Thankful Thursday: Illusions.

James 4:7

New International Version (NIV)

⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

As has become my own little tradition, i'm for the most part clueless about what  the post of the week will be until i'm actually writing it. I do believe it's something to do with the thing where God says not to be anxious about what you'll say beforehand, but to just show up and He will give you the words.

I played around with the theme of Pride being the most sneaky and dangerous and ultimately deadly of sins in the context of Job's story for illustration...i had a major eye opener on that one..but i guess that will be next week.

Also, i need to mention about guarding your thoughts, because they really do affect your actions, and ultimately, your life...

Proverbs 4:23 ASV

American Standard Version

Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.

Now to the business at hand!

Last week, one of the things i nearly wrote about was "The Illusionist". I believe i can safely assume that the joke about the screensaver in hell is more or less known in one form or the other. A person is given a chance to choose and is shown to heaven and hell. In heaven people are walking about all white robed and playing croquet and singing hymns and playing harps and laughing and skipping about and all that...Now in hell the person sees a paaarty! girls! drink! no rules whatsoever..so he chooses hell, get's there and sees that in actual fact, it's this actual pit of actual fire and people just roasting about and suffering...upon complaining, he is informed that what he saw was the screensaver..ha.ha.

I think that joke is the perfect illustration to bear in mind when understanding this deal with the illusionist.

See, the devil is a liar..but no surprise there, we all know this. The tricky bit, the really tricky bit, is how he does this lying. If you're spending your time looking for in your face blatant, apparent lies..you'll probably miss it, because although the lies are total, it is not always (i guess) that they come dressed at lies.

The deceit is successful because it manages to have its effect without you actually noticing that you fell for a lie. Hence the whole deal with the illusions.

The lies appear truly legit on the outside, they are all dressed up and ready to go. They are attractive and look very much like the real deal, and if you don't stop and think, if you're in the habit of just "going with the flow", you'll just swallow it and act on it, only realizing what has happened after that screensaver goes away.

I don't think i'm the only one that has done something, then have it feel like you've snapped out of a trance and for the life of you cannot point to one single reason why you felt like it was the okay thing to do.

That's what the devil's whole entire ploy is based on. It is based on hope and faith in you, that you will just accept it and act on it. This is exactly why we need to be attentive, to not be passive about life. To be aware of every breath.

The lies are like a mirage, and very much to our relief, can be spooked and they go away, because no matter how much the lies try to masquerade as truth, they can never actually displace it, which means that the truth is there, unchanging. You just need to look for it, and insist on only it.

Lies have loopholes, and when you hold them up against the truth, against the word of God, the light shines through all these holes and you can see the lie just fall apart and disappear in front of you. It is not solid, and when challenged, it doesnt even put up too much of a fight, it just dissipates and moves on to the next person, who won't bother to examine the lie.

Lies and temptations are poor imitations of what truth is. The thing is to not allow yourself fall for them by running it by God's word, checking it up against the truth. Sometimes you find yourself running with an idea or a thought, and it's depressing you, or leading you to temptation, or causing you to be anxious...stop, breathe, take it from the top, taking each element of it and seeing how it lines up with what God says..

I ended up writing this post because of a very hands on dream i had a couple of minutes ago while taking a nap. Resist the devil, and he will flee. Recognize that God has your back, He will protect you, He is there for you, so you have no reason to be intimidated into doing anything, you have no reason to be scared into believing any lie or acting upon it. God is greater than everything and anything, so resist with confidence, knowing that God has your back and will never leave you hanging, no matter how much lies and illusions try to tell you otherwise.

I am thankful for Life

I am thankful for God

I am thankful for His faithfulness...this week has been like feem trick. You don't even know the routes God will take to move your mountains, but best believe, they will be moved.

I am thankful for my family

I am thankful for prayer. It's one of the most powerful things we can do. Like, actually stop and think of it...You talk to God!! like, the very One who like..you know..is THE ONE! and what more, He speaks to you...if it was something that didn't happen all our lives...our minds would be blown..so bear that in mind and don't take it for granted..stop and reflect every now and then..

I am thankful for Love

I am thankful for forgiveness

I am thankful that He protects me

I am thankful that He guides me

I am thankful for His mercy

I am thankful for His grace

I am thankful for the people in my life

I am thankful that He has so radically changed my paradigm...like, 180 mahn!

I am thankful for kindness

I am thankful for authenticity 

I am thankful for His word

I am thankful that He is the greatest coach ever!

I am thankful for writing

I am thankful for growth

I am thankful for the journey

I am thankful for God...

I am thankful for church

I am thankful for inspiration, for those things that just come to you when the time is right

I am thankful!

Thankful Thursday: He can ride a bicycle! and do tricks!

Dilemma! In the last two days i've gone from having absolutely NO clue as to what to write..to having so many, i don't know which to go with..I was pretty sure i was going to write about the illusionist...but then last night, stepping out of the shower, this sliver of an idea crossed my mind.

This topic is really personal to me, and it in no way means i look down on people that are in this state of mind...but boy oh boy do they frustrate the heck out of me. Like, make me kinda overheat inside frustrate. More than frustration though, is hurt. It hurts me so much to hear people deny God. It pains me to hear people talk about "proof" the He doesn't exist, and all the "Proof" that proves a world without a creator. Back to the cake analogy..just imagine your cake gisting its peers that it just came to be. That somehow somehow, flour and eggs and sugar just came from nowhere and randomly, coincidentally found themselves in an oven at ideal conditions and voila!..sounds silly, huh?

Lemme do a little story. Imagine there's little Johnnie. Max and Julia are his friends. They hang out with him when he rides his bicycle and they are impressed out of their minds with the skillz that boy has with his bmx. He flips, he twirls, he stands on the thing..look ma, no hands!

Max and Julia rant and rave about this, totally impressed. Kyle doesn't believe them. He looks at them deadpan and says they are obviously hallucinating. Kyle says he's never seen it happen so it's a lie. Max and Julia invite Kyle to the skate park. He declines..what's the use? it's a lie!

Back to people. They claim God doesn't give them enough proof (we'll just pretend that the fact of their own existence and the world around them isn't proof enough), so they cannot believe in Him. The road to God is wide open. The map and directions are available to whoever wants them..like a phonebook that no-one opens and then bashes their head against the wall wondering how to call the drycleaners..but i digress.

The road is there, He is there...but they won't listen to Him. How can He tell you anything when you won't speak to Him? People will rant and rail like all those people that like to cuss but can never fight. They will talk beside Him, they will talk behind and all around Him..but they will not talk TO Him. Ask Him to explain, ask Him to show them, ask Him to prove...God will actually do that...Maybe they want Him to appear before them in disco lights before they agree..and even then, you'll hear that it's magneticism...random, coincidental occourence.

What i'm saying is this...He is there. He is God. He is who He is, yesterday, today and forever..and we are raving about how awesome He is...if just for the sake of being a busybody, talk to Him, go down to the skate park and see that He can ride! Call it an experiment if you will...but just talk to Him and ask Him to give you understanding...

Job 32:8 says that it's the breath of God that gives men understanding...Talk to Him, He will show Himself to you.

I am thankful for Life.

I am thankful for MY life, and everything it has been, is, and is meant to be.

I am thankful for who i am

I am thankful for God

I am thankful for inspiration

I am thankful for the Holy Spirit

I am thankful for His teaching

I am thankful for understanding

I am thankful for patience

I am thankful for forgiveness

I am thankful for His perfect plan

I am thankful for revelation

I am thankful for His word

I am thankful that He is so much more than we can ever imagine

I am thankful for growth, and the wonderful work He's been doing in my life..the last 10 months have been intense! i'm soo under construction :P

I am thankful for His faithfulness

I am thankful for His grace

I am thankful for Quackington! with each day the magnitude of how significant it is, how blessed that i am to have her in my life grows...God has some mega plans mahn!

I am thankful for my family

I am thankful for uni...see as God is just protecting and guiding me through ehn!

I am thankful for His promptings...sooo rewarding when you obey!

I am thankful for prayer

I am thankful for food

I am thankful for friends

I am thankful for love

I am thankful that i am loved, and am not alone

I am thankful for Church

I am thankful!!!

Thankful Thursday: He uses icing!

First...take a second to ponder the fact that you're alive. No, not go d'uh of course i'm alive, and so? Like a lot of things that we just happen to have by no effort of ours, yesterday, today, and by His grace tomorrow, we just take it for granted and do not see the immensity of the awesomeness that it is. Just think..that you are actually alive..living..thinking thoughts, reading this..your body has all these functions that honestly boggle the mind when you try to grasp them...i think that is a lot to be awed by and be thankful for. Somehow, you're here, and you exist, and you are in working order..it's quite something.

On to the second thing. God is...fun!..like..He's not boring, He's not into sitting around and spitting at the ceiling. If He were your friend here on earth, He'd be that friend that is always involved in some activity, moving all over the place, skydiving, traveling, taking salsa class, learning to comandeer a ship..you get my drift. He would be majorly into breaking routine and reinventing yourself, would be constantly changing the decor of His home...

I'm not pulling this out of thin air. In the Bible, just pay attention to the fact that He challenges just about every character to radically change their lives..and not just when they are at home..He asks them to uproot their entire lives, families, communities and move to a whole other land. Can you imagine yourself just up and packing your whole life up to go and live in a country you have no ties to? God always challenged them to make these radical changes, and He always made it so that they led them to a better, more blessed place.

When this thought came to me, i got all excited..and then i thought..but wait..there's also all this waiting around that is done (a panic issue for me currently :P)..like, waiting periods of half a decade and several generations and whatnot...but then i thought...even when there are periods of waiting..it doesn't mean that the picture is frozen or the program has jammed and everything is static. That things are not moving along in ways apparent to us does not mean that nothing is happening.

Take baking a cake. At the start there are all these ingredients and all this actvity...and then you pour all that in a pan and stick it in the oven...and there's the wait. You can do absolutely nothing but wait and trust that somehow, that liquidy batter is going to turn into a solidified, delicious cake. It being in the oven and you not being able to manipulate it does not mean that it will not bake...even if you choose to sit and stare at it...you won't catch all those nanosecond moments involved in making it go from one state to the other. Even if you don't blink..all you'll come away with is seeing it as batter, and then somehow, like time-lapse, it becoming solid...okay, enough about the cake.

I'm just saying, that God is never static. He never stops. Maybe sometimes He moves in ways that are invisible to our eyes...but He never stops. Also, He doesn't want us to stop. He didn't put us here on earth to stand still, to live our lives like the servant who buried his talent. Do not be afraid to make changes, do not be afraid to take challenges upon yourself, do not be afraid to grow, do not be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. Do not be discouraged when it seems like nothing is happening. Keep your faith, knowing that He is always faithful, and that He sees everything and when the time is ready, you will reap the reward, the fruit of the wait...and best believe, He coats that cake in icing. And uses sprinkles quite liberally.

Another thing that i've really felt this week is the need, and the benefits of talking to people when you have issues you are struggling with. Usually i try to solve my problems by myself. I try to analyse and adjust without troubling anybody else. On Sunday, for the first time, i felt literally shoved to walk up to a prayer couple and ask them to pray about something that had been knocking me off course for the last week and a half. I felt proper silly...but to my surprise, the lady understood EXACTLY what i was going through, and had had the same experience, and did not think that me struggling with it was foolish. After the service she talked with me, and i can say that her words really healed something in me. God, never one to leave something that He has set in motion halfway, during the week provided two other situations where people seemingly randomly were led to hear me out and give me wise counsel and encourage me. I am awed and incredibly thankful to Him for His unceasing care. I have come to appreciate the truth that no man is an island, and you do not know how He has equiped the people around you to be able to help you in that particular situation. It's like a super specialized training that each and every one of us goes through. All our experiences, good and seemingly bad work together to mould us for the very specific purpose He has destined us for...this is more than enough reason to be thankful in every situation. I think it was the talk with the lady, C, from church that led me to understanding that in a whole new revolutionary way.

It is not about being thankful because you enjoy that you are going through tough times...It's recognizing that no matter who and what is the instigator of that situation, God will use it to make you into a richer, more complex version of who you are meant to be. So if this means that you come out better...it is enough to be thankful to Him for never leaving you hanging...

I am thankful for Life.

I am thankful for God.

I am thankful for His mercies

I am thankful for forgiveness

I am thankful for bigBro's wife..i do believe i am in love with her. She has such a beautiful soul! I am thankful that by His grace she has come to be a person that has made herself available to be used by God...she just spreads light..

I am thankful for my family

I am thankful that God just keeps on blessing me

I am thankful for the tests today..I am thankful that He makes me find favour wherever i am

I am thankful that He wipes away my tears

I am thankful that He doesn't give up and will make sure His message gets through to me

I am thankful for His encouragement

I am thankful for His word

I am thankful for my friends...the angels He put in my life...wudup Quackster!!!

I am thankful for wisdom...my friends have dragged me out of sadness with their inspired talks

I am thankful for music!!!! It's becoming clearer to me that all this talk of "it's just music" to justify the crap we listen to doesn't cut it anymore. If praise and worship can lift my spirits, if it can clear my mind and get me back on the straight and narrow...then it means that my spirit cannot be indifferent to music that promotes sin and all types of foolishery...

I am thankful that He gets me through the valley of the shadow of...lol..everything i was dreading this week, He has sheltered me through and brought me out victorious

I am thankful for the constant learning process

I am thankful for growth

I am thankful for forgiveness

I am thankful for Joy

I am thankful!!!!

Thankful Thursday: Imprisoned.

Sometimes, the titles i come up with make me flinch...so dramatic! eh...

So the other day i was sitting on the couch and feeling joyful for no concrete reason when, clear as day, today's theme came to me.

See last week..or early this week i watched the Russian adaptation of "Twelve angry men", called "12". (Awesome film, by the way)..but the part that concerns me is this.

At the end of 12, the after the jurors have agreed that the boy is not guilty, they are confronted with making the choice of declaring him guilty- for his own sake. See, the the theory was that he would live longer in jail than he would out. That in order for him to be let out, they would be better off first sending him to jail, then going to the courts and explaining why they actually think he is innocent, getting the actual guilty people arrested, and only then letting the boy out.

That's deep as far as i'm concerned. Sometimes, the evident "right" thing to do or "pleasant" thing to do is not the best thing for us at a particular moment in time. Sometimes, what feels like the utmost horror show is the safest place for us to be. It doesn't mean that the thing we desire, and even deserve is wrong..it's just not the time, and would be fully enjoyed at some later time.

Just like your parents will keep you locked indoors so that you're safe until you're able to look out for your own safety yourself, so sometimes God will keep you imprisoned until it's safe for you to claim your gifts.

Everybody has their own little prison, their own place or situation that they'd rather not be in..but rather than lament and lose hope, just remember that God will never do anything to hurt you. Everything that happens to you, and every situation you are in works for the ultimate good. I believe this.

I am thankful for life

I am thankful for God

I am thankful for inspiration

I am thankful for prayer

I am thankful for kindness

I am thankful for my family

I am thankful for love

I am thankful for God's presence

I am thankful for His care

I am thankful for forgiveness

I am thankful for understanding

I am thankful for emotions...as much as we fight them...they are what help us feel alive

I am thankful for growth

I am thankful for hope

I am thankful for dialogue

I am thankful for prayers answered and prayers denied :P if some things got sanctioned..there'd be chaos!

I am thankful for my friends

I am thankful for His blessings

I am thankful for health

I am thankful for His will

I am thankful for books

I am thankful for my pastor...we have a pretty awesome pastor sha...

I am thankful for the weather

I am thakful for laughter

I am thankful for who i am, where i am, where i've been and where i'm going

I am thankful for books

I am thankful for miracles

I am thankful for His intervention

I am thankful for His hand in my life

I am thankful for Grace.

I am thankful!!!!