Tag: Spiritual

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Let’s Rethink

11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. ~ Genesis 29:11

In today’s world, we have an idea of what masculinity is. An idea that strong men should never cry, they should never show emotion, but when you read the Bible (both New and Old Testament), you see something different. Throughout Scripture, you see the men of the Bible weeping. They wept privately and publicly. In front of their wives, families, parents, friends, crowds. They wept.

They didn’t hold in the pain, the suffering. They didn’t bottle it up and try to just ignore it, pretending it didn’t exist. Look at the statistics of the suicide of men in the US.

Male suicide in the United States is at a significantly higher rate than those for women. For instance, in 2023, the suicide rate among men was approximately 23 per 100,000, nearly four times higher than the rate for women (about 6 per 100,000).  This disparity has persisted for decades, with men accounting for 79% to 80% of all suicide deaths in the U.S., despite making up only about half the population.

Suicide rates are highest among men aged 75 and over, with a rate of 42.2 per 100,000 in 2021.  Rates have also risen sharply among younger men, particularly those aged 25-34, increasing by 30% since 2010. Men in certain occupations face elevated risk. Construction and extraction workers have the highest suicide rate (69 per 100,000), followed by those in installation, maintenance, and repair, protective services (e.g., policing), and farming, fishing, and forestry.

The older men get, the higher at risk they are for suicide. The more “masculine” job they have, the higher at risk they are for suicide. Could it be that all of those years of bottling up their emotions, pain, struggles just becomes too much? Could it be that the feeling of never being “manly” enough or never reaching some pedestal we’ve set for them makes them feel less than?

Ancient Israel didn’t struggle with suicide, but the US does. Ancient Israel mourned, wept, and openly expressed themselves, but the US does not. If we can change the way we see “masculinity” and how we treat our men in the US, maybe, just maybe we can stop this pandemic of suicide that is ravaging through our men.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let’s Rethink It Together.

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Test Your Soul

10 The soul of the wicked desires evil; his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes. ~ Proverbs 21:10

Solomon said that the soul of the wicked desires evil. Its very being desires evil. What does that mean? Well, when you go back to the original Hebrew you find that you could actually translate this as “the soul of the guilty desires punishment, his neighbor (or friend or companion) finds no mercy in his eyes.”

In other words, the guilty do not forgive. They lack the love of God that softens the hearts of His people. They lack the capability to forgive and show mercy like the unforgiving servant in the parable Jesus told.

We forgive because He forgave us. We love because He first loved us. But the guilty aren’t saved. They aren’t forgiven because their hearts are hardened and ice cold. They do not love because they are not forgiven and the love of God has not changed them and restored them. Therefore, this is a good test to see if you have been saved, if you are dwelling in the love of God, ask yourself “Do I show mercy and forgive?”

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Test Your Soul.

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The Genocide of A Generation

Deuteronomy 32:16-17

[16]  They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. [17]  They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded.

Jeremiah 19:3-5

[3] You shall say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. [4] Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, [5] and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind—’

I heard some disturbing statistics the other day. It said that  approximately 28% (nearly one third) of Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) have already died. How? Abortion. An estimated 26 million babies were murdered in their own mother’s womb in just one generation. This has been the generation that experienced the highest loss due to abortion among all generations in the US. This rate exceeds that of earlier and later generations, including Millennials and Generation Alpha.

Approximately 18% to 20% of Generation Alpha (2012 to 2024) have been lost to abortion in the United States, according to analyses using Guttmacher Institute and live birth data. This equates to an estimated 14.4 million abortions out of roughly 71.75 million total conceptions in that period, meaning nearly one in five Gen Alpha babies were aborted.

There is a spiritual war over our children. Over their lives. Their souls. Them. From the days of old, the demons posing as gods in the land of Canaan demanded child sacrifice in return of favor from them. Today, is no different. See, spirits never die. They simply change the way they work. They adapt to their surroundings. No more do we throw our children our babies into the fire of an altar to a demon, now we disassemble them in the womb before they even take their first breath.

We sacrifice our babies for our jobs, vanity, or simply because we don’t want our lives to change. We don’t want to take or accept the responsibility of our own actions or decisions.

Thankfully, abortion is no longer at the federal level, but has been brought back to the state level. Back into the hands of the people. And heartbeat bills have been passed. Much innocent blood has been spilled on our land. It’s time we stop the shedding of innocent blood and remove all the altars from our land.

Dear LORD, forgive us for allowing such abominations and atrocities in our country. Please forgive us for not praying, fasting, and tearing down the spiritual altars and strongholds we allowed to be set up. Forgive us for being docile, passive, and apathetic to the slaughter of our children. Forgive us for the innocent blood shed on Your land. For the earth is Yours and the fullness thereof. Forgive us LORD for the genocide we have committed. Forgive us. Heal our land. Touch our generations. Let not our sins be held against us. Let not the past dictate our future. Forgive us. Move in our culture. Shift the atmosphere that we might be on fire for You. That our hearts would melt and be made of flesh instead of stone. Forgive us, oh LORD. Forgive us. Let Your precious presence fill the United States of America and heal our land. Heal our people. Heal our country. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen. 

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A Clever Enemy

1 Peter 5:8-11

[8] Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. [9] Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. [10] And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. [11] To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

When we read this verse, often times we expect the Devil to come in a way that we’d automatically recognize. In a way that we would expect, but that isn’t always the way he attacks. See, the enemy knows you better than you know yourself. He knows you better than you think he does. He watches you. Studies you. Takes notice of every little thing about you. Your actions. Desires. Thoughts. And he’s taking notes. He’s preparing attack after attack for you.

Sometimes, he doesn’t come full force knocking down the front door. Sometimes, it’s just little things. Keeping your prayers held back, so that you think God no longer hears you. Making sure that for everything you get done right, multiple things go wrong. Chipping and chipping away at your self-esteem, drive, faith, hope until you have nothing left. Beating you in a battle that you didn’t even realize was with him.

Paul says we’re not unaware of the Devil’s schemes. This is true, but if we aren’t watchful and on guard as Peter tells us to be, then we will miss his attacks. We’ll fall prey to his teeth and claws. So, what are we to do? Pray. Seek. Read. Worship. We have to be in tune with the Spirit of God in order to have the discernment needed to see his clever schemes. In order to be encouraged to keep going. To not give up or give in. To keep fighting for another day.

Dear LORD, I’m sorry for all the times I’ve neglected You. I’m sorry for not putting You first in my life and allowing the enemy to sneak right past me. Please forgive me. Please remove him from within my life. Please seal up every open door and window in my life that has allowed him in. Help me to never open them again. Strengthen my heart, mind, and faith. Help me to fight and not give up. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Pray For Exposure

[12]  Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. [13]  Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. ~ Psalms 19:12-13

David prays for two kinds of sins to be delivered from. First, he asks God who can know or discern their own šegî•’ā(h). šegî•’ā(h) is a Hebrew word meaning unintentional sin, sin committed out of ignorance. David makes his case before God explaining that how can anyone know the sin that he sins in ignorance? Then he pleads, declare me innocent from nis•tā•rôt’. Hidden things. Things that are kept hidden even from the person who has done them. David pleads with God to not only find him innocent of hidden sins within him, but to declare him innocent so that none can go before the Throne of Grace to use those sins against him.

Then David prays for intentional sins. He refers to them as zē•dîm’. Arrogant, presumptuous sins. Sins that he commits knowingly, willingly in spite of God. He ends that thought with, let them not have dominion over me. See, before the Holy Spirit, before the death and resurrection, we had no fight against sin. Sin had dominion over us. It ruled us like a lord, like a god.

David cried out for mercy. For grace. For forgiveness. And for divine intervention. David was still dwelling in the days of “I do the things I do not want to do, and the things I want to do, I do not do them.” Sin was his master. Sin was his ring leader. Sin controlled him, so he prayed diligently seeking with all that was within him that the LORD would deliver him from the grip, the chains, the bondage of sin.

Even though sin has been defeated. We have died with Christ to sin. How can we pray any less of a prayer? For David had an excuse, we today, do not. We have no excuse. For Jesus has come, suffered, died, resurrected, returned to the Father, and sent His Spirit to dwell with us, in us, and through us. He is interceding on our behalf. How can we expect to pray any less than David?

Dear LORD, thank You that You are a loving God. Slow to anger. Quick to forgive. Merciful with grace that is for anyone willing to accept it. LORD, please forgive me for each and every sin I have committed. Forgive me for the sins I committed in ignorance. The sins I committed without knowledge or understanding. Open my eyes to those sins, LORD, that I might not commit them again. That they might not take hold of me. LORD, please forgive me for the sins I have committed knowingly, willingly, presumptuously, and arrogantly. Sins that I knew better yet I gave in anyway. Sins that I ran to and made a way to take place. Sins I pondered on and sought out. Sins that have a stronghold in my life. LORD, break those strongholds from off of me. Rescue me from my own flesh LORD. Deliver me from spiritual bondage and oppression. Let not any evil spirits find doorways into my life through my flesh. Help me LORD to crucify my flesh. Help me to break free from these sins that have a foothold in my life. Deliver me, oh God, like only you can. Deliver me, LORD Jesus. Save me from myself. Give me the strength, determination, wisdom, and self-control to overcome in Your name. Leave me not to my own devices, but deliver me, LORD. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Recenter Your Home

Isaiah 29:13

[13] And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,”

We’re currently in the process of moving from one part of Tennessee to the other. So, we’re currently looking for a place of our own. While house hunting, we came across a home that was almost exactly what we were looking for. As my parents tour the home, they see a nice big room, and the lady explains that it’s their temple room. She further explained that in every Indian home, they have a temple room to pray and do rituals to their gods. I couldn’t believe it when I heard. Every other religion seems to have more dedicated followers than Christianity.

As Christians, we’re lazy. We take our faith for granted. We don’t even set aside a place in our room to pray, let alone set aside an entire room for prayer and worship. Hindus worship pagan gods. gods that cannot save them, yet they are dedicated to their gods. They are sold out for their gods.

We, Christians, serve the one true God. The God of gods. The KING of kings and LORD of lords. We serve the Creator of Heaven and Earth, yet we can’t even set aside time for prayer and worship. How sad of a state the Church is in. Weak. Helpless. Unable to see miracles, healings, deliverance, etc. that the Church was built on, and we have the audacity to blame God. We have the audacity to say He no longer moves in that way. No. We don’t see those things because we don’t worship. We don’t pray. We don’t dedicate ourselves to Him.

The early Church had a time of prayer when they came together to pray and worship. They met daily to read the Scriptures and grow together as a Church. They made time for God. How much time do we make for God? Do we make any time for God anymore? He should be the center of our lives, not a side piece that we go to every now and then. He’s the center of it all.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Recenter Your Home.

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Replace The Blinds

Matthew 7:21-23

[21]  Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. [22] On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ [23] And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

For the first time in my life, I had to sleep in a room without full blinds. And weirdly enough, I struggled. I struggled to sleep. I struggled to stay asleep. I felt uneasy. My peace was shaken. It was a rough night all because there was a decent sized hole in my blind. Then something hit me, this is a physical example of spiritual matters.

See, I felt unsafe because I could see out and anybody could see in. Even though the window was still there and the blinds only block what can be seen, I was unsettled. I had a trust in something false. Something not firm. Whether the blinds were there or not anyone or anything could break through that window. But because I could see that physical barrier (though flimsy and helpless to save me) it gave me a false sense of security. This is like us today.

Today, in the Church, we have a false sense of security. We think that because we go to church on Sundays, pray before we eat and before bed that we are safe. All we’re doing is putting our trust in flimsy blinds. We have an appearance of godliness. An appearance of salvation, but the substance isn’t there. The full armor is lacking. We have to put our flesh into subjection. We have to build up our spirit man so that we might be able to worship God in spirit and in Truth. So that we might not put our hope, faith, trust into weak armor but we can stand firm on the Rock. On Christ Jesus, and our relationship with Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and  Replace The Blinds.

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A Disruptive Enemy

[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. ~ 2 Corinthians 2:10-11NIV

Oftentimes, when you’re close to a breakthrough or you’re right by the entrance to the next level or season God has for you, the Devil will come in to try to disrupt your life. He’ll attack anything and everything he can. Your job. Your church attendance. Your worship time. Your family. Your finances. Anything he can get his hands on. Anything he can use to keep you from growing, from moving forward, he will use.

So, we have to be on our guard. We have to encourage ourselves in the LORD. We have to be sure that we don’t allow the enemy to take away what the LORD has for us.

Dear LORD, thank You for giving me another day. Thank You that You work on me night and day. That You never just throw me aside and say You give up, but You keep working on me. You keep molding and remolding. LORD, please open my eyes to the works of the enemy. Help me to see the Devil’s schemes trying to destroy my life. Give me discernment that I might not be destroyed by the attacks, but that I might recognize them and know how to defeat them and defend myself. Teach me to watch and pray that I might not fall into temptation, but that I might overcome all the temptation sent my way. Help me to overcome and walk into the promises You have for me. In Jesus’ name, I pray,

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Pray With Intent

[11] And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. ~ Genesis 1:11

When God spoke to create, He was specific and intentional with His speech. He made it clear so that nothing could be taken out of context or misunderstood. He over-explained “fruit trees bringing forth fruit that is from its seed and kind.” When we speak, we have to be intentional with our words. We have to speak intentionally and pray intentionally. God created almost every single thing just by speaking. Therefore, words are powerful.

When we pray, are we praying specifics or generalities? When we ask God for something, are we specific in our prayers or are we more general? LORD bless me. What do you mean by that? What do you want the LORD to do for you? How do you want Him to bless you? When we pray, we often times don’t see results because our prayers are too vague. Too general. If we want to see our prayers being answered and God moving in our lives, we have to be more specific and intentional with our prayers. We have to put more effort and thought into our prayers.

Dear LORD, thank You that You are a loving and patient God. That You don’t just write me off when I mess up, but that You show me and guide me to the Truth. LORD, please help me to become specific in my prayers. Teach me  how to pray prayers that will move You on my behalf, oh LORD God. Give me the words that I might get Your attention. Help me to not just be general in my prayers but to pray bold, specific, intentional prayers that moves You, oh LORD. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Ovid’s Hate

Matthew 23:13, 15

[13]  But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. [15] Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

Luke 11:52

[52] Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.

Myths, religions, beliefs, etc., all interest me. What people believe and why they believe it always piques my interest. One ancient story that I find interesting is the ancient Greek story of Medusa. Medusa was one of three monstrous sisters with wings, scaly bodies, fangs, and brass or bronze hands. Hideous and frightening to look at, whose gaze turned its victims to stone. And most notably, snakes for hair. In the original Greek myth, they were always monstrous beasts. Hideous. Ferocious. Terrifying. But 700-800 years later, a Roman author changed Medusa’s story.

Ovid, an ancient Roman poet, wrote in his Narrative Poem “Metamorphoses” that Medusa was once a beautiful woman desired even by the gods. One day, Poseidon (Neptune), the god of the sea, raped Medusa in the temple of Athena (Minerva). Instead of finding comfort, peace, or empathy from the goddess, being that it took place in her temple, Medusa was cursed by Athena (Minerva). She turned the locks of her hair into snakes and turned her gaze into a petrifying gaze that turned those who looked upon her into stone. So, why the change?

Ovid was exiled by Emperor Augustus around 8 AD. Because of this, he took gods who were originally just, wise, and trying to do good by the people, and turned them into the villains of the story. His anger and chip on his shoulder, stemming from his exile by the emperor, led him to distort the gods’ very depiction, character, and desires. His story is the one portrayed today, not the original. It’s the one used by women in the feminist movement. It’s the one society knows, yet it’s not the original. To this day, it is used to show why gods are all evil at their root and/or even the idea of a loving god is folly.

One man changed the legacy of the gods for millennias. Today, in the church, this happens as well. People who have been hurt push their ideologies into the Word of God. They distort characters, peoples, the gods of old, and the LORD God Himself. They allow their own thoughts, opinions, and feelings to influence their judgment. To influence their understanding. So, they lean not on God or His intention of His Word. They lean solely on their own understanding, desires, hurts, and hearts.

When we do this, we corrupt the Truth. We distort God’s Word for ourselves and others. We become a hindrance to those seeking the Truth and a pitfall to those who hate the same way.

Dear LORD, thank You that You are a forgiving and merciful God. A God that loves and gives Himself for His people. One of patience, mercy, and grace. Please forgive me for distorting Your Word. For allowing my feelings, pain, hurt, heart’s desires, and hate to confuse and distort my understanding of Your Word. Please forgive me. If I have led others away with any false belief, please forgive me and show them the Truth of Your Word. Teach me Your Truth and not my own. Hear my plea for understanding and wisdom, for You give to anyone who will ask and seek diligently. Teach me, oh LORD. Hear me from Heaven. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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