"Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak my words to them. You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and difficulty language, but to the house of Israel - not to many peoples of obscure speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you. But the house of Israel is not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for the whole house of Israel is hardened and obstinate. But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house."
Ezekiel 3:4-9
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My family is hardening my forehead...and they prepare me for what is to come and what has come. My family - both by worldly definitions and by Godly definitions. But rather, I should say that it is only God who is hardening my forehead...and preparing me for what is to come. He uses whatever is available for His work, whether a part of His family or my family, or not. He uses pleasant experiences and sour experiences...all for His glory. Some within the body of Christ harden my head by sharing a knowledge and wisdom that comes from years of personal devotion, something I do not have. Others harden me with their own hardened hearts as I see right through them and into to their dreaded emptiness. My heart aches for them as they pretend they are much happier than they really are. They may never reveal this to me, as I never revealed my personal emptiness before I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior. However, God reveals the sorrow of the world to me...and I burn with a fiery passion to share the answer! As I tune to God and listen, I can hear Him. I can feel Him. I can smell Him. I can taste Him. I can see Him!
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God gives me an understanding of what cannot be understood! He gives me faith to believe the unbelievable! He gives me a love for even the unlovable! He gives me a peace and joy that are impossible to experience here on earth! He fills me with excitement, with joy, with peace, with love, with living water, with Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, with the Father, with God!
This is made possible through His only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not possible by any other means.
He makes me share what I do not want to. He makes me say what I cannot bear to say. He makes me proclaim the truth and will not allow me to lie or deny what is so easy for us all to turn from. It is abrasive, it seems so exclusive, and seems unfair...but then I cry out because I know...
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
John 14:6
So it is...Jesus is Lord!
Even as I write this letter, I don't know what is to come. I didn't know it would lead me to what I have written thus far. I have to stop and pray for stillness...for guidance...for delivery from my own fleshly thoughts and desires...
The old me cringes and cries out, “NO!!!”
The old me didn’t like arguing; he avoids talking about religion, politics, or any debatable subject.
The old me didn’t like fighting; he tries to calm all extremists and desires compromising treaties.
The old me didn’t like rejection; he seeks to make all people happy all of the time.
The old me didn’t like intelligence; he pretends to be ignorant, foolish, and naive.
The old me didn’t like himself; he hides behind puzzles, humor, athletics, talents, and success.
The old me didn’t like thinking; he wants all of his thoughts to stop.
The old me didn’t like his life; he wishes his life would end.
The old me didn’t like foolishness; he cringes at insecurities, hypocrisies, and lies.
The old me didn’t like ignorance; he sees it as a source of division, anger, and hate.
The old me didn’t like arrogance; he peers through all the shields into an abysmal emptiness.
The old me didn’t like division; he tries to unify all people, thoughts, philosophies, and religions.
The old me didn’t like emptiness; he sees no hope for true everlasting happiness or love.
The old me didn’t like sorrow; he sees so much pain and misery in the world.
The old me didn’t like the world; he wishes the world would end.
The old me didn’t like zealousness; he loathes forcefulness, pushiness, and exclusiveness.
The old me didn’t like religion; he despises meaningless repetitions, brainwashing, and nurtured thought.
The old me didn’t like oppression; he desires all to be free, happy, and together in a mystical oneness.
The old me didn’t like faith; he wants to see and hear the proof.
The old me didn’t like fear; he delights only in love.
The old me didn’t like limitations; he wants to be God.
The old me didn’t like God; he wishes all thought and belief of God would end.
The old me seeks to help, correct, and teach; the new me seeks to be helped, corrected, and taught!
The old me seeks to think, say, and do rightly; the new me knows that this is impossible!
The old me seeks to separate what is right from what is wrong; the new me seeks to understand the truth!
The old me seeks to gain money, success, and manly praise; the new me only seeks to know God!
The old me seeks to obtain the things of God; the new me seeks God!
The old me seeks to please man and God; the new me knows man can’t love and God can’t not love!
The old me seeks to separate what is old from what is new; the new me let’s me be me and God be God!
The new me feels a peace, and a joy, and a love the old me never could have even imagined!
The new me loves himself, his life, his family, his friends, his enemies, his world!
The new me laughs and cries hysterically at the old me, his family, his friends, his enemies, his world!
The new me sees nothing good in himself, but only good in God!
The new me loves nothing about himself, but only loves God!
The new me will be leaving the world forever very soon, but lives eternally with God!
The new me knows the only answer for you, me, and the world always was, is, and will be Jesus Christ!
The new me rejoices and cries out, “YES!!!”
Amen!
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"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
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Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: "The man who does these things will live by them." But the righteousness that is by faith says: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) "or 'Who will descend into the deep?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
Romans 10:5-13 (Also read: Lev 18:5, Dt 30:12-14, Isa 28:16, Joel 2:32)
So, it is not exclusive at all. Now you have heard the truth, and the "truth will set you free." John 8:32
It is for Jew and non-Jew (Gentile).
So, whether you are a Jew or a non-Jew, I invite you on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ:
Come! Join the celebration! Peace, joy, and love await you and knock at your door!
By having read these words, you are now officially invited...as if from God Himself!
2 Corinthians 5:13
Acts 17:11
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Amen.
