Sunday, November 29, 2009

REPOST*** Part 1-A LITTLE BACKGROUND INFO ON THE ANNUNCIATION- MARY- AND GABRIEL

.....People are very curious about images and information concerning this subject matter--So I decided to Re-Post this from 2008. I hope that you Enjoy the images, And carry with you the Joy, Power, and Love from the Season of Second Chances, of Love and of Giving, Every Day - Every Where you go Sharing it with Every one that you meet or cross paths with.
May God continue to Bless and Watch out for you, and may you continue to Seek His Face for there will you find everything else you are in need of. In the name of Jesus, I pray, Amen.
Below is the original post from 12, 2008
******************************

The times that I look through the information provided by statcounter and the rss feedburner, I notice that many people search for information and or pictures of the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary among other pictures of Biblical stories.
So I am inspired to put together a small amount of information and pictures of these subjects and themes to help those that search. He said, “Knock and the door will open, seek and you shall find.” Amen.


Being an Art teacher and an artist, this is a reminder of some of my class work from college and from putting together lesson plans for my classes that I taught for 18 years. I hope to make this plain and simple and not further complicate those that want to know but do not have an extensive background in Biblical Art or much training of the details of the Bible stories.

I will try to keep this to the key points to clear up any confusion some may have. I also have provided a few of the hundreds of paintings that fall into the theme
"The Annunciation" (of Mary and some of the shepherds) Also known as
"The Visitation".

I also have supplied the artists names and years when known.

My Hope is that this will be a blessing to those that read it.
“Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room!” Amen!

Most of the paintings dealing with Biblical themes in the art books that I would use to teach with, were strongly represented from the European point of view concerning art and religion. And the the rest of us just seemed to be thrown in the book somewhere. The choices of books that were available at times to order where pretty much all on the same level. So I would chose the best of the bunch that the state had approved of.


Well, that was alright with me! I have a small collection of art books and history books that include all the people that the books made for school use don't have. And I took them to school with me everyday every year.

I learned from my years as a teacher that many people do not know the details behind such artworks that depict Jesus, Mary, and the Archangel Gabriel to name a few of the characters from the Bible. I also realized that many people do not know 'how' to view such paintings either. Through the years many people just take for granted that artists rendered these images and these must be what the people actually looked like. This is far from the truth concerning Biblical images. What is wrong about these paintings is the actual “look of the people” and the clothing worn by them.

As you would need to do background work to have a deeper understanding of the Hebrew culture and the culture of each and every artist that has produced art work with these themes. The Bible stories do give us some insight by offering narrow physical descriptions of certain people. For example, in Isaiah 53:2 which describes Jesus’ appearance it states; “He had not beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.”

This lets us know that Jesus was not a particularly handsome man as He is depicted in hundreds of paintings and drawings that have been created of Him. This also gives us insight into the vanity of the human heart when it comes to what society has deemed to be beautiful to the natural eye and thus acceptable as good. From this description we see that His Beauty comes from within and is outwardly shown through His goodness, compassion and intellect. His Beauty comes From the condition of His heart and that He would maybe be someone that blended in with the crowds if alone. An average looking person with a supernatural heart!


There are images that are used to symbolize certain thoughts and beliefs of certain times and cultures, that many artists used such as; the clothing, the environmental settings, the actual ‘look’ of the people in these themed paintings are based more so on the life and experiences of the artists and on the will of the wealthy patrons that would commission some of these paintings.


The main point here is that you have to know what the 'style' of art was at the time the painting was done. Was it the Italian Renaissance, Baroque, or the Modern art movement. All of this plays into why the depiction looks as it does. Many Old Master artists also stroked the patron’s ego along with their own by idealizing the images in their paintings. To make everything ‘appear’ to be perfect-when it actually cannot be. Art styles and techniques have gone through many changes and belief foundations.
That is why I love the painting by Tanner. It is simple and quiet. Mary’s innocence is very apparent and humbled. Being that Tanner used his wife for the model, it’s no wonder where the warmth and care comes from that the painting gives off.

There are even some wealthy patrons that paid the artists to use their images-their likenesses-their heads on the bodies of certain characters of their favorite Scriptures in these paintings. So to believe that certain people looked just like they are depicted in some of these paintings is to allow yourself to be fooled and accepting of an un-intended falsehood. To raise themselves up to the standard of these characters is full of vanity and pride on the parts of these patrons.

Unless you do background work on the artist, the time period and who paid the artist to do the painting, you would not know these pieces of informational truth.

Many artists were believers in Jesus Christ and poured over the Scriptures inspired to depict them as honor and glory to God. Many just did them to get paid in order to eat and pay bills and supply for their families. To know why each artist created the Biblically based paintings that they did you would have to read their bios and any writings they may have left behind.

First, let me tell you that there are very few paintings/drawings exist that actually show Jesus, Mary or any other biblical person in their true form. This means that there were no artists walking around drawing these people at the time they lived and walked this earth. If any were made, they are long since destroyed or in pieces by now.

To know the bone structure, body type, hair varieties that existed then is to know what most of the people from the times of the Bible may have looked liked.

So when you view Biblical based art work such as paintings, you are viewing what the artists felt, saw, wanted to convey through their limited and or vast knowledge of the stories and the people they put in the paintings to represent each Biblical figure, these depictions will ALWAYS resemble the people that lived at the time the artists lived.

For example, if the artist was Flemish, German or Italian, then the people in the painting will look Flemish, German or Italian, and so on. Not Hebrew as Mary and Jesus actually were.
We know there were Assyrians, Persians, Phoenicians, Philistines, Egyptians, Romans and Africans, to name a few of the varied cultures that dominate the Bible stories. Also, many cultures mixed together to produce a variety of people as far as body types, hair textures and facial features are concerned.

Many of these artists probably never saw a Hebrew person before to know them to be so. Many of them also may have had limited knowledge of the scriptures, though I know most all of them were educated, well read and skilled in their art form enough to receive payment. Bibles in that time were limited in production and limited to who could get and have one.

Mary was not rich; she was a peasant, a villager. Because of her place in their society, she was probably not widely educated- by their laws women were not generally taught how to read and write so any skills in this area that she possessed were taught to her by other women most likely in secret.

She would have never been dressed in such fine garments of supreme colors as she is depicted wearing in most all of the paintings that are displayed. If she actually had such clothing the people of her day would have assumed that she stole them and would have questioned her about them.

Certain colors and textures of material were only for the well off of the land. As colored garments were hand-dyed from the inks of shellfish, fruits, vegetables, and the bark of trees, flowers and an assortment of other natural colors.

Getting the colors out of these natural plants and from the ground was not an easy job—it is a process that only the rich could afford. Certain villages and towns were known for providing specific goods to sell and trade with.

The color purple came from a particular shellfish that lived in the waters where The Phoenicians dwelled and it was very expensive to own anything that had been dyed purple. Therefore the people of that time gave certain colors power and designated them to only be worn by royalty.

In other words the colors and textures of your clothing revealed your place in society then. Mary and her people probably wore colors that were a bit more drab-grays, red-browns, dark blue-greens, shades of tans, and maybe they owned a few white pieces.
Also, Mary was not in her twenties or thirties as her face appears to be in many paintings of her—she was about 13, 14 or 15 when Gabriel was sent to her by God.

That is the way they lived then and even now it is still a part of their culture-how they view and value the women in their society. It is not based on Western thoughts and ideas, But from the Jewish culture and laws of their way.

The environments that many artists placed Mary and Gabriel in were not true to form either. Any stone i.e. marble, granite, or fine brick structures are solely from the artists view on the story based on their knowledge from the time they lived. The people of Mary’s time on her level of society lived in thatched roofs and mud brick dwellings. They also lived in dwellings that were hewn from the rocky mountains and hillsides.

Please keep in mind also, that these artists lived many hundreds of years AFTER the Annunciation, the Birth and the life of Jesus, His death, resurrection and ascension to Heaven.

When artists paint her or any other character from Scripture—using these expensive, wonderfully made colored clothing and place her sitting in these massive marble, with the finest of wood furniture, these elegant environments holding a bible appearing to be a woman of means; it is not done to ridicule her but to honor her and to give her the status that she deserves as she is the one young woman that God chose to bless by carrying and birthing the Messiah. Also, these artists may have had a limited understanding and knowledge of actual Jewish/Hebrew laws and life structure.
Hers was a very simple, hands on - hard life to survive day by day.

Next, Let us look at Gabriel.
Gabriel the Archangel
"Fortitudo Dei", one of the three archangels mentioned in the Bible.

There are only four appearances of Gabriel recorded: In Daniel 8, where he explains the vision of the horned ram as portending the destruction of the Persian Empire by the Macedonian Alexander the Great, after whose death the kingdom will be divided up among his generals, from one of whom will spring Antiochus Epiphanes.

In chapter 9 after Daniel had prayed for Israel, we read that "the man Gabriel . . . . flying swiftly touched me" and he communicated to him the mysterious prophecy of the "seventy weeks" of years which should elapse before the coming of Christ In chapter 10, it is not clear whether the angel is Gabriel or not, I tend to think Daniel saw Christ- but many may apply to Gabriel the marvelous description in verses 5 and 6. In the New Testament he foretells to Zachary the birth of the Precursor and to Mary that of the Savior.

From here out he is considered the angel of the Incarnation and of Consolation.

So in many Christian traditions Gabriel is the angel of mercy.
With different cultures and religions we find differences in how each viewed and valued each Archangel of God.

While Michael is thought to be the angel of judgment, at the same time, Gabriel is, in accordance with his name, the angel of the Power of God, and notice the frequency with which such words as "great", "might", "power", and "strength" occur in the passages referred to above.

The Jews indeed seem to have valued this feature in Gabriel's character and he is regarded by them as the angel of judgment, while Michael is called the angel of mercy. Whereby they attribute to Gabriel the destruction of Sodom and of the host of Sennacherib, though they also regard him as the angel who buried Moses and as the man deputed to mark the figure Tau on the foreheads of the elect (Ezekiel 4).

Jewish literature of later times use the names of angels and were considered to have a peculiar efficacy, and the British Museum possesses some magic bowls inscribed with Hebrew, Aramaic, and Syriac incantations in which the names of Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel occur. These bowls were found at Hillah, the site of Babylon, and constitute an interesting relic of the Jewish captivity.

In apocryphal Christian literature the same names occur, in Enoch, and the Apocalypse of the Blessed Virgin.

As noted above, I found that Gabriel is mentioned only twice in the New Testament, but it is not unreasonable for us to suppose with Christian tradition that it is he who appeared to Joseph and to the shepherds, and also I believe along with many others, that it was he who "strengthened" Our Lord during His Agony at the Garden at Gethsemane (Luke 22:43).

There are times where Gabriel is generally called only an archangel, but the expression used by Raphael, "I am the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord" (Tobit 12:15) and Gabriel's own words, "I am Gabriel, who stand before God" (Luke 1:19), have led some to think that these angels must belong to the highest rank; but this is generally explained as referring to their rank as the highest of God’s messengers, and not as placing them among the Seraphim and Cherubim which are different Holy beings.

Next let us look at the meanings of some of the symbols that artists used in their paintings that depict these themes.

Throughout the course of history and because of the limits placed on who could be educated and how far to educate them, many people could not read the bible even if they possessed one-(could afford to have one made). So they were taught the Scriptures orally or through pictures-artwork.

Also keep in mind that the men seated in the Rulers chair often oppressed the people by not allowing them to be widely educated and a Class system was strengthened. They also used religion and symbols to control and guide the people the way they wanted them to believe. Not necessarily how God wants us to view Him, ourselves and each other. Jesus came to re-affirm this for us.

The most important elements of these paintings are the Archangel Gabriel, the Virgin Mary, and The Dove. There are many other symbols associated with the scene, such as the Lilly—but these vary according to each artist and the year that the painting done.

The Dove
The Dove represents the Spirit of God as present in the being. Often referred to as the Holy Spirit-the Holy Ghost in Christianity. In the annunciation paintings the Dove usually is shown coming down from heaven on rays of light toward Mary.

Mary
Depending on when (the year) the painting was done, she may be shown with a Bible either in her hands or nearby on a wooden prayer stand. She is reading the Book of Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14 about the Virgin birth of the Messiah prophecy.

Gabriel
The Archangel is sent in his office of God’s messenger to deliver to Mary the offer to be the Mother of the Messiah for God. To let Mary know that God has chosen her and this is His Will for her life. Before visiting Mary he foretold the birth of John the Baptist.

the Lilly
Is a symbol of Mary’s purity-virginity. In many paintings that use the Lilly, it means the event took place in the springtime. Sometimes the artist has Gabriel holding the flower, which speaks of him declaring that Mary is a virgin and is pure for God’s use.

The Cross
The cross symbolizes Christianity.

**In his depiction of The Annunciation, that is part of an Altar piece (the center panel) for the Church of St. Columbia; German artist Rogier van der Weyden (1399-64), has Gabriel’s scepter wrapped in a scroll with the phrase;
“Ave Gratia Piena Dominus” which translates as
“Greetings most famous One, the LORD Is with you.”
These words were later used by Roman Catholics as a prayer to Mary known as Ave Maria or Hail Mary.


**PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO NEXT POST FOR THE PAINTINGS**

Resting In His Faithfulness,
One Day At A Time By Faith.
Joshua 1:9



REPOST** PART 2- PAINTINGS DEPICTING THE ANNUNCIATION BY GABRIEL TO MARY

**THIS IS A REPOST**
Please take the time to read the post above this one--if offers understanding behind the images in this post***


Below are a few examples of the hundreds of paintings depicting
Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary =

“The Annunciation of Mary” and "The Adoration" and "The Annunciation to the Shepherds"
(Some of the paintings do not have the artist name.)



"The Annunciation" Gabriel and Mary
John Collier Contempary artist


"The Annunciation"

"The Annunciation of the Shepherds"
Benjamin Gervitsz Cuyp Dutch (1612-1652)


"The Annunciation" Gabreil and Mary



"The Annunciation"
El Greco



"The Annunciation" c.1898
by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) American artist


"The Annunciation" Gouache 1186-1896
by James Jacques Joseph Tissot (1836-1902)
French painter and illustrator


"The Annunciation"
As shown in the movie "The Nativity"



"The Annunciation"
Leonardo da Vinci (c 1472-1475) Italian


"Adoration of The Wise Men"
Romare Bearden American artist

"The Annunciation"
by Sandro Botticelli (1444-1510) Floretine artist




"The Annunciation" c.1437
by Fra Angelico (1400-1455) Florentine artist





"The Crèche" by Joseph Stella

(krĕsh, krāsh)(the Nativity), representation of the Infant Jesus in the manger, usually surrounded by figures of Mary, Joseph, shepherds, animals, and the Wise Men; also called Christmas Crib. The crèche has been displayed in churches during the period from Christmas Eve to Jan. 6 since the Middle Ages, especially after St. Francis of Assisi instituted the custom in 1223 at Gréccio, Italy. It is a Christmas tradition in many homes. The term crèche is also applied to a day nursery.




Resting In His Faithfulness,
One Day At A Time By Faith.
Joshua 1:9

Thursday, November 26, 2009

REV. IRENE MONROE: REMEMBERING TWO-SPIRITS THIS THANKSGIVING




I have a very deep love and admiration for the Rev. Irene Monroe.

I praise the Lord for her life and the Work she does in His name.

While there are So Many Rev's, Pastors, Ministers, etc...out here that preach hate, division, and just plain wrong Biblical teachings, by using manipulative words & ways to try and 'change' lgbtq people into thinking that God is not pleased with us, and that being lgbtq is a choice we made and not how we have been born/designed by God; and they also create in many straight people a false reason to hate what is not like them....Sadly, These people turn more people away from learning about the Lord than they bring to Him.
Rev. Irene is a breathe of fresh air.


Pam Spaulding at PamsHouseBlend posted Sister Irene's ThanksGiving message and I decided to post it here also. I Hope that you enjoy this message and will return often!

REMEMBERING TWO-SPIRITS THIS THANKSGIVING

As I prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday, I am reminded of the autumnal harvest time's spiritual significance. As a time of connectedness, I pause to acknowledge what I have to be thankful for. But I also reflect on the holiday as a time of remembrance - historical and familial.
Historically, I am reminded that for many Native Americans, Thanksgiving is not a cause of celebration, but rather a National Day of Mourning, remembering the real significance of the first Thanksgiving in 1621 as a symbol of persecution and genocide of Native Americans and the long history of bloodshed with European settlers.

I am also reminded of my Two-Spirit Native American brothers and sisters who struggle with their families and tribes not approving of their sexual identities and gender expressions as many of us do with our families and faith communities.

"Yes, there's internalized homophobia in every gay community, but as Native Americans we are taught not to like ourselves because we're not white. In our communities, people don't like us because we're gay," Gabriel Duncan, member of Bay Area American Indian Two Spirits (BAAITS), told the Pacific News Service.

And consequently, many Two-Spirit Native Americans leave their reservations and isolated communities hoping to connect with the larger LGBTQ community in urban cites. However, due to racism and cultural insensitivity, many Two-Spirits feel less understood and more isolated than they did back home.

But homophobia is not indigenous to Native American culture. Rather, it is one of the many devastating effects of colonization and Christian missionaries that today Two-Spirits may be respected within one tribe yet ostracized in another.

"Homophobia was taught to us as a component of Western education and religion," Navajo anthropologist Wesley Thomas has written. "We were presented with an entirely new set of taboos, which did not correspond to our own models and which focused on sexual behavior rather than the intricate roles Two-Spirit people played. As a result of this misrepresentation, our nations no longer accepted us as they once had."

Traditionally, Two-Spirits symbolized Native Americans' acceptance and celebration of diverse gender expressions and sexual identities. They were revered as inherently sacred because they possessed and manifested both feminine and masculine spiritual qualities that were believed to bestow upon them a "universal knowledge" and special spiritual connectedness with the "Great Spirit." Although the term was coined in the early 1990s, historically Two-Spirits depicted transgender Native Americans. Today, the term has come to also include lesbian, gay, bisexual, and intersex Native Americans.


The Pilgrims, who sought refuge here in America from religious persecution in their homeland, were right in their dogged pursuit of religious liberty. But their actual practice of religious liberty came at the expense of the civil and sexual rights of Native Americans.

And the Pilgrims' animus toward homosexuals not only impacted Native American culture, but it also shaped Puritan law and theology.

Here in the New England states, the anti-sodomy rhetoric had punitive if not deadly consequences for a newly developing and sparsely populated area. The Massachusetts Bay Code of 1641 called for the death of not only heretics, witches and murderers, but also "sodomites," stating that death would come swiftly to any "man lying with a man as with a woman." And the renowned Puritan pastor and Harvard tutor, the Rev. Samuel Danforth in his 1674 "fire and brimstone" sermon preached to his congregation that the death sentence for sodomites had to be imposed because it was a biblical mandate.

Because the Pilgrims' fervor for religious liberty was devoid of an ethic of accountability, their actions did not set up the conditions requisite for moral liability and legal justice. Instead, the actions of the Pilgrims brought about the genocide of a people, a historical amnesia of the event, and an annual national celebration of Thanksgiving for their arrival.

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush ironically - if not ignorantly - designated November as "National American Indian Heritage Month" to celebrate the history, art, and traditions of Native American people.

As we get into the holiday spirit, let us remember the whole story of the arrival of the Pilgrims and other European settlers to the New World.

On a trip home to New York City in May 2004, I went to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture to view the UNESCO Slave Route Project, "Lest We Forget: the Triumph Over Slavery," that marks the United Nations General Assembly's resolution proclaiming 2004 "The International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition."

In highlighting that African Americans should not be shamed by slavery, but instead defiantly proud of our memory of it, I read the opening billboard to the exhibit that stated, "By institutionalizing memory, resisting the onset of oblivion, recalling the memory of tragedy that for long years remained hidden or unrecognized and by assigning it its proper place in the human conscience, we respond to our duty to remember."

It is in the spirit of our connected struggles against discrimination that we can all stand on a solid rock that rests on a multicultural foundation for a true and honest Thanksgiving.

And in so doing, it helps us to remember, respect, mourn and give thanks to the struggles not only our LGBTQ foremothers and forefathers endured, but also the ongoing struggle our Native American Two-Spirit brothers and sisters face everyday - and particularly on Thanksgiving Day.

***



On feet of Faith & Peace
Joshua 1:9/ Isaiah 52
Resting In His Faithfulness,

One Day At A Time By Faith.


Monday, November 2, 2009

A TRUE FRIEND PROVIDES FREEDOM


The Work He has called me to do is never going to be larger than the Power that He has provided me to do the Work with.

I've learned to say thank You Not just on the bright sunny days when no cares, concerns or troubles come my way, but also on the grayest of days.

Each and Every day is One deserving thanks unto Him... for I do not want to repeat any lessons that He is teaching me...This is not required for everyone to do..but truly it is for those who have asked to serve Him Well. There is great and careful training for those called to do a Great Work for Him.

The Lord will test you--He Will use these tests to stretch you in order to Build in you the Character that is supposed to be in you. To relearn how to do things His Way.
This is to make sure that your Character matches your gifts, talents, abilities and anointing that He has placed within you.

A True Test of Faith is coming. How you grow through it by accepting it, will determine if you shall receive the desires that you have prayed for.
He wants us to be prepared before He delivers His promises..Which He Will and they will arrive On Time. But the question is....Will you be ready for them when they come? If you deny and reject His preparation you will lose them, allow them to be stolen, which will not allow you to use them to produce the Fruit that He designed them to do. What ever God gives Grows! Love Grows but many want it to be one way.

I read a quote by Gwendolyn Brooks and it made me think about the truth that a real friend will bring to you....Especially a friend that Works for the Lord and is sent by the Lord with His truth.

No matter how much you do not want to hear the truth, you may not want to face what is wrong in you...will not change the person sent speaking what you need to hear. If you reject the truth of a truth bearer then you merely will re-enforce the lies that you live by.

From the Gwendolyn Brooks quote I set out looking in the Bible for Wisdom concerning friends....And of course the Lord provided what I was seeking.

Her quote spoke about people not wanting to hear the truth in full, but in fact would rather it be sugar coated which allows us to ignore the fullness and the depth of the truth in order to continue to "Feel Good' and to stay in the midst of some lies.

And I pray that we are successful Every Day in killing off self, flesh , ego and pride for the only thing that lasts as long as Truthful UnconditionaLove is stupidity born of ego, pride, and fears which keeps So many from seeing, accepting and living the Truth--that they say they want for their lives....


Proverbs 27:5-6 (Amplified Bible)

5Open rebuke is better than love that is hidden.A)">(A)

6Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are lavish and deceitful.

Proverbs 27:5-6 (New King James Version)
5
Open rebuke is better Than love carefully concealed.
6
Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

These verses from Proverbs tell us that true friendship includes honest rebuke when needed, and states that it is better that a True friend correct you than to hold on to the insincere compliments from an enemy, who may also be masquerading as a friend.

Even though a friend's words of correction may wound us, it is in fact an act of love.
The Lord sends us His truth in order to spare us from present and approaching trouble and pain. Preparation is the key here and a willingness to receive it and grow in maturity.

The friends who are close to us know us better than others who are just acquaintances and also those others that use manipulative love against us and are really enemies. These people are toxic and keep us from growing, from facing out truths that are sent to better us. They always have a selfish, controlling love to offer and so many are fooled into thinking that is Real Love. And the many who hang onto people supplying this kind of toxic human love will indeed be transformed into a toxic waste dump allowing everything good to be killed and replaced with a growing selfishness, a neediness that produces bitterness spreading to everything and everyone in your life.
You Deserve better than this.
People confuse and twist need to make it try and look like love.
Need and Love are not the same thing.


Our true friends are able to see both our good and our bad sides and know that is a part of being human. True friends will never try to use our past experiences as tools against us--they will never try and manipulate us nor lie to us....And we should be the same way with them. Many true friendships/relationships are ruined for a lack of accepting self-truth, And many toxic friendships/relationships are held onto for the same reason.

Most times our 'bad sides' are places and areas of our character that are immature; whether it be emotionally, Spiritually or mentally immaturity. These are places in which the Truth needs to be allowed to Come In and Make All Right. For without the Truth there will be No positive forward moving growth.

I know there are Many who are comfortable with their sadness, misery, disappointments, struggles and complaining about how their life is--Yet they Never do anything that is Possible to change their circumstances even when these opportunities are given to them....And when that becomes a person's language I will step our of the way, as that is a toxic way of living and Will contaminate my life. I cannot And will not allow that to happen to me nor my family.

A true friend will give us the space to grow without judgment or taking things personally, even when words and actions that are spoken and done Are in a personal manner.
Friends are a Gift from God and it is important to maintain our friendships. A true friendship requires time spent together in order to maintain it and to allow healthy growth to proceed. It is during those times that we are able to see into the souls of those whom we can count on. When we truly love our friends, we will always want the very best for them and they us.

True Christian friendships have an added element that makes them even more blessed. That Spiritual ingredient is the presence of the Lord Jesus in the midst of All our relationships. Friendships in Christ are some of the most blessed gifts we can experience as they continue to grow and produce Fruit for the Lord that is to be shared with all.


Proverbs 17:17 "A Friend loveth At All Times, and a brother is born for adversity."

A True Christian friend will love us At All times, even those times when we are not being so loving. They will even be to us equal to a sister or brother who will stand with us when we go through adversity. They are not to carry our crosses for us, but to assist us when we carry our own, Faithfully following the Lord Jesus.

This kind of friend will also speak the truth to us in love, when we are doing something that is wrong. As the Holy Spirit directs a truth bearer to speak His truth in order to warn us of upcoming tests, troubles and hidden traps of sin; Please do not confuse their act of obedience to the Lord as one of trying to hurt you or shame you.
They come on feet of peace, love and faith obedient to Pleasing the Lord, not to please you. If you attempt to shift some blame or fault them, there again the Lord is revealing in YOU what needs to be corrected.

When they speak the truth--it Is a Time in which We need to hear it. It is done as an act of loving kindness to us, as it can prevent us from going astray. The other purpose is to help us to mature in Christ, The Lord said that is one way to help us Spiritually grow up.

Ephesians 4:15 "But speaking the truth in Love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ."

Iron Sharpens Iron! Proverbs 27:17

Proverbs 18:24 "A person who has friends must show them self friendly: and there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother."

For us to have true friends, we must reach out and be a true friend to others. We also must nurture those friendships by demonstrating loving kindness, understanding, and forgiveness to name a few of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. (Gal. 5)

The Bible tells us that there is a friend that will stick to us closer than a sister or brother, closer than a father or mother, that friend is Jesus.

Be careful how you treat your human friends, for that is exactly how you are treating Jesus also!
Have you ever had an old friend that you have not heard from in years call you up in some kind of need? Is that when you call up Jesus? When you are only in need? No other time to you spend with Him, allowing long lengths of time to pass in between troubles and then you call on Him? And/or call on everyone around saying you need them to pray for you Before you call on Him?
That strengthens their relationship and faith with Him, not yours.

Our friendships in the natural have limitations, but ours with Jesus has no limitations at all, unless we set some in place--He never does.
Every True Christian has been given the opportunity to cultivate a relationship with Jesus in order that He will become our closest and dearest friend. This relationship must be given our time, and space willingly, a wanting desire for His company and teachings in order to strengthen and nurture us and the friendship/relationship.

There are many True friendships in the Bible, and there was a man who was known as a true friend of God. How wonderful it will be to be known as God's friend.

Going to church every Sunday won't make you one, reading the bible every now and then won't make you one, saying Christian quotes and sayings won't make you one, appearing to look like a friend of His wont make you one, helping others only at Thanksgiving and Christmas or Easter won't make you one....It is going below the surface of memorizing a few scriptures, and doing what He tells you to do that is a sacrifice for you, that which is not convenient for your daily plans, to Please Him first Every Time...that will get you headed in the right direction.

Spending time with Him every chance you have...
Like Abraham did and to this day He is known as a True friend of God.


James 2:23-24 (Amplified Bible)

23And [so] the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed in (adhered to, trusted in, and relied on) God, and this was accounted to him as righteousness (as conformity to God's will in thought and deed), and he was called God's friend.A)">(A)

24You see that a man is justified (pronounced righteous before God) through what he does and not alone through faith [through works of obedience as well as by what he believes].



In the name of my Lord Jesus I pray to You, God my Mother and my Father, and I know that You have heard and answered my prayers.

1 Thessalonians 2:3-4 RKJV
3
For our appeal [in preaching] does not [originate] from delusion or error or impure purpose or motive, nor in fraud or deceit.

(Amplified Bible)
4But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the glad tidings (the Gospel), so we speak not to please men but to please God, Who tests our hearts [a]">[a]expecting them to be approved].


On feet of Faith & Peace
Joshua 1:9/ Isaiah 52
Resting In His Faithfulness,

One Day At A Time By Faith.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

TO SERVE HIM IN THE SMALL & LARGE 'THINGS'

"Lean on, Trust In, And Be Confident In the Lord with All your heart And mind And do Not rely on your own insight or understanding. In All your ways Know, Recognize, And Acknowledge Him, And He Will direct And make straight And plain your paths."
Proverbs 3:5,6


With the Faith And Trust of a child do I serve Him in the small and the large 'things' that He has called me to do. His Truth lives within me and is poured out from me as He sees fit.

With this unusual Faith and Trust that He has bestowed within me do I live for Him.
Because I have chosen to Believe, therefore I will See the Glory of the Living Lord every day. In the name of Jesus, I expect Him, Amen.

Lord, I thank You for creating in me the Character that matches the Gifts that You have given to me, In Jesus' name Amen!


I Thessalonians 2:4 NIV
4 "In fact, it is just the opposite. God has accepted us to preach. He has trusted us with the good news. We aren't trying to please people. We want to please God. He puts our hearts to the test."

Amp- "4But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the glad tidings (the Gospel), so we speak not to please men but to please God, Who tests our hearts [a]">[a]expecting them to be approved]."


My friends, my sisters and brothers, Be alert that once the Lord has chosen And called you And you Accept His invitation to be His, that at the appointed times, He will come to cut away from you that which is in His way. The places in you that need to be cleaned out from the carnality that has ruled you up to that point.
Everything that can be shaken Will Be Shaken.

The end result that He seeks is to Free you--to release you from all the unnecessary burdens that you (we all) hold onto in false hope and strength. It is a Time of stretching you--of proving your faith--to prepare you for that Which He has called you to do.

To bring us into a place & space of vast liberty in His Spirit--to purify us--Which will allow His Spirit to Freely flow in, around, and through us. Glory be to the Lord for How He loves us!

Hebrews 12:26-29


Waking up every morning by the Power and Purpose of His Love, I include in my prayers that He teach me What I do not know, And to Correct what I do know.
Then I know I am prepared to move through the day guided by His Holy Spirit.

He has taught me that many of His people do Not have the understanding that to Serve Him is to Serve those He sends. To serve Him in Large And Small things.

One truth to being a True disciple of His, is to Joyfully, with a whole heart-Do the little things in a great and noble way. Just as Jesus Said and did, and so He still does.

I have learned that so many profess they would die for the Lord--but they do Not daily Live for the Lord...In none of the small details that they should recognize as coming from Him--they overlook them. They complain, judge, avoid, make excuses, try to control and see and speak only negativity, totally blind to His love that is Ever Present.

So very often this is the way that people express their limited, narrow, conditional selfish, always taking Love towards those they say they love in this world. When they see they will receive some earthly, human return, Only then are they ready to make the large or small sacrifices. Self serving is not the same thing. You might be fooling yourself but you are not fooling the Lord, nor those who Rightly serve Him.

I encourage you to Guard against doing this and saying-telling that all you do is in the service of the Lord. Those with Spirit led ears and eyes know the truth, that they are lying.

Those of us that truthfully serve Him suffer the little hardships Gladly along side the larger hardships in His name. It is not about us--we kill off 'self' every day in order to be able To work for Him. We know that what ever we are prepared for, what ever we have to go through is Not for naught--it is for what is to Come, that Which Is on the way, spoken forth by God.

He Will send His truth bearers into your life at the right moments to correct wrongs and When He does so, they Obediently come and speak His Truth, and/or they come with a warning, to shake you, to cut away flesh; Many run because they do not want God to strengthen and deepen their faith-yet, they cry out to be used mightily and greatly for His Son's sake. They are quick to yell out 'praise the Lord, and I love the Lord', so that they appear to be a part of His Family.
This is the way of a double-minded person, one who lacks Integrity.
Let me tell you this, if this is the way you are, what you asked of Him, It Ain't gonna happen! Not until you have been put into His refiners fire and purified. We All have to go through this to burn off what is not of Him and will keep us from His Work.

We are to be Over comers of 'self', cut apart from that which are proud impulses, little selfishnesses, that keep us from serving Him in the little difficulties. To serve the Lord we are to suffer for Him-to suffer in His name--Then are we His servants in All the Large and Little things. The Lord has spoken that Victory comes to those that Over Comes. To overcome self and the trials, and troubles, and difficulties of this world does not come to us automatically Nor without effort.

We Have to work, to seize Every Victory-take them by the Power of faith, trust, authority and Love. This is the success in the struggle to be mindful of our purpose and guided by His Holy Spirit at each step of the way.

I don't know about you, but I Am Not some powerless victim!
The Lord has Called us to be overcomers, conquerors, Joyfully, and Triumphant in All Things! and I have Gladly accepted Who the Lord says that I am! Amen!

I encourage you to refuse to allow the enemy to victimize you in any way--even when he has tricked you, (or you tricked yourself), into making the wrong decisions and choices. There Is a way out of bad decisions and choices, if you want out and if you believe and trust by faith that He knows what He is doing better than you ever could.

By Faith He wants you to stand on the water and walk on what was sent to drown you=shallow waters!

Romans 8:37



"I Long to accomplish a great and noble task, but It Is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks As If they were Great and Noble!" ~Helen Keller




On feet of Faith & Peace
Joshua 1:9/ Isaiah 52
Resting In His Faithfulness,

One Day At A Time By Faith.