How Much Do You Want to Grow?

Do you want to grow to maturity?

Do you want to truly succeed?

If you answered yes, then I have to ask you, “How much truth can you handle?”

Truly successful people will receive rebuke.

Truly successful people will crave instruction.

Truly successful people will seek criticism.

For if you want to reach high achievements, you have to first recognize where you are, where you were and where you are not.

This takes a great deal of humility and an even greater ability to receive truth.

So, are you a growth seeker or a truth evader?

And you shall know thetruth, and the truth shall make you free.

John 8:32

Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

John 17:17

10/29/22

One Man’s Victory

It always amazes me when I see competition among believers.

I’m not talking about healthy competitions that compares with the disciples desire to be valued in the eyes of Christ.

Some of that can spur us to greatness as we leave our laziness, apathy and fears and hunger to succeed in the Kingdom of God.

I’m talking about the raw, unheeded ambition of the carnal mind.

That desire to be great that is embraced with the hands of greed that will strangle anyone who dares to challenge.

I’m talking about that ugly, adulterated, sinful lust for power, position and prestige that is bred in the bed of jealousy, envy and pride.

When this epitome of nasty nature raises its eyes to take hold of a prize, never realizing the price paid for what is coveted…

The disasters that follow are both heart wrenching and horrifying.

No one knows the anguish filled steps that led to the other man’s mountaintop.

No one knows the sorrow that held that woman’s hand on her journey to success.

No one knows the torment of her nightmares that she finally turned into the dream.

Never suspire another man’s gain before you realize the price he paid.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.

Exodus 20:17

Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus…

Romans 15:5
*not my photo (Google)

10/28/22

Going Mad?

It seems our world might be turning upside down.

What used to be right seems to be wrong.

What used to be wrong now seems to be right.

Truth is all relevant and opinions can only be accepted by the most liberal among us.

How did we get here?

No one seems to know.

Or maybe no one wants to claim responsibility.

You can be anything you want as long as you don’t declare God as King or Christ as Lord.

You can say anything you desire as long as it agrees with this one and complies with that.

Who have we become?

No one seems to know.

Not sure anyone really cares.

So, if no one cares, then I am better off serving the One whom I know loves me.

If no one knows, then I am more advantaged if I remain with the One who created me.

If no one is concerned, then I am more fortunate to live as His redeemed and await His return.

If I’m considered among the insane and deranged, then so be it.

As Alice said, “All the best people are.”

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

1 Corinthians 1:20-25

10/28/22

Happy All Saints Day

What an incredible statement.

What an amazing burden to bear.

Yes. You can live any way you’d like.

Yes. You can speak out truth and goodness, love and compassion.

Yes. You can remain silent as you watch good turn evil and wreak havoc on those beyond your reach.

It doesn’t really matter, does it?

I mean, on the grand scheme of things what does all the chaos, perversion and heresy mean for you?

You’ve lived your life. You’ve accomplished your dreams.

Now’s they time for you to “coast it on in.”

No need to rock the boat when you’re about to hit the shoreline.

Or is it worth a little pause, a glance, an engagement of a whisper that may one day turn into a shout?

Look into your child’s eyes before you answer nonchalantly.

Look into the soul of their future before you so briskly take a nod.

What do you see? What can be predicted?

Maybe on All Saints Day we need to look back and search the meanings.

Maybe we need to listen to Truth that has been written on the pages on time.

Maybe we need to look at their future and not only ours.

Hear this, you elders,
And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land!
Has anything like this happened in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
Tell your children about it,
Let your children tell their children,
And their children another generation.

Joel 1:2-3

Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth.

Deuteronomy 11:18-21

10/27/22

Shine Bright on the 31st

So many ask about this day, wondering it’s importance, it’s value, it’s emphasis.

Should we hide out? Should we go out?

Should we celebrate? Should we not?

So many questions even more opinions…

Instead of preaching a sermon or debating a point, I’ll leave you with this.

Not my words, but a great little read…

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-light-shines-on-all-hallows-eve

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:16

10/27/22

May There Be Peace Within

While strolling through a store the other day, I saw this on a leather journal.

There’s not much I could add to this words if wisdom; so, I’ll just leave this here.

Read it. Breathe it in.

Let it settle into your bones and become a part of who you are.

For, true Peace within brings all things into right focus.

You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.

Isaiah 26:3

10/25/22

Be Amazed!

What great instructions!

What great encouragement!

Be alert. Be amazed. Share it with someone.

Too often, I think this is our problem in this modern day.

We are too distracted, too oblivious, too blind.

We can’t see past our own nose, much less have vision for things going on around us.

We are too pessimistic, too analytical, too cynical.

We are too doubtful, too resentful, too fearful.

We can’t grasp humility and gratitude because we are too self-reliant, never realizing we’re broken and lost.

We are too self-centered, too greedy, too covetous.

We are too selfish, too insatiable, too ambitious.

We can’t embrace compassion and generosity because we are too self consumed, never realizing we’re empty and fragmented.

If we could just open our eyes to see.

If we could just open our ears to hear.

If we could but open our hearts to love, to receive, to give,

We would stand in awe of what would come.

Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.

1 Corinthians 2:9

10/23/22

Healing Brings Clarity

I’m not sure if there’s a statement that could be more true…

Well, I’m sure there are others, but this healing business is serious, and it’s needed by more than is realized.

When you are wounded, clarity is almost impossible to find.

When you are in pain, certainty can be so cloudy, so evasive.

You can be looking straight at the problem but never see the face staring back at you in the mirror.

You’re blinded by the agony, but you claim all is well.

You can speak with words, yet the emotions are lost within the anguish of grief.

It’s like trying to walk through a crowded room with your arm in a sling, hoping no one will bump it, all the while acting as if nothing is wrong, and the room is empty.

It borders on insanity.

Yet, every one of us stands with the accused.

Every one of us has lived in this ludicrosity.

Every one of us has chosen the absurd from time to time.

But if we can simply grasp the moment to receive healing,

If we can simply accept the bandage,

Embrace the cast,

Take hold of the remedy as if it’s a lifeline,

The vision we achieve will be amazing.

Then He [Jesus]said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.

Matthew 12:13

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

James 5:13-15

Who’s Carving Your Name?

When I was a little girl, I always dreamt of having a guy carve our initials to share our love with the universe.

When I grew older, I learned it’s better for him to carve his initials on your heart and yours upon his.

When I was a teen, living in emotional train wrecks, I’d carve hate into an edge of skin to somehow blind the pain.

When I grew older, I learned it’s better to let Jesus carve His love on my heart to ease the turmoil within.

When I was a young adult, I hoped one day my name would be carved in lights to shine for the world to see.

Now that I have grown older, I have realized it’s better to have it etched in the hearts of those around me.

For shallow loves drift.

Broken promises shatter.

Glitz and glamor fade away.

All in a moment’s breath.

But what you leave behind in memories and legacies can sustain for a lifetime.

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children…

Proverbs 13:22a

Living beautiful is excellent| زیبا زندگی کرد ن بسیار عالی است

“155th story” First published: Aug.13.2020 Mr. Rasti bought some furniture. He hired two men to deliver the furniture to his place. They asked Mr. …

Living beautiful is excellent| زیبا زندگی کرد ن بسیار عالی است