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Getting somewhere requires effort, it takes
faith to push on, it's easy to screw up,
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Friday, April 25, 2014
Look up into the sky, you cannot even see 5% of what is there.  The heavens
declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard
from them.Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,their words to the ends of the world. ~ Bible Psalm 19
Constellations fill our night
skies and people have been looking up for years, yet the more we investigate, the more complex the information is that we receive. We seem to know more about less every year.
What do I mean?
For a while we were gaining knowledge of more and more stars,
and galaxies. We discovered everything was moving out from a center, which finally proved there had been a beginning to the
universe (proving the bible was correct despite the naysayers who had been saying the universe existed forever).
Then Einstein gave
us his great theory and that was used to understand more of the universe and we started to get some idea of gravity and space
and time.
Then
we started to calculate anomalies. Space was expanding too fast for everything known.
Calculations showed we have dark matter and dark energy.
What are these?
Something we know is there but don’t know what it is. We
could just as easily have called these Pickles and Fred instead or dark matter and dark energy, because we know so little
about them. What we do know is that combined they compromise 95% of our universe. Us and everything we can see and that had
known substance (including the stars and galaxies) make up 5%.
Can we see God is great and amazing from all this?
We are still learning aren’t we?
That’s what I like what follows in psalm
9
The
law of the Lord is perfect,
refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
making wise the
simple.
8 The precepts of the Lord are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord
are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever.
That’s the God who loves us! That’s the God who created
and sustains 100% of the universe. That’s the one who gives us the brains and ability to see the 5% and understand there
is more.
That’s
the God who came to Earth as Jesus and who has Holy Spirit guide us each day.
Praise that God!
Thursday, April 24, 2014
“This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”“This
is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
 “Forget Batman: when I really thought about what I wanted to be when I grew up, I wanted to be my dad.” ~ Paul
Asay
Not everyone have great fathers, but we all have fathers don’t we?
All fathers are human and have failings, but most
fathers regret having those failings as well.
Fortunately love overcomes many failures and where a father loves his son deeply, there is a
knowledge and acceptance of the fathers leading and over time a respect for the Father grows.
Imagine how Jesus feels about father God. There are no failures in father God. He loves unconditionally,
completely and in purity. Wow!
Let’s think about how he shows this to Jesus.
God the Father loves those of us in the world that
he calls his church completely. That love for the church is what Jesus perfectly demonstrates when he dies for the church.
How amazing is
that?
God the Father enabled Jesus to be himself in human form on earth. A bit like a human father letting his son drive for that first time.
Allowing his son to take the controls of a complex and complicated situation and trusting him, but being there to help him
through.
Amazing
right?
God the Father provided for Jesus. Holy Spirit was with Jesus every step of the way enabling and helping him, but also showing
him exactly what in human terms was right and wrong. We as human fathers should be doing the same for our sons. Being with
them and showing them the right ways to go in life. The most important of these is of course making sure they have Jesus and
Holy Spirit in their lives.
God the Father has that wonderful mix of total love and total justice. This means that Jesus saw the
tough side of life being dealt with in power. Evil could not gain a foothold for long before the power of
God’s word took it on and conquered it.
Then there is communication!
Jesus and God the Father spent hours and hours talking to each other.
Jesus
desired prayer deeply. He wanted to hear his father’s voice and his father provided input into his life. We have the
written voice of God to go to at any time. We can pray and we have Holy Spirit in our lives.
How close can we get to God?
Probably as close as Jesus did on this earth, if we persevere.
Isn’t that an amazing thought?
God the father shared all his
secrets with Jesus and Jesus revealed them to us as much as we could understand them. A wonderful special relationship develops, doesn’t
it?
Jesus like his Father knew which battles to fight and which ones to avoid. We need to listen to Holy Spirit to gain that same insight
in life don’t we?
God the Father showed Jesus family and respect for others counts.
His son is there in the mountain with his apostles and
some of the greatest men of history join them in a miraculous way. Then a cloud covers them up and out of it what is heard?
“This
is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” (Mark 9)
Then when they looked around, those apostles with Jesus no longer saw anyone with them except
Jesus.
I
guess God wanted us to know he is a God of relationships. He loves his Son, and through Him loves us.
Our simple task is to listen to
Jesus and follow the example of the one who loves us dearly.
Amazing right?
Thu, April 24, 2014 | link
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
A time to remember… A time to remember…
His dominion is an eternal dominion;
his kingdom endures
from generation to generation.
All the peoples of the earth
are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases
with the powers of heaven
and
the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand
or say to him: “What
have you done?” Daniel 4
Our modern world forgets the struggles of past so easily in the rush of modern life. Today people don’t
have to kill animals to get food, or plant and wait for harvests. It comes wrapped in cellophane on a freezer counter, far
from the fields and far from the herds of farms. Some people have never seen lifeblood spilt, they have never experienced
exhaustion from a day of working the fields. Yet they are able to eat of the work of those labours, aren’t they? Some
of these privaledge many even criticise and activate against some of the practices that put the food on their tables.
In a few cases they may be
right with their rebellion, but it would do those complaining and activating good to have to spend a year of their life generating
their own food. It could change many perspectives.
As the human race we forget so easily don’t we?
We are aware of the wars, and make it a point to hold remembrance day each year because
we know how fickle we are. Without that annual reminder we would discard memories. Even with them, there is less focus on
them. We look at tired old veterans and as a society our level of respect is diminishing as they become fewer and more
feeble. We forget they were the strong young men of yesterday, and we are looking at our future.
Yet there is one who never forgets
the slightest event.
He follows
every tear of joy or sadness, each emotion of fear or love. He knows each person intimately and fully. He is our Lord God.
Holy Spirit lives within and with each of us every moment of the day. Whether we respect Him or not!
How?
We can never understand, as we understand so little. The scientists tell us everything we physcially
know of will fill less than 5% of our known universe. What we don’t know is 95 to 96% of what exists and which we cannot
see. Matter only comprises 5%, dark enegy and dark matter (that we don't understand) is the 95%. How can we judge God? We
cannot even understand or even remember our own existance correctly!
We should be careful not to forget that God has saved us
many times in the past and will do so again. He is supreme! He is glorious! He is more powerful than anything we can discover!
We need to remember
His dominion is an eternal dominion;
his kingdom endures
from generation to generation.
All
the peoples of the earth
are regarded as nothing.
He
does as he pleases
with the powers of heaven
and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand
or say to him: “What have you done?” Daniel 4
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Despair, waiting, hope...a cycle Our
greatest good, and what we least can spare,
Is hope: the last of all our evils, fear.
~John Armstrong, Art of Preserving
Health (1744), Book IV, line 318
Blackness! Inability to find a path in the darkness of life as windswept sorrows throw crosswinds of despair from all sides as we try to meander towards
a goal of which we may, or may not, be sure.
Despair! It
may seem that in life there is only obstacles and problems ahead and each way we attempt to try to avoid
the issues are clouded in by resistance that is both physical and spiritual.
I often find that after Easter is a time when the spiritual
darkness descends and tries to tear me apart.
The elation of the Christian Passover period, that period of great joy,
can be followed by clouds of evil despondent inducing interventions that blocks my paths and tries to stop me in my tracks.
I know that God is with me. I have just celebrated the greatest of Christian celebrations, that of Christ rising from the
dead. Yet my paths forward seem to be littered with evil obstacles.
Does Jesus understand?
Yes! I
remember him sweating great drops of blood as in anguish he cried out to the father “not my will but yours be done” in that Garden in Gethsemane. Alone and trying to face
the world Jesus understood despair. I remember the anguish in Peter’s heart when he realizes he has denied Jesus three
times and the rooster crows. Jesus was desperately alone in situations that only got more painful and torturous, until the
pain finally killed him.
He understands my pain far better than I.
I can rest assured, Jesus understands my human despair.
After
despair comes waiting!
The time ticks by with no apparent deliverance
despite our prayers and seeking of pardon for past selfish, nasty and ignorant things we have done. Does Jesus understand
the waiting?
Three days and nights Jesus rested in death awaiting deliverance.
Three days and nights!
Sometimes we need to wait upon God. Our circumstances may not seem to improve. If anything they may
appear to worsen, but we must wait!
Why do we have to wait?
I cannot say! God only knows!
The fabric of time is best left to be unravelled
by those who understand the threads and their purpose. Mere mortals do not, and we are mortal.
We need to wait upon God’s timing.
As we wait hope increases and comes nearer. Like the women who came to a tomb to honor a corpse,
we need to walk towards the horror causing our despair, trusting God to do a miracle.
He will, of that we can
be sure.
Jesus will not leave us in despair forever. Through our circumstances he will find a place to deal with
our sorrow and accept our plea for forgiveness. He will change the storm’s path and introduce peace and calm into our
lives. The burdens that were weighing us down will be lifted.
“Come to me, all you who
are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Rings out in our mind. (Matt 11)
God lift’s our burden
and in a wonderful way our hope and faith are rewarded with love so amazing that our lives are rejuvenated yet again.
Jesus is there!
We shout with
joy. Peace fills our soul and we stride forth with the light of God guiding our feet and find the narrow way that leads to
power driven living. Holy Spirit envelops our very being and we stride forth in grace and hope, knowing our true goal is joy
in heavenly places with our saviour.
Now doesn’t that give us strength for today?
Monday, April 21, 2014
Easter, how does it matter?“The only cross in all of history that was turned into an altar was the cross on which Jesus Christ died. It was a Roman
cross. They nailed Him on it, and God, in His majesty and mystery, turned it into an altar. The Lamb who was dying in the
mystery and wonder of God was turned into the Priest who offered Himself. No one else was a worthy offering.” ~ A.W.
Tozer,
Atheists shout there is no God and
then get upset with Christians for following God worshiping practices.
Who makes less sense? Christians who worship this non-existent
God, or people who get upset with people for worshipping a non-existent God?
Surely if something doesn’t exist, simply ignoring what is considered
deluded people is the right approach? They don’t do that do they?
They actually get angry with us!
Yet, what if God does exist?
It seems like the majority of the world agrees
a god exists and this
weekend, many Christians affirmed that fact again.
If most of the world is crazy, then we are in trouble right? If most of the world has a point and God does exist, then atheists
are not exactly heading in the right direction.
Atheists tell us to show them God and they will believe. We know God is as visible as courage or love.
His effects are all around us, but his visibility does not appear to be physical at the moment.
There was a time when God walked around with us. Seems like
at that time they didn’t like having such a potentially life changing personality around them because the leaders of
the day hatched a plan to get him into trouble and have him hung on a tree until he died.
That was not enough, so they whipped him, and hammered big rough
iron nails into his hands and feet to hold him there.
Was God willing to be subject to this?
Yes!
Why?
Because
there was no other way to make up for those same peoples evil, and make a way to clear the evil from the earth and from
their lives. Jesus deliberately endured excruciating pain to enable the very people who were torturing him, to escape the
cost of their evil.
Incredible!
Today
many of us (particularly my atheist friends) try to make out we know everything.
We
don’t know much at all!
95-96% of the universe is made up of dark matter(27%) and dark energy(68%) that
we cannot explain. That
means about 4 to 5% of the universe is what we are actually aware of, comprising
the things we know see and feel. (read NASA’s astrophysics notes to find out more if you think I am exaggerating!)
How can those atheists say with any conviction they know God does not exist?
The intricate way this universe was created
suggests otherwise, (the “known” universe that is).
This weekend Christians from all over the world come together to celebrate Jesus’ rising
from the dead.
Joy! Love! Friendship!
We all
join in harmony of mind and thought to praise the God of the universe. Spirits joining in spiritual worship!
We may not know everything,
but as Christians want to be open to guidance from the guiding love of God in our lives. We sing and joyfully look to the
future.
I do so wish
those agnostics and atheists would join us and give up on wasting their lives by excluding Holy Spirits power.
May you have a blessed and joyful year until next Easter!
Mon, April 21, 2014 | link
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If you want to see a short blog describing a perspective on what I believe click here
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Rift in Evil
By Ken
X Briggs - Published: September, 2010
- Format: Perfect Bound Softcover(B/W)
- Pages: 208
Size:
6x9 - ISBN: 9781450250894
Available from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, iUniverse. |
Credit cards are acceptable on sites having Ken's books: 
:)
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on XML Click here =>  to be told of new blogs
| Ken's book covers are displayed below. . . | |  This
suspense thriller centers on Kiara, a beautiful young woman pursued by a murderous group of people, who relentlessly and ruthlessly
hunt her and her sisters. Kiara has no idea why she is being targeted! When Kiara and her family turn to the law for help,
this fails. Her pursuers’ powers reach deeply into the political and law enforcement world. Family support for her dwindles
when they too have to flee her pursuers. Can Kiara escape the clutches of both the law and dishonest big business? With the
media broadcasting that Kiara and friends are dangerous and subversive, can Kiara clear her name and bring her pursuers to
justice?
| | | | | To purchase Kiara's Pursuer ebook
@ $1.99 kindle version click here, To contact the author contact Author@KenXBriggs.com | | | | | | | | The town of Zinaville is dropped into a spiral of evil causing a young man and a beautiful but abused woman
to launch into an investigation that unveils an evil conspiracy. A horrific mining accident results in Joshua
Robyn's father being killed. Joshua struggles both with himself and his townsfolk as he tries to make sense of an incomprehensible
situation. Is it an accident or a murder? Why is there a seeming link to evil? Why is his work environment suddenly threatening?
What is the conspiracy about and what are they trying to do? As action moves dramatically from exotic African grasslands to
the heart of North America's cities, the plot unfolds and the pace quickens. Will there be time? Why is a beautiful abused
young woman in the center of this plot? Evil tendrils tighten on their lives and the interplay between the visible
and invisible world shows opposing forces at work. Will there be a rift in evil? Will they be able to stop the
evil in time? | | - Published: September, 2010
- Format: Perfect
Bound Softcover(B/W)
- Pages: 208
Size: 6x9 - ISBN: 9781450250894
Available
from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, iUniverse. Chapters | | | | |
| Frugal Eating Advice |
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| Good advice for students living on limited $'s. Click on the image! |
May you be blessed today!
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