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“Did You See The Eclipse? I Did!”

I don’t know about you but I have seen several eclipses over the years.  I remember when a partial solar eclipse happened when I was a kid but this is the first full eclipse that I have seen. Now I shouldn’t say that I fully saw it except on NASA because in the area I live in it did not show as a full eclipse.

In order to see the eclipse, you had to have special glasses, which I did not have.  I was at work when it happened and we went out for maybe five minutes to take a look.  There was no way that you could really see it without something.  One of my co-workers had a welding helmet.  It is not the ideal but we could take a quick glance, just to see it.  The sun is so bright you could not see it otherwise.

It was a very interesting feeling to have it start to get dark.  It was kind of like it was clouding over but there were no clouds.  It felt like it should be heading toward evening rather than being 10:30 am.  It was definitely an experience of a lifetime.

There are several different lessons that can be learned through this experience and I have been debating on which one to share.  And maybe I will share both.  I share what the Lord brings to my mind about any given situation.  I don’t always know what I am going to write as I start but the Lord always gives me things as I write.

The first thought that was coming to my mind was relating this eclipse to the things that are happening in our world today.  There are so many evils.  There are so many things that this person is doing or saying and that person is doing or saying.  It is so easy to get caught up in the things that are happening that it starts to become the trend of our conversations and what we dwell upon.  It starts to blind us to the real things that we should be dwelling upon and talking about.  We can have a tendency to want to read things into every single thing that takes place or what people do or say and try to fit it somehow into prophecy.  And as time passes and things do not happen the way we thought we may get discouraged.  We may be strong enough to handle it but more importantly who have we discouraged and caused to lose sight of God.  Just like watching the eclipse for very long can cause you to go blind, dwelling upon the things that are happening in this world can take us off the correct focus and cause our spiritual eyes to go blind to what really matters to God.

Here is the most important thing to focus on, “…To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life.”  “…He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.”  …To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.” ” …He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out to the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before His Angels.”  Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 3:5.

As we are overcoming and our lives are reflecting Christ the next most important thing is to be sharing the love of Jesus with our families first and then to others.  As we are reflecting Christ in every way they will be open to hearing what Christ has done for us.  This is a part of overcoming.  “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” Revelation 12:11.

Overcoming leads me to the other aspect that came to my mind as I reflected upon the eclipse.  The Lord is coming soon.  And we need to focus on being ready.  There is only one thing that will save us when Christ comes in the clouds.  The brightness of His coming will be so intense we will immediately perish.  There is only one way that we will be able to look upon Him and not perish and that is to be an overcomer.  We have to have “protective” glasses on.  “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;” Ephesians 6:10-18.

We need to have on the whole armour of God or we will not be able to stand on the day of the Lord’s appearing.  We need to keep our focus in the right area.  The devil doesn’t care how he distracts us as long as he can get our attention away from what matters most.

Dear Father,

Help us to realize how important it is to keep our eyes away from the things of this world.  All the things around us may be signs of Your coming but You have made it clear in Your Word where our focus should be.  We need to keep our focus and conversation on You and not on the things that are happening around us.  Help us to keep our eyes focused on You so that we will be a light to those around and be ready when You come.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

As we surrender to Christ and perfectly reflect His character all who desire something different in their life will want what we have.  And as we share with word and example then the gospel will go to the world and Jesus will come.  I believe God is waiting for a people who will perfectly reflect His character and then He can come.

Love you all.

Did you get to witness the eclipse?  What were your thoughts?

 

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“The Fire is Coming Your Way!! Get Out!!!”

There are so many fires happening all over the Inland Northwest.  There are people who have lost their homes, others who have been evacuated but they don’t know the outcome of their homes yet, and there are still others that have stayed and are doing what they can to save their homes.

This fire danger is so real.  I know the other morning we had a short lightning and thunderstorm and I was praying!  We are so dry that one strike and a fire would start.

I remember as spring was coming in and we were getting so much rain, we were grateful.  The last three years with the fire dangers and actually having to haul water, we were thankful for the rain.  But now that we have had the longest and hottest period of time in years, we are still dry.

When I heard about some friends that were in fire danger and finally told to evacuate, it made me start to think.  They have chosen not to evacuate at this time but to prepare their house and property as much as possible to protect it.  They have just been rebuilding slowly from a few years after having a house fire caused by a wood stove.

My thoughts have started to collect in my mind what I would take with me if I had to evacuate.  There are things that are not replaceable, like family photos, the money you may have stashed away.  There is also all the important documents, like the marriage license, which I don’t even know where mine is, titles, etc.  Right now every thing is scattered here and there and it makes you start to realize how important it is to have things gathered in areas easy to grab.

Then I started to think about how this relates to our Christian walk.  I think a lot of times we get so caught up in everyday life that we forget that there is a “fire” coming and it is getting closer.  We need to be thinking about the things that are most important to save.

The one and most important thing that we can take with us when we leave this earth when Jesus comes is our character.  If we are hanging onto any worldly things our character will not be in the right place to grab and at that point, it will be too late.  Our characters need to be in the right place not scattered here and there.  We need to have a single mind toward God.

There are other things that are precious that we want to save from the “fire”.  We want to save our families.  The best way to do it is by our example.  How urgent are we?

If we were in the situation my friend is in right now would we be just sitting in our house not paying any attention to what is happening around us or would we be doing everything we could to protect our house?  Our family would feel our urgency if we worked urgently.  But if we were being lazy they would probably not feel the urgency.  The same is true of our spiritual urgency.  How urgent are we about the times in which we live?  Where is our focus?  If we want to save our families our focus needs to change from the world and its wickedness and problems to keeping our focus where it should be.  Our focus should be on Heavenly things.

Here are some things that I am working on to implement into my life.  Our life should be a life of joy, not negativity.

  1. Keep your eyes focused heavenward. There are so many things going on in this world that can discourage us if we focus on them.  We can even live in fear.  The best place to keep our focus is on heavenly things.  Let’s keep our eyes on the genuine Jesus Christ, that is the only way we are going to be ready.
  2. Remember, God, forgives. This is so amazing!  It doesn’t matter what we have done and how wicked we may have been God will forgive us.  He sent His only begotten Son to die in our place so that we can go to heaven and be with Him.
  3. Contemplate His love for you. We have already talked about His forgiveness, which is amazing.  It is good to write down all the things that He does for us that show how much He loves us.  Just the fact that we got up this morning is a miracle.  Our bodies run by Him.  He gives us the breath of life, etc.
  4. Spend time with this amazing God every day. Make sure to spend time in God’s Word each day.  Memorize scripture that can stick with you throughout the day.  And spend much time in prayer.

As we dwell upon these things and keep the right focus, people will be drawn to the love of God.  Love draws.  Fear of consequences can draw but not save.  Being drawn by love can save.

I believe that God is waiting for a people who will perfectly reflect His character (love) and then He will come to take us home.  How are we going to perfectly reflect His character as long as our focus is on the things of this world?  Whether we are doing worldly things or we are talking about the bad of this world and dwelling upon it, it leads to destruction, either of your life or the life of someone around you.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  There is nothing else we need to focus on.

Dear Father,

Help us to realize the love that You have for us.  Continue to draw us to Your love.  Forgive our stubborn hearts, the hearts that want to dwell on the things of this world.  We can tend toward sensationalism.  Something new and exciting to report about the wickedness or the happenings of this world and it becomes the topics of our life.  You need to be our topic.  As we focus on You, people will want what we have.  Forgive us for focusing on the wrong things and help us to live our lives in full connection with You.  Thank You for Your love.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Keep your focus on Jesus and heavenly things.  Talk of heaven and what it will be like.  Talk of the love of Jesus and what He has done for you.  Then your life will be filled with joy.  And you will be preparing your “house” against the “fire” that is coming.

Love you all.

What do you do to help keep your focus heavenward?

 

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“You Just Had Egg, Yikes!!!”

Have you ever done something or ate something that could cause you real harm but you did not realize it until after the fact?  “Oh, we just walked through a patch of Poison Ivy.”  Or you’re in a foreign country, “You just ate that piece of fruit? Did you know it hadn’t been washed yet?”  If this has happened to you what went through your mind when you realized what you had done?  I can tell you for me it was fear.

My body does not handle eggs.  I fear to even touch it.  I know I am not that sensitive as to react to touch.  It started back when I was 17 years old.  The first time it happened we had no idea what was going on.  I am a person that has always read my body.  When something happens I think about what I have done or eaten and I am able to know why something has happened.  I had learned a few years before I was 17 that egg was bad for me.

Growing up, we did not use a lot of eggs but now and then we would have some or have something that had them in it.  I never knew why my tummy never felt the best until later on.  Having your tummy not feel the best is nothing but later on, my body started to react in a worse way.

Having egg started to affect my eyes.  The discomfort was so bad I could wear two pairs of sunglasses, cover all the windows in my room with blankets and there was still enough light in the room to cause discomfort.  And on top of it all, I could go blind.  This was no tiny matter.

I have learned to stay away from eggs and refined sugar and it keeps me from having this problem.  Despite my efforts, I have had this issue multiple times through the years and I praise the Lord each day for His ways that have kept me from going blind.

It is amazing how hard it can be to stay clear of these things.  I can have refined sugar two or three times before anything would happen but with egg, almost immediate.

So the other day when I was at a potluck meal and I realized after the fact that I had eaten egg I became very anxious.  A few minutes later my stomach started to hurt.  Someone suggested taking some charcoal, which I did.  When I got home I also did two things to help my digestion.  One, I took some enzymes and secondly apply some essential oils, which will help with digestion, over my tummy.

The last but definitely not least was to pray.  It wasn’t like I had chosen on purpose to eat what I knew my body could not handle.  I am so grateful to the Lord that He has led me to so many things that have been beneficial to me in combating this issue.  And I praise His name that in spite of me making this unknown mistake I was spared the consequences.  This is something that does not always happen.

There is one thing that has been a miracle in my life, which has helped build my immune system to the point that my body can handle more and I am so grateful.  And the Lord has also given knowledge on things that can help me if I do have trouble.

This made me think of our spiritual lives.  There is something that is deadly to us.  It is sin.  Sin will cause death.  There are two different types of sin, willful and unknown.  Are the consequences the same?  Yes and no.  We may be doing something that could be harming our body but we don’t know it, like the egg.  But the reaction to it will be the same if willfully done or not.  But the difference is willful disobedience will keep us out of heaven.  If we are doing something we are unaware is a sin it will not keep us out of heaven.

I am so grateful for God.  He doesn’t want us to do anything that will separate us from Him but He doesn’t share with us every aspect of the Christian walk all at one time.  What He does do is show us things little by little.  And as we realize that what we have been doing is sin and we repent we are forgiven.  Now if we do it again knowingly it now changes from unknown to willful disobedience.  Thank the Lord that even when we disobey willfully we can repent and God will forgive.

The consequences for unknown sin and willful disobedience can be the same.  But the most important is our destination, heaven.  Willful disobedience will keep us out of heaven but if there is something we are unaware of it will not keep us out of heaven.

The best thing we can do is work on building our spiritual immune system.  We need to be spending time in God’s Word and in prayer.  We need to stay away from anything that will destroy our spiritual immune system.  God will lead us and we can trust Him.  I am so grateful for His love.

Dear Father,

I want to have a strong spiritual immune system.  Continue to prompt my heart to spend more time in Your Word meditating day and night upon it.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Confess any wrongs today and commit to drawing closer to the One that can lead you in the way everlasting.  With each day your spiritual immune system will get stronger and stronger.

Love you all.

What things have you found to be most helpful in building your spiritual immune system?