Musings and Nuggets

                                      Recently I was involved in a conversation where love & happiness were briefly examined.  As I say that, some of you may have a flashback of Al Green singing a song by the same name.  That's okay.  For some of us, it is a classic. By the world's standards, we often hear or see those two words used interchangeably, but are they?  The Oxford Dictionary defines joy as "a feeling of great pleasure or happiness" and happiness as "the state of being happy" thereby being similar to contentment, pleasure, satisfaction and cheerfulness. From spiritual or Biblical perspective, they are not the same.  Happiness is contingent upon external circumstances like an event in in your life or a person.  People and circumstnaces can be fickle.  On the other hand,  joy as a fruit of the spirit is internal, not affected by anyone or anything external.  Joy is God-centered, God-focused, and sustained by the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is

 Refiner's Fire                                                                               What is a metaphor?  According to the the Oxford Dictionary it is " a thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else, especially something abstract."  For example, in scripture, many times fire is representative of the presence of God. In Exodus 13:21,   And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.    God spoke to Moses from a burning bush (Exodus 3:2-6).  On the Day of Pentecost, The Holy Spirit fell as flames or tongues of fire  resting on the heads of those who were present, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit ( Acts 2:3-4) . Fire can destroy as in Matthew 3:12 .  He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork.  Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff wi

  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  1 John 1:9   (NKJV)  I was reading a conversation online recently where the question posed was Why do pastors, et al keep trying to use 1 John 1:9  as a "Christian bar of soap?".     Although I had never heard that question phrased that way before, I am personally grateful that repentance was wisely built into the plan of salvation for us.   God knew that man was not a perfect being.  Actually, not even the angels were perfect.  That's why Lucifer and the angels who chose to follow him got kicked out of heaven.    We all have had thoughts that were not particularly God honoring, said some things that we wish we could take back, made some decisions that went left, or done things in our pasts that we would rather not own.  It's called being human.   Its the war between the flesh and spirit.  We find evidence from Genesis to Revelations that we were no

  And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.                                                                               Colossians 3:17 (NLT) Every person who identifies as a Believer should  consider themself a member of the Lord's Public Relation Team.   First, lets clarify what a public relations person does.  According to www.learn.org, 'a public relations person creates favorble press & publicity for an organization or individual.'   As we go about our daily lives, we become a walking advertisement, a billboard, or a living epistle of Who Christ is in our lives.  We are His hands and feet in the earth.  We are His ambassadors.  When we reveal or reflect His heart through our daily life decisions and interactions with others, we draw attention to Him (not us) as our Savior.  Consider the following scripture reference.  John 13:35 - By this all people will know that you are my disciples, i