Mirrors

“Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us.” -Eric Hoffer

Lately I have been learning a lot of lessons in matters of the heart. When I say heart, I mean in using it, not in a romanticized sense. The hardest part of love is loving. The hardest part of loving is learning. The hardest part of learning is listening. Finally, the hardest part of listening is silence.

I realized that in its own weird way, love is many things, but in it’s most genuine state, it is peace. Like I mentioned before, love is all about demonstration, willingness, and stillness of ego. The love of God is the only example of what real love looks like, but our job here in this life is to love Him back. In doing so we become a reflection of how we are to love each other and how to be loved.

When you see someone, you see what your mind sees and the majority of us see incorrectly. The key to love is allowing your heart to lead instead of your mind or your eyes. To know God is to know loving Him blindly. We cannot see Him with our eyes and our minds cannot fathom His greatness, yet we know He is worthy to be praised and feel His love in our lives daily. That love He pours out is the love we should in turn, pour out on others.

When you’re kind to others, you help yourself;
when you’re cruel to others, you hurt yourself. (Proverbs 11:17 MSG)

It is so important to know that regardless of hardships in love and life, love is what mends the broken spirit and heals the broken heart. It is easy to break others down when you are on the floor, but it is quite another to love regardless of your stance in the world.

“Christian soldiers armed with virtue- hearts afire with blind obsession, cannot see the difference ‘twixt compassion and oppression.” -Unknown

Whether you have been hurt, hated, homeless, hopeless, or are simply happy, love is what takes you through it all. If we reflect the love God has for us on everyone we come into contact with, one way or another all that is lost is restored. We are made to be in His image. The imitation of love in its purest form. Do not judge others for their reflections. Instead, know that if it is not God you see in them, perhaps they need to see Him through you.

We are all but mirrors. Unity is the irrefutable reflection of love. Be to others what you see in you. The love of the creator of the universe and all those in it.

Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults – unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don’t condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you’ll find life a lot easier. Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back – given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity (Luke 6:37 MSG)

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Babylon

God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it (Hebrews 4:1 NLT)

Sometimes God is revealed through a song. This is one of those times for me. It makes me realize that although we try to always be doing things, our spirit needs to also be able to be still and receive. I get so busy sometimes I forget how good it feels to let someone else witness to me.
Below are the lyrics to Casey Hurt’s Babylon. Sit back, relax and let the song really witness to you. I posted the words only for convinience, but dont spend the whole song reading. Again, we always are doing. Let this post do something for you for a change! Be blessed

Song Lyrics-Babylon
Casey Hurt

Baptize the river with tears until it floods, how many years will it’s banks receive our blood. How many nations will deceive our ranks in occupation ‘til this generation wakes up and shakes off the mud. Begotten not modeled got jobs bottling Molotov cocktails for Babylon, consuming the same. Lost but not forgotten, the desert is hot and awful, but it’s awesome to exclaim- I’m just a pawn in your game crossing the 6th brook. I can’t remember Zion but this fishhook in my heart remembers everything. So let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable ‘til I learn how to sing. And it sounds like-

Down by the river where we sat and wept. That great river, Babylon. That great river we hung our hearts and heads. That great river Babylon. And how can we sing in a foreign land?

Fall on the rock and be broken. Follow me close ye the chosen that knew my voice in the moment that you remember. I am the poetry spoken over a motionless ocean at both the beginning and ending. I’m the inverse. Bring me your cinders. Gather me your kindling timbers, scattered ash and your smoldering embers. And behold, I will send a wind through the trenches they littered with your skeleton splinters- to mend and reassemble your members. Remember. But don’t receive your vision once again from the blind. Repent your senses and administer mine. Oh my children don’t be ignorant of signs of the times when the bitter and resentful shun the gifts and turn to sinister minds. Even this I have intended. It was written- both the vengeance and the vinegar’s mine. When the chrysalis dies, in an instant I’ll be given my most intimate prize- the glitter of my infinite eye.

Down by the river where we sat and wept. That great river, Babylon. That great river we hung our hearts and heads. That great river Babylon.

Relapse: The Familiar Fall

A man should never put on his best trousers when he goes out to battle for freedom and truth. – Henrik Ibsen

A human being has so many skins inside, covering the depths of the heart. We know so many things, but we don’t know ourselves! Why, thirty or forty skins or hides, as thick and hard as an ox’s or bear’s, cover the soul. Go into your own ground and learn to know yourself there.” -Meister Eckhart

Faces covered in mud, knees scraped and covered in blood.
Minds spinning like a DJ, while our focus fades away.
The way we are left when we run before we should,
The way we refuse to listen even though we could.
Groove slam work it back, one slip up and our world’s off track.
Where was our reverence when the hunger returned?
Why did we choose to repeat the lessons already learned?
Oh that’s right, we are but fools,
Dangle disaster in front of us and our mouths drool.
So much grace God, so much time,
Yet here we go playing ourselves one more time.
Help us to stop this track on repeat,
The melody of our old selves and our defeat.
With eyes full of tears, our ears are closed,
To your wisdom and to you telling us how not to end up below.
Tricky is the trap and we waltz right in,
Only to have You come and untangle us once again.
Help us to fall, but into Your peace,
To free us from the enemy’s grip only You can release.
Groove slam work it back, seek You first so we don’t relapse.
-Erica D

But You, Oh Lord, are a shield for me, My Glory and the One who lifts up my head. I cried to the Lord with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill.

Psalm 3:3-4

I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Psalm 4:8

Song Lyrics to the featured video of Freedom by Josh Garrels

Professional or beginner doesn’t matter
Every sinner is a prisoner in a body that is subject to time
Now my entwined mind tries to form a straight line
Not like twisted scoliosis of the spinal chord

Construct
Cross eyed carpenters are cuttin’ crooked lines
Can’t construct
Man-made shrines when the winds and the water move sands of time

Many minds on a deadline yet live life like a live wire
I’m not tired!
Of blood and fire
Spirit’s moving higher than the green grass ever lifted me

Spirit’s moving higher…
Than anything else ever lifted you
Mm see

We got spirituality
It’s living in us like one in three
Injustice is concerning me
In the non-linear eternity
I’m speaking paradoxically
But you can nod your head now when you understand me-e-e-ee…

This is for my free men
Whose backs wont bend in the lions den
Now with their eyes on the ending

This is for my free women!
They fight with their love
The bearers of our children

Free men whose backs wont bend in the lions den
Now with their eyes on the ending

This is for my free women
They fight with their love
The bearers of our children

We shine like lights exposing
What lies underneath decomposing
Unearth those chains that are rusted
My sweet Lord is that what I trusted in?
That sin? that tomfoolery? ugh!
What it is, is mental jewelry that I adorned myself with

The enemy’s gifts the man-made myths the ignorant bliss
Of marijuana spliffs and alcoholic fifths
I got so sick and tired of it

Delivered and redeemed
By Christ I mean
It’s time to start livin’
And get a reason for the rhyme

I don’t wanna be dead-wrong on the deadline
Standing on the dark side and all out of time…
Like a blind pantomime’s fantasize
Climb up his own ladder to the sunshine

Nothin’s mine
That hasn’t been given
No ones alive here
That hasn’t been risen
For 19 years i was trapped in a prison

Feeding my escape by means of derision
But every man-made attempt just failed
When trapped in a jail
Of my own guilt shame and iniquity

I was looking for freedom
How’d I find freedom?

Oh! oh freedom…
From all of this

He said believe
He said believe

Who are you telling me to belei-e-eve… yea
‘said I’m the Christ

Oh!
…He said I’m the Christ

So i believed.

Freedom!

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Spiritual Eclipse: One Foot In The World

There is a light that lives peacefully in a town of darkness. A candle that burns happily in it’s own company while surrounded by show stoppers and candle wax wickedness. The flame of our spirit continues to fiercely flicker, not a bit intimidated by the uncertainty the darkness brings.

Each of us has a very rich nature and can look at things objectively, from a distance, and at the same time can have something more personal to say about them. I am trying to look at the world, and at myself, from many different points of view. I think many poets have this duality.
Wislawa Szymborska

While love kindles the fire of our spirit, God tirelessly protects it from burning itself out and from the winds of change always trying to catch it off guard. The light respects the need for it’s drab counter part, but the dark grows increasingly irritated by the sparkle constantly in it’s eye. Eventually it devises a plan to smother the spirit resulting in what I call a spiritual eclipse.

Jesus continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You belong to this world; I do not. That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I AM who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.” “Who are you?” they demanded.
Jesus replied, “The one I have always claimed to be.” -John 8:23-25(NLT)

Duality. I think of it more as complexity. Some say it is a dilemma, but in reality it is war. For everything that is there must also be that which is not. Light and dark, good and evil, faith and fear, God and the enemy. It is impossible to have one without the other and as children of God living in the world, we are prime hosts to internally feed conflict and confusion.

For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. – 2 Cor. 4:6(NLT)

We must realize the light burning inside each of us is that of the spirit of God! There is nothing which can separate us from His protection or warmth of His love. We are all created to face the same challenge which is duality of self and spirit. We all have to try our hardest to burn brightly and confidently in spirit during constant worldly blackouts masked as trial. I can personally tell you the struggle to see in the pitch black of being unemployed is exhausting. If I simply allow God to work instead of always trying to figure things out, I would be led by His light instead of fumbling in necessarily over every obstacle the enemy places in my path to prosperity. The blockages to my blessings are my own reactions to trial and fear. To believe is to receive and it is not possible to believe God and live in fear of the enemy at the same time. We usually sabatoge our prosperity simply because we waste time trying to understands with our finite minds what God only could manifest.

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.
Audrey Hepburn

So many of us want to progress, but refuse to change moving forward. That is not how it works. We must be looking confidently ahead and be willing to surrender all fear and whatever else we are asked to by God to leave behind in order to walk into His will for us.

God is the same today, tomorrow, and always despite our constant changing. He will always light our way as long as we do not block His plans out with our own. We remain in the shadow of a self created spiritual eclipse.

The enemy will use every trouble you can imagine to make you forget the peace that God has already given to you with Jesus. Get behind the light and in front of your destiny which God has promised. Embrace what you go through and who you are for the Kingdom. Believe Him when He tells you He loves you in life and In death. You are forever protects and do not have a need to fear.

Allow the shadows to shade you , but never allow them to fade you. Be brave, be blessed, burn bright!

Related articles

• VS by Billy Rood: a world of duality (fashionising.com)
• WakingTimes – Linda George – The Field – And Us – 7 March 2013 (lucas2012infos.wordpress.com)
• Dealing with Duality (wwtid.com)
• Duality (misterinfinite.com)
• Stand Up and Fight Back – Book Review (rebeccaaarup.com)
• A Stealth Spiritual Warfare Weapon Satan Can’t Stand. (greatriversofhope.wordpress.com)
• Demonic Schemes (rebeccaaarup.com)

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My Message Radio Now Available

God has put it on my heart to give My Message and my readers a voice by extending my blog to the radio! Please tune in to blog talk radio every Thursday at 3:30pm PT for my new show called

Turning Your Mess Into Your MESSage.

I will be reading selected blog posts from right here at My Message and discussing the main idea behind each one. Guests will be sharing their own faith based motivational testimonials and callers are welcome at any time to share as well! I am also sharing my personal testimony and stories behind the blog.

Turning Your Mess Into Your MESSage

Please support the show by visiting the link above! You can follow the station, listen to the pilot, and even set a reminder to listen!

I appreciate all of you and hope to really get to know you more through this opportunity!

Be Happy Be Bright Be You!!

Erica

Caught Red Handed

“He who chooses to be a master never does just enough to get by; nor does he cut corners or attempt to cheat the system. He who chooses mastery lives his life asking, ‘How can I do more, give more, be more, and thereby accelerate the achievement of my ultimate destiny?’.” -James Arthur Ray

Burn me once shame on you, burn me twice shame on me. The war against trickery seems to be fought on a daily basis. My favorite book, the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, not only addresses such deceit, but the very worst kind….The lies we tell ourselves!

We have an awful way of breaking our own hearts with some of the things we convince ourselves of, however, when another person takes it upon themselves to do the breaking, it seems much harder to recover. There is nothing worse than coming to find out the truth you very much believed in was all the while a fraud. I am not a stranger to this tragedy. In fact, I may as well have written it myself. I have been both the liar and the lied to and can confidently say both are just as painful. Thank God I was blessed with the opportunity to rebuild the bridges I burned with the fire of my tongue, but sadly there are people who are completely content in watching the cinders burn. People who lie for sport. People who simply do not care what they have to do or who they have to hurt in getting what they are after.

But no, the people are like crafty merchants

selling from dishonest scales –

they love to cheat (Hosea 12:7 NLT)

Honesty is the foundation of all relationships whether they be with others or ourselves. One cannot plant strong roots in weak soil. When we lie, cheat, and manipulate in order to satisfy our wants, we forfeit our ability to attain true happiness and simultaneously destroy the idea of that happiness for those we hurt when they realize what we have done. It is so much easier for everyone if we say what we mean and mean what we say. God sees all the things we do when we think no one is watching.

The sick feeling that accompanies being a fake is actually discernment. We know very well what we are doing in the midst of dishonesty and that it is not okay, but money, lust, and fear have brilliant ways of convincing us otherwise. Regardless of the temporal gain we may feel we achieve via cutting corners and the hearts of others, the long lasting outcome is loss of much more than we realize. In an instant all the things the devil promises you will fade and you will be left empty handed and full of regret.

Do not get caught red handed in the cookie jar. If you know you shouldn’t be eating a cookie then don’t eat one! If you want a cookie that badly ask for one! God would rather you ask for help than see you take matters into your own hands despite the consequences. He knows your desires and He knows much better than you whether or not what you crave now will be satisfying to your long term happiness. Trust Him and be trusted by others. Eventually someone will notice they are low on cookies and you will be the only one around with chocolate on your face and
a tummy ache!

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Trouble

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Matthew 6:25-27

The image above features one of the most frequently asked questions of our day. Whether it is in choosing which freeway we take, what we eat for lunch, or what we believe, we most always ask the question “What If?” in the midst of our decisions. The problem is more evident than the solution when we ask such a question. We are doubting, pessimistic, and hardened to begin with, by adding our own personal fears to the list we are certainly doomed.

The only things which inhibit us from living out our God appointed destinies are our own unhealthy preoccupations with trivial things and in unrealistic circumstances. MONEY, POWER, SUCCESS. It is unfortunate to see the lengths some people will go to achieve one or all of the above. What is even more unfortunate is knowing none of the above will really get you anywhere. Sure, in the world, we are conditioned to think the opposite, but in our faith we are taught otherwise. Each of the things we place higher than God will inevitably be our downfall. What if tomorrow does not come? Will you be so worried about the things that slowly eat away at your happiness on a daily basis? What if heaven does exist? Will you be so concerned about your bank account or how many likes your Facebook page has?

It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. C. S. Lewis

Life is full of questions, but what if you are asking the wrong ones? Instead of worrying that you are not or that you have not, believe God when He promises He will not! He will not give you so much that you can’t handle, He will not allow the trivial problems of the temporal to stop you from becoming who you were born to be. There are no what if’s when it comes to God. The only question is when the blessings He has prepared for you will manifest. Know He already has a solution to your trouble and believe He has the power to overcome your worry!

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ – Phil 3:7-8

“If I were asked to give what I consider the single most useful bit of advice for all humanity it would be this: Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and when it comes, hold you head high, look it squarely in eye and say, ‘I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.’.” -Ann Landers

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School Is In Session

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. -James 1:2-8 NIV

God Didn’t Do That

Sometimes we seem to forget that we are but man and God is in control. We have a familiar way of trying so desperately to teach the class when we ourselves have not even passed the course. I have a nasty habit of getting ahead of myself and by doing so, whether I realize it or not, I end up pushing God and His plans out of my way. The result of this common thoughtlessness is common chaos.

It is our own fault when we run into walls because we are not looking where we are going. It is ironically the scars those injuries leave behind which teach us the things God had intended we learn in a much less painful and much more effective way. We are not to be looking anywhere other than at Him in making decisions in our daily lives. FAITH IS NOT EASY, BUT IT’S WORTH IT.

If we rely on our own conception of what is best for us then we should not be surprised when things do not go as WE had planned. As followers of Christ, we are always surprised because we do not know the plan, but know that if it is God’s then it is a good one!

When I was an addict, I spent 8 years repeating the same lesson over and over without even realizing I was being taught. As a result, I had to go all the way back to where I had started after years of running, never understanding I had been disqualified and none of it mattered! I looked hard for someone to blame, but there was no one else around. I had been living a lie and I was the liar.

It was through this experience and by my accepting accountability for my arrogance which enabled me to finally pass God Only Knows 101. Only by humbling myself and admitting to God that I was lost without Him did I make it to the next stage of my life and in my walk as a Christian.

We do not know how to be the instructor of our lives. We do not know why, how, when, what, or who and we cannot put on a fake look and expect the truth to manifest in our situations! If we take the lead, God will not stop us. Free will is a gift and it is also our worst deterrent from making progress. God will, however, be there when you realize you were not as smart as you thought you were. He will always be back where you left Him even if you lapped Him a hundred times.

“A courage which looks easy and yet is rare; the courage of a teacher repeating day after day the same lessons – the least rewarded of all forms of courage.” -Honore De Balzac

Praise God in all seasons and remind yourselves daily how lucky you are to have Him as your instructor. He will never fail you, but He will make sure you have really learned from what He has shown you before He let’s you move on to the next class. Don’t get stuck in grade school simply because you refuse to be taught. God wants to see you graduate with honors and in turn you are to give Him the honor, the glory, and the praise for grace and His wisdom.

Every day is a lesson, but it’s up to us to show up to class prepared and aware we are but the student. God is in control!

Live Happy

Counterfeit

The question is not so much “Do we worship?”, but “WHO do we worship?” Jesus is the only one who can satisfy what search for to feel fulfilled. Be blessed by this powerful video. I have been. Glory to God, not our version of Him

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A Beautiful Disaster

Someday everything will make perfect sense. So for now, laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears and keep reminding yourself that everything happens for a reason.-

Harriet Morgan quotes

Top 25 CS Lewis Quotes

Disaster strikes again!
Just when you were finally running at a steady pace, you trip over yourself and end up dead last in the race.
With your head in your hands you begin to analyze,
Why you tried in the first place and how you actually believed it was worth a try.
Tears swell up in your eyes, but you won’t let them see you affected,
You pretend it’s no big deal while inside you feel utterly dejected.
Before you know it you’ve been lapped by other runners and not one has yet stopped to see that you are okay,
You are actually quite relieved since they wouldn’t really care if they asked anyway.
After your ego has recovered you prepare yourself to stand,
But before you can pull yourself up off the ground someone has already reached for your hand.
Squinting from the sun in your salty seas of eyes, you try to identify this philanthropist,
He shades your view with His free and and soon you realize it’s Jesus.

You get to your feet and finally begin to cry,
Not because of sadness, but because you realized you fell for the enemy’s lie.
You tell The Lord you are sorry and that you never meant to doubt in,
The fact that with Him on your team it’s a guaranteed win.

Life is a trip and we are all in a spiritual race,
However do not allow the devil to slow down your pace.
He will use your thoughts, your friends, and even your belief to distract you from the finish line,
He will tell you that no matter how hard you work at it, things will never be fine.
We are surrounded by liars, by imposters and by fear every where we turn,
But when we allow Jesus to lead we see the flames before we feel the burn.
He winks at you and once again dusts the dirt on your face,
He takes your hand and together you rejoin the race.

“Time is swift, it races by; Opportunities are born and die… Still you wait and will not try – A bird with wings who dares not rise and fly.” -A.A. Milne

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