Mental Musings

Victory in Christ A Study in Ephesians Ephesians Chapter 1 – Our Spiritual Blessings in Christ Most of this information came from the NIV Study Bible and the Holman Commentary on Ephesians In a Nutshell – Paul tells the Christians in Asia Minor: Greetings, praise be to God the Father who chose you and adopted you as His spiritual children before the foundation of the world. In Christ you have redemption, the forgiveness of sin; you have been spiritually enlightened and enriched. In the Holy Spirit, you were sealed and made secure. I pray that you may be enlightened to understand the significance and magnitude of these blessings. Greetings (vv. 1-2) Verse 1: typical of his letters, Paul lets the reader know who wrote the letter before they start reading the actual letter. He gives us his credentials: he is an apostle because God called him and chose him for that position. This makes it clear that he is someone who has the authority to address them and teach them. He then lets ...

Victory in Christ A Study in Ephesians Thought I would share some notes from our Bibe Study group. Most of the information came from either the NIV Study Bible or the Holman Commentary on Ephesians. Introduction Written around AD 90 Ephesus had about 300,000 people. It was the capital city of the Roman empire in Asia (in modern Turkey). Often considered the best, most useful letter by Paul. It could very easily be considered a manual for Christian living. Why did Paul write this letter (epistle)? 1. To encourage believers in Asia Minor to remain faithful to Christ         a. Paul’s story                 i. His persecution                 ii. His example         b. Personal involvement                 i. He planted the church                 ii. They begged Paul to s...

There are no illegal aliens in Heaven. You must go through the legal process to become a citizen or you cannot enter through the gates. People have often tried to find a way around that, but the security surrounding Heaven is just too strong. There is no tunneling in or climbing over the gates. You cannot bribe your way past the guards. It may seem obvious to say that you must die to enter into Heaven, but I am not speaking about a physical death. Jesus Christ has already paid your entrance fee with His physically death on the cross. But had he remained dead, you still would not be allowed to enter into Heaven. Your sins were paid for on the cross, but your eternity was secured through the power of His resurrection. To enter Heaven you must accept God’s citizenship process. God created Heaven, He is the King of Heaven, and He gets to make the rules. And He has decreed that you must pay for your citizenship with your life…your spiritual life. This would seem to be an...

I have a confession: underneath my obsessive compulsive and extremely hyper exterior, I am a creative person. I have always been creative. Even though real life requires me to think and work in the realm of tasks, organizational charts, schedules, and deadlines, all of which are no problem for me personally, I must admit that I spend most of my time dwelling in the abstract. All it takes is one word for me to start thinking of a song with that in the lyrics. All it takes is a simple concept for me to envision the most ridiculous outcome. If my mind is not focused on a specific task, chart, schedule or deadline, I am dreaming of a whole new world, which just reminded me of Aladdin. I have never been diagnosed with ADHD, but I know from personal experience that it only takes a spoon full of sugar to get me hyped out of control. I have been self-medicating my condition with Diet Coke for years. Check it out: Diet Coke really does help control ADHD because the caffeine cou...

Every fall we have a Bible presentation for children. At these, each minister gets to sign their name and put down our favorite scripture passage in the Bibles that are presented to our new first graders. Each year I write down “Romans 12:9.” Romans chapter 12 is an excellent summation of how we as Christians are to live our lives. And I believe that Romans 12:9 is the pivotal verse which encapsulates the entire message of that chapter. “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” Romans 12:9 (NIV) I thought that this would be a good verse to share the day before Valentine’s Day. The first instruction here is that we are to love. To do this, you need to first be a Christian. Why? Because according to 1 John 4, our love comes from God: “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He s...

Recently a friend suggested that I purchase the book Now, Discover Your Strengths so that I could get a code to take the Gallup's Strength's Finder profile survey. This is also available from the book Strength's Finder 2.0 . I found the survey and the results extraordinary. I could not believe that they were able to understand the real me so much. The main emphasis of the Strength's Finder surveys is that we need to focus more on our strengths because those are the areas in which we do our best and enjoy ourselves more. They do not trying to de-emphasize building up your areas of weakness, but try to explain that you will always feel frustrated if you are not allowed to work in areas that utilize your strengths. My personal strengths turned out to be: Strategic - I can sort through the clutter and find the best route Responsibility - I take psychological ownership for anything I commit to do Self-Assurance - I have faith in my strengths and my judgment Input ...

While the politicos argue about the Obama allies making an extremely Democrat-friendly television ad that was aired during this year's Super Bowl, the Obama regime continues to attack the very core of our nation in their relentless attempts to eradicate the Christian heritage of our country and strip away religious freedoms. Not all of this is done at the behest of Barack Obama, but as the leader of the free world Obama has made it clear through certain actions, and inactions, that he is at war with Christianity in America. The latest news to come out from around our country does not look good for the future of religious freedoms. Here is just a sampling of things that have been reported. United States Army censors what chaplains are allowed to preach. First restrict the chaplains from sharing a weekly homilie from the Catholic church and later rescind that by removing the sections with which they disagreed. [ Read article ] In what appears to be a direct attack at the Catholi...

This is a completely different style of poetry for me. I had a rap song going through my head when I started it, so I thought I would continue in that style. The Killer, The Cure (c) 2012 Steve Poole Pain is crashing down like bricks upon my chest Pushing and crushing Taking peace, stealing freedom Mental exhaustion begging me for rest Searching and lurching Questions here, can you hear them? Barking at my heels the people circle ‘round Snapping and yapping Idle chat as they tinker Dragging me down those upon the ground Dragging and grabbing Hooking me, line and sinker Stressed beyond reason striking out in anger Staring and daring Don’t try me, you’ll regret it In walks the babe that rocked the manger Holding and molding Think I’m out? Don’t ya bet it Stress it tries to kill me but I got a secret Dunking and dying This life’s already gone I gave my life away I really couldn’t keep it Rising and breathing Died to self and now I won Sin’s the double kil...