Jesus teaching Jews the law...

Jesus, speaking to a group of Jews in Matthew 22, did something interesting.

He was answering questions from experts in the law, based on the old testament, and I believe it worked because it was poetically correct.

He "bookends" "You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your mind, and all of your soul" with "You shall love your neighbor as yourself "

If you read this like Yoda, it starts to make sense.
"Your self, as your neighbor, you shall love."

 IF I am to love anyone else, I FIRST must love myself.

The bit in the middle, that the "This is the first commandment, and the second is like it" is Hebrew poetry which means you can and should read it both ways.

FIRST You love yourself as your neighbor loves you. Your soul, mind, and heart, all of you, is what God Loves FIRST.

little convo with God

I could site all the passages I've looked up about prayer. In fact, I'm 2 days into a "Prayers of Jesus" devotional. Our Lord and savior was *always* running off to pray somewhere, or just praying about mundane thing's  like blessing a meal. Why? He was God incarnate, and man.

Because, he needed to teach us to.

So, I've been trying, especially when asked, to pray. like stop the car, turn off the music, pause netflix, close my laptop, go someplace quiet, and actually PRAY.

So, yesterday it was peace and joy for someone else. Today, it was wisdom and understanding for me. Some prayers I don't know if they are answered immediately, other times I get a word in my head, or emotional (sure sign of the Holy Spirit).

Today, God interrupted me. Cut me off short, several times..

"Is that it Fred?"

Yes, but..

"Why is that all you're asking?"

Well, errrr... I dunno Lord.

So I get "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing" popped in my head, and "but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."

These are both verses buried in passages of instruction to the early churches to be good, get along, work hard, focus on the positive, don't be drunk, or do evil. All things that we try to do everyday right? I mean, we're forgiven anyway, but...

So what's missing? The prayer and the promise. Peace beyond understanding. Joy from the Lord. Sanctification. Complete coverage.

God answers prayers 3 ways: Yes. No. Or not right now.  He never says "stop bugging me about it". In fact, the Bible says KEEP PRAYING.

So I'm praying, constantly. And accepting peace, joy and sanctification. For the smallest things, and the huge things beyond my control. I'm thankful for the blessings I've received, and those to come.

Salvation surpasses time and distance

We will get to the end of our lives somehow.

"How" we get there is not as important as really being spiritually prepared. Our lives are the very process of this. Salvation is instantaneous and continuous. So why not just pray the sinner's prayer and kill yourself? Because God wants us to walk with him. Many religions seek a state of spiritual perfection through isolation, silence, and adherence to tradition. Great. And then what?

Ours says get ready: I'm coming back, but I'm already there too. No matter what, where, when, God is with us. Young, and old alike, God is with us. Back-sliddin sinner? Yup. Still there. Turn your back on Him? Go ahead and peek. He's STILL there. Smiling, because he caught me peeking.

Just turning towards him, and taking the slightest step, even just reaching out, and I'm at Heavens gate in a way that defies the minds of the greatest astrophysicists in the world or Sheldon from Big Bang theroy....

There will be trials. It will be hard. God will allow, and assist us through these. Funny thing is when we make trouble for ourselves. God is still here. And he wants me to be surprised, but not in an anxious way.

Get Ready! It's gonna be a fun, and wild, and sometimes scary, but totally worth it ride.

The difference between Man and God, duh...

There just some things you cannot share with people. No biggie. God already knows.

There are secrets to be taken to the grave. Jesus was IN the grave with them already.

We hope and wait for comfort and support from our friends and family, and are often disappointed

The Holy spirit is "grieved" that we don't even bother to ask.

Trusting another man (or woman) is just a really bad idea. We're gonna get hurt.

Trusting God, REALLY trusting God, is just SO hard for us.

But we live here and now, in the world, and we're not supposed to go through this alone...

God keeps trying to connect with us. He is faithful, even when we're not.

Such a model for us here. He is light. We should be attracted to the safety and warmth of His love.

We should become magnets to Godly people TOO. Mind you, even David, called a "man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22), was a total screw up despite what God had called him to do.

Still, we reflect Jesus' light.

So we are going to attract the flawed. The broken, The liars, cheaters, murderous thieves and all. Just like He did.

We being in the light will cast out into darkness our light. We will attract moths.

Best we be a beacon of hope, not a flame that burns them.

And as we move through life with others, we should not dance with the fires lest we ourselves get burned.