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The Awakening of Fear

25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. ~ Genesis 2:25

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” ~ Genesis 3:6-10

I have two nieces, one who is scared of everything and the other who is completely fearless. The one who is scared of everything is 8, while the other who is scared of nothing is 3. Mommy and I were talking about it one day, and she said it’s because the older you get, the more afraid you get. I said that we then have to try to protect her from that so that she doesn’t become frightened of everything as well.

Now, today, I was doing some sit-ups on my bench, where I put my feet under the bar and then sit up. When I went to lay back, I felt a fear of falling. Then it hit me: fear only works if you have a sense or understanding of the punishment or consequence for the action you are about to take or have taken.

Then it further hit me. This is one of the things God was trying to protect us from in the Garden of Eden. Adam was given one command: do not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This command was then relayed to his wife, Eve. This was the only don’t they were given. Why? It wasn’t because God didn’t want them to know good things. It wasn’t because God didn’t want them to have knowledge. Think about it: Adam had to have some form of wisdom in order to talk with God in the cool of the day when He came and walked with him. So, it wasn’t trying to keep knowledge from them. God was trying to keep them from being held captive by fear and/or shame because they go hand in hand.

When Adam ate of the forbidden fruit, he didn’t suddenly think ah yes, I’m like God. He didn’t suddenly learn the wisdom of the gods. The very first thing that happened to Adam and Eve was shame. They looked at their nakedness, felt shame, and sought a covering for themselves. What was once beautiful and innocent was now tainted and spoiled. Then the LORD stepped down in the garden and called the man, but he and Eve both hid. Why? Not only were they now wrapped in shame, but now they were afraid. They were terrified. They knew what they had done was wrong; their innocence was stripped away, and fear of the coming punishment had taken over.

God’s desire for us was and always is for our good. It’s never for our harm. It’s never for evil. So, what does He do? He protects us from things that will cause us harm and evil. So, He tells us not to open certain doors that will allow fear to enter into our hearts and remove love, peace, and joy. When Adam ate, the love he felt from God was gone. The peace he felt when he spoke with God was gone. The joy he felt when he heard God walking in the garden was gone. All that he was left with was shame and fear. Two cold, brutal, cruel masters that aren’t ever satisfied until you are completely and utterly destroyed, and then, even then, they aren’t satisfied, for they move on to their next victim.

This is what the LORD wanted to keep us from. My niece wasn’t afraid of anything until she was given a reason to fear things. I wasn’t afraid of doing my sit-ups until one day, I forgot to put the weights on the bar to keep it from rising up when I leaned back, and I almost fell. It wasn’t until I saw and understood a possible consequence of not doing something correctly that I became afraid. We were not created for nor given a spirit of fear. We were created for love. To love and be loved by our creator.

Dear LORD, I’m sorry for each and every time I overstepped my bounds and stepped over lines You commanded me not to cross. I’m sorry for each and every time I allowed my flesh to dictate my actions and opened doors to shame and fear. Please, LORD, cover me in Your precious and Holy blood. Cause Your angels concerning me. Help me to know that I am loved by You. That if I walk in Your ways and delight myself in You, I have nothing to fear because You are with me. If I cry out to You, repent, and seek Your face as I turn from my sin, no shame has any right to me. That the past mistakes I’ve made no longer have a hold on me and I can move forward in You. That all fear, anxiety, and doubt have no claim on me, for I am loved by You. For You loved me even when I hated You. Even in my sin, You still loved me. Even in my sin, You still called out to me. Even in my sin, You still died for me. Thank You for Your love. Thank You for Your forgiveness. Please, LORD, help me feel Your love surrounding me in all things that I do. In every area of my life. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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In The Beginning

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. ~ Genesis 1:1

There is only one God, and there is only one beginning. The word translated beginning is the Hebrew word (rē(ʾ)·šîṯ), which means, what is first. When the Bible says in the beginning, it is referring to the beginning of all things, and not the beginning of God. God, Himself, has no beginning. He always was and always will be. Now, concerning the beginning of all created things, there is only one beginning for us, when God said let there be, even for light. God did not create something and then it all went bad, and then He had to start all over again. If so, there would be two beginnings, but as it is, there is only one beginning. That is why God said that In the Beginning, God Created … There were six literal 24-hour days where God created everything that was created in the heavens and on the earth.

Therefore, before God created the heavens and the earth, there was nothing except God Himself. God spoke everything into being. He spoke, and it was. When it came to man on the sixth day, however, God got His hands dirty, so to speak, as He knelt and took dirt and made a mud man. Shaped him into what we see here and then breathed the breath of life into him, and he became a living being. God is the beginning of all things and the end of all things. All things were created by Him, and for Him, and in Him all things consist. We are His, and now, through the cross, He is ours.

Father, thank You for molding us into Your image and likeness. Thank You for loving us so much that You sent Your only begotten Son to die on the cross of Calvary to redeem us from death caused by sin. Help me to live for You in this New Year so that whatever I do and whatever I say may all be pleasing to You, O LORD, my God. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Be Careful What You Seek

Matthew 6:25-33 CSB

[25]  “Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? [26] Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? [27] Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? [28] And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. [29] Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. [30] If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you — you of little faith? [31] So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat? ’ or ‘What will we drink? ’ or ‘What will we wear?’ [32] For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. [33] But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.

So many things in our lives keep us distracted from the things of God. Work so we can pay bills, afford food, have clothes to wear, shoes on our feet, gas in our car, a roof over our head, and yes, enjoy life, but all of these things should never come before the LORD. He promised that if we follow Him and seek His kingdom and His righteousness first, all these other things would follow. So often, we suit these things about the things of God and end up never reaching/achieving either.

How we spend our time matters. What our priorities are  matter. Who is first in our life matters. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does NOT change, therefore, if He kept His promises in the past, He’ll keep them now. We just have to break down the strongholds of the flesh that keep our spirit man, our connection to God, weak.

Dear LORD, please help me to start the New Year strong. Help me to start it right by focusing on and seeking You. Teach me to crucify my flesh and build my spirit man every single day. Help me to grow in You. Give me the burning desire to grow closer to you, as Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, Peter, and Paul had. Please, LORD, don’t turn a blind ear to my prayers, but hear me when I call. Hear me when I cry out to You. Come to my defense as you defended Jacob, Moses, and David. Pray for me, LORD Jesus, as You prayed for Peter, the other eleven disciples, Paul, and the rest of the early Church. Please help me to see and praise You for every step towards You that I make. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Start A New

Isaiah 43:18-19 CSB

[18] “Do not remember the past events; pay no attention to things of old. [19] Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.

2024 has come to an end, and today, we begin 2025. So many of us will start this year out strong. We’ll set goals and resolutions for the year. We’ll start reading our Bible, going to the gym, etc. but sadly, by February, we’re done. Our goals, aspirations, and resolutions for the drift away and we fall back into the same routine of previous years that kept us from reaching our goals or achieving our aspirations/resolutions. Nevertheless, let us start this New Year with hope.

The hope that this year, 2025, will be the year that we achieve and succeed. The year that we grow and flourish. Let us not be discouraged by the past years, for the LORD will make a new creation out of any willing soul. What do we need to do? Cling to hope and be fueled by determination. It’s not enough to want to achieve and reach new heights. We have to strive for it. We have to work to achieve it. Therefore, start this New Year off right, dedicating it to God, so that He might make the whole year blessed.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Start A New.

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Live As If It’s Your Last

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ~ 2 Timothy 4:7CSB

This is Paul’s final letter to Timothy. Matter-a-fact, this is believed to have been Paul’s last letter. Imagine that. What a statement to make. There was no doubt in Paul’s mind that he had finished the race set before him. He had fulfilled his God-given call. He had overcome trial after trial. Obstacle after obstacle. Persecution after persecution. He had faithfully followed the path God had laid before him.

This is the last day of the year. I want you to really be honest with yourself and with God. Can you truthfully say, without a shadow of a doubt in your mind that you have lived this year following the path God has for your life? Have you spent this year, that ends tonight at 11:59, fulfilling your God-given call? So many of us get so caught up in everything else. We get so busy with life, that the year comes and goes and we’re still in the same spiritual place we were at the beginning of the year.

Today is New Year’s Eve and I want you to think about this past year. What did you waste time doing? What could you have done better? Did you achieve anything? Did you grow spiritually? Did you backslide? Be honest with yourself and God. Then prepare for next year. A new start. Ask yourself, if you knew this coming year 2025 was your last year on this earth, how would you live it?

Dear LORD, I’m sorry for every moment I wasted and every opportunity You gave me that I didn’t take. I’m sorry for each time I backed away from Your call or fell short of Your desires for me. Please help me not to spend another year going through the motions not going anywhere. Please LORD, help me to spiritually grow this coming year. Help me to fast more. To pray more. To worship more. To read my Bible more. To spend more time with You. Please help me not to be distracted or tripped up by the world, but that I might overcome the world through You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Prepare For Perilous Times

1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. ~ 2 Timothy 3:1-5

As the days race toward eternity, the Return of Jesus draws closer and closer, and things will take a turn for the worse for the Church. And it already has in many places, but it will get even worse. Those who are called by His Name will be persecuted. We will be despised, hated, and even hunted down and killed, all because we love Jesus. Because we have chosen Him, because He first chose us.

Jesus has given us an opportunity to accept Him and to follow Him by loving Him and keeping His commandments. We love Him by being obedient to Him and loving others and living in harmony with each other. Therefore, we keep ourselves from being defiled by the world.

We live in the world, but we are not a part of the world. We do not partake in what they partake in. We do not take pleasure in what they take pleasure in. We are a peculiar people, a royal priesthood. A people chosen from before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 2:9).

We are loved by God, who purchased us with His own blood and wrote our names upon His palms and in His Book of Life. We all have been given the privilege of choosing Jesus (John 3:16). That is our choice. To accept Jesus or to reject Jesus. It’s that simple, but it has devastating consequences if we choose unwisely.

Therefore, separate yourself from the world. Be in the world, but not of the world. We are to be the light of the world (Matthew 5:14-16), not friends with the world. So, build your spirit-man now. Crucify your flesh now while these days are still ahead of us because when they come, it will be difficult to prevail without preparation.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Prepare For Perilous Times.

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He’s Coming And Bringing Friends

… But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short! ~ Revelation 12:12b

Satan did not come down for a nice, restful vacation. Or for some sightseeing tour. He will use deception, cruelty, murder, and everything in his arsenal to conquer the world. To lead the whole world away from God and into eternal destruction. Hitler also said, “I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few.”

Which fits right in with, “You gotta protect your grandmother…” It doesn’t make sense when you think about it or reason it out, but it does play on your emotions. And so there you have it. Get their emotions involved. Threaten their lives, even if it isn’t real. Then you will have them. This isn’t a game, and you are not allowed to sit out. Remember what the Scripture said?

7 Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation

Revelation 13:7

No one is missed, and no one is immune. Not only will the beast make war on the saints, but it will conquer us. Meaning, it will kill a lot of Christians. We must be prepared for those days. We can’t live in a fantasyland thinking that God loves us too much to let that happen to us.

  • James, the brother of John, was run through with a sword
  • John was boiled in hot oil
  • Peter was crucified upside down
  • Paul was beheaded
  • Mark was beaten to death by an angry mob
  • Other saints were burned at the stake
  • Some where dragged to death by horses
  • Still others were tortured on racks and with hot iron spikes
  • Many are being jailed and starved and beaten and burned to death

Some of the most heinous torments was and is being meted out to Christians, did God love them less than us? No, but I tell you, be prepared so that when The Days of Sorrow comes, it will not surprise you, and you will have the strength to stand. It is very difficult to stand when you are unprepared and taken totally by surprise. So, I say again, be prepared!

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Detestable Practices

7 When you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in both heart and flesh, to occupy my sanctuary, you defiled my temple while you offered my food—the fat and the blood. You broke my covenant by all your detestable practices. 8 You have not kept charge of my holy things but have appointed others to keep charge of my sanctuary for you.’CSB (Ezekiel 44:7).

This is an Old Testament law for sure, but it has a New Testament application. It is referring to the physical temple first built by Solomon, then destroyed by the Babylonians, rebuild by Nehemiah, refurbished by Herod, and later destroyed again by the Romans in AD 70. This verse is God Himself speaking to His people, the Israelites. They were allowing, but not just allowing, they were actually bringing uncircumcised, non-Jews into the Temple. The law only made allowances for circumcised Jews to come into the Temple. So, when they did that, they broke God’s covenant with them, because they defiled the holy Temple, where the presence of God aboded.

The Scriptures state that we are now the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is, Himself, God. So, when we apply this law to our day, it looks like this. When you watch unwholesome movies with cussing, and excessive violence, nudity, and other ungodly stuff in it, or when you tell crude jokes, or partake in other unwholesome activities you are bringing uncircumcised things into the sanctuary. In so doing, you are in fact defining God’s sanctuary, which is us, our hearts, our minds, our body. We defile God’s temple while saying that we are worshiping God. We offer praise with defiled minds, and lift up defiled hands. Our worship is defiled when we watch porn on our computers, cellphones, or on TV.

Here is the problem. When we partake in such things, it is not just a one time thing. That thing comes in and occupies the sanctuary. It takes up residence in our minds, and in our imaginations, and they become corrupted. It will take only God and the blood of Jesus to sanctify them again. Therefore, God is not pleased with this type of detestable practices. He commanded us to be holy just as He is holy.

So, let us determine that this New Year we will seek Him with everything in us, and live holy, righteous lives. Let us forsake the detestable practices and seek the face of God, so that we might live and not die.

Heavenly Father, please help me to live righteously for You. Strengthen me when I’m weak as You lead me in the path of righteousness. In Jesus’ Name I pray, amen.

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Stay In The House

Proverbs 21:9, 19 CSB
[9] Better to live on the corner of a roof than to share a house with a nagging wife.
[19] Better to live in a wilderness than with a nagging and hot-tempered wife.

I saw a short (a video that lasts a minute or less) the other day with a woman saying that one of the most demonic phrases we have today is “happy wife, happy life.” Now, personally, when I heard that, I thought that was an odd phrase to choose as the most demonic, but I tried to hear her out. She went on to say that you’re speaking things over your life, and now you’re walking on eggshells around your wife. And I thought, that’s not at all what that saying or phrase means.

“Happy wife, happy life” means that as a husband, if you take care of your wife, she will take care of you. I heard a man put it this way “Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she’ll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she’ll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she’ll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she’ll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of [poop]!”

In other words, if you have a happy wife, then you will have a happy life. The Bible confirms this by saying that a man who finds a wife finds a good thing. But it doesn’t just stop there because it clarifies what kind of wife. A happy wife because a grumpy, nagging, angry wife is worse than living alone in the wilderness. What’s Solomon saying? I believe he’s saying happy wife, happy life. That encompasses different things.

You and your wife have to be in love. Today, love is defined by saying “love is love” therefore, we never truly know what love is. We can’t define it. We can’t explain it. We don’t truly know what it is. We believe it’s something we can fall in and out of, when in actuality love is a house you enter in and then commit to never leave.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stay In The House.

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God’s Promises Are Trustworthy

14 “And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed. 15 But just as all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the LORD will bring upon you all the evil things, until He has destroyed you from off this good land that the LORD your God has given you, 16 if you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that He has given to you.” ~ Joshua 23:14-16

By now, Joshua is old and advanced in years. He had led Israel for many years. He is now 110 years old, and the time of his death has come. He and Caleb were the only two men of fighting age who came up out of the land of Egypt during God’s great deliverance of the Israelites out of the land of slavery to enter the Promised Land. All the other men of fighting age perished in the desert because of unbelief. He knows how fickle these people are. So, he gathers the whole assembly of people, all the tribes of Israel, he calls them to Shechem and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers, and there he presented them before God.

Joshua reminded them of where they came from and what God had done for them, and what He was still doing for them. He knew that they were prune to stray from their God, so he warned them to fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and in faithfulness. He also told them, “Look, you yourselves know that all of God’s good promises have been fulfilled for you.” Not one of His good promises has failed.

Now, here is the kicker. Now, in verse 15, Joshua begins to explain to the people saying, Look, The LORD your God has fulfilled all of the good things that He promised concerning you, but please understand that just like He fulfilled the good things, He will also bring upon you all the evil things that He has promised, until He has destroyed you from off this good land that He has given you.

Therefore, the LORD our God is a promise keeper. Whether the promise is good or whether it is for evil, as long as the requirements are fulfilled, God will bring that promise to pass. Now, understand this, God has given us great and awesome promises. Some are great blessings, and others are not so great.

For instance, Jesus promised that He will be back to get all of us who love Him and are waiting for His appearing. He also promised that if you are not waiting or do not desire Him, you will be left behind. So, just like God fulfilled all of His promises to ancient Israel, so will He fulfill all of His modern promises to us.

Therefore, stay awake, pay attention, and watch and pray so that you will not be left behind. Jesus is coming back real soon.

Heavenly Father, thank You that You are a promise keeper, and You will fulfill everyone of Your good promises to me, good or bad. Help me to be obedient so that You can fulfill Your great and awesome promises to me, and that I might reap the fat of the land, and live in your abundance. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

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