In meditating on my prior post (“Isaiah 35“) I was struck by the fact that Isaiah was a prophet.  Many prophesies that he made came true; some for the near future of that time.  Others were for the distant future … like John with the book of Revelations.

In today’s world, we generally meet the word “prophet” with skepticism.  Most recently, I recall Harold Camping getting HUGE publicity for predicting “the end of the world” as being May 21st of this year.  In modern religions, I see SO many false prophets that it truthfully baffles the mind.  This is apparent, just like the Bible says … BY THEIR FRUIT!  If their fruit is full of hatred, or judgement … guess what? It’s false.  If their fruit is just speculation to aggrandize themselves … guess what?  It’s false!

When you look in the Bible … did Isaiah ever give an exact date and time??  I will not be the one to limit God … certainly God is capable of showing someone the exact time of some major event.  I just don’t see this as being something God has done throughout history.

God uses people to do miracles.  God uses people to show LOVE to the world.  God also uses people to prophesy.  Usually these prophecies, though, are more clear in retrospect than they are in the present … we can look back in retrospect and see how what Isaiah said was truly prophecy.  At the time though … I’m sure there were many skeptics.  There were many skeptics for just about every prophet in the Bible.  I would imagine that the same is true for probably every other religion … prophets (often like artists) are only appreciated and validated in retrospect.

I suppose what I really received from this meditation, in terms of how my relationship with God has evolved, is that we as humans limit ourselves in SO many ways.  We create walls and boundaries for ourselves that we can never break through!  These walls are created through what we choose to believe.  We choose to believe that these things are fairy tales from the past … or we choose to believe that we are so flawed that we could never be the vehicle for such an amazing phenomenon as a miracle.

We must allow ourselves to be truly broken down … every wall, and barrier, torn down … dismantled.  God is capable of anything.  We need to be open to that.  It doesn’t mean that we will ever do miracles like Jesus, or any of the other great spiritual leaders of the world … whether we are used to that end or not, we need to be open to it.  We need to give God the opportunity to do whatever God wants to do through us … whether through creativity, or prayer, or kindness, or healing, or prophecy, or parenthood, or any other facet that we feel called to.

Try and make it your own … and you will be false.  Open it to God, and allow God to work through you … however that may turn out … and you will be accomplishing God’s will.

It is not about you though … it is about being SO open, that God can use you for whatever end God intends.

To be in that state … you must reflect God’s love for you … to yourself.  You must let go of EVERY vain aspiration that would cause you to go astray from what God is guiding you to.  That does not mean you need to give up your dreams … it means that you must give those dreams to God, and trust that you will be led to where you are supposed to be.

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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

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