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Created by the talented [Link To User poulynoe]")    Happy Valentine's Day.   "Prompt (Happy Valentine's Day!)Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. This scripture is a cry from Christ's heart after scolding the scribes and Pharisees for being hypocrites. What can we learn about our relationship as children of God from this verse?" The primary thing that we can learn is love. Love has become twisted and distorted in human terms. We take love to be what others do for us. Love is what we do for others. It is doing right by them no matter how they treat us. It is forgiving and forgetting every wrong as if it never happened. It is going the extra mile.  Since it is Valentine's Day we decided to look for some romance poems. What can be more romantic than poetry? Adherennium Dr of Phoolishness   writes
about an hourglass. What do you think an hourglass has to do with romance?" An hourglass actually has a lot to do with romance. Even if a romance lasts a lifetime in human terms it is limited. So like the sands through the hourglass so is romance. |
| "Prompt: Psalms 1:3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Do you think this can be compared to the verse in Psalms 52:8 that we looked at earlier this week? What are your thoughts about this?" I don't recall looking at Pslams 52:8. However, Psalms 1:3 means that te righteous are doubly blessed. First they are anchored in God so that they cannot fail. Second, the things they do will be successful. Prompt: I was cruising the galaxy with Captain Kirk and found this planet: Kurt Philip Behm  writing "Rod Serling Remembered"
Read this item. Write about this item in your Blog entry today. I always admired Rod Serling. He was one of the people who got me interested in writing, fantasy, and what if. |
| "Prompt: John 15:12-14, '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.' How are you a friend to Jesus?" Are any of us ever truly friends with Jesus? We nail Him to the cross every day. How can we claim to be His fiends? Yet the wall of enmity has been torn down and Jesus tore it down. He made a way when there was no way. "Prompt: I was cruising the galaxy with Jane Way and found this planet: Netty writes "RESTORE AMERICA"
Write about this item in your Blog entry today. I really do not believe there is any way to restore America. At least there is no way thay will be fair, equitable, and accepted by all. No matter what we do some group is going to feel constitutionally violated. It is a no win situation that is beyond human help. |
| "Prompt: 2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. What does this verse mean to you?" This is a popular verse, one often memorized by children. How often do we apply it though? It basically means that we cannot go to a gun fight unless we know how to use the gun. Nobody should be saved today and preaching tomorrow. They should study intensely first. The disciples all went through three years of training under the direct tutelage of Jesus Himself. One thing that always yanks my chain is when people quote things but cannot give the scripture or they quote things the Bible does not say. I havee heard "Spare the rod, spoil the child," all of my life and people say Solomon said it in Proverbs. No! He did not say that. Sorry. "Cleanliness is next to godliness," is another one. It isn't in there. It may be implied but not stated. "Prompt: I was cruising the galaxy with Luke Skywalker and found this planet: Lyn's a sly fox  writing
Write about this item in your Blog entry today." I am not familiar with this form but I love what you have done with it. You describe a painter or artist with the moves made by them. I love it. |
Today, 13 years ago, I surrendered myself to the 12 step programs. Although I did not like some of the idolatry there, I found spirituality there. The "Higher Power" concept began to take root in me and I developed working faith. I also learned how to behave in a spiritual manner. I eventually upgraded and began going to church full time, but I am grateful to these programs for not preaching to me but showing me how to live what I preached. I have been drug free for 13 years today. "Prompt: Psalm 91:1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. In your opinion, what is the secret place of the most High?"This is such an important question that I have highlighted my response by making it bold and in bigger font. I would have to do some research on the Hebrew root word translated "secret" here, but I do not believe "secret" to be the best translation. God wants a relationship with His people. He has gone all out to have that relationship. He has gone so far as to become one of us, leaving the glories and rights of heaven behind, to take on weak human flesh so that He could be seen and touched by us humans. He died for us in an effort to restore us to a right relationship with Him. I don't believe there is anything "secret" about God. I personally believe that is a terrible translation because it implies that God is unapproachable. I think what it is referring to is that God lives on a different plane than we do. We cannot get to that plane on our own. We must be taken there by God Himself. God however, will not take us there as hostages. We must be willing to go. Once we are there we will find that God blesses us immensely. I try to spend as much time as possible sitting at the feet of Jesus. I do that by first getting myself out of the way. A friend said the other night in a social media post that the pecking order was: "God first, (herself) second, her family third, and others last." I once felt that way too. Then somebody taught me to put myself dead last in that pecking order, just as Jesus did. I tried it and found that the satisfaction of serving others was the key to success. We are born selfish and self-centered. Our entire focus is on ourselves. Augustine said we were "homo in se incurvatus" or "curved inward" meaning that our focus is into ourselves. God did not create us to be this way. He created us to be focused outwardly upon others. Naturally we will focus on those closest to us. So the real pecking order is: God first and above all, others, including family second, and myself dead last. God's kingdom is a kingdom of paradoxes and mirror reflections of the world. The world values pride. God values humility. The world values strength. God values weakness. The world values competition. God values assistance. The world is dog eat dog. God is dog feeding dog. God is the complete mirror opposite of the world. The world sees God as aloof and secret. God is anything but aloof and secret. He is approachable and seeks to be known. The world values privacy. God values being known as He knows Himself. The "secret" place is no secret. It is at the feet of Jesus. Satan does not want us to know this so he uses the weaknesses of human language to hide this behind mistranslated or hard to translate words like the one translated "secret" here. Satan wants us to think God is hiding something from us. It worked with Adam. Adam thought God was hiding something and that doubt made him mistrust God and eat the forbidden fruit. Satan has used that tactic ever since. Why should he not use it? It works for him. We humans bite every time. God is not hidden in a "secret" place. He is fully exposed and has fully exposed Himself in Jesus Christ. The response asks us what we think the secret place of God is. My response to that question is that I do not like the use of the word “secret” where God is involved. Does God have secrets? Sure, he does! Even Paul talks of the “unknowable” things of God. However, God does not want to hold secrets from man. God wants to know and be known by us. He wants a relationship with us. If we knew everything there was to know about God the knowledge would probably make our finite minds explode. On the other hand, God has proven His desire to be known by His creatures. He has shown this by becoming a human being Himself and dwelling among us. Jesus said “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father for the Father and I are one," John 10:30. The statement seemed so outrageous to those with Him at the time that many wanted to stone Jesus for saying it. Yet we know that Jesus was and is indeed God. He is the Son of God but He is also the Father as He and the Father are two aspects of the same Person or God. Satan’s tactic from creation until the present day has been to sow doubt. “Did God REALLY say not to eat from that tree? (This began to make Eve doubt herself. She wondered if she had misunderstood.) Satan wanted Eve to think that perhaps God had been mistaken or that Eve had been mistaken. Then to erase any doubt about where Satan wanted Eve to believe the fault lay the serpent added “God knows that when you eat of this fruit you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” At this point Satan not only wants Eve to doubt herself, he also wants her to doubt God. He is trying to convince her that God is withholding something desirable from her. After all, what could be better than being exactly like your Creator? In Eve’s defense it seems desirable to be like God and I believe she truly wanted to be exactly like her Maker. There was nothing wrong with that desire. After all, believers are to strive every day to be like Jesus. In Eve’s defense, she thought she was desiring something good. After all, here was an opportunity to be like her Maker. All she had to do was disobey her Maker to be like Him! In her heart of hearts, she had good intentions in that respect. However, the desire to be like God was what caused Satan to be tossed out of God’s presence. Satan became prideful and wanted to be God. Now Satan sees that the way to destroy man is to get man to latch onto the same desire that brought about Satan’s demise. Satan wanted man to desire to “be like God.” To do this Satan needed only to amplify what was already there. After all, man is created with an inherent desire to know and mimic God. Any child wants to be like its parent. It’s natural. Satan needed only amplify the desire to “be like God” in Eve. To do so he had to convince Eve that God was holding back. “You won’t surely die” the serpent said “for God knows that in the day you eat of this fruit you will be like God.” Now Satan has upped the ante. He has not only amplified the natural desire of Eve’s heart, but he has told her “Hey! This God dude is holding out on you. God is deceiving you. God is not telling you the whole truth. So, since God is not going to tell you how to fulfill your natural desire to be like God, I am going to tell you.” The rest of course was all downhill. Eve believed Satan and thought God was lying to her. She convinced Adam and they both ate the forbidden fruit. Was it an actual fruit or was the tree and fruit a metaphor? Either way, the result was that Eve doubted God. In doing so, separation came between man and God, and God withdrew into a “secret place.” That secret place however was exposed at the cross and no longer exists! Prompt: "Today, still bumping around in the Romulan neutral zone, we saw a star. Starling  writes about the "sandman" in The Sandman
The Sandman to me is the peaceful (usually) rest I get at night. I take a sleeping pill and it puts me into a strage of sleep where I do not have the vivid dreams I typically have. When I dream I often wake up tired because my dreams are so vivid, they are like being awake. I prefer the dreamless sleep I have with my pill. Sorry Sandman. |
| "Prompt: Psalms 52:8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever. What does it mean to be like a green olive tree?" Green is often viewed as the color of life, fertility, and vitality. By using the metaphor of a green olive tree the psalter was saying that he was growing and vibrant, despite the fact that he was surrounded by enemies. David was hunted when writing many of the Psalms. He wasn't hunted by just anybody but by the king of Israel. It would be the equivalent of being on America's Most Wanted during the prime of that show and broadcasted on every major network. His chance of escape was nil. Yet he did escape, often times close enough to the king that the king could breathe on him. At one point David cut the hymn off of the king's robe while the king was in a cave defecating. David could have killed the king, but instead cut the robe as proof that he could have killed him. Then he felt badly for even doing that! Yet the king was hunting him like an outlaw for no reason. He was wanted dead or alive but he claimed "I am a green olive tree in the house of God." Not only was David's attitude a positive one in spite of a horrible circumstance, but his faith and righteousness was beyond human. Prompt: "Today we passed through the neutral zone and found a star. Read Shards of Glass
and write about it in your blog.I had to read this to understand but the poet is saying that a shard of glass is a part of a larger whole. Often we miss the tapestry because we are so focused on the threads. A shard of glass can cut us if we squeeze it tightly, yet when it is part of the whole it makes sense. Pain and anger are like this. They can hurt us if we hang onto them. They often do not make sense. Then when we look back we can see where the pain and anger made us better people. |
| Image #2235354 over display limit. -?- Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Image #2249882 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: Do you believe Judas Iscariot went to heaven or hell? Why do you believe this?" I really have no idea. Frankly, it is not my place to judge that. I can say that I wish that even Satan could be saved from hell. I think there are going to be people in heaven that we do not expect to see there. Once we are there I do not feel we will be aware of those who are not there. If we are aware of their absence it will not bother us. Image #2235152 over display limit. -?- Today cruising through cyberspace, we visited a friend. Elfin Dragon-finally published writes What I Have Seen
The things I have seen in my mind are numerous and nameless. I have tasted time, felt poetry, and visited far away places. I have lived and died. I have traveled space and time and solved the problems of physics. Image #2251074 over display limit. -?- Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- |
| Image #2235354 over display limit. -?- Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Image #2249882 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: Do you have a daily prayer or weekly prayer routine? Do you use a prayer journal, write letters to God, have a set time to pray, or just pray randomly?" There should be no such thing as a "weekly prayer" routine. God is our Father and He wants to hear from us all the time. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says to "Pray without ceasing." How do we do this? I don't know about you, but I can be praying and suddenly get distracted and my thoughts go elsewhere. So how do we pray without ceasing? The way we pray without ceasing is by allowing the indwelling Holy Spirit to pray for us. We live our lives in a state of subjection. In doing so we permit the Holy Spirit to lead and He prays through us. Yes, we have to make a conscious effort to pray and I do that on a daily basis. Prayer should be a daily thing, not weekly. Worship is weekly perhaps, but even then we can worship daily by being in subjection. By weekly worship I mean singing, listening to sermons, and church attendance. Our lives should be constant worship and prayer by being in subjection to God. St. Francis once said "Let me preach every day, using words if necessary." By this Francis meant that we should live godly lives. By doing so we are preaching. The spiritual disciplines of Bible study, prayer, and devotion should be part of our daily routine as well. Make a conscious effort to fit them into your schedule. Your Heavenly Daddy (Abba) wants to hear from you. Image #2235152 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: I was cruising the galaxy and found this planet: Earl writes "Lay Down The Calm": A didactic poem about nature, time and God
I believe their is some truth in animism because God is in everything. The difference is that I do not believe everything is God. God created everything and therefore His print is in everything. So I say that there is some truth in animist and paganism because they believe God is everything. This poem reflects on God and nature. I believe God created nature and the laws that control nature. I even believe in evolution to an extent. I believe God used and guided evolution. Image #2251074 over display limit. -?- Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- |
| Image #2235354 over display limit. -?- Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Image #2249882 over display limit. -?- "prompt: What are you praying for your close family and friends?" Salvation for some. Safety for all. Image #2235152 over display limit. -?- Prompt: I was cruising the galaxy with Buck Rogers and found this planet: Beautiful Flower writes
I have pseudobulbar affective disorder in which emotions all run to the extreme. Instead of irritation I feel overwhelming rage for example. I know the feeling. Pardon the pun. Image #2251074 over display limit. -?- Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- |
| Image #2235354 over display limit. -?- Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Image #2249882 over display limit. -?- prompt: "What do I need to pray for regarding my church, its leaders, and its members?" I think it's fairly obvious that we need to pray for leaders who truly lead. They need to have the kahunas to stand for what is right and guide the church down the right paths. Image #2235152 over display limit. -?- Prompt: I was cruising the galaxy with Chewbecca and found this planet: (60) My late wife and I met in church. It all started when I smirked at her too.
Write about this item in your Blog entry today. Image #2251074 over display limit. -?- Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- |
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