Draw Me Closer

What is the full extent of your love to me?

To see a million beautiful sunsets, in the comfort of your arms;

to know the warmth of your love throughout an eternity;

to walk along the path way of beauty, being guided by your presence,

as we talk along the way and you show me that you were always there with me...

Oh God love divine, master of all pleasantries, oh great king of heavenly pleasure,

your word has been my rest, it is this love so tender that encompasses my life time.

An eternal God with an eternal love for me, I can't fathom or imagine the extent of his love towards me.

You have said you have loved me with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have you draw me.

I draw closer and closer to you everyday. It is your will I seek, it is your breath I breathe, it is your face I know.

I surrender myself to you, and to you along. There is no other lover! There can never be!

Draw me closer to your divine presence.

Draw me closer to you

I Am In Your Hands

No human can give me, what you give me.

I've tried to listen to all the voices, but there is no voice, like your voice.

Friends and well-wishers cheer me on, some even chastise me.

Some give me well thought out solutions, solutions that will work for anyone else, but they do not work for me!

My life has always been in your hands, dear God.

Like the  friends of Job, they can only see what their eyes allow them to see.

They have limited vision because they are human.

They only know what they want for themselves.

I've always received word from you, a message that has always been very clear.

I've always depended upon your voice to guide me in my darkest hours.

I have always trusted your word.

Your word has been declared over my life many times.

And without fail, you have delivered me.

I have declared your word over the lives of others, and without fail, you delivered them.

What is so special about this time?

Why is it, that your voice seems so far away.

It seems like you have forsaken me.

I know, in my heart of hearts, that is not true.

You have never forsaken me.

You have never left me alone.

When I thought I was alone before, I found myself surrounded by your love.

Mama used to say, prayer brings life.

I am never going to leave your presence.

I'm never going to leave your fellowship.

I will just draw closer to you.

You have very strong hands.

You hold the universe in your hands.

You control the cosmos.

You authored the evolution of time.

I was hidden in you, from the beginning.

My course was marked off, my steps were ordered.

You went before me, and  prepared my way.

You went to my last breath, and then came back to my first breath and set the scope of my life.

You smiled and said I love you my son.

You said, my life is in your hands.

No one can take it from you.

You said to me, "you will have hills and mountains.

You will have valley moments.

There will be hurdles.

I have given of my promise.

Do not be afraid of the enemies that plot your demise.

Do not be afraid up his threatenings.

For I will set you up on a rock, I will set you out of the reach of them all.

You are in my hands.

Your first breath praised me.

In my presence during your worship, your breath became one with my breath.

In prayer, we breathe the same breath.

In your darkest hours I gave you breath.

Breathe me in now. 

I am the breath of life.

In an appointed time, in your last breath, you will thank me.

 

I Am My Mother's Child

I imagine at 52 years of age it's a little late to be saying, I am my mothers child. I've been grown for years now and yes, I see myself as my mothers child. My mother passed away about four years ago.
I remember being a baby standing on the side of the crib with the fluorescent light beaming against the purple background.

Living in a small apartment in the city of Chicago. We live on a Boulevard. Like most Boulevards in  Chicago, there was a Park was in the middle. My younger mother and father would have picnics back then. Fried chicken, french fried onion rings, potato salad all spread out on a red and white  blanket.
Mom also took us everywhere. Going to the clinics, lunches  packed with salami on toast. Catching Chicago city buses, which ran on electricity. Remembering the sparking high wires as they made their way  through the city in the early 1960's. Getting shots from the clinic my brother, I would scream very loud long before the needle made contact with the skin. The alcohol oder was strong because it was what they used to sanitize equipment during that time. Sometimes she would pick us up from the baby sitter's house, or from school. Remembering taking off all our clothes at the laundromat to be washed. Remembering the neighborhood schools how we would all crowd around the popular and friendly principal. Being taught how to cross on the green light. Summers on the outside with our friends.

Moving away from the large city to the small city. What a different way of life. Mother taking us and registering us for school. Birthday parties  with relatives and friends. Baseball football and basketball in the park. Mom saying, I'm gonna tell your father, which caused us to straighten out right then and there. Being called home for dinner by our first and middle names, of which everyone in the neighborhood knew. Mom behind the stove cooking. Mom praying for us in the middle of the night. Mom was always there. Always smiling, always teaching, always cleaning, forever faithful to my father.

Now I look into my own eyes and see my mother looking back at me, reminding me of simpler times past. Yes we have all of the pictures of those times, yet when I want to see her looking at me, I look in the mirror. It is a cathartic moment for me. When I need some peace away from some of the stress of being an adult with responsibilities  I seek the peace I remember in her eyes, I look in the mirror.
Also mother would walk around the house singing hymns. Many times now, I find myself doing the same.

Thank you God for giving my mother's eyes to always be with me.

 

I Am My Mother's Child!!!

Shadows Of A Foolish Past

1 Corinthians 13:11

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

Adults act childish at times. It makes you wonder, what is mentally going on in the minds of some people ? What has transpired in their past to make them act like a child without regard for others?
I remember growing up, it was said as an adult you don't do this, or that. There are just certain things adults don't do.
• An adult is an adult because he/she knows how to distinguish what is proper and what is not.
• To get angry at the drop of a hat or to keep your composure is the difference between mature and immature.
Growing up, it was practical to listen to the teachers. They were training us for what was to come in the future.
Where and when was our training lost?
Where did we lose our way?
One of the things that my parents stressed, "you'd better listen to those teachers". So that was our word of warning they expected for our learning. I thought it was the same was for everybody.
The bible says, Proverbs 22:15
Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
Wow, we knew when the teacher called home, we were in trouble. I can see my dad's eyes even now as I write. He wanted to know why , if we had the opportunity to get a good education why would we jeopardize that by disregarding the things that the teachers told us to do. Why would we disrespect their authority? Why would we disobey the things they said? It was not only the teachers in school, but our Sunday School teachers, and our Bible teachers also. Also our teachers were older adults that knew the way.
We were in school for learning how to prepare for our future.
Our history is full of examples a people not being educated for fear of those in control, that learning would cause an uprising in society. Not having an education was the plus in society for the oppressors. If you couldn't read or write, oh so much the better. This was the history but my parents knew all too well. Repression of Education was a tool used to keep people in a certain social, economic and subservient bracket.
My parents wanted the best for their children. There were certain things that they were not going to have, and one of those things being going to school and not getting an education.
I remember other children whose parents would come and fight the teachers for their children when the children were in the wrong. They actually came to school to fight the teachers. Now of course there were some bad teachers, but the majority a teachers were there to educate the students.
Some of my best memories are about my teachers. Yes there were those kids that came to school for different reasons. School for some was a place, where some kids would act bad all day long, as if they have no home training. Looking back now, I suppose they didn't. School for others was a place where some would act out their aggressions and fight everybody. Some never learned the value of an education.
Bad behaviors are learned behaviors. You learn what you can get away with. You learn how to manipulate the system. You learn how to get around certain things. You learn to manipulate people. You learn to bully some and those you can't. These are all learn bad behaviors.
All the super cool people I knew in elementary school s. Sad isn't it?
What is Sad, to me, to see adults in the workplace and people in the public sector act like foolish children. Some throw tantrums. Some also show their rear. Some will mess up things for others. I have even seen people sabotage other peoples work. They gain some type of satisfaction in making it hard for others to work.  They see it as their job to make it hard on someone else and to make a name for themselves. You have to wonder what is going on in their minds.
In relationships, people act in strange ways also. They make it very hard on their partners and friends. They also show their rears.
What type of relationship is that whereas I make it hard on the other person. What kind of relationship is that where I fuss constantly because I think that a person deserves to be fussed at. Who batters the one they love. Who acts in a way to make the other person uncertain? Have we no fathers or mothers for teachers? Have we no one to teach us the right way to treat our love ones? Did we not have one who could prepare us for the future? Or were the people we were around as young people teaching us the wrong things?
Some people in learning to be adults took on some foolish ways they rebelled against all that they were taught. Some rebelled against society. Some rebelled against God and religion . Some just rebelled against everything. Some found it easier just to have a rebellious attitude. Some found it easier just to be mean to people. Some have been hurt to the extent they now want to hurt others. They got into foolish relationships in which they were warned by others who had the wisdom to see through facades the other person was displaying. Others reach out in love and asked do you really want what you think you see? Some said open your eyes and your heart to God. The persons went headlong into the relationship and was hurt very badly. Now years later they are hurting others. The foolish past is creeping into the present. They did not listen to their teachers. They did not take heed to the wisdom of the elders. Now their lives are in ruin.
It is now the time to relearn the elementary lessons. It is now the time to retool. It is now time to seek out teachers who can show us how to get back on the right path and not let the shadows of a foolish past creep into the present so that we can have a better future.

The Keys

The Keys

As a child growing up in Chicago, like most kids, I loved playing outdoors. One day my brother and I and our first friend was picking up broken glass in the alley way, throwing it against the wall just to see it shatter. I reach down to pick up a piece of glass and at the same time, our friend Kiffy was stomping the same piece of glass. Blood was pouring out everywhere, and me screaming to the top of my lungs . My mother heard my cry of terror. She dropping everything,  came running to my rescue. She got towels to stop the bleeding. She immediately rushed me across the street to the neighborhood clinic where the doctor stopped the bleeding and accessed the damage. He told her I needed to be seen by a specialist. So we went to the hospital to see the specialist. A few days later upon returning for a follow-up, The physicians there wanted to operate to repair the severed tendon in my fingers. My mother was met by a lady in the waiting room who pleaded with her not to let the physicians there operate. She told my mother that her son lost his fingers by the same operation. My mother's decision was not to let them operate on her four year old. They gave me therapy to get movement back in my fingers. My mother declared that day before God and man that God had a purpose for my hands.

A couple years later my Aunt Eugenia discovered I had a natural proficiency with the piano. She began  teaching me the basics. After I mastered all that she could teach me, my parents enrolled me at the Joliet Conservatory of music, where I spent many years learning elementary piano. Soon,my mother  became weary of me because I was not making any progress anymore, she cancelled my lessons.

After a few weeks I noticed that I wasn't taking lessons anymore, so I enquired of my mother as to what was going on. After she told me, I began to gather every piece of popular music I could find to learn.

Looking back now, I realize that it was all in the master plan of my life. As a twelve year old, everything was about music. On Sundays I played for church. In school I impressed my friends. At home, I began to write songs. When we went out to visit my parents would show me off to others. In High School it was all about music. I then begin to perfect my songwriting. Soon I found out that I could play other instruments with a little practice.

Years I spent playing the keys for others.
One day I became weary of playing because people were asking me to play without compensation for my time. I decided that I would focus on the guitar. Oh-my-goodness. I was met with so much opposition, you would think that I had killed someone. For a period in my life, people would not speak to me.

Ten years went by so fast. I began to play the keys again only with compensation. On my terms. Now one if the greatest joys in my life is to hear the songs that my eleven year old daughter writes. She has a long ways to go, but she's going to make it. 

If Only...

If Only...
There are words  that I speak or hear spoken by others in my life that sometimes really strike a chord.
These words will at the times strike an emotional response. Today was one of those times.
Someone expressed the words, "if only...". out of regret of not having followed through on an action.
It is sad when we have the power to change the circumstances of others for the better and we just sit back and let things happen. I feel that every person was created to bring change to others.
When a person leaves me to move on to something different in life or in death, I sometimes wonder is there anything I could have done or said that would have made the difference between acquaintance and friendship. Was there a small or great impression made on my life or theirs from our knowing each other.

If it was a love affair that ended whether abruptly or over the course of time, did I make a difference? If a person's life took a downward spiral, or perhaps their health began to fail. Is their something that I could have said or done to make a difference. It is not like leaving the milk out and forgetting to put it back in the refrigerator. It is more like, could I have stopped a person's fate or doom by holding them in a place of safety until the storm passes over. Its like being an angel and saying something that will turn that person's life totally around and for the better. Am I making this world a better place?

I personally don't want too many "if only's".

We need to learn how to tell others what they mean to us. Now!

We need to learn how to reach out to one another. Now!

Let There Be Light

The light of the body is the eye. Everything I perceive with my eyes, I am either drawn to it or repealed from it. If I focus on it too long, it may become a part of me.

As a young lad, I thought I'd never see  some of the things that I see now.  Some of them make me shake with disgust. Some of them bring a smile to my face. Some of the things I see, just angers me. All I ever wanted in life was to be happy and live with the ones I love.

The world we now live in is very complicated. There are people vying for my attention, for me not to pay attention. Sometimes they are going after the money I earn or saved, my future earnings, or for my possessions. Some even want my peace of mind. Some want me to give them my valuable treasure of time. Is there something wrong with me because I am not happy without their product or services? Is there a blindfold over my understanding? At least, that's what they try to tell me anyway.

 When I go to a grocery store, and what I see is, new,  improved, better. Or when I see or hear a commercial, they are saying, "they don't do what we do  we do this or we do that, which makes our products or services better". Somebody is always trying to sell me on new improved or better. They say, you can't live without what they have.  But, I find I can live with what I have. If I make the choice, I want something new or improved , then I'll buy it, because I want it. I don't want to be a part of a marketing ploy or scheme. Surprisingly, this type of thing happens in places where we are not suspecting it would happen. It happens in the church and on the job or any place where they can captivate our attention . Is there any escape from it. If there is not, then I must come to some sort of understanding. I must have the power to say no. And I am going to use that power. Although some people do not stop pursuing me at the word no. But I must you must, we must stand firm on our resolve. It would be different if we wanted these products or services. But there's a constant bombardment on our intelligence how to get us to purchase these goods and services. There is a constant bombardment  that comes our way to sway our thinking by their constant persuasions. My time is best spent doing the things that I like to do. My time is best being with people that I love dear. If there is a product good or service that I want or perhaps need, I will find it. This computer age has brought everything to my fingertips. On my phone, I can access the knowledge, and the products and services that are available to me. Also available to me, are the scams and schemes of the unsavory and fraudulent masqueraders.

But what  of those who prey on my time, and my energy? But wait there are those so-called friends , and so-called close associations, those that are very close to me? If you have ever watched court television, you see a whole slew of unsavory characters, who by their own nature, try to defraud their love ones. It is a constant job for us to keep our eyes open. Constantly look at those that try to impose themselves upon us. We must examine their dark sayings, and there too good to be true proposals. The happiest people I know are the people that think for themselves. The happiest people I know, are the people that secure their happiness by means of looking before they leap. They have learned to close off and separate themselves from the things that mean them harm.
If the light of the body is the eye, we must close it  off to all darkness that would seek to invade us. If the light of the body is the eye, we must only focus on the things that are good, the things that do not cause stress. We must focus on those things that secure our peace. We must be ready to fight for those things.

In relationship the same thing happens. When we have made the choice of who we want to be with for the rest of our lives, someone will come along tell us that we have made the wrong choice. They were show us all the negative points about our intended. They will try to convince us with all fervor the person we have chosen will be detrimental to us. They will say that that person is just totally wrong look at this or look at that. These busy bodies have been in trouble all their lives from the mates that they have chosen, what they want us to believe that they can choose for us? Sometimes to us, it seems like wisdom because they seem to dot every "i" and cross every "t". Here we have it again, the bombardment of our intelligent. At this point, godly wisdom must be the eye about our body , that if we want to be happy. My way it's not always the best way and that is when I turn to God. Like the song says, "he knows what's best for me more than my weary eyes can see". When I can't see, there is a lot more that God sees.

He is the life of his body of creation.

Mud Pies

My mother told me when she was a child, she made mud pies. Mud pies? Yes, pies made from dirt.  She was born in the red clay hills of Mississippi. No, they didn't eat the pies, it was part of playing a childhood game called,"house".One of the things the children did  was to emulate their mothers by making and baking mud pies. They would take old pie tins and add mud and water and put them out in the sun, and allow the sun to bake them. Some girls were creative and used grass of leaves as icing or color. It was a part of the processes by which they learned to be young ladies, perhaps making themselves ready for marriage in the future.

My grandmother would get up early in the morning to cook breakfast for her husband and send him off to work with clean clothes a full stomach and a smile. Back in the 1930's and the 1940's the wives viewed it to be their responsibility to do so.

The next thing on the agenda  for all the people in the house, was doing the chores of the house such as making beds, cleaning rooms, washing  and ironing clothes, feeding domestic animals, and all the things that pertain to the daily upkeep of the house.  Everybody had to take part, in the chores. It was not to drown the kids in work, it was a pattern of preparing them for things to come. The pattern of learning while doing ,was the the way that taught them to be hard workers. Then preparing for the husband to come home. So a hearty dinner was to finish the day. For them, it was a full day of work.
My mother sent my father off to work also with a full stomach and a smile. Eventually my father told he would cook his own breakfast so that she would  not be rest broken.

My mother told me everything about doing housework was about timing. If you studied the things you do while doing them,you learn the time it to do it fast, slow, good, better and best. If you know the timing of every chore you can put them in order. She believed in having everything out of the way when my father got home. That time was for him, her and then the rest of the family. She made time for catering to his needs.
All of this came from the practice of making mud pies.

To much of my surprise many of my cousins, now in their late 40's or early 50's had the same practice growing up as little girls. Of course in the 1960's and 1970's Hasbro sold "The Easy Bake Oven". This was a real hot lamp oven the actually baked cakes.
I wonder, what are the young girls of this day and age doing?

Beginning And Ending Part 2

Happiness is the couple who has been married for years, knowing despite the circumstances they may have faced, they are in this union together forever and always. The only thing that matters in this marriage is the person they are with. Yes, they see and appreciate the beauty of other people, but their focus is on each other. They started out not knowing what the future holds. They started out on a day by day basis of learning about each other. Not looking to give up when the storms of life, rage. They began by building each other up. Where there is a weakness in one, the other fills in that area. Where there is a strength, they rely on the stronger one. They learn to adapt to many circumstances that come into their lives.
Glad are the moments when they see each other for the first time that day, knowing that it is so by the grace of God. Glad are the moments when they have conversation and come to the understanding of togetherness. Glad are the moments not only in private, but in public also, for it is one in the same, because they wear no masks. They "build" many happy years together.
The scripture that comes to my mind nothing to do with marriage but it gives a valuable message. I've never seen the righteous forsaken are there seed begging bread. Those who live right in marriage are not forsaken by God. Those that do the right thing and make the right choices in marriage,God upholds. God will provide protection, even when the enemy is unseen. God will provide strength, even in the darkest hour. God will prosper this couple. They will not need  an outside counselor. God is their counsellor. They take the Word of God as being literal. Going to church it's not just an exercise, it is a way of life. Prayer is just as important as eating or sleeping. They have set a goal, until death do us part. Everything in between is in the hands of the Lord. Their part to him is to hold his hand. Their part to him is to love their mate as they love God. They don't have to do the checks and balances game. They do their duties as unto the Lord. It is all about pleasing the Lord in marriage. It is equally about pleasing each other in marriage. This was the life of my mother and father. Dad died 30 years before mom. She never married again. She said she had her only husband. Mom and Dad, I honor the lives you lived as an example to my brother and I. Thank you!

That's' Not Love, That's Insanity

I read somewhere that love is the closest thing to insanity. for some, I think this is so true.

Someone said:

I will kill myself if I can't have you. (I remember my former pastor saying there isn't that much love in the whole wide world.)

If I can't have you, I don't want nobody else. I won't allow you to be with another. You belong to me!

You are going to love me even if I have to make you. Why do you persist on trying to be with someone else when you are mine?

You have to beat her to keep her.

Treat him bad and he will always stay with you.

Half of a man is better than no man at all..

He or she has gotta to pay for a woman/man like me.


I don't have to do all that, I'm married now .

That's was done in courting.
There are so many facets to love as there are so many facets to insanity. People grapple with what they think love is everyday.

The bible says (The Message Translation)

Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. Love never dies.

Anything outside of these things is not love.
The definition of insanity is to keep doing something the same way and expecting to get different results. It is insane to believe that your way is better than God's word. It is also insane to trust the word of others over the words of scripture.
Abundantly clear how you should treat your mate is the way God designed you to by prayer and adherence to Gods plan.

Many times people have been hurt by others will tell you things they think that you should do to avoid hurt. Yet many times upon following their advice, some find themselves in predicaments of hurt again.
 The way people just let advice just roll off of their lips as if what they are saying is just a matter of fact. Also, these persons that give you this advice will do just the opposite of what they tell you. Some advise from wise counsel is good, it is good to know their motive. I once, had a person counseling me who was receiving information from another. Counseling is best left up to the pastors or professionals who have no stake in your relationship, other than to see it setup on the right premise, and to see it grow and prosper. And the fly-by- night counsel, is best left alone.

Love is ordained by God, and marriage is ordained by God. Insanity and such are a product of the enemy of God.

Be wise and learn the ways of love that will build an enduring relationship and marriage from those who love their mates and are living successfully in love with their partners.

Just Words?

And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
Reading this passage today took my understanding into mental high gear. I knew the basis of this story, but its implications  began to my brush up against my thought process. I was not satisfied until I begin to think it through.
As a man who seeks understanding, I grab on to every word that people speak to me. I not only hear it when they speak, but many more times though out the day depending on its importance to me, I may go over it many times like a cow chewing cud.
What does their words mean? What prompted their concern to verbalize their particular thoughts? Was their statement a shield or distraction sent out to deceive me and to send me in a totally different direction from the set course in which I was headed. Words are spoken thoughts.
Words express the way we feel or think.
My words that I speak to you are usually measured or weighed long before they come from my lips.
Yet there are times I may say something out of my anger that is not meant to be thoughtful, but meant as a weapon of mass destruction. My words are intended to hurt.  I want you to feel the full effects of what I am saying. I want you to know that I am hurt or really bothered by something you said. I want you to know that I have been stretched like a rubber band. These are usually the times I regret saying what I have said. Regrettably like a thrown stone, I can't take it  back. I thank God that those times are few.

Then there are the times that I say things that are thoughtful and they "are" intended to send a barrage of fire to totally devastate the misinformation  and to let everyone else know that if you invade my thoughts with what is foolishness to me, I am just not going to just sit and take it. To me it is like, another person trying to destroy the things that I have built for my survival. I don't want you to make a fool of me.  My life has been spent on trying to sort through so much propaganda of people coming after the things that I have acquired.

Strangely enough it is not always that I want to annihilate destructive thoughts that come my way from others or what I think of as foolishness. There are times that when I like to take my thoughts  captive so that I can interrogate them. To imprison them with the idea of keeping them locked away from what I consider my  sensible thoughts. With these thoughts there will come a day of execution.  It is very for us to guard our heart. Especially to those who are trying to abuse or misuse it.
Can you imagine the incarnate God of the universe be tempted by the enemy of God with deceptive words. How could Satan think that he could get Jesus to fail. The weapon that Satan used was temptation. Satan tempted him with base passions.

Toying with  and mocking Jesus as a mere man, Satan wanted to destroy   the thing that  would give Jesus the human perspective in heaven. He became a man so that he could know from a level of human experience  of God's creation and not only just all knowledge.  Being human, he had to experience  things human great and small. Satan wanted to put this human deity to the test. And the King of all creation can not be put to the test. God exercises control over all of his creation. God is sovereign.

Jesus could have spoken utter calamity and destruction on the enemy. The enemy was was using his best weaponry of temptation.  Just coming to the last moments of a forty day fast. You are hungry aren't you. Put a stone in your hand and using your  power and change a stone into bread. I know that you can do it and you know that you can do it. Let's see you do it.  You are the Son of God, right? You are hungry aren't you?

Do you see what Satan was trying to do? Coerce Jesus into obeying him by appealing to his hunger. One of the most powerful urges for man is hunger.  All the hunger 40 days without food.
Oh, in "my" flesh I could be just eat about anything at that point. The time for eating was not now,  it was about being about the father's business.

The stage is now set. The words that set all things in order are about to be stated. The words that opens the heavens; The creative word; the wisdom of all eternity; this are the words that cuts Satan into pieces. These are the words that Satan himself could not follow in eternity past. Satan's actions is the thing that caused his path to utter rebellion and eventual eternal damnation. Jesus is saying,
I live not just by putting bread in my mouth to satisfy the desire of hunger or temptation, but I live by the obedience to the words from my Father's mouth. It alone sustains all of my desires and needs. It is more to me any words you could ever speak. I act only upon what he says. His will and desire are my will and desire.

Satan, your words have no impact upon the things that God is, and God knows and does.
Perhaps, Satan would have done well to keep worshiping God and not looking at himself in pride. If only he would have waited and listened to the words that came forth from the Father. All would have been well.
All if creation is hinged upon the word of God.  If All created beings will come to this great understanding, and wait on the Father's words, all things would come into Kingdom order.
The second part of the temptation:
Satan said, All the power and the wealth of this world I will give you if you just bow and worship me. By having the history of the world in relationship to God, we clearly see that the enemy of God makes promises that he cannot fulfil. The Father above has all power and dominion over all things. Again the temptation is given to this God/man, Jesus for his imagination to take charge over his holiness, righteousness, and obedience . If Satan can get us to imagine the things of his words and start the process of not counting on the Word of the Lord. The bright lights all of the bells and whistles all of the attractions that draw us. If Satan can get us to buy those things to ensnare us, we  have been manipulated by his into his words are like the scent a food cooking on a stove. The scents will reach far and wide and pull you in. I remember seeing as a child, cartoons where the odor of food is like a finger that pulls you in even when you are sleeping.
Satan says, What if I told you I would give you the world and all the power there in because it has been given to me? What if I told you, you can have everything that was in your heart to have? For some it would do more than raise an eyebrow. For some people, all their senses will become stimulated. Right then and there their, imaginations with start counting all the things they could have. They would see themselves as ruler of their kingdom with there subjects biding there every command.  It is much like some people are drawn to the lottery think  it would answer all of their issues and all of the problems. But the truth be told, that type of thing sometimes  destroys people.
"If you would just bow down and  worship me".
Now I ask, what possessed Satan to ask that? His quest from the beginning has to been to be like Most High God. Remember in the beginning he carried the glory of God and believed that he should get the worship that was only due to God. Oh my, Satan is getting caught up in his own temptation. He is tempting Jesus but is also being tempted himself, by his own self  ambitions. He is believing is own lie.

Jesus response was, it is written you can only worship the true and living God. Only God receives worship and him only can you serve . In my mind, I can see Jesus anger been kindled against the tempter. Now he wants me to serve him too.  Jesus completely surrendered to the will of the Father.  any ambitions that could have been a spec in his mind, are no longer a temptation. This was Satan's temptation and not Jesus'.  The words of God strike a note that is heard in eternity again. We serve God by taking heed and obeying His Word. In His Word are protections. In his Word is  strength and wisdom. In His Word is provision and prosperity. In His Word there is an eternal future. In His Word there is worship and praise. To bow down to God is to humble yourself before the Lord and say you are the only wise God.

Lastly, the third and final temptation, Jesus is taken to the highest point of the Temple in Jerusalem. Satan says to him, if you be the Son of God, throw yourself down from this highest point  of the temple. God has given his angels charge over you to keep you least your dash your foot against  a stone. If you jump angels will stop you before you hit bottom. Before you hit the bottom they will bear you up. Jesus responded, it is written you will not test the Lord your God.
I do not know, what was in the mind of Satan. Maybe the long trip down as he was falling from heaven. To give Jesus the same fall he had from heaven. Again Jesus answers by the word of God I am NOT going to test God and you are not going to test God. Many of us fail by wanting to put God to a test. His Word says he is not to be tested. Not by our words, and not by our actions. He is not be put to the test. Again, words the Jesus speaks is heard in eternity. God is sovereign he rules heaven and Earth . The words we use are important. The words we hear are important. The words we obey are important. The word internalize are important. The words we make use of are important. It is a wonder that the Bible says, words are spirits. Our words bring things to us as well as take things away from us. The words to God uses to communicate to us are creative. The words that God uses to us are life changing, and very powerful. In the story, Jesus uses God's words to  bombard and annihilate everything Satan says. The devil is put at a loss without having anything to say. He cannot combat God's words. God's words sound  throughout eternity. He says, heaven and earth shall pass away but his words will stand. That and of itself is very powerful.
Since my blog about relationships, our words that we use toward each other are very powerful. They either build up or tear down. Words that we used to harm each other are not pleasing to God. Words that were used to build each other up are long-lasting and God is pleased. When we use the word of God in our relationships, it gives life to our relationships

Love Me Right

I remember hearing my friend say 20 years ago, I want someone who will "love me right". I am just now getting around to where I really understand that statement. I don't think that she was being selfish, I think she saw in her lifetime, marriages that failed due to people being there for only what they could get out of marriage relationship and not giving anything in return. She was saying that love shouldn't be just one-sided and and just given to a physical relationship, and if it was that way, she couldn't take part in that type of relationship. When someone makes their story of love "only" about themselves, that is so one-sided. That is so selfish and that's not love. Love is about making the other person feel special, Love is about the other person. When it's only about just receiving love, it's not love. Love does not just receive, but focuses on giving. Love that does not give or sacrifices is not love. A love relationship must be two becoming one. It must be about building the family unit. As a young person I thought my chosen mate would just love me for me and I would love her for her. I thought that people really wanted to have happiness and wholeness and not this generic type of relationship you see in modern day marriages. I see relationships where one partner will say if it doesn't work I will just get a divorce. Then get out of the marriage when a little adversity comes. Some would grow weary of the marriage and look for another mate while still in the marriage. Some would say I don't want this now, I made a mistake. Again growing up and looking forward, I thought that in marriage we would have some issues occasionally, but would work to resolve them. It was the environment in which I was brought up. The environment was one where my mother and father was always giving in marriage. Yes they had arguments from time to time but they allowed my brother and I to see them resolve them. I also have two friends that have that special relationship with each other. I was given the opportunity to reside with them about 6months and during that time I got to see them in close proximity. He treated her very tenderly in public, but also in private. i got to see how she treated him with care and how she responded to his care. They had a genuine love and respect for each other. Yes they had their times of disagreement, but they recognized that disagreements were just fleeting. Some people thrive on drama. It is what they live for from day to day. I remember watching the soap operas with my relatives, during the times of intense debating they would all gather seemingly to take notes. They would rehearse arguing with their friends from the things they observed on the soaps. Some would even initiate verbal bouts with others. I vowed never to be a part of these type of conflicts. I would generally tell someone, you win, if I perceived it to be drama. In essence, I was saying to them, I don't want to argue with you if we are not trying to come to an understanding, we are wasting time. Coming to and understanding is not swearing at me or insulting me or my personality. Coming to an understanding is not shouting insults concerning my family. I also remember being with a family that had no respect for each other. They flung insults like general conversation. To insult their partner was as easy as breathing. These persons became enemies after a while. They blame each other for everything. There is was sense of personal responsibility. They went on to their second or third marriage repeating the same behaviour over and over again. Love me right is say I want you to lo e me as I love you. Let's have the understanding that fights just momentary and in the long course they will mean nothing at all. They are usually a waste of time. Learning to listen and really hear what the other person is saying is primary. Also being able to say what they communicated back to them is essential. At that point you can respond. Love me right means that we both expect to be in it for the long haul. Marriage is for life with my best friend.