death

Christmas but no Halloween

Lisa

This topic has been on my mind for some time now. And I feel free/released to talk about it openly now. So let’s begin …

People will use  Colossians 2:16 to justify their celebration of halloween. And some will claim that “hey, if you celebrate Christmas, you cannot judge me for celebrating halloween, as both have pagan origins. If you can celebrate Christmas for Jesus, I can celebrate halloween for Jesus.“ Really?

Yes, much commercialism surrounds the season of Christmas. Santa Claus can be distracting, for some, plain old of the devil. I won’t expound on this, as it is not the point of this post.

“But Jesus wasn’t born on the 25th. The decoration is paganism…” Probably true I say, yet I think even if we chose another day, the enemy would still follow the time around with clutter and distractions, and yes, paganism. I believe it is up to us to sift through all of that, abandon some even and stick to remembering the actual story behind it all.

Personally for me, I don’t need the tree 🌲, or much of the decor that comes with Christmas. Though not against them. I will admit, I do quite like the lights. As a Christian, of course I like lights! 🙂 Yes, yes, I know the enemy does transform as an “angel of light” in order to deceive. Anyhow, taking away all of that and reading the Bible, we would still have a point where we celebrate CHRISTmas, that is, the sending of Jesus, every time we read the first chapters of Matthew. And we who are Blood bought certainly give thanks for His coming.

With halloween, what remains when we take away all the “spooky”? Even if someone says they are doing it onto the Lord and dressing as something good, the Bible says we are to put on the armor of God, we are to take on the identity of Christ. So putting on the identity of anything else but that of Christ I think is stepping into muddy waters. There are consequences of putting on things even in innocence. (Hosea 4:6) Some have been left baffled by personality changes not knowing that they took on the identity of something sinister during “times of festivity, tricks and treats”. That should be enough reason. But if that’s not enough, there’s always the testimonies of ex-witches and ex-warlocks who make it well known that satanists delight in the fact that there are Christians participating in halloween.

In conclusion, both holidays are surrounded with things that are not of God. For halloween, people go missing. There is a celebration of darkness and death, the movies released in cinemas are dark and horrific. For Christmas, people over eat, focus on materialism, Santa Claus, jingle bells and end up in unnecessary debt. But when we clear the clutter of both, what do we find? Well we find that Christmas still stands with a tiding that brings great joy. A Savior who loves mankind so much that He left His throne, was born of a virgin, died on a Cross and 3 days later rose again. He conquered death! The same death which is glorified in halloween. The Christmas story climbs up to Life overcoming death.

My thoughts are similar for Easter but I hope we’d stop calling it that and say Passover or Passion Week or something. The root of the word Easter is in fact pagan. (Story for another day.) Not true for the word Christmas though, obviously. As we can see, some are so not in favor of Christ, they deduce it to “X-mas”. Others I reckon probably think it’s a cool short code. Again Hosea 4:6.

Let’s not feel guilty for enjoying the season of Christmas, for indeed when we strip away all the clutter that tries to stifle the true meaning of the season, we are still left with the account of His coming in the Holy Scriptures. And that’s enough reason to rejoice, certainly all year round, and appreciate the ultimate Gift, that is the Lord Jesus.

It’s Not Normal

Lisa

Meshach-kitten

A family pet kitten called Meshach died today. My brother was out washing his car and she followed him out. Because he was there she assumed all was well. She let her guard down and trusted the world. Unfortunately, because the world is not operating according to God’s original plan, she got killed by a neighbor’s dog.
Sometimes, we let our guards down too. We lack the discernment to see that some things are not our friends, and not there to build us up, but to tear us down, steal from us, kill and destroy us. I am guilty of this, and still healing from wounds caused by poor and sometimes sinful decision making. I’ve acknowledged this, and looking forward to God’s help in rebuilding me, restoring me better than the former, returning to me everything stolen and everything I foolishly, like Esau gave away. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, trust not the world, nor the things in this world.

“And I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, and the consuming locust, and the cutting locust, My great army which I sent among you.” – Joel 2:25

What does that look like?

1. It looks like daily prayer. Daily listening to God. You can be anywhere: driving, bathing, doing domestic chores; it doesn’t matter, talk to God daily, and often. Be open with every emotion, and let Him know when you feel wronged and when you have done wrong.
“Never stop praying.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:17
“Leave your troubles with the LORD, and He will defend you; He never lets honest people be defeated.” – Psalm 55:22

2.After you’ve come to God letting Him know what’s on your mind (He of course already knows what the problems are, we just put our faith in action when we talk to Him), don’t stop there. Use scripture related to your case so as to focus on God’s promises, instead of the problem. The Bible says that we can remind God of His promises. This shows that we are not focusing on the problems but the faithfulness of His Word to heal, comfort and deliver us. See this list: http://reapwhatyousow.org/remind-god/

3. Always thank and praise God for who He is. The world is full of pain. But that’s not God’s fault. He didn’t want it this way. Even in the storm, He is still the Good God, our Good Good Father. Besides, praise is also a powerful weapon which confuses the enemy. When we are going through hard times and we choose to worship Jesus, this is especially annoying to Satan, because he wants to keep us in a pit of despair.

“In every thing give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

4. Listen. Practice listening to God. He speaks in various ways, but always in alignment with His Word. He may speak as a still small voice, through a friend, even maybe a non-friend, through a song, through dreams, through an event or occasion and the list goes on. Don’t limit how you should hear Him. He’s creative and purposeful. He knows just what we need, and when we need it. So trust Him.

“Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak peace to His people, to His saints; but let them not turn back to folly.” – Psalm 85:8

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.”- Proverbs 3:5-6

It’s not normal the heartaches of the world, because it is not part of God’s original design. Sin brought pain and death. It is up to us, with God’s grace to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and not let our guards down. The enemy is very persistent, and we must be violent in prayer. We must keep a constant flow of communication with God. Then when He instructs through whatever way, we need to trust and obey. He’s coming back again, so this struggle is only for a moment until we see Jesus again on His second return.

Be very blessed indeed.

———

In loving memory of my cat Meshach. Rest in peace where ever is that place God takes His animals. If there is one…God knows. But I know that you Mesh, are in no more pain.

Unless ye repent, ye shall perish the same!

Lisa

repentJust heard the news of a long time family friend’s passing. It is a common thing in times like these for many to question why; if the person who went on to the next life dies before 50, we respond “gone too soon”, and if over 50, we still want to believe that the person had enough strength for some more years. The thing is, the Word says we are appointed to die once and then face a judgement (Hebrews 9:27). Jesus proclaims the urgency of repenting while we have the chance in the following passage:

Now there were some present on that occasion who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. He answered them, “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered these things? No, I tell you! But unless you repent, you will all perish as well! Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them, do you think they were worse offenders than all the others who live in Jerusalem? No, I tell you! But unless you repent you will all perish as well!” Luke 13:1-5

After sharing the gospel with some, I have been told “I don’t want to be saved now, sometime later.” I am sorry to say, but none of us know the appointed time. This is not a scare tactic; however I hope by the power of the Spirit hearts will be convicted, and those who are not yet in Christ Jesus will stop and think for a moment. Please stop and think about your eternity. Money, fame and the rest of the “carnivals”, “socas” and “dancehalls” of this world will pass away; even the best relationships on this earth will go too (Matthew 22:30), but our spirit will live on forever. The thing is, where are we headed? Are we prepared to spend an eternity with God, or an eternity separated from Him? He has provided a way to Himself, but those who reject Him in this life, will be rejected in the next. We reject God as number 1 in our lives when we place anything above Him. That includes a desire to hold on to a particular relationship and the sinful benefits of it (e.g. fornication/pre-marital sex [Galations 5:19-21] ) instead of obeying what the Word says in regards to it. Jesus said:

“For whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” – Mark 8:38

By the grace of God I am saved (I didn’t do anything to earn my way here, so I can’t brag), by that same grace so can you too be saved. I am not making this up, it is all there in the Bible. Please believe, your eternity depends on it.

May hearts be open to receive Christ Jesus today.