Month: April 2023

Free Will…

On By Papa TonyIn ThoughtLeave a comment

free willPerhaps one of the most misunderstood concepts of life involves free will. Free will is your innate ability to decide how you want to live your life. Free will is the freedom to choose for yourself. Every human being that has ever lived has been born with free will. God designed man (and even angels) to have free will and it is something He will never violate. The truth that God will never violate your free will explains many things in life that have happened that you do not yet understand. With God, free will is sovereign. Often people exclaim in frustration, “Why does God allow all of the suffering in the world?” The answer – free will. “Why doesn’t God step in and fix all the things that have gone terribly wrong? The answer – free will. When Jesus walked the earth he healed everyone that came to him for deliverance. Why? Free will. Why didn’t he heal everyone he came across in his journey? Free will. “Why didn’t God stop that calamity from happening that caused all of that suffering?” The answer – free will. Why does it sometimes take a long time to get healed and in some cases not get healed? Free will. Why don’t the things we need get supplied immediately right after we pray to God about them? Free will. Once you begin to understand free will in life, many things will make sense that never made sense before. The reason? Free will…

It is never God’s will that people suffer in any capacity, ever! It is never God’s will that people’s needs don’t get met, the very moment they recognize those needs. It is never God’s will not to answer prayers concerning things big and small. In order for God to help us we have to believe for His help. If we do not believe Him or if we are ignorant concerning His ability, willingness and power to help us, then He cannot help us. He will not violate our free will choice. But instead He will continue to work with us and help us to get to the place where we can believe Him and thus receive from Him. Remember the words, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” God, the God of all compassion and mercy, does not desire for anyone to suffer, to live with unmet needs, to go without or endure life with some form of oppression from the adversary. It is absolutely contrary to His heart, to whom He is. But He requires, in His justice, that we believe for His help in life. If we do not believe in His help or seek His help or are ignorant of His help, He cannot violate our free will and provide the help, no matter how desperately we need it. All He asks is for us to use the free will He gave us to make the right decision. God can restore anything. God can heal anything. God can provide anything above even what we can ask or even conceive of. But, and it is a big but, He cannot violate our freedom of will. If God would violate free will He would have simply started the whole creation over after the fall of man. However, His justice required He honor the free will of all involved to decide. Free will.

The world can be an ugly place filled with violence and tragedy. God didn’t create it that way, it became that way. When Adam and Eve transferred, by their free will choice, their authority to rule the earth over to Satan, God had to honor their choice. As such the world today is ruled by evil. That is why there are unspeakable disasters and calamities. There is a pervasive cruelty that, if left unchecked, brings all manner of suffering and incredible hardships to people. If God simply stepped in as many have wished, He would have been violating freedom of will. It hurts God’s heart when these things happen. It hurts God’s heart when it is happening to you. He loves you more than you even love yourself. What checks the forces of evil is people who believe God. Noah believed God when literally everyone became evil and saved the world by his free will decision to believe God. Free will is at the very essence of who people are and how they will live. This is why no matter how much you may believe God’s promises, you cannot go into a hospital and heal everyone there. To do so would require the free will believing of every person in there. That is why you cannot do the believing for another adult. Free will cannot be violated by people either. However the enemy violates free will by controlling people with his spirits, but even then the person who has become controlled began by exercising their own free will. Free will is paramount.

There is also a free will factor involved with the things we pray for. Sometimes when we pray there are variables and factors involved we are unaware of. God knows all of the variables. One variable may be there is something more we need to learn in order to believe God fully. Another variable may be that we have something in our heart hindering us from believing God like sin consciousness or condemnation or a refusal to forgive ourselves for something. One variable may be that we wish it would happen but don’t yet believe it will happen. A variable may be that the adversary is actively hindering us or talking us out of the truth with our sense knowledge reasonings and limited beliefs. Maybe the variable involves the right time. Sometimes the variables involve other people and their free will choices and decisions. It’s like praying for God to suddenly turn a red light to green. What would happen to the people whose light was green? When it comes to answering prayers God knows all of the variables. It doesn’t always happen immediately because of the variables. Our job in that situation is to keep trusting God and keep seeking His help. We don’t plague ourselves with questions concerning our own believing ( been there, hated that…) Instead we continue to pursue what we need. God not only knows what you need before you ask Him, but He also knows how to get your heart to the place it needs to be for you to believe Him. God works with your free will, even your free will unbelief, to help you get to the place you need to be. He lovingly persuades you with His goodness until your free will choice lines up with His good will to bless your life and deliver you. He is most wonderful and He does it all without violating anyone’s free will.

If there were no such thing as free will, life would be unbearable. No free will choice would be no choice, but instead slavery. That is why it can never be true when people say God used them in some capacity. God never uses anyone. If God used you, implying without your consent, it would make Him into a monster. God works (energizes) in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. But He does it by preserving your free will choice. Sure God can work in you to produce good works, but He never uses you to accomplish some good end or any end for that matter. To say such is to be ignorant of the sovereignty of free will. Free will matters to God.

If you find yourself struggling right now with some (apparent) unmet need, take solace in this. God heard your prayer the first time you prayed it and even if you forgot it, He didn’t forget it. He hears your earnest prayers. He sees your tears and how much you have already suffered. Don’t give up on Him. Sometimes you have to persist and persevere. Sometimes the path has many obstacles to overcome. Remember the variables involved even if those variables are coming from you. God is faithful and will do what He said He will do. Stay focused on Him and not on your problems. Keep coming back to Him and let Him (free will) teach you what you need to know. God is never the source of your delay. God does not hold back good from you no matter how good or bad you are. God delivers you by His grace and it is by His grace we live. It doesn’t matter how things look, what the doctor’s prognosis is or how you feel. What matters is that you by your free will choice keep seeking His answer for your dilemma no matter how long it takes. God is faithful. Free will matters…

Just some good thoughts…

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The Dark Night of the Soul…

On By Papa TonyIn ThoughtLeave a comment

light of dayI was thinking about the expression, ‘the dark night of the soul’ and what that means in terms of living your life when facing serious challenges and difficulties. Surprisingly, the expression cannot be found in the Bible but was attributed to a spiritual philosopher named John of the Cross who penned a poem by the same name. It is meant to describe a feeling of lack of purpose, the absence of God and the accompanying spiritual dryness that follows. Many people, if not all people seem to go through a time of spiritual crisis when confronted with the deeper problems of life, questions regarding their own existence or a deep sense of something missing in their life. It is the natural end result of living life without a firm spiritual foundation. People are often blown about with every wind of doctrine and find themselves seeking purpose in various causes that while helpful, do not provide a sense of fulfillment in their lives. There are so many activities that occupy our time, but few that provide the spiritual nurture and sustenance we may unknowingly need in order to flourish. Do you find yourself facing the dark night of the soul? Does your life seem absent any real purpose? Are you stuck in a dry solitary place where there is no enjoyment, no hope for the future?

I have to start by saying spiritual leaders and philosophers often seem to have trouble distinguishing what comes from the hand of God and what originates with dark spiritual forces. It’s as if to them there is no real separation between what is good and what is evil. Both are globbed together into one lump with a failure to discern each component part. And what is left is something unusable, transitory and fickle. You cannot make sense of life if all things come from the hand of God and you will be forever left with unanswered questions and dilemmas that have no end point. The dark night of the soul is thus referred to as a period of cleansing, purifying and trial by God in order to produce some spiritually significant change for the better, further implying that God at times does evil in order to secure a better good. Yet this contradicts the Bible, namely that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. God does not ever use evil to promote good, but instead works to produce good in the midst of the evil. We overcome evil with good. The dark night of the soul however, is something we all experience at times and it often lasts much longer than just one night. The emptiness, the misery, the spiritual stagnation and dryness comes from the influences of evil in our lives. It comes from the acceptance of doctrines and commandments that are not true. It comes via the dark influences of the world ever plotting and scheming to replace good with bad, happiness with pain, logic with illogic and truth with error. We all find ourselves faced with troubling circumstances at times. We all run out of solutions with our senses, natural reasoning. We all will come up short in one capacity or another. We all will find ourselves confronted with what we actually control and all that we cannot control. All of us. The key involved is in knowing where to find the help we need.

The dark night of the soul, while horrible, does sometimes lead us to humbling ourselves in order to finally learn more. It wakes us from our lethargy and as Emerson aptly noted, “Whilst he sits on the cushion of advantages, he goes to sleep. When he is pushed, tormented, defeated, he has a chance to learn something; he has been put on his wits, on his manhood; he has gained facts; learns his ignorance; is cured of the insanity of conceit; has got moderation and real skill.” When people are challenged out of their comfortable ignorance they have a chance to learn something. There is nothing quite like a severe trial or arduous circumstances to make a man or a woman reach upwards. Again God is not the originator of the trial, but works within the trial to illuminate and having illuminated, rescue. There is an answer of light in the midst of any dark night if we are willing to seek it. Evil works by chipping away at the structure until the whole building crumbles. When the building crumbles there is desperation that follows, but the solution could have been found in discerning what was being chipped away. Unhappiness and discontent are obvious but if left alone to fester lead to ruin. You avoid the dark night of the soul by determining within yourself to live the day and the day only. Refuse to accept that negative feelings and circumstances are “just the way it is” and instead take on each scenario as it presents itself to you. You have both the time and the resources sufficient for the day. You take on the challenges that confront you by learning the truth concerning those challenges. You find the light that illuminates the darkness. Do not live in darkness or postpone that darkness for another day. Take it on while it is today. Obviously some solutions will require more time to resolve, but you can still immerse your mind in the light and the power that strengthens you sufficient to win the day. The threat of what will happen tomorrow is not yours to handle today. Take on tomorrow tomorrow. God never intended for His precious creation to try and live in moments that are not right now. The dreads concerning our past failures and the dreads concerning our future troubles are both illusions as both past and future do not currently exist except within the confines of our own minds. The darkness of a day gains strength by adding to it the darkness of yesterdays and tomorrows.  “Take therefore no (anxious) thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. (Matthew 6:34) Live the day. Master the day.

If you have been having a tough time or feel as if you are facing an insurmountable obstacle, know this, there is always a solution with God. There is nothing you are facing that isn’t common to man and God will with the temptation (to be afraid) provide a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. All of us started our life journey without God and without hope. All of us have faced despair and questioned the reason for our existence. All of us have felt there must be more to life than just trying to acquire things, living for seventy, eighty or ninety years than dying as the end of it all. All of us have experienced the spiritual drought of ignorance regarding divine realities. All of us. But, while we have life and breath it is our duty to find the God that made us and in finding Him find the solution to everything that ever plagued us or caused us pain. Evil is never a match for God no matter how austere our circumstances or conditions. At the end of the day, evil is always a lie counting on us to try and live life on our own absent God’s help and guidance. You can put an end to the dark night of the soul by being illuminated by the truth; by being healed by the truth; by being rescued by the truth; by being set free by the truth. We all must endure periods of suffering and pain at times, but not for very long if we get our God involved. He is the answer you have been searching for throughout your entire life and will come through for you if you allow it. It’s not a question of your own ability or goodness or piety, but rather a decision you make to believe Him regardless of what appears to be. The dark night of the soul is just an illusion exposed by the true light of God’s Word. I love you.

Just some good thoughts…

Relax Already…

On By Papa TonyIn Thought2 Comments

shotsIf you have been around long enough in our world today, you already know how stressed out people have become. We live amidst a performance based culture that promotes productivity at all costs and measures success by how well we have been performing. Everything is a contest to be won. And this frenetic mindset has led to a nation of worn out humans exhausting themselves day by day to get it all done. We have been convinced we have to have the best house, the best car, the best career, the best body, the best family, the best behavior, the best spouse et. al. In this we no longer have time to enjoy our lives or appreciate all the little things that make life sweet. We measure our value not on who we are but rather on what we do or don’t do. We have been deceived into thinking that we control every aspect of our lives and dare not let anything go or leave it to someone else. “I better do it if it’s going to get done!” And I suppose if the system actually worked, we could work ourselves into the best possible life ever. But, it doesn’t work. It serves only to occupy all of our time and energy leaving very little left. We live within a world that is spiritual in nature with much of what actually goes on being hidden behind the scenes. We unknowingly fight against forces we cannot perceive. Our human nature demands we find solutions to spiritual problems with earthly reasoning which leaves us frustrated, discouraged and defeated. Why are working so hard and receiving such little results? What are we doing wrong? What is wrong with us?  We stress and strain and strive all to no avail. We need to relax already…

God never designed life to function this way. We have been hoodwinked, deceived, sold a bill of goods, tricked and subsequently trapped. The design of man was never that he would endure life alone and somehow through enlightenment and damn hard work become his own source of sufficiency. It was never part of the plan that man would be solely responsible for his own health, his own prosperity, his own blessings and protection. If life really was a surface affair, as it often seems, it might be viable, but man is inherently spiritual functioning in a world of spirit he cannot discern. The things which are were not made of the things which do appear. The world is lost and all of its systems to promote life actually reduce life. The formula will not work. The plans are defective. The system is rigged. Man spends a lifetime pursuing in ways that do not yield fruit. So he plants more, fertilizes better and waters yet gets nothing back. It is not his effort that is at fault but rather his understanding of cause and effect. He ends up playing a game at the carnival already arranged for him to lose though winning seems so simple. Man apart from God will always be defeated. God is man’s benefactor and as such is the actual supplier of his needs; indeed his sufficiency. Man was created to rely on God and in that total trust and reliance, rest. How futile to strive so hard for health only to become sick anyway. How discouraging to strain so much to prosper only to experience lack. How disheartening to stress over your loved ones protection only to see them suffer loss. Can’t you see it? We have gotten it all wrong. We are crossing the wrong t’s and dotting the wrong i’s. We cannot find peace because we haven’t gone to the source of peace. We cannot acquire love because we haven’t inquired at Love’s hand. We have trouble prospering and being in health because we seek both only according to our own resources and not His, which He gives freely for all to enjoy. We must learn how to relax…

In the proper arrangement where we allow God to be God and we content ourselves with being human, we rely upon God to meet all of our need. We go straight to the source behind all that ever was, is and will be. We set our affections on things above and not on things of the earth. If we are honest, all of that seeking for self, working on self, and striving for self never worked anyway. The harder we work, the less we obtain. People in the world are exhausted through and through. They are tired of fighting in a fight they always seem to lose. Instead we have to learn to let go of almighty self and seek something bigger and more powerful than we have ever known. We have to stop confusing the source of our sufficiency and let God do what He promised to do. Do you know how liberating it is to finally surrender something to God’s love and care and at last relax? Imagine how little stress you would embody if you decided to trust God and let Him be God. Imagine how much better your days would become when you finally set down all of those heavy burdens, casting them all to Him. Imagine how much easier your thoughts would be if you weren’t saddled with solving every problem that came your way with your own mind and reasoning. What you have been so ardently endeavoring to do is in actuality impossible to do. You cannot see the hinderances that seem to favor one and curse another.You cannot discern what is really behind your problems that plague you and steal away your precious life. But, once you learn of God and learn how the competition works; what you are up against and why your human efforts can never work, you can begin to let God do what He promised to do. Relax already, God’s got you!

Real life begins when you stop being so determined to be your own sufficiency and reach upwards for help. You have to learn to rely on Someone who is infinitely bigger than you. You have to learn to let go of all of the negative pressures and fears and threatenings that have been driving you to the brink. You don’t preserve your health, God does. You don’t supply all of your own needs, God does. You don’t realize your hearts dreams and desires alone, God brings them to you. Don’t search the world in vain to find yourself. Let God show you who you really are. You see, once you get on the right track, the correct path, the best course, life comes alive for you. You are no longer so shook up and pressed every day. Instead you learn to trust God with all of your heart; with all that matters most to you; with the whole of your life. And in trusting Him you can relax. You can exhale. You can settle down and enjoy life. You can finally be free to experience life and love and happiness. You can appreciate the things that really matter. Oh you will always have challenges for sure, but there is nothing you will ever face that God cannot handle for you. Oh my friends, relax already. God is there.

Just some good thoughts…

Is That You God?

On By Papa TonyIn ThoughtLeave a comment

listenAs incredulous as it might seem, God does talk to people who have His spirit inside of them. Those that portray God as being too busy with large, important affairs to speak to individuals must not have read their Bibles. God as a loving heavenly Father does directly communicate with His people at times. However, sometimes we may have some confusion regarding whether or not that thought we just had actually came from Him. Often I hear people report that God told them this and God told them that, which may invariably be true. After all, who am I to decide whom God talks to and to whom He doesn’t speak? Revelation is always His privilege and His decision. Yet, there must be a way to determine what comes from God and what comes from other sources or even our own minds. So we need to be able to answer the question, indeed, is that you God?

One of the best ways to determine if God just told you something is by asking the question, what is the profit in what I think I just heard? If God tells someone something there will always be some type of profit in it. If someone says God told them the airplane was going to crash, what is the profit in knowing that unless they could in some way be helped or help others by knowing that. All of these false prophets that predict future doom and destruction never seem to do anything to prevent these terrible things from happening. How many end of the world predictors have come and gone, yet the world remains? Remember Y2K? I too foolishly stocked up on water bottles only to find out nothing happened (smile). God doesn’t waste people’s time or tell them things to tickle their fancies. If God is telling you something there must be a profit to you or other people involved or else He wouldn’t have told you. Similarly, God typically does not tell you things you could already know by your five senses like which toothpaste to buy or what to have for dinner. Again what would be the point? Neither does He tell you things about other people’s lives unless you are in a position to help them or in some cases to warn you for your own preservation and safety. There has to be some profit in knowing. Have you heard people tell you that God told them to tell you to do something involving someone else? To this I would answer, if He told you then maybe you should do it! You see, people come up with all sorts of things that God reportedly told them, but there would have to be some profit in it.

Another way to determine if the revelation you received was actually revelation from God is to compare it with the revelation in His Word. How many cult leaders seduce their followers by claiming to tell them things God reportedly told them? Some claim to be the second coming of Jesus Christ, yet that so-called revelation is in contradiction with God’s Word. Jesus Christ isn’t coming back until after the believers have been gathered together first. (Y2K anyone?) Some leaders claim to be God Himself then tell their followers to do all sorts of things that aren’t supported biblically, such as leave their spouses and have sex with them instead. One cult leader from Korea explained that it was okay for all of the women to have sex with Him because  they were having sex with God Himself. Seems like you wouldn’t need your Bible to know that wasn’t true, but there you go. Revelation you receive from God must not be at cross purposes with His Word. How many ‘sickos’ kill people because “God” told them to do it? God does not tell you to hate people because His very nature is love. God does not tell you to do anything that is not in harmony with His Word. Revelation cannot contradict God’s Word but may augment it or include details you may not have known by your five senses mind. Revelation can be as simple as “you dropped your keys” or anything that will help you in some capacity. God typically does not tell you things that are already in His Word but He can and will bring His Word to your mind.

Another important category of learning concerning revelation from God involves the types of things that God will tell you. God does not convict you of your sins, as some commonly preach, because Jesus Christ already paid the price for all of your sins. When God sees you He does not see sin or all of your weaknesses and human frailty, nor does He feel the need to point it out to you. He loves you unconditionally. If He needs you to learn something that will help you, He will do it in a way that is kind, loving and helpful to you. I remember praying once on my porch and while I was praying I got the thought, “you are going to die very soon.” Now let me ask you a question. What would be the profit in knowing that unless God had some solution to accompany that information? God is not in the business of scaring the bejesus out of you! Well, I didn’t die, but I learned a valuable lesson. Just because you have a certain thought while you are talking to God doesn’t mean it was something He told you. Weird thoughts come and go, but the acid test will always be what was the profit in knowing that? God is not mean and harsh with you. He will not call you an idiot or seek to point out your flaws. Neither will He keep reminding you of your past sins to make you do better or continue to feel bad. There is someone else that has that job and he ain’t the true God! God will not and does not use fear to get you to do something. God’s message is always fear not and as such He will not tell you things that would frighten you. The Bible says, “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” Read that again! God is a gentle Father and He knows you better than you know you. His appeal is always via His love and goodness; His grace and mercy. It is the goodness of God that leads you to a change of mind, not any anger or wrath. Similarly, God does not engender negative scenarios to make you learn a lesson. He doesn’t make you sick, cause accidents, make your business fail or do any negative things to get you to listen to Him. His mercy endures forever. But, He will and does work in negative scenarios to rescue you or to help you to learn why these negative events keep happening to you. But, He is never behind them no matter what the preacher said! God does not need evil to help Him do His job.

Learning to walk with God and hear His “still small” voice takes time to master and even then we all still miss it at times. It seems when we do miss it, God is always right there to gently point out that He told us already. Hearing from God directly is always a blessing to our lives. He withholds no good thing from us. He doesn’t hide things from us nor make things complicated for us. He wants to talk with us and He wants us to learn. We never need to have any fear about something God might tell us nor worry that He would point out our flaws and failings. That’s not His style. He loves us into loving ourselves. He is perfect in every way and has no darkness in Him at all. Learning to recognize how God works in us is one of the greatest joys of life. Imagine, God Almighty the Creator of the heavens and the earth talks to little old you and me. That’s love and that is our heavenly Father. Is that you God?

Just some good thoughts…