Black and white

This is a post I put up some time ago which I feel led to repost.

  I  was getting ready to go to church and as I reached for my coat I realised that several pieces of clothing I had on were made up of  various patterns of black and white.    I had a strong feeling that  the Holy Spirit was revealing something to me here.    Black and white signifies something that is clear, with no grey areas, and can also stand for something that is written.

Two scriptures came into my mind, one was 'every day in  my life was written in Your book before even one of them was formed.' 
Psalm 139 v. 16.   
The other was 'It is written 'Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'  
Matthew ch. 4 v.4.
      

When I got home I looked at what I was wearing that was black and white.   I had a black and white striped top on, a black and white floral scarf and a black mac with white doves on it.  Thoughts started to form in my mind as to what these symbolised to me.  The black and white stripes portrayed the trials and hard times in  my  life,  the black and white flowers conveyed to me the good times. The white doves on the black coat portrayed to me the Holy Spirit's presence in the dark times, and the fact that this pattern was on my outer garment declaring God's protective covering in all situations in my life.   

I thought about the fact that although I had gone through, and still do go through, days of trials and hard times since becoming a believer in Christ, those trials were predestined.  I have also gone through many  good and happy days too, receiving blessings from the Lord, including healings, and these too were predestined.    They were written in His book before even one of them was formed.  Whether it has been a fiery trial to correct me or a fiery trial to bring me to believe a word of blessing that the Lord has spoken to me, it has all been to mature me in Christ. 

 

Whatever word God has spoken to me I must accept it and try to act on it whatever it will lead me into, whether it be testing me in a trial that will refine me or believing on a promised healing regardless of what my eyes might be seeing.  The carnal mind will always try to justify it's way of reasoning, sometimes by saying it is right to retaliate to what may have been done to me, or by encouraging me to keep a record of wrongs done to me.   That is not what the Holy Spirit instructs me to do however. 

It has not always been easy and He understands that I am flesh and have weaknesses, but I believe absolutely that all things will work together for my good if I follow His instructions to me, and try to live my life according to His will.  

 

We are told in Romans ch.8 v.28 'And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose'. In John ch.14 v.15 Jesus says 'If you love Me keep My commands' 

 

From these scriptures I see that the essence of loving Jesus is in keeping His commands, the things that He instructs me to do during my walk with Him.   The renewing of my mind is done through the teaching of the Holy Spirit, not only my comforter but my counsellor.  The necessity to fully follow the instructions that the Lord gives me in His word to me personally, was emphasised to me when I got home from church. 

I had intended that morning to do some washing before I went to church.  My husband said 'Put the washing in the machine, I will see to it later.'  So I put the items to be washed in the machine before I went out.   When I returned I noticed that the washing was still in the machine.  I took it out to find that the clothes were quite wet.  I told my husband that they were very wet and said that there may be something wrong with the machine.  Then he told me that he had moved it on a couple of times because he thought it was taking a long time.  I realized that was probably why the clothes were wet, he had probably moved it on when it was in the process of draining the water out, also the machine spins the clothes twice.

I know that just as there is a cycle that my washing machine must go through to get the perfect end result, so too there is a cycle that I must go through to mature in Christ.  If I don't go through that cycle I will not end up as I should do.  Sometimes I have not been patient enough to wait for the Lord's help in my life when I have sought Him,  or sometimes the enemy has been a bit too strong to cause me not to act on God's instruction, and I have tried to sort things my own way.   All sorts of pictures would form in my mind about what might happen if I did or did not do something.  I am learning slowly not to lean on my own understanding, but to trust in the Lord with all my heart and to do things according to His way of thinking, not mine.  His thoughts are not our thoughts and neither are our ways His ways.   Isaiah ch.55 vs.8,9.   

I might not like the trials while I am waiting for the answer to my prayers and I might not always at first understand  the direction that my life appears to be taking when I try to do what the Holy Spirit is telling me, but at my weakest points the Lord has been strong.  After many  years of being a believer in Christ I look back on my worldly life and compare it to my life in Jesus and there is no comparison and no doubt as to which one I would choose.  I choose life and blessing, regardless of the trials.


What I gain from being a 'doer' of God's word to me in Christ and not just a 'hearer' of that word far outweighs what my carnal mind tries to tell me I might lose in this world, and I have always been greatly encouraged by these words.

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.   What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ   and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.    I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,   and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.   Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead,   I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.
                                                   Philippians ch..3 vs.7-14

BEAUTY

 This is a post I put on my blog some time ago that I thought I would repost.

What is beauty?

I rarely call a person 'beautiful', I usually say they are 'pretty' or 'handsome', if people ask my opinion on someone's appearance.  Yet if I see a face that shows some kind of suffering on it, whether it is an old person who is heavily lined or a child from a third world country with tear stained dirty cheeks and hungry eyes, I see a beauty that causes me to weep.  I remember once painting a picture from a newspaper article of two children from Bangladesh who had been laid next to one another in a refugee camp.  They did not know one another and they were both dying of hunger.  The picture showed them holding hands, faces turned towards one another, minutes before they died.  I don't think I have ever seen two more beautiful children.  I never understood why these kind of unbelievably sad faces have appeared so beautiful to me until I became a Christian and began to know the Lord.

Suffering produces a strength of character which itself has a beauty that cannot be attained through ease of life, and is the tool used to induce compassion in the heart of the onlooker.  The word translated as 'compassion' in the new testament is from the Greek, meaning 'to suffer with', and it could not describe better what I am trying to portray here.  When I see suffering in a face, I feel as if I am suffering myself, and when the suffering of one is tempered with the compassion of another there springs forth a bonding that far surpasses what the physical is capable of achieving.

I cannot see Jesus, yet He appears as beautiful to me.  So what is it that is beautiful to me if it is not physical?  Our physical eyes will look for what the flesh desires, but our spiritual eyes search for what the Spirit desires.  Psalm 149 v.4 tells us that the Lord will beautify the meek with salvation.  It is salvation which causes us to have all the spiritual attributes which make us beautiful to the Lord.  This is the Godly beauty which the spiritual eye seeks to look upon, and the beauty that God wishes His sons and daughters to attain. 

Jesus is the express image of the God of Israel, the only true God and the creator, who desires to create mankind in His image.  God is a Spirit and in Genesis ch.1 v.27 we are told that God, on the sixth day, created man in His own image.  The Hebrew word here used for man is 'adam', which is collective, referring to mankind, and this is what God is doing through Jesus in this latter day, creating us in His Spiritual image through salvation in His Son Jesus.

As we submit ourselves to the word of the Lord we put off our physical nature, providing we are doers of the word ( as it says in James ch.1 v.22 ), and not just hearers, and put on the spiritual nature.  Just like the butterfly, who struggles to leave the shell of the chrysalis, which serves as both tomb and womb, so too we who have been born again struggle to leave our old sinful nature to emerge as a new creation after the image of our beautiful Saviour Jesus.  I do not think it coincidence that the chrysalis is a drab, ugly shell with absolutely no resemblance to the beautiful creature which will emerge from it.  It is indeed very symbolic of how our carnal, sinful state appears to God.  As we grow in the Lord we begin to recognize the difference between the attributes of the flesh and the attributes of the spirit.  Once we recognize these differences we are able to walk in the newness of the Spirit and put off the old nature of the man of dust.

New Life

Oh caterpillar slow and green
how I was so like you
weighed down with problems large and small
of how to see life through
I was in my world of fear
with Satan everywhere
You tried so hard to hide yourself
from fowls of the air

                  
               





        

             But then regeneration came               

             while hanging from your thread
             inside new life was stirring
             while outside all was dead
             So too new life is forming
             inside this earthly shell
             For faith joins me to Jesus
             who lifts me from this hell

             And just as one day you will change
             and fly away so free
             I too will be made perfect
             when Jesus comes for me


Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own.

Philippians ch3 v12

Renewal

Do not be tainted by a love that is not God's.
Don't let innocence be spoiled by a wisdom

that is Earthly. Always remain as a child in

your own wisdom so that the greatness of 

God's Words can be allowed to enter into the

ears of your heart, so that you may grow up

into Him and remember no more the foolishness

of this present world. For there is a part of

you which can not understand His Words

and it would seek to rob you of His truth.

It is the mind of your first father, Adam, a

fleshly mind.

The Lord speaks and your heart receives, 

but your mind tries to intervene and to reason

with logic. Oppose that which is at enmity with 

God, and receive into your heart only that which

is pleasing to Him - His Words, which are

Spirit and Life.

'Trust in the Lord with all your heart, don't

lean on your own understanding; acknowledge 

Him in all your ways, and He shall direct you path'

Proverbs ch. 3 vs. 5 and 6.

Peddler of death

This is a song that I wrote some years ago, that I sang out in the streets with my friend, and also in a prison when I was a prison visitor.

There's a guy in the street
looks like you - looks like me
and he's trying to sell his wares

but he's making his living from misery

maybe yours - maybe mine - who cares

and he's hoping you'll walk right up to him and say

'Look, how much does what you've got cost?'

Then He'll say 'You can try before you buy'

but son if you do then you're lost

Say 'No' to the peddler of death my friend

he'll take you for all you can give

Tell him you'd rather not follow the trend

tell him you'd much rather live

There's a girl in your class

that you've known for a while

she likes discos and dances, like you

but one day she will come with a wry little smile

and say 'Hey have you tried sniffing glue?

And she'll tell you that all the kids try it

That it's all the rage in your school

Then she'll offer to take you to buy it

but child if you do you're a fool

Say 'No' to the peddler of death my friend

he'll take you for all you can give

Tell him you'd rather not follow the trend

tell him you'd much rather live

Yes there's plenty of jokers just looking for mugs

and they don't give a damn about you

'cos son if they did then they wouldn't push drugs

and a true friend won't offer you glue

so don't play the game of a loser

or you might just be counting the cost

for there's a shroud as a gown

when the chips go down

and the last dice are finally tossed

say 'No' to the peddler of death my friend

he'll take you for all you can give

Tell him you'd rather not follow the trend

tell him you'd much rather live.

My Testimony

I feel led to repost this that I posted a few years ago.

I Many years ago I had recorded onto a cassette some poems and songs that I had written.  They related part of my testimony.  While I was living down in West Wales an elder of a church I was attending put them on an mp3 disc for me.  As I know very little about this kind of technology I have just been to the library to ask if anyone can link this disc to my blog.  A young lady there has done her best regarding this, and so I am going to see if this link has worked - the young lady was not sure if it would.  Most of these songs and poems I may have already put up, and I am definitely no  'singer', and only learned a few chords on my guitar to be able to play the tunes that came into my head at the time of writing the songs.

However - one thing I learned at that time of learning from the Lord was that that as we are taught by God through His precious Word, and go through our trials trusting in Him, we are able to get stronger spiritually.  My journey is still on-going, I am forever learning, and I will not know whether this link will work until I publish this post.  If it doesn't work, then I will have lost nothing through trying.:-)
 

To listen to my testimony  press the link below.

Testimony by Brenda Rees - Soundcloud

You taught me how to love

This is a song I wrote some time ago.

You taught me how to love when all else was failing

You taught me how to love, You showed me how to care

You taught me how to love, You showed me the way Lord

for when I needed You, You was always there

By grace am I saved, through faith not of myself

by grace am I saved, through faith alone

You taught me how to love, You showed me the way Lord

for when I needed You You was always there

You taught me not to fear when all around was failing

You taught me not to fear, You showed me how to stand

You taught me not to fear, You showed me the way Lord

You said 'Build upon the rock, don't build on shifting sand.'

By grace am I saved, through faith not of myself

by grace am I saved, through faith alone.

By grace am I saved, through faith not of myself

by grace am I saved, it is the gift of God.

'And without faith it is impossible to please Him, 

for whoever would draw near to God

must believe that He exists 

and that He rewards those who seek Him.'  

Hebrews ch. 11 v.6

I see the sun (Son)

 In this post I just feel to share some poems that I have written on my walk with the Lord.  I hope they would encourage those believers who read them to continue to trust in the true light of the world, Jesus, in all circumstances.

 

 I see the sun

arising on this world of confusion, its rays reaching out to penetrate even the deepest forests and the darkest caves.  It seeks to take away the cold and the darkness that the night has caused, and to replace them with warmth and light.

 

 

I see rays

that are of such power that the very earth itself seems to rise up to meet them, as if it has been waiting for this dawning, eager to thrust off the terror of the night which once seemed to have no end.

 

 

I see Jesus

'For thou art my lamp O Lord: and the Lord will lighten my darkness.'  2 Samuel ch.22 v.29

 

 

 

To be just like Jesus

 

'Oh for an easy life' they say

'where nothing ever goes wrong'

that's what the world cries out for

but Lord it's not my song

For how would I ever learn patience

without tribulation and trial

and how could I ever endure hard times

yet still be able to smile?

But I say 'Oh to be just like Jesus

to be like the One raised from the dead'

So I'll glory in my afflictions

while the power of God rests on my head

 

 

Horizon

The place where our sun does both rise and set

seems forever out of reach ....and yet

if we walk a straight road at a steady pace

will we not reach one day that unreachable place?

For as far as our own eye is able to see

is the only horizon where we need to be

But when we reach that great line where we'd seen the sun

behold .... as we look there's another one

and the goal that we sought on life's tangled track

is now far behind and we mustn't look back

For we travel life's road making many mistakes

but if we learn from them all then it's worth the heartaches

and if we learn from our journey and have faith in God

not treading again where we've already trod

there's a final horizon awaits you and me

with the most beautiful sunset we ever will see

So what is God telling me through this I ask

is it that in our lives there is always the task

of looking ahead to what we can achieve

and not looking back to what's  caused us to grieve?

For each goal that we set if it's good in God's eyes

will always be blessed if one only tries

But even in times when we walk the wrong track

and a load that's too heavy is strapped to our back

our Lord will correct us and turn us away

from the path on our journey that leads us astray

So do not be anxious or filled with dismay

at what may be round every bend

We've a Father that loves us, who'll show us the way

with a Son who's a trustworthy friend

 

Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.  Isaiah ch.26 v.4

 

 



New Life.

This is a re-post of something I put up a few years ago. My husband accidently cut off a sprig from my Fragrant Cloud rose bush when mowing the lawn in the back garden.   There were two buds on it and there is a part of me which hates to see anything die, so I decided to replant it hoping that it would grow into another bush and the buds would flourish and open.

 

 

As I planted it in a pot of earth and gradually saw what was happening to it I was reminded of my life, and the gradual change in me over time as I am being taught by the Holy Spirit.   Very soon after I had transplanted the sprig new leaves started to grow from it. 

 

 

It reminded me of when I first came to the Lord and the Holy Spirit started to enlighten the Word of God as I read the Bible, teaching me gradually and renewing my mind in Christ.

 

As the days go by I can see  the buds lowering their heads as the branch bends over, the older leaves starting to die, and the new ones starting to increase and enlarge.

The new growth reminds me of what I would consider an initial instruction from the scriptures that is relevant when we are born again of God's Holy Spirit, as written in Colossians ch. 3 v. 1 - 3:- 'If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.   Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.'

In verse 10 we are told that our new self 'is being renewed in knowledge after the image of it's creator.'

 

The old leaves that are dying remind me of my on-going instruction from the Word of God to:- 'Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.'  Ephesians ch. 4 v. 31  and to:-

'put to death' what is earthly, such  as 'fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry, '   Colossians ch. 3 v. 5, and the lowering of the old buds remind me of the instruction written in James ch. 4 v. 7:- 'Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.'

 

 

I have found God to be a very patient and loving God Who understands that we are flesh and, just like my rose twig is taking time for the old to die and the new to form, so too has it been, and still is, in my walk with the Lord.  However, the more I have come to know the Lord and experience His love the more I run to Him and desire for my mind to be renewed in Him through the teaching of the Holy Spirit, and the more I endeavour to, and want  to, 'put to death' what is earthly in me.

 

Paul the apostle said in Philippians ch. 3 v. 12 - 14, regarding attaining the resurrection from the dead:- 'Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own.  Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.'

 

 I too say these words, and also acknowledge the words of James in James ch. 1 vs. 2-4 'Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.' 

 

As I watch the transformation of my rose twig, and what it reflects in my life,  I speak these words from my heart to the Lord:-

 

 

You can make me whole Lord

 

You can make me whole Lord

and take away my fears

You've put laughter in my life

in place of all my tears

All I can say is 'Thank You'

and love You all the more

when I see how I am now

and think how I was before

My sickness You took years ago Lord

for me there was no price to pay

All You required was my trust in You

and that I look to You each day

I know that You see every sorrow

that is laying deep down in my heart

but know also that You are the Healer

and all pain from my past will depart

So as I grow up in You Jesus

let Your precious love open my eyes

Let my ears hear the voice of the Father

instead of this world and its lies

 

Lord I love You, Lord I praise You, Lord I honour Your Name

Lord I trust You, and believe You will make me like Jesus, the same. 

That kind of Love

Lord I'll never know

how a seed so small and insignificant

into a beautiful rose does grow

or why Your tender hands should form

a different face on each flake of snow

....... Could it be love?

Lord I'll never know

what motivates a God so full of purity and light

to sacrifice the One most dear to Him

to save humanity from their deserved plight

of dark despair brought on by sin

Could it be love?

Lord cause me to know

what I thought I would never know

Cause me to know

that kind of love

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what 

is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that

You care for him?

                                       Psalm ch.8  verse 3

The eye of the hurricane

I stand in the eye of the hurricane
in a place of silent calm 

a storm goes on around me

yet I come to no harm
All around there’s turmoil
brought about by Adam’s sin
a warning to me not to leave 
the place I’m standing In
Sometimes I feel uncertain
unsure of what to do
inside the raging hurricane
are people I once knew
I want to run and save them
to bring them to this place
to tell them of salvation
brought about by God’s grace
But my love cannot save them
my coat won’t keep them warm
my strength will not protect them
from the terror of the storm
Father show me what to do
teach me Lord to pray
for people trapped in worldliness
in this the ‘evil day’
Father let Your Word take root
inside my troubled heart
show me that this world and You
are just a prayer apart
Teach me Lord to be a light
to tread the path You trod
then teach me Father to be still

and know that YOU ARE GOD                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Why?

 This is a re - post of what I shared a few years ago.

Someone once said to me 'How can God allow horrible people, that have committed atrocities against others, to walk around the streets, and yet good people die before they are very old?'

Earlier she had said that she still loved a man who had previously left her and their son for another woman, and still lived in hope that he would return to her one day. This reminded me of the parable of the prodigal son in the Bible, and how the Lord used this story to show how  much God loves all of mankind and wants that they should return to Him.  The spiritual enemy is rife in the world, and it is even prophesied in 1 Timothy ch. 4 v.1 that many shall fall away from the faith in the end times.

Often people will blame God for many things that man is responsible for doing because they do not see the whole picture and realise how much God wants that we should all come to know Him and learn His ways, which can only be brought about through being born again of His Holy Spirit.  This is why it is so important that we should, as Christians, share the gospel of Christ with humility and not with any kind of judgement, which would have the ability to turn those Who God is calling to Him away from Him. Some time ago I wrote a poem about this. It is called 'Why Lord?'

Why Lord?

Why do people hate You Lord
and blaspheme Your precious name
why for all man's evil deeds 
do You always get the blame
Can't they see Your goodness  
are they all so blind
don't they see that all Your works 
are merciful and kind
or is it that Your children  
we who see Your good
are not presenting You Lord 
as we really should
Have we made our own rules 
for people in distress
Instead of showing Jesus 
do we just oppress
Are we thinking we are clean 
through something we have done
do we stand in judgement 
condemning everyone
What do they see stood in front of them 
do they see You Lord or me
do they look on a humble child of God 
or a self righteous Pharisee
Father forgive us our stubbornness  
our refusal to bend to Your will
Oh teach us to go when You say 'Move on' 
but to wait when You say 'Be still'
Forgive us for our stiff necks Lord 
for our vain and foolish pride
bring us to preach to the world Lord 
only Jesus Christ crucified
As oracles of God we are 
like Jesus to behave
Who came not to condemn the world 
but for the world to save
So Lord forgive me if I've failed to set the captives free
if I have become to You a fruitless fig tree
Don't let me see the cruelty of the possessor
let me see the plight of the possessed
don't let Your love inside me turn to hate
because I see the oppressor instead of the oppressed
Unstop the ears of this messenger Lord
open the eyes of this servant of Yours
then will I hear the cry of the prisoners
and You'll show me the way to open locked doors
Then they'll see You when they look at me
they'll just see mercy and grace
seeing the Lord of eternity upon this earthly face 


What I really love about the Bible is that it becomes a book of instruction on how to live a peaceful life on earth. Jesus says  in John ch. 16 v.33 that in Him we have peace. The more we read, the more correction, advice and Spiritual growth we have access to, and the more God's thoughts and ways become our thoughts and ways.

Sometimes we have to go through  'sadness', 'badness' and 'madness'  before we can see what we have brought ourselves into and then we have to learn from these situations what not to do in our lives.  The only way we can change is to bring the Word and teaching of God into our lives, and allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us in our journey through life on earth.  The battle is not about flesh and blood but is spiritual.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Ephesians ch. 6 v.12

Treasure house

 This is a poem that I wrote some time ago.

Is your life a rat race

are you working just to live

Do you find that all will take

but no one wants to give

Do you say 'If only

I had a little more

I don't want to be wealthy 

but just not quite so poor'

Well friend I want to tell you

I've trod that pathway too

I tried to brave the storms of life

and skies were rarely blue

But now my life's quite different

I've found someone who cares

God sent the Saviour Jesus

in answer to my prayers

and now why need I worry

whether I'm rich or poor

I've found the greatest treasure house

and Jesus was the door

Inside this house of wonder

is neither want nor greed

and the Lord Who owns the manor

supplies my every need

I'm glad that I've relinquished

the endless path I trod

for while my mind was on this world

I couldn't see my God

But now my eyes are open

my life has turned around

and wisdom and salvation

are the treasures that I've found

The Lord is......

The Lord is the One we must call upon

when we are down and in despair

for He is the unseen love of God

the One Who is always there

The Lord is the strength that will see us through

when we are weak and alone in the night

for He is the rock we can lean upon

He is our guiding light

the Lord is the healer of our pain

when we are sick and confined to our bed

for He is the great Physician

who can even raise the dead

Yes the Lord is our everything - our all

He's the One Who is ever the same

He's the Son of the Almighty Father

and Jesus is His name

Love bears all things

 This is a post I put up previously. 

'I haven't had chime'  My mouth was saying 'chime', a mix of the two words ' chance' and 'time' because there were two words in my mind. (The mind was responding to two instructions, causing confusion). Regarding healing, or walking in the way of the Lord, if the natural mind is saying what the world has taught it and the mind of Christ (the Spiritual) is saying another, surely the body will respond in the same way as my mouth did. We must be fully convinced in our minds regarding our actions, so therefore it must be the mind of Christ that we have to instruct us, not the natural mind when we are born again of God's Spirit. For the scriptures say that he who is double minded will not receive anything. ( James ch. 1 vs. 7 and 8 ). We can persistently ask God to increase our faith for whatever we ask of Him in Jesus's name until we get a positive response.

Jesus ( the Word of God ) is always the same, Yesterday, today and forever. He never moves from one mind to another, but we can. He speaks to many kinds of people - His disciples, the Pharisees, and the outsiders. He regards no man in the flesh, He is Spirit, as is God, and we must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. He regards us how we are and who we are Spiritually when we are born again of His Spirit.  We can be anyone and likened to anyone written about in the Bible Spiritually. Just as John the Baptist went in the Spirit of Elijah ( His mission was the same as Elijah's, warning the people that they were disobedient to God ), so we too can, and will, live our lives according to the Spirit that is in us.  

After a flower has been picked, if it is kept and pressed in a book it will keep it's colour. This reminds me of when we are born again, being kept by the Word of God and the pressure of that Word giving us eternal life, even though we have been cut off from our worldly source of life.

 These are some flowers  and leaves that I dried in a book to add to the very relevant scripture in the picture.

Horizons

The place where our sun does both rise and set
seems forever out of reach ...... and yet

if we walk a straight road at a steady pace

will we not reach one day that unreachable place ?

For as far as our own eye is able to see

is the only horizon where we need to be

But when we reach that great line where we see the sun

behold as we look - there's another one

and the goal that we sought on life's tangled track

is now far behind, and we must not look back

For we travel life's road making many mistakes

but if we learn from them all, then it's worth the heartaches

and if we learn from our journey and have faith in God

not treading again where we've already trod

there's a final horizon awaits you and me

with the most beautiful sunset we ever will see