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Janet's Blog
Janet's Blog
Blog
When it’s Hard to Understand God
| Posted on 20 February, 2018 at 4:20 |
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This post is to Christians in these difficult times and
situations. I hope it helps you. I’ve been through more than most and have come through
insurmountable circumstances into a spacious place in God where I had mostly Peace
and Joy for 10 months in 2012. There are a few bible verses I will address that can cause confusion and cast doubts in the minds of Christians sometimes in relation to God's Nature toward us.......especially if the enemy is playing on our mind with them......that will be addressed. I thought I had “arrived” – as the saying goes – that my
life and experience would be like that from then on. But that was a holiday, so
to speak, where I could unwind and really enjoy my God. I took a detour
– as we often do – and things were not quite the same and I got busy making
multiple websites for people to enjoy and enjoyed my own experience less
because I had less time to enjoy His Presence – that’s where the PEACE
and JOY IS! Yes really, and how quick we are to move out of His Presence
in prayer often, when He would like us to linger there and soak it up –
we can experience a sense of His Joy, His Peace, His Comfort or His Love this
way…….His Guidance or Inspiration. Why is it that we are restless and move onto
something else so quickly…..or….we are too busy but we’re not so busy to engage
in an interest, whatever? Friends, the apostle Paul did not say that he had “arrived”
at any time and he did mention a “Race” we have to run in God. Peter did
mention that we could go through trying times, followed by the Restoring Hand
of God. I’ve experienced that. He restores and strengthens you and lifts
you to a new level in your walk with Him. It takes on a different expression
with each person. For me it was Joy and Peace. For someone else, it could be
Overcoming Victory……for another Healing or Provision……or walking in Revelation
Knowledge. So it is’nt to say you get to a place where everything is
just wonderful from then on but you do have a new strength you did not
have before and for many, that they have developed new character. We would not
want our kids to stay in elementary school would we? Of-course not, we want them to go on, develop new skills and
be equipped to live in the world, ready for challenges. Note: that should not
all come from the education department. We are God’s sons and daughters, He wants us to grow. Some
spit the dummy and fret. Problems are meant to be overcome in God – He should
be our strength and inspiration for doing so. The thing often is that we look
at the problem instead of The Lord……we may even pray like someone in the world
does ie “God take my problem away”. Two things here, we have taken ownership of
the problem and we have not applied the Word of God to it in some way
and looked to Him for the victory. We found the problem uncomfortable and
wanted immediate relief – that is not to say we should put up with things but
He is wanting to see a change in how we handle things often. Some
of us refuse to grow and others could respond more appropriately if we knew
that The Lord doesn’t just take everything away and give us a dream existence. That was meant kindly when I say that because many of us
were given false promises, so to speak, like “come to Jesus and He will make everything
just right” and after the fresh new experience of finding Him wears off, we simply
find that it just simply isn’t true – He is not a Santa Christ, He is Jesus
Christ. He is not only our Savior, He is our Lord and Savior who wants
to relate with us as both of these. Confusion has set in saying “He is not all
that He promised to be”. But wait a minute, someone did you a wrong turn and it
wasn’t Jesus because He was falsely represented. That is called Social
Gospel and it’s very misleading. How dare they give you a wrong impression and neglect to
spiritually feed you with things in God’s Word that are essential to
know in this journey you have commenced. It’s like giving you a product
without instructions or a car without a roadmap – at some-time along the way that
is sure to lead to frustration. Many of God’s kids have been disillusioned
because of Social Gospel or negligent shepherds – too busy with fancy sermons
and programs, giving little or no attention to the needs of new
Christians. Now the disciples in the Gospels followed the Lord and
called Him Teacher and we would be wise to do the same – to look to Him
as One who teaches us things in life and His Word, not only a Savior. If we
could do that, then we would also have a better grasp of what it means
for Him to be our Savior. Otherwise, we have little experiential
knowledge of Him as being our Lord and Savior. I FELT THAT I MUST ADDRESS THOSE THINGS BEFORE THE
SERIOUS THINGS THAT MANY CHRISTIANS ARE EXPERIENCING IN RECENT TIMES. I DON’T
KNOW ALL THE ANSWERS BUT I KNOW SOME OF THEM AND WILL ADD SOME WRITINGS BY
OTHERS TO COMPLEMENT MINE AND MAKE FOR BALANCE. SHALL WE GO? From Living for Jesus Alone website "Have you ever felt like you’re struggling all alone in your current
circumstances, regardless of how hard you’ve tried and prayed? Have you felt
quite disappointed by God in the sense that He has let you down time after
time? Have you ever been frustrated with God or discouraged
because of what He allows to happen or didn’t make happen? I’m sure that you can relate to most of those questions
above, perhaps all of them. One thing that needs to be really stressed on is
that there’s a big distinction between what our human feelings would want us to
believe and what the Word of God is intended to make us believe. With this
in mind, our human feelings can be very misleading and disheartening. As human beings, no matter how hard we may try to study His
Word, to depend on it and be guided by it, no matter how mature we are in Him__
when serious situations occur, our faith is sometimes challenged. In fact, our
faith in God doesn’t eliminate doubt, worry, panic and fear, but what it
does is to empower us to overcome them. There’s a strong bond between reality and how we feel as
human beings.Reality plays an overwhelming role in determining our
reaction to whatever problems we’re facing in life. And reality also has a
significant influence on our conception about life’s issues. That’s the reason
why it’s so easy for us to allow reality to influence our faith in God in an
immense way. Try not to let reality find its way in us through your
feelings with bad beliefs that are based on fear, doubt, desperation, unbelief,
exasperation, and worry. Keep in mind, faith always defies human feelings and
reality. We’re not supposed to deny reality; however, we need to understand
that it has absolutely no bearing on what God is able to do, what He’s
willing to do, and what He’s about to do if we trust Him." When circumstances arise, try not to let yourself get to the
state of overwhelm before you do something. Nip things in the bud, in the area
of your feelings before they overpower you. Even the enemy relies heavily on our feelings to make his
tactics work, so we should not trust in our feelings but more so on God’s Word
and how He can take charge of circumstances through us or independent of us if
necessary, when our faith is directed to Him. Remember the car principle: our
faith should be in ‘drive’ not ‘reverse’. Fear, frustration and confusion are
reverse……..confidence or trust in God is directing our faith……or giving our
faith a direction to go in before confusion sets in…….or shifting gear if we
are upset by something. If you have been in a situation for some-time, faith is
a light switch, so pray-read His Word and switch it on. Remember, if your
thoughts have become accustomed to a situation, you will need to change your
mind-set to do that – prayer reading the scriptures is the best way of handling
our mindsets, then we can switch our faith on…….hey? Also, be alert as we’re told in scripture to do because the
enemy can hit us with a sense of overwhelm so we feel paralysed (in fear or
depression) and unable to do something (about the situation or moving on in
God. His greatest weapons are fear, depression, confusion and distraction,
generally – he knows that he can distract us from the purposes of God with
fear, depression or confusion……..even something that appeals to us, so we need
to be aware of these things. Ignorance is not bliss when you find months or
years later you missed God’s Best for those months or years when one interest
(whatever) has had our attention one after the other. Now in saying these things, I do not want to make you
conscious of the enemy in your thinking but wiser than we are when ignorant of
these tactics. If we are aware of a manufacturer’s marketing ploys we don’t
fall for them. If someone bad knocked on our door, we would not let them in,
would we? Yes, we don’t have to, so don’t be intimidated, be God conscious and
keep your mind in tune with Him and you have nothing to fear……keep praise on
your lips and let nothing get you down but keep rejoicing – it’s like placing a
“No Knocking” notice on your front door. God consciousness is so important in every area of our
lives. Years ago, I was quite peaceful and happy in God until I had a medically
induced illness and then I found that a few pastors actually made me enemy-conscious.
Well that was the last thing I needed that served to make matters worse –
because things became amplified in my mind – and they were godly men. It would
have been far better to in-still some “Christ in Me” consciousness into me
because that’s what we need when we are ill – we feel that our mind or body
have been taken over, so to speak, because we do not have the freedom we once
experienced. That’s when we need to employ all the “Freedom in Christ”
consciousness we can in our spirit rather than letting what ails us sit on top
of it. That can so easily occur but don’t let it. Look Up in your spirit. Take
heart! Is He a God
of LIGHT or Darkness? 2 Corinthians 1:8-11The Message (MSG) "We don’t want you in the dark,
friends, about how hard it was when all this came down on us. It was so bad we
didn’t think we were going to make it. We felt like it was all over for us. As
it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of
trusting in our own strength to get out of it, we were made to trust God
totally — He is the God who raises the dead! And he did it, He rescued us. I
can see your faces even now, lifted in praise for God’s deliverance of us, a
rescue in which your prayers played such a crucial part." THE FOLLOWING VERSE NEEDS CORRECTING, I WILL SHOW YOU WHY AND A FEW OTHER VERSES ACCORDING TO THE ORIGINAL. MANY CHRISTIANS ARE TRIPPING OVER THEM. Isaiah 45:7Living Bible (TLB) I form the light and make the dark.
I send good times and bad. I am he who does these things. Isaiah 45:7King James Version (KJV) I form the light, and create
darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these
things. Maker: The Originator Creator: Shape, Mould, Turn Into Verb: form (an object) out of malleable material. shape, form, fashion, model, work, construct, design,
sculpture, frame To make something, usually for a specific function. shape, form, or improve a material To create simply means to make or bring into
existence. Bakers create cakes, ants create problems
at picnics, and you probably created a few imaginary friends
when you were little. Similar to conceive and spawn and
the exact opposite of destroy, create is a word that often implies
a little bit of imagination. In fact, it takes a lot of creativity to create
something spectacular; that is, unless you're a robot, and then your creations
occur automatically. Or Mother Nature, where creation just happens naturally:
Birds create nests, the tides create waves, and snowstorms create days off from
school. To bring into existence “The company was created 25 years ago” “He created a new movement in painting” make something new, such as a product or a mental or
artistic creation establish or create through painstaking effort give form to, according to a plan Verb: make or cause to be or to become. form or produce anew create anew bring into existence bring into being create with or from words create the design for; create or execute in an artistic or
highly skilled manner take the lead or initiative in; participate in the
development of produce cause to arise make by shaping or bringing together constituents build again Many Christians have read this verse in their Bible
(KJV) and been disturbed. "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and
create evil: I the LORD do all these things." These words were spoken in an era when God recompensed His
people by bringing calamities on their foes. This verse actually contrasts
opposites. Darkness is the opposite of light. However, evil is not the opposite
of peace. The Hebrew word translated "peace" is Shâlôm, which has many meanings, mostly related to
the well-being of individuals. Râ‛âh, the
Hebrew word translated "evil" in the KJV often refers to adversity or
calamity. There are two forms of the word. Strong's H7451a most often refers to
moral evil, whereas Strong's H7451b (the form used here) most often refers to
calamity or distress. Obviously, "calamity" is a better antonym of
"peace" than "evil." The Lord most certainly does not deal with His Children that way. Generational Sins or God’s Mercy? From Voice Of One Crying.com There is a teaching prominent in religious circles based
mostly on a shamefully ignorant view of a phrase found in Exodus 34:7 and
repeated in Numbers 14:18. The phrase goes something like
this: "visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and
upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation."
The teaching is that some people are the victims of "generational
curses" placed on them through no fault of their own, but by the wrong
actions of preceding generations. To fully understand the phrase quoted above, we’ll need to
look at Exodus 34:5-9 in some detail. But first the
context of this passage must be established. God had just given Moses the
ten commandments; while Moses was up on the mountain with God the people were
worshipping a golden calf; Moses got angry and smashed the tablets; God told him
to hew two more out of stone and meet Him back on the mountain; this brings us
to verse 5. To fully understand what happens in verse 7 (the
verse most likely used to promote the misconception of generational sins) take
a close look at what happens in verses 5 and 6.
In verse 5 the Lord descends in a cloud and stands with Moses
on the mountain and proclaims His name. In verse 6 we
see what names He proclaims for Himself. They are "The Lord,
The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness
and truth." This brings us to verse 7 where the Lord
continues to describe Himself, "Keeping mercy for
thousands". "Keeping" is natsar,
meaning to guard, maintain or protect out of a sense of responsibility.
"Mercy" is checed, meaning kindness or benevolence
(coming to the aid of those in need). Checed always
emphasizes the idea of covenant relationship. And when checed and natsar are
used together it is always to illustrate the principle of covenant
responsibility! This is God’s own description of His attitude towards His
people - He has obligated Himself to be merciful (see Micah 7:18 which
says that God "delights" in being merciful). He
continues: "forgiving iniquity (avown -
immorality) and transgression (pesha -
rebellion) and sin" (chattah - habitual sin,
committed over and over again). Then comes the all-important phrase "and that
will by no means clear the guilty". Notice
"the guilty" is in italics in the King James Version, indicating that
these words are not found in the original text (and indeed should not
be). The translators added these supposedly to clarify the meaning.
The word "clear" in this sentence is naqah, and means,
"to be clear of an obligation or responsibility". By removing
"the guilty" from the text, the meaning becomes evident: "God
will by no means ever clear or release Himself from His covenant responsibility
to maintain His mercy by continuing to forgive immorality, rebellion and
habitual sins that are repeated over and over again!" This
is one of the many verses in scripture that illustrate the principle regarding
God’s mercy. The principle is this: God’s character demands that His
mercy always outweigh His justice. In other words, God is always willing
to give us what we need, instead of what we deserve. And I’m glad of that
are you? Verse 7 continues, "visiting the iniquity of
the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third
and to the fourth generation." The word
"visiting" is paqad, meaning to visit, to look after, or
to care for. Because the words "the guilty" were added to this
text, it is assumed that paqad has a negative meaning; but,
get this, it is actually intended to be a positive promise. Spiros
Zodiates in his Lexicon of Old Testament words says of paqad,
"it’s true meaning is an action taken on the part of God which produces a
beneficial result for His people." Compare Ruth 1:6; I
Samuel 2:21; and Jeremiah 29:10. As for the phrase "children, and children’s
children, unto the third to the fourth generation", this
is an idiom or word picture used several times in scripture to illustrate how
long a parent’s wrong example will affect the family. Here, God is
actually promising to forgive iniquity in each succeeding generation. He
knows that every generation is going to have problems with sin and His promise
is that His mercy will be available for all generations (Luke 1:50). To further confirm the fact that God was actually offering
His mercy to Israel, look at Moses’ response in verses 8 and 9.
In verse 8 he hurried to bow his head down towards the ground
and worship the Lord in thanksgiving when he recognized the Lord’s heart of
compassion. In verse 9 Moses responds to the Lord’s
offer of mercy by saying: "since I have found favor and
loving-kindness in Your sight, please Lord, be our God and dwell in the midst
of us, even though we are a stubborn people: forgive us of our rebellion and
iniquity and allow us to be Your possession forever." It was established in the Law that children would not be
punished for the sins of their father (Deuteronomy 24:16, comp. II
Kings 14:6). The idea of generational sin does not come from a
scriptural foundation, but from a world viewpoint. Colossians 2:8 describes
the process by which the world develops wrong ideas with these three terms:
philosophy (a wrong idea that has no basis in truth), vain deceit (false
reasoning to support the idea) and traditions of men (wide acceptance of the
wrong idea and false reasoning to support it). This process has only one
purpose: to take away personal responsibility, create bondage to sin and
deceive people regarding the nature of God. Copyright 2001 © Community Fellowship. The reproduction and non-commercial use of this material is
permitted. We are told in Scripture that He can “strike terror in the
hearts of His Foes” Not His Children. And the verse mostly speaks about Unseen Enemies (Powers of
Darkness). This is a Grace Dispensation (towards people) since
Calvary. At the same time, the Cross of Jesus should not be trodden under foot by wilful repetitive sin. _____________________ It is my personal belief that the curses mentioned in Genesis 2 after Adam and Eve sinned and those mentioned in Deuteronomy where The Lord says "This day, I set before you Blessings and Curses. Choose who you will serve." That He was prophesying on both of those occasions - how Adam (and the human race) would be affected by the wrong decision and Israel as well - God being the author of Goodness and Blessings........and the Enemy is the author of Evil. I'm not sure how to establish this however most of us know that early in Christian history, the Church went through a stage of apostasy where error came in and the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church had sole custody of the Bible. It was translated into the Latin Vulgate before it was eventually released to Christians. I do know that Cindy Jacobs, a prophetic teacher, made a discovery about 30 years ago that the original translation of the Bible said "Brothers and Sisters" where translations say "Brethren" and there were a few other things she discovered in relation to women in scripture. We do need to remember that the Latin Vulgate was written by priests who had sworn an oath of celibacy not to marry women and that the Enemy has targeted women in different ways since Eve in the Garden. We see a classic example in the Middle East. We must remember that the priests were not Born Again - to have spiritual understanding of what they were reading to interpret some verses where the Holy Spirit is needed to interpret correctly. I have also been informed that the Greek Orthodox Church has practised much care in their interpretation of Scripture. And also that the Original language Greeks used is very different to the Greek that has been in use for some centuries. Most translations show that the Word of God has been kept well through the centuries. If you go to a site called www.biblehub.com multi-translations validate that we can trust in the authenticity of certain translations we read. Most Scripture is intact, however there are certain errors which have been made. They are a minority but they are so important! For example, in Mathew 24:28 where Christ is speaking in relation to His Coming, most translations have 'vultures' etc in that verse, however this is a correct translation of that verse: If you read the previous verse, it will establish that: Aramaic Bible in Plain English For just as lightning goes out from The East and appears unto The West, so will the coming of The Son of Man be. What am I saying here? I do think it is possible that some 'human errors' by men who did not have the Holy Spirit resident in them for spiritual understanding, definitely seem to be so. And I also think it is very likely that the Enemy who hates our God and His Children has sought to plant doubts in our hearts and minds (through interpretation of certain verses) about the Nature of God: HIS TRUE NATURE. For instance, how do you account for the horrendous difference brought to light through the original Hebrew for Exodus 34:7 and repeated in Numbers 14:18 expounded above? There is a pressing need for True Translations in this Day and Age that rightly present ALL Scripture to us........especially when it comes to God's Holy Nature. And in fact, I heard it explained once that God's Holiness speaks of Wholeness, not only what we understand to be Holy. This is most certainly true with the Hebrew word for PEACE in the OT (old testament) which is SHALOM. That means Wholeness; nothing missing, nothing broken. Yes, Scripture tells us that our God is a GOOD GOD. Even to the extent that one of the Psalms repeats in most of it's verses "The Steadfast Love of The Lord Endures Forever" and another one says "The Lord is GOOD and Steadfast is HIS LOVE. Let the Redeemed Say SO" In Matthew 10:29 where it says "What is the price of two sparrows--one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it." (NLT) A preacher/Teacher of God's Word said once that according to the Original Greek, (not the language that Greeks have been speaking for centuries now) that particular verse is actually referring to something totally different. He said that it is speaking in reference to sparrows alighting on the ground: hopping happily upon it. Sounds so different, doesn't it? Just picture this: The same God who knows the number of hairs we have on our head (daily) takes Joy in His Creation from moment to moment. Reminds me of Psalm 139:17 where The Lord says New American Standard 1977 How precious also are Thy thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Contemporary English Version Your thoughts are far beyond my understanding, much more than I could ever imagine. A Christian man prayed prophetically over me years ago when I was very disturbed on one occasion:"...............You are interested in the activities of our day.............." He knew nothing about the situation I was concerned about and this started to introduce a new way of thinking to me I was in much need of at that time. _____________________ "What have you been through?" You ask me. Some things that would curl your hair if I told you, but I don't see any profit in that. They were enough to curl my hair, believe me, and I did not get pass them overnight or preacher's altar-calls. Some of us have had our impression of God's nature affected adversely - mine was wrecked at one time, and don't judge me for that unless you want to prove your faith stronger with the same circumstances. Not one good Christian friend who has been close enough for me to mention a few things to has sought to swap places with me, that's for sure, and I've had a few close friends I would not swap places with either. This much, I can tell you__ we need our Faith Healed when we have been through damaging or daunting experiences. Because that's what they are designed by the Evil One to do__ to shamelessly change our IMAGE OF GOD so we don't Trust His Nature anymore. I've learnt to watch that area of my Christian Walk now because every so often the Enemy can cause us to think thoughts that baffle us and throw a chink in our armor if we are not careful. How can we hold up the Shield of Faith if we are not sure of the Nature of our God? Through the Grace of God, I decided to give the "unanswered questions" to Him on one occasion after a full on battle with principalities that was intended to wipe me off the face of the earth. The Lord intervened and a healing work commenced in me. Another time I decided to give Him a Sacrifice of Praise and Instantly, not a trace of trauma was found in me that was insidiously schemed against me (full impact) over a few weeks duration. So I know what I'm talking about. __________________ Go with the GOOD REPORT found in His Word, that's what it's there for. Psalms says "He exalts His Word above His Name" YES even above His Name! Knowing how much emphasis Scripture places on HIS NAME that's amazing isn't it? Do you know why? The Original Hebrew word for "Word" there is PROMISES! I will be writing an article on REWARDS soon. This has been on my heart to do so for some months, I knew I would be. You should read it. This will be worth your time. The Lord gave me a few promises prophetically at difficult times through the years. Some, I am waiting for the fulfilment of but a few of them have remarkably come to pass in no small way. In other words, The Lord did exactly what He said He would do but it exceeded my expectations because I did not know how He was going to do them previously, even though He gave me a few prophetic words that were leading up to them and at those times He spoke to me, I interpreted them to mean shortly after or separately in relation to what I was experiencing at those times that were Not good to put it mildly. And some prophecies can actually come to pass sooner when certain Principles of His Word are put into practice constantly and that which the Holy Spirit instructs us to do personally - He is not meant to be limited to praying in other languages - oh no! We are told by God that we have "the more sure word of prophecy" in Scripture and also "not to despise prophecy".........if I had my time over again I would choose to have Scripture in such a way that I would be keen to act on that on a regular basis rather than wait for fulfilment of certain prophecies or even forget that I had them. Please Note: We can quickly learn contempt for prophecy when given through an immature prophet (speaking some content from their thoughts) or a money grabbing Televangelist who takes The Lord's Name in vain. Even seasoned prophets can make a mistake, that's why we (all) have the "more sure word of prophecy" within our reach. Hey? Some Televangelists were once servants of God, now serving the Enemy. How else do you explain one of them saying to "give this sum of money (they tell you how much) and The Lord will give you those things you want the most (they list a few for you that will bring the best results to their pockets)" Yes, that is the most common and one was repeated to me from Jamaica last year "if you give this amount, you can ask for your neighbor's house and He will give it to you." Talk about coveting! And we know what Scripture has to say about that kind of thing, don't we? The Lord rebuke them, and He will when He comes if not sooner. All these false promises are actually very seductive in nature - just like in the Garden of Eden - and are serving to disillusion many of God's children across the world. Mostly in USA but not limited to there. JESUS calls these preachers HIRELINGS. Many have left the Faith because of them. I'm talking about good living Christians (lots of them) because they placed their trust in God through words like those at a time when they were vulnerable in some way and could have had better results trusting in Scriptures (not twisted) in the simplicity of seeking The Lord themselves. The Enemy works at discrediting God's Nature, like he did in
the Garden of Eden. He works overtime, so to speak, with the TV News Program
and events around us. He hates God and His Children. I think the main ploy of the Enemy is still to 'Question our Trust in God' like he did with Adam and Eve and we should ALL Press In to Know Our God more at this time, not less, when so many are making comments like things have never been so bad, so challenging etc Friends, take time - and invest time - to soak yourselves in Scripture and "build yourselves up in your most Holy Faith&q |