decisions

by

Why Nag God?


Repeating prayers is for us, not for God. He’s not forgetful, He’s not old. He does not have dementia. He cannot be confused. He can remember even if we just pray it one time; repeating them is for us it helps us but, just because we have only prayed it once does not mean it will not be answered.

Luke 18:1-8 NASB

18 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not become discouraged,
2 saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect any person.
3 Now there was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my opponent.’
4 For a while he was unwilling; but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect any person,
5 yet because this widow is bothering me, I will give her justice; otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’”
6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge said;
7 now, will God not bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night, and will He delay long for them?
8 I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”

Jesus was saying to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5.) Always live with open communication, your line always open. Walk and talk with God so that any given moment you can listen to His guidance through the Holy Spirit speaking directly to your heart. We can utter a thanks for the beauty of His creation we see or hear. We can utter a request, an urgent plea. We do not have to wait to dial up and be connected. There is no buffering or slow internet speed. Your line is always up and running.

God hears our prayers. It does not matter if they are spoken aloud or in our heart. He answers immediately. God has no time. It is answered. We wait in our time for the answer. The answer shows up in time, on time, according to His plan. Many times the answer is to wait upon Him and His plan to unfold. Many times we do not like the answer and refuse to see it. we keep praying for the answer we want, not His will.

14 This is the confidence which we have [a]before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

1 John 5:14-15 NASB

In His will, not ours. To simply end with, “The will be done” will not help. We have to really have our heart open for God’s will and pray according to His will.

Are you willing for His will to be done?

RBGreenDesigns.com 2022
by

Life’s Hard


Which way to turn? Which way to go?

John 16:33NASB
“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

Social media is swamped with everything from pity and woe, to beware and be scared. It is not that I do not understand these emotions, these fears, I do.

I have lost loved ones too soon. The list is long. I lost a sibling tragically. I did not understand. I was not asked to. I know death up close and personal. I have watched it suffocate. I watched my dad crash. I watched his lung suctioned. Scripture asks me to trust. Obey. Faith.

I have walked through hard times of jobs lost, savings and retirement gone, car and home lost. No income. It is hard. It is devastating. But, God had a plan. I was not asked to like the circumstances I was passing through, just to stand on His firm foundation and trust His plan. It does not matter if I ever understand the reason this side of Heaven. I am asked to trust. Faith.

Seniors are missing end of year memories. It is hard, I know. I did not go to homecoming or prom. I had worked all summer with 8 girls; made them 3 uniforms each. Those 27 uniforms saw little use when my senior year world was turned upside down. A boy was stabbed in the heart in front of me. Memories? I was 16 years old. My brother turned to protect me and push me out of the way of the five boys attacking. The police took four of us as witnesses. They let my brother stay with me. It was an away game. Cell phones were not invented. My parents met the busses, heard there was a stabbing. My brother and I did not get off the bus. Someone told them we were ok and I was a witness. They had to go home and wait for a call. They caught all but one of the five that night. The guy that stabbed the boy in the heart got away. They lined them up in front of us and we pointed them out. No two way mirrors, face to face. Three days later I came face to face with the guy that stabbed the boy in the heart. Fear unimaginable. I got the detective. He got him. The threats came on the phone in the middle of the night. Dad took the phone off the hook. The threats and more came at school then. The school was suspended from all extra curricular events. My 17th birthday came and went. Two witnesses dropped out due to threats. The nightmares. The trial was horrible. The tranquilizers didn’t help. The stress and fear were overwhelming. I alienated friends, and eventually my high school sweetheart. Senior year? We got back activities after dad and another father threatened to shut down all 64 high schools if superintendent did not lift ban. Our teams, band, chorus, drama, etc., were able to do some events. I graduated. It is a blur. All the years of dreams gone. In the next six months dad had lung cancer. Senior year. It is not good for everyone. Focus on the good circumstances and memories you had and be thankful. You do not like the circumstances but, God has a plan. Grow. Look for the His plan. I did not at first. I dwelled on disappointment and lost dreams. I was grounded in faith, found I was still on His firm foundation. He carried me through. People look to see how you handle these circumstances if you are a Christian. You may never understand. Will you learn anything? Will you grow? Do they see faith?

These current circumstances are no different. Life is hard. Are these the end times? Does it matter? We entered the end times with the fall of Adam. There are no new trials or circumstances, no new sins. We should always live as this is the last days. Never take for granted our Lord’s grace and mercy. The Romans persecuted Christians in arenas for sport. The idol temples were filled with debauchery and sins unimaginable for profit. Plagues and famines have been recorded since Pharaohs’ days. Only the Holy Spirit can bring someone to salvation. You cannot scare them into it. So point to God’s sovereign love, mercy and grace. Show them trust and faith in your Lord, not fear of circumstances.

This too shall past. Be steadfast.

Psalm 26:12 NASB “My foot stands on a level place; In the congregations I shall bless the LORD”

RBGreenDesigns.com 2020

by

Let’s Call It What It Is, Selfishness.


There is nothing new under the sun. No new faults, desires, sins. It all boils down to self, the “I wants”, right now, greed.

Greed, the hardening of the heart to put self before all else is as old as time. “I want”, “I need”, and “me first above all else” is priority. Self leads to all sins because self rules.

People want to be rich, they want success, they want prosperity, they want everything centered around them, they want… want… want. Wants, not needs, is as old as recorded time.
Yesterday New York celebrated a “want” for women. High society, highly successful New York, so sophisticated, so highly educated, right? Or, are they just turning back time to archaic and barbaric practices? Did they not just erase centuries of advancement for women?

The Canaanites, circa 1509 BC, practiced a ritual of offering their first born to the fires of Moloch so they would receive riches, prosperity and a successful life. Malkam was the same for the Ammonites and Melqart for the Tyrian. Placing their first born in a fire, how barbaric people say. How ignorant, how selfish. God thought so.

Leviticus 20:2 “Say to the people of Israel, Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death.“

Imagine what He thinks now as New York has just turned back time. Women can now offer their first born to the fires of abortion. Yes, fire, saline abortion is toxic and it burns. Essentially it burns soft tissues, even skin in the womb. The baby is burned even from the inside as the child swallows the solution. Such torture. Unthinkable. Unimaginable. How barbaric. A modern woman would never do such a thing.

New York has done the unthinkable. A woman can choose to torture an infant for convenience, for costs, for unwanted, for wrong gender, for any reason. Be careful though, you still cannot disturb a turtle or eagles nest. Those eggs, fertilized or not, are still protected by state and federal laws.
Welcome to 2019 New York. Your women can sacrifice their first born for convenience, career, riches, gender choice …. success and prosperity. Moloch just changed his name to abortion.

A civilized woman would utilize self control over selfishness. A civilized society would fund adoptions, not abortions.

God or gods?
by

God or gods?


There is a difference between God and gods. There are many false gods. Who are your gods? The devil is the god of this world, as evident of mankind’s worship of all things sin. They choose him, to be blinded.

2 Corinthians 4:4 “in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

While satan* rules this earth, he is not in control unless you give him control. In essence you worship him when you worship a sin and it controls you.

Some worship lying, they will con you out of your last dollar. They will trick you into taking the side of wrong, they will lead you to believe in false data. They mess with your mental focus. The Bible tells us who is the father of deceit, satan*.

Some worship the flesh. Ignoring all other aspects of their being… mental, emotional and spiritual, their focus is all things physical. Instead of spirituality being foremost it is last or nonexistent. The physical controls their mental and emotional to the point of deprivation.

Many worship materialistic gods; houses, cars, boats, sports, money. Their gods control their decisions leaving them in patterns of habitual sin. Not all things are sinful but, prioritizing them to the point of worshipping them is sinful. They confuse wants with needs.

Although many prioritize everything above God, in essence making satan* their god, their priorities and satan* are not God. “The One, I Am” is God. God won the war over sin for all who believe Jesus came, lived, died and rose again as their Savior.

All of us have a void in us that occurred with the fall of man. When God left, the emptiness of life without Him began. Mankind tries to fill their emptiness with all sorts of gods. The only filling of that void comes when The Holy Spirit fills it after we accept Christ as our Savior.

Sadly, many Christians take control of their life and try to replace the Holy Spirit, ignoring the Power He gives, leaving a sense of emptiness again. The Holy Spirit is still there, willing an able to replace your substitute gods.

“The One, I Am” is God. He won for man the war over sin once and for ALL. All who believe Jesus came, lived, died and rose again as their Savior are victors with Christ.

Who are what are your gods today. Is God Lord or, are you and your gods in charge?

*lower case because he is one.

by

“Who’s On First?”


Ahh, baseball’s end of season.  Millions are watching to see who will win the World Series.   Who will win, who will lose?  

Some of you are way too young to remember the old comedy routine of Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s On First?” ???????????????

It’s a classic bit of confusion not unlike real life when we get our “game of life” out-of-order.  Life is a game with rules and regulations.  Our problem is in not “reading the Rule book”.  We want to run “home”,  or maybe to “2nd” or “3rd” skipping “1st”.  You cannot score a run to “Home” without running the bases and you have to start with “1st” base.

In our game of life we tend to run after foul or fly balls; chasing around the infield or outfield and totally disregard “1st” base.

Today you may face some curve balls, knuckle balls or spit balls.  You’re going to swing and try to connect.   Don’t look at the pitcher, the catcher … run around the infield or chase out into the outfield   LOOK to “First Base” and start running.  First base is your Lord and Savior.  Without First Base there is no game.  There is no beginning, and no end.  There is no success, no win.

If your life is confusion and mayhem, if you’re playing the game with out the “Rule Book”, His word, then you are going to lose.  You are going to be lost, miserable and empty.  Get into the Word, check your Guide, and head towards First Base.

Psalm 119:105 NASB  “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”

James 1:5 HCSB “Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him.”

RBGreenDesigns.com 2019 (reposted from blog dated 5/31/2013)