This is from C.H. Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotional

I enjoyed it a whole lot and thought you would too. God bless you

Evening - Day 35
"Your refuge from the avenger of blood."

It is said that in the land of Canaan, cities of refuge were so arranged, that any man might reach one of them within half a day at the utmost. Even so the word of our salvation is near to us; Jesus is a present Saviour, and the way to him is short; it is but a simple renunciation of our own merit, and a laying hold of Jesus, to be our all in all. With regard to the roads to the city of refuge, we are told that they were strictly preserved, every river was bridged, and every obstruction removed, so that the man who fled might find an easy passage to the city. Once a year the elders went along the roads and saw to their order, so that nothing might impede the flight of any one, and cause him, through delay, to be overtaken and slain. How graciously do the promises of the gospel remove stumbling blocks from the way! Wherever there were by-roads and turnings, there were fixed up hand-posts, with the inscription upon them--"To the city of refuge!" This is a picture of the road to Christ Jesus. It is no roundabout road of the law; it is no obeying this, that, and the other; it is a straight road: "Believe, and live." It is a road so hard, that no self-righteous man can ever tread it, but so easy, that every sinner, who knows himself to be a sinner may by it find his way to heaven. No sooner did the man-slayer reach the outworks of the city than he was safe; it was not necessary for him to pass far within the walls, but the suburbs themselves were sufficient protection. Learn hence, that if you do but touch the hem of Christ's garment, you shall be made whole; if you do but lay hold upon him with "faith as a grain of mustard seed," you are safe. "A little genuine grace ensures The death of all our sins." Only waste no time, loiter not by the way, for the avenger of blood is swift of foot; and it may be he is at your heels at this still hour of eventide.

The Mighty Friendly Dragon

The following story is close to my heart my Dad wrote it in the 90’s and he wanted to publish it but never got around to it. He entered into glory on January 28th. He got saved on January 28th 1993, and Jesus took him home on January 28th 2015 pretty trippy huh? This story is a personal story about my dad and his childhood. Although some of it is fiction he never was a orphan, but he did feel like his parents didn’t want him. This story is a allegory and it’s for all of us who have ever struggled with drug and alcohol addition, and been set free by Jesus like both me and my Dad we’re. Also it gets pretty graphic in some spots, but as you may know addiction is not always so pretty like the beer commercials portray.

Let me know what you think

Thanks!

Yohn

The House of the Rising Son lovingly presents….

The Mighty Friendly Dragon

One night in years past there was a little boy who had no mom or dad. He was an orphan, abandoned not only by his parents and family but he was also shunned by society. He didn’t know why nobody wanted to talk to him or play with him. He often cried hurt and lonely. His hurt and pain eventually turned to hatred and anger, and great fear consumed him. Since he didn’t how to communicate, he tried to act like different people. He tried desperately to attach himself to anyone. But nobody would take the the time to care, he would think how lonely his existence was. So the little boy became bits and pieces of everybody he would meet. He would meet a little boy or a little girl who would do nice thing but only for themselves. They would ride their new bikes and play with their new toys, but they wouldn’t share them with anyone. He thought if I had something nice, I would share it, so maybe I could have a friend. He saw other little kids that weren’t very nice. They tried to beat and hurt the other kids but something was different with them. They got respect from the other kids. He thought “How wonderful I can do that too” so he did!

Then the little boy thought that being a little good and a lot bad was cool. That is what a lot of other kids did. So he became a little positive and a lot negative. This went on until he was eight or nine years old.

One day we walking down the street. We were with a group of our cool friends. Wearing our caps on backwards and smoking cigarettes and being cool. from out of nowhere, this old black, grey haired man appeared and said, “Do you want to be really cool?” We looked at each other and excitedly said, “yes.” The old man reached into his pocket and pulled out a joint and lit it up. We started puffing it, then suddenly we felt different. As we toked, the smoke billowed above our heads, and as we looked at the white smoke, like magic, it turned into a great big friendly white dragon. It had four legs and one head, and a great big friendly smile on it’s face. In our fun, we hadn’t noticed that the old man had left. We didn’t even care. We were having too much fun. The big friendly white Dragon promised all the pot we wanted if we promised not to tell our parents.

Instead of thinking ahead of what might happen, we eagerly accepted and promised. The white dragon said with a mighty roar, “all right cool! Now you have to serve me and me alone. If you obey and serve me well, I will fulfill your every desire, and all your dreams will come true, I promise.”

We jumped with laughter and great joy. The white dragon opened his mighty mouth and some light white yarn fell to the ground. He then instructed us to tie the yarn around our necks and the other end to his mighty tail. “Don’t be afraid,” he said, “You can break the yarn anytime you want.” So we did. The dragon then started walking very slowly. We were laughing and playing behind him. Then we noticed we were coming down. We called to the mighty dragon, “what do we do to serve you and get more?” The dragon turned his head and said, “one of you, I don’t care which-go into that store and steal a candy bar for me, I’ve got the munchies.” “But what about the yarn?” One kid asked. The dragon replied, “don’t worry just do it. I promise I will get you high again.” Never thinking about the consequences, one kid went in and did the dirty deed. The kid, not knowing that he was sacrificing his self worth and self pride, brought the candy bar to the dragon. The dragon, in one mighty gulp, wolfed it down. He said, “pull on my right ear,” and the kid did.

From the dragon’s nose fell a great big joint. The yarn became a dull white. He ran back to his friends and said “see how easy that is?” We lit it and all got high. Slowly the dragon took off. We became aware of the time and so did the mighty dragon. The dragon told us to remember our promise to him, not to tell our parents. “Because I love you and they don’t,” was the dragons reasoning. Your parents promise you things and hardly ever follow through, and when you serve me, your dreams will come true, I promise! Don’t worry the yarn is like magic, it won’t break.” That’s why you can always find me it’s no mistake.” So we all ran home thinking that we had found the answer to life. Happily we ran into our homes to tell our moms and dads how much we loved them. But dad was much too busy reading his paper and drinking his beer, and mom was much too busy fixing her hair in front of the mirror.

The very next day we met the dragon. Our same pattern continued. Toking and smoking, cussing and stealing and lying. The days grew into weeks and the weeks grew into months. The yarn become a dull white and we didn’t think about the dragon’s might because we knew that he was right. Mom and dad didn’t seem to notice so we knew they didn’t care. They were much too busy reading their papers and fixing their hair.

One day we met the mighty dragon but something was different. Much to our amazement, instead of seeing one head, the dragon had two heads there! The friendly old dragon said, “we’re going to have fun today. Serve me well, but remember, don’t tell. Come to my second head” he said “an pull my right ear and we’ll drink us some beer.” So we pulled on his ear and from his mouth came a keg of beer. So we grabbed our glasses and our cups and started drinking and toking. We drank and drank and didn’t give a hoot, for it’s our own bodies we we’re going to pollute. Anyway, we said our parents don’t give a hoot. The dragon didn’t tell us how we were to pay, because in the beginning we just wanted to play.

The dragon ordered us to destroy everything in sight. He said, “don’t worry, everything is right.” Our awareness was low, we didn’t think so we obeyed. We didn’t notice that the second head was made of lead and so it filled our empty heads. The twine of yarn became a wire and we all became worse, horrible liars. We didn’t care about anything but ourselves. The only thing that was valuable was to be a slave of the two headed dragon.

Our smiles and laughter became a disaster. He didn’t tell us about the cops. He didn’t care and neither did we. We didn’t think about detaching. We didn’t know how important our awareness was, all we were interested in was getting our buzz. We went on probation and sat in jail, all the time we didn’t know we were living in hell. The wire in the dragon’s tail became thick and heavy but we still didn’t care because we were so very unaware.

We would get out of jail and run right back to hell. Then we would find the dragon standing there and he had another head, the first one white, the second one lead, and the third one yellow. “Serve me well” he said with a bellow. “First, let’s get high the get drunk. Then I will show you yet another trunk.” So we did. He said, “pull the ears on my third head.” So we did and from his nostril fell a 1 cc syringe. At the same time from the middle of his body came oozing out something that looked like yellow potty. He said, “the purest crack and coke always have a yellow tint, so don’t worry where it comes from, just do it. Remember I’m not a liar” So we grabbed our spoons and like baboons, we injected his yellow urine. We jumped about and would holler and shout but we never thought about our sacred bodies. The wire now became a chain and drug us around like careless shame. Our criminal records grew long and lengthy but we didn’t care, for we were so very, very unaware.

Now we finally noticed that we almost had to run to keep up with the dragon, faster and faster we ran headlong into disaster. We didn’t know we were very sick and had an incurable, incomprehensible disease. Now the months and years had passed and so had some of our friends. We would hear on the street that one of our sisters had O-D’d and died. We would think ‘that could never happen to me.’

We never thought about our own immortality. When we are young, we never think ahead. We never thought that we could be dead, but the dragon is such a mighty liar. All we wanted to do was get higher and higher. By this time our arms looked like railroad tracks. We didn’t care where we puked or peed. We only filled our filthy need, which of course is drug greed. We never stopped to look at all the booze and drugs we took. We never cared enough to look. So we took and took and took.

Then one morning as the sun arose, my heart pounding and my feet frozen because it is so very cold sleeping behind trash cans and in alleys, I staggered to my lonely feet, longing for something not to eat. Then that dragon would rattle his chain and I’d have to look at him again. There is no longer any grin. There is no past or any future. There is only now. Again he rattles my heavy chain and pulls me closer to him again.

And then I looked at my clothes, all raggedy, my shoes have holes in them. All I see is black, black, black. I squint my bloodshot eyes at him and I can’t believe yet another head! This one is black as the eyes of death.

“Your already such a loser because you are such a boozer. You don’t need coke or crank, to be frank. You need this, crawl behind my tail, you dog and I am going to show you a mighty log. Shoot it in your arm, you hog, for my bowel is heroine. You have no choice, you’re so stupid and worthless now, you’re going to do it anyhow. You don’t know how to say no. Your addicted to ME and to HELL you will go.” As I shot the black dragon bowel in my one good vein, I wished I was back doing cocaine. Then I thought, ‘that’s insane.’ Then I thought I’d go back to booze but I see I will still lose. ‘Then go back to pot’ I thought. Now it’s to late because it’s the first toke that is killing me.

One night I was walking down the streets of living hell. Again contemplating suicide, but I’m a drunken coward. I couldn’t live and I couldn’t die, my old friends, guilt and remorse were eating me up.

Suddenly, I saw a vivid Heavenly Spiritual Light brightly flashing, like that of lightning. I heard a great thundering booing Living Voice. In awesome wonder I stood in Beauty untold, colors I’d never sen or ever imagined. Slowly an unbelievably beautiful staircase opened. A stairway likened unto great white pearls! Each magnificent step, numbering one and twelve, and twelve and one. A different precious jewel.

I fell to my knees, a Living Voice so soothing, and oh so lovely, opened and melted my heart. as I knelt sobbing uncontrollably, God spoke into my sick distorted immoral thought, saying, “My precious child, I have given Eternal Life to my Son, Jesus Christ. He who has my Son, has Life, he who does not have my Son does not have life!” (John 5:11-12)

I, in a trembling voice said unto God, “Yes, Holy God, I believe, and desperately need you Son, Jesus for my Lord!” I want Life! I can’t exist like an animal, my life and heart, I now give unto Him.”

The spectacular stairway slowly disappeared. I saw where the staircase had once been, a park appeared. I walked through the darkness of my life. Christ Jesus lifted me off the streets of Living Hell, and stepped me onto the grass (Recovery). I looked down at my feet, there lay a Holy Living Bible, A.A. Big Book, and N.A. Basic Test. In the darkness of my sorrow, in deep reality of my lonely, ragged, addicted existence, the Son of Man slowly lighted my unaware heart, and my misguided violent thoughts.

We became as like One, we became friends, I was no longer afraid. My Great High Priest made me likened unto a living crystal, His Living light shining forth, illuminating my heart and thought. I, one day, one moment at a time continued studying. In His time, the Living Word led me to my body, then led me to my soul, then led me to my Holy Spirit, and made my body whole. (Matthew 4:16)

We need only accept and admit our tragedy, and our painful hearts once. The Son of Man is Unconditional Love. We let go and let God. We become alive, on the inside, and slowly become human! Joyous, happy, and free, recovery! Our dream come true! Because Christ Lives so do I!

Love

never

fails…1 Cor. 13:4

Always your humble servant,

In the Light of Jesus Christ

Gerald H.

AA and NA Street Priest

Here’s a pic of me and my Dad walking on the Oregon Trail back in ’07

Jesus’ Return (a gift)

Matthew 24:36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

As I begin to talk about Jesus’ Return, known as the rapture, first things first I don’t know the day He’ll return and according to the verse above you don’t either. The reason I mention this first is because there are tons of books out there and tons of supposed “spiritual people” who claim that Jesus has told them the hour and the day. And every time they mention a day they are wrong, just like this verse says. Remember the old guy a few years back who told everybody Jesus was returning on I think it was May 20th 2010 and had a lot of people freak out and sell there stuff? If those people would have known their Bible they could have avoided all this nonsense.

So when I got saved in 93′ everybody was telling me Jesus return was very soon, ( and they were right it is, remember a day is like a thousand years to God 2 Peter 3:8) but I got scared you see I was just 16 at the time. And I prayed “Jesus don’t return just yet cause I need to graduate” and then after I had graduated I still prayed that foolish prayer cause I was looking at His return wrong. We must remember that God is good, He is all good, always good and forever will be good. Everything He does is good, so His return is for our good!

Also Isaiah 55:8-9 says: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” So my thoughts regarding His return were too low, I needed to have higher thoughts.

Since God is good, (John 3:16) since He loves us so much that God the Father sent His one and only Son to die, and since God’s one and only Son Jesus himself chose to die for us. Don’t you think that He still loves us? And that He is looking out for us? He is not going to take something away from us, wait maybe you didn’t catch that so I’ll say it again He is not going to take something away from us, He is giving us a gift whenever He chooses to return.

1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (KJV)

1 Corinthians 2:9 But it is just as the Scriptures say,“What God has planned for people who love him is more than eyes have seen or ears have heard. It has never even entered our minds!” (CEV)

You see Heaven is better than anything we have down here and it is better than all of our future hopes and dreams. So am I saying that we shouldn’t have hopes and dreams for the future should Jesus decide to tarry a little while longer? No because I have hopes and dreams for the future also, but should Jesus come before I reach those hopes and dreams, it will be better. What He has is better. We’re not going to be up in heaven regretting what we didn’t receive on earth. For example my kids are still fairly young but I desire one day to see my future grand kids, at this point that hope is 10+ years from know. But should Jesus come before my kids give me grand kids I’m not going to be all bummed out in heaven. Cause again I say what God has for us heaven eternity with Him is millions and billions, and infinity beyond what we have, or what we’re hoping for here.

I think the enemy (the devil) has done a good job at using the rapture to freak people out, if he can get people to believe that God is going to take away all the things they like down here. Than people will not want Jesus to ever return, cause according to the devils lie God is taking away our hopes and dreams. But the devil our enemy is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44) Remember Jesus’ return is a gift!

So what do we do until Jesus returns? Should we get into futuristic prophesy? That’s found in the book of Revelation, or christian prophecy books that tell us to freak out (yes even christian prophecy do a good job of scaring people) And freak out because we think we have found what the mark of the beast will be, or be scared because there was a blood moon and there is only suppost to be four of them! No I don’t think we should be scared of the future and neither does our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Look at what Jesus says regarding our future John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. So in other words Jesus is saying “Don’t Trip!” Don’t freak out and sell all your stuff, or live in your basement with a stockpile of food for the next 30 years.

He has told us to do 2 things until His return watch and pray, not watch and freak out!

Mark 13:33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.

God has our future in His hand, He knows what’s best for us, I encourage you along with myself to trust the “Lover of our Soul” Jesus until He returns if that’s long while from now until we take our last breath and we die. Heaven is better!

Numbers 6:24-26

The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:

The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

Thanks for stopping by!

Yohn aka (ObiYohnKanobie)

Something New!

I love how God gives you stuff when your teaching His word that you never saw before. I have been teaching a group of Jr. High boys 1 Samuel chapter by chapter. And we finally got to my favorite Bible story “David and Goliath” found in 1 Samuel 17. As I was reading to them the verse that says Goliath was a man of war from his youth verse 33, God gave me this thought they probably heard stories of how Goliath had beat this guy and that, for example it could have went something like this: “he was so strong he grabbed the guy with one arm and held him up the 9 or 11 feet that he was, and laughing in his face, dropped him on his head or he took a chain and swung the guy around and beat him mercilessly with his bare hands” and on and on the stories would go. So it wasn’t only how big the giant was that made the people fear but it also was his reputation as a man of war. I had never thought of that before! Thank you Holy Spirit for revelation amen.


Here’s a little joke I heard from a sermon on David and Goliath, after David swung the stone and knocked him down then the Bible says that David used Goliath’s Sword and chopped his head off. “David knew how to get a head (ahead) in life!”

Praying for our authority- including (President Obama)

First off let me say that we are all entitled to our opinions and to what we believe. Like a person who believes he is Superman and that he in fact can fly so he decides to test his theory by jumping off a building, obviously he will discover that he can’t fly very quickly and his belief was wrong. Because gravity is real whether we believe in it or not.

I firmly believe as a Christian our ultimate authority is the Word of God the Bible. So what it says is truth whether or not we like it or agree with it. It is Truth and nothing but the Truth. That said let’s turn to these two passages:
Romans 13:1

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. KJV

Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. NLT
Matthew 5:44

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; KJV

But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! NLT

Now for what’s been on my heart the issue of authority, so here goes…..

The Bible says in the reference above “all authority comes from God & those in positions of authority have been placed there by God” So that means that our Presidents past and present (yes I did say present) President Obama has been placed there by God. Now he has made a lot of mistakes and most likely continue too, so I am not saying that he is not responsible for his actions or innocent. But instead of telling the world how evil he is online and the world abroad, I believe we as followers and servants of Christ, should pray… that’s right pray for him. Because the second verse that I posted above says “Love your enemies” so if you should hate him so much that he becomes your enemy you should love him.

The trend now is to tell the world everything that we don’t like now in regards to tastes like food, music, clothes, sports teams, and such that’s perfectly fine. But in regards to authority such as parents, teachers, bosses, Pastors, police officers, Mayors, Governors, Presidents, and all who hold a position of authority in our lives, God has a higher standard He wants us to pray and obey, and by listening to God His favor and blessings will flow in our lives.

3 things to Pray for President Obama:

1. For His Salvation, God can save anyone, and He wants all to come to know Him 1 Timothy 4:4

2. For him to have wisdom

3. For his protection and his family’s protection

Thanks for stopping bye and may God bless you richly

Yohn

Gotta have Marshmallows

I was teaching the little kids today this story:


Safe on an Island (Acts 28:1-10)





I was about to tell them about how Paul got bit by a snake and how he just shook it into the fire, and asked them “What do you need to build a fire?” The answer of course is sticks, but one of them said “marshmallows!” What a great answer ha ha! When you have a fire you gotta have marshmallows.

Grace with Victory!

Psalm 37:23-24

23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way.

24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.

Recently in the news I heard of a big time Pastor falling due to what he called a "moral failure" which is a nice way to put he committed adultery, then in the article he mentioned how no ones perfect, and went on to justify himself. Sad this man played with fire and got burned.

Then I recently watched a movie about a amazing christian singer who died in a car crash. The movie showed a flawed man who smoked cigarettes, and got drunk all the time, mean while managing to write amazing christian songs, and speak challenging words to Churches. I think the over arching message was God loves you in spite of you, and He gives you His free grace. Which is absolutely true. But I think the movie glamorized this man's sin, and failed to show that the real guy had a real vibrant relationship with God.

So the point I am making is everywhere we look we see flawed humanity, and the message being proclaimed is God loves you. Which I say a big amen to that, but where is the message that this wonderful verse proclaims? "Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth (holds him up) him with his hand. It plainly declares that God is able to give us victory, and hold us up! And the first part says that He will guide our steps, and if we have God guiding our steps we won't walk into the traps that the enemy sets for us.

We can have grace and victory together! God has given me this for the past 20+ years I have walked with Him, sure I have messed up and continue to, but He upholds me with His strong hand! My prayer is He'll do the same for you! May we walk in His grace and His victory each day He gives us amen!