"The Confirmation" -2

"Tell me, my love, where are you leading your flock today? Where will you rest your sheep at noon? For why should I wander like a prostitute among your friends and their flocks?" (S.O.S. 1:7 NLT)

  Above all else, there is some serious changes that must take place within the life of anyone who begins to follow Jesus; to compromise and give into those old passions of our old life, is nothing short of, well, acting like a harlot; or at least, having the appearance as one, if to none other, then to yourself.
  I know that I had shared this before, but my experience of being in a place I did not belong, it was so apparent to me, I felt as though I had just walked in there naked and exposed; the looks that I got, it seemed as though they might as well had said, "What are you doing in here?" Need I say more?
  To be brief, there is really no hiding what we are; those that are living in darkness can see the light which is living in us. They may not know what they see, but they know it is stinging their soul; just to have you enter their space or show up in their world, they know right away that they feel threatened by your presence.
  I was very fortunate to have an experience, within the first 30 days or so of being a Christian. It was while I was waiting an early release hearing in the L.A. County Jail. While I was sitting there, all alone and on a bench, in a twelve foot wide hallway; two very large Deputies were escorting a man down the hall towards me. He was a wild looking character that had his hair all matted and looked as if he was possessed by a demon. The officers had him handcuffed and shackled; with chains around his wast to hold his hands, and chains around his legs so he could not run.
  As they started to draw near, I kept my gaze to the ground and tried not to look up; but as soon as they had reached where I was sitting, they stopped, and could see there feet less than 4 foot away from me. When I lifted my head and looked at them, the crazed man was looking right at me, as well as were the two officers; and when my eyes meet his eyes, he spoke: "I know Jesus too!" Then the officers regained control of him and continued down the hallway.
  I looked around me to see if there was some sort of sign. I had left my Bible in my holding cell, so I knew that it was not because I had a Bible; my mind was filled with all sorts of questions that needed to be answered. When I finally got called into the room, the meeting was brief. "Release denied!" was spoken, almost as soon as I had taken my seat. My wife and my employer were sitting there, and I could see the disappointment in their faces; but nothing compared to the look they gave when I made my answer to my denial: "Praise the LORD!"
  Yes, it was not even a question of why; as far as I was concerned, God's will was wherever God had me. As it turned out there was a man in my holding cell when I returned, and he was reading my Bible. I informed him it was mine, and he spoke to me about getting out and joining his brother's church; which, he said, was not a church, but call The Kingdom Hall. I spent at least a half-hour or so walking him through the Scriptures and showing him all the places that show Jesus was God; but not first, after I had looked up something else that was pressing me, and after sharing with him my experience in the hallway.
  It was as if my searching might have been a lesson for him; as we must search out the Scriptures on our own, to prove and reproof, anything we question or that needs to be answered. My search led me to Acts 19:11-19; primarily, verse 15, where a demon possessed man declared, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?"
  In case you did not know, the veil that Moses wore, it was not to hide the grow upon his face, so that nobody could see it; it was to hide the grow, so that no one would notice when it had left...

"But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." (Romans 8:9-14)