Month: February 2021

Deceived…

On By Papa TonyIn Thought2 Comments

The problem with being deceived is that you do not know you have been deceived! At its core, in order for any deception to be effective, the person subject to the deception has to remain unaware of the deception. There’s little profit in informing someone they have been deceived because in their deception they usually don’t believe you anyway. So why bother discussing such a subject given that there’s so little return on your investment? The point is that the deception only lasts as long as there is no information exposing the deception for what it is. This is the exposure. Have you been deceived? Probably!

As I’ve penned many times before, life is spiritual at its base. Spiritual verities, though often referred to and lauded, are typically misunderstood. They are misunderstood because man needs a standard of truth outside of his own reasoning to separate truth from error. Absent any standard of truth, man is ripe for deception. God does not say that His people are destroyed because they have a spiritual enemy. He says His people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. It isn’t what man knows that defeats him, it is what he doesn’t know or worse what he thinks he knows but doesn’t really know that defeats him. Ignorance is never really bliss! No person that begins to dabble with illicit drugs, for example, perceives that there is something evil behind his pursuit. Instead he relies on his feelings and his newfound discovery of an exciting hidden world he wasn’t aware of before. In this new world there is promise of discovery and insight, indeed awareness he never experienced before. His experiences are generally positive and fun and certainly nothing to be concerned about. He assures himself he has got things under control and knows what he is doing, that is until that which he allows begins to show itself for what it really is and usually by then occurs too far down the road to escape. And like a fish trapped on the hook or a bird caught in a snare, by the time the trap becomes painfully apparent, it’s too late. This is the story of life lived by what appears as opposed to life lived by what is actually true.

It has been said that the secret to the adversary’s success is the secrecy of his moves. As a testimony, most folks don’t even believe there is an adversary. They brush it aside as religious fantasy, all the while being sorely pricked and assaulted by that same source. They fail to see that the life they live is influenced by two sources, one good and one evil. One source promises life, life lived more than abundantly in every regard. One source seeks only to steal, to kill and to destroy. One source encourages and enhances life. The other source diminishes and hinders and thwarts life. Every problem you have ever had, small and great, minor and major, inconsequential and catastrophic comes from one source. Every sickness, every disease, every life cut short, every life lived in bondage, every torture, every war came ultimately from that one evil source. I say that not as a criticism for those suffering or to blame those unjustly victimized and targeted, but as an expose’ and urgent appeal to see things for what they really are. If you are suffering, if you are having a tough time, if you are struggling in any capacity, the source of it is ultimately evil and it is not God’s will for you to live that way! There is a way out, a real source of escape, but it requires that you humble yourself to what God says is true instead of spending your life trying to figure it out on your own. The reason your spiritual opponent gains ascendancy in your life is because you remain ignorant of his devices.

All of us living in this world are subject to the same contest, the same fight. I am not exempt and you are not exempt. I lose the fight sometimes just like you lose the fight sometimes. I get deceived like you get deceived. Being a Christian, indeed a child of God, does not guarantee you will win the fight, ultimately yes, but not necessarily in the day by day. The only way to win the fight is to see through the deceptions and the only way to see through the deceptions is to learn what God says is true in opposition to what the enemy says or portrays as true. The systems of the world are set up and carefully schemed to convince you of things that aren’t true. It doesn’t matter how smart or confident you are, it matters what God says is true. In fact, your spiritual opponent is counting on your own ego to lead you astray. You cannot go by what you think or how you feel or what your parents may have taught you. You cannot depend upon your finite, limited five senses reasonings to discern truth from error. You cannot depend upon your life experiences or your previous successes or failures. You can only depend on one thing and that one thing is the truth of God’s Word.

God invented life and as such knows exactly how it can be lived. Thinking you have to try and just survive life or that life sucks for everyone or that is just the way life is, when it is not good, is to be deceived. With God’s love and help you can solve every problem that ever confronted you or portrayed itself as unsolvable. You can overcome any barrier, every hurdle, all obstacles that ever showed up in your path. You can be healed, restored, uplifted, rejuvenated, revitalized or whatever it is you need to be blessed and to be renewed in your one precious life. It’s not about quoting scriptures and claiming God’s goodness in your life. It’s about seeing and proving it to yourself. It’s about a real and true source of help and answers and solutions. Otherwise, why bother? Lord knows life is too short to live in perpetual defeat!

Have you been deceived in your life? Chances are if you aren’t living blessed and victorious, happy and excited about life, the answer is yes. Don’t stop there however. God is alive and well and chock full of the answers and solutions you need to win against your spiritual opponent. He is just waiting for you to ask.

Just some good thoughts…

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It Is What It Is…

On By Papa TonyIn Thought2 Comments

As a burgeoning human being, you have this wonderful capacity not only to experience your life as it is, but also to imagine what your life might become in the future. Being marvelously unique, your awareness comes from within with all of the associations and connections you can muster based almost exclusively from your own perspective. Things that are labeled good or bad to you, may represent an entirely different meaning to someone else. For this reason, it can be difficult at times to perceive things as they really are absent your own internal persuasions. Thus, in order to make any meaningful changes, it necessitates you first see things clearly and accurately minus all of the meanings you are likely assigning to those things. Truly, when it comes to improving, repairing, healing or restoring any good thing, you first have to see it and accept it for what it is. It is what it is…

Calling a thing a thing, as a famous lady once remarked, is at the foundation of problem solving any situation you may find yourself in. Said another way, you cannot fix what you refuse to acknowledge. Ignoring problems, glossing over bad situations, refusing to accept that something is not right, only leads towards difficulties and unpleasant times persisting. If we are honest, we already know when circumstances have gone south on us. We know when a good thing has lost its goodness. Deep down our hearts already know when there’s a disturbance; a misconnect; impediments and obstacles. The reason we fail to act on the obvious is because we desperately cleave to another narrative; one where things are still okay even though we know they are not okay. A narrative that assures us nothing has changed but instead has simply become familiar. And, onward we trudge, inching ahead, hoping something or someone will make it all right. Our failure is in being afraid to see things as they already are. It is what it is.

It does not require a PhD or some other form of higher learning to recognize that nothing in life is static. Everything is ever in a continual state of flux. Living things are either growing or they are dying, but they are not remaining the same. Change isn’t something to be afraid of as everything changes in one capacity or another. They key in successfully navigating the change is found in our willingness to observe what actually is and then seek to make improvements or repairs or whatever the situation calls for at the time. People change sometimes for the good, sometimes for the not so good. Circumstances change. Conditions change. You cannot apply the logic of ten years ago to the scenarios of today. Neither can you compare yourself of today to yourself of the past as the variables of today, though eerily similar, are not the same. Time and chance have happened to them all. For this reason, the only plausible way to endeavor is by addressing your life experiences now in the thousand eyed present, not in the single eyed view of the past. It doesn’t matter what you did before, what matters is what you do now. It doesn’t matter what used to work, it matters what works now. It doesn’t matter who you used to be, it matters who you are today. Your problem is what it is today and the only time to solve it is today. It is what it is…

If you would like God to heal your broken arm, you must first acknowledge that your arm is broken. If you want God to heal your broken heart, you have to admit to yourself that your heart is broken. It’s not so much that over time things break, but rather that you are honest enough to accept what is, not what used to be. It is not being positive or renewing your mind to lie to yourself about your reality. Renewing your mind, like being positive, is about applying God’s solutions to the things that plague you, those things that have become broken over time. How foolish it is to apply some cheery resolve to a problem rather than to see it and say it and determine within yourself to work it out. Insisting that you already know what to do or what you cannot do based on some tired, former assessment of a situation that has already changed a hundred times, leads only to a futile resolve to stay stuck, mired in some vague notion formed in the past. It is what it is…

Solving relationship problems, solving financial problems, solving achievement problems, solving health problems, indeed solving spiritual problems requires that you finally allow yourself to see it for what it is. It doesn’t matter if it is your fault or someone else’s fault, the world’s fault or the devil’s fault. What matters most is that you stop being afraid to admit something has gone wrong and then taking the steps to make it right. Why carry with you all of your former excuses and justifications, your rationales and myriad former failed attempts? Why insist on cleaving to a bad strategy that didn’t work before and isn’t working now? Why? Why not, while fully accepting and acknowledging the problem, try to see the situation through fresh eyes, with clarity, focused not on continuing to be right or begrudgingly absolving yourself of any responsibility and choose not rather to locate the remedy, no matter the cost. Sometimes the solutions are right there in front of you, patiently waiting for you to release what was in favor of what is. It is what it is…

At the end of the day, we all want to be happy, to be fulfilled, to be blessed. We all want deepening and enduring love. We all want to succeed and to prosper and to live life to the absolute full. This life is far too short to continue tripping over our own selves and our own stubborn refusal to see things for what they really are. With God’s help we can solve anything, heal anything or recover anything that has become broken or damaged over time.

It is what it is, but it doesn’t have to stay that way…

Just some good thoughts…

Money, Money, Money…

On By Papa TonyIn Thought2 Comments

This topic, the subject of this little blog, is decidedly abstruse, recondite, and arcane. We all want it, the more the better it seems, but the mystery concerning it is monumental. It’s the dirty little secret we don’t discuss in public. It’s something we think we understand, yet fail to understand. It can be the source of abundant pleasure as well as the source of copious amounts of pain. It’s a perplexing riddle that is both easy to solve and impossible to solve. It seems to represent both status and power, yet actually personifies neither. It appears to be elusive and reserved for a small, closed group, yet once you have it seems to replicate itself. It is the apparent cause of most people’s problems yet portrays itself as the solution to most people’s problems. It is the promise of the lottery ticket and the curse of having too much. Is it simply a means of exchange or does it symbolize so much more?

In our culture today, money represents a means of exchange for goods and services. We usually don’t have some cows for trade or bushels of wheat and barley. But, in America, we have money, cash in fist, dineros, dough. Money pays for the things that we need and want. If we do not have enough money, then we struggle in getting our needs met. Food costs money, homes cost money, cars cost money. Even our beloved fun and good times often cost money. Yet recognizing the vast impact money has on the quality of our lives, we fail to give it the priority it deserves. We harbor these confusing views concerning it. We have all heard the stories of the people that seem to have a lot of it and how reportedly difficult their life has become. Yet is it really the money that causes the problems or the failure on the part of the possessor to control themselves? In the United States we have an abundance of food, readily available and relatively cheap. And for this reason, we also have trouble with obesity. We can literally eat ourselves to death. We eat beyond our need or maybe beyond three people’s needs and lament our sluggish and diminished state. It seems then again to point more toward the mindset of the possessor than the availability of the resource.

It has been said that money rules the world. But, does it really? I think it would be more fair to say that money as the means of exchange determines in a large way just how happy you are going to be. Oh sure, we can all cling to the old adage that we don’t need it, usually said by people that don’t have it, as a sort of self-righteous stand against what it represents. But, I would submit that you still have to get your needs met. If you always have to say no to an activity or opportunity to do something, not because you don’t want to but because you cannot afford to, you are doing yourself a disservice. You are erroneously concluding that money is something you cannot obtain or shouldn’t obtain because of its so-called reported evils. But, what evil could be associated with a means of exchange? If you owned a chinchilla farm and paid for your needs with chinchillas, could someone accuse you of having too many chinchillas? Would anyone give you a solemn warning concerning the evils of having too many chinchillas and demand a reduction? You see, we got it all wrong in this regard. The love of money is the root of all evil not because money is evil, but because the love of it is and loving it as the source (not a means) in your life leads you down a path replete with pain, suffering and misery. Like the rich person that cannot say no to things because they can afford them or the obese person who cannot say no to food because it tastes good, the issue isn’t the money, it is the control you have over yourself. God is the source of our lives and the source of the money we need to buy things. Thinking He is opposed to you having more than enough money to get your needs met, to get your wants satisfied, to be able to bless and help others get their needs met, is not thinking soundly.

The point, if you haven’t gotten it by now, is that it is your responsibility, with God’s help, to crack the money code. Figure it out and figure it out quickly. Don’t live out your existence with a growing list of unmet needs. Stop acting like it is noble to go without all the time. If your Daddy owns the cattle on a thousand hills, do you think He would be the one opposing you? And for God’s sake, get it out of your head that you are somehow being greedy. People that are truly greedy never entertain the thought that they are being greedy. Instead wonderful people like you and me are the ones that entertain it. Those of you who are parents, how do you handle getting your kid’s needs met? I would submit, as a parent, that you would do whatever it took to get your child something they really wanted, let alone what they actually needed! You would spare no effort in figuring out a way to bless them. Well, how about God? Do you really think he is checking and stifling you to live below par; to settle for less; to go with your needs and wants unmet because the fulfillment of those things requires some dough? Hardly! Again, we have been sold a bill of goods…

Money is simply a means of exchange and while you don’t always need the money, but instead need the thing, there is absolutely nothing wrong in believing God to get the money. Money isn’t evil, loving it and trusting it and worshipping it more than God is evil. I would guess that most people, not all people, have less money than they need and are selling themselves short in settling for less than what God, as The Loving Parent, would want them to have. Raise your expectations. Cease from considering that your lot in life is to be meager and limited when God is unlimited! You already know, right now today, if you don’t have enough, right? Well, there are lots of people that have more than enough; way more. The limit isn’t God, the limit is you! Money, money, money! Get some! You need it…