The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom...

For sometime now I've suspected I did not fear the Lord in the manner befitting a child of the King.

Awe, wonder, love, worship, adore...but fear?
What have I to fear from the Lord?

Then a neat song from my girls CD caught my attention. The song is called Where It All Begins. It talks about the Proverbs verses that remind us "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

A dialogue between the Lord and I ensued. Lord...do I...do I...fear you like I should? His response? He showed me ways I chose not to fear him, but chose instead to walk in my own ways...Not too good, when you carry His name around like a badge.

Imagine for me, if you would, a household thrown into a situation where each room in the house looks like a Hazmat team has been to visit. Every piece of furniture is covered in plastic. Beds, sofa, love seat. Every cushion and pillow bagged and every hard surfaced furniture from bed frames to tables to chairs to desks has a little snack cup at the bottom of every leg, containing a baking soda like substance called Diatomaceous Earth, food grade of course.

Imagine cleaning every hard surface, including door knobs and light switches, bathrooms, floors and tables, tops and bottoms, everyday.

Imagine a floor that sometimes went months without being mopped, swept and mopped not once, but twice a day, everyday, with Borax and hydrogen peroxide.

Imagine washing and drying 8-10 loads of laundry a day...Most of which are the bedding 4 people slept in the night before.

Imagine trying to balance the delicate PH of your 6 and 2 year old's skin with hot Borax Baths, intense scrubbing, air drying and lathering "Goopy Grandma" as the girls call it, on them with home made salves  attempting to heal what damage was just done. ~TWICE a day.

Imagine doing this routine for 2 months straight...while cloistering yourself away from friends, family and the Body of Christ because GOD forbid someone get this from you, all because you were lonely.

Imagine using EVERYTHING you can possibly think of or read on the Internet and because someone, somewhere swares it's what cured them, you use all your vacation money + in pursuit of a "cure" and use your own body as a guinea pig, because you can't stand watching and hearing your girls being hurt by something you can only see when it dies and (apparently) feel when it molts, tearing tiny pieces of your skin, making you wince in pain and feeling, as my two year old calls it, "Splinters, Mommy."

 Well, that and the burning night itching, and open, weeping sores that go weeks without closing, add residual crawling sensations across your eyes, nose and ears that don't let up for weeks on end, causing headaches by mid-day and serious melt-downs where you just want to die to escape the mental anguish that's become your daily life.

Move back with me in time, before the game plan hits the scene, the time before your home is turned into a war zone and your once lovingly decorated rooms are piled high with big, black plastic bags, or are closed off entirely or turned into something resembling a refugee camp.

Imagine the time between the realization that you didn't take this seriously enough (so now everyone in your family is infected with this parasitic disease instead of the one child that brought it home) and the time before you know what to do about it and that its going to take the type of Hebrews 12:12 kind of work "strengthening the hands that hand down and knees that are feeble" to bring about the end of verse 13, as God allows.."in order that it won't get worse and that you may be healed".

This is what that period looks like:

It's 2:30 in the morning. My two and six year olds have been transplanted to the couch and loveseat, me, with no other place to rest but on the dining room table trying to sleep, knowing all the while there's a pestilence that walks by day and runs by night in our home at about 1 inch a minute. It's fast and it's one goal in it's month long life, is to feed on and burrow into human skin, mate and make other parasites under human skin.

It sounds like yelps in my daughters' sleep and waking at 1:30 EXACTLY to a burning itch.
It smells like cleaning solutions, olive oil and aquaphor.
It looks like sorrow and despair.

But in actuality it is Hebrews 12, the loving discipline of the Lord.

If you know the Lord Jesus Christ as the savior of your soul...then you know him as:

"The Lord" having sovereign right and authority to reign as he wishes over your life,

"Jesus" God who dwells with us, knows what our trials feel like, as he has passed through everyone of them FIRST

"Christ" the promised one, the one that should come to save sinners, "of whom I am chief:"

These truths came up time and again, when I cried out "Where are you?" The Lord answered in his perfect Word with encouragement and hope saying, "I'm right here. Trust me." Hebrews 13:5

or  when I groaned "Why would you give this to us?" "You need to grow, Alicha. Trust me in this." Hebrews 12

or when I sobbed "Don't you care that my babies are hurting." "They were mine first, as are you. You have only to trust me..." Job 13:15

or in quiet, calm moments that eventually came...when I sought, "When will this be over?" the answer came, "In MY time, not yours." with a reminder of Romans 8:32  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

To be brought lovingly to the point where I understand this is not my body, but HIS. To finally say without a shred of resentment or belligerence, "If you chose to continue to afflict this, YOUR body, today, I submit."

And then as in Ps. 107 to offer up the sacrifice of Thanksgiving.

That is God's Grace being manifest.

But I also learned to FEAR the Lord...

You see, I'm a very harsh mother. I'm Italian and Austrian...not a great combination for a graceful and quiet spirit. .Plus there's a good bit of rage-aholic in my family background. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not mean or abusive...I'm demanding and critical. I'm stern. And before this whole period, about 5pm was my breaking point where I started munching heads around the house.

Well, as you can imagine, this trial put me over the edge. Instead of my 5pm threashold, it became an all day thing, as I stuggled to keep up with everything, entertain two bored little girls and keep my sanity.

I blew up, I melted down and I LOST it many time over. EVEN as I was learning...

Thank the LORD, early on I saw the need for spiritual help. I called a friend I trust and she's prayed me through this whole thing. And I saw my threshold go from All day, back to 5, then to even 9pm to just being NICER!

A treasured moment with my 2 year old in the bathtub as I was thinking I can't wait to be done with this, she turned in my arms as I was scrubbing her little feet and legs and said, "You my best friend in the whooooole world!"

That couldn't have happened if I was busy barking commands out and demanding soldier like obedience! (Think Vontrap family ~ I had no problem with the whistle! :)

Anyway, I've regretted my sternness many times over the years, even sought the Lord's help, but until this happened, I never HAD to change. Or as I see it, I never chose to fear the Lord first.

You see, world wide, Scabies is pretty epidemic. But here, in the States, it's sorta unheard of. In fact one year ago a friend asked me on FB if my 6 year old might have scabies. She didn't and her poison oak was quickly resolved, but I was quietly offended. Why in the world would she think we had scabies. She's been to my house...we're clean people! Gosh! (BTW~ Has NOTHING to do with personal hygiene....the cleaning mentioned above is needed when they infest someone in your home).
 
Americans, for the most part, don't get Scabies. (Please don't email me if you have it, I obviously know we are out there!) But comparatively, our drs. aren't knowledgeable, our society hasn't a clue they exist in polite society (much like lice does). This and 2 different studies siting 200-450 individuals sleeping in the same bed a scabies infested person slept in, only 4 people got infested. (WHO signed up for that medical trial??!). All this to say, odds are good, you probably won't get it!

That's why I believe this was something hand picked, by God, for our family to endure. The Lord promises that submitting to His discipline, allowing it to work in our lives "will yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness". And it's working in my life. I'm not perfect. HA! Even today, I got a bit testy with my daughter. But the fear of God has pulled me back time and again, reminding me, this is not how Christ acts...It is not how I should act.I'm still learning...but now, I have motivation and what's more, I have seen that Peaceable fruit of righteousness.

Could the Lord give it to us again...sure. Will He? It's unlikely. But here's the real thing...Assuredly, he will use something else to draw us to Himself, to make us into the expressed image of Christ...I don't ever want to be standing in the way when that happens...I want to be waiting on His will...walking in His perfect ways.It won't make the situation magically go away...but it will accomplish something for His Glory and My Good without having to wade through all the mess of me!

Another thing...His Word has become supremely important in my life. That is another fabulous blessing (one of so many) from this trial! I hope to share a post soon on the many ways the Lord showed his lovingkindness during this difficult time...but if you have Scabies, I'll be putting up another post on what we found helped, what didn't, but until then, I encourage you to go to the website below. Of all the websites out there, and let me tell you most will leave you in tears and feeling hopeless, there is one that is so encouraging. It's: http://samoa6.hubpages.com/hub/Scabies-Can-Cause-Itching-and-Crawling-Sensations-On-Your-Skin You will learn LOTS...and not get depressed doing it.

Peace, Blessing, and remember in those dark night hours... THIS TOO SHALL PASS...It really will.

A long time coming

October 7, 2012...must have started it on the above date :)...

Okay~ This is going to be as brief as I can make it so I can get onto things that are affecting my life RIGHT NOW since July 20th and the overwhelming number of things the Lord has taught me through the most significant health issue of my life!

But first...

Read the previous post as an intro. if you need and I'll add this little bit...

In the garden, Eve did not sin in wanting to be like God. It was a noble desire. Indeed, it is the highest of pursuits. And I think because we know Satan has the desire to be God, and know his involvement in the whole fall of man thing...we can fall into thinking she desired a bad thing...it wasn't. The problem is that it was twisted. She was deceived in the means, not motivation, to fulfill a God given desire...aren't we called to "Be like Christ?"

Before I call attention to these issues below, I acknowledge that there is a huge part of me that leans on and desires the means below as a measure, a placement and a direction to take me to that place where I am completely and utterly Christlike, mature and settled, "full of love and good fruit" and "always abounding in the work of the Lord!".

But I stumbled on the dunes and found these methods are in fact mirages in a dessert.

Contemplative Prayer and "Silence"~

 There is no nice way to say this.

It is demonic...as in 1 Timothy 4:1...an actual demonic doctrine. Be a noble Berean and look it up! WHERE it came from, WHO is promoting it now and what the ultimate, "finished" product looks like...climatically: the indwelling of a demonic being for those who don't know the Lord...all because you wanted to be like God and listen to "God within you". Which we say is the Holy Spirit...but in truth the Holy Spirit uses the WORD of God to convict, to comfort. What said doctrine does, it leads you in a path that ends up being the walking plank of the Black Pearl!

Jesus, our ultimate example, NEVER dwelt in silence to his listeners (NEVER is this doctrine purported in scripture). He prayed the Word of God; He prayed the Will of God... He is called the "Word" for a reason, people!!! Silence has a place...it is to listen, not to the inward parts of us, but to his WORD! You start listening to yourself and not washing your heart and mind with the Word of God...you in trouble!

Well, what about the Holy Spirit???? His place is to convict and to comfort and exalt the Father and Son, the Word!

That Word doesn't say "God will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is free floating and open...NO! It says whose mind is "stayed upon" the LORD. Strong's Concordance reference # 5564. Worth looking up! ~ btw~ I don't believe a true believer can become demonically possessed (Thank you Father for the Holy Spirit!) BUT they can be led astray and lead others astray too...)

Hebrews 4:12

King James Version (KJV)

¹² For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discern er of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Some say, well, I'm listening to the Holy Spirit...the Holy Spirit speaks through HIS WORD, not our filter....HIS!

2 Timothy 3:16-17

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the servant of God^[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The Emerging  Church or The Catholic Section...

If you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and you need him to save you from your sins. Period...I mean nothing else AT ALL...the bible says "you WILL be saved". If anything in your heart rears up squeamishly saying in a quiet whisper, "Well, you have to be a good person too..." You are on your way to hell. You need to turn from your self-righteousness and come empty handed to the Throne of Grace.

Can I be any clearer???

BUT, the fact is, I'm not sharing the gospel to unbelievers here....most likely, if you've read this far, you are a believer that just may have fallen for the heresy of, "Well, as long as they believe the first part...isn't the second part just in error? (kinda like pretrib/post tribulation differences)

Here's a clue that you are adding the heresy of this vein. Do you say things like, "Oh, I have a lot of friends in the Catholic Church and I know they are going to heaven. We talked about it and they've trusted Jesus as their Savior."

Here's an absolute equation:

JESUS + MAN = NOT OF GOD

Truth is exclusive...it is ALL JESUS and NONE of ME that = Salvation
Ephesians 2:8-9

New International Version (NIV)

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.

 

This seems to be, in modern times at any rate, a difficult idea to grasp for the believer in particular. I say that as countless historical periods (the Spanish Inquisition and Dark Ages) and even famous writers (George Elliot/ Victor Hugo/ Charlotte Bronte) on the "other side of things" as in the Jesus plus me equation, understood the stalk difference in the belief of those whose salvation comes by faith and those who promote salvation by faith + works. They (the mentioned authors) scoff the salvation by faith alone in some of their major works of fiction.

 

BTW~ for those of you playing on the outskirts of the catholic faith because you like the ceremonies and traditions which give the flesh an "idea of closeness with the Lord you need to read the Timonthys' and Thessilonians' and then read about the OT King Ahaz that brought into the Tabernacle items from the Pagan gods to go along side the items the Lord said should be in the Temple. You, my friend, are doing the same thing.

Following URL is a fabulous article about King Ahaz:

 

http://www.enduringword.com/commentaries/1216.htm

 

NEXT UP:

 

"Do not despise the Word of the God."

 

All over scripture there are various forms of the above phrase. I always thought it had to do with hating scripture...not so! It's counting scripture as less. As this...plus that. It's having habitual services focused on singing and praying and neglecting the only thing/power that transforms with a washing of the Word of God. It's counting the Words as an "also appearing" instead of "starring".

 

A quick evaluation of the church you go to and your own patterns will tell you if your pastor or your heart has fallen away from the scriptures or is clinging to the Word like the life boat it is.

Love, love, LOVE Sara Groves song "The Word" Lyrics tell it better than I can...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ofE-GZ8zTU

 

 SECOND to LAST POINT:

 

As with most of my points here, I failed utterly and miserably until the day AFTER a day this past spring as I sat talking with a friend when I agreed that we can read something for the good and just dismiss the bad.

Please do not be purposely obtuse here...I'm not talking about objectionable elements in fiction. I'm talking about doctrinal/ patterned Christian-Walk books promoting the idea that they are reflecting the Word of God! When books like Sacred Rhythm's give a little bit of truth masked in the words and then promote by reference or quotes or in themselves teach ideas diametrically OPPOSED to the Gospel of the Living Christ! (And no, it's not the odd quote here and there, but this came up time and again as we looked up these heretics the author was quoting...starting with the FOUNDER OF THE COUNTER REFORMATION!!!!)

Anyway, we should not be lending our eyes/ears to such false teachers and those who knowingly or unwittingly misrepresent of the exclusive truth of scripture!

 

We do not need to, actually we should NOT, glean the "good" from false teachers and leave the bad. I do not need the false teaching of Lao-Tzu, Confucius, Buddha or Joel Olsteen to make me well-rounded. You know, the liberals have it right...Christ followers ARE narrow minded! It's what makes truth TRUE! There is only one truth...pretty narrow, don't you think? And in case you think I'm being a little harsh, Jesus said it himself, "NARROW is the way" that leads to life!" Matt. 7:14

 

I think there has been a dramatic shift in the Christ Follower's approach (at least in our Western Culture) towards false teachers. Common practice USED to be, let's research to expose the false aspects of this teaching to (now) let's learn what we can to help in our daily walk with Christ and just leave the rest (the lies).
 

Have we all gone mad??? 

WHAT COMMUNION HAS LIGHT WITH DARKNESS???

What minimal understanding can these boast of in light of the holy men and women who have made a fiery path for us to follow, not to mention THE MEN AND WOMEN OF THE BIBLE!?

Playing off of C.S.Lewis' analogy of the chicken, the egg and it's poo....I say this...Should we dissect the regurgitations of an owl simply because there are whole pieces of rodents that might be salvageable for human consumption? GROSS! Neither should we consume that which God regards as the principles of this world simple because there might be a shiver or even a vein of truth in it. Cut out the middle man and go for the Word! (Again, please don't be a dork and say I'm saying never read theological books or look at your Christian Living section of Life Way. But your Berean mindset better be turned ON!)

 

Finally, a word about Tenibris Services and the Gospel.

 

If we know the Lord, we CAME from darkness and have been brought into the LIGHT. We are NOW the light. ANYONE who promotes the idea of revisiting darkness should be held highly suspect as a false teacher. This was the last straw in a series of oak branches falling on a perfectly wonderful time I was having being actively involved in the church we just left. During said service we were told we might hear strange noises in the dark...(be they real or faked for effect, I'm thinking "WHAT???") 'nuff said there.

AND...If you are under a ministry where Christ and the cross are not the focal point (forefront or distant) in EVERY MESSAGE, there is a serious problem. The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has a two fold purpose in a church gathering; it is both a purifier and a purger. It purifies the believer, reminding the flock of the whys, whats of our faith and the Who of our lives. It also purges those opposed to the true message of the Gospel and will expel them out of the church because they CAN NOT abide it.

Warning~ I will not be arguing these statements with anyone so unless your comment is one of understanding and encouragement, we have nothing about which to correspond. There are plenty out there that love to argue...go find them. These truths are as much a part of my statement of faith as the Apostolic Creed. These are points I would die defending. They are not peripheral and they are not negotiable. Amen.