In anger they bear a grudge against me. — Psalm 55:2-3
Give heed to me and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and am surely distracted, Because of the voice of the enemy, Because of the pressure of the wicked; For they bring down trouble upon me.
For it is not an enemy who reproaches me, Then I could bear it; Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me, Then I could hide myself from him. But it is you, a man my equal, My companion and my familiar friend; We who had sweet fellowship together Walked in the house of God in the throng. Let death come deceitfully upon them; Let them go down alive to Sheol, for evil is in their dwelling, in their midst.
As for me, I shall call upon God, And the Lord will save me. Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and murmur,
And He will hear my voice. — Psalm 55:12-17
He will redeem my soul in peace from the battle which is against me,
For they are many who strive with me. God will hear and answer them— Even the one who sits enthroned from of old— Selah. With whom there is no change, And who do not fear God. He has put forth his hands against those who were at peace with him; He has violated his covenant. His speech was smoother than butter, But his heart was war; His words were softer than oil, Yet they were drawn swords. — Psalm 55:18-21
I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. “Behold, I would wander far away, I would lodge in the wilderness. Selah. “I would hasten to my place of refuge From the stormy wind and tempest.” — Psalm 55:6-8
All day long they distort my words;
All their thoughts are against me for evil.
They attack, they lurk,
They watch my steps,
As they have waited to take my life & because of wickedness, cast them forth, In anger put down the peoples, O God!
You have taken account of my wanderings;
Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call; This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, In the Lord, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?
Your vows are binding upon me, O God; I will render thank offerings to You. For You have delivered my soul from death, Indeed my feet from stumbling, So that I may walk before God In the light of the living.
Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, For my soul takes refuge in You; & in the shadow of Your wings…
In the shadow of Your Wings I will take refuge,
Until destruction passes by. I will cry to God Most High, To God who accomplishes all things for me. He will send from heaven and save me; He reproaches him who tramples upon me. Selah. God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth.
My soul is among lions; I must lie among those who breathe forth fire, Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows And their tongue a sharp sword.
Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above all the earth.
They have prepared a net for my steps;
My soul is bowed down; They dug a pit before me; They themselves have fallen into the midst of it. Selah. — Psalm 56:5 – 57:6
My heart is steadfast, O God,
my heart is steadfast;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises! Awake, my glory! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens
And Your lovingkindness is Your truth to the clouds.
Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above all the earth. — Psalm 57:7-11
In Christ we are in Gods Glory. No matter what happens in this physical realm, if you are in Christ, your soul is protected from the deeds of flesh.
Arise, cry aloud in the night
At the beginning of the night watches;
Pour out your heart like water
Before the presence of the Lord;
Lift up your hands to Him
For the life of your little ones
Who are faint because of hunger
At the head of every street.”
— Lamentations 2:19
I am the man who has seen affliction
Because of the rod of His wrath.
He has driven me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
Surely against me He has turned His hand
Repeatedly all the day.
He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away,
He has broken my bones.
He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship.
In dark places He has made me dwell,
Like those who have long been dead.
He has walled me in so that I cannot go out;
He has made my chain heavy.
Even when I cry out and call for help,
He shuts out my prayer.
He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked.
He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in secret places.
He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces;
He has made me desolate.
He bent His bow
And set me as a target for the arrow.
He made the arrows of His quiver
To enter into my inward parts.
I have become a laughingstock to all my people,
Their mocking song all the day.
He has filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drunk with wormwood.
He has broken my teeth with gravel;
He has made me cower in the dust.
My soul has been rejected from peace;
I have forgotten happiness.
So I say, “My strength has perished,
And so has my hope from the Lord.”
Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.
Surely my soul remembers
And is bowed down within me.
This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.”
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.
It is good that he waits silently
For the salvation of the Lord.
— Lamentations 3:1-26
For the Lord will not reject forever,
For if He causes grief,
Then He will have compassion
According to His abundant lovingkindness.
— Lamentations 3:31-32
How dark the gold has become, How the pure gold has changed! The sacred stones are poured out At the corner of every street. The precious sons of Zion, Weighed against fine gold, How they are regarded as earthen jars, The work of a potter’s hands! — Lamentations 4:1-2
“…. Looking to Jesus, THE FOUNDER AND PERFECTER OF OUR FAITH, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Hebrews 12:2
FOUNDER: n. ( faith) establisher, (faith) mounter n. The one who begins (faith); the one who writes (faith), the one from whom all (faith) comes.
Jesus lays the groundwork. Jesus IS the groundwork. He establishes and forms our faith, He initiates and originates our Faith. He has complete domination over our level of faith.
It is clear that His sovereignty reigns; it is not up to us to achieve salvation, nor are we deserving of it, not even through our own belief. If someone claims that they can secure and sustain faith solely of their own volition, they are not telling the truth.
He has the reigns. Jesus alone by the Will of The Father decrees Faith, He, in His predestining Will chooses who will be established in Himself and, as many men reject, who is His enemy.
“For by Grace, you have been saved through FAITH. And this is NOT YOUR OWN DOING; IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD, NOT A RESULT OF WORKS, so that no one may boast. For WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which GOD PREPARED BEFOREHAND, that we should walk in them.”
Eph.2:8-10
WORKMANSHIP: n. To manufacture (His people); invent; meticulously design (His Faithful), producer with intellectual depth & skill, especially by manual labor. n. That which is effected; (The power to produce an outcome, full forced execution; operativeness), made or produced
We are His Workmanship.
He executes, He operates, He develops, and He produces His people’s Faith by the Power of His Grace. We don’t execute, operate, develop or produce, our own Faith.
The Grace we receive ISN’T because of anything we do (no matter how significant), nor because of anything we say (no matter how righteous), or anything we think. We receive His Grace through His Sovereign Faith (not our free will “faith”); We can only be saved by the perfect Faith of Jesus Christ that can only save us by His Grace.
AGAIN… We have righteousness through Faith. Whose Faith? Jesus’ Faith.
ALL have sinned and fall short, but we are justified by Faith through HIS GRACE AS A GIFT… FREE GIFT.
FAITH IS A GIFT. Therefore, we don’t work for it or at it; there’s only ONE, Christ Jesus, and He alone is able to give Faith to whom the Father chose already, He alone Saves, He follows the Will of His Father.
No human can manipulate, control, command, demand, or alter what has been established before the earth’s foundation. No human can interfere with the Book of Life.
… the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are JUSTIFIED BY HIS GRACE AS A GIFT, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
“…. Looking to Jesus, THE FOUNDER AND PERFECTER OF OUR FAITH, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Hebrews 12:2
FOUNDER: n. ( faith) establisher, (faith) mounter n. The one who begins (faith); the one who writes (faith), the one from whom all (faith) comes.
Jesus lays the groundwork. Jesus IS the groundwork. He establishes and forms our faith, He initiates and originates our Faith. He has complete domination over our level of faith.
The Truth of His sovereignty is evident; we do not establish ourselves, we cannot establish ourselves, and we are not worthy to establish ourselves, not even with our own faith. If anyone claims to have the ability to establish and maintain saving faith by the power of their own will, they are a liar.
He has the reigns. Jesus alone by the Will of The Father decrees Faith, He, in His predestining Will chooses who will be established in Himself and, as many men reject, who is His enemy.
“For by Grace, you have been saved through FAITH. And this is NOT YOUR OWN DOING; IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD, NOT A RESULT OF WORKS, so that no one may boast. For WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which GOD PREPARED BEFOREHAND, that we should walk in them.”
Eph.2:8-10
WORKMANSHIP:
n. To manufacture (His people); invent; meticulously design (His Faithful), producer with intellectual depth & skill, especially by manual labor.
n. That which is effected; (The power to produce an outcome, full forced execution; operativeness), made or produced
We are His Workmanship.
He executes, He operates, He develops, and He produces His people’s Faith by the Power of His Grace. We don’t execute, operate, develop or produce, our own Faith.
The Grace we receive ISN’T because of anything we do (no matter how significant), nor because of anything we say (no matter how righteous), or anything we think. We receive His Grace through His Sovereign Faith (not our free will “faith”); We can only be saved by the perfect Faith of Jesus Christ that can only save us by His Grace.
AGAIN… We have righteousness through Faith. Whose Faith? Jesus’ Faith.
ALL have sinned and fall short, but we are justified by Faith through HIS GRACE AS A GIFT… FREE GIFT.
FAITH IS A GIFT. Therefore, we don’t work for it or at it; there’s only ONE, Christ Jesus, and He alone is able to give Faith to whom the Father chose already, He alone Saves, He follows the Will of His Father.
No human can manipulate, control, command, demand, or alter what has been established before the earth’s foundation. No human can interfere with the Book of Life.
… the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are JUSTIFIED BY HIS GRACE AS A GIFT, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
As adopted heirs according to the Promise of our Messiah we are humbled by the certainty of our Salvation being from God’s Grace & nothing else, not even human choice… Not even our own choice.
And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ)—if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.
Romans 8:17
God is the Potter & His Creation is His clay… The Lord does ALL that He pleases.
I, being the clay in my Potter’s hands, have no authority over how my Potter establishes & constructs me.
I am guilty of my sinful actions, thoughts & nature. In my flesh I disgust a Holy God, this is exactly why a Savior is required for reconciliation.
He patterns His clay according to the pattern He devises in His Mind. His Thoughts are what generate, cultivate, and produce what we humans comprehend as reality.
Outside of the Mind of God, there is NOTHING.
Material reality is a shadow of Spiritual reality, the Spiritual Realm reigns as sovereign over ALL material, not the other way around.
I recognize that I’m just as wicked-natured, crooked, and filled with as much iniquity as the next person & the only reason I am Saved from the wages of my flesh is by His Grace, His Faith, His Decision, His Ordination, His Predetermination, and His Council, all such is derived from His perfect Mind…
We are the clay being formed into His masterpiece, depending solely on Him, the Potter. We are vessels. A vessel depends on its Operator, not itself.
My value, of my own volition, is not higher or lesser than any other human, of whom are made in the likeness of God but all tainted by the sin of Adam.
God always obtains what is His & He deserves ALL Glory!
If a believer deprives any bit of Glory to God, they are speaking a false, counterfeit Doctrine, aimed at robbing God of His Glory… Be it some Glory or all Glory; we own, control, & inhabit NO GLORY outside of Christ.
Glory is His – ALONE.
When we see His perfectly Righteous Wrath, God reveals to us even more that His Glory is merciful, and His Mercy endures (sustains) forever. He reveals His Glory in the ability of His Majestic Grace.
It’s Grace because it’s unearned, it’s not a reward, it’s a pardon, and there is no cause but the Judge’s own Decision & Mercy.
If you earned any part of the Salvation & Grace you received, it’s not Grace. & If you depend on your Salvation, I’d question myself because only God is dependable
He lavishes His Grace and Mercy for whomever He ordains. He is an impartial Judge. He is not a respecter of persons.
In ALL THINGS He is THE essence & foundation, commanding His declaration to be respected by Speaking that which is nothing into existence and making it something. He is before all things, in all things, & all things work through Him, & for Him & to Him.
His will is perfect & a perfect will is unable to be incomplete or unfinished, meaning He accomplishes His will… & His will was written before your decision.
To be perfect is to be exact, complete, accurate, and valid, a completed Will lacks nothing.
Anything truly perfect needs nothing outside of its perfection. A Will that is perfect achieves & fulfills itself without any missing aspect needed…
We are provided with the capacity to discern by His Will and Spirit. He is our illumination in the fog. The Spirit illuminates what materiality darkens.
He determines to lift the veil from the eyes of all that See (in His Spirit) -we are developed beyond the shadow, no longer limited to the diagram, but we are integrated with the Substance.
We have the Holy Spirit. We are rescued from the death we deserve, we earned Hell, by the power of the flesh.
We are purchased by our Creator into Life, saved from our flesh’s reward, we don’t deserve to be saved, we have no merit, etc not even a little bit
But thanks to God we who See are completely Free; only by the Power of the Holy Spirit… Without such, we’re only Tares presuming we are Wheat, but like a flower, we have no substance and we die out.
Do you Know Isolation, have you truly been embraced?
If so… you know the depth of darkness that the human shadow is hiding within when isolation becomes a companion, reaching the depths of your soul the things that can not be uttered.
When I say you KNOW the shadow’s depths of darkness, I do not mean you know purely intellectually. You Know, as in, you Perceive it directly, experience its cause & effect inwardly, you recognized it as knowledge.
“God develops our character in community and tests it in isolation.”
Bill Thrall
When you are able to discern darkness by simply Seeing into the darkness you know you have become the Light of God.
The familiarity we can develop with darkness reveals an outline of the “shadow” that hides within,7 we recognize we are the shadow, we are that darkness.
Darkness reveals to us the outline of the shadow.
What does that even mean?
In the literal, material:
The Absence of light (or illumination ) makes Known to us the description or plan giving us the essential features (the nuance) of an object cast on a surface this shadow is cast by another body or object, intercepting the darkness, emphasizing and contrasting the presence of Light.
The shadow arises from our subconscious.
The Subconscious is not wholly conscious, meaning it’s not aware of and responding to our surroundings. It is the part of the mind below the level of conscious perception. It is the part of us who acts without our awareness.
Our shadow harbors the Truth of who we are, beneath it’s mask: the human ego. Since we fell in Adam, we feel the compulsion to protect ourselves from the Truth of who we are, fearing ego injury above all else.
Many of us who seclude ourselves were raised to maintain an inflated idea of our own importance, obsessed with our self image, else there would be psychological damage
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Cor. 12:9-10
SHADOW DEFINITIONS
n. A dark image projected onto a surface where light (or other radiation) is blocked by the shade of an object.
v. To block light or radio transmission.
(espionage) To secretly or discreetly track or follow another, to keep under surveillance.
adj. Unofficial, informal, unauthorized, but acting as though it were.
When you lived an extended span in isolation there develops long-term effects, good & bad, depending on your perception, this impacts your mind exponentially. If you are resilient and intuitive, isolation executes the mission of transitioning consciousness from flesh to Spirit.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 3:6
When you learn to separate and store memories as a way to protect yourself, those memories can become fragmented thoughts.
If you care about yourself, you will strive to find a way to reconnect them, just like solving a puzzle.
However, a puzzle cannot put itself together using just one piece from its memory.
So we repress, some at will, calling upon fragments of recall, realizing we don’t remember most of our own life.
If we don’t learn to integrate at will, the fragmented personas become too loud to ignore and we have no more choice, we can’t ignore it.
That’s when insanity comes. Insanity doesn’t knock, it busts down your door. In that moment procrastination is no longer an option.
When isolation is met with the force of this level of insanity there are ONLY 2 routes:
1. Go Insane into neverending neurosis.
2. Integrate Self with the memories of repressed Pain.
… consciously expanding your ability to open all the wounds, even those you forgot existed. … integrating your childhood self into who you are now because your inner child IS STILL YOU!
Isolation, whether forced by outside influences or forced by inward forces, gives a breadth of wisdom that can ONLY be attained through isolation, it works by exposing to your conscious, your unconscious.
There are many of us, but not many talk about it because you will be slandered and abused.
Toxic, hard hearted people love to squash any vulnerability you expose to them.
If they have to look in the mirror, some will automatically feel the need to destroy you, then deny it, devalue you and slander.
BE CAREFUL!
People avoid this self-realization by being
BUSYBODY A meddling person; one who officiously concerns himself with the affairs of others
GOSSIP: GOS'SIP, noun. One who runs from house to house, tattling and telling news; an idle tattler. Mere tattle; idle talk. GOS'SIP, verb intransitive To prate; to chat; to talk much. 1. To be a pot-companion. 2. To run about and tattle; to tell idle tales.
SLANDERER noun. A defamer; SLA'NDER, noun 1. A false tale or report maliciously uttered. and tending to injure the reputation of another by lessening him in the esteem of his fellow citizens, by exposing him to impeachment and punishment, or by impairing his means of living; defamation. slander that worst of poisons, ever finds an easy entrance to ignoble minds. 2 Disgrace; reproach; disreputation; ill name. SLA'NDER, verb transitive To defame; to injure by maliciously uttering a false report respecting one; to tarnish or impair the reputation of one by false tales, maliciously told or propagated.
SANCTIMONIOUS Having the appearance of sanctity; as a sanctimonious pretense.
MARTYR One who makes a great show of suffering in order to arouse sympathy. These are the most dangerous because they pretend to understand but it's all a show so people will worship them.
But… Those who face their shadow will see Truth in the most Authentic form that is visible to the human mind.
There are no excuses at that point because you don’t run to other people for validation or distraction.
When you have no one to vomit all your complaints onto at every emotional juncture, you learn to actually feel and know your own thoughts and beliefs.
You have no choice but to make sense of it because no one is going to psychologically lessen the burden for you.
And in that, God reveals Himself, literally.
This is exactly what Scripture Speaks of if you LISTEN with Ears that Hear.
The Word Holy within the context of when He says “Be Holy as I am Holy” is; WHOLE, COMPLETE, UNFRAGMENTED.
What are we to integrate? Our sin (which lies definitely within our shadow).
Only when we ADMIT, meaning we OWN & stop rejecting our sins (by His HOLY Spirit) can we become whole (Holy). This is repentance.
God says where there is Light, darkness is distinguished.
If we keep our sins by rejecting their existence, locking then in the shadows, how will God take them?
God is the Light.
When we integrate, what we hate within, God brings Light into it, God takes all that darkness, therefore integrating us in order to burn off the chaff.
Suffering and Pain are of the flesh.
Just as the flesh’s end is death, so is suffering and pain; therefore whatever suffering we face we know it’s end is death.
God tells us to meet Him in His secret place, the Secret Place is a place of isolation when perceived from human eyes. But in isolation is where you find there is no such thing.
All of God’s greatest works of prophetic writings have come from vessels (men) who were in isolation of some sort.
All of God’s elect were those who were ignored, despised, and made to feel worthless by their peers, but God calls the broken and fragmented into Wholeness and Completeness in Him.
People will mock you when you come into His transformation & claim it’s because they care, when they can only see through their own experience, thinking the limits of their opinions is the limit of the other.
People will also degrade you & claim it’s because you’re worth more than what their eyes see, but they are unable to see with the Eyes that are from Heaven I’m always remember when Paul said:
The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:15-16
People will find you a burden when they see your suffering, especially supposed Christians, they don’t want to see your pain because it causes them to glimpse into their own & that is what humanity avoids, as their ego overruns their perception.
Or they may ignore you and talk about you behind your back out of false kindness because they find power in using you as their scapegoat, all too common.
People will Gaslight, Accuse, Deflect, Reject, & Twist every word, using any tactic to cause your mind to shift down into their realm: the realm of shallowness, land of false light, where we don’t speak of pain, a place where rosy sunglasses are always worn when looking in a mirror.
If you give in to the pressure, you won’t be isolated, you will appear outwardly as the rest but your shadow will grow bigger and bigger, your sins will hide deeper and deeper.
Know that the seed of eternal death lives in the Shadows, lives in the sins, lives in those places that seem foolish to your friends and family but live just as deeply within them as they do you, the only difference is the LIGHT.
Don’t listen to anyone who goes against what God says. There are many false prophets. Trust God in YOU.