I’ve had a few surgeries in my life. Cancer surgery, 2 cyst removal surgeries. My latest was knee replacement surgery. Knee surgery replaces the femoral, tibial, and patellar surfaces with metal and plastic components.
Dealing with the insurance was a nightmare. I am allergic to metal. It took a while to get them to pay for a replacement that contained no metal parts.
I had to find a surgeon that was experienced in handling metal allergies and dealt with a high volume of joint replacements.
I ended up having a pure titanium knee replacement, which cost nearly $200,000.
It was a rough surgery that set me back 2 years in healing. My advice is to pick the surgeon’s brain before you have this surgery. There is so much they don’t tell you. Like It’s a year of physical therapy to retrain your knee after surgery.
I definitely will not be having the other knee done. I won’t be having the other one done that’s for sure.
Sadly, my surgeon passed away at 53 years old due to a blood clot after back surgery.
Life can be a wild ride. It’s like a roller coaster with unexpected l twists and turns. Sometimes we have to embrace the chaos and enjoy the ride.
I thought I would write about something a little different today. Have you heard of the Nephilim? It was the reason God sent the flood in Genesis to destroy every living thing on earth.
The Bible references demons as spiritual beings opposed to God, often linked to Satan, who deceive, oppress, or possess people. In the Old Testament demons are less explicit but implied in reference to “evil spirits” or false gods.
Deuteronomy 32:7 and Psalm 106:37 suggest pagan sacrifices were offered to demons. In Samuel 16:14 describes an “evil spirit” tormenting Saul possibly a demon or divine judgment.
In the New Testament demons are more prominent, depicted as “fallen angels” or spirits under satan’s authority. They are intelligent malicious beings who recognize Jesus’s authority. Mark 1:24 and James 2:19 tell us they can possess humans, and cause physical or mental harm.
They exploit human weaknesses, encouraging moral and spiritual failure. Their actions highlight human vulnerability and the need for divine protection. Demons serve as a constant to God’s sovereignty. Their existence sets the stage for spiritual warfare, where God’s children resist through faith and God’s armor in Ephesians 6:10-18. “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places.”
The Bible doesn’t suggest God created demons for evil rather they chose rebellion. Isaiah 14:12-14 if applied to Satan tells us their purpose is self-assumed, not divinely ordained.
Matthew 8:28-34 tells us about Jesus’s encounters with two demon-possessed men in the region of Gadarenes. The demons recognized Jesus and begged to be sent into a herd of pigs. Jesus permits it, and the demons enter the pigs which then rush into the sea and drown.
The Bible doesn’t provide a formula where demons can enter us, but instead, possession seems to depend on demonic initiative and spiritual vulnerabilities. But consider that when people sin it can weaken spiritual defenses, and allow demons to enter into us. Oppression and external influence are often implied for full possession. Persistent sin and occult involvement can lead to demons coming into our lives, but this is the belief of theologians.
In Matthew 12:43-45 Jesus describes an evil Spirit leaving a person, then returning with worse spirits if the person’s life remains empty (unfilled by God’s Spirit.
The Bible implies that sin can make a person vulnerable to demonic influence or oppression by creating spiritual openings that allow demons to come in.
Whether it’s facing a difficult season, an uncomfortable situation, or a frustrating relationship in our fallen world these types of problems are all too common. And we often react to them in two predictable ways:
We worry, or we try to control.
In some ways, these are opposite reactions. Worry is mostly passive and control is mostly active yet, it’s quite possible to do both at the same time. Often we are in situations that have no solution and no end with someone who gets under our skin or completely takes us out of our comfort zone. We may not see a way out, but we can give God the space to work by creating opportunities for God’s influence and guidance in our lives. We can let Him be actively involved in our lives.
This involves trusting Him being open to His direction and actively seeking His presence through prayer, reading His Word, and fellowshipping with Him. God’s work may be subtle, and often unseen, but He operates in ways beyond our immediate understanding.
He always leaves me in awe when I see things He has done in the past when I thought He wasn’t making a way for me through a struggle when indeed His had. We can’t always see the full picture or predict the outcome. We should give God some space in our lives by allowing Him to work His way.
Giving God space to work is about creating a life that is open and receptive to His presence and influence allowing Him to move in ways that will bring purpose to our lives.
My habits have changed over a year ago. Yes, I still wake up extra early, usually about 2 or 3 AM. They say between 3 and 6 AM are the “witching hours.” I don’t know about that, but it’s when I connect with God the easiest.
My day usually starts with answering the daily prompts and posting here. And then praying to God Almighty, reading His Word. Then asking God to spend me someone to bless every day.
It’s about staying mindful of choosing integrity, working with honesty in everything I do and avoiding harmful behaviors. Basically avoiding harmful behavior.
Whether I’m praying, cleansing house or doing my daily “to do it list.” I try and please God everyday. Living to cultivate a life of purpose, discipline, and staying connected to God , so I hear Him when He speaks or gives guidance.
Are there things you try to practice daily to live a more sustainable lifestyle?
We are stewards of the earth. As stewards it is our job to manage the earth to ensure the land remains fruitful and sustainable.
Leviticus 25:2-5 tells us that the land is supposed to rest every seventh year. Today we don’t let our land rest. We do not do that, we are more about money and greed that keeps us from doing God’s will.
Humans are caretakers, not owners of the earth, we are tasked with preserving it. Sustainable practices like testing the land prevents resource depletion and we are failing.
At this point I don’t see anyone changing. We might think we are “doing good” with our little eat this not that or drive this not that attitudes. But I believe it going going back what God said had set up in the Bible.
The person who has God for their treasure has all things in one.
When God satisfies a soul, that soul does not stop seeking the source of satisfaction. Once an empty, longing soul tastes true pleasure, it can never go back to the empty cisterns and stay there. In a way, we are both restless and satisfied. They hunger and thirst no more, as Jesus promised in John 6:35, “Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will not be hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty.”
In the Bible, those satisfied with God spend a lifetime seeking satisfaction in God. Those filled with God search for the fullness of God and those who have found God or should I say God found them never stop searching for Him. An unrelenting pursuit of God is what defines believers. That is why they keep reading the Bible over and over again -to find more God.
It’s a longing is not to re-experience the joy we had when we first found Him, but it experience new joy through greater knowledge of Him. It’s like ascending a mountain for its beauty.
As a society we have lost God in the wonders of this world. We have almost forgotten who he is. It’s not enough that we found God, we must keep finding Him.
Augustine a theologian said, “Christ is not valued at all unless he is valued above all.” If Jesus is not our greatest pursuit in life, then we do not value Him. If our souls are not hungry for Him, then we have not tasted the bread of life.
Make God your greatest treasure, and you will be empowered to let go of anything to gain a relationship with Jesus.
The Bible emphasizes that belief in Jesus is the fundamental requirement for water baptism. Acts 2: 41 says, “Then those who gladly received His Word were immersed. Baptism symbolizes purification, renewal, and spiritual rebirth. It represents the washing away of sin and the believer’s entry into a new life with Jesus.
The act of being immersed with water signifies participation in Jesus death and resurrection as described in Romans 6:3-4, “Don’t you know that all we who were immersed into Messiah Yeshua were immersed into His death. We were buried therefore with Him through immersion into death, that just as Messiah was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.”
Baptism is linked to repentance, meaning turning away from a life of sin and a desire to follow Jesus. It is an outward expression of an inward change, a public testimony to one’s faith in Jesus.
Many churches baptize infants, but the Bible does not support infant baptism because infants cannot understand or confess their faith. Baptism needs to be a conscious choice made by the believer.
Baptism is a cleansing from sin. It has powerful and long-lasting effects. It changes the spiritual character of a person forever. It is the mark of transformation that is unforgettable. It can never be erased.
The grace of baptism is a rebirth in Jesus. It opens a channel of blessing from God to us. It grants us a share of God’s divine life and delivers spiritual energy and power which enables growth in virtue and Holiness.
Baptism makes a person an adopted son of daughter of God. Baptism consecrated a person to God. The person then belongs to God with the realization that there is an ever-growing deep longing to know, love, obey, and serve God.
Baptism clothes a person with immortality and gives them a share in the redemption that Jesus won on the cross and makes salvation, eternal life, and everlasting glory with God in heaven possible. It unites a person to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
So many people do not realize what a baptism does for us. The general message is “If you get water baptized you will be saved,” but there is so much more it does.
“ but who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like laundrer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver, He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, they may offer to award and offering and righteousness” -Malachi 3:2-3
The Lord is a master designer of people, the Creator of all He calls “very good,” and His Word proves over and over that He is a skilled restorer of broken things. God has a design and purpose for every human life, but the shaping we experience in the fallen world means God will need to reshape us in the refiners fire to make us more like him.
We all experience seasons of difficulty in our lives where it feels like we are in the refiner’s fire. Where we feel like we are being challenged, the ground we once felt stable is being shaken.
Many people struggle under the intensity of the refiner’s fire that God uses to shake them, and as a result, they walk out of it and never experience the fullness. God intended for them to have.
The refiners buyer is a process where we can become more like Him.
Isaiah 48:10 God speaks, “See, I have refined you, though not as silver, I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.” silver, and gold and iron are refined with a smelting process where it is converted into Molten liquid. 
Working with these needs skilled hands of a master designer to bring out their best qualities, but their processes are very different.
In our walk-through life, we can see God working on us and purifying us versus reshaping and strengthening us. We walk through very different seasons of fire that we need for spiritual transformation.
Looking at the process of shaping iron. Once iron is forged in the fire, it must then be pounded over and over with the hammer to begin to shape it. As it begins to cool its color begins to change in order to be softened again, it must be placed back into the fire to be red again and pliable. Each time it goes back into the fire. It has a new shape. Every twist and mark shapes it. Each time it needs another reshaping, the iron goes back into the fire. Pounding, squeezing, twisting into a shape it was meant to be.
There’s iron strength in us and the Lord sees it.
We are not born strong in the Lord. We are born into sin and spiritual weakness, but the Lord is with us, and he will be our strength if we will bind ourselves to Him with faith.
God promises in Isaiah 43:2, “When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, and the flame will not scorch you.”
Don’t fear the fire. God even uses the enemies fire to refine us and strengthen us. Genesis 50 shows that what our enemy means to causes harm, God will use it to bring good.
When God controls the fire, there is purpose, beauty, strength, protection, revelation, miracles and transformation.
Whatever is going on in our lives we should give God the glory and we will emerge from the refiner’s fire fundamentally changed, unbreakable, and shaped into a thing of beauty and He will put you to His good use.
All fire has a purpose that God uses to transform and shape us -shape us and strengthen us and design us perfectly for what He needs.
Trust God, lean on Him, and draw closer to Him. Worship Him and give thanks. He sees strength in you that you don’t see in yourself.
I first of all spirituality does not come from religion. It comes from the soul. We must stop confusing religion with spirituality. Religion is a set of rules, regulations, and rituals that are created by human beings and are supposed to help people spiritually. But, humans are imperfect, and religion has become corrupt, political, and a divisive tool for power struggle.
Spirituality is not theology or ideology. It is simply a way of life. Pure and original spirituality is given to us by grace from God.
 a personal relationship with God is my spirituality. Is intimate, dynamic connection between human and the divine. It’s direct communication, trust, and personal guidance. Spirituality is knowing Jesus personally, trusting in his salvation, and living guided by the Holy Spirit.
Have you ever wondered what the Bible says about giving to others it turns out that it has a lot to say about this subject. There is an interval team while went throughout scripture. But the act of giving isn’t about material goods or money, although those things are certainly a be a part of it. It extends much further than that. Sharing time, love, compassion, and forgiveness with others it’s about reflecting God‘s own boundless love for us.
The Bible encourages us not to only give, but also emphasizes the importance of doing so willingly and joyfully. Proverbs 11:25 says, “The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself.” and Jesus’s powerful words Acts 20:35 reminds us we are more blessed to give than to receive.
Giving not just about doling out money or possessions, it is more profound than that. In the Bible, the act of love and sacrifice, mirrors God’s generosity towards humanity.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.” This scripture paints a vivid picture of how much value God places on selfless giving. Just as He gifted His Son to redeem mankind, we are called on to give freely for the welfare of others.
Proverbs 11 tells us “One person gives freely yet gains even more, another withholds unduly but comes to poverty.” Generosity isn’t all about loss, in fact it’s often accompanied by abundance.
There’s also clear guidance on what kind of attitude should accompany the act of giving. For example, 2 Corinthians 9:7 says, “Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart, not grudgingly, or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Jesus also warns us against preforming righteous deeds to be seen by others and instead encourages us to give in secret so God will see what is done in secret and reward us openly.
In essence, the Bible portrays giving as an expression of love. It praises generosity and promises prosperity. It shows giving a cheerful and voluntary.
Giving go beyond me material transactions, it becomes a spiritual practice, echoing, divine love, and kindness.
From Pity to Praise 