why is prayer so difficult?

[existential mabel]

hello Marilyn

PART 6

zechariah 5:6 “It is a basket, and it stands for the sin of the whole land.” It is interesting the symbolism but other than that like the disciples i still dont understand!

Peter is the one disciple that thinks aloud then i guess or he is a questionable character. Ha not thought of that before. i mean the catholic church comes through Peter. How did that ever come about? why do Catholic churches have upside crosses? yes you will say it is in regards to Peters crucifiction... That is not in the bible least not the one i am reading! BTW i guess you do realise that the upside cross is a satanic thing. In the county that i live in back oh probably 10 years or more a church that was no longer used regularly was being used by satanic worshipers...

Jesus was not into being the sole person for healing etc. he wanted others to do this. i guess this would be a good way to actualise the faith and not just have it to be a set of thoughts.

Salt is good ...not much of that in the last church i went to. o sure everyone looked to be doing it but there was a shocking lack of substance. that in the end disturbed me and i could no longer pretend it was not so. it kept triggering negative stuff for me.

Jesus must have got so tired with the leaders etc they actually were far denser than the disciples were. Just think Jesus could have done many more amazing things if he hadn’t got to deal with the leaders etc. but it is through the leaders that the masses are supposedly receiving spiritual guidance and instructions. But the leaders etc were making a sure a ham fisted attempt at it. i do wonder if there were any fallen angels that were in with the leaders..zip...

i mean if you were filled with the love of God then you would most naturally want to do your utmost to see and experience people improve their walk with God. wouldn’t you..instead people are stuck and in darkness..

And yet the ordinary people recognise the light when they see it. Isn’t it interesting that the establishment cant see it also.

15I assure you that whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” which is the point that Jesus is making i guess.

To follow Jesus is something that fills me with ..0 dear..anxiety, what if..surely...life is so darn hard on this planet as it is. why o why would i want to make it even harder?

i mean nobody could bare what Jesus was saying and just couldn’t hear it or understand it. With regards to his death they were living  then whilst it was all unfolding. What hope for a 21 century person who has not had that experience in their formative years, which BTW was also steeped in legalistic stuff?

It is good that Jesus illustrates the bit regarding serving rather than being served. Going back to the church that i go to from time to time (a different one). There are always a hard core of people serving and doing all the work and others that want what that brings but will never offer their services. And when someone moans about the lack of something i am tempted (and do at times) to say why don’t you help out then?

Why is it that Jesus asks and does the obvious in his ministry and yet man has to have so many layers of how it should be done? i mean you have too extremes man making it a kind of exclusive club and Jesus making it a inclusive club.

When it is too hard and dry academically that puts people off and when it is far too simple to be almost absurd that puts people off. Poor olde Goldie locks wouldn’t have had a just right experience then would she!

 

[Marilyn C]

Hi mabel,

Oh Goldie locks? Didn't get that one, can you interpret for me? I do appreciate & laugh at your great pics.

Oh & where did old Zech. come from? You do get around. That fits in well when we do the global government of Revelation. (if you want to)

The Catholic people take a lot of symbolic things very, very literal - the bread & wine as Jesus` real flesh & blood, (He must die often!) & the word for Peter is small stone, while Jesus made a play on words & said on this rock, large stone, referring to the confession of faith that Peter just said. (Matt. 16: 13 - 20)

About the leaders - It was through the leaders of Israel that God`s rule & word was to go out, but many were corrupt. Jesus knew this, as He knew man`s heart. So actually He was really just exposing the hardness of people`s hearts. That is why He had to die so His life can come into ours & we can change.

You are right about the establishment, that is why Christ will set up His righteous rule through Israel over the nations in the future. As to the Body of Christ we are destined for greater things.

OK, so you ask what about the everyday person. Well God has made it as simple as `Help God, help my unbelief, help me.....` humbling & repentance, turning away from our ways to God`s, (BUT NOT man`s organisational heavy loads). You say it so well, man makes it kind of an exclusive club, where as Jesus make it inclusive. Very well put, Mabel.

 

All the best, Marilyn.

 

 

 

 

[existential mabel]

hello Marilyn not heard of Goldie locks and the 3 bears huh!

The Story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Are you sitting comfortably then I will begin

 Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Goldilocks.  She went for a walk in the forest.  Pretty soon, she came upon a house.  She knocked and, when no one answered, she walked right in.

At the table in the kitchen, there were three bowls of porridge.  Goldilocks was hungry.  She tasted the porridge from the first bowl.

"This porridge is too hot!" she exclaimed.

 

So, she tasted the porridge from the second bowl.

"This porridge is too cold," she said

 

So, she tasted the last bowl of porridge.

"Ahhh, this porridge is just right," she said happily and she ate it all up.

 

After she'd eaten the three bears' breakfasts she decided she was feeling a little tired.  So, she walked into the living room where she saw three chairs.  Goldilocks sat in the first chair to rest her feet. 

 

"This chair is too big!" she exclaimed.

So she sat in the second chair.

 

"This chair is too big, too!"  she whined.

So she tried the last and smallest chair.

 

"Ahhh, this chair is just right," she sighed.  But just as she settled down into the chair to rest, it broke into pieces! Doh n double doh!!

 

Goldilocks was very tired by this time, so she went upstairs to the bedroom.  She lay down in the first bed, but it was too hard.  Then she lay in the second bed, but it was too soft.  Then she lay down in the third bed and it was just right.  Goldilocks fell asleep.

As she was sleeping, the three bears came home.

"Someone's been eating my porridge," growled the Papa bear.

"Someone's been eating my porridge," said the Mama bear.

"Someone's been eating my porridge and they ate it all up!" cried the Baby bear.

 

"Someone's been sitting in my chair," growled the Papa bear.

"Someone's been sitting in my chair," said the Mama bear.

"Someone's been sitting in my chair and they've broken it all to pieces," cried the Baby bear.

 

They decided to look around some more and when they got upstairs to the bedroom, Papa bear growled,

"Someone's been sleeping in my bed,"

"Someone's been sleeping in my bed, too" said the Mama bear

"Someone's been sleeping in my bed and she's still there!" exclaimed Baby bear.

 

Just then, Goldilocks woke up and saw the three bears.  She screamed, "Help!"  And she jumped up and ran out of the room.  Goldilocks ran down the stairs, opened the door, and ran away into the forest.  And she never returned to the home of the three bears.

 

THE END Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

Arh. Zech well I have been reading the 0T and just recently covered this.

Why can’t the catholics focus on the rock instead of a satanic symbol I wonder? Did I mention I was in a church the other day and in it I couldn’t help but notice all the upside crosses and I was quite glad to get out. and in another on the ceiling there were astrological (horoscope) painted pictures now I am not making this up. I mean how can that ever be right?

Yes he exposed the hardness of their hearts alright but he couldn’t heal them or at least set them on the way toward healing..maybe some of them did..

I certainly do need a gurt big dollop of “help me God, help my unbelief… why do I even go on with the bible then? I have seen for too long the folly of man and really for me there IS nothing else left. But I don’t have that connection. I think whilst I am here on planet earth I might as well get some Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth (BIBLE)

What also started it was that I was fed up of evangelical Christians spouting how religious they are and so I thought if I can just understand the bible then I can maybe come back with an ironic one liner!

thanks sis

[Marilyn C]

Hi mabel,

Oh I did know `Goldilocks & the 3 bears,` but didn`t understand your association - but when you wrote out the story it became clear - hot/cold & just right. Thanks.

I like that basic Instructions etc.... As to others, forget it, it is just an ego trip for many or to show that they are `spiritual.`

I was thinking that often when we ask God for help we then have expectations of how He should help us & when that doesn`t happen - "Oh God is not talking to me." Whereas if we ask then wait patiently for Him to `nudge` us in a direction or attitude then we are giving Him room to be the guide not us telling Him how to run the show, (our life).

So ask, wait....a nudge...obey....wait another nudge/thought....obey....etc & gradually we realise that we are changing on the inside. It takes time & patience but I certainly don`t want to go into the next life with all the baggage still inside me. Because that is all we take, our inner self. Do you want to be like you are forever? No, well then we just learn to be humble & obey those nudges in the right direction.

Hope that is helpful.

 

Prayer: Lord I pray that you will help us to know which are your nudges for us to address our attitude. 

 

[existential mabel]

hello Marilyn. nudges in the right direction if i can just turn the sound down on the mh then yes!!

PART 6
what i find amazing about Jesus coming to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany is that people were spreading their cloaks onto the road for Jesus..and shouted praises and then that was it they resumed to type after this.

but they were stirred up by the leaders etc to insist on Jesus being crucified gosh the flash mob and how it can quickly use a crowd for its own means.

regarding the fig tree. was it in season? no wonder there were no figs then. cant blame the tree for that surely!

the leaders had really done a good job of lowering the tone of the temple.

gosh praying and believing that you have already received it. nowhere near this way too bogged down with the mh grems. gosh i could do with the whiter than white for some of my smalls..zip...

peter trying to control events again with regards to the transfiguration. when in fear make it up is the first knee jerk response.

Elijah is the bridge from the OT to the NT then

its interesting when Jesus mentions about faith. that changes everything but why does this need to be so? Jesus could just have healed in a split nano second. so Jesus uses each and every opportunity to illustrate spiritual things i guess. having faith makes you more receptive but, 0 dearie me. say you would like to have faith but that olde stubborn donkey just wont budge forward. a certain mind set frame of mind is required. well i dont think i am ever going to get to that. faith makes me feel frustrated because people can say and do say," oh well you didn't have enough faith that is why you are not healed," and then that would lead me into temptation - becoming irritated and dismissive as i aint worthy obviously.

having a childlike belief (not a childish belief) in God is quite a tall order in a cynical and controlling world. children i guess have a sense of wonder and as they grow up they loose that because of living in a fallen world.

Whoever is not Against Us is For Us - unfortunately this is a loaded script now. i keep thinking of the american president Bush and his insistance of going into war. and so this is what it conjures up for me. how like man to turn something from good into darkness.

this temptation to sin is quite a big thing and the explanation just makes for, gosh, i aint even going to go there with the so called answer to sin by cutting off a limb. obviously a spiritual lesson here but i cant get past the limb cutting. and is this why the arabs cut off peoples hands etc in some cultures not sure if the moslims do that also

the saltiness and i think of my frustration with the evangelical church. which at the mo seems to for me reg this particular church has taken a new low. i thought it had already got to the basement low...