Distorted!

Distorted!

Was reading an article yesterday and it reminded me of those few trips to see the Carnival. Now I was never fond of them and we only went when my dad could go with us. On one event though we went without my father to this Carnival and on this specific thought process I thought of the Hall of Mirrors. It was a group of mirrors distorted to make you look somehow different as you stood before them.

You could start at one end of this great hallway and see yourself as the very tall person or the very short one. You could see yourself somehow heavy and then very lean indeed! You could see your head the size of a watermelon or as such and then your feet could appear as the very big compared to that of a clown’s feet!

Distorted!

Reality is not seen in the Hall of Mirrors. It is the humorous self-reflections or the oddity of a person or even the scary of that same one. And what bad picture do we have of ourselves? I heard this gentleman mention that a friend of his always had the Judges 2:15 in mind. He believed that it was appropriate to his life  ….”Wherever they went, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil…”

Now this was not his life verse, but it certainly impacted his thinking. The truth is that God can get angry with His people. And it is revealed when they deliberately and highhandedly disobey him, and not when they struggle.

Psalm 118:6-7 The LORD is for me; I will not fear; what can man do to me? The LORD is for me among those who help me; therefore I shall look with satisfaction on those who hate me.”

We are to remember that God sent the Son of His love in a great love to save the human race. And not all will receive His Son, but He is ever pleased to make intercession for those who follow Him. A lady we know who had an accident some months ago trying to get in her house. She had mis-stepped and found herself on the floor. And within all the chaos with a trash container she has found God still loves her. She knows He is looking out for the good for her because she loves Him. ( her own words) She continues to heal up this day!

 

A Hall Of Mirrors: seeing oneself in all the different mirrors and so distorted and misshapen, but God’s Word is the perfect law of liberty. James 1:23-27....NKJV.... 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the word, this one will be blessed in what he does. 26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. 27 Pure and un-defiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself un-spotted from the world. 

Now the reflection of a mirror will tell you to comb your hair or it might recommend your getting a quick shave in before leaving for work. ( you can read your face on that mirror for it regards your present look indeed)  Reading the Bible is simple. We read but should know what it speaks to our heart. We should not quickly forget what we read nor what the pastor taught this last Sunday. Living as if we are already perfect does not make you perfect. Understanding that you and I live by His word, to abide in that word and move to be more like His image propels us in His power, love and peace! I like the perfection mentioned in the new testament. It reveals perfection or perfect as teleios from the numbering 5046 in the Strong's. It is the end, as finished, the complete, perfect. It is applied to a person or persons, signifying it the absolute soundness. It includes the idea of being made whole. For believers, it denotes "maturity". 

As the new man in Christ Jesus, we act like Him, gazing into His result as He lived on earth but now lives in heaven and our hearts. This is a true freedom. It is far from human traditions and any carnal reasoning. We benefit from what He spoke to His disciples and to us! We must look to our spiritual man. We must favor His outcome to be the image of God Himself. We will never be god, but we are to imitate Him who CREATED us with and for a purpose.

God planned for Adam and God saw the glory on him. But Adam decided to listen to others over God and changed that glory for sin and the devil. So God sent His Son Jesus, the glory to be presented to mankind and see God’s will on earth as He planned in heaven.

The Gospel of Mark emphasizes the servant-hood and the sacrifice of Jesus.  IN Mark He faces those with hardness of heart and unbelief. All the way to the cross on Calvary, Jesus carried burdens. He was seen and is seen as the long-suffering servant. The sacrifice presented by the face of an Ox: Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. Knowing Jesus represented His Father in heaven, the foundation of truth was seen. Seen by those with a willingness to lay down the world’s demands and receive God’s, we see Jesus is Identified in His confessions: Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God. “Get behind Me Satan! For it is written you shall worship the LORD your God & Him only you shall serve.” “It has been said, You shall not tempt (test) the LORD your God.”

Will we worship the planks that make-up the platform of that which we want or do we look for the beams that made up the Cross that held the Man of Sorrows? Many speak Jesus died on a tree with a small plank at His feet. I believe small planks would not hold a healthy man in His prime as Jesus was and is!

In the Gospel of Mark: Jesus emphasized His authority as Teacher: Mark 1:22 & they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority & not as the scribes. The “scribes” were known for repeating what others had said. It was both the substance & the manner of the Lord’s teaching that was different from what the scribes gave or represented!  Jesus strongly condemned them: Mark 12:38-40 Then He said to them in His teaching, “Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, 39 “the best seats in the synagogues, & the best places at feasts, 40 who devour widow’s houses, & for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation."

 

Jesus Gives Warning of TRUE Defilement from an Attitude of the heart: Mark 7:14-23  When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear Me, everyone, & understand: 15 “There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. 16 “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!” 17 When He had entered a house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable. 18 So He said to them, “Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him. 19 because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, & is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?” 20 & He said, “What comes out of man, that defiles a man. 21 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within & defile a man.”

Jesus was proclaiming the Kingdom of God: it was the age of salvation and there was no distortion. Calling the multitude to Himself, he wants to clearly state that it is the heart and the will where ungodly thoughts, words, desires and motives spring from and the disciples were to have hearts filled with the words Jesus gave them. And we know that Jesus pointed to the disciples as those with the spiritual dullness: Spiritual insensitivity builds through this section of Mark 6:7 to Mark 8:26! Here in  Mark 6:7-13 Jesus sends out the Twelve disciples, His instruction to them was concerning their provisions and their public acceptance or rejection, then sent them on their mission delegating His power to them.

Mark 6:7-13 NKJV  And He called the twelve to Himself and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits. 8 He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff---no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts-----9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10 Also He said to them, “In whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you depart from that place. 11 And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!” 12 So they went out and preached that people should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.

The disciples imitated John the Baptist and Jesus. They received instruction and went. They took a money bag. And they had money in the money belts. They always had what they required when ministering God’s word. Do you?

Distorted! Do we look to Jesus and see our way? Do we walk in this world and see the end coming to us? Will we announce who God is to us and move? Or will we cower and speak nothing to a dying world?

Elohim, the Creator of heaven and earth…who crowned us with glory and honor. He is might and strength.

El Shaddai, the God Almighty of Blessings…who nourishes and supplies. The all-Bountiful One and the All-Sufficient one, we bless His name.

Adonai, our Lord and Master, the completely Self-Existing One, always present, revealed in Jesus Who is the same yesterday, today and forever. Hallowed be His name.

Jehovah Rapha, our Healer, and the One Who makes bitter experiences sweet. He is the One who sent His Word and healed us. He forgave our iniquities and healed all our diseases.

Jehovah Nissi, our Victory and our Banner….our Standard! His banner over us is love.

Jehovah Shalom, we bless His Name. He is our PEACE. That peace which transcends all understanding, which garrisons and mounts guard over our heart and mind in Christ Jesus.

Jehovah Rohi our Shepherd and we shall not lack any good or beneficial thing.

No Distortion here: God is Him whom we worship and adore: El-Elyon, the Most High God Who is the First Cause of everything, the Possessor of the heavens and earth. He is our Everlasting God, the Great-God, the living God, Faithful God, Merciful God, Mighty God, Truth, Justice,  Righteousness and Perfection. ( we are made perfect for we are the mature in the Lord.) We are the healed, made whole, with nothing lacking in our lives, for He loved us first and loved us best of all. Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the whole world. Amen and Amen.

 

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Mirror Mirror on the Wall

I remember this from decades ago. It was in a movie. But I wonder if people do that today: you know stare at themselves in the mirror. Oh no!
But I am thinking of the mirror of God's Word.

Romans 1:16
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 
NASU

James 1:19-27
19 This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 

20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. 

21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

In humility we are to receive the word implanted, which is able to save our souls......that is receive His word that will cut off anything that is not of Him: like foolishness, gossip, profanity, covetousness, the blame game, anger, hostility, lust, pride, etc. !


22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 

For His Word will propel us to do for Him and it is due to His power! Amen



23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 

24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.

25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.

27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
NASU

Yes, that natural man looking into the mirror, is the same as one who looks into God's Word but walks away from it. Never finding out what or who he really is would be a hard and terrible thing.

But we are to ever be reminding ourselves that we must hear the Word of God for it is life to us.

In looking at the written word in James 1 and verses 19-27.....the fruit of His Word is that which is good; it looks good and produces life. But there is another that can be produced in nature that is of a sour kind of fruit.

Ever went to the store just for some really purple grapes? You find them, take them home and then after washing, you take the biggest one in the bowl, bring it into your mouth and then to your surprise it is sour! You scowl .....and try to get the taste out of your mouth. Once again, you take another grape only to find they are all sour grapes, indeed!
I know that we all like fruit, but what fruit are we producing? That which speaks of God and His ways is worthy to be given, it is the untainted. That which God produces is for the good to all. Yet, there are many people seeing and receiving that sour fruit in some ministry. Why is that?

One thing for sure, the one leading must of the humble spirit, adhering to God and being submissive to all He gives as commanded to do. We also have to look at any faults. People can make mistakes. And people are to be the patient ones, but alas in a microwave society, it is "I want it now".
One pastor I knew for many years, always said upon rising in the morning, he would check himself in every area of his life. He said he would ask the Holy Spirit to show him in area he was missing the mark with God. He yielded to God!

So yielding every day, will keep us in His sights, in His plan, and His gospel will be paramount to us.
Man is natural, and does natural things to him.
It is just like our little dog. She finds a place to lay down, but because of many hundreds of years of her forefathers likeness according to that which was handed down through the ages, she still has to scratch at the rug like it is grass. Like the wild dog who flattens down an area to lie down on, she does this too! She has never had to lay in grass, be out at night as to sleep on it, or spend any time with it. Yet, every routine she does before laying down in that just right place, she must scratch it to point of moving the blanket around to her desire. Even the door mat within the house will get an occasional scratch to make her leisure position more comfortable to her way of thinking.

If while driving, I am looking away from the highway and stop paying attention to what is in front of me while driving, what happens?  Well, if it is any indication of what I saw yesterday while in the city, I would say the person was either texting or talking to the passenger in the vehicle with her! When I get behind the steering wheel of a car, do I throw all the information of the rules of the road out the window or do I run them through my mind while driving? In driving, we are to be mind-full of our driving. Phones, in my opinion should never be used while driving. In my own experience, I have always pulled off the road to take a call.

The fruit of the Holy Spirit is: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Gal. 5:22-26) Those who belong to Jesus have crucified the sinful nature and desires. We keep in step with the Spirit of God. But...........verse 26 of Galatians 5 says this: let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

The amplified states this: 26 Let us not become vainglorious, and  self-conceited, competitive, and challenging, and provoking and irritating to one another, envying and being jealous of one another.

When we start moving forward with God, are we ever challenged? Yes!
And it seems at the oddest time. Like the proof is in the pudding........that is..........the proof of the pudding is in the eating! And when outreach is being done by a handful people and are touching others with God's love...........someone always comes to make light of it or that it is of no effect at all.
Yes, people have faults, they fail sometimes, they come up short, but with God we can look good, and sound good. He gives us His Word to live out a life that is far from the natural man. But repentance is vital to keeping step with the Spirit of God.

If we are the envying, then what or who do we envy? Or are we the conceited?
To me, it reminds me of times when some school mate comes to your house. They show you the latest "new thing"...they had acquired.......and making the statement, "it is mine and you do not have one"! Ever been there or in that place?

Yes, and this very thing carries over into the church today! See what I have....and you do not have this! And you came from nowhere. YIKES!

In the regeneration, we are trained in the Gospel for godliness.
We are to reject profane and old wive's fables, and exercise toward godliness. (1 Timothy 4:7)
We are to imitate God according to Ephesians 5:1-3.......and to walk in love as Christ loved us. He was that offering and sacrifice to God for a a sweet-smelling aroma.
Does our life give off any aroma of the sweet? Or does that which we produce tend only toward sour grapes and worms? Yikes!

If our walk is serving in the church, then what about outreach to the community? Our going to church is a good thing, But remember most people do not go to church, and they remain outside the walls of one. If we keep the concept of church foremost in our thinking, then we remain as it were the "ones taking baby steps with the Lord" and remain as it were in the basement and the beginning of things with God. 
It is really time for the church to move outdoors and reach others for Jesus.

And if we think we see some R-rated flick with some kind of filthy language and it will not affect us in any way, then we are the deceived! One might have some prayer time in with the Lord, and even some scripture base that he has placed in his heart, but now said person is seeking R-rated stuff, that is evil, brings darkness and can have a person produce sour grapes..........a fruit no one can be refreshed by. It could consequently be fruit with many worms, is that which is of lust for something, any selfishness........and yes, greed. 
And have we not read of it about the Hebrew nation coming out of Egypt?
As we had seen in the Israelite's hoarding manna, the consequences were to decomposition. They hoarded the manna and they came up with worms!
What they saw as something to take extra amounts of.......became their source of corruption.
In trusting God, our faith is for today..........tomorrow will take care of itself, right?
Matt 6:33-7:1
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.    NIV

I heard Joyce Meyer this morning mention how many times she felt she went to hell in maintaining no pride in her ministry. It was of God and it was in His power and in His doing. She was along for what He desired. She said the "flesh has to die"..........that resurrection is all important, but the "flesh has to die". 

She gave this example with a cookie cutter, and placed on some dough. As she pressed the dough into the cookie cutter that looked like a little person, she named what had to be removed.....like gossip, and covetousness...............and everyday we have to keep those things away from us.

Looking into the perfect law of liberty, we do not change His Words, His Words change us. There is no picking up the Mirror and speak some kind of chant. God's Word is not of frozen princesses, pumpkin carriages, or tin men. It is not how fast you can sing, or fast you can dance, but how fast you and I obey God.  It is not how many face lifts you have had in the last ten years, because you will certainly need another after the first one. Some folks you see as spokespersons do not even look like what I remember them looking like from years past. Praise the Lord, I am sure He does since He created them. But the society today looks only for that which is the of the youthful person  who is the beautiful and if not: discard! To do anything against what God created seems fake and very phoney to me.
God looks on the heart, and not on the looks of the individual. We certainly saw that with David, the shepherd boy!

But God has chosen us a race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that we may proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. We live in a world of darkness, but we are not part of that darkness. We are not of the world because we are in Christ. We have light. Our light is to shine that others might know Him and be saved. (1 Peter 2:9) We are seated with Him and in His righteousness. We are not to envy, covet or have any pride that exalts themselves. Those taking baby steps have remained in the building of the church.


Matthew 5:13-16…..13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. NKJV

His Ways and Thoughts are higher than ours, are they not? 
Isaiah 55:9
9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways 
and my thoughts than your thoughts. NIV

We can leave the scratching of the ground behind, that digging in the dirt, or talking into mirrors to find out the fairest in the land.
For there is One True God. He is not found in mirrors. I think about that Hall of Mirrors. It is found usually in some amusement park. The different mirrors give a distorted view of you and what is going on in that moment.

With God, there is no distortion, no smokin' mirrors, no magic tricks, and no silly chants. His Word is alive and it is power. And those who love His Word will be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger.

Remember that it is in humility that we should receive the word implanted, which is able to save our souls......that is receive His word that will cut off anything that is not of Him: like foolishness, gossip, profanity, covetousness, the blame game, anger, hostility, lust, pride, etc. !
When we truly look with intent in our heart, we see the liberty of who we are, and become the person who is effective in their work for his kingdom. And those who follow Him in His kingdom are blessed.

We look not to those funny mirrors, but into God and what fruit we are producing. Is it good for another?  OR is it of a "sour quality"?  For that which is good is not too salty...........it is not fruit filled with worms, but is good and healthy for another. It is the humble, willing to conform to God's thinking and keep from the profane. To speak life into another person, and see them come up higher in the things of God. It looks like this: It is to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. 

Go find those orphans who are wandering.....(there are many of many ages, height and weight).....lead them to Jesus.........and be blessed by God! And forget the mirror. Just think what you will look like in heaven! We can all be 29 years of age and weigh 115 pounds when we get to heaven right?

Of course men will want a trimmer middle and may desire to have a more muscle-looking physique, yet we will walk with God to see His best for us all! It is not what you or I look like in the mirror, but that the mirror is His Word to have a clarity of who we are, and where we are going in this journey we call life. Amen.

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