Desperate Joy

  Image by  chanwit whanset  from  Pixabay "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." - 1 Corinthians 2:14 There is a war going on in our hearts and minds between the natural man and the spiritual man. This battle is also described as being between the flesh and the spirit. For those of us who are in Christ there is an old nature and a new nature, and they are in constant conflict. What the Bible is saying here is that we need spiritual discernment to reject the old, fleshly, natural part of our selves and to embrace our new, spiritual, holy nature. We live in a physical, natural reality that we perceive with our five senses, but we also live in a spiritual reality. We often miss out on the spiritual reality because we lack spiritual discernment.   We allow those fleshly, temporal things to distract us from our relationship with God an...

  Photo by JÉSHOOTS "For everyone that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."   - Hebrews 5:13-14 Small plastic bowls and containers are difficult to come by in prison, so I will look for containers I can reuse or repurpose. In the commissary here they sell small tubs of sliced jalapenos and when I have used up all the jalapenos, I will pour out the vinegar and jalapeno juice and wash the bowl out to reuse for other things. The problem is that when I pour out the jalapeno juice, the flavor and the aroma of the jalapenos lingers in the plastic. This essence of jalapeno will then infuse whatever I put in the bowl, and often leave my whole locker smelling of jalapenos. Eventually this essence of jalapeno washes or wears out, and the container is much more useful. We live in the world with its ...

  Joseph Accused by Potiphar's Wife, 1655 Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch, 1606 - 1669 Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington Many times, we find ourselves in situations where the right thing seems all too clear, only to find out later that what we thought was right turned out to be wrong. We live in a world that is continually telling us that was is good is actually evil and what is evil is actually good. If we are not careful to develop and practice godly discernment, we will end up on the path of destruction. Samson was a good(bad) example of a man who lacked discernment and as a result ended up destroying himself, we looked at his story in the previous post. He could not see beyond Delilah's beauty and charm to see the evil that lurked just below the surface. Diametrically opposite him we find Joseph. Joseph, even as a young man, demonstrated uncanny discernment. He had a clear sense of purpose and direction that he derived from his connection with God. He knew what...

  So Delilah asked Samson, ‘Please tell me what makes you so strong and what it would take to tie you up securely.’Samson replied, ‘If I were tied up with seven new bowstrings, I would become as weak as anyone else.’  Source: FreeBibleImages.org , Samson's Hair Before there were kings in the nation of Israel, judges were religious and political leaders who organized the scattered tribes of Israel to fight their enemies. One such judge was Samson. Samson is well known for his Holy Spirit-empowered physical strength and ability in battle. He single-handedly killed hundreds of enemy Philistines and at one point pulled out the gates of a city and carried them away. There are not too many people that the Bible says were filled with the Holy Spirit like Samson was. He was uniquely gifted and used by God. He is honored in the "Hall of Faith" in Hebrews 11, alongside many other people of great faith. But Samson had a problem. As much as he was able to defeat nearly every Ph...

  In 2 Kings 6 in the Bible, we find the king of Syria waging war against the nation of Israel. When the Syrians would plan an attack, the Hebrew prophet Elisha would tell the king of Israel where and when they were going to attack, and they were able to outflank the Syrians in every battle. The king of Syria would attempt sneak attack after sneak attack, and every time Elisha would spoil his plans.  The king of Syria started to think that he had a spy in his court. One of his advisors told him that it was not a spy, but Elisha was telling the king of Israel "the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber."  They discovered that Elisha was in the town of Dothan, and the king of Syria sent a mighty army there. Here is what Scripture says:   "...When the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, a host compassed the city both with horses and chariot. And his servant said unto [Elisha], Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not...