Category: Mental Health

God Loves Us, Jesus, Mental Health, Personal Reflections, Praying for America, Yahweh

Who Do You Want To Be United With Or Yoked To?

Michael J. Weiss, Sr.

“George P. Alexander is a Christian believer who grew up in India, which is considered the birthplace of yoga. He reveals that yoga poses are ‘offerings to the 330 million Hindu gods,’ and thus, each pose is an act of worship. Westerners believe they are exercising and breathing, but ‘to a Hindu, yoga is the outward physical expression of a deep spiritual belief. You cannot separate one from the other.’”

“. . . yoga’s foundation comes from pantheism, which elevates the worship of everything as god. The word yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj, which means ‘to yoke’ or ‘to unite.’ The question is, what is one uniting with?”

Jesus invites us to take His yoke. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:29)”

Who do you want to be “yoked” with, The Prince of Peace (Shalom), the One Who is Love, or another?

The above quotes were taken from https://ifapray.org/blog/the-new-age-is-infiltrating-public-schools/, accessed January 25, 2025.

David Coffield, Featured Writers, God Loves Us, Guest Post, Jesus, Mental Health, Messiah, Testimonies, Yahweh

Rejoice that through faith in Jesus your name is written in the Book of Life.

Michael J. Weiss, Sr.

                                                                         

I get struck by things as I read.  Probably the Holy Spirit doing what He does so well.  In John 17:14 “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world…”  I don’t want to be hated.  I want everyone to like me.   Not going to happen.  There is animosity between the world and God, between the world and the children of God.  It is probably why Jesus tells His followers that He is sending them out as “sheep in the midst of wolves.  Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”  A sheep is wolf food.  The wisdom of the serpent (from my point of view) is that you don’t see it, it is camouflaged.

Luke 10:17-20.  Jesus sends the 70 out with unparalleled power and they come back excited and rejoicing.  The Lord’s comment?  “Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven”.  I was speaking with my chiropractor this morning and we were discussing feeling loved and accepted by Jesus.  I told him that my lifelong struggle is embracing that I am loved and accepted by God just as I am, right now.  We are so performance oriented that it is difficult to believe that God accepts us unconditionally.  I continue to pray day by day, “Lord help me to believe that my value to you resides in my relationship with You as Your son and not in my labor for you.”

We were meeting with a couple yesterday and the wife is an incredible contingency planner.  She looks 10 years ahead or more.  The Lord ministered to me through Ecclesiastes years ago to help me settle in the day and enjoy it.  It is good to plan for the future, it is good to learn from the past.  However—this is the only day that God gives us.  The past is gone, and the future is forever one day out of reach.  5 times in Ecclesiastes it speaks of rejoicing in the day.

Your brother,

David

Featured Writers, Guest Post, Jesus, Mental Health

TWO DAUGHTERS

Michael J. Weiss, Sr.

When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet 23 and pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 

30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?'” 

32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”   (Mark 5:21-34)

This record in Mark chapter five of God’s word tells of a contrasting pair of incidents in the ministry of Jesus featuring two different daughters.  One, the daughter of a prominent member of their community who came boldly to Jesus on her behalf to plead for her healing to save her life.  The other a lonely, rejected outcast who approached Jesus secretly in a desperate attempt to be healed also.  The plea in both cases was the same: please heal her body; but the needs were entirely different.

The father came confidently to invite Jesus into his home while the lonely woman sneaked up behind Jesus only hoping to touch his garment without daring to even speak to him.  Without friends or family to help her, ashamed to even be seen in public, struggling just get some relief from her pain and misery, never daring to hope for anything more in life.

And Jesus responded to the needs of both daughters, not exactly in the way they expected.  Yet he provided them with so much more than they sought.  Even though neither one of these situations were on the agenda for that day, Jesus stopped what he was doing to go to the father’s home and heal his daughter until he was interrupted again by that touch on his garment from a bleeding woman who couldn’t even dare to speak to him personally.

But her need was so great that Jesus stopped everything to help her.  The bleeding stopped as soon as she touched his garment according to verse 29, but she still had other needs.  So, Jesus called out for her to come to him.  He knew who she was, but he was going to introduce her to the crowd that day.  Note that verse 29 clearly states that “she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.”  It doesn’t say that she was healed.

Like many of us she still suffered from guilt, shame, rejection and neglect.  So, Jesus called her to him, gave her his undivided attention in front of the crowd, listened to her whole story and then gave her his approval and affirmation in verse 34.  (He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”)  Only then was her healing complete.

I believe the Holy Spirit inspired this record to teach us that we need to complete the healing process in our own lives by confessing the whole truth to Jesus about our lives and receive his blessing and affirmation after we have received his payment for our sins.  Freeing us from the guilt, shame, regret and despair we are keeping hidden from those around us.

As great as our eternal salvation is, there is still more that needs to be corrected in our lives to make us whole.  Making our transformation complete as children of God.  He doesn’t want to see us limping into eternity carrying the weight of the past with us.  He continues to call to us to come to Jesus and be set free from the chains of our own making.  Our offenses against our Heavenly Father may be gone but the damage of our mistakes and foolish choices remain until we confess the whole truth as that dear woman did.  Setting her free from the nightmare of her past once and for all.

Only when we bring everything to Jesus and release it to his loving mercy can we experience the true freedom and joy he is offering us.  A relationship with no hidden barriers or secrets that hold us captive to fear.  Trusting that he can heal us from it all.  That is the faith that will ultimately free us from the fear and despair that our guilt, shame and regret produce in our lives.  That woman’s bleeding may have stopped when she touched Jesus’ robe, but her healing didn’t come until she fell before Jesus and personally confessed everything to him, surrendering to all of his mercies.

And, yes, Jesus did go on to heal the other daughter that day in response to her father’s faith, even though she had already died.  In this case Jesus healed both daughters, freeing them from death and a living nightmare. Jesus met their needs  beyond the requests made that day in the same way that he stands ready to meet all of our needs today, if we just trust him.  

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us  (Eph 3:20)

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.  (Heb 10:23)

By Gary DeRemer

Featured Writers, God Loves Us, Jehovah, Jesus, Mental Health, Messiah, Recommended Reading, Sylvia Gunter, Yahweh

God is Able

Michael J. Weiss, Sr.

You can sign up to receive Sylvia Gunters weekly devotional at: https://thefathersbusiness.com/devotion/god-is-able/

Able is the Greek word dunatos, related to dunamis, meaning ability, abundance, capability, mighty works, miraculous power, prevailing strength. “God is able” means God has the mighty power to do a miraculous work out of His abundance and strength. Romans 16:25 says God is able to establish you. Listen to the richness of the verse when read with its full definition “God has mighty power to do a miraculous work out of His abundance and strength to establish you.”

Bring your inability to the ability of God. As you read these verses drink in the bigness of God as you replace “able” with “has the mighty power to do a miraculous work out of His abundance and strength.”

God is …
Able to give much more. 2 Chron 25:9
Able to deliver from fire. Dan 3:17
Able to raise up children of Abraham from stones. Mat 3:9
Able to give sight to the blind. Mat 9:28-29
Able to destroy in hell. Mat 10:28, James 4:12
Able to perform what He promised. Rom 4:21
Able to graft in the Gentiles. Rom 11:23
Able to make you stand. Rom 14:4
Able to establish you. Rom 16:25
Able to make a way through temptation. 1 Cor 10:13
Able to make all grace abound to you. 2 Cor 9:8
Able to do exceedingly beyond all your asking. Eph 3:20
Able to subdue everything under His control. Phil 3:21
Able to keep all we have committed to Him. 2 Tim 1:12
Able to help the tempted. Heb 2:18
Able to save from death. Heb 5:7
Able to save completely, to the utmost. Heb 7:25
Able to raise men from the dead. Heb 11:19
Able to keep you from falling and to present you before His presence without fault and with great joy. Jude 24

To the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power, and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. Jude 25

Be blessed in the name of God who is able.

© Sylvia Gunter, 2016, Prayer Essentials For Living In His Presence Volume 1,

God Loves Us, Health, Jehovah, Jesus, Mental Health, Messiah, Testimonies, Uncategorized, Yahweh, Yehovah

Jesus Your Portion

Michael J. Weiss, Sr.

Transcript of a recent conversation.

M sent Psalm 73:26 to D;

“My flesh and my heart fail, But God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever.”

D replies;

“What does it mean when it says my portion forever?”

To which M replies;

“Imagine sitting down for a meal, a feast, and the chef placing your meal/portion in front of you and you know that you know this is the best food for your body, the perfect amount of food for your current needs and the best tasting meal ever. It is your portion.”

“Jesus is your portion. He is the best for you and your needs, the perfect amount of Grace, and he is the best tasting relationship you will ever experience.”

“Jesus is our portion. Perfect in every way for each of us,” forever.

David Coffield, Featured Writers, Guest Post, Jehovah, Jesus, Mental Health, Messiah, Recommended Reading, Testimonies, Uncategorized, Yahweh, Yehovah

Embrace the suck

Michael J. Weiss, Sr.

Written by Dave Coffield

“God is far more likely to use pain, suffering, sorrow, grief, troubles, and such to grow us up into the character and image of His Son than He is to use happy times and pleasure.  I know what I like better.”  

“There is a reason that James says to ‘count it all joy when you encounter various trials’ and Paul says, ‘not only this but we also exult in our tribulations‘.  What would it be like to rejoice in the goodness of the Lord in the difficult times that He brings into our lives to accomplish good things in us?”

“The Army has a term I like.  ‘Embrace the suck’.  The understanding that you will be in environments that are difficult, painful, stressful, etc.  You endure it.  Hebrews says of Jesus, ‘Who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame…‘”

Featured Writers, God Loves Us, Guest Post, Jesus, Mental Health, Recommended Reading, Testimonies, Uncategorized, Veterans

Brand New Dad Reflects On Sleepless Nights

Michael J. Weiss, Sr.

Shared with permission, written by an Airborne Artillery Officer.

Zechariahs Prophecy. Yet another cannonball-sized movement in my heart from the Spirit. 

Luke 1:78-79

78  “because of the tender mercy of our God, 

whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high 

79  to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, 

to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Those last four words are what did it for me. ‘The way of Peace‘. That sounds like a distant dream for me right now. We were up nearly all night trying to figure out how to calm our two-week-old Son; ultimately, we tried everything and made him so overtired that he didn’t fall asleep until he was on his Mom’s chest around 3 am. 

These days feel like combat for me, far from the way of peace. The days are unpredictable, and there seems to be no routine despite our efforts to set one. It’s combat. That’s the only way I know how to describe it. I thought last night, during the chaos of my all-nighter air assault mission that led directly into another movement at 3 am during my artillery platoon’s evaluation cycle at the National Training Center before deploying to Iraq. I remember feeling so deflated when I was called to the commander’s Humvee less than an hour after finishing this long, drawn-out failure of an air assault mission. I couldn’t believe I was going to have to do it again, and I was going to have to lead another platoon movement to a new firing position. This was insanity, and I could barely keep my eyes open. I remember leading the convoy, literally dozing in and out under my night vision goggles… 

Yep, that’s how the nights feel right now. Exhausted and battered, only to be called to the commander’s Humvee again and again. So why do those words ‘the way of peace‘ stand out to me so much? In my angry prayers for respite last night, I began to sense that this was indeed a time of testing from the Lord. How to answer the test? I haven’t figured it out yet. Except that these words this morning point me back to the purpose and mission of Jesus. And to the way in which he accomplished it.  

In my journey of faith, at least in recent years, I don’t think I have been physically and emotionally tested in the way that I am now. So, what does this mean, Lord? 

He leads my eyes back to verse 79… “to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.” Wow, I actually chuckled to re-read that. That’s exactly how it feels in the midnight hours—sitting in literal darkness, under the shadow of death, in this case, death being physical exhaustion and weariness. But the word clearly states that Jesus will be a light in this place, and that he will guide us out of it, into the way of peace. 

Hebrews 12:11

“For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Thinking back to that all-nighter air assault mission. Why did they [the evaluating cadre] allow it to go on for that long? How was it beneficial? It taught me how to keep going. When there is nothing left. Literally nothing. It taught me to endure. To put on my helmet, brief the platoon, and get moving. To get through the breach and know that there would be rest on the other side, at some point.

I don’t know that I can pinpoint a time in Iraq when this testing came to bear fruit. Except maybe the night our howitzer exploded, and a mass casualty event kept us awake until the sunrise. And what did I do then? I got it done, and eventually I slept when it was all said and done. 

The way of peace is narrow, as Jesus himself said it. The way of being a new parent is rough. And I have a choice to make, each and every night. I have to choose that I am going to trust the one who is training me. I have to choose that I will believe in the fruit it will yield. 

Prayer

Jesus, as you always do, thank you for giving me space and clarity to write. To think through these things occurring in life. To see, to hear, and receive your teaching. My heart is full again now that I have understanding. My heart has joy to know it is all for good. Jesus, I will try, I will not quit, but will keep on trying to commit my heart to you during these late nights. Teach me when to engage our Son. Teach me Lord, to be following your way for my feet, and to let go of my own way.