GREENE STREET LETTERS: Darkness Does Not Win----I Have Read The Book!

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Darkness Does Not Win----I Have Read The Book!

Luke 22:53
........"But this is your moment, the time when the power of darkness reigns."

Jesus is confronted in the garden by the soldiers.
Time to be arrested....
Time to be falsely accused...
To be pushed through a kangaroo court of mishaps and half truths.
He is blameless.
They know it...
He knows it...
But anger, jealousy, bitterness and fear will cause a group of men to grasp at every straw in an effort to silence this Jesus of Nazareth.
Darkness reigns....

But never forget this one thing.....
It reigns only because God allows it to.
Even in the victory that darkness claimed that day, by arresting Jesus and eventually nailing Him to a cross....
Darkness did not win.
Why?
Because there was a greater good at work that even the darkness did not realize. IF they had seen it or known about it, they never would have crucified Jesus. They would have let Him go.

God is always working behind the scene whenever it seems like darkness is triumphing over good. God's ways are higher than mine. God's plans are not the same as mine. God is God...I am not. Such is why I love Mark Heard's song Eye Of The Storm. The friends of God suffer no permanent harm when we are in the eye of the storm.

When the daybreak comes with a Trumpet blast

And the true fruit of faith is tasted at long last

When the darkness dies...
And death is undone...
And the teardrops are dried in noon day sun...

But in this world...
Thunder throbs in the darkness.
Out in the eye of the storm the friends of God suffer no permanent harm.

Doesn't say that there will not be any harm....

Just not any that is permanent.
In other words....we trust God....we lean on God.....we run to God. He is the giver of life that goes beyond this life. He is the only true power that has my best interest at heart. An interest that seeks to take me from this life, into His presence where I can be with Him for eternity.

Just remember, that whatever you are going through today...
It's not permanent.
Whatever problem, circumstance or situation that is seeking to devour you is temporary. For at some point, we will be translated into the presence of Jesus. We will stand before Him. It's almost more than my brain and heart can handle.

So my word to you and me for this day comes from the book of Ephesians.
My wife, Vicki, quoted it during our meeting last night.....

"And having done all................stand!"

God on you....

Michael b.

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Looking At The World Through Cracked Lens

As ol' Paul wrote in his Corinthian letters.."We see in part and we know in part." Now what piece of this bit of wisdom do we not get? I wish to not run around acting and trying to be some sort of Biblical G00-Ru (I meant to spell it wrong). Or a sage of sages.

I simply want to be able to communicate some of what God has given to me. Why? Do I think what I get is better than what you may have received from Him? Nope. But I do think encouragement comes when we share our daily story of struggle and victory in an effort to encourage each other.

Thanks for letting me share.

Time to soldier on..

mbb

Our Statement of Faith

We believe that God is the eternal king. He is an infinite, unchangeable Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power and love. From all eternity He exists as the One Living and True God in three persons of one substance, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit equal in power and glory. we believe that God created mankind in His image, male and female, for relationship with Himself and to govern the earth. Under the temptation of Satan, our original parents fell from grace, bringing sin, sickness and God's judgment of death to the earth. Through the fall, Satan and his demonic hosts gained access to God's good creation. Creation now experiences the consequences and effects of Adam's original sin. Human beings are born into sin, subject to God's judgment of death and captive to Satan's kingdom of darkness. We believe that Jesus, God's Son, was sent to this world, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, Mary, fully God and fully man in one person. He is humanity as God intended us to be. Jesus was anointed as God's Messiah and empowered by the Holy Spirit, ushering in God's kingdom reign on earth, overpowering the reign of Satan by resisting temptation, preaching the good news of salvation, healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead. Jesus' atoning death on the cross took God's judgment for sin which we deserved as law-breakers. Jesus' resurrection and ascent back to heaven opened the door for those who received salvation to begin a relationship with God.

Little Nets Into Deep Waters

Fishing nets were designed for one purpose only. To catch fish. Nets are no good if they stay on the boat. Nets serve no purpose if they are never used. I think maybe God sees us this way. We are all created for a purpose (by the way, the creator gets to define what our purpose is). Any other use besides the one we were created for does us no good. But when the creator places His hands upon us, casting us out into those scary, dark places with deep waters, it is then we can see the reality of our purpose. He knew there would be a catch waiting for us. I think I will be the net God has called me to be.

The Twelve Steps

As a community of people in recovery, we affirm that our higher power is Jesus Christ. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Just as God told the children of Israel He was going to give them a promised land, He has revealed to us that He desires to give us a "Promised Life." When Israel got to the promised land, God instructed them to go and in a possess it, fight for it and claim it. In recovery, the 12 Steps are the directions given to us on how to fight, possess and claim this promised life.

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Darkness Does Not Win----I Have Read The Book!

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD