for a change…
Now, is the time of year we eat plenty of junky foods, like Halloween candy; whipped cream, with your ice cream, with your cranberry sauce, with your gravy, with your turkey; chocolates, while you open your presents; fattening beer, with your strong drink, on New Year’s Eve…
Say goodbye to your enemies
and hello to your Best Friend
“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.” (Song Of Solomon 1:2)
Recently, I attended a meditation class and learned to, temporarily, empty myself of things – including stress. My stress was relieved, somewhat, only to return, of course, later. It reminded me of what the Bible says Jesus taught, in Luke 11:14-28:
“And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered. But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils. And others, tempting him, sought of him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against itself falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges. But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. When a strong man armed keep his palace, his goods are in peace: but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest: and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then, goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”
God wants us to meditate on the Bible, to fill ourselves with its words, wisdom and laws, and to sing songs, among other things. But, because we are mere children with these grown-up things, we need to get weaned off the mother’s paps (the world) by the Holy Spirit. There is no other way; we cannot advance, on our own.
So, few want to hear anybody with integrity speak the truth but God actually wants it that way, for his people, because God doesn’t want his people to love any earthly success, but only to love him, because he doesn’t want his people to have any idols before him. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3 is the first commandment. God’s people won’t be able love their homes, for instance, but, instead, God will instruct them to love heaven. They won’t be able love their cars, but, instead, they might be shown to love the ark, the ship, the boat (Jesus Christ, who transports them to their permanent home in heaven). We won’t be able to love anything that comes between us and God. The temporary physical world is being replaced, by the permanent spiritual world, for us.
We will “receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting” as wisdom is slipped into our spirits, to take with us, into heaven. This, we will keep. But that is all we will take with us. Satan, the prince of the power of the air, is the chief of the counterfeits, and deceives to steal all the love and glory we’re supposed to give to the LORD, from the fraudster’s hijacking of the church, and all of the institutions, to the very clouds in the sky.
Moving on, from the mother’s milk, we’re eating solid food, by going through trials to learn to trust God. “Give us this day our daily bread.” The food is the doing, the obeying, the trusting, the loving, when we see things through the eyes of a king. Jesus is the King of us, kings. We’re unlearning this world, and learning what it takes to work with the King of kings for eternity, where we will reign, forever. So, we’re seeing good things, often, in the midst of this wicked world. We see this everywhere, in the relationship between a husband and a wife (Jesus Christ and his bride, his wife, his woman, his church), and the lovely cloud variations in the blue sky. Ribbed. God’s ribs.
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