Are you cutting off the wrong head: Speak the name of the Lord!

Cutting off the Lord as head is so ironic isn't it?? Whenever a snake attacked my yard as a little girl, my mother would go after the slimy serpent! In particular was her aim at the reptile's head!! Yes, that's right, she cut off the head of the snake!! That's right friends, "Stick that sword into that snake"! The devil is so good at flip flopping the truth on us isn't he? How sad that we actually listen! We are afraid of God, because we don't fear him as good! We are mad at God, because we blame him! We are playing God, because we don't believe that He lives! In each instance, we are not afraid of Satan!! We are not blaming Satan! We are however, cutting off the Head and Lordship of our God, the only God, while leaving the serpent to slither into our minds and live! 

Let's look at Jonah! It's windy today and I began to think of the sea, the unpredictable ocean!

Jonah 1:6-12 reads, 

6 The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep?  ( notice that Jonah was sleeping well in his poor choice) emphasis mine. Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”

7 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”(notice the questions, those thought provoking questions that beg the question, "have you forgotten who you are and who is your God) emphasis mine.

9 He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

10 This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)

11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”

12 “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”

Sometimes we need to wake up and call God, "God" and let the rest be liars, don't we?? Out loud with me and Jonah, "I worship the Lord, the God of Heaven, who made the sea and the dry land." Jonah 1:9

We become so deceived don't we?? We know about God, and perhaps even have known Him personally, but then we forget who He is, that He is good and that He alone saves! How do we wake up!! Speak the truth over your situation, you know? Whichever situation has persuaded you to choose another way other than God's way is in need of the truth talk!! "I worship the Lord, the God of Heaven, who made ________insert your storm (not because God made your problem, but because only He can calm it down)!! All Jonah needed to do was say it, My God is just bigger than all of this!! When we forget the Lord's way, His  truth is all we have to say: We must speak His name!! 

Let Jesus speak peace to your situation and watch the wind die down!! Listen to the following gospel song and let today be a day that you give the Lord Headship once again!

Knowing the Lord is Good...

You know something? We are truly very negative as humans, aren't we? Have you ever just sat there stumped when asked to list your blessings?  Ever felt yourself bursting with responses just dripping off your tongue when asked what's wrong? We salivate over negative expression! Why?? The answer is simple: because our heart's hopes have died the moment we have forgotten the goodness of God and the life He brings through suffering…! The inevitable result?? Negativity..No Hope, No positive energy!! Then we use our energy to give up!! To hades with God we say…this life hurts!! To hades with His plan..This plan causes pain!! Don't believe me??? If we find God good..then why is our language so bad..so negative?? So many prefixes in our language give us away! Disconnect, Disarm, Depreciate, Disillusionment, Deactivate, Despair, Depress, Demotivate, Disengage…Holy Guacamole!! I'm getting Depressed just saying all of them!! We love to describe all that is going wrong, all that we Distrust about this Dying world…Oh why don't we just say it…Along with Nietzsche every one, "God is dead"!

The idea is stated in "The Madman" as follows:

God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. Yet his shadow still looms. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?

—Nietzsche, The Gay Science, Section 125, tr. Walter Kaufmann

 Wow..Are we really sure that we want to mess with God's plan?? Are we sure we want to decide that God is not good enough for us to follow?? Here was Jonah, mad as a cow that he was asked to go save murderers and yet…he was the murderer of God the moment he exchanged the truth of Him for the lie that his plan was better than God's plan.

Romans 1:25

New International Version (NIV)

25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh…the plan wasn't fair, how could the request have been a right request, even a reasonable request?? Oopse, Satan got us again didn't he? We are not the author of God's story..He is! Jonah, Jonah, Jonah…Faith is trusting only in the Savior's way before you even know what that way is going to be!! Dear Friends…We walk by faith that the way is good, not by sight that sees what the way will be at every turn!! Yes, God is good…and He's alive!! God is good even though it's His version of good, not ours!! Stop killing Him! Stop putting Him back up on that cross because it's you that wants to be God! Stop it and face your own block of wood…In the end…it's beautiful!!  Ask yourself the last time you really looked at the way the most heinous of all deaths, the crucifixion! When you start focusing on the fact that the crucifixion became the resurrection then you will stop getting in God's way! When we don't like the Pain..our faith begins to wain!! When you're in pain, remember what you have to gain..!! 

God is Faithful!! 

Following Christ or floundering in the "Sea of Disconnect"?

A lot of Jonah's problem in following the command of Jehovah was a disconnection from the head of Jehovah! I know he was probably thinking he'd like to save his neck and stay out of Ninevah..or LOL Keep his head..!! However, I truly know that this guy had lost connection from "the head…!!" Dis connection actually means to "Dis" God and connect to something else! For example, one might connect to a person, a place, a ministry, another well..another resource…another power source…ect…!!


In Colossians 2:16-19 we read,
             
"Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with      regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow."

Wow..ok..let's just say that there is one reality here that we have to understand and His name is Jesus Christ. Not only can others distract us from the prize..who is Christ, but they can and will disqualify us!! Yikes!! Just when you thought it was safe to go swimming down your Christian journey…Jaws shows up!! Truly, I hate to say it, but I'm still afraid to swim because I saw Jaws at a very young age! Well, Jaws was a fantasy and Satan is very very real!! Yes, Satan knows how to swim really well, and how to swim circles around you, so fast in fact that he makes really strong Christians go done really fast if they've lost connection with their center, Christ.!! So how do we make connection with the head? Friends, we have to Dis all others and connect only to Christ! Is Christ your power source, your only power source? Is Christ all you use to gain strength and comfort? If not, be prepared to get thumped hard..because All other ways and things will fail…but Christ alone is faithful!! Feeling disconnected from Christ..?? Why don't you dis other things that have distracted you and stop dissing Christ!! Jonah..Jonah..Jonah…even if you were sent to Ninevah…had God been your only point of connection, you would have had nothing to lose…

Remember, 

Nothing in all this world can separate us from the love of God..not Ninevah..not a tragic fate, not a cancer or a death..nothing can shake that turf!! It's solid ground. When we reject, there is a "disconnect" !! So when God calls and you say, "no"!! Yes, it's certain…you are connected somewhere else that you fear losing…!! When we are centered on Christ, friends, we've already won..we have nothing to lose…!! So, what are you waiting for? 

The Test!!

Jonah was absolutely positively put to the test, the test of all tests…It's called:  wait for it…wait for it…Ok..Ok..I'll tell you…I'm not a patient person either…It's called "The obedience test" !! Ouch!! Obedience means not to do what comes naturally to us, but to choose to do that which is unnatural and that which takes supernatural power to carry out in practice. 

Jonah acted naturally….there is no way he wanted to humble himself, face the criticism of Israel and go serve his ultimate enemy!! But..do you know what always cracks me up? Commentary about Cross style living!! We love to write commentaries about how others should have known better or how they shouldn't have acted a certain way..!! True!! There are many times that we should all be humble and completely unafraid of living out that humility..but then…it's all put to the test…Ugh!! Oh no!!  My favorite commentaries go beyond the commentary about humility and remind you how to be humble…for we are totally commanded to be humble…!!
Friends, read this and weep with me…LOL...

Philippians chapter 2,
       " In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ                Jesus:Who, being in very nature[a] God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

 rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
 And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

Know what's amazing??? Nowhere in all of the passage of Scripture does it say anything about trying! The Bible simply, commands that we "Have" the practice of Humility in place and therefore we "have" the same..not close to, but the same…mindset as Christ Jesus.

So, what's the answer?? The Holy Spirit!! When you're operating in the natural mode, expect for others to get your goat!! When you need to take the humble road, call out quick for the Holy Ghost!!

Disillusionment...

John 8:44

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

John 8:43-45

Ever been lied to and just became so furious at the betrayal? Ever just wanted to say, "God, why did you let this happen"!!  Well, maybe it wasn't God fathering you at the time…maybe it was someone else??

2 Corinthians 2:10-12

New International Version (NIV)

10 Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

Friends without the protection of the Holy Spirit, we are unaware of his schemes…Ha..Good luck!!!

Hebrews 3:12-14

New International Version (NIV)

12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.

Have you ever had a wave of emotion just sweep over you that made you..oh let's say, "sea-sick"? Well, I'll bet Jonah was on that boat feeling just a bit sea-sick, don't you? I was thinking today that perhaps when we are confused…and since God is the truth and not confusing at all, that maybe God is not the problem??  Or, perhaps when we are disillusioned, that perhaps we ought not ask God why, when He had nothing to do with it!! Who, might I ask is the author of confusion? I think you know his name…it's Satan!! Therefore, when you have Dissed God and chased after one of Satan's illusions, don't be surprised if you are struck disillusioned!!

Lord, remind me to turn away from illusions and please expose them in my life. Let me get out of the boat that heads in the wrong direction and instead walk on the waters of your path that is always well lit.  Amen!