The withered fig tree.

Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it," may you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered.

When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" they asked.

Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, I you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to his mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

My walk with God has been an interesting journey. I grew up believing in Him and praying to him. I 'm so grateful that I was not taught doctrine was I was young because it gave me a chance to get to know Him personally. I can remember saying my prayers just before bedtime:

Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul will take.

God bless mommy. God bless Daddy.

God bless the whole world… Amen.

My prayer were basically memorized poems until I was about six and started to add unique request to my prayers like, "God can you make all the boys in the world like me… well all the boys that are not crazy…and not the ones that are too old for me." I always believed that God would answer my prayers; no not all the boys in the world liked me. God answered my prayer by helping me to only want boys that I liked to like me back. Everyone that I prayed for is still alive and well. I did not doubt that my prayers could be answered so I prayed more and more, especially in my teen years.

Starting college was the best and worst of times. I was having a lot of fun and maintained a high GPA but I still felt a void. I started to remember the broken promises that I'd made to God and I felt an urgency to get closer to Him. I started to visit churches but it took a couple of years before I found the right one. This church taught me how to maintain a close relationship with God. I decided since I was born again I would abstain from all physical intimacy with men until I was married. I attempted to get rid of anything that I could hinder my new focus and found it to be surprisingly easy. I fell in love with God's Word, God's church and with Jesus; that was all I needed.

At that time my life was hectic. My busy schedule and lack of sleep started to slow me down. I remember one day trying to sit at my desk to study the bible but I was in a lot of pain. Then it dawned on me, if I can pray for anything I want. I wanted to feel better and I wanted God to touch me. I shyly asked Him to rub my back and take the pain away. Before I could finish my sentence I felt this strange but great physical sensation; my back felt as if I was receiving a light massage and the pain just seemed to melt away. Later that week I was walking to class and felt a little worried about how I would do on my test? I silently said a prayer to God asking him to bless my efforts on my exam and asked Him if he would give me a hug. Again God was there and He answered my prayer.

My heart warmed with the possibilities. I use to read the bible and feel a little jealous of the prophets; they talked to God all the time, some saw angels and Moses actually saw His back. Still I was scared to see God and thought I should ask for something a else. Now I believed that any request would be answered so I searched my heart for its desires. Not a car, not a boyfriend but a kiss… a kiss from God himself. One morning I walked outside on a cool winter's day and silently asked god for a kiss. About five seconds later I spotted a snowflake that landed on my bottom lip and melted. I was elated, not just because he kissed me but it comforted me in so many ways: He touched me, He answered my strange prayer, He Loves me, I can ask him for anything, and He knows that I am faithful.

I couldn't wait to go to church to tell them of my personal miracle. A few days later at church a friend pulled me aside and confessed to me that she was worried that it would take a long time to get married. She was starting to miss physical intimacy and was not sure how much longer she could wait. So I told her about my snow kiss miracle with the intention of helping her to focus on God and trust that he would meet all her needs. Instead she looked disgusted. After telling her my story she said that I was sick to ask God. I was not sure my story upset her; I guess her though I was advising her to let God meet her sexual needs. There was no doubt in my mind that my miracle was pure and that God did not condemn me for my request.
When times get hard and I feel like I'm losing faith I think of my snow kiss from God. Then I remember that He loves me and that everything will be alright.

Related LL&L Articles:

Matthew 21:18-22

I Kissed the Lord

I Kissed The Lord

This was never the way I planned, not my intention
I got so brave, the Word in hand, lost my discretion
It's not what I'm used to, just wanna pray it on
Want to be touched by you caught my attention

I kissed the Lord and I liked it
Soft as a melting snowflake
I kissed the Lord just to try it
Hope my church friends don't mind it

I felt so pure, it felt so right
Won't have to repent tonight
I kissed the Lord and I liked it
I liked it

No, I don't even know your name, it doesn't matter
You say you are The Great I Am, names are human nature
It's not what Christian do, not how they would behave
My head thinks it's so pure, so it's okay

I kissed the Lord and I liked it
Soft as a melting snowflake
I kissed the Lord just to try it
Hope my church friends don't mind it

I felt so pure, it felt so right
Won't have to repent tonight
I kissed the Lord and I liked it
I liked it

Our God can perform miracles
Forgives our slips so powerful
Hard to resist, yet approachable
Too good please glorify Him
Ain't no big deal, it's innocent

I kissed the Lord and I liked it
Soft as a melting snowflake
I kissed the Lord just to try it
Hope my church friends don't mind it

I felt so pure, it felt so right
Won't have to repent tonight
I kissed the Lord and I liked it
I liked it

Matthew 19:16-22

Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"

"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."

"Which ones?" the man inquired.

Jesus replied, "Don't not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do no five false testimony, honor your father and mother, and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'

"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"

Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

LL&L two cents:

Some people look at this scripture and see a greedy young man but for some reason my heart goes out to him. The first sentence helps to see another side; this man made time to talk with Jesus. He really wanted to know how to have eternal life so instead of going to a priest or making up an answer that suits his sensibility he when to Jesus instead. He had wealth and at the very least some spirituality; still he knew there was something missing and he wanted to do something about it. Without anyone else telling him he knew that following the commandments was not enough, he was starting to notice a void and recognized that it would only be filled spiritually. He really wanted an answer, but did not like the answer he received so he walked away unchanged and sad.

Though I have respect for the rich young man I still think he missed two major points: he already did what was required to have eternal life, and it was his choice if he wanted to pursue perfection. The young man asked Jesus which commands had to be followed to achieve eternal life and Jesus named 6 commands. Just in case you don't know the bible is filled with commands, too many to count. There were 10 commandments, but there were many rules and laws that God's people were to follow. The laws were supposed to be enforced but it was a small part of a big plan that God had from the beginning; a plan that includes salvation for us and a strong and healthy relationship with Him.

Something else that catches my attention is when Jesus said, "There is only One who is good…" This was in response to the young man asking, "…what good thing must I do to seek eternal life…" When you have some time just meditate on the first three sentences, Mt 19:16, 17; say them out loud a few times, say them silently to yourself, ask yourself why would the young man ask that question, ask yourself what did Jesus mean, say a silent prayer asking God for clarification and then just sit still, clear your thoughts, focus on your breath and be still. Try to meditate on this for 5-30 minutes………………or just skip ahead and read what I think.

I think that God does not expect us to be perfect; we put that on ourselves and then blame Him when we find out that perfection is impossible. All He expects from us is to love him with our whole heart, body, mind and soul and he wants us to love our neighbors as we love of selves. Sometimes I think we switch that command around: to love our friends and family with our whole selves and we love God as we love ourselves (half hearted, unconsciously and conditionally). The problem with that is without God we are incomplete and we will have a void in our lives. A void that we will try to fill with other things: big homes, job promotions, perfect parenting or even harmful pursuits like drug abuse. I believe that without God in our lives it is impossible to ever achieve balance.

I'm sure you've heard the saying that money is the root of all evil and so some Christians believe that you are far from God when you desire wealth. I don't believe that it is wrong to acquire or desire wealth. 1 Timothy 6: 10 helps to articulate my understanding about wealth, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." The bible communicates that it is difficult to balance pursuit of wealth with worshipping God but as Jesus states in later in Matthew 19:26, "…With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Our separation from God is not because of wealth and is not because we sin. The separation comes when we try to do things without God. One of the major pitfalls in our relationship with God is that man has limited resources and capabilities. When we attempt to go it alone it is hard to see God' promises fulfilled, hard to believe that "…with God all things are possible." The more activities that we exclude God from, the harder it is for us to trust Him.

I believe that most people live out of balance. Sometimes in the chaos of life or because of strong attachment to a dream or goal it is easy to forget that you have many different needs. Our life is consists of many parts: seeking spiritual and ethical answers, maintaining mental and emotional health, meditating to achieving awareness, learning and experiencing from other cultures, maintaining or obtaining physical wellness, improving your and finding new talents, acquiring knowledge through education and excelling in a career, earning and managing money, exploring your passions, conquering your fears, and maintaining loving relationships. If you go through life unaware of the world around you will become detached from yourself and become unable to recognize when a need goes unmet. The solution is simple; if you want a balanced and fulfilling life seek God with your whole heart.

Money Can't Buy Me love

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me with all your heart.
I will be found by you…"

I've decided to blog full-time in January and knew that I had my work cut out for me. I've only been blogging since August 08; before that I only used the computer to create document or play the Sims. Needless to say I have a lot to learn. I know that blogging is not a get rich quick venture, far from it, but it has become a passion that I believe is the best fit for all the things that I want to accomplish in my life so I am willing to be patient and work hard. Still I feel torn, I hate visiting sites that seem to have more ads than content; I think that it looks ugly, is very distracting and seems to represent a little greed. I'm sure that's harsh judgment but that's what I think. Then there is a part of me that's desperate to make money and prove to my friends and family that I can and will become a successful blogger. So I want to fill the blog with many revenue generating links and services so that I can make money now.

I blame that desperation for leading me to make a bad decision. I was reading up on ad link programs on the day before Easter. With some time on my hands I decided to try out it on one blog to see if it was for me. I picked Spiritual Sunday because blog would be the next to have a new post. I did hesitate a little on experimenting with that blog in particular but I thought that I could always cancel it if I did not like it. So I went for it with the intention of setting it up on 6 other blogs if it went well.

It took a couple of hour before the service was turned on but as soon as it was I again felt torn. A part of me felt excited that I figured how to do something new on my own, even though it was really simple. I was also happy about bringing in new revenue, but mostly I was upset. I thought that the links looks bad and I was scared that LL&L would lose some of its integrity. Now people would look at my blog like I've look at others blogs and think its ugly, distracting and seems to represent greed. After all Jesus Christ was a keyword for the car insurance ads. I tried to sooth my concern by telling myself that the readers would understand, what I did not acknowledge was how much I dislike it.

Silver and Gold

I could use your help to decide my next move please let e know what you think about Spiritual Sunday containing contextual link ads and what do think about link ads in general? I am leaning towards removing the link ads from this blog but putting them on my Monday-Friday blogs. Do you think that would be a good solution?

Romans 5:1-11

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that sufferings produces perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us,
because God has poured out his love his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

LL&L 2cents:

If you celebrate Easter don't forget to take some time to reflect on the meaning:

1. Through your faith you are absolved of sin and you are free from guilt.
   
2. Know that you are at peace with God.
   
3. When struggling with hardships reflect on the Jesus' suffering and on all the good that came from it
   
4. Always hold on to hope, it will never disappoint.
   
5. God's abundant love is always with you.
   
6. God will go through great lengths to demonstrate His love.
   
7. Remember that God shows His love to you even if you turn away from Him.
   
8. You are saved and free from condemnation; take comfort in that.
   
9. Cherish your relationship with God; never forget how much he loves you.
   
10. Thank the Lord for his sacrifice and all of your blessings.

Psalm 8

O Lord, our Lord,

How majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory

above the heavens.

From the lips of children and infants

you have ordained praise

because of your enemies,

to silence the foe and the avenger.

When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

what is man that you are mindful of him,

the son of man that you care for him?

You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honor.

You made him ruler over the works of your hands;

You put everything under his feet:

all flocks and herds,

and the beasts of the field,

the birds of the air,

and the fish of the sea,

all that swim the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!