Fussing About Our Circumstance(s)...

Or

~ The "Grace" We Never Consider ~ 

The LORD our GOD tailor-makes each circumstance in our individual lives. 

DO we believe that? 

We credit The LORD with bringing good things to us. Do we thank HIM+ when hard, frightful, and grievous things to be borne come our way too? 

Many... yes, even most... of those grievous and injurious things come about due to our own head-strongness and our own fault: 

• for ignoring HIS+ Word, 
• for running after the world,
• for indulging ourselves with foods that are not good for the human body 
• for indulging ourselves with "good" distractions of this life which actually work a distance between us and GOD,
• for ignoring His+ Truth in all areas,  
• for not listening to His+ still, small voice. 

We ignore the checks in our spirit that HE+ sends telling us to quit eating ( etc.), or not go out to the store, or quiet down with HIM+ ... instead of filling our hours with endless "good" activities.   

We refuse to deal with our pouting spirit, our self-pity, our tiny secret grudges... and they eventually show up in our words and attitudes. 

Of course, we may not PLAN to talk in a derogatory way about him/her... but it pops out of us unexpectedly when someone gives us the least amount of sympathy, or shows us any concern.  

Thus, we end up in a mess of our own making. 

Some of these circumstances can be altered; some cannot and are irrevocably in place for as long as we live on planet earth. 

But, do we realize that these "circumstances" are permitted to occur ... for weal or for woe ... SO THAT The LORD can bring our attention to the areas in which we ourselves are weak ?.

If we wallow in self-pity and smart at being rejected, The LORD ... in HIS+ Divine GRACE...  allows that to happen to us to show us our weakness in HIM+. 

HE+ uses this to show us WHERE we are weak  and vulnerable to the enemy. 

HE+ wants to show us WHERE to focus "our work" in the inner man, to become strong in CHRIST. 

 It is not pleasant. 

THAT is GRACE 

that we receive from HIM+ 

which we never consider as "grace" 

... because we do not like it.

HE+ allows these messes to occur in our lives UNTIL... when  ?

• UNTIL we learn to respond in a CHRIST-like manner to that particular besetting circumstance. Loving. Kind. Gentle. Teachable, teachable, teachable.   

• UNTIL we learn to respond to the Adamic nature in us ( that nature which should have died out in the waters of Holy Baptism ) by refusing to wallow in the "old man's" way of responding. 

• UNTIL we learn to fight against our OWN NATURE instead of somebody else's behavior and nature.
• 
  
•  
• UNTIL we learn to face the family spirits that have controlled each of our family lines for years and RENOUNCE THEM SOUNDLY, saying, 

"NO, you wicked spirit, I do NOT belong to you; I belong to CHRIST JESUS.  I will NOT listen to your lies any longer. I am free to be controlled by the Spirit of CHRIST JESUS and NOT by you . "  

These irritating, vexing, grievous, un-ending trials of rejection, hatefulness, and even sickness are allowed to beset us UNTIL we learn to overcome them. 

By faith? 

Yes, but not the "rev-yourself-up-to-believe-it" type of faith. 

.
Rather...

.

the faith that comes from STANDING against our own ways, our own paths of thinking, our own paths of self-indulgence, our "pet" comforts... and fighting the GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH in the Spirit against our own, old Adamic nature. 

Not one of us 

should be the target 

of the spirits of rejection. 

Yes, we may   

indeed be rejected,

   

but it should not affect our inner man. 

It should NOT change 

our Christ-like manner 

or affect our thinking...

about ourselves or others.  

We MUST fight the GOOD FIGHT of FAITH and stand on HIS+ Truth: HE+ loves each one of us dearly. 

HE+ will fight the enemy for us ... and has already done so... and WON !  

We only need to stand in this Truth:

 "nothing shall by any means hurt us." 

That TRUTH will set us free. 

Free to be CHRIST-like.

Hear the Words of JESUS our LORD: 

All authority is given unto ME+ 
in Heaven and on earth.

Behold, I+ give unto you 
authority to tread 

on serpents 
(opheOn = sharp-eyed ones, not snakes, the reptiles)

and scorpions 

and over ALL the power 

of the enemy, 

and NOTHING shall by any means hurt you. 

~

LORD, I believe; Help THOU+ mine unbelief.

~

JESUS said: Woman, thou are loosed 

from thine infirmity. 

~

Rise up and walk ! 

Delay No Longer...

The Days are at hand, 

and the Word of every vision. 

... It will no more be postponed;

for in your days,

O rebellious house,

I+ will say The Word 

and perform it. 

NONE 

of My Words 

will be postponed any more,

but the Word which I speak will be done,

oracles The LORD GOD, 

Adonai JeHoVaH. 

Excerpts from Ezekiel 12:13b, 25b, and 28; 

taken from the NKJV, the KJV, and the Masoretic Hebrew Text  

Work, work, work, work, ......

WORK.... 

for the NIGHT is COMING.... 

the night is coming...

the night is coming... 

the night is coming...

when
no man
can work. 

~ according to HIM+ Who+ cannot lie
John 9:4

WHY Do You Say, "LORD, LORD" ... ?

Why do you say, "LORD, LORD"... and do NOT the things I+ say?

Are not MY+ Words like a refiner's fire, like a hammer that breaks the rock, that goeth forth through all the earth?

Hearken unto ME+: Every Word that I+ speak will come to pass. None --- not a one --- will fall to the earth void.

ALIGN YOURSELF WITH ME+ !



Why do you work for things which will not profit ?

A MONASTIC CHICKEN.. and The LORD said, "WATCH !"



Young Brahma Rooster
Photo by The Order of the GOOD SHEPHERD+

 The Call of the Monastic at Heart..... 

This is "Rooty" 

a fine young Brahma rooster 

rescued by The Order of The GOOD SHEPHERD+ from our neighbor's hatchet and stew pot. We ransomed  him by offering the neighbors an organic hen in his place, one already prepared for the stew-pot, via the local grocery store. 

As I labored to establish a suitable and secure ample chicken yard for our ransomed rooster, my hands soon became scratched and a bit gouged since the work gloves were too much a hindrance to use when tying the fencing together.   

But anon, the pen, almost circular, was established and our neighbor gamely caught Rooty and brought him to his new pen... but not without a massive struggle. 

Rooty squawked up a fuss! Such sounds as I had never heard coming from a bird ! The entire neighborhood here in the countryside likely heard Rooty's squawkings. 

However, our fearless neighbor held Rooty tightly, soothing and talking to the bird and calming him down as she sweetly carried him to his new abode.  

Now, this new pen is more-than-ample for one rooster.

He has his own water dish, his own feed, his own bits of apple and fruit and even some cast-offs from our bread-baking. He has mounds of freshly dug dirt to dig around in, a converted dog drum  (a large, cleaned out and newly-strawed 55-gallon drum ) for a shelter, and ample bugs for snacks.

There are also some tomato plants still growing there, a few flowers, and some well-trampled weeds. 

The chicken yard has a tree or two in its corners and some shrubs that overhang the fence... altogether a comfortable place for a sole chicken. 

And, to keep him safe from over-head predators, there are strung lines of twine from high on a post in the middle to the sides of the fencing round about. That way, Rooty will be uncomfortable about flying out and predators will be uncomfortable about flying in and possibly entangling their wings on the twine lines. 

When all was completed, we watched how Rooty would adapt to his new home. 

THEN, I felt The LORD draw near, and say, "Watch what he does."

So, I watched. Here is what Rooty did: 

He ignored his food. He ignored his water. He ignored his protective shelter and new straw. He tromped on the flowers without stopping to gaze and did not even consider the tomato plants.

He spent his time in frantically circling the circumference of the chicken yard ... back and forth, back and forth... at the fence-line, nearly entangling his neck in unfruitful efforts,  trying various methods to escape... and go back home. 

It was his one, well-established goal in his little chicken mind: to go back to his former coop. 

He did not realize that the hatchet and stew-pot awaited him there. He only wanted what was familiar to him.... comfortably familiar.  

He did not realize that he had been rescued from certain death in a few days. 

He only knew that he had been chosen to be ostracized, separated from his fellows... whom he had been with since a chickling. 

He only knew that this was not HIS choice, to be separated from the only coop he knew as "home."

Thus, he paced and paced around and around the chicken yard discontentedly. He did not want to be here at all. 

Yet, in separating him from his fellows, he was being saved. 

Yet, in NOT remaining in his comfortable, familiar place "that he had always been in", he was put in a situation for his own good. 

Yet, in compassion upon his LACK of AWARENESS, he was protected by an intelligence larger than himself.

Can I+ not do with you as you have done with this rooster... to save his life? saith The LORD.

Can you not receive My+ protection more graciously that this rooster has received his? saith The LORD.

Can you not listen to ME+, rather than to the cluckings of your own heart ? saith The LORD. 

Can you not be content to live where I+ have called you to live... alone with ME+, without your fellows, for a season,  for your own good? saith The LORD.  

You will learn to follow ME+ and know MY+ Voice this way, in this separation. That is the only place of safety for you now. 

Eat My+ food and drink My+ drink that I+ provide for you. It is the only nourishment that will keep you alive.

The Call of the Monastic at Heart ~ ~ ~

Sr. Judith Hannah  + + +

   

HE+ Sustains... in 2 COR. 5:14

Courtesy of www.popscreen.com

2 CORINTHIANS 5:14 

via The Greek Version  

Let's look closely at the Greek Text of 2 Cor. 5:14, via Jay P. Green, Sr.'s translation, with added insights. 

First, that very familiar verse in the KJV, tells us: 

"For the love of CHRIST constrains us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:" 

(and completing the thought, in verse 15: ) 

"And that HE+ died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto HIM+ which died for them, and rose again."

Now, here is the beauty of the Greek and Latin languages: we can take the words and sentences apart to see what is really being said... words being easier to dissect than sentences, to be sure!

So, let us study the word translated as either constrains, or impels, or compels in our various English Bibles.  

Constrain means to draw tightly; to compel means to force or produce in an unnatural or strained manner, to secure by a bond or confine, to bring into narrow compass , to clasp tightly, or to hold back by force. 

However,  the Greek word itself there is sunechei... which is compounded from: 

• prefix SUN, which means with, together and...  
• echO, which means to have or hold. 

Thus, "sunechei" literally means  to hold together. 

In the Latin, we have a word: sustinEre, which is quite similar to the Greek root, with that Latin word entering into Old French and from there, into Middle English to make our current English word:

SUSTAIN

"Sustain" is from Latin: sub-, sus = UP , plus tenEre = to hold. 

Sustain has several definitions in Webster's 7th New Collegiate Dictionary: 

1. to give support or relief to
2. to supply with sustenance: nourish
3. to keep up: prolong
4. to support the weight of, also, to carry or withstand ( as a weight or pressure)
5. to buoy up
6. to bear up under: endure
7. a: to support as true, legal, or just; b: to allow or admit as valid ( as in court)
8. to support by adequate proof: confirm  

So, let us come to a literal understanding of 2 Corinthians 5:14 ( and 15, to complete the thought) and see if it passes the test of Truth+. 

" For the agapA  love of CHRIST  sustains us , we having determined this, that if ONE+ for all died, then all were dead;

"also for all HE+ died, in order that the living ones live, no more to themselves, but rather, in the ONE+  having died and having been raised for them. " 

The Test of TRUTH+

Is CHRIST JESUS our support? Does HE+ bring relief when there is no other? 

YES!

Is CHRIST JESUS our sustenance, our nourishment? 

YES!

Does HE+ enable us to keep up ?

YES!

Does CHRIST JESUS support us when we are under crushing pressure? 

YES!

Does HE+ buoy up our hearts with His+ good cheer in the midst of troubles? 

YES!

Is CHRIST JESUS there with us, to help us bear up and to endure until the end? 

YES!

Does HE+ grant us righteousness and grant us Truth and Validity before the Throne of GOD? 

YES!

Does Our LORD JESUS CHRIST support us with adequate proof and confirm to us that we are HIS+ and will be in Heaven? 

YES! 

Yes... all the promises of GOD are yea, yea in CHRIST JESUS!  And thankfully so! 

Therefore, I submit to the brethren in CHRIST , that sustains is the correct English concept and English word instead of constrains in 2 Corinthians 5:14... based on the literal rendition of the Greek text. 

The AgapA love of CHRIST may work to "constrain" us , keeping us back from sin and hurting others... 

if 

...our love for HIM+  is greater than our love for ourselves. 

But, in this passage, the AgapA love of CHRIST seems to be what literally sustains us , and that, in every circumstance HE+ allows to come our way. 

Bless GOD: 

FATHER, SON+, and HOLY SPIRIT

... both now and forever, 

world without end. 

Amen!

USA LABOR DAY 2013

Work.... 

for the night is coming

www.123rf.com FULL ECLIPSE of the SUN ROYALTY FREE 

I+ 
must work the works 
of HIM
Who sent ME+
while it is day: 

the NIGHT COMETH
when
NO MAN
can work. 
Words of Our LORD JESUS CHRIST, 
John 9:4



For behold, darkness 
shall cover the earth 
and 
gross darkness
the peoples.

O, 
Earth, 
Earth, 
Earth...

HEAR

The Word 
of 
The LORD.
Jeremiah 22:29 

Labor not
for the food which perishes
but for the food which
endureth
unto everlasting life, 
which the SON of MAN+ 
shall give you: 
for HIM+
hath GOD The FATHER
sealed. 
John 6:27

MONASTIC-AT-HEART Daily Devotions .... The Church at Work

Photo by The Order of the GOOD SHEPHERD+
" ... At Work"

 From 2 Corinthians 1: 1-10

Courtesy of BibleGateway.com

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia: ² Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

⁴ Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

⁵ For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

⁶ And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.

⁷ And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

⁸ For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: ⁹ But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: ¹⁰ Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us; 

~ MEDITATION  ~

Our Heavenly FATHER comforts us in all our tribulations. This is our Peace, our great security. 

Comfort, you may recall, by the ancient etymology, means "with strength." That tells us that HIS comfort is not mere sympathy. It is not merely tenderness. And, THIS COMFORT is in no way to be associated with a sentimental emotion here in Scriptures. 

No. This particular word, "comfort," comes with STRENGTH and that very strength is WITH US. 

We know this is true because the Greek word translated into the King's English as COMFORT is ParakLAtos.  

The Paraklete is the STRONG ONE Who comes along-side to help, the HOLY SPIRIT, yes, the Comforter Himself.  

HE comforts us in all our tribulations SO THAT we can extend that same kind of comfort to those who are in trouble. 

This is our work. 

Like as our sufferings for CHRIST abound, so does our consolation  in CHRIST abound.  That's HIS+ Grace !

AS we have suffered for others' consolation and salvation, they too will suffer for CHRIST if they become HIS+.

That is our assurance that our work is not in vain. 

And then, they too will partake of HIS+ consolation. This is HIS+ promise to them and to us. 

Now then, we are to embrace the sentence of death within ourselves, for CHRIST'S sake, BECAUSE Our LORD raises His+ dead ones. That means HE+ is able to grant us Victory over our enemies in this life, if it please HIM+... or to grant us Victory over our enemies by taking us to Heaven, if it is His+ Will at that time. Either way, we win!

~ PRAYER ~

O LORD, Who+ comforts me with special strength whenever I need it, I thank You+ for every trial and tribulation ... for they are drawing me closer to You+ ...and YOU to me! 

Worthy is the LAMB+ ! 

O, Worthy is the LAMB+ 

that was slain!

Thank You+ for coming close to me when I have sufferings of heart and body and anguish of soul.

 Worthy is the LAMB+ ! 

O, Worthy is the LAMB+ 

that was slain!

Blessed be THEE, O LORD, Who enables me to suffer alongside of my SAVIOR+.

Worthy is the LAMB+ ! 

O, Worthy is the LAMB+ 

that was slain!

Blessed be The Wisdom and Power of GOD, Who sends me the HOLY SPIRIT to come alongside of me during my sufferings. For when I am weak, You+ become my total strength.

Worthy is the LAMB+ !

O, Worthy is the LAMB+ 

that was slain

to receive power and riches

and wisdom and strength

and honor and glory 

and blessing.

Blessing and honor 

and glory and power

be unto HIM+ that

sitteth upon the throne

and unto The LAMB+ 

Forever and ever

Amen.