Valleys

artforvalley

Valleys (#2)

Down, down
We fell
Tumbling, falling
Refusing to heed,
Listen to
His Calling.

God encased in
Flesh
But only for a
Brief moment
For on His death
We were too intent

To listen to
His Words
Giving into evil’s
Dark voice,
Selfish desires, making
The wrong choice.

So, in that deep, black valley
We destroyed
God’s Shining Son
Oblivious, unaware
Of this, Heaven’s efforts
to rejoin us into One.

As His blood fell
To earth,
Beneath His cross
Satan danced in
Dark delight with
Screams of joyless mirth.

Thinking himself
The victor at last
at our final destruction
But once again
His mistake was
To forget his own past.

This Son’s body
Was raised again
to life in Glory
Rewriting, changing
Forever
Our not yet finished
Story.

So today, Christ’s followers
Still celebrate
A Glorious Golden cross
still shining its victory
over Satan’s dark valley
of defeat and total loss.

Wisdom and Understanding — Joy Cottage

This is a powerful message for everyone from Joy Cottage. Have a blessed day!

My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight, preserve sound judgment and discretion; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck. Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your […]

via Wisdom and Understanding — Joy Cottage

One Heartbeat

artforoneheartbeat

One Heartbeat

Entombed within
Dank, wet walls of
This pit
I sit alone,
enshrouded by
thick mists of
darkness.

Hopelessness, despair
Fear
Making dead weights
Covering my shoulders,
My forehead,
I cannot lift my eyes
Above the foe,

The enemy who seeks
To destroy, devour
My very self.
Until
A small glimmer begins
To glow and grow
Becoming

The light within.
Stronger it burns.
It is from of old,
That first taste
of your love
almost extinguished
just not Yet.

It calls your name,
This light,
Repeating it soundlessly
The heart
Perceives the source
Strength is given
To look up.

Your love reaches
Down
From Your Paradise
Eternal
I see your face
whisper your name,
Yeshua!

Dark chains
Fall off
Released from my enemy’s
Hot hate
Rising, lifting
Carried upon the force
Of your shoulders

To sit enthroned
In heavenly places
Of purest Joy
Secure in this knowledge
I now embrace,
Not for One Heartbeat
was I ever alone.

The S Word

artforSWord

We hear a lot today about Relative Morality. The goodness or badness of your behavior is only relative to what you think or feel it should be. There is no longer for a lot of people a universal morality—no general idea of good or evil. So therefore, could we conclude that people are all okay no matter how they act?

In our culture in the U.S., one of the S words, sin, has just about been taken out of existence, sadly, even in a lot of our churches. Some churches just say God loves you and wants to bless you which is true. But they forget He is a god of justice and is also our truest judge. This world belongs to Him.

1 John 8 says If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Later in verse 10 is stated If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. 1 John 2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

God is not stupid. If there had not been a powerful need for Jesus to die on that cross, God would not have sent Him to earth to suffer through such a horrific death. We are simply put impure sinners unable to perfect and save ourselves. We are overwhelmingly blessed that someone as beautiful, perfectly pure and wonderful as our Creator wants to loves us as much as He does. May God bless your day. Praise God!!

Martyr

artmartyr

Martyr

White lipped martyr
Entrenched,
Led, fed by fire of
the Spirit
Chains, dark breath of
Ignorance,
At your hands and feet

Satan howls, enslaving
The weak, deluded,
Hot grasp of hell
Around their throats
Calling for your demise,
He dances
Within his dark delight

Until a light breaks
Between grey clouds
Rumblings begin to
Shake the earth
Beneath unseeing feet
Still the cries rise
To champion your death

You raise your eyes
Skin as ashen as the clouds
A warm wind catches, lifts
Damp curls off a cheek
This breeze whispers,
Carries a voice, your name,
Speaks of heaven’s promises

A flame is struck
Wood ignites, flames
Move upward
Voracious tongues of
Pain, heat
Yet, unseen below,
Glory reaches down

Hope releases, disappears
Into a new reality
Within the hot smoke
Of hate
Bliss is born and
Rises
On fresh, living wings of ecstasy!

No matter what you face on this earth, God will go through it with you. We just have to trust, have faith that He is there. This is not our permanent home. We are only temporarily here. In 1st Peter, Peter says we are to live as foreigners here. God loves you and wants you in enjoy His presence in Paradise forever. Praise God!!

To Testify or give Evidence

supernova

I have said before in an earlier blog that I started this mostly to tell of some experiences I had as a follower and believer in Christ. I had a very traumatic and devastating childhood, and because of that I needed an extra filling with and encouragement from the Holy Spirit. I believe that is why God allowed me to have some of the supernatural experiences with Him that I have had.

I have told this before in a blog from October of 2018. Here is my testimony again: For years now, I guess about 7 or 8, I have been wanting to talk about something that happened to me one night. I have only told family members about it since I’m not very good at standing up and talking in front of people or telling things to people. I guess I was afraid they wouldn’t believe me.

I have sleep apnea. I don’t know if you know what that is, but that’s where when you lay down on your back to sleep the muscles that hold up your soft palette at the back of your throat relax so much that the palette itself collapses downward and blocks your airway. In other words, you stop breathing. It is dangerous and can kill you.

However, one night before I realized what was going on with me, I went to sleep one night and somehow must have gotten off my side and into a position that was not safe. I woke up suddenly and was in a different place.

I remember feeling a slight tinge of fear but was mostly confused, thinking where am I?? All around me was nothing but deep blackness until suddenly I could see this spiral of beautiful, puffy white clouds spiraling off into the distance. I did not want to look at the far distant end of the spiral because I had this sudden knowledge that if I looked at it, there would be no going back. Somehow I just knew that. Don’t know how, but I just did, but I was not given a choice. I had to look at the end of the spiral, and so I did.

Next, let me say that I had no physical sensation at all. I was fully awake, fully conscious, but there were no physical sensations. I had no awareness of a body.

To get back to where I was, as soon as I looked at the end of the spiral of clouds, I was in the other place, but this one was different. This beautiful, beautiful light was everywhere. It glistened and shone like nothing I have ever seen. But the light was alive. There was an intelligence or presence inside the light. Like nothing I have ever experienced.

It was so bright it almost hurt to look at it and the colors of the rainbow were moving through it constantly. It was so bright that I turned to look away, but again, I was not given a choice. I had to look at the light so I did.

When I turned to look at it again, suddenly it felt like somebody had taken me and thrown me as hard as they could up against a brick wall. There was this really hard boom, and I was back inside my body. Totally awake but back inside of my body going “What just happened to me.”

I laid there for a few minutes, thinking about what I had just seen and experienced. I moved around a little trying to get my bearings back and then decided the only thing it could have been was for a few minutes or less, because it happened so quickly, so very quickly, is I think I died! It is the only explanation I can think of.

I believe for a very few brief seconds, I was allowed to see some of the glory of the Living God. The light was beautiful beyond words. I wish everyone could have seen it. Unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

The only reason I wanted to tell this is I hope it will reassure everyone that there really is life after death, and that God is more beautiful than any of my weak human words could ever express.

I pray that the living God Himself will bless your day and your whole life and that you can get to know Him better. He really does love you very, very much. God Bless You.