Curses and lies: pursuing the spirit of man with passion and truth

Get off the ride.

Warning I've been thinking! You probably won't want to read this.



We spend a lot of time taking care of our bodies. Washing, dressing, feeding, resting, exercising, sexing, working and it feels good. There is nothing wrong with it. But often we must admit that our bodies are controlling us.

Then there is the constantly ready and willing slavery to the masturbation of our emotions. And wow does entertainment allow an unprecedented opportunity to rub our emotions raw. We can see TV and film now on demand and all the time, get lost in games that feel more real than the world in which we live and breath and read something on every subject and fantasize a life that will never be ours.

But the mind has unquenchable thirst for knowledge drives many of us to learn, read, experiment and research the minutia of detail in the nichest of subjects until we begin to relax, lost in the quest for dominance and meaning over our world.

BUT when do we have time for our spirit. When do we challenge our lies concerning value and beauty? When do we cultivate the experimenter in truth and confront the dark lies of right and wrong. We live in a world screaming lies all day long! LIES, lies, lies lies lies, untruths, twisted meanings, and deceptive intentions. We want to believe many of these lies. These lies feed our ego, they caress our sense of worth. Lies about what is important, lies about how we should spend our time. We live in the lie that something we don't have will make us happy. We expend unbelievable hours of wasted time and energy and money selfishly masquerading as if we are the centre of the world. We think we know what is true and what is good and what is of value and what is wrong and what is false and what will make us happy. We act as if everything is all right and we hide what is wrong. We surround ourselves with yes-men and mock our dissenters.

How do you build character? How do you invest in discernment of worth and value? What ways do you cultivate hope rather than the feelings of wishing. When and where are you able to be real with yourself and correct your wayward bearing? How are you developing your inner peace? How are you rooting out the lies that have you trapped? What do you do to break free from the stranglehold of addiction, self adulation, and empty time wasting pointless pursuits? What is your plan for less mental selfies and more giving of love.

Are you more loving? Are you living sacrificially? Can you spot the lies being mainlined into your ego? Have you given up a false belief that has held you captive?

Curses, Curses, spirit courses.
Train my inner man.
Let me see the path before me and not be my biggest fan.
Curses, Curses I've wasted my energy
I've starved my spirit dry
because I fed my body now my spirit dies.
Curses, Curses I'm feeling till I'm tingliy
But now I'm numb and I ask my self why
Why did I waste away with feelings on things  that won't matter when I die.

Psalm 109 NLT (listen and feed your spirit)

6They say, “Get an evil person to turn against him.

Send an accuser to bring him to trial.

7When his case comes up for judgment,

let him be pronounced guilty.

Count his prayers as sins.

8Let his years be few;

let someone else take his position.

9May his children become fatherless,

and his wife a widow.

10May his children wander as beggars

and be driven from their ruined homes.

11May creditors seize his entire estate,

and strangers take all he has earned.

12Let no one be kind to him;

let no one pity his fatherless children.

13May all his offspring die.

May his family name be blotted out in the next generation.

14May the lord never forget the sins of his fathers;

may his mother’s sins never be erased from the record.

15May the lord always remember these sins,

and may his name disappear from human memory.

16For he refused all kindness to others;

he persecuted the poor and needy,

and he hounded the brokenhearted to death.

17He loved to curse others;

now you curse him.

He never blessed others;

now don’t you bless him.

18Cursing is as natural to him as his clothing,

or the water he drinks,

or the rich food he eats.

19Now may his curses return and cling to him like clothing;

may they be tied around him like a belt.”

20May those curses become the lord’s punishment

for my accusers who speak evil of me.

21But deal well with me, O Sovereign lord,

for the sake of your own reputation!

Rescue me

because you are so faithful and good.

22For I am poor and needy,

and my heart is full of pain.

23I am fading like a shadow at dusk;

I am brushed off like a locust.

24My knees are weak from fasting,

and I am skin and bones.

25I am a joke to people everywhere;

when they see me, they shake their heads in scorn.

26Help me, O  lord my God!

Save me because of your unfailing love.

27Let them see that this is your doing,

that you yourself have done it, lord.

28Then let them curse me if they like,

but you will bless me!

When they attack me, they will be disgraced!

But I, your servant, will go right on rejoicing!

29May my accusers be clothed with disgrace;

may their humiliation cover them like a cloak.

30But I will give repeated thanks to the lord,

praising him to everyone.

31For he stands beside the needy,

ready to save them from those who condemn them.

While on the bus

I've tried writing a few notes while riding the bus to language school in the morning. I have been using my Kindle Keyboard. When I got home I synced it to the web and copied the notes here.

1 John 3

19 Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God.

Note: true that

20 Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.

Note: God is greater than our feelings of guilt. we can know confidence before God. we are not held hostage by our feelings. And what is the sign of this relationship of acceptance? Isn't the fact that we can freely ask whatever we want. When we are free from guilt when we feel acceptance then we can freely ask God for whatever we want. We know because we love him that we will ask for things that will please him. 

1 John 4

9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

Note: Loving others and loving God is the full expression of God's love. We don't need some deeper experience. The love of God and his love for others is the pinnacle, the ultimate. There is no deeper experience. We are not lacking in any releam of spiritual understanding, wisdom or knowledge if we have love. Love for God and love for others is the ultimate in spiritual, human, and church life, nothing can top it. When your heart swells with unconditional love for your enemies you are experiencing all that God has to offer. 

Kerk en School

1 John 5

1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ* has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too.

And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. 

Note: It is belief in the Son that makes a member of the family of God. And thus it is family status that causes us to love our Christian brother and sisters. Since we are loved by the Father and since we love the Son (we do not really believe if have no love for the son.) it is natural that we also will love the our brothers and sisters. And since we were loved by God when were enemies we also will love our enemies. 

3 Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. 

Note: We have the author of life indwelling us. How could we think his way was burdensome? He gives us all we need and more. He fills us with hope and joy. We who walk in his ways are able to break free of sin and death we have hope and he possibility to do right. This is not a weight or restriction this is life itself. His way is the way of righteousness. To walk on his ways is to walk the path of light. No more stumbling in the dark. No more bearing the burden of guilt we who keep his commands are free. So lets not think of his rule as a restriction, rather we see his way as the way of lightness; We see his commands as the path of abundance, provision and light. We who follow his commands become complete and live as we were intended. It is like discovering that proper way to use a chain saw is to turn the motor on after spending a life time trying to cut with it with out turning it on. It's like finding the motor car has motor so you don't have to push it everywhere.

10 All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son. 11 And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.

18 We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.

Note: What does it mean that evil can not touch them?

21 Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.*

Note: This warning is profound. We have the greatest treasure possible in knowing Jesus so why would we allow our hearts to be filled with something inferior? Why would we allow ourselves to be deceived?