Vessel of Honor

I am often praying, for myself and others, that I/they be vessels of honor in the Lords hand/house. As I was 'thinking unto the Lord' this morning, I began to think of the will of the Father as a river. Those whose eyes are open are open are fish who are swimming WITH the current and with purpose. Those whose eyes are closed are floating over to the sides of theriver where there are rocks and working on  things among the rocks. Some are eeven swimming against the current. These ones have veiled eyes. They are living according to the vanity of their mind and following the idols of their heart. They are still in the river - EVERYONE is in the river, it is God's sovereign will at work within the world - but not everyone (most everyone?) don't realize it. We are allowed to swim in the manner we want to within the river, but the current of the Father's will is constantly bringing forth the Father's desire even in the midst of the blinded activity of man. To be a vessel of honor is the work of the Father. Only He can give revelation of Who He is, What this life is about and Who we are in this life.
Just as Doubting Thomas didn't believe until he saw the wounds of Christ for himself (and he was a disciple!), just as those who were on the road to Emmaus didn't recognize Him. Just as Mary at the tomb didn't know him. Just as Peter and the others didn't know him standing on the shore, we too, unless can't 'see' the Christ unless are eyes are unveiled. Flesh and blood can not show it to us.
But as we pray for eyes to see and hearts to understand, the Father begins to reveal our internal idols, and as we forsake them, the veil, or at least a layer of the veil, comes off. We can begin to swim with purpose in the Father's river of love and be used as a vessel of honor.As lay down our lives, a layer of the veil comes off and we can begin to understand the Father's good and acceptable and perfect will.

Eunuchs of the Lord

I was thinking about Bruce Jenner who has recently been in the media regarding his transformation from living life as a male to living life as a female.
My heart was moved for him as I have been seeing articles on the front of magazines about him feeling suicidal.
I thought how difficult it must be to feel like you are so out of place; how not just other people's expectations but your OWN expectations are so frustrated and confused. The anger, the fear, the doubting.
I then began to direct my attention more towards what the Lord may make of this.

Thoughts began to come to me that maybe him and others like him were meant to be eunuchs for the Lord.
Matthew 19:12 from the KJV says:

For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.

Could it be that some of the men who feel they are born the wrong gender are actually experiencing,  from birth, the lack of male testosterone that would allow them to be attracted to women? And then, because there is no one to teach them of these things, all they can do is accept the cultural understanding that something has gone wrong and now they must 'fix' themselves.

I'm sure the evil one pounces on these type of men and brings spirits of homosexual lust to help encourage them in that direction.

As I was still thinking, the thought came, 'so where are these eunuchs today? Surely it just wasn't a situation that would be present in Paul's time?'

In talking to my husband, he said these may be the monks of today. I rejoined that what about those 'religions' that don't have places where men can cloister themselves off - like in the Protestant denominations? What happens to those men? And is it even right for those who ARE a part of monastic building communities, to live in such separated ways?

Then he reminded me that many of those DO volunteer and serve selflessly in their communities.
It seems so distant though, to me at least, for those of us who are not in the faiths that offer that type
of outlet for men.

 The many, many unmarried women in the body of Christ would seem to need the help of these 'eunuchs' without fear of the relationship turning inappropriate. Married men are often so busy with their own families or feel things could be 'weird' when it comes to helping the unmarried women.
How wonderful it would be for those women to have the strength, help, and male insight that these men could provide!

These are only musings. I am asking the Lord if I am thinking correctly. I so far have not received any 'confirming' external witness(es) so all I can think is that maybe this isn't right and that there is something else going on with these men that I don't understand.
But still, what of 'eunuchs from birth' and those who have made themselves 'eunuchs for the kingdoms sake'? Where are they in the Protestant community of believers?

Reveal your thoughts on this my Lord.

On being 'Clear' or Dealing with People, Problems, 4

As I have stated before, I asked the Father multiple times how to deal with difficult people - how did JESUS deal with difficult people.
Today I had this thought:

Jesus didn't see the common man as being 'difficult'. That particular feeling comes from our own 'black velcro' that is within us, rubbing against the other person's 'black velcro'. The 'tugging' that occurs produces that feeling of irritation. Jesus didn't have that within Him. Not having velcro  was the same reason that Jesus said the evil one was coming but would find nothing in Him.

Our expectations of others, our pride our lusts, and our self love/self interest make up the fabric of the 'velcro'. The Father wants us to deal with this!
If we desire to be Overcomers and to allow Jesus to continue to walk in this world to set the captives free, we must allow Him to show us ourselves (prove us) and then turn from our ways and submit to Him (obedience) as He continues to transform us into His image.

I am making a distinction between the 'common man' and those in religious authority because Jesus dealt with them differently. His harsh words were reserved for those that felt they were already 'clear' but in reality they weren't.
Confessing our sins puts us in a position of being forgiven of those sins. We can't act as if there is nothing in us that needs to be removed/transformed/forgiven!

I desire your mercy Lord. Please forgive me. Help me to yield to your chastening hand so that I can be an overcomer in truth, not just in my own thinking (deceived and living vainly). Transform me Lord and let me live this life in a way that reflects YOU and pleases YOU! Amen.

Spiritual Warfare

I was reading 'Spiritual Warfare" by Dr. Stephen Jones.

On location 247 he says 'The only reason God gave Israel a physical sword to establish
that first "Kingdom of God' was because the people had rejected the Sword of the Spirit
at Mt. Sinai"

I asked the Father f this was true. The thought that came to me was 'you change enemies to
friends by establishing the Kingdom'. And then, 'you can't leave people in the same
condition you find them; do spiritual warfare"

Our Troubled Life, Part 3

Once we have accepted the reality of our broken life in this broken world and have discontinued trying to make it into something it will never be, we can then be about the business of allowing the Father to form us into a vessel fit for His use.

We begin to feel hopeful that now we have turned our back on 'worldly' things we can make progress in our spiritual endeavors. If we have not already, we begin to press in to the life of 'church' - joining ministries, attending classes, maybe even starting a ministry of our own.

All appears well at first. We begin to have a certain level of influence in the body of Christ and are seen as a faithful, committed one that can be looked to as an example of what the church should be.
Sooner, or even years later, the hamster wheel of activity and the plate juggling begin to take its toll.
Possibly the community we are involved in seems to have a revolving door where members are present for a while but then go on their way, never seeming to exhibit the same level of commitment that we are laying forth. Or maybe it is a ministry where there are many committed but the constant in fighting and vying for preeminence has left you drained and feeling like you're the only one wanting to follow the Lord.

Welcome to the newest phase of the journey.
Trying to make a life by walking according to the traditions of religion will present a whole new type of wilderness to navigate.

As we meditate on the state we are in, we begin to see the reality that the people IN the church are the same as those OUTSIDE the church. Covetousness, envy, murder (backbiting), adultery (both with the heart and physically), discontent, depression, unbridled anger, theft, disrespect and on and on,  are realities in the institutional expression of the body of Christ. We have left, or so we believe, the worldly pull of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life only to be confronted with it among the Body. And not just in 'them', we see it in our self!

How can this be? We desire the good thing  - a life set apart for the Master's use;, a life of fellowship with other like minded believers yet we find the same fleshly desires motivating us (and many of those around us) even though we have joined ourselves in a committed way to the Body.

The realization begins to dawn:
there is something more to our life than what the world presents,
but also
there is something more to grabbing hold of life than even what our physical church membership (even if that involves taking a role of leadership) has to offer.

Our Troubled Life, Part 2

So this troubled life is our earthly inheritance because of the the way we allow the
flesh to rule over us unstead of being dependent on the Father and seeking to follow
His way for us.

Once our eyes are open to the brokenness of this world - and really receive that brokenness
as being OUR brokenness, not the other person's reality; not having thoughts of 'I'm going to be
different' 'things in this life will work for me if I just ____';

Once we understand the truth that there is NO hope in making this life into our own personal
paradise ("if I get enough money, get the right guy/girl, get an education, live in this place....");

Once we have come to see that regardless of all our 'long range' plans, manipulations, posturing,
trying to setup everything 'just so';

Once we believe the scriptures that say (paraphrases):

"no man consigned to war entangles himself with the affairs of civilian life";
"set your affections of things above, not on things on the earth";
 'friendship with the world is enmity with God'
"there is no good thing in my flesh"
etc...

THEN, can the Father begin putting us through our paces and start teaching us His ways for now we
can more readily receive the things of Him. We will have nothing to turn back to now that the
reality of the brokenness of this life (our life) has become so apparent. We will WANT to press in because
we see there is no other option. Who would  we go to, what other path would we take? The only truth is to press into the things of the Father, even though, as we begin to see, that way will actually begin to produce a new variety of pain for us.

Our Troubled Life part 1

The importance of dying to self can not be overstated.

When we watch the news and see the constant stream of death and mayhem that man perpetuates on man;

when we witness friends and family crushed by the sins of OTHERS and, of course, their own sins;

when even creation itself has been turned into something that works against mankind and takes part in
his destruction;

what more do we need to convince us that there is no good thing in the flesh?

But yet;

we continue to justify ourselves;

we point fingers at everyone else;

we feel victimized and unfairly treated;

and continue to blindly (or even knowingly) 'make provision' for our flesh.

The Lord tells us that the corruption that is in the world is through lust (2 Peter 1:4)

Lust is a by-product of the flesh.

The flesh must be crucified.

Yahshua's death is our death if we receive it and allows us to die to our old, flesh man.

If we receive what Jesus did, then we must mortify our members here on earth and present ourselves unto the Lord for His use;  service unto Him, worship unto Him.

We no longer will be attempting to build OUR own thing here in this temporary realm but will be invested in
the spiritual kingdom which now is not, but soon will be, manifested for all to see. And those who have lived in the reality of the 'invisible' kingdom, will in no wise be made ashamed when their hope is finally realized under the manifest presence of this world's true king, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Yahshua HaMashiach

We must ever be mindful that much of the misery that's being produced around us is because of US! The rest coming from the Evil One warring against the Father's creation.

When we reason that whatever we (i.e., our flesh) desires is what will make us happy and is the wisest choice (Eve) we are cooperating with Satan in bringing destruction to ourselves and to others. We somehow fool ourselves to think that we won't be like the 'other' poor sap that just didn't play his
cards right or was 'unlucky'.

 We disregard or are oblivious to or believe we will be an
exception to, the iron clad reality of WHAT WE SOW WE WILL REAP. God is NOT going
to be mocked. There are NO loopholes in this life that will prevent us from eating the fruit of our
doings.

We can say it was a mistake, we didn't know better, someone tricked us, we
thought this was the best way, it was the only way that made 'sense', everyone else does
 it this way, or whatever we want to say.

The reality is that we ALL are constantly eating from the tree we shouldn't be eating from
and are reaping the results in our bodies, our relationships and our circumstances.
Our ONLY hope is in Christ.