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    HOLY SPIRIT TRANSFORMS

    THE HOLY SPIRIT my-testimony-to-god039s-power-testify-for-god-testimony
    Jesus said, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:" Matthew 28:19

    Thank you, Heavenly Father, for Your Son and Your Spirit. Amen.

    Apologies from the start if this blog includes a lot of "I's," as it is challenging to write a testimony without using "I." 

    With that being said, I was a disobedient and unruly child, teenager and adult. When I was around 12 years old, I tried to "kill" myself by taking baby aspirin, which was just a feign attempt at garnering attention, and distracting my mother from my misdeeds, which were really the issue.

    After that, I heard my sisters tell my mom that she should take me to church, so we began attending the First Baptist Church. "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6. Amen.

    The church had Sunday school for children my age, so I began attending. Sadly, even at Sunday school, I seemed to fall in with the kids that were going behind the church to smoke cigarettes. Little did I know that God had other plans for my life. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior shortly after starting to attend the church. I do not remember if I even really knew what that meant at the time. Then, around the same time, I was baptized in water, in front of the church congregation.

    A short time later, the Sunday school class hosted a church camp for two weeks, and I attended that as well. At the camp, they were baptizing people in the lake, so I lined up with my friends to be baptized again. From the moment I put on the white garment and walked into the lake, the whole experience was surreal. When I was raised up out of the water, I can only describe it one way, I was in love with everyone and everything.

    I did not understand then, but I can now understand how Jesus felt when He was baptized by John the Baptist, and a voice came from heaven and said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. Matthew 3:16-17. Praise God. Thank you, Jesus.

    I could not understand why everyone was not lining up to be baptized, so they could feel like I felt.

    After church camp was over, within a couple of weeks of returning home, hanging out with my same old friends, doing the same old things, not nurturing the Holy Spirit inside me, the warm, fuzzy, feelings faded. I spent the next 45 years being disobedient and unruly, running from God and, worse, denying Him. 

    In my 20s, my mom would tell me to "get back to God, Melanie," and I would reply with something like, I don't believe in that stuff, Mom. Bless her heart. In my 30's, I began to believe in something, a Higher Power, and I subjected my young daughter to six years at a metaphysical church. Bless her heart, also, because she came to God before I came back to Him, and she has raised her children with Jesus Christ. That has nothing to do with how I raised her obviously, or with her father, whose family is Jewish. Only God could save someone in the face of that adversity! Praise God. Thank you, Jesus.

    From my 40's to 50's, I wandered in my sin and lusts, still believing something, but no knowledge or understanding of it, and not having a spiritual home.

    Most of my adult life, I have watched all manner of violence and horror on TV, as this was my preferred genre. Then, Ancient Aliens, which led to Biblical archaeology. I was searching for something. It was at my fingertips but I couldn't reach it.

    Then, one day, five years ago, at 58 years old, over 45 years after accepting Jesus Christ as my savior, being baptized twice, and receiving Holy Spirit, during a wicked storm in our area that was rattling the walls, the light bulb went off, the light shined into my heart through the darkness surrounding it, and I understood that God, the Father in heaven, IS the Higher Power.

    After that, I could not get enough of His Word. Still being blinded by the ruler of this world 2 Corinthians 4:4, I could not understand the King James Bible, so I began reading the easy-to-read Bible, which is written at like a 9th grade level, and it was awesome. Then, I heard of the Amplified Bible, and I loved how descriptive it was, with the footnotes. I now read the King James Bible (almost exclusively), with ease. Thank you, Lord.

    At that time, I also heard that if you read the Bible from start to finish, God will give you revelations. Who would not want to hear revelations from God? And, I was still soaking up His Word like crazy, every day, all day, writing blogs, listening to Him, obeying. So, I started to read the Amplified Bible from Genesis to Revelation. I read the entire Amplified Bible in four months, August to December 2021. In the first 10 days, I was already in the book of Joshua, and God was not disappointing with showing me great and mighty things. Jeremiah 33:3

    Within the first month of beginning to read, I prayed for and received from Holy Spirit the gift of [praying in] tongues Acts 2:4. It was then that I became aware of the evil and immorality abounding around us. I now understood clearly the scripture, "Love not the world, nor the things in it. For if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him." 1 John 2:15-17. I could no longer watch the movies I had loved for 50 years. I could no longer listen to the same music. I understood inherently that it was all against God's Will and purpose for our lives, and designed by Satan to pull us away from God, to worship idols even. It saddened me to know that I had wasted my whole life running from God, denying Him, and living my life in all manner of vileness.

    Praying in tongues also immediately brought my Spiritual journey into a greater reverence for Jesus Christ and His mission to love and serve. I now understood His love for the lost, weary and forgotten, and more importantly, I had a yearning to serve them. I now understood 1 Corinthians 13:13: "And now abides faith, hope, charity [love], these three; but the greatest of these is charity [love]." And, the greatest commandments to love God and love our neighbor as ourself Matthew 22:36-40, because we are all one in Christ Jesus. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27

    So, my husband and I began serving the homeless. First, by making Blessing Bags and handing them out to the homeless at street corners. Then, we learned of people who live in tents in our area,     year-round, even in the snow, so we started taking food to them and sharing God's Word with them by putting scripture in the bags, or just sharing a kind word and a hot meal, and telling them that Jesus loves them.

    I noticed later that I wrote very few blogs during the August 2021 to December 2021 time period, when I was entrenched in God's Word, reading it from Genesis to Revelation in four months.

    In December 2021, however, at the end of the reading, God had much to say in my writings/blogs and testimonies about His systems on earth: Seed plant harvest, tithing, giving, His Son, Jesus Christ, His plan for man before time began, and, also, that He is our Source, and we are all one in Him.

    He is available to all who seek Him, and He will never forsake us, even unto the day our bodies return to the dust and our Spirit returns to God who gave it. Ecclesiastes 12:7

    The "free cost of grace" is that without God's grace, all men would have perished, but with God's grace, or favor to man, given freely to all who believe in His Son, and keep His commandments, all men might be saved.

    There is a meme that says, You know the kingdom of God is within you Luke 17:20-21 when you want to obey Him. In my experience as written here, this is 100% the truth. 

    Accept Jesus Christ and keep His commandments. Believe and be saved:

    John 3

    16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

    17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."

    Pray for Holy Spirit to transform your heart from glory to glory in God's image:

    "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Corinthians 3:18

    Maybe other people have different experiences. God does work in mysterious ways, and He will keep trying to reach us any way He can, until we turn to Him and away from the sin in our lives. I would love to hear those testimonies.

    I pray this word reaches and helps those who need it on their journey to find, accept, believe, obey, and have faith in, God and His only begotten son, Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! Praise God. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.

    For an in-depth look at the heart of Jesus, watch the "Jesus Film" (1979) below:
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    GOD'S LETTERS

    SIN AND FORGIVENESS god-is-speaking-are-you-listening
    God's Letters Through Jesus Christ to the Angels of the Seven Churches of Asia

    God has been putting this on my heart for a few days now, but just this morning, I realized what He was showing me. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your sacrifice. Amen.

    Revelation 2 and 3 are letters from God, as given to Jesus Christ, and shown to John by Jesus' angel in a revelation. Rev. 1:1. These seven letters from God through Jesus are directed to the angels of the seven churches of Asia: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea (see map above). 

    We know from scripture that the "church" is the spirit over the people (Eph. 5:23,25,27,29; Heb. 12:23, or how the people are being ministered unto by the seven Spirits of God [seven angels]. Isa. 11:1-2.

    “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” Hebrews 1:14

    The Holy Bible, as a whole, is written specifically for man, as an example and admonition (warning), upon whom the ends of the world have come. 1 Cor. 10:11. It is our instruction manual for life. Also, with prayer, it is our direct line of communication to and from God. It is written because God wants us all to come to repentance and be saved 2 Pet. 3:9. He promised man eternal life before the world began Titus 1:2.

    So, although the letters are directed to the angels of the seven churches, they clearly describe what God expects from His people. When reading the letters, it is likely we will, and we should at some point, see our relationship with God, and His only begotten son, Jesus Christ, in one of these letters.

    The Good News is that the letters tell us exactly how to overcome and endure our trials, so that we may receive of the tree of life Rev. 22:14, which is eternal life Gen. 3:22.

    In these letters, only two of the angels of the seven churches were seen worthy, or rich in spirit, and were not instructed to repent: the angel of the church of Smyrna Rev. 2:8-11, and the angel of the church of Philadelphia Rev. 3:7-13.

    The other five angels of the churches were praised for their right-doings, and rebuked and told to repent for various disobediences. I will cover in this blog only the first two angels told to repent, the angel of the church of Ephesus Rev. 2:1-7, and the angel of the church of Pergamos Rev. 2:12:17:

    God praised the angel of the church of Ephesus for the following good deeds:

    • Good works and labor Rev. 2:2
    • Patience
    • Could not bear those who are evil
    • Tried, and found false apostles, as liars
    • Hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which God also hates (Sexual immorality, idolatry. See description below.)
    • Labored for God's Name, and did not faint Rev. 2:3

    Nevertheless, God had somewhat against them, because they left their "first love," Jesus Christ Rev. 2:4, and the letter tells them to:

    • Remember from where they fell (remember their creator) Rev. 2:5
    • Do the first works of Jesus Christ (love God and love your neighbor as yourself Matt. 22:36-40, which means doing and being like Christ, serving)
    • Repent (confess sorrow for their actions, turn from sin to God)

    If not, He will come quickly and remove the candlestick from their church, except they repent. Rev. 2:5.

    Now, scripture tells us that the seven [candlesticks] are the seven churches. Rev. 1:20 

    If God removed the candlestick, or the church (the spirit of the people), because of disobedience and lack of repentance, that would separate the people from God, and would lead to blotting out their names from the book of life:

    Rev. 3

    5 "He that overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

    6 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."

    It should be noted that the church of Ephesus did not practice sexual immorality and idolatry, and God still found them imperfect before Him, because they turned from Jesus.

    Let's look at the letter to the angel of the church of Pergamos. God praised them for the following:

    • Holding fast His name
    • Not denying His faith (Jesus Christ)

    But, He also had the following against them:

    • Idolatry
    • Fornication, sexual immorality, immorality

    And, He told them to repent.

    These are just two examples:
    ​
    • The church of Ephesus, which had good deeds, but had turned from Christ; and,
    • The church of Pergamos, which had not turned from Christ, but had bad deeds: sexual immorality, immorality, fornication, idolatry

    Both are found imperfect before God. We must consider our lives and how we live them. Are we living for God and His Son, Jesus Christ? If not, "Produce fruit that is consistent with repentance [demonstrating new behavior that proves a change of heart, and a conscious decision to turn away from sin]. Matt. 3:8 AMP

    Just a few of the things we learn from these letters:

    • Do the first works of Jesus Christ (love God and love your neighbor as yourself Matt. 22:36-40, which means doing and being like Christ, serving)
    • Remember our creator, who we are, and from where we fell. In other words, turn from sin to God.
    • Turn from evil, idolatry, fornication, adultery, sexual immorality, immorality (lying, cheating, stealing, murder), etc., for all are against God 
    • Repent (confess sorrow for our actions, turn from sin to God)

    God hates the acts of the Nicolaitans Rev. 2:6. What are those acts?

    Excerpt from biblegateway.com Encyclopedia: Nicolaitans: "Followers of Nicolaus of Antioch, a proselyte who was among the seven men chosen to serve the Jerusalem congregation (Acts 6:5), who had forsaken true Christian doctrine; he said they lived in unrestrained indulgence. Hippolytus confirmed this by noting that Nicolaus left correct doctrine and had the habit of indifference as to what a man ate and as to how he lived. The Apostolic Constitutions (6:8) described them as “shameless in uncleanness.” Although Clement of Alexandria defended Nicolaus by insisting that his followers had misunderstood him, he observed that the Nicolaitans abandoned themselves to pleasures like goats in a life of shameless self-indulgence." End excerpt.

    And, the acts of Balaam, which are also called out in the letters to the angels of the churches, are similar to the acts of the Nicolaitans, eating meat sacrificed to idols (idolatry) and fornication (sexual immorality).

    Conclusion: God says, Neither believing in Christ without living like Christ, nor living like Christ without believing in Christ, will save us. We must believe in, and live like, Christ (God's Letters, Rev. 2,3)

    We must remember our Creator, who we are, and from where we fell:

    Ecc. 12 AMP

    6 "Earnestly remember your Creator before the silver cord [of life] is broken, or the golden bowl is crushed, or the pitcher at the fountain is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed;

    7 then the dust [out of which God made man’s body] will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. 

    8 'Vanity of vanities,' says the Preacher. 'All [that is done without God’s guidance] is vanity (futility).'"

    The book of Revelation, the final chapter of the Bible, describes the final chapter of man in his sinful body, and the heavens and the earth to come. Please spend some time studying the book of Revelation, especially God's letters to the angels of the seven churches, detailing what he expects from His church (His people).

    God will not overlook evil in man's heart. He's looking for a church that is spotless and blameless. "Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless." 2 Peter 3:14

    "Therefore to him that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin." James 4:17

    Pray that all of God's children earnestly remember Him, their Creator, before the silver cord of life is cut. In Jesus' Mighty Name. Amen and God Bless.

    For an in-depth look at the heart of Jesus, watch the "Jesus" movie from 1979 below.