1) The Bible is a love story about God and humanity's relationship throughout history as told by humans.
2) The purpose of the Bible is not to be your rule book. It's to teach you wisdom, by which your ears will recognize God's voice in every circumstance, no memorization of rules required.
3) We were made to be important ambassadors between spiritual and physical realms, and although most of the universe was overjoyed for us, not everyone was. These are the powers we battle every day, and we would certainly lose except God intervened and already won the war.
4) You can not lose salvation or the Holy Spirit. God never takes back His promises, but YOU can choose not to take Him up on them. YOU can choose to ignore the Spirit, but He's still whispering.
5) The Bible is such a complex work, more than we realize. In the original languages, there are so many double meanings and clear references to other works about God (internal and external to the Bible as we have it now) that it is a tapestry of symbols and messages (made by multiple people separated by millennia!) woven together into a single story of Love and triumph.
6) Why does God let evil exist? This age old question has an answer. If He uproots all the weeds (evil), He would be uprooting a lot of wheat (those with hope still of salvation). If you think it's worth it to do it anyway, remember that you were one of those once. He wishes for NONE to perish.
7) Do not correct an unbeliever's behaviors and beliefs. They are not on the Rock like you. Even if they wished to do well, they're being tossed by the waves!
8) Love even your enemies and forgive them. Loving is an action not an adjective, and sometimes the best way to love them is to leave them behind.
9) God speaks to you in more ways than you can comprehend, but you need to pay attention. You can also speak to Him in more ways than simple prayer (but that's still great!).
10) Do not fear: it's one of the most spoken phrases in the Bible for a reason. It's not a command to not feel the emotion, which Jesus Himself appears to have felt in the Garden of Gethsemane, but a command to not let it dictate your actions or incapacitate you. Feel it and do what you must anyway.
Finally, as you know, I like to write creatively. I don't always share my works as it's such a vulnerable feeling!
Yet, here's a long poem. Not the most well-written, and it's a rough draft. However, in honor of how long this blog has lasted and how long you have lasted with me, I'm sharing this with you, my beloved reader. And, as always,
God bless!
***
He Calls Your Name
You dance in the garden to His ways
His kisses on your cheek
Venomous tree
Velvet crimson rivers
cascade down the leaves
Shadows lengthen in the garden
You gape wide into the midst,
insides bared,
open chest torn open
You are dead but standing
You struggle to speak for the words bubble
through the blood in your voice
His Spirit hovers over your
chaotic Deep inside
He calls your name
He calls your name, but you are in shock,
crimson rivers down your hands
Voices of multitude
innumerable as the sands
rise from within it,
piercing screams echoing in your head
their blood is yours
their death is yours
Your death is His
He wanders through the garden,
the desert for you
He calls your name
That's not your name anymore
You climb the venomous tree
look upon the city you've built with the blood of your hands
The blood that never goes,
the stain that follows you
You build a boat with trees,
towers with broken glass,
you build a storm in your eyes
to escape His wrath
They all fall, fall, fall;
creations of your hands are falling into dust
Nothing you do will grow the garden
Crimson rivers in the desert
Paint death doors with the stain
He calls to you from the mountains
He calls your name
Cover your nakedness with death,
build a home with death
He calls your name
Live, live, live!
His voice grows closer,
He nears now
He cries out I am! here
You, lost among the corpses,
can not see Him
Come home,
He calls your name
your hands will build with life,
He calls your name
your hands will be clean
He calls your name...
He dies
He gapes wide into the midst
He is dead but stands
He lives,
and you rise with Him
He builds a boat with stars
He builds a tower with jewels and gold
He calms the storm
They all rise, rise, rise;
creations of His hands stand eternal
He calls your name
A new Name,
better than the old
He calls you by His name
He calls you His child
He takes your hand,
cleansed and whole
You hear Him
You follow Him to the Garden
Now dance.
***
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