Both “joy” and “happy” have a fire in them. Happy is a blessedness in our head, meaning it is a subjective word. Happy has to do with intent and posture, and depends on external circumstances.
“Joy” also has a flame, but it’s a word of internal life and grace, divine breath, and light. It is an internal blessedness which rises from our insides. Nehemiah 8:10, “…joy of the Lord”.

When arrogance and pride step in the room, it’s like saying someone armed and willing to draw blood is in our company. Withing the main Hebrew word for pride is that it comes to the table weaponized and willing to get gain by struggle. Pride says, “Play fair!”, God says, “Don’t play fair, do more than fair.”

10.22.2015. To be aged and elderly, from God’s perspective, paints a picture of someone who is nearing their vanishing point. “Old” as a Hebrew verb, denotes a state or condition. The word for “old age”, in the scripture of first mention being Gen21:2, referrs to Sarah. Into God’s description of “old age” is built time and a crown, honor and faithfulness. The letters of the word imply, as a man or woman of God in our “old age”, time and quality become evident upon us as we are approaching our final form…the truth of God is concealed in our heart, which is why i say that the idea of getting old, literally means “one approaching their vanishing point”…..As we age our “waters are closed up” so to speak, our joints don’t work like they used to, our eyes and ears aren’t as sharp, our endurance to run with the big dogs has faded, and neither do we recover as quickly as we used to. Our prospects of marriage and having more children come to a close. But God has given those of us who are elderly a value as wise advisers, which is truly an invaluable resource in today’s economy which seems to employ such little wisdom. If wisdom is better than gold, then our Godly seniors are truly in their golden years.

Within the Hebrew spelling of purity, twice there occurs the idea of choice: the choice to be free or not, the choice to return or not, the choice between greatness and degradation. In the same spelling there is guaranteed redemption for anyone who wants to return and enter the courts of God as a heroic penitent.

5.12.2015 It is the motivation of Love to lift the burden of those who hoist the white flag of surrender, and persuade those who have not yet abdicated their fortifications to come home singing the songs of returning to God.

8.4.2015 It is the truth, there is no point in going to a funeral until someone has died, even so, there is nothing wrong with rallying the wagons to circle BEFORE the Indian’s show up.

8.22.2015 There is no dying without death, just like there is no living without life. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Without Christ is dead, with Christ is alive. We need the living to step into their place, for as long as we allow the dead to govern, we are all doomed.

8.31.2015 “2Cor3:5, She started rubbing her two fingers in front of my face…i wondered what in the world? Then she sez, “The Holy Spirit is SOOOO close to us, He gives us ideas and we think we thought of it.” Evelyn Whitaker

09.05.2015 Jesus is the answer, He is always the answer, and there’s never a time He’s not the answer, which is why all things come to rest at the feet of the Son. The love of God, as demonstrated by Jesus, is the crown of everything. His love is universe changing, demon defeating, earth re-polarizing, disease healing, and relationship repairing, Jesus is love and love is the answer of all answers, Both noun and verb altogether.

Titus 2:11-15 (NIV) “11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 15 These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.”
Grace teaches, we train, as we train we go out and practice, practice, practice, putting into action what grace has trained us for. Grace disciplines and inspires our dedication, but never strangles or throttles anyone into submission.

Israel had to shift from an agricultural nation to a nomadic nation which was good at war. They had to shift from using plows to swords, and once they were trained to make swords out of plows, then they had to be trained in how to use the swords.

It occurs to me that if we are trained by grace we will be graceful people, if we’re trained by arrogance and greed, chances are very good we too will be arrogant and greedy….and of course that’s not always true for there are very few things in this life which are always and never. Graceful and kind parents typically generate graceful and kind offspring; manipulative and subversive parents typically generate manipulative and subversive children; children easily catch the character content of the parents due to simply being in contact with them. Don’t you know that we can give away what we’ve got even if we don’t know we’ve got it we can give it away, and that would include our condition of abnormal functioning as well as our normal functioning.

Are we trained by grace, or simply employing what we were born with?

If grace is not your trainer, then who is? Are you good with only your natural born talents, you know, the characteristics you were born with which are easily exploited by satan, who’s will is fully set against us, are you good with that cur dog being your mentor and trainer? i realize that many seem to think they have everything they need without including God, but seeing as how the Bible is the universal, One-Stop Resource for morals, ethics, principles, conduct, and character, i think it would be best to choose the Bible as our standard and see what God has to say. Indeed, this world of fluid and mobile boundaries needs a standard higher than itself, wouldn’t you agree?

According to the Bible the greatest ability of our flesh and uncrucified mind is …. wrongness of character, our inclination is iniquity from the start. i believe everyone is born with certain capacities and giftings, but above that, the unredeemed mind only knows the unredeemed life style with all it’s unredeemed inclinations….or what the Bible would call the “works of the flesh”.

What are our natural inclinations, trained by the world under our slave master called sin, which gladly bruises our conscience and gives power to our flesh over our spirit? Paul speaks to that in Romans 1 where he goes through a list of wrongness that is natural to those without Jesus. Our natural talents include every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity; we are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice; our natural born talents also include gossip, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful.

Naturally, we have a talent for inventing ways of doing wrong, seeing no good reason to even obey our parents, and in that we become senseless, faithless, heartless, and ruthless, not thinking it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, refusing to even think in the Lord’s direction.

Many would probably say, after hearing that list, “Well, it’s not all THAT bad, you know. i’m not really like that and i don’t know anyone who is. i’m a good person and i only hang out with good people!” Hmmm….really? If God and His word are the standard, and believe me, in the end He is conclusively, and finally the End-All and Standard, then if God says there is no good thing in me, then i think it absolutely prudent to take Him at His word. Romans 7:18
18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.”

Even if we understand the good things to do, without Christ we are trained and practiced in the ways of the world, we don’t have the where-with-all to do Godliness. Now that should upset more than a few who still believe they’ve got what it takes to make it on their own. Can we make it on our own? Do we truly believe that we somehow think we can be obedient enough to prosper, attaining the favor of God by our ability to be obedient? If we’re going to return to the law then Christ has died in vain.

So, i’m going to use myself as an example. i’m going to cut loose with a list of my natural, flesh born skills …. that is – Without Christ-type skills.

These things i know of myself: In and of myself, all on my own, i’m a superior failure, a good and veteran failure. i do failure VERY well.; i’m good at it! i don’t have to learn how to successfully fail; i arrived in this world well trained at it and all i needed to do was practice, afterall, practice does makes perfect. Without Christ, everyone is a perfect and successful failure.

i’m good at not telling myself the truth, no training necessary, all i need is a medium to practice in. By the grace of God i see my ugly and understand my long history of ugly. Hell regularly reminds me of my disqualifications, my rebellious behavior, and my past dis-ingenuousness. i didn’t have to take any classes to learn to do stuff badly, no training necessary.

i didn’t have to learn to quit…. i’m a talented and natural quitter. i’m good at shifting the blame so i don’t have to be responsible. i’m good at calling myself horrible names and then believing it’s the truth. Sadly, those are a few of my natural talents.

But here’s the best part of it all: Jesus lifts me above my natural talents and breaths life into me to live life abundantly, trained by grace, not according to someone else’s idea of what they think i should do. i’m the one standing here. i’m the one who is responsible, and through Christ alone do i have the power and authority to be different.

We are being taught, trained by either Heaven or hell! Who or what are your trainers? How do you know you are being trained in righteousness? Ephesians 4:22-24 “22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” “NEW”. What part of “new” does not mean “new”?

In the previous scripture, Ephesians 4:23, Paul uses a word which i think needs a little clarity: it was the word “attitude”. Attitude speaks to the pitch and yaw of our heart, how we lean in our heart towards God. For a better understanding of that scripture, i’m going to insert the definition of attitude, so then it would read like this: “to become renovated and renewed in how you lean toward or away from God in your hearts;” That means, in Christ, we have an entirely better set of skills. Let us allow the Holy Spirit to train us.

God purposely gave us an option of either being trained by righteousness or by sin. Romans 6:13-14 “…..offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.”

Did you hear that? That is incredibly wonderful!! Paul said, “For sin, your bruised conscience and alienated mind, shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.” Through the blood of Jesus, we take to ourselves a new trainer who trains us in grace. “..not under law, but under grace.”

When we spend our time participating with God, going where He goes and doing what He does, it is easy to see that we are being trained by grace.

Hear what i’m saying here, catch the vision: There’s two sides to the process, someone teaches, and someone learns. i suppose a good question is what exactly is grace teaching us? What are we learning?

i am confident it would be simple to show that grace teaches us to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. i want to add that, honestly, no one has ever suggested to me that i be “more temperate” …. so i looked it up and it means to be sound in mind, to be sober in opinion or passion.

i also think it important to say why i spend time looking up meanings of some words. Well…..the truth is, some biblical words i’ve never been able to relate to, and i figure if i can’t relate to it, then there’s a lot of other people who can’t relate either. i also want to add that many many times English doesn’t do Greek, Hebrew, or their translation any favors, so it is to our benefit to dig into discovering God’s intent and purpose….it’s part of being trained in Grace.

The Handbook of Bible Application says we need to depend on God to train our conscience. How can you hold on to a good conscience? Treasure your faith in Christ more than anything else and do what you know is right. Each time you deliberately ignore your conscience, you are hardening your heart. If we deliberately ignore our conscience, over time our capacity to tell right from wrong will diminish.

The training of Grace teaches us the value of truth, not just facts, but the truth; we learn from grace …. kindness and a preference for doing the right thing not just leveraging the facts to facilitate the advancement of our agenda. Grace teaches us diligence and perseverance, even when we’re in the long night of a storm. Grace emphasises over and over the importance of a sound conscience. Without a conscience, conviction has no foothold, making condemnation the only other option. Convicted or condemned, you choose.

Let us hold character and conscience in Christ above the values of the world! As you walk with God, he will speak to you through your conscience, letting you know the difference between right and wrong….that is a life-long-lesson in the school of Grace. Be sure to act on those inner tugs to do what is right— the training of grace is because of the everlasting love of God. Participate with Jesus and let grace train you, the training of grace is for an eternity with God.

Ephesians 4:12-13 (MSG)”..to train Christians in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, 13 until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.

2 Timothy 3:16 (MSG) “Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way.”

i like that, “training us to live God’s way”, no longer slaves to this world or sin. That is wonderfully attractive.

“Pay more”. And we circle on the wings of guilt, paying and paying and paying. When will we have bled enough to have paid enough? If we think, through the eyes of our guilt and depression, that Christ didn’t quite bleed enough or suffer enough for us, and we must continue to bleed and suffer for our sins, then the next logical question would be, when will we have suffered and bled enough to cover it?

And who is going to decide when we’ve bled enough, what ultra-righteous man will decide this question above God? Is anyone worthy to make that decision besides God? God said Jesus already paid the price … i say, No, no one but Christ was able to pay, and no man but Christ did pay. But in our own minds, when we’re alone in the late night, when will we have bled enough to cover our own transgressions? EVER? Do we actually think we have enough blood to satisfy the debt?

How long will we allow the enemy to keep us slaves to what God has washed away and remembers no more?

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Psalms 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”

Rom 6:10 “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.”

Heb 7:26 “For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.”

Isaiah 54:10, “For the mountains may leave and the hills be removed, but my grace will never leave you, and my covenant of peace will not be removed,” says Adonai, who has compassion on you.”

And that’s just a very few verses.
Did Jesus die enough for you?
Did Jesus suffer enough for you?
Did Jesus bleed enough for you?
Was His sacrifice and resurrection enough?

And if the answer is “Yes”, then it is also true for our neighbor and we must let our offenses go. Open your hands and let it go. Empty your pockets of religious contempt and allow that dead stuff to fall from your hands.

i met a women who was incarcerated (again) for yet another infraction of the law…..she was always weeping-couldn’t talk to her without her weeping. i asked her why, and she proceeded to tell me 17 years ago, a babysitter for her only child had neglected and abused him till he died. The other woman, who was disabled, did no time nor paid any restitution. She said for 17 years she had felt so ashamed and guilty because she felt she should have been there instead of at work, there was nothing but suffering for her. She said she had been praying, multiple times/day that the other woman would endure catastrophic suffering for what happened. i asked her how that was working out, and she said the other woman was actually prospering. i suggested, seeing as how all her cursing didn’t work, maybe she should try asking the Lord to bless the woman, pray the Lord would give the other woman peace. As the weeks went by her mind set began to shift, the weeping stopped, and her demeanor changed drastically. i asked her finally if she thought Jesus died and bled enough for her, wherewith she replied the death and resurrection of Christ was sufficient for everyone. i encouraged her to consider, that if that was really the truth, then He died enough for the other woman, regardless of the wrong she did. It was a defining moment to say the least. Think about it.

O.T. law says the judgment was greater than the sacrifice. N.T. says the sacrifice was greater than the judgment. Christ is more than sufficient and His grace is super-abundant to cover anything that goes on with us, not that we should ever tread the grace of God down in presumptuous sin. Show me one man whom Jesus didn’t die for and i’ll lay my Bible down.

Do you feel your eyes see things in you that God’s eyes can not? If so, how is it your eyes are so much more powerful than Almight God? If the Lord says we are forgiven, then we are forgiven. How long will we allow the enemy to make us slaves to our past?