Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.


Paul is generating a statement here that really transcends our modern thinking; read that very carefully, He is beseeching, asking, pleading, requesting with supplication that we would present our bodies as a living sacrifice; living sacrifice; living sacrifice, it echoes in my mind, living sacrifice, liv..............sac............

Living sacrifice, not a dead sacrifice, but a living one. The sacrificial system instituted by God Himself in the days of Abraham, in fact in the days of Adam, in fact even before the foundation of the world, the Lamb was slain even then; required the shedding of blood for the remission of sins; without the shedding of blood there is no remission, He says in Leviticus, no remission; no expiation, no forgiveness, of what? Of sin. Whose sin? My sin. Your sin.

Paul was a brilliant thinker, God made him such in order to explain the gospel to the gentiles; in the days of intellectual pride and ego centrism of the Greek and Roman cultures; he was made for that purpose indeed; and he says, please I ask you my brethren that you present your bodies as a sacrifice to God, but not like the sacrifices of bulls and goats that you are used to give, or that you are used to seeing people give, but as a living one; a living one in which the blood is not drained into a bowl and some of it is spilled unto the ground and then presented and sprinkled in the Holy of Holies by the priest; but one in which you become the priest and the blood is presented and sprinkled internally in the Holy place inside of you; where the Spirit of the Lord is.

You are the temple and so your sacrifice has to be presented inside, within yourself; you are the temple and you are the priest, and you are the sacrifice. Therefore, present your body as that sacrifice, a living one, one that dies everyday on the cross of Jesus, one that is brought back to life everyday by His Father through His Spirit; you were dead in trespasses and sins and made alive when Jesus was made alive, now you are to be the sacrifice, everyday.

Present yourself, a living sacrifice; bring your own blood, the blood that still runs through your veins, the blood that is still being pumped all over your body, bring it, present it yourself to God, in the Holy place, in the secret place where He lives inside of you. The life of the flesh is in the blood (Lev. 17:11), so bring your blood, bring your life to God and let it be acceptable in His sight.

How are we to know that the sacrifice was acceptable unto God? Because it says to present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God; it is already holy and acceptable, it is holy because He made it holy the moment He put His Spirit inside of you. That's how we know it's acceptable unto God, besides that that is the reasonable service of a priest; would a priest bring a lame sacrifice? One with spots and blemishes? No, He brings the best; the best sacrifice. A holy one.

And so we are, these living stones, these living sacrifices. But I thought we were dead, yeah we are dead unto sin but alive unto God, we cannot remain dead, we have to be brought back to life by the resurrection power of the Father, the same power He exercised in Christ when He brought Him back from the dead, that is the same power that is at work in us, so we cannot remain dead; we are living sacrifices.

So again, what makes you holy in the first place? That is something that we sometimes have a hard time believing because we don't see ourselves holy, but God says we are;
Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 2:21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord:
Col 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
1Th 4:8 He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit.
2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

You have been predestinated to become holy and without blame, and you are holy and without blame; we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, we are holy by Him; we are the temple, He makes the temple holy, He has given us His Holy Spirit and not only that but also His own purpose and grace, when? Before the world began. So how can we be unholy?

My Arminian friends are going to scream now, I can hear it: Oh but you can't say that! People are not going to want to try anymore!! And I say, why should they? Why should anybody try to be something that they are already? Can you make yourself anymore holy than you are already?

Oh but I should try just like the Jehovah's witnesses; and the Mormons, they go out on their bikes and knock on doors and they spread their message, and I feel so bad because I'm just not doing enough for the kingdom; and I struggle all the time and blah, blah, blah. Nonsense!!

It is sad to hear a child of the King say that kind of crap; first of all these people that knock on doors have no idea of what the true gospel is, they are a cult, they have been brain washed into believing that if they do not do these works they will not make it; the Witnesses don't even believe in the same Jesus that we believe in, I had many encounters with them and I can tell you: they believe that Jesus was the Archangel Michael, they do not believe Jesus is God, their own translation of the bible says it clearly in John chapter one they say, the word was "a" god, not the word was god; and they do not believe in grace, period; they are trying to make themselves holy by making converts and become part of the 144 thousand that, according to them, will make it to heaven; it's offensive to the word of God and it's offensive to the true child of God. Absurdity, nonsense.

On the other side we have the Mormons, pushing the doctrine that a new gospel came to America and was "revealed" to Joseph Smith; ludicrous, the gospel was already here when they say the angel Moroni appeared to him on the road, and let me tell you something about Joseph Smith; this guy was taken to jail accused of scamming people with a hat and a couple of stones, he would put the stones inside the hat and then tell others where to dig for silver or gold; he was jailed and died in jail at the hands of an angry mob, records in the court in Chenango county, New York state, show that he was arrested and convicted as a "glass looker" in 1826.

Then we find this in the New York Times in their December 29 1912: "Museum Walls Proclaim Fraud of Mormon Prophet: Sacred books claimed to have been given divinely to the first prophet are shown to be taken from old Egyptian originals, their translation being a work of the imagination--What a comparison with the Metropolitan Museum Treasures show", their book of Mormon is a joke, a work of the imagination of Smith to deceive thousands. These people say that our King, our dearly and beloved savior, the one and only Son of God, God in the flesh, to whom every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is God to the glory of God the Father,is not really God but the spirit brother of Lucifer; that is what they believe; more nonsense and more absurdity; offensive to the max.

Now, you out there, are you going to compare yourself with these people? Are you going to let you flesh deceive you and place a guilt trip on your back because you don't behave like these morons, I mean, Mormons? I'm sorry but you need to stop doing that to yourself; it grieves the Holy Spirit even thinking that you are not "like them".

Ok, now, if you are going to read this and say it's crap, that you don't believe it, then why don't you say something instead? Let's reason together; let's have a healthy session of scripture digging and building each other up, let's come to the knowledge of the truth about ourselves, who we are in Christ. Leave all your presuppositions and biases behind and say something. Are you holy or not?

As long as you are alive you will remain a living sacrifice, it is just a matter of making that truth our own and then present ourselves to God and allowing Him to do whatever He pleases with us.

Paul says, present yourselves, your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God; not because you need to become one, but because you are one already, he is asking you to present your body, it is already a living sacrifice, you see that? That's why he says that is your reasonable service, because it is the only reason that you now present your body as a living sacrifice.

What is reasonable? Something that it reasonable, is something that follows reason, that follows logic, that is according to understanding, if you jump out of a flying airplane it is only reasonable that you should smack your body unto the ground and die, isn't it? It is only reasonable that you body will be a victim of the law of gravity and accelerate until it gains maximum velocity, and then smash on the ground fulfilling the law, of gravity. It is reasonable that you will die from the impact.

Paul is beseeching in view of he has said in the previous eleven chapters; and what is it? You read it yourself. That everyone stands condemned, Jews and Gentiles alike, that we are saved by grace, through faith; that everyone is under condemnation because everyone is a sinner, but God has saved us through the sacrificing of Jesus on the cross and bringing Him back to life, that righteousness is by faith, that Abraham believed, that He promised He would save the gentiles and the Jews in the scriptures, that the law will never save anybody, that our bodies are sold under sin but our spirits are alive unto God, that we cannot do the things we want but that sin reigns in our mortal bodies, that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, that we are in Christ if His spirit is in us, etc, etc, And now, in view of all these wonderful truths, present your body, that body that has sin in it, that is dead because of sin, that will die because of sin, bring it as a living sacrifice. That is what he is saying.

How can that be? The same way that He wants you to use all of your heart to trust Him, the heart that is deceitful and desperately wicked, with that heart you are supposed to trust Him in all of your ways. Is not a contradiction, it is a paradox.

You and I can keep on writing about this, a whole book or books, but then it all comes down to really knowing who we are, and then believing it.

Ok, I think that's enough, I will get to verse two some other day, I am hungry, I shall feed my sacrifice.

Cornelius the Italian

Who is in the island that I need to talk to about Jesus? I've been wondering about that; why am I going there besides the need to help my brother? The only reason, in my mind, that I'm going to the Caribbean is because my brother needs help; but that might not be the whole reason or the only reason. I don't know what God is doing in that regard but I am excited to see what happens.

There is a story in Acts chapter ten about a guy named Cornelius, a centurion of a band called the Italian band; I think what band is Luke talking about? A band of soldiers, that's what it is; a centurion is supposed to have power over one hundred soldiers, and it says that he was a devout man and that he gave alms to the poor and prayed to God, to the God of the children of Israel. How cool is that. The more I read the bible the more I discover that I don't know it.

I have read the bible at least twenty times from cover to cover, maybe even more, I'm not counting, but every time I read it I find something new; ah the pleasure of discovery; the pleasure of having God speak and I hear His voice; life abundant.

Anyway, Cornelius; a devout man, it makes me think, am I a devout man? what does that mean? To have devotion according to Merriam Webster is, an act of prayer or private worship —usually used in plural c: a religious exercise or practice other than the regular corporate worship of a congregation. Are you a devout man, or woman? Is your practice of worship private as well as corporate? Gee relax, I'm just asking. I'm just saying.

Remember that comedian that said that you can get away saying anything by just adding the phrase "I'm just saying" to it? For example, you can say "man you are an idiot, I'm just saying"; it doesn't sound that bad, hu. Of course I don't think it's true but at any pace......

So Cornelius was a devout man from the Italian band; were these men from Italy? I suppose so; I like the Italian band name for Cornelius's team; imagine that, hey there goes Cornelius a devout man that fears God with all his household, he gives alms to the people, he prays always, three times a day, and he plays in the Italian band, wow. Of course it was not a musical band, but it would be a cool name for a band, Peter of Galilean Productions presents: Cornelius and The Italian band, with guest appearances by Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, the Italian boys; my imagination runs wild.

But seriously, think about it; here we have a soldier, a Roman soldier to add to that, in Caesarea a Roman province; what kind of a man was he that God sent an angel to talk to him? Trip out on that; and not only that but add the message: v4 And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. 5 And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter. Did you catch that? His prayers and giving came up for a memorial before God!

I want my prayers and giving to come up for a memorial before God, don't you? Now think about this, God chooses Cornelius to open the Gospel to the gentiles through Peter; or Peter through Cornelius, whatever, so He sends an angel to talk to Cornelius and what does he tell him? Send some men to Joppa and get Peter, he will tell you what to do. What was Cornelius praying about? Did he feel lost not knowing what to do? Did he hear about Jesus being crucified and coming back to life? Notice it doesn't say his prayers were being answered, just that they came up for a memorial before God; the answer to the question: what is it, Lord? Is in Peter, send for him, he will tell you what to do.

Do you ever consider yourself to be in the same situation? We don't see the angel, but he is there; when someone calls you and wants your service, God is the one who is orchestrating the actions you should take. But you need to be like Cornelius, a God fearing man that helps others and who prays and follows the Lord with his household, a devout man.

How many Corneliuses do you know? Are you one of them? Are you a devout man? No condemnation, I'm just saying.

I wonder how many soldiers in the fields of Afghanistan and Irak, and Somalia, and the waters of the oceans of the world, are devout men. I wonder how many are crying out to God right now, their households left behind in solitude and fear; God we pray for our soldiers; bring them to you, bring them home. The men of mighty valor; the devout who fear God. We are the soldiers of the army of the Lord, we are here in the trenches of the cities; we give and pray, and our households follow Him, and our prayers come up to heaven for a memorial before God; the prayers that will be cast down to the earth in vengeance of the Almighty, the King of Saints. The day is coming.

Cornelius obeys, he is told to send men to get Peter, and he does the next morning; as they approach the house of Simon the tanner, Peter is praying on the roof of the house seeing the vision of the sheet with all kinds of unclean animals descending from heaven and the voice of God saying to him: kill and eat, Peter. Wow. Perfect timing. God has perfect timing for everything; there are things happening right now that we don't even know about, that God is doing on our behalf and on the behalf of others; that is awesome. What God has made clean, you don't call unclean, He says. The gentiles are chosen to salvation also, God made them clean. Think about that.

Think about the grace of God, you might think that your life is insignificant, that no one cares; that your days are vain; not so, not at all; we all have a part in the plan, the master plan of God to redeem the universe; you don't know what kind of repercussions your prayers have, we have no idea of the power of prayer, if we did, we would pray all day.

God is so in control of everything; last night I received the news that I will not be able to go to the prison for a year. It turns out that my renewal application got stuck in the trunk of a car and never got to me on time, so they shut me down; for a year. Am I supposed to complain about it? I don't think so, even though I like going to the prison, a lot; who am I? God has the control of all events that come to pass, everything. Is not that I'm not needed, it is just that God wants to use me somewhere else, I have to believe that.

He told me, go to the island and help your brother, so I am, I don't have the money, I can't afford it, really. But He wants it that way and it's happening; I'm going; and I think about Cornelius; not that I am like him, but I am. I try to be. So do you; if you belong to Christ.

So it works the same way in everything; God moves and He moves you, and He uses you and you go and get used. That is what life is all about with Jesus, about being used by Him; we are His body, He walks with our feet, and touches others with our hands, and speaks with our mouths and kisses our children with our lips, and removes our fears with His mind. You might only be a housewife, and you take care of your kids, and your husband if you have one, you might think that your life might not have any sense or meaning but you are wrong, oh, how wrong you are; you have no idea how wrong you are if you think that. You might just have a gas station attendant job and you think you are never going to do great things, but you are wrong also; you are part of the great plan, whether you know it or not.

Look around and see what the Lord has done; He does not need any of us to accomplish what He want to do, but He delights in using the weak things of this world, the foolish things, like you and me. So He chose Cornelius, a captain of the Roman army to save the ones He chose from the beginning, a bunch of gentiles created by Him and chosen before the foundation of the world that they should be holy and without blame before Him in love; having predestinated them unto adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself to the praise of the glory of His grace.

Five days to go and I'm flying away, time rushes by when you don't want to, it slows down when you want it to rush. Life is a trip and the Lord is a trip too, I say that with all respect and awe due to Him, He is awesome. I'm done.

He deserves our devotion.

The Cornelius kind.

Foolish Galatians

Gal 3:1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

Someday, someone has to get tired of the burden of works; how many of these works are enough to please God? Shall we live our lives struggling, never entering into the rest, the Sabbath of God?

G940 βασκαίνω, baskaino, bas-kah'ee-no; Akin to G5335; to malign, that is, (by extension) to fascinate (by false representations): - bewitch.

Akin to G5335? Ok, let's see: G5335, φάσκω, phaskō, fas'-ko
Prolongation from the same as G5346; to assert: - affirm, profess, say.

Ok, here's G5346: φημί, phēmi, fay-mee'; Properly the same as the base of G5457 and G5316; to show or make known one’s thoughts, that is, speak or say: - affirm, say. Compare G3004.

Ok dude, let's compare G3004: λέγω, legō , leg'-o; A primary verb; properly to “lay” forth, that is, (figuratively) relate (in words [usually of systematic or set discourse; whereas G2036 and G5346 generally refer to an individual expression or speech respectively; while G4483 is properly to break silence merely, and G2980 means an extended or random harangue]); by implication to mean: - ask, bid, boast, call, describe, give out, name, put forth, say (-ing, on), shew, speak, tell, utter.

So we come from bewitched to affirm, to make one's thoughts known, to a systematic or set discourse. So what Paul is saying here is: who has come to you and give to you their thoughts and a set discourse about works, so convincing that you actually believed it? You have been fascinated. Let that person be accursed, he says in chapter one of Galatians; damned forever. That is some strong rebuke for just speaking your mind. The problem here is that the person who was actually giving the set discourse about works as part of the gospel, really believed it himself; that is the real problem here, and so it continues to be a problem in modern day Galatia, namely the U.S.

I have no condemnation for not working, for not acting, to be accepted by God; Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, say Paul in Roman eight; who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit; I have to carefully read what he says in Romans eight, very slowly, paying attention to what he says; then I discover, by God's grace, that I am in Christ, that I am not in the flesh. I can't be. Even if I wanted to, why? Here it is: Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Do you have the spirit of Christ in you? Then you are not in the flesh, it could not be clearer than that; but I see the problem is that we feel we have to do something, it cannot be that simple, can it? The flesh cries out and says: I have to be involved somehow, I've got to do something, it can't be that simple, was I not involved? Didn't I make a decision? Of course I did, and so I have to continue to be involved. But that is not the way it is, not according to Paul, not according to Romans, not according to the word of God.

So what does this mean?: Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. It means what it says, and it says what he means, that God is the one doing the work in you; "some manuscripts add δυναμει, "by power"; not by moral persuasion, but by his own power, the power of his efficacious grace. The Alexandrian copy reads, δυναμεις, "powers", or "mighty works": God works in his people" (Gill's commentary of the Bible). John Gill was born in 1697 and died in 1771. In 74 years he was able to acquire a scope of Biblical knowledge and enjoy a degree of usefulness seldom attained by any man. Gill was called to pastor the Strict Baptist Church in 1720, which he continued to pastor for 51 years. Eventually the Strict Baptist Church would evolve into the Metropolitan Tabernacle which would be pastored by Charles Spurgeon for ever 35 years.

"In some respects, he has no superior. For good, sound, massive, sober sense in commenting who can excel Gill?" - C.H. Spurgeon.

I like John Gill's commentary; if you want some solid comments on the holy scriptures he is one of the few that I would recommend; but the point is still that God is the one who works in His people to will and to perform of His good pleasure.

As I said before in another post, the word "will" here means to desire, or to have an inclination towards something, so what Paul is saying is that God is the one that is causing our wills to be inclined to do what He wants us to do, therefore the actions that take place after God has done the initial work in the mind, are our actions but they are ultimately caused by God Himself through the Holy Spirit acting in the heart, the will, the emotions and the reason.

The doctrines of grace are called such because they talk about the work of God in the lives of the believers, otherwise they would be called the doctrines of works; there is no such thing in the bible and Paul never taught such thing; he even confronted Peter regarding this matter, you can read all about it in Galatians chapter two.

The Galatians had been deceived, fascinated by this strange, not so strange to them, message. The message that in order to be truly saved one had to keep the requirements of the law, namely circumcision; and by doing that hey would be fulfilling the requirements of the gospel; faith and works gets you to heaven; they go together so you must believe and be circumcised; that is kosher. Paul says is foolishness. I say is foolishness.

I have to refer you to a previous post called God's Holiness to expound on this point, but you can click here and go there if you want; and since you are there already, read Eutychus comments also, it might do some good. If the link doesn't work, sorry, just look for it on the list at the left of the page, you'll find it. And forget about the misuse of pronouns and prepositions by yours truly; I have problems with this language; so just ignore them.

Anyway, going back to grace and the foolish Galatians; Paul is asking: who has bewitched you? Who has fascinated you? Who? Who hindered you? He asks later on in chapter five. Are you so foolish, he asks, having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?

Paul asks one peculiar question: v4. have you suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. What is he talking about here? What things have they suffered? The things they suffered because of their faith, persecution, segregation, mockery, etc. If all these were suffered as consequence of believing the gospel of grace, the adding circumcision to faith makes their suffering vain because their faith was not the real thing they were persecuted for. Just that question alone should be enough to eliminate the need for works.

Now, our Arminian friends are going to jump all over the place screaming that this is heresy; I expect that, but I have no sympathy for their distress; like they say in Mexico: the truth does not sin, just makes you uncomfortable.

What I am not saying is that we should do nothing to continue in the faith; not at all. Paul says: Php 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
He doesn't mean, work for your salvation, but work out your salvation, a completely different statement; it is obvious by the next verse, you read it.

In order that I am not misinterpreted; there is one more thing, there is nothing you can do to lose your standing before God; once you have become a child of God by faith, you will remain a child of God by faith; you are complete in Him, you are perfect in Him, that is what the bible says, your position is in heaven seated with Jesus at the right hand of the Father; yeah you're still here but you are already there, period. That's amazing.

Our righteousness comes to us by faith; and is not our righteousness but that of Jesus Christ that we have access to, and that we enjoy in the presence of the Father, and of all principalities and powers in the heavenly places. Just as Abraham believed and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

Our faith comes to us from the Father through the Spirit and the word of God; and only if you are chosen, whether we like it or not, that is the way it is; that is what God says it is and I am not about to contradict Him.

So there we have it; don't let anyone deceive you into thinking that now you have to do something extra in order to be saved; or to remain saved; there is nothing you can do; the work was finished on the cross by Jesus, He said it: it is finished. What is? The work, His work, the work that allows you and me to be part of the family of God; the work that effects the call and the work in us by His Spirit, by the faith of Jesus. Is His work. Perfect. It needs nothing else.

Are you still fascinated?

Cozumel

That is Cozumel Island, I will be there from next Thursday and will come back 23 days later, so there is the picture so you know where I'm going, and to tell you the truth I can't wait to get there. If you click on the picture, it will open in a new window, and there you can see where the town is located. It faces the main land, there is a road in the middle of the island that takes you to the other side to the open ocean. This place is a very beautiful place; it was considered, at least a few years ago, as one of the top 10 places to go diving because it is surrounded by reefs; it is another world under the water.

The sand in the beaches is white and super fine, almost like talc, they told me the sand is not really sand but ground coral, so it feels good on your feet; and the water is very trick looking, transparent and warm; I know this place that is almost like a pool, the waves there are maybe a foot high; ideal for the kids.

God made this earth a beautiful place indeed; and I have been blessed to have traveled in Mexico a lot, so I know how beautiful that country really is.

Everything in Cozumel is very nice, people are nice; frustrating sometimes because they live on Mayan time, but they are nice. The food is just awesome, the beaches are amazing, the reefs are gorgeous; even the coffee is good; there are even a few Mayan ruins in the center of the island, very cool; I might not come back.

I thought I share this picture with those who read this blog so you can trip out; or you can just google Cozumel and trip out that way. Maybe we should organize a trip down there someday; it would be fun, hu?

Anyway, not very much to say today, just wanted to show you where I'm going, any volunteers?

Fire divine

Exo 3:1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

I'm thinking about the burning bush; what was it? Why not a burning rock, or a burning tree? Why a bush? Why burning? And burning and not consuming? Why not a white shiny rock that speaks? Or a big boulder of ice; ice that doesn't melt. Or a big huge diamond with rainbow colors. Or a big huge bill board with neon lights flashing and the words: Beware, no shoes allowed. You are about to enter the no shoe zone, Holy Ground, Horeb the Mount of the Almighty, proceed at your own risk. But no, it had to be a bush, it doesn't even say what size of bush, it just says a bush; was it a little bush or a big bush? A bushy bush with lots of leaves or a squalid bush, or a brown brawny thorny kind of a bush? A mystery.

What made the ground holy? The fire or the bush? Or maybe the Angel of the Lord? Was the whole mountain holy, or just where the bush was? Oh so many questions. So little time. So little information.

Can't put God in the box, He doesn't fit, He is too big, too awesome, too wonderful.

But the bush is important; it is of utmost importance if Jesus, the best expositor of the bible, mentions this passage to teach about the resurrection of all people from the dead in Luke 20. The point is that this was not a special bush in that it burned whenever it pleased, but when the Angel of the Lord appears to Moses and sets the bush on fire.

When God appears to you, you shall be set on fire and not be consumed; and when He sets you through the fire you shall not be consumed even though our God is a consuming fire.

The amazing thing for me is that God chooses fire to reveal His person to Moses; fire is beautiful, but fire is dangerous and deserves respect. I like fire, I can look at it burning for hours at a time, it is fascinating, energy being released and transformed into heat and smoke. God has always used fire to represent Himself to us, to Moses here, to Abraham at night, to the children of Israel in the desert and He will destroy the universe with fire also. I'm ready.

Moses was eighty years old when he saw the burning bush, his first fourty years he spend at the pharaoh's house, like a prince; he was set up for life, he didn't have to worry about anything; his adoptive mom was pharaoh's daughter so he grew up in the middle of the best of the best in Egypt; imagine that, you want the latest camel with the hemi in it? You got it Moe. What about the finest designer tunic, by Harra Haram, the fashion diva of the time? You got it, Moe; you want to go to the university and study with Hermes Trismegisto? Sure Moe, you got it too. What about you bachelor pad overlooking the Nile; built with the best Hebrew bricks with the finest straw? Why not, Moe, you can have anything you want.

Sorry, I got carried away there, but it is true I think; he could have had anything he wanted, and still he got the righteousness thing wrong when he killed the egyptian dude. Anyway, when Moses is put on a reed basket in the river to save him from the slaughter, we find the awesome providence of God; the pharaoh's daughter finds baby Moses in the river, and then the sister volunteers to go find a Hebrew woman to nurse the child; it turns out they called Moses' mom to nurse him; I think that is one of the coolest "coincidences" I have known about. I would have missed it if I didn't pay attention: the sister is Moses sister, Miriam, who positions herself in the river bank to see what would happen to her little brother; I would like to have a sister like that. Comments say that she was probably between seven and twelve years old; what a brave little woman, she walks with the pharaoh's maids and volunteers to go find a nurse for the child; what a smart little girl.

Moses the man of God; Moses the servant, chosen by God before the foundation of the earth to be a leader for the Jews, to be the deliverer of God's people, a type of Christ they say; a man of mighty words and deeds according to Stephen; an important man in the history of the world; even in heaven he will be remembered, and in a sense honored: Rev 15:3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.

Moses talked with God, Moses walked with God, Moses lived for God. It was first to Moses that YHWH revealed the doctrine of predestination in that He said to him:
Exo 33:19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

Rom 9:15 I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

To him YHWH said regarding pharaoh: I will harden his heart: Exo 7:3 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. God revealed to Moses His eternal sovereign will in regard to the children of Israel: Deu 7:6 For thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
8 But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

So then it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs but of God who shows mercy; Moses was shown mercy, Moses was shown grace, Moses was shown Love, Moses walked with God, talked to Him, feared Him, sang to Him, misrepresented Him, Moses the servant of God wrote the first five books of the bible, by direct contact with YHWH and by direct revelation divine.

Moses' first encounter with God was with fire, a consuming fire in a non-consuming bush. The angel of the Lord spoke to him from the bush and the first thing the Lord says is his name: Moses; He called him by name. He knows your name, He knows my name; He decides what name I am called by and puts it in my mother and my father's heart; and they named me what they named me, He knows my name; He knows my frame, He remembers I am dust.

Out of the furnace of affliction has He taken me; I am like a bush, always burning, never consumed; 2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
11 For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

We can burn like the bush and not be consumed, the fire of God burns in the heart of His children and they are not consumed; we are frail and small like the bush but never consumed in weakness for His strength is made perfect in it. He has chosen us, the small insignificant bushes to confound the mighty trees of this world. We soar in the flames of divine love.

Enter into that rest

Isa 43:2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

For the last three days I have been placed in that place that I often find myself in; that place of quiet desperation, that place of looking up to the sky or the ceiling in my bedroom; of quiet waiting for relief and at the same time having to turn my attention to the gifts that God has given me, namely my daughters and grand children.

The Lord God is merciful to me, and in His mercy He knows how much heat I can take while going through the fire; the flames never burn, they just suffocate a little sometimes. It is a good thing to know that He never leaves me, He never forsakes me; never.

Do you feel like that sometimes? I bet you do. All of God's kids do, all will do, one day or another. But what do you do? The choices are null, there are no options, there is only one resource: Jesus, YHWH is Salvation, that is the only choice. He is the only one that saves; He not only saves from hell and pain forever, but He saves from ourselves; He is wise, He knows what we need. He chose us before the foundation of the world.

Picture yourself in the desert, the closest well of water is ten miles away; you are running out of the precious liquid so it is time to start walking with your bucket to get some more. The heat is high, the path is rocky and dusty, and you carry your bucket the ten miles, you get to the well and fill the busket with the water, you drink some to get energy for the walk back; and since it is getting hotter, you start walking back, you switch the bucket between your hands being careful not to spill your precious cargo; there is no stopping, the longer you take the worse it gets. Finally you see your cave on the side of the mountain where you live, you're tired and hot, you're going to make it; you have not tripped, you have not spilled any water on the floor, you haven't lost a drop; you are close to your goal, one hundred yards, fifty yards, you are almost there; and then, suddenly, you give up, you're tired, you can't go no more, you stop and drop the bucket, it tips over and all the water falls out; your efforts are wasted, it was all in vain, the sweat and the pain and the suffering in the heat is all vain.

Do you think that Jesus would do the same with you? He went all the way to rescue you, He went through all the pain, all the suffering, all the rejection and the mockery of evil, for you, for me; and now He is going to drop you? Drop me? Is He leaving me in the middle of the desert because He is done with me? That is not only absurd, but it is also stupid to think He would do something like that, it is idolatrous.

"The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him, it begins in the mind and it might be present where no other act of worship has taken place; the idolatrous simply imagines things about God and acts as if they were true". I don't know where I got that quote from, I don't remember, but I have it written on a piece of paper on my desk; and I did write it because it describes the situation of some people sometimes; they believe that God can save them from hell but they also imagine that God has forsaken them in the here and now because things are tough. That is idolatry in its basic sense.

The bottom line is, as is always when in the middle of seeming contradictions in life, do I really trust Him? When things are good, and everything is going my way, everything is working out the way that I suspect things should work out, it is very easy to trust God, yeah I believe everything He says when I'm good, and peachy king or keen or whatever; but what about when I can't see the door in the darkness? Do I trust Him?

When He says "I will never leave you, nor forsake you", do I believe He is talking after I die? Or does that promise apply to my everyday life? What does He mean by "I will never leave you"?

He is amazing, He is the God of wonders, wonders beyond our imagination; 1Co 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. Read that again, read it and meditate on it for a minute; slowly taste the goodness of God.

The next time you feel the sun on your face, think about that statement; the next time you look into the eyes of those you love, think about that statement; the next time you take a hot shower, think about that statement; the next time you eat a piece of bread or a quesadilla, think about that statement; tonight when you lay down on your bed, secure within the four walls of your room, think about that statement; the next time you think your spouse is not behaving the way you think is best, think about that statement; the next time you're in pain, think about that statement; right now as you read this, think about it, and let your heart swell with gratitude, let your mind soar in praise and adoration of the God of wonders that has you in the palm of His hand. Praise Him, worship Him, thank Him and adore Him. He alone is Good. He alone is Holy and He alone is worthy of the best use of our mind.

Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The hearing comes when God engages our intellect, the Holy Spirit reveals the truth, His word, through the use of our minds.

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (KJV)

Heb 4:12 For the Word of God is living, and powerfully working, and sharper than every two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of both soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge of the thoughts and intentions of the heart; (Literal Translation)

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (ESV)

Heb 4:12 for the reckoning of God is living, and working, and sharp above every two-edged sword, and piercing unto the dividing asunder both of soul and spirit, of joints also and marrow, and a discerner of thoughts and intents of the heart; (1898 Young's Lit. Trans.)

Heb 4:12 For the word of God [is] living and effective and sharper than every double-edged sword, and [is] penetrating as far as [the] division of both soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and [is] able to discern [the] thoughts and intentions of the heart [fig., inner self]. (Analytical-Literal Translation)

The Word, the reckoning, the Logos. Quick and powerful. Living and powerfully working. Living and active. Living and working. Living and effective. Living and so neglected and forgotten; sadly.

God's Spirit, I believe, uses the Word and engages our gray matter, He pierces even to the division of soul and spirit and of marrow and bone, and of neuron and neurotransmitters, He goes deeper than what science could ever possibly reveal, and His word, The Logos Himself is the discerner of the intentions, the imaginations, and the thoughts of the heart. It has to be like that, that's my translation.

All our beliefs, all our faith, all our convictions, everything revolves around our mind; everything is defined by the way we think. As I said before, thinking is a privilege of the highest order; and so our thinking must be defined by the truth; all our actions are, and always will be, defined by our thinking, we have to yield to Him the control of the train of thoughts that is constantly running on the rails of our imagination. The word of God is the basis of our faith, and everything else we should imagine about Him.

Peace is really the absence of struggles, peace is in essence rest; there is nothing to struggle about when there is peace; where there is peace there is rest. The verse before Hebrews 4:12 is obviously 4:11; and what does it say? "Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief".

What is He saying? What is He talking about? Why is He talking about the word of God after He talks about resting, and believing? What meanest thou?

The rest, the entering in that rest, the ceasing from the struggle, is in believing, the Word, in Jesus.

I'm done, I shall rest.

Thinking His thoughts

Before you start reading, relax, go to the bathroom and have a snack, just kidding, I didn't mean it, but this one is kind of long; but it is what it is.

I started this blog on 13Feb09 and this is the 59th time I write something, I'm not counting but it seems weird to me that every time I write something, it feels as if I just started doing this; sometimes I just start writing with no apparent rhyme or reason, every single time I end up writing something related to God and the way I see things, it is good, at least it is good for me, it helps me with all the problems I seem to have.

Besides this blog, I have two Moleskine journals in which I am also writing, in one of them daily; the other one I mainly use when I go to church, I write whatever comes to my mind when I hear the word of God being preached. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not boasting and blowing my own tweet saying that I am a prolific writer, or even a good one, all I'm saying is that it is a good thing for me to write what I think.

At first I thought it was useless to write anything, most of the time I was writing poems; some of them I believe are songs that God gave to me; some of them do not even rhyme, and some of them are very good in my opinion. Some of them took me a long time to write, some of them I wrote without stopping, they just came out of my brain, through my hand to the pen to the paper; a cool thing when it happens.

I'm an obsessive individual; when I like doing something, I do it as often as I can; like riding motorcycles, or reading the bible, or studying the bible. I have more time to study than ever before, and sometimes I feel I need more time; but reading and studying can be tiresome; there has to be a balance in all things, a balance I can't seem to find or achieve, and if I lose perspective then it becomes a vain thing; knowledge puffs up, Paul said, but love edifies.

Writing forces one's brain to stop and think; it is not an easy thing to do mainly when we are used to doing things with our hands, like working or driving, or when we are glued to the TV having someone else guiding our thoughts; the American family spends an average of 4 hours per day watching the tube, that is just an average, I have seen people who cannot be at peace unless they have the tube glaring at themselves all day; I had a neighbor that had the tube on 24 hours a day and I often wondered what kind of life they led in that house. I have nothing to boast about in that regard since I like watching TV but I seldom do it anymore; I consider that there is really nothing worthy of my attention, except maybe some good Moto GP racing, or some good old documentary about the planet in which we live.

The ex-addict is by nature an obsessive creature, that is part of our sinful nature; in spite of that God uses our personalities to change us and those around us. It is always a hard thing for the people living around us to come to terms with that fact; some of us really don't talk a lot, we think a lot. Some of us talk a lot, and think a lot. The difference is that one talks too much and the other listens too much, but both think too much. We obsess.

Sometimes I think about Moses and the way he wrote the first five books of the bible; imagine that, having all kinds of thoughts and revelations from God and then putting them on paper, that must have been a trip to observe; maybe that is one of the reasons that God allowed the children of Israel to be rebellious for so long, so that Moses could finish the Pentateuch; who knows.

One of the things I marvel about is the amount of detailed instructions that Moses received regarding the construction of the tabernacle; after YHWH had instructed Moses to come to mount Sinai to worship with Aaron and seventy elders of the children of Israel, Moses goes up into the mountain after six days of thunder, on the seventh day God called Moses up into the cloud that was covering the top. The sight of the mountain in the people's eyes was like "a devouring fire".

I almost missed it the first time I read that chapter: Moses and Aaron and the seventy elders, all of them saw God but they didn't die; call that mercy indeed; no one is supposed to be able to see God and live; His presence is so pure and holy and awesome that our flesh would just evaporate in His presence; God is Light, the bible says and in Him there is no darkness or shadows at all; we are dark by nature and we couldn't have anything to do with Him if it was not for the righteousness of Jesus, which has been imputed unto us.

The apparent contradiction here is that it clearly says that they saw God; but then if you read John chapter one verse eighteen, it says that no one has seen God at any time; this, like I said appears to be a contradiction but the explanation to it is in the same verse in John: the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him; the saw Jesus in that mountain.

Exo 24:10 And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.
11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.

So they had a dinner party in the presence of God, can you imagine that? One day we are going to have a dinner party in His presence, the great supper of the Lamb; I can't wait.

To trip out even more, in Ezekiel chapter one there is this description: Eze 1:26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.

And then in chapter ten: Eze 10:1 Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.

And also in Revelation: Rev 4:1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.
2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

This leads me to believe that Moses received the instructions for the building of the tabernacle as well as the law, from Jesus Himself; but that is only my trip, you can believe the word 'God', as stated in Exodus, which is the same thing because the word Moses used is Elohim, which means God in the plural. Jesus is a member of the God head, Jesus is God; I believe He is God, He said He is God, the bible says He is God, and He has proven to me that He is God, capish?

Anyway, what amazes me even more is that after Moses goes up to the mountain; which was covered with smoke and flashed and quaked, God gives him the detailed instructions for the construction of the tabernacle, all the materials to use, which are to be gathered from the people, and all the measurements of it. Moses writes the instructions, God dictates and reminds him to build it according to the pattern that he saw up in the mountain.

Moses actually saw the tabernacle before he build it; now try to imagine that for a minute, I have to ask questions here, they are unavoidable; where is this tabernacle? What is it made of? What goes on in there? Who goes in it? Who is in it? Is it a model of the place where God's presence is? Was it built for Moses to look at? Is it still there? Is it a model of heaven? What is it? Is it the throne Ezekiel and John see and describe? Or is the throne inside of it? In the Holy of Holies? Isn't this a trip? I can speculate but I can only answer the last question: it is a trip.

We know that the tabernacle was used to execute the blood atonement for the children of Israel; we know that the presence of God would descend into the Holy of Holies when the blood was sprinkled on the Ark of the covenant; we know the purpose of it: the atonement for sin; we know that everything in it, the shape, the measurements, the materials, the priests tunic, everything, points to Jesus and His sacrifice for the ones He has chosen; but it still remains a mystery to me. There is this site I found, and too bad I can't remember the name of it, that shows the tabernacle and the temple (the temple was a replica of the tabernacle, basically, and the instructions for the building of the temple came from God also,to David in that case; you can read it in 1Chron. 28, very interesting statement by David in verse 19) as an image of a human body; it made sense to me since God says we are His temple. There is a lot more to think and talk about the tabernacle, maybe one day I will do a study of it, it is intriguing and I think it deserves my attention, and yours too.

Moses writes; and then he executes the instructions; how long was Moses in the desert preparing for this task? Fourty years; the children of Israel wandered in the desert for fourty years, Moses was in the mountain for fourty days and fourty nights, Jesus fasted for fourty days and fourty nights; the children of Israel were in exile four hundred years, etc, etc. My point is that the number four is all over the bible, since Genesis where the river that came out of the garden divided into four heads; four here four there, Jonah stayed fourty days in Nineveh; four sides to the tabernacle, four beasts around the throne, four cherubim, there was a guy who had four daughters that prophesied, Peter sees a sheet held by the four corners, when Peter visits Cornelius he says he had been fasting four days ago; anyway, four is every where. Interesting.

Coming back to what I was saying at the beginning, writing is a good exercise for those of us who need to slow our brains down; it really works. Then on the other side it forces you to look at yourself and the way God is changing you into, if not better, a different person. Sometimes I go back and read things I wrote two years ago; and sometimes I am not sure it was me who wrote them, I sound so different; sometimes I sound stupid, and sometimes I sound wise, which is very surprising since I am convinced that I don't have enough wisdom.

In our Friday night meetings, I tell the guys there to read a chapter of Proverbs everyday, since it has 31 chapters you can read the whole book in a month; and if you do it consistently, you can read the book 12 times in a year; my point is that if you do this and at the end of the year you are not any wiser, then you have not been paying attention at all. The word of God will change the way the neurons in your brain work; that is a fact, it will make you think better and it will make you wiser.

That is why the Lord Himself says that His word is living and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword; it pierces even to the division of soul and spirit and of marrow and bone, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. Think about it; it cuts to the bone, it cuts through the darkness of your mind and it gives you discernment, understanding, wisdom in fact. The word of God is truth and is life, revive me according to your precepts, said David; revive me according to your statutes, said Eutychus, revive through your word, said I. And He does, He brings us back to life with His truth, with His mind, with His thoughts.

There is a passage in the book of Isaiah where God says...well here it is so I don't misquote it:
Isa 55:6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

I always wondered why He is making this comparison, shouldn't be obvious that God's thoughts and ways are not the same as ours? First of all the Lord is talking to the unrighteous man, who is he? Everyone; there is none righteous, no, not one; so He is talking to us, especially the believers. Then He is saying that we should change the way we think, to forsake our thoughts; not only about ourselves but about God; He is Holy and we are not, He is light and we are not; He is peace and we are not, and so on; the contrast is like night and day; then, our way of thinking about our acceptance before God is always twisted, we think we can please God with our actions, with our works; the striking difference is that our actions have nothing to do with His acceptance, we got it all wrong there.

But there is more, His thoughts are infinite, they cannot be numbered, He is always thinking, just as we are, we were made in His image and so we can think; we have the ability to worship and to give Him glory because of our similitude to Him; we are a reflection of Himself in our worship to Himself, that brings Him glory; but there is more because the thoughts of God always precede His ways, both are higher than anything we can imagine; God never acts without thinking, we were all a thought in His mind before we came into being, we were His idea, then He spoke us into existence; He created us through His word, Jesus gave us life. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

In the beginning was the Logos, the Memra, and through Him everything came into being that came into being; nothing exists outside the life giving principle of the Logos; God expressing His thoughts through the Logos, those are the ways of God; always Holy and righteous, infinite in love; always pure as light.

After asking us to forsake our thoughts, basically to change our minds, which is the real meaning of metanoia, repentance; He reminds us that His ways are forgiveness, abundant pardon, abundant life; that is what He is saying, if you change your thoughts and your ways, if you forsake them; then I will forgive you, I will abundantly pardon you, I will give you life abundant. It is, for me, important to remember that He is talking to His elect, to His people, to the ones He chose; this does not apply to the regular pagan individual, and the reason I bring that up is because there is no way that anyone who is unrighteous and wicked could, by any means, repent. I talked about this before, Paul says in Romans that:
Rom 8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.
8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (ESV)
It is obvious then that when God says, let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts, He is not thinking about the regular pagan in the flesh minded individual, but on the ones that belong to Him, the ones He came to save; you and I can disagree with that but I see no other way of looking at it.

As I said, the thoughts of God are infinite, not only in number but also in scope; no one thinks like Him, no one does things like He does. In Psalm 40, David says this: 5 Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to usward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. The amazing part is not that God's thoughts are infinite but that His thoughts toward us, His children, are infinite; that is the amazing part of it all. That should be enough for us to stop right now and jump up and down from joy inexpressible: the creator, YHWH Himself thinks about me an infinite number of thoughts, thoughts of good and not of evil, to give me peace, and a future, and a better end!!

But wait, there is more; like I asked before; why is He saying that? That His thoughts are not our thoughts? That His ways are not our ways? I believe that He is making a point; His point, I believe, is that in reality we can have His thoughts and His ways as our thoughts and our ways; and the way we can is related to His word; He says that as the rain and the snow fall and they don't bounce up to the sky, so it is with His word, it will always accomplish the purpose that He spoke it for. Why did He speak the Bible into existence? So that we could know His thoughts and His ways, it is obvious, so that we could know Him, and in so doing we could have eternal life.

Joh 17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

That is eternal life, that we may know God and Jesus Christ whom He sent; having obtained eternal life in the here and now, we are bound to have eternal thoughts, and eternal ways, the thoughts and ways of God. Thinking and doing the things that Jesus would do, the thoughts He would think; but there is only one way to do it, only one way to really reflect the image of the Son and to be sanctified in the truth: the Logos, the word of God.

Jesus is saying, asking, that we should be sanctified through the Word, that He gave us the words that the Father gave Him to give us, because we were the Father's and He gave us to Jesus, and we remain the Father's and we are the Son's, and in receiving them and believing them we have the knowledge of God the Father and of His son Jesus Christ, and in having this knowledge, we have eternal life, right now.

The whole prayer is beautiful and it makes my point. Receiving and believing the Word makes you think. Thinking is a privilege of the highest order; a gift from God, that we are able to think His thoughts is a higher privilege; and a sublime responsibility.

I think.

Life abundant

I see this tree every time I go for a ride on the 69, it is on the way to Cuyamaca Lake. After going up the hill through a section of very fun turns, the road comes to this expanse and the first thing I see is this tree. I took this picture from about 100 yards away with my zoom; the tree is pretty big in size, but I think it looks just beautiful.

This time of the year everything is green; I really like it up there; this area and all going through Sunrise Highway is my favorite part of the ride, not very long, about 100 miles round trip from my house; but the point is that it is beautiful and is close; I can do the ride, with two or three stops, in about two hours, but it usually takes me about four or five.

This place reminds me of the mountains around Mexico City; La Marquesa, it looks just like that but with a lot more trees. I really like it. This time I was there, I found a lonely road without signs, and I took it, the road ends at Wallstone Mine, here is a picture of it:



That cabin there is the visitor's center, there is nothing left of the mine really, just a hole in the ground with some metal tubs that appear to be part of bigger machines. There was nobody there; I found myself just looking at the landscape and admiring how beautiful God's creation is. Those are the times when I really enjoy riding my motorcycle, the best rides I have taken have been by myself; the scariest ones too.

Anyway, after my trip to the mountains, it always ends back to reality. But while I am on the bike, it is just a blast; every time I ride I praise God for allowing me to do it, even with all my back problems, and with the leg cramps, I really enjoy it.

That's the way life is, life is always a mixture of pain and pleasure, of joy and depression, of darkness and light, of good and bad; at least for me it is that way. There is a point in time when I have to come to that place, it's the end of the road, it will all end one day; in the meantime I will enjoy the ride to the best of my ability; I'll stop and look at trees, I will enjoy the turns and the bumps on the road; it's all part of the trip, and what a trip life is.

As my custom is, I will spiritualize this one too, that's what life is, a spiritual trip; with tight turns and lonely places and roads with no signs that lead you to gold mines; and then there are those trees, firmly planted by the side of the road, with all their beauty and strength, in places where they make no sense to exist except to be admired.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Jesus said that. Life more abundantly, I ask then, is my life abundant? This term abundant is: περισσός, perissos, per-is-sos'.
From G4012 (in the sense of beyond); superabundant (in quantity) or superior (in quality); by implication excessive; adverb (with G1537) violently; neuter (as noun) preeminence: - exceeding abundantly above, more abundantly, advantage, exceedingly, very highly, beyond measure, more, superfluous, vehement [-ly].

Superabundant; I like that, exceeding abundantly above what we can ask or think. This kind of life is made of little things; it is made of baby smiles, of beautiful sunsets, of I love yous and I miss yous, of holding hands and hugs, of crazy laughter, of peanut butter and jelly; of pie with ice cream; of play pretend and silly talks, of the innocence of children and their simple faith in God; of love sacrifices, of tears cried in the night; of hugs from friends and children, of daughters from heaven; of toothless grandsons; of three thousand mile phone calls, and all those roads with no signs that lead to empty gold mines; of a cross made of a tree on the side of the road, of empty tombs.

Life is simple, and abundant.

How do you define pain?

Dentists suck, pain sucks, and life sucks sometimes, but God is definitely good all the time, He remains the King of everything that is good.

I just came back from taking my three year old grandson to the dentist, he had an infection in one of his teeth and it had to be extracted, they also fixed three more where he had cavities. He was screaming, my daughter couldn't handle it so I went in, and it broke my heart to see him and hear him like that, I felt so helpless, so powerless. At one point I asked the doctor if he was in pain because he was crying like he was in pain, and her answer was, how do you define pain? I felt like smacking her across the face, I felt like cursing her and slaughtering her; I am sure an angel of the Lord was there holding my hands and my tongue, I said, what do you mean how do you define pain? Pain, that is what I mean, pain.

She, I assume, has to put up with fathers and grandfathers like me, but come on, what about some comforting words? How about: no sir, I promise you he is not in pain, we used Novocaine and he is just scared; or something like that, but snapping at me like that? She remains a bitch in my mind. I know, I shouldn't use words like bitch to describe somebody who, in reality, is trying to help my grandson, but it is what it is. Anyway, bitch is a real word:

–noun

1.	a female dog.

2.	a female of canines generally.

3.	Slang. a. a malicious, unpleasant, selfish person, esp. a woman. b. a lewd woman.

4.	Slang. a. a complaint. b. anything difficult or unpleasant: The test was a bitch. c. anything memorable, esp. something exceptionally good: That last big party he threw was a real bitch.

–verb (used without object)

5.	Slang. to complain; gripe: They bitched about the service, then about the bill.

–verb (used with object)

6.	Slang. to spoil; bungle (sometimes fol. by up): He bitched the job completely. You really bitched up this math problem.

bitch
O.E. bicce, probably from O.N. bikkjuna "female of the dog" (also fox, wolf, and occasionally other beasts), of unknown origin. Grimm derives the O.N. word from Lapp pittja, but OED notes that "the converse is equally possible." As a term of contempt applied to women, it dates from c.1400; of a man, c.1500, playfully, in the sense of "dog." In modern (1990s, originally black English) slang, its use with ref. to a man is sexually contemptuous, from the "woman" insult.

"BITCH. A she dog, or doggess; the most offensive appellation that can be given to an English woman, even more provoking than that of whore." ["Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," 1811]

The adj. bitchy "bad-tempered" (usually of females) is first attested 1925. The verb meaning "to complain" is at least from 1930, perhaps from the sense in bitchy, perhaps influenced by the verb meaning "to bungle, spoil," which is 1823. But bitched in this sense seems to echo M.E. bicched "cursed, bad," a general term of opprobrium (e.g. Chaucer's bicched bones "(unlucky) dice"), which despite the hesitation of OED, seems certainly to be a derivative of bitch. Insult son of a bitch is O.N. bikkju-sonr. Slang bitchen "good" is first attested 1950s. Bitch-goddess coined 1906 by William James.

The word is very old, but very contemporary, and so I have the right to use it in my blog, I can just say, the woman dentist, was a bitch. I know, she is pregnant, and she probably needs some hormone reducing treatment; but the real bitch was seeing my grandson in that state; I was devastated. Poor little guy, the reason they had to extract his two upper front teeth was because he had fallen a couple of times on his face, and he got hurt, the other three teeth that needed work were just from eating candy, I guess.

But how do I define pain? I looked it up:

–noun

1.	physical suffering or distress, as due to injury, illness, etc.

2.	a distressing sensation in a particular part of the body: a back pain.

3.	mental or emotional suffering or torment: I am sorry my news causes you such pain.

4.	pains, a. laborious or careful efforts; assiduous care: Great pains have been taken to repair the engine perfectly. b. the suffering of childbirth.

5.	Informal. an annoying or troublesome person or thing.

–verb (used with object)

6.	to cause physical pain to; hurt.

7.	to cause (someone) mental or emotional pain; distress: Your sarcasm pained me.

–verb (used without object)

8.	to have or give pain.

—Idioms

9.	feel no pain, Informal. to be intoxicated: After all that free beer, we were feeling no pain.

10.	on, upon, or under pain of, liable to the penalty of: on pain of death.

11.	pain in the ass, Slang: Vulgar.

12.	pain in the neck, Informal.

I am about to print it and give it to the bitch, I mean to the doctor. Ok, I apologize to anyone who reads this, I usually don't use words like that here in the blog, someone might get offended and that is not my intention, besides, it's a bitch to apologize every time I use the word bitch, so I'm sorry. To say: the bitch was a real pain in the ass, might be offensive, but I didn't really say that, I just called her a bitch, and that is after I was out of there, so she wouldn't be offended. That's not what I want.

Anyway; I felt powerless to see my little buddy like that, it really was a bitch.

The real thing

The mark of a church, a real church; what is it? Holy? Catholic? Apostolic? What meanest thou? That's what they say, who is they, I don't remember, I don't know, but that's what I heard, that the real church is holy, catholic, and apostolic.

Holy because it has been set apart and because the Holy Spirit dwells in the church; catholic because the term catholic really means universal, so when we say catholic it means universal, that means that the church is everywhere, but the term should not be universal since it is not in the universe but on the earth; besides the catholic church is not what they mean anyway, so yeah it is catholic because is universal, but not because the catholic church is the real church; before somebody screams, I'm not saying that Catholics are not part of the church, or that the catholic church is no church at all, or that the church is not catholic, all I'm saying is that the term might be confusing, it is to me. But then again, the term catholic might be the right term, who am I to say? I will trip out on the Catholic church some other time, I was raised Catholic so I know how it goes with them.

And apostolic because the apostles of Jesus Christ are the ones that founded it. The term apostle, apostolos in the Greek, means ambassador, here is the definition:
G652 apostolos, ap-os'-tol-os, From G649; a delegate; specifically an ambassador of the Gospel; officially a commissioner of Christ (“apostle”), (with miraculous powers): - apostle, messenger, he that is sent.

Ok, according to the reformers in the sixteenth century, the church, to be real, should have some basic characteristics; the first one is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ must be adhered to, meaning that the gospel should be preached in addition to administration of the sacraments, which are the Lord Supper and baptism, and third: the church must believe that justification is by faith alone; I assume that when they say faith, they refer to faith in Jesus Christ as God and in His work of redemption by becoming a human being and taking our place on the cross to pay for our sins.

Yeah, I know, I missed the second, here it is: Jesus Christ is God; the church must believe in the deity of Jesus. I really didn't missed the second point since I included it in the thrid point, but what the heck, it is what it is.

Also, the church must have authentic discipline, an ecclesiastical government to enforce the disciple of all the members of the church; of course this discipline should be based on what the bible teaches. The way I see it, discipline has become a lost art, a relic, it is basically non existent today.

Anyway, since we know that the church is the body of believers; do we as independent members of the body believe in these things? Gee, another question? Yeah man. Do we believe these are the marks of the real church? What makes the real church? How can we distinguish the real from the fake one? I think it makes sense to ask this question, when is the last time we went to church and asked ourselves if the church met the criteria of a real church?

When I worked in a bank, many years ago; I was trained to be able to fill all the positions in a branch of the bank, from teller to manager; the training center was located in a 10 story building down town Mexico City, and on the fourth floor of this building ( you should be able to tell I was born and raised there because I could say " in the fourth floor" or I can say "on the fourth floor"; both mean the same to me, so if the correct preposition is "in" or "on" and I used the wrong one, then I'm sorry, did you catch that?; anyway; my kids make fun of me all the time because when I'm coming home I say: I'm in my way, or if I want you to move out of my way I say: you're on my way; trippy stuff, my brain will always have a hard time with this one, I don't know what to do, I need prayer; sometimes I can't sleep thinking about this, I can't take it anymore, not really; at any rate I should go on) they had a real bank branch, with teller booths, and with real money, a real safe with thousands and thousands of pesos. One of the things they teach the tellers there is how to recognize a real bill. They don't teach you how to recognize a counterfeit but a real bill.

It works; once you learned how the paper feels in your fingers (in or on your fingers?), what the colors of the bills are, etc, etc. then it is a lot easier to recognize a counterfeit because you know the real one so well. That is the point of my little grammar dilemma, how to recognize the truth from the lie.

I believe with all my heart that the bible is the word of God; from Genesis one to Revelation twenty two; all of it is inspired by God, it came straight from His mind, the book is the thoughts of God put on paper. It is the real thing, the truth concerning God and man, in it is revealed the history and the plan, the master plan of God for the whole universe.

Once I know what the bible teaches, then I will know if what the church teaches is true or false; the problem we run into is always related to the interpretation of God's words, and also the question about what books are or should be included in the "canon" of scripture. The catholic church believes that the section of the bible called the "Apocrypha" should be included in the canon, the reformed church does not believe that.

Then we also have the problem of bible translations; which one is the correct one? Some say the King James, or Reina-Valera if you're a Latino bro; some say the New American Standard, others the New Industrial Version, others the Geneva Bible; some others say the Rainbow Bible; noways and nowadays we can find bible versions to suit the taste of everybody; I hear there is a new "gender neutral" version coming up; God has become "it" so is not offensive to gay people or feminists, give me a break! It should be called the politically correct version, it's ridiculous.

Anyway; how do we know that the translation we are using is the right one? God is all powerful and sovereign, and He is in control of all things. I believe He is. If I believe God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, and that without faith is impossible to please Him, are my beliefs correct?

These are the questions we , or I, have to answer; based on my belief, and on my faith, I have to consider that if God can't give me His word the way He wants, then He is not in control. If I have to learn Greek and Hebrew and go to seminar just to know God, what kind of God is He? No, He reveals Himself to whom He pleases and when He pleases, and with the translation of the bible He is pleased to use.

If He is in control of all things, as the bible affirms, then He is in control of my life, of everything that happens in my life; He is all knowing, omniscient, and He knows what I'm thinking, what I have done, and what I will think and do tomorrow and all the days of my life. He knows where the next piece of bread for my family is coming from tomorrow; He has already determined my provision, and fulfilled all my needs in advance; if I don't believe that, then I'm toast.

So if I'm going to the wrong church, He knows and He will guide me, He can and will do that; but if I don't know His word, then I'm in trouble because I can believe anything the preacher says and I will never know if it's true or not; that is what I see as the main problem today: people do not know the Word of God, you can experience this in any major church; some churches don't even use the bible to teach; they give you this paper with fill-in the blank spaces so you can just write down what they tell you to write down, and if you missed it, you can always look at the power point presentation displayed on the huge stage screen; at the end of the service people go home happy that they actually did something to feel good about their sin. "man that was a good message", " the pastor is very funny, he tells a lot of stories", "I filled in the blanks, man that chick was hot", and so forth and so on.

Fill in the blank: the mark of a true church is______.

It all comes down to the individual parts of the body; I can be the mouth, do I speak truth? I could be the hand, do I handle the truth truthfully? I could be the feet, am I walking in truth? But what is truth? The answer to that question, from the mouth of God Himself: John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

So we see, we become sanctified by the truth, by the word of God, we have become, and are becoming, sanctified, separated for God's use by the truth. But we should not worry that we are not, sometimes, being separated for His purposes; God in His power will sanctify us through the truth. If we are then being sanctified by the word of God, by the truth, it only makes sense that the church is also being sanctified by the truth. But it goes deeper than that, the truth is that the truth itself will change our minds; it will completely revolutionize the way we think, not only about God, but also about everything that happens in our lives.

The bible says in Romans that we should not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds; what does that mean? The word used for world here is αἰών, aiōn, where we get eon, meaning an era or an age, a period of time and implies the world; but is a period of time that is contrasted with χρόνος, chronos, khron'-os; which means chronological time; in other words Paul is referring to the cultural era instead of the world as a place.

What was that age like? Why is Paul saying don't be conformed to this era or age? He means what was going on at the time, what was it? It was the same thing that is going on right now, wickedness in all places, people making doctrine from anything they liked, people having the same attitude: if it feels good, then it must be good, so do it; and thinking that all roads lead to God, so doesn't matter what you believe, it's all good, there is no hell, there is no condemnation, no judgment; God does not see, He is sleeping on a cloud somewhere in heaven, let's do what is right in our eyes, let's eat and drink and be merry for tomorrow we die; it's ok to get loaded, if I only do it on the weekends, I've got pregnant but I'm having an abortion since it's not convenient for me to take care of a child, I own my body and I have the right to do whatever I want with it; gays marrying gays, it's all cool, chaos and anarchy, it's not cool.

Don't be conformed to it, Paul says, God says; συσχηματίζω, suschēmatizō, soos-khay-mat-id'-zo. From G4862 and a derivative of G4976; to fashion alike, that is, conform to the same pattern (figuratively): - conform to, fashion self according to.

That's what it means, to not fashion self according to the pattern that we see in this age He says; but to be transformed: G3339. μεταμορφόω, metamorphoo, met-am-or-fo'-o. From G3326 and G3445; to transform (literally or figuratively “metamorphose”): - change, transfigure, transform.

To metamorphose; to change the form, to change the figure; it is impossible, we cannot do it, there is no way; besides, we like the way we are, "we are free as a bird, and we cannot change" the Allman brothers sang; and is true, we cannot change, we need to be separated by God, we need to be consecrated unto Him by Him and for Him. He is the one that changes lives, He is the one that transforms a drug addict into a holy person, into a preacher of the gospel, He is the one who changes and transfigures a prostitute into a vessel of honor, into a tool for His glory; He metamorphoses our mind into a glorious thing, into the mind of Christ. God does this by His word, "sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth" Jesus said. That is the only way it can happen: through Jesus Christ Himself, there is no other way.

We are the church; and in order to know if we are the real church we need to know if we are the real thing. What is truth? Pilate asked the question: John 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.

The motive, the reason, the objective, the goal, the purpose, the determination, the resolve, the object, the point, the aspiration, the design, the plan, the mission, the premeditation, the ulterior motive, the end, the principle, the whole idea, the proposal, the intent, and any other synonym, for Jesus coming was, according to His own words, to witness to the truth, everyone, you and me included, hear His voice because we are of the truth.

We can say that Jesus came to bear witness of the word of God because His word is truth. But not everyone is of the truth, there are those who are not of the truth because God determined that they would not be of the truth.

I know some will not agree with my words, let's hear it, let's hear the argument, the reasons and so forth and so on, of why.

We are the real church if the truth abides in us: John 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.

It's all there, love, truth, joy, knowledge, obedience, friendship with God, being chosen, abiding in truth, abiding in Him, that's what makes you the real thing.