“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.” -Matthew 13:31-32
Nothing is static. We are moving toward Heaven or we are moving toward Hell. We create in the direction we move. We can’t have Heaven on Earth, but we can move to create a more heavenly earth.
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“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” -Matthew 7:7-8
Align your thinking with God when you pray. You will seek the good and the beautiful the world needs.
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“When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” -Matthew 6:3-4
Ego is always knocking. It takes effort to promote service opportunities, but not self inflate for being involved.
Lord, help me to serve you more humbly, more quietly, and more completely.
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“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” -Matthew 5:3
Baptism is meant to be done once with an open and honest heart. It is the enacting of one’s death to worldly attachments and rebirth into Christ’s arms. There is no need or use to repeating the gesture. However, in a psychological sense, the process of killing off old, useless, incorrect, and evil parts of ourselves to replace them with upgraded elements is ongoing.
A spiritual life goes through a series of these Phoenix Cycles. After Baptism, one feels full of the Holy Spirit and spiritually rich. That richness is the flaming Phoenix at its apex. Whether the flames crash into darkness or the mental fuel to sustain them merely wanes, we will be left in ashes. In the ashes we are spiritually poor and aware of the broken nature of our material existence. This is when we humbly turn to God and receive what we need to carry forth.
We have some control over the speed and frequency of the cycle. I prefer to spend my time in the ashes. I learn the most there and widowhood has forced me to be more comfortable in the dark. I’m wary of being the shining beacon of the Phoenix at apex as I dread the inevitable decent. This manifests in a rapid succession of Phoenix Cycles that keep me in a flow of growth.
The lower we go, and the longer we spend there, the greater we will be rewarded.
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“You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” -Jeremiah 29:10-11
Sitting here in traffic after a long day, missing a soccer game I sorely want to play in, and praying to find the good in this moment.
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Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will help you. -Psalm 37:4-5
When we align ourselves with God, our desires align with our most loved Self. We take better care of ourselves and desire good for every man, woman, and child.
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Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you, so you must forgive others. -Colossians 3:13
I am struggling with this one. I am trying to understand the supporters of Lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and masks. I want to forgive them, but it feels important to stop them first. They must be stopped from harming my family, vulnerable populations, and the very cooperative nature of our success as a species.
I will fight to protect the people I love and I will strive to always expand that circle to include as many as I can. I will keep forgiveness in my heart and welcome the authoritarians to my table, once they are defeated.
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Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” -Hebrews 13:5
When you know you are loved, you need nothing else.
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The church where my sons were baptized and attended youth groups for years has been aggressively pushing a fear narrative.
A church leader led an outdoor service that included no Scripture that I could recall immediately after (I may have missed something). She then required masks and distancing for future outdoor meetings.
Recently, they closed their doors again and went entirely “virtual.” Although youth groups are now meeting again, they are enforcing masks and social distancing and pushing vaccines, measures that have shown to be ineffective in making anyone healthier in spirit or body.
I asked the youth leader to remove us from that email list, as these restrictions violate my sons’ freedom to follow Christ as their hearts call them to. I stated that we feel abandoned by the church and copied the lead pastor, who was already aware of my feelings, on the email.
His response shocked me a little.
A member of his church feels abandoned, so he volunteers to erase me from the rolls?
Before Lockdown, we were in this building multiple times a week between services, Bible studies, volunteer work, and many other meetings and events. My late wife’s cremains rest in the inner courtyard. It was our spiritual home, the place we were Baptized into the Body of Christ.
There is relief in me as I see it as an unveiling of the true nature of this congregation. There is also deeply hurtful pain and a fear that there are other wolves in sheep’s clothing in my life.
We are blessed by those who exclude us, especially when they preach inclusion. It is the villianous Doublespeak of the devils of Orwell’s 1984: Freedom is Slavery, War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength…Exclusion is Inclusion.
I have new spiritual homes and I know that my relationship with Christ is in my heart, it needs no building, nor pastor.
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The foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. -1 Corinthians 1:25
I don’t know what to do with these boys. I haven’t felt this lost as a single dad in four years. I’m asking God for answers as I feel abandoned by too many humans.
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