Memoirs of an Empty Nester pt.11

I’ve had such a glorious day today in the presence of the Lord. I have truly been transforming in my spirit. I have been experiencing life as an empty nester, and it hasn’t been easy. In fact, at times my experience has been scary, just as there is good in the world, so is there evil. Evil has tried to assert itself into the seat of my thinking so that I will remain in bondage to my past through my thoughts. But God is faithful and He has done well to deliver my soul, my thinking, and I am eternally grateful. He has supernaturally given me the opportunity to benefit from this alone time that I have with Him, so I am not totally alone. He and I have been doing some spring cleaning in my mind, my thought life, putting to death old ways of thinking. In actuality, all those things that other people have said and done against me, and the things that I have said against myself, and the things that I have said against others, had to be dealt with. All that stuff equals NEGATIVITY. And my soul had to be made free from all of that negativity and I actually feel glory on the inside of me, there has been a change in my soul and spirit. I need and want to fill my soul and spirit with the fruit of praise and worship, not only because my soul wants to, but also because I need to in order to keep my spirit free from negativity. I have learned that negativity within, attracts negativity from without. (I share that just in case the Blue Bird of happiness is pooping  all over your life excessively, examine your vibe.)

I have been blessed by God to enter into a REST in the Lord. I feel like a novice at this walking by faith, but perhaps I am not because God has been working with me for a while.  The appointed time has come, for me to enjoy the fullness of God’s presence through Christ and His faithfulness to me, His love for me, and all else that is His glory. What an honor, I know that I have asked for it, cried for it, and now I am experiencing it, from faith to faith and glory to glory I am being changed into the image of God’s dear son Jesus Christ. The rest of the Lord that faith ushers a believer into is a wonderful and glorious place to be…and the empty nest isn’t so empty any longer…

Rom 1:17 KJV – For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
2Cr 3:18 KJV – But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord.

I Thought About the American Educational System Today, Pt. 1

I thought about the American Educational School system because I was concerned about how it has changed. I have personally said that the AE system was founded on the Bible. I also believe that the United States of America was likewise founded on Christian principles of the Bible. However, I have found that there are those who do not believe that America was founded on Christian principles because the forming fathers were not Christians but Deist. Of course, I set out on a serious search to find out the sentiment of the times leading up to the Puritans leaving England to settle in the New Colonies, and this is what I found… Christianity was in the world, and so were competing philosophies such as Renaissance, the Age of Reason/Rationalism, Hermeticism, Humanism, Neo-Platonism, Secularism, Enlightenment, and Deism.

“The sixteenth century in Europe was a time of unprecedented change. It was the beginning of the modern era, and it saw a revolution in almost every aspect of life. The century opened with the discovery of a new continent. The renaissance in Italy was peaking and spreading north, even arriving in backwaters like England. The printing press created a media revolution. It brought ideas, partisan rhetoric, and how-to manuals to the people. Most of all, it brought the Bible, in its original tongues and in the vernacular, to the masses. A spirit of inquiry, a desire to return to first principles, was blowing through the Church, which had been the unifying cultural foundation of Europe for a millennium,” and this lead to wars…http://www.lepg.org/sixteen.htm

“The conflicts of Europe in the early 16th century (Spain and France in the west, Christians and Muslims in the east) are further complicated by a most violent dispute within the Christian community itself. Reformation blazed for a century and a half across the whole of Western Europe. From Martyrdom of Protestants in one place and Catholics in another, through sudden massacres (as of St. Bartholomew’s Day in France) to prolonged warfare (the Thirty Years’ War), the prevailing mood of the continent becomes one of religious intolerance and frenzy, often usefully put to the service of politics. Not till the late 17th century does national interest transcend religious fervor.”  http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=geo

“The first half of the 16^th century saw what contemporaries viewed as the most earth-shattering change in the century: the Reformation. To contemporaries, the reordering of religion and the sundering of the social unity that it had once provided to European culture was the most significant development of the sixteenth century. It is impossible to understand the time without taking a look at this. Religion was not a matter of personal preference or opinion; it was the very basis of society. The cultural consensus of Europe based on universal participation in the Body of Christ was broken, never to be restored.” My understanding is that Reformation brought an end to the dream of One Holy Roman Empire ruling one universal church for all to follow. The fight was between the Protestants and Catholicism.                       http://www.lepg.org/sixteen.htm

 The Puritans

“The Puritans were a group of people who grew discontent in the Church of England and worked towards religious, moral and societal reforms. The writings and ideas of John Calvin, a leader in the Reformation, gave rise to Protestantism and were pivotal to the Christian revolt. They contended that the Church of England had become a product of political struggles and man-made doctrines. The Puritans were one branch of dissenters who decided that the Church of England was beyond reform. Escaping persecution from church leadership and the King, they came to America.”

“The Puritans believed that the Bible was God’s true law, and that it provided a plan for living. The established church of the day described access to God as monastic and possible only within the confines of “church authority”. Puritans stripped away the traditional trappings and formalities of Christianity which had been slowly building throughout the previous 1500 years. Theirs was an attempt to “purify” the church and their lives.”

“The large number of people who ascribed to the lifestyle of the Puritans did much to establish a presence on American soil. Bound together, they established a community that maintained a healthy economy, established a school system, and focused an efficient eye on political concerns. The moral character of England and America were shaped in part by the words and actions of this strong group of Christian believers called the Puritans.”     http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/puritans.html (Kay Kizer)

The Puritans Left England

England was marked by transition from Puritan influences on thinking, to the thinking of the intellectual and scientific revolutionary philosophies, which of course lead to unrestrained behavior. The Puritans fought against the immorality of the theater and immorality in general. They got laws passed to restrict dancing, singing, and the theater. Sundays were for worship, all other activities were banned. This time for the puritans was marked by the suppression of immorality. The Puritans found their thinking and religious practices unwelcomed so they picked up, kissed persecution good-bye, and moved to the New Colonies.

 The Puritans that came to New England believed in: 

1. Supreme Sovereignty of God
2. Totally sinful nature of man
3. Father is the ruler of the household
4. Premarital chastity for M/F  (but that didn’t work too well)
5. Sexual pleasure even in marriage is restricted
6. Sexual Intercourse was for reproduction only

Many of the British North American colonies that eventually formed the United States of America were settled in the seventeenth century by men and women, who, in the face of European religious persecution, refused to compromise passionately-held religious convictions and fled Europe. The Middle Atlantic colonies of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, were conceived and established “as plantations of religion.” Some settlers who arrived in these areas came for secular motives—”to catch fish” as one New Englander put it—but the great majority left Europe to worship in the way they believed to be correct. They supported the efforts of their leaders to create “a City upon a Hill” or a “holy experiment,” whose success would prove that God’s plan for churches could be successfully realized in the American wilderness.

Many religious groups (such as the Quakers and Puritans) formed the first 13 colonies on the basis of their religious beliefs.  Although the plan was to escape persecution, there was actually some amount of persecution happening in the colonies.  One example of this persecution would be with the Puritans.  The Puritans wanted everyone to worship in the Puritan way.  In order to ensure that Puritanism dominated the colonies, nonconformists were fined, banished, whipped, and even imprisoned for not conforming to the way of the Puritans.  Eventually this persecution was ended and other religions began to appear. 

With the arrival of the Quakers in Pennsylvania in 1656, the path was officially paved for other religions to migrate to the colonies.  The Anglicans were already established in most of the colonies and were even part of the group of people that were “persecuted” by the Puritans.  However, after the dispersion of the Puritans, the number of other religions in the colonies began to increase.  Baptists appeared in a majority of the colonies, Roman Catholics and Protestants organized in Maryland and even some German religions surfaced in a few of the colonies.  The Lutherans came later and joined in the German communities in Pennsylvania, and the Presbyterians, even had an appearance in the Massachusetts Proposals of 1705.  http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/16071783/religion.htm

I think it is clear that the early settlers in the New Colonies were interested foremost in religious freedom; they wanted to worship God on the basis of their beliefs. Their efforts to create “plantations of religion”, as a “holy experiment,” and Christian nation were supported by their followers. The Puritans wanted all settlers to believe like Puritans, and began to persecute other believers. They were eventually dispersed, at which time, other Christians like Lutherans and Baptists and others mentioned above, moved into and formed their own Christian colonies. The settlers even evangelized the Indians, most of whom worshiped/respected an all powerful, all-knowing Creator, “Master Spirit.” Most tribes believed in the immortality of the human soul and an afterlife, which is pretty progressive I think.  So  it was in an atmosphere of Christianity that the colonies were formed, even though their practice was not always sound. A Bible-based Christian way of life flourished in the New Colonies, and in the educational system.  http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/eighteen/ekeyinfo/natrel.htm

 I. Education in Colonial America.

The Massachusetts School Laws were three legislative acts of 1642, 1647 and 1648 enacted in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The most famous by far is the law of 1647, also known as the Old Deluder Satan Law (after the law’s first sentence) and The General School Law of 1647. They are commonly regarded as the historical first step toward compulsory government-directed public education in the United States of America.  Shortly after the three laws passed, similar laws were enacted in the other New England colonies. Most mid-Atlantic colonies followed suit, though in some Southern colonies it was a further century before publicly funded schools were established there. The law was one of a series of legislative acts directed at public education in the colony. The first Massachusetts School Law of 1642 broke with English tradition by transferring educational supervision from the clergy to the selectmen of the colony, empowering them to assess the education of children “to read and understand the principles of religion and the capital laws of this country.” It held parents and masters responsible for their children’s and apprentices’ ability to read and write, stressing education rather than schooling. However, its implementation appears to have been somewhat neglected. Probably in response to this, the 1647 law was enacted by the Massachusetts General Court to impel the towns of the colony to found, operate and fund schools.                               

The 1647 legislation specifically framed ignorance as a Satanic ill to be circumvented through the education of the country’s young people. It required every town having more than 50 families to hire a teacher, and every town of more than 100 families to establish a “grammar school”. Failure to comply with the mandate would result in a fine of £5. The grammar school clause was intended to prepare students to attend Harvard College, whose mission was to prepare young men for the ministry. The rationale for the law reflected the Calvinist Puritan ethos of the time and in particular the influence of the Reverend John Cotton, who was a teacher in the First Church of Boston and one of the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s most influential leaders. The Puritans sought to create a literate population to ensure that, as the law put it, “ye old deluder, Satan” could not use illiteracy to “keep men from the knowledge of ye Scriptures.” Their religious beliefs emphasized the view that personal knowledge of the Scriptures was an essential requirement for temporal living and eternal salvation. The statute also endorsed the principle that the interpretation of the Scriptures should be done under the aegis of proper authority, namely the Puritan leaders, in order to avoid “false glosses of saint seeming deceivers.”                    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_School_Laws

Puritans founded Harvard College in 1636 and Yale College in 1701. Later, Baptists founded Rhode Island College (now Brown University) in 1764 and Congregationalists established Dartmouth College in 1769. Virginia founded schools the College of William and Mary in 1693. The colleges appealed primarily to aspiring ministers, lawyers or doctors. There were no separate seminaries, law schools or divinity schools.

Georgia was established on strict moralistic principles. Slavery was forbidden, as was alcohol and other forms of supposed immorality. The California Missions comprised a series of 21 outposts established to spread Christianity among the local Native Americans. Virginia, Maryland, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania also wanted the freedom to serve God.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_history_of_the_United_States

NEXT TIME:   What Happened to the American Educational System?

Memoirs of An Empty Nester pt.7

I am getting to a place in my life where I am happy I’m alive, not just oblivious to death, but aware of the shadow of death, and yet determined to live and be happy, grateful in fact, to do so. Self-love and self-acceptance has such a warm and welcoming feeling, even cozy is descriptive of what I feel. Why couldn’t these feelings have filled my soul in my youth, during the times when my self-worth and self-esteem was too tied up in what other people thought of me. When the opinions of others determined what I thought of myself. What my family and friends think of me is important. I want to be perceived as a compassionate human being. But the opinions of others don’t dictate what I feel about myself, and I like the person that I am becoming. I look forward to the next step in my growth. I love this feeling, because I am in a wonderful place, wow, it is hard to explain. But I am in a place of peace, a place wherein I don’t have to struggle, if I don’t want to really. I am in the place where I will see the goodness of God, if I stay focused on The Lord Jesus Christ, and stay focused on faith in His Cross and what He won for me thereby. I am in my promised land, my wealthy place, I simply must overtake the giants, just like the children of Israel. What an awesome, faithful God I serve. To be continued…

This Will Keep Us Thinking!!!

The Righteous Choice To Operate In Spirit pt10

Many people are in distress because of life issues due to loss of one sort or another. Concerning the economy, we’ve heard that it will recover but, will it recover all?  I am concerned about those who are thinking of suicide, those who don’t have enough food to eat. Those that are homeless, or will be. Those that are carrying tremendous burdens. I know exactly how it feels in that place. In fact, I know I can accurately say it is torment.  But I found a solution that I want to share with you. It helped me and if you allow, this solution can help you too. Here is the solution: “COME UNTO ME ALL OF YOU WHO ARE WEARY AND CARRY HEAVY BURDENS, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST. TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU. LET ME TEACH YOU, BECAUSE IAM HUMBLE AND GENTLE AT HEART, AND YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. FOR MY YOKE IS EASY TO BEAR, AND THE BURDEN I GIVE IS LIGHT.” Matt. 11:28-30-NLT

Let me give you  reasons why you can trust this promise from God for THOSE WHO PUT THEIR FAITH IN HIM, AND RECEIVE HIM AS LORD.

1.   Cr 1:9 KJV – God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship  of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

2.  Num. 23:19 KJV- ”God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”

 3.  Psalms 121:17 KJV-”The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.”

4. 2 Thess. 3:3 KJV- ” But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.

5. St. John 3:16 KJV- “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believe on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

God guarantees to take care of those who belong to HIM. Give yourself to Him today. Accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior. Invite Him into your heart to live forever more and make you brand new. Then give Him your burdens to carry. I am a witness…HE WILL.

The Righteous Choice to Fear the Lord.

I read this Psalm today, and it was such an inspiration to my soul and spirit. I am living in trying and troubling times. I see the nations spiraling downward (tsunamis, typhoons, earthquakes, dust storms, famine, homelessness). But, I am trusting in the Lord, who is the God of my life. In this time of suffering and uncertainty about tomorrow. I am fully confident knowing that if my life be hid in Christ, then my God will take care of me and those  to whom I am connected.  Read this: Psalm 112:

Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.

His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed.

Wealth  and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endureth  for ever.

Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.

A good  man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion.

Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting  remembrance.

He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.

His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies.

He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honour.

The wicked  shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish .

10 Things You Can Do To Beat The Bear!

Yes, we are living in a time of financial crisis and job loss and fear about what tomorrow will bring, and how we will survive it. Understandably, life becomes extremely stressful when we lose control over our circumstances. When we have to think about how we’re going to offer the basic needs of shelter and food for ourselves and our families, the experience can quickly overwhelm our lives and our outlook on the future. I am also facing the uncertainty of tomorrow, and I am facing the prospect of how am I going to provide for myself. So I thought that I would share with you some of the things I do to stay positive and full of faith and hopeful.

1. LOOK TO THE HIGHER POWER. I used the term higher power because everyone doesn’t believe in Jehovah God, but it is absolutely important for me to realize the power that comes from the Supreme Being, the one who is greater than me. I am not in this world alone. (St. John 3:16)
2. MEDITATION AND PRAYER.  The ability to get into a quiet place and engage in thought and contemplation and expectation from God brings me great peace. Because I believe in Jehovah God, I use his Word as the focus of my thoughts, then I make my petitions or requests of God and I speak forth what he has promised me through His word. Then, I use my imagination to see myself in receipt of those promises. And I hold on to that for dear life, because the Bible says that when I meditate on God’s word and do it, I will make my way prosperous and have good success (Joshua 1:8)
3. BE THANKFUL TOWARD GOD. Many times we blame God for adversity in our lives. We ask why did God allow this or that to happen. But I have found that when I bypass that kind of questioning of God, and instead give  thanks  for the goodness of God in my life, I swell with peace and expectation and joy in my spirit. ( Psalm 107:20-22).
4. RELIEVE YOURSELF OF STRESS. You may have to cry, or talk about your situation with others who share your circumstances, you may find solutions (networking). Exercise, is a great way to get those endorphins popping, resulting in a better attitude. Eating more veggies and fruit, which are cheap, (farmer’s market) always seems to give me pleasure emotionally and physically because I feel lighter.
5. ASK FOR AND RECEIVE HELP. Human beings are quick to try and fix their problems. But, there are times when God expects us to wait and depend on HIM. What is a problem for us, is not a problem for God. So ask God for help and when it comes please swallow  pride. You’re truly not the only one going through difficulty, so you’re not less of a person.
6. KEEP GOING FORWARD. Keep living and loving and doing the things that you love. This writing that I am doing, and working on my websites is something that I absolutely enjoy. In doing so, a whole new career or direction in life may emerge. God’s ways are awesome. A recession comes into your life and causes some damage, but you survive and out of the debris comes new meaning in life, and a new ability or talent that births something great in you and through you.  Something greater than you’ve ever known before.
7. TRUST GOD.  Sometimes in life trusting God or a higher power is all that you can do. Those times when you have tried everything else and everything else has failed. Give God the opportunity to enlarge and bless your life his way.
8. WATCH YOUR HABITS.  Pay attention to your personal habits. Keep yourself up and your surroundings neat and clean. This may sound silly but, keeping yourself neat and clean and your living space free from clutter and filth has a wonderful effect on your psyche, it can even relieve stress.
9. HELP OTHERS.  Doing for others can bring great reward for yourself, at the least it will take your mind off of your situation. In the long run, it will bring you great soul satisfaction and joy to help someone else in need. You may even find a new purpose and calling.
10. DON’T FORGET GOD.  When God changes your circumstances, and brings you out of your adversities please don’t forget what God has done for you and/or your family. Let this time be a learning experience with the Supreme Being.

The Righteous Choice To Operate in Spirit, pt9

I just read over my earlier blog entries to encourage myself in my pursuit of Spirit. It is a pursuit because it is an act of will that is a conscious effort each day. I’ll admit that I have some competing distractions in  my life that I don’t want to have to focus on. But, these distractions are making themselves painfully clear. It is clear however, after reading my earlier posts that I have somewhat lost my way. I’ve taken my eye off of my goal, and I must quickly make a shift. I must look past these challenges and refocus on my goal to live by the Spirit each day. “The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want, He maketh me to lay down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters, He restoreth my soul, He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name sake, Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me, Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me, Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies, Thou anointest mine head with oil, My cup runneth over, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. This scripture is encouraging me now. So I will raise my head, dry my eyes and go forward, living my life centered in Christ. I do feel better in my spirit…

The Righteous Choice to Operate in Spirit, pt8

My quest to pursue Spirit, and live a life on point with the kind of life that God has prepared for me, has been a journey of destruction and rebuilding. Revisiting the past and confronting it and dethroning the power of the hurt from days gone by. Things said and done, doors opened, evil unleashed, a life thrown into turmoil, has now worked a far better glory in my life.  What gave me the power to do that?  The love of God did.  Knowing that I can trust God’s love for me, gave me courage to revisit those places of pain to tell them that they will no longer have power nor place in my life. The hurt has been replaced with the love of God. Love for Him and love for me, now love for others. God’s love is filling up the empty places in me.  God’s acceptance is filling up the deep places of need in me.  God’s peace is overshadowing me, and I trust Him. My wings are unfolding, wide they want to spread, I’m about to soar in the freedom that only the Master can give. Is that destiny that I’m tasting…

The Righteous Choice to Operate in Spirit! pt6

I have been away from my blog for a minute again, this time it was because I had to be hospitalized. But, I am out now and determined to continue my journey to live in Spirit.  Believe it, or not, I saw the hand of God through-out the whole harrowing experience, and He surely brought me through it. Ironically, the experience solidified for me, the fact that God is in total control of every aspect of my life. And He has the most amazing or  extraordinary way of getting that point across.  I understand that as a human being, I have been baptized in Humanism. You know, “life is what I make it, I’m the captain of my own ship, I pulled myself up by my own boot-straps.  But, the Word of God says that we can do nothing without HIM-John 15:5. So then the truth is that I cannot have true success without God. I can make an effort, but if God doesn’t author the effort, and guide the process, then my effort will be in vain.

I am so sorry, that it takes so much for me to grab onto faith, and so little for me to let it go!!!! When I sit down and really think about the individual moments in which God made his presence quite evident in my life, I feel faith swell up within my spirit. But, when my faith is challenged, and after a season of withstanding the challenge, my spiritual knees begin to buckle. Well, they buckle yes, but soon strength returns and I find myself in full faith again, and that my friend comes from God’s Holy Spirit. Isn’t it ironic that God uses adversity to bring about clarity.  He takes you down, for the express purpose of bringing you up, victoriously.

I want to grow to the place where my faith never falters. But, to get to that place I must deal with my humanity. I must conquer my humanness-the urge to do things my way; or the urgency to have what I want now; or my inability to go beyond the surface of a situation into underlying meaningful exploration. I need the mind of Christ, and His eyes, ears, and mouth. That is what the rebirth is all about, PEACE!