there is a better way

I Believe Prayer is the Best Way

The only way to gain or build greater faith, indicated in the Bible, is to read and keep reading on it. Today of course, we have electric printing and there are many of good books on the subject of prayer. 

My reason prayer is better however, is because it is not only simple but emotionally enjoyable. 

Sometimes I even shout! I am so thankful and overflowing with gratitude. This is only me returning Jesus' love and forgiveness. 

When I was initially coming out of the blue funk of being my own god, I prayed sometimes very often all night to the Holy Spirit. Now it is always to Jesus with attendant thankfulness to the Holy Father.

I suppose this is because Jesus was incarnated and God is a Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Father no one has ever seen. But He is like us, a Person and He has given His only Son Jesus the power to do whatever Jesus sees the Father do. 

Faith as a child
the best of all

They are One Spirit, both in each other. And so are we because God gave Jesus power to do for all those who believe on Him.

Right now I am myself overflowing with gratitude and I am making progress with forgiveness and intimacy with Jesus.

Visionettes

Why I Loved Prison Films

When I hit bottom I found that was a good time to bounce back up. In every case, it seemed as though when I gave up in one incident and accepted I was going to drown, that I was saved by an audible voice inside my head telling me, to try one more time.

Later I my parents entertained a subdued couple on the brink of middle age who had lost their only similarly aged son to drowning. Only now as I write this do I realize the irony of it. Eventually I asked God several times why I was allowed to be made aware of similar events.

These similar incidents occurred, first in dreams when I was around five and later in epiphanies I did not understand the meanings of until years later.

When I found out that God forgave David for his sins because David was honest with God, I experienced relief that maybe God forgave me when I chewed Him out for hanging around the adult elders and church pastor who told me the stories in the Bible were not true.  Only the meanings were true, which answered my question at the time about Santa Claus. 

In my lifetime I believe computers have made us smarter, but in a perfectly artificially selectric way. 

For the good of the children

When God was one step 

Ahead of Santa

When Jesus said that only those who were drawn by the Father could be His followers Jesus lost a large number of them outright away. Jesus had no recorded enlightening comment acknowledging the incident either. 

This suggested to many that the idea that everyone is inclusive, not just those who were attracted by the Holy Father. I sort of falls l.into the same category when I wondered if one had to be intellectually able, to qualify as followers instead of everyone qualifying.

Suggests also that God could be judged by those attending church weekly. This is the hypocrite label. If hypocrites go to church then not only is everyone else one, but God Himself as well. 

I also thought the adults were in with God so I was judged God by the actions of the elders and minister which was the logical fallacy of misplaced authority. 

As a child I figured that the adults stuck together. This is a weak excuse but still an excuse just the same and I even scolded God over it. But I carried it into adulthood still and all. I had been also a college atheist and somewhat pompous at it too. 

But when my favorite professor said if one is educated then they do not believe in God, I felt a tinge of doubt sneaking into picture. The little theologian was waking up.

Faith and Foregiveness

Right away this is a tough one

Loving the unlovable and forgiving them to boot is  not easy, I can contest for that. To this day I haven't gotten totally into it either. But I can report a certain meager success.

The wrath of God is incredible to behold. But as a pinned prefect Sunday School participant I held God accountable for telling us not to kill anyone in the commandments and then wiping out a entire populace for His side of the story.

Oh I knew about divine right ok enough, but I had a long time to learn about why it was  it ok to wipe out an entire populace for mere stupidity. 

Another  thing was not healing anybody on Sunday for the super excuse we were not allowed to work on Sunday. Play is clear sailing but work on Sunday was heaven outbound. 

What a load God had to answer to me for!

Without Hope There is No Beginning

Without Hope One is Hopeless

If anyone has a clear hope from and to any positive destination it seems self evident that any success would likely stand in that direction self dependent on the force of ones faith. Now we are in no matter what country. 

Feelings Without Substance

If ones hope is physical then whatever it is, is short term with a changing consumptive future that could turn against one eventually. To be sure of my hope I have to not only know the beginning but the ending success also. 

Next: Faith & Forgiveness

Refuse to Take Offense

To take any offense witnesses one is by the fact itself an offensive person, weakened and wounded along with it. Whatever I do I am a witness with evidence.

The Paraclete alongside

I thank Jesus a lot in my prayers, but this morning I suddenly thanked the Holy Father for Jesus, after all He was the one who sent Him and gave Him up for us so our sins could be forgotten and therefore we could appear before Him alongside our other Helper.     

One generation kills the prophets

While The Next Reveres Them 

As I have said I am only witness to my views, not a prophet predicting. I believe God places revelations in our hearts, the strongest of which is predicting with the fervor of a prophet under threat of death. All predictions of Jesus seem to have been eventually realized. 

Jesus even mentions Jonah, in which not long ago I recall reading Jesus said He would overcome the world in three days. Some of the atheists' view were exhorting the incident as proof that proved to them the entire Jesus story was a hoax.

I recall also viewing cartoons of Jonah playing poker in the belly of a whale with an octopus. The whole point though was Jonah died and returned alive just like Jesus was going to do. So the only point now is does talking of things like this have something to do in time with generating the fact?   

All things possible

There are questions I believe is not profitable to wrestle. Like how long ago did the world begin? The world is full of time gone by and time is hostile to any knowledge of the eternal spirit. 

Just talking about it to that end could weaken one's belief. 

Power of Faith

Prediction Perils Coming Up?

It is hard to find out a good pick up post, but I suppose the best is to review my personal reaction to Jesus comment that if anyone had enough faith they could move mountains.

I was surprised at how many personally I found felt the entire quote was speaking figuratively. I reasoned it did not meet the requirements of figuratively speaking found, for instance, in Jesus' parables. May 25 No figure of speech....

Original Sin? For my part there is danger whenever we try to compete or actually replace God as the Eden story emphasizes. It seems to me to be yet another lure of the devil. 

But if I am pursuing the power of faith to greater heights as Jesus is suggesting this is quite different. I just do not know how different which can only be identified in ones spirit.

Anyway most agree I think, and it is not disputed, that a constant struggle like a war is going on between the two. And, that is not in anyway figuratively speaking. Since I intend all my decisions are to the satisfaction of God, and so it is for everyone's satisfaction to each their own. That is as far as we can go.

 I believe I can move on from here with everyone agreeing to the proofs of their own satisfactions.

Laughing at the Banana Peel

Will Idle Words Weaken My Faith?

I am fresh still off a weekend so it is jus as good a time as any to take a break reflecting on when I at first wondered what Holy Mackerel was about.

When Fish on Friday day was big this occurred to me. But even so it was obvious as What the Heck. I never thought of it amid Ash Wednesday and the rest of it, which was extensive. 

It is still a bit shocking to me what it was a euphemism for. One hears this rarely today but it was more common at one time.

I am full circle now and I correct myself on all of it because I feel such reflexes could be a hinderance to my faith I am trying to build since I take Jesus more seriously now. 

As a student of words and lover of language, by the way just a technicality but, Christ is not Jesus' last name. Such things in my view, very well may be rooted in a final oh ye of little faith judgment. Humor seems to be less serious to the young than the older.

Some day I would like to get into the role of comedy since it seems to be essentially nonsense.

The tree is known by its fruit

All things Seen came from the Unseen

Chaos produces chaos and design is produced by the designer. I do not know the how or mechanics of it. But I take what I do know from the design of it, so from the past I trace the future forward from there.

All things seen

It is true these findings will be logic based but this is not the path to the success harnessing of the power involved in their manifestations. So that is the path I am taking at the present. From now on I will see how this works out with digestive breathers along the way. 

From the earliest conceptions

Like Everyone Else

For My Own Benefit

If all things seen did indeed come from the unseen, as I believe self evident, then this material universe came from the spiritual. It follows then that there was a designer long before anyone in my position that ipso facto knows more than I do or I can ever know.

I think it good that I rehearse my meager beginnings to keep firming up the fact I cannot know all the answers since I am at a loss when it comes to the questions  well before I can address answers.

First, in my orientation, is the Father, then the Son and their Spirit together combined make up the Holy Spirit as in John 17.  My position in that Triumvirate today is as a little pup dog to Jesus. 

My dependence on Jesus is total gratitude and I have complete acceptance of this now. From the beginning I have been dumbfounded, thrown time into the wind, in denial, at times hostile, questioning why did You show me this?

I have made an effort to say goodbye to logic but moving to faith without any supporting reasons for doing so. Faith as a child is not far from my pup dog analogy. 

The more knowledge one has, or the more success financially and otherwise anyone has, makes it more, and a good piece more, harder to look forward to heaven, since one could easily think they are already in heaven. 

The more knowledge one has the more doubts one would have. I hope I am not too much of a know it all to not be able to build a strong belief, strong enough to call into shaking any mountain into the sea as of the enough kind of which Jesus spoke.

Choosing among the invisible

With a clear hope

Unseen Power That Sanctifies

It is intimidating to review all the many religions and their differences, even to the slightest, between similar beliefs. Who can comprehend so many different variances among so many? I guess the majority go along with whatever they were born into. Essentially they go along within the collective they find themselves I suppose.

Factoring in all the different translations as well makes me wonder about any eventual worthwhile personal purpose in my efforts. So then apparently the dividing of tongues by God is working even into this day. 

Therefore perhaps the search of power is well into its' ongoing. That is, not a complicated mechanical physical power, but rather a spiritual power. 

If gravity is unseen then so can other forces be as well. Faith is unseen, and God is accepted as a Spirit, and further no one has seen Him. So the working spiritual word I chose at this point is, sanctifications, with hopefully a clearly understood hope.