Bon Appetit

So what do you consume on a daily basis? Do you start your day with Spiritual food or worldly food? Both are necessary for the body; one nourishes and the other cleanses! Say for instance, you may have eggs, bacon and pancakes for breakfast. Perhaps some of you may have a bowl of cereal or a donut and some orange juice. Lunch could consist of McDonald's, or Wendy's or White Castle if you live in the Midwest!
Dinner could be a frozen pizza, spaghetti, or a lean cuisine!

I do not own the right to this image

We are all aware, by now, that today's foods contain preservatives, additives and chemicals that are harmful to the body! However, we all are not created the same! You could have a high metabolism and maintain your same weight; no matter what you eat; being totally oblivious to the damage it is doing internally! Others have developed hypertension, diabetes, or obesity  from their poor diets - yet they still consume the very foods causing the damage!

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding,alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:17-24 ESV)

Spiritual food consists of reading the bible, praying, and unselfishly giving to others! It cleanses internally all of the junk (envy, hate, worry, jealousy, etc), that causes blockage also! The fruit we consume is sweet, low in calories; and contains essential vitamins that keep the internal organs healthy! The Fruit of the Spirit (Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control [Galatians 5:22-23 ESV]); cleanses all unrighteousness down to the core so righteousness and right living overtakes it and gives it a new way of living; healthy, whole and perfect in Christ!

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:11-14 ESV )

ONE WAY!

The Dating Game!

How do you treat your spouse at home? Do you treat him/her with contempt, disgust, or rudeness? Do you take all of your frustrations out on him/her after you treated a stranger, who just cussed you out for accidentally bumping into them, with respect? Or do you ignore them; expect them to console you after a bad day?  Do you enter the door being very obnoxious and expect empathy?

Think back when you two first met. The man would send flowers and dine the young lady and the young lady was overtly sweet and kind. You treated each other with respect and would find ways to keep the peace and prosper the relationship. You truly worked at making the relationship work! What changed?

Pride, arrogance, they have become insignificant to you, or it could be you have adopted the world’s view of what a relationship is! The world (Satan’s domain) views it as: It should not be in agreement, arguing is normal, and looking down on your spouse, allowing someone else to put them down in your presence is acceptable; and in constant search of something better! When you do seek out the “idea” man/woman that you feel is the best ever, you’re still not content!

Once again, recall when you first laid eyes on that special someone! What were you feeling? Were you fearful, confident, in doubt? You were probably not overly confident; because you did not know how the other person would receive you!

Since the young man approaches the young lady; most men are in a panic stage. His heart is racing, his palms are sweaty, and his mouth is so dry, he feels as if his tongue weighs about 2 lbs. Rejection hurts; so what if he gets rejected? Then what? Well he attempts it anyway! This time, the beautiful woman he sought after, receives him with open arms! It could be consciously or subconsciously, he asked God to give him the courage and ability to impress her and keep her in his life!

Now, I have your attention! You called on God to help you and when He did, you received what you wanted. After the marriage, you stepped away from God (You ignored the fact you asked God for help or you felt you didn’t need Him from this point forward)! Whatever the scenario; the relationship is failing miserably! You are putting the blame on the other person; and refusing to take responsibility for your own actions – Remember there are two people in a relationship – well three! That’s what changed!

Put God back into the relationship, keep God in the relationship; and you will have success after success in it! 

5 You know that He appeared in visible form and became Man to take away [upon Himself] sins, and in Him there is no sin [essentially and forever].

6 No one who abides in Him [who lives and remains in communion with and in obedience to Him—deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] commits (practices) sin. No one who [habitually] sins has either seen or known Him [recognized, perceived, or understood Him, or has had an experiential acquaintance with Him].

7 Boys (lads), let no one deceive and lead you astray. He who practices righteousness [who is upright, conforming to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action, living a consistently conscientious life] is righteous, even as He is righteous.

8[But] he who commits sin [who practices evildoing] is of the devil [takes his character from the evil one], for the devil has sinned (violated the divine law) from the beginning. The reason the Son of God was made manifest (visible) was to undo (destroy, loosen, and dissolve) the works the devil [has done]. (I John 3:5-8 AMPC)

Are you Leaving or Staying?

Moving away or staying where you are does not change the outcome of a relationship! The only thing that will change and needs to be changed is you! If you haven’t noticed, Jesus is omnipresent; which means He is everywhere! You cannot escape Him! You still have to deal with you!

Relationships today are seriously dysfunctional! The “Truth” cannot be altered. An egotistic mind, like the fallen angel (Satan) was deceived too! Jesus is “Truth” and the “Light”! So anything that you receive outside of the Word (Truth) is false teachings; or Satan’s way of deceiving you into believing his way is better!

A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger. (Proverbs 15:1 NASB)

If you are angry, don’t sin by nursing your grudge. Don’t let the sun go down with you still angry—get over it quickly; ²⁷ for when you are angry, you give a mighty foothold to the devil. (Ephesians 4: 26-27 TLB)

We can’t sleep around, constantly abuse each other, or destroy the lives of those around us. It only leads to more hurt and destruction. The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy! (John 10:10) How much more deterioration will it take for America to realize, “A change has to come”! Will we fall like Sodom and Gomorrah? (Genesis 19)  It’s not too late to repent and become a Nation of believers, and don’t take too long ~ Judgment day is near!

^1-2 Then the Lord spoke to Jonah again: “Go to that great city, Nineveh,” he said, “and warn them of their doom, as I told you to before!”

³ So Jonah obeyed and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city with many villages around it—so large that it would take three days to walk through it.

^4-5 But the very first day when Jonah entered the city and began to preach, the people repented. Jonah shouted to the crowds that gathered around him, “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” And they believed him and declared a fast; from the king on down, everyone put on sackcloth—the rough, coarse garments worn at times of mourning.

⁶ For when the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne, laid aside his royal robes, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes. ⁷ And the king and his nobles sent this message throughout the city: “Let no one, not even the animals, eat anything at all, nor even drink any water. ⁸ Everyone must wear sackcloth and cry mightily to God, and let everyone turn from his evil ways, from his violence and robbing. ⁹ Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will decide to let us live and will hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.”

¹⁰ And when God saw that they had put a stop to their evil ways, he abandoned his plan to destroy them and didn’t carry it through. (Jonah 3 TLB)

In the Flesh or Spirit?

In 2011 I decided to pursue a new career; something more adventurous and exciting – so I filled out an application to become a flight attendant!

The airline notified me that I was picked along with 20 other applicants; but I had to go through 6 weeks of class and the “hangar” (a large metal building used to store air crafts) two days a week around 2 or 3 am. All potential flight attendants had to wear black skirts and blazers if you were a woman; with a white blouse, pantyhose, and black heels no higher than 3 inches – If you were a man, a black suit, white shirt and black dress shoes. (During the hangar, you could wear street clothes) Once you pass the class, you received one uniform courtesy of the company. If you needed additional ones, you purchased them yourselves. 

Not knowing what was expected, it devastated me, during the hangar, of what little room we had to sit and stand. So imagine pretending your class mates are the passengers and you are serving them drinks and a snack. Maneuvering the cart down the tiny isle back and forth took skill. Everything on the commuter planes was uncomfortably small.  

Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, ⁸ “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, ⁹ and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. ¹⁰ But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. Luke 14:7-10 ESV

Talk about thinking more highly of myself than I ought to! (Romans 12:3) I quickly found out that all flight attendants start out at the bottom and work their way up; and it doesn’t happen as quickly as you would like. Beginners might not get called but once or twice a month; so the experience needed to advance, in some instances, takes commitment and determination. However, many stick it out and prevail; and some get weary and quit.

Each week we had a written test and you had to receive a 90 and above to continue the classes. I passed the first five weeks of test with a 95 or better; whereas, the last test I received an 88. You could only retake the test once before you were let go. Guess what? I missed the exact same answers the second time! Yep! After seeing the film on turbulence, over 90% of the injuries received are flight attendants. That's where I lost all confidence and concentration.

It didn't take me long to realize this was not the career for me! I pursued this egotistically and felt I had the credentials needed to become a flight attendant; and I did, but I leaped before I looked. The bumps and bruises I received after the fact, could have been avoided, if I would have prayed about it first!

Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.

²¹ “What is it you want?” he asked.

She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”

²² “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”

“We can,” they answered.

²³ Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

²⁴ When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. ²⁵ Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ²⁶ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ²⁷ and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— ²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:20-28 NIV

Stinking Thinking?

Merry Christmas!