#every day is a god; each day is a god and holiness holds forth in time

[the-rocket-scientist]

Yandere! Alt. Gabriel X Reader (ROMANTIC) (Part 1)

Honestly I was waiting for this request to come while having no plot ready in mind Requested by Nadmur on AO3 Warning: gore, inhumane features, death, suicide, lengthy writing, kind of angsty? Not very heavy on angst tho (Alt. Gabriel = Lucifer Toonbriel = Gabriel)

. . . . .

You are a child of a humble shepherd, and one of God's most devoted followers.

You held the Bible in your hands every morning and every night, and prayed to Him and glorified Him and asked for His mercy. Although your friends around you have scolded you for believing such lies, you only felt pity for them that they would end up in Hell if they kept denying the truth. You have tried countless of times to spread the word of God, the Gospel. But some people, like your friends, weren't so open to messages. There was word that spread around those days, the Son of God would descend from the Heavens and would be brought upon to Earth. But people were getting impatient and was losing their faith. You stayed strong, just like your mother and father. Your family wasn't the richest, as your mother made crafts and delicious goods to sell, and you had to admit, was one of the best items to be made and sold in this little countryside near Bethlehem. 

One day, at night, your father was tending his flock, with his other shepherd friend. You were beside them and talking to your father's friend's daughter. Her name was Ruth, a nice young female from the midst of Bethlehem. Ruth had dark large irises with long lashes, long dark brown curly hair, and tan skin, a little plump and shorter than you. You and Ruth weren't just friends, you were best friends with her. She showed humbleness and kindness towards everyone, and was another devoted follower of the Father, their Lord. Ruth was the only person you felt the closest to, as your other friends weren't as close to God as both of you were. She was just more... easily approachable and non-judgemental than the others were.

Suddenly, the four was blinded by a bright light from the skies. Was this the birth of the Father's Son, and were they there to witness it with their very own eyes? Suddenly, from the skies a masculine voice rang out, echoing across the meadows heavily, yet light as a flute. 

"Greetings!" 

Your father and friend stumbled in terror and tripped over each other as you and Ruth looked up at the strange, spirits, hugging each other in fear. The spirits were humanoids with golden halos over their heads, clad in white and pale golden robes, with magnificent white wings outstretched behind their backs. One of them flew towards the humans and approached carefully, his figure illuminated by a golden light that he himself radiated alone brightly. He wore a white robe over his yellow one, had blue eyes, fair skin, and short orange curly hair. He looked beautiful, and pure and holy, and no human languages could describe these heavenly angels.

"Don't be afraid!" the spirit reassured, "I am the Archangel Gabriel, and I bring forth with great news of great joy, for you and all people."

The shepherds stood up and you and Ruth let go, but not before looking at each other in the eyes and holding hands tightly.

"Tonight, your savior was born in Davidstown," the angel continued on his message, "He is Christ, the Lord. You will find him wrapped in soft cloth and lying in a manger."

Then the spirits sing heavenly while they flew away into the midnight skies, and the four watched them fly away and get enveloped by white clouds. The shepherds look at one another, and shrug to each other. "We should visit Christ, the Lord," your father said to his friend. "We got the privilege to see our savior, so we shall go and see the birth of the Son."

"That I agree with," his friend agreed. He turned to you and Ruth. "Young ones, prepare the food and water, for we shall go our way to Davidstown, Bethlehem. We will go when you are ready whenever you are, but make haste."

"Yes, father," Ruth said obediently, and you slightly bowed in respect to the elderly. Both of you went back inside the house. "Oh my, I am rather feeling nervous," Ruth whispered to you as both of you started packing for a journey to the city. "For we are the first to get to see our true Savior? I can't believe my luck that has passed forth to me."

You agreed with her, whether you were anxious to meet him in person, in birth, or excited. Possibly both. 

"I have finished, [Name]," Ruth informed you. "I shall be waiting for you outside, dear friend. Take your time as you may need." Then she left outside with a small bundle of bag, to help the shepherds herd their sheep in their pens. 

You were almost done packing when you suddenly heard an eldritch sound and the skies suddenly darkened. The world visibly darkened before your eyes, and even though you could barely see in the dark, you could hear. The deafening silence that blanketed heavily in the air. You were curious, and fearful, but you had to see what was going on. So you recklessly ran outside, but then hid behind a rock closeby the shepherds and Ruth. 

A pale, beautiful figure was in the sky, their face obscured by a black shadow. Their hair was long and wavy, apparently blond. They were clad in long, white robes that covered their feet yet they never seemed to get dirty from the soil. Their skin was pale and fair, their form slender. They seemed to look like the Archangel Gabriel, except more in a light grey monochromatic color scheme and the clothing was a little different. Their slinder, beautiful hands were clasped together as if desperate for a prayer. 

But this wasn't a holy spirit. 

"Do not be afraid, my dear shepherds."

Their raspy voice was whispery, trailing in the air with power despite the volume they were speaking in. Their pronunciation with words and accents were strange; some parts dragged out longer than usual or some words were pronounced strangely. Their voice did not sound humane, but they still sounded ethereal despite the strange conditions. 

"I have great news."

You kept on eavesdropping.

"I am your true savior."

... What??

"I know everything about what makes you human."

The way the being said unnerved you down the spine, and you shivered in fear and discomfort. The air was suddenly much colder than before. Had it always been this cold under the beautiful night sky?

The shadow in their face cleared slowly, and underneath revealed a surprisingly elegant face: almond blue eyes, fair skin and high cheekbones. 

"I know what you love."

Here the being smiled. 

"I know what you dread."

Here the false angel's face suddenly stretches unnaturally wide, and in a blink of your eyes, their face had completely changed. Tall, elongated white eyes with pitch black irises with a huge, uncanny smile impossible for a human. You father, his fried, and Ruth covered their ears with their hands and bent over, kneeling in pain, screaming. You were also doing the same, feeling sharp pains stabbing in your mind through your ears. You were also screaming, but it was silent and your screams were unheard. You closed your eyes tightly.

"Jesus loves me, this I know!  

"FOOȮ̴͓̯͚͉̥̈́͘Ọ̴̲͔͙̗͈̪͊̓͑͂͂̍̅O̷̲͙̊̔͒ͅO̴͖̎̾̐͛̄͒̃O̶̩͍̰̺͕̤̓̾̔͆̈̆͠  Ō̵��̬̿̀̈̋̇̏̋ O̷̳̙͚͚̲͈̠͉̓̎Ó̸̧͉͕̗͓̳͌̇̆̅̕͝ O̶̙͚͌́̋͂̍̈́Ọ̵͉̳̫̻̯̈͂̊́͘ O̶̟͉̮̺̞̝̖̣͑̈́̈̾ Ǫ̵̨̳͍̩͙͙̤́́ Ŗ̵̧͉̹̈̆̆͂̇̆ O̷̧͙̓̂̈́̏͌̊͝R̶̺̗͠͠ R̷̩̫͍̬̅̑̓͆͑ Ŗ̵̲̲̤̿̍Ŕ̴̝̖͉̄ R̷̰͙͉̳̞͗̀̾̅̓̐̇͘R̶̨̨͔͍̼̺̟͌ Ŗ̴̛̪̗͍͙̆̈́͘ Ṟ̸͎͔͕͑̾̀̎͘͜ R̸̢̐̍͒̋͌͂̕͘ Ṟ̶̢̠͈̱͕͐̏͌̏͆̐͝ͅ R̷̯͈̭̦̹̖͑̂̔͑̏̎̇ Ṟ̶͓͓̣͚̜͆̌̐̽͐͠ R̵̤̊̈́̃̋͝  R̵̨̨̡͇̄ͅŖ̷͓̹̀̆̀̓̇̑͠R̴̨̛̘̰̘̯͔͈̳͊R̷̨̨͉̣̪̀R̷̜͎̯͓͇͔̖̃̀R̶̨͋̈́͑͑͑Ṙ̸̯͉̞͓͈̆̽̔̃̇̃-"

Then silence. The only thing you could hear was your own breath, panting from the adrenaline that shot through you.

Moments that seemed to last an eternity passed. 

The pain that have shot up in your head and in your ears stopped. You slowly looked up while uncovering your ears. You saw three fallen human figures, the false angel nowhere to be seen, but the skies were still pitch dark. You ran over to them, and realized with a lurching horror all of them died, blood pouring from their eyes and ears, pooling underneath their heads. Your father had his eyes closed, and his friend stared off into the valleys blanky, which was a mercy. 

But Ruth was staring, glassy eyed, right at you, her lifeless brown eyes boring into your own and burned into your mind. You couldn't move. It was as if she was blaming you that you couldn't stop her death. You couldn't breathe, as if someone was strangling you and sucking the breath out of you.

You felt like you were being watched by something else other than Ruth, but your legs gave in underneath you, and you collapsed onto your knees next to Ruth. Your dear friend Ruth. You felt your heart sink and hurt you as your emotions got wounded. You were deeply in grief, and anguished. Your best friend, taken away by that.. false angel. 

Who were they, entitled enough to call themselves that they were the true savior, and proceed to take your loved ones away in a night?

How DARE they take away your own life you didn't expect would change this drastically?

You started to cry as tears rolled down your cheeks. 

"Why do you weep?"

You didn't answer, because you knew the false angel was back. You didn't know why. Maybe they wanted to deceive you into further damnation. Maybe they wanted to see your life fall apart and walk away from God by suicide. Or maybe they just simply wanted to see your suffering.

"Beautiful one, there is no need to stay melancholy. I shall be here for you."

You didn't answer yet again. You just ran back inside your home in desperation to get away from the false angel's attraction. They watched you go inside the house and slam the door. They knew exactly why you were acting like this, but they couldn't help that heavy hearted feeling for a moment when you ran away from them. But no matter. He knows what you love, and what you dread. They are in neither of that list, as far as they knew. 

But even if by force, they'll make you love them. And only them.

. . . . . 

You felt the constant feel of being watched after that incident happened.

Whenever you went, a pair of eyes always followed you, but when you looked around no one was watching you in particular. When you were alone on night streets it was even worse, even hearing an occasional footstep behind you every once in a while. Your paranoia increased, and you refused to leave your home now. You were scared, honestly; nothing had made you this much terror before. You prayed to God, in hopes of His protection against the fear you were feeling, but strangely, He was silent and never replied. Which was strange, as 90% of the time you prayed to Him you heard His voice directly speaking to you. But now as if He disappeared, or abandoned you, or He wasn't able to receive any prayers.

The situation only turned for the worse from here. You thought it couldn't get any worse, but it did. Rumors of these beings known as Alternates, were silently replacing humanity, most of the times without much notice. Some had witnessed a tall figure of a shadow with piercing white eyes. Others have seen the similar creatures turn into one of the people they have killed. These people barely came out alive. Reports of a strange grey angel was sometimes seen walking in the streets, but every time the people blinked the angel vanished from view, as if they were never there.

You knew what that meant.

But no, you would never commit (or try to) commit a sin. That would be against the Ten Commandments, against the word of God. You would try your best to maintain your faith on Him. This was probably just one of His tests on you to see if you could hold onto your humbleness, right?

Right?

You firmly believed in this until the false angel approached you in your home while you were sleeping. When you have opened your eyes, startled, you were even more shocked to see that this being was invading your bedroom. Those pale blue eyes, cold as ice and intense, boring into your own. Their beautiful face seemingly illuminating in the dark even though black shadows emitted from this creature. 

"Greetings," they said in a whispery voice, sounding almost angelic, but you wouldn never forget that encounter that changed your life forever. "As you have already seen my true form, I will not conceal my true name from you. I am Lucifer of the fallen angels."

... wait.

Did this being just say...

Their name was Lucifer?

The infamous fallen angel known to have rebelled against God, and became the Deceiver, Satan himself?

"You seem quite surprised," Lucifer noted, mostly to himself. You were extremely confused. Yes, you were a very devoted follower of God, and expected that one day, Satan would come in a beautiful disguise and deceive you to turn away from the Lord. You heard of stories in the Bible where God would give permission to Satan to test their faith in the Heavenly Father, but you didn't expect Him to choose you as one of those beings. You were worth the time from the Devil himself to get personally deceived by him??

"I have come forth with wonderful news," Satan, or Lucifer, as he seems to be preferably called for now, spoke after watching you with careful eyes. He said this next sentence very carefully and slowly while watching your reaction. "I have decided... with lots of consideration and time put into the thoughts... that you shall become my apprentice... in the arts of deceiving and lies."

You stared back at him dumbly. What??? Not what you were expecting, but for the Lord you had to stay strong. You very politely declined his offer, despite the fearful stutterings you let out and a whimper of terror when he pursed his lips in slight impatience. 

"Why do you deny me, young one?" He said calmly, his patience everlasting. "Why do you choose to live in darkness, when I could bring you forth into light? I wish only for the best of you, [Name]." Here you shudder, because how did this creep figure out what your name was? You've never introduced to him in your life. "Why do you deny me?"

Stay strong, [Name].

You told him the reasons why, nervously, knowing this choice would bring great consequences.

The false angel's face turned grim and dark.

"I am your Lord, my child," he said sternly with a cold voice. Every word could not be unheard, all the letters burned into your head and brightly displayed what he was telling you. Every single letter, sharp as knives, unescapable. "You shall be my apprentice no matter the choice you desire to make. I will make the choices for you that shall benefit your life one way or another. It is only for the best for you, after all."

You cried out in pain as Lucifer loomed over you, shadows dancing behind his form. You kept denying him, repeating the truth in the Scripture over and over again, in hopes the words from the Bible cleared your mind. Instead, it strangely had the opposite effect, fogging up your mind, and your consciousness fading to darkness. The last words before your eyes fluttered closed was from Lucifer. 

"Sleep well, my love."

TO BE CONTINUED... in part 2

. . . . .

(Edit: this is one of my most popular chapters written long ago. If you want to read the rest of the parts without waiting for upload go to my WATTPAD and AO3 account for more! :D)

[lavender-romancer]

Crosses on my body

Part Two  Tommy Shelby x Reader 

You were a nun in Dublin but when you decided to take action against those in powerful positions in the church you had to escape. When you turn up in Birmingham and begin a relationship with Tommy Shelby will he be able to protect you from your past? 

”*°•.˜”*°•. ˜”*°•. ˜”*°••°*”˜.•°*”˜.•°*”˜.•°*”˜

previous part

"Jesus, our Lord. If you're there…why do you hide from me?" You knelt beside your bed with your hands clasped together. "Grant that I never lose sight of the ugliness of sin, the glory of Christ, the beauty of holiness, or the wonder of grace. Help me to seek you every morning with heart, soul, mind, and strength. In Jesus' name. Amen." 

As you climbed into bed you thought over your evenings with Tommy. You had been to the church every evening together for 7 days now. Each time you either taught him how to pray or you would kiss him to see if you would be smited. The more Tommy told you about himself the more you became convinced he was consumed by evil. But evil you could save him from. Tommy said that you had been sent to save him, but you had to find salvation for yourself first. 

You were walking down to the crypt of a church, you assumed this was a dream but they often felt so real it was hard to know. The air was crisp against your skin, making your hair stick up. When you reached the bottom of the stairs you saw some of your sisters. 

"Sister Marianne! It's so good to see you," you exclaimed and she turned around with a horrified look. 

"What did you do!" She screamed. 

"I didn't do anything!" You took a step back and she moved towards you, eyes turning black as she threw you against the wall. Her face twisting into a horrifying amalgamation of darkness and blood. 

"What have you done!" Her voice boomed.

You were suddenly surrounded by a circle of your sisters from Dublin, they were chanting something with their heads bowed moving around you. As you stepped back trying to get away from them you tripped over and saw Father Thomas' bleeding body, his neck slashed. Lying in a pool of his own blood you started screaming and crawled backwards but the faceless nuns pushed you towards him. 

"You thought you could escape didn't you!" He screamed before getting on top of you and choking you. "You have sinned! Repent or you shall suffer in the bowels of hell!"

You could feel the life draining out of you, your eyes fluttering shut, his eyes were crying blood and he had this smile. This bone chilling coolness about this smile that made you terrified to keep your eyes open. No matter how much you struggled you were held down, he was too overpowering- you couldn't fight it. 

Waking up with a scream you began sobbing uncontrollably, holding and rocking yourself back and forth. 

"Lord God, I pray for your protection as I begin this day. You are my hiding place, and under Your wings I can always find refuge. Protect me from trouble wherever I go, and keep evil far from me. Amen." You recited the prayer that you had had to use so many times back in Dublin. So many times having asked the Lord for protection and so many times your prayers had not been fulfilled. How were you to trust in the Lord when he couldn't even protect you in your dreams? But it was all you had. Catholicism had been in your world since you could remember so even if it was all placebo or you were seeing things that weren't there, you needed faith. You had no one else who would care for you the same way, not anymore anyways. Anyone back in Dublin willing to help you was long gone by this time. 

"Do you feel it coming back yet?" Tommy asked as you knelt in front of Mother Mary praying your rosary. "The faith I mean. Or is your crisis over,? 

"I had a nightmare. Last night…about my old life. It looks like God won't even protect me from that regardless of all my confession work. I don't know what to think anymore, but I can't let go." You looked up at Thomas siting on the pew and sighed, still clutching your rosary you stood up and sat next to him. 

"What was the nightmare about?" 

"Things you won't understand, but mostly demon, devil based horror. I feel like something is following me around at all times. Some kind of being with a nefarious purpose." You started biting the skin around your thumbnail. 

"I'm sure I would understand." Tommy said quietly.

"There's things I can't quite trust you with yet. In time I'm sure I will. But revealing my deepest secrets to you would not be wise." You made the sign of the cross with your crucifix and ended your prayer with a few minutes of meditation. 

"You can trust me," Tommy said later when he was walking you back to your lodgings.

"How do I know that?" You asked with your arms crossed. 

"Because I can also reveal a secret to you, I've probably got the longest list in Birmingham. Mutually assured destruction is the best start to companionship." Tommy blew out a cloud of smoke that you watched rise up into the air, dissolved into the night sky. "My mother used to tell me smoke made the stars, possibly to explain why my father smoked the amount he did." 

"Is that your secret?" You asked. 

"Nah, just a story. My secrets are more sinister than that, I know you're hiding something but I can't imagine it's sinister in nature." Tommy seemed to underestimate you entirely which made it all the more entertaining that you held the cards in the conversation.

"I think you think too little of me and my past." You smiled at him.

"Perhaps. But I've known women like you, shrouded in secrecy that I can't quite seem to figure out until it's too late for me." He stopped and leant against a brick wall, looking you up and down with a gaze that penetrated into your mind. 

"Is that what your wife was like?" You weren't sure if the question was too personal for him to answer. 

"She was deception based from the start, but one way or another we fell for each other." Tommy looked glassy eyed, you couldn't picture this being the type of man who would cry but honesty would catch anyone off guard. 

"I'm sure I'll reveal my secrets to you, someday. But not now." You carried on walking past Tommy and he ran his tongue across his bottom lip before walking after you. 

"But truth will set you free, as you've probably said before to some lost soul" Tommy joked and you smiled. 

"That's true. But some secrets can put you in harm's way and…I don't trust anyone truly. Life's safer that way." Your expression was subtly sad but Tommy noticed. 

"I only trust my family and even then there's some exceptions. Having no allies isn't the way to go." Tommy stopped and he stood closer to you. 

"Are you proposing an allyship?" You whispered looking up into his eyes. 

"Perhaps. You light my cigarette, I'll light yours and so on."  Tommy held out a cigarette and placed it between your lips, a confusing look on his face before he used his hand to shield the air and lit it.  

"That's sounding horrendously suggestive, Mr Shelby." You breathed smoke up into the air, still uncertain on what the lack of distance between the two of you meant. 

"Does the suggestiveness scare you?' Tommy asked in a low raspy voice. 

"You don't know anything about my inclination for suggestiveness." You smiled and turned on your heel. "I'll see you tomorrow, Thomas." 

Tommy watched as you faded into the darkness, just as secretively as you had arrived. 

The following morning you woke to an insistent knocking at your front door, it woke you up with a start (memories flooding back of the early mornings at the convent). You approached the door cautiously, holding a knife out in front of you.

"Who's there?" you called out.

"It's your landlady," the slightly familiar voice called. "I'm sorry miss, there's a woman here insistent on seeing you." It felt like the blood had drained from your face at the possibility of it being someone from Dublin.

"W-what does she want? What does it entail?" your voice was panicked and stuttering.

"Have I done wrong, miss? She said you would know her, a Theresa O'Sullivan." The landlady's words echoed in your mind and your eyes began to water, you put down the knife and unlocked the door.

"I'm sorry," You told her. "I was anxious about who the visitor was but you can send her up." You smiled at her and she nodded.

The following knock at your door was timid, so as to not disturb but alert you of their presence. You almost jumped up as your eyes began to water before flinging open the door and enveloping her in a hug.

"Theresa!" you laughed as she held you close.

"It's been so long my dear friend," She said close to your ear.

"How have you been? How's life out of the community, whereabouts are you these days?" You asked as you sat down with her and a pot of tea.

"I'm in the south at the moment, I'm married now and we run a church community now," she paused. "I heard noises. The community is small but we have connections in Ireland so... there are little bubbles of noise every now and then." she paused in a seemingly uncomfortable way.

"I mean, I can assume what they said but what did you hear?" You asked timidly.

"That there was a murder," she paused and looked down at her hands which began to shake. "And... and that there were things that were stolen I'm not sure what. But then I heard whispers about you and I knew I had to find you."

"And you think it's me?" you asked.

"I know you had ideas, I haven't told anyone if you're worried about that I just needed to know you were safe." She reached out and touched your hands. "Y/n, are you safe."

"As safe as you can be after you've done what I have. Tell me about everything, please. Take my mind off it." you squeezed her hands with a smile.

"I have a husband, I met him about three years after leaving Ireland and we've been blessed with three children so far. It's a quiet village with a town hall and a church, not much else, I can see you've taken well to a busy city though." She smiled and you nodded.

"I needed a change, anyway I could so I found a job first and this was the easiest one with the least questions involved. I'm so glad you're safe, I never heard from you and I was so worried." You reached forward and touched her face "But you're here and you're alive."

"We both made it out, remember that. We're both safer now. Don't look back, don't look away just move forward and escape as far as you can." Her eyes began to water. "Because if they come for you, you're dead and no one can protect you or save you from them."

"What do you mean?" your heartbeat began picking up.

"They came for me when I was in Liverpool, I had no one and nothing. No one helped me because I didn't know who to trust but then I revealed too much at confession and they came for me." she paused, her breath faltering and hitching.

"Theresa, what happened?" You said sternly gripping her hand.

"They did this," She pulled up her dress and showed a deep scar on her right leg then pulled up her shirt and showed a long scar from the top of her ribcage diagonally down towards her navel. It was dark and twisted near the bottom.

"Who?" Your hands began to shake as Theresa pulled down her shirt.

"Father Thomas' messengers, they assumed I'd escaped revealing their secrets but I just wanted to escape so they tortured me before I escaped once more," She smiled. "I'm glad you killed the bastard when you had the chance."

"What they did to you... should I be running further?" you asked, feeling your throat tighten.

"There's nowhere you can run that's far enough to outrun them. We are some of the only survivors of their horrific system and I hope you tear it all down." She reached over and hugged you tighter than before.

"We are united, you and I. In sickness and in health like a fucking marriage alright. I will make sure everyone knows what we witnessed and they won't escape it. None of them." You held her by the shoulders and smiled through your tears.

"Say a prayer with me, for strength." Theresa smiled at you and you both began in silent prayer to save each other from your past and your enemies.

next part Peaky blinders taglist: @queenofkings1212 @severewobblerlightdragon @cl5369 @fairypitou @stressedandbandobessed7771 @shadow-of-wonder @hipsternoionlylikeunicorns @curled-hair-red-lips @lucystivinsky1315

[stuckymonkey]

Kinktober Day 2: Anal

Stucky

word count - 0.5k

a/n - day 2 of kinktober!! ahh!! i love these boys and i hope you do too! enjoy!

"Steve." Bucky called to the fleeting blonde. "No." "Steve, get back here!" Bucky walked out of Steve's bedroom and to their living room. "Hey! Stevie! Listen when I'm talking to you!" That made Steve stop in his tracks.

The blond boy was clad in nothing other than socks and a big white shirt. "Stevie? It's okay baby." "No, it's not." The blonde's cheeks heated up at the pet name. He was completely and utterly embarrassed, having been caught by Bucky with two of his fingers, knuckle deep inside his tight ass.

"Baby, it brings you pleasure. There's no shame in that. You know how many times I've had mine up my ass? Wondering how good it would feel to be stuffed full of ya?" He peered down at his boyfriend.

"Steve," He groaned impatiently. "Look at me." using two fingers he lifted Steve's chin up so his eyes met Bucky's. "That's my good boy." He blushed.

"See, if you had talked to me about this, I could'a helped you a lot sooner pal." he said softly. "Oh yeah? How's that?" Snarked Steve.

"Well for starters I could've stuffed your ass, but it seems you've already got a pretty big stick perched up there." "Cut it out," Steve hissed, swatting Bucky away when he tried to caress his shoulder.

Later that night it was time for bed, and the embarrassment from earlier still hadn't washed off of Steve. They settled under the covers, holding each other close. For a moment, Steve thought he was in the clear and Bucky was going to forget about the whole thing.

A part of him didn't want that though. What would happen if he allowed himself the pleasure he so desperately wanted from his more than capable boyfriend?

He was on the verge of sleep, succumbing to the warmth and comfort of Bucky's embrace when he felt a hand that was once around his waist sneak down to his ass. Steve tensed as Bucky's wandering fingers moved past the waistband of his pajama pants and boxers. "Buck-" "Shhh, it's all right baby." He squeezed at the flesh of Steve's ass before bringing his fingers out to lube them up with spit.

Bucky let his fingers dive back into Steve's pjs, this time circling the tight rim of his hole. "B-buck," "You want this, right Stevie?" He asked, already knowing the answer. "Y-yeah," "Good, then let me take care of you," Bucky littered kisses all over the smaller boy's neck, tongue soothing over love bites and purple marks that he had created.

His finger entered Steve's tight muscle, prodding in further and further until he was knuckle deep. Steve moaned at the feeling, his cock throbbing in pleasure and need. "God, Buck, keep going," Steve encouraged, letting Bucky start thrusting his finger in and out, hitting Steve's delicious g-spot with every stroke.

"Buckyyyyy," He moaned, encouraging the brunette to add a second finger. "Oh God, holy shit Bucky," Steve's hips started moving back and forth, gaining pleasure from both Bucky's fingers in his ass and the way his cock rubbed against Bucky's leg.

"Bucky Bucky Bucky! Ahhh! Shit, Buck, keep going!" "Good job Stevie, riding my fingers so well," Bucky praised. The blond let out a strangled moan as his hips sped up, grinding himself harder and harder.

"That's it Stevie, there you go, let go for me, cum for me baby," "Fuck- baby, gonna cum!" Steve's release painted his pants as he came with a cry, still moving his hips, riding out the waves of pleasure.

His hips slowed to a dull rocking, eventually coming to a stop so Bucky could remove his fingers. "See? Nothing to be embarrassed about," Bucky said, kissing him sloppily on the lips.

Ahhh! I loved writing this, I've never written this kind of thing before but I have wanted to for a long time!! I hope you all enjoyed!!

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

The Music of Praise a prayer by Charles Spurgeon

O THOU blessed God, we must be helped of Thy Spirit or we cannot worship Thee aright. Behold the holy angels adore Thee and the hosts redeemed by blood bring everlasting Hallelujahs to Thy feet. What are we, the creatures of a day, polluted with sin, that we should think that we can praise thee? And yet the music of praise were not complete if Thy children did not join in it, even those of them who are still in this world below. Help us, then, enable us to tune our harps and to fetch forth music from our spirit.

Verily, Lord, if there are any creatures in the world that can praise Thee, we ought to do so. Each one among us feels that he has some special reason for gratitude. Lord, it is an unspeakable mercy to know Thee—to know Thee as our reconciled God, to know Thee as our Father in Christ Jesus, who has forgiven us all our trespasses. Oh! it is unspeakably sweet to come and rest in Thee and to know that there is now no cause of quarrel between us and Thee. On the contrary, that we are bound to one another by a covenant which in infinite tenderness and mercy Thou hast made that Thy people might have strong consolation and might boldly take hold on Thee.

Oh! the joy of knowing that we are Thine forever, thine in the trials of life, and thine in the last dread trial of death, and then Thine in resurrection, thine throughout eternity. We do therefore worship Thee, O God, not as a constraining nor under terror or pressure, but cheerfully and gladly, ascribing unto Thee praise, and power, and dominion, and glory, and honor, world without end.

We wish we knew how to do something for Thee. We pray that we may be helped to do so ere we die. Yea, that every flying hour may confess that we have brought Thy Gospel some renown, that we may so live as to extend the Redeemer’s kingdom at least in some little measure, that ours may not be a fruitless, wasted life, that no faculty of ours may lay by and rust, but to the utmost of our capacity may we be helped of the divine Spirit to spend our whole life in real adoration.

We know that he prays that serves, he praises that gives, he adores that obeys, and the life is the best music. Oh! set it to good music, we pray Thee, and help us all through to keep to each note and may there be no false note in all the singing of our life, but all be according to that sacred score which is written out so fully in the life music of our Lord.

We beseech Thee to look down upon Thy children and cheer us. Lord, lift us up. Come, Holy Spirit, like a fresh, bracing wind and let our spirit, through Thy Spirit, rise upward toward God.

We would with much shame-facedness acknowledge our transgressions and sins. There are some that never felt the burden of sin at all. Lord, lay it on them. Press them with it. Almighty God, vex their souls. Let them find no rest till they find rest in Thee. May they never be content to live and die in sin, but of Thine infinite mercy, come to them and make them sorry for their sin.

As for Thy people, we are grieved to think that we do not live better than we do. Blessed be Thy name forever fruit of holiness, forever work of faith, but oh! for more. Thou hast changed the tree. It is no longer a bramble. It can bring forth figs, but now we want to bring forth more of these sweet fruits.

The Lord make us to love Christ intensely, to love the souls of men most heartily, to love Thy truth with earnestness, to love the name of Jesus above everything. May we be ravished with the sound of it. The Lord give us to have every grace, not only love, but faith, and hope, and holy gentleness, meekness, patience, brotherly love. Build us up, we pray Thee, Lord, in all knowledge and in all experience, and give us with this submission to Thy will, holy resignation, great watchfulness, much carefulness in our speech, that we may rule the tongue and so rule the whole body.

The Lord pour out His Spirit upon us that every chamber of our nature may be sweetened and perfumed with the indwelling of God, till our imagination shall only delight in things chaste and pure, till our memory shall cast out the vile stuff from the dark chambers, till we shall expect and long for heavenly things, and our treasure shall all be in heaven and our heart be there. Take our highest manhood, Lord, and saturate it in Thy love, till like Gideon’s fleece it is filled with dew, every lock and every single fleck of it, not a single portion of it left unmoistened by the dew from heaven.

How we do bless Thee for many that are striving to walk as Christ walked and who are also trying to bring others to Christ. O Lord, help us in this struggle after holiness and usefulness and as Thou hast given to many the desire of their hearts in this respect up to a certain measure, now enlarge-their hearts and give them more both of holiness and usefulness. Oh! give us to be like trees planted by the rivers of water, that we ourselves may be vigorous, and then give us to bring forth abundant fruit according to our season, to the praise and glory of God.

Our desire is that we may be quickened in our progress toward the celestial life. Visit us with Thy salvation. Lord, let us not only have life, but let us have it more abundantly. May we every one of us quicken His pace and may we run more earnestly than ever toward the mark that is set before us.

Remember all Thy Church throughout the whole world. Prosper missionary operations. Be with any ministers or missionaries that are depressed for lack of success. Be with any that are rejoicing because of success. May each heart be kept in a right state, so that Thou mayest use Thy servants to the utmost of possibility.

O God, send us better days than these, we pray Thee. We thank Thee for all the light there is, but send us more light. We thank Thee for what life there is among Christians, but send more of it. Bind the churches together in unity, and then give them such speed, such force, such power that they shall break into the ranks of the adversary and the victory shall be unto Christ and to His people.

Remember our dear country. Bless the Sovereign. Remember all those that lead our legislature. Be gracious unto all ranks and conditions of men. Have mercy upon all that are poor and needy, all that are sick and sorrowing, and that are tossed upon the sea. Remember the prisoners and such as have no helper. Be gracious to such as are in the article of death and finally, let the day come when the Sun shall shine forth in all His brightness, even Christ Jesus shall be manifested, to be admired in them that believe and to make glad the whole creation. Make no tarrying, O Thou Sun of Righteousness. Amen.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Alabama, where they serve women's rights sunny-side up :: Clay Jones :: @claytoonz

* * * *

The Alabama Supreme Court decision regarding frozen embryos continues to cause chaos, confusion, and fear.

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled this week that a frozen embryo held in storage outside the human body is a “human child” for purposes of a wrongful death statute. Although the opinion deals with a civil lawsuit (not a criminal prosecution), the reasoning could be applied to murder prosecutions by the Alabama Supreme Court. The possibility of civil liability for wrongful death or criminal liability for murder arising out of in vitro fertilization procedures caused the largest IVF facility in Alabama to cease the fertility procedures. See CNN, Days after Alabama’s Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are children, one facility pauses IVF treatment.

There are reasons to believe that the rationale in Burdick-Aysenne v. Center for Reproductive Medicine will not be applied to the criminal context, as explained by Ian Millhiser in Vox, The Alabama Supreme Court’s IVF opinion saying embryos are children, explained. Millhiser’s explication of the legal reasoning in Burdick is superb; if you want to dig deep into the legal history and context, Millhiser’s article is the place to start.

Millhiser explains that “Alabama’s criminal homicide law applies only to “an unborn child in utero.” Frozen embryos stored in cryogenic freezers are not “in utero.” Therefore, any reasonable observer would conclude that the handling of frozen embryos stored in cryogenic containers are not “human children in utero.”

The problem is that at least one member of the Alabama Supreme Court invoked religious dogma in setting forth his rationale for joining the majority opinion. Chief Justice Parker wrote a concurring opinion that included the following:

Man's creation in God's image is the basis of the general prohibition on the intentional taking of human life. See Genesis 9:6. [T]the doctrine of the sanctity of life is rooted in the Sixth Commandment: "You shall not murder." Exodus 20:13 Aquinas taught that "it is in no way lawful to slay the innocent" because "we ought to love the nature which God has made, and which is destroyed by slaying him." Calvin explained the reason for the Sixth Commandment this way: "Man is both the image of God and our flesh. Wherefore, if we would not violate the image of God, we must hold the person of man sacred." In summary, the theologically based view of the sanctity of life adopted by the People of Alabama encompasses the following: (1) God made every person in His image; (2) each person therefore has a value that far exceeds the ability of human beings to calculate; and (3) human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God, who views the destruction of His image as an affront to Himself. [Alabama law] recognizes that this is true of unborn human life no less than it is of all other human life -- that even before birth, all human beings bear the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory.

But the fact that at least one member of the Alabama Supreme Court (the Chief Justice) believes that religious dogma and faith can and should supersede civil law, no reasonable person in Alabama should take comfort in the notion that the criminal laws apply only to “an unborn child in utero.”  

Caution is especially warranted given that Chief Justice Parker recently appeared on the podcast of a QAnon conspiracy theorist and endorsed the so-called “Seven Mountains Mandate a theological approach that calls on Christians to impose fundamentalist values on all aspects of American life.” See Media Matters, Alabama Supreme Court chief justice spreads Christian nationalist rhetoric on QAnon conspiracy theorist's show.

In short, resorting to legal reasoning and precedent may provide little comfort when the Alabama Chief Justice looks not at the state law and constitution but to the Bible and the commentary of Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin when deciding a civil action for damages caused by the destruction of cryogenically frozen embryos.

Alabama’s Supreme Court has inflicted cruelty and anxiety on thousands of couples trying to conceive and tens of thousands of medical professionals assisting them. Joyce Vance lives in Alabama. She posted the following on Wednesday:

Just contemplating my life in a state where frozen embryos have more rights than I do . . . .

Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter

[templevirgin]

Evening's grace, or night's tranquility, Princess of the Temple. May eternal blessings embrace your path.

In my writing, I want to say something about your blog. You have captivated me with the mercy of your wise heart, and the truth is that I am very grateful for your words in your divine diary, in your favorite prayers that capture the human and angelic beauty of this world made of flesh that we obtain in our sacred hearts. Your blog gives me the most holy inspiration to pray every day for God, for the Virgin Mary, and for Jesus Christ. I want to cry with ethereal happiness, as I am appreciating a blog that is honestly as beautiful as the Catholic Church.

And I have only one question for you, my soul. Do you believe in accepting the forgiveness of your enemies?

Our Lady of Sorrow saves your precious heart, mind & soul.

Wow, this was an immensely sweet message to read!

God bless you, and thank you so much. I'm humbled to have learned that you're captivated by this little blog. It was a place for me to put all of my religious musings and share my love for the Church. I didn't think it would have a big impact but I'm glad to know it has edified & inspired you. I appreciate this!

Please do pray more, God desires to be closer to you! It is something we must do "without ceasing" as He commands. And come home, come home! The Church awaits!

As to your question, I do believe in forgiving of my enemies. Jesus told Peter, when he asked how often he should forgive his brother when he sins against him, to do so "not seven times, but seventy-seven times." Forgiveness can be very, very hard but it is something we must do. I believe it's a grace given by God through the love of Jesus Christ and can be gifted by Him, if we pray for it and desire it fully in our hearts. Jesus calls all of us to be peacemakers, even with our enemies, and to uphold righteousness and order where we can.

As a side note: On this blog, I do post a lot of soldiers, knights, and cowboys. There are images of guns, swords, and other weaponry, or army-related images in general. I do not condone physical violence in real life as I am very peaceful. I deeply admire the masculine energy and the conqueror, king, and protector role that men bring to this earth when abiding in Christ and I want my future husband to have these traits. I feel it is severely lacking in many men today so warriors are a good model to reach from. Knights, for example, in their moral profile, are good examples of virtue in their civility, chivalry, bravery, order, and nobility. I am reminded of a wonderful passage from the book, "Heroism and Genius",

"Chivalry’s vision of warrior-hood penetrated the hearts of many of Europe’s knights. Indeed it even roused some of them to lifelong heroism, whereby they renounced all that men hold dear—marriage, family, independence and fortune—to go and dwell in monastic fortresses, sallying forth to fight, and often die, amid desert sands in the Middle East for the defense of the Holy Land. For these knights, and for many others, a vital element of chivalry’s ability to arouse self-sacrifice lay in its vision of Jesus Christ as the supreme hero and ideal warrior."

Let none of us forget, however, the greatest commandment of Jesus:

12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

God Bless You! I will keep you in my prayers!

St. John the Evangelist, patron saint of friendship, pray for us!

[ome-magical-ramblings]

Closed Practices, Initiation, and gate-keeping practices.

One of my friend was discussing the idea of using a mantra from a lineage and how to approach it, he said the following: {start quote} I don't get why people practice Vajrayana mantras without initiation. I'm fully aware that one can gain initiation without human help, however literally every Tibetan tradition will tell you that you are wrong for doing this Because on the other hand there are sects that actually want people to use their mantra

And encourage it I'm not some gatekeeping Tibetan monk

It's just that in my experience doing anything from Vajrayana requires empowerment from a monk

It personally really makes me doubt the entire vehicle

Every time I touch Vajrayana it seems more like a money making grift than anything else

[...] Whenever I encounter a tradition that is fundamentally broken, rather than try to scavenge the pieces I just leave it alone and keep on moving When you're working with a machine and are trying to skip 1000 years of lineage holding guru. It makes me wonder if it's worth getting involved with at all We have living traditions right now, living gods and masters, that don't come with baggage attached {end quote} Honestly! it makes me think where I do stand in this whole thing. This morning I saw this image that a different friend shared for me about the topic, from Hoodoo Moses:

Which is true, it makes me think about these people who says "closed practice this, closed practice that" and they don't even consider the rift between them and their own cultural practices. I as an Arab know for a fact that there's a huge rift between the practices followed by modern Arab magicians, Arab magicians in the 1900s and the magic talked about in older grimoires, it doesn't even need to be asked when you think about it that there's a huge rift between these 3 but they're all performing and working legitimately. There's this idea that the religion or practice being done is verbatim to the text, which is a good idea in theory but practically or at least culturally there's also modification and changes within own community and that could come as surprising. I know I was shocked when I realized the rift between what people worshipped in modern Thailand compared to the image in Thai Buddhism in text. Same goes for Arab magic in something like Shams Al Ma'arif compared to how it's done by arab magicians. The time difference doesn't really drill down into people's head possibly because they don't have the conceptual grasping on what I mean by that, I will give an example in the

Mahāvaipulya Sūtra of the Tathāgata Store, Translated from Sanskrit into Chinese in the Eastern Jin Dynasty by The Tripiṭaka Master Buddhabhadra from India We see a list of attendee to the dharma discourse and one of the attendees is Fragrant Elephant Bodhisattva, why fragrant elephant... That's possibly culturally related to ancient Indian culture. It makes you think about these practices from the point of view of a modern buddhist would know how to perform this Mandala in the Usinsa Vijaya Dharani's Sutra:   “Those who desire to perform this maṇḍala rite should, on the fifteenth day of a waxing moon, mix perfumed water with yellow soil and cow dung and smear the ground with this mixture. The square maṇḍala measures four elbow lengths on each side, and it should be surrounded by three tiers of gemstones from the Laṅkā Mountain, which are in five colors. An ancillary tier of white Laṅkā gemstones marks the boundary on the four sides. Scatter flowers inside the maṇḍala and place four vessels of water on the lotus flowers painted in the four corners. The vessels should be the same in size. Reverently place a bottle of holy relics and cow’s bezoar on the center lotus flower. In the maṇḍala, scatter various flowers and burn incense and various kinds of fragrances, such as camphor, saffron, agalloch, and so forth....[]

Other than that, people are so hinged on the living gods or living traditions currently not looking into how they're approaching the world themselves. How do you know the living gods are gonna accept you and not the persumed "dead" gods, What do you bring to the table for the living Masters? We see the twelve disciples leaving their homes to follow Jesus and to teach, suffer, and die in his name. We see Marpa demanding that Milarepa build and demolish three stone towers before he would teach him.  Or maybe Lisiewski who built and shipped a furnace to Albertus for use in some special alchemical work, and photocopied the entire Crowley collection housed at Penn State University and mailed it to Regardie for his research.  Are you willing to follow in their footsteps?[link] I know that there are grifters and guru who larp to exploit people, but that's not the main issue here. If your practice is only on the level of face-to-face/physical basis then you need to go deeper. You can knock on the spirits door and ask them, you can ask your local spirits to help you, sages and saints of the tradition you're seeking, the world is living, breathing, and haunted with spirits that you can talk to. Coming back and wrapping all of that back to this point, how do you know a closed practice from an open practice? You in your infinite wisdom have a certified "stamped" approval from some person who's gonna tell you yea that's practice for everyone. That's the thing tho, it brings me to a topic of refinement culture touched upon by @on-the-pechka 's here , welp it is basically related to the Lindy effect and refinement culture. We are seeing it in occult, magic, and spirituality lately, when everything become so samey, all occult discord servers require introductions, technique merge and mingle without a say or word and the emergence of "suitable" for everyone practices appear. You have to really get your mind thinking about this, the practice become so accessible that it reach the lowest common denominator and then what? You're gonna look at me in the eyes and tell me that they are 1:1 to the fractured and fragmented pieces we find, The PGM(Greek Magical Papyri) isn't one single system, Shams Al Ma'arif isn't Ahmad Al-Buni only, and when you look into the preexisting systems before us there's also precedent of syncretism, Jake Stratton Kent in his Testament of St Cyprian mentioned it well: All this places considerable responsibility with the reader, but also circumvents the limitations implicit had I approached the project differently; saying ‘these are my gods, these are my spirit superiors and spirits, work my system by rote and you won’t have to think very hard.’ That approach has been employed extensively and has not provided much by way of insight; reinforcing differences rather than revealing underlying patterns and their syncretic basis. If anything misunderstandings and artificial elements have proliferated by this means. Invention without attention to the underlying principles has had many failings. You have to drill this into your mind, the current living traditions didn't live because they are the best suitable for you. They survived because they contained the most accessible tools to the "masses", the harder the entry gate, the more obscure, fragmented systems often hold keys to unknown territory that we often don't know...Maybe you should knock on these doors? what is the worst that can happen? shouldn't we take it from the horse mouth itself and ask the entities of the tradition if they accept our entry into their system or not? If you approach them respectfully the worst that can happen is that they say "no" or block you from contacting them.

[albertfinch]

EMBRACING THE LIMITLESS ANOINTING

Today we set our hearts and focus on the presence of the Lord and His NOW word that brings divine impartation that will enable us to flourish into a season of great fruitfulness for the glory of the Lord as we advance in His calling on our life. 

John 15:8 - "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples."

Basking in His presence and power, love takes hold more deeply, joy springs forth like a river, peace is established by the Prince of Peace, and as we are pursuing our calling in Christ we are empowered  to live above our natural ability.

Galatians 5:25 - "Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives." NLT

We are enabled to live in the Spirit and by the Spirit—moving from glory to glory in our Christ calling. His gifts and the fruit of His Spirit are continually increasing and flowing with rivers of His goodness that provide all we need for life and godliness.

POSITIONING OURSELVES TO BEAR FRUIT FOR THE KINGDOM

His presence is also a place of genuine hunger for the Word of God – realizing that God has put His Kingdom inside us, and it manifests to the world through the work of each Believer as they move forward in their calling. The Word comes alive and mysteries are revealed as the Word becomes like fire in the bones as we seek to bear fruit unto God's Kingdom. Within us arises a holy boldness to decree the Word of God to shift the unseen realm and break down every barrier of the enemy with the power of the Word.

1 Thessalonians 1:5 - "for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction;"

EQUIPPED TO ADVANCE GOD'S KINGDOM

We now see the authority and power that is available to us and the increase that will accomplish the destiny He has purposed for us to achieve.

Ephesians 3:16 – “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,”

Your future comes from God’s possibilities and from His potential, not the world’s, not your own. His potential and all of His promises of possibility flow through the Holy Spirit into you, and He will strengthen you with His might to accomplish those things, to be who you are called to be, to do what you are called to do (God's PURPOSE  for your life), and to have what you are promised to have.

The Holy Spirit desires us to live every day in the fullness of the Lord, by seeing above and beyond what we can do, and He desires for Jesus to receive glory and honor through His great power that works in us and through us. This is the essence of what Paul writes about in Ephesians 3:20–21: “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

ALBERT FINCH MINISTRY

[gatekeeper-watchman]

Daily Devotionals for June 3, 2023 Proverbs: God's Wisdom for Daily Living Devotional Scripture:

Proverbs 17:26-28(KJV): 26 Also to punish the just is not good, nor to strike princes for equity. 27 He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit. 28 Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. Proverbs 17:26-28(Amp): 26 Also to punish or fine the righteous is not good, nor to smite the noble for their uprightness. 27 He who knows spares his words, and a man of understanding has a cool spirit. 28 Even a fool when he holds peace is considered wise; when he closes his lips he is esteemed a man of understanding.

Thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark, and there I will meet with thee. Verse 26 – Those who have punished the righteous to deter others from following their faith have found that it backfires. Smiting those who are just, noble, and upright is not a good thing. Throughout history, those who have punished the righteous to make an example of them in some way made them martyrs instead, and in the eyes of the people, they become heroes. Their followers were inspired to fight even stronger for their faith and goals. Those who die for their beliefs are honored by others, even their enemies. It has been said that the church is built on the blood of martyrs. Many unbelievers, who witnessed Christians die for their faith were convicted and believed in Christ. This still happens. We can be a witness for Jesus by how we conduct ourselves under persecution, as well as by how we live our lives daily. Verses 27-28 – Many problems can be traced to speaking foolishly. Disrespect and loud words only stir up trouble. A foul mouth paves the way for many troubles, but even a fool is thought to be wise if he keeps quiet. Those who use words wisely are known as people of understanding and an excellent spirit. Because sin easily entangles us, we need to be reminded of the truth. "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us" (Hebrews 12:1). This is why the Bible repeats many things. Repetition is an excellent means of learning. It is not out of place here to review some principles regarding wise and foolish speaking habits: The mouth cannot utter what is not in the heart. "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh" (Luke 6:45). Proud, boastful words reveal foolishness in the heart (Jude 1:16). The wise speak constructively because they guard their hearts. They ask God to search them and bring to light whatever does not line up with His ways. They quickly resolve their anger and forgive others. They fill their minds with God’s Word and whatever is wholesome. They refuse to harbor bitterness. It is foolish to believe Satan’s lies instead of God’s Word. Unbelief leads us to utter negative things which can bring curses upon us. We need the Holy Spirit to help us ground our mouths so that we speak edifying things. When we line up our speech with God’s word, we shall be blessed.

Prayer Devotional for the Day

Dear heavenly Father, thank you for Your many blessings. As we face each new day, Lord, may we do so with an expectation that You will prevail in our lives and help us do Your will. Help us to guard our lips and speak things that are good and right. Let us refrain our lips from all evil. Lord, we want our tongues to be an instrument of righteousness in Your ears. I ask that You help me to keep my mouth shut when I need to do so and help me to open it and speak when You are prompting me to do so. Give me the Holy boldness to witness to others of Your love and grace, and to hold my peace when I should. I ask this in the Holy name of Jesus. Amen.

From: Steven P. Miller @ParkermillerQ, Founder of Gatekeeper-Watchman International Groups Friday, June 2, 2023, Jacksonville, Florida., Duval County, USA. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Sparkermiller.JAX.FL.USA, https://www.facebook.com/StevenParkerMillerQ Instagram: steven_parker_miller_1956, Twitter: @GatekeeperWatchman1, @ParkermillerQ, https://twitter.com/StevenPMiller6 Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/gatekeeperwatchman, https://www.tumblr.com/gatekeeper-watchman, https://www.pinterest.com/GatekeeperWatchman1/ #GWIG, #GWIN, #GWINGO, #Ephraim1, #IAM, #Sparkermiller, #Eldermiller1981

[michaelofnebadon]

Salvington students who are opening to the Ideas of Eternity .. and to the advancing fellows of the Planetary Prince School who are determined to transmute all their lifetimes unto the Living Ideal of all of God's Ideas .. that you transform thyselves unto the One Reality Personified . . .

Oh thou Universal Spirit .. First Source .. Parenthood of all Life ...

We are worshipful of You, thou Heavenly Father Mother of Existence .. we adore You and we honor You in every way imaginable for us.

Expand .. Expand .. Expand .. thine Generosity .. thine Glory.

Extend .. Extend .. Extend .. thine Grace to all the Body of Life.

Express .. Express .. Express .. in all thine Majesty .. thine Everlasting Love Majesty.

Emanate .. Emanate .. Emanate .. thine Omnipotence in all ways and for the benevolence of all beings.

Thou Unfathomable Mystery .. You who have created and brought forth Light and Love Inestimable ..

We open ourselves to receive of You .. to extend of You .. to become your expression.

Let thine Holy Light fill us and saturate our field of personal consciousness until You hold us permanently in thine Stability and Security .. thine Safety and Sovereignty.

Our joy is in living each day thine Will of evolutionizing ourselves in mind, body, and persona .. eternalizing all our  possibilities .. ennobling our character dignity .. delivering into Your Holy Light all probabilities of circumstance and relationship.

I bid thee .. mine children of Nebadon .. all potentialities to be brought forth unto God's Immaculate Glory.

Michael Of Nebadon

The Planetary Gospel

[femmephantasm]

tiefling rave: screaming and growling ripping their own and each other's clothing off smelling like brimstone and grinding on each other to witch house

lizardfolk rave: wrestling and biting other lizardfolk or various chewable objects inbetween krumping to slimepunk

hobgoblin rave: choreographed headbanging with fists raised while turned toward a mosh pit which determines the silently agreed upon hierarchy of the rave-goers and if you don't obey it they hold you down and forcefeed you shots and evil weed until you start seeing spiders and pissing yourself all the while patriotic industrial metal plays bassy enough for you to feel it in your taint

aasimar rave: constant smiling and sobbing with people high on ecstacy or molly deciding they're soul mates at random doing rather chaste partnered dances to gregorian chant eurobeat that somehow ends up with them fucking on every surface, megachurch style fog machine and light show turned up high enough to blind lesser mortals with images of the rapture

gnome rave: gently square dancing to a soft ensemble of flute and the peaceful sound of a babbling brook while high on the loudest shit you can get this side of the nine realms

mindflayer rave: silent disco sitting cross-legged in a circle while mentally reenacting Jacob's Ladder and the 7 hour war while their tendrils wriggle slightly in hushed laughter, there is a random assortment of humanoids in the center screaming and clutching their heads as their eyes flood with blood and spinal fluid, mouths foaming. The headphones play ambient drone music.

kobold rave: the dragon puts on a Spotify playlist at a volume so loud that they can't even tell what they're listening to anymore smacking their tails and yipping to a perceived rhythm while using open fire to shine light through various prisms and staring into the resulting rainbow and getting absolutely entranced by things like patterns and colors

halfling rave: jolly jigging and clapping along with bardcore that involves an 8 minute hurdy gurdy solo that fucks doing more than usual pipeweed with your uncle's cousin's neighbor's business partner's boyfriend's maid's niece who pulls out some unlabeled hot pink pills in the shape of the god of mischief's holy symbol and saying "I got these while in the elven country!" and you end up throwing up a lot and being more high than anyone should be 2-3 days afterwards

drow rave: 19 hours of twitching and spasming high on evil acid popping and locking to harsh noise music with various blindfolded twinks chained to furniture if you step on a spider you get killed with bare hands

catgirl rave: pregame cuddle pile followed by zoomies and rolling around in catnip climbing on all the walls and curtains and furniture and shit like that with 90s-2000s chiptune blaring loud enough to be heard a block over

kenku rave: shuffling around nervously while sipping on whatever booze they can find while others beckon them to try the most random research chemicals and flapping their wings while doing various fortnite dances to Plunderphonics and low-quality dubstep MP3s the DJ torrented

troglodyte rave: huffing jenkem in an abandoned mineshaft undulating and twisting like they're trying to tell someone they have a heart attack (they're having a great time) listening to 1980s berliner soft rock

warforged rave: taking turns getting shocked with magic staves and wands rattling their plates and rocking back and forth while listening to clockwork and factory noises, they end up hitting each other cause its all their instincts give them and the bashing sounds add to the ambience. A few lucky newcomers will experience the sensation of taste for the first time in their lives.

dwarf rave: one guy chants while everyone else rhythmically stomps their iron boots. by the end, the whole club is knee deep in rubble

elf rave: 19 hours of thrashing, acid tripping, and interpretive dancing to calm ambient music and forest sounds

orc rave: everyone stoically nods their head to the loudest and bassiest beats the realm has ever heard

[jc4ltm]

The Slammer – An Ever Growing Web Novel – Chapter 1.1

The audibly intense, almost violent sounding crack that fills the air is common place here at Holman Stadium, which coincidentally was the very first place that actually allowed the first professional black baseball players to play alongside the white baseball players, in the racially segregated post World War 2 America. Here in the twenty first century it is merely a footnote to the history that is being made here again. It is the season opener here, and the fans are packed in as they always are when the pride of the team is on the mound, but other than that the park is merely a forgotten treasure in America. Out of the ashes of the forgotten field that the park had become over the last half century, two incredibly over dressed men were sitting in the bleachers off to the left of home plate holding a radar gun, and whispering amongst them.

The crowd here knows its role quite well as the silence in the park would be almost as deafening, had it not been for the hum of the PA system. The loud crack whenever the baseball would hit the leather of the catcher’s mitt, seemingly with the force of a .357 magnum yet feared far more than that, as you can tell from the man standing so awkward, so alone, beside the plate awaiting his punishment for daring to face the far more imposing man sixty feet away. People around the two men kept trying to shush them up, every time they would whisper, and it was amazing the gospel of watching a pitcher go into his wind up as it was imposed upon you by the rest of the fan base.

The older of the two gentlemen fumbled around with the radar gun a bit more as the younger, and obviously more important of the two men, stood up with the rest of the crowd, just as silent, and equally in awe of the “Adonis Like” figure standing in the middle of the diamond. His towering frame, and his blank stare that is everything that a community would not so secretly yearn for in the man controlling the sacred defense of the home town warriors as he mercilessly beats back the failing offense of the enemies that dared to come to our home in hopes of glory. Glory that has never been found when facing this sacred defender of the holy temple of baseball, that the town people of Nashua have so greatly enjoyed looking up to. The defender of this great palace shows not a hint of emotion as he receives his weapon from the plate, and stands far more towering as the younger gentleman, see’s his outline marked in the setting sun, about to make prey of this victim yet again.

The very look of intent on this man, this God, as he sets forth his windup, body arching back, hands full extension, glove hand pointing downward, yet towards the terrified man who dare face the mighty Thor, bearing only a wooden stick that so timidly rests upon his weak shoulder. The hand clutching the fierce bolt of lightning to be launched upon this lunatic David, without the aid of God, sets back for what seems like an eternity as his tree trunk of a leg slowly rises toward the sky. Again the younger gentleman in the crowd looks upon this with the awe of a child at his very first baseball game, and the total silence that sets upon the field creates the drama needed to understand what is about to happen. The two men have been witnessing it for over an hour now, but with each pounding of the sacred sphere, it gets a little more awe inspiring then the last.

With the force of thousand horses, the awkwardly positioned young Hero set forth on a violent sweeping thrust forward that shot the mere baseball forward with such force that in the silence that the audience provided, you could actually hear the searing noise of an object moving faster than the air around it could usually allow. The sonic crack that the freshly hurled baseball made was instantaneous, as the crowd rumbled into thunderous applause, before the umpire could even raise his hand to signal that another enemy, the LAST enemy for this day, had been vanquished by the mighty God like entity that still stands there as if he is expecting the baseball to be thrown back to him.

The older of the two gentlemen in the crowd holds the back of the radar gun toward the gaze of the younger man, as the entire team surrounds the man in the middle of the diamond, who still hasn’t changed that stone like look on his face. The digital readout on the back of the gun had three numbers, a one, a zero, and a five, in that order to be exact, and the older gentleman finally speaks out to the younger, with “Ninety Seven pitches and he ends the game with a One hundred and five mile per hour fast ball that totally paralyzed that guy,” but it appears to have fallen on deaf, or at the very least confused ears. Shaking his head he starts to put the equipment back into the briefcase.

The younger man clears his throat, and begins to start what he appears to hope will be a lucid sentence, but you can tell that there is a little confusion, or maybe it is concern at this point upon his face, but no matter as he says out loud, “This kid has been striking out over 150 batters a year for 2 full years now, and why are we the only two scouts here John?” after looking at the face of the other man that is so obviously now trying to avoid his stare, he then adds, “Don’t get me wrong, that was the most impressive thing I have seen in all of my years of baseball, so I assume that whatever the hell his baggage is, it’s really bad, and I better know before I go put my head on a stake to get this kid in a Red Sox uniform.”

John, the older of the two, timidly starts his reply to what was so expertly deduced from his supervising scout with, “Well he has a few quirks that need ironing out, like … um … he’ll only pitch for the catcher you saw out there with him today, which could present a problem,” and he then went about frantically trying to get the stuff put away again.

“I can’t see that being too much of a problem, that guy was a pretty good catcher, most teams have allowed really special pitchers to drag a catcher along with them if he is at least …”

“She” John interrupted as his boss looked upon him with that look of “Excuse me?” upon his face, thus forcing John to add, “It’s his sister, and he refuses to pitch for anyone other than his sister, well … kind of …” he trails out a bit, like he knows more, and the younger man refuses to acknowledge a thing until he continues with his tail, which he finally does, “He’s severely autistic, and he won’t acknowledge anyone else. I talked to the manager, and they tried every catcher they could get their hands on. It stopped being an issue anyway, since this is independent double A ball in Podunk New Hampshire, nobody really cares, and as you said, she’s actually a great hitter with excellent catching skills, but …”

“But it’s still a total waste of my time to try to be watching a pitcher who is mentally handicapped and his sister playing baseball, no matter how good they are!” the younger man shouted back at him, almost creating a scene with the crowd that is still around them, and obviously NOT very happy with someone making brash statements about their deities around here.

“Look Chris, I realize that it seems that way, but this is a tandem that is a guaranteed 20 wins a year to the ball club, and that is really all that matters. This isn’t the 40’s anymore, and bullshit like this shouldn’t be an issue anymore. I’m sorry but I am a sixty two year old guy, who should be the one here who cares irrationally about these things, and I don’t, I just love the game, and I love watching both of them play. I felt like I was watching Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson, the first time I saw them, and I want to give the world that gift!” … to be continued

[yhwhrulz]

True Vine Devotional for February 10

“ I am The Vine, Ye Are The Branches ”

John 15:5

In the previous verse Christ had just said: “Abide in me.” He had then announced the great unalterable law of all branch-life, on earth or in Heaven: “not of itself”; “except it abide.” In the opening words of the parable He had already spoken: “I am the vine.” He now repeats the words. He would have us understand—note well the lesson, simple as it appears, it is the key of the abiding life—that the only way to obey the command, “Abide in me,” is to have eye and heart fixed upon Himself. “Abide in me…I am the true vine.” Yea, study this holy mystery until you see Christ as the true Vine, bearing, strengthening, supplying, inspiring all His branches, being and doing in each branch all it needs, and the abiding will come of itself. Yes, gaze upon Him as the true Vine, until you feel what a heavenly Mystery it is, and are compelled to ask the Father to reveal it to you by His Holy Spi rit. He to whom God reveals the glory of the true Vine, he who sees what Jesus is and waits to do every moment, he cannot but abide. The vision of Christ is an irresistible attraction; it draws and holds us like a magnet. Listen ever to the living Christ still speaking to you, and waiting to show you the meaning and power of His Word: “I am the vine.”

How much weary labor there has been in striving to understand what abiding is, how much fruitless effort in trying to attain it! Why was this? Because the attention was turned to the abiding as a work we have to do, instead of the living Christ, in whom we were to be kept abiding, who Himself was to hold and keep us. we thought of abiding as a continual strain and effort—we forget that it means rest from effort to one who has found the place of his abode. Do notice how Christ said, “Abide in Me; I am the Vine that brings forth, and holds, and strengthens, and makes fruitful the branches. Abide in Me, rest in Me, and let Me do My work. I am the true Vine, all I am, and speak, and do is divine truth, giving the actual reality of what is said. I am the Vine, only consent and yield thy all to Me, I will do all in thee.”

And so it sometimes comes that souls who have never been specially occupied with the thought of abiding, are abiding all the time, because they are occupied with Christ. Not that the word abide is not needful; Christ used it so often, because it is the very key to the Christian life. But He would have us understand it in its true sense—“Come out of every other place, and every other trust and occupation, come out of self with its reasonings and efforts, come and rest in what I shall do. Live out of thyself; abide in Me. Know that thou art in Me; thou needest no more; remain there in Me.”

“I am the Vine.” Christ did not keep this mystery hidden from His disciples. He revealed it, first in words here, then in power when the Holy Spirit came down. He will reveal it to us too, first in the thoughts and confessions and desires these words awaken, then in power by the Spirit. Do let us wait on Him to show us all the heavenly meaning of the mystery. Let each day, in our quiet time, in the inner chamber with Him and His Word, our chief thought and aim be to get the heart fixed on Him, in the assurance: all that a vine ever can do for its branches, my Lord Jesus will do, is doing, for me. Give Him time, give Him your ear, that He may whisper and explain the divine secret: “I am the vine.”

Above all, remember, Christ is the Vine of God’s planting, and you are a branch of God’s grafting. Ever stand before God, in Christ; ever wait for all grace from God, in Christ; ever yield yourself to bear the more fruit the Husbandman asks, in Christ. And pray much for the revelation of the mystery that all the love and power of God that rested on Christ is working in you too. “I am God’s Vine,” Jesus says; “all I am I have from Him; all I am is for you; God will work it in you.”

I am the Vine. Blessed Lord, speak Thou that word into my soul. Then shall I know that all Thy fullness is for me. And that I can count upon Thee to stream it into me, and that my abiding is so easy and so sure when I forget and lose myself in the adoring faith that the Vine holds the branch and supplies its every need.

Copyright Statement This material is considered in the public domain.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

The Music of Praise by Charles Spurgeon

O Thou blessed God, we must be helped of Thy Spirit or we cannot worship Thee aright. Behold the holy angels adore Thee and the hosts redeemed by blood bring everlasting Hallelujahs to Thy feet. What are we, the creatures of a day, polluted with sin, that we should think that we can praise thee? And yet the music of praise were not complete if Thy children did not join in it, even those of them who are still in this world below. Help us, then, enable us to tune our harps and to fetch forth music from our spirit.

Verily, Lord, if there are any creatures in the world that can praise Thee, we ought to do so. Each one among us feels that he has some special reason for gratitude. Lord, it is an unspeakable mercy to know Thee—to know Thee as our reconciled God, to know Thee as our Father in Christ Jesus, who has forgiven us all our trespasses. Oh! it is unspeakably sweet to come and rest in Thee and to know that there is now no cause of quarrel between us and Thee. On the contrary, that we are bound to one another by a covenant which in infinite tenderness and mercy Thou hast made that Thy people might have strong consolation and might boldly take hold on Thee.

Oh! the joy of knowing that we are Thine forever, thine in the trials of life, and thine in the last dread trial of death, and then Thine in resurrection, thine throughout eternity. We do therefore worship Thee, O God, not as a constraining nor under terror or pressure, but cheerfully and gladly, ascribing unto Thee praise, and power, and dominion, and glory, and honor, world without end.

We wish we knew how to do something for Thee. We pray that we may be helped to do so ere we die. Yea, that every flying hour may confess that we have brought Thy Gospel some renown, that we may so live as to extend the Redeemer’s kingdom at least in some little measure, that ours may not be a fruitless, wasted life, that no faculty of ours may lay by and rust, but to the utmost of our capacity may we be helped of the divine Spirit to spend our whole life in real adoration.

We know that he prays that serves, he praises that gives, he adores that obeys, and the life is the best music. Oh! set it to good music, we pray Thee, and help us all through to keep to each note and may there be no false note in all the singing of our life, but all be according to that sacred score which is written out so fully in the life music of our Lord.

We beseech Thee to look down upon Thy children and cheer us. Lord, lift us up. Come, Holy Spirit, like a fresh, bracing wind and let our spirit, through Thy Spirit, rise upward toward God.

We would with much shame-facedness acknowledge our transgressions and sins. There are some that never felt the burden of sin at all. Lord, lay it on them. Press them with it. Almighty God, vex their souls. Let them find no rest till they find rest in Thee. May they never be content to live and die in sin, but of Thine infinite mercy, come to them and make them sorry for their sin.

As for Thy people, we are grieved to think that we do not live better than we do. Blessed be Thy name forever fruit of holiness, forever work of faith, but oh! for more. Thou hast changed the tree. It is no longer a bramble. It can bring forth figs, but now we want to bring forth more of these sweet fruits.

The Lord make us to love Christ intensely, to love the souls of men most heartily, to love Thy truth with earnestness, to love the name of Jesus above everything. May we be ravished with the sound of it. The Lord give us to have every grace, not only love, but faith, and hope, and holy gentleness, meekness, patience, brotherly love. Build us up, we pray Thee, Lord, in all knowledge and in all experience, and give us with this submission to Thy will, holy resignation, great watchfulness, much carefulness in our speech, that we may rule the tongue and so rule the whole body.

The Lord pour out His Spirit upon us that every chamber of our nature may be sweetened and perfumed with the indwelling of God, till our imagination shall only delight in things chaste and pure, till our memory shall cast out the vile stuff from the dark chambers, till we shall expect and long for heavenly things, and our treasure shall all be in heaven and our heart be there. Take our highest manhood, Lord, and saturate it in Thy love, till like Gideon’s fleece it is filled with dew, every lock and every single fleck of it, not a single portion of it left unmoistened by the dew from heaven.

How we do bless Thee for many that are striving to walk as Christ walked and who are also trying to bring others to Christ. O Lord, help us in this struggle after holiness and usefulness and as Thou hast given to many the desire of their hearts in this respect up to a certain measure, now enlarge-their hearts and give them more both of holiness and usefulness. Oh! give us to be like trees planted by the rivers of water, that we ourselves may be vigorous, and then give us to bring forth abundant fruit according to our season, to the praise and glory of God.

Our desire is that we may be quickened in our progress toward the celestial life. Visit us with Thy salvation. Lord, let us not only have life, but let us have it more abundantly. May we every one of us quicken His pace and may we run more earnestly than ever toward the mark that is set before us.

Remember all Thy Church throughout the whole world. Prosper missionary operations. Be with any ministers or missionaries that are depressed for lack of success. Be with any that are rejoicing because of success. May each heart be kept in a right state, so that Thou mayest use Thy servants to the utmost of possibility.

O God, send us better days than these, we pray Thee. We thank Thee for all the light there is, but send us more light. We thank Thee for what life there is among Christians, but send more of it. Bind the churches together in unity, and then give them such speed, such force, such power that they shall break into the ranks of the adversary and the victory shall be unto Christ and to His people.

Remember our dear country. Remember all those that lead our legislature. Be gracious unto all ranks and conditions of men. Have mercy upon all that are poor and needy, all that are sick and sorrowing, and that are tossed upon the sea. Remember the prisoners and such as have no helper. Be gracious to such as are in the article of death and finally, let the day come when the Sun shall shine forth in all His brightness, even Christ Jesus shall be manifested, to be admired in them that believe and to make glad the whole creation. Make no tarrying, O Thou Sun of Righteousness. Amen.

[dfroza]

A link to my personal reading of the Scriptures

for the 10th of january 2025 with a paired chapter from each Testament (the First & the New Covenant) of the Bible

[The Book of Acts, Chapter 21 • The Book of 2nd Kings, Chapter 1]

along with Today’s reading from the ancient books of Proverbs and Psalms with Proverbs 10 and Psalm 10 coinciding with the day of the month and year (with the consummate book of 150 Psalms in its 1st revolution this year), accompanied by Psalm 21 for the 21st day of Astronomical Winter

A post by John Parsons:

“To look away from the world, or to stare at it, does not help a man to reach God; but he who sees the world in Him stands in His presence.” - Martin Buber

Why do we often feel anxious? Why are we filled with unease and worry about what might happen to us? Is it not because everything seems out of our control? The world around us seems threatening and unstable; our interpersonal relationships are fragile and vulnerable; our bodies are sick and faltering; we grow despondent, lonely, and grieved. Time relentlessly passes and dissolution seems omnipresent; we feel distressed, swallowed up, overwhelmed, and powerless: the smoke and ashes from our depths....

Now while it is true that everything is out of our control, it is not true we are utterly alone, the victims of unhappy chance and sorrowful fortune, for we find life in relationship with a loving God who has repeatedly told us that he is with us always, through all the byways and valleys, and that he will never leave nor forsake us. The Lord has promised to shepherd us through the present darkness; he is the ground of our being, the place of our refuge.

We do not deny reality or pretend that we are not in struggle between hope and despair. But while it is true that we are in a world that is frightening and uncertain, we are given strength by God to walk in shalom here, to bear witness of his radiant light. We are "in" but not "of" the world -- a realm that God has subjected to vanity in order to redeem it to a heavenly and eternal hope (Rom. 8:20). You are not alone, friend; you are part of God’s blessing. The Lord is with you and he provides you sure refuge and abiding comfort in the midst of the storm. God is always between you and your wounds…

Just as humanity was plunged into darkness through unbelief, so we are brought to the light through faith in God's deliverance. Therefore hold fast to hope, and keep the fire of your heart burning, friend... Rabbi Nachman once told a person who was struggling with his faith: "It is written that all creation was brought into being because of people like you. God saw there would be people who would cling to our holy faith, suffering greatly because confusion and doubt would plague them. God perceived that such would overcome these doubts and troubles of heart and remain strong in their belief. It was because of this that God brought forth all creation." Amen. Repudiate anxiety and never yield to despair, since that leads to further darkness and fear. "Do not be anxious (i.e., inwardly divided, two-hearted) over anything, but in every thing by prayer bring your needs before God with gratitude, and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding (שלום אלוהים העולה על ההבנה) will guard your hearts and minds in Yeshua the Messiah (Phil. 4:6-7).

Press on and keep fighting the "good fight" of faith (1 Tim. 6:12). When the aapostle Peter lost courage at the sight of the swelling waves, Yeshua reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt (lit., think twice)?" Remember that you infinitely matter to heaven; your life has great value; you are significant and you are truly loved by our Heavenly Father. “The LORD your God goes with you to fight on your behalf against your enemies to give you victory” (Deut. 20:4).

We are not alone; God will help us get through... "I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion (ἐπιτελέω) at the Day of Yeshua the Messiah" (Phil 1:6). The LORD is able to guard you (φυλάξαι) from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy (Jude 1:24). "The LORD upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down" (Psalm 145:14). "He will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the Day of our Yeshua the Messiah" (1 Cor. 1:8). He who calls you is forever faithful; He will surely do it (1 Thess. 5:24). Yea, "the Lord is faithful (נֶאֱמָן הוּא): He will establish you and guard you against the evil one" (2 Thess. 3:3). The Spirit of the Lord says, "Fear not, for I AM with you always." Amen and amen.

[ Hebrew for Christians ]

========

Isaiah 43:13 reading:

https://hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Blessing_Cards/isa41-13-jjp.mp3

Hebrew page:

https://hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Blessing_Cards/isa41-13-lesson.mp3

1.9.25 • Facebook

from Israel365

Today’s message (Days of Praise) from the Institute for Creation Research

[emvidal]

THE QUIET SILENCE OF GOD

"When all things were in quiet silence and night was in the midst of all her swift course, thine Almighty Word, O Lord, leaped down from heaven out of thy royal throne..."

- Wisdom 18:14, 15a

_________________________________________

Frequently, throughout the mysterious unfolding of the dramatic events of the redemption of mankind, God has used the gentleness of the night as the setting of His great and mighty acts. It is as though God, in His kindness and love for us, does not wish to startle us with the intensity of His glory, and so He covers His activity with the night.

When the children of Israel were released from bondage in Egypt, the angel of death passed over them during the night. While they were on their journey to the Promised Land, the Lord sent life-giving manna during the night. Jesus instituted the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and imparted the priesthood after the sun had set and the shadows of evening had come upon Him and His apostles. The Crucifixion itself, even though it took place in the midst of the day, brought a cover of darkness at its moment of climax. The resurrection of the Lord, breaking the bonds of Satan, took place while it was yet dark. And the momentous event of this holy season, when Almighty God was born as Man of the Virgin Mary, took place, not in the glare of sunshine, but in the midst of the silence of night.

How different these events would have been if we could have planned them. They call for parades, for loud announcements, for a blazing sun and for great activity! In a world which has been shrunk by the media, where the desire is to be noticed, with an uncomfortable feeling about self-effacement, God comes among us in a way which seems strange — a way which is difficult for many to accept. We have grown accustomed to thinking that humility must have ulterior motives, and that silence is simply an absence of sound. But how like God it is, to enter the world when so few were looking, to send His Word down from heaven when so few had ears to hear. He works this way today, too, for He touches us when we least expect it, giving hope and comfort and love when those things seem not to be within reach.

Perhaps it is not so strange, after all, that God should come in darkness, for it tells us most eloquently that God is Light — the Light that drives darkness from our path. In the midst of the darkness of this world, our Holy Mother the Church takes us by the hand and leads us towards the Light which was born in Bethlehem, towards the Light which could not be forever extinguished on Calvary, towards the Light which burst forth from the tomb on the third day. It is darkness which makes us see the glow of a candle, just as it is our own realization of the darkness of our sinfulness that makes us reach out towards the Light which is Christ.

Could it be that the confusion which we see around us, whether it is confusion in the world or confusion within our own household of faith, is to serve the same purpose? Perhaps, in the midst of it all, God is urging us on by His own example, to quietly, but faithfully, bring the Light of His word to illuminate the darkness. Rather than turning on the glare of indignation and self-righteousness, which only makes the shadows more harsh, perhaps God would have us hold up the simple light of his truth, as it is manifested in our blessed Lord Jesus.

When God was born in Bethlehem, He made a poor stable to be His glorious tabernacle. As He carried out His earthly ministry, the world was hallowed anew as His dwelling-place, and as He lives within each of us, so we are His temples. Just as a candle burns before the tabernacle in every Catholic Church, indicating that Jesus the Light is truly there, so our faith, which we express by words and deeds, serves as a spiritual candle burning before the eyes of the world, proclaiming to all that Jesus our Lord is here!

He is the God who came at night to drive the darkness away forever. May we, by faithfully reflecting the Light of Christ, banish darkness from our own lives, and from the night which surrounds us.

__________________________________________

Painting: "Angels Entertaining the Holy Child"

by Marianne Stokes (1855-1927)

https://frchristophergphillips.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-quiet-silence-of-god.html