The Effervescence of Creation

Reblogged from Christ in Me by Judy Goddard:

 

Genesis 1:4

God saw that the light was good and he separated the light from the darkness.
Seven times the words, “God saw that it was good.” are repeated in Genesis, chapter 1.

The word, “saw”, in Hebrew means many things in many different situations.  In Strong’s Concordance, they are given in alphabetical order.  These are the ones most people think of when reading these verses;  He approved; He beheld; He considered.

But there are others, that when I look at them fill me with a new assurance of understanding; like “make to enjoy”, to “have experience”, to “joyfully look”, “be near”, to “stare” and “visions”.

The story of creation is the story of how excited God gets when He makes something new.  He gazes at it, He enjoys it.  He looks joyfully at it.  He stares at it.”

He made this thing called Earth and he was delighted with what He’d done!  Any creative person know that feeling when something we’ve made comes out just as we “envisioned” it.  It’s that feeling join our core that is warm and delightful and when flows outward from our center to our skin it becomes effervescent and the roots of our hair tingle.  It’s like, if we don’t do something physical right away, that effervescence will burst out of us and just make a terrible mess!

I think that’s what our Father felt when He was creating the earth.  Each new thing He made filled Him with bubbling joy.  He stared at it, thinking how wonderful it was!

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Every time someone chooses to believe in the salvation offered through Christ, the Father makes them a new creation!  That same bubbling joy comes from His core and fills heaven with His delighted laughter!

 Isn’t it amazing to think of how much hilarious joy we bring God when we say yes to his perfect plan?

For each and every one of us it’s His first day of creation all over again!

It makes me tingle just thinking about it!

Please go to The Tingles to see the original post.  Well done, Judy!

For the Love of God

Here we are at the end of September and none of the global economic or natural disasters that were supposed to happen have happened (see The Bright Morning Star).  Pastor Fabio asked me, “So what does this mean, since nothing has happened?”

I was meditating in prayer on exactly this question, and what I felt in my spirit is that God, in His immense mercy is giving people every chance to repent.  The longer He delays these things, the more people that might be saved.  And He will delay until the very last person who will be saved is saved.  Then we will be Raptured out of here and His righteous wrath will come.  There will still be some Christians left on the earth—those who weren’t watching for the Rapture—and they will become the super-evangelists of the Tribulation (see Tribulation Saints and the Harvest Cycle Illustration).  They will have some success in winning souls, only God knows how many.

Another idea that occurred to me is that if we have been aware of these warnings of judgment, someone else has, too.  (I’ve been calling him “the enemy,” but inspired by Sissy, I’ve started calling him, “the defeated.”  I like that name for him.  It reminds us of how the story ends, no matter how bad things look now.  It also reminds him of his future.)  So, the defeated has been aware of these things approaching, too.  But God will still catch him off-guard when He Raptures us away.  This is exactly what Jesus was alluding to when He said, “If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into,” (Matthew 24:43—which is all part of the End Times discourse).  (See also Luke 12:39.)  So delay is also part of God’s strategy to catch the defeated unawares.  But He warns us again and again to watch and be ready.

So, as one friend commented, “I guess we dodged a bullet.”  Yes, for now.  But that doesn’t mean that it’s not coming.  All it means is that God is merciful and there are still souls to win.  So let’s get out there and share God’s love with all those who will listen.  God is good!

Arriving in Jerusalem: The Wedding Dress, The Final Blood Moon, and Holy Goosebumps!

We got a SIM chip for Michael’s phone and left Tel Aviv.  Michael navigated for us, thanks to Google maps on his phone.  About halfway there, every time we topped a hill and saw a city, Sissy said, “Is this Jerusalem?”  But finally we topped a hill and there was the largest city that we had seen yet.  This time Sissy’s question was answered yes.  As we got closer, there over the Holy City was the biggest full moon I think I’ve ever seen.  Of course, the first thought in our minds was about the impending Blood Moon of prophecy.

A lunar eclipse is called a blood moon because the moon turns a deep red due to the shadow of the earth passing between it and the sun.  Jesus said, “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars,” (Luke 21:25).  And the prophet Joel said, “The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord,” (Joel 2:31, emphasis mine).  A few years ago, Pastor Mark Biltz discovered that there was going to be a Blood Moon Tetrad.  That is, four lunar eclipses in a row, coinciding with the Feasts of Passover (the first feast of the Jewish calendar year) and Tabernacles (the last feast of the year) two years in a row with no partial lunar eclipses in between.  Each time that a Tetrad has occurred like this it has been significant for Israel (follow the link to learn more).

After our experience in Tel Aviv (see Rough Landing in the Holyland), we were concerned—especially after reading the landlord’s last email, which said that we would be staying on -1 floor.  In Milan, that would be a basement.  So we were picturing something dark and damp.  Instead, our apartment turns out to be in a building built into the side of a hill.  We have a lovely view, yet no street noise at all—it’s the best of all possible places.

So yesterday, our first day in Jerusalem, we wanted to go to the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall.  First we took a walk through the Jewish Market to Jaffa Street because I needed to meet with a missionary there.  Rob had contacted me about staying in Milan while he deals with his visa issues.  He had wanted to stay at my apartment next week, while I’m still in Israel.  I was about to write back to him, saying that I’m sorry, but there will be nobody to let him in.  Then I noticed that his visa issues were with Israel.  Upon investigation, it turned out that he’s here.  Since I don’t believe in coincidence, this had to be a God-incidence.  So I met Rob at his building, where he works for a church.  Being Sunday, the church is very busy, with one group after another holding their services there.  I gave Rob Nina’s set of keys.

Since Nina, Sissy, and Michael don’t understand English, we decided not to stay for the next service (starting in 45 minutes).  Instead, we walked on to the Western Wall.  As we approached the David Tower we saw a giant wedding dress dancing on the breeze over the city.  Holy Goosebumps time!  We took picture after picture, trying to capture the dress as, well, dress-like.  Often in the wind it just looked like a big, lacy banner of some sort.

At the Western Wall, there was a crowd of people, but nothing like there will be once the Feast is in full-swing.  On the women’s side, there were women touching the wall, weeping in prayer.  Other women held Prayer Books over their faces and were davening in prayer (that is rocking their upper bodies as they pray).  My first time at the Wall, I remember the prayer gushing out of me like a fountain so that it made me rock.  I understand davening very well after that experience—it was a supernatural response to the presence of God.  Again, this was a strong experience of prayer.  As I prayed for my family, I felt like Jesus was pointing out to me that I was surrounded here by His family.  He loves His like I love mine, and He won’t let any of them be lost.

After about half an hour, we backed slowly away from the wall, and went to our pre-arranged meeting place for meeting Fabio and Michael.  They arrived just moments after we did.

A Jewish American that we met had told us that there was supposed to be a million Christians meeting at the Wall.  It’s a big place, but I doubt that it could possibly hold a million people.  When we asked what organization, he said, “I don’t know.  I heard Christian, that’s all.”

          

Today on the Mount of Olives we waited in a café while Fabio and Michael parked the car.  There we met a group of people touring as a group called Feast of Tabernacles.  It is apparently a huge group, and those we met were Dutch.  Hannah sat with us and told us that on Thursday there will be a march through Jerusalem of 6000 people.  Furthermore, Hannah said that there is a Rabbinical teaching that says that when the goyim (gentiles) come to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, the Messiah will appear.  That was another Holy Goosebumps moment!

Our time here has only just begun, but it has been a time of ministry (hospitality to Rob), prophetic importance (the Blood Moon), and Holy Goosebumps moments.  I can’t wait to see what’s next!  God is good!

Rough Landing in the Holyland

We arrived in Israel Friday evening—so it was the Sabbath.  We, being Pastor Fabio and his wife, Sissy, Nina (who is Sissy’s sister), Michael (Nina’s son), and me.  The rental car company said that they didn’t have any cars at all.  Then it turned out that they did, but they needed a manager to authorize an upgrade.  The manager was difficult to find.  Meanwhile, some other customers who were in the same predicament saw our pile of luggage.  They said that it won’t all fit in the kind of car that we had requested.  Upon hearing this, I began praying, and I advised the others to pray, too.

About an hour and a half later, when we finally got our car, the fellas packed, packed, and packed again, until it all fit.  Backpacks had to go on their owner’s lap, but we were happy to all fit somehow.  Pastor Fabio drove us to Tel Aviv, but without GPS (which cost too much from the car rental place), it was very difficult to find the beach road.  It seems like if you point the car west, you’ll eventually find the beach, right?  Well, after the sun has set, and with streets that weave and wind around, finding the beach was a real problem.  We pulled over to ask at least a dozen people how to get to the beach road, but the answers were so vague at first that we literally drove around in circles for almost an hour.  The first few people we asked answered, “Make a U turn, then . . .” Finally, when the responses began to sound the same, we knew that we were getting close.

The hotel was really much more like a small-roomed hostel, with a shared bathroom.  We were glad to be able at least to have our privacy for sleeping.  But none of us slept well at all.  Nina and Michael’s room was a noisy, street-side room.  Mine had noisy neighbors.  The man next door had his television on at full volume until I knocked and asked him to please turn the TV down—at midnight.  Then the people across the hall came in drunk and shouting at three in the morning (apparently the more one drinks, the less one is able to hear).  So I was only able to sleep during the three relatively quiet hours between midnight and three.  Fabio and Sissy’s room was hot because the air conditioner was broken, and they only had one tiny window that opened to an interior stairwell.  So we all had a pretty miserable night.

The next morning as I sat looking at the beach, I made a decision not to make these difficulties my focus.  I decided that it’s better to be grateful.  And with that decision, I did feel better.  There, just across the street was the beautiful Mediterranean Sea, sparkling like a blue sapphire under a golden sun that hadn’t yet begun to heat the day too much.  A soft breeze ruffled my hair, like the caress of an adoring parent.

Tel Aviv is very touristy, and for that, it’s not so nice.  But the beaches are clean, the sea is clear, the sky is beautiful, and God is always on His throne.  Yes, this is going to be a memorable trip—and it’s only just begun.  God is good!

Open Letter to God

23 September 2015

Dear God,

I just want to tell You what is in my heart:

Dear Holy Spirit:

You have been so good to me—a very present Help in times of need.  You protect me from unknown dangers and lead me into the Way of Life.  You share the secrets of earth and of Heaven with me.  You tell me to open my mouth to speak when I don’t know what to say, and You fill it, giving me words that are way beyond my own wisdom or understanding.

I remember meeting You, having no idea what to expect.  You baptized me in Your presence and in Your love, and then You gave me a new language—the language of Heaven.  You changed my life forever.

During those years when I was so far from God, when I wandered in anger and ignorance, You stayed with me.  Even though I must have offended You hundreds of times every day, You never left me.  I’ve never known a friend so faithful!  And when it was time for me to come back, You wooed me tenderly for months, preparing me to return to God—to Yourself.  I wasn’t ready to come back.  I didn’t want to come back, but You were so sweetly persuasive that I couldn’t say no.  And I’ve never regretted it.

Dear Father:

Like many people I have misunderstood You, thinking that the Angry Old Testament God (You!) had been replaced by a kinder, gentler God of Love (Jesus).  But of course, that mindset reveals a gross lack of understand of who You are.  You never change.  Jesus said that if we’ve seen Him, we’ve seen You.

You are God who loves me so much that You sent Your Son to die in my place.  Your holiness is inviolable, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Father, I don’t want to reduce You to my size.  I love You for being so much bigger than me.  I love You for being holy.  I love You for not tolerating sin.  You are Holy God who is Love.  You love intimately and infinitely and generously.  You made provision for me by the blood of Your own Son.  I confess, I’ve never loved anyone enough to sacrifice either of my sons for that person.  But You gave the Best, most Precious thing You had—and You did it for me!  How could I possibly hold anything back from You?  It all came from You in the first place!

Dear Jesus:

I remember that dream in which I first saw You, met You face-to-face.  You looked so different from the Hollywood Jesus or the Jesus of Italian paintings that I didn’t recognize You right away.  I remember Your smile, how it lit up Your face—and also the room.  There was such sweetness and joy in that smile that it was highly contagious.  You smiled at me like someone smiles upon seeing a dear friend.  And although I haven’t always been such a good friend to You, You have forgiven me so completely that You do see me as a dear friend.  That blows my mind.

The thing I remember even more that Your smile is Your eyes.  Deep brown eyes so expressive of love.  I’ve never seen eyes more beautiful than Yours.  Those eyes did all the talking in my second dream of You.  They spoke of a love that is both fierce and tender.  That was a dream that I never wanted to end.  I could spend hours, days, a lifetime, gazing into those lovely eyes of Yours.

And having seen You, all I want is to see You again, to be with You.  I love it that we don’t have to talk and talk and talk.  Just being with You, listening to Your heartbeat, is amazing.  And to think that’s what You want, too!  I don’t understand how anyone could find anything about this world better that being with You.  I think it’s just because they don’t know what I know.  But I say it all the time, and I will keep saying it: God is good!

Love,

Alisa

The Bright Morning Star

This is the mural at the Denver International Airport.  Considering the underground bunker they’ve built there, does this look like a happy, peaceful scene?

“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to give you this message for the churches.  I am both the source of David and the heir to his throne.  I am the bright morning star,” (Revelation 22:16, NLT, emphasis mine).

For the past month or more I have noticed a star in the morning sky.  Now, that in itself is pretty unusual, since Milan is so bright that you hardly ever see stars at all.  This star appears about 5-5:30 in the morning in the eastern sky, and it has gotten noticeably bigger and brighter, and is visibly moving across the sky.  This star remains visible until almost 7:00, when the sun starts coming over the horizon.

Yesterday I suddenly realized that this is not an ordinary star.  It’s probably not a star at all.  You Tube has a ton of videos about the close fly-by or a direct hit by a comet (or the mysterious Planet X, also known as Nibiru).  I don’t know if that’s true, but if it is, then the silence coming from NASA, the US government, and the media is absolutely deafening.  Especially when you consider the following facts:

• Since 9/11 the US government has been systematically dismantling the Constitution under the guise of protecting the American people. What started as a subtle assault on our rights has now become a blatant attack.
  • The system of checks and balances that were built into our government—the three separate branches that were designed to prevent the presidency from becoming a dictatorship—have melded into one, with the executive and judicial branches overstepping their legal bounds by making laws as they please.

     

As you can see, there is an extensive network of deep underground bunkers all over the US.  But who of you knew about them?

• The US government has built a whole system of bunkers deep under the earth. Cheyenne Mountain and under Denver International Airport are just a couple of examples.
  • These bunkers have been kept secret from the general public.

I always thought FEMA’s job was to save lives!

• FEMA has stockpiled hundreds of thousands of plastic (think Tupperware) coffins.
  • Again, this has been kept secret from the general public.
• The Jade Helm exercises are most likely getting the American people ready for martial law.
  • Guns will probably be outlawed and confiscated soon.
• Entertainment (TV, movies, music, and video games especially) is full of Illuminati references, signs, and images.
  • Entertainment is also full of references to something happening on 23 September (or 24) of this year. What is supposed to happen on these dates?

Illuminati sign–there are others, Google them!

• Also on 23 September, the Large Hadron Collider at Cern is supposed to operate at full capacity—the highest power that they’ve ever run it at.
  • As I wrote in my post The Rabbit Hole, Wormholes, and Other Crazy Stuff, Cern is not only not Christian, it is pseudo-science that embraces shiva, the Hindu god of destruction, and has built what they had actually been trying to build at the tower of Babel: a portal into Heaven. You couldn’t make this stuff up!

           

Cern’s 666 logo and statue of shiva on site.

• In their experiments, Cern scientists have said that they have opened small portals and seen faces on the other side. Their site is on the ancient city of Appolliacum—the city dedicated to the Roman god apollos.  This is interesting when you consider Revelation 9:11 (note: read in context of Revelation 9:1-12, it speaks of the angel that has been given the key to the bottomless pit, to set loose upon the world horrible stinging insects).

          

Bohemian Grove’s 40 foot tall owl with furnace in the bottom.  On the right is a close-up of the “effigy,” which does look an awful lot like an actual suffering baby (on its back with hands raised).

• World leaders, including almost every US president have attended the unholy proceedings at Bohemian Grove in northern California for over 100 years. Those proceedings include a satanic ceremony in which an effigy (they say it’s an effigy!) of a baby is burned in a furnace at the base of a giant owl.  The ceremony has been filmed (follow that link).
  • Almost every US president has also been a member of one secret society or another or had a cabinet full of them: Freemasons, Skull and Bones Society, Bilderberg Group, and the Committee of 300 (follow the link for more about the secret societies and their members).
  • Most of those secret societies want the earth’s population reduced by 80%—that’s about 6 Billion people that they want dead. Our world leaders want most of us dead.

• Australia has a planetary defense system called Project Wormwood. Wormwood seems a strange name, especially in light of Revelation 8:11 and the star called Wormwood that falls to earth and poisons the waters.

Something is hurtling toward us—a comet, a planet, an asteroid, I don’t know; and the powers that be don’t want us to know about it.  They plan to hide safely away in deep underground bunkers while above them millions of their fellow citizens die.  And most of us are so distracted by work, our smart phones, tablets, Facebook—lol! that we literally have no idea what’s going on.  As Jesus said, that day will close on most people like a trap, and they’ll never know what hit them (Luke 21:34).

God is speaking to the people of earth, warning us of the coming judgments.  He is using the biggest billboard possible: the entire sky, itself.  But are we listening?

The Lord will make his majestic voice heard.  He will display the strength of His mighty arm.  It will descend with devouring flames, with cloudbursts, thunderstorms, and huge hailstones, Isaiah 30:30, NLT, emphasis mine).

What will happen on 23 – 24 September?  I don’t know.  It could be a direct hit or near-pass by a comet or something.  Cern might succeed in opening that portal.  And the Christians?  If those two things happen, then it’s very likely that we’ll be raptured outta here.  I’m not date-setting, but I am saying that we should be prepared.  One thing is for sure: you don’t want these things to happen while you’re unprepared.

Some people are stockpiling food and water.  Others are stockpiling weapons and ammunition.  But the most important preparation of all is to get right with God now.  Today, like never before, you want to be on God’s side—and to have Him on your side.  God is good!

The Chosen

Ingratitude is an eye disease every bit as much as a heart disease. It sees only flaws, scars, scarcity. Likewise, the god of the thankless is wary, stingy, grudging, bumbling, nitpicky. He’s by turns meddlesome and apathetic, suspicious then indifferent, grubbing about in our domestic trifles one moment, then oblivious to our personal catastrophes the next[1].

Mark Buchanan, author of the above quote, wrote about Judas, how his pride led him to betray Jesus, in the belief that he knew better than Jesus.  Perhaps he thought he would just take the Teacher down a notch, let the Pharisees rough Him up a bit.  But when he saw his plan spinning out of control, and Jesus was condemned to death, suddenly Judas was filled with remorse and fell into despair.

Despair is the flip-side of the same coin as pride.  Despair believes that no one—not even God—can fix the mess I’ve made.  In a moment, Judas flipped from swaggering pride to the depths of despair.  In despair, Judas hanged himself, taking on the role of God as Judge, judged himself, and executed himself.

There are two things that usher me into the presence of God: gratitude and worship.  Gratitude is the flip-side of the same coin as worship.

Gratitude reminds me that God is good.  No matter what I’m going through, God is good.  And that “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose[2].”

It was especially important for me to remain grateful this week because the other shoe dropped, so to speak.  I had another household accident.  I fell again.  This time I slipped on water in the bathroom.  Amazingly, I didn’t try to catch myself with my left hand, and thus avoided re-injuring my wrist.  But I fell hard on my left hip.

Thirty years ago I had broken my hip socket when my hip became slightly dislocated during an aerobics class.  At the time the doctor sent home and told to lie flat on my back for six weeks.  I spent another six months getting around on crutches.  This injury felt like that one, but thankfully, it wasn’t as bad.  My hip dislocated and I suffered a bone bruise.

Through it all, I have remained grateful because I do know that God is good.  And although the enemy has succeeded in slowing me down, he has not succeeded in stopping me.  And by the grace of God, he will never succeed in stopping me.

Worship reminds me that God is sovereign.  He is still on the throne and He is worthy as ever of all praise and worship.  To think that this God gives even a moment’s thought to me is amazing.  But He doesn’t just give a moment’s thought.  David wrote:

How precious are Your thoughts about me, O God.  They cannot be numbered!  I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand[3]!

Imagine that!  God is thinking about me even more than I am capable of thinking about myself—which I do—a lot!  But worship turns my self-centered mind back in the right direction: Godward.  And really, if God is thinking so much about me, shouldn’t I be thinking of Him, too?

And it becomes a divine cycle: gratitude draws me into worship of my amazing and good God, and worship births in me renewed gratitude, which draws me higher into worship.  The gratitude/worship coin flips.  Flip, flip, flip.  And I am carried up with it—gravity looses its hold on me.

Back here on planet earth, I would like to ask gravity to be a bit kinder to those of us who are getting older.  Nevertheless, when that trumpet sounds, by the grace of God I will have the final word over gravity.  Don’t forget to be grateful.  Live a grateful lifestyle—I guarantee you’ll be happier.  Think about God, who is always thinking of you, and worship Him.  God is good!

[1] Mark Buchanan, (The Rest of God, 2006).

[2] Romans 8:28.

[3] Psalm 139:17-18, NLT, emphasis mine.

What to do with the Reluctant Guest

Sometimes a guest will come who doesn’t seem to be at ease sharing my living space with me.  Most often this is the case with a guest that has come alone, and often this reluctant guest is just meeting me for the first time and is feeling shy.

By now I have hosted enough people here that I don’t feel shy about having a stranger in the house[1].  They might see me in my pajamas.  We might startle each other on a trip to the bathroom in the dark of night.  They might walk in on me in my prayer or Bible time.  I have had so many of these moments with people and their children that it no longer phases me.  But the reluctant guest may not have had these types of encounters with a stranger before.

Most of all, I get people who don’t know how to accept free hospitality.  They think that there must be some kind of price that I expect from them.  But I don’t expect any money from anyone who is serving God.  This is my service to God, welcoming His people and saving them at least the cost of lodging and a meal or two.  Nevertheless, some are uncomfortable accepting free lodging.  They feel uncomfortable drinking my coffee or eating the food from my fridge.

Some people will go to the grocery store almost immediately upon arrival—and often they are buying things that I already have in the house.  For example, for the last year I have averaged about ten pounds of pasta in the kitchen at any given time.  People buy it (without looking to see if I already have it), and then they leave it.  At the moment, I also have thirty cans of tuna.  Once I had five opened jars of pesto and two opened jars of tomato sauce in the fridge.  For someone who doesn’t cook any more, this is excessive.

I try to put people at ease about using the things in my house by telling them: “If you don’t have to ask permission to use the toilet paper, then you don’t have to ask permission to use anything in this house.  It’s all for ministry.”  I don’t try to stop them from going to the grocery store.  They might be allergic to regular milk or have some other special need.  But I do ask them to check first to see if I already have two dozen eggs before they buy more eggs.

Another reason why I don’t discourage a trip to the grocery store is because some guests really only feel at home if they can cook.  My kitchen is very well-equipped, so people who like to cook are delighted to have such a kitchen to use.  Others, want to cook because it is more economical than eating out all the time.

The reluctant guest will prefer to spend time alone in their room or out of the house during daylight hours.  This is fine with me.  I am happy to get to know my guests and to spend time with them and pray with them.  But I am equally happy to be let off the hook, so that I don’t have to be their personal tour guide to Milan.

So if you ever come to visit me, unless I have something important to do, I’ll be happy to spend time with you.  But if you prefer to be left alone, I will also be happy to give you a key and the Wi-Fi password, and let you do your own thing while you’re here.  All is ask is please check before you buy more tuna.  God is good!

[1] Of course, I only take in believers or personal friends.