My foot hurts, but that guy has no leg!
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Posted:Oct 8, 2010 6:20 pm
Last Updated:May 18, 2024 9:18 am 7412 Views
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My foot hurts, but that guy has no leg!
by Dennis Thompson
We all go through life's times that are not fun. I am experiencing that right now in my own life. Things aren't comfortable. Some things I wish to happen just haven't . Yet. Sometimes we just have to wait upon God. being a believer doesn't mean that we will stop experiencing most of the everyday frustrations. It just means that we know we are not alone, we know that he is with us. In some instances the sand in our shoes is no longer compared to the pothole in the road or the disappointments that we have no control over.
The internet has been such a blessing to me. It has helped me stay connected with family and friends in an easier venue. It has also helped me meet some very kool and interesting people. In some instances you join with them in the sails of life, and in others you want to lift them up and help them through crippling circumstances.
The other day i was chatting with someone that i have been getting to know over time. On the outside you would think how blessed they are. How the world seems to be their playground as they are loved, admired and skilled with things that people appreciate.Once we chatting about life, in a deeper way I saw another side. Perhaps we have experienced some of what they have, but rarely as much. My heart opened and my eyes teared as they told me of the tragedy's they have had to overcome. Seven years ago their twin was struck by lightening while at college and died. They were very close. A close family. A big family that understood loving and the importance, appreciation of life and all family members. As if this was not enough, the father was so affected by losing his , in a short period of time it weakened him and he passed. The mother and he were in love the way a marriage should be. The way God intended it to be. She somewhat recovered over time. Years pass. However just a year or so ago, two more of her died in an accident. Being a parent, I know that there is no way you overcome these things. You just somehow cope. There is no pat answer, there are no points of completion to make it to another level of coping. You just cope. Anyway, I see my dear friend as amazing.
Normally i might stop my note right here. However much has happened lately. Here i woke up one morning to see that a dear friends wife had posted that he had had a heart attack and was in the hospital. He is loved by many people on facebook. He shares the Love of God each day. He shares the good news of Christ with anyone that would listen. his world is now in recovery, but it is topsy turvy right now. We are all thankful for his recovery. God granted us more time with a dear saint who has a beautiful family.
Life is all about perspective. My foot is nothing compared to the loss of a leg. I can stand, I can walk with little complications in the realm of life. But many have things going on that are so fragile and often no way to understand. I have a dear friend that has family issues. They are always hoping for the best and not understanding what makes the dynamics the way thaat they are. What part they play in them.
Across the world I know many single moms in third world countries that have little to feed their . In some instances they leave their with the grandparents and go to other countries to work in order to support everyone. I know of people who can not have and yet you would never know the deep pain that they do have, because they allow Love to flow through them instead of pain.
There is that commercial..life comes at you fast. Yes it does. Sometimes it just passes you by. Sometimes people quit without realizing the wake they leave behind of loved ones and friends who miss them. Perhaps they forget that with lemons you can make lemonade. Unfortunately they lose perspective that God gave us this life for a reason. It is a blessing to have this life. heaven is eternal. It is found in Jesus. i do not think God wishes us to live this life always thinking of Jesus coming back and poof we are in heaven. It has its purpose. It is meant to be embraced and not despised.
Live ,laugh, smile and mourn when needed, but live.
Dennis
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Whats up with all the Sin?
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Posted:Oct 8, 2010 6:18 pm
Last Updated:May 18, 2024 9:18 am 6781 Views
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Whats' up with all the "sin"
by Dennis Thompson
Our original sin did separate us from God. There was an answer to that. Jesus atonement on the cross. One thing I have never understood is the ongoing a fixation with sin in people's hearts and minds. He has written right and wrong on our hearts in the New Covenant man has; once we believe on him. Unless you are Jewish, you were never made righteous by "law keeping" to begin with with We are righteous as believers because of what Jesus did.. So why the focus being on the straight and narrow when the only one able to ever complete that is Jesus? What did Jesus say?
He said to love the Lord Your God with all of your heart, your mind and your being.
He said to Love your neighbor as yourself.
He stated that he is the vine and we are the branches, abide in him. This means allow life to pass from him to you, in essence he ling through you...and Paul stated, It is no longer he living, but Christ living through him
Yet we concentrate on things that we can fail on in our own strength, when in his strength we can have life abundantly... Amen
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It is not a Dilemma for me
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Posted:Oct 8, 2010 6:16 pm
Last Updated:May 18, 2024 9:18 am 6721 Views
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It is not a Dilemma for me
by Dennis Thompson
Personally I do not understand why our lives get consumed with new aggressive laws each day, things Islam is and we need to show everyone. Great new programs instituted at a place of worship. Every time a government is set up on this world, there is someone or some group trying to destroy it. America lost it's constitution at the end of the Civil War. Just as the emperor who has no clothes, we are like him if we believe the law of the land has been followed. No I didn't learn this from nut jobs like Alex Jones or Ron Paul. Just look at History. Look at states rights as they have all fallen under federal jurisdiction. Look at public schools, which were one of the 10 planks of Marxism. How long has that been in place, and how long has it rejected Christianity and taught anything and all things as factual against Christianity?
Islam is evil and of the spirit of the Anti-Christ. It is that simple and its evil activities should surprise no one. We know this. Of course many wish to try and say that there is a radical and non radical. Baloney. 164 scriptures tell them to kill and fight and maim non-Muslims.They have an average of 8 babies to try and breed the taking over of the world. Thomas Jefferson purchased a Queran just to figure out why these people were so hateful.
We can go back to the days of Abraham Lincoln to find our first socialist President. Look at his voting record before being President. He was very liberal. He more than doubled taxes on the South. Is that a conservative or moderate approach? No, it is not.He forced a war with no congressional vote. Is that constitutional? No it is not. Everything he did was no different than what the hated Obama does today. Look at Lincolns associations. Socialists, just as Obama today. You have both Roosevelts, bad presidents and socialists. The list goes on and on.
Yet we live in an angry and altered state of mind regarding a progression that has went on for 160 years now. Yeah its a different day. Same stuff.
In Christianity, we have taken it to as many levels of business as one could imagine. The best way to see it is just the same light as the electronic, production revolution of the last 110 years.We have developed things that no one even thought possible in the previous 1900 years after Christ. Fellowships turned to megla-churches where the word of one man was placed over everyone else s. People were taught they were not right with God unless they contributed weekly to the well oiled machine. Did God desire this? The fact of the matter is that absolute power does corrupt. We have seen fallen situation after fallen situation. The focus is not God, it is men and organizations.
With it has come the emasculation of men as leaders. They sell their anointing without realizing it. They defer to so called leadership. They go. If they are not a leader, they have little place in a fellowship outside of being a yes man to whoever is in charge. The word says we are all priests and prophets in Christ. Not some, but all. Yet we go, we stand when told to stand, sing when told, sit and listen, break out our wallets and then leave. From the outside looking in, that is in many ways the way cults are run.
The New Covenant teaches all we have is God's. Instead of giving financially each week what we think, how about giving what the Holy Spirit says to give? Novel eh? In the Old Testament, Tithing was never about money, it was farmers sharing with the community.Wheat.They had money back then. Yet somehow it all of a sudden all became about money. The very thing that the word states that the love of is what? The root of all evil. Its also very interesting that until 330 years after Jesus gave atonement, Christianity was the only belief system that did not have a temple or synagogue. They met in homes. They also shared one other thing. They all spoke and shared, just as it says in the scriptures that when you meet, everyone has something to share. If they wish. Eliminate that and you eliminate "fellowship". So the Church has went from fellowship to dictatorship.
For me, I will find good people to support politically because it is the system that we have. I will vote for the best choice in the primary and then vote Republican in the general elections. But I am not going to worry everyday over an onslaught that I personally can not change. I am not going to get mad at every injustice because it is a sad part of life. It is just like watching the animal; planet as one animal devours another and although the filmmakers could have stopped it, they do not. How sick. I find it wrong.
So I live my life, doing the best I can, not concerned if I fit into either the political groups. I vote Republican because they are not Godless. Democrats are Godless and cold. They have never done anything for the good of our nation. They never will. America has long been bamboozled by the ongoing lies of the Democratic Party.
I embrace Christianity, but not the denominations and organizations. Not the man made impersonal structures. I love to get together and fellowship, but not play the game of participation in the building. My guess is easy, when it was simple, when it was smaller groups with encouragement and truth, it was real. Now, it is a pecking order, when God himself said he was not a respecter of men. I wonder what they think when the scripture is read, the last shall be first and the first shall be last. Do they ignore Jesus and the moneychangers? How does he feel when musicians pay less than $2 a cd and sell them for $18. Isn't the Gospel free? and if so, why has it become like politics? It has become a business. It is not a business for me
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How hard is that?
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Posted:Oct 8, 2010 6:13 pm
Last Updated:May 18, 2024 9:18 am 6722 Views
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How hard is that?
by Dennis Thompson
Each day when I get up, I am thankful for another day. The first presence I am aware of is God tugging at my heart. So from that point I may ask a few questions but I do a lot of listening in my spirit. I am but a flawed imperfect person who sometimes does well and sometimes blows it. But I do try and allow the opportunity for God to live through me each day.
Some may say, but don't you put on the full armor of God? If you look at what each part of that is, righteousness, peace, truth etc. It is simply saying here Jesus, you live through me today. He is after all the Prince of peace, he is our righteousness as we are righteous before God because of what he did. The word states that we as believers have the mind of Christ. We renew it in daily fellowship with him. He is the word, so he is our sword of thee spirit. It is simple. We trusted him to save us and forgive us. What changes from day to day? Nothing. It is all about trust.
There are no promises, just that he will be with us no matter what we endure. Good or bad. He does have a plan for our lives. Sometimes those plans never take place. It is usually because we get so caught up in what we want in life. The Gospel is simple. It is free. It is not this secret that needs to be revealed only by some televangelist if you send money to them and boom! They send you some teaching tape. It is not found in a building where some man is speaking.
It is found in the intimacy of you and the Holy Spirit taking time together. Imagine, God indwelling in you because of your belief in who Jesus is and what he did. That Holy Spirit is there to comfort you and to teach you all things.What else do we need in the arena of understanding ? Who do we trust? Men, or the Spirit of the God we say we believe in, that actually dwells inside us. It is simple and yet men always complicate it.
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Is it really God's bar we raise?
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Posted:Oct 8, 2010 6:12 pm
Last Updated:May 18, 2024 9:18 am 6732 Views
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Is it really God's bar we raise?
by Dennis Thompson on Friday, October 8, 2010
In the early Christian Church after Christ had given atonement for the sin of the world, there sprung up an interesting dilemma that reigns even today. With the death and resurrection also came the birth of Christianity. A new Covenant that replaced the old one, and not only that made the way for all mankind to have a personal relationship with God. Before it was only the Jews and their relationship was works based and one where they did this and God did that. But this New Covenant was now faith based on Grace provided by Jesus. So the Jewish people had to set down their justification by law keeping and know they were justified because of what the messiah had done.
Then there were the gentiles. Non-Jews. They had always been on the outside looking in. Over the centuries they had bought into many forms of humanistic type teachings. The most common was the Gnostic. They did not believe that they had any sin that separated them. Everything was relative in life to them. So there were many hurdles when they started attending the Church of Christ. There were many many hurdles for the Jews as well.
I say this because in today's world the same issue comes into play. People who receive Christ are immediately led into whatever denomination that the people were that led them to receiving Christ. They get plugged into not only that theology, but also a certain expectations of their actions from that point forward. Yes when we receive Jesus we are a new creation in Christ. Yes the Holy Spirit now resides in us, and yes we have the mind of Christ. Old things do pass away. However we also have a flesh that will always be a hindrance to us, Paul's thorn perhaps.
Some people's transformations are indeed outstanding and heart warming. Some people are ready to run away from their pasts. Others are not and it takes them time. Does this make them any less a believer if they struggle? Or does it make them perhaps a believer that needs encouragement and not condemnation. Remember, God desires to transform us into Christ and not into what man thinks they ought to be.
I have heard so many people in life, who have this idea that they can not trust Christ as savior because they know they would just fail God. Little do they know that the whole world fails and that is one of the major reasons Jesus came. But when they see people putting pressure on other people to be this or be that, then they see their inadequacies at a whole new level. It can be so intense that they see themselves at even a worse level. Not Good, and really what Satan wants for them, feeling there is no hope really for them.
Diamonds are considered a thing of not only great value, but also of natural beauty. They did not just exist, they were formed through many years of constant pressure. But the end result is the product that most women want on their wedding bands as they appreciate the product. No one wants a half formed diamond.
The great thing is, the bible says that Jesus is not only the author, but the finisher of every Christian's faith. Not us. It says that it is God's Goodness and Kindness that brings us to Repentance . We begin to love him because we realize he first loved us. It goes deeper. Jesus said, I no longer call you servants, but friends. Isn't That awesome??!! Think about it? Paul stated it was no longer he living, but Jesus living through him. He experienced the life of abiding. The same one Jesus had when he said the words I have, are not my words but the fathers. The same with the miracles, the father doing them through Jesus. That is the whole Christian life, Jesus living through you. Simple. Pressure's off.
However when we place a high bar on people with little experience in things of the spirit, then we take everything from a faith based belief system and make it a chore that no person has ever been able to handle except Jesus. Would you want someone to do that to you? I have experienced the loss of loved ones in life. I have experienced divorce. Both were out of my control. I made a decision though, to trust God beyond my personal pain.
In both instances and also other circumstances that have been painful in life has brought forth my own form of diamond. Wisdom to share with others experiencing the pains of failing or failed marriages. Hope for others that you indeed can make it to the other side. The ability to mourn with those who lose loved ones. We can either become a form of a diamond and embrace the Lord through circumstances, or we can remain the coal instead. It is hard, but Jesus told us to embrace his burdens while letting go of our own because his load is light. Cast your cares upon him, because he cares about you. Allow him to bring people along as he writes their story of faith.
Be Blessed
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There is not a middle ground in life if you believe in truth
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Posted:May 12, 2009 6:15 am
Last Updated:May 18, 2024 9:18 am 6577 Views
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Some people seem to want to think that it is the "smart" thing to do to be sitting in what they consider the middle of the road in life's beliefs. Well, I happen to know if you stand in the middle of the road long enough, you will get run over by someone.
Do you want to be a follower? Do you want to be a person who hears God's inner voice and adheres to that? If it is the latter, it is a much more radical life because it is one that leads you to unpopular path's. God's thoughts are not the thoughts of man and neither are his ways. It has always been that way. Who persecuted Jesus more than anyone? It was the Jewish Priests that supposedly served his Father God.
What is the so called far right? It is the basic belief in mans ability to be free to use their own talents to either succeed or fail based on their own abilities. It is the belief that we all are responsible for ourselves to choose an education and follow our dreams without a governing body deciding what our job,dreams should be. It is also the belief that its not harmful to fail but rather a springboard for future success. It is called liberty. Freedom with little intervention from Government. If anyone notices, Government laws rarely help but hinder the general public. We do not believe in welfare for people who can help themselves and are capable of working. Handicapped programs are great. The world got along fine in the last 2000 years without government programs.
If you are in the middle, you have no foundation. Your absolutes are polluted with relativism. If you are a believer, God's word says "The ________" will set you free. What sets you free? Truth. Theories do not set you free.Theories only muddle up the equation. Do not get me wrong, theories are ok until they are proven to fail. Once proven in truth that it does not work and people continue to try and apply it, well someone in the group needs to stand up and say hey! This has failed before, and it will not work.
This is what is going on in this country right now. The middle of the road people say, hey give President Obama a chance. Lets see what he will do. The people on the Left will chide in with remarks about racism if you are against Obama. They will say many things that if looked at closely simply are not supported by any semblance of truth.
What are my examples? President Obama said he was not going to raise taxes but rather cut taxes. His appeal was to the lower middle class and lower class financial citizens. Ok that sounds.... fine and dandy. It is certainly what people "want to hear". However everyone has a track record in life. President Obama is not any different. How many times in all of his opportunities to vote for a tax cut, did he do just that? If my memory serves me correctly it is 197 times. That is a lot of opportunities. He also voted 197 times against the tax cut. So now I am supposed to believe he will give tax cuts just because he says he will do it when his track record shows he never has. Not one time?
There are a lot of ways to be taxed. Cap and trade is one of the more disastrous to economic programs out there, and he is for that. So that means much higher taxes for our industry as well as companies. Companies that provide jobs to many Americans. So should a person, if they have read and studied about this danger to America keep quiet and take a stance...lets just wait and see?
How many people have studied about his desire for America to pay taxes to the United Nations. That is what he plans on doing. This is the same America that is in so much debt spending since he took office that his spending in less than 4 months is greater than our History. We are talking about printing money that does not have a gold standard. Do any of you know how much Iraqi money that was used before the war is worth? That is where this is headed. Say nothing? Wait and see how it turns out?
How many of you have ? Is life a wait and see how everyone feels before you implement things into your life? Do you let them just do things because as your say, everyone is doing it mom! Everyone is doing it dad! My parents would say to me, I do not care if "everyone" is like that because we are not!
The word of God states that if you raise your with Godly principles and a heart after God that they will follow that life path. I am not talking about a bunch of rules. I am talking about a love relationship with truth. That is what it means. Not a stiff strict life. Its working from your salvation and not "for" it.
So, if the foundation is strong, it will hold up against life's storms. A strong foundation can only be built with absolutes that are proven to work. Capitalism, when left alone has always worked. Its proven time and again. Marxism has never flourished and never will because it takes away from the real greatness. The individual flourishing within his own gifting. That is why people of absolutes promote it from the mountain tops.
Reinventing a bad thing is still a bad idea. Government health care has failed everywhere. Germany, France and England are hurting because of it. It sucks the life out of the community economically and to try and make it work, it ends up being very poor health care. Eventually the government tells you when you have lived long enough. So, should we be quiet about that? Give it a chance once again? It doesnt work.
Spending packages have been tried in America several times before this last fiasco we have now. Did it work even once? The last time it sent us into a bad era called the great Depression. So, we are to trust this and say lets see how this works out this time?
Its like walking the same way to school and getting beat up by the school bully. How many times does this have to happen before you either take a different route or get an equalizer? A person with intelligence and the ability to think for themselves does something. They do not need to "just" see what happens because they already know. The people on the right believe in foundational truths. The people on the left believe in failed ideologies that are based in relativism which lacks truth. That is the difference. The people in the middle do not really know what they believe because they are tossed to and fro in the wind.
Be Blessed.....find the truth
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Blessings
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Posted:Sep 16, 2008 3:03 am
Last Updated:May 18, 2024 9:18 am 7364 Views
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I hope everyones days are filled with hope and blessings
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