Demons in the real world

Demons in the real world. 

There ARE demons in the real world, the world outside of books, movies, and television, the world outside of fiction.

Non-fiction demons.

It's true, it's factual but try and tell people this and you'll most likely get a squinty-eyed skeptical look, or perhaps one of those nods with that telling smile. You know what telling smile I'm talking about, the one that should a person look closely enough at they'd know they were victims of condescension. People might listen half-heartedly all the while they are internally shaking their head quite vehemently, not believing a word but letting you rattle on and on as you like simply because they know better than to try and argue with you. To argue with you would be quite pointless because you are set in your ways, in your beliefs, and refuse to listen to common sense. You take the Bible of all things and hold that up as your proof when the book is a mere fable mingled history of sorts. You take what Jesus, a God of the Bible, has to say and believe it to the exclusion of your very senses- you know those senses that clearly tell you (should you choose to listen to them) that demons are not at all real in any way, shape, or form. Sure, tell a fictional story about them, or even try in a fanciful way to convince people they're real, but we know you're just doing it because of the money, but DO NOT for one moment truly believe they are really, really, really, real. 

OR.

Yes, that is a big OR.  OR, if you do want to believe they're real do so in such a way it's more convenient to believe in them. You know, as harmless things, at best slight nuisances. Believe in them in a mere passing sort of way, do NOT try to make them common place and everyday happenings. Tell people you once saw a ghost, or that you can communicate with people on the other side on occasion. Tell them you believe to a point, but no more.  Surely do NOT tell them that you believe demons are surrounding all people at all times trying to seduce them spiritually into giving up on the truth, on the love of our Savior and His amazing sacrifice.  If you tell them that you WILL get that eye rolling, condescending smile with a nod and maybe even a light pat on the hand or forearm that shows a tenderness that doesn't really exist.

Demons in the real world, non-fiction demons have ONLY one purpose- to keep you from Christ and His truth, which in turn will keep you from eternal life, from salvation through Christ.

Demons KNOW that you won't turn into a spirit being upon death- you don't have that right because you are NOT just a spirit being as they are, you are flesh and blood as well, you are a creature called a human being, you are part of mankind, not angel kind. You will NOT turn into an angel upon death, they know this and it suits their purpose wonderfully to let you keep deceived upon that point. Demons WANT you to believe you turn into a spirit being upon death, they want you to believe in LIES, not in truth.  Demons know that you are NOT automatically guaranteed eternal life just because you appear to be a living angel of light crammed into human flesh. Demons KNOW that you will NOT get eternal life in any other way than to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and have His FAITH, His TESTIMONY, keeping HIS COMMANDMENTS.

Rev 12:17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The demons KNOW this and will do all in their power to keep you from being one of those remnant which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

You think you're guaranteed an afterlife, but you are not.

So many are deceived into believing they die and instantly are transported into a spiritual body that will either ascend or descend, but MOST believe in only ascension because NO ONE wants to truly believe they will ever descend.  Those who do believe they will descend and are caught up in making sure they do that will be awfully disappointed when they wake up from death's sleep to realize they are NOT going to live forever in any sort of hellish state.  They'll be punished as they deserve and no more, literally, they'll be no more after that punishment. They'll be no more them, forever and ever. If you're reading this right now be honest and ask yourself if you can ever really imagine there never being a you in existence on some level.  Because you ARE you believe you always will be somehow even if it is all a big mystery.  Or perhaps you do truly believe that everything ends at death and there is no more anything on any level after death. You too will be shocked when you are awakened after death's sleep only to find that you were wrong and must now live with that refuse of faith by suffering according to your unforgiven, unrepentant sins and ONLY then will your belief be realized and you will be NO MORE. But you'll be no more only after you are confronted fully with the FACT there was something more than everything stopping at death, and you refused it.

There will come a time when every single human being that has ever lived will know the truth and know where they accepted that truth or denied it. There truly will be a lot of gnashing of teeth and upset at that point, and a lot of tears because it'll all be too late and while they'll want to instantly place blame somewhere else to see if they can't get a reprieve, they'll be made to see very, very, very clearly every single opportunity they had to believe and how they rejected all of those opportunities.  

It is often only when a thief is caught that they are repentant, not for what they've done so much, but over having been caught. It'll be true for ALL who have rejected the truth in Christ, they'll feel that awful repentance but only because they got caught not believing, not because they truly have a love for Jesus and all He's done for them. They would NOT be happy in eternity, and there will be NO eternity for those who choose sin over Jesus.

Demons love lies, they love deception and all around us the world is FILLED with a lot of deception so much so it would be impossible to number the deceptions.

Demons will stop at nothing to deceive.

These spiritual creatures are living around us but they are not without spiritual enemies working to thwart their evil.  There are 2/3rds more spiritual creatures that belong to GOD and these work just as hard to bring every opportunity to all people everywhere to find and believe in the truth of salvation through Jesus Christ our LORD. 

The trouble here is the same as it was for Eve and Adam in the beginning.  They chose to believe a lie rather than the truth. And once we choose to believe a lie and continue in that lie we are shutting out the truth that God's spiritual creatures would reveal to us. We are building a wall around ourselves. We are putting on blinders that we would hate to take off because the light of the truth is so incredibly revealing.  That truth will reveal our true state of NOTHINGNESS without God. We are NOTHING without God, NOTHING! And we don't want to believe in ourselves as nothing beings.  We would much rather wear the blinders that allow us to believe we are something, even if it is only the tiniest of somethings, that's all it takes to keep from the truth.

People will continue to CHOOSE to believe the lies that make them feel most comfortable within themselves. The lie of total unbelief in any God or Jesus. The lie of believing in a Santa Claus-like God. The lie of believing in their own goodness. The lies people choose are endless and easily supplied by all the demons living around us. 

If you think you've never been influenced by a demon, think again. Just ask yourself if you've ever done anything at all in your entire life that you couldn't believe you did. Seriously, has there ever been even a small something or other that you couldn't believe you did? Perhaps it was something you said.  It doesn't matter what it was, what matters is that demons love to whisper in our ears and if you think they cannot whisper their evil at us think again- they can even live inside of us if circumstances allow. What those circumstance are I'm not entirely sure, but I know for a fact that demons can even possess children and it doesn't have to be the full blown spin your head around and spew filthy both verbal and that of the vomit sort. Not all demons possession is characterized by the wild men in the cemetery.

Mat 8:28  And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

Some demon possession as noted yesterday effected young people by making them fall down and thrash about- such as one with epilepsy.  Do you think the father of that young man would have even dared bring him about crowds if he were likely to be violent towards everyone around him? No.

Demons are real and the next time you are involved in an argument NO matter how seemingly justified it is, you can be assured the demons are surrounding you and urging you on to say hurtful things- even if they are true- the demons want you to show a spirit of dissension not love. 

I am serious, just in case you were wondering, very, very serious about ALL of this.

I wholeheartedly believe that demons use all the influence they can over us to get us to sin, to keep us from God, from the LOVE found ONLY IN JESUS CHRIST!

Satan himself tempted Jesus in the wilderness, but you can be assured Satan did NOT stop trying to influence Jesus right up until His very last breath.

So go ahead and choose not to believe in the reality of demons, but if you choose that path just remember you are choosing to NOT believe in the Word of JESUS Himself.  And if you are choosing not to believe in the Word of Your Savior, you must be choosing to believe in the word of the Savior's enemy- Satan.  Think about it please, and more importantly, PRAY about it all!!!!!!!

Pray, pray, pray! Communicate with GOD, He will help you, He will help us all find HIS truth and ONLY HIS TRUTH if we are sincerely desiring to find it all. And if we're not even sure if we are sincere, pray to be given that sincerity all the while comprehending how truly WORTHLESS we are, and the WORTH we need to have is ONLY found outside of ourselves in CHRIST!

All through HIS GRACE, HIS LOVE, HIS MERCY, HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, ALL THROUGH HIM IN ALL THINGS!

AMEN!

Unclean Spirits

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  (KJV)

Eph 6:12  For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world–rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.  (RV- Revised Version)

Eph 6:12  We are not fighting against humans. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world.  (CEV - Contemporary English Version)

Eph 6:12  because we have not the wrestling with blood and flesh, but with the principalities, with the authorities, with the world-rulers of the darkness of this age, with the spiritual things of the evil in the heavenly places (YLT- 1898 Young's Literal Translation)

The Spiritual battle is real.
Evil is real.

I read an article recently where a woman wrote about demons as if they were real- guess what- they ARE real. It seemed a little odd though to be reading someone say something along these lines: 

"Demons love it when we lie."

"Demons feast off our sinning."

Are they true statements? The Bible tells us that Satan is the father of lies, and emphasizes that being a liar is a really bad thing, so if we believe that evil angels (demons) follow in the footsteps of their leader Satan then yes, I imagine it's true that demons love when we lie.  Do demons feast off our sinning? I don't know for a fact they feast in the sense that we imagine feasting, but we do know the Bible tells us this-

Mat 12:43  When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Mat 12:44  Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Mat 12:45  Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

Jesus Himself is talking about unclean spirits and why not, He cast out unclean spirits, he cast out demons and LOTS of them.  They were VERY real to Jesus and He recognized them as the enemy of mankind.

An unclean spirit, an evil angel, a fallen angel, an evil spirit being inside a man.
Taken out of a man that spirit is walking in DRY places.
And here's a point that seems moot when we know that angelic beings - evil and good - have no need of rest.  But it's not moot because nothing Jesus says is. The unclean spirit is seeking rest and finds none. This cast out unclean spirit was used to living inside a man and once cast out the life of that unclean spirit has altered, there is a void that cannot be filled. So this unclean spirit returns to the man he was cast out of and finds it better than it was when he'd occupied it before so not ONLY does he return but he take seven more unclean spirits, spirits more wicked than him and they ALL entered into that man to live.

Now this is a parable, Jesus spoke a lot in parables and this is no different.

The parable of the wicked people of Israel who only make a show of repentance but never fully repent and ultimately their rejection of the TRUTH of God leads them to an evil more wicked state than ever. 

This parable does NOT negate that fact that real unclean spirits exist, just as the parable of the fig tree doesn't speak as if the fig tree isn't real.

Just reading the following tells us that Jesus believed in REAL unclean spirit beings--

Mar_5:8  For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.

Do you think it's possible for a person to be cleaned of unclean spirits and then receive them back again at a later date?  I do.

Read the following--

Mar 9:17  And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;
Mar 9:18  And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.
Mar 9:19  He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.
Mar 9:20  And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
Mar 9:21  And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.
Mar 9:22  And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
Mar 9:23  Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Mar 9:24  And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
Mar 9:25  When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.

Jesus - REBUKED the foul spirit- saying unto that SPIRIT- Thou DUMB and DEAF spirit, I charge thee COME OUT OF HIM and ENTER NO MORE INTO HIM.

Would Jesus have had to say- 'and enter no more into him', if it were not possible for unclean spirits to come and go from a person? No, He would not have had to say that.  This deaf, dumb spirit was being PERMANENTLY EJECTED from this young man.  'Enter no more into him.'  That young man would never, ever be bothered by that unclean spirit again. The unclean spirit was not destroyed, he was ejected.

People love to say the boy was probably just suffering from epilepsy and in the dark ages etc they used to believe that people had unclean spirits, demons in them but the truth is they had a medical condition that is easily treated nowadays with medicine.  It is true that there was a time when people believed a lot of medical conditions treated today were caused by demons and they tortured and killed those people believing they were in league with the devil- they had to be if the devil was inside them.  People in the time of Jesus did NOT torture and kill those who were possessed. We read more than this one account of demons inside people who were obviously allowed to live as normal a life as possible, not tortured. They were victims and recognized as such.  Jesus came and HEALED the physically, mentally, and spiritually sick. Jesus knew when a condition was caused by an unclean spirit and when it wasn't.

Luk 8:43  And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,
Luk 8:44  Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.
Luk 8:45  And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
Luk 8:46  And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.
Luk 8:47  And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately.
Luk 8:48  And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.

Did Jesus cast an unclean spirit out of this woman? No. But she was healed.

Mat 11:5  The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

Mat_12:22  Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw

Mar 8:22  And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.
Mar 8:23  And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.
Mar 8:24  And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.
Mar 8:25  After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.

Not every healing was the result of a cast out unclean spirit.

But there was healing when unclean spirits were cast out, because those unclean spirit COULD cause illnesses. Simply because we have a disease that mimics the symptoms of demon possession does NOT negate possession.

One blind and mute man could be so as a result of a demon, another blind and mute for other reasons. To say all have to be the same would be ridiculous.

Read this--

Joh 9:1  And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
Joh 9:2  And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
Joh 9:3  Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
Joh 9:4  I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
Joh 9:5  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
Joh 9:6  When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
Joh 9:7  And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

Illnesses and medical conditions are not always the result of someone's sin, yet they can be.

Exo_20:5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me

This CAN happen, but it isn't something that would automatically happen, just as Jesus said.

Satan wants us deceived at all costs, this is his desire for every human being, deceived.

Demon possession is real.

Demons- evil angels-  love lies and all sins.

God alone can protect us, He is our ARMOR against all the fiery darts.

More tomorrow by the GRACE of GOD!!!!!!!

Put On Christ

The Armor of God

Girt Loins (protective girdle)- Truth
Breastplate - Righteousness
Footwear - Peace
Shield - Faith
Helmet - Salvation
Sword - Spirit - Word of God

The whole armor of God.

Truth- Joh_14:6  Jesus …I AM  the... Truth

Righteousness- Mat_6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and HIS righteousness…

Peace- Joh_14:27  ...my peace I give unto you

Faith- Gal 2:16  ...by the faith of Jesus Christ

Salvation- Luk 19:10  For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Spirit Word of God- Joh 1:1,2  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.  Luk_11:28  But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it. Luk_4:4  And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

Do you catch the picture here? The BIG picture.

Jesus is- truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and the Word of God.

Our armor, the Whole Armor of God is JESUS CHRIST our LORD and SAVIOR He is OUR Protector!  Do you see why we have to have the Whole Armor or none? You can't have just a part of Jesus, you have to have ALL of Him! You have to believe in ALL that He is, was, and will be. 

The only way we have of being protected against all that the evil angel Satan will throw at us is if we truly have our Savior as a REAL part of our lives, a PROTECTOR. He WILL be our protector but we MUST PRAY ALWAYS.  We cannot forget this part…

Eph 6:18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints

Praying ALWAYS.  Why do we PRAY ALWAYS? We pray always because that is HOW we live in contact with our Savior. Prayer is the communication channel, the SPIRITUAL communication we have with our Savior!

Faith- believing in the unseen. BELIEVING.

We have to BELIEVE. We have to CHOOSE to BELIEVE and HE is ALL THINGS!

Put on the WHOLE ARMOR of GOD.

Gal 3:27  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Put on CHRIST.

Here is Adam Clarke's Commentary on this concept-

'As many of you as have been baptized into Christ - All of you who have believed in Christ as the promised Messiah, and received baptism as a public proof that ye had received Christ as your Lord and Savior, have put on Christ - have received his Spirit, and entered into his interests, and copied his manners. To put on, or to be clothed with one, is to assume the person and character of that one; and they who do so are bound to act his part, and to sustain the character which they have assumed. The profession of Christianity is an assumption of the character of Christ; he has left us an example that we should follow his steps, and we should, as Christians, have that mind in us which was in him.'

Put on Christ.
Put on the Whole Armor of God.
Put on Christ.

We have to have Jesus as our PROTECTOR and believing that HE is our PROTECTOR is something imagining the ARMOR of GOD can allow us to do in a more visual manner.

God is our protective girdle.
God is our protective breastplate.
God is our protective footwear.
God is our protective shield.
God is our protective helmet.
God is our defending sword.

And we have to CHOOSE to make HIM a REAL part of our lives. He will protect us as long as we allow Him to, He'll never force His protection upon us, never.

ALL BY HIS GRACE! ALL THROUGH HIS LOVE ALWAYS!

The Whole Armor or No Armor

Physically we can HAVE these in our possession-

Girt Loins (protective girdle).
Breastplate.
Footwear.
Shield.
Helmet.
Sword.

Spiritual we MUST have these in our possession-

Truth.
Righteousness.
Peace.
Faith.
Salvation.
Spirit of the Word of God.

Do you suppose it's important to note what piece of armor represents which part of the body? We know that physically there are parts of our body we cannot live without, right? So I really don't think this is part of the issue. Why? Because walking in the Gospel of Peace is of the utmost importance and to say we can live without our feet  and equate that to living without the Gospel of Peace would be ludicrous.

There is an element of analogy to the armor, but the most important thing we have to remember is all these Spiritual pieces of armor come from ONE source- OUR SAVIOR!

There is NO truth without our Savior!
There is NO righteousness without our Savior!
There is NO peace without our Savior!
There is NO faith without our Savior!
There is NO salvation without our Savior!
There is NO Spirit of the Word of God without our Savior!

This is truly the WHOLE ARMOR of GOD, because we cannot possess any of it without GOD. In fact we really cannot possess one piece without the other. We cannot put on the helmet of salvation without having the girdle of truth. We cannot have our feet shod with the gospel of peace and not have the shield of faith. This armor is a complete SET of armor and it does NOT exist without any one of the pieces.

Put on the WHOLE armor of God, or none.

One or the other and it makes sense because the choice we are to make is between God and Satan, God and Selfishness, God and any thing that separates us from God. We are not going to be able to choose to keep a little bit of our selfishness as if it's something good and won't really hurt us. We CANNOT choose to keep a little bit of evil anything! Yet we go about as if our faults are no big deal. That it is fine because we're human and cannot help but have faults.  Yet we are TOLD over and over to sin no more. We don't like to equate our faults with sin, yet aren't they sins? Anything that would keep us from God, anything that would keep us focused on our selves, any fault that is accepted as a part of us and NOT surrendered to God is something we will have to account for. We have to surrender ALL of ourselves, this must be the choice we make, a full surrender. 

It is ALL or nothing.

All of the armor of God or none.
All God or none of God.

This is something we have to truly consider, to think about, to dwell on because Satan wants us to walk the fence straddled between both worlds and on neither side because HE KNOWS that fence people are upon is HIS FENCE!

This armor must be thought of as a WHOLE most definitely NOT as something that is haphazardly assembled.

Let's dwell on this seriously, let's take time to contemplate all of this and by the GRACE of our LORD we'll study more of this tomorrow!

All in HIM, always in HIM!

Ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands...

Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God

Yesterday we talked a bit about Greek armor, we also got a bit of information from Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary. At the end of that commentary bit was this--

'1.    That the ancient Greeks and Romans went constantly armed'

The Greek soldiers were CONSTANTLY armed.

They didn't go about unarmed because they needed to have their armor and weapons on, they were soldiers.

When a soldier is in a war he NEVER goes about unarmed. I've seen a few documentaries on tv that explain how our soldiers are in their full gear even when sleeping when they are in the thick of things.

We ARE in the THICK of THINGS.

This spiritual war we are all involved in is constantly being waged. 

The Devil does not sleep, he does not take time off, he doesn't let his own soldiers - all those evil angels that chose to follow him- 1/3 rd of all the angels and we know that God has --

Rev_5:11  ... many angels ...and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands

Ten thousand times ten thousand  =  100,000,000 and thousand of thousands.  The number of angels is uncountable to us.  And 1/3 of all the angels are SATAN'S.

We cannot truly begin to fathom the number of evil angels that are doing the work of their leading evil angle, Satan.  We can be sure that Satan isn't going to rest, he doesn't have to rest, angels don't get tired. Satan isn't going to rest and he's not going to stop attacking us in any way he can.  We are NEVER out of the thick of things in this spiritual war, not ever.  We cannot rest, we cannot take off our armor, not ever. 

We have to put on the WHOLE ARMOR of GOD and NEVER take it off, NEVER! We are spiritual soldiers in a spiritual war and our spiritual armor must become a part of us. 

Physically we can imagine these-

Girt Loins.
Breastplate.
Footwear.
Shield.
Helmet.
Sword.

Spiritual we MUST believe in these-

Truth.
Righteousness.
Peace.
Faith.
Salvation.
Spirit of the Word of God.

We must have all of these as a REAL part of our lives, a very real part.

More on these tomorrow all by the grace of our GOD!

All in HIS LOVE!

HIS righteousness!

HIS truth!

HIS peace!

HIS faith!

HIS Salvation!

HIS Spirit.

HIS Word!

The Armor

Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Continuing our study of the WHOLE armor of GOD it is worth noting that this is the second time we are told to TAKE THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD. Why is it worth noting? Because obviously if we are being told something more than once it MUST be important. The WHOLE armor of GOD and our TAKING it is extremely important and yet this is something not very many in the grand scheme of things seem to think worth bothering about.

The spiritual realm.

I hope you believe it is a reality and as such that it is working around us all the time day and night affecting us constantly for good and bad.

Here in this verse it is mentioned that the reason for taking this WHOLE armor of GOD is so that we will be able to withstand in the EVIL DAY- having done ALL to stand.

The EVIL DAY.

What would you think if I told you this--  "Take your umbrella to protect you in the rainy day."

You'd most likely think that I want you to be prepared for a rainy day- any rainy day, right? This EVIL DAY spoken of is any day that is EVIL.  We don't know when we will be attacked spiritually. We could be attacked daily, hourly, minutely, or maybe weekly, monthly, yearly. We just don't know when or where an attack will come from. Not only don't we know when or where, we don't know what sort of attack it will be- some are much more blatant than others. One thing we can know is when we are struggling with ANYTHING, we can be sure that there is an unseen battle going on around us.

No, I’m not using this as an excuse, no one can use it as an excuse because WE ultimately make the choices of how we handle the attacks. We can succumb to them and let them destroy us- many, many people do. We can overcome them but ONLY by the power of our SAVIOR, any other any sort of overcoming is false and oh so very deceptive.

There isn't a single struggle, not a single bit of strife that isn't egged on by the unseen spirits.  We can ignore the unseen spirits working around us and most people do, but we aren't told to ignore them, are we? We are told to put on armor - in fact the WHOLE armor of GOD so that we can stand.

Now let me ask you a question, if we are told to put on armor so we can stand do you suppose it's to simple stand still, to be like one of those empty statue suits of armors that never, ever move?  Is this armor a reality? Is it useful armor in being more than protective - which is a GREAT THING don't get me wrong.  What exactly is this armor of God's we are to wear so that we are doing EVERYTHING within our own power to stand.  I say our power because of this one action- CHOOSING to put on the armor- that's totally ON US, our CHOICE, all the rest of the power is in GOD'S armor and it is by HIS power alone the armor exists and works in our favor.

The ARMOR-

Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness

Girt loins.
Breastplate.

Grecian armor-

'The Girdle; this went about the loins, and served to brace the armor tight to the body, and to support daggers, short swords, and such like weapons, which were frequently stuck in it. This kind of girdle is in general use among the Asiatic nations to the present day.' -- Clarke

'The Breast-Plate; this consisted of two parts, called pte???e? or wings: one covered the whole region of the thorax or breast, in which the principal viscera of life are contained; and the other covered the back, as far down as the front part extended.' -- Clarke

Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace

Footwear.

'Greaves or brazen boots, which covered the shin or front of the leg; a kind of solea was often used, which covered the sole, and laced about the instep, and prevented the foot from being wounded by rugged ways, thorns, stones, etc.' -- Clarke

Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Shield.

'The clypeus or Shield; it was perfectly round, and sometimes made of wood, covered with bullocks’ hides; but often made of metal. The aspis or shield of Achilles, made by Vulcan, was composed of five plates, two of brass, two of tin, and one of gold; so Homer, Il. U. v. 270:' -- Clarke

'Of shields there were several sorts:
Ge????? or ?e??a, the gerron; a small square shield, used first by the Persians.
?a?s?????, Laiseion; a sort of oblong shield, covered with rough hides, or skins with the hair on.
?e?t?, the Pelta; a small light shield, nearly in the form of a demicrescent, with a small ornament, similar to the recurved leaves of a flower de luce, on the center of a diagonal edge or straight line; this was the Amazonian shield.
T??e??, the scutum or Oblong Shield; this was always made of wood, and covered with hides. It was exactly in the shape of the laiseion, but differed in size, being much larger, and being covered with hides from which the hair had been taken off. It was called ???e?? from ???a, a door, which it resembled in its oblong shape; but it was made curved, so as to embrace the whole forepart of the body. The aspis and the thureos were the shields principally in use; the former for light, the latter for heavy armed troops.' -- Clarke

Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God

Helmet.
Sword.

'The Helmet; this was the armor for the head, and was of various forms, and embossed with a great variety of figures. Connected with the helmet was the crest or ridge on the top of the helmet, adorned with several emblematic figures; some for ornament, some to strike terror. For crests on ancient helmets we often see the winged lion, the griffin, chimera, etc. St. Paul seems to refer to one which had an emblematical representation of hope.' -- Clarke

'The Sword; these were of various sizes, and in the beginning all of brass. The swords of Homer’s heroes are all of this metal.' --Clarke

Girt Loins.
Breastplate.
Footwear.
Shield.
Helmet.
Sword.

And Clarke also had this note-

'1.    That the ancient Greeks and Romans went constantly armed;
2.    That before they engaged they always ate together; and
3.    That they commenced every attack with prayer to the gods for success.'

--Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

By the GRACE of our LORD-- more on this tomorrow!  All in HIS LOVE.

We have to believe, we have to choose!

Flesh, Blood, & Spirit

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

We WRESTLE.

We all know what it means to wrestle with someone or something don't we?

I say someone or something because we can wrestle with problems that aren't physical in nature. We wrestle with ideas, we wrestle with decisions, we wrestle with a lot of things. If people can understand the concept of wrestling with an idea they surely should be able to understand the concept of fighting against things that are NOT flesh and blood.

It sounds strange, doesn't it?

I'm not asking anyone to believe in ghosts as in dead human spirit beings, but I am asking everyone to believe in spirit beings that were created to be spirit beings- angels.

And I'm not just asking everyone to believe in spirit angel beings, but I'm asking everyone to believe in spirit angel beings that are evil,  as well as those that are not evil.

These beings can be around us at all times and because they are REAL they have influence upon us.  It doesn't matter if you believe in them or not for them to be real, they're real even if you don't want them to be. You can say till you're blue in the face that spirit beings do not exist but that would be like saying the very air we breathe isn't real.

The evil spirit beings are real and they are NOT flesh and blood in any real form, though they might choose to appear as a human being.  These beings are principalities, these beings are powers, these beings are rulers of darkness, these beings are wicked- and we wrestle with them.

Wouldn't it be something if we were all allowed to get a glimpse of a spirit being? It'd be awful frightening too.  Some people do see them, some people search for them and some invite them into their lives. The problem with toying with the spirit world is that we cannot truly begin to comprehend the power behind that world.

The Bible tells us that evil spirits can POSSESS a human being.
The Bible tells us that evil spirits  can live inside a human being.

This means that the evil spirit can live inside us who are flesh, blood, and spirit. 

We truly have a spirit within us, our spirit being, and it's this part of us that we have in common with our Spiritual Father, our Spiritual Holy Spirit, and our Spiritual-Flesh-Blood Savior as well as the spirits that are angels- those who are God's angels and those who follow the fallen angel  Lucifer.

We can comprehend the spirit world when we comprehend  we are part spirit, can't we?

Spirit beings incased in flesh and blood- made by God this way.  We are NEVER meant to become just spirit without flesh and blood, yet we ARE meant to become spirit with UNCORRUPTED flesh and blood.

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

We cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven in the degraded flesh and blood we've become since sin changed us and stripped from us the covering of our God's righteousness. When Eve and Adam sinned they were instantly notably naked in a way they'd never been before- they'd LOST the covering of the LIGHT of GOD's RIGHTEOUSNESS, it was instantaneously GONE!

What was left was a sinful, naked, vulnerable flesh, blood, and spirit being.  Our very flesh began to degrade from that moment. We were corrupted in that moment, our flesh, our blood corrupted by sin. We were NO longer the beings that God first created, we were NO longer the beings we were MEANT to be! 

And this corrupted FLESH, this corrupted BLOOD, our corrupted beings will NEVER inherit heaven.

We will be CHANGED- our flesh and blood will be changed just as our SAVIOR'S flesh and blood was changed when He was raised from the dead and ascended to His Father.

So, no, our corrupted flesh and blood will NOT inherit heaven, but our CHANGED flesh and blood WILL inherit the kingdom of heaven!

1Co 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co 15:55  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1Co 15:56  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1Co 15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Co 15:58  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

We will NEVER become simply SPIRIT, never.  To become simply a spirit being would make us like the angels and we are NOT going to become angel beings. Our SAVIOR took on our FLESH and BLOOD, not so He could turn us into angels, but to SAVE us as HUMAN BEINGS!

The Spirit world exists and I know I keep going on and on about it, but I have to, because WE ARE wrestling with evil spirits in the world whether we like it or not.  You don't have to admit it, the evil spirits love it when we don't admit to their reality. 

We wrestle against evil spirits and the ONLY way we can defeat them is through CHRIST, and CHRIST providing us with the WHOLE ARMOR of GOD.

Yes, it's true people go about without concerning themselves about Jesus all the time. And it's equally true that all those people are vulnerable to the evil spirits in the world. Does this mean that they are all demon possessed and lunatic? Not at all. The most deceptive evil spirits are those who appear to be good even though they are evil through and through. 

We NEED the armor of God, the WHOLE armor of God or we will be unprotected and very vulnerable to the evil all around us. 

More tomorrow all by the GRACE of our LORD JESUS CHRIST!

Spiritual Battlefield

Told to be STRONG in the POWER of HIS might, we are told to put on HIS ARMOR!

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.


The WHOLE ARMOR of GOD.

Whose armor?

GOD'S!

How much of the armor?

The WHOLE armor!

We are NOT told to put on our own armor. We are not told to put on some of the armor. We haven't been instructed to take just the boots and put them on, and we haven't been told to just pick up the shield, and maybe grab the helmet.  We are told quite plainly to put on the WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD.

This isn't just any ol' armor. This isn't armor we can manufacture all by ourselves and yet we really do believe that we can fight protected by ourselves. We do! Don't deny it! We believe we can fight the battle ourselves, off our own accord. We believe we have to fight all by ourselves and yet we are NEVER told to do that, not once!

When a person fights physically they have to use their own strength, their own cunning, their own smarts. A person who is jumped from behind is at a disadvantage and yet we have self-defense classes that can teach someone how to fight, even when they are jumped from behind. Some people train a lot to become great fighters. We can watch many television movies depicting great fighters, some unbelievably so. These fighters seem to be able to defeat enemy after enemy, taking a few licks here and there but overall they are victorious. Yet you have to ask yourself this one question- would they be any good at fighting had they not trained their bodies and minds to fight? How many people are just naturally amazing at fighting? Not too many. You might get the huge guy who knows how to swing his might into knocking out someone in one punch, but even he would fall victim to the trained fighter, right?

We can agree that a really good fighter is one who is trained, yes? There isn't a whole lot to debate there. To say the trained fighter wouldn't be very good compared to the untrained would be kind of crazy.  So if we can agree that someone who fights physical battles needs to be trained, why can't we agree that someone who fights spiritual battles needs to be trained?  Seriously. Spiritually trained for the spiritual battle.

The thing about physical fighting is that the majority of people I know do not have to EVER engage in that sort of fighting, not ever.

However, every single person I know HAS to engage in the Spiritual warfare taking place all around them.

The thing is- with spiritual warfare- often the ones who are losing this battle don't appear to even be the least bit injured and that's because it's a spiritual injury unseen, just as those we are battle with are unseen--

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Not flesh and blood. We aren't out there with our fists facing a flesh and blood enemy. Some of the deepest spiritual cuts will leave a person spiritually dead but thriving physically.  We can't tell when someone has been killed spiritually, we often don't have a single clue when a person has been spiritually wounded and is near spiritual death.

While we fight in this battle of the Spiritual kind, we are not allowed to see the spiritual bruises upon each other. Those living in the spiritual realm- God, His Son, the Holy Spirit, and the angels- good and evil- they see, they know, they can spiritually discern our spiritual state of being.

We are unique beings truly unique- flesh/blood/spirit beings.  Not a single angel will ever have true flesh and blood, they may take on the appearance of such, but they will never be real flesh and blood. God the Father has never taken on flesh and blood, but through His Son He knows, truly knows all it means to be flesh and blood. God the Son took on human flesh and blood, becoming flesh, blood, and spirit like we are.

We have to truly realize the spiritual aspect to our lives. Satan would have us ignore it completely as if it doesn't exist at all, but God tells us differently.

We are even told we will fight against those in the spiritual realm, those who have gone bad and desire to destroy our spiritual life.

So while we cannot see these spiritual foes, we can know they exist.  Is it an unfair fight because we cannot see our enemy? No. It's not unfair because we equally cannot see our ADVOCATES, our champions, our helpers.

We are told we must align with the ADVOCATE, the ONE who secured our victory.

We will be beaten and bruised but we can never lose the spiritual war not if we are aligned with our CHAMPION.  Yes, we will be called to fight against the spiritual evil that would tear us away from our alignment with the Spiritual Champion. It is only by staying aligned that we have hope and the spiritual evil wants to sever that alignment.

You'd think it'd be a cinch, putting ourselves on the side of the winners, when the war has been won. But we are on the battleground and we are at risk of being taken away from the winning side.  Spiritually seduced away from that winning side and made to believe that the losing side is really the winning side. In fact many will tell you how it seems the evil cheaters, liars, corrupt people seem to have a lot more wealth and prosperity than those who are not corrupt, cheating liars.  Many will say that their lives seem to be much easier when they aren't fighting against evil, and it's true their lives may seem to be better, easier, less stressful, but that's an awful evil façade of the spiritual evil one.

We live upon a spiritual battlefield and we can't let the spiritual evil lull us into blinding ourselves to that TRUTH.

By the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR more on this tomorrow.

All in HIS AMAZING LOVE! By HIS GRACE and MERCY, HIS FORGIVENESS, HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS!!!!!!!

Spiritual Combat

The Whole Armor!

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

The whole armor of GOD.

We are in a war.  The war between God and Satan. The war between love and evil. We LIVE in this war. We are born on this battlefield and we are raised on this battlefield. Yet how many of us truly understand the war we are all participants in? Did you grow up being told that you are fighting a war? Did you grow up understanding that there is an enemy and a Savior?  Some people have grown up this way, but it's safe to say the majority of people are not raised with the knowledge that they are personally participating in a war. 

We've regulated all of our war talk to the physical realm and have neglected the spiritual. There are physical wars right now taking place where men and women are physically dying as they fight their physical war.  We know the toll wars can take, we can read the numbers and comprehend the loss of life. Losing even ONE life is a tragedy even if it does not affect you personally, the loss of ANY life is tragic.

The spiritual war we are all in rages around us at a mostly unseen level until someone or something calls attention to it.

We would be looked upon as strange by the majority if we pointed out the spiritual combat in our lives and the lives of those around us.  Some would roll their eyes and gesture that we are off our rockers and ready to be put in psychiatric facility.

People don't want to chalk up their bad days where everything seemingly goes wrong to being fought against on a spiritual level.

You're asked by someone- 'How was your day today?'  And you reply, 'Awful, I was attacked so hard by evil angels it wasn't funny! Every time things seemed to settle down something would come up. Soandso told me my hair looked kind of funny and of course an evil angel was right there to encourage me to get instantly depressed about my hair and become overly self-conscious. Then at lunch time I reached for the last piece of pie when someone else did and they rolled their eyes and me and there another evil angel was all too eager to encourage me to think the other person thought I was too fat and didn't need the pie, even though they didn't say a word. Then when I was finished with my work my boss came over and dumped another pile of papers on my desk and told me they forgot but they needed to be filed before I could leave. So, yeah, you guessed it another evil angel was right there to help fuel my desire to curse my boss, even though I did it silently. So, yeah, a pretty rough day, how was your day?'

Some will read that and instantly think that the person is just blaming 'others' and not themselves for their actions, their thoughts, their feelings. What those people don't realize is that on the spiritual realm evil angels are constantly encouraging any and all evil within us, constantly. People would rather believe that the spiritual realm doesn't exist, but it does, and it was in that realm that sin first began. 

It's a REAL place, a REAL fact, not fiction. We are just too darn spiritually blinded to want to believe in it. As long as we don't believe in the spiritual realm as a real life interactive existence then we will never fully believe in our Savior- it's impossible because He believes in the spiritual realm as a reality, He is FROM the spiritual realm. 

Jesus went about casting out demons- SPIRITUAL entities!  Do you believe that? If you believe in Jesus you have to. So was Jesus crazy for living with the reality of the spiritual existence surrounding us? No. He was drawing our attention to it, pointing it out, wanting us to recognize it.

We are told to put on the WHOLE ARMOR of GOD to stand against -

- the wiles of the devil.

The wiles of who?

The DEVIL!

That SPIRITUAL being!

So do you suppose we are to put on physical armor to stand against this spiritual being? Do you imagine there is physical armor of God? This is SPIRITUAL!

We have to pay attention to our SPIRITUAL life!

The whole armor of a SPIRITUAL God is SPIRITUAL armor for a SPIRITUAL battle.

Ignore the spiritual in favor of believing in anything but the spiritual, that's your choice and only you can make it. Let yourself be deceived by the leader of spiritual evil, again it's your choice.  You not believing in no way negates its existence. Do you know we are told this about the spiritual evil beings…

Jas 2:19  Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

Devils believe, of course they believe! They know! Do they have the advantage of spiritual sight unlike those of us who are flesh, blood, and spirit? Maybe, but, their advantage is also their greatest disadvantage, they gave up all hope when they chose spiritual evil over spiritual love, they will never have a Savior, only us flesh, blood, and spirit beings have a Savior.

The WHOLE ARMOR of GOD is at our disposal. We all have access to this armor.  We all NEED to wear this armor because not a single one of us will escape the wiles of the devil.

We have a Spiritual Leader, a Spiritual Savior, a Spiritual Helper- we have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We must commit ourselves to them- flesh, blood, and spirit all of it belongs to them who GAVE us our lives, our very existence.

Tomorrow we are going to talk more on the WHOLE ARMOR of GOD, all by the grace of God as HE wills!

We have to talk about it! We have to bring it to LIFE. To so many it's like the fairy tale Pinocchio- it's a wooden thing, not really alive. It's a part of us but not really recognized in it's fullest sense. We cannot afford to let our spiritual selves be made of wood, they have to be alive IN CHRIST!

All through HIS LOVE!

Strong in the power of HIS might

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

We are to be strong IN THE LORD.
We ARE NOT to be strong in ourselves.

We feel weak, we recognize our weakness as we call upon our LORD to help us through our lives. We want strength and yet the world has deceived us into believing that we can gain that strength in ourselves when we can't.

 What does it mean to be strong in the LORD?

Are we left to guess at it?  Are we left to try our own things and figure it out? God seldom leaves us to wonder. God will NOT be accused of not letting us know what He desires of us.  We will NOT be able to say we were clueless, that's just not going to be possible. For everyone who cries out to God wanting to know what to do, how to handle living in this world, He has answered that cry, He has given a reply to them all.  It is up to US to listen.  We need to listen to God and before anyone tries to say that He doesn't talk, there are so many ways of communicating and if we limit them to hearing the voice of God as we hear one another then we are boxing God into corner, limiting Him, and HE WILL NOT be limited! Ever since man was created he had the attributes of communication that have gone beyond voice and ears.  People have believed that those who are deaf cannot communicate, but you ask the family of the deaf throughout history and they'd tell you a different story. Am I saying that we can know God even if we are deaf? Yes, I am. There is so much more to God than being able to hear His voice. The deaf can even read, yes? The blind can read, yes? The mute can read, right?  There are very few people that do not have the ability to learn to read in some form, even if it isn't the standard form.

God might not speak to us so that we hear Him giving us plain instructions such as my telling someone to do this, or that, but GOD does speak to us through His word.  His word is so incredible that it can be read over and over and over, endlessly speaking to us.

We are told this---

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

We are to be STRONG in the LORD.
We are to be STRONG in the POWER of HIS MIGHT.

And then we are told THIS right after we are told to be strong in the LORD, strong in the power of HIS might.

Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Told to be STRONG in the POWER of HIS might, we are told to put on HIS ARMOR!

More on this tomorrow. It's something we've discussed many times, but it needs to be discussed over and over. This isn't a subject that can be exhausted, not at long as we are living here on this sinfilled earth.

All by the grace of our LORD, our SAVIOR, our GOD, our KING!

Truth comes to the LIGHT

Joh 3:21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Doing truth.

Truth.

We've talked about truth a lot because it's incredibly important. There are truths and lies, nothing else. There is nothing in between those two though many will tell you there is a lot between truth and lies. I'm not saying life doesn't have a lot of gray areas, it does but those gray areas should never compromise the ultimate truth and lie of a situation. 

We cannot call lies - truth, and the opposite is true as well, we cannot call truth - lies. If we dare to subvert the truth then we will reap the punishment that results. 

Satan is the father of lies.
Satan is the opposite of truth.

Our Savior is truth.

Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Jesus is the truth.

If we do the truth we are doing what our Savior would do.

We come to the LIGHT and the LIGHT will reveal our deeds. 

We can hide NOTHING from God, not a single thing.  Everything is revealed to our God.

If we are a true child of God then we WANT all our deeds to be manifested, all of our deeds. We want the good deeds to be shown that we find our good IN HIM, through HIS GOODNESS. We want our evil deeds to be known so we can ask for forgiveness, so we can repent of them.

We can't HIDE from God so even bothering to try is completely pointless. Yet people do try to hide their deeds from God. When they believe in God and they believe that they will be judged by Him, they often do try to hide their evil, thinking that if they hide it then it won't matter as much. It matters, it matters a lot.  More often than not though, people who even believe in God and that they will be judged by Him, believe that He will forgive them everything no matter what it is and they don't even have to think about it much. They don't have to seek true repentance and forgiveness because they believe that God understands and won't fault them for their weakness, their sins.

We are told by Christ Himself to not sin, that sinning is wrong.  He says over and over-  'Go and sin no more.'   He does not say- 'Go and try to sin no more.'  He does not say- 'Go and don't worry about sinning.'  He does not say- 'I forgave you once so all is good, you're forgiven for anything you do in the future.'   He SAYS- 'GO AND SIN NO MORE.'

He is the LIGHT, He is the TRUTH and all our actions need to be revealed to Him, and we need to reveal them WILLINGLY.

Just as a parent who knows their child has done wrong hopes that child will confess that wrong to them rather than their having to confront them with it- God wants us to confess NOT to hide our evil deeds and YES our sins are evil, we CANNOT pretty them up, they are EVIL.

Joh 3:21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

If we do TRUTH - all that Jesus has told us we are to do in HIM- then we come to the LIGHT- we come to HIM- and our deeds are revealed and if we are doing those deeds in TRUTH it will be revealed that they are WROUGHT IN GOD.

We must do TRUTH.

3Jn_1:3  For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.

2Jn_1:2  For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.

JESUS- we must live with JESUS in us, as a REAL part of our LIFE!

IN HIS LOVE!  ALWAYS IN HIS TRUTH!

Love the LIGHT, accept REPROOF

Joh 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Joh 3:20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

Light is come into the world.

Jesus.

Joh 8:12  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Joh 9:5  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

JESUS the LIGHT of the WORLD.

LIGHT (JESUS) came into the world and men loved darkness (evil) rather than LIGHT (JESUS).

Why?  Why do men love darkness (evil)?

Because he does NOT want to be reproved!

Why don't we want to be reproved? In general, why don't we like being reproved?  When a person is reproved they are being shown where they've erred. We don't like to be wrong. Our pride gets in the way of our acceptance of reproof.

Being wrong about something is admitting to IMPERFECTION, right? 

We can say we aren't perfect, and we KNOW we aren't perfect, but we sure don't like to be reminded of that by anyone else. We go through life doing the best we can and when we screw up we never feel good about it, and we shouldn't, should we? Our screw ups point out our tendency to do wrong. Feeling good about doing wrong isn't something we want, right? Feeling a sincere repentance when we do wrong is necessary to the comprehension of our existence with sin.

When we do something wrong accidentally we still feel bad about it, we don't like to mess up, but the sad fact is - accidentally or not - we will mess up.  We will go through life believing that we know what to do, how to exist in the world comfortably enough to get by.  But we can NEVER get to that place where we are depending upon OURSELVES for our own goodness, for our right doing. We can NEVER get to that place where we excuse our wrong offhandedly.

So all too often people will choose to embrace wrong, to love wrong, rather than strive against it.  They will love their evil deeds so much because to be reproved and told they are doing wrong is too appalling to them. Feeling the depths of their sin is something they abhor.  They want NO REPROOF! They do NOT want to be told they are WRONG. They do NOT want to deal with the fact they are a vile creature in need of a pure, holy Savior! They HATE the LIGHT!  The LIGHT shines upon their evil in all its forms and reveals it to them and they shun the LIGHT rather than let it expose their sin. They prefer the darkness and the evil it hides.   That darkness cocoons them in a state of selfish self love allowing them to revel in themselves, feeling no shame, no remorse, no repentance, no need of forgiveness, desiring no Light whatsoever.

Those who LOVE the LIGHT will feel REPROOF.  They will feel the harsh whip of chastising not just once but often, very, very often. While our bodies might not bear physical scars from this whip, our spiritual body will be covered in them. We NEED these scars! We NEED the painfulness of reproof to remind us always our need of a SAVIOR.  To remind us that we do understand as much as we are able to that we will never not need a SAVIOR. We need the CONSTANT reminders. We need to bask constantly in the LIGHT because to choose darkness is to choose death, not life.

Joh 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Joh 3:20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

Please LORD reprove our deeds! Please LORD help us to LOVE the LIGHT! Please LORD help us NOT to choose darkness over any light!

It is true the world is filled with haters of the LIGHT, help us NOT to be among them in any way! BY YOUR GRACE, YOUR LOVE ALWAYS in ALL WAYS!

He that believeth NOT is condemned already

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Joh 3:18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Read that a few times, let it all sink in.

So many love to say that people everywhere will be saved, no matter what they believe, but that's not what the Word of Truth tells us.

If we BELIEVE in the SON of GOD we will NOT be condemned.
If we DON'T BELIEVE we ARE condemned.
If we do not believe in the NAME of the ONLY BEGOTTEN SON of GOD we are condemned.

Can it be any clearer?

Do you believe in the NAME of the ONLY BEGOTTEN SON of GOD?

Right now in our world's current events we have numerous attacks and protests taking place against people who dared to be associated even remotely associated, with someone who made a parody movie against Mohammad. People are being KILLED by these protestors all in the name of a PROPHET, not God, but a PROPHET. Supposedly this prophet DOES not want violence and yet you see so much of it happening in his name.  Contrary to what these people believe, those of us who believe the Bible, believe that our GOD, sent HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON into our world, and HIS SON NEVER advocated violence.  Throughout our history people have chosen to ALSO use the SON of GOD to commit violence. Yet our BIBLE, the very word of GOD, the very words of GOD'S SON, tell us NOT to be violent but to submit to our enemies, to turn and offer our other cheek to one who would hurt us on one cheek, to do GOOD to those who despitefully use us. Over and over the Apostles and disciples of our SAVIOR were tortured and killed. People imagine that somehow God or their supposed prophets will be proud of them for hurting the unbelievers and yet that's not how it is at all. Those people are bringing GREAT SHAME to those they believe in when they commit violence. So why do they continue to commit the violent acts?  Why do they do these acts in the name of their God, their prophets? There is NO love in that violence, none. 

When a person disciplines another to correct them in error it's NOT supposed to be done with violent intent. When we HAVE to discipline it should be with nothing but LOVE. The correction is for LOVE isn't it? It's supposed to be about LOVE nothing else!  If you can't discipline another out of love then DO NOT discipline them at all!

Satan is a destroyer and all those that destroy are of HIM, they can be of NO OTHER.

We can NEVER condemn a single person whether they believe or not, Muslim, Jew, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Pagan, etc.. we cannot CONDEMN those individuals!  We can comprehend there are FALSE religions - many of them- but we cannot know the heart of ANY individual- that is for GOD ALONE!

If a person does NOT believe on the NAME of the ONLY BEGOTTEN SON of GOD we KNOW they are condemned ULTIMATELY by GOD- not us! We must have the HOPE for them that they'll ultimately come to the LOVE of God in Jesus Christ, this must be OUR HOPE for all- even the worst of the worst.

Only when we have this hope for others, even those we are tempted to believe are completely and utterly lost because of their acts and beliefs- can we truly say we LOVE them!

It's so easy to NOT love those who hurt us.
It's so easy to NOT love those who do NOT believe in Jesus Christ.
It's so easy to NOT LOVE period. Satan has made it incredibly easy for us to not love.

We talked yesterday about our creation and how we were created BY LOVE, redeemed by LOVE, and we have to LIVE by love in spite of the hatred that is in our world. The hatred is growing and growing and it will continue to grow until it has consumed almost everyone in one form or another. 

We must pray that we are not consumed by the hate so prevalent in our world.
We must pray for the LOVE of God to be in US!

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Joh 3:18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Even though we are living in a world where millions and millions do NOT believe upon the name of the ONLY BEGOTTEN SON of GOD, we must LOVE them and NOT condemn them- that is for GOD to ultimately do. We are warned, they are warned, and the choice will be theirs, not OURS..

Please God, help us to submit fully to YOU and YOUR love and to trust wholly in YOU all through YOUR SON JESUS CHRIST our LORD.

The world through Him might be saved

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

*******

If God wanted to condemn the world He would have done it at the beginning- when sin first began.  To condemn the world would mean condemnation to all. Truly it would be evil to have a world without any hope, wouldn't it.

Imagine it, no hope of eternity.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Imagine it, seriously.

When you have no hope you are truly left with nothing but despair.  It's ONLY because we do have hope that we don't despair.

Many, many people live their lives unconcerned with eternity. Many live just for the here and now. Many are content to live this way and their contentment is nothing but a great shroud of darkness that Satan has pulled over them, blinding them to the truth.  They don't realize that there is an eternity at stake at all, because they've made the choice not to care.  They don't care about hope for eternity and if they do, they usually have been incredibly deceived by Satan who has told everyone from Eve and Adam on down to the last living person, that they shall not SURELY die, that some part of them will live on and on and on and death in the body is really nothing to be concerned about because immediately their spirit is freed to live on forever.  This is the FALSE eternity Satan has made from those who choose to be deceived by Him. This is their false hope when they even allow themselves to think about eternity.

*

God did NOT send HIS SON here to this WORLD in order to have HIS SON condemn the world. 

Could Jesus have condemned the world?

Could He have lived among us and come to the conclusion that there is NOTHING good in us, nothing worth saving us for, nothing worth dying for us for? 

*

We have to REALIZE that JESUS was GOD with US. JESUS WAS GOD with GOD before HE ever became GOD's SON as IMMANUEL, GOD WITH US. JESUS knew the PLAN before man was created. HE knew that there existed a possibility of mankind's sinning, we were created with that possibility- by HIM. HE KNEW. And He agreed that SHOULD mankind sin, that HE would SAVE them! He knew that sin existed, He was there when sin first came into existence through Satan, an angel in heaven, an angel right beside Him who chose to embrace sin and let it reign.   Jesus KNEW the awfulness of sin as a first hand witness to it's beginning. Jesus knew that the angels would have access to the human beings, but there was hope that these new creatures would NOT choose to sin!

BUT knowing there was that chance, that the chance DID exist,  God with God decided there had to be a contingency plan should it happen. They knew that these new creatures could go either way, and the LOVE they put into their creation was incredible. We weren't just offhanded thoughts brought to life. We were PLANNED, we were by DESIGN. A LOT went into our creation, more than we realize, more than we truly allow ourselves to comprehend. We get so caught up in the fight over evolution vs. creationism and such that we fail to realize the true depths of our existence as created beings.

We are MIRACLES, every single one of us!

Anyone who has had a baby, or been responsible for creating a baby can comprehend to a tiny degree the miracle of new life.

Science has explained away the mechanics of it all right down to our tiniest cells, our genes, our dna making it all seem as if we were in fact created by a cold-hearted, matter of fact scientist of sorts. This scientist in His great lab engineered our dna, manufacturing it out of substances at his fingertips.  They want to take LOVE out of it all, but LOVE is the true DESIGN, without it we would NEVER have been created, never.

We were created BY LOVE. 

Remember this…

1Jn 4:16  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

God created us, and God is love, love created us.

Taking LOVE out of our creation is something Satan loves to do.

The LOVE that created us could NOT condemn us.

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

The LOVE that created us would be the LOVE that SAVED us.

The LOVE that brought the world into existence would be the LOVE that would SAVE the world, not condemn it.

The plan of Salvation is intertwined with the plan of Creation, they were designed together. Had we been created without the plan of Salvation truly there would have been NO HOPE for us.  We would have had to have been placed in the scrap heap if there had been no plan to save us. We truly would have had to have been blotted out of existence, all of mankind, if there had been no plan to save us.

Love is the driving force behind everything that God has ever done.

LOVE.

We have to believe this, and trust in the LOVE of our God, our Creator, our Savior.

May GOD help us to comprehend all that we need to comprehend in HIM, in HIS LOVE.

Made HIM to be sin for us

2Co 5:18-21

'And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;  To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.   Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.'

Reconciled.

Reconciled to God by Jesus Christ.

There is NO other way to be reconciled to God, but through Jesus Christ.  People can come up with a million, trillion things but there is only ONE means of reconciliation.

Can we naturally of our own accord be reconciled with God? No. Any good thing we might think we have  in us is still filthy. We cannot clean our spiritual selves, we can scarcely keep our physical selves clean enough. We are constantly becoming dirty from the moment after we've bathed, aren't we? The first exertion after a shower can produce sweat. The air we walk through contains dust particles that will cling to us. Unless someone is living in a bubble (and unfortunately some people have to)we are constantly going from a state of supposed cleanliness to a state of dirtiness. If we can barely keep up with our outward cleaning how do we suppose we have any hope of cleaning our spiritual selves? We can't, there is no hope in US. The hope we have is centered OUTSIDE of ourselves and in the only PURE human being who ever existed, Jesus Christ.

We are ONLY reconciled to God by Jesus Christ and by NO OTHER.

And the MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION is our comprehending this fact, and sharing it with others.

Christ was made SIN for us.

Why?

That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

The BIBLE says this, not me! This isn't me making up stories.

2Co 5:21  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Christ alone knew NO SIN.  Christ alone was MADE sin for us.  How was He made sin?

When we look at the Sanctuary services of old they all pointed to the perfect sacrifice. We are taught that sin was placed upon the sacrifices being offered. The sin went from the sinner onto the animal being offered, then that animal was killed and the blood of that animal was offered, the life of that animal was given in order to complete the sin transfer.   No, we don't see it like we can see in so many movies and whatnot today of the science fiction/horror bent, where they allow you to see invisible diseases creepily transferring from person to person. The gesture is symbolic. The gesture is a shadow of things to come.  A type to an antitype. The figure to the realized.

All our sins are placed upon the SINLESS SON OF GOD the PERFECT SACRIFICE, He takes on ALL our confessed, repented sins.  Innocent blood was spilled.  He was MADE sin for US!

Having NO sin of His own, He was made sin. 

Our Savior wasn't made sin for us so that we could clean ourselves and make ourselves righteous before God. God will not even glance at us, if He did we'd be instantly consumed! God looks upon the righteousness of His Son, and we have to be in the SON if we hope to be covered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

We can ONLY be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

So many today don't believe in Jesus, it's true. So many believe rather in some false god setting himself up to appear like a savior.

They've come to believe that they are somehow able to be clean outside of the Savior, that He gives them some special power of their own. They can go through life believing they are free of sin as long as they've uttered some magic words and called it prayer. The truth is, Christ has to KNOW us. How can Christ know us?  He will know every single person that He is covering with His righteousness. He will know every single person that He removes the filthy garment from and gives a garment of His righteousness.  This is a PERSONAL encounter, an exchange that is made that is UNFORGETTABLE. Not a single person who does not recognize their own sinful, filthy state will be known by Jesus. 

So many people are wrapped up in cleaning themselves and appearing clean, that they've totally forgotten that they cannot clean the sin stain from themselves. From the very first sin they committed to the very last, not a single sin can be cleansed by us. We can ask for forgiveness, we can repent, and we can go and sin no more, but the sin we have sought forgiveness for and repented of us has left a STAIN upon us and unless that stain is covered by the blood of Christ and made white, it will remain upon us.  All our self-scrubbing will do NOTHING.  Is it any wonder that we are to afflict our souls before God, that we are to recognize this state of ours?  Way too many think afflicting their soul is somehow believing that they aren't forgiven, and that their believing is paramount to all else. They believe they must go about confident, but all too often that confidence that starts out well placed in Christ's ability to forgive, is replaced by a self-confidence.

Recognizing our helplessness without Christ is something we must constantly do.

If we forget to recognize our own helplessness and become bold in ourselves we are in grave danger.

We are reconciled to God only through Jesus Christ, not through a single action of our own!

We are reconciled to God because Jesus Christ took on our sins and sacrificed Himself for us!

We can never believe that we've finally reached some place called 'good enough', never!

Christ will be able to say He know us, because He'll have personally forgiven us of every last sin we've committed and confessed. Think about that for a moment, let it sink in deep.

Before our Savior comes a second time He will have a people living here on earth who will be HIS, they'll belong to Him because they've given their lives to Him completely, recognizing Him as the source of their lives in all aspects-  their hope.  They will be sinless in HIM.  He will know their last sin because He will have forgiven that very last sin of theirs and placed them in the care of the Holy Spirit. They will be safely kept for Him and upon His arrival in the air above the earth He will call them to Him.

This is a PERSONAL, REAL relationship that exists, not some abstract figment of our imagination.

A REAL relationship! That is why Christ will know His people!  Christ will know US if we have a relationship with HIM-  sinner and KING, forgiven and FORGIVER, saved and SAVIOR!

To comprehend our true filth is to comprehend the true purity, the true righteousness found only in Jesus Christ our LORD and Savior!

Col_1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory!

2Co 5:21  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

All in YOU LORD, all in YOU!

To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Jas 4:17  Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Sin is…

1Jn_3:4  Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

If NOT doing good is a sin, and TRANSGRESSING the law is sin, then is stands to reason that  the law is good.

When we do good and when we keep the law, we are NOT sinning.

Too many people, way too many people want to believe God's moral law is a thing of the past. Those same people do not seem to realize that God's moral law embodies all that is good. You cannot do good and not keep the law because all that good is covered in God's moral law. 

When you know to do good and you choose not to do good- you sin, you transgress the moral law of God.

Remember this--

Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

When you know to do good and choose not to do good you are either harming God or harming your fellow man in some way.  Some might say they are hurting no one but themselves but the truth is when you hurt yourself it hurts God.

We would rather make sin into something on a list. It's a sin to kill, it's a sin to steal, it's a sin to lie, etc.

Jesus came and told us that it's a sin to even desire to sin, without actually physically committing the act. Why? Because God knows our heart and we know that when something evil is desired in our hearts it isn't good at all. In some way it isn't loving God, or loving our fellowman. 

To love God fully is summed up in the first four moral commandments.
To love our fellowman fully is summed up in the last five moral commandments.

Yet people don't want to believe this, they'd rather just pick and choose the commandments they want to follow. Or they scratch them all and say they no longer matter, they'll decide what love is, and they'll decide what commands are truly important, if any. As long as they aren't hurting anyone or God they'll be just fine.

Truthfully, only God will be able to judge them, judge us all.
Truthfully, keeping all the law and having NO love is NOT really keeping the law at all in any way, shape, or form.

Is it any wonder this was written?

Jas 4:17  Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

When we know to do good- we know what it means to love.
When you choose to do good, you are choosing to love.
Love is a choice and we make it every time we are in a situation that calls for us to do good.

Is it any wonder it's a sin not to do good? It's not loving! You are choosing not to love and…

1Jn_4:16  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

God is love!

All by HIS grace may we be IN HIM, in LOVE!

Help us LORD we fall so short of what we should be.

All by YOUR love, through YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, YOUR FORGIVENESS and MERCY, we have hope!

All in YOU, always!

If the Lord will, we shall live

Jas 4:13  Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
Jas 4:14  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Jas 4:15  For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

We OUGHT to say-

IF THE LORD WILL- we shall LIVE- and DO THIS or THAT.

We ought to say that, but do we? Seriously, do we say that? Do we get up in the morning and say today I'm going to do this and that, if the Lord wills and I live to do it? Generally we just get up and get about our routine, right? Most of us have some sort of routine upon waking. Some people might get out of bed and head straight to the bathroom, others might head for the kitchen and the coffee pot. Still others might drop to the floor and begin push-ups or some other sort of exercise routine. Then you'll find others pulling on their clothes first thing.  There are many different ways we can begin our days but shouldn't we begin them with God?  Perhaps that's easier said than done.

So many of us just assume that because God knows everything that there is no need for us to bother about telling Him stuff He already knows. Just as many will assume God knows that they love Him so they don't have to bother telling Him that. In fact they really don't have to communicate at all with someone who knows everything, it's pointless. So then why did our Savior find it extremely necessary to pray? Why did our Savior even teach us the proper form of prayer? If we weren't to communicate with God the Father, why bother praying?  We ARE to communicate with God the Father.  I can already hear people saying, what's the use He never answers back.  I agree-- for the most part. We do NOT get answered back as if we were talking to another person. God has in the past spoken to various people, but as a rule the majority do NOT carry on a conversation with GOD. Even some of God's most chosen people had an intercessory between them and God. Angels often played the part of intercessor relaying God's messages to those that needed to hear them. 

This is where our FAITH comes into play.

We can choose to believe we have a CREATOR, a REDEEMER, A GOD the FATHER and a SON, JESUS CHRIST, or we can choose not to believe.

We choose.

We are given the choice to believe or not to believe- we will NEVER be forced to believe, never. So if someone out there reading this believes for even a moment that they'll start believing when they are made to, well, you're in for a long, long wait because God will NOT force anyone to believe in Him, it goes against all that He is. 

Our God has provided enough for us to believe if we choose to, but He won't force anyone to make the choice to believe.

God requires us to live by FAITH, and faith is the SUBSTANCE of things HOPED FOR, the EVIDENCE of things NOT SEEN.  This faith is necessary as a declaration to our belief. 

By faith we will comprehend the necessity for us to put GOD first in all we do.

Tomorrow by the will of God I will rise up and begin my day, a day in which I desire to accomplish this and that. However, if it is NOT God's will I won't do this or that even though it's what I desire to do.

I know my life is but a vapor.  I can look back at history. I can look to my mother who is aging, and to my grandmother who is but a memory, and my great grandmother who is even a further memory, and then I cannot recall at all whatsoever in anyway my great, great grandmother. I have no memories of my maternal relatives going back before my great grandmother, yet I KNOW they existed. Their lives were but vapors- they are gone even from the memory of their relatives.  Our lives, all of our lives are but vapors- here and then gone. 

We need God's will to be done in our lives no matter what that will is.

The vapor that our life is right now will one day be something eternally existing through the power of our Savior, through His LOVE. If we do not choose to have God guide our lives then how can we have hope of eternity? 

Our Savior came to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom-  Eternity in God.

Truly we need to make all the plans we want to make, but do so with the understanding that they will only be accomplished if it's the Lord's Will.  Why would we ever want to do anything that He doesn't will? Is our will more important than His? NEVER.  Help us LORD to NEVER choose our Will over YOURS. Guide us, help us! PLEASE LORD, PLEASE.

Your will in our LIVES, always!