God clearly tells us to #meditate.  There are many verses instructing us to meditate.  Oftentimes, some Christian quote on the following verse.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. (NIV Psalm 1:2)

Yes, it is true that we should meditate on God's work day and night.  For most of us, this is accomplished by reading the Bible and learning more about Him through His word.  It is unfortunate that some of us forget other verses regarding meditation.

Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love. (NIV Psalm 48:9)

Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders. (NIV Psalm 119:27)

My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises. (NIV Psalm 119:148)

They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. (NIV Psalm 145:5)

It seems to me the Bible instructs us not to only meditate on God's word, but also to meditate on His unfailing #love, #wonders, #promises, and wonderful #works.  Some have told me that my faith in #God should not be based on #experience, but on the #word of God.  They encourage me to meditate on God's word and only God's word and point to Psalm 1:2.  What they fail to understand is that in addition to meditating on His word, God also encourages us to meditate on our experiences with Him, especially when He tells us to meditate, within His temple, on His unfailing love (Psalm 48:9).  Since we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, it logically follows that we should meditate on His unfailing love for us.  In this blog, I had shared and meditated on my experience of God's unfailing love for me, His wonders, His promises to me, and His wonderful works.

My wife and I meditate on God's unfailing love when I walk together.  We pray together during our exercise time.  I look forward to our walks together and our prayer time with each other and as the Holy Spirit leads, with others whom we bump into.  During these walks, we remember and experience God's unfailing love (Psalm 48:9), meditate on His promises to us (Psalm 119:148), and meditate on His wonder works in our life (Psalm 145:5).  Not only do we meditate on His personal experiences with us and His powerful #relationship with us, we meditate on Him.  And, the walks with my wife remind me that He is with us, walking with us through this journey called life.

Copyright 2011 by Christenstein

To my beloved whom I had waited
impatiently and patiently for twenty-five years
those years sometimes filled with disappointed tears
yet our love already known, Almighty God-fated.

Knew about you when I was five
Searched for you throughout my life
Our prophecy under attack through strife
Yet into His Word continually I dive.

How marvelous it was when God told us
that we were for each other
proposals, not being a bother
In Him, a step of faith, courageous.

Nine months later, I see more of Jesus
Through you, I learn more about His heart,
Having learned about His mind as an art,
Hugs, emotions, feelings, all around us.

Through Him, you showed me love and grace,
beyond my logic of doctrinal truth,
transformation of my mind from youth
in coming closer to His wonderful face.

For in Him is where our true love resides,
beyond what this world has to offer,
His love is in us and endures forever,
and in that love we shall always abide.

I wrote this poem to my wife about a month before our marriage ceremony.  The context for this poem is that God told us each independently and directly that we were husband and wife. 

Copyright February 2011 by Christenstein.

“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (Eph 5:31-33)

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it." (Mark 8:34-35)

When Saint Paul wrote about marriage and the divinely revealed truth of husband and wife becoming one flesh through marriage, he clearly communicated that it is about Christ and the church (Eph 5:32).  Sometimes, when we read the Bible, we do not readily understand that God speaks metaphorically.  Here, He speaks about the metaphor of what it means to be married to Christ through marriage.  We know that God, the Creator, created the world for His glory and as such, it makes sense that creation points back to him.  And, one of the ways that creation points back to Christ is through metaphors.

The process of becoming one flesh requires both parties to die to themselves.  One identity cannot overpower the other identity and consume it, but rather both identities must die to parts that prevent that identity from getting closer to the other identity.  Christ demonstrates this to us through His death on the cross.  By giving up Himself totally and dying a gruesome death for our sins, He is able to reconciled us to Himself and offer us forgiveness for our sins through our sincerely repentance and acceptance of Him as personal Savior.  Christ asks us to give up all of ourselves for Him and to renew ourselves by transformation of our minds in His truth.  And, this is not much for Him to ask of us because He gave up all of Himself on the cross for us.  Being a Christian means we have our identity in Christ.

In marriage, I have learned to give up myself and my wife has learned the same, both to Christ first and foremost, then to each other.  The process of becoming one is not one of compromise just as the world would like us to think, but a process of unconditional love with the husband loving unconditional just as Christ loves the church and the wife submitting just the church submits to Christ.  In the flesh, it is difficult to love my wife because she is the totally opposite of me.  The world tells us that we should marry someone similar to us, so that we can see eye on things in like-mindedness.  Father God told each of us separately by direct divine revelation to marry each other.  And, when we found out that our Briggs Meyers were totally opposite of one another, we knew that He intends we learn from each other and love each despite those differences -- all for His glory.

One example of giving up the self for each other is the organization and flexibility of the calendar.  My wife does not plan events and calendar events to the extent that I do (yes, she does plan).  She has her schedule in her head and it works for her.  I, on the other, plan every event.  When we first came together there were conflicts over the calendar as our ideas of calendaring were different.  My wife only places things on the calendar that are confirmed and definite.  I place things on the calendar that I am considering or is for my information.  Sometimes, there are conflicts on my calendar too, but the information remains there because that is what is important to me - the flexibility of having a choice when the schedule time comes.  In many ways, my wife is more spontaneous than I am and I am more of planner than she is, even when I plan to decide on events on the day of by placing conflicts on the calendar.

At first, the spontaneity drove me off the wall and the planning drove her off the wall.  The spontaneity created too much uncertainty for me to handle and the planning created too much rigidity for her to handle.  When we were singles, we both approached calendaring differently and our approaches were causing discomfort to us both as we were becoming one flesh.  Some Christians believe that the resolution to this conflict is that the wife should submit to the husband and do it the husband's way for the unity of the marriage.  After all, does not the Bible teach us that it is the Christ's way or the highway because Christ is the way?  What we forget about our identities in Christ is that He does not trample all over us and turn us all into Christian clones of one another.  He clearly created each of us special and allows us to express Him in a unique and special way -- all for His glory.  Clearly, in the Bible, Elijah expressed the glory of Christ differently than Moses expressed it, differently than David expressed it, etc.  And, clearly Christ does not intend nor want us to be clones of Him but be in His image.

What Christ intends is that the husband loves the wife in the way that He loves the church.  Because He does not demand clones and total blind obedience from the church (after all, He reveals His plans to us and calls us friends), we should not demand our wives to be our clones and blindly obey us.  He clearly tells us that we are not His slaves, but His friends because we know the Father's business.  My relationship with Christ is more a cooperative relationship where I have the freedom to obey or not to obey Him.  In the end, regardless of what I do, He still loves me.  It my love for Christ that compels me to do as He commands, not a sense of duty or the need to obey Him.  Although the relationship with Him may not be great because of some bad choices I made, He still slowly draws me back to Him.  This is the love that husbands should have for their wives.

So, I could have easily told my wife that we were doing it my way and that's that.  First, I would like to say that this matter is a disputable matter and there is really no clear Biblical guidance on whether one should be planning with a calendar or be more spontaneous.  Clearly, there are many proverbs that tell us that that the wise person plans.  There are no scriptures on how to plan, whether by spontaneity or calendaring.  There are also many examples in scripture where there is spontaneity on part of Christ's followers; one example is the apostles dropping their life plans to follow Christ.  So, there is really no wrong or right way to approach calendaring.

So, as a loving husband, I learned to accept and embrace my wife's spontaneity.  Christ definitely looks at both of us as He created us and smiles.  I died to the need to plan all the time and she died to the need use the calendar only for confirmed appointments.  In the end, we both blended together a new person, stronger than if we were individuals.  Her spontaneity allows me to have rest time and time for myself instead of going from one scheduled activity to another.  My planning allowed her some structure to do things and get things done.  By loving and affirming the best that God put in each of us, we took the best from both of us, died to the worse in us, and brought the best into the marriage.  

Likewise, Christ gave us His best on the cross, everything!  And, we are to give Him our best too!

Discussion Questions

1. As a believer, how to die to yourself for Christ?
2. As a married couple, how do you die to yourself for each other for the glory of God?
3. In what ways has your mind transformed into the mind of Christ?
4. As a married couple, in what ways have your minds transformed into the mind of Christ?

Copyright 2011 by Christenstein

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you" (John 15:13-15).

Can two walk together unless they have agreed to do so? (Amos 3:3)

What is the Biblical standard of friendship?  In John 15:13-15, Jesus tells us that we are His friends because He tells us what the Father told Him.  Our friendship with Christ starts from faith - repenting and accepting Him as our Savior.  We cannot walk together with God and abide in Christ if we do not agree with Him wholeheartedly.  It is clear from divine revelation that God Himself sent His Son to die for our sins and rise up again on the third day.  It is no coincidence that we cannot share in the inheritance of God's Kingdom if we do not agree wholeheartedly and sincerely repent with faith that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He died for our sins and rose up again on the third day.  There is no way around this as Jesus Himself tells us that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and whoever believes in Him will live.  Those who do not believe wholeheartedly in the death and resurrection of Jesus are not His friends and therefore do not share in His Kingdom.  To put it another way, though some know of the Father's business, they are not engaged in the Father's business in the way that Jesus tells us in John 15:13-15.  This is the like-mindedness, the mind of Christ through transformation by renewing the mind, that Christ expects of us through faith and without faith, it is impossible to please the Father.

It is clear from these scriptures that church leadership should be like-minded with Christ possessing the mind of Christ, abiding in Him.  When one realizes that a church leadership does not possess the mind of Christ and does not do the things that Christ commands (in other words, not abiding in Christ), one should leave that church immediately.  Continuing to stay at such a church will be detrimental to one's spiritual health and growth in grace to the one true God.  The call to be a friend of God should not be taken lightly.  Whenever I hear people tell me that they are so lucky to be a friend of God, but yet do not understand what Jesus means by a friend of God, I cringe.  It seems that some have taken the idea of being a friend of God out of context applying what the word "friends" means in today's society (check out Facebook and other social networking sites - this is how much friendships have been diluted in today's society) instead of what Jesus' defines it as.  Jesus clearly says to us that His friends lay down their lives for Him and does what He commands (yes, He is talking about Himself, but also talks about us because we are His friends).  Jesus clearly tells us that as friends, we share in the mission that the Father has given to Him.  Thus, when we are Jesus' friends, we know the Father's business.  Knowing the Father's business does not mean on the intellectual level (the heathens know what the gospel message is and how Christians spread it ), but on a heart level sharing with Christ and His mission, co-laboring with Him and believing in the word of God, Christ Himself wholeheartedly.

Through my marriage, I had come to learn further what it means to be a friend and to give up one's life by dying to oneself for one another.  It is the like-mindedness that creates an awesome marriage.  Yes, at times, there are some disagreements - we are humans and that happens, but those times, with the guidance of God, that brings us into abiding in Him and in each other - those are the times that I learn more about what it means to abide in Christ, share in His mission, and die to oneself just as Christ died for us.  Indeed, we can walk together as one because we both are Jesus' friend and through that friendship, we agree with one another in Christ.

Reflection Questions

1. What does friendship mean to me?
2. What does friendship mean according to God's word?
3. How can I become a better friend of Jesus and show Him that I do appreciate His friendship?
4. How can I share in His mission, the Great Commission?
5. How can I increase my heart for the Father as Jesus modeled?
6. How can I love others as I love myself in the way Jesus modeled?

Copyright 2011 by Christenstein

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:38-39)

Besides a verse of comfort during spiritual warfare with forces unseen and an assurance that no matter how outrageous things become, we are never separated from the love of Christ, we also come to understand more His love for us - how we love because He loved us first.  We would never come to know what love truly is and how to love another until we come to know and grow in God, who Himself is love, through Jesus Christ, who came in grace and truth.  Christ's sacrifice on the cross demonstrates His love for us while we were still sinners.  Repenting and accepting Christ and His death on the cross as atonement for our sins is the beginning of our salvation journey, which we should work out with the Father.  In our journey, we will learn more about Christ's love for us, how through that love, we were chosen and predestined to become Father God's sons and daughter with Christ as the firstborn over all creation.  Because life is created by Christ, death is conquered by Christ, angels and demons are created by Christ, time (past, present, and future) is created by Christ, and all authority/powers instituted by Christ, there is nothing in creation that will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.  He is firstborn over all of creation and as such, nothing in all creation can separate us from Him.

Through my wife, I am learning more of the height and depth of Christ's love for me.  It is true that time, the past, present, and future will not be able to separate me from the love of God that is in my Savior. (1)  Our marriage is not a common one.  We did not date.  What happened is very simple.  God spoke to us both independently and confirmed to us that we are husband and wife.  While I am not going to get into the theologies and legalism involved in the thinking and imaginations of man and their contention that marriage is a choice that two individuals make (as the Bible states clearly that what God has joined, no man can separate), I am going to say one thing.  A life built upon a foundation that is Christ will stand firm against everything and a life built upon human imagination, human guessing, and human choices will not stand.  While one is motivated by love for God, the other is motivated by love for oneself/man and one's/man's imaginations.  All too often, there is "divorce" not because of the failure of marriage (marriage itself is instituted by God and thus, perfect), but the failure to follow the guidance and leading of God in marrying the one that He has for one.  Instead of letting God choose the mate, we are trained by the imaginations and falsity of this culture to think that the choice is ours.  The choice is not our choice as the word of God states, "what God has joined, no man can separate."  To think that we decide who to marry is a mockery of the God's word.  There is no such a thing as divorce and a separation proves to us that the people who were "married" did not marry in God's will (some Christians call this an annulment).  In this sense, there was no marriage at all because clearly it is not God who joined them, but they who joined themselves against the will of God.  If two "married" people separate, then they were never in God's will in the first place.  Remember, God says, "what God has joined, no man can separate."  Remember, no man can separate, and if the couples are separating the marriage, then it is clearly not God who has not joined them.  Talking about the imaginations of man and their thinking that the institution of marriage created and brought together by God is for them to bring together who they want to without God's involvement - what arrogance on man's part and our society is paying for it dearly.  

God told me when I was a child that the person who leads me to Him shall be my wife.  Throughout my life, I anticipated who this special person would be.  Having a wife is one of the promises/prophecies that God Himself gave to me.  There were a few women under consideration, but none of them became my wife because they did not believe that God decides.  Their indecisiveness and second guessing whether I am the one for them is a sure sign that they are going about this in their flesh, evaluating and imagining what the results may/could be.  Furthermore with the prophecy, I came to understand that the person who would marry me will know that I am the one for her because God Himself will tell her.  And, this is what happened in God's timing.  God Himself told my wife that "I was reserved for her".

As I reflect on my experiences of how the marriage that God has for me came to be, I realize that time, the past, present, and future did not separate me from the love of Christ expressed through my wife by faith.  In the past, I knew she was my wife by direct prophetic word; women have been rejected because they did not fit under the prophetic word.  And, I know through faith she will continue to be my wife here on earth, not because I like to think positively, but because I know that God spoke and what He speaks is reality.  Certainly, time did not separate me from my love for my wife because I knew of her over two-thirds of my life, having met her only about a year and a half ago.  It is through this being unable to be separated from her love for me that I learn more of what it means to know personally that neither the present or the future can separate me from the love of Christ. 

(1) To expel the religious spirits that love to take things literally, clinging to the word of the matter instead of the spirit of the matter, it is true that the word of God states, "neither the present nor the future" can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.  It is my contention that the past will not be able to separate us from God's love as nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from Christ. 

Copyright 2011 by Christenstein

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.  Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (Eph 5:21-33)

The above passage is perhaps the most difficult passage for the secular world to swallow, not only because of the infiltration of the demonic doctrines of equality that has so grappled our Western society, but also because, especially in American, we have a history of having fought so hard for civil rights, among them the right for African Americans to be free, the right for women to vote, and the right for African Americans not be segregated among other rights.  The idea that the wife should submit to the husband is very difficult for us as a society to imagine and/or comprehend because of our history and because we certainly believe in individual freedoms, the rights to expression, and the American way.  What I find surprising about this passage is that most Christians I know emphasize how the wife needs to be submissive to husband, but fail to emphasize that the husband needs to love as Christ loves to the church.  In conclusion, I would say that it is more difficult for me, as the husband to love my wife as Christ loves His church.  Christ's love means unconditional love, sacrificial love, and giving up everything for my wife.

Jesus Christ gave up His rights as God, became a servant, and did not consider equality with God something to be grasp, though He Himself is God.  It is this humbling of myself to my wife, giving up the authority that God has given to me, suspending it even, so that I could love her that is a mystery to me.  Sure, I could take up my rights as a husband and enforce some rules in the household (liken to how Jesus could enforce the law when He was on earth) and have my wife submit to me, but what will that achieve?  Where is the love and/or joy from submission that is for its own sake?

Rather, I have learned firsthand and personally from my relationship with Jesus that submission must from my heart.  It must come from my freewill in that I choose to submit to Jesus because He loves me unconditionally, having died on the cross for my sins, and rose again on the third day.  He, having paid that ultimate price, so that I, through faith in Him as Savior, could have eternal life.  It is that love that compels me to submit to my Savior as it is because He loved me first.  As a husband, I am called to reflect Christ's love to the church to my wife, I am called to love my wife the same way, giving up myself for her and being ready to die for her if it comes to it.  For this is my calling as a husband, to love her as Jesus has love me.  To love her in the way that He shows me how to love her.  And, this love for her can only come about through a personal relationship with Jesus, through bowing at His feet learning more about Him, about His love, and letting that love flow into our marriage so that the picture of Christ and His church can be reflected through the marriage.

My wife submits to me because she loves me.  She submits to me out her freewill and choice, not because she has to, but because she loves me and responds to the unconditional love that I have expressed and given to her through the supernatural power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.  Because the word of God dwells in us, the Holy Spirit guides us in our marriage.  God speaks to us and guides us, provides us direction, and tells us the next steps.  We both love God and He has been in the center of lives before our marriage and He is the center of our lives now.

So husbands, remember to love your wives as Christ loves the church.  Remember to give up everything for your wife, to cherish her, to love her unconditionally without limits (that such love can only come through a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ and an access to His love by way of His shed blood by faith in His Son's as Savior), and to do it as to the Lord putting Jesus Christ first.  And, out of reverence for Christ and the Lord, she will submit to you and this is wonderful indeed because it reflects your relationship with Jesus three times!  Once through you, once through your wife, and another through your marriage.  How awesome is that!  You get to evangelize about Jesus three times!  That's exciting to me!

Copyright 2011 by Christenstein

For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.

Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:5, Ephesians 5:31

The word of God is very clear about leaving and cleaving.  The Confucius teachings of filial piety is important and a worthy teaching in that it is essential and important to respect and honor one's parents just as the commandment to "Honor one's parents" tell us, however quoting the commandment out of context and stretching its meaning illogically to the unintended realms of filial piety resembles a twisting of the scriptures and of God's divine design.  All too often, some still heavily influenced by the teachings of Confucius attempt to blend, comport, and marry the two incompatible concepts of filial piety and "Honor[ing] one's parents."  Some believe that the two unrelated concepts and ideas are equivalent.

A closer examination of the scriptures will clearly reveal that filial piety and "honoring one's parents" are two completely different concepts and to equate them together and talk about them as though they are one and of the equivalent is ignorant.  First and foremost, filial piety requires not only honoring and respecting one's parents throughout one's lifetime, but even after they are dead.  Wikipedia states the following regarding the definition of filial piety, "In Confucian ideals, filial piety (Chinese: 孝; pinyin: xiào) is one of the virtues to be held above all else: a respect for the parents and ancestors. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filial_piety)."  Respect for the dead is not biblical.  In fact, the requirement of respect for the dead under filial piety is not biblical because there exists sacrifices for the dead.  Some burn incense for the dead and make sacrifices to them (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filial_piety).  Such behavior is sin. Christians do not make sacrifices to the dead and they do not border on worshiping the dead in that way.  The notion and ideals of filial piety as it is practiced in the ideal Confucian way is incompatible with Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life.  And, to use the commandment to "honor one's parents" as bridge into filial piety is a mockery of God's eternal word.

Secondly, the Bible clearly states that there are limits to the "honoring one's parents."  There comes a time when a man must leave his mother and father and cleave onto his wife.  No where in the teaching of filial piety does it teach that one should leave and cleave.  Instead, filial piety teaches that one should continue to hold the virtue above all else (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filial_piety).  Clearly, this is against what God clearly states, "For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh."  We cannot say that God intends to hold the parent-child and "ancestor/descendant" relationship above all else based on these verses in the Bible.  These clearly reveal to us that the Confucian utmost virtue of filial piety is against the word of God.  God clearly states that the husband and wife relationship ranks above the parent and child relationship - to put it another way, God clearly states that the husband and wife relationship is of utmost importance, not the relationship of parent-child.

While it is clear what God clearly intends and writes to us in the Bible, in practice, it is difficult for some who are influence by Confucian ideals and traditions to move away from of them, but as we live lives sanctified by the Holy Spirit and as His word dwells in us, He will slowly shape us and conform us to His word and the ideals of His truth.  What is not His truth cannot live and dwell near or by those who have His Spirit in them.  What we see in Christians should be a slow process away from this practice.

Not only does God's word firmly speak up against filial piety on logical terms.  God Himself also models the leaving and cleaving process to us through His Son Jesus Christ.  In Philippians 2, we learn that Christ humble Himself to become man so that He could die for our sins and bring us eternal life.  What also happened is that Christ also gave up this rights as the Son of God, "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of servant, being in human likeness, And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death -- event death on the cross! (Phil 2:6-8)"  Christ left His relationship with the Father, became our bridegroom through His death and resurrection on the cross.  He in effect metaphorically marries and cleaves to us through His shed blood.  This is indeed a mystery, but it is a wonderful mystery that provides us with life eternal.  In fact, Saint Paul speaks about marriage and states that the mystery is about Christ and the church (Eph 5:32) to further emphasize this concept.

Thus, it is clearly Christianity, true Christianity that a husband, who is called to love as Christ loves the church, leave his parents to cleave onto his wife.  To make this clear to us, Christ Himself gave up equality with God (a metaphor for leaving) by humbling Himself to become a man so that the Father can have a relationship with us through His Son's blood (a metaphor for cleaving).  If God wants us to do something for Him, His Son, the perfect fulfillment of the law should have done everything that the law requires.  Jesus Himself says that He fulfills the law.  Therefore, if Christ does not fulfill the law, then the scriptures cannot be true.  Here, we see that God tells us to leave and cleave and scripture is consistent -- revealing that Christ, the WAY, the truth and the life.

Copyright 2011 by Christenstein

Ninety-nine years ago today, the Titanic set sail for New York from Belfest, Ireland(1) and five days later, the Titanic sank.  The Titanic was the largest passenger steamship in the world(1).  It was considered one of man's greatest engineering feats, designed by the most experienced engineers and some of the most advance technologies of the time(1).  The ship was equipped with extensive safety features(1).  "There were 29 boilers fired by 159 coal burning furnaces that made possible a top speed of 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph). Only three of the four 62 foot (19 m) funnels functional: the fourth, which served only for ventilation, was added to make the ship look more impressive (1)."  Indeed, the extra funnel made the gigantic titanic looked ever more impressive, powerful, luxurious, and the grandest ship of its time (How impressive!)!  To top it off, this is what Wikipedia (which is referenced here as (1)) goes on to further describe the ship.

Titanic surpassed all her rivals in luxury and opulence. The First-class section had an on-board swimming pool, a gymnasium, a squash court, Turkish bath, Electric bath and a Verandah Cafe. First-class common rooms were adorned with ornate wood panelling, expensive furniture and other decorations. In addition, the Café Parisien offered cuisine for the first-class passengers, with a sunlit veranda fitted with trellis decorations.^[13] There were libraries and barber shops in both the first and second-class.^[14] The third class general room had pine panelling and sturdy teak furniture.^[15] The ship incorporated technologically advanced features for the period. She had three electric elevators in first class and one in second class. She had also an extensive electrical subsystem with steam-powered generators and ship-wide wiring feeding electric lights and two Marconi radios, including a powerful 1,500-watt set manned by two operators working in shifts, allowing constant contact and the transmission of many passenger messages.^[16] First-class passengers paid a hefty fee for such amenities. The most expensive one-way trans-Atlantic passage was £875 (£64,204 as of 2011),^[17] or $4,375 ($99,237 as of 2011),^[18].

Indeed, it was the best way to travel - the most luxurious ship in the world and man's greatest invention or so they believed at the time because they were full of themselves.  (We now know in hindsight that there are airplanes and of course, there are better things too!).

But, what does the word of God say about man's plans without God?  What does the word of God tell us about man's way versus God's way?  When we examine the word of God clearly, there is no dispute that man's ways without God lead to destruction and that God's way leads to life.  By divine revelation, we know this to be Biblical truth.  Jesus clearly tells us that He is the way, the truth, and the life, that no one comes to the Father except through Him.  Many people have been trying to do things their own way, trying to work their way into heaven, but they cannot - this is not how God works.  God works simply through mercy, truth, and grace and through the death and ressurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.  We are never good enough for Him, we cannot never build anything as magnificent, as grand, and as great as the titanic to gain His attentions and His affections.  He loves us because He is love - that is the simple truth about His existence as the Trinity, loving one another in perfect love.

If we think we can build the grandest, most luxurious ship, most powerful, and greatest ship in the world - we are kidding ourselves.  God can definitely do better than us in creating.  He created us.  If we built such a ship and say things like, "It's unsinkable!" then we are indeed very arrogant and we do not trust in Him, but in ourselves, in our knowledge, and in our abilities to plan -- especially when logic and reason, given to us by God, reveals clearly to us that the possibility of sinking is there.  But, then when the maiden voyage of the Titanic did happen, people were happy, cheering, and encouraging it all.  Yep, the humanistic spirit, the encouraging spirit blinded to truth and discernment was there, and it is ever so prevalent to today in the churches.  You have to love them, they say!  You have to show them encouragement and support at the expense of God's truth even!  And, pray tell who is the father of lies?  Satan himself, of course.  These churches have walked into a death trap, exchanging the truth of God for a lie. Indeed, everyone was excited that the Titanic set sail.  It was the biggest steam ship ever built during peacetime - it represented how far man could go if man worked together without God (which leads to doom and destruction!).  Little did they know Biblical truth regarding the Tower of Babel - the pinnacle of the arrogance of man and how God dealt with that.  And, then came the humbling experience, but was it ever a surprise that the proud are humbled?  Remember that the word of God stands firm in the heavens and heaven is eternal.  Therefore, the truth stands and the proud shall be humbled according to His word.

So, if you are doing something grand, something great, something powerful, something liken to the Titanic- you must ask yourself a few questions and check the spirit behind those motivations.  Are those motivations really from God or are they from the arrogance of you and within?  For if they are from the arrogance within, they will definitely fail and you will fall flat - this is a guarantee, guarantee by Biblical truth.  You may not fall flat immediately because God is graceful and allows time for repentance and acceptance of His Son as Savior, but God's patience has a limit and He will discipline and punish (yes, He does according to His word as He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow - if you think that God does not do this because He is loving, kind, gentle, and caring (as the spirit of these times are teaching), then you need to open your eyes and read the Old Testament - He is God then, He has never changed).  You don't believe me?  Don't take my word for it.  Read the Bible from cover to cover and know who He really is instead of the commercialized version of "Jesus" the world has been spoon feeding you and brainwashing you to believe.  That commercialized version of "Jesus" is not the real Jesus as Jesus clearly states that those who know Him knows the Father - clearly those who know Jesus knows the God of the Old Testament too.  So, if you cannot bear to see God do what He did in the Old Testament or wonder why God would do that, then the question is, do you really know God?  The question becomes - are you really saved?  That's a question you should ask yourself and is for you to answer.  The truth is hard to handle isn't it, but God is not the God that you imagined in your head, He is not the god that you built like the Titanic.  Such a god is an idol you conjured up in your mind and will fall.  The God you worship should be the one true God, Jesus Christ, and only in Him will be you will be able to stand.

So, do set sail and proclaim your faith in Jesus, but is the "Jesus" you believe really the Jesus of the Bible or a "Jesus" that is manufactured by today?  Is the Jesus you believe really God Himself or a "Titanic?"

Copyright 2011 by Christenstein

On my way back from work yesterday, the Almighty God, the Creator of the universe, prompted me to provide a word of encouragement to one of His sons on the train.  Although I did not know what this person was going through and what he was dealing with at that very moment in time, he had a very worried look in his face.  The Holy Spirit provided me a word of knowledge and told me that to tell the man that He understood how difficult it was that he stood all day long and that He was with the man and understood the man's plight.  He continues to direct me to tell the man that He loves the man and continues to watch over the man, loving the man in joy, always.

When I delivered the message to this stranger, he smiled and told me, "I stand almost 24-7."  I walked away smiling.  Then, I just decided to return to the man to ask him one question.  I asked the man, "What do you do?"  He answered me, "I am a cook."  Then, I said, "I didn't know that.  God just loves you so much."  He looks at me and said, "I know."

My stop came, so I left.  As I left, I realized that I humbled myself to that man, not knowing who he was, yet taking that risk to give him the word of knowledge, possibly making a fool of myself.  But then, I believe God speaks to me and I would rather be a fool for Jesus Christ because the Bible tells me that We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! (1 Cor 4:10).

Some people read the Bible and think the spiritual warfare Jesus encountered is false.  They believe that demons and the delivering of demons is bogus.  The Catholic Church still does exorcisms today, but they have done so quietly.  The real world is filled with spiritual activity as the war between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan rages on.  We cannot see the war because our eyes have not yet been opened to reality.

During the past two weeks, demons were warring with me in the streets, not only while I was walking and praying for people, but also while I was driving.  How do I know?  Well, first and foremost, I can sense their presence and secondly, I know they are around.  They recognize the Holy Spirit in me and the Holy Spirit in me recognizes them.  They would play games with me on the streets by driving up really close either on the right or left side of the car for about half a minute.  They like to remind me that they are around just for fun, I guess.  This happened on three different occasions with three different people without provocation.  Another favorite game they would play through people who are easily influenced by them is to change lanes, then try to change back into the same lane again, right in front of me.  And, yes, these five incidents and more all happened in the last two weeks.  All these highly unlikely events, just coincidentally happened in the last two weeks! 

Anyway, they recognize me in the streets and they respond.  This is not a surprise to me because when the true Son of God, Jesus Christ, was on earth approached some of them, they responded to Him.  They know.  We know that they know.  So, this is totally Biblical.  We know that they talked to Him while he was on earth.  So, it is no surprise that they talk to me, scream at me, yell at me, and try things.  Next time, I might just do what I should have done a long time ago - I should just deliver the demon from the person if I am on foot.