DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE PART 1

I loved Tim Burton's masterpiece rendition of Alice In Wonderland. For me it has some of the most amazing life analogies woven through it, especially the idea that Alice, in the real world, was being required to be something she was not. Does that sound familiar? Have you found yourself there?

Alice was about to find herself in an arranged marriage she had no interest in or desire for. But the pressures of those around her to comply were both controlling and stifling. She was told she would be happy because of the security she would receive due to the enormous wealth and prestige the union would bring her, but the truth was, Alice would be marrying someone who was a pig of a man. Her life would have been one of emptiness, despair, remorse and regret.

It was Alice’s trip down the rabbit hole where her spiritual destiny was to slay the dragons of her life that held her back, revealing the truth of who she really was, giving her the power and courage to say NO MORE to what others thought she should be, and the freedom to be in real life who she was created to be! With the strength to resist the norm and break from others expectations, Alice arrived at her own authentic destiny. And so it is with God...

In this first video I ask the question how close is close enough when you want to truly know someone? At what point do you stop and say "that's close enough"?

In this crazy world of failed relationships and broken promises, closeness is a very difficult thing to achieve. And if it's difficult to be intimate with another human being, how much more difficult is it to be intimate with God Himself? 
The truth is there is an enemy who wants nothing more than for you and I to think it's beyond the realm of possibilities.

For most of us, it's easier to be like Israel at Mt. Sinai who told Moses to go up on the mountain and talk to God for them because to them He was far too scary to ever be close with. They didn't want the intimacy of a face to face encounter. All they heard was thunder and lightening and the roar of His voice, but for Moses he heard a different sound. He heard God say, “Come up here”! Moses was unafraid because he had developed a deep intimate relationship with YHVH and longed to be in His presence more than he did the very people God had called him to lead.

Come with me on a personal journey in this series of video blogs and discover the depth and power of a simple little Hebrew word from the Bible... yada, which means, “to know”. Maybe you'll be like me and discover there is nothing more important than being intimate with the One who made you! 
Take a trip down the rabbit hole and discover who you truly are, not according to what others think or say about you, or even how you percieve yourself, but according to what God says and how He sees you. It's there you will discover the reward that awaits you… the power of love that will unlock the totally unique and authentic, YOU!

© 2013 Steven Bliss
If you like this video spread it around, hit the share buttons below! Also. your comments are always welcome. Thanks

FAITH LIKE A ROCK

Living the real life of faith means you will never know where you’re going to end up. It requires trusting Someone who is leading you that you can’t see. Faith, not understanding or reason, is a life designed around knowing God who calls you to go and trusting Him with all the things you can’t figure out.

One of the biggest traps I’ve fallen into over the years is idea that if I just have enough faith God will bring me the success I want in this world. But that's just not real. You may argue that God does promise to prosper us and give us success, but perception can be deception if you limit your understanding to Webster’s definition of the word “prosper”. The Bible’s definition is very different from his, though they can cross paths along the way. Real success for the true believer in the God of the Bible is not what we think it is based on our limited human and very worldly media driven understanding. The success God wants us to have where we prosper the most is all about our knowing Him. The more we know Him, the greater our personal level of wisdom, which inspires a much higher level of knowledge producing what can be defined as true understanding. If you think that sounds ethereal or otherworldly… well, maybe so, but what does that have to do with true success or arriving at our destination? Everything, for the final stage in a life of faith is the ultimate attainment of true character, but in the progressive attaining of that character we will encounter many significant changes along the way; ones that, if we are honest, needed to take place.

The life of faith is not one glorious mountaintop experience after another or, as it is so often romantically stated, “soaring on eagles’ wings high above the fray”, but the day in and day out grinding it out myriad of experiences, all the while attempting to walk without fainting-though we will faint, trusting without seeing-though we will struggle to believe, and engage without doubting-though doubt cast its dark shadow over every one of our fragile minds.

It's not a question of whether holiness comes with sanctification, but something far deeper… it’s about the sweet fruit that comes much further down the road than we ever wished or imagined. Faith will be tested and proved so that it will stand even when all around it is crumbling. Abraham is not just an example of the holiness of sanctification, but a clear picture of the life a simple man can have when he lives in a close intimate relationship with the Creator of all things. This kind of faith is tried and true, built solely on the solid foundation of trusting the One True God. As it was said of Abraham, so it should be said of us, “Abraham believed God…” This is pure righteousness and sanctification purified by the fire of God’s love.

Maybe for you the tests have seemed too hard or unfair? Maybe the course you've been on has ended in disaster and the pressure is just too much to bear? Maybe you feel God doesn’t hear, or care… or maybe for someone reading, all hope is gone?

Let me encourage you right now as you read this, no matter what you may "feel" today, no matter what you have gone through, no matter what losses you may have incurred or pain endured, STOP! Right now, wherever you are, choose to change your mind... lift up your hands to Him though you are buried in despair. Right there, right now, tell Him that no matter what it looks like, right this very minute tell Him you believe. Say it out loud so your soul can hear! Repeat what Job said, “Though You slay me, (though You crush me) yet will I praise You!” God knows, God hears and God cares.

Whatever circumstances you may find yourself in, God has allowed it. The way God perfects us is exactly the same way perfection is wrought in nature. It is by pressure the finest of all things are brought into existence like: oil, diamonds, gold, perfume and many other fine things. So it is with God! He uses the pressures of our circumstances to perfect us. We can’t comprehend it because we don’t like it or think that we need it, but we do!  

So I encourage you, agree with God that it is necessary and allow Him to have His way with your life. Tell Him to BRING IT ON! I promise you, if you do you will begin to smell the sweet fragrance you destined to become and your radiance will be like that of pure gold and your brightness like the clearest diamond reflecting the sun.

Living by faith as Abraham did most often reveals that where we are going is never really known until we get there. That takes trust… and trust takes faith. And this is His promise to those who will welcome His path, "those who trust in the Lord will NOT be disappointed". For the one who believes, failing is never failure, it’s only a correction in the course.

© 2013 Steven Bliss
If you like this article, please spread it around! Hit the share buttons below! Your comments are always welcome; please feel free. Thanks!

MEGALOMANIAX

 

The world’s full of freaks
And mountains of frogs
As the whims of debauchery
Are driven like dogs
They claim to be real
As they form their façade
Strangling the mind
With the twisted and odd
They eat like they’re kings
With their chest’s all puffed up
As they spin their dark secrets
Beneath trench coat bluffs
Offering freedom
They say, “just believe”
But what kind of freedom is
I, Myself and Me?
Voices without reason
Say “It’s the lies of the right”
As sanity's flushed
And the truth becomes blight
Nobody listens, nobody cares
It will take revolution
To dig out of nowhere
But when the “living” are dead
And the dead won’t speak
Then the prophecy lives
To the broken and meek
They think they deserve it
 Who cares what the cost
But when they finally arrive
They find that they’re lost
Arrogant fools
So out of whack
They slaughter the lambs
The Megalomania-X

by Steven Bliss

© 2013

If you like this article, please spread it around! Hit the share buttons below! Your comments are always welcome; please feel free. Thanks!

A PSALM

This is just me…

All that is left

Though I’m working it out

What you see's what you get

I once lived in shame

Under burdens and blight

Till He shattered my chains

Pierced my darkness with light

Here I am who I am

Not a god

Just a man

The weight of the guilt

That once crushed my chest

Took all that I had

Till nothing was left

A festering wound

Once poisoned the well

Till the Water that lives

Raised this dead man from hell

Here I am who I am

Nothing else

Just a man

Out of the dark

Into the Light

One drop of Your love

Gave sight to my eyes

No other hope

No other path

The Way, Truth and Life

Lamb of God

IAM

Yes, this is just me

Free from the curse

In this broken down frame

Call it better or worse

Here I am who I am

All that’s left

Just a man

By Steven Bliss

© 2013

If you like this article, please spread it around! Hit the share buttons below! Your comments are always welcome; please feel free. Thanks!

THE MEANING!

There is only one thing I am confident in... not my abilities, talents or stature... not fame or fortune or anything else this world claims brings significance or security and "SELF-worth"... my confidence is in this, "that He who began a good work in me will carry it out to completion... even to the day of Messiah Jesus… so that love may abound in me more and more with knowledge and depth of insight so that I may be able to discern what is best, causing me to be pure and blameless until the day Messiah returns, or He calls me to Himself; filling me with the fruits of righteousness that only come through Jesus Himself — to the glory and praise of God. For it is God who is at work in me to will and to do everything according to His good pleasure and purpose. He is the Author and finisher of my faith”... not me.

It's a bold statement I'm about to make, not because I'm spiritual, but because I know this first hand: I hate this world and the flesh I live in. It is wretched... a beast without conscience... my mortal enemy. It amazes me how often I've thought that I was good, when in all honesty, nothing "good" dwells in me. The prophet said, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" I don't know about you, but when God, who loves me, lets me have a little glimpse of the blackness of my own heart, I realize the gravity and severity of its depravity. It's Deep Space 9... a black hole. The process is without a doubt Divine Shock Therapy for sure.

Most never want to think of themselves in such a way, much less want to see it or face the truth and then have to deal with it. Nonetheless we're all in the same boat.

The longer I live the more I realize that I'm not here for ME! What does it profit me if I gain everything my flesh wants but lose the very thing my soul longs for: life and liberty and peace with God. I'm here for a greater purpose... to lay myself down for others and tell anyone who will listen the great things God has done for me, and how I, who deserves nothing more than His judgment and wrath, have been forgiven and shown great mercy, love and grace.

© 2013 Steven Bliss
If you like this article, please spread it around! Hit the share buttons below! Your comments are always welcome; please feel free. Thanks!

GOD'S EYE VIEW

Having an attitude of gratitude depends upon our altitude. Looking at things through the lens of heaven changes ones view completely. The old saying, "Can't see the forest for the trees" is what I'm talking about... God told Moses, "Come up here!" Moses saw everything quite differently from the top of the mountain than he did on the ground. Having a "God's Eye View" is critical. It's like being in a plane as you descend to you're destination. Everything seems so small, so insignificant and much less daunting. For me, I always look down and think I could just scoop it all up in my hands! Just imagine how the world looks to God, even more, how your personal life and all you face, that feels so overwhelming, appears to Him. No wonder “nothing is impossible for him who believes” and “with God, all things are possible”. It makes total sense when you see things from God’s point of view!

I know for myself, I need a "come up here" state of mind more and more these days. I don't always have it. Up there the air is clear and the atmosphere peaceful and unaffected. My mind, uncluttered and without distractions.

The psalmist had it right when he wrote this simple song calling us all up to a "God's Eye View" of things. I need the reminder. Isaiah said, "Come, let us go UP to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways that we may walk in His paths." How do we go up? Like this...

Make a joyful shout to Yahweh, all you lands! Serve Yahweh with gladness; come before His presence with singing. Know that Yahweh, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For Yahweh is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations. Psalm 100

Today, I'm going up to a higher altitude in order to change my point of view. How about you?

©2012 Steven Bliss
If you like this article, please spread it around! Hit the share buttons below! Your comments are always welcome; please feel free. Thanks!

FACE TO FACE

Death, specifically the destruction of my fiercest enemy, my flesh… will be my greatest victory! The closing of my eyes for the last time will end my struggle and free me once and for all from all that ails me. If I didn’t know the Son of God, I would have ended it long ago, but I will not hasten its arrival by selfish or self-induced means. God’s timing, after all, is perfect. Until then, God has things for me to do.

But there is a longing deep within me for this race to finally end; this battle that rages and its long line of destruction left in its train. For I have tasted of what awaits me; and this world, with all it has to offer, pales in comparison.

For me, there is no morbidity in my desire, only truth and light. My only request is that what is left might be for His glory. That I might accomplish His will, even if it were only an act like Samson pulling down the pillars. I pray my finish would exalt Him and His Holy Name.

There will be much wood, hay and stubble when I stand before Him. Of this I am well aware, yet I cling to only that which saves me, the blood of God's precious Lamb who died for me alone.

I have failed more than I have succeeded, lost more than I have gained, but the thing for which I live and breathe and walk this mortal path is my hope and anticipation of seeing Him who loves me... face to face.

© 2012 Steven Bliss
If you like this article, please spread it around! Hit the share buttons below! Your comments are always welcome; please feel free. Thanks!