You've got MAIL!!

So I couldn't help wondering how you are doing....How's the job? the significant other? ....how's God and you?

I am the first to admit that I've been ignoring the Bible...I lost passion for it. But, even with lots of prayer asking God for motivation, excitement, and love for His Word...nothing happened, until, after weeks of lingering in a passive state (thanks Aaron O'harra), I FINALLY was obediant and ACTED out of faith. How can the Lord reach my ears if I have forsaken His Word, and worse yet, ask Him to GIVE to me motivation, excitement, and love when I won't even OPEN UP THE BIBLE in obedience....EXPECTING wisdom (by asking God what He wants me to hear from His Word), motivation, excitement and love. For God tells us in James to ask for Wisdom and to ASK HIM what His will is for us, and that He would gladly give it to us...

~James 1:5-8 5If you need wisdom--if you want to know what God wants you to do--ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking. 6But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8They can't make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do.~

But notice how He says that don't ask if you waver in unbelief?..don't be a passive fool.

There are so many times where I ask God about specific things....And then I wait, and WAIT!................. ................. ...... .................... .......................... ......... oh! I'm sorry, I'm still waiting, but you don't have to wait with me, I'll continue with this letter...... (I'm still waiting, by the way)

So I ask God about certain things.....but I tend to hear Him answer questions that I didn't even ask.
"Are You serious, God? Are You trying to be funny?" I'll tease Him...

But He will tell me to, "Listen Child!"
"Child?" I'll think, "Lord, come on now,, we both know that I'm 26 and a HALF!" But I put the jokes aside and now that even though I have asked Him for specific things, I also ask to Hear His voice. So although He may not specifically be answering what I asked for (the latter), He is absolutely answering the former, to hear Him. It kind of jolts me when He says stuff out of the blue (or purple. I like purple a lot, even though for years I claimed blue as my favorite. I just had a submission problem)...and how do I know it's Him?

Well, not that there is specifically a formula, but God talks to me pretty much in the way I talk, except He will bring out His "big daddy" voice at times to make a point clear. You know what He had the nerve to do RIGHT before I fell asleep last night? He told me that I am no one to speak about forgiveness, because I was guilty of stubborness, holding a grudge, selfishness, and disobediance, and hypocrisy. SIN. Okay, I get it....all He asked me to forgive and repent. DARN IT!! It happened over a year ago, and basically my ego was hurt. WHO CARES! I need to step into obedience and get cleaned out, cuz I don't want to have all that SIN as a filter into my heart. That would be mis-leading me into bad judgement, to where I would even be filtering out God's Voice through that junky ol' SIN, more than likely, ruining His message to me, most assuredly muffling out His voice--I would be lucky to have even noticed that it was God in the first place.

So, back to my formula-thingy, but again, this is based off of my experience with God. And when I am in doubt (that it was Him), there are a few things that I need to remember.

..1. Philippians 4:8 (NAS)

"8Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."

..2. I pray about it and wait for God to speak to my heart. Kind of a feeling type thing, but not always. It's His Holy Spirit, really. But, God did create us to be emotional, and He does use emotion.

..3. Test it to scripture. The thing that He tells you, does it sound like God? Well, my first thing to ask is, if you don't read His Word, then how could you know if it sounds like something that He would say? **Read your Bible!**

..4. AND, you can always go to others, asking them for prayer and such. Go to a pastor, you know...RESEARCH!!

If somebody told you that I (heather) had said that I HATE bumble bees, well, if you know me, you could tell that that person didn't know me well, if at all, because you would think, "That doesn't sound like Heather at all! She would never say such a thing." You would only be able to conclude...this conclusion (hehehe) if you had actually spent time with me, talking with me, and getting to know me. AND IF YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW ME, YOU NEED TO LOVE ME. You must LOVE God!

Anyways, just a reallly looong thought. Sorry....kind of. Oh ya...just to bring this up again also...

~Isaiah 45:19 (NLT)
19I publicly proclaim bold promises. I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner so no one can understand what I mean. And I did not tell the people of Israel to ask me for something I did not plan to give. I, the LORD, speak only what is true and right.

Honestly...

Honestly...
Current mood: hungry
Category: Religion and Philosophy

Honestly, if there is no God, then where did this all begin? Even science cant disprove that someone or something had to begin the creation at some point, cuz something can not start from nothing. So once science establishes that the Big Bang theory is heavily flawed and there had to have been a first at some point, I have heard that now some scientists are leaning away from Big Bang towards Creationism, which now brings comfort to the big brainers out there cuz they no longer have to fake support for a THEORY that more than likely won't ever be proven fact cuz it disagrees with physics and all the other science stuff (Science was really hard for me in school!), but ask them about a Creator for their new Creation Idea (Wow! Gold stars for them, DUH!) and they tremble because they havent figured that out, and really dont want to admit that all these years theyve wasted trying to prove the Big Bang as fact, have been pointing to a Being higher and more sophisticated than their own brains, further proving that there just might be a God that theyll have to answer to after all some day, and that even more embarrassing is that the Bible, amazingly accurate despite the skeptics trying to disprove it, has explained the beginning all this time, while pointing them to the Creation idea and the Creator who was in charge of it all in the first place. Interestingly enough, God states that He is the Beginning and the End. So while they stand in their laboratories and scratch their heads trying to figure out where life and all this began, those who love God are happy and content as they continue on through their days knowing full well where they came from, who made them, and are at peace about the whole thing and spend their lives focusing on loving others and serving others before themselves, continually pressing into God for His will, wisdom, peace, revelation, strength, joy, tenderness, mercy, forgiveness, truth, self-control, and patience, focusing utterly on the things of their heart (all this only, of course, if they have truly figured out what being a Christian actually means, not using it to cast judgment and hate onto others, completely missing and misusing Jesus' examples of true love for all). For from your heart, the mouth speaks, your true intentions are revealed! And why are these scientists (and others) trying so desperately to disprove the existence of God? Well, because they are sinners who feel ashamed for what they have done, and who dont want to take responsibility for what they have done or what theyll do. (although many have at one point turned to God, but not out of repentance and obedience, and recognition that He is God, not their enslaved genie who is there to make life wonderfully easy and make them rich and healthy for the rest of their days--Anyone who believes that is utterly deceiving themselves. And there are also those that went to the church where they were surrounded by hypocrites, and were mistreated and looked down upon by believing jerks!If you were one of those, I am truly grieved and sorry that you were treated that way!!)

So, there are all these people who feel judged and abandoned by God out there in the world, lonely, thirsty and hungry. But only if they knew that God doesnt make people feel ashamed, He convicts them to bring them out of sin's destructive pattern and deadly grip. God hasn't asked them to pay for what they have done, for He already took care of it through Jesus, He just asks that we repent. So for people to say that they want a miracle from God to truly show how powerful He is while, at the same time, they totally have no regard for the miracle of Jesus' birth and death, or for the miracles that were recorded over and over again in history (the Bible didnt exist then), why would they expect such a miracle for themselves? A miracle isn't (most of the time) going to change someone's mind about God. It's about their heart and if they believe and are going to trust God and His word.

~James 1:5-8 5If you need wisdom--if you want to know what God wants you to do--ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking. 6But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8They can't make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do.~

So God wants us to go to Him! But we need to ask according to His plan for us--He has had a plan for each one of us since the very second He decided to create you, BEFORE your mother had even conceived you! So, if you want to learn about God's plan for you--His will for your life, than you need to ask.

Lets say that a guy who has never had any respect for God and doesnt want to believe in Him says to God, God, if you do this for me and heal my back from all of this tremendous pain, then I will believe that You are there and because you were so faithful to prove to me that you exist, then I promise to believe in You when I am healed. With this said do you think that if God did heal the man from all of his pain and ailments that the man would truly believe in God after the pain has left (Most Likely, NOT)? That is an example of how many view God as a magical genie who is desperate for peoples votes of approval and acceptance. This is an absurd and really, an illogical thought process! If I had told the story differently as in the man went to a stranger and said that if he would give him a free massage and pain killers any time his back was hurting him, that he would promise to be his BFF (best friend forever), would you not think that to be a foolish and absurd request? It is the same for an unbelieving person to expect God to do something for them when God knows the true intent of their heart.

Does God need our love and affection? No. But does He love it and find joy when we give it to Him? Yes indeed. It says that God delights over us with songs! He sings over us because of His unconditional love!
~Zephaniah 3:17 For the LORD your God has arrived to live among you. He is a mighty savior. He will rejoice over you with great gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will exult over you by singing a happy song."

AND

Isaiah 62:5
And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
So your God will rejoice over you.


But when a believing person comes to God and asks that God would take away their pain and sickness, they are in obedience. For we are to be in prayercommunicationcommunionin an INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP with our Creator, or how else will we know His heart? Know His voice? Hear His revelation? Receive His Wisdom? How ELSE?? How can we RECEIVE His Healing? WE CANT! We are not in God, we are not with God, therefore, we reject God when we are in disobedience! How can I give my child a hug when he rejects my embrace? I cant because he is REJECTING me.
When you dont believe, then dont bother asking God for anything, because even if He did give it to you, you would be missing His whole point behind it. Not that God doesnt heal un-believers. He has MANY times, but He knows their heart, and knows that theyll recognize it for what it is, a Miracle, and not some wish that the genie finally made come true. He has had a plan for them and new that that was the time that He has reserved to reveal Himself to them.

Has God healed my pain? Nope. **Read previous blog.** But Hes God. Hes NOT my servant, or my genie. He governs me, not the other way. He speaks to me on the things of His heart and I will not forsake my prayers for healing, but I will move forward, beyond my pains and suffering, (for there are people who I know personally, suffering far greater than I), and set my heart on the Will of my Savior, my Creator, my Father, on my God. I will not be as so foolish to say that my God created me with flaws! He says I am perfect in His sight and I will rest at ease.
~This is what the LORD says, I called you by name when you did not know me. 5I am the LORD; there is no other God. I have prepared you, even though you do not know me, 6so all the world from east to west will know there is no other God. I am the LORD, and there is no other. 7I am the one who creates the light and makes the darkness. I am the one who sends good times and bad times. I, the LORD, am the one who does these things. 8Open up, O heavens, and pour out your righteousness. Let the earth open wide so salvation and righteousness can sprout up together. I, the LORD, created them.

9"Destruction is certain for those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot ever argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, `Stop, you are doing it wrong!' Does the pot exclaim, `How clumsy can you be!' 10How terrible it would be if a newborn baby said to its father and mother, `Why was I born? Why did you make me this way?' "

11This is what the LORD, the Creator and Holy One of Israel, says: "Do you question what I do? Do you give me orders about the work of my hands? 12I am the one who made the earth and created people to live on it. With my hands I stretched out the heavens. All the millions of stars are at my command. 13I will raise up Cyrus to fulfill my righteous purpose, and I will guide all his actions. He will restore my city and free my captive people--and not for a reward! I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken!" ~Isaiah 45:4-13 (NLT)

Isaiah 45:19 (NLT)
19I publicly proclaim bold promises. I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner so no one can understand what I mean. And I did not tell the people of Israel to ask me for something I did not plan to give. I, the LORD, speak only what is true and right.

Ouch!!! I'm tired of pain!!

Current mood: content
Category: Religion and Philosophy

Last night showed that I am weak when I am lost in concern for my body. I pray daily and my husband prays ten times more! My parents pray as well as people in the church for my healing.

Last night I laid awake for several hours in agony of my spirit. It is true that for the third week in a row, I am unable to sleep because of a ruthless and burning torture within the muscles of my back. I am not a preacher, but I am a listener. And this morning I must repent for accusing my Lord (again) for even the slightest of a thought that perhaps I am either being punished or am cursed.

Some of you know, and most dont, that my body is stricken with pain and discomfort. Hold on! I am NOT wanting your sympathy, but I am craving courage that my God will set me free. Yes, YES! Ive heard it all preached to me that God is all powerful and all merciful and will heal my body. I know that He will, for is it not promised to all that He will give to us new bodies?
We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us. Romans 8:23
But unfortunately (as far as my mind can see), God does not promise that He will heal me in this life. It is quite possible that all these pains that I live with, will possibly be with which I die with.

Is God punishing me? Of course not! For I have been forgiven. If it were not so, would I currently be concerned with Gods nature and will? No. If I was unconcerned and not seeking God about these things, (for I am to seek Him in ALL things), I would obviously not believe in God (so why would I have cause to be angry at Him when He doesnt exist?), furthermore, I would be suffering for (my) unbelief in Jesus death and miraculous resurrection from the cross, meaning that I would be unSAVED, and unFORGIVEN. For it was Gods plan to come down to earth in the form as our bodies (human) to walk this earth, to experience all that we have: sadness, temptation, thirst, hunger, cold, and even death (even I have obviously not experienced the latter). But because that I am SAVED and FORGIVEN, for I do believe the ministry of Jesus Christ, I know that I am not being punished. If I am to believe that God sent His Son (God in human flesh) to die even while I was not a believer and denied Him several times, then I would be nothing more than the greatest fool to not see the EVIDENCE of Gods Mercy, Grace, and Love for me and all of mankind. So, with that said, those non-believers prove themselves to be the greater fool to proclaim in anger and frustration that God is punishing them, when they dont even believe in His existence! If then dont believe, then they lack all knowledge of Gods ways. For who is there so wise to counsel God? NONE!

I have established that God is not punishing me. So, why am I to have peace and joy and to be grateful to God for this body when it brings upon me such pain? Because God made my body perfectly to His design. How am I to respectfully accuse my Maker that He was flawed in His design? I cannot, for that lacks all respect, am I not right?
To the contrary, I have noticed that perhaps my bodys imperfections have humbly brought me into obedience, and others around me, with Gods will. God says to seek Him first and in all things, and in all honesty, if I lacked all needs, then why would I need God? My ailments have certainly kept me in obedience to prayer! But my Lord has been faithful to work within my obedient heart, giving me more strength and understanding, as He leads me into prayer for other things as well. His Spirit, which is His helper inside all that accept Jesus and believe, is developed and shaped while I ask God for His help and understanding and while I repent and ask forgiveness. Gods will for my life exceeds the boundaries of my pain and suffering, and I become Gods tool to work on His behalf for others, whether through my prayers, words of encouragement, poems, or physical service. (Or through jokes, for sometimes I am pretty funny!)Oh lighten up! Im just kidding!

So although during a heart-felt moment with God, I accused Him of punishmentstripping Him of His obvious love and concern for me, and yet, He still loves me just as much, and was more than willing to answer my cries of depression last night. For truly, His Words are active and living, even while they were written thousands of years ago. God showed me His faithfulness and shared His heart with me again.

18Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later. 19For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God's curse. 21All creation anticipates the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us. 24Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom. For if you already have something, you don't need to hope for it. 25But if we look forward to something we don't have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently. ~Romans 8:18-25