Paradise Lost...and Found

Since you committed your original sin, there is really no true liberty anymore.
Liberty is linked to wisdom, so when a man is unwise or ignores what he should know, that's when unhealthy desires take over.
Then his mind becomes a slave to his desires.

(Ch. 12, v. 83-96: Adam and Eve are Expelled from Paradise)

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They prayed sincerely. God's grace had removed all the bad emotions from their hearts.
Their sad sighs told Him more than any words they could have said.
They prayed that mankind could be restored.
Their invisible prayers reached Heaven, where the Son of God covered them with incense and brought them to his Father's throne.
"Father, let me show You the first results of the heavenly grace You placed on man," he said. "As Your priest, I bring You these sighs and prayers, mixed with incense, in this gold cup.
These are sweeter than all the delicious fruits he could have grown in Paradise before he fell.
Listen to his sighs.
He may not have the greatest skill in choosing the right words to pray with, so let Me speak for him. I'll be his Advocate.
I'll place my Spirit in him.
I'll help him perfect his good qualities, and I'll pay for his sins with My own death.
Let Me bring peace to mankind for the limited time he has to live.
I only want to soften his punishment, not eliminate it. He must die, after all.
But a better life waits for him.
Then everybody who is saved can live a new, happy life, joined with Me, the way I am joined with  You.

(Ch.11, v.1-43: Micheal Shows Adam The Future)

Excerpts from John Milton's Paradise Lost, In Plain English, by Joseph Laranza, c. 2009

Who then will condemn us? No one--for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and He is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us. --Romans 8:34, NLT

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It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. --Galatians 5:1, NASB

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Stand fast therefore in liberty.  There is the liberty of grace, wherein lies freedom from sin; not from the indwelling of it, but from the dominion, guilt, and damning power of it; from the captivity and tyranny of Satan, though not from his temptations and insults.
Excerpt from Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible: Book of Galatians, by John Gill

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Hold fast my people and sing
Through peace and through suffering
All for the joy that it brings
To be free
It's gonna cost us everything
To follow one Lord and King
True love endures everything
To be free
The Resistance, by Josh Garrels

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. --James 4:7, ESV

True Colors

You with the sad eyes
Don't be discouraged
Oh I realize
Its hard to take courage

In a world full of people
You can lose sight of it all
And the darkness inside you
Can make you feel so small

But I see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colors, true colors
Are beautiful, like a rainbow


Show me a smile then,
Don't be unhappy, can't remember
When I last saw you laughing

If this world makes you crazy
And you've taken all you can bear
You call me up
Because you know I'll be there

And I'll see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colors, true colors
Are beautiful, like a rainbow

If this world makes you crazy
And you've taken all you can bear
You call me up
Because you know I'll be there

And I'll see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show

Your true colors
True colors
True colors
Are shining through

I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colors, true colors
Are beautiful, like a rainbow

True Colors, by Cyndi Lauper

Fully Alive!

I'm in love with my life now.

There used to be a time when I just existed. My soul was basically dead. I rarely found joy in anything. I always seemed to be striving and working towards something, for something, but I never quite knew what. I never could figure it out, much less attain it.  I never learned how to enjoy life because I was too busy focusing on what I didn't have and what I was striving towards.

I was a complicated puzzle with a missing piece.

Then I found God. I don't care if it sounds cliche. It's the truth. God was the missing piece. And He has made me truly alive for the first time in my life. My spirit is fully alive now.

I talk to Him all the time. I take time to thank Him for the little things. I find joy in the simplest things. I see God in everything now. And I cherish each moment. Because this moment is all I have. This moment is my life.

Fully alive
More than most
Ready to smile and love life.

Fully Alive, by Flyleaf

The Paradoxical Commandments

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;

Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;

Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;

Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;

It was never between you and them anyway.

Excerpt from "Anyway - The Paradoxical Commandments: Finding Personal Meaning in a Crazy World", Kent M. Keith (G. P. Putnam's Sons, c. 1968, rev. 2002)

http://www.paradoxicalcommandments.com/

Three Nails And A Cross

Abba Father You must wonder why
More times than Peter I have denied.
Three nails and a cross to prove
I owe my life eternally to you!

And it's time
To get down on my knees and pray
Undo me!
Put away my flesh and bone
'Til You own this spirit through me Lord,
Undo me

Undo Me, by Jennifer Knapp

“A day off work is not what makes this Friday "Good", this is the day when all our sins were nailed into the wood." -Lecrae

The Things We Say

I am always talking about the power of words, so I was pleased when I opened my email today and found that one of my sisters had forwarded me this recovery meditation.

:~*~:. .:~*~:. .:~*~:. .:~*~:. .:~*~:. .:~*~:
"Handle them carefully ...
for words have more power than atom bombs."
- Pearl Strachan Hurd
:~*~:. .:~*~:. .:~*~:. .:~*~:. .:~*~:. .:~*~:

A friend wrote to me tonight about the "healing power of words."  I began to think about that and she was right. Words can truly heal. I thought back to times in my life when the right word at the right time by the right person made an enormous difference in my life. I also thought of the times when
words devastated me.

Many times I get busy and don't think about what I'm going to say and words just come out.  In the "busyness" of the moment, I don't realize that my words could have a double meaning.  It is afterwards ... many times days afterwards .... that I realize my choice of words was inappropriate. We speak and listen to tens of millions of words in our lifetime.  Perhaps, we need to weigh the words we use more carefully. I hope, however, that I don't ever find myself saying words to others that I don't mean or out of fear restrict words that need to be said.

Although this British politician of the 1930s, Pearl Strachan Hurd, said that "words have more power than atom bombs," there is something that I find even more powerful. Silence.
Silence when there should be words can hurt. Silence when someone should have the courage to speak harms. I tend to think of silence as the ultimate insult.

And yet some of the most beautiful words ever spoken to me were the silent ones.

ONE DAY AT A TIME . . .
Let me choose my words carefully but not so carefully that I become calous.
Let me use words to heal and not to hurt;
to make things better and not worse;
to express feelings, even negative feelings,
to and about others, kindly ... courageously ... carefully.
Excerpt from "One Day at a Time" Recovery Meditations
© Copyright 2012 THE RECOVERY GROUP

As most of you know, the Scriptures are now my source of all spiritual wisdom and guidance. I am a follower of Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ was "the Word made flesh." John 1:14 Therefore, I follow the Scriptures as the inerrant, infallible Word of God.

The Scriptures are full of cautions about the power of words to do both good and evil, contrasting the destructive power of careless words with the encouraging power of wise and well thought out speech.

"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14

"They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim cruel words like deadly arrows." Psalm 64:3

"The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them." Proverbs 12:6

"The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing." Proverbs 12:18

"Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." Proverbs 16:24

"The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is even-tempered." Proverbs 17:27

"The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts." Proverbs 18:8

"The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools." Ecclesiastes 9:17

"On the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:36-37

"The things we do, the things we say
Are gentle rays of hope that touch us all each day
The things we do, the things we say
These are the greatest gifts we'll ever give away"

The Things We Do, by Yolanda Adams