Not Guilty

Luke 6:37-38 - "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you."

Romans 8:1 - There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1 (ICB) - So now, those who are in Christ Jesus are not judged guilty.

II Timothy 4:8 - Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the right of judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Titus 3:4-7 - But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according tot he hope of eternal life.

Dear God, thank You for declaring me NOT GUILTY. Now help me take the same forgiveness You have given me and show it to Tom as You give me the words I need to say to him in the letter. And please God, work in his heart as I prepare that letter and get it ready for mailing to reach out in kind and offer the same forgiveness You have for him as well. Like the words of Jesus say, "Judge no, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven...." While it may too late for things to be corrected with regard to the abuse his church put me through, and I will include a letter for them delivery contingent upon his response offering them the same opportunity, it really is not too late for Tom. I still care about him as a friend cares about a friend. And that is the honest truth since really I have no other choice but to be honest here or anywhere. God, I do have one other request. And this might actually bring a smile or a laugh for Tom if he happens to read this, but a certain young man really needs some major help! He has asked me if I want to hang out with him. Now he is leaning toward Friday. But here's the kicker, it is like he wants me to commit when I do not even know what he wants to do and what time! I am shaking my head with aggravation as I say to my mom, "Mom, this guy will need to man up and realize if he is going to initiate and ask, he will need to make the plans. If I initiate and ask, I should be responsible to make the plans or at least contribute to them. How can I commit when I do not know when and where and what. Girls need at least 48 hours so they can properly prepare. And I have a responsibility to my dog this weekend first and foremost. The fireworks. But if this is how this is going to be, there will be NO wedding bells anytime in the next five years. I can handle parenting when I am financially able to adopt, but I do not know about him being able to handle it." Mom's response: "If his mom would spend more time teaching him things, maybe, but someone has to teach him." After seeing him in a grocery store the other day (I know what are the odds?!?), she was tickled because he ran into us with the same three items he checked out do the store with yet he was seen going all over the store looking for things. He had not been given any list or he was distracted when the list was given and didn't get it written down. Duly noted that I will need to ask about having someone lead a class to teach the special needs parents how to help us become as fully independent as possible. Life skills. I still need some life skills as well, but I think I may actually have a slight edge at this point. Now about the size of our kitchen and house not being conducive to expansion. If my mom does ever need to be placed in a wheelchair like the doctors are talking about doing, we would need a new house-one that is deemed ADA-compliant. The kitchen alone.... Even the hallway. God, I thank you for Your forgiveness. Now I ask for. Your provision for my family when it comes to financial needs. $3000 needed for hearing aids. And insurance doesn't pay for adults who need them. And we still have some home repairs to make as well. I know You will help make sure we have what we need, but we could use a miracle. Thank You God for everything You have done and will do and are doing for me. In Jesus' Name, Amen!

Not Guilty Anymore by Aaron Keyes (YouTube)

It doesn't matter what you've done

It doesn't matter where you're coming from

Doesn't matter where you've been

Hear me tell you I forgive

You're not guilty anymore

You're not filthy anymore

I love you, mercy is yours

You're not broken anymore

You're not captive anymore

I love you, mercy is yours

Can you believe that this is true?

Grace abundant I am giving you

Cleansing deeper than you know

All was paid for long ago

There is now

Therefore no condemnation 

For those who are in Jesus

You're not guilty anymore

You're not filthy anymore

I love you, mercy is yours

You're not broken anymore

You're not captive anymore

I love you, mercy us yours

You are spotless

You are holy

You are faultless

You are whole

You are righteous

You are blameless

You are pardoned

You are mine

Not Guilty by Mandisa (YouTube)

I stand accused

There's a list a mile long

Of all my sins

Of everything that I've done wrong

I'm so ashamed

There's nowhere left for me to hide

This is the day

I must answer for my life

My fate is in the Judge's hands

But then He turns to me and says

I know you

I love you

I gave My life to save you

Love paid the price for mercy

My verdict not guilty

How can it be?

I can't begin to comprehend

What kind of grace

Would take the place of all my sin?

I stand in awe

Now that I have been set free

And the tears well up as I look at the cross

'Cause it should have been me

My fate was in the nail scarred hands

He stretched them out for me and said

I know you

I love you

I gave My life to save you

Love paid the price for mercy

My verdict not guilty

I'm falling on my knees to thank You

With everything I am I'll praise. You

So grateful for the words I heard You say

I know you

I love you

I gave My life to save you

Love paid the price for mercy

My verdict not guilty

Untangling the Knots

Psalm 34:19 - Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

Isaiah 41:8-10 - But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend; you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, "You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off"; fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for it am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Zephaniah 3:17 - The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you with by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

Dear God, please untangle the knots that gather in my mind. The worries, the fears, the anxieties. My biggest worry right now being these republican candidates who are making me worried that I will lose my healthcare insurance. I thought that the worry would be over after the last election, but they just will not let go of their stupid hatefulness toward the president. They are being hateful so they are trying to hurt everyone because of it. They do not listen. There are a whole lot of people in Alabama who have already been helped because of the ACA. More would have been helped if the stupid governor would not have blocked the expansion, but he flat out made it known that he would not expand because he does not like the president. Most of them are rich and white, too. But the thing that really makes it messed up? They are all claiming to be good Christians. Right.... So let me get this straight. Six rich, white men vying for one position for the Republican Party and they are all such good Christians that they hate the president and hate the poor and hate the disabled enough to destroy their lives by taking away their healthcare insurance? Hmmm..... What would Jesus do? Jesus would separate them into the goats because they did not take care of the least of these. I fought hard for the past eight years to get changes to the insurance industry, to get rid of the discrimination, to get rid of the worry that I would lose my insurance if I got sick again. The law fixed that. When Romney was campaigning and threatening to take away the very thing he already implemented in his state, that's right the ACA is a republican concept to start with and they are just mad because they are not the ones who had their rich, white guy win in order to pass it, I prayed through Matthew 25:31-46 because it was so personal and relevant for my life. I prayed the following before elections: "God, which of these candidates best exemplifies what You are saying in this passage?" And it went like this (based on Bob Flayhart's S.W.O.O.P. sermon given October 2012): Does this candidate best exemplify what it means to take care of the a)hungry, b)thirsty, c)stranger, d)naked, e)sick, and f)imprisoned? The questions ran straight through what is listed exactly as listed in that passage. Now some people want to twist that and say, "what about the unborn?" Do you see the unborn in that passage? Although I agree to some extent that the baby is a baby at conception, I do not agree that a baby can be oppressed because a baby is not a separate human being until they are born. During the nine months in the womb, the baby is protected. Unless something happens to go wrong otherwise. The extent of oppression to a baby in the womb is if the mother cannot carry full term for a variety of reasons. Because it is not listed in this passage and really not actually mentioned in the Bible except by assuming that it could possibly be deemed murder, but then what is it considered if the woman miscarried or has stillbirth at full term, it might be considered a grey area that would be legalistic to assert. But the unborn are not considered to be one of the least of these. Jesus was addressing the oppression of people who are alive but being mistreated. So let us just immediately look back at the list and cross unborn off. Period. It is not in the list. We are not adding words to God's words. Period. That is not something we are allowed to do. Going back to the list: Do any of the six republican candidates for my district exemplify taking care of the hungry? They have not addressed their viewpoints regarding SNAP, but chances are if they are republican then they support the cuts that Paul Ryan proposed. These cuts affect not only the poor, but the disabled, the veterans, the elderly, the working families, and even active duty families. So no. Do any of the six republican candidates for my district exemplify taking care of the thirsty? Same logic. Do any of the six republican candidates for my district exemplify taking care of the stranger? No. I am a stranger and they are not taking care of me with their tired old rhetoric of hate. Do any of the republican candidates for my district exemplify taking care of the naked? Probably not. Do any of the republican candidates for my district exemplify taking care of the sick? Well, I have a solid answer for that. NO! They are threatening to repeal the ACA which helps the sick obtain, secure, and keep insurance which is their ticket to having the same affordable access to healthcare that another law says they have the right to. The Americans with Disabilities Act says that a person covered by the ADA has the right to the same affordable healthcare that their non-disabled peers have. Well, they do not have equal access when insurance is allowed to charge them more, drop them, or deny them. The ACA got rid of the inequality and now these candidates want to take that away. Again. Still. They do not exemplify taking care of the sick! Mathis, Brooks, DeMarco, etc. Insert whatever republican name here. Do the republican candidates for my district exemplify taking care of the imprisoned? Depends on exactly whom Jesus was referring to, but since the original text states "when I was in prison," I will assume an actual prisoner in jail and not someone who is imprisoned by their unbelief or their body. I truly do not know. At any rate, at the first solid no answer, I might not continue to the question because as soon as you get a solid no, it is pretty obvious the correct choice is anyone other than whom you are asking about. I asked these questions about Romney and got a solid no at the first question. But I went ahead and gave benefit of the doubt and asked each question about him. My results for Romney were: no, no, no, no, no, and no. Why? Because of his 48% comment which gave a clear enough picture that even evangelical pastors preached sermons stating that conservatives who held that attitude needed to repent. Do you know who falls in the 48% of people who do not pay taxes? 1. Veterans do not pay taxes on their benefits that they earned. But many of them are also on SNAP, SSDI or SSI, and some of them also work which is where they do pay taxes. 2. Elderly retired people. 3. Disabled people who either get SSI or SSDI after a lot of denials and attorneys and court cases in front of judges that may or may not understand their disabilities. But even some of these work at least part time and pay taxes. 4. Children. 5. Middle class people with children. 6. This who make less than $4000 a year. 7. College students. Some of them work though, so again, they pay taxes unless it is a workstudy job. 8. Contract labor. Unless they make over $4000 a year. 9. Rich people who hide their money in overseas bank accounts. 10. Rich people who can afford to give to all kinds of charities thereby effectually writing off their tax obligation. When I asked the same questions of Obama, I got: yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and I don't know. Look, to each his or her own when it comes to elections, but I would want to caution anyone voting for a candidate that attains a solid no at any point about the guilt by association? Could you be pushed into the goatherd? If you support a candidate who might be sorted into the goats because they are not taking care of any one of the categories of the least of these, could you also be sorted into the goats? Frankly, that is not something I want to find out. So I will not support any of them. I think they are immoral, and I know they are unethical. So anyway, God, that is my biggest worry laid out with how I overcome some of the stress of it. But God, I need You to help me untangle the rest. Thank You. In Jesus' Name, Amen!