FOR GOD AND GOD ALONE!

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

Have you wondered as to why certain things have happened to you over the course of your life? The question is always posed, “why do bad things happen to good people?” Is your answer, “It must be because of something I have done” or “I must be cursed”? Have you ever thought that it has nothing to do with you, but for the purpose of glorifying God and revealing His works?

This blind man had no idea Who it was he was talking to. He had no idea that it was his “day of visitation”; yet he had been suffering with his affliction since birth. His whole life was lived under the burden and disgrace of his blindness and the assumption by all who saw that it was because of "someone or some sin” that he was blind. But unbeknownst to him, and everyone else, he had been waiting his whole life for the moment that was about to come for which he himself had been born; a visitation from God Himself that would deliver him, heal his blindness and take away his disgrace with a single touch!

What is interesting is that after he was healed, though he was the same man that he was before his deliverance, he was almost completely unrecognizable to all who knew him after his personal encounter with God Himself! He was a man raised in a home where Torah and the adherence to God was taught and lived out. He knew the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob… yet in an instant, all that he had known was swallowed up by his encounter with the Living God! And the very first person he saw was Jesus. He was instantly delivered from what had enslaved him his whole life. When God visits us for the purpose of deliverance, we will never be the same, and the change will be evident for all to see, because we met Him face to face! 

Maybe you have been in the same place forever waiting for a miracle? I’m sure many are and don’t even realize that they were born for one single moment where God Himself will invade their space and unchain them from what has overwhelmed them and imprisoned them their entire lives. Every day he went to that spring hoping for a miracle from God. He went there with expectation and faith. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for not recognizing the day of their visitation because their spiritual blindness and arrogance prevented them from seeing Who it was that stood before them. Yet in the simplicity and faith of a child, this poor man who was blind, could suddenly see.

The moral: Don’t EVER give up… and don’t believe the lies. Be like the blind man who, though he was afflicted his entire life, NEVER gave up, but instead found out that all he had endured was for the purposes of God! And so is your life... Do you believe?

© 2012 Steven Bliss
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CHECKPOINT 1: STOPPING THE NOISE!

A group of verses have been running through my head all day. I call them the "SO WHAT" verses or “THE RE-EVALUATORS"! They force us to (at least they should) examine our hearts as well as our actions to determine where we are at in several ways...

The first one are Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 13, "If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing."

So then what really matters besides love? In Paul's mind, and obviously in the mind of God... NOTHING! Not high and lofty, otherworldly spiritual dynamics like the ability to speak the language of angels, which honestly seems unbelievable, right? And not even the possessing of and the use of such important spiritual gifts such as prophesy; or the fact that God may allow us to know the deep mysteries and knowledge most have no idea exists. And not even attaining to and walking in a level of faith that few experience, yet does exist, which is capable of moving in the uber-supernatural! And sadly, not even the hyper compassionate, benevolent and sacrificial expressions, which seem so close to the heart of God, matter. According to Paul, there is NO GAIN without LOVE BEING THE MOTIVATING FACTOR OF ALL OUR ACTIONS! Without love, as Paul says... WE ARE NOTHING! So my spirituality and "God talk" is nothing more than noise without love! In other words, the Law of Love is the essence of the heart of God!

So then what kind of love are we talking about here? Thought it seems impossible, this is true love: Love is always patient, and always kind. It knows no jealousy nor does it incite one to jealousy. It never brags or is arrogant. It never acts unbecomingly, or selfishly seeks its own way. It is never provoked and never holds someone hostage over a wrong they have done against it. It never rejoices in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth! It bears ALL things, believes ALL things, hopes ALL things, and endures ALL things! Real love never fails!

I could so beat myself up just from the mere fact alone that I fall so far short of loving like this... and, according to the first part; I have been an arrogant fool more often than not in my life. I remember all the times I thought myself so "spiritual" when in truth, I was actually NOTHING BUT NOISE!

Thank God for His love, mercy and grace which are new moment by moment! And I thank God most of all that He opened my eyes to see His son, Y'shua!

© 2012 Steven Bliss

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MENDING THE BROKEN

Sometimes we do the incomprehensible. We cross lines and break boundaries that do so much damage that a simple "I'm sorry" or "forgive me" just won't fix. I know… I’ve done it.

Since humility is not our natural modus operandi, more often than not we are prone to defending ourselves and deflecting what we ourselves need to take ownership of, all the while missing the most important thing of all, that the person we have hurt is hurting way beyond what we could ever have imagined, leaving them to drown in their anguish and pain by being self-focused and defensive.

We need to learn to be silent… to listen. It is one of the most important and powerful postures we could ever take as it allows the one whose heart we have broken to state their deepest pain. It allows us to not only hear, but also feel exactly what it is we have done, and how it has left them where they are, and why a chasm now exists. It is imperative for the one who offends to allow the depth of what they have caused to resonate deep and loud within their hearts. To experience the magnitude of the damage they have caused, as though it had been done to them. I call it “suffering identification” and is exactly what Jesus did when He laid down His deity so that He could be “tempted in all thing as we are tempted”. When we hurt someone, the only way we can bring a healing to those wounds is by getting down into them so that we understand our need to repent and repair. That takes humility. That is full engagement.

Repentance is a gift. It comes through our willingness to humble ourselves and come face to face with, and experience the depth of our own depravity and desperate need. With God, it heals our separation and delivers us from our deserved punishment by releasing His forgiveness, mercy and grace. Between two people, it opens the opportunity to restore what has been broken through making right choices and commitments that reflect love, honor and respect. It manifests itself in deep remorsefulness with an intense desire to make things right, to make amends and to never cross those lines again. It also allows God into the process with us; which is His greatest joy. True repentance reveals we understand that it is never about us, but that others are more important than we are ourselves.

Though we all sin, for the one who is willing to renounce and turn from their ways and make amends, who consciously and willingly wants to change… there should ALWAYS BE, and without reservation, forgiveness, grace and mercy. That is love. After all, real love is patient and kind; it doesn't hold onto a wrong suffered against it. It bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things.. REAL LOVE never fails! God told Israel, “If My people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.” If that is Heaven’s response to a nation that had become apostate and lost in idolatry and abominations, how much more should it be ours? There is no greater picture of real love.

© 2012 Steven Bliss
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NOT AN OPTION!

Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Y'shua said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven." Of the woman who washed His feet with her tears He said, "she loves much, because her sins, which were many, were forgiven, but he who is forgiven little, loves little." Then again He said, “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”


What is forgiveness? He is not talking about merely saying the words and ending it there, but going beyond the words into the heart and demonstrating those words with action, which is love. Forgiveness IS loves greatest act. God demonstrated His love for us in that, while we were yet sinners, He sacrificed His Son so that we could be forgiven and fully restored to Him. He acted so that, in our response, His love could deliver and restore! He never contemplates how bad we have been, He immediately responds to our contrition with acceptance and love. EVERY SINGLE TIME! 70X7! God doesn't say it's ok to sit around and mull it over when the person who has sinned against you repents. When we forgive, we are forbidden to hold it against them. If we do, our sins will be held against us. To do so is unforgiveness and judgment… not love. Y'shua commands us to “be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect” (meaning perfect in love) who forgives and demonstrate that forgiveness towards us with open and willing acceptance and love. Forgiveness is not an option… it’s a command! If God says that He NEVER turns away a broken and contrite heart, why should we act any differently? Even the Angels rejoice when just one of us repents... it's a BIG deal. 



We all sin and sometimes, tragically way worse than others... but whatever it is, sin is sin. It is never worth the loss of a relationship not to forgive. The lack of forgiveness in this world creates an absence of love and establishes a path for conflict and conflict is one of darknesses greatest assets. Isaiah says that in the end, "The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.” There will be no conflict; there will be no unforgiveness; only peace! The Judge of all will Himself dwell among us. So if you have sinned against someone, humble yourself as soon as possible, go to him or her and acknowledge it, and then ask for forgiveness. If you're holding someone in chains today because of what they have done to you, even though they have asked you to forgive them... release them from the prison you have kept both them, and yourself in. We are not the judge, God is. Remember, the one who has been forgiven much loves much. So let love have its way. Forgiveness releases love and love heals, it restores and covers a multitude of sins!

© 2012 Steven Bliss
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I AM NOT...

The spiritual battle that rages day in and day out is not a war over terra firma. The battle being waged is over the intellectual property that lies between our ears. The battlefield upon which light and dark clash and the decision to surrender is decided is that stretch of grey matter between our ears known as the brain. 

            I can only speak for me, and unfortunately I’ve had to learn most things in life the hard way. My choices, and the results of those decisions, have mostly been based in the way I perceive things in my mind. Lately I have come to an even deeper, more difficult revelation... the way I see myself in light of how God sees me has direct implications on the choices I make. I call it the “Who Am I?” principle.

            In my opinion, the most important thing we can ever come to know about ourselves is first of all who we are NOT! That takes courage and the willingness to abandon all those things that are not true… even if we have believed them and been convinced they were true our whole lives, they MUST be removed from our thinking. But how do we discover that truth? Where are those answers found? One place…

            THE BIBLE!

            If it was only about how much Scripture you could quote or memorize, and not to diminish the importance of that, it's value would mean nothing if the truth of who God says you are and understanding who you are not were not integrated into your heart and mind. I have had to go through the long and arduous task of discovering who I was not in order to fully accept who I am from God's perspective. From the Garden of Eden until now the strategies of darkness have never changed: replace what God says is true with a lie in order to mask the truth long enough so that the mind deceived into fully engaging and believing the lie.

            But before we can fully integrate all that God says about us, which is the only thing that matters, we must first divest ourselves of the deception we have entered into and lived out! So this is how I do it. I continually remind myself, with confidence and tenacity, of these simple truth. First, I disagree with my accuser and second I tell my soul who I am based upon God's view of me and the work that was done in order to secure it for all of us:

         I AM NOT my past. I AM NOT my failures or my mistakes. I AM NOT who I think I am. I AM NOT who others perceive me to be. I AM NOT my accomplishments, successes, or accumulated possessions. I AM NOT the sum of all my fears. I AM NOT a mistake or a freak. I AM NOT stupid or an idiot. I AM NOT unnecessary nor a waste of time. I AM NOT sick or evil. I AM NOT unworthy or unlovable. I AM NOT a disappointment. I AM NOT a burden or too much. I AM NOT dispensable or a piece of trash. I AM NOT a shame or shameful. I AM NOT anyone's slave. I AM NOT useless or worthless. I AM NOT ugly or gross. I AM NOT going to amount to nothing. I AM NOT meaningless. I AM NOT pathetic, or any other insulting, degrading, dark and demonic accusation fired at my mind… I AM NOT ANY OF THESE THINGS!

            This is who I am... I AM WHO GOD SAYS I AM and I AM EXACTLY WHO HE SEES ME AS... I AM REDEEMED by HIS SACRIFICE, HIS BLOOD and HIS PASSIONATE LOVE for ME; I AM MORE THAN A CONQUEROR, VICTORIOUS WARRIOR and HEIR OF THE MOST HIGH GOD AND NOTHING, NOT ANYTHING OR ONE CAN SEPARATE ME FROM HIS LOVE!

            Funny how just a little positive reinforcement of the truth and a "TAKE THAT" attitude can alter ones total state of consciousness!

© 2011 Steven Bliss
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THE CHOICE

What lies beyond the veil? Does God really exist? Is there really a place called Heaven? Is the Bible just an old book of tales and myths that have no basis in fact and without any relevance to our world today whatsoever? Isn’t the god of Islam the same as the God of the Jews and Christians? Isn’t all this doom and gloom propaganda flying around just more of the same old emotional rhetoric of weak-minded religious people who have nothing better to do than whip themselves up into a spiritual frenzy? After all, they’ve been saying that Jesus was coming back for 2,000 years… and after 2,000 years He is still a no-show. Certainly if He was coming back He would have been here by now… right?

            These are just a few of the many questions and thoughts that ramble through the minds of virtually every human being on the planet. They are all valid and all need answers. But as we look around and see the insanity and upheaval of all the nations on the earth, one has to wonder ‘what is going on and how will it all affect me’? We have watched predictions come and go and heard the chatter of so-called prophets declaring Jesus’ immanent return on some specific day, just to watch those who blindly follow sell all they have only to be disappointed and end up looking like fools. Worse yet, and even more disgusting, are those who claim to hear from God, but mislead the many.

            But the question remains, what is happening? Is there anything to all that we see? Is the world coming to an end? Is what we are seeing around the globe just a coincidence, or is there more to it? Won’t all this just settle down once someone figures it out? And honestly, who really knows what all this means anyway?

            In my opinion, these are not mere coincidences that someone or some group will ever be able to fix! The reason I say that is because Israel, which didn’t exist as a nation for almost 2,400 years, now exists. Like it or not, Israel is the lynchpin to everything that is going on. We are seeing things that the prophets had spoken to them from the lips of God, and longed to see with their own eyes, things spoken of thousands of years ago to those who had no idea that the world we now live in would even exist. But now, its no longer the religious that getting that something unusual is going on… now the deep thinkers and intellectuals are beginning to perceive a shift.            

Pat Buchanan writes in his new book, Suicide Of A Superpower that, "America is disintegrating. The centrifugal forces pulling us apart are growing inexorably. What unites us is dissolving. And this is true of Western Civilization... Meanwhile, the state is failing in its most fundamental duties. It is no longer able to defend our borders, balance our budgets, or win our wars. If [Christopher] Dawson is correct, the drive to de-Christianize America, to purge Christianity from the public square, public schools and public life, will prove culturally and socially suicidal for the nation."

I not only agree, but would also add that with the rise of the prevailing anti-Christian sentiment we also see the rise of anti-Semitism around the world; including within Christianity itself. The move is not only to eradicate Christians, but all those who believe in and follow the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is an evil plan, one birthed in the bowels of darkness itself for the ultimate subjugation and destruction of all the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. It has never changed.

But it’s not just about America; it's about the whole world. That's why what we see taking place is not about one specific country or another, but a global crisis. These are not random acts but Divinely orchestrated events that must take place in order for God to finish the story that began thousands of years ago in a beautiful garden, where one single choice changed the history of man forever. And so it will end with the return of God’s Son, Jesus, the Messiah.

The World... it's dying. The universe and everything in it is dying. Yet God has made a way for us to be close to Him through the sacrifice of His Son! That even though it’s all dying, we can live. We will see face to face the God of all creation. Now you may disagree; you may even argue that all I’m saying here is just a bunch of religious nonsense; but there is a verse that reverberates though the corridors of time that every single human being will have to embrace. It says this, "Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Y'shua/Jesus is God!" There will be no getting around it.

We are all in the valley of decision every day; even though we may not feel like it. Time, as we know it, is almost up. The gate is closing. Remember all the questions posed at the beginning? The Answer to them all can be found in one simple choice. That choice determines destiny, both in the here and now, and forever. That choice determines friendship with God, or enmity towards Him. That choice plays itself out before us every single day... it is the choice of life or death. To choose life is accept and believe what God says about our desperate condition, and our need for His Son’s sacrifice. It is the single most important choice you will ever make in your entire life. Moses said this, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days.” As Moses implored the Israelites, so I echo those exact same words to all those who will read this.

I made my choice. What about you?

Choose wisely!

© 2011 Steven Bliss
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THE QUEST

Recently I sat in Starbucks minding my own business, I was hard pressed to ignore a conversation taking place right next to me, which quite frankly caused me to mull over some things in my mind based upon what these two women were talking about. The discussion revolved around their perceptions on how to live life, making every decision predicated upon what they thought God would think about that decision, and whether or not that decision was Biblically correct. As I sipped my espresso and ate my apple, several things came to mind as they continued to talk. I pondered for a bit what it is that I am trying to achieve in this moment-by-moment walk with God? What is this quest I am on? So I thought I would try and convey my thoughts as best I can.

First, it is a most high and honorable position to seek the wisdom of God in all things; to engage Him as one would a close confidant, sharing your heart and deepest concerns. Without a doubt, in my opinion, this is imperative. After all, who better to talk about life with than the Author of life Himself? At the same time it is vitally important to have people in our lives we can trust, those we can be transparent and vulnerable with no matter what we share, good things, or bad. Most importantly, someone who understands the idea of “in confidence”. They are hard to find, but when you do, they are more valuable than gold. It’s good to get opinions and advice. Proverb says, “there is wisdom in a multitude of counselors” and the honest truth is our hearts are deceitfully wicked and not to be trusted – even if we think we are good people. So it’s important to have those in our lives who are willing to be honest, forthright and unafraid to go out on the ledge with and for us when it comes to telling us the truth.

Though it took me almost an entire lifetime, I try to do things these days not out of what ‘feels right’ or “makes sense”, but out of conversations I have both with God and those in my life with whom I ask questions seeking their wisdom, guidance and advice. I have come to understand that, more often than not, God uses people to speak to me, and very often when I don’t necessarily want it, nor am I soliciting it. And more often than not they have no idea He just used them. This can be uncomfortable at times, but God knows me, and He knows how I am, how I do and do not listen. He also knows that as I’ve gotten older and gone through a lot of the tests He has both brought and allowed in my life for my good, I have learned to listen more attentively than I did when I was younger (though I have certainly not mastered it by any means). So beyond a shadow of a doubt, seeking the wisdom of God, through whatever means He chooses to bring it, is as necessary and maybe even more so, than the food we need each day to sustain us. Jesus said we don’t have because we don’t ask. So in this case asking is not really optional, it is mandatory.

            But I couldn’t help but be struck by the idea that as these two women talked and plotted out their every step, that the tendency for us to get stuck in the horizontal verses vertical relationship can be very easy if we’re not careful. We can become so focused on what others think and say that we loose sight of the fact God is intimate, not even realizing that God speaks as He always has! Some who are reading this will say, “Well, I’ve never heard Him”. My question back would be, “Really? How do you know you’ve never heard Him?”

Most would say that God only speaks to those who are either ‘worthy’ or in some form of leadership. But I want to encourage you, relationship with God is supposed to be what it was intended to be, a relating-partnership! Not a buddy relationship as so many of the modern worship songs erroneously portray Him as, but one in which two individuals are bound together through intimacy and transparency, engaging one another as those do who are “more than friends”. For us, it is based in not only our willingness to be broken and humble, but also our eagerness to engage. God continuously invites us to come close and draw near. That level of intimacy is not found in a building or a movement, or in all the mechanisms of organized religion or a man, but in the transformation that is birthed by our desire to get close… I mean up close and personal, face to face with the Creator of all things.

Too often we mistake a “religious experience” or the acquiring of Biblical knowledge as the means to satisfy our need for a “God fix”. In all honesty, most are not willing to get that close to Him. We prefer a safe distance rather than a personal meeting with Him. It is completely understandable as it challenges every fiber of who we are and shakes the very foundations of what we believe. But the results of keeping your distance are neither life changing, nor life sustaining. It only produces a “form of godliness” rather than the power to transform us. I speak from personal experience, not head knowledge.

A perfect illustration would be where Israel at Sinai. In their minds when Moses went up on the mountain to meet with God, he took way too long to return. They assumed he was dead, and because they had no desire to get close with God out of fear but were content to let Moses go up and do it for them, the result was disastrous. It was a return to the familiar and the results were life ending for many of them. Sound familiar? After all, there is a way that seems right to a man, but its way ends in death. The damaging effects of their unwillingness to be intimate reaped a harvest of what the lack of intimacy always produces in a spiritual sense, religion! In this case it manifested itself in the form of an idol to take God’s place… the golden calf!

As I listened to the women talking about how they make sure every step lines up perfectly, what came to my mind was that there is an unnaturalness to such a perspective. It is not one based in the freedom and joy an intimate relationship with God brings, but rather in the fear and trepidation that every step may be a misstep. As honorable as the idea behind it may appear, the outcome does not reap the desired affect. Rather than unlock us, it enslaves us. The relationship God paid such a great price for is not about rules and regulations, but intimacy and oneness. The same closeness Adam had with God when he walked and talked with Him in the Garden and Jesus modeled for all who would follow Him as what should be the natural tendency and desire of each believer. Originally Adam was unafraid and desired to be close. They had become so close that when it was broken through Adam’s willingness to go against what God had told him, it caused him to become afraid of that intimacy and hide.

Are you hiding today? Are you afraid to get close with the One who loves you more than you can even comprehend? He paid dearly to have the intimate relationship He desires with you.

Paul said, “It is for freedom that Messiah has set us free”. For us then, the challenge is to actually ‘be free’ and not allow that freedom to be a path returning us to our former slavery. If we were set free to be who we are, to worship God intimately and openly based upon that freedom, then the objective is to not come back under that legalism and bondage, but to embrace the power that an intimate relationship with God was created to be.

But for each one of us, the quest is a personal choice.

© 2011 Steven Bliss
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