"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." matthew 5:3

He then addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity—greedy, dishonest, adulterous—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” luke 18: 9-14

"Jesus says the people who realize [that] they are bankrupt spiritually are truly blessed. And it's only this realization that turns them to God. You cannot fulfill what you are created to do and be without God's grace. Jesus rips away from believers the self-delusion that any person is capable of acquiring a condition of blessedness on their own. Jesus aims to produce in you a real poverty of spirit." 

Increase Your Faith: 75 Powerful Teachings of Jesus Christ for Your Spiritual Growth (Book 1 of 4) by Raj K Ashok (Author)

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." matthew 5:3

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Chris Light [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]

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understanding the mind of God

imagine trying to explain relativity (as in "Einstein's theory of") to a young child. the young child knows better. a young child intuitively knows that their young mind is incapable of understanding Einstein's theory of relativity. 

when it comes to knowing God's ways, even the most learned among us is like a young child. 

"At that time the disciples approached Jesus and said, 'Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?' He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.'"     matthew 18: 1-5

 "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land."     matthew 5:5 

image by Ron Mader

Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of … | Flickr

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God's gifts

A Prayer of Thanks for God's Many Good Gifts
JUNE 30, 2013 | Scotty Smith

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. James 1:17-18

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Col. 2:6-7

Heavenly Father, I awoke today a grateful man—keenly aware of the number and variety of good gifts you have poured into my life. As someone who has every reason to overflow with thanksgiving, here’s a few of your gifts for which I give you praise this morning.

First and foremost, I praise you for being the changeless Father of heavenly lights, as opposed to being the impetuous god of shifting shadows. I cannot predict you. I cannot control you. I cannot presume on your ways. But I can completely trust you to be impassible (without mood swings), yet passionately good and faithful. I know this to be true through Jesus, who is the same “yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8).

I’m also thankful that twice you’ve chosen to give me birth. I was utterly dependent on you for both—for the first time I breathed in oxygen, or the second time you breathed the life of Jesus into my spirit, giving me the new birth. Life and salvation are “of the Lord”—from beginning to end. It’s all of grace—a grace which has taught my reluctant heart to sing, “the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Father, I’m also thankful for these things today: The watermelon I ate at a neighborhood party last night—the sweetest and crunchiest I’ve ever tasted in my life; my wife’s infectious laugh and my grandson’s face-decorating, room-lighting-up smile; the fresh renewal in the gospel you’ve been blessing me with in recent weeks; the music of Motown and The Beatles—the soundtrack of my high school years; the tear-producing taste of fresh wasabi on crunchy shrimp sushi; the assurance that you will finish making me like Jesus one day; an air conditioned home and car; and all the variegated hopes, dreams and longings you’ve placed in my heart, for the life we will eternally enjoy in new heaven and new earth.

Father, these are just a few of the many, many gifts that come down from you, all the time. What do I have that I have not received from you? Nothing! What gift have you given me that you don’t intend me to enjoy? Not one! How can I live as a “kind of firstfruits of all you’ve created”? (James 1:18) Show me! So very Amen I pray in Jesus’ most glorious and grace-full name.

"Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present." Bil Keane 

image by Nick Kenrick

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and I thank You, Lord, today for all of Your many, many gifts--including my beautiful wife of 52+ years. happy birthday, Jenny!

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"...lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil..."

unlike God, we live in time--yesterday, today, tomorrow. 
for God, there is no time--yesterday, today and tomorrow exist in an eternal present.

yesterday

yesterday in our world began when the universe began. scientists believe that the universe began 13.7 billion years ago. HubbleSite - Reference Desk - FAQs 

scientists believe that planet earth is 4.54 billion years old. How Old Is Earth? - How Scientists Determine Its Age | Space

scientists estimate that from 2 to 6 million years ago early humans lived in Africa. Introduction to Human Evolution | The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program 

the oldest human records are about 5,000 years old. Ancient history - Wikipedia 

yesterday for us began the day that we were born.

today

we live in a world racked by evil--war, deprivation, disasters, pain, suffering, death. 

some of us also believe that we live in a world where "...Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..." (matthew 6:10). we see the goodness of God and God's creation. we believe that mankind is God's greatest creation. God made mankind in His image. God's greatest gift to mankind is our free will. we can choose to sin--or not. we can choose to believe--or not.

"No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God." john 3: 13-21 

"...lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil..." 

doesn't it make sense--for those of us who believe that our free will is God's greatest gift to us--that we give our free will back to our Father in heaven, in thanksgiving, so that we do only His will? isn't this what Jesus did? in the desert? when tempted by satan? in the garden? on the cross? 

John 3:16 | God'sMercyandLove | Flickr

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Myriam, mother of Yeshua

Mary (Arabic: مريم‎, romanized: Maryam), the mother of Jesus (Isa), holds a singularly exalted place in Islam as the only woman named in the Quran, which refers to her seventy times and explicitly identifies her as the greatest of all women,^[2][3][4] stating, with reference to the angelic saluation during the annunciation, "O Mary, God has chosen you, and purified you; He has chosen you above all the women of creation."^[5] In the Quran, her story is related in three Meccan chapters (19, 21, 23) and four Medinan chapters (3, 4, 5, 66), and the nineteenth chapter of the scripture, titled "Mary" (Surat Maryam), is named after her. The Quran refers to Mary more often than the New Testament.^[6]
Mary in Islam - Wikipedia

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James Tissot [Public domain]

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Yeshua, be my guide

Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." 

john 14:6

image by Sharon Tate Soberon

Lord, Light My Path | "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a … | Flickr

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Christ be our light.m4v - YouTube

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“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” 

matthew 17:5, also matthew 3:17, mark 9:7, luke 9:35

doing good works and being in a church community can be good things; but, if you want to please the Father, then listen ONLY to His Son. 

image by Jimmy T. V.

John 14:6 | This is the most important verse in The Bible. Y… | Flickr

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near death experience (NDE) life review

"I was amazed at first when I discovered that scientific research on NDEs (near death experiences) has gone on for decades. What’s most interesting for our inquiry is that innumerable documented NDEs include reports of a “life review,” including many accounts given by children. ...

The NDE field is large enough that it now includes bestselling books and major feature films. Over fifty years of research on thousands of cases of NDEs has yielded a rich set of new data that have been subject to multidisciplinary scientific scrutiny by scientists worldwide. Among many characteristics isolated by researchers is the fact that almost all experiencers report a vivid and joyful awareness of a discrete soul or selfhood that has the potential to survive the death of the body. In virtually every case, NDEers experienced the same numinous qualities that I had felt. In many cases they report the experience of a formal life review. And yet, according to premier NDE researcher Kenneth Ring, “Religious orientation was not a factor affecting either the likelihood or the depth of the near-death experience. An atheist was as likely to have one as was a devoutly religious person.”[1] 

NDE reports do have variations, but the long list of shared characteristics that have now been assembled by peer-reviewed researchers and which are being reported in a myriad of conferences around the world is leading to the conclusion that the NDE is a more or less objective phenomenon. The life review phenomenon, in my view, is one of the key modalities revealing to us the nature of the soul. Here, for example, is a typical life review account provided by the well-known author and NDE experiencer Dannion Brinkley: [A] powerful being enveloped me and I began to relive my entire life, one incident at a time. In what I call the panoramic life review I watched my life from a second person point of view. As I experienced this I was myself as well as every other person with whom I had ever interacted . . . When the panoramic life review ended, despite the many obvious mistakes I had made in my life, I experienced no retribution—no judgment and no punishment. I was the only judge presiding over my day in court! Given time to assimilate my life in retrospect, I was given the opportunity to know, first hand, both the happiness and the sorrow I had created through my actions.[2]

Scores and scores of detailed life reviews like this one have been documented in the research literature. The reviews are typically led by an angelic or celestial being whose role was to help draw life lessons.[3] Much like Brinkley, subjects report having a “holographic” experience overseen by such benign beings, in which they engage in a vivid reliving of life episodes in chronological sequence (or sometimes in reverse sequence). Another common description compares a life review to watching a movie. Guided at each step by one or several celestial beings, the experiencer will view scenes of their life in a way that can be fast-forwarded, slowed down, or paused in order to focus on a particular detail.

In their life review experiences, NDErs report a clear perception of what it felt like for others with whom they interacted in each life episode. According to Dr. Raymond Moody, the first well known researcher in the field, “The [higher being] presents the dying with a panoramic review of everything they have ever done. That is, they relive every act they have ever done to other people and come away feeling that love is the most important thing in life.”[4]"

Near-Death Life Reviews Reveal Our Soul | Byron Belitsos

I can only imagine my joy at knowing that I am in heaven, despite my poor life record, because Jesus suffered horrible torture and death nailed to a cross--saving me from the just punishment that I deserve for my sins. 


"Oh Happy Day" Edwin Hawkins - Anthony Brown w/ FBCG Combined Choir - YouTube

1 John 1:7 | Sapphire Dream Photography | Flickr

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forgiveness

Brad was all alone when he moved to his new place. then he met Jennifer--she lived in his apartment building. they became friends. 

it wasn't long before tall, handsome Brad met other "friends". they palled around together, partied, drank, got high. Jennifer wasn't part of Brad's "new friends". 

then it happened--the "accident". Brad was charged with DUI and manslaughter. He got jail time, and was on probation when he was released from jail.

none of Brad's "new friends" visited him after the "accident"--only Jennifer. 

Freedom Through Forgiveness | 1. Our model for forgiving oth… | Flickr

image by Freedom Through Forgiveness

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john 20: 1-18, Yeshua's resurrection

On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned home.

But Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and what he told her.

john 20: 1-18

File:The resurrection day.jpg - Wikipedia

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