“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” - Anais Nin (Num 13:28-33) Pt 2

There is a natural curiosity that can be found in one of the most urban places on the face of the planet, the city of Los Angeles.  The curiosity I am speaking of is called the La Brea Tar Pits. In the middle of the urban sprawl of one of the worlds mega cities is this thing called a tar pit, and as the name suggests thats what it is.  Tar or an underground bitumen seeps up to the surface and an asphalt pond or lake is formed.   The tar pits in LA are famous for the remains of animals that have been found there quite well preserved.  


This seepage has been happening for tens of thousands of years. From time to time, the asphalt would form a pool deep enough to trap animals, and the surface would be covered with layers of water, dust, and leaves. Animals would wander in to drink, become trapped, and eventually die. The bones of these trapped animals become soaked with this substance and are remarkably preserved from the ravages of time.  One interesting fact about tar pits is that there are usually more predator animal skeletons found than prey animals.  The reasoning may be clear to many. A prey animal would come to this area, become trapped and begin to make urgent alarm cries attracting the predators who would think it was an easy meal but would soon find them selves stuck in the goo.  


It would seem that once something had errored into the tar it was only a matter of time before they were dead. The predators too no matter how strong or how great the numbers (pack hunters) were all doomed to the same fate. 


So this study was about Negativity and its effects on us.  As we have read in the scripture 10 of 12 spies sent to look over the land that God had promised the people of Israel delivered an Evil report to Moses and the people.  This word Evil gives the idea of a whispered defamation, or an unfavorable story.  Simply said the only thing that the 10 wanted to talk about were all the obstacles and difficulties that they saw across Jordon, and the implied message of disbelief in Gods promise to deliver the land to them.  They had stepped into the tar like area of negativity and it pulled them in. I would propose that this happened over a period of time, but one by one someone went too close and were pulled in, and as one went to help, before they knew it they were stuck there too and so on. 


I am suggesting that it took some time to get 10 mature, wise Jewish leaders to trade in their faith and convictions for fears and doubts.  Maybe they all carried a common fear so that they all began to swing at the same moment, like a fear of Giants.  The first sight of these men and it set in motion a rapid eroding of their faith.  I dont think so however. I think that people, these people in particular, are unique enough to not be all affected by the same thing at the same time.  Joshua and Caleb are evidence of the ability to see and not be affected similar things or have similar experiences.   Why is this important? because we are often on guard for the big things that crash into our lives even when we dont see them coming.  The size of the trial can hit your life so hard that it shakes and displaces everything except your faith, and when your faith is the only thing left standing its easier to cling to it during the storm. But little things can come against a person, they are not as easy to identify as a threat. If fact if the impact is slight enough it could become some thing that a person believes they have thought of themselves. 


The bible says in one passage that it is the little foxes that spoil the vines. The Good News Translation says it this way, "Catch the foxes, the little foxes, before they ruin our vineyard in bloom". Just a small thing nipping at the heels of our confidence and our faith until eventually down it comes.  It would be a mistake to ignore the influence of small things on our lives. The continual influence of a gentle force can change and alter strong substances.  Water can cut canyons, winds can bend great trees into a permanent bow, sand and wind can wear away near any hard stone. 


It has been said a long time ago that "All that we are is a result of what we have thought". These 10 spies were trapped. Trapped in their own fear, worry, unbelief, egos and vanities.  The things that they saw while in the promised land could not be denied. I mean a giant is a giant, right?  What they could have denied was the thoughts about these giants and well fortified cities they saw.  There is a cycle that occurs with our thinking and our feelings.  Often if you feel yourself feeling frightened or worried or anxious, those are the times to check your thinking.  A thought will often create a feeling. That feeling may affirm the thought and that in turn reinforces the feeling.  The cycle quickens and deepens until, even though you have a cluster of grapes being carried between two full grown men on a pole , the story of 10 mature leaders is that the land is bountiful but it cant be taken. 


Make no mistake what you put into your ears, eyes and mind makes a difference.  Faith is the substance and evidence of the unseen. If you are going to be a man or woman of faith you have to pay less attention to what is seen or heard with your natural eyes and ears and turn your focus to the promises of God and the affirmation of his Word. In spite of the two men of faiths strong appeals, the voice of negativity drown out the positive.  Not only did it infect the 10 with a doubting, hopeless, helpless attitude, it was passed to the whole of the children of Israel if you will read the 14th chapter of Numbers next. 


This may sound very extreme but, if what we are thinking about, reading about, listening to, is not of faith, then we are slowly eroding our foundation. The only outcome will be less power in our lives and vision that will only see what is NOT possible.  


Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Acknowledge him in all your ways and he will direct your path. 


God Bless you ,  Jim 

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” - Anais Nin (Num 13:28-33)

There are all kinds of amazing phenomena that occur when people get together.  Things can go from calm to raucous in a matter of seconds. Things can be transformed from somber to jubilant just as quickly.  Things can escalate to a point of being beyond control. And things can become calm and quiet and receptive to influence.

People can also influence one another to the point of changing our vision.  We literally begin to see things differently.  Im talking about the abilitiy and the impact of negativity on a person or people.  The quote at the title of this blog is spot on I think.  We are nearly always in complete control of our ultimate outcomes in life.  We may not be able to control the circumstances but we have exclusive control over our individual response to those circumstances.  The external evidence may be that things are not good. That things are in fact very bleak and our personal situation is becoming darker and darker because of these circumstantial clouds rolling in. Its then that when our control kicks in.

Unfortunately that control is not limited to only help us to see or find the positive in our situation. No, very unfortunately it would seem that our natural human response would be to take the low road of interpretation and anticipation. We would look at the clouds and feel a complaint rise up in our spirits - something to do with the rain that is coming , or the cold that will follow, or the impact all this has on our plans for today and beyond.  A favorite perception is that this kind of thing always happens to me. Like that old Hee Haw Show song, "If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all".  I mean we are wired by our old nature to see things like a victim sees things. Not like someone in control or someone who can take the proverbial lemons and make lemonade.

The scripture reference in the title is just a part of an interesting story from the old testament.  As a little background (Cause you need to read this chapter for your self and reflect on it), Israel was standing on the doorstep of the promise of God.  They had been traveling out of Egypt and gone through a little bit of testing and sorting along the way, but here they were. The whole reason they left Egypt was to get a land that one of their dead ancestors had walked around and all over to claim the promise the His God had made and given to Him.  It had been a long time ago though.  They had some bones that went a long way back, but they were  just bones.  Abraham was declared righteous because of his faith in God and the promises bestowed on generations were first laid on this patriarchs shoulders like a mantle.  And here they were getting ready to spy out the land.

In short they did spy out the land for a few days and brought back evidence of this land that flowed with milk and honey.  Amazingly though the thing that stuck in their minds the most and that colored their account of the land was not the plenty but rather the strength of the current inhabitants of that land. It would be one thing to just call it like it was. The land was well fortified and their were some really big dudes their and end it at that, but they went on to comment on their stature as well. In fact they said that ,"We were as grasshoppers in our own sight". After that admission the expeditions outcome was sealed.

There is no record of the days and nights spent in the land during this recon trip, but I would imagine that around the fire at supper the 10 low thinkers would recount how high the walls of the city were. How many guards there were on the walls.  How big the men seemed to be, I mean giants they were.  They took note of the blessings that waited and brought some back, but I think that was only because Moses had told them to do so.  What dominated their thinking and I would imagine their conversations was the size and difficulty of the challenge that faced them.  Dont forget (if you read this chapter) that these were not youngsters who hadn't seen a thing or two already.  The instruction was to select leaders out of every tribe to spy out the land.  We can assume that these were wise men and they were God fearing men but they were more fearing of what they saw. So afraid that it changed the very perception that they had of themselves.  WE WERE LIKE GRASSHOPPERS IN THEIR SIGHT.  How did they know that was how they saw them?? They took counsel with their own thinking I am afraid on the matter.

So each night around the fire the conversation would turn to hand wringing and woe is me talk about this beautiful and dangerous land.  I can also imagine that two of the spy's at some point couldn't take it any more and would get up from the fire and go off somewhere out of ear shot and talk about the possibilities and the promises.  They would recount what they had seen and how God had promised all of it to them. I would imagine that they were house hunting as they spied.  Thats the one for me!  As soon as I can I am movin into that one!!  But they couldn't talk like that around the 10.  That conversation would have been quenched by the majority so they got up and built up their faith while the other 10 slowly and personally dismantled their own faith bit by bit by the negative imaginations and confessions of their own lips. Lets look at a few definitions of the word NEGATIVE and see of any of them apply:

• expressing or containing negation or denial - YES
• refusing consent, as to a proposal - YES
• Expressing refusal to do something:  - YES
• prohibitory, as a command or order.
• characterized by the absence of distinguishing or marked qualities or features; lacking positive attributes ( opposed to positive) - YES
• lacking in constructiveness, helpfulness, optimism,cooperativeness, or the like - YES
• being without rewards, results, or effectiveness - YES

The question that you have to ask yourself was were these men aware of what they were doing to their own personal faith in God? Joshua and Caleb must have felt the effects begin to have an impact, because somehow they insulated themselves from the negative aura that the 10 created and carried with them throughout the spy mission.  Lets say it again.  These were not novices. These men were selected for maturity and for their experiences, in life and with the Almighty.  If the people who saw the Red Sea parted and Pharaoh destroyed could conclude that God could not deliver these people into their hands then something had taken place in their hearts that was not there when they started their mission.

I dont think that we are always aware of when we are thinking or speaking negative words.  Believe me negative words have their own kind of faith attached to them as well.  Henry Ford said, "whether you think you can, or you think you cant, you are probably right".  Powerful words really.  Faith to believe or faith to accept defeat.  We are instructed in James about the power of the tongue, but I would suggest that before a word is formed by the tongue it is conceived and gestates in our spirit until it reaches a state of maturity and then it comes forth.  Its hard to put tooth paste back into a tube and its hard to un-believe a negative thought that has come to fruition as a word spoken that you believe.

What constitutes a negative thought is the question that we will explore in the next blog, because as I said I dont believe that we always know when we have given over our faith to unbelief. Simple words yes but powerful words that hammer our spirit and faith into a certain shape. Simple words that strike harshly on the parts of our tender soul that trusts God.  The onslaught is constant too and unless we shelter our faith from the attack a dent can become a bend and bend can become an entirely new angle on things.

If we believe ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE. That is what the Master said and that is the truth.  But I know from experience that no sooner has the prayer of faith left my lips that I have looked at the one prayed for and thought " They dont look any better" and my faith takes another hammer strike and as the quote said "we dont see things as they are, we see them as WE are".

God Bless you and lets pray that the Master can build us up in this reflection. If we can believe, then All things are possible to us!!!  That is a promise for sure!!  I will return to this for at least one more night.  Thanks for reading.  Jim

What is Man ? Job 7:17 (Part 2)

"What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?"




You know what?  I think these are some really good questions that Job is asking the Almighty.  "Why would you want to spend the time and the energy on man? Man that is, you know, "man". Not just thinking about him/them/us but making him/them/us better than could be without you. You give them your gifts and favor to improve thier situation, forever. I think you even love them the way that you are always thinking about them and how you can impart to them some divine part of yourself."


In fact I think that man was created for Greatness in God.  Man was the only part of God's Genesis creation that was made with a purpose mentioned.  Everything that the Lord made was good! But when he made the man and woman and He surveyed everything that He had created it was Very Good.  I take that to mean that once man and woman were added to the entirety of creation it was complete. It was finished by the addition of these two living souls. 


This man and woman were created to dress and to keep the garden.  They had jobs to do that were important to God. I don't know what you think the Garden of Eden was like.  Was it like a vegetable garden with rows of neatly aligned plants and trees? Was it like an old English rose garden with a hedge maze? Was it a rock garden like a Zen practitioner keeps, with tiny stones raked to reflect tranquility and order?  I dont know either. We do know that it had trees and that some of the trees at least bore fruit. 


I have in my minds eye the garden being more like a secret garden than a massive plantation. I see it as being more an intimate place of meeting and communing than an agricultural industry. I have been in gardens, usually at special hotels or tourist locations, that are like a place within a place.  You enter the garden through the gate and you leave behind everything else.  There is something, for me anyway, about these places that quiets me on the inside. 


My idea of Eden is smaller than you might believe.  I don't mean small because of mans inability to maintain a larger area, but because in a small garden it would be easy to find each other. The man and the woman would just be a word away from each other.  Not a shout or a scream but even a whisper of their names and their heads would turn from the work they were about to take the time to be with the One who made and gave them the garden to work in. 


The job of Dressing the Garden, for me, takes on a very personal importance when it's a smaller place; a personal place.  The flowers should be trimmed just so and the trees and their limbs providing shade but not obstruction.  Adam did this for Eve's enjoyment of the Garden, and Eve did this to bless Adam's time in the Garden and they both did this to Serve the One!  They wanted the garden to be a welcoming place and they wanted it to reflect their appreciation for it and for its Creator.  Dressing or working in this place was not a job, it was a ministry of service to each other and to God. 

The job of Keeping the Garden, for me is also very personal.  Keeping the garden meant to defend and protect the garden. To keep IN the things that blessed the Garden and its visitors and to keep OUT the things that were a threat to the blessing of the garden. This is an important idea because something that should not have been allowed to remain in the garden got in and was able to take up residence.  I'm speculating a bit here but I would guess that the enemy really took up a "sleeper cell" role in the garden. See him off to the side; no noise, no threats, just hanging day after day and then a conversation and the rest is, as they say, history. 


This isn't about the deception and the disobedience that cost the man and woman their intimate garden of communion.  It is about God's intention for us.  He has made available for us exceeding great and precious promises so that we could be become partakers of His divine nature.  Think of that for a second.  We have been given promises that will make us direct partners with God in his character. Partakers of His divine nature.  This one idea should occupy our thoughts and prayers for a good long while.  We ask God for so many things in prayer;  some noble, some foolish, some well intentioned, but erroneously sought.  This one verse in 2 Peter 1:4 informs us that we have been given promises that make up all of the differences in our lives to enable us to share in God's own nature.  What better thing could I ask Him for than what he has already promised me?  


I know Him and sometimes I know so little of Him.  What does He want for me, for you?  That you would prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers.  I have to believe that if God wants me to prosper then the only thing that can keep me from prospering is, well, me.  Why would God think about man in the manner that he does? Because he Loves us and he desires us to know Him as we were meant to in the Garden. Intimately, not hurried or lusting for more than what he was gladly providing. Closely, so that His whispering of our names would turn our heads to Him and move our steps in his direction.  How heartbreaking it must have been and is today, to know that God came walking into the cool of the garden and called His Beloved's by name and they did not answer, but rather hid. This was not how it was designed.


The veil that was torn from top to bottom when the Master cried out that it was finished brought back into our lineage the entirety of His best for his Beloved.  How much more could he love us? When we were unlovable and were in fact enemies of God, he laid down his life and gave mankind an alibi by saying that the murderers didn't know what they were doing.  But He did. He knew that at the end of that terrible trial there was a Joy waiting for Him and for us that resulted from a completely restored relationship. 


We were without Christ and were aliens from Israel and strangers from the covenants and promises, having no hope and without God in the world.  But now we are made close, very close to Him buy the very blood he shed and that we were guilty off shedding. But He loved us and gave himself for us.


OK, I don't think I can fully convey the awesome place that we have in God because of His love for us and because of His plans and intentions for our lives.  We are no mistakes. We are created with purpose, and with divine purpose.  If we can accept the fact that it is not about us and how much or how long or how little we do, but it is because His Grace allows it, enables it,  empowers it. His Grace doesn't just open the doors to us, it blows them off the hinges. In Him!! In Him we are no longer strangers but we are partakers of His divine nature. Accept the idea that He knows what he is doing. Accept that he has the ability to restore anything he chooses. Accept the notion that He had you in mind before time, before the cross, and before you read this!  Accept the promises provided by His sacrifice and His Awesome Grace!


God Bless you and take what He is giving!