2024 not abandoned: a new spiritual journey

How may we hear God and understand Him more accurately? Last night while praying my heart purposed to start afresh the unfinished journey over the uncharted spiritual rough waters of Bible words. It is not a time to ask why. It is a time to ask how. How may this be done consistently and persistently? I believe the Lord has put this desire in my heart and will help me get going…

I have put a link to my Sound Mind Journal blog in this watchman’s menu, labelled: “A New Spiritual Journey 2013-2024”. The first 2024 post (from alphabet A) shortly to be posted will be on a word that caught my eye on the top of the list, a word that digs deep into my heart. The original series started on March 16, 2013 and paused for many years, suddenly revived over a short period during the last 20 days of the year 2021 (six chapters posted on 12/12, 13/12, 14/12, 15,12, 18/12, 19/12, 21/12) and remained silent since then. What happened? Why December and those dates? Only now I see the significance. Exactly two years after that, a sudden personal loss (death) took place.

What better time is there than now to start catching up with Jesus as He walks towards the cross 2000 years ago? (This year’s Good Friday falls on 29th March.)

καινός 2024-03-07

Wed, Feb 14, 2024 – Thu, Mar 28, 2024

Note: Lent lasts 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday, excluding Sundays, is the six-week period leading up to Easter. It starts on Ash Wednesday (Feb. 14, 2024) and either ends on Maundy Thursday (March 28, 2024) or Holy Saturday (March 30, 2024), depending on the denomination. Palm Sunday, the final Sunday before Easter is celebrated by Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox traditions. 

2024 how not to grieve over a devastating tearing asunder and loss of a beloved?

 In the utmost sorrow and chaos inside out, spirit, soul and body, how does one stay sane and live on at least from day to day, eating and sleeping, halting the mind and the heart from a repeated constant reprise? It was impossible. Without God's grace and mercy and the immense working of the Holy Spirit, I could not have lived through the grief. I am still in its process and a work-in-process of a survivor of grief. 

A day before the fateful departure, at my urgent call, a closed relative of mine who loves her too drove seven hours to see us. She stood by the bedside and prayed in tongue until she heard from the Lord and saw vision. After that I walked her to the gate. I didn't want to hear what she had to say from the Lord. Prior to that she already told me her prompting from the Lord the moment I called her. It was the first time she knew of the condition. This was the verse she received for me:

Ecclesiastes 3 Everything Has Its Time

1 To everything there is a season,

A time for every purpose under heaven:

2 A time to be born,

And a time to die;

A time to plant,

And a time to pluck what is planted;

3 A time to kill,

And a time to heal;

A time to break down,

And a time to build up;

4 A time to weep,

And a time to laugh;

A time to mourn,

And a time to dance;

However, I needed to hear and know what the Lord had again spoken and revealed for me. She told me at the gate what she received: a first vision of the beloved standing on a line between two groups on each side of the line. On one side was a group of those who have gone to heaven (her mom, brethren whom she had helped etc.) On another side a group of all those who wants her remain on earth to continue to help them. Both sides were crying out. 

The Lord said: "She can choose either way."

a second vision: a beautiful garden full of lovely sunshine and flowers.

a third vision:  of the beloved walking by herself and only her back view was shown. She was already walking real far along a calm and peaceful road. 

The above vision and hearing from the Lord confirmed what this narrator received earlier on one day after asking the Lord what next. "She can live as long as she wants to."

She did not tell anyone her choice. No one can assume anything. Only the Lord sees our hearts and knows. For a believers who follow the Lord and walks with Jesus closely, we have an example in the apostle Paul. 

Romans 14:7-8

7 For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

2024-01-17

2024 Jan 17 how to draw a line between the spiritual and the physical?

2024 JAN 17 PROLOGUE: I assumed that life would be all sunshine and blue sky. That was to be the story of my life. And that would always be. Pure assumption. It did not happen. My earth world came crashing down over a decade ago. I had to part with a partner (of twenty years). I thought we could still remain best forever friend for the rest of our lives, mine at least, as I am 15 years her senior. It turned out to be a wistful thinking on my part. The truth caught up in the last two years. And the curtain closed forever on earth for our “partnership-friendship”. She left with Jesus on 2023-12-26 5am. 

Grief: I am not prepared and I cannot accept. I cannot imagine anyone prepared for grief. Human are not meant to grieve. How can anyone know grief until it hits like an avalanche? 

JANUARY 15, 2024 HELPER10 WORDS OF THOUGHTS AND SPIRIT EDIT "CROSSING OVER TO 2024"

crossing over to 2024

A LIFE AND A DEATH

A death in 2023 made it the most difficult year to cross. All words had fled. All colors faded before their time. Towards the end of December the world died. A heart was torn into two and the torn half left so suddenly that there was no time to weep goodbye. In fact 2023 was the impossible year to cross.

And today is the 21st day after that 5am fateful morning. What is 21 days compared to the 11,315 days of being together? Nothing.

And yet, 21 days mean that 1,814,400 seconds had ticked through. How did that happen? There is no explanation except for the supernatural grace (unmerited favor) and mercy of God, Who enables every dawn’s waking at 3am finding oneself in the midst of the living and is still a living being. With God, all things are possible.

The fact is: regardless of questions like, what is the good of being left behind in the land of the living when all its meaning seems to have departed, being alive on earth is a fact to live with day by day over which one is given a responsibility. A believer of God, the Creator and Origin of life, cannot choose to stay or leave unless God has given that option.

So the next question is, what shall I do for the rest of my life on earth, in particular, 2024? The reluctant earth man (in truth a spiritual man) asks God. What next?

Waiting is not possible when there is no certainty of an answer. What if the answer is broadcasted and I miss tuning to the right frequency? What if it comes in a still small voice and the wind that weeps through the leaves is too loud for me to differentiate and discern? What if it comes in a dream and I forget the moment I wake? What if I miss the 3-5am rendezvous on the particular day it comes? There are many “what ifs”. Yet I wait.

At one time one could imagine that time was a bird of no particular consequence gliding slowly passing by my window as I chanced to look outside through a veil dimly. Looking back the last decade I now hear the thundering sound of urgency for redeeming time.

A summary of a decade (of somewhat oblivion on the part of this blogger): 2012 prelude: a decision was made to each pursue a called direction and the way therein. 2013: A harsh tearing asunder legalistic way. 2014: Finally heeded (after three prophetic utterances) and left reluctantly for a strange land in a strange writing mission. 2015: Continued writing with travel to new land. 2016: the same with variation. 2017-2018 Heeded to the call to study academically about God. 2019-2020 making it to full time study on the snow mountain city above the clouds. 2021: returned to a new land and solitude. 2022: Reconciliation and restoration.  2023: Full restoration towards the end. And then an earth life departed just a few days before the year 2023 departed. And seemingly chaos started afresh when crossing over to 2024…

A devastating regret (for me in hind sight): Choosing a passive andante in earth life, spiritually oblivious that the other half was encountering a sudden onslaught by violent turbulent storm apparently too severe for her delicate frame. “You might not listen, or you could react immediately without thinking through, and not asking the Holy Spirit for direction. As for me, I’d rather stay in the supernatural peace of Jesus and follow His guidance step by step.” She said this to me, too late (?) or perhaps I never really listened until then.

How to describe someone who is like the psalmist in Psalm 1 (her all time favorite to the end), so firmly, deeply grounded and rooted (planted by God) by the stream of living water, walking so close to the Lord that beautiful flowers bloomed, lovely fruits birthed so naturally from her in all seasons, and healing leaves remaining lush and green, and forever whole and young in spirit, soul and body?

2024-01-17

when Jesus replied to Peter's request, “Come”, who responded?

Be surprised. It was not Peter. 

I always thought of how Peter, or rather, the body of Peter responded to Jesus saying one word, “Come!” And the body of Peter merely got down the boat, while its back was facing the voice of Jesus, and stepped onto the surface of the water in the midst of the sound of the wind and the raging water.

Was it Peter who heard the sound of Jesus and responded with his mind to process and reason the meaning and validity, and then decided that the odds outweighed the risk, and then mustered his faith to rise to a point where his fear was outnumbered? No, this explanation could not convince me.

I have previously been taught that it was the mind part of our soul, that blocked the working of the spirit, our born again spirit, which is joined to God’s Spirit and which enabled us to work miracle. That is the belief of many Christians.

Recently I attended a healing conference and listened to ten speakers who have been healed of years of serious, even life threatening diseases, physical and mental. Each of them came with a refreshing perspective of their own personal encounter with the Lord, through His written words, His voice speaking to them through the teachings of others or directly in the promptings of their hearts , visions, and signs and wonders of the Lord’s presence in the Spirit.

One thing that stands out to me is their relationship with the Lord. All of them assured us that it is simple and not complicated to have a Father-children relationship with the Lord, and to receive the healings from Him. I believe and agree to this.

For everyone who believes that God is Who He says He is, in the many names He calls Himself, as written in the Bible and in the testimonies of many life witnesses past and present, yes, we believe God is not complicated. He means what He says. He does not change. He is a living God right now in us.

So, coming back to the historical record of Peter’s body standing on the surface of the water and walking on it, I asked the Lord how could this be applied to my life while meditating on this truth after I listened to the speakers.

Then it dawned on me, just as Peter has urged us to expect this to happen when we really pay attention to what the Word is saying to us. “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;” (2 Peter 1:19)

I realized, in my heart, that God talks to my body. It is my body (which is formed of particles, and even the tiniest quarks without forms) that can listen and respond to God’s words. That makes it easy for Peter and for me too to respond to healing verses when they are read and spoken verbally. The sound of Jesus’ voice, speaking to us through whatever means, makes the crucial switch, from the seen impossible realm to the unseen impossible realm. It manifests in the physical body because our body is the one that can take action. Without a body, the word remains as a spirit.

Our body is programmed to hear God’s words and respond automatically, because He is the Creator of our body. So why are not everyone healed? Just as many Bible teachers have taught, the mind blocks the body from responding to God’s perfect “autoimmune” system. Paul has warned us against the works in the mind that do this damage to the body, and he also gave the one and only effective solution.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

Peter was known for his quickness in response. His body responded to the Lord’s words faster than all the other disciples did. In the case of getting off the boat, standing on the water, turning to face the Lord, and walking towards Him, indeed his body acted supernaturally and perfectly in its action. It was effective until Peter’s mind caught up.

Here is a verse quoted regularly about what to do with our mind:

Isaiah 26:3-4 3 You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.4 Trust in the Lord forever, For in Yah the Lord, is everlasting strength.

The Hebrew word “YETSER,” which was translated “mind” here, means “conception” and “imagination”. We can value something so much that we think of it day and night, and engrave an image of it even in our mind. In Joshua’s time there was only the teachings (ordinances/laws)revealed to Moses who duly recorded them in writings. The Lord commanded Joshua to speak them, meditate those words day and night and never depart from them, so that he could observe to apply all, and have good success and be prosperous in everything he did. Remember, that was the beginning of Joshua’s conquest of the promised land leading at least two millions of God’s people to take back their homeland from the aliens.

Joshua 1:8 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Joshua needed supernatural courage and strength. And the Lord has given both in His words.

Peter, too, needed supernatural courage and strength to live his life after Jesus ascended to heaven. What did the walking on water incident prove? It proved to Peter once for all he could do the supernatural without effort. His body can just respond. So will his mind follow if he stayed his mind on the Lord all the time. Back to the boat incident, I believe Peter was thinking of Jesus, whom he trusted and loved and obeyed wholeheartedly, meditating on what Jesus has said and taught them, every word, all the time, even though he could not understand a lot of the deeper things, without the indwelling Holy Spirit then.

That was why, when Jesus showed up on the surface of the water, Peter’s first response was that was the safest place to get to, be with Jesus! His body agreed. At the word of Jesus, the body automatically responded to the voice of Jesus, “Come!” And the rest is history.

We all have a watershed point of no return. It takes a lifetime to condition our heart and our body to be in tune to the Lord’s voice. Is it hard? Listening to the ten speakers who brought good news about healing of our body is one way to tune up our body to Gods words and His immune system. I have to remind myself that like Paul has said and encouraged us not to give up or be distracted, interestingly, in his letter to the Philippians while in prison, and all three verses were arranged by later Bible compilers in the13th position in each chapter:

2:13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. 3:13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended (laid hold of it); but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 4:13  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians

How does God work in us to ensure we will and can do for His pleasure? He put Hi life in us. He speaks to us. Our body can hear and obey Him. He speaks through His words most time. Christ gives us His strength (His Spirit, His name, His words).

Our mind can be harnessed. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

This is the Word today from Paul in the prison cell, to the many out there, who are looking at the circumstances and analyzing with their mind.

2 Timothy 1:6-8 6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (There is a Power to be used effectively, God’s way, that is, through the life of God in you. )

Not Ashamed of the Gospel

8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, (do not be guilt-ridden or blame-focused, it will not get you better. What we all need is to read the letters of the Apostles, Paul’s, Peter’s, John’s, and emulate their way of handling setbacks with positive expectation for the good, staying our mind/heart on the Lord God who is good and worthy and faithful to His words. )

καί notes 2022-11-16

10th week 7th day: were you there?

In less than two weeks’ time will be the time of the calendar year when Jesus would be hung on the cross (historically). Today’s New Testament reading is ahead of 2016’s Calendar for the commemorative crucifixion date. In our Calendar, next Sunday will be Palm Sunday celebrated by many Christian churches. Many Christian churches hold special services on Palm Sunday where congregation members receive blessed palm leaves, which symbolize victory and joy. After Palm Sunday, when it comes to the subsequent week of watching, suffering, and victorious celebration of our Lord Jesus’ passion, Christians have three more holy days: Maunday Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Today’s reading from Mark chapter 15 is the chapter before the last chapter of Mark. I post the whole chapter here. I pray each of us who reads this receives form our Lord His own message for each of us as a believer and follower of Jesus. My own prompting in my spirit is “Watch the number of people participated and recorded in this chapter. See how each responded.” Yes, there are plenty of people from all walks of lives who have heard about Jesus and even witnessed what He has done, the preaching of the Good News of the Kingdom of God, the miraculous healing, the signs and wonders. I highlighted these people by bolding the letters in the verses. His religious enemies, the political and military head, military officer and soldiers, ordinary people (the crowd, the mob, the passerby), His disciples and followers. Women (specially mentioned and recorded here).

(I enclose at the end of this post the lyrics of a hymn “Were you there” which deeply touched y heart many years ago when I first heard it sung. )

Mark 15 New Living Translation (NLT)

Jesus’ Trial before Pilate

15 Very early in the morning the leading priests, the elders, and the teachers of religious law—the entire high council[a]—met to discuss their next step. They bound Jesus, led him away, and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor.

2 Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus replied, “You have said it.”

3 Then the leading priests kept accusing him of many crimes, 4 and Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer them? What about all these charges they are bringing against you?” 5 But Jesus said nothing, much to Pilate’s surprise.

6 Now it was the governor’s custom each year during the Passover celebration to release one prisoner—anyone the people requested. 7 One of the prisoners at that time was Barabbas, a revolutionary who had committed murder in an uprising. 8 The crowdwent to Pilate and asked him to release a prisoner as usual.

9 “Would you like me to release to you this ‘King of the Jews’?” Pilate asked. 10 (For he realized by now that the leading priests had arrested Jesus out of envy.) 11 But at this point the leading priests stirred up the crowd to demand the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus. 12 Pilate asked them, “Then what should I do with this man you call the king of the Jews?”

13 They shouted back, “Crucify him!”

14 “Why?” Pilate demanded. “What crime has he committed?”

But the mob roared even louder, “Crucify him!”

15 So to pacify the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified.

The Soldiers Mock Jesus

16 The soldiers took Jesus into the courtyard of the governor’s headquarters (called the Praetorium) and called out the entire regiment.17 They dressed him in a purple robe, and they wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head. 18 Then they saluted him and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” 19 And they struck him on the head with a reed stick, spit on him, and dropped to their knees in mock worship. 20 When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.

The Crucifixion

21 A passerby named Simon, who was from Cyrene,[b] was coming in from the countryside just then, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.) 22 And they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”).23 They offered him wine drugged with myrrh, but he refused it.

24 Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross. They divided his clothes and threw dice[c] to decide who would get each piece. 25 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. 26 A sign announced the charge against him. It read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 Two revolutionaries[d] were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.[e]

29 The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. “Ha! Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. 30 Well then, save yourself and come down from the cross!”

31 The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! 32 Let this Messiah, this King of Israel, come down from the cross so we can see it and believe him!” Even the men who were crucified with Jesus ridiculed him.

The Death of Jesus

33 At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. 34 Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means“My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”[f]

35 Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. 36 One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. “Wait!” he said. “Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down!”

37 Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

39 When the Roman officer[g] who stood facing him[h] saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!”

40 Some women were there, watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James the younger and of Joseph[i]), and Salome. 41 They had been followers of Jesus and had cared for him while he was in Galilee. Many other women who had come with him to Jerusalem were also there.

The Burial of Jesus

42 This all happened on Friday, the day of preparation,[j] the day before the Sabbath. As evening approached, 43 Joseph of Arimathea took a risk and went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. (Joseph was an honored member of the high council, and he was waiting for the Kingdom of God to come.) 44 Pilate couldn’t believe that Jesus was already dead, so he called for the Roman officer and asked if he had died yet. 45 The officer confirmed that Jesus was dead, so Pilate told Joseph he could have the body. 46 Joseph bought a long sheet of linen cloth. Then he took Jesus’ body down from the cross, wrapped it in the cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone in front of the entrance. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where Jesus’ body was laid.

Footnotes:

1. 15:1 Greek the Sanhedrin; also in 15:43.
2. 15:21 Cyrene was a city in northern Africa.
3. 15:24 Greek cast lots. See Ps 22:18.
4. 15:27a Or Two criminals.
5. 15:27b Some manuscripts add verse 28, And the Scripture was fulfilled that said, “He was counted among those who were rebels.” See Isa 53:12; also compareLuke 22:37.
6. 15:34 Ps 22:1.
7. 15:39a Greek the centurion; similarly in 15:44, 45.
8. 15:39b Some manuscripts add heard his cry and.
9. 15:40 Greek Joses; also in 15:47. See Matt 27:56.
10. 15:42 Greek It was the day of preparation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?

Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?

Were you there when God raised him from the tomb?
Were you there when God raised him from the tomb?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when God raised him from the tomb?

Today’s Holy Bible reading: Psalms 37:30-40; numbers 15:17-16:40; Mark 15:1-47; Proverbs 11:5-6

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