Veterans Day

Today's post is for all of the veterans and present service men and women who have and continue to fight for freedom. While I enjoyed the day off watching TV with my wife, making macaroni with meat sauce and shopping at Costco, service men and women went on patrol, cleaned their weapons and prepared for battle.

The show I watched today was "Hamburger Hill". It is the story of a relentless group of Army Paratroopers who fought for 10 days straight to secure a hill in Vietnam. While war should never become popular the soldiers fighting in that war had enemies when they came home as well! As a line in the movie said, "The love generation loves everyone but us!"

In order for there to be war there must be two sides in disagreement. I can see how a person can form an opinion of what, when, how, where and why we're fighting and if we are correct but if it were not for those men and women who were willing to lay down their lives for our country where would we and the rest of this world be?

I thank God that I live in the United States! I thank God that we have a strong military! I thank God that hundred's of thousand's of men and women have given and continue to give their lives for us back home and that freedom and democracy will always have a voice as long as great men and women like those in the United States Armed Forces continue to lay down their lives without question for this great country.

While I am not a nationalist, I firmly believe in Freedom and Democracy! I believe that America, while not perfect, has the best economic and political system in the world. With the emergence of the Internet and other modern day technologies, it is my hope and prayer that as people increase their communication with each other that Veterans Day will be a day of remembrance only and that we will all be able to look back on what got us to the place of peace on earth!

Grace and Peace,

Ed

The Gospel

The Apostle Paul said in the book to the Romans, "...I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, because it is the power of God unto salvation..." What is the Gospel? The Gospel is the revelation of Jesus Christ. That God so loved the world that He sent His own son to break down the dividing wall of sin and judgement that separated us from God and even us from each other.

The Gospel, Paul said, is the power of God unto salvation. Well, what is salvation. Many think it's just the opportunity to avoid hell and gain entrance to heaven. It is in part that, but it is so much more! Salvation includes with it our adoption as sons of God. It begins the process of of our transforming back into the image and likeness of God. God has redeemed (bought back) us from the curse sin.

How is the Gospel the Power of God? Everything that God has done has been done by His will and His voice. The Gospel is the declaration of God's will concerning us. It is the revelation of the will of God. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but that through Him we may be saved.

The Gospel is the great news that while you were a sinner, Christ died for you and paid your price before God. You are now free from sin and free from the wrath of God. Jesus paid the price for our sin. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. God did for us through His own Son what we could not do for ourselves.

We receive the favor of God by receiving by faith the gospel declaration that whom the Son sets free is free indeed! You can be free from the bondage of sin. You can be free from guilt and worry. You can be free from fear and doubt. Come to Jesus all you that labor and are heavy laden and He will give you rest for your soul. Come to Jesus and experience his love and power. The gospel is God's gift to you that was purchased by the blood of Jesus. Ask Him to come into your heart and reveal Himself to you by the Holy Spirit. Come and be free!

Grace and Peace,

Ed

Freedom 3

Today I will discuss Freedom of the Soul. The soul houses our personality. It is where our decisions are made. It makes up our personality. It is our center of reasoning. When a person seeks to make another dependent or enslaved one of the main techniques is to withhold knowledge. I say it over and over again in this blog that getting knowledge is critical to good health and the ability to make good choices.

It amazes me that the some of the most prevalent prescription drugs on the market today deal with various mental disorders. Depression is rampant in our society. The use of prescription, over the counter and recreational drugs are at an all time high! People are in bondage to chemicals to make them "feel good".

I believe that part of this is due to diet. Part is due to a lack of exercise. And part of it can be attributed to what we give our mind to. We all know that garbage in causes garbage out. We are what we eat both in terms of the food we eat and the food or stimulus that we give our mind. As our mental condition is related to our diet and body composition I recommend going to a wholistic doctor to get a complete hair or blood analysis to determine any nutritional excesses or deficiancies you may have. We must also balance and monitor our consumption of refined carbohydrates. These carbohydrates can cause our metabolism to have huge spikes creating insulin responses in our bodies that throw off our bodies natural chemical balance. Food alergies can also be involved in our mental health.

After seeing a doctor and correcting our diet we need to look at the amount of exercise that we get. Aerobic exercise is especially important to our mental state. Endorphines are released that make us feel good. And there is the feeling of acomplishment and a good body image that comes from a consistent well planned exercise program. If the exercise is in the form of a game, all the better! As the game will provide a good social element to the exercise. Remember that an important part of exercise is adequate hydration and sufficient rest.

Once our diet and exercise is in order we can turn to what we feed our mind. Our mind is a sponge for stimulus. Movies, books, TV and music all shape our soul. We can feed our mind good, healthy thoughts and images or we can feed it fear, illicit activities, greed etc... It is also important that we feed our souls with positive and encouraging friends and aquaintances. I know that we can't live in a fake "pleasantville" but we should make every effort to add whatsoever things are pure, good and edifying to our mental diets. If all we see, hear, touch, taste and smell is mental junk food we are setting ourselves up for mental disease and eventually even dispair.

Jesus promises that He will keep us in perfect peace if our mind is stayed on Him! David said that the person that meditates on the Bible daily is like a tree planted by a stream prospering. The Bible says that we are to meditate on the good things of life. The Love around us. Our freedoms, our families, our friends etc.... Also as we focus a bit more on the needs of others our problems begin to fade a bit and seem not as bad.

A mind that is free from worry, anger, grief, anxiety, fear and a negative outlook is truely Free! Free to be creative, free to be constuctive, free to be productive and most importantly free to give and receive love. Feel free to write me to discuss this topic further as it is a very important one! Tomorrow I will address physical freedom.

Grace and Peace,

Ed

http://realfoodforlives.com/

Freedom Part Two

I got a lot of reponse from the Freedom post from a few days ago so I feel to explore this issue further and put a part 2 on it. Freedom is a concept that crosses all three plains of our existence. Our spirit, Our soul and Our body all long for freedom. Again, I'd like to define freedom as the ability to make choices. When someone is bound or held captive in some way their choices have been limited. To feel bound is one of the worst feelings there is. To feel out of control is often a cause for great anxiety and the resulting poor health that goes along with it.

The Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 5, "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. If, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous."

Freedom of spirit. We see then that the Bible states that we are born in sin. The biblical book to the Romans says, We are all born bound. Some of the wrong things we do we know are wrong but we do them anyway! Have you ever wondered, "Now why did I do that or why the heck did I say that"!? This demonstrates a lack of freedom in the spirit.

Paul said it this way in the book of Romans chapter 7, " For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me".

Paul is saying here that there is something keeping him bound, reducing his choices and in fact causing him to choose the wrong thing. While I do not support such sayings as "The devil made me do it". We can see that Paul is not saying that. He is saying that there is something inside of him limiting his ability to make right choices. That something is sin. It is not just the act of sin but the sin principal working in Paul.

Sin is what binds our spirit up and causes it not to be free but thank God that then Paul goes on to say in Romans 8, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot."

Freedom of the Spirit depends on an active relationship with Jesus Christ! Whom the Son sets free is free indeed! Ask Jesus to come into your life and to open up His word to you. I have personally seen Him free hundreds of people that I know! Ask him to free you from areas that you have lost control in. Ask and you shall receive! Just ask and come to Him daily and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free! It is His delight to free you! Be honest and open with God. Tell Him what you need and want. Commune with Him daily in your heart. He loves you so much!

Tomorrow I'll discuss Freedom of the soul!

Again I'd like to thank the people at logos software for creating and supporting what I feel is the best Bible software available anywhere! If you'd like a copy of this fantastic software just drop me a line at Rjonodde@aol.com and I'll send you a 25% discount cupon.

Grace and Peace,

Ed