We must always remember that we do not handle God or direct His presence. As the name Ark of the Covenant implies, it is the representation of God’s covenant or contract with Israel. His agreements always stand regardless of the situation. Sessions in Pain pg. 91
AUTHOR’S COMMENTS: I am so glad that we can never ‘handle’ or manipulate God. His Covenant with us is immutable and steadfast through any storm. Even when we change He remains true to His promise: “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13 BSB).
picture credit: lifehopeandtruth.com
Leaving Babylon pgs. 20-21
After they were created, the truth of God was spoken to Adam and Eve. God said, “You may freely eat any fruit in the garden except fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat of its fruit, you will surely die”(Gen. 2:15–17, nlt). Babylon came to lord over us the day Adam and Eve, the parents of humanity, chose her over the ways of God. In Genesis 3, we see the scene laid before us as Satan, in the form of a serpent, presents to Adam and Eve the first lie told to humanity.
Satan said, “You won’t die!…God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it. You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil” (Gen. 3:4–5, nlt).
Humanity must make a choice. We chose the “lie” over the “truth.” In making this choice, we relinquished the gifts and blessings of God, and we died that day, just as God said we would. The human race experienced the truest definition of death—separation from God. We chose to separate ourselves from our heavenly Father and went under the rule of Babylon (1 Cor. 15:22, nkjv).
AUTHOR’S COMMENTS: But it was not over for us. Our Heavenly Father continued to reach out to us. “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His[One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16 amp).
choose truth!
picture credit – Zach Hunt
picture credit: familyshare.com
Beloved, Christ has already suffered and died for your wounds and holds the healing balm for your heart in His hands. Your offender may never pay for his/her sins in this life to your satisfaction; they may never apologize or acknowledge their wrong. What if the offender has died? If you required their apology to heal, then you leave yourself carrying an open wound until you die.
Sessions in Pain pg. 219
Hear my cry, O God; Attend to my prayer.
2 From the end of the earth I will cry to You,
When my heart is overwhelmed;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Psalm 61:1-2 nkjv
LEAVING BABYLON pgs. 76-77 
Once you choose God’s will, you must learn the new ideals and attitudes of your heavenly Father. This is the reconstruction of your will. This reconstruction happens in the flow of the River of God.
As your mind is being renewed, it must be refurnished with the knowledge of the will of God. We must be reeducated. Imagine your mind is like a room full of old, dusty, broken-down furniture, and that each piece of furniture represents an attitude that you operate in when circumstances arise in your life, your warped will. Anxiety, envy, pride, anger, resentment, and other destructive attitudes decorate the room of your mind. You use this defective furniture although it is dirty and stains your soul and clouds your thought processes. You use it although it makes the situations of your life worse. You use it although it destroys the relationships with the ones you love. You sit on this furniture although the legs break and leave you lopsided in your understanding. Life doesn’t make sense or has no purpose or meaning.This old furniture leaves you confused and wandering through life, wondering, “What went wrong?” Our former attitudes are inadequate and will never bring the true knowledge of God and the true understanding of the human condition.
“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”(2 Cor. 5:17 niv)
This life s only training and testing ground in which God’s agenda is paramount. Whether you get with the program or not, God’s will shall be carried out; His agenda will be fulfilled. Every circumstance, every incident, every victory and every sorrow goes past His approval before it enters your life, and it is always for your good and eternal growth in Him. Sessions in Pain pg. 140
AUTHOR’S COMMENTS: I have found that God’s training is a lot like learning to rock climb. He carefully places a rock within our grasp for us to reach for and pull ourselves up to the next level until we finally grow-up and overcome!
He who overcomes [the world through believing that Jesus is the Son of God], I 
will grant to him [the privilege] to sit beside Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down beside My Father on His throne (Rev. 3:21)
LEAVING BABYLON PG.18
Babylon the Great is not a specific location on the earth. The Bible calls her “the great prostitute, who sits on many waters” (Rev. 17:1, nlt). She is a way of doing business and interacting with others. She is the way that is born out of pride, greed, and selfishness. She is the Great Whore, who has ravaged humanity since the sin in the garden. Since Babylon is not a location, there is no physical place to run and be safe from her. There is only God. With all of our best laid plans to keep ourselves safe, there is only God (Ps. 91:1–2).
“Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.” (Revelation 18:2–3, nkjv)
So how do you reconcile your tragedies with a loving and forgiving God? How can you go forward without fear? What is the resolution to your assessment of your life? The Psalmist records that, “It was good for me that I have been afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes” (Psalm 119:71).
Session in Pain pg. 181
AUTHOR’S COMMENT: You can only understand this declaration
from the psalmist on the other side of tragedy and pain. There is a special clarity that comes when walking through pain with God. We learn what is relevant, what is eternal, and what is really good for us. We see the Love and wisdom of the Father through new eyes. And He will raise us from our pain with the faith to go forward without fear.
pictures credits: Goodlifezen.com, Out of the Ashes we rise
Leaving Babylon pgs. 12-13
The first and most difficult step to leaving Babylon is to recognize who and what she is so that we can change our thinking. We must also understand what has happened to humanity since our fall to realize why we must leave. We have become comfortable and even feel successful here. Therefore, it will be difficult to begin “uprooting” our minds. This uprooting will only come through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The second step is emerging in the desert as children of God. As God’s children we must learn to depend on Him and choose His ways over Babylon in all circumstances. The desert is the testing and growing place for us. It is the place where we learn to know our God—the place where God Himself provides for us. Finally, we must establish ourselves in the kingdom by complete trust and obedience to Him. “If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land” (Isa. 1:19, nkjv).
The journey will be difficult, but in Christ we have the victory. There may be setbacks and failures along the way, but He is more than able to see us through to our destination. Others have made it. We can too. Remember the words of the author of Hebrews:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish… Think about all He endured when sinful people did such terrible things to Him, so that you don’t become weary and give up” (Hebrews 12:1–3, nlt)
God could give you everything you needed to live a carefree life, but then He knows you well; if you did not need others, you would live your life selfishly. He designed you so that you would need others. Whether it is for food, clothing, shelter or relationships, it is a part of His perfect design that we work and live together.
Sessions in Pain pg .184
“…30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’No other commandment is greater than these” (Mark 12: 30-31 BSB).
If we could believe that God does care for the beautifully dressed wildflowers, then we could grasp how much He would care for us. We speculate at the cliff of faith, contemplating the risk of leaping into His arms. We haven’t yet decided if He’s God or not. Is He Love or not? And if He isn’t, I want to know now so that I don’t waste another minute on this—but the only way to know is to leap!
Sessions in Pain, pg. 202
The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it (1 Thess. 5:25 BSB).
