Thursdays Child --John 2:18-25 WHAT!!

The reason we read the Bible is naturally to get some inspiration from God. As we read, thoughts come to mind, and some people say "God spoke to me." I prefer to say "God showed me." I have been known to say God spoke to me, but only because that is such a common phrase some times it just slips out. In reality I have never heard an audible voice from the heavens, and although I have heard of it happening, I believe it is very, very rare. I believe everyone gets inspiration and God touches our hearts when we read the Bible. I only say this because, I've noticed that as we go through the book of John, God has been showing me the human side of Jesus, and John 2 18-25 is no exception.
Imagine the looks on the people's faces after Jesus went ballistic on them. They asked Him(vs 18) "What right do you have to do these things? If you have this authority from God show us a miraculous sign to prove it." "Alright." Jesus replied. "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up."
Now imagine the new look on their faces. "WHAT!!" looking at each other. What the heck is He talking about. "It took forty years to build this temple." I just imagine them thinking- we're not going to tear down our temple to let you prove a point. So they just walked away shaking their heads, mumbling derogatory things about Jesus. He did however do some miraculous things at the Passover celebration, and many people were convinced that He was the Messiah, but since He was refering to His body as the temple, they didn't understand that statement until He was raised from the dead.
Verses 24 and 25 says, He knew human nature so He didn't trust them. I also think, He knew human nature, and because of His own human qualities He decided to mess with their heads. He knew they wouldn't understand it so He decided to have a little fun with them. It was a joke only He understood, but I'm sure He got a kick out of watching them walk away confused. Since He had the advantage of divine and human qualities it must have been fun to mess with them. As we search we have the benefit of knowing that Jesus is God and human, so it's fun to see both sides of Him. Thanks for searching with me, Paul

Thursdays Child - True Anger Management

I was glad when I saw the scripture for todays Thursdays Child is an angry Jesus. John 2:13-17. I have always liked this scripture, because once again it shows a very human side of Jesus.

To summarize this passage, Jesus goes to Jerusalem for the Passover, when He goes into the temple He finds merchants selling their merchandise. He becomes very angry, pushes their stuff onto the ground, turns over their tables, yells at them and drives them out of the temple.

I have always liked this because Jesus shows us it's okay to be angry, and to show anger. one thing that has always bothered me is that a lot of times people are taught that it is okay to feel anger but, don't hit, don't stomp your feet, don't scream, don't slam the door. Well, how are we suppose to express our anger? It seems we're not. So we suppress it. So we have a bunch of angry people walking around not able to vent their anger because they are told it's wrong. I say WWJD? I think What Would Jesus Do should apply to everything. Not just the warm and fuzzy things. I have mentioned Neil Anderson of Freedom In Christ Ministries before. He is a biblical counselor. He really stresses taking every thought captive from 2Corinthians 10:5. Lets not forget Ephesians 4:26. Be angry but do not sin. So where do you draw the line? Who determines what sin is? Would some people consider what Jesus did sin, because it was somewhat violent? But, Jesus never sinned. So again where is that line? At what point do we cross it? Violating a law maybe? Assault, murder. I believe we should be able to go to the gym and take our frustrations out on a punching bag, or if you can't go, punch your pillow or something. If you are a crier go have a good cry, go somewhere and scream as loud as you can, just get it out. Notice I have not said anything about punching a hard stationary object. Definitely not a good idea. I've thought before I would like to start a place for people -my thought was mainly youth -to have a place to just go vent. To have people there to listen if they want to talk. But also to have punching bags and other methods to just to be able to release that anger. Why do you think that arcade game whac-a-mole is so popular? Okay, maybe that's not the real reason but it could be. Keeping anger in, can turn to bitterness. It has been proven that bitterness that is allowed to grow and fester can lead to various kinds of health problems. The true cure to all anger and bitterness is forgiveness. You cannot be angry after forgiving someone.

Search yourself today is there someone you're angry with? It's okay to vent but don't let that anger build up. As soon as you figure the source of your anger forgive that person. They don't even have to know you have forgiven them, all they will see is the change in you.

This is always a tough one to get a handle on so, thanks for searching with me, Paul.

Thursdays Child - John 2:1-11 1st Miracle

Welcome to another Sunday edition of Thursdays Child. I'm excited about it after last weeks disappointing look at our Christian community. This week is fun because I was able to see Jesus as the obedient son. Instead of typing it all out, a summary the wedding feast miracle would read, Jesus, his mother and some of the disciples were at a wedding feast. Jesus' mother came to Him and told Him they had ran out of wine. He asked her "What does that have to do with us?" "My time has not yet come." She told the servants "Do what he tells you." He told the servants to fill a bunch of pots with water. All of a sudden the water was wine.

My question is, why did He make the wine? He told her no, it was not His concern. Was there more dialogue than is written? I am only going to base this theory stricktly from this scripture in the book of John. I haven't searched any of the other books. I'm thinking she could have said something like "You may be God but I'm still your mother young man." What I've really been wondering is, Did she give Him the "MOMMY LOOK?" You know she had to have one. I don't believe there is a parent in history that doesn't.

What do I think? I think she gave Him the look, raised her eyebrows at Him or whatever, immediately turned to the servants and said "Do what He says." and she walked off. In other words this conversation is over, you will do it. Then like a good boy, He hung His head and told the servants to go get water.

Was it an appropriate use of His powers? Who knows? Who cares? I think it has more to do with Deuterotomy 6:16. Honor thy mother and father. His mom told Him to do it, He did it. Not only did He make the wine He made the best wine possible.

That just gave me a thought. If you've ever known someone having self esteem issues and told them "God don't make junk." This is a good example of that. Even when the people were already drunk and the less expensive wines were usually used God made the best. He is perfect He can't make less than the best.

It was fun to look at Jesus as a momma's boy, but most of all it was interesting to see that even though He was God, He was on this earth as a human and had to live according to the laws set up for us

Thanks for searching with me again, Paul

Thursdays Child -Rapture Theories...Gone Sour

Well, I've taken a bit of a detour from the Thursdays Child. I had to relieve some of the pressure building up, if you remember the post, Spontaneous Combustion Declining. I thought this week would be a good week to get back to it. James MacDonald at Harvest Bible Chapel posted an interesting blog this week about the rapture. To refresh your memory he is one of the ones who started churches helping churches, mainly for the people of Haiti. He is going through Revelation at his church. He gave scripture supporting the post tribulation rapture. Matthew 24:29,30. All of chapter 24 talks about the end times but verses 29 and 30 say "immediately after those horrible days end, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. Then at last the sign of the coming of the Son of Man will appear in the heavens, and there will be a deep mourning among all the nations of the earth. And they will see the Son of Man arrive on the clouds of heaven with power and glory.

All of us who were taught a pre tribulation rapture were taught 1Thesalonians 4

I got interrupted that's why this isn't posted on Thursday. I decided since I wasn't writing I'd check out more pre-trib scriptures. What I found really bothered me. I found a whole bunch of web sites supporting both positions. That wasn't necessarily the disturbing part, I mean isn't that what we're all doing. What I did find, was that some of them would go so far as to undermine and talk bad about the other. This won't be cleared up 'til it happens, if it happens. And we won't know until then. So gee, can't we act like children of God? Does the phrase Love One Another ring a bell? I did come across a prophetic one that said the body of Christ will join together and there will be no more talk of the rapture.

What I would like to remind everyone is that it boils down to we are suppose to live like it will happen now, or maybe now, or now or......

What I really wanted to share with you Thursday when I started this post is, on James MacDonald's post he coined the greatest phrase,

Don't be a part of the planning committee, be a part of the welcoming committee

Thanks for searching with me, Paul

The Inner Self - Expand The View

I named the weekly posting Thursdays Child as a personal growth tool, because we all have so far to go. My original thought was to go through sections of the Bible and share with you my version of the Bible according to Paul, with God's direction of course. Well, I learned last night there are other things I would like to share with you as well. As I have said before, I have a big interest in martial arts. Some people in the "Christian Community" are skeptical of the martial arts because they are rooted in other religions. I have found that people's prejudice are usually based on ignorance. As I said in the previous "Inner Self" we should take a little time each day to quietly reflect and search for our inner self. I have as much time as anyone else to do this. That's why Tai Chi is a good escape for me. Tai Chi doesn't focus as much on punching and kicking as other Arts. It focuses alot on the mental aspect with a little emphasis on the fighting aspect. Well, last night night at Tai Chi we went through a mental exercise that dealt with finding you within yourself. The exercise itself isn't as important as the end result, which is what I really want to talk about here.
As we began the exercise there was a period of deep breathing to relax and focus and once we began searching for the true person within, I personally felt a sense of sadness. It was weird, in a circumstance like that when you're not affected by outside influences and you are aware of true feelings and emotions, it will surprise you what you can find out about yourself. The question is, why the sad feelings? What was it about myself that I possibly didn't want to see as I looked inward? What was I going to have to fix once I saw it? Well, there were no clear cut hidden demons in my inner closet. I did however emerge from the meditation, I was reluctant to use the term for fear of freaking out the vast hardcore christians that would get the picture of sitting around chanting Buddhists chants, with a brighter outlook or perspective on life if you will. I was going to say more enlightened but I didn't want to push my luck.
The point is, although it can be scary to look, once we do search for our true self we come away pleasantly surprised. Possibly, hopefully having a better, more forgiving attitude toward those around us and the world in general. So remember, keep searching, any change we can make has to be for the better. Thanks for searching with me, Paul