The Hope of the Accused and Defeated

I struggle with the flesh; I know I am judged by those who see my struggles. I have learned that there is nothing to discuss when my guilt is already established. That is futility; and it will lead to speaking on behalf of our accuser – to defend self in the face of established guilt, real or assumed makes no difference at that point. And if the accusation is there, then I am assumed to be guilty so there is no reason to speak, instead let the truth speak for itself. If I have to be honest, I know that there is nothing about me worth defending; if God so chooses to defend me I praise Him for taking notice of my life because that is why I struggle instead of surrender to my flesh – that our Father notices and brings me through the struggle and makes me brand new.

That is the hope of everyone who believes in God when times of trials roll around. We all hope that God takes notice of us and come to our defense when we call to Him in our distresses. Every single human being holds that hope of vindication from accusation and trial. Because we all want what’s promised after the struggle. We want to come through the fire and receive from God “a new heart and a new Spirit” Ezekiel 36:26.

So why do we have to go through troubles sometimes and why does it feel like we’re all alone in those times?

Job chapter 1 verse 9-10 is as good a place as any to start because often times, we begin with one question in our times of struggle; “why me”? It is not a bad question to begin with. It is actually a good question to ask when we’re going through struggles. But, many of us end there and enter a season of self-pity that never ends and so we miss the answer to the question. That is what’s bad about asking, why me. Not the question, but our reaction to the question.

The why varies from person to person; as in Job’s case, his tests didn’t come from something he did, per se, rather because he was a good man. If you read the entire book you will see the answer was that the accuser used God’s entreaty to throw dirt on Job to have God test him to prove that Job would betray God and curse Him, if God stopped protecting Job. In Job’s struggle, we see that problems in life and pain affects the best of us in ways we can’t fathom while times are good, but also that God is with us when we come back to Him and correct our error.

Job asked many questions and spoke many things that God didn’t like. When it was time for Job to listen, Job listened carefully (Job 32, 36, & 38, 39…). But, if we ask “why me” and end there to throw ourselves a pity party, nothing will get solved.

As believers, we know that God doesn’t hide anything and is not above pulling us up by our shirtsleeves, not because He’s angry, but because He loves us and wants the best for us in every situation. I can give more than my share of testimonies about God’s correcting rod. God gives us the answer when we ask why in ways we can understand, IF we are willing to look past our pain to the truth. If we are willing to look at the truth, we realize one of two things; there is something God is pointing out about us He wants addressed or, we stand accused and are to be tested and also refined in our season of testing.

Whatever we choose, God does not give up on us and will not give up until the last hour of fighting so we should not give up. In fact, if we choose to look at what is happening with an unbiased (love of truth, not just self) attitude, we will realize something profound that has taken me years of studying to understand. God throws himself right into the fire with us when we begin to take corrective actions instead of pining away at our situation. We see an example of this in 2 Samuel chapter 5:23 where King David is being attacked by the Philistine army after having defeated them in battle. God tells King David not to “attack them straight, circle around and attack them under the Balsam trees. As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tree tops, move quickly because it means the Lord has gone out ahead of you to attack the Philistine army.”

God says, “the battle is the Lord’s”. We see what this means in the New Testament when Jesus was led to His death after living a pious and truthful life, taking our sins to the grave with him and leaving them there when he rose from the dead and went back to heaven. He deserves the praise, but Jesus spoke lovingly of God for a reason; after being unable to have the Israelites come to Him willingly, though they were unable to follow the Law according to God’s will, God sends the Messiah to walk perfectly in the Law. And so Jesus caringly did according to what God wanted, not turning to the right or to the left. And in his unfailing love and His tireless zeal to save as much of humanity as possible, God made it easier for us to come to Him through Jesus. All we have to do is believe that Jesus took our sins to the grave and left them there and submit to Him. As Jesus said “I speak only what my Father tells me.” And, as we see in Matthew 11 verse 28, “take my yoke on you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

During his life, Jesus went to secluded places to pray by himself. Ironically, we do not know what Jesus prayed about unless we look to the prophets through whom God told us ahead of time what He would do. The book of Psalms is filled with prayers by David and others that tell of Jesus’ struggles, like Psalm 64 verse 4-5, Psalm 69 and so many others where Prophets spoke of the anguish Jesus suffered through prayers and his crucifixion. Jesus walked peacefully though he was accused of many things, all of them we now know are false accusations or his words twisted to suit the need of the accuser. He did not answer or argue.

I know that every situation is different and every life is different. But consider my next sentence and ask anyone to validate what you will read; silence and action is always the better answer. What I have learned over the course of my life is this; there is no lie in silence, except our own and we should correct our lies in silence. In silence we will also find our answers to what ails us. In silence we do not lash out at anyone in a good or bad way. In silence we allow ourselves and others to come to terms with THE truth. All can go back to God and seek solace, and, if God is willing all will find forgiveness and healing. Mainly, for the accused, it allows them to see what their struggle and the reason for it, and to take corrective measures and own up to it, shame or no-shame. And in that silence we will see the hand of the Lord as we begin to take purposeful action to rectify the issue.

Personally, I will admit my struggles with the flesh. Paul and the Elders (Apostles) spoke in volumes about the struggles of the flesh, from Acts to Jude and how the Holy Spirit will help us in the struggles. It is not an easy struggle and the pull of the flesh is not always simple to brush aside. But when we are willing to suffer in silence and call to God and listen to the counsel Jesus Messiah offers through the Holy Spirit, we understand the meaning of Psalms 23:4 “your rod and your staff, they comfort me”. Praise God for the correcting rod and the Laws He uses to show us our failings, because then we can correct our behavior knowing that Christ took the brunt of the wrath of God that the early Israelites struggled with before Messiah came to die for our sins. And our struggles show us how much God loves us and how much He is willing to do to show us this unbounded love, when we understand the answers and accept them.

It is that love that God gives so freely that allows me to freely admit my struggles and work on them, being sure that I am careful to cause as little harm as possible by the way I live. That Love is why I choose to forego arguing over accusations and would rather sit and look at what I stand accused of to make sure I am not doing it, or take corrective action in order to live with a purpose not to cause undue harm to anyone. That includes anyone who accuses me of anything. I will do my best not to cause harm by correcting them, and I will promptly call to God because I know that He will send the Holy Spirit to counsel me and the accuser and heal both of us for any wrong, regardless of who is wrong or right.

As we are judged because of our struggles, we should remember that those who judge us and also those who accuse us have their own struggles. When we see others struggling we should keep in mind how we feel when we ourselves are judged and reserve judgment as much as possible, better if we don’t judge them at all (2 Chronicles 28 verse 9-11 & Matthew 7 v 1-2 “Judge not or you will be judged”). We do not know what the accuser has for the person going through a struggle when they leave our presence and, if we are not willing to help them carry the pains of their struggle, then we should not have anything to say about it. And we do not know what God intends to do with the struggle of the person who is accused. But we should seek the Lord in our struggles, from the simplest to the most difficult. That way we not only see the “why me” in our situation, but we see the hand of God and the Holy Spirit holding our cross above our heads.

Spiritseid encourages you to share your thoughts respectfully, this is an open forum. Subscribe to the free blog and invite anyone you who you believe would benefit from being here. Support our efforts by sharing on social media. Blessings.

Our Furnace In our Time of Testing

As we are inundated with empty spaces, streets, and an over-abundance of news feeds on COVID 19, we who belong to the Kingdom of Heaven should be mindful of how we act. Don’t join the panic but call on God. As we may recall, His complaint with the Israelites of old was not so much that they sinned, because he said repeatedly that he swept their sins away, even as far as the east is from the west. His complaint centered on the fact that His people looked to other gods and not to him. On several occasions when Israel was in trouble they sought other kings to form alliances and called on others to help them in their time of need. Several times God sent word to the leader of His people during the times they formed alliances to ask if it was because there is no God in Israel that they would send to strangers instead of calling on Him.

I’m not saying don’t follow the precautions the experts are putting into place. They are sound advice for everyone of us to follow. Wash your hands thoroughly, cover your coughs, isolate if you exhibit flu-like symptoms or shortness of breath; all the advice is good and sound. But Christ said his disciples ought to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Follow the advice to keep yourself and others safe, but call on God to help us in this hour of need. As in the book of Daniel with Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednigo we ought to trust that God will do exactly as He said he would do if we would believe and send the Son of Man to walk with us in our furnace. In this case, to help us navigate the ravaging effects of this novelty virus grinding lives to a halt. May we all find the faith it takes to walk like the ancestors in our furnace today so that we may learn patience and perseverance in Christ.

Stay safe and blessed.

God Is Love

God is Love. We hear that often, but too many times. As love God seeks to direct our lives in ways that are beneficial to His way of peace, prosperity, and love toward God and toward one another. But there are often times we confuse God's love by believing it is like love we profess to one another, and believe we can direct how God loves.

When I hear people speak about God being angry or harming or causing harm, I realize they don't know God. If someone knows God they know that before anger comes warning after warning, and help, and messengers, and counseling by God. In fact, before wrath, God Himself comes to those affected and does his utmost to show them how much he hates what they're doing and that what they are doing is causing harm to others.

Love is in the details. Understanding God's love is in reflecting on the details until we see the Truth. Not our truth but the Truth.

You Are Never Alone

No one knows the pain you’re in because no one asks. It can feel like a cauldron of fire inside you at all times, night and day, with no one to pour a little water on it. Sometimes people pass and you want to say hello, but you’re afraid they’re going to sneer or curse you. It can feel like your soul is being crushed by the weight of life just to breath. But, you are never alone. God says again and again, he would always walk with us. You’re holding too much of the pain on your own to see his presence trying to take it from you.

Feeling abandoned or cut-off can feel worse than awful. You can be surrounded by people and still feel alone because they seem like they’re having a good time and the pain you have inside says you’re not good enough to join them without screwing up. God has the salve to heal the burning pain inside you if you just say, “Heavenly Father, I need you”, and believe that he is listening, because he is always listening and watching over all of us.

The way we live today is for ourselves. No one wants to hurt you intentionally, well, technically they don’t. It is just the nature of wanting things for ourselves; someone else has to lose it for us to gain the things we work for because we all compete for the same things, love and attention of others included. The competition almost never ends well because no one wants to share. Every one is apprehensive of anyone else who comes near what they believe belongs to them, unless they act the very same as everyone else in the circle, and you feel like you just don’t fit in. This can create feelings of loneliness, guilt (believe it or not), fear, or just outright being made fun of, which makes the feelings far worse.

I am as different from most people I meet, as night is from day. Scares me when I meet others who can actually understand what’s in my head. It is an awesome feeling. Then they leave and I’m left alone with my thoughts. So I used to think. But I do understand the feelings these days because they used to have me trapped and feeling isolated with family around me. The older I got living with the feelings the more I reclused, and the more I reclused is the less I wanted to talk. I just wanted to study things and theories and look at them and figure out how things work. Leave me with things and I am as happy as a Lark, except there were times I felt like I needed people to speak to but just didn’t know how. It was during the latter years of my own life, during a deep depression I sat down and prayed.

My literal prayer was for God to remove the chains binding my hands and feet, though I didn’t know why I thought I was chained. But that’s what I prayed for. I also asked him to free me from what was holding me captive. Things began to change. My thoughts began to change. And I was slowly freed from the depressive thoughts that had hounded me for years. But there was something else – a small voice inside driving me to look at things the way I used to. From the basics out, even me. And that is when I began seeing everything that was really going on with me. What I saw scared the daylights out of me because I never would have imagined I was, what I was looking at. But there was something else the little voice told me. I would be a lot of work to patch up. That voice was the Holy Spirit and true to his word, I fell apart, I kicked, I screamed, I was convicted and ran, and then I completely shattered. But, God showed me he would not leave me alone or send me to just anyone, but to his own children.

That is when the healing started for me and I began to speak more and call on people more. I began to talk to God more and understand more and maturing from an infant in the Spirit to a toddler. I do understand now that even in the worst times I was never alone. God was right there waiting for me to call on him. The family I thought I could not turn to or trust was simply people living their lives and didn’t know what to do about me because, I was just weird. But God also showed me that this wasn’t true. I am just as different from everyone else as they are different from me, and one another.

It is the same with everyone else. You too. Your walk in life may feel lonely, but you are not alone. God has never abandoned us. He just stays quiet and leaves us to live as we see fit and hopes that we turn to Him in our hour of need, so he can remake us in his image rather than the image of pain life on Earth branded us with. God explains why he doesn’t interfere in our lives in the book of Isaiah chapter 42 verse 19, “who is blind but my servant, deaf like the messenger I send?” and in verse 20 “you have seen many things, but have paid no attention; your ears are open, but you hear nothing.” God does not pay attention to what we do not bring to his attention, if we choose to hold onto it ourselves. That includes the way we feel. But the minute we call out to Him and recognize him is when he begins taking care of and, correcting things we didn’t even know was wrong with our life. Judgment is reserved for the day he chooses to pass judgment on the world.

Even Jesus said that he did not come to condemn (judge) the world, but to save it [john 3:17] – and as much as he did, as much as he preached, he would not intervene in people’s lives one way or another unless they invited him to. Understanding this, I have come to know that it is not that God abandoned us, but that God is waiting for us to invite him into our lives.

The loneliness you feel, the feeling of being worthless can end. Just invite God into your life. It is easy. The words, “Heavenly Father I need you,” will set off a chain of events in your life that will change your thinking and circumstances according to what you want and what you’re willing to do. God will begin a work in you that will seem like an artist chiseling out a brand new sculpture from you. It feels like it is an impossible thing when you first start because, like when we were children, it takes practice to walk. Your mind will take time to let go of the lonely feeling, but slowly, God will set to work in you and remake you until you don’t remember what you were like yesterday. Just glimpses every time your old life of loneliness tries to remind you to come back.

But lonely is NOT who we were made to be. We were made, each one of us, and as an assembly of people, to be God’s glory. We were meant to live lives of joy and peace, giving thanks for the abundance God provides for us and he will, even here in this time of trial and temptation and our misery. All you have to do is ask and let him in.

But you are not alone. It just feels like it because your eyes are covered by misery and the life that is holding you captive. Ask God to remove the chains and he will. He will bring you as far as he sees you need carrying before he sets you down and lets you begin to walk on your own. But he will not intervene until you call to him and ask him to help you, to set you free and I hope that after reading this, you will.

For any brother or sister who has a story to share that they believe can help anyone who reads this, it is welcome, please comment.

Never Too Far Gone to be Forgiven

There are many people who want to go to God to be forgiven and to be saved. Some will. Some won’t because they don’t know they can or don’t believe they can get forgiveness because of things they’ve done. They do their best to do the right thing, but never enter a season of prayer and professing their sins because they don’t know or don’t believe that God will forgive them and help them carry the baggage they have been carrying around. Those in doubt would if they only knew God’s love is far greater than the weight of any baggage people accumulate. That may be exactly why God left witnesses in the world – a way to remind us to just call on him.

The fact is that if the worst of God’s children turn from what they’re doing and call to Him sincerely, from the heart, he will answer. If they turn from doing wickedness and begin to obey by living good lives, heaven will celebrate for that one life. Jesus says so plainly in the book of Luke chapter 15 verse 7 “I tell you that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance”. It does not matter what our sins are, what matters is that we are never too far gone, never too far fallen, and never have too much shame to call on God and turn our life around, through Jesus. When you read the Bible to understand it, you begin to see the instances God has waited patiently to deliver punishment he spoke about through the prophets, in order to give those who received the warning ample time to alter course so he could change punishment to forgiveness and healing, even if it is just one that turns. Like the passage from 1 Kings 19:13, when God was trying to refresh Elijah so he would go back out in the field and speak to his brothers, give them more time. When he saw that Elijah was a broken man, God relented, still, he says, “I have reserved 7,000 Israelites for myself who have not bowed the knee to Baal”.

We have all been down some roads we weren’t supposed to take; just a little stroll to see what’s there and then get back on the correct path. Months or years later, you think back to where you were and realize that you stayed on the block too long. You start wondering if you can go home. Will the door be open? Will God actually let you back in the door if you knock? Will he even answer with all that you did during that time? I believe most, or all of us have been there, except 144,000 people out of the history of the entire world who remain pure, according to scripture. Unless you are one of the 144000, you likely had those thoughts when you think about asking for forgiveness. The answer is, Yes, he will answer and he will open the door before you even begin to knock.

Jesus gave the perfect answer to God answering us if we call on him, in the book of John chapter 6 verse 37, by saying, “I won’t turn away anyone that comes to me”. But, even in the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and even as far back as Exodus God pleads with the Israelites to turn back to him rather than face the punishment he said he was going to send on them. So, my presumption in saying yes, is that God does not want to punish anyone, he just wants us to acknowledge him and turn back from the wrongs we are doing and he will welcome our repentance with a happy heart.

There isn’t enough shame in the whole world that will keep God from meeting you with open arms either. The same people God wanted to turn back to him, the same ones that had broken Elijah’s spirits, the same ones that cursed Jesus, even us today; our lives are lived before God night and day. Our basest and best moments are seen while we’re doing them. Our shame is laid bare before his eyes at all times. You hear it in the way he speaks plainly and without filter when you read Biblical text. But none of our shame is enough to disqualify us from being forgiven.

So if you are one of those who say “if only God knows what I did he would never let me near the door”; he already knows what you did but he will open the door if you knock. In 1 Kings, during the time Elijah was a prophet in Israel Ahab was king. Ahab did all sorts of evil and had even murdered a man to get his property. God pronounced judgment on king Ahab and sent Elijah to tell him that he would die for what he’d done. But Ahab repented in the dramatic way they did back then. Tore his clothes, sackcloth and ashes. Seeing what Ahab did, in 1 Kings 21 verse 29 God goes back to Elijah and says; “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me. Because of this I will not bring the evil in his days.” This is how happy God is when we turn from doing wicked and evil things and will happily reward us with forgiveness.

God even makes a promise in the book of Jeremiah 31 verses 31 to 34. This promise was for a new covenant with the people born during the time of Christ and after. “I will put my laws in their minds and write it in their hearts, and I will be their God and they will be my people.” This is a special promise for the generations to come after Jesus’ time, which says that we would all be able to call on God for ourselves. Christ says he will not turn anyone away. He also said we should forgive one another 70 times 7 in one day, which means he would forgive us that many times if that’s what it took.

That means until he says that everything is finished; until the very last second of the time we have left on Earth, as long as we are still breathing if we call out to God and ask for forgiveness, he will. Call God and he will answer you. Ask for forgiveness and he will forgive you. No mystery and no priests or ministers required to speak to God anymore because God wanted each person to come to him by themselves. Therefore he made Christ the High priest, and everyone is able to go to God in Christ’s name.

Does that mean we have forever to do as we please? No! You don’t know if you’re going to be alive tomorrow. You don’t know if tomorrow is the last day on Earth. None of us do. If you’re not alive you won’t be able to seek God or call on him. That is why it is critical to call on God the minute you feel like you should. His redemption, with the new covenant is simple. Believe his message that Jesus Christ, our Messiah is His son and that his death washed our sins clean. The rest will fall into place over your lifetime as you continue to pray and allow God to work on your heart and mind.

God loves us that much that he sent Jesus to die so that anyone in the world could be saved through his death, simply by believing God’s message about Jesus. When we repent of our sin and disobedience – in accordance with love, justice, compassion, mercy, and faithfulness  – he has already said he forgives us, through Christ’s death and resurrection. He is just waiting for us to acknowledge Him and call out to Him so he can begin the work of renewing and preparing us to bear our cross. About bearing our cross, Jesus says “follow me, I am meek and my burden is light.” In our weakness, God’s power becomes powerful in us.

The overwhelming mercies and grace of God is our benefit in that we can go to Him at any time while we’re alive. We can seek forgiveness and confess what we’ve done and all of it is forgiven. All of it is an open book in front of Him so the only shame about seeking forgiveness, is not asking for it. Whether we choose to be convinced otherwise is a decision we make, either through willful ignorance or not knowing how. The how is simple; find a little corner by yourself and just say, Lord forgive me… whatever you say from that point is between you and God. No one who says they believe God’s message can judge you because everyone who has, has already been here because of their own sins and said those words. We also know that if we judge you, we are calling down judgment on ourselves and we do not want that. Just go ahead and seek God.

As I close, I can confidently tell you that the forgiveness and love you find with God is awesome. The things He will teach you to renew your spirit is awe-inspiring. And if you choose to witness about God’s mercies and love after you find forgiveness, there is an astounding joy that comes from what the Holy Spirit will open to you. The more you accept and the more you learn is the more he will open to you. The word “complete joy”, will take on a whole new meaning for you.

As for me, I choose to believe the message of salvation spoken of through the prophets and Jesus Messiah (Christ). And I choose to make it the one desire that will replace all other desires as I learn to let go of who I thought I was, to become a temple in the Kingdom of God. No matter what you have done or believe you have done. Just ask. God never gives up on us, neither should you give up on you, nor let anyone persuade you not to turn to God. Because even if the worst of God’s children repent in their hearts, he is celebrating and forgiving.

If you have an inspiring story to share, don’t hesitate to comment.

Spiritseid

Firstly, welcome to the writing spot that hopes to becomes a well read blog of spiritual exploratory content. Spiritseid (spirit seed was taken), is a blog that strives to explore God, His spiritual reality, Faith, spiritual maturity, spiritual immaturity, other topics and invite readers to join me in this journey of spiritual revival. Posts will be in the form of articles and small blogs, poetry, stories, and, of course, biblical analogy; all in the hopes of keeping it fresh and light hearted. Feel free to join, comment, share, or interact however you feel comfortable doing.

So, on to the good stuff!

What in the world is a Spiritseid? Seid is another word used for medicine by some folk, I read somewhere. Seed was taken so I chose to use seid instead. Catchy, good for edification, speaks of healing, and works well for what the blog posts will focus on - I think.

What will the blog posts be about? Exploring the truth of God, talks about daily living, discussions about family, children, growing up; you name it and the blog will likely touch on it at some point.

Will we be taking requests? Not sure. We'll see how things go.

Is this another one of them success joints? Spiritual success for the lost and those feeling ostricized and wanting to get closer to God.

Will the content be original? Original is sort of cliche. There will be a lot of quotes from the Bible and other writings and blogs? So... Yes and no.

Is there a membership? Most of the content you find here will be FREE. Just read and enjoy. Emails will be read. You can use the contact page once I have it set up to reach out.

Will this be a paid subscription blog. No.

Comments? Moderated for respectful dialogue and anti bullying

Emails? Private - nothing will be shared except your comments, which everyone will be able to see if they are approved.

Will you be allowing Guest posts? I am open to the idea, I just do not know in what format or how I will be going about that as yet. But the blog is young, there is plenty of time to decide. All of these questions will take shape the more God guides my hands along the keyboard.

To summarize; Spiritseid is a little corner of the web where you can come to read some positive words about God and life without the judgment or overly strenuous guides and such. These are simple uplifting words I want to share. Welcome to Spiritseid. To support, share often, comment respectfully.

Peace to you.