! It is our nature, because sin entered through one man, being Adam, at the time that he and Eve met with a snake in the garden!

I find it interesting that humanistic psychology contradicts itself. If there are no absolutes, how then can it state that humans evolved, or that we are determined chemically, environmentally and genetically? There are apparently no absolutes, therefore the rest of the presuppositions have no leg to stand on!

I also fail to see how telling someone that they evolved from pond scum is going to help them overcome their issues! If anything, it's going to leave them feeling worthless and useless! It also tells them that life is not sacred. And, if there are no absolutes, then someone can say that they have no issues. If having issues says that there is something wrong, then without absolutes, there is no guide post to compare oneself to, therefore each person is either perfect or imperfect and possibly a mix of both, because nothing is absolute, there is nothing to measure oneself against and sin is a disease or sickness that simply requires a band aid until we somehow “get over it”!

To help a person get better, a Dr has a set of tools to use to diagnose the problem. These tools must have some amount of absoluteness to them in order to diagnose many different people with the same condition...!

As humans, we are complex creations. Made in the image of a benevolent loving God, who seeks to have an intimate relationship with each of us! He already knows the number of hairs on our heads (Matthew 10:29-31) and our deepest darkest secrets. He wants to walk with and talk with us as He did way back in the garden with Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:8)! They hid, and just like them, we hide from God!

sin remorse repentance

Sin is the sick insidious nature to cause harm stemming from harm done! It began in the garden and continues today. It has been given many titles and in some cases been swept under the carpet to be ignored or has been outright embraced as “good”. Sin includes what we do and know we shouldn't, what we don't do, but know we should and what we think and our motivations! Sin is something that we love to hate! Yet, if we hated it enough, then we would do something about it! Elijah House talks about absolutely hating your sin before you'll even consider letting go of it! Sin enters life in the womb, because the baby feels the emotions around it! I can feel the mothers intentions whether good or bad! And if bad, it makes a judgement, and an inner vow. Ever wondered how it is possible for a child to kill a cat or dog, one that's been the family pet? Look back into their heart as that tiny helpless baby and ask the question of what was going on at the time? What is it that could cause such a small being to feel, experience and vent so much rage and anger? In the scriptures, David talks about sin from as far back as the womb, yet humans being fearfully and wonderfully made!
 
To get rid of sin, one needs to look at the patterns or fruit! What sin are you constantly committing, that you wrestle with constantly and constantly find yourself doing over and over again. You repent of it, then an hour find yourself doing it again? Why is that? Trace back... A man is married, to his third wife and is having affair number 50... is it really “commitment issues”? Or is there something else going on? A woman, at work in a retail shop, could be any shop. She opens the cash register and is tempted to take some or all of the money. She doesn't need it! Her job pays her enough to cover her bills, but that little voice in her head says that she just has to have it! What's going on?
 
It's not enough to slap a band-aid on the wound. Especially when the wound is a festering sore that simply refuses to heal! What can be done? Well, nothing until you really hate what you do!
 
There's remorse and there is repentance! What's the difference? Remorse says “I'm sad because I got caught and I don't want to loose whatever I shouldn't have! And oh, woe is me, my reputation is ruined, because someone else was sticking their nose where it doesn't belong!” Repentance says “I'm relieved because I got caught, I'm going to give back what I shouldn't have and I'm sad about the pain and loss I caused to everyone around me! And I'm not going to do this again! I'm done, it's finished!”
 
How you answered the question of how you felt when you got caught is exactly how you will gauge if you will find yourself doing it again in an hour or not!
 
Remorse often gets a band-aid slapped over a gaping great wound that is still full of muck and gunk, that often has a putrid stink, where as repentance takes the wound to a doctor to be cleaned out, stitched up and properly dressed to cause healing to occur!
 
As part of repentance, you need to pull down the structures that hold you in the pattern of perpetual sin! The longer you remain in your sin (whatever it may be) the more you will build a stronghold to keep you in that sin! Repentance is like setting fire to, and destroying that stronghold!
 
During a ministry time I had a picture of a person stuck in a tower and Jesus outside the tower with a sledge hammer, waiting for permission to bust in and destroy the stronghold! It's an awesome sight to see a stronghold get destroyed! Because that is where people get set free! But did you notice that Jesus, sledge hammer in hand, was WAITING!!! He waits for you to tell Him you're done!
 
Jesus more than understands the power, weight, guilt and shame associated with sin. He held it all, remember? He took it so we didn't have to. Yet we are still more than happy to wallow in our shit! What's with that? Oh, that's right, it's called denial! We deny to ourselves that it's bad! We tell ourselves that it isn't as bad as it looks, or as it smells!
 
I recently witnessed a person who did something, then not thirty seconds later she said she had done nothing! I was in shock about how strong her denial was! Should I have been? Probably not! My own denial can be that strong sometimes!
 
What are we going to do about it? Remorse? Repentance?

Relationships... Community... And a challenge!

I've been studying lately.  And in my school, I came across several things that caught my attention... one is the following statement: "in fact, the main reason missionaries leave the mission field is because of relationship problems - there is often somebody that they cannot properly relate to."

And I began to wonder - do christians fail to start in work for the same reason?

They decide to undertake training in some area to be better equipped to fulfil their calling, yet because they come across one or more people that they don't agree with, or cant get along with, they throw in the towel and walk away, and remain less equipped to do what they originally set out to do!
I find this to be a strange reason to drop the ball so to speak!

In my training (to be a counsellor) I'm certain that at some point in time, whether sooner or later, I'm going to find a person, or even several people, I neither agree with or get along with. I have a choice to make - either walk away, forget my training, or deal with my crap and learn to agree to disagree!

I often wonder why people cant simply acknowledge that others have a different perspective from them, or that maybe the problem is not the other person, but them, themselves!

If we simply chose to be humble, acknowledge they we have the capacity to be wrong, or have issues, life will go much better for us! Because then we can begin working with God and those around us, to become the people God created us to be!

At this point, I would like to issue a challenge:
If you have walked away from your work, because you smashed heads with someone (or several someones), then can I challenge you to pick yourself up, and continue walking! Ask God to show you where the issue lies, and if the problem is you - have the guts to deal with it, seek help to deal with it. And get on with doing what you were created to do!

In this challenge excuses will hold you back, so see your excuses as an opportunity to pray and seek Gods face!

To obey is better than sacrifice!

May Gods blessings shower down upon you. And may you be coated in the dust of your Rabbi!

Australian Watcher On The Wall
http://australianwatcheronthewall.blogspot.com.au

Don't limit God. Don't limit yourself, because that limits God.

I bet you'd never thought about it in that way! I know I hadn't! But that's the thing... we disconnect things that shouldn't be disconnected.

How many times have you heard someone say "don't limit God", or "don't put God in a box", or "God is bigger than that"? Compared with how many times you've heard someone say that "if you limit yourself, you limit God"?

How does one limit God by limiting oneself? Well. If you say that you can't do "x" or "y" then you have removed the ability for God to do those very things through you, and you have thus put yourself and God into a very constricting box!

Whilst you really should know what you know and know what you don't know and generally stick with what you know. This shouldn't be a restriction. Wasn't it Paul who wrote "I can do ALL things through Christ"?

Ok, so me (I'll pick on me cause that is easiest), I know when my car sounds sick, and I know a few things that might cause the issue, but I'm no mechanic by a long shot! I know how to change a tire (I did 3 of them in one day on a car I used to own), I know how to check the water and oil, and I also know that if I have further issues, to please call an actual mechanic! I essentially know what I know as far as the car is concerned, and when I get out of my depth (knowing what I don't know), I call someone a little more knowledgeable! Ok, so I haven't needed to rely on God to help me with my car! Though, I'm sure He would if the need ever arose!

What I am trying to say, is that sometimes someone is hurting and you're all thats there in order for comfort. I'll pick on me again! I had a friend who had cancer. I could comfort and encourage her to a point. I've never experienced (and don't exactly wish to experience) the stresses, challenges, trials and exerything else that goes along with that. I know that there people more qualified than I was to bring comfort and encouragement, but occasionally, I was it! And I had to learn to rely on God in order to do it! There are other things I'm better at, but sometimes I need to be out of my depth, because I'm, somehow, the only one around or willing to try! When I am out of my depth, I do get a huge feeling of relief when someone more qualified/able steps up to take over or even fix up my feeble attempts!

Think about it this way. Person A has just buried their husband of 30 years, they are really grieving. I can say no, I've never experienced that, not going there, and thus limited my capacity to learn a new experience and limited my capacity to attempt to comfort a friend, or I can say, while I haven't had that experience, I will step up, I will rely on God, and I will supply my shoulder to cry on and my ear to hear them. It may not be as great as someone who knows from experience the pain amd loss, but I can at least offer my shoulder and a couple of boxes of tissues!

Do you get what I am trying to say? The minute I say I can't or wont do something is the minute I start limiting Gods ability to work His stuff through me!

So, other than limiting God, why is limiting myself so bad?

To be stretched like a rubber band is not such a bad thing, it causes growth! Yes, trust me, the process of stretching hurts, but its a good hurt. It's a hurt that has the potential for growth, understanding, experience and wisdom. But you have to let that happen, be willing. Or you could choose to get all bitter and twisted!

Limiting yourself reduces you ability to grow, learn, experience, feel and ultimately love.

In a perfect world, we would be willing and able to step up everytime something happened. But then, in a perfect world, pain wouldn't exist!

In a perfect world, you and I wouldn't have broken hearts and issues causing and caused by sin!

So, in this less than perfect world, we need to not limit outselves!

Haha! Easier said than done! I know this, because I still limit myself! I still limit God! Part of the reason for this is the fact that I am human! The rest (and I would think, a larger portion) is due to my sinful responses to things that happened around me and to me as a child! As a child I made some rather huge judgements, thus locked myself into the cycle of doubting my abilities AND doubting God.

So, how then do we stop limiting ourselves, and thus, limiting God? Firstly, we need to walk the road called repentance. We need to repent of our sinful responses to things that happend to us and around us. We need to forgive those who hurt us (no easy thing, yet it is a command of God, AND He will give us the ability to forgive, if we ask for His help). We need to learn who we actually are, not who we think we are or who others have told us who we are. What God says about us and what we think about us are often two completely different things! We need to walk lives lead by the Holy Spirit.

So why do we limit God? Because we don't trust Him. Why don't we trust God?

Our parents are first and foremost the ones who show us what God is like. So, again, picking on me. My father wasn't in my life (not going into the why), he simply wasn't there. Thus my perception from my lack of a father, was that Father God is distant and frankly doesn't give a damn about me. Then I had two step fathers, one was a drug addicted alcoholic with violent tendencies, so this told me that when God is present,  He will be violent towards me. The second of the two step fathers was somewhat more subtle in his way of doing things. He liked to carve people up with his words. He essentially had venom dripping off his tongue. He was conniving, manipulative, and verbally abusive. So compound my three human representatives for God. Absent. Violent. Verbally demeaning, cruel and abusive. Not the best impression of God! Not the worst, but far from good!

Thus, by the actions of those around me, my basic trust that is supposed to be formed as a child, was at best shattered, and ant worst, missing in action. Thus, if I can not trust those who are supposed to protect me, how can I trust God? Therefore, because I don't/can't/won't trust God, I can not take Him at His word, therefore I limit Him.

How to get out of this mess? This mess that I had no control over? I need to forgive. The list is extensive, and I wont get into that here. I can tell you that because I have started to deal with my issues, I can sort of trust God a little bit. Not as much as He or I would like. But the process has been started! Forgiving is hard work.

The more I repent of my sinful reactions to what happened to me and around me, the more I am able to forgive those who hurt me, and then, the more I am able to trust God and take Him at His word, and the LESS I limit myself and Him.  Again, all this is far, far easier said than done!

May Gods blessings shower down upon you. And may you be coated in the dust of your Rabbi!

Australian Watcher On The Wall
http://australianwatcheronthewall.blogspot.com.au

God must be busy...

That anchor man says the fight began
Somewhere in the Middle East, world prays for peace
There's a single mom just got laid off when they lost a job
To some foreign hands, some faraway land
Last night in Oklahoma some twister took thirteen
And they're praying that they find the missing three
God must be busy

That highway sign went from slow ahead to traffic's dead
Thought it couldn't get worse than that Amber Alert
They say she's four, Colorado plates headed out-of-state
In a Chevy van, it's hard to understand
You can see it in the faces of all those highway strangers
They're praying that God keeps that girl from danger
God must be busy

And I know in the big picture I'm just a speck of sand
And God's got better things to do than look out for one man
I know he's heard my prayers cause he hears everything
He just ain't answered back or he'd bring you back to me
God must be busy

At evening news ain't much changed
Pretty much the same since I left home
Yeah, that war's still on
They found that little girl
She was soaking wet, half scared to death on the side of some road
Them prayers work, you know

And the Bloods and Cripps are at it
And theres a killer drought down south
And old folks can't afford the drugs they can't live without
God must be busy

And I know in the big picture I'm just a speck of sand
And God's got better things to do than look out for one man
And I know he's heard my prayers cause he hears everything
He just ain't answered back or he'd bring you back to me
God must be busy

That anchorman says the fighting's worse
Cities burn in the Middle East, world prays for peace

Brooks & Dunn - God Must Be Busy 

Firstly, I need to say that just because something has a "christian" label on it doesn't make it christian or good!

When a song says that things aren't going well for me, or I'm not getting my way, therefore God must be busy - it is hardly good and gives a false impression of what God is actually like!

When we write music or poetry or other things, our heart will often leakmout and share itself with us and occasionally with the rest of the world. Whoever wrote this song is sharing their hearts warped view of God, as too busy to stop and have time for me!

When I first heard the song I asked myself "what the ...? Did I really hear that guy say what I thought he said?" And sure enough ... blah, blee, blah blah God must be busy! Where does this guy get off? Does he not know that God is intimately interested in everyone including him?

While I get the other meaning that God is running flat stack solving problems, answering prayers and whatever else - its still looking at God as though He is nothing more than an overworked and under paid secretary with a bunch of demanding, picky bosses!

It wasn't until I started ministry training through Elijah House, then hearing the song again, I put it together. This guy has a very warped view of God because of his personal issues!

Whats with the thing of, I didn't get what I wanted, so I will automatically say God must be busy elsewhere with someone else, who, He loves more than me, whom He cares about more than me, so I'll just go write this song that screams "I HAVE ISSUES, BITTER ROOT JUDGEMENTS, BITTER ROOT EXPECTANCIES, INNER VOWS AND UNFORGIVENESS"!!

And I know in the big picture I'm just a speck of sand
And God's got better things to do than look out for one man ... since when did God have better things to do?

How does the writer of this song see God? Well, you can get a glimpse simply from two lines of the song. Firstly he shrinks himself down to an insignificant speck of sand then he says that because my "genie in a bottle" has failed to grant my demands, he must be busy elsewhere!

As children we form perceptions or ideas, whether accurate or in accurate, about our parents that colour or completely warp our relationship with God as adults. If our father is distant then we will assume that God is distant. If we see our father as being present but too busy to answer our request for time, hugs, or whatever else, we will see God as present but too busy for us! In the very area where we dishonour our parents, we will reap trouble relating to God. Our view of God will be screwed up, warped and twisted. And we will possibly end up saying something like ... "And I know he's heard my prayers cause he hears everything He just ain't answered back or he'd bring you back to me God must be busy".

This is apparently what passes as a good, uplifting, edifying christian song - my word, I didn't realise that the standards had slipped so far down the toilet!

How many people are listening to crap simply because they brought it from a christian book shop?
Do they not stop and listen to what the writer is actually saying in their favourite songs?
I sincerely hope that I never hear that depressing, warped song again.

May Gods blessings shower down upon you. And may you be coated in the dust of your Rabbi!

Australian Watcher On The Wall
http://australianwatcheronthewall.blogspot.com.au

How does one walk down that road?

The path I've walked is a hard one. And now I've been asked by a specific being to change direction and walk a different path. The question is ... how?

Hope deffered makes the heart sick.

7 years. Hope deffered for 7 years. What does that do to a soul? And then to be asked to start hoping again.

I've buried one child and mourned the loss of a second. Yet, of all that turmoil, the emotional upheaval and pain. This new learning is the hardest.

How does one go from no hope, loosing hope, and frequent disappointments to having hope. Having expectation of good. How does one truely believe that the plans set before them are for their own good, to not harm?

And I still say that in all honesty, I really don't know if I can walk that road. After a while, you sorta start to expect to be disappointed. You eventually tune out to that pain. You shut off that part of life. Close the door and walk away. But now,  to stand at that door, with hand on the knob, sanity screams "don't go there, don't enter the chaos". The heart whispers that I must. The emotions say I can't, I lack the strength and the courage. And the voice, a small bearly audible whisper, says come with Me.

How will I know when I've got where I'm going? How many boxes of tissues will I need along the way?

I can hardly walk this path. I keep tripping over hurts, pain and disappointments, not to mention I can't see through the tears. I feel weak, shaky and downright scared of yet another disappointment.

Why so long? Why wait so long to decide to walk this road? The pain would have been less if it had been earlier! I feel stuck, with hand on the door knob. Stuck is not moving. Stuck is glued.  Stuck is paralysed. Yet, I can see now, when I look back, this road was coming. This path was coming. I just didn't see it, or want to see it. I aided in its delay. My actions, my decisions aided in the pile up of pain. And now, what on earth do I do with it?

God, I don't know what to do with it. I don't know how to hope. What is the difference between hope and wishful thinking? What does hope look like? What does hope feel like? How will I know when I find it? And what do I do with this pain? What do I do with these disappointments?  God, You known what I've wanted, I've told You again, and again, and again. So often I can't remember. All those tears, everything. It's all piled here, because I didn't know what to to with it. I don't want any more disappointments. That is why its so hard to go here. Its been easier to simply say, no I wont go there, I wont do that because that action leads to pain.
But then I went there, and You, You caused a stirring. A churning of the water. And I was shoved in because, well, I don't know why. But You do. You've wanted me to walk this path. And I kept refusing, because it's too painful. So You, You orchestrated a meeting, a divine intervention. Because I need to go there, but I lack the strength and courage. And with one small breath, the door knob is no longer in my hand, the door is no longer closed, and the chaos is exposed to the light. And all I can do is stand and stare. And in the pile is shattered dreams, shattered desires. From not one but two little lives. Desires piles up. Well, actually the same desire, in duplicate a thousand times over. That one prayer that I've asked for. It's all there. Present and accounted for.
My nose hurts from blowing it so much. Can I have a break from crying? I need to sit down, oh, that's right, I am sitting.

I watch as that small whisper brings order to the chaos. It's not so hard to look in this room now. But the learning has begun. In earnest. I need to learn to trust, to hope, to dream. And I need to go shopping to buy some more tissues!

May Gods blessings shower down upon you. And may you be coated in the dust of your Rabbi!

Australian Watcher On The Wall
http://australianwatcheronthewall.blogspot.com.au

"We all have a little bit of Egypt in us" - Do we? Really?

I am either saved by grace or I am a sinner, not a little bit of both. I do not have a little but of Egypt left in me. I am 100% saved by grace. When I left my Egypt, I didn't just burn my bridges, I nuked them from orbit! Where there were once rivers, needing bridged to cross, there are now crators, filled with water, no bridges, no roads leading up to and away from any bridges, just massive big crators. Why? Because I am saved by grace and no longer require my old Egypt! Granted, like a child learning how to walk, I fall over (sometimes rather dramatically), but I am still 100% saved by grace and justified through faith in Jesus Christ. Not sinner, not slave, but child. Child of God. Child of the Most High, Living God, no less. So why do some people like to try and tell me otherwise? Why do they try to erode my faith away? Why are they unable to accept my faith and why do they not believe that they can have tye same faith? Is it because of the fundamental flaw we humans have possessed since the garden? The inability to trust that what God said is the truth? So we allow ourselves to be deceived by anything and everything? Maybe if we spent a little more time sitting at Jesus' feet, we might just start comprehending His message. Saved by grace does not require anything. To believe that we are saved by grace, requires us to trust that the words and the actions are true. Death on a cross is no simple thing. But it is the action that goes with the words. The rest will come, simply by spending time. So, please, go have a lunch date with Jesus. He will tell you that you are saved by grace and justified through faith in Him.

May Gods blessings shower down upon you. And may you be coated in the dust of your Rabbi!

Australian Watcher On The Wall
http://australianwatcheronthewall.blogspot.com.au

Getting intimate with axe heads.

There are verses in the bible that keep coming up in conversation, in preaching, in books being read... Why does this happen? Because God wants us to get the message.

I had a dream this morning where a group of people and I were sitting talking about this very subject. And one of the ladies said that a particular chunk of scriprure kept coming back to her and being in her face. I was prompted to tell her why.

What I said was someyhing like this.

We are meant to be about the Fathers business, and to do that, we need to have intimacy with Him. To be intimate is to spend time with Him, but we cant do that if we drop the axe head.

I read the story where a group of guys are out chopping wood to build stuff, and one of them borrowed and axe head from someone so he could do his bit. He's working away then he looses his axe head.

I have seen people, they are working away and then they stop. Why did they stop, becsuse they lost their axe head or they lost their intimacy with God.

In the story, the guy goes to the man of God and says to him, that he cant work because he lost the axehead and what's worse is the thing was borrowed.

The man of God says to him, take me to where you lost it. It wasnt "go to the shop and buy a new one". It wasn't "go and borrow another one". It was "take me the the exact spot where you lost the thing".

They go there, and the guy says its in there. It sunk to the bottom of the water. As axe heads will do! But, the man of God picks up a stick tosses it in and the axe head floats, and the guy retreives it!

The point is, that if we stop being intimate with God, we need to ask ourselves what happened! Did we move away? Did we drop our axe head?

We cant be about the Fathers business if we do not know what that business is. And we are meant to be stewards, not servants.

To be a steward, we need to be on the same page as the boss. Because we have access to His thoughts, His desires etc.

A servant will do only what they are told, they may have an incling of the bigger picture, but they are slaves, the big picture means nothing to a slave. Slaves do only what they are told to do, nothing more. Unless they have the desire to become a steward.

To be about the Fathers business we need to be about the Father. Intimacy.

Yearly? Well, you can try! But if you have a spouce and you only see them once a year on Christmas,  are you really going to know what gift they want? You can guess, but you wont have had intimate conversations to find out what they like. So yearly with God doesn't cut it in the intimacy department.

What about monthly? Well, monthly, you've gotten closer to being a steward, but you are still a slave. The simple fact is that whilst once a month with God is a great improvement on once a year, in reality, if youre onlt committed to once a month, you may as well be committed to only once a year, because once a month isnt enough to get that intimacy thing going. Instead of being almost total strangers, you're sort of acquaintances, who still have huge awkward moments, periods of silence, and a vague desire to end the conversation to go your separate ways!

Once a week is a huge imptovement. Your relationship has kicked up a gear. You know the other enough to overlook the awkwardness. You know the other person likes coffee, but you've never made it for them.

But to have the relationship with God where you and He are in the same book, on the same page, requires effort on your part. When you don't feel like it, when you're sick in bed, when you're so busy that you're run off you're feet and thouroughly exhausted, when the world is great... its a daily thing, even an hourly thing, and right down to spending every spare minute with Him, even every second. And yes, you can still work while spending time with God. You can talk to your passengers in the car while you drive? You can tslk to God while you do stuff. You talk to your family whilst preparing dinner? You can do the same with God.

To swim means you need to get wet past your ankles.
To see the axe head float, means you need to go back to where you lost it.
To be intimate with God requires you to desire His presence wherever you are and with whomever you're with, whatever you're doing, every second of the day.

Things come up again and again and again becsuse God is trying to tell us something. Are our ears painted on? Or are we being about the Fathers business, in intimacy, leading devoted lives, that are totally in tune and walking in cadence with Gods Spirit?

May Gods blessings shower down upon you. And may you be coated in the dust of your Rabbi!

Australian Watcher On The Wall
http://australianwatcheronthewall.blogspot.com.au

After funeral thoughts...

Why is it that funerals have a way of transporting me back in time? I've only ever been in close proximity to 2 white coffins, one was today and the other was Exaviers.

This transportation happened at a different funeral too. At the burial service. There I was at the Glen Innes cemetary, yet I felt like I was back on that day, watchimg Exavier be lowered into the ground.

Have I not dealt with this grief thing? Am I holding onto something? Why does this come up? I got frustrated with myself for not keeping it together, for stumbling whilst reading a scripture. I thought I was stronger than that.

So much for being a comfort to those who are hurting. How do I put my crap aside and actually be there for others? After so many years I feel like some wounds have not been closed.

I thought it had been dealt with, that chapter closed. Tucked away for safe keeping. But no, it seems like it is wide open and at every funeral I attend, at some point in time I am left to "revisit" Evaviers funeral. I wish I could keep it all separate, but no. It seems that that is simply not possible. Am I forever going to be stuck in this place? Because my plea for people to not die seems to be ignored periodically. And at times I simply can not refuse to go to the funeral.

I don't like to remember the pain of that moment. As if it's not enough to know everyday that there should be more than one child gracing my home!

How do I remain in control of my emotions when others are in need of comfort? I cant just run away and hide. Though, I wish I could.

May Gods blessings shower down upon you. And may you be coated in the dust of your Rabbi!

Australian Watcher On The Wall
http://australianwatcheronthewall.blogspot.com.au

I hate funerals

I hate funerals!
Why do people feel the need to die?
And what part of life is death?

I used to think that funerals were solemn occasions for quiet reflection,  to offer support to the family and friends left behind.

But then I had to bury my own daughter. First born, of a single mother. And discovered that funerals are not solemn occasions,  for quiet reflection. In reality, they are a hellish reminder that the nightmare can not be woken up from, that the anguish is actually real, and that a life has ended.

Words can not describe the pain, sleep fails to appear, and time drags on agonisingly slowly. The world drifts by in a haze. And some expect you to be over it in 6 moths.

When we "quietly reflect", upon what are we reflecting? Ourselves or the one who has died?

Is the funeral about the one who died, or is it about our loss?

We say some words, sing some songs, tell the person things we should have told them before they died, put them in the ground. Then what? Life goes on! It doesn't stop for mourners. Work eventually wants us back, people drift away,  the planet continues to spin, one day drifts wearily into the next.

Can we really say that God is good? If we are brutally honest, do we really believe that God is good? What if we prayed for healing? Is God still good because the person died? Or do we inwardly and secretly believe that God is a load of crap because our loved one died?

What if?
Why?
Will the answers to these questions make life more livable?

I hate funerals because they impose reality on us in a harsh and painful manner.

Every funeral I went to prior to my daughters was "a walk in the park", because there was no pain attached to it. No feeling of loss, just a vague sense of discomfort from those closest to the deceased. But then after the funeral of my daughter, every funeral takes me back to that one. That one earth shattering moment of realisation that she is gone.

Funerals are a painful reminder of the frailty amd fragility of human life. They are also the reminder that for another family and set of close friends that the nightmare and anguish are real, and there is no waking up.

May Gods blessings shower down upon you. And may you be coated in the dust of your Rabbi!

Australian Watcher On The Wall
http://australianwatcheronthewall.blogspot.com.au

Religion or relationship?

My faith, or my "religion" wont get you into heaven.

I feel the need to clarify something. Religion... my interpretation of this word is as follows. Religion... a dead boring church or other service where one pays lip service to the thing or things being "worshipped"! A day in, day out ritual with all the heart and soul sucked out of it, until it has become meaningless and pointless. The very thing that God says He detests. In His word He says that He would prefer obedience over sacrifice. And this obedience is not from coercion, its because you want to. And religion is full of sacrifice. Not to mention rules! You can't do this. You can't do that. You MUST do this. And doing that will cause you to loose your salvation. Eh, who needs it!?

A friend of mine hit the nail on the head one night when he said, we preach too much Paul to the "nonbelievers", or "unsaved". We hit them with rules and regulations, tell em to shape up, and change themselves, to be better presented to God! And what he said is true. But if we stopped and looked, Pauls writings were meant for who? Ephesians was written to the church at Ephesus. The key word there is CHURCH! The book of Romans was written to who? The church at Rome. Again the key word there is the CHURCH!

There is a world of hurting people out there and they don't need a list of things they need to fix or change! They most likely already know what they need to fix or change. What they need to know is while they were living in that crap and pain, Christ died for their lives. For them. Just as they are, covered in crap, hurting like no tomorrow. His death for their life. Thats what they need to know. Leave Paul for those of us who are already committed to God, committed to living our lives the way He created us to.

To the hurting you share the stories of the healings and the miracles and the countless times it says Jesus had compassion for them... They don't need a set of bloody rules, they need to be loved, to be mended, to be healed,  to be picked up and put back together! They need hugs. Don't tell them that God loves them then slap them with "you sinner, you will go to hell because you smoke"! That's rude and uncalled for.

I remember in a church we went to. We had a "lady of the night" come in. Sweet thing she was. But, a couple of people said she couldn't come to church dressed like that. Ok, so it might make some people squeemish, and it might cause some to have a burst of lust. (Those people might have some hidden issues...) But the fact was, she was in church. Obviously she wanted to know if Gods people actually care.

If God is a loving and merciful God, shouldn't His people also be loving and merciful? If a lady like the above mentioned, came into your church, would you turn her away? You say you wouldn't. Why don't I believe you? Maybe because I've seen too many hurting people turned away. We say welcome with our lips. Hurting people don't read our lips. We say go away by our behaviour. That is what hurting people see and take note of.

Have you talked to anyone who has been hurt by the church? I have. They almost always say that the church doesn't care. The church is meant to be the hands and feet of Christ. That doesn't mean we are to kick and punch people. That means that we are to walk with them in their journey. We are to hug them, support them, care for them. We are to show Gods love to them.

Ok. A little example to help you.
You are sitting on a park bench, in the middle of winter. You've just realise that you have no money, you are far away from home and absolutely starving hungry. What do you do? If its a Sunday, it shouldn't be too hard to find a church with someone in it who might be able to help! But are they willing to help? Say you haven't had a bath for 3 days. You're a little on the smelly side. Would they help you? There have been people from different churches try being a beggar, then they turn up to their church (where people apparently know them) and what happens? Sometimes someone offers to help them. But all too often, they are turned away! "God bless you and have a nice day" isn't going to help someone who is starving and homeless. What about the family who is living in a house, they have a car, the husband has a job, the wife is a stay at home mum, they have a mortgage, their bills are ever increasing. Then the bank springs a nasty one on them. Because of the financial stretches their small amount of money has to do, they have accidentally fallen behind on the mortgage. And even though they have tried and struggled, they just cant get ahead, and now they will be homeless because the bank wants their money last month... you get the picture. Are you going to step up and help them? Are you going to be Christ for them?

I've recently began acquiring horse poop from a friend. I told her that I would swap her horse poop for some vegies (when they start producing). Why? Because I can see that lifes struggles are tough on them too. And we are growing food to try and save some money ourselves, so why not share, ease the load for someone else? If I cant help someone carry their burdens, and support them through their struggles, what good am I? A few vegies probably wont do much. Feed them a night here, and a night there. But its attempting to be kind and generous. Jesus was kind and generous to me. I want to pass that kindness and generosity on to someone else. I cant feed anywhere near as many as I would like, but I can help ease the strain for one family.
If each of Gods people helped one other family (and one another) in some way, how much better would this world be? And don't you think that people would start saying "I like those christians - they helped us". Instead of saying, "the church is full of mean people, they never helped us when we needed it."

One other thing. (Actually its probably two). 1. Christian is meant to be Christ like. Go study His behaviour and learn how it is best to behave. 2. Church is community. Notice at the end of the word there is a smaller word - UNITY. Community is a group of people who work together in what? Yeah, you guessed it - in UNITY. They don't all need to think alike. If we did, we be a bunch of boring drones and that sounds too much like religion! We have been commanded to what? Tell people how much of a sinner they are? NO!! We have been commanded to LOVE ONE ANOTHER, as I (Jesus) have loved you. I dare you to go ask Jesus to show you how much He loves you. Then wait expectantly on Him for His answer. Once you have that answer, go and do likewise to whomever you meet! You may just change the world.

May Gods blessings shower down upon you. And may you be coated in the dust of your Rabbi!

Australian Watcher On The Wall
http://australianwatcheronthewall.blogspot.com.au

Worthiness

How can I be so presumptuous to state that God is worthy of my praise. As if I am above Him and He is somehow beneath me, and I have somehow decided that He is worthy to be praised by me!
I can understand that in a world full of other gods, that one could deem God worthy of their praise. But that still says that I have some element of something above and beyond God.
God is worthy of praise, no matter what! Whether I deem Him worthy or not. We need to keep our motives in check. We can not elevate ourselves above God.
I can not deem God to be anything. I can simply agree with what has already been said about Him, by Him. I can not decree that God is purple. That does not line up with what we know about Him. I can say that He is trustworthy, because He Himself said He is, and I can simply agree or try to disagree. He is worthy, because His word tells us that He is worthy. I offer Him praise and worship because I want to. But I can not state that He is worthy of my praise and worship. He is worthy. Its simple. In my heart, I can not elevate myself above Him by stating that He is worthy, clean, tidy, neat and presentable, to be in the same room with me while I offer Him praise. I can not say that He is worthy of my praise, because He is sovereign and I am not. We seem to have forgotten to have an element of reverence toward God.


May Gods blessings shower down upon you. And may you be coated in the dust of your Rabbi!

Tried and failed... I just cant do it!!

I tried today to practice being an Atheist. I thought I'd try believing that my dog doesn't exist. Simply because, well, if I could be successful there, then I'd have a half a chance at believing that God doesn't exist.
The fact is, that the evidence is clear for the existence of both God and my dog.
God leaves calling cards laying around, and if our eyes are open then we will see them. Its the same with my dog, however, if you miss his calling cards, you may end up with something between your toes that you probably don't want between your toes!
Out of sight, out of mind, doesn't work. Like my dog, God has this habit of making Himself heard.
Whilst I'm sitting in the comfort of my lounge room, and my dog is "out of sight, out if mind", a truck, motorbike or dog will go past, and Hannibal will make his presence and thus, his existence known! God does this too. He shows up when I least expect it! How is it possible that I can "talk to the air" as some put it, and have answers?
I was questioned once about when I shared my testimony. I said that God showed up in my lounge room and after a short conversation I said to Him that He needed to prove His existence to me. He asked how I would have Him do that, and I replied, I want a child. And low and behold, 9 months later, a baby girl was born. The question that was put to me was, "didn't you have a partner and weren't you in a relationship, so isn't it possible that you dreamed the "God Experience" and simply fell pregnant due to your relationship?" This question was perfectly logical - for an idiot with only a fraction of information about me, my life, and my emotional state at the time!
At the time, I was trying to have a child and being completely unsuccessful, I was also a witch, and trying to ignore God, and I was a very angry person. And once a month I didn't want to know anyone, not even myself, because I had failed in the creation of a child. My practice as a witch had also failed me in the creation of a child and, there was no way I was going to willingly go to God, because I was trying to prove to myself that He didn't exist. Because if He actually existed, then my life was full of crap, and I was essentially in the wrong camp. I liked my life (except for the emotional rollercoaster) and if God existed, then I needed to change my life, and I didn't want to do that, because I would have to stop with the power trip, manipulations, cruelness and everything else. The existence of God would turn my world upside down. And I knew that people could doubt a conversation, but they couldn't doubt a baby. So I asked God for a baby. And He gave me a baby. As a consequence of that baby, my life changed. For the better.
So why am I trying to be an atheist today? To prove that I'm an idiot! How can I deny a God who granted me a child? How can I deny that my wonderful dog exists?  It's impossible. Unless I changed my world view and hardened my heart. Because of my experience, I can not deny the existence of God. Yet, by their experience others try to deny the existence of God. What hurts and bitterness are they carrying around that causes them the try to deny God?
I tried to deny God because of my mother and her religiousness. Because I was on the outside looking in, and all I saw was condemnation. That was partly why I tried to deny God. I was also in the wrong camp so to speak, as a witch. It became part of my duty to deny God, not only to myself, but to those around me! Yet, when things turned to shit, who was it I called out to for help? It wasn't any of my witchy friends, because I knew they didn't like being woken up at midnight, for something that wasn't a crisis to them. Yet, a God fearing christian friend answered the phone and prayed for me. And I survived.
There are so many times in my life where I have called out to God (or as some put it, spoken to the thin air) and had answers to my prayers. And some still call it coincidence. It reminds me of the last battle (Narnia stories). Where some dwarves were herded into a stable, they couldn't see that they were no longer in a stable. They couldn't see the Lion (Aslan) they could only see the stable. Their worldview was the stable, and in their stubbornness, they refused to see reality! Sounds like atheism to me!
So, how did I go with trying to believe that my dog doesn't exist? I completely failed - he looked at me with his cute puppy face. He made his face look sad. So I hugged him. So he exists, and I failed. Eventually everone is going to see that God exists, whether they want to or not!

May Gods blessings shower down upon you. And may you be coated in the dust of your Rabbi!

Australian Watcher On The Wall
http://australianwatcheronthewall.blogspot.com.au

He HAD to be different.

Where all religions where built on violence, either towards hu ans or animals, it was violence. What Jesus decided to do was so different. Yes he was beaten and suffered violence. But when someone pulled a sword and  cut off an ear, Jesus responeded by telling him to put away his sword. "Stop the violence on my part." Even at his arrest, he was doing things differently. He was shown violence, yet didn't respond in kind. Instead He responeded with non-violence. His entire death was violent, yet, He was the Son of God, He could have defended Himself. He could have called angels to help Him. He could have gotten off the cross and killed all those who put Him there. But because He loved, even those who put Him there, He chose non-violence. He chose to demonstrate love. I can understand why some would describe Him as "Jesus, meek and mild." But love is hardly meek or mild. It is as strong as death. Even possibly stronger. Why would He choose to turn the other cheek, was it so He would have matching bruises? Or was it that He had looked upon us humans and thought to Himself, "all they know is violence, so I will show them just what love is."
From the outset, there was violence. The snake caused emotional violence, then there was the separation, because of the sin. Then Cain and Able, then countless others. Wars, battles, murder.... All we've known is violence and pain. Even sickness is violent in what it does to the human body. Sacrifices. Its all been violence. Yet, Jesus decides, its got to stop. He needs to teach us what love is. He needs to teach us what grace is. And He started with His death. The sacrifice to end all sacrifices, violence to end all violence.
So why is there still violence in the world? Has everybody accepted Jesus' way of doing things? No - so violence still exists. We're in a fallen world. Just because Jesus died and rose again, didn't fix everything. He gave us Himself, and the Holy Spirit, in order to be able to live in a fallen world. And eutopia doesn't work. At least not when you are dealing with sinful natures.
To stop the violence, person to person, then maybe we should all take another look at the life Jesus has offered us to live. And maybe we should take Him up on His offer.

May Gods blessings shower down upon you. And may you be coated in the dust of your Rabbi!

Australian Watcher On The Wall
http://australianwatcheronthewall.blogspot.com.au

Beliefs needs to be lived

These songs that say I believe in God or I believe in the Holy trinity, or I believe in the church and the communion of the saints, or I believe He (Jesus) died and rose again - where they once seemed to hold a lot of power, they have been rendered weak and useless,  because the devil also believs that stuff, and he at least has the nous to tremble about it! You and I can spout our beliefs until the cows come home... its not going to help us.  Our belief needs to be more than something we sing about. It needs to be something we live - daily. It needs to be our core essence, otherwise - whats the point of it? What is the point of believing in something if it doesn't affect us? I can believe that Jesus is Lord. That's easy! I can even confess (or sing) that Jesus is Lord. But I need to ask, which Jesus and what is He Lord of? Is He Jesus of Nazareth, the only Son of the most high, living God? Or is He some other Jesus? What is He Lord of? If I say He is Lord of my life, yet go on living in sin, I am simply deluding myself and believing nothing but bullshit. If I say He is Lord of my life, then I need to live like that! My believe and subsequent confession needs to lived out in day to day reality. Because even the devil believes in Jesus, the Messiah!  And he isn't exactly "saved"!!!

May Gods blessings shower down upon you. And may you be coated in the dust of your Rabbi!

Australian Watcher On The Wall
http://australianwatcheronthewall.blogspot.com.au