Lately I've been in a poetry swing...

It's actually kinda cool. I'm not sure why this is, but poetry is sometimes a really cool and artistic way of getting a point across to the LORD. I'm not the only one--it worked for David! So anyway, last night I was working on this one, with currently no title...

Lord, you are my defender

From each and every foe.

You've defeated every enemy

That sought to wreak me woe.

But now I see a new tempter,

Her like I'vve never known.

The frightening thing is that her face

Looks just like my own.

True, she has poked at me before,

but she'd been easy to shelf.

She now, somehow, has horrid power--

This version of myself.

She makes me think of awful things,

She dirties me inside.

She makes my hands displease me Lord.

It's her I can't abide.

But my God is bigger than even this monster

And He keeps me in His sight.

I will not be held captive here,

He'll save me by His might.

Lord, set a watch over my tongue,

Allow no ill to exit.

Please stop my deeds from hurting those

Who can't and don't deserve it.

But most of all, please guard my heart,

And keep it as pure as the sea.

Suffer no evil to enter it--

Please save me Lord, from me.

So ladies and gentlemen, I am proof--even if you are no good at poetry, the Lord doesn't mind. I think he likes to hear it. Nobody take this one or anything, though it's probably not good enough for anyone to WANT to take... :)

Going to see a movie today with my dear sista and maybe some friends! :D

The Creed for the Modern Thinker

I heard this article on a Ravi Zecharias podcast. It is by Steve Turner, an atheist and English journalist. It was published in a secular paper, and I have copied most of it here...

Here is the creed for the modern thinker:

We believe in Marx and Darwin.

We believe everything is ok as long you don't hurt anyone to the best of your definition of "hurt" and to the best of your definition of "knowledge".

We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.

We believe in the therapy of sin.

We believe that adultery is fun.

We believe that everything's getting better despite evidence to the contrary.

The evidence must be investigated and you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there's something in horoscopes, UFOs, and bent spoons.

Jesus was a good man just like Buddha, Mohammad, and ourselves.

He was a good moral teacher, although we think basically his good morals were really bad.

We believe that all religions are the same - at least the ones that we read were. They all believe in love and goodness, they only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that after death comes nothing because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing.

If death is not the end and if the dead have lied then it's compulsory heaven for all except perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Khan.

What's selected is average, what's average is normal, and what's normal is good.

We believe that there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed.

Americans should beat their guns into tractors and the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good - it's only his behavior that lets him down.

This is the fault of society, society is the fault of conditions, and conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him, and reality will adapt accordingly - the university will re-adjust, history will alter.

We believe that there is no absolute truth except for the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds and the flowering of individual thought.

PS - If chance be the father of all flesh, disaster is his rainbow in the sky. And when you hear "state of emergency", "sniper kills ten", "troops on rampage", "youths go looting", "bomb blasts school" it is but the sound of man worshipping his maker.

Random Instructions

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil."

I like these staccato bursts of information! Let's look at them!

"Be joyful always"

This one is self-explanatory! ALWAYS - not just when things are the way you like.

"pray continually"

Don't stop praying while you're flitting about daily life! And if you need to remember to pray right now, it's Jared M, Jordan B, and Eliza S's birthday today! Hence, it's their pray-day on my calendar:)

"give thanks in all circumstances"

We don't like to remember THAT one, do we?

"Do not put out the Spirit's fire"

Whoa. Do not put it out? How would we put it out? This one made me think - how often do you feel like the Spirit's fire is just not in you? Are you the one that put it out? Don't discourage or grieve the Spirit!

"Do not treat prophecies with contempt"

They've all come true so far! Sometimes I despair that Jesus will ever come back for us - I mean, if not now WHEN???

"Test everything"

Don't assume anything is prolly right because it sounds good - weigh it against the Bible!

"Hold on to the good"

Even when things or people circumstances are bad, think about the good of it. It makes things feel better too.

"Avoid every kind of evil"

But it's ok to dabble in a LITTLE bit right? If you see something that you're doing that leads to evil, stop doing it. And there's no "just a little bit bad" - it's evil or it's not.

These little paragraphs are fun to dissect! Think about them today and pray happy birthdays!:P

Exile

Today I read in II Kings. I had been noticing that just about every king of Israel was evil, and I was waiting for another good one who didn't offer sacrifices to Baal and all that. But the little title over chapter 17 read, "Hoshea Last King of Israel". And guess what? He was bad too. So since the Israelites had rejected him for years and continued doing all these detestable things, God sent the Assyrians to attack Israel and they took Samaria captive. There is a long explanation if you will about why these things took place. Read 2 Kings 17:7-23. You can sense God's sorrow that his people didn't listen to him. You can tell he didn't want to remove them from his presence. Even after the exile, the Samaritans did the same things as before, so God sent lions among them. It was reported to the king of Assyria, "The people you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria do not know what the God of that country requires. He has sent lions among them, which are killing them off, because the people do not know what he requires." They had been away from God for so long they forgot all about his commandments! One of the priests of the LORD came to them and taught them how to serve God again, but it says, "Nevertheless, each national group made its own gods in the several towns where they settled, and set them up in the shrines the people of Samaria had made at the high places... They worshiped the LORD, but they also appointed all sorts of their own people to officiate for them as priests in the shrines at the high places. They worshiped the LORD, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought." They served two masters. They worshipped the LORD, and whatever else they wanted. God says later that this is a bad thing! And how often do we do it today? We serve God, but whatever else we want can also be our god.

But wait! Judah is still out there and they have a new, good king! Hezekiah removed the high places and smashed the idols and all that! Hooray!

But Assyria is coming to take them too. Sennacherib came and shouted threats and said that God told him to come and take Judah into captivity. But that made God angry, and he put many of Sennacherib's soldiers to death. Not an arrow was shot into Jerusalem. Because Judah came back to God, he saved them. God's not mean for punishing those who disobey him - he is quick to forgive and see the best in us!

Everybody should read 2 Kings 17-19 today. It is a great example of God's willingness to forgive us and see our hearts.

The Armor of God

I am here commentating on Ephesians 6:10-18 in red.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. Imagine if you tried to fight a duel on your own and without any armor! For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. I just wrote a story about this - there is a guy who is living a normal life, but doesn't know that the demons and God are in a great battle for him. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Readiness that comes from peace - it makes sense doesn't it? If you're peaceful about a situation in Christ, you're not going to freak out and say the wrong things. You're ready with Christ! In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. The word of God is like a sword! Do you have it ready? We should work on memorizing more scripture and have it on all the time, just in case. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Praying for the saints... do you do it? I don't as much as I should. But why not? I haven't figured that part out yet. I'd certainly like to be prayed for to stay strong in my faith, so why don't I do it for other people?

Evil or Affliction?

"Beware of turning to evil,

which you seem to prefer to affliction."

~ Job 36:21

This verse jumped out of the page at me and said, "HEY! Check it out!" Elihu is saying this sassy bit to Job, but I didn't really think about Job when I read it.

Once our church/homeschool group/friends whatever did a play called THE CATACOMBS. It was about the Christians having to hide out and I don't remember the history right now. The whole time they were hiding they had all kinds of problems - sickness, lack of food, etc. But in the end, the bad guys found them and they were shot one by one for not denying their faith. This is not an uncommon thing in many countries, but in America today were are allowed to worship God if we wish without fear of getting shot about it.

But what if that were to change? Would we turn to evil, preferring it to affliction? Or would we stand for God no matter what happened to us?