God

The depth of darkness

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Inspired by a YouTube Praise video

I love to watch praise videos, mostly through YouTube. In recent years, Facebook has also allowed videos to be uploaded, even those that have been linked from YouTube

Having watched and been uplifted by many praise videos, I quite often scroll down to read the comments, while all Christians offer their own praise and thanks to the person who uploaded the video

There always seem to be other viewers (non-believers) who delight in criticising all too often

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

The 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

Since the fall, we seem to have bodies and minds that are far short of what they should be, and our children become affected by the sins of their parents

Many modern people view the commandments as outdated and even unfair, considering it unreasonable for God to expect us to adhere to all of His strict rules.

Uncontrollable anger rages – a sense of hopelessness, self-doubt, self-pity, and perhaps the worst of all, self-indulgence

This we shrug off with excuses, “I’m only human”, “You have to have some pleasure in life”

But deep in our hearts, we know that self-indulgence will lead us into more self-centred behaviour, blocking out our ability to see our desperate need for salvation before we can help others

Whatever darkness threatens to engulf us, let us pierce with praise, that we be freed from the enemy’s clutches, and help and pray for each other to become free through the grace of Jesus Christ

What has the darkness to do with the light?

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People love the dark due to their desires overtaking them

Therefore, they dwell in the darkness believing it will hide their sins

Their minds become seared also their hearts are hardened

In this present darkened world, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few

To this extent, gay parades have gathered in huge numbers, in many countries even in unexpected places.

Sucha as in India and here in England there is a gay village in Birmingham city

Jesus said many things during his ministry, but even in his own home town

He was frequently threatened by angry people who at times wanted to stone him

Jesus made it clear to those who would listen

 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

 “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Even though Jesus made it crystal clear who He was and why He came

Far too many have become like lost sheep either rejecting God or turning away from Him

Heavenly Father may it please you to use me, unworthy as I am, to bring your light back into this dark world

Even When I Fail God

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Even when I fail God, He never stops forgiving and loving me!

I am weak and You are Strong oh Lord, in my weakness you are my strength, You Lord lift me up when I have fallen.

You seek me when I am lost

You oh Lord are my friend when I am lonely, You oh Lord listen to me when I complain or grumble

You oh Lord have answered so many of my prayers, some even before I finish asking

You oh Lord are the potter, I am just the clay, mold me shape me, build me into what You would have me be

Let not my stubborn will or vanity distract me from Your loving presence

Take joy my King in what you hear, let my heart always sing praise to You, morning or night

Your presence and spirit fill my whole being that my small flickering light will shine as bright as the morning sun

Let No darkness remain within me, take everything not one thing will I withhold

I Surrender all, all my past, all my present, my free will I Surrender

Guide me, teach me, help me to listen, help me to learn

My life without You oh Lord was empty and as dry lifeless as the desert sands

Yet even the desert sands will blossom when You command it so

You oh Lord have given water to my parched soul, You have given my Joy when sadness held fast to my troubled heart

Oh To Be Holy

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I recently read a blog post about obeying and pleasing God as two separate parts of the same process of becoming Holy

However it was unclear about just how one becomes holy, was becoming holy the end result of partaking in obedience and therefore getting to know God and then being able to please Him

The process starting with accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, by obeying the commandments, which Jesus simplified when asked replied “You shall love the lord your God, with all your heart and soul and love your neighbor as yourself”

We might think reducing the number of commandments, down to two should make our lives a whole lot easier, but that wasn’t what Jesus intended

But He was just pointing out if we obeyed theses two then we would also obey all the others without extra effort

But “how do we love God?” By obeying first, and then seeking to please Him, by getting to know God on a personal level

A personal God was something Einstein could not bring himself to accept

It is said another part of holiness is to practice self control, although somewhere else self control is said to be part of the fruits of the spirit, along with patience and goodness

Self control is not something we humans willing do or find easy at all

We are to die to self when we invite Jesus into our lives, and from one of the older commandments “Judge not lest you be judged” which we would not do if we love others as ourselves

Buddha is said to have attempted to gain a higher level of self through self control, but never it seems never searched for God or believed there was a God

Although he believed in nirvana a state of peacefulness or a place of perfect peace and happiness, much like heaven.

I wonder did Buddha consider himself to being holy?

According the the internet, Buddha did not believe in any kind of god (which ought to please atheists) Buddhists believe everything is changeable. What exists is changeable and what is not changeable does not exist

So perhaps that’s why he didn’t even consider believing in GOD, as God is immortal and never changing

Knowing Your Enemy

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Knowing Your Enemy and You Own Weaknesses

This is more of a reminder that the enemy is real, not we should get to know him

Atheists often proclaim “The is no God” this also includes the farther of all lies the devil, as he is the god of this world, thankfully only temporary

Also know many other names, but his original name was Lucifer, but atheists would say that the devil was a fiction character made up by early churches to keep Christians in the darkness of religion

But if the devil does not exist, then why are there devoted followers and websites devoted to Satan, plus the great lengths he has gone to hide himself

While all the time spreading false information about God and His holy word, the Muslims depict Satan as a Gini or spirit creature and not as a fallen angel

But it seems the devil has taken matters into his own hands, for over many centuries he has allowed and probably encouraged false rumours to flourish

Even to the extent of people poking fun at him as if he was mischievous imp with no real power, but this was all part of his sneaky plan to make himself appear so ridiculous that people would then start thinking God was unreal too

Another thing about the enemy is he uses our own weaknesses against us, our anger – frustration and disappointments, and if he can stir us up enough turn love into hate

Blinding us so much we become our own worst enemy, whilst he come across as concerned and supportive friend, which is completely untrue

He takes advantage of our human nature, twisting everything to his advantage, constantly feeding us lies poisoning every thought so much we become incapable of sorting out what is true or false

Which leads to the need to put on the full armour of god on before we attempt to do battle, https://freedomborn.wordpress.com/ has more information about the full armour of god, I know about it but like many others know little of how to put it on

But also keeping the full armour , for the emery will trick you into removing it, with as many lies as it takes so he can then attack fully and begin to pervert your mind dragging you away from your faith