What the Bible says about light and seed

The True Light "In him, (the Lord Jesus) was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world,…the world didn’t recognize him." John 1:4,9.

The Good Seed and the Weeds “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seeds in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. Matthew 13:24,25.

Sunday, December 8, 2024

UPDATE ON SYRIA (8 DEC) ASSAD DEAD, DAMASKUS TAKEN!

JS BACH - AIR ON THE G STRING - WHITWORTH HALL ORGAN - THE UNIVERSITY OF...

 Note from the author

 Overwhelmed by the magnificent grandeur of the Lord God, but protected by his strong arm. This is how I feel when I am surrounded by Johann Sebastian Bach´s music especially when it´s played on a great organ. 

The Reports of the Spies …32So they gave the Israelites a bad report about the land that they had spied out: “The land we explored devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw there are great in stature. 33We even saw the Nephilim there— the descendants of Anak that come from the Nephilim! We seemed like grasshoppers in our own sight, and we must have seemed the same to them!” Numbers 13:33

Of course, they had not yet read what Isaiah said about how scary giants looked in God´s sight from his celestial throne. …

21Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the foundation of the earth? 22He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. 23He brings the princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth meaningless.…Isaiah 40:22

Return of Hope | A Worship Experience Led by Joshua Aaron

Thursday, November 28, 2024

Finish what you started Part 1

Finish what you started Part I

Written and published by Jean-Louis Mondon
Original written January 2017.
 
Important lesson from the Word of God. John the Baptist testimony about Jesus to his disciples: So John’s disciples came to him and said, “Look, Rabbi, the One who was with you beyond the Jordan, the One you testified about—He is baptizing, and everyone is going to Him.” 27John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but am sent ahead of Him.’… John 3:27

For the last few days I have had a thought going through my mind. Usually it means that the Lord is trying to tell me that it is worth looking into it, elaborating after consulting him of its importance, meditating on it and most important double checking like a Berean in the Word where this concept is found, the context of when, to whom and why it is addressed and if my own life experience and application of this biblical principle when guided by the Holy Spirit has contributed to my own spiritual growth.

Before the Lord saved me 53 years ago, my life was a mess. It was what seemed to be a succession of random, haphazard events and circumstances over which I didn´t have any control. My emotional and selfish reactions only made it worse. Whenever I tried to correct the situation ended up in more failures and one thing that brought me down more than anything else was the feeling of waste and utter desperation at finding some self-worth because of the total lack of positive and constructive accomplishments to look at and be proud of. Everything I touched and every relationship I had turned into one more proof that my  existence on this earth was a curse from an unjust and vindictive god that hunted me down and punished me for the simple fact that I was born without asking for it or having anything to say about the matter.

Needless to say, this kind of attitude doesn´t contribute to accomplishing much in life and the feeling was exacerbated when I compared myself with my friends, neighbors and all the great heroes  out there that receive the adulation and honor for their accomplishments and contribution to society. I wasn´t sitting on a pile of ashes, I was buried under the ashes of the death dealing blows of a self-incriminating conscience piled on the top of more judging and condemning by the society in which I happened to be born. 

Now, this is not wallowing in self-pity on my part, I just wanted to set the stage for demonstrate the extraordinary saving power of Jesus-Christ through love, mercy and grace He has for anyone who knows he or she is soul-sick, lost, hopeless and helpless with no way out and no one to turn to, but in a last act of desperation turns to the God that unbeknownst to him/her was faithfully and patiently waiting for the child to acknowledge his/her lost condition and come home to his real, loving Heavenly Father.

To summarize the above, I never finished what I started before I was 23 years old.
Then, my life started changing because I met the God who never changes, who is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the End and everything in between, accomplishing what He said He would do, as I trust more and more in His transforming power. As I was reading the Word, I encountered some encouraging verses such as:

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philipians 1:6 

The Lord completed the mission His Father entrusted Him obeying Him even though He knew what agony and torture He would have to bear on our behalf. In John 10:17, Jesus declares: The reason the Father loves Me is that I lay down My life in order to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from My Father.”…

If the Lord obeyed His Father in all things, should we not do our best to obey Him if he commands us to perform a servant´s duty that he has made us adequate to fulfill, gifting and empowering us to do. After all, the Word says that we are His disciples if we keep His teachings. To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31,32.

 
A wise advice from a missionary at a home group meeting when I was a young christian in 1966: There is no shortcut in the christian life.
 
 


Saturday, November 2, 2024

Son of Hamas Co-Founder Denounces Group at UN, Exposes 'Savage' Indoctri...

‘Trainees and reservists’ take out Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar

Is Spiritual Warfare of "Binding a Territorial spirit" Biblical? Dave Hunt.

Question: What about the "spiritual warfare" teaching that by "binding" in the name of the Lord the "territorial spirit" controlling a city Christians can take over that city for God?
 
Answer: Such an idea has no biblical basis, either by precept or example.
 
Yes, "the prince of the kingdom of Persia: prevented the angel Gabriel for three weeks from coming to Daniel (Daniel 10:12-13). Daniel, however, was seeking prophetic insight--not to "bind" the "territorial spirit" over Persia. 
 
Nor did Gabriel instruct him to wage such warfare. Gabriel's mission was to inform Daniel of last-days events affecting Israel (v 14)--information which the "prince of Persia" tried to hinder. There is no hint that "binding" this demon would have delivered Persia from Satanic influence or that Gabriel's victory over this demon (with the help of Michael the Archangel) had any effect upon the spiritual climate in Persia or aided in the salvation of Persians.
 
Paul never tried to "bind territorial spirits" in bringing the gospel to the world of his day, so why should we? And although the apostles "turned the world upside down," there is no hint that a single city was ever "taken for God," as Wimber, Paulk, Hayford, Frangipane, Lea, and so many others are promising.
 
 In Corinth, for example, where Paul spent 18 months, God gave him special protection and blessing because He had "much people in this city" (Acts 18:9-10). The issue was not to deliver Corinth, but to call a company of believers out of it. Nor did Paul's success change the destiny of Corinth--or of any other city or nation.

Friday, September 27, 2024

Jesus, Lover of My Soul

Beyond the Veil - The Inescapable Curtain

jewelry box with rotating butterfly by Enchantmints Enchantmints Musical Jewelry Box with Butterfies and Flowers Enchantmints Butterfly

  From the Music House Dale City FL 

 

Homage to Richard Harrison, 

A gentle Warrior on the first anniversary of his going to sleep to wake up in the presence of His Lord and Savior King Jesus Christ.

I remember Rick as if it were yesterday. A one of a kind man, quiet and determined, sharp minded, prudent in life, trustworthy and faithful to his Lord Jesus Christ and our friendship. We met everyday for about 10 years, worked together, shared meals and the important things of life together. Strong in his convictions and very wise when it came to share his personal life especially when the talk turned to Vietnam. We shared our love of country and deep and consequential matters, good literature and good movies, art, music and anything that enhances and makes the heart glad to be alive. We had a similar background he in the the US and me in French Algeria and the ravages of war on our young souls and hearts susceptible to nationalist and patriotic yet with enough grains of salt in our shared salt shaker resembling an hour glass, always finding balance and wisdom in the pages of the Bible and strengthening each other with a determined resolve to fight the good fight till the end. This is the kind soft speaking battle companion that I knew and still remember with a heart full of gratitude and eyes filled with tears as I remember and keep him in the box of my most cherished memories. Here is a poem that I wrote as an epitaph to a dear Lady that I never met who was of the same mind, heart and purpose in life as my friend and brother Richard Harrison the gentle warrior.

 The Inescapable Curtain


Written and published by Jean-Louis Mondon
 
 The Blessed Death of the Righteous
1The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; devout men are swept away, while no one considers that the righteous are guided from the presence of evil. 2Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest, lying down in death.…Isaiah 57:1,2.


  The dreams of youth germinate
Into cocoons of silky threads
Patiently woven over endless years

Butterfly wings overburdened
By teary clouds hoping
To find their final abode
Among fading flowers
Gathered in passing

Memories collected
In our music boxes
Loose their fleeting hold
To awaken yet again
The dear voices of the past

And the steps of the dance
Wind down and fade discreetly
  Behind the curtain
Up and away the soul flies
In a flutter of wings
 
Then, later on, the box opens again
And the notes chime anew
On the shelf of remembrance
 
Jean Louis 
 
 Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:16
 For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall"  I Peter 1:24 New International Version (©1984)


Thursday, September 12, 2024

Emotional Amputees Part 1 of 3.

Written and Published by Jean-Louis Mondon

Our physical senses are designed in such a way that the signals they provide help us in gathering information to apprehend the world around us and to function in it.

On the physiological and neurological level, it is a well documented phenomenon that if a limb or a finger is amputated, the amputee can feel physical pain outside his body where there was and now is no more member. A friend of mine and I were having a conversation related to the subject. He was in a car accident that caused both his legs to be amputated a little below the hip. He acknowledged feeling the pain although his legs were no longer physically present. So I am not making this up. 

Phantom limb pain is pain that you feel in the part of a limb that was removed after an amputation. It might seem unusual to feel pain in an area of your body that doesn't exist anymore, but the pain you feel is real. Phantom limb pain ranges from mild to severe and can last for seconds, hours, days or longer. Source: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/12092-phantom-limb-pain

Could it be the same way on the emotional, psychical (soul) level? Sometimes the same thing can happen in the dissolution of a marriage relationship through separation or divorce. It could also happen through the end of a long friendship in which we have felt betrayed and disappointed. Or in the loss of a loved one, a family member, or simply a dear intimate best friend through death or separation because of life’s contingencies.

The pain we feel is real because so much of ourselves had been invested in that person at different levels of intimacy. The association between the person, the intimacy and the pain is present because of the chemical/electrical impulses in our brain that stimulate the cerebral cortex every time we think of the person or an event associated with the person.

The Lord can heal the physical part if physical harm has taken place through prayer or the intervention of a doctor. We can grieve and time lessens the pain, but if the person has not learnt to disassociate (with time and through repeated efforts) the memory in the past triggering the painful reaction in the present, emotional bondage can occur preventing us from moving forwards with our lives and crippling us emotionally, making us unable to love again, giving of ourselves again and taking risks again in relationships because of the fear of being abandoned, hurt or rejected again.

Is it possible to be free of our guilt feelings, of our sense of being unforgiven or unforgiving in the case of abandonment or betrayal? Is it possible to be aware and defeat any of the other tricks Satan uses to keep us in emotional bondage? Indeed, it is. Everything is possible with the Lord.

Jesus talking about Himself as the door in John 10:9-10 declares: I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he shall be saved and shall go In and Out and find pastures.

Right after that He says: The thief, our enemy comes only to steal, kill and destroy (all the good that God creates and gives His children). I came that you might have life and might have it more abundantly.

A person in emotional bondage and crippled by traumatic past experiences find it very difficult if not impossible to give and receive love and expressions of love, to go in and out so to speak. They can pretend to appear emotionally healthy and try to prevent further rejection, but this only serves to aggravate the condition.

If we acknowledge our condition truthfully the Lord will help us. In Psalms 34: 15, 18 David declares:

The eyes of the Lord are towards the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. The Lord is near to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in Spirit.

So the invisible parts that have been cut out from us through the breaking off the relationship are similar to the physical amputation. But one must resist the temptation of placing blame on the offending party for having been cut up and been robbed emotionally once we have forgiven, because if not, we just place ourselves into a jail of our own making. Jesus asked us to forgive. Do you remember that He also said to pluck our eye out if it offends us or to cut our hand off if it offends us? I believe He was talking about a spiritual operation performed by the Holy Spirit when we recognize our inability to do God's will without His strength and help. Same Psalm verse 27: "You save the humble, but bring low those whose eyes are haughty."

If we humble ourselves, stop being proud, that is, (haughty eyes), self-sufficient and independent and focus our eyes on the Lord, by the power of His Holy Spirit, He will answer our humble request and give us a pure, undivided heart, one that will be attentive to His voice. This is why it's so important to put on and keep the helmet of salvation on. Salvation in Hebrew or Greek means more than just being born again, it means health, being made whole, being unfragmented, and being one in mind, body, Spirit and soul. (This is the way I felt for the first time in my life when I was 22 and the Holy Spirit came and literally washed me clean of my sin with His Light). You are welcome to visit my blog at https://thelightseed.blogspot.com to read and hear the audio book, an alegorical story titled The Joshua Tree", a Desert Parable" that digs deeper into such subject.

Psalm 43:3 says: "Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me". The other essential part of the armor is the belt of truth.

The truth of the Word without the Spirit to illuminate it is without effect upon the human hearts and minds. Both go together, just as truth and love go together in our protection. (Ps 40:11). Without the light, we can’t see the truth. Jesus said: I am the way, the truth and the light.

Without the way, there is no going anywhere, without the truth there is no knowing the way, and without the light there is no seeing either the truth or the way.

If we believe Jesus and live (walk) in the light as He is in the light, I John 1:7 says: “we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus His Son purifies us from all sin”. He will open our eyes, the eyes of faith and allow us to see clearly the Truth and the Way and we will not need to walk by natural human sight.

Back to the earlier reference of the symbolic cutting of the hand and the eye; notice that He specifically mentions one eye and one hand. We have two eyes and two hands, but one heart which to me means that when our heart is undivided, (not torn between two things, peoples or events, past and present, faith and doubts, yes and no. on one hand, but then on the other hand, etc), when it is focused on the Lord, our eye (singular) will be full of light.

Matthew 6:2:." the light of the body is the eye, if therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light”. Our eyes can focus only on one thing at a time.  Talking about the evil of the tongue, James uses a appropriate illustration in James 3:10: "Out of the same mouth comes praise and cursing.... Can both fresh water and salt water come from the same spring? ...Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water."

Psalm 18: 28 declares: You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning, My God turns my darkness into light”

Again, in James 1:5: If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously without finding fault and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like the water of the sea blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord, he is a double-minded man, unstable in all that he does” This word double-minded means having two breaths, doubting, wavering. Now let’s contrast this attitude with Abraham’s faith in Hebrews 11:11: By faith, Abraham when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went even though he didn’t know where he was going”.

I love this passage in Isaiah, which describes so well the one who in his ignorant condition seeks the light of God and the other one who seeks his own enlightenment because he is proud and independent.

In chapter 50: 10- 11 the LORD says: (Could this passage be applied in contrasting the true light and the counterfeit lights of humanistic psychology, psychiatry and new age teaching about love and light, occult healing therapies)?

"Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the word of his servant, Let him who walks in the dark who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God. But now all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, Go; walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze, this is what you shall receive from my hand; You will lie down in torment".

The Bible teaches us to find out what is pleasing to God. Hebrews 11:6 declares: Without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

My prayer for us is that we will seek earnestly His will, that our faith will be increased, that the Lord will open our eyes to see, our hears to ear, our heart to receive, and that once we have seen, heard and received, we will have the strength to obey because faith must necessarily lead to obedience.

Jean-Louis



Saturday, August 31, 2024

PRAYER TO MY FRIEND JESUS

 

PRAYER TO MY FRIEND JESUS

 Written and published by Jean-Louis http://theligthseed.blogspot.com 

 To read the whole poem, click HERE

AUTHOR´S NOTE: I always had difficulty resuming my thoughts, hence I am known among my friends and loved ones as verbose. I prayed and prayed to the Lord to help me for the sake of my writers to be able to be clear and concise. As an answer, he sent me my wife Mirian!!!. True. With her help, I started rediscovering my french heritage, even the beauty of my language that I had hardly spoken for more than 40 years.

With such lovely inspiration, I started writing poems, spiritual poems, and not so “profane” poems. I didn´t expect such a turn of events in my life as the answer to a simple but persistant prayer. I got a double blessing, a wonderful wife and a way to resume my thoughts.

And today, in the early morning, He blessed me again. As I intended to post the poem on FB, A thought came: “Why dont you turn it into a prayer”. Then, I discovered an intentional "leitmotif" running through, reminiscent of a hymn. Cutting most of the middle section and keeping the first and last lines, I discovered that the essential, the beginning and the end, if you will, is found in the Lord Jesus and His Word. And the poem became a prayer and a blessing.

Keep on praying and asking, the Lord will keep on answering and blessing your simple heart cry. 

"Better is an open rebuke than hidden love.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend."Proverbs 27: 5,6.


Oh, Jesus my very best friend 
Wash me clean to make me holy,
Without stain, wrinkle or blemish
Cleanse me with the pure water of your Word

When I gaze upon your face,

Grace and truth meet up close 
  Righteousness and peace kiss each other
 Help me better understand your grand purpose 
In the light of the truth of your Word.

Slowly, the needle point, holy  hurts 
The ugly tear, mend 
With the painful truth of your Word. 
 
The wounds you give me, gratefully I receive 
Make my fragmented life whole and authentic 
 I believe and trust the eternal truth of your Word.

Your wounds were left open

Cover up sin’s shame 
With the healing truth of your Word.

I, like Ephraim was deceived and bound

Lord, open the door of freedom forever
With the key given and found
By all your children
Who love and keep the truth of your Word.


Gen 32: 31; Deut 32:39;  Psalm 38:1,2,5;  85:10,11; 119:67-71; Prov: 27:5,6; Jeremias 8:21,22;10:19,20; 14:19; 15:18,19; Hosea 6:1

Jean-Louis.

Sunday, August 25, 2024

Tempering our Weapon. Revised and amplified.

 In Isaiah 52:12, the Prophet declares:

“But you will not go in haste or go in flight;
For the Lord will go before you,
the God of Israel will be your rear guard."

Isn't it comforting to know that we don't have to watch our back, that the Lord protects from the attacks of the enemy from behind? All we have to do is keep our armor on, take up our shield of faith and the sword of His Word and use them efficiently. See a list of our spiritual armor in Ephesians 6:10-18

As spiritual warriors, we have spiritual weapons to combat and defeat the enemy in prayer and gain the victory in life. We are also figuratively speaking essentially a weapon in the hand of our captain of the Host. Speaking of the servant of the Lord (which we are), Isaish declares:
He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
and concealed me in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will display my splendor. ”
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand,
and my reward is with my God.” Isaiah 49:2-4

The enemy knows our weaknesses and uses this knowledge in his schemes to try and defeat us. But, the Lord will help us in our weaknesses if we recognize them and ask for help.
Another way our enemy attacks is in our place of strength. We run the risk of being defeated in those areas because we are prone to self-sufficiency and independence. If we rely in our own strength, the enemy will encourage us to move in our own ways and will defeat us.

Usually there are 2 ways we can react to adversity.
• First, we can think that it's the devil's work and ask God to rebuke him by the authority of Jesus’ name.
• Second, we can realize that the Lord is sovereign and the devil can only do what the Lord allows him to do and that the Lord is providing us with an opportunity to strengthen us and teach us an enduring lesson thus helping us to mature.

In Isaiah 54:14-17, the Lord declares:
“In righeousness, you will be established;
You will be far from oppression,
For you will not fear;
And from terror, for it will not
Come near you.
If anyone attacks you, it will not be my doing
whoever attacks you will surrender to you.”
(or will fall because of you).

16: See, "it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work.
17: And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc;
no weapon formed against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you."
(The tongue that speaks the lies of the devil against us directly or indirectly)

this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and this is their vindication from me."

One thing I learned when I took a course in forging metal during my technical studies is that you use different kinds of cooling agents to temper the metal that you are trying to shape. Perhaps we could use the analogy of the forge and tempering with oil to understand the way the Lord works in our life to make us an instrument ready to use.

In forging, the blacksmith heats the metal to a certain color that indicates that the metal is ready for a certain application. If he wants the metal to be very hard, but brittle, he heats it to a glowing red, almost white and cools it very rapidly in water. If he wants to be able to work with the metal, he brings it to a blue and plunges it in oil which allows a slower cooling to provide resilience to the metal.
The piece of metal doesn't say to the blacksmith: Ouch, I don't like the way you are pounding on me and heating me up and cooling me down. 
 
https://lightnseed.blogspot.com/2014/03/tempering-our-weapons.htmlDrip down, O heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open up that salvation may sprout and righteousness spring up with it; I, the LORD, have created it. 9Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker— one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’? 10Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What have you begotten?’ or to his mother, ‘What have you brought forth?’ ”  Isaiah 45:9
 
 247 – The Potter and the Clay | 10Minas Blog
 
Sometimes in our Christian life we need the cool refreshing water of the Spirit to soothe our souls. However, there are times when the Lord is trying to purify us, make us more resilient, more usable, less brittle and breakable. I Corinthians 13:4 says: “Love is not easily angered.” Are we sometimes brittle, easily offended and engage in spiritual joust with our brothers using Bible verses, swinging our sword to prove that we are right?

So the Lord uses His Spirit as the oil to cool his weapon or instrument down.
This requires patience on our part as we have to let Him do His work in us until He says that the season of preparation is over and we are able to be used by Him for His purpose. Look at verse 16 again.
And this comes right after the beautiful chapter 53 on our Lord Jesus-Christ, the suffering servant. What a lesson!

When the blacksmith wants to fan the fire, he directs the bellows in one focused place and that place radiates heat throughout all the cooling coals and that's the spot where he plunges the metal. So sometimes the Lord will concentrate on one spot in our life and we have to stay there until we understand what He is trying to do, and decide to let Him mold and forge us into an instrument that he can use after tempering us with the oil of the Spirit . That's His prerogative as the Lord of our lives.

Jean-Louis