Physical and Spiritual

     The Physical is finite.  The Spiritual is infinite.  Our minds cannot comprehend infinite or how anything or any place exists period.  How can something go on forever without boundary?  How can the physical be period?  What or who created existence?  How can we be aware of our existence?  An intelligence had to create this and us.  Our Father's house has many rooms, said our Lord.  I find exciting every word of our Lord and Father.  Jesus was trying to explain Himself and existence now and in the next life in simple terms to help people grasp an image and understanding of it.  Truly, we are not capable of fully imagining nor comprehending our Creator.  I have been asking for many years and He has slowly revealed to me glimpses of eternity and infinity, but I cannot possibly begin to comprehend this fully.  I have a feeling our spiritual selves can come much closer, but, in this physical form in this room of our Father's house, it is difficult to understand or imagine.  These thoughts bolster my faith in our Lord.  Read his words carefully.  He does not hide the truth from us.  Jesus was frustrated many times by people's failure to understand his teachings.  Isn't being a Christian exciting and thought provoking?  Spend time with God, and listen and ask questions and listen some more...do it on a daily basis.  Give our Father a part of our time.

Persecution in Malaysia

     Our Christian brothers and sisters in Malaysia need our prayers.  Islam is the official state religion though people are supposedly able to practice other religions.  The government is openly recognizing Christianity as a threat to Islam, and taking action to subvert Christian worship.  There are many people in Malaysia following this blog.  My prayers and those of other Christians around the world are being said for you.  Have faith, God always hears our cries for help.  He moves in His way to intervene.  It may not seem like he is acting, but God is never sitting still when his children are in need of his help.  You are a shining example to the rest of the world to believe and practice your faith in the midst of persecution.  You are a living testament to believers not facing such tremendous and dangerous  threats for worshiping our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Love shall bring victory.  I know in your situation it must be a true test of your faith to love your persecutors, but that is what our Lord asked us to do...Love your enemies for it is easy to love your brothers.  We ask the Lord to watch over you during the daily trials of your faith.  Your perseverance strengthens our faith.  God is using you.  You are not alone.  Christians around the world are watching.  

I sit here thinking of you, Father,
I feel a soft breeze upon my shoulders,
I look up and see the tree gently moving,
I know you are here with me.

You always come near when I need to talk with you,
You always listen to my needs,
You always help no matter how trivial,
You always smile and blow your sweet breath upon me,
You always comfort and reassure me,
You always take time for trivial me when millions are calling to you in pain,

Thank you Father,
Hallowed be thy name,
You have my love and I have yours,
Though I am but a speck in your creation,
You always come when I call out your name,
Thank you Father,
I pray that when I grow up, I will be just like you.

Father, give us the strength, wisdom, and courage

To gather your Son's flock to Him

So that He may glorify your name,

Our Lord calls out for this 

So your will shall be done

Make us your instrument in this holy act

Mold us into that which serves you

Let them know that our words are from you

We pray this

Through Your Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

Amen

John 14:1-14

     "Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God; trust also in me.  In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  You know the way to the place where I am going."
     Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
     Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.  From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
     Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
     Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.  How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?  Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?  The words I say to you are not just my own.  Rather, it is the Father living in me, or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.  I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
    
     Cannot you see?  This magnificent earth we live upon and the infinite stars, galaxies, and the space around us are but one room in our Father's house.  We cannot envisage in our physical minds the totality of this statement.  But we can know that it must be infinite and glorious as is our Father. 
     He is the way and the truth and the life.  How powerful.  How simple. No one comes to our Father except through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, King of Kings, Lord of Lords.
     "Don't you know me, Philip..."  Truly he was God come to earth in human form.  There is no hesitation in his answers.  He speaks with such authority, such all-knowingness, absolute confidence in His manner.  This is no madman...one day excited...one day depressed.  He is the same today, yesterday, and tomorrow.  Do we really believe?  Do we really have faith?  Do we need His love?  We must have faith in Him and ask in His name, and  you shall truly have it all...eternal life.  He did not say this life would be easy.  We must go forth as an army armed with His love to conquer and rescue our brothers and sisters in need.  What armies with the most advanced weapons cannot do, we can do armed with His divine love.  We must gather in our Father's children.We must begin now. 
    
    

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!  Philippians 4:4

Praise him for his mighty works; praise his unequaled greatness!   Psalm 150:2

If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.   1 John 4:20

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--   Ephesians 2:8

Understand and practice these things.  For they are the basic principles of Christianity.

IT IS TIME

If you feel desperation with life,

If you feel like crying out, but nobody would answer,

If inside you feel empty,

If life has lost any meaning,

If with hand extended, no person would take it,

If you lie on the ground helpless and alone,

Now is the time for faith,

Now is the time to believe,

Now is the time to know,

Now is the time to turn to Him,

Now is the time to realize He is there,

Now is the time to feel his Holy Spirit within you,

Now is the time to extend your hand,

Now you are not alone,

Now feel His power,

Now not later,

Now!

When he saw the crowds, he was deeply moved with compassion for them, because they were troubled and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.   Matthew 9:36

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.   John 14:1

Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.   John 16:24

IF YOU UNDERSTAND THIS, IT IS FOR YOU

     As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth.  "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
     While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples.  When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners?"
     On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  But go and learn what this means.  I desire mercy, not sacrifice.  For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Matthew 9:9-13

     If you think you are righteous and tell other people such things, you have already received your reward on earth.  Jesus came for we sinners.  We are the ones who listen and want his love and forgiveness.

Faith in a Technical World

     In a world filled with the everyday marvels of computer, I Phones, climate controlled environs, space shuttles, space stations, instant communication around the world, these things tend to shroud the spiritual area of our existence.  These tend to hide God and his miracles from us to the point we think Him not real.  We tend to see God as an ancient story.  God is, was, and forever shall be.  He is in all times, all places, and all things.  He was yesterday in ancient times, but He also exists in the future that he created in the beginning.  Faith will lead us to Him who is greater, more exciting, and more powerful than all the technology is or will ever be, and...He who is loving, personal, caring, and, most of all, the Creator of all that is, was, and forever shall be.  Should you decide to take some time each day from your technical servant world and seek Him in faith, you will begin to observe your life changing.  In devoting so much time to technical apparatus, we become its servant.  The opposite of what was originally intended.  Bowing to God, being his servant, the acts that God repays with love and an unfailing loyalty that makes us like a king unto this life.  The opposite one would expect from being a servant.  With the divine love of God, you cannot be defeated or beat down by any human or life event.  Bow down and be raised up.  Serve and become king.  Love and receive love a thousand times in return.  Have faith in our Lord Jesus, and you will have eternal life.  It is as simple as that...  eternal life =  lasting for all time without beginning or end as is our Father.

Easter

     Napoleon Bonaparte made this statement, "Alexander, Ceaser, Charles Martel, and I built empires through force.  This man (Jesus) built an empire though love, and, today, at this very moment, over a thousand years later, there are millions who would lay down their life for Him."  Why would people not lay down their lives for our Lord...He laid down His life for us.  Easter the most important day on the Christian calendar.  For, if He did not rise again on the third day, what meaning has any of our faith and trust in God? 

Ask and you will receive

     Stephen Hawking is a world renowned physicist and extremely intelligent.  He has stated that God does not exist.  He is a proponent of the Big Bang Theory.  When asked how it happened, he said, "It just happened."  Physical science only goes so far.  Mr Hawking has made the mistake so many make; when you seek God, you seek him in spirit.  The physical is the evidence of where God has been, the spirit is God.  Our Father is, was, and forever shall be, but we can never completely know him.  Mr Hawking asked to know the truth of the science of God's creation.  He did not ask to know the Creator of the physical part of life.  Therefore, he cannot know nor comprehend where all this material for the Big Bang came from.  If you know only a part of someone, you cannot know the whole of that person.  The spirit is the missing link for many people.  Jesus told us there are many rooms in My Father's house.  If this universe is but one room, one cannot imagine what is to come...how beautiful it will be.  The lesson is to include both areas, physical and spiritual, in our understanding of life and that God is the connection between the two.  Seek to know God not just his physical creation.  Our Father does not hide the truth from us.  I can believe the Big Bang Theory.  I can see how Evolution may be one of  our Father's methods of creating.  Do not fear Truth, for God is Truth.

They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.  Romans 1:25

"And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.   Luke 11:9

Critics

     On Sunday, I listened to a broadcast of an interview on NPR with the director of religious studies at North Carolina University.  I was not able to hear all the broadcast.  He said that the apostles of Matthew, Mark, and Luke were not attributed to them till 100 years after their writing took place.  Therefore, the apostles were not written by those men.  Also, he related that Jesus' divinity was due to Constantine declaring it, not Jesus himself.  His opinion stated as fact is that, though there is some evidence Jesus existed, he was just another of the apocalyptic preachers of the time.
     My first reaction was anger, but, truthfully, he sounded like me back in the early 70's.  The reality is that he is missing the entire point of what Jesus, Paul, and many others stated in the bible on the point of Christianity...faith.

 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."   Romans 1:17

He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by Faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.  Galatians3:14

Update on Book

     I knew this would be a difficult uphill battle on my first book.  I expected the process of writing it to take up to a year due to my working full time and the nature of compiling and processing large quantities of interview information.  People needed to believe in me and trust that I was not a fringe religious extremist to put it bluntly.  I have been working on the book for several months and expect many more months of work as I am able to find the time to do it.  People at times have been stand-offish, cool, just flat suspicious of my motives. 
     Now, the tide seems to be turning.  A publisher that I submitted the first 2 chapters to for a test has given me encouragement and wants to see more.  God is softening people's hearts toward my endeavor.  They see that I am not going away.  I am on a mission from God. I have had this excitement for God since a very young boy.  My faith has been a very private and personal thing while waiting for the call.  Now that the call has come, I am ready. I pray for strength, wisdom, and courage to put our Lord out there in a light he deserves.  I am merely one of his instruments for spreading his message of invitation to join Him.
      I emailed several successful authors of the Christian writing genre.  Only one author replied to my emails, Cindy Woodsmall a New York Times bestselling author.  I am amazed that she and her assistant Stephanie Rose took the time to begin corresponding information and advice on publishing, literary agents, how to be successful, alternative avenues, etc.  I can be a pest wanting information, but they cheerfully returned each inquiry in a very prompt and friendly manner.  What follows is a list of her books and writings:

Title	Release Date
Ada’s House
#1 – The Hope of Refuge	2009
#2 – The Bridge of Peace	2010
#3 – The Harvest of Grace	2011
Novella
The Sound of Sleigh Bells (standalone)	2009
The Christmas Singing (standalone)	2011
The Scent of Cherry Blossoms (standalone)	2012
Sisters of the Quilt
#1 – When the Heart Cries	2006
#2 – When the Morning Comes	2007
#3 – When the Soul Mends	2008
Non-Fiction
Plain Wisdom: An Invitation into an Amish Home and the Hearts of Two Women	2011

 Cindy Woodsmall's Website  http://www.cindywoodsmall.com/
    
     As Christians, we need to support one another.  Whether in business or personal life, we need to lift up our brothers and sisters in faith.  We and they need to know we support and encourage them to make this an increasingly better world where Christ truly is King.