The Great I Am...Is a Jealous God?!

12Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 13Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. 14Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; 15(For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. 16Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah. 17Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee. 18And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers,

Often times I have come to this very scripture and have felt the same puzzling feeling as some may feel this very moment;

"Wait, how can God be jealous?" There are many scriptures that restate this fact throughout scripture. Nahum 1:2 states... 2 God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. Or in Joshua 24:19 it says,

“And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.” We often times puzzle at the thought of our God being jealous, after all, to us jealousy is a bad thing. We think about that time in our life where we dealt with peers who were jealous of us, never ceasing to leave us alone, but persistent in trying to uproot our security in whatever it was they were jealous about. Or what about that jealous wife or husband that insists that we spend more time with them; Searching our belongings, or following us wherever we go to make sure no one is taking us away from them. There is a paralleling scripture that speaks about God being likened to a husband in James 4:4-6

"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. 5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy [1] 6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

I can relate. There has been countless times where jealousy to me was a bad trait. In the oxford dictionary, to be Jealous means feeling angry or unhappy because somebody you like or love is showing interest in somebody else. Examples given are as follows;

a jealous wife/husband

So, with everything pointing to Jealousy as a horrid trait in someone we usually are dedicated to, such as a spouse, then how can it be a good thing to serve a god who is jealous?

This answer didn't come to me until now. A year ago, as a backsliding lukewarm christian, I departed from the church in search of my purpose. This search led me through many pathways including Hinduism, Buddhism, Hare Krishna, and eventually the conscious community of Baltimore MD, and New Age Ideas and beliefs. I admit, I fell head first. I was captivated by the array of cultural principals and ideologies that I thought fit my own. I was mesmerized by the array of cultural food dishes, and hairstyles, and Afro centrist clothing that made me feel like I belonged. But most of all, the peace I felt I had attained, the daily routine of sun-gazing and meditation felt like I was finally connected to my soul. It wasn't until my husband and I began to follow a group called, "Galighticus, that we seen the dark side to this otherwise earthly bliss. We were being led into the worship of other Gods through Channeling messages, sharing dreams, burning ancestor money, and even obtaining statues of Deities and honoring past lifetimes. We had fallen outside of the grazing meadows of our true shepherd, Jesus Christ. It was then, that God became Our Jealous God. He sought us out in the midst of such darkness and confusion. He led us to see this spiritual leader for who he really was. He began charging his clients over $3000 just to speak to him, and double that amount to go to seminars. God began pointing out the spirit of Greed in his messages of manifestation. We couldn't deny God's internal alarms sounding off in our conscience. But that's not all! God not only made it evident to us what we were taking such delight in and away from him to adore, but he also sent messengers to come and get us. We began meeting people in the truth who were sharing the gospel. The messages they were sharing just so coincidentally matched the messages of Deuteronomy 28 and God's anger towards the worship of other Gods. He did not stop there. He pursued us until we could no longer help but to question all we were learning. In fact, while studying with our dear Hare Krishna brothers and sisters, we read from the Bhagavad Gita itself that "The supreme lord was the only true lord to be worshiped, and to worship him through other deities was false."

That's when we knew we had fallen away from our God. That's when we knew we were outside of the boundaries of his protection and his light. We eagerly began studying scripture. What we found was everything we needed to understand what danger we had gotten ourselves into. But most of all, like Revelations 2:4... We had abandoned our first love.

How could we have went so far in pursuit of peace and happiness, that we forgot about the one who created it? How could we have gotten so mesmerized by the outward appearance of more than one god, that we forgot about 2 Timothy 3:3-8

3 But know this: that in the last days, grievous times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,unthankful, unholy, 3 without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, not lovers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding a form of godliness, but having denied its power. Turn away from these, also. 6 For some of these are people who creep into houses and take captive gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7 always learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Even as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind, who concerning the faith are rejected.

Jesus himself even stated that many would come in his name with false doctrines that would even deceive his elect, but that he warned us beforehand so that we would not be deceived.

MATHEW 24:24 King James Bible

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

We were that elect being deceived. We were those sheep being led to the slaughter. I am so grateful that our God, The Great I Am, is a Jealous God. I am so grateful for the mercies of his salvation, for him dying on the cross for us to have grace. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ's mercy and love for us that he would go out of his way to make sure that no one can pluck us from his hands...Like John 10:27-29 says...

…27My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. 28I give them eternal life,and they will never perish.No one can snatch them out of My hand.29 My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.…

It is because of his jealousy for us that he has reached down into the darkness of confusion to draw us back to him. It is because of his husbandry that he has enforced our belonging to him in such a jealous way as to snatch us out of the fire of deceit that leads to death, to a reprobate mind, and eternal life without God,...

JUDE 1:22-24

…22And indeed, have mercy on those who doubt; 23saveothersby snatching them from the fire;and to still others show mercy tempered with fear,hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.24Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy—…

HALLELLUYAH!!!HALLELLUYAH!!!HALLELLUYAH!!!

I AM SO GRATEFUL OUR GOD IS A JEALOUS GOD!!!!

The Rules for Rule Breaking

Mathew 5:36-37

Oaths and Vows

…36 Nor should you swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. 37 Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’and your ‘No,’‘No.’Anything more comes from the evil one.

In life, there is an abundance of swaying, rule-breaking and condemnation. So many of us have ventured far away from the days of old, where being a law abiding citizen was an upstanding thing. Even still, Jesus calls us to not only obey his commandments, but also to be sincere in our decision making; "Letting our yes be yes, and our no be no," (Mathew 5:36-37, The Bible). Being sincere isn't easy, and often times our hearts fill us with doubts that lead to double mindedness. This can lead to poor judgement, and what many consider being a "luke-warm christian, referring to Revelation chapter 3:15-17

To the Church in Laodicea

…15 I know your deeds; you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were one or the other! 16 So because you are luke warm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to vomit you out of My mouth! 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.…

This leads me to a very serious topic that most of us overlook in our day to day decision making process;

THE RULES FOR RULE-BREAKING

When we set boundaries, or laws to govern our thoughts action and behaviors, and yet justify not following the precepts set in place at specific times, or certain instances, this is considered the rules for rule-breaking

For example. A certain husband decides to set a boundary for his wife and children to follow. He states,

"From here on out, there will be no more eating in the car".

And so they drive on. Later, while driving, the wife decides that they have been driving long enough and that it is time to stop and get something to eat. They stop at a gas station to get sandwiches. It suddenly begins to rain and storm outside, and they are unable to eat outside. They are ten minutes away from home. The wife decides in this case, it is okay to break the boundary the husband has set due to inclement weather. The husband, however, disagrees and wishes to drive ten minutes back home to fulfill the boundary and law that he has set in place to not eat in the car...

Have you and your spouse, or significant other, or children, or parents ever experienced a similar argument, or situation? This is considered rules for rule breaking. In this case, it would be the justification of no eating in the car, except during inclement weather. While this seems minor in perspective of this topic, it becomes a big problem in our walk with Jesus, when we justify committing sins like fornication (The bible says to wait until I am married to have sex, but if Ive been with my boyfriend for over a year, its ok) ADULTERY (The bible says not to cheat on my wife, but she cheated on me 2 years ago which in this case makes me not guilty if I cheat on her), STEALING (I should not steal, but only from corporations because they rob the poor... Robin hood baby!!!) and countless amounts of other things we do on a daily basis to justify bending God's law, word for word.

Jesus said...let your yes be your yes and your no be your no. He has already set the foundation of boundaries for us in his word- the Bible, and his laws; the ten commandments, and his new covenant, Mathew chapter 5- The Sermon on the Mount.

Think of a time where you created rules for breaking a specific rule Jesus has set in place. What made you justify breaking that specific law? Write your response in the comments below.

Self Righteous Narcissism and the Leaven of the Pharisees

One of the wages of sin is being given over to the wild Imagination of our hearts

Romans 1:23-24

God's Wrath against Sin

…23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24ThereforeGodgave them overinthedesiresoftheirheartstoimpurityfor thedishonoringof theirbodieswithone another. However, there is another sin, one in which Jesus actually warned the Disciples about; People who were devoted to following him to the point where they left everything and cares of the world behind to serve him. So...What was that sin he warned sternly the disciples about?

King James Bible

Mathew 16:6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

Self- Righteous Narcissism, and the Leaven of the Pharisees:

In Self Righteous Narcissism, your conscious is severed from your heart's feelings towards your past sins. As you change, your Narcissism is built based on the amount of your works done that replace the past faults, justifying the severed consciousness of feelings of humility and shame in your heart that are connected to your weaknesses and past sins... therefore a person repents not and instead says I was this, but now I am THIS!!!! This is known in the bible as the Leaven of the Pharisees. 10:50 AM

Message by You: This is where having a form of godliness but denying its power comes in. When your stuck in the THIS!!!! Your mind begins to denounce the current and present state of unrighteousness in the flesh you are in, and denying that it is only by the power of God that ye are doing right by simply listening to God. This is where God gives people over to a reprobate mind/ an anxious mind; So that they cannot hear God and therefore know only to do what their nature would do. This is to save the soul from Self Righteousness, but often people cannot see what is occurring and begin to down this truth out with Narcotics, drug, the Pharmacaia spirit/industry and more. The solution to this error is simple: Repentance. Accepting that we are the little this and praising God for coming into our life and giving us a sound mind to hear him, and his holy spirit to obey his commands in doing right and the power to override the flesh nature

This is where having a form of godliness but denying its power comes in. When your stuck in the THIS!!!! Your mind begins to denounce the current and present state of unrighteousness in the flesh you are in, and Denying that it is by the power of God that ye are doing right by simply listening to God. This is where God gives people over to a reprobate mind/ an anxious mind, so that they cannot hear God and therefore know only to do what their nature would do. This is to save the soul from Self Righteousness, but often people cannot see what is occurring and begin to down this truth out with narcotics, drug, the Pharmacaia spirit/industry and more. The solution to this error is simple: Repentance. Accepting that we are the little this and praising God for coming into our life and giving us a sound mind to hear him, and his holy spirit to obey his commands in doing right and the power to override the flesh nature