Conditioned to the Shadow

~~~ Jeremiah 7:23-28 ~~~ Psalm 95 ~~~ Luke 11:14-23 ~~~

They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts
and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.

Living a life of sin we eventually
become conditioned to the shadows.
Eventually we can no longer recognize that we
have turned our backs on God.
We wonder why we can no longer
 love others as we should...
eventually we cease to love ourselves.

The evil one, Beelzebul, speaks
to our hearts with his split tongue.
This split tongue speaks words
of enticement followed with words of despair.
His words originate from the hardness of his evil heart.

Since the evil one turned from God
 he is no longer free to see the face of God.

He can only pretend to have a relationship with God.
All that he tells you is under the false pretense
 that he knows what you need better than God knows.

Especially during Lent, we are continuously invited to turn around.
It is never too late for you to turn around...
to once again seek the face of God...to see his light...
to bask in his love once again.

 ...harden not your hearts.

Jesus never speaks to us with forked tongue.
Jesus only speaks words of wisdom...
words of spirit and life.

If you let sin take up a permanent residence in your heart
it will become calloused and hardened.
It will be incapable of feeling just as the callous on your foot.
Sin is the cause of atrophy of the heart.

Jesus invokes his power from the "finger of God"
The mere touch of the finger of God
 is sufficient to crack your heart open.
Once your hardened heart is cracked open
the healing power of God can begin to work.

Cracking open your heart to receive
God's Blessings can be a daunting task.

No matter how long or how hard your heart has been calloused
it can be changed with just the touch of God's finger tip.

Allow the finger of God
to turn your heart away from the shadows.
~~~Peace~~~

The Upper Hand

~~~ Galatians 3:7-14 ~~~ Psalm 111 ~~~ Luke 11:15-26 ~~~

Whoever is not with me is against me,
and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

There have been movies released where Satan
 is fleshed out and brought to life.
One I viewed recently displayed the power of evil.
We may not ever experience visible signs of evil but
when we see them in a movie it is alarming.

All powerful, God is the only one who can stand against evil.
In today's Gospel we see Jesus standing up
to Beelzebul, driving out the evil spirit.

If evil was always visible before our eyes would
 we be more motivated to resist...to denounce it?
Evil even pretends to be something other than what it truly is...
How often we are fooled.

What is your initial response when you detect evil in your life?
Do you turn away? Do you fight against it?
Do you give into your own weakness?
Do you seek God to rid your soul of the evil presence?

It is Jesus who can destroy Satan.
It does not matter what name we may give this evil power.

The closer we follow Jesus...the closer we walk with Jesus...
the less likely it will be that the evil spirit will take control of our soul.
Jesus will forever have the 'upper hand' against evil.

But it could also make us a prime target...the coveted prize.
If the devil can win over one of God's
faithful imagine how that would please him. 

We must always keep up our guard against the attacks of Satan.
Some have been so impressed with the power of the devil
 that they even accuse Jesus of somehow tapping
into same power source.

No matter how superior evil appears to be...
no matter how widespread evil is...no matter how near
evil is to you personally...We have the most important
 being on our side...Jesus.

As long as we are here the evil spirit will roam about
searching for any opportunity to attack...to take
control over one more soul.

I pray it will never settle into your soul.
We are Blessed with protection from
the one who is most powerful, who can/does cast away the evil spirit.

May you walk in the light of truth and grace...
Love God with your whole heart, body, and soul.
Keep that ever in the front of your mind.
May your heart be filled with the Peace of the Lord.

False Accusations

~~~ 2 Samuel 5:1-7, 10 ~~~ Psalm 89 ~~~ Mark 3:22-30 ~~~

The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus,
“He is possessed by Beelzebul..."

The scribes from Jerusalem had more authority than the local scribes.
These revered scribes are the ones who declare Jesus
to be under the influence of the devil.

This is a serious accusation for them to make.
Beelzebul is referring to the chief evil spirit.

Jesus counteracts their accusations with a parable.

Why would the head of the evil spirits be driving
out its own evil presence?
This makes no sense. You would think this evil spirit
would be summoning additional evil spirits
to descend upon their hosts.

Jesus uses parables to compare two things side by side.
This is an effective way to point out the differences
and similarities between the two.

In this case Jesus speaks about the divided house.
 ...if a house is divided against itself,
that house will not be able to stand.
And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided,
he cannot stand;
that is the end of him.

This comparison makes it seems
 obvious that the learned scribes are confused.

Evil spirits are about using actions
 that strengthen their hold of a person's being.

This was just one example of many times when
Jesus was falsely or wrongly accused.

In the story of the Three Little Pigs,
the third pig built his house out of bricks making
 it impossible for the wolf to blow down.

Jesus wants us to be so strong in our faith
 and beliefs that any false accusations will not
catch us off guard.

Blessings come in times of false accusations.
We must not be fooled by the evil spirits.
Peace.