the spectrum heart cathedral system

 

Jade shower & card
We talked SO MUCH while I was biking, it was wonderful.

BK at 115, haha.
$5 bet on battery power, 52%!! Julie had guessed 62 and gave it to Adelaide


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Universalis=

"You are always true to your word, Father. Look down from heaven and put an end to our foolishness. Save us from groundless fears and help us to please you with undivided heart."
It just hit me, ALL fears are groundless EXCEPT for fear of offending God. THAT'S IT. We have nothing to fear but sin, because that alone can kill our soul. But GOD FORGIVES SIN, therefore even our wretched sin cannot frighten us to despair anymore, IF WE FEAR GOD.
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KVOTD = Revelation 21:3-4.
"God PROMISES His children intimate fellowship with Him. And not only that, but we're promised a life without [physical OR emotional] pain, sadness, or death. The Greek word "aionios" means "perpetual, eternal, everlasting." The word "zoe" means genuine, real, active life.  When those two words are combined together they speak of a fulness and quality of life that is far beyond what we experience day to day... this is what is promised us when we trust in Him. Trusting in God and His promise of new life is one way that we can steward our lives."
Think8:7 always ends their reflections with stewardship, which i really love because it ALWAYS APPLIES, even when you wouldn't expect it, and that enriches both the verse AND our way of living as a Christian. Offhand, I wouldn't think of "trust" as stewardship, but  check out the Dictionary definition =
"Stewardship is the responsible overseeing and protection of something considered worth caring for and preserving."
Who is the ONLY One that CAN oversee and protect our life? GOD. He is omniscient and omnipotent. He alone is truly capable of acting in a responsible way-- but we cannot play the helpless card!! God TELLS US TO "BE HOLY AS HE IS HOLY," and that includes being responsible, and He GIVES US GRACE TO DO IT.
This definition also tells us that God considers our frail little lives truly worth caring for and preserving, so we should too. And why? Well, NOW think more deeply about this verse from Revelation:
"Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. ‭He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away; the former ways are gone forever.”
Trusting in THAT means that we can't help but see our lives as worthwhile, because God WANTS TO LIVE WITH US. So we MUST preserve our lives FROM SIN, which IS death & pain & sorrow in the realest sense... and we do that THROUGH CHRIST, in Whom ALL "former ways have passed away," leaving only the Way that IS Christ, the One Who cannot ever "pass away," because He met death head-on and defeated it forever.
That's enough rambling. But remember that bit: to responsibly steward your life, to treat it as valued & worthwhile, to watch it carefully & keep it from harm, we must TRUST GOD'S PROMISE TO BE WITH US, our ultimate hope, which we can enter into even now IN JESUS, Who IS THAT ETERNAL LIFE.

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Next commentary on John 12 is BENSON.

I was going to take a brief break and comment on 1 Peter today, but accidentally fasting for 18 hours has completely evaporated my brainpower, haha. I literally cannot think straight enough to reason, let alone type, so I am just going to read.
...Actually, let me add something about that. The foni who type on the phone are almost exclusively female, very self-centered & smug OR self-hating & bitter, and they DO NOT GO UPSTAIRS. So when they ramble & rue, we are STUCK DOWNSTAIRS.
It's been killing our mental health.
We miss just reading the Bible together, talking about it together, really sharing our faith & growing as one... not this conceited cloistering of our consciousness. These thriskefoni only comment to show off. They're not concerned about actual edification, they just want to talk a pretty paragraph to admire as "good Christian wisdom", obsessed with this frantic need to "teach others", as if they alone could do so. What disgusting hypocrites we can be.
That's them talking now. ALL judgmental, passive-aggressive, condescending, & condemning language is them fighting each other.
Time to stop. We're going upstairs.


"Lazarus’s sitting at the table showed still more the reality of the miracle wrought at his tomb; that it was not a spectre or illusion which then presented itself to the sight; and that Lazarus was not only restored to life, but likewise to perfect health."
God doesn't heal the soul "halfway." None of Jesus's miracles were left incomplete. His power & willingness to heal is TOTAL and PERFECT. The sole obstacle is our willingness to receive-- which we can only do by FAITH.
The point = life & health are tied. This is apparent in nature. All diseases & decay are the active means of death, even in a living body: the visible signs of death's unstoppable approach. When Christ restores life to one who is dead, as Lazarus, He must therefore also remove death's manifestations of illness?
But this is no doom to the chronically &/or terminally ill. Christ Himself died, remember? He has taken death itself and transformed it in Himself. So if He does not "restore you to physical life" now, do not fear. Have faith in His healing Power & Will even so, and He WILL restore you to ETERNAL life... even now, even while suffering disease & decay.
In all situations Christ restores Life, TRUE Life.
...I wanted to say something about how Christ has healed US in this way, how He has restored Life to us WHEN WE WERE "DEAD" in both sin & sickness.
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"Judas was angry because his Master had not taken the ointment with a view to sell it, pretending that the price received for it might have been bestowed on the poor."
Oh wow THAT'S EVEN WORSE!!!
To give a gift to God, and for Him to accept it not AS a gift, but as a profit to make-- That's the mindset of Satanism, not Christianity!!!
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"Judas's real motive was covetousness; for as he carried the bag, he thought if his Master had sold the ointment, he would have gotten the money to keep, and so might have applied part of it to his own private use. But it is no new thing for the basest men to cover their blackest crimes with the fair pretence of zeal for the honour of God and the interests of religion." 
First: how distasteful it was for Judas to be thinking first & foremost of profit. He saw dollar signs where he should have seen a priceless gift. He "counted the cost" instead of lavishing love.
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Second: covetousness, not mere greed. He didn't just want money, he wanted the money that he saw Mary pouring out. "Covetousness is a specific desire for what someone else has that you don't, because they have it and you don't." Now THAT is evil. It makes the greed personal, proud, and malicious. It disposes one not to common theft but to robbery. Covetousness is dehumanizing. How did Judas's heart get that frozen??
Third: he felt entitled to use common funds for himself, meaning that he saw himself as GREATER than them-- whether more needy, more deserving, more justified, it doesn't matter; the point is he was exalting himself above ALL the others to merit his own gain... and "the others" included Jesus. He had already separated himself from His Master, even on this seemingly insignificant level. But everything in our life matters to God, perhaps especially our "smallest" actions.
Fourth: it is so disturbing that "zeal for God's honor" is so TYPICALLY ABUSED by the most corrupt hearts.
Yet it's happening RIGHT NOW in Israel, in Gaza, in Palestine. "The interests of religion" are being wielded as weapons and plunged into the guts of the innocent. Do those zealots really think God is honored by such demonic acts, by such sinful hatred and loveless pride? When Israelis are chanting "death to Arabs," calling them "animals" and threatening their children with outright murder-- do they sincerely think God is pleased?? Have they forgotten their own Scriptures???
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Fifth: that "fair pretence" was literally us during the Tilly days.
Oh yes, Jayce was a thief and a liar, but he never wove such a heavy veil of orthodox religious zeal to cloak his concupiscence. Tilly wore hers to church.
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"Fear not, daughter of Sion"; For His meekness, as well as the end of His coming, forbids fear."
This is so simple, but it hits hard.
Jesus came to earth to SAVE SINNERS. He did not come with wrath & impatience & pride, but with meekness & mercy & love. He died so we wouldn't have to, and He forgave the very people that killed Him. Even when He warned of final judgment & the real risk of hell, He always revealed along with it the way to safety & peace-- the Way of Faith in Him, the King of meekness, Whose very Kingdom is founded on the Love of God.
Meekness is to be "gentle & kind; humbly patient or quiet in nature, as under provocation from others." There is evidently nothing fearsome about such a King!
But it's not just that there's no "reason to be afraid" of our truly gentle Savior-- it's that both His Character and His Purpose FORBID FEAR-- because fear reveals a lack of trust in Him.
"Forbid" actually has FOUR definitions =
1) to command (a person) not to do something. The very "command OF Love" is not to fear, as Scripture repeatedly affirms!
2) to prohibit (something); make a rule or law against. Arguably, the Great Commandment does this too. In order to love God with everything you are, you are implicitly prohibited from fearing anything in this world.
3) to hinder or prevent; make impossible. The most obvious result of love. "Perfect love drives out fear."
4) to exclude; bar. When your heart is full of love & trust, there is neither room nor foothold for fear.
I can't think any more about this now, but it's so deep. ALL those definitions apply to both the effect of Jesus's Character on our anxious hearts, AND on the ultimate results of His Life, Death, and Resurrection on our frightened souls. It's really beautiful, even if words fail me. Please make sure the point of it still sinks in.


"The design of God’s providential dispensations is seldom understood at first. We ought, therefore, to believe, though we understand not, and to give ourselves up to the divine disposal. The great work of faith is, to embrace those things which we know not now, but shall know hereafter."
Some "gnostic"-leaning perspectives, in my personal experience, seem to reject this hope entirely? They seem afraid of not knowing the Truth about Everything while here on earth; are they afraid this affects what they encounter or experience when they die? Are they afraid that the seeking stops upon death, that the soul cannot learn any more, that what answers they fail to discover while alive are now lost to them forever? I don't know. But that perspective admittedly haunts me, secretly, and I must combat it with the REAL Truth which is the Gospel.
In any case, it demands immense humility, to admit that we do not understand God's designs at all, but we STILL TRUST HIM, and we STILL BELIEVE what God has called True, even if we don't know HOW it is so. A man embraces the most profound humility in admitting and accepting that there are, and always will be, countless things that he does not know or understand in this life, and NEVER WILL, because he NEVER CAN... and this admission is the powerful anchor of FAITH, that exults in response, "nevertheless, God knows & understands ALL THINGS, therefore I do NOT have to; I need only to TRUST IN HIM."
And then there's that last amazing hope: "we shall know hereafter." But what shall we know? All mathematics, all physics, all artistic genius, all musical beauty? Or will any and all of that pale in comparison to knowing the Reality of God-- to beholding the Beatific Vision? God contains All That Is, after all; everything was created by Him and for Him. There is nothing else worth knowing, nothing else more worthy of knowing. And if I can rest my faith in that hope alone, then I can gladly wait until "the hereafter" to understand what I do not understand here.
Like a little child that knows nothing and trusts its Father for everything, so too must be my soul, and all will be well.


"In saying, He called Lazarus out of the grave, the evangelist admirably expresses, as well the greatness of the miracle, as the facility with which it was wrought. The easiness of the Scripture style, on the most grand occurrences, is more sublime than all the pomp of orators."
When you realize this, it really is remarkable. Jesus worked miracles of supreme authority & power and yet He did so entirely without fanfare or theatrics whatsoever. He gave sight to a man born blind, cast out legions of demons, and raised Lazarus from death by a word. He needed nothing more than His Will to completely overturn the reign of death in the life of mankind. He never needed to prepare, or train, or study, or even lift a hand to do what He willed to do, and when He carried it out, it was unstoppable and effortless. That's AMAZING. No one, ever, could do that... no one but God. That stunning simplicity of Sovereignty, which confounds all human expectations & reason, is as powerful a proof for Christ's Divinity as the very miracles themselves.


""Jesus answered [the Greeks], saying..."= This phraseology intimates the suitableness of the following discourse to this particular occasion; by attending to which, many of the beauties of it will be discovered. Our Lord might, perhaps, enlarge on some of these hints; and if his hearers took a due notice of them, and made a proper report on their return home, it might prepare the way for the apostles, when they came to unfold and illustrate these important doctrines more fully by their preaching."
First: ALWAYS consider the context of Christ's words. He never speaks into a vacuum, or at random, or without direct & precise relevance to His listeners. Christ is incapable of idle or inert speech. Everything He says has Power, and that Power is directed towards a Purpose, and that to particular Persons-- so pray to humbly & openly recognize & hear it AS such. Only then will you really perceive the immense depths of beauty & truth in His Words.
Second: our DUTY AS LISTENERS. Jesus never speaks to entertain, He never indulges in empty chatter; therefore we must listen as students, as apprentices, as servants, as disciples! Not only do His Words have Power & Purpose, they ARE ETERNAL LIFE-- and so they MUST be responded to in kind! And what does life do? It MULTIPLIES life! So too must we! We must not only let Christ's Words take root in the ground of our souls, we must diligently tend them to sprout & bloom, by the more we listen to Him and ponder on His Teachings and reflect on their Truths and PUT THEM INTO PRACTICE... and once we have truly so "integrated" His Words into our lives, where they are now part of our lives and selves, then we can "give proper report" of those Words to others. I take the preparation that far because, speaking from experience, you cannot preach what you do not practice. You cannot learn to play the violin by hearing a virtuoso perform; you must pick up the instrument yourself before you can even attempt to imitate their melodies. Learning, to be true, always requires personal application. So we MUST begin to "live the Gospel" before we can begin preaching it in any sincerity. But we MUST DO BOTH!! THEY ARE NOT OPTIONAL!! And that is not just for our own salvation-- do realize that YOUR sharing of the Gospel in words and works might be the ONLY GOSPEL SOME PEOPLE WILL ACTUALLY HEAR. And God needs you to preach to them, to prepare the way for their hearts to receive further truths in due time! In Jesus's time, in this real historical context, the Greeks He was speaking to had the MORAL RESPONSIBILITY to listen, accept, integrate, and preach those very words to their unbelieving neighbors back home. They were also becoming "apostles" in a sense, solely THROUGH hearing the Gospel-- because "God's Word does not return to Him empty"! It MUST be acted upon; it COMPELS us by its Truth. If we have faith in it, even as a mustard seed, we will be completely unable to keep our mouths shut about it. It will become "like a fire in our bones." So to have faith at ALL is to "give a report" of it, because faith loves God and must glorify Him, and faith loves humankind for God's sake and must partake in His effort to call all mankind to repentance, to Himself. "Prepare the way of the Lord" becomes our constant cry, and we cannot help it-- souls need to know Jesus, and we must make Him known. And honestly? What He does say to the Greeks is so beautiful, so powerful, one cannot help but share the news of it, as naturally as one shares the joy of discovering any lesser treasure.


"As if He had said, As the only way to make grain produce fruit is to bury it in the ground; so, the most proper method of bringing about the conversion and salvation of the world is, that I die and be buried. To omit other things, our Lord’s resurrection, the grand miracle on which the truth of Christianity is founded, and by which the conversion of the world was effected, happened in consequence of His death."
I think we take these facts far too much for granted.
First: being buried is the ONLY WAY TO BEAR FRUIT, for anyone. Yes, that includes YOU. You keep asking God, "I want to bear good fruit for You, but I don't know how!" Well, apparently, step one is GET BURIED. Seriously.
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Second: "Fruit" is defined as "conversion and salvation." Honestly, does anything else EVER rightly count as "fruit"? Does anything else give true nutriment, carry seeds of true life, or
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Third: Christianity is founded upon the Resurrection.
Fourth: The Resurrection would never have happened if Jesus hadn't literally died.
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