Victorious blessings

Revelations 2& 3
Who is God defined  as and the blessing for those who find victory

As I was driving home last week, I was listening to Revelations chapters 2,  I was taken aback by the comments at the end of verses 2:7, 2:11 and 2:17.  Blessings for those who are victorious in and hear the corrections and understands what was said to the churches.

^{rev 2:7} “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God.

I want to eat from the tree of life in the paradise of God. 

¹¹ “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. Whoever is victorious will not be harmed by the second death.

I want to not be harmed in the second death.  

¹⁷ “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it.

I want manna from heaven and a white stone with a new name that only I understand. 

Warnings from Revelation

As I was driving home last week, I was listening to Revelations chapters 2 & 3.  As I heard it, I felt that it was a personal message to me, as a member of God's church, on things that I need to correct in my life.  Areas where I have been lacking and need to make changes.  It became so personal. 

^{Rev 2:2} “I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. ³ You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.

I almost cried, as if hearing God speak this to me personally.  I know that I am not in a work's based faith, but I felt like God was validating all that I have been doing patiently. The things I have held on to without quitting. Those that I have watched fall by the wayside, discovering the life they portrayed is different than what they lived and eventually they fall.

⁴ “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!^{[b] 5} Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.

And then I did cry, as I realized that in the busyness of life, I had been neglecting my relationship with God.  Going through the motions of reading His Word, but not really letting it speak to me.  Praying, but not really moving past the superficial to really commune with Him.  In my tears, I repented and turned back to Him.

⁹ “I know about your suffering and your poverty—but you are rich! I know the blasphemy of those opposing you. They say they are Jews, but they are not, because their synagogue belongs to Satan. ¹⁰ Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. The devil will throw some of you into prison to test you. You will suffer for ten days. But if you remain faithful even when facing death, I will give you the crown of life. 

And then the compassion came again.  His tender arms surrounded me and said I see your suffering, your financial lack, and the things that have been said about you.  Satan is testing you, but I see your faithfulness, let me reward you.

¹³ “I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne, yet you have remained loyal to me.

Oh to know He hears my cry for my city, my region, my home. 

¹⁴ “But I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin. ¹⁵ In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching. ¹⁶ Repent of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

¹⁹ “I know all the things you do. I have seen your love, your faith, your service, and your patient endurance. And I can see your constant improvement in all these things.

²⁰ “But I have this complaint against you. You are permitting that woman—that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet—to lead my servants astray. She teaches them to commit sexual sin and to eat food offered to idols. ²¹ I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to turn away from her immorality.

²² “Therefore, I will throw her on a bed of suffering,^[c] and those who commit adultery with her will suffer greatly unless they repent and turn away from her evil deeds. ²³ I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches out the thoughts and intentions of every person. And I will give to each of you whatever you deserve.

²⁴ “But I also have a message for the rest of you in Thyatira who have not followed this false teaching (‘deeper truths,’ as they call them—depths of Satan, actually). I will ask nothing more of you ²⁵ except that you hold tightly to what you have until I come. ²⁶ To all who are victorious, who obey me to the very end,

To them I will give authority over all the nations.
²⁷ They will rule the nations with an iron rod
    and smash them like clay pots.^[d]

²⁸ They will have the same authority I received from my Father, and I will also give them the morning star!

²⁹ “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.

Rev 3:1 “I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead. ² Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. ³ Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.

⁴ “Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. ⁵ All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.

⁶ “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.

This is the message from the one who is holy and true,
    the one who has the key of David.
What he opens, no one can close;
    and what he closes, no one can open:^[c]

⁸ “I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me. ⁹ Look, I will force those who belong to Satan’s synagogue—those liars who say they are Jews but are not—to come and bow down at your feet. They will acknowledge that you are the ones I love.

¹⁰ “Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world. ¹¹ I am coming soon.^[d] Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown. ¹² All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it. And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God—the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name.

¹³ “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.

¹⁴ “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Laodicea. This is the message from the one who is the Amen—the faithful and true witness, the beginning^[e] of God’s new creation:

¹⁵ “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! ¹⁶ But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! ¹⁷ You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. ¹⁸ So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. ¹⁹ I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference.

²⁰ “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. ²¹ Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne.

²² “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.”

Fishing for men

Luke 5:1-7 So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret,  and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets.  Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.

 As I read this story, the boat is the place of teaching for the fisherman.  They learn their trade there, and well Jesus made it a place where they could hear the gospel.  The boat represents the church, a place where we go to hear and learn what we need to do to be effective fishers.  The disciples represent the body of Christ, who are called to be fisher of men.  The deep represents where the fish are, the world that is full of dying people.  The nets represent what it takes to really bring in the fish.

It seems that we say we want to be fishers of men, but that our actions expect the fish to jump into the church without any effort on our part, and to swim with ease once there.  We can not think that as fishers of men that we can fish from the inside of the church walls.  That would be like a fisherman sitting in his boat and never casting his net into the water.  

Or we wait for sinners to come into the church,  to just walk in without an invitation.  It is like a fisherman fishing with his bare hands from the boat.  We might catch a few, but it is much more difficult than what God intended and it definitely slows down the process.

Other times we might cast a line from the boat and hope something will bite.  This is when we set our eyes to hit the streets and "evangelize" we pull in more, because we tend to go out in larger numbers, but it is still fishing from the sideline.  We are using lines instead of nets, so each line can only catch one sinner at a time.

God called the church to be fishers of men.  He told the disciples to launch out into the deep and there is nothing indicating he stood on the shore line.  They left the comfort of the shore, they carried Christ with them.  They were tired, Peter said they had toiled all night. They were obedient though.    As fishers of men and the body of Christ, this means leaving our comfort zone and going in to the world, and carrying Christ with us. We have to build relationships because those are our nets, and we have to cast them out into this lost and dying world.  The world is swimming with lost and dying people, Jesus is telling us "Launch out into the world, and let your relationships bring in the harvest."

We have to make time.  Relationships are not built in an hour and it is important that we realize that some of these relationships are not going to be God centered initially.  Just because God interests us, does not mean that we need to shove him down someone else's throat.  As relationships build, people are more willing to talk about anything and everything.    These guys toiled all night long before they ever took Christ out. But the result was immediate when they cast down their nets.  When we wait on the Holy Spirit to open the door, there will be such a harvest that we need our friends from other churches to help bring it in safely.

VIEW

Just as it is easy to get our lives wrapped up in running ourselves ragged but never really moving, advancing and progressing towards our goals, it is easy to get our life out of focus and have a distorted view of who we are and where we are going.

How I view myself limits what I can accomplish.  I can never rise above my own view of myself.

Our view of success is distorted.  In our society we are performance based.  Those who are considered successful have performed in such a way to advance, progress towards and achieve the goals that society has deemed as good goals.  We glorify the multimillionaire who worked hard and reached his goals, despite the drunken, drug induced lifestyle, and the string of broken relationships with spouses and children.  Then we label the young, divorced mother who works hard at three jobs trying to reach her goal of a better future for her child.  We neglect that she divorced to get away from the drunken, and drug induced lifestyle to protect her and her child.  We must stop judging success by $$$ and look at what we are doing with what we have to make the world around us a better place. 

We take so much for granted as we view our journey.  We long for the mountain top views, not realizing that there is beauty in the valley too.  We want the plush flowers and trees of the meadows, but dread the dry wilderness where we see mirages of what we long for internally.  It is in the valley and in the wilderness that perseverance keeps us on our journey to success.  It is in the mountains and meadows that we tend to slack off.  We must realize that all the terrain of our journey is beautiful.  We must gain perspective of what each of those times mean in our journey and find the beauty there.

We view the world around us by the possession that have been obtained.  Having worked with the richest people and the poorest in our society, what they have did not make them better or worse.  It was how they viewed their situation that mattered.  Those striving for the next best thing were dissatisfied with life, always hoping for the next thing.  Those who were content with where they were enjoyed the things around them, but didn't wrap their life around obtaining more.  We must keep our view on what we have, not what we don't have if we want to live content.

We allow what others say about us, or do to us to distort our view.  The fact is that what someone says about me, can only define who I am, if I let it.  What someone does to me, can not change who I am, unless I let it.  I love to use the example of U.S. Currency.  It was given it's value by its creator.  If I have a $100 bill, I can say all day long it is $5.00 and it will not change its value.   I can use that $100 bill for something good, or something bad, or something illegal and it still will not change its value.  I can tear it up (Which I learned is illegal) and as long as the majority of it is there, it is still worth $100.

We allow our past to define our view.  I grew up in a functionally dysfunctional home.  At five years old my life changed forever.  At five years old, I had no idea what much of was going on around me meant.  I grew up and my world view was shaped by the events of my childhood.  Things I held to be true, were in fact wrong.  My five year old mind made interpretations about things that were not accurate then, and are still not accurate today.  However, until I changed my perspective those untruths shaped my life. 

It is easy to allow the world's definitions to set our world view, to tell us what is success, what is beauty, who we are, and define our truth.  It is better thought to let God set our view.  To find out who God, our Creator is, because we were made in His image.  It is better to let God define who we are, because He made us.  It is better to get God's view of our life, because He knows our past, present and future and still loves us.  God is truth, so he will not distort reality.

When we get His view, the world becomes a place of possibilities.  We we get His view of who we are, nothing is impossible. As we draw closer to Him, our view becomes sharper, clearer, and accurate.

How could adjusting your view to a God centered view, change how you live your life tomorrow?

31 Days of Intentional Living

31 Days is an online writing challenge started by Myquillyn Smith (The Nester) where bloggers pick one topic and write a post on that topic every day in October.

The next 31 days will be my journey of Living, intentionally, on purpose, taking actions that get me closer to the goals that I have and move me closer to the person I really want to be.  They will include steps and questions that you can also personalize to move closer to your goals.

This is a page that will link to all 31 days of Living.

 

Day 1: Move
Day 2 :: View
Day 3 :: New
Day 4 :: Learn
Day 5 :: Stuck
Day 6 :: Know
Day 7 :: Go
Day 8 :: Say
Day 9 :: Join
Day 10 :: Care
Day 11 :: Teach
Day 12 :: Rest
Day 13 :: Work
Day 14 :: Away
Day 15 :: Life
Day 16 :: Adjust
Day 17 :: Long
Day 18 :: Taste
Day 19 :: Honor
Day 20 :: Fear
Day 21 (Not included in FMFW) :: Thanksgiving
Day 22 :: Expect
Day 23 :: Look
Day 24 :: Truth and Dare
Day 25 :: Enjoy
Day 26 :: Visit
Day 27 :: Free
Day 28 :: (Not included in FMFW) Acceptance and Value
Day 29 :: Unite
Day 30 :: First
Day 31 :: Leave

MOVE

Move: to advance or progress

Most of us go through life and we never really move. We get caught up in the rat race of life, thinking that we are moving fast but really just running around in a circle wasting time.  We are not advancing anything or making progress towards anything.We get busy doing nothing.  Time passes, we age, but what have we actively advanced? 

To truly move takes intentional purpose and action.  We have to know what our goals are and what steps we need to take to get there.  If I am going to move from one house to another, if I don't intentionally pack my belongings and place them in a vehicle to go to the other location and then unload them in to the new place, I haven't really moved.  I may go stay somewhere else, but that is neither advancement or progress. 

If I want to see movement in my career, that also takes intentional action.  If I don't develop the skills needed to advance my career, I may change jobs frequently but there will be no advancement or progress in my career.

I have realized over the past few months that I have been spending time and energy on things that are not moving my towards my goals in life.  There are times I have been going through motions, but really I have been on the giant hamster wheel of life.  Although I am physically doing things, those things are not getting me anywhere.  

I thought that getting out of the daily 9-5 would help solve the lack of movement on my part, but I realize I just replace wheel for another and start running again wasting time on things that will not move me towards my goal.

The other part of the problem is that I have  not  clearly identified goals of what I really am striving.  Paying the bills is important, but it is not my goal.  It is a side product.  Have a good relationship with God and my family and help others are great to strive towards, but are certainly very ambiguous. 

So today I ask myself, what do I want to move towards?  And what am I willing to do advance or progress towards  those goals. 

Move - deeper in my relationship God - intentionally spending time with Him daily in worship, prayer and Word.  What am I going to do daily to further His kingdom?

Move - closer to my dreams - intentionally investing time in the activities that will make my dreams a reality. What am I going to do daily to move me towards the dreams that I have to fulfill.

Hebrews 6:3 (NLT) And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.

The next 31 days will be my journey in Living, intentionally, on purpose, taking actions that get me close to the goals that I have and move me closer to the personal I really want to be.  Today, its time to move!

Silence

Silence.... the idea of silence, I long for
to be able to relax to the sound
of nothing.
to curl up with a book and
finish it
to write
uninterrupted.
 I long for it
and yet the actual reality of silence
frightens me.
It is so much easier
to drown out silence
to cover it with the white noise
the tv playing in the background
the music blaring
so i don't have to hear
the silence.
To be alone
with my thoughts,
to have to listen to the inner voice
that speaks correction,
desire,
instruction,
I blame it on the children
but now alone,
silence surrounds me
it frightens me
what I might hear
I am responsible for it
when I hear it
To know what I am doing wrong
Means I am responsible
to correct it
To know my deepest desires and see those dreams played out
Means I am responsible
to fulfill them
To hear instruction
Means I am responsible
for obedience to them
These are the things I fear
in the silence

This blog is prompted from  Tuesday at Ten! The Tuesday blog Link up where you have 1 full week to use the prompt word to your liking!  Whether it be just writing a story behind the prompt word, or being as creative as you wish using photos, poems, art, or graphics – whichever creative way you choose. You have 1 week to write and link up your blog at the bottom of the page so that others can link up with you. Be sure to visit your “link up” neighbor and spread the joy of connection!