Bible | Book: Genesis | Chapter 15 | Verses 1 – 21 | With Modern Day Takes
***Biblical Stories one at a time. The verses are from the New International Version of the Bible.***
**The LORD’s covenant with Abram**
1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield, {Or sovereign}
your very great reward {Or shield;/your reward will be very great}.”
2 But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit {The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.} my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”
3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
4 Then the word of the LORD came to him:
“This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”
5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars — if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring {Or seed} be.”
6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
7 He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”
8 But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”
9 So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.
13 Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.
14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.
15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.
16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.
18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi {Or river} of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates -
19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
Video
https://youtu.be/pqgyfy821MM
**Image Courtesy:** My Own.
Law of Attraction? | Nope | Law of Subtraction!
Thoughts | Words | And Deeds
The Law of Attraction puts the onus on you to work for God’s grace.
But God’s grace is freely given to his children. However, you need to ask.
Asking for God’s grace was twisted into working to align with God. It just needs asking. That’s it!
Law of attraction? Nope. Law of Subtraction! Subtraction of God’s grace.
Spiritual Strengthening
https://youtu.be/RtGcY1BBUHg
Law of Attraction | Was I Misled Into Believing It? | It Goes Against God’s Grace in the Bible
Law of Attraction | And My Attraction To It
I am a Christian who kept God at arm’s length but professed that I loved him by attending Sunday church. I wanted to learn more about Christianity, spirituality, and religion from any source but the Bible. I have no clue why, but that is how it was. And then I found Esther and Jerry Hicks — the life-changing duo talking to the spiritual realm.
I think the first book I read was Money and the Law of Attraction, and thereafter, many more books and YouTube videos. They seemed like a nice couple, and they made so much sense. In fact, the most obvious reason for my attraction to the law of attraction was the tagline “Ask and It Is Given”. Not only was that a tagline, but also a book from Esther and Jerry. This was definitely from the Bible, and so, the Law of Attraction was in line with the Bible. Or so I thought.
I totally believed that I hit the jackpot. The fact that I could create my future was so liberating that I thought I did not require anyone anymore. I guess I thought that way about God, too.
But I consciously overrode some tingles and red flags when I first started with Esther and Jerry Hicks. What were they? Let’s take a look.
What Were Those Tingles? | What Was It That Told Me To Be Cautious?
When I first started reading the book, I read the preface, which explained how Esther and Jerry Hicks got where they were and how they discovered Abraham. They used an Ouija board and tried Tarot cards. Both were red flags in the Christian scheme of things. We can argue that they are just a game and available even in a general store, but isn’t that exactly how demons enter our lives?
“It’s ok. It’s not serious at all. You are reading too much into it.” That’s exactly what I told myself. So, I quickly swept it under the carpet and kept reading. The second instance was Esther’s discovery of Abraham. The immediate question in my head was, how did Esther know that this was a good spirit? I don’t know where the question popped from, but now that I am closer to the Bible, the Bible in fact warns against talking to spirits. Spirits take a noble form (I mean, evil spirits) to appear god sent. 2 Corinthians 11:14 states that “Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light”.
But I was too naïve to accept the warnings. Besides, Esther said that she felt elated, the first time she felt Abraham. So, I thought things should be good. But the third tingle that I missed was that Abraham was not a single spiritual entity but a group of entities. Ever heard of the name “legion”?
And remember God sent angels are singular, whether it is angel Gabriel or any other angel. They are not many. But still, I went against my good sense. I thought, God showed me this book, so there must be a reason for me to read it. In hindsight, God did have a reason, but just not what I thought.
There Were Problems Beyond the Origin Story | I Just Could Not Grasp It At That Time
One of the main points of contention in my head was that we had to do the simplest work of aligning ourselves with the source, and from the source, all that we ask (or asked) flows to us. This seemed easy. But I did not see the implication of the point. It actually means that it is my work to get my salvation and my future. God (smartly concealed as the source, and I suspect God is not even the source the book asks us to align with) has no role to play in this. Hold on. What did Jesus come to Earth to do then? Now, I can see the stark contradiction, but back then I couldn’t.
The problem was not just that — the problem was this Abraham was asking us to feel happy, feel good, and then all things would flow to us. When you look at it, it seems quite all right, but real men throughout history have done things irrespective of how they “felt” on a particular day. Correct? I am not even talking about the Bible. Just simple human history.
I even remember thinking at that time, from my own experience, that this couldn’t be true. I guess that was the Holy Spirit reaching out to me. But why did I feel that it couldn’t be true? Because back in my school days, I was the topper in my class almost always, but with being a topper comes the fear of how well (or not) I had done my exams. And I don’t remember even one exam where I wasn’t in deep fear, praying in church for God to get me the first rank. I did get the first rank, but I was getting it by doing everything that Abraham asks us not to do — feeling stressed, feeling worried, and drowning in complete fear. Then what tipped the balance in my favor? God, right? So, God got me the first rank despite me struggling with fear and worry.
I know many of you are thinking — dude, you got the first rank because you worked hard. Then, that’s my point. It didn’t matter how I felt. So long as I got up and did my work, I should be fine. Why then do I need Abraham? But that’s not all. According to Abraham, fear is the opposite of love, and the more we fear, the more we flow against the stream. If that is true, I couldn’t get first rank if I were in fear. It just doesn’t work that way, according to Abraham. And notice how we are systematically eliminating God from the equation. How could this be right?
Here’s an even deeper problem — if we accept Abraham’s teaching, then good things happening to us puts the onus completely on us. I have to feel good, I should feel positive, I should feel love, and if I don’t feel any of these, I don’t align with the source or vortex. So, the work is mine. BUT THIS IS AN IMPOSSIBLE TASK FOR A HUMAN TO DO. Strong men/women get up and go even when they DON’T FEEL GOOD!! AND THE TOTAL INFERENCE OF ESTHER’S BOOKS IS THAT GOD (Source) CAN DO NOTHING ABOUT IT. HE CANNOT OVERRULE MY NON-ALIGNMENT WITH HIM, AND THEREFORE, I AM AT THE MERCY OF MY FEELINGS (not God). See, how this entire argument in caps makes God redundant??
And this was still not all…
What’s More? | The Seth Story | Before Abraham Was Seth
Jerry mentioned in one of the prefaces of one of the books that he learned about spirit guides by reading about another person who was also receiving messages from a group of entities called Seth. Obviously, I got curious about it and I went to find out more. So, I landed on an audio of this lady getting messages from Seth. I think it was on YouTube.
So, the part that I was listening to was where Seth was explaining that Jesus wasn’t crucified but was hidden to show the world that he was crucified. And when he walked out on the third day, his disciples saw him and thought that they were looking at the “come-back-from-dead” Jesus. So, that’s how they thought Jesus was God.
Believe you me — I believed this story. You know why? Because Islam believes this exact story, and so does Seth. That means, two against one (Bible), and therefore two wins. I stopped praying to Jesus. I treated him like another Biblical character, and I thought the source in Esther’s books was god. A total breakdown of the Godly architecture in my head. But back then, I believed it.
So many red flags, and I still powered on. Esther and Jerry Hick’s Abraham prophesied source became my god.
What Did It Do To Me? | I Was Shattered | Became Beyond Repair
The core belief of the Law of Attraction, that I only have to feel good about things I want in life and stay focused on them with good feelings until they manifest, made me a lazy good-for-nothing. It no longer mattered if I worked or not. All that mattered was how I felt. And guess what, I felt less energetic in the beginning, tired later, fatigued as the time went by, and totally miserable in a couple of years. I woke every morning in a miserable state, trying seriously hard to feel good. You understand the impossibility of the situation? And I couldn’t even call God, since my only job was to align with Him, and not to call Him to save me. So, no God, no good feelings, no work, no energy — a perfect recipe for disaster. But I was still hopeful.
Even in this disastrous path, I kept thinking how it was possible in the pre-Esther days for me to have felt miserable, and yet had good things happening to me. But I was too brainwashed by the Esther bible to make any sense of my own personal prior experience. And then it happened. I fell into depression, lost my job, had no source of income, and was with a totally miserable-loser attitude. I had ruined myself. But the stupidity was that I was still hopeful.
The transformation was complete. From a first ranker in school, a crazy big achiever in office, a great socializing character, I had become a loser with suicidal thoughts, no achievements, no work, no future path, and no God. Depression had become my reality. And guess what, I was still hopeful that the law of attraction would work overnight, and I would be back to the top again.
That never happened.
Salvation | Liberation | God Reaching Out To Me | Jesus Showing Me Why He is My God
I was in depression, hoping that things would turn around any day now. It didn’t. I still kept going after the hollow hope. Then my wife, who was watching me all along, took the help of one of my best friends to talk to me. That was the first time I stopped and looked at myself. In the entire scheme of things, seven years had passed. I wasn’t even physically looking like the previous me. I ruined myself inside out. The transformation was complete. Abraham won. I was stupid.
But the rebuilding started with me weeping every day and night at what I had done to myself. There was still no hope, and there was still no way to become rich. See, how horribly I was brainwashed? Even in the depressed state, I was hoping source would do something. The real Source had some other plans. He grabbed my hand at my lowest and took me out of the dark room.
I started to go to Church again, but this time with the intention of wanting to go to Church. I kept browsing through YouTube to know more about the Bible. I found many interesting people from whom I learned who Jesus was in our lives. I reached out to the Almighty, His Son Jesus, my Savior, and the Holy Spirit. Turns out, they were always there, but I wanted to align with some pseudo source. Well, what can I say?
Two years from then, I am in a much better space. I am back to working hard, no matter how I feel, and realize that God gives the increase. My work is my ministry, and for God is all my work (all these are Bible verses by the way. I am loosely quoting them here. 😊). Oh, if only I had known earlier, I could have saved seven years of my life. But then, I am glad that I am here now and all thanks to the real Source — my God!!
So, I am only going to request you to think twice about the law of attraction. Things work in our lives not because we attract them but because God grants them. In that is where we find: good feeling, feelings of accomplishment, gratefulness, appreciation, and an overall sense of goodness and happiness!!
— — — — — — — — — — —
Image Courtesy: BiancaVanDijk at Pixabay(dot)com
Money | An Insurmountable, Unsurpassable, Unimaginable Problem | And I am Not Even Joking
Just Can’t Understand Money
I have tried it for a long time now, and it just doesn’t work. I can’t visualize money. It is impossible. I have tried and tried, and it just seems like there is some veil in front of my eyes. I went to the extent of even reading books on money and tried different ways of visualizing money. So, tricks like ‘think of what you can buy with money’, ‘how it makes you feel’, and other introspective questions were done. But all these don’t make me feel wealthy. I am using money and wealth interchangeably here — the idea being, how do I feel wealthy without money?
I even tried the circumventing style — that is, look at any other areas of my life where I feel rich and then express the same feeling on the wealth front. A few years back, I realized that I don’t feel rich in any area of my life (Sad life). Eventually, I did find some areas of my life. Yet all those realizations and feelings couldn’t undo my inability to visualize money. Just to clarify — I can visualize my health or physical body very well. I can see my biceps, abs, and other parts of my body as I want, and I can work towards a better me. The same is true about other areas of my life, but just NOT MONEY. It is outstandingly difficult.
I was an engineering student, and visualization was one of the requirements of engineering drawing in the early days of my studies. Isometric, Orthographic, and other styles of drawing need a healthy dose of visualization, and I was extremely good at it. Not only that, but I was also good at earning money, but this arms-length distance or step-brotherly treatment was almost subconscious. Everytime. I felt anxious when I had money and was relaxed when it got spent. And then started the wait for the next month’s salary. I will not get into explaining much of this right now, but it was the way it was.
And it was one of the reasons I kept falling off the grid in terms of earning money. I would get to a level of earning good money, then grow anxious, and then lose it all. The cycle was non-stop.
Time to Look Inwards | And I Assure You I Have Been Doing That for Ten Years Now | Not Much
The first time I learned about energy exercise was in my first job, and I thank God for that CEO of mine. This was more than twenty years back, and I can still feel the relief I felt in some areas of my life, and I thought I could use this to clear all the muck in my head. I learned Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) as a form of energy exercise back then and have been using it since then. I have cleared a lot of things, and I am quite different from how I was back then, but one thing that hasn’t changed much is my situation with money.
To be fair, I didn’t broach the topic of money in my early days, and I think it could be one of the two reasons — I didn’t think it was a problem, or I kept an arms-length distance with money even back then. Frankly, I don’t remember. The very fact that I don’t remember should tell you how much I avoided the idea of money.
But then, ten years back (or that’s how far back I remember) is where I learned that there was something wrong between me and money. I have been on with the energy exercise ever since, but couldn’t crack much. Also, the energy exercises weren’t limited to just EFT. I even tried NLP and other energy exercises, and Ho’oponopono is the most recent one. Nothing worked. That is, until as recently as yesterday.
It wasn’t a breakthrough, but I saw something. Even now, the idea of money is just a haze. I am not sure what or why, but I think I will put it out for you all to witness my experience. And if it helps you, then nothing better than that.
Ho’oponopono To Crack the Idea of Money | Some Progress | A Start
I am not getting into explaining Ho’oponopono much, but I am sure you will get enough and more information on this energy technique from the net. It is while using this technique that I got to visualize the aspect of money in my life. I have tailored my Ho’oponopono technique to align with God, and so, here is how I do it.
I am sorry, Lord God Almighty, that I am unable to visualize your blessings of money.
I am sorry, Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, that I am unable to see your blessings of money.
Forgive me, Lord God Almighty, that I am unable to see your blessings of money.
Forgive me, Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, that I am unable to see your blessings of money.
Thank You, Lord God Almighty, for Your blessings of money.
Thank You, Lord Jesus Christ, Thank You, Oh Holy Spirit, for your blessings of money.
I love You, Lord God Almighty, for your blessings of money.
I love You, Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, for your blessings of money.
This is how I normally use (and, in this case, specifically to money) Ho’oponopono, and it has worked wonderfully for me as I unite it with my prayer to God. In this particular case, I could visualize my financial situation. I am just going to describe it as I could see it:
“It was almost like me buried under tiles and concrete, hardened so much that I couldn’t even see myself. And it was like a structure built to encase me in a corner. Forget me seeing the money (or visualizing), I couldn’t even see myself in that situation.”
I use prayer in between Ho’oponopono, and I prayed to God to discard this concrete infrastructure in the fires of hell and release me from it. Then I opened myself to God to make me whole again and give me the ability to see money and/or knowledge to deal with money.
It still was baffling to know that the entire idea of money was encased in concrete in my mind. What did that even mean? Anyway, now that it is discarded, I am looking forward to seeing how things pan out.
So, Here Is Where I Am | Let’s See What Difference It Makes
This is not the first time I have been dealing with the idea of money, and it took me so long to reach here. I hope I am at the end of it. Now I leave it to God to bring home the point. With God, anything is possible.
I will keep updating on how things are for me. But I am happy to have made some progress.
— — — — — — — — — — —
Image Courtesy: Peggy_Marco on Pixabay(dot)com | Mohamed_Hassan at Pixabay(dot)com
Bible | Book: Genesis | Chapter 14 | Verses 1 – 24 | With Modern Day Takes
***Biblical Stories one at a time. The verses are from the New International Version of the Bible.***
**Abram Rescues Lot**
1 At the time when Amraphel was king of Shinar, {That is, Babylonia; also in verse 9} Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of Goyim,
2 these kings went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboyim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).
3 All these latter kings joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Dead Sea Valley).
4 For twelve years they had been subject to Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
5 In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim
6 and the Horites in the hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran near the desert.
7 Then they turned back and went to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazezon Tamar.
8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboyim and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and drew up their battle lines in the Valley of Siddim
9 against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goyim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar – four kings against five.
10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some of the men fell into them and the rest fled to the hills.
11 The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away.
12 They also carried off Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom.
13 A man who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the great trees of Mamre the Amorite, a brother {Or a relative; or an ally} of Eshkol and Aner, all of whom were allied with Abram.
14 When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
15 During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobath, north of Damascus.
16 He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people.
17 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).
18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High,
19 and he blessed Abram, saying,
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth.
20 And praise be to God Most High,
Who delivered your enemies into your hand.”
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.”
22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,
23 that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’
24 I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me – to Aner, Eshkol and Mamre. Let them have their share.”
Video
https://youtu.be/g-xSqhcaaK0
**Image Courtesy:** My Own.
Bible | Book: Genesis | Chapter 13 | Verses 1 – 18 | With Modern Day Takes
***Biblical Stories one at a time. The verses are from the New International Version of the Bible.***
**Abram and Lot Separate**
1 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him.
2 Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
3 From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier
4 and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the LORD.
5 Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.
6 But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together.
7 And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.
8 So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives.
9 Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”
10 Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company:
12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.
13 Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.
14 The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west.
15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring {Or seed; also in verse 16} forever.
16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.
17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”
18 So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the LORD.
Video
https://youtu.be/5x-aM4Aqoks
**Image Courtesy:** None
What Is the Final Frontier? | Money, Power and Fame?
Thoughts | Words | And Deeds
I thought money, fame, and power were the final frontiers to be conquered.
How wrong was I!
God was always the final frontier. And allowing Him to conquer me was the only mission!
Now I know! I am glad I know!
Spiritual Strengthening
https://youtu.be/4nYOLynY-NE
Bible | Book: Genesis | Chapter 12 | Verses 1 – 20 | With Modern Day Takes
***Biblical Stories one at a time. The verses are from the New International Version of the Bible.***
**The Call of Abram**
1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
2 I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing. {Or be seen as blessed}
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.” {Or earth/will use your name in blessings (see 48:20)}
4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.
5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring {Or seed} I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.
9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.
*Abram to Egypt*
10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are.
12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live.
13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”
14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman.
15 And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace.
16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
17 But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai.
18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?
19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!”
20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.
Video
https://youtu.be/mhN45BK8tMg
**Image Courtesy:** None
Bible | Book: Genesis | Chapter 11 | Verses 1 – 32 | With Modern Day Takes
***Biblical Stories one at a time. The verses are from the New International Version of the Bible.***
**The Tower of Babel**
1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.
2 As people moved eastwards, {Or from the east; or in the east} they found a plain in Shinar {That is, Babylonia} and settled there.
3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.
4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.
6 The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.
9 That is why it was called Babel {That is Babylon; Babel sounds like the Hebrew for confused.} – because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
*From Shem to Abram*
10 This is the account of Shem’s family line.
Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father {Father may mean ancestor; also in verses 11-25.} of Arphaxad.
11 And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah.
13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters. {12,13 Hebrew; Septuagint (see also Luke 3:35, 36 and note at Gen. 10:24) 35 years, he became the father of Cainan.}
14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber.
15 And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg.
17 And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu.
19 And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug.
21 And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor.
23 And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah.
25 And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
26 After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.
*Abram’s Family*
27 This is the account of Terah’s family line.
Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.
28 While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth.
29 Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milkah and Iskah.
30 Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive.
31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there.
32 Terrah lived 205 years, and he died in Harran.
Video
https://youtu.be/NUexupHpDZk
**Image Courtesy:** Wikipedia
Bible | Book: Genesis | Chapter 10 | Verses 1 – 32 | With Modern Day Proofs
***Biblical Stories one at a time. The verses are from the New International Version of the Bible.***
**The Table of Nations**
1 This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japhaeth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood.
**The Japhethites**
2 The sons {Sons may mean descendants or successors or nations; also in verses 3, 4, 6, 7, 20-23, 29 and 31.} of Japheth:
Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal,
Meshek and Tiras.
3 The sons of Gomer:
Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.
4 The sons of Javan:
Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites and the Rodanites {Some manuscripts of the Masoretic Text and Samaritan Pentateuch (see also Septuagint and 1 Chron. 1:7; most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text Dodanites}
5 (From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.)
**The Hamites**
6 The sons of Ham:
Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan.
7 The sons of Cush:
Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteka.
The sons of Raamah:
Sheba and Dedan.
8 Cush was the father {Father may mean ancestor or predecessor or founder; also in verses 13, 15, 24 and 26.} of Nimrod, who became a mighty warrior on the earth.
9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.”
10 The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, in {Or Uruk and Akkad – all of them in} Shinar. {That is, Babylonia}
11 From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, {Or Nineveh with its city squares} Calah
12 and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah – which is the great city.
13 Egypt was the father of
the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites,
14 Pathrusites, Kasluhites (from whom the Philistines came} and Caphtorites.
15 Canaan was the father of
Sidon his firstborn, {Or of the Sidonians, the foremost} and of the Hittites,
16 Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites,
17 Hivites, Arkites, Sinites,
18 Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.
Later the Canaanite clans scattered
19 and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, as far as Lasha.
20 These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.
**The Semites**
21 Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was {Or Shem, the older brother of} Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.
22 The sons of Shem:
Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram.
23 The sons of Aram:
Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshek. {See Septuagint and 1 Chron. 1:7; Hebrew Mash.}
24 Arphaxad was the father of {Hebrew; Septuagint father of Cainan, and Cainan was the father of} Shelah, and Shelah the father of Eber.
25 Two sons were born to Eber:
One was named Peleg, {Peleg means division.} because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan.
26 Joktan was the father of
Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,
27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,
28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba,
29 Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.
30 The region where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, in the eastern hill country.
31 These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.
32 These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.
Video
https://youtu.be/Ts3yJGa8wZ0
**Image Courtesy:** Noahsarkscans(dot)com
**Image Title:** 1961 Ara Güler photograph of the Durupinar Noah’s Ark boat formation.
Bible | Book: Genesis | Chapter 9 | Verses 1 - 29
***Biblical Stories one at a time. The verses are from the New International Version of the Bible.***
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1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.
2 The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.
3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
4 But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.
5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.
6 Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans shall their blood be shed;
for in the image of God
has God made mankind.
7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him:
9 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you
10 and with every living creature that was with you – the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you – every living creature on earth.
11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:
13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,
15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.
16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”
**The Sons of Noah**
18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.)
19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.
20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded {Or soil, was the first} to plan a vineyard.
21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.
22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.
23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.
24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him,
25 he said,
“Cursed be Canaan!
the lowest of slaves
will he be to his brothers.”
26 He also said,
“Praise be to the LORD, the God of Shem!
May Canaan be the slave of Shem.
27 May God extend Japheth’s {Japheth sounds like the Hebrew for extend.} territory;
may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,
and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”
28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years.
29 Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.
Video
https://youtu.be/Z3zz3E5CMTg
**Image Courtesy:** Noahsarkscans(dot)com
**Image Title:** 1961 Ara Güler photograph of the Durupinar Noah’s Ark boat formation.
Bible | Book: Genesis | Chapter 8 | Verses 1 - 22
***Biblical Stories one at a time. The verses are from the New International Version of the Bible.***
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1 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.
2 Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky.
3 The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down,
4 and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
5 The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.
6 After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark
7 and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.
8 Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground.
9 But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark.
10 He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark.
11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.
12 He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.
13 By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry.
14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.
15 Then God said to Noah,
16 “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives.
17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you – the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground – so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.”
18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives.
19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds – everything that moves on land – came out of the ark, one kind after another.
20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.
21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though {Or humans, for} every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
22 “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.”
Video
https://youtu.be/35tcS40-Iu4
Image Courtesy: Noah's Ark by dilsadakcaoglu at Pixabay(dot)com
God Handles For Me | Pray and Let Go | Focus on Creating | And Gratitude
Thoughts | Words | And Deeds
All my fears, all my work, and all the things that I need to handle are not really for me to handle.
It is for me to pray to God and let Him handle.
The only work I do is creating and remaining grateful to God while growing bold in trusting God to handle everything for me.
Now handle that thought!
Spiritual Strengthening
https://youtu.be/ead829EsWBE
God Knows What You Want | Don’t Go Behind Your Wants | Seek God’s Kingdom First
Thoughts | Words | And Deeds
Worried about money, work, things that you need to do, things that are bothering you, things that are frightening you?
The fact is, God already knows about it.
So, seek first his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Try it. Nothing better than seeking God’s kingdom!
Spiritual Strengthening
https://youtu.be/UAs2HP5j0Sw
Bible | Book: Genesis | Chapter 7 | Verses 1 - 24
***Biblical Stories one at a time. The verses are from the New International Version of the Bible.***
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1 The LORD then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.
2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate,
3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth.
4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”
5 And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.
6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth.
7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.
8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground,
9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month – on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.
12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of the three sons, entered the ark.
14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings.
15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark.
16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.
17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth.
18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water.
19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered.
20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. {That is, about 23 feet or about 6.8 meters Or rose more than fifteen cubits, and the mountains were covered}
21 Every living thing that moved on land perished – birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind.
22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.
23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.
24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.
Video
https://youtu.be/5ZIGzsPbSy4
Image Courtesy: Noah's Ark by dilsadakcaoglu at Pixabay(dot)com
Keeping For Tomorrow | Will Burn Out If I Keep Forcing Things for Today | Or Will I?
Keeping Things for Tomorrow
One of the things that I picked up, which I am not sure from where or when, was to keep things for tomorrow. There were numerous reasons for doing so, but one obvious one was that I couldn’t do everything today. So, tomorrow was the right time. The issue with this school of thought was that I would postpone even those chores (or work) that could be done today. It was becoming a habit, and I think I was growing accustomed to it.
The flipside of this habit is that not only the work, but also the results get postponed to tomorrow. Then tomorrow becomes the next day until neither the work nor the results come through. This wasn’t an ideal place to be, and the more I analyzed, the more I found that I was putting away things to the extent that I wasn’t doing much at all in a day.
At first, it appeared that I was postponing difficult tasks, things that I was frightened to tackle or things that would take more than a day to finish. However, I later realized that even absurdly easy or straightforward work was getting postponed. Like I mentioned before, it led to a situation where I wasn’t getting results. That caused me to sit up and take note.
Not Moving Is Not An Option | Stagnation Is Not Good
The habit of pushing things for tomorrow led to almost everything being pushed to tomorrow. Things weren’t getting done, and I was stagnating. It wasn’t a good place to be. I had to deal with the situation and my frame of mind.
I started with a prayer and some amount of introspection and could get down to a few thoughts. These were contributing to the postponement.
“I will burn out if I keep doing things non-stop.”
“I will not be able to finish things in one day if I pile up my day with work. I will be disappointed in not finishing.”
“It is unhealthy to be pushing myself to do multiple things in a day. It won’t be a good idea.”
It took me a little over three days to unearth these thoughts. These thoughts were lurking beneath my conscious mind and kept triggering me to postpone things without me being consciously aware of them. I saw myself delaying, but was unable to ascertain why for a long time. Until now.
These thoughts led me to the next realization — how wrong each one was. The problem with the first belief that I would burn out was the farthest from the truth. From my experience, when I do as much as I can, is when I feel the most energetic. In fact, the opposite was also true. The days I didn’t do much, I felt the most burnt out, low on energy, and generally disinterested. Besides, I had romanticized this idea of burnout a bit too much. When I work continuously, giving one hundred percent non-stop, I will only get tired (not burnt out). The solution for tiredness is rest. And taking rest and a break is a good thing. That’s what God did after creating for six days. He took rest on the seventh day. On the other hand, doing nothing leads to burnout. And burnout from doing nothing cannot be solved by resting, because that will cause even more burnout and mental fatigue. See my point?
The second and the third parts were another delusion, and I don’t know where I picked them up from. I went back to my childhood days, where I remembered coming home from school and not even changing my uniform until I finished my homework. I wanted to finish things “now”. And it worked well for me. Then why did I change? This younger “me” was still there. He wanted to show my older self that it was possible. I had done it before. I can do it again.
Also, there was nothing unhealthy or disappointing in not finishing what I set out to do in a day. It is likely there would be a spillover, but a focused six-day work will take care of things, including the ones spilled over. I knew it was possible, since I had done it before, and now I was subscribing back to those healthy ways of giving my all for six days a week. There is no way I could lose. It’s also God’s way of creating in Genesis in the Bible. You can’t go wrong when you choose God’s path. 😉
Doing More | And Feeling Energized
The outcome of my introspection and mind-clearing activities was that I need to do more. The very thought of doing more is so energizing. I am going to try this out and will be back with more updates.
Doing more is possible, energizing, invigorating, and healthy!!
Image Courtesy: Half Moon from Wikimedia
Empowering Thoughts | 26th August 2025 | God Prepares Your Path
***Thoughts | Words | And Feelings!***
--------------------------------------------------------------
REMINDER:
The LORD God goes ahead of you and prepares your path.
Is there anything to fear then?
Nothing. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
Video
https://youtu.be/mwsLc9B2PIE
Image Courtesy: Grass by PublicDomainPictures at Pixabay(dot)com
Bible | Book: Genesis | Chapter 6 | Verses 1 - 22
***Biblical Stories one at a time. The verses are from the New International Version of the Bible.***
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**Wickedness in the World**
1 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them,
2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.
3 Then the LORD said, “My spirit will not contend with {Or My spirit will not remain in} humans forever, for they are mortal {Or corrupt}; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
4 The Nephilim were on the earth on those days – and also afterward – when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
5 The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.
6 The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.
7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created – and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground – for I regret that I have made them.”
8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
**Noah and the Flood**
9 This is the account of Noah and his family.
Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.
10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.
12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.
13 So, God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.
14 So, make yourself an ark of cypress {The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.} wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.
15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. {That is, about 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high or about 135 meters long, 23 meters wide and 14 meters high}
16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit {That is about 18 inches or 45 centimeters} high all around. {The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain} Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.
17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.
18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark – you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.
19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.
20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.
21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”
22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
Video
https://youtu.be/6YQKPlx_m1k
Image Courtesy: Smoke_evil by TheDigitalArtist at Pixabay(dot)com
Bible | Book: Genesis | Chapter 5 | Verses 1 - 32
***Biblical Stories one at a time. The verses are from the New International Version of the Bible.***
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**From Adam to Noah**
1 This is the written account of Adam’s family line.
When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God.
2 He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” {Hebrew adam} when they were created.
3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.
4 After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters.
5 Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.
6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father {Father may mean ancestor; also in verse 7-26} of Enosh.
7 After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters.
8 Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.
9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan.
10 After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters.
11 Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died.
12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel.
13 After he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters.
14 Altogether, Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died.
15 When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared.
16 After he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters.
17 Altogether, Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died.
18 When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch.
19 After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters.
20 Altogether, Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died.
21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah.
22 After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters.
23 Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years.
24 Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
25 When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech.
26 After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters.
27 Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.
28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son.
29 He named him Noah {Noah sounds like the Hebrew for comfort} and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed.”
30 After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters.
31 Altogether, Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died.
32 After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.
Video
https://youtu.be/A0tg42JqhOg
Image Courtesy: Interconnected by Chenspec at Pixabay(dot)com
Bible | Book: Genesis | Chapter 4 | Verses 1 - 26
***Biblical Stories one at a time. The verses are from the New International Version of the Bible.***
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**Cain and Abel**
1 Adam {Or The man} made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. {Cain sounds like the Hebrew for brought forth or acquired.} She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth {Or have acquired} a man.”
2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.
3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD.
4 And Abel also brought an offering – fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?
7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” {Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Masoretic Text does not have “Let’s go out to the field.”} While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
10 The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.
11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”
13 Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear.
14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
15 But the LORD said to him, “Not so; {Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew Very well} anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.
16 So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of the Nod, {Nod means wandering (see verses 12 and 14)} east of Eden.
17 Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch.
18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.
19 Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah.
20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock.
21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes.
22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of {Or who instructed all who work in} bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.
23 Lamech said to his wives,
“Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
Wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
A young man for injuring me.
24 If Cain is avenged seven times,
then Lamech seventy-seven times.”
25 Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, {Seth probably means granted.} saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”
26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.
At that time people began to call on {Or to proclaim} the name of the LORD.
Video
https://youtu.be/gvDkaVeBcsc
Image Courtesy: Interconnected by Chenspec at Pixabay(dot)com
Fitness: 17th August 2025 | Truth-o-Meter | Did You Know?
Truth-o-Meter
***1 kilometer of walking daily for 365 days gives you 365 kilometers a year. What do you think that would do to your body? No matter how small, don’t ever underestimate the time for exercise. It all adds up.***
What Was I Up To?
The usual, the known, the mundane, the everyday thing… but….
It all adds up!!
Prayer
I started the day with a Rosary and a short prayer. It was also church day, so I had to rush up.
I'm never gonna stop saying this - God in the Day is a Godful Day! 😊
Runs | Walks | Cardio
It was raining heavily outside, so I couldn’t go out for a walk or run. It did look awesome, though. Maybe tomorrow.
Weights | At Gym | Or Home
Today’s workout was at home.
1. Arm curls for the biceps
2. Hammer for the biceps
3. Triceps
4. Overhead press for the shoulders
5. Stomach Vacuum
6. Squats
Body Weight Exercises | Calisthenics
I could only manage planks today. It was for a minute, then I had to get ready for church.
Diet | Fasting | Intermittent Fasting
It was a regular diet day. I kept it to two meals of average quantity.
Energy Exercises | Ho’oponopono | EFT | Meditation | And more
I had multiple sessions of Ho’oponopono.
Here is my write-up on the topic for those who don’t know about Ho’oponopono.
What Is Ho'oponopono? | The Hawaiian Healing Technique https://peakd.com/hive-120078/@namok/what-is-hooponopono-or-the-hawaiian-healing-technique
And That’s A Wrap!
This is my ***first day of exercise this year.*** after a break of three months. I will keep it going for the rest of the year. What awesomeness it would be at the end of the year! 😊
Did You Know?
Walking and running are for mere mortals. The elites walk on their hands. 😊
There is a Guinness World Record for the fastest 50-meter walking on hands holding a soccer ball between the legs. The record stands at 25.58 seconds and was achieved by Hari Chandra Giri of Kathmandu, Nepal, on 4th May 2022.
Something tells me this gentleman will create more records.
**Image Courtesy:** Inspire-Studio @Pixabay
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Bible | Book: Genesis | Chapter 3 | Verses 1 - 24
***Biblical Stories one at a time. The verses are from the New International Version of the Bible.***
--------------------------------------------------------------
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,
3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.
5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring {Or seed} and hers;
he will crush {Or strike} your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
20 Adam {Or The man} named his wife Eve, {Eve probably meaning living.} because she would become the mother of all the living.
21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
22 And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
23 So, the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side {Or placed in front} of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Video
https://youtu.be/oJHxUXsnZik
Image Courtesy: Galaxy by Mattiaverga at Pixabay(dot)com
Bible | Book: Genesis | Chapter 2 | Verses 1 - 25
***Biblical Stories one at a time. The verses are from the New International Version of the Bible.***
_______________________________
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
***Adam and Eve***
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.
5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth {Or land} and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground,
6 but streams {Or mist} came up from the earth {Or land} and watered the whole surface of the ground.
7 Then the LORD God formed a man {The Hebrew for man (adam) sounds like and may be related to the Hebrew for ground (Adamah); it is also the name Adam (see verse 20)} from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.
9 The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.
11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.
12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin {Or good; pearls} and onyx are also there.)
13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush {Possibly southeast Mesopotamia}.
14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;
17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.
20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam {Or the man} no suitable helper was found.
21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs {Or took part of the man’s side} and then closed up the place with flesh.
22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib {Or part} he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Video
https://youtu.be/ymkrkTorvmc
Image Courtesy: Interconnected by Chenspec at Pixabay(dot)com
Bible | Book: Genesis | Chapter 1 | Verses 24 - 31
***Biblical Stories one at a time. The verses are from the New International Version of the Bible.***
24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so.
25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day.
Video
https://youtu.be/yp4rRFyMjMk
Image Courtesy: Interconnected by Chenspec at Pixabay(dot)com
God's Word - Weeding Out the Unhealthy Thoughts!
Fighting against thoughts that lead you astray only makes those thoughts stronger….
Instead, cultivate a new idea that germinates in your mind and becomes so strong that the old one withers away…
And the only Source of this new idea is God. Seek God, read His Word, inculcate them, and then see the miracle of the Word weeding out your old, unhealthy thoughts!
https://youtu.be/5GbmkuQ5YVU
Bible | Book: Genesis | Chapter: 1 | Verse: 11-23
Biblical Stories one at a time. The verses are from the New International Version of the Bible.
11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so.
12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
13 And there was evening, and there was morning – the third day.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years,
15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so.
16 God made two great lights – the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.
17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth,
18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 And there was evening, and there was morning – the fourth day.
20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.”
21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.
23 And there was evening, and there was morning – the fifth day.
#God #Jesus #HolySpirit #HolyTrinity #Bible #Genesis #GenesisChapter 1 #GenesisChapter1Verse11to23
Image Courtesy: Galaxy by Mattiaverga at Pixabay(dot)com
Nothing Is Working Out | Everything I Plan Won’t Work Out | Totally Muddled | Directionless
What Was That All About?
The other day, I was sitting in front of the computer and staring at it with no definite purpose. In no time, I was surfing YouTube, X, and other social media platforms, giving myself a few minutes of free time; the only thing was, I was surfing for more than three hours now. I couldn't take my eyes off the social media garbage, lest I felt directionless again.
Strangely, that was not just the first time. It had happened before. For many years, there would be a sudden attack of listlessness, and I would be so deep in pessimism that it was not funny. It was not good, and I had to get rid of it now.
So, I fell back on my strongest ally, God, and one of his tools - the energy exercises.
The Reflection | Getting to the Root Cause
On closer inspection of the thoughts themselves, I realized that it wasn't new. I had felt that way many times before, and most of the time when I had been doing very well in one or more areas of my life. I wrote down the specific thoughts that came by, and I am enumerating them below.
**"Nothing seems to work out. It was always this way."**
**"I don't think the things I am doing are going to work out."**
**"What am I seriously doing? Why do I think these opportunities will work out?"**
**"I am at a dead end."**
**"There is no way out of here. What am I going to do next?"**
[NOTICE: Not only were my thoughts steamrolling my current opportunities, but I was forced to think about what to do next; meaning, in my mind, I was to write off everything I was doing right now.]
And on further introspection, these were the same thoughts that plagued me in my corporate life, and I would be so clueless that I would want to shut down and sleep, or just walk away from my laptop and have a coffee. However, no amount of coffee or coffee breaks helped; no amount of sleep helped, either. I only woke up tired.
I was in a rut, and I had no way out.
God Opening My Eyes | And Me Seeing the Solution | For the First Time
The introspection gave me the problems and the root cause of my loss of interest and endless social media surfing. Now to deal with the same. I took up the energy exercises to deal with the problem - EFT and Ho'oponopono. As I was dealing with the problems, I noticed another pattern. What was it?
Most of the time, these bouts of listlessness used to follow a peak performance or when I was on top of things. ***It is as if someone or something had to cause the distraction, listlessness, and subsequently my failure***. It was the same pattern every time. So, I got on to cleaning my mind.
As I worked on it, that's when a few other things came to the fore. More fears, but interesting ones (I called it interesting, but it was quite disturbing.)
The fears were:
**"There is no path to follow. I won't succeed this way."**
**"I have no way to get to my targets. There are simply not enough opportunities."**
Notice how the above two fears focus on me not having a path. Why did I find it interesting? Well, in my current online world, there is indeed no defined path to success (although there roughly is) nor a well-trodden path. But the point is, in my corporate setup earlier, I did have a well-laid-out plan, opportunities I could work on, and things that I had to do to succeed. Then why did I have this fear back then? I could only surmise one thing - I had lost a good amount of my life believing in this baloney.
But here's where it got interesting. You and I would have heard a lot of talks on how we can imagine an outcome, and it can come true if we stay focused on it and work towards it. This is quite true, but my problem was, these thoughts never allowed me to focus on the outcome. I couldn't look at the outcome long enough to make a path, nor could I focus long enough for God to lay down the path for me.
I was in a self-sabotaging mode.
Interesting Realization | And Ruthless Obliteration of the Unwanted Thoughts
Then I went all ballistic on these unwanted thoughts and patterns. It took me a couple of hours before I could release these useless thoughts, and I reinforced my mind with new thoughts, which went as follows:
**"If I can focus on the outcome long enough, nothing in the world can stop me from achieving it."**
**"God makes a way if I can focus on the outcome. After all, Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life."**
**"Even an untrodden path could lead me to my outcome if I boldly focused on the outcome that I desired."**
I felt quite empowered after these thoughts were encoded into my subconscious. Did it work? Well, this is the second day after the encryption (😊), and I am here writing this article. It worked indeed!
Old Chatter Gone | New Chapter Begins
For the first time in a good amount of time, I have a peaceful faith that things will work out. This is a drastic departure from the earlier debilitating thoughts. It has brought energy back into my work life and my life, in general. Remember, one of the points that I had mentioned earlier in this article?
Let's go back to one of my earlier comments - *It is as if someone or something had to cause the distraction, listlessness, and subsequently my failure* - who is this someone or something? In the past, I would have brushed this off as just another thought. But now I would rather call a spade a spade. I believe in God, and that is a good enough reason to know the ungodly exists, too. This debilitating, energy-sapping, peace-destroying, faith-crippling voice is from the ungodly. These whispers of paralyzing suggestions when everything seems good are from the unwanted spirit. And this is why we need God's protection.
I am not one to lean on a school of thought so easily. It took me time to reach here, and that means I have researched things well and have reflected deeply on my experiences. Depression is no joke, and the only power to get us out of it is God. God will send his angels in many forms to give us a helping hand. So, find God and never leave his side. Chances are that God is already by your side. You only need to acknowledge it and feel blessed!
So, I hope my own struggles and corrections that God helped me with help you, too; if you need it. I wish you a strong faith and a great life! 😊
- - - - - - - - - - -
Image Courtesy: Depression by BiancaVanDijk at Pixabay(dot)com
An Unhappy Experience With A Tenant | I Learned to Trust God | And Experienced Letting Go
An Unhappy Experience
I have been renting out two of my apartments for nearly five years now, and, aside from some minor hiccups, I have had a largely positive experience. That was until the most recent tenant who entered my home. In hindsight, there were many red flags, but since I had no bad experiences, I went ahead anyway. The entire experience turned sour within a month.
The problem with these kinds of experiences is that I tend to be pinned to the problem and hardly let go, to the extent that I can’t even focus on my everyday work. Someone who was in depression and is still fighting some demons, this is not an easy experience. The good part is, I have started looking in the direction of God.
Since I do believe in God, the only question I have for myself is, why would God put me through this? I can clearly see that the same experience is not affecting my wife as much, though we are going through it together. She is a warrior and seems to be handling this well.
What about me, though?
What About Me? | A Spent Warrior? | Or A Warrior Getting Stronger?
While it is easy to surmise that it is the latter, getting there was impossible without God. You see, the experience has made me aware that I can’t focus on the work at hand when I have a lingering problem. This was the same earlier, and even worse in a corporate setup. In hindsight, I realized that every time a problem cropped up, I was out of action until the problem was solved or settled. Now, the timeline becomes an issue in such situations. If the problem got sorted in days, then it’s ok; in weeks, some problem, but still ok; in months, now that’s a big problem. So, a problem caused a bigger problem in my life — delay and procrastination. And I had many such experiences where the problem would linger on for months.
The result was that I got out of action, and that hurt my results. Imagine being the best, yet unable to perform at my best all the time. That doesn’t fall in the definition of best. Because best without consistency is only best sometimes. I know I was good, and if I had doubts, then there were enough and more awards to show that I was good. But somehow, I was being timid when a problem showed up. I had to deal with it, and I had to do it now.
What Could I Do?
One of the things that I did was visualization. Visualization puts things in perspective. You would have seen many outer space videos where we look at Earth and realize how tiny human beings are, then we look at Jupiter and realize how small Earth is, then we look at the Sun and realize how small Jupiter is, and then the solar system, our galaxy, a cluster of galaxies and then the whole universe. That’s when we realize that a human being is almost impossible to be seen at the universal level; heck, it’s impossible to see even a single human from the space station, let alone the universe. And yet for some reason I believed that my problems, which are much tinier than me, were something I had to tackle before I could go forward. Insane, right?
But that’s not all. I took the problem too far beyond what it was. The universe is the creation of God. And our problem is non-existent in comparison to the universe. Then how could it be a big problem for God to deal with our problem? Do you see the issue I had? I blew up the problem to be bigger than the universe, and unwittingly, bigger than God.
Blew Up the Problem | Lost Perspective | Still, God Helped
This was the issue. I blew up the problem to insurmountable proportions and believed in the problem more than its solution or God. Think about the proportions I had explained. The entire human population taken together is nothing but a super-duper-absolutely-invisible-microscopic dot when compared to the universe. It only means that our problems are basically non-existent when compared to universal proportions.
And worst still, our problems are nothing (absolutely nothing) when compared with God. Here is a Being who can transform the universe with a single swipe of His finger, and I, for some reason, believed that the problem was bigger. How wrong could I have been? This realization is what set me up for recovery and correction. This article is proof that I have got a good level of control back, thanks to God. Why do I say that? Well, the problem and the problematic tenant are still in my house, and yet I am here talking about it in this article.
So, in summary, I will say that putting things in perspective is important. But you know, what is even more important? Trusting God. Even if you put your problem in perspective, you have to know that God will help you solve the problem. And that’s where boldness and strength come from — from God and not from us.
And may the Lord God Almighty, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, keep you bubbling in boldness and strength!!
— — — — — — — — — — —
Image Courtesy: Problem by Geralt at Pixabay(dot)com
Trusting God | Not Easy | But Always Possible!
Trusting God is not as simple as it appears,
Doubts, second-guessing, wondering if it's God’s area to handle that problem, anxiety, worry, impatience…
Are the hurdles to overcome to put your trust in God…
And when you do, trust becomes second nature, peace becomes the norm, and God, your Savior!!
https://youtu.be/JntMDFK39jk
Closure | Completion | I Used to Hate It | I Kept Delaying It | Why?
Closure | Completion | What Do I Mean?
I have been in situations where I had to complete a task or activity by taking just the last two or three steps, and yet I wouldn’t do those steps. I used to keep pushing it away. I knew what to do, but I didn’t want to do it. That behavior was baffling. Baffling as it may be, it wasn’t turning out well in my life.
We are social animals, and when I speak about closure, it is not just about or for me, but about everyone associated with that closure. For example, if I had a business deal running, I would have to call and meet one last time to close the deal, but I just wouldn’t. I would delay it and postpone it. Now, you see, it was not about me alone over here, right? There was the client on one side, my boss on the other side, and most of all, two organizations. It wasn’t me alone getting affected, but the entire ecosystem that was dependent on me to close things. And how do you think these postponements went down with my bosses? You guessed it.
Not only was it affecting me, but also others with me, and eventually, the others would forsake me because of me. No one was at fault except me. But why was this happening?
Why? | What Was Happening? | The Never-Ending End
On closer inspection, this was not only the case with the office, but also my private life, my public life and family life. This avoidance to come to an end was giving me a cold feet every single time and it had affected me so bad that I decided to deal with it.
Dealing with it wasn’t easy. Why? Because I had to neutralize this feeling of postponing, because, like with the other cases of closing, I would push it away. It went on for some time, and then I grabbed it by the neck as I couldn’t take it anymore.
I am pretty certain most of you would have guessed why I wasn’t closing things. If we go with the above example of closing a deal, it is obvious that I feared rejection — a case where the deal went to another organization. I didn’t want to face it. That’s it.
This wasn’t all, though. There were more.
What More? | Some More Fears?
While the fear that we just saw was the most obvious one, and we have a name for it — fear of rejection — it was not the only one. There were more, and these seem to have been picked up by me from my environment — childhood, first job, etc. There were many possibilities. Anyway, we will leave the possibilities for some other time. Let’s look at the fears.
**Fear:** What if I put my 100% and work passionately to close, and it does not close in my favor? Wouldn’t I be shattered to try again? (Shattered had a lot of feeling to it.)
**Result:** I feared putting my 100% into any work that progressed to closure.
**Fear:** What if I put my 100% and the deal does not close in my favor? What a shame it would be to go right down to the wire and lose! I won’t be able to deal with it ever. (A slight variation of the above one. But both are distinct fears.)
**Result:** Postponing closure.
**Fear:** What if I give everything for closure and I lose? How will the world react? (This one was a specific fear I had of my dad in my school days. Not getting first rank was terrifying. I guess he, as a kid, also went through the same. So, I understand him now.)
**Result:** Fear that I would be hated. Postponed closure.
While these were fears particular to my job, there were similar ones for other areas of my life. And the result would invariably be postponing closure. It was affecting all areas of my life. I had to deal with it. And that’s what I did.
Dealing With Closure | What Was Really My Fear?
I have already stated in other articles that I practice energy exercises like EFT, NLP, and Ho’oponopono. Even more than these, I had turned back to God, Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit once again. This was the single biggest win for me — going back to God. I still don’t know how I could have looked away from Him.
So, here’s the thing. I did some introspection of my fears, and here is what I found as my internal dialogue.
In the case where I feared I would be shattered, the thing was I felt I would be lost and have no energy left to start all over again. This underlying thought was easily neutralized by the knowledge that “God is limitless and His creation (me) would also have the blessing of being limitless.” So, then I said, let’s experience what shattering feels like and counter it by standing up again. ***The silence that I heard after this was Aaammaaazing!***
One other aspect came up as I was dealing with my fears of closure. I feared that if I messed up this closure, there wouldn’t be more to work on. This is typical scarcity thought. Once again, I said, God is God of abundance, and there is an endless supply of deals as endless as the breath I take. This fear was neutralized, too.
The last one was the fear of the repercussions if the closing was not in our favor. This fear came from facing my dad in my childhood days. This one was easy; I had compassion for my dad, believing that he, too, would have gone through something similar. Besides, every single exam that I finished, I actually topped. I had to be grateful to him, instead. 😊
So, that’s how I neutralized the fears. Also, those who don’t know energy exercises, it’s ok. It also works if you pray to God. He is always listening. And one more way is to put doubt in the fear.
Ask questions like:
1. What if I have to face the repercussions and get through it? I have gone through repercussions before, right?
2. What if I fail in this deal, and what if it is okay?
3. What if failing in a deal is the fastest way to get to new and better deals?
4. What if failing is overrated?
5. What if failing in closure is not that bad?
6. What if I am still loved despite failing in closure? After all, my father did not disown me if I didn’t top in school and college, right? 😉
These are called pattern interrupts. It sows doubts in our negative beliefs and is very useful in countering them. So, that’s about me and my closure fears. I hope this helped you and hope you can put it to use and relieve yourself of unwanted thoughts and beliefs.
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