Disabled or Enabled

I post this in my MG blog but thought it was appropriate to post here too...

I'm not feeling good at all, haven't been and been declining in the last week. Not sure if it's MG, still the reaction to the prescription, or something else. A few days back it was my arms, hands, fingers and could barely type. Now it's my legs not really working at all. Anyways, I felt God telling me to write on a topic, so I'm listening to Him and writing.

When diagnosed with a serious chronic illness, many find themselves categorized under "disabled." It's true we have less physical abilities than we had before... many less. It's true we cannot physically do what the majority of society can do. It's true that we may need to use a handicap placard, wheel chair or other assistive devices. It's true that our lives have completely changed.

But we are looking at once sense of life here- the physical sense, worldly in fashion. In that sense, we are disabled. But are we truly disabled? When I say truly, Jesus is truth, so in the eyes of Jesus are we disabled? I don't believe so. In fact, I believe some of us actually become enabled... enabled with the Holy Spirit. That's what happened to me.

Everything is spoken about in context. The context of disability is related to physical. But if we change the context, perhaps many are disabled and few obtain the saving grace in becoming enabled.

Don't look at yourself as a body. Look at yourself as a soul with the gift of the Spirit. When you make that change, and separation in a sense, having a "disability" becomes, dare I say, easier. Your body becomes your job, to take care of and not quit. But YOU are your soul with the gift of the Spirit. Many won't make the separation or even understand the possibility of one. Many will focus strictly on the physical sense, the body. They will bring you down, live entirely in the worldly limits. But deep down inside you know the truth, the real life. Stay in that mindset. Stay positive, stay focused, and stay close to God guiding you. Take care of your body, but don't let it limit you.

Get outside of that box. I'm certain there are at least a few who read "don't let it limit you" and thought ok get out there, get a job or physically do more. Nope. I do not mean push yourself. We with MG know that is the worst thing we can do. But allow your soul to be redeemed. (I just looked that up to make sure I wasn't way off in what I just said as I didn't know- and I quote Psalms 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. End quote. It's things like this that make me know I am writing in the Spirit and not the flesh because I did not know that verse before now.)

Everything is within context. What context are you living in? Worldly, in the flesh- I am disabled. In the Spirit- I am enabled. My wish for all is that you all become enabled. Allow it to happen. Give up preconceived notions, give up things, give up restrictions, give it all up to God and He will give it all to you.

This is more of a post for my other blog, so maybe I'll paste it into there too. But I was told to write it in this one, so I hope there is someone out there reading this who needs to hear this message. After all, I am a vessel for God. Let His message be delivered.

Love to all. And asking for prayers for my health and for my day, and let's just say for this whole week as it's not an easy one. Thank you!

What's your choice?

Doing what is wrong or doing what is right.
Doing what is good or doing what is bad.
Living for Christ or living for the devil.

Yes, backup there a second... for Christ or for the devil? All which is good and right belongs to Christ. That which is wrong and bad is to the devil. God is ALWAYS there for us, always wants the best for us- better than we can even fathom, He will guide us... but, He won't make the decision for us. Why? Because we are given our own free will. So we are allowed to choose the bad, the wrong, the evil, the devil. God doesn't want us to choose that route, but He will allow it so not to impose on the free will He has given us.

Why do people choose what is wrong, bad, evil, of the devil?

I used to think that of the devil could only mean severe things such as killing, robbery, etc. I never related it to everyday evils we barely notice because they are much too common... lying, pride, jealousy, talking poorly about others. Now I clearly know that to be Christian means ridding myself of those evils, striving to do so as much as possible, living in a way that is a reflection of Jesus.

People don't realize how much the devil is present in this world, in our lives. He is CONSTANTLY trying to pull us away from God, from doing what is right, what is good, what is true. He is constantly deceiving us into thinking the wrong way is the right way. He deceives us through every possible medium out there- the media, strangers, friends and even family. I am not saying family members or friends or anyone are bad people... but the devil can and will use anything and anyone to get to you with gossip, jealousy, lying, anger, division within families. One the biggest ways he does so is through your own mind. He can talk you into anything... absolutely anything... make you believe that you are doing right, doing well. It's all a bunch of lies.

How can we discern then what is of Christ and what is of the devil? Again the devil will try and tell you that good people are actually bad people and so on and so forth. But all you have to do is open your Bible. Read it. Study it. Discuss it with other Christians. The Bible tells us everything we need to know. So, if you are trying to discern what is of Christ- is it biblical? If so, it is most likely of Christ. If you can't find it in the Bible to back it up, consider the devil is trying to deceive you and bring you down to a place you don't ever want to go. The Bible isn't something where you can pick and choose how you please. Why? Because in following Jesus you must follow him completely, because if you pick and choose then you really aren't following him at all. You can't carry only half the cross and claim it as your ticket to Heaven.

So again why do we choose evil? For the pleasure, excitement, experience, etc. that we are deceived into thinking is worth it. Maybe we feel we want to experience ALL of life- the good and the bad. But consider this- there are enough struggles out there without creating your own. You will encounter both good and bad without making a choice of it. We are still experiencing all that is life... but while doing so we are making the choices to remain faithful and righteous. We are not missing out on anything but instead actually making the most of everything.

Maybe you just feel you can't give your life to Christ because you'd be giving up your own free will, that choice. But think about it this way. You ARE making a choice right now if you aren't choosing Christ. If you are choosing evil, or anything other than good, truth and Jesus, you are in fact choosing the devil. You are CHOOSING the devil. So if you fear that you will "submit your life to Christ" and give up all freedom, look at it in the other sense that right now you are submitting your life to the devil and giving up all freedom. It's one or the other. If you aren't giving your life to Christ you are allowing the devil control over you.

Our life here on earth is nothing but a split second compared to all eternity in Heaven or hell. We cannot do whatever the heck we please, knowingly doing wrong, and then at the end say "Oh I'm sorry God, forgive me and take me to Heaven now." I don't think so. Once we know right from wrong, we MUST live righteously. And then if we make a MISTAKE, we repent and strive our very darn hardest never to repeat it.

Anyone who has gotten through some tough times, anyone who has witnessed or lived a miracle... what came before that? The struggle. How would there ever be miracles if there weren't struggles? Thus we must go through trials of sorts, strengthening of our faith, obstacles and overcoming evil, to get to the other side. For without the struggle, what kind of testimony would we have to receive the blessing? We need for the goal of the other side to still be with Jesus, with Him all along and in the end. We need the goal we are aiming for to be biblical. For if we remain faithful to Him no matter WHAT no matter how tough it gets, and we continue to praise Him and thank Him and trust in Him, we will get through it. Make it your goal not to live in evil but to OVERCOME evil.

When you read the Bible and make the decision to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, repent your sins, ask for forgiveness and follow Him. Then start living in the spirit rather than the flesh. You have a choice. Which do you choose? Heaven or Hell?


And they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
2 Timothy 2:26

Judgement

Why is it that no matter what I say or how I say it, there are always people who twist my words like it's their job? Who go searching to pull out anything negative they can find in it. Who then take it and gossip to others about it. When all along what they are saying is not at all what I intended for it to mean. You can only try so much. You can't control another human being. And at the end, the only judgement that matters is that of God.

Does that mean we should not show any judgement? I would be wrong in stating what I just stated above if so since it appears to be of judgement. We should let people do whatever the heck they want? I don't believe so.

The Bible warns us to beware of evildoers. How are we to discern that? We need to know what the Bible states, how God wants us to live, and we need to strive to live in that way and stay away from evil.

We are to know the truth, live the truth and bring others to the truth. It is our responsibility as Christians to look out for and fellowship with other Christians. It is our responsibility to help them stay focused on God and that includes bringing sin to attention with a biblical resolution. We are not to judge with harsh criticism or self gain but with love and respect for one another, to help one another.

So are we or aren't we to judge is a difficult question to answer for it is both a yes and a no. Instead of a one word answer, our focus should be on if we are living how God wants us to live, in harmony with Him and with what the Bible says. And if that is what we are striving to do then the Christian life we are living. If not, well God will be the judge.



Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 
2 Timothy 4:2

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21

God Encounters

Just wanted to share a few "God encounters" lately.

The first one I'll start with is a little while back. Every morning I go downstairs, eat breakfast, get my coffee... sometimes I walk into the living/dining room for various reasons. That morning I went to turn the temperature up. I heard that voice tell me go look out the window. (There is a big window in the living room/front room). So I walked over there and looked up. The exact spot I looked up there was a cross in the sky. You know some planes leave those white lines in the sky on a clear day well it looked like that is what it was- but two of them in the form of a cross. You could say coincidence but I don't believe in coincidence I believe in God and He was telling me He is watching over me.

The second one was a few days back. I was sitting outside reading. I looked up and saw a white butterfly flying along the bottom of the fence. The entire length of the fence it stayed at the very bottom. When it neared the end where it would be out of my sight I said to myself "God if it's going to work out (God knows what I'm referring to) have the butterfly fly above the fence." I don't even know why I said such a thing and seeing as it was at the bottom the whole time and clearly making its way from one side to the other soon to be out of sight there was no reason I should believe that it would happen. But just as it passed out of sight it flew right back, flew up past the top of the fence, and then flew away and I didn't see it again. Thank you God!

The third one was just a couple days ago. Again I was sitting outside reading, same chair, same spot. I looked up to the sky filled with dark clouds and said to myself "God are you there?" I was hoping for one of those "looks like Jesus" clouds or something I guess. But instead at that moment it seemed like fast motion the dark clouds quickly passed and there showed the moon. I thought to myself, hmm I don't know if that means anything, and as I did more dark clouds were coming but instead of covering up the moon like it would look as they should they parted and made this path that I was always able to see the moon through. There was no way this was anything other than a God thing. But it gets better. I then continued reading and shortly after felt the voice telling me ok it's time to go in but before you do, look up. Heat makes my MG worse so it made sense to listen to go in but I didn't know about the look up part. But of course I listened. I closed my book, stood up and looked up... and just as I did the dark cloud opened up again and the moon showed through and at that same moment a voice inside said "Even when you can't see me, I'm still here." God, you are amazing!

And now the last one, for now. This has been happening more and more often but most recently happened yesterday. Sometimes when I'm sitting in the car as a passenger, I'll ask God if it's going to work, or to show me it's going to work, or to show me what the future holds etc. And then I'm told to look at the license plate of a specific car and it will start with an "H" and then I'm told to look at the license plate of a different specific car and it will start with an "L". If you don't know, those are my current initials. But it doesn't stop there... for the next couple minutes I will see more H's and L's then ever before. It is crazy. Just crazy. I'm not on the search for only those letters, I'm told to look at specific cars and that's when I see the letters. Crazy. I don't know exactly what it means but I do know that God is definitely with me.

God is ALWAYS with us. Sometimes we just have to close our eyes to see, turn everything off to hear, and open our hearts to receive His presents... I spelled that wrong for a reason. God's love is a gift. Cherish it. Thank you Jesus!