đź’Ž Diamond

God is an Explosion of Joy
June 2019, đź’Ž Diamond

God is an Explosion of Happiness

"God is Spirit." The infamous words that Jesus spoke to a thirsty woman at a well. But what does that statement really mean? In Jesus's day, was this word "spirit" a nice, religious term? Was it a church word? ...No.

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The "Deceitful" Heart
June 2019, đź’Ž Diamond

The “Deceitful” Heart – Part 2

Before we ever had our hearts deceived, before Eve ever listened to the serpent, we were blessed by our Father and Creator. This is Original Blessing. This is our inheritance. This concept is what we must receive and hold fast as our core belief in order to understand the character of God, the purpose of the Cross, and our very own nature.

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Perfect Theology
June 2019, đź’Ž Diamond

Perfect Theology

There are over 41,000 denominations...all who believe that they have come to the correct understanding on certain aspects of the scriptures. Perhaps God’s people have lost the plot somewhere, as the World-Encompassing Good News of the Gospel has been hijacked and turned into a contest of who’s right and who’s wrong.

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The Song of the Ages
June 2019, đź’Ž Diamond

The Song of the Ages

We were formed in the dust, yet we were never meant to remain a blend of chemical-infused earth. We were made by Love to bear the image of Love. This is why God leaned into man’s earthly form and kissed him into being. The Maker drew near to Adam and breathed into his nostrils the spark of divine life, which became our true genesis.

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Experiencing God
May 2019, đź’Ž Diamond

Experiencing God

The reason people struggle to experience God is because they are looking for a God who is distant, boring, lifeless, aloof, silent, and completely focused on moral failures. The funny thing is, this God doesn't exist! So, if you’re looking for the God who is keeping track of your sins up in the sky, you are certainly going to struggle to experience “him.” That’s a non-god!

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Christ in You
May 2019, đź’Ž Diamond

Fun Facts About Christ in You

Christ is in you. Do you think he’s worried? No, Christ doesn’t have an existential crisis about the state of his soul every day. He’s not worried that he’s not good enough, or that the Father is going to kick him out of Heaven. He’s not worried about the economy or the political climate.

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Finding Home
May 2019, đź’Ž Diamond

Finding Home

We have all stepped off the path.  Took a sidestep into the brush.  Turned around and didn’t recognize anything.  What happens first is that we don’t recognize ourselves.  And our language changes rather rapidly to shame and self-condemnation.  And from there, we certainly don’t recognize who God is either. 

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Poppy Plant
April 2019, đź’Ž Diamond

The Opiate of the Masses

The world is still in need of true healing, not just a temporary numbing. But to understand how we come to find real healing, we first need to see more of the connection between opiates and religion. This will open up to the door to a beautiful revelation . . .

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Made Perfect
April 2019, đź’Ž Diamond

Made Perfect

Am I enough? Am I acceptable to God? Am I a disappointment to the One who created me? Or am I a blessing to His heart? It can’t be both. It has to be one or the other. Yet sadly, because of the trust we put in ourselves, we think we are a disappointment to God . . .

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Foolish Wisdom
April 2019, đź’Ž Diamond

Foolish Wisdom

Lately I’ve found that no matter how hard I think.  Or seek.  Or question.  Or try. I can’t escape this call to His Wisdom.His Wisdom calls me to foolish childlike thinking.  Seriously.  Childlike thinking . . .

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Archive, đź’Ž Diamond

Snuffleupagus: Big Bird’s Imaginary Friend

Back in 1971, on Season 3 of Sesame Street, Big Bird talked about his friend Snuffleupagus. His nickname was “Snuffy” and he was a wooly mammoth. He was big, brown, and furry. He was Big Bird’s best friend. The only problem was, nobody on Sesame Street could see Snuffy except […]

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I Love You, Stinky Face!

By Tim Ballentine (A special guest of Elisha’s Riddle). The gospel boldly declares that we are righteous, loved, and flawless in His sight. But what about when we don’t feel or act that way? Our Christian Church history is filled with wonderful minds. With musicians and artists. Writers. Theologians. Speakers. […]

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The Sneeze of Salvation

“His sneezings flash forth light.” Job 41:18 How annoying is it when you have to sneeze but you just can’t get it out? It’s one of the worst things in the world. Isn’t it so frustrating? And when that sneeze finally comes out, isn’t it just wonderful? It’s such a […]

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Papa’s Pleasure

The ancients struggled to figure out why God created the world. They crafted stories of war between gods and other catastrophic tales of our origin. The Scriptures past down to us offer us something remarkably different. The book of Genesis tells us that each day when God made something new, […]

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Papa’s Passion

            If God is our Father, what kind of Papa do we have? One of the common denominators of the modern Dad is that he is disinterested. There is a lack of engagement that comes from the heart. You can imagine the Dad who isn’t really listening to his […]

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You Are a Gift From God to God

What is humility? Humility is accepting the truth that God reveals. What is false humility? False humility is being so “humble” that you reject that free gift of God’s grace. A good picture of false humility is Peter telling Jesus not to wash his feet. You can imagine that this […]

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Independence from Religion

This 4th of July I am personally celebrating my own freedom from law and religion, when a few years ago I woke up to a greater revelation of God’s unfathomable grace… Before this, I was enslaved to this constant pressure to have be fasting, praying, evangelizing, etc. in order to […]

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Perfect Happiness

For by one sacrifice He has made perfect for all time those who are sanctified. Hebrews 10:14 1600 years ago Augustine wrote, “Every man, whatsoever his condition, desires to be happy.” The pursuit of happiness runs through all of us, we can’t escape it. The gospel has everything to do […]

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Are You as Excited for Judgment Day as I am?!

Are you excited for judgment day? Because I am! Oh boy, gee willikers, it’s going to be a wonderful day. You’re not afraid of it, are you? I mean, I’d be afraid of it too, I suppose, but I’m just trying to obey the Scriptures. The Apostle John… remember him? […]

Black Holes and the Eternal Story of Christ
Archive, đź’Ž Diamond

The Great Deception

(See here for Part Four – Original Identity)   Every epic story has an epic villain. Something Sinister this way Slithers The Enemy has been competing for our identity long before he enters stage left into that fateful Garden scene.  What the satan successfully accomplished was to insert a strategically […]

Black Holes and the Eternal Story of Christ
Archive, đź’Ž Diamond

Creation of the Cosmos

(See here for Part Two – Sanctuary of the Divine)   In the End, God . . . Before we continue unfolding our story in Genesis, let’s “cheat” and jump to the end of the Story, where we’ll discover another Black-Hole-like reality, another “singularity” with enormous gravitational force where we […]

Black Holes and the Eternal Story of Christ
Archive, đź’Ž Diamond

Sanctuary of the Divine

(See here for Part One – Innocence & Awe)   Sometimes, a movie or a series of movies will come out, and afterwards the “prequel” will be released.  The prequel gives us the back-story . . . the story before the beginning, often setting up additional context and important aspects […]

Black Holes and the Eternal Story of Christ
Archive, đź’Ž Diamond

Innocence & Awe

Babies enter the world awestruck at the wonder of existence. If they could communicate with us the moment after birth, they might say, “Wow! I exist! I don’t know what that even means!! Everything is NEW!!!”  The first weeks, months and years are filled with the absolute joy of wide-eyed […]

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The Apocalypse of the Happy Trinity

Let’s talk about the “end-times.” This is a topic that’s usually either loved or completely avoided out of fear. Yet it’s really important to look at it, because how we view the end of the world affects how we live in the present. If we are all just going to […]

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The Gospel of the Happy Trinity

To understand the Gospel, you must understand the original promise. The original promise was to Abraham. God told him, “In you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3) So then, worldwide “blessing” was the promise. But let’s clear something up. What did God mean by “blessed” […]

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The Grace of the Trinity

Let’s talk about the “grace” of the Trinity. Grace is an extremely common word in Christianity and it gets tossed around a lot.  We know for sure that the gospel (good news) is a “gospel of grace.” Paul uses the term “grace” very frequently in his letters to describe what […]

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The Wrath of the Trinity

Paul’s letter to the Romans has always been known as a book that contains the “gospel.” It is filled with the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection and what that means for the world. In the very first chapter, Paul introduces his audience to the wrath of God. How […]

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Chapter Three: The Laughter of the Trinity

  The Fullness of Joy The living God is a God of laughter. Laughter is the sound or expression of joy. Laughter is what happens when happiness overflows from within. Is it surprising then that God is a Father, Son, and Spirit who are abundant in laughter? Remember, in the […]

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Chapter Two: Before the Foundation of the World

The Father’s Love The entire life of the Trinity begins with the Father’s love towards His Son. Jesus prayed to His Father, “You loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24). This might be the clearest biblical statement on what was going on before the universe began. This […]

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My Joy in the Call

This past weekend I had the oppurtunity in serving at Azuza Now in LA. A gathering of people of all race, backgrounds, and denominations who got together for one thing…LOVE. When I say love I’m not speaking about merely a cute feel good, pretty word, resembling flowers and heart emojis. I’m […]