When the blindfold is taken off.

Kids are prone to believe with all their heart whatever those they love say. Sometimes it can go further than that. (As a kid) what your father friend believes, and your father believes too, grows on you.

Christianity. More than a religion. More than rules. It is a relationship that is derived from the longing of the heart with the Creator of your heart.

But...put your child in a sect of people that are heavy on rules and the child grows up to worry about rules as a subconscious. Being rule-wary is not wrong, but in Christianity rules should not be placed above relationships. Especially rules that may claim as being a relationship tool.

A child will be blindfolded by the trust he has to his loved ones. They seem to agree with this sect, therefore they grow to like it. They go through life wanting to do right. Wanting to make sure they are wearing socks when they go to church, that they sit in the appropriate pews, that they dress right, speak right, and look right. Sometimes this mentality will dominate their thinking wear if you do any differently, you're sinning.

No, this can't be Christianity. To make rules on dress, appearance, where to sit, who to talk to, where to go...is this truly Christianity? No doubt it is religion...but can it be Christianity?


So, this child has now lived his life up until he is close to embarking on the journey called life. He's been blindfolded to the mentality of relationship over regulations. Now suddenly the blindfold is ripped off of his eyes as he sees issues within this religious sect. The shepherd he knew for years begins to grind at his heart in a negative, non-rebuking way. The system of rules established show themselves to be extraneous.

As life is a year or two away, he has begun to make choices: Of dress, appearance, of what to do and where to go, of how to talk, and of who to be with. Basically he has begun to think for himself. But there is no doubt in his mind everything he chooses will be looked down on. But how is he to know what is right and wrong choices if those telling him he is wrong are those who make extraneous rules?

Shadows begin to cloud his plans. Circumstances arose, and now he has wondered if the choices he makes and are planning to make are right. But at the same time he knows that living in that religious sect will drain his will. Stress will build, and only time will determine when he explodes in a violent wave of distress and burden.

This is what happens when the blindfold is taken off of those with the mentality that rules supersede relationship with God. The act of removing the blindfold is not what confuses this grown child, but the sudden change of reason and views.

Now he must begin to worship God, read his Bible, build a relationship with his Creator from scratch--even though he had ample time as a small child. To blame exclusively the particular religious sect would be foolish. Though they have much faults, the decision was all on this child now grown.



Do not blindfold children into believing rules are more important that a relationship. Rules are important. But a relationship with God should be pursued, not a pursuit of the accordance with the rule book.

A relationship with God will produce personal rules that go beyond rules laid out in the Bible. But those rules(the personal ones) should not be forced on fellow believers. Especially those under you(in a church setting, not a parent setting.)


-Kevin B

God alone can satisfy.

I don't believe I am yet in a position to, from my heart, declare that only God can satisfy. Do I believe that He can only satisfy? Yes. Is it my hearts sincerest declaration? Not quite.

Why?

I don't believe God has brought me to the place where I can say all else fails under His satisfying love.

I've been struggling with an issue of satisfaction. I have yet to be persuaded(evidenced by the continuous searching for satisfaction) that God is THE ONLY source of satisfaction.

And perhaps the reason I struggle with this certain sin is to teach me to KNOW God is the only one who can satisfy. Perhaps in order to learn lessons, we must come to a point where God shows it to us with all sincerity--but that moment may not come until after we have gone through the tunnel.

Keep in mind, God does not tempt with sin(Tempt can be tempted to do wrong, or test, I believe). He does however allow us to choose what we want, because we are not robots. He can use wrong choices for our learning. He may also allow Satan to tempt you with certain things to learn lessons.


If you are struggling with sin, do that which was stated in the earlier post. If you come to the point where you are calling out for God and waiting for His Spirit to quicken you, then consider what good God is trying to teach you through your choices.

Sometimes when you do everything you can do, you have to call on the Spirit of God to bring life.

Ezekiel 37: 4-10

Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD.
So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but [there was] no breath in them.
Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

So,Ezekiel is commanded by God to prophesy to these bones. In so doing, they would eventually come to life, and become a great army. He prophesied to them, and there was rattling and noise, and the bones came together, and the bones were covered with flesh... but the bodies were not alive.

Ezekiel did everything God told him to, but there was still no life in them. Then God tells him to call to the four corners of the world and call for God's spirit to come and breathe into them the breath of life.


Let's apply this to our spiritual lives. Sin causes death. So, we can say we are dead in sin. (Though technically this is not true once we are saved, but I hope you understand where I am coming from.)

We can try to read the Bible, try to pray, try to go to church, try to put up walls to defend against Satan's attacks, try to do our best not to commit certain sins. And yet, we fail. We 'fall' into sin again and again. Why? Because we did not have the Spirit of God breathing into our nostrils the breath of life.

We need to do what we can to combat Satan. We need to read the Bible, pray to God, go listen to the preaching of God's Word. But sometimes that isn't enough. We need God's Spirit to come in and breathe into us life and power and victory.

When you are at the end of the road, turn north and call for God's spirit; turn to the south and call for God's spirit; turn to the west and call for God's Spirit; turn to the east and call for God's Spirit. Life may come in a moment, it may come in a day, it may take a week, but call for God and he WILL come.

Stand your ground

Recently...or rather for about 2 years...I've noticed that Satan has favored a certain arrow, one that he uses frequently. Rarely does a week go by that Satan doesn't whip out his bow, ready it with his favored arrow and send it rocketing into my heart. There are places where I know he will attack, and there are places he lurks quietly in the shadows until he is ready to strike.

I've grown to be wary of those places, even though sometimes I choose to go in there. The arrow fancies me...until it pierces my heart. It glitters in the sunlight as it is in Satan's bow. The attractiveness of it ensnaring me into his seductive grasp until TWANG...Satan lets go.

However, recently God has spoken to me. If Satan can seal a deal in one area, he'll move onto another one. While we should walk circumspectly, walk with caution, peering in every way--we should not avoid EVERY place Satan sets up camp. Sometimes it is God's will for you to cross paths; running does no good.

Think of David. He was sent to bring the food to his brother who were with Saul's army in a battle against the Philistines, notably Goliath. I can't say off the top of my head if the Bible records that David knew of Goliath's presence, but even if I doesn't, I speculate David was fully aware of the enemy's presence.

He could have decided to avoid that encampment, choosing not to go to his brothers. After all, he might be attacked by the enemy. Would it not be wise to avoid circumstances that would give the enemy opportunity to attack? Whether this crossed his mind or not, he knew he had to obey his father and give his brothers the food prepared for them.

So, David packs and is on his way. I don't know how long it was from David's home to the battlefield, but I'd guess he'd play songs in worship to God at times when he took a break. He did this when he watched over his father's sheep. God fellowshipped with him, and even endowed him with strength--strength to slay a lion and a wolf(or was it a bear? I apologize, I can't remember).

When he arrived at the campsite, he gave his brothers their food, and then heard Goliath's disgrace toward God. Not willing to let God's name be bashed like that, he eventually fought Goliath face to face. Not in the useless armor that King Saul offered, but in the strength God gave him.

He got stones and his sling and went running toward Goliath. With a flick of the wrist the stone sailed out of the sling, slicing the air with great power, embedding itself into the forehead of the giant, Goliath.

God gained a victory that day. Because David chose not to flee from the enemy, but to stand fulfill God's will, fighting the enemy if needed.

This is what we need to do. We need to stand our ground in the given strength of God. We must raise our sword(the Bible) and defend and attack Satan for victory in Christ's name.

We will utterly fail if we go out in our own defenses, our own strength. We need to rely on God, depend on him to give us the victory over sin and Satan.


So gird up yourselves. Take on the whole armor of God. Take the shield of faith with which you can quench those fiery darts of the devil. Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and gain the victory God wants you to have THROUGH Him.


-Kevin B