Can you Relate?

Be sure to read the book of Mark and always discern for yourselves my view points.  That is the great thing about our bible.  The perspectives are all over the place; just like ours.  The common denominator is all view points lead to God's truth, through Christ empowered by His spirit, which searches the depths of all view points even the view points of God. 

When we do not, or are not "willing" to relate to someone then there is no commonality.  We do not have to agree in all ways.  However, we do have to be willing to respect the relationship.  This is one large factor we are told several truths about by God's word: 

• As far as it depends on you, be at peace with everyone.
• Please God not man.
• Be above reproach in all of your ways.
• The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
• Seek first His kingdom and all else will be added to this.
• and the biggie...All things are common to man.

So, today we are going to go a bit further as we listen to Mark spin his tale of the Good News and the Way. 

Yesterday we left off with Jesus' baptism by John the baptizer. I have always found it interesting that the bible states immediately the Spirit brought him into the desert where he was tempted for 40 days.  He was there with wild animals and the angels took care of Him.  This always reminds me of David, as he went to King Saul, stating the reason he felt confident taking on Goliath was due to the numerous lions, tigers and bears he faced defending his flock.  He did not tout his skill; in fact it was never even mentioned.  David proclaimed the Lord God Almighty's might and deliverance through each encounter.  He related this in confidence to how God would not fail him as he trusted in this relationship to face the barbarian, Goliath.

Christ was a success in all he faced and the angels did in deed come to his aid; after his success.  Many times, I think we might want the angels to come to our aid prior to us giving our all to fight the good fight.  We focus on our own limited strength and do not open up to stand firm on God's word and let it do the fighting for us.  That IS what Christ did.  Each time Satan came at his vulnerability, lustful human nature etc, Christ didn't enter a battle.  He simply spoke what sustains us - the words that proceed from the mouth of God himself.  It sounds so simple, yet our flesh is so incredibly weak when we do not prosper our Spirit - as our soul prospers. 

Some time after Christ came back from the 40 days, John was imprisoned.  Jesus went on into Galilee preaching a very straight forward Good News: 

• The time has come, and the Kingdom of God is near. 
• Change the way you think. 
• Change the way you act.
• Believe in the Good News

We know we are supposed to seek the Kingdom with all our human strength AND the strength he gives us.  Sometimes we forget this and try to go it alone.  This is never a good idea, but we have to be EVER MINDFUL of God in order to detect these things.  1 Corinthians verse 20 and 21 state: Where is the wise person? Where is the scholar? Where is the persuasive speaker of our time? Hasn’t God turned the wisdom of the world into nonsense? The world with its wisdom was unable to recognize God in terms of his own wisdom. So God decided to use the nonsense of the Good News we speak to save those who believe.

I have chosen one verse in particular for each of us to lean on today:

In the morning, long before sunrise, Jesus went to a place where he could be alone to pray.  Mark 1:35 GW

Just because Christ went away from people doesn't mean he was alone.  Today, get away from people and alone with our Lord God Almighty it will delight the Spirit and be rest for your soul.  I promise! (only because His promises are faithful and true).  I hope you Do relate.

With Love,
Candace

©Candace Huffmaster 2012, All Copyrights Reserved

Kaleidoscope Butterfly™

“The Tear”

Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the sun. And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them. Ecclesiastes 4:1

I have been studying for our Honestly series all week. Even though I already have enough material for several months, my inquisitive mind is never satisfy to stand on the surface of an underlying message. You would think after 49 years I would have hit bottom on at least one topic. But as soon as I have clarity on that level it’s like a Fun Land slide gliding me, swirly, twirly around to land upon yet another adventure to dig for buried treasure.

In Ecclesiastes 4:1, for a moment I heard the grieving of the Holy Spirit through Solomon’s words. So I went back to study the Hebrew text. In the fullness of those words I understood the reason He wanted me to find this jewel!

Then I looked again………..

This is not a flippant second glance. It is when you have turned but there was a shadow, blur or bright light that caught your attention and haunting you till you turn back to give it your full vision; searching to find what you overlooked.

This is what Solomon did. He stopped and turned because of a small translucent glistening sparkle caught his eye and connected his heart and mind when he saw “The Tear”. That tear must have opened the flood gates because the words Solomon uses explains this:

Every single time someone exercised authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner, troubled a person mentally or physically, threatened, caused adverse conditions caused anxiety OR obtained something by force / coercion whether it was information, money etc. using any unacceptable method, Solomon saw it in their tears.

But I believe what truly grieved him was the injustice. The oppressor had so much power over the poor soul, and they would not stop it – they would not repent! Worse yet there was no one there to grieve with the person, to say they were sorry and give them some relief or comfort from what they were experiencing. It was so terribly inhumane!!

I believe what Solomon saw was what Christ bore for us. Maybe Solomon was seeing the past, present and future who knows but God.

Start thinking about what it would be like to see from a transformed mind; to see for the first time, in clear reality. Can you imagine? Wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing? I think about all the distortion of our minds eye and how the perversion of truth / memory distorts the moments of our day that I am moved to frustration and yes maybe even at times anger because it is not how God intended us to live life.

If it were, why would He tell us all things in advance?

It if were, why would He have to send His most precious Son to show us reality and The Way?

If it were, why would He continually tell us to cast down false imagination?

If it were, why would He tell us to be on guard for the enemy is crouching waiting to devour us?

If it were, why would He tell us to be aware of the wolves I sheep’s clothing?

Obviously, I have not even made a dent in this list. Yet we, being so smart and all, act as though it is perfectly acceptable to live in this state as though we don’t need clarity we simply need to trust God.

While I do agree with the statement that God’s ways are not our ways, He makes it clear that the reason we are to be aware is so that we will not close our mind, heart and eyes inward to our own thoughts which will lead us back into confusion.

We do not know what is up ahead, but God does.

We don’t always know what to do, but when we listen, discern and have accurate information in our heart and mind encompassed by trust and faith in Our Father and salvation through Christ we can have confidence that He will be there showing us every step of the way. We will also know that there are Angels standing guard over us. So again, there should not be distortion, confusion, anxiety or perplexity.

It is NO wonder that He told us not to worry about tomorrow --He knew we were going to have enough worries simply wrapping our worldly minds around clarity for today. He isn’t going to cut our time short – so we shouldn’t do it by worrying about our time being cut short.

Just live, laugh, love, and trust in His faithfulness – today! And I bet you’ll get to do it all over again tomorrow – I believe those are pretty good odds =D

With Love and a prayer of Thanksgiving –

Kisses,

Candace

 

©2011Candace Huffmaster, All Rights Reserved

...But Joy Comes in the Morning!

Friday we were speaking of the Gospel in group. We discussed the subjects of speaking about our problems, which is good, but not giving honor and glory to God if we stop our sentences where there should be a semicolon or a connecting adverb. There must be the speaking of our discomfort....BUT....a praising of our Lord God Almighty that He will not leave us in this situations as an orphan - unloved.

Another interesting tid-bit using our knowledge of sentence structure is that when using a conjunction the direction of the sentence does not change. Application being: We have been speaking about life as a road trip and what happens when road blocks, bridges or wrecks happen. If we understand that when we take the conjunction by way of getting out of the mishap we simply continue on the same road going deeper toward that destination. However when we take "connecting" detour we are being lead away from the problem and back onto the road in safety.

So when you write about stressful things or speak about them today, bring to remembrance who you are in God's sight: His eye is on you, He sees all the fragments as a design, He has understanding to support your lack of knowledge......But you must believe by using your actions to go as He leads.

Psalms 30:5 (GWT) His anger lasts only a moment. His favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may last for the night.......but there is a song of joy in the morning! (emphasis mine)

Use the thoughts below to tie everything we have been speaking on - we will be adding to all this and closing out deeply as we review.

Kisses,
Candace

 
View Points and Perspectives

Today I was thinking about our views on things. Conversations with others; what is our view point? Planning our ambitions for the future; what is our view point? View points are actual “things” they are not simply thoughts. They move us down a physical path, interacting with physical things - people, places, and all the tangible objects within.

There are many paths to branch off from with this topic. For now let me park on this thought; If we never take the time to look from all angles, our view point is only one dimensional.

Now think of the view point we are supposed to have; an omnipresent view, through the vision of our creator. We are to look from all directions; both physically and mentally as He does. He knows the beginning and the end at the same time. We can follow that by utilizing history (the beginning) and his promise of what is to come (the end). We have our memories as well as trusted experience of many wise people.

If we take the time to walk around the object we are viewing; whether metaphorical or physical, ask for God to give us his eye sight and power to perceive, and patiently use our mind and heart to reflect we will certainly have a full view from all prospective positions.

With that in mind what do you see? How do you perceive it? Is it a real or false image? Use the powers entrusted to you as a child of God to cast down false imagination and See what is really before you as well as what is down your road. He promises to tell us EVERYTHING in advance. I trust him…..what about you?

Building the Image

• What do we see? 
• What will we/it look like? 
• What will we/it say? 
• How will we/it act out? 
• Who are we/it available for? 

These are verses that apply to us all, within them he speaks to us individually. The unique answers will come from your relationship with God through Christ.

We are made in the image of God, we are made like them.

We see that all God said is possible and He himself would manifest it.

We only see in part, but we will see all clearly. God gave us the Holy Spirit so that no thing is hidden and all things are brought into the light for us to clearly understand.

We are to only speak what the Father words, we are to speak the Truth in Love. We are to warn of harm, give wisdom to those seeking it, and to passionately cry out in grief or despair to God when they choose not to be obedient to God.

We are to follow Christ acting in accordance with his actions. Taking whatever action God tells us to for each unique situation.

We are available for Christ to live in us to reach whoever He chooses, whenever He dictates.

Each of us were made to function the same and yet so incredibly uniquely in our commonality. We must seek how we are different from everyone else. Therein is what He designed you to do…better than anyone else – while working together with a heart of gratitude for the other unique people He designed to be part of His body.

Let’s encourage each other, embrace each other, lift up each other….then we will be One Strong Body….made in His Image.

  Kisses,

Candace

 

© Candace Huffmaster 2005 All Rights Reserved