Eze 13:1  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Eze 13:2  Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD;

Eze 13:3  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

Eze 13:4  O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.

Eze 13:5  Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.

Eze 13:6  They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.

Eze 13:7  Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken?

Eze 13:8  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD.

Eze 13:9  And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

Eze 13:10  Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar:

Eze 13:11  Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.

Eze 13:12  Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?

Eze 13:13  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.

Eze 13:14  So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

Eze 13:15  Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered mortar, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it;

Eze 13:16  To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord GOD.

Eze 13:17  Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them,

Eze 13:18  And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?

Eze 13:19  And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?

Eze 13:20  Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.

Eze 13:21  Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

Eze 13:22  Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:

Eze 13:23  Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

The Message

Eze 13:1

GOD’s Message came to me:

Eze 13:2

“Son of man, preach against the prophets of Israel who are making things up out of their own heads and calling it ‘prophesying.’ “Preach to them the real thing. Tell them, ‘Listen to GOD’s Message!’

Eze 13:3

GOD, the Master, pronounces doom on the empty-headed prophets who do their own thing and know nothing of what’s going on!

Eze 13:4

Your prophets, Israel, are like jackals scavenging through the ruins.

Eze 13:5

They haven’t lifted a finger to repair the defenses of the city and have risked nothing to help Israel stand on GOD’s Day of Judgment.

Eze 13:6

All they do is fantasize comforting illusions and preach lying sermons. They say ‘GOD says . . .’ when GOD hasn’t so much as breathed in their direction. And yet they stand around thinking that something they said is going to happen.

Eze 13:7

“Haven’t you fantasized sheer nonsense? Aren’t your sermons tissues of lies, saying ‘GOD says . . .’ when I’ve done nothing of the kind?

Eze 13:8

Therefore–and this is the Message of GOD, the Master, remember–I’m dead set against prophets who substitute illusions for visions and use sermons to tell lies.

Eze 13:9

I’m going to ban them from the council of my people, remove them from membership in Israel, and outlaw them from the land of Israel. Then you’ll realize that I am GOD, the Master.

Eze 13:10

“The fact is that they’ve lied to my people. They’ve said, ‘No problem; everything’s just fine,’ when things are not at all fine. When people build a wall, they’re right behind them slapping on whitewash.

Eze 13:11

Tell those who are slapping on the whitewash, ‘When a torrent of rain comes and the hailstones crash down and the hurricane sweeps in

Eze 13:12

and the wall collapses, what’s the good of the whitewash that you slapped on so liberally, making it look so good?’

Eze 13:13

“And that’s exactly what will happen. I, GOD, the Master, say so: ‘I’ll let the hurricane of my wrath loose, a torrent of my hailstone-anger.

Eze 13:14

I’ll make that wall you’ve slapped with whitewash collapse. I’ll level it to the ground so that only the foundation stones will be left. And in the ruin you’ll all die. You’ll realize then that I am GOD.

Eze 13:15

“‘I’ll dump my wrath on that wall, all of it, and on those who plastered it with whitewash. I will say to them, There is no wall, and those who did such a good job of whitewashing it wasted their time,

Eze 13:16

those prophets of Israel who preached to Jerusalem and announced all their visions telling us things were just fine when they weren’t at all fine. Decree of GOD, the Master.’

Eze 13:17

“And the women prophets–son of man, take your stand against the women prophets who make up stuff out of their own minds. Oppose them.

Eze 13:18

Say ‘Doom’ to the women who sew magic bracelets and head scarves to suit every taste, devices to trap souls. Say, ‘Will you kill the souls of my people, use living souls to make yourselves rich and popular?

Eze 13:19

You have profaned me among my people just to get ahead yourselves, used me to make yourselves look good–killing souls who should never have died and coddling souls who shouldn’t live. You’ve lied to people who love listening to lies.’

Eze 13:20

“Therefore GOD says, ‘I am against all the devices and techniques you use to hunt down souls. I’ll rip them out of your hands. I’ll free the souls you’re trying to catch.

Eze 13:21

I’ll rip your magic bracelets and scarves to shreds and deliver my people from your influence so they’ll no longer be victimized by you. That’s how you’ll come to realize that I am GOD.

Eze 13:22

“‘Because you’ve confounded and confused good people, unsuspecting and innocent people, with your lies, and because you’ve made it easy for others to persist in evil so that it wouldn’t even dawn on them to turn to me so I could save them,

Eze 13:23

as of now you’re finished. No more delusion-mongering from you, no more sermonic lies. I’m going to rescue my people from your clutches. And you’ll realize that I am GOD.’”

There have been so many wonderful times in my life spent with family and friends.  I have experienced everything that I need to experience within the confines of this world and I have experienced some that were not so necessary just a result of wrong turns and bad choices.  Through all of my journey I have learned and grown. 

A great many years I have waited to know it all.  People along the way have attempted to convince me that no one knows it all and their attempts have always been the catalyst to move me forward.  I’ve had a few people who would say to my face “you think you know it all”, and I can only conjecture a great many more thought the same yet never said it. 

Later on in my life I became obsessed with understanding others and I sort of gave up on knowing it all.  I busied myself just talking and talking because by the way when I’m talking that’s when I hear the best.  (Not my own words but the silent ones from outside of myself yet inside the deepest place of my heart.)  A need to please and a loss of identity was the result.  That’s the negative but the positive outweighs that because I learned that other people want to know it all, some think they know it all and some go to great strides to convince others.  I was not alone.

I am surrounded by a world of people.  The only problem with that fact is that the truth is I was born a princess and no one else knows or so it would appear.  You see when I was born I was surrounded by people who did everything for me.  As I grew older the crowd of admirers diminished but their remained a few in my life who loyal to the end knew me and my crown.

I love the people who love me without words.  Those few people could hold my attention just with their presence.  They reached the place inside that turns off my mouth and just awakens my heart to really listen.  Ironically they left this world before I really heard them.

I am a stranger in this world.  I am full of life that is impossible to describe.  I am a rebel in this world but in the place I call home I am a queen.  I have let this world bend me but my roots are so deep that no matter what I never gave up. 

I never could just take anything at face value.  I never could just accept what someone said as truth.  I always argued, looked, pondered, studied, tested, tried and attempted to prove everything.  This world said that I needed an education.  I went to school for 12 years and graduated with some new knowledge that in all honesty wasn’t worth anything but I met some incredible people a few who left me with some valuable information.

Later it became important that I continue but I just couldn’t follow the set rules.  I wanted to make my own choices yet when I made them I have to admit they weren’t really mine at all.  My choices have always been influenced more by the outside than what lies within me.

You know what I finally did.  I gave up on this world and just walked inside.  That decision was not one that I planned but as things turned out it happened.  You know what I found? 

I like myself, as a matter of fact I love myself.  I’m not at all like anyone else and that feels wonderful.  I don’t think there is anyone in this world greater than the person inside of this shell.  He has always been there from before I was born into this world.  He knows everything about me.  He knows it all!

He knows the facts which are my part of the book and he knows the truth and when he showed me he just laid down himself onto the facts and shared with me the truth.

He is teaching me to walk as I am learning just hearing him talk.  Everything in my life makes perfect sense.

They say the wilderness is dry.  They say the wilderness is hard.  They say nothing grows in the wilderness.  They call it a desert.  They say it’s scary. 

I say the only way to true freedom is through the wilderness of your own soul.  I could have stayed trapped in a world caught between two places forever just crying a river of time pressed hard by every noise of the hammer beating in my own mind until I became so comfortable that I didn’t remember being a queen.  I could have made any choice I wanted and I always did.  But though all hell pursued me with every weapon possible nothing could change the blood that runs through my veins.

It’s the hottest part of the day.  I go alone because I don’t want to be in the crowd. 

It’s not just a story it is a reality.

When the Apostle Peter stood and spoke to the people on the day of Pentecost he stated that they were not drunk for it was just the third hour of the day….that was over 2000 years ago what time is it now?

It’s dark.  This is a strange world at dark.  The noise is magnified it would seem.  The shadows are approaching reality. 

I met a man in the wilderness who told me everything.

Psa 23:1  A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psa 23:2  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

Psa 23:3  He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Psa 23:4  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Psa 23:5  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointestmy head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Psa 23:6  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

And on the 7th day he rested and the eighth faith worked it’s perfecting work.

The most beautiful gift in the entire world is The Word, the Old and the New Testaments of the Truth.  They mark a path over the Rainbow to the Perfect image of God.  The God who is the One God, the Father and Creator of all of the heavens and earth He is the only true and Living God.  There is no other.  We are all his creatures.  The same as He yet uniquely different we each arrive in time for His purpose.

We have one Father and for me reading his Word comes together like a treasured family album. The timeless image in the faces of thousands upon ten thousands of his children etched within the bounds of verses, chapters and books.  

Countless times throughout the life of the children God blessed me with I have studied their faces looking for familiar traits.  The years passed so quickly and as they have grown older I have given them the space needed and required to grow.  I miss the time so I redeem the time by looking at the images.  Little faces with no lines of worry yet even in the beginning wrinkled with the unknowing of an unfamiliar place.  If you could see close enough each picture is perfectly salted with tears of traveling and looking back in order to move forward.

Before each was born I held them each within me.  I dreamed about what they would look like.  I imagined how they would sound.  Pictures were inside of my head and love growing inside my heart building an extraordinary creature that lit up my dark place with the same first spoken light.  Pride swelled with each month passing as my flat world became a perfectly round globe not void but somehow not finished.

One tiny circle within me when I was born had found its way to a fertile place and from flower to bud to perfection the right time arrived the two who came together become one.

The day came when my old self would return but not without leaving the marks of footprints like pictures drawn in sand. I wear them now as badges of honor at first just purple ribbons then turning to silvery reminders of the redemption of my soul.  I touch them to remind me of the truth that time stretches into eternity.

I know my Father.  He loved me before I knew him.  He knew me before I was born.  I know that my time here on earth has stretched that knowing love he has beyond measure.  He stepped outside the portals of heaven in an age past just because he knew that I would step outside the lines.  

I can see the lines in bold black colors outlining the image but often times the gift of color appeared awkward in my hand.  Rods of learning arrayed in brilliant colors I grasped everything but seemingly could not hold on to anything.  I lost sight of the rainbow as I choose to build my own world behind clouds of mistakes.

He saw me in the storms.  He whispered through the storms.  The sound of the first was calling me at last to return to my first love.  He allowed me to choose and I tried everything while He allowed it to rain when I was dry.  He allowed the snow to fall to cool my passion and again would ignite my heart anew when it was cold.

I cannot stand in the middle fences are just too uncomfortable for me.  I’ve straddled quite a few in my time and just came away hurt.  The kind of pain you cannot see for the gray you’re in but you just know the familiar waves of nausea that rise past the lump within your throat crashing over into salt filled pools from your eyes.

I’ve looked into the eyes of my children and seen my own blurry image.  Hurts and failures of the arrows thrown without aim were forever hitting the wrong target and the others with good intentions just missed the mark.

Falling my head is lifted with two hands strengthened by the weakness of the scars I created He calls.

My flesh is consumed like a fire shut up for ages as the Ancient of Days washes away the marks and I begin to see through the glass a little clearer.

His Word is manifest in the flesh and blood of countless scribes engraving the image boldly that I might die to my own self as they before me into the wonderful depths of childlike wonders of faith.  It is not the ink of their blood these tireless scribes I desire.  Theirs just cry out from the pages like sap running from strong trees cut down as though life would end with the penning of the Word.  The sword we bear is quick and powerful flying through time locked skin until the pages of flesh are paper thin.

This worn book is my soul.  My breath lies not in the Word but the sound.  The rustling sound that as time closes the book the sound remains and in one tongue with one accord we cry Come! 

On April 17 I posted a Psalm at the request of someone I do not know in the flesh.  He requested the prayer to be prayed for himself and his wife and the moment I read the request inside my spirit moved and I was compelled to enter into agreement with them.

I planted God’s Word inside my heart.  I began to doubt that some may take the words personally and imagine that I was angry at someone.  The words of Psalm 31 are strong.  But I prayed and the Lord reminded me that I was not battling flesh and blood.  I was still wondering why this Psalm was hitting me so hard.  It is a cry for protection so what was “out there?” that was moving me to such deep prayer.

Two days later I had my answer.  The Lord spared my child along with many others from danger.  We live in a small town but for days it’s seemed the world had taken notice and the media flocked here for a story.  The real story was never told.  As usual everyone seems to seek the most horrible sensational aspects of news.  There is another story behind the scenes.

We’ve faced fear with forgiveness.  We don’t understand everything but the important things in life have become crystal clear.  There is no excuse for evil whatever you sow in this world you will reap.  Remember what you sow is your words.  You can say something in a private place where you think no one will know and somehow good or bad those words travel and are discovered.

God is in control.  He does understand and still takes care of those who ask.  God is the only one who knows everything.  I still don’t understand everything just like God says I can only see darkly but I heard him April 17 and I just posted the Psalm and pondered His Word over and over and that Word protected us.

The event has shaken our family but not to fall just to awaken so that we can see a little clearer today.  I was blessed to see the God side of this event.  I watched and prayed.  God heard.  The hands and feet of Jesus Christ were shown in the lives of those who just did what Our Father asks all of us to do, nothing new just the same thing he did for all of us….Forgive and Love.

Can you imagine anyone standing in the face of their enemy who wants to kill them and saying Father forgive them?  That’s the example of Truth we are called to follow. Jesus died for my sins I’ve accepted that and forgiveness, mercy and grace are important to me but when asked to put them all into action it’s difficult.  Do it we must and the only way is by faith I have heard God and he forgave me what greater love, mercy and forgiveness could there be than for God himself to become human to die for me.  I didn’t deserve to be forgiven but He forgave me while I was a sinner so forgiveness is given not by merit but by love.

I don’t always get it right but today I thank God for Grace.  He has given me so much that much of me is required.

C.S. Lewis once said:

Christianity simply does not make sense until you have faced the sort of facts I have been describing. Christianity tells people to repent and promises them forgiveness. It therefore has nothing (as far as I know) to say to people who do not know they have done anything to repent of and who do not feel that they need forgiveness.

 

Every one says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive

The Old Rugged Cross Made the Difference

‘Twas a life filled with aimless desperation

Without hope walked the shell of a man;

Then a hand with a nailprint stretched downward,

Just one touch then a new life began.

Chorus:

And the old rugged cross made the difference

In a life bound for heartache and defeat;

I will praise Him forever and ever

For the cross made the difference for me.

Barren walls echoed harshness and anger

Little faces ran in terror to hide;

Now those walls ring with love, warmth and laughter,

Since the giver of life moved inside.

Repeat Chorus

There’s a room filled with sad, ashen faces

Without hope death has wrapped them in gloom;

But at the side of a saint there’s rejoicing,

For life can’t be sealed in a tomb.

Repeat Chorus

                                  Bill and Gloria Gaither

Just repeart the Chorus………………still makes a difference

Psa 31:1  <To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.> In thee, O LORD, do

I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy

righteousness.

Psa 31:2  Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my

strong rock, for an house of defence to save me.

Psa 31:3  For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s

sake lead me, and guide me.

Psa 31:4  Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for

thou art my strength.

Psa 31:5  Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O

LORD God of truth.

Psa 31:6  I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in

the LORD.

Psa 31:7  I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast

considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;

Psa 31:8  And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast

set my feet in a large room.

Psa 31:9  Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is

consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.

Psa 31:10  For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing:

my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.

Psa 31:11  I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among

my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me

without fled from me.

Psa 31:12  I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken

vessel.

Psa 31:13  For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side:

while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away

my life.

Psa 31:14  But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God.

Psa 31:15  My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine

enemies, and from them that persecute me.

Psa 31:16  Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy

mercies’ sake.

Psa 31:17  Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee:

let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.

Psa 31:18  Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous

things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.

Psa 31:19  Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for

them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee

before the sons of men!

Psa 31:20  Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the

pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the

strife of tongues.

Psa 31:21  Blessed be the LORD: for he hath shewed me his marvellous

kindness in a strong city.

Psa 31:22  For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes:

nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried

unto thee.

Psa 31:23  O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth

the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.

Psa 31:24  Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all

ye that hope in the LORD.