Christian

For articles about Belief in Christ Jesus and exploring faith

Extraordinary – Story Retold

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Long ago and far away there were two ordinary everyday people, at least they thought themselves ordinary until the extraoridinary events that unfolded afte they meet
Joseph was a much respected member of the community by hardworking carpenter by trade, while Mary was a young girl who had already devoted her life to serve God
She prayed regularly, and she was always willing to obey
This is their story and how all the events unfolded, Joseph was summoned by Mary’s father to do carpentry work for him as he had heard how skilled a workman Joseph was
So it was Joseph set off towards where Mary lived he took with him just the needed tolls for the job, and Mary’s father had ordered the timber
Mary was attracted to the 21 year old handsome carpenter even before she knew his name, while Joseph was impressed by Mary’s devotion to serve God, and found her to be of a pleasant and good nature
As the job involved several months of work Joseph remained as the honoured guest of Mary’s father
Overtime their admiration for each other grew in strength into love for each other and because of this Mary’s father had decided that they should be married
So he was Joseph and Mary were married and while Mary was praised god for marriage and new life
God spoke to her and revealed his plan for her, Mary was to be the chosen one to give birth to his son the Messiah
While Mary took the unexpected news with her normal modest unquestioning manner,

Joseph was more than a little taken aback by the news
After all he was only a newlywed husband and had certainly not expected Mary to announce that she was soon to be with child
He was confused and bewildered for he knew this was not his child, but he could not find it in his heart to doubt Mary when she had told him, this child was to be the son of God
Still dazed Joseph retired to bed on his own, with doubts and thoughts dancing around in his head
As he lay down unable to sleep, an angel of the lord spoke to him “Do not trouble your mind, your wife Mary speaks the truth, she will give birth to God’s Son and you shall call him Emanuel”
Then Mary joined Joseph who embraced her lovingly and they both fell asleep
The following day they had to travel many miles back to Joseph’s home town, and due to the census the little town was full, and so Joseph and Mary were required to accept an oxen stall
Where the son of God was to be born, before He was born there was to be a heralding shining star to guide three kings from the far East and humble shepherds who would worship the new extraordinary child
So it was on that night of night’s Jesus was born to Mary and Joseph, and although many years have passed since that holly night, we all should give thanks and praise that our saviour was born
For without Jesus Christ there would be no Christmas day
We need to rejoice as the shepherds and kings and all the angels rejoiced

I will give praise to you oh! Lord

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Let men say what they will about me, I care not for their empty praise or slanderous remarks

For with every breath even my dying breath I will give praise to you oh Lord

Even though I’m still a vile sinner I shall not allow them to speak ill of you oh Lord

I shall raise my voice against all who deny you or utter deceitful words against you

Whatever lies they spin or false teaching they preach against you

I will speak of your love your passion your sacrifice, whether they listen or not

Whether they believe my words or not, even if they threaten my very life in attempts to persuade me to disown you

I may falter in my human weakness and for a moment be taken in by their lies and twisting of the truth, but as for me I have known you from the days of my youth

When you became a much needed friend, someone who knew me better than I knew myself

I was drawn to you as you touch my heart with your compassionate love, not once did you chastise or rebuke me even though I strayed far from you in my later years

Never once did toss me to one side, but with much patience you came in search of me refusing to forsake me

Ready to comfort me when life became unbearable, ready to uplift me with your love when I became lonely, to fill me with your joy when I became sorrowful

As you reached out to me time after time in the darkest of places, where I had foolishly allowed myself to become entangled in my arrogance

Then late one night while I was asleep, you reached out to me reminding me of your love for me, filling my very soul with such joy I could not contain it within and awoke with joyous laughter

How could I have forgotten the depth of your love, the sublime peace, the exquisite joy, the richness?

Even though this lasted for a short moment of our time, I knew it was but a brief foretaste of the glory of your kingdom

Whatever the rest of my days hold in store for me, I must share this and declare that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Saviour and my dearest friend

Psalm 150:6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.

The Last Day

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There have been many predictions about the last day’s end of times – the rapture

In this story I make no predictions as to the actual date this will happen, but happen it will whatever sceptics may say

This is merely a story imagined in my story telling mind, but the truth is there for those with eyes to see

The Last Day

I awoke as normal this morning, expecting the normal hum drum day full of things to be done throughout the day as it unfolded

This seemed like just any other day, as I made my way into the kitchen thinking about breakfast

But as I did so, a nagging foreboding stirred up from deep inside my body stronger than my hunger pangs

I tried to ignore and brush it to one side as just hunger pangs which would soon subside once I had eaten

However even afterwards the feeling did not subside, lurking in the shadows so I could neither remove nor dismiss

I decided I would go for a brisk walk that should clear my head of what I decided was an early morning attack of feeling sorry for myself

The morning air was fresh with a touch of frost, I began to feel at ease even peaceful, until a memory popped back into my head from the previous night

Somewhere I had read about a lab that was turning human ashes (remains) into diamonds, I remembered that thought as disquieting

I shuddered as that thought replayed, and it intensified as that disquieting feeling arose once again

It was now stronger than ever, my body began to shake but not because of the cold air or that replaying thought

It was then I noticed how quiet it was outside, of course I didn’t expect other people as it was early, but there were no birds singing

Not one I listen as hard as I could straining to hear for any sound to break the unsettling silence

The only sound I heard was that of my own breathing and heartbeat, which seemed exaggerated

At that moment I felt totally alone and in desperate need of company, even a stranger or even a disagreeable person would have been welcome company at that moment

Then without warning I heard a distant rumble of what I took as thunder, so with that I chastised myself for being foolish and letting my feelings get the better of me and headed back home

On my way I was pleased to see other people out and about, and in my vanity I thought pretend I was just outside early due to insomnia

As I went towards someone I knew he was lifted from the ground as I hear a loud sound like a trumpet, I stood watching in disbelief as he then others were lifted

At the same moment the ground shook violently, then more people came running out their houses there was great confusion and I saw terror in many eyes

As houses collapsed around them and the earth shook again and huge gaps opened up and crowds of people were swallowed up

In was unable to move from where I was standing and unable to look away

Then I saw the face on someone I had known in my youth, but had put aside as a childish fantasy

“Why did you desert me, why have you turned away from me? His words pierced my heart

I fell to my knees “Forgive my Lord for being so foolish, I have no excuse to offer”

I trembled as I spoke, as distant memories flooded back into my mind not just mear stories of Jesus, but all those days I had experienced His Holly presence

 

 

Let us pierce the darkness with our praise

grahamcommand Christian, faith, Religion, Uplifting , , , ,

Inspired by comments on a YouTube Praise video

The praise video was wonderfully uplifting, which made it all the sadder to read too many criticism comments, which began to darken the light of praise

There are many forms of darkness not just the darkness of the night, one of the deepest darkness is depression, which wraps itself around your life force and sucks all the joy out of your very being

Dragging you downwards into a spiral of self-criticism – self-doubt along with self-pity, which uses our own weaknesses against us

Clouding our vision so we begin only seeing the lies of the darkness, exaggerating even our smallest faults and allowing them to grow into nightmarish monsters

 Much of the darkness inflicted upon us can be beyond our control, while some are self-inflicted because they offer false pleasure but become easily addictive

Our enemy weaves such a web of deceit all around us; we can so easily become trapped as a fly stuck fast upon its sticky strands we soon grow weaker through the struggle and succumb to its power over us until we accept the situation as a normal part of life

There are those who are born with bodies or minds that are far short of what they should be; but can they can fulfil God’s purpose if they allow His will to be done

While others with no defeats who inherit bad habits or similar traits from their parents

Without even realizing they can easily slip into the same ways as others before they have done, for many modern-day people view the commandments as outdated and even unnecessary or unfair of God to expect us to adhere to these strict rules

Uncontrollable anger rages – a sense of hopelessness – self-doubt – self-pity and maybe the worse one of all self-indulgent as this we shrug off with excuses “I’m only human” “you have to have some pleasure in life”

But self-indulgent through bad habits lead us into indulging in further self-indulgent, as enough is never enough, blocking out their ability to see the need of others

Let us instead fight back and pierce the darkness with praise and raise ourselves up above the enemy’s clutches and help others to free themselves too

Let us continue to watch those praise videos and sing along where the spirit moves, let us keep them in our hearts too so we can offer up praise wherever we are

Let us pierce the darkness with praise so that we are up above the enemy’s clutches and help other sinners to become free through the grace of Jesus Christ

With our praise let our little light shine and with God’s power, we will shine brighter than the sun

I Want to Know What Love is

Video grahamcommand Christian, Inspiring, Music videos, Religion, Well Known , , , 

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This is the title of a powerful pop song, and the ongoing chorus throughout the very dramatic video featured on YouTube

The song expresses through the singer the desire to discover a long-lasting and meaningful relationship with a woman, to share and express human love

However wonderful human love within a relationship maybe, human love is only a poor reflection of the love God forgave us while we were yet sinners

For within his sacrifice of his son, God tells you, “I love you completely and unconditionally” and “My love for you has no limits”

Even though parts of your life, even you dislike and you  try desperately to ignore, there is nothing hidden from my sight even though  I can hardly bare to look upon them

 I have chosen to forgive even though you can’t forgive yourself, for I love and accept everything unique about you that makes you the way you are

So come to me when you are weary or confused or frustrated, for I will never turn you away.

If you seek answers, come to me and ask, for I will answer you and give you want and need

Come to me when you are weary and drained by even the effort, for I will replenish you

You shall be my most prized possession, though you often lose your way I will guide you back home to me and welcome you with open arms

Then you will begin to experience the vast oceans of my power, and the depth of my love

For I am the way and know the course which I marked out for you.

Though your heartaches I will embrace you and comfort you, showering you with my affections so that your heartaches will be remembered no more.

For you are so very precious to me, My Love. You are the tenderness and affection of my heart.

When you need me most I am here ready to lift and carry you, for I will never leave you

 I AM what love is!

Note: Some of the sentences in this story come with permission from http://www.neilvermillion.com/tag/daily-prophetic/ I have altered them slightly to fit in with my story

Story from a poem

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The darkest depths of your soul

Knew no bounds of fortitude

To fight against the evil

That consumed you.

The darkest depths of your soul https://thesarahdoughty.wordpress.com/

 

I based the following story on the above mini poem

 

Sigh! If that were only true, that I had that kind of fortitude that knew no bounds

Sadly within the darkest depths of my soul, it remains dark because of me choosing my free will over the powerful freeing light of God’s love

Although I have asked at times I have asked God to take control, and He has done so until I exercise my right of free will to allow myself to plunge into self-indulgence

As to the fight against the evil, I all too often give into temptation instead of putting on the armour of God to do battle against all that is evil

How true it is the evil of temptation consumes my very soul, sapping my strength and resolve to do the will of God

The enemy will use our own weakness and amplify them and twist every truth, so much that truth appear to be false and then doubt easily creeps in

Flooding our minds, spreading through us like poisoned wine contaminating our beliefs and faith

Although I have had answers too many prayers, with many answered so fast the response made me gasp in surprise, I am sure I grieve the Holy Spirit

All too often I cling onto hurts from the past, stubbornly refusing to let go, as if I can change what happened in any way by reliving those events

The Darkest of All Days

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If the day ever dawned that I gave up believing and became an atheist, that would be for me the darkest day

If they finally convinced me that Jesus was not a real person or that his whole life was just another biblical fairy story, for me to give up a lifelong friend as he became to me would be unbearable and this would be the darkest of all days 

Although atheist would say it was a bright day, as I would be now free to start living life the way in which it should live uncluttered and unrestricted by religion

While there is a certain appeal to the idea of being able to please oneself, self-indulgence is mostly a short lived with far reaching consequences

At least the pleasure side of self-indulgence is short lived, the after affects are all too often longer lasting, as bad habits are easily formed from self-indulgence

Habits that grow in silent strength quickly overtaking any self-control, rendering us incapable of resisting, until the point of no return when we become addicted

I find it hard to imagine what my life would be like without religion, my faith my belief my prayers will be heard and answered

If I were to give up my faith, I know I would be filled with sorrow, for there would be no reason for singing praise songs, which have become a big and precious part of my life as they were for those who wrote them in the past

I often hear “there is no after life or heaven, just this one life” while this makes also me sad but not for the reasons they who say such thing might expect

As I doubt I would qualify as a faithful servant, but it would be enough for me to meet face to face with Jesus even if he turn me away

But not getting to live forever and dwell in heaven is not my saddest thought, but my deepest sadness would not be able to comfort my family once I die and even if I lived in paradise this regret well may haunt me

While I realize that religions often give rise to misunderstanding which may then lead to misguided followers to do evil things, this fact alone could be enough to persuade me to give up my own faith beliefs

This however would require a lot more convincing than mere words can affect me, it would also mean putting aside all of my past experiences

Even thinking about this fills me with utter despair, I can’t even imagine what my life would be like without Jesus – without the praise songs – without prayer and the assurance if answers

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”

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This is inspired by the lady who writes on https://beautybeyondbones.com

Margaret Wolfe Hungerford who is widely credited with coining the saying “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”

The world’s view of beauty is based on what can be seen on the outside, whereas God sees the beauty on the inside or at least the potential of what we could be if we allow him to shape us into the beautiful person we ought to be

All to often we allow the world and the view of others to dominate our way of thinking of ourselves, “nobody would call me handsome” “I’m too plain looking” nobody will ever love me way I look”

All these and more are the lies we allow ourselves to belive, due to the world’s view

Stop for a moment and remember what the bible says Jesus would  look

“He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.”Isaiah 53:2b

In this modern age, we are bombarded by images of celebrities, all considered to be beautiful by worldly standards, ladies with wispy figures that they of show off far too much

Men who are acclaimed to be handsome, so is it any wonder that normal everyday people think ourselves less worthy of even being noticed

But do we really need to be noticed and judge by a corrupt world?

The answer is NO

Not when we are loved for who and what we are by our loving farther, who sees you inside beauty and loves us even when we can’t love ourselves

While it is impossible for us to see  our inside beauty, we need to be aware the outside image we can see in a mirror, and others see is but a poor reflection of the true beauty within

 

 

 

 

Wretched Day

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This wretched day I hoped would never come, but assuredly I knew deep in my heart that this day would dawn and that my heart would be heave laden

As I stand watching walking off into the wide world, for him a brand new and exciting future

But for myself I face a bleak and lonely future even before he set off, he was already far away from the teaching of his youth

Ah! I miss those day, when he was a child full of love and willingness to listen to me, retelling stories I knew so well, but those precious days have long gone

Even that thought causes tears to flow down my face, as these last few years he became so rebellious and disrespectful

We seem to argue about everything these days, he no longer wants to hear my stories of the old days, and says they and I am too old fashion and he is bored with his life here with me

So it was this saddest of days he left to live his own life, though I had intended to give him a generous amount of money later in his life, he insisted on taking it all with him now

I gave it all to him without a second thought, even though he just shrugged and grunted a thank you

Though not what I had wished for, but it was better than expected as he had become so callous of late

Still it would have eased my mind and lessened the pain if he had turn and hugged me or said he still love me

But no such utterances past his lips, and now he was barely visible, as he continued to stride away from home, not once looking back

All too soon I could see him now more, but I continued to look half hopping he might change his mind and come back to me

The dankness of that night fell before I turned and walked back home alone, I was sobbing bitter tears and I entered indoors

The days turned into week swift enough for most others yet each day to me seem to last longer than the last, each new day would find me peering out he distance

Each day with hope in my heart of my son’s return, only to end the day returning home alone and dismayed

So I continued my lonesome vigil, even though many thought me an old fool, I would contiune

In a far off land his young son was now reduced to begging on the streets for scraps to eat. for after only a short while he had squandered all the money his father had given him, as to all those fine new friends who had clung fast to him while he had money

 They had all disappeared like the morning dew, they now openly shunned him and despised him making fine sport of is tattered appearance

As hardly anything remained of his once fine clothes, what few he worn were full of holes and as to himself had become unwashed

He had become repulsive to other people who would think nothing of pushing him back into the gutter, if bothering with him at all

His hunger was growning stronger as it had been many days since he had eaten, and he became prone to tormenting thoughts and this day they were stronger than ever

When from nowhere the sweet sound of a child singing, broke through their stronghold, as the words filtered through the son recognised the song from his own childhood days

As the pleasant music lifted his weary spirit, other thoughts of childhood flooded into his mind,

“What a foolish and ungrateful man I have become, hatefully rejecting all that my father taught me, so arrogantly thinking I knew it all and now longer need even the love my father so freely bestowed on me”

“Why did I get so callus and unloving towards my farther?”    “Surly I am a wretched and ungrateful creature, who does not even deserve to be called son, I will go now to my farther and plead that he takes me back into his house as the lowest of servants”

No sooner he had said this, he arose and headed towards that place of happy memories called home

As he walked thoughts of is childhood days flooded his mind, along with deep regret for the harsh way he had treated his father in his blind arrogant foolishness

 Many weary miles later, he knew he was almost in sight of his father’s house but the exertion coupled with hunger overcame the son and he fell to the ground

From the roof top his farther had seen the distant figure fall and knew in his heart it was his long lost son and rushed to his aid

When he reached where his son lay, he scooped him up in his arms like a new born baby and carried his son all the way back home

Rejoicing and praising along the way, “my son who was dead, is alive once more, make ready to celebrate

 

This is my own version of the prodigal son, a story I remeber from school days, only I decided to write it from the father’s point of view

Lies vs the Truth

grahamcommand Christian, Religion, Uncategorized , , , , ,

Have you noticed how many places on the web, spew out lies about the Bible and Jesus

All to ready to totally dismiss the Bible as fairy stories, but when this fails other lies are used, to say the main characters Moses and Jesus didn’t exists

So how can we know which a lie is and which is the truth?

The simplest way to tell is, wait and see how long these rumours (lies) last, they all seem to be fairly short lived, whereas the true remains for years

Plus there will be newer lies pass around, to replace the older ones that failed to convince

 

Allow me to remind you of some of those lies, in order you can see them as a hollow shames

“God was an alien” as in a creature from another planet, but since God is eternal and created all the planets, the alien is just another lie to belittle God

“God is dead” & “there is no God” these two contradict each other, as if god couldn’t be dead if there was no god in the first place

 The Bible is just fairy stories made up by ignorant nomadic tribes 

But this could only be partly true, as the Old Testament or Torah was written by those tribes, but not the New Testament

Moses & Jesus were not real people, they are borrowed stories from other cultures

“The great flood and the ark of Noah, could never have happened, or the would be evidence”

However why is Venice still a city of water?

 

There are other such lies, but this will do for now, as I wanted to move onto those concerning Jesus, many of these lies may been forgotten but where eagerly passed around as true

No 1: In the not so distant past, there was a rumour, Jesus was homosexual, only because he associated with only men, but this was a lie and short lived

Mary Magdalene became a faithful follower and Jesus also forgave another women her sins of adultery

It also seems that there were a group of female followers headed by Mary Magdalene

No 2: Jesus did not died, he was replaced by someone else who looked like him

But Jesus must have died, because he rose again and appeared too many crowds, and also to his disciples

If Jesus was not crucified and therefore did not die then there could be no resurrection and as Paul said “We are to be pitied more than any other people”

Even in these modern days Jesus appears and they are converted and their lives are transformed

No 3: Jesus was just an ordinary man and not a god or son of god

This is untrue as Jesus would not have been able to forgive sins, which he did on more than one occasion, if he did not have that authority and therefore declare himself God in doing so

As you will see there has be a variety of lies that conflict with each, all claiming to be reasoned truths 

Believers know him  as the father of all lies, a deceiver a twister of the truth

To such an extent Satan allowed himself to be ridiculed and even encouraged people to mock and portray him in many ways ranging from powerful and frightening to little more than an impish and playful figure while devising new ways to dishonour the name of his creator

Whispering lies that would take root which would grow into doubts, which later on would grow into disbelief of a loving god, in the minds of believers

Satan – Beelzebub – Devil – Father of lies – Lucifer are just a few of the names Satan is known by, the titles of the Father of lies describes his personality the best

For he will use anything as a weapon even using the word of god, when tempting Jesus, failing miserably he must have decided if he could discredit the Bible as fairy  stories he would stand a better chance of defeating God

In this process Satan hide himself away by cloaking his appearance in human’s minds frequently altering their perception of himself

As his image has changed over time, from the fallen angel,

Also by providing humans with anything to distract them long enough to implant doubts and strange ideas they would later claim to be the result of their intelligence and ability to reason

Providing false evidence of the alternative to creation, which would strengthen his lies and make them appear to be the truth

While appealing to the base nature of man, with ideas of temporary enjoyment in the guise of freedom, suggesting that humans should please themselves and there was nothing wrong with doing so frequently

Even to the extent feeding them false information that this life is our only onee, which should be lived to the fullest, ignoring any restricting instructions (10 commandments

Hence the eat drink and be merry attitude of self-indulgence

While gathering followers for himself, by appearing to be an easy going undemanding deity of creation and encouraging them to worship him, which was what Satan had secretly wanted