Jesus stood and cried... if any man thirst

Joh 7:37-39 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

Living water.

Remember when Jesus said we must be born again?  Born of the spirit and water.

Joh 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Joh 3:7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

Joh 3:8  The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Life giving water.  The Holy Spirit is promised to us, and without the Holy Spirit we will not see God.  We must be born of the SPIRIT. 

Joh_14:16  And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever

Joh_14:26  But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

Joh_15:26  But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me

Joh_16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

The Holy Spirit is sent to us. Except we are BORN of the water and of the SPIRIT- we will not be able to enter the kingdom of God. If we cannot enter the kingdom of God we will NOT have eternal life  with our Savior. 

We must have the SPIRIT and Jesus wants us to come to HIM to receive the SPIRIT.  We must THIRST -

Mat_5:6  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

We must thirst.

Please Father, we THIRST after You, after the Spirit, after the Lord our Savior!

Kept from Evil

Departing from evil.

When we understand- we depart from evil. We are no longer inclined to embrace evil- at least not spiritually.  Jesus asks our Father to keep us from evil, knowing this was paramount to us as those who would belong to Him.

Job 28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

Joh 17:15  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

Depart from evil.

Kept from evil.

Evil would have us if it can, it will stop at nothing to get us. Jesus spoke nothing lightly! Jesus asked the FATHER to keep us from the evil.  Jesus wanted us to know that He was asking the Father to do this for us.  Jesus PRAYED for us and His prayer will be heard! For all who would be His, He would stop at nothing to keep us in His love. WE MUST desire this. WE have to desire Christ to lead us now and forever.  We need to be kept from evil!

We need to also depart from evil.

We cannot  choose evil over Christ. We cannot choose Satan over Christ. Satan is the ruler of this world and so much in this world belongs to him. The evil has only grown and grown and the only way we've been able to live with ourselves is because we call evil good now. We do. We call evil good.  We've blinded our eyes to the evil. We have accepted the evil and call it life. If a person in a coma for a hundred years woke up today and witnessed our world they would be totally overwhelmed by the EVIL of today. They would NOT be amused by it. They'd be appalled. We make movies of this sort and find it humorous to watch the people from the past pulled to the future stumble about and find themselves drawn into the evil. Rarely do we make movies that would have a person NOT accepting the evil of this world.  WE laugh at what isn't funny, but we do so to fit in. We play along because we are helpless to do otherwise in so many ways. The evil is surrounding us in this world and is it any wonder our Savior prayed for us to be kept from the evil?

The only way we are to be kept from the evil is by our God keeping us from it. WE must look to Him for all things, for all hope!

Depart from evil.

Please, Father, save us! Come Lord Jesus, come soon! We need You, we need You desperately! This world is covered in evil. Keep us from that evil so we may be YOURS! Please, Father, please once again I beg You to save us from ourselves, from our flesh selves, from the evil that we are prone to do in the flesh. Please, Father. In the name of the Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Savior!

Amen.

Depart from evil

Job 28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

Wisdom - when we comprehend the Lord and know that He is our Creator, our Redeemer- and ALL that entails.

Understanding- departing from evil.

Evil--

'Evil -E'VIL, a. e'vl. [Heb. to be unjust or injurious, to defraud.]

1. Having bad qualities of a natural kind; mischievous; having qualities which tend to injury, or to produce mischief.

Some evil beast hath devoured him. Gen 37.

2. Having bad qualities of a moral kind; wicked; corrupt; perverse; wrong; as evil thoughts; evil deeds; evil speaking; an evil generation.

3. Unfortunate; unhappy; producing sorrow, distress, injury or calamity; as evil tidings; evil arrows; evil days.

E'VIL, n. Evil is natural or moral. Natural evil is any thing which produces pain, distress, loss or calamity, or which in any way disturbs the peace, impairs the happiness, or destroys the perfection of natural beings.

Moral evil is any deviation of a moral agent from the rules of conduct prescribed to him by God, or by legitimate human authority; or it is any violation of the plain principles of justice and rectitude.

There are also evils called civil, which affect injuriously the peace or prosperity of a city or state; and political evils, which injure a nation, in its public capacity.

All wickedness, all crimes, all violations of law and right are moral evils. Diseases are natural evils, but they often proceed from moral evils.

2. Misfortune; mischief; injury.

There shall no evil befall thee. Psa 91.

A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself. Prov 22.

3. Depravity; corruption of heart, or disposition to commit wickedness; malignity.

The heart of the sons of men is full of evil. Eccl 9.

4. Malady; as the king's evil or scrophula.

E'VIL, adv. [generally contracted to ill.]

1. Not well; not with justice or propriety; unsuitable.

Evil it beseems thee.

2. Not virtuously; not innocently.

3. Not happily; unfortunately.

It went evil with his house.

4. Injuriously; not kindly.

The Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us.

In composition, evil, denoting something bad or wrong, is often contracted to ill.

(Webster's)

Departing from evil.

When we understand- we depart from evil. We are no longer inclined to embrace evil- at least not spiritually.  Jesus asks our Father to keep us from evil, knowing this was paramount to us as those who would belong to Him.

More on this tomorrow by the grace of our Lord.

All in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!

Amen.de-art

Do you know you are bought with a price?

Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me

Our lives belong to Christ once we accept Him as our Savior. Yet we live as if that doesn't matter at all. We don't act like we have a king. We don't live as if we have a real Heavenly Father.  We treat God as a genie in a lamp, rubbing at that lamp in prayer hoping to get the genie to grant our wishes. We don't treat God as our true Heavenly Father. A Father interested in our ETERNITY, not our temporal life except as it pertains to our eternal life.  Our earthly fathers are supposed to take care of our temporal needs, they are supposed to guide us as we grow to maturity. They are supposed to be examples to us as we take on the role of Fathers. Our Heavenly Father is our eternal Father.  Yet we barely acknowledge Him at all let alone as a Heavenly Father.  We are crucified with Christ when we accept Him as our Savior.  Yet His crucifixion took His earthly life leaving Him with a risen body ascended to the Father returned to earth, touched by disciples and ultimately taking His place beside the Father in Heaven.  We are figuratively crucified with Christ and yet we live on, the crucifixion   is our death to self and life to Christ therefore we can say that Christ lives in us.  We live on in our flesh bodies,  we do so by FAITH in the Son of God, who LOVES us and DIED for us.

Do we realize that we are BOUGHT with a price?

1Co 6:19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

1Co 6:20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

We are NOT our own and yet we don't act as if we've been bought. We act as if we are our own.  We live as if the world revolves around us and NOT around Christ.  Our every action is not made with Christ in mind, and why not? WHY NOT! Because we are sleeping Laodiceans who don't realize our wretched, poor, blind and naked state!  We think we are RICH in Christ, we think we SEE, we think we are CLOTHED with the righteousness of Christ but the truth is we are so caught up in our SELVES we don't live for Christ at all! We play act! We pretend! We put on the guise! We are fools, stupid, stupid fools, the lot of us!

GOD FORGIVE US! FORGIVE US GOD FOR OUR WRETCHED STATE!

Save us, Father! Save us from ourselves!  We would buy of You gold tried in fire! We would buy of You eye salve! We would buy of You Your righteousness!

Rev. 3:18

Bless us, Father, bless us!   In the name of Your holy  Son, Jesus Christ our LORD, our Savior!

Amen!

His thoughts Perish

When we die.

Psa 146:4  His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

This is truth.

Psa_6:5  For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?

Psa_88:11  Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave?

Ecc_9:10  Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

This is ALL truth.

Yet, people don't believe. They've concocted fairy tales that suit their desires. They've manufactured lies and call them truth.  And now they call the truth - lies.

Why say these words-

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do- do it with they might.    Why? Because…   THERE is NO work, nor device, nor KNOWLEDGE, nor wisdom in the grave.

If this is true, then why do people believe that their dead loved ones have all their knowledge, all their wisdom intact after they die? Why do people believe they even have THOUGHTS after death? These words say otherwise- when our last breath is spent then our THOUGHTS end, they perish. There is NO thinking after we die. 

The comfort people take in believing their loved ones are living on in a better place, is a lie. What harm is there is believing a lie? Who is the father of lies? Satan is.

Joh_8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

So what harm is there in believing lies? You are believing in Satan then, not God.

God's truth about death is that it is a sleep.  Thoughts perish. Work is over. Knowledge ceases. Praising God is no longer possible.  Why is it so horrible to believe this is the truth about death?  Sleep isn't a horrific thing at all. But being able to watch your loved ones on earth suffer through their lives, that would be horrifying not pleasant at all. Why would ANYONE believe that their loved one is watching over them helping them, knowing they are in pain? Why would that be a GOOD thing for the loved one?  Why would it be good for all our ancestors from all time to be gathered together just spending their heavenly time watching their descendants suffer life? Where is the joy? Where is the comfort?  We talk about our loved ones being happy to see those who passed before them, how they're spending time with them all happy. So I ask again, why would they all be happy knowing they are no longer among their loved ones left behind to suffer without their being there to help them? Any help they can give as supposed spirits obviously isn't very significant because the suffering does not stop.  The lie is a horrific one, and it has deceived millions.

There have been deaths in my family lately, and among friends and endlessly people talk of their loved ones being in heaven with Jesus and all happy now, and this gives them comfort. The lie comforts them somehow. They're happy their passed loved one is no longer suffering yet by their own logic they are still suffering if they are knowing that they are now watching their earthly loved ones suffer their loss. How silly would it be to believe their loved one in heaven is happy while watching them suffer.  Yet, to believe the truth, that death is a sleep that is TRULY knowing our loved ones are no longer suffering. This is the TRUTH, this is the comfort we have! The true comfort!  Our loved one NO longer suffers! This is less selfish than believing they live on and know our constant pain and suffering.

Please, Father, please help us BELIEVE Your truth! 

In the name of our Savior Jesus Christ our Lord!  Please help us, save us, keep us, love us, forgive us! Know us!

Amen.

Spirit

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God

Led by the Spirit of God.

Who among us doesn't long for such leading?  Our vivid imaginations, coupled with today's special effects on movies and such can have us easily longing for a manifestation of the Spirit of God, and His actual leading of us. I say that and yet I feel instantly chastised. Why? Because imagination and special effects cause what I'm saying to become fictional rather than non-fictional and the Spirit of God is definitely NOT fiction!  We cannot see the Spirit of God, we have no way of detecting the presence of the Spirit of God in any tangible manner. Yet we MUST believe He exists and believe that He can LEAD us, that we can RECEIVE Him, and KNOW that the Spirit of God is witness with OUR spirit that we ARE God's children!  This is TRUTH!  We are adopted by God the Father through the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and the Spirit bears witness to this TRUTH. 

We are sons and daughters of God! Truly sons and daughters! He is our HEAVENLY FATHER.

Rom 8:26  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Rom 8:27  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Our infirmities.  Boy do we have infirmities!

Strong's meaning of Infirmity - From 'G772; feebleness (of body or mind); by implication malady; moral frailty: - disease, infirmity, sickness, weakness.'

The Spirit HELPS our infirmities!  The infirmities of our flesh, of our mental faculties, keep us from being ABLE to pray as we should. We our powerless to even realize what we ought to be praying for. We might think we should pray one way, but that way in our infirmity ridden selves isn't truly what we need to be praying for.  The SPIRIT that is in us, the same SPIRIT that facilitated OUR adoption, will go yet another step and make INTERCESSION for us.

We NEED the SPIRIT of GOD!

Gal 4:6  And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

PRAISE GOD!

Jud 1:20  But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost

We MUST pray in the Spirit!  We must be led by the Spirit! We have to have the Spirit in our lives in a VERY REAL way, not in some fictitious manner.  He is a REALITY. He was promised to us. He will intercede for us in our prayers! He will lead us if we let Him.

We have to ascent to the Lord's leading. We have to ask for the Lord to lead us. We have to be willing to walk as He directs us. We can't afford to ignore the leading of the Spirit. Will He draw us a map, make us a detailed itinerary? No and no. What we are given is God's Holy Word and we are expected to study daily, studying to show ourselves approved unto God. 2Ti_2:15 We are expected to pray daily. Dan_6:10, Matt_6:11.

We must have the Spirit!

John 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Born of the Spirit!

Adopted by God through the Spirit!

Praying, the Spirit interceding!

TRUTH!

Please, Father, we would be born of the Spirit, we would have the Spirit lead us! We would have the Spirit intercede for us with You in ways that are impossible for us to do. All by the mercy and grace, the love of Your only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior.

Amen.

We must live in the Spirit

Eph 2:22  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

A habitation of God- through the Spirit- this is US.

Unless we are a living with the Spirit, we cannot be inhabited by God. The Spirit has to be REAL in us. A REAL entity in us. We must belong to GOD. We must CHOOSE God to live in us. Without the Holy Spirit being in us we have Satan's spirit in us. 

Please, Lord, let us have the Holy Spirit in us so You may dwell in us and we may be Yours.

Zec 12:10  And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

The Spirit of grace and of supplications.  We need this Spirit, we NEED the Holy Spirit. We need GRACE and we need the supplication of the Spirit.

Rom 8:13  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

We must LIVE in the Spirit- and the Spirit in us will lead us in the way everlasting.  We cannot mortify the deeds of the body alone, we MUST have the Spirit because it is THROUGH the Spirit we can mortify the flesh deeds.

A conscious real desire for the SPIRIT.  This is a necessity. The Spirit is a REALITY and as a REALITY we have believe beyond doubt.

More tomorrow by the will, the grace, the mercy, the love of my God, my Savior. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

AMEN.

Praying in the Spirit- no other way.

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 with all prayer? What?

How else do you pray if not with prayer?

I think the key here is the fact we MUST pray our prayers IN THE SPIRIT.

You CAN pray without the Spirit, yes?

If all prayer was automatically prayed in the Spirit we wouldn't need to be told to pray in the Spirit.

So how do we pray in the Spirit?

Eph 2:22  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Zec 12:10  And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

Rom 8:13  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God

Rom 8:26  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Rom 8:27  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Gal 4:6  And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Jud 1:20  But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost

If we are God's we will have the Spirit and if we have the Spirit we will pray in the Spirit.

The Spirit should be IN us always, as we are to pray always, is this truth? YES, very much so.

More on this tomorrow by the GRACE of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!

IN HIS LOVE ALWAYS.

Amen!

For this is the will of God

Give thanks.

1Th 5:18  In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

We need more than a single day to give thanks, don't we? It's not easy to always give thanks though, is it? 

Imagine these words being heard by a follower of Christ in the early days after it was newly written. That follower of Christ on the very next day after hearing those words is captured and thrown in a prison, beaten, and sentenced to die.  Do you imagine them recalling those words and giving thanks in their circumstances? In agony of mind, body and possibly spirit this follower of Christ could give thanks.  Why? Because they believe what has happened to them is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning them.

I say the words, 'God's will be done', often.  I say them and yes, I mean them.  Do I truly think it's God's will when things happen in my life that bring me heartache and pain? I do. And by that I mean, that some how, some way this will be true--

Rom_8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

I have to believe this is truth. If this is truth then it is God's will that the pain and the heartache, the agony that I might endure is all for a purpose beyond my comprehension. I do NOT have to understand anything at all in order for me to believe. So many people try to use their lack of understanding to blame God for so much. They cry out they don't understand and the doubt their belief in God's word, God's truth, the love of God. They stop believing that the horrors of their lives could possibly some how work for good. The good, the only true good is the goodness of Christ in eternity. All other goodness that we think we should be experiencing, earthly good things, is a lie fed to us by Satan. Satan would have us believe we are entitled to good here and now, but we are not.  Ask any person who has been born into the third world countries, a slave, a victim abused from the youngest of age and grown up in daily suffering beyond anything we can begin to imagine.  Ask that person who has known nothing of earthly goodness if they believe they are entitled to good here and now.  We are promised eternal good in CHRIST, no more.

Can we give thanks? Yes, we can. Should we give thanks? Yes, we should. Even when it seems like we have nothing at all to be thankful for, nothing.

By the grace of God, I have much to be thankful for.  I have a lot of good things in my life here and now, I've been incredibly blessed in so many, many ways. I can't praise and thank God enough for all He has done for me.  It is my prayer that the future holds eternity in Christ, the only TRUE goodness in every possible way, for me. That all things- good and bad- in my life work together for good in Jesus Christ my Savior, my God. Please, Father, help me to give thanks in all things, in all ways, for all time.  All by YOUR LOVE, YOUR MERCY, YOUR GRACE, YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS!

Amen.

The closer I would be the further away I seem

Evil for evil.

This is something we do all the time, isn't it? You hurt me, I hurt you. Or, you hurt me and I wanna hurt you.  Evil for evil. And the evil only multiplies, it is fed and continuously growing. Evil is an invisible creature with it's invisible tentacles wrapped tightly around each one of us. We pray to be kept from evil, but that doesn't mean evil won't stop trying to kill us spiritually every second of our lives.  God alone can keep us from evil, and it's to Him we need to constantly turn. Evil for evil.

We are NOT to combat evil with evil. In fact we are told the following-

1Th 5:15  See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.

A Christ follower is to NEVER render evil for evil unto anyone!

A Christ follower is to EVER follow that which is GOOD among ALL.

That 'all men' includes EVERYONE WITHOUT EXCEPTION.  And if all men includes everyone then that means all men includes the evildoers.  We are to render GOOD, we are to FOLLOW  good to even the evildoers.  NOT render evil for evil.

The next time someone irritates you about anything how are you going to react, with our gut which is being squeeze by the invisible evil forces urging us to render evil for evil? That instant gut reaction is to do just that, get irritated back.

Right now, unfortunately, I'm struggling, I'm in the fires of spiritual affliction. I'm KNOWING to do good and not doing it, I'm rendering evil for evil all the time and it's driving me crazy! I don't want to be this way, I hate this evil in me. I need prayers, many prayers..

Please, Father, please keep me from evil! Bless me, help me, I am so incredibly helpless without You. Forgive me! Cleanse me! Fix me! Make me YOURS.

In the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Savior!

Unfairness

Mat 20:1  For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.

Mat 20:2  And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

Mat 20:3  And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,

Mat 20:4  And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.

Mat 20:5  Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.

Mat 20:6  And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?

Mat 20:7  They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.

Mat 20:8  So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.

Mat 20:9  And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.

Mat 20:10  But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.

Mat 20:11  And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,

Mat 20:12  Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.

Mat 20:13  But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?

Mat 20:14  Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.

Mat 20:15  Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?

Mat 20:16  So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

Unfairness.

How often in life do we lament the unfairness of many situations?  Seriously, how often?  We judge situations and often we find a sympathetic ear to agree with our assessment.  Once we find that sympathetic ear we reinforce our idea of being treated unfairly.  Then again there are universal ideas of what if fair and what isn't.  We realize that LIFE isn't fair. All too often things happen that make this clear.  In the above parable the householder hired several people at different times and then paid them all the same, the one who worked eight hours and the one who worked a half an hour, same paid.  Clearly the ones who worked all day valued their hard work, their time, and felt  cheated.  Wouldn't we ALL feel the same way? Seriously, wouldn't we? Yet our idea of fairness and God's are not the same, that cannot be, He is everything.  A person who spends their entire life in Him, fighting the spiritual warfare all the time, failing, repenting, over and over again- and the person who accepts Christ at the end of their life after living a life of blatant sin, are given the same reward of eternal life in Christ.  Do we resent ANY who come to Christ and gain eternal life? We shouldn't.  And by God's grace we won't. 

In our lives we have to comprehend that what is unfair to us could in fact be a special blessing by God molding us, refining us.  It's not going to feel good, it's not going to be pleasant. The molding and refining all of it, the chastising is unpleasant and will make us feel anything but fairness is going on in our life's walk.

We have to holdfast to the promises, not the present, the future hope, not the hard here and now.  The future.  We have to get through the long journey, the very long arduous journey we call life- all by HIS GRACE, HIS LOVE, HIS MERCY, HIS KINDNESS!

In the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Savior, our all in all.

Conquer, overcome, prevail, get the victory, subdue

Overcoming.

Rev 3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Overcoming.

G3528

νικάω

nikaō

nik-ah'-o

From G3529; to subdue (literally or figuratively): - conquer, overcome, prevail, get the victory.

Rev 3:1  And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.

Rev 3:2  Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.

Rev 3:3  Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

Living but dead.   Without Christ we truly are living but dead.  We have a WORK to do, a DUTY to perform, an ACTION to take. Being a Christian is not a deadness, it is not a living sleep.  To be a Christian is to be CHRIST-LIKE and if a person believes they can ignore all of God's word and make their own plan up and live according to their own wishes and still be a Christian, they are going to be shocked when they realize they were among the living dead.  We are TOLD how to be Christ-like. We are TOLD who we turn to for all things in a REAL LIVING way, not in some metaphorical mystical sense.  We are to be CHRIST-LIKE in our REAL every day life! And once we do all we can do to be Christ-like and fall far short, only then do we have to believe that our Savior covers us with HIS righteousness making up for our lack of true righteousness.  We don't wallow in our filth and revel in it then expect our God to cover us. We have to repent of the filth, we have to WATCH and we have to STRENGTHEN the things that remain, things that are on the verge of dying, we must strengthen not abandon.  We must REMEMBER how we received and heard of our Savior, we must HOLD FAST and REPENT.

If we do NOT hold fast and repent we are told what will happen- our Savior will come on as a thief in the night, and we will NOT know when the coming of Christ is near at hand. This is truth.

Rev 3:4  Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

Rev 3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

There are FEW who do not defile their garments, the righteousness that our Savior clothes us in.  FEW that are worthy in Christ.  WE MUST OVERCOME, and what we are overcoming is our inability to trust fully in Christ for all things. Our inability to live for Christ in favor of living for ourselves. 

We are told HE THAT OVERCOMETH, and to think that there is NOTHING to overcome and read these words, then we are lost! We must OVERCOME in Christ! Not accept sin in our lives. Not accept our bad self as if it's something not even God can alter, but believe that Christ can and will change what we cannot change! We MUST believe this and desire this! Because this is believing and desiring our SAVIOR, the Author of our Salvation!

Please, Father, please let us overcome in Christ! Let us never accept what is unacceptable to You, not ever! Teach us! Live in US! Let Your Spirit, let the HOLY SPIRIT live in us, let CHRIST live in us!

All in the name of our SAVIOR, Jesus Christ our LORD!

Amen.

Neither poverty, nor riches

Lest I be full, Lest I be poor.

Pro 30:7  Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:

Pro 30:8  Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:

Pro 30:9  Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

Please, Lord, give me neither poverty nor riches.

Truth! And such a blessing! Neither rich nor poor.  There are dangers in each. To be rich is to want for nothing and feel no need of the LORD. To be poor is to succumb to stealing and taking God's name in vain as if He doesn't exist, as if His laws, His commandments of love mean nothing.

Just as we talked about yesterday a bit- we are in danger when we give in to the acceptable form of lying.  On the same vein as that, we are in danger when we give into the belief 'God will understand if I steal, He knows I'm hungry and would want me to steal.'    A lie.

Yes, we tell ourselves these things so we don't have face the reality of our failings, our DELIBERATE failings!  Our sins that are NOT of ignorance but deliberate intentional sinning we try to tell our conscience is acceptable. We throw up examples from the Bible of the men and women of God sinning in acceptable ways, yet truthfully we don't know how acceptable it was because we don't know the repentance of any of their hearts that alone is between them and God.

We know that God would not have us in pain, yet many of God's chosen have suffered extreme pain all in order NOT to sin. They did NOT renounce God so they could live.  Yet we tell ourselves it's okay to do so because God knows the truth that the renunciation is false, and our heart is God's.   Is it okay? Honestly, it is probably decided on an individual basis, because our God is NOT a God who lacks compassion. As much as He is a consuming fire, He is also the God who sent His Son, He is the God who sent the Holy Spirit to us and the Holy Spirit speaks for us because we cannot speak as we need to before God. 

This is TRUTH.

We must place all our hope in Christ our Savior to save us from all we need saving from.

Please, Lord, again we ask for neither poverty nor riches.

Feed us Lord, feed us with food convenient for us- in all things.  Not too much, not too little, but that which keeps us in YOU in all ways! Spiritually, physically, in every way there is, feed us with food convenient for us.

All by Your grace, Your mercy, Your forgiveness, Your love, Your power, Your glory, Your honor,  Your righteousness!

Amen.

Remove from me lies

Pro 30:7  Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:

Pro 30:8  Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:

Pro 30:9  Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

*******

Remove from me lies.

Lies.

We live lies all the time. Lies roll off our lips and out of our mouth before we even know what we're doing sometimes. Lying has become an acceptable form of life. We think nothing of the 'white lies', the 'lies to spare feelings', the lies  we deem acceptable.  Yet, a lie is a lie, isn't it?

We've had tv shows, movies etc all about lying and the glorifying of doing so.  We've seen the fictional near ruin of a man unable to lie forced to realize just how much his life was spent lying.   When you try NOT to lie, really not to lie at all you realize just how much you do lie.

Two things… remove far from me vanity and LIES.

Remove from me lies.

We need God to remove lies from us, we really do.

This flesh nature of ours is a wicked thing, very wicked thing.  The flesh will consume us with all its lust if we do NOT give our hearts to God. If we do not realize how hopeless we are without Him.

Without God we have NO HOPE.  All the hope we tell ourselves that we have, all the hope we LIE to ourselves and say we have on our own without God is the GREATEST LIE we can ever tell.  There is ONLY hope in God.  We can't trust even ourselves for hope, only GOD.

Please, Father, please remove from us lies! We would NOT lie!  Please, Lord, please, save us from ourselves and the flesh nature within us that would have us follow evil, not good.

Bless us, keep us, help us, love us, save us!

All in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord.

All is vanity

Pro 30:7  Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:

Pro 30:8  Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:

Pro 30:9  Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

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Vanity-

Psa_94:11  The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.

Psa_119:37  Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.

Ecc_1:2  Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

Ecc_1:14  I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Ecc_12:8  Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.

Rom_8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope

Eph_4:17  This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind

2Pe_2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.

1.excessive pride in one's appearance, qualities, abilities, achievements,etc.; character or quality of being vain; conceit:

Failure to be elected was a great blow to his vanity.

2.

an instance or display of this quality or feeling.

3.

something about which one is vain.

4.

lack of real value; hollowness; worthlessness:

the vanity of a selfish life.

5.

something worthless, trivial, or pointless.

6.

vanity case.

Pasted from <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vanity>

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Remove far from me- vanity.  This is our prayer. Vanity is an insidious part of our beings. We can't seem to help the vanity within us, the Bible says as much. Vanity of vanities ALL IS VANITY.   So much of what we are is vanity, isn't it?  Our WORTH is JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.   Therefore our self worth is vanity.  The farthest we can ever be removed from vanity is the closest we move to our Savior.

Please Lord be our worth- remove far from me, vanity.

By Your mercy, Your love, Your grace, always- AMEN!

Those who are God's and those who aren't

Psa 6:6  I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.

The pangs of living.

We started to talk yesterday about these pangs of living.  There are many of them. Who among us hasn't suffered them?  No one  has a perfect life, not one of us. The richest or the poorest each of us suffer. We might think that a rich man has less suffering, and it's true. They have less suffering in things of material comfort. But their money cannot give them emotional, mental, or spiritual comfort. Many of us, in fact most of us would say we don't care we'd rather have emotional, mental and spiritual discomfort as long as we can do it living richly. Why do we say that? We say that because we are in our own emotional, mental, and spiritual discomfort and we are poor, or close to it and it seems as if we have the worse of both worlds, but we don't know if that's true do we? We can't, not really. Sure, some people may have been rich and known pain as a rich person and then become poor and know it that way and prefer the riches. This is most likely true in some instances, but we know for a fact our Savior talks of being rich in material ways as not being good or desirable, that in fact it makes it harder to get to heaven being rich.

Mat_19:24  And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

These pangs of living exist for EVERYONE. No one is exempt.  We might be shocked to realize that the poorness of another worse off than we are can be much more rich in their emotional, mental, and spiritual lives and feel way less of the pangs of living than we feel.

While we whine and cry over our poorness we might be ignoring things so much more important.  In fact there is a very good chance all our pangs of living are geared to overwhelm us, to bring us to despair, yet we know this for truth--

Rom_8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Yet the opposite is true as well, right? 

All things work together for bad to them that do not love God.

We know that the pangs of life affect us all - those who are God's and those who aren't. 

Sometimes though it seems as though those who are 'bad' and do not love God have an easier life, right?  That's because Satan will often tempt us with the richness of godlessness.  That richness Satan tempted Christ with, but Christ would have none of it and we too should have none of it because it's a lie meant to steal eternity from us for a heartbeat of a life with sinful pleasure.

More tomorrow by the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD FOREVER AND EVER, AMEN!

Pangs of living

We are no strangers to anguish, are we?  Sure, there are people who know tragedy, heartache, deprivation,  any manner of hardship more so than I have, or do. I can sit here and think of the tragedies taking place throughout the world I live in and know I have it very, very good. Yet, in my own sphere of existence I know the hardships of life. I know mental anguish, emotional trauma, and some physical pain- though by the grace of God, not much of that.  In fact I've been blessed in many ways. 

We read in the Bible about men and women of God who have it really great, and yet they suffer in their own ways as well. They know the hardships of living, of being a human being.

David was given riches, royalty, friendship, love and still he felt the pangs of living.

We all have them, these pangs of living.

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Paul had them.

You just don't say words like those unless you are experiencing the pangs of living.

Have you ever felt the depths of self-loathing like Paul? Have you ever considered yourself a wretched person?

Psa 38:8  I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.

Psa 119:143  Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me

Men of God felt this way!  Men of God felt wretched, feeble, broken, disquietness in their hearts, troubled, filled with anguish.  Men favored by God were dealing with the pangs of living. 

More tomorrow by the grace of God.  More on the pangs of living and how we and the men of God in the Bible deal with such pangs.  The pangs will NOT cease, not ever, but how we live with the pangs can make our lives bearable.

All by the grace and mercy of our LORD and SAVIOR, Jesus Christ!

We are wretched men..

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?


Rom 8:26  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.


Psa 6:6  I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.


Psa 38:8  I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.
Psa 38:9  Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.
Psa 38:10  My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.


Psa 119:81  CAPH. My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word.
Psa 119:82  Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me?
Psa 119:83  For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes.


Psa 119:143  Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet thy commandments are my delights.
Psa 119:144  The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live.
Psa 119:145  KOPH. I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O LORD: I will keep thy statutes.


Eze 9:4  And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.


2Co 12:7  And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
2Co 12:8  For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
2Co 12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.


2Co 1:8  For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
2Co 1:9  But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
2Co 1:10  Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;


Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Gal 2:21  I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.


Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.


Gal 6:14  But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.


Col 3:9  Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
Col 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:


Rom 6:22  But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.


Rom 8:4  That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.


*******


Tomorrow….   A more in-depth study, tonight, these verses from the word of our LORD.


All grace, all power, all glory, all love in HIM, ALWAYS.

'Careful and troubled about many things' - (Jesus' words)

Does God have power?

Silly question? Not really. Do you believe God has power?

We live in our own self contain existences, despairing of ever being truly God's because we know the evil in our own hearts, the unrighteous desires to allow ourselves to be unloving of others and God. Okay, I say we, but what I really mean is 'I' ,  I live in my own self contain existence. I despair of truly being God's, because I know constantly the evil (and by evil I mean unloving, uncharitable, selfish, self serving) that lives in me and manifests itself daily in my thoughts. The unrighteous desires such as not wanting to be kind, but rather wanting to rail and rant against the injustice of things asked of me.  Yes, I believe I have the "Mary" Syndrome.

What's the "Mary" Syndrome? I'm glad you asked.  The Mary Syndrome is the desire to be so perfect in word in deed, in heart and spirit that I could be chosen to be used by God in some way. The Mary Syndrome is knowing there HAVE existed women of God, that God has used according to His purpose.  There are Martha's- who complain (like me) and are rebuked.

Luk 10:38  Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.

Luk 10:39  And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.

Luk 10:40  But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

Luk 10:41  And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:

Luk 10:42  But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Careful and troubled about many things- that's ME! 

And yet Mary who made the decision NOT to serve or help her sister chose better. Should Martha have not served them, but sat down and listened as Mary did?  It was Martha's instinctive desire to serve those guests in her house- but why? Was it custom, if so how could Jesus say that Mary was doing the 'good part'?  What would have happened if Martha hadn't served them, would they have been hungry, would they have chided her for being a bad hostess? 

Martha was doing what SHE thought was required of her as a good woman, she was thinking of the needs of others and playing her part in taking care of them, but STILL Jesus told her that she didn't choose the 'good part' a part that can't be taken from her. So in essence, Martha chose to serve and in doing so was rushing about here and there in constant motion to fulfil the wants of those there in her house and if you think about it, once those people in her house (including Jesus) were gone, she'd be left with what? The knowledge she'd cared for them, and perhaps a feeling of SELF righteousness in doing her duty towards them, but she would NOT be left with the very important words of Christ. Was serving the others at the expense of Christ's words really a self-serving not a self-less serving?

We do need to think… well I need to think about these things. 

The Mary Syndrome has me wanting to be something I am not by my own personal nature. The Mary Syndrome has be wishing I were naturally kind and loving and had only loving and kind thoughts about others with a desire to love my neighbor and NOT myself. The Mary Syndrome has me wanting to be RIGHT with God and what is wrong with that? Is it perhaps a SELFISH syndrome? That desire to be someone else believing that someone else had it different, that perhaps they were not tempted like I was (am), that they are not sinners like I definitely am and they definitely were? I want to be Christ's. I want to be among the righteous not the sinners. I want to do good, not evil. I want NOT to be the awful person that I know I am. I read God's word and it reveals how far I am from being the person who loves their neighbor and God- from my own nature. 

My nature WARS violently against the Spirit.  My flesh does NOT want to be Spiritual.  And HOW do I separate my flesh nature from my Spirit nature and know which one is the one that is real? By that I mean, how do I know that it's not a bad spirit in me that thing I call the flesh nature?  Is it easier perhaps to call the flesh an evil spirit in us? (Not literally in this discussion, though… )  When my natural inclinations are towards things of the flesh and I have to truly push and force, and cajole the Spirit nature to overrule the flesh, what does that mean?

I'll tell you what it means, it means I'm AT WAR! I'm WARRING.  I'm fighting the good fight! I'm warring against the flesh and knowing with my intelligence (God given) that good is better than evil, spirit is better than flesh.  So while my nature has me embroiled in this WAR (not some tiny little spat or short-lived fight) I must LOGICALLY, intelligently KNOW beyond a doubt right from wrong and no matter how enticing that wrong (and boy can they be incredibly enticing) that wrong is something I should not indulge in and right is something I should indulge in and encourage.

What makes this seem like an impossible feat? The reality that I can war all I want and NEVER prevail if I'm counting on me, myself, and I to win this war.  I will NEVER win this war on my own, never! I can never win a single victory over the flesh on my own (unless it is  something that in reality is a self-serving victory and therefore negated as being a win-Satan loves these little tricks of his.)   I have to get it through my thick, VERY thick skull and very hardened heart, that  I CANNOT do this, I CANNOT change myself, but there is ONE who DIED to be able to do all for me that I cannot do.

This has to be REAL for me.  This has to be TRUTH in my heart that I will NEVER be a naturally good person.  I will never be naturally righteous. Those good thoughts I have are not proof I'm becoming righteous.  I must get it through my thick skull that I will NEVER be righteous but Christ will be righteous for me.  When the Bible talks about us being righteous it is us choosing Christ and allowing Christ in us so that we are able to choose right over wrong.

God has POWER.  God has the ability to CLEAN MY HEART. God has the ability to make me WHITER THAN SNOW. 

Paul warred and I relate to the war he waged.  'Oh wretched man that I am.' His words!  And I can shout the same thing for me. 'Oh wretched woman that I am!'   Who is going to save me from my wretchedness? Who is going to save me from my unrighteousness? Who is going to understand that my natural man is warring against my spiritual man? 

ONLY CHRIST JESUS MY LORD and SAVIOR!

I thank GOD that He can save me from my wicked self!

IF there is supposed to be some miraculous change in my nature where I suddenly no longer behave unrighteous in all things, that I naturally think all good and righteous thoughts then GOD will perform that miracle. I have to believe that He will do all for me that I simply cannot do try as I might. No I won't stop chiding myself over the various uncharitable attitudes that come from me, I have to because I'm in this war.  I must recognize constantly the sin in me so I may seek true repentance, a true desire to be Christ's and not my own. 

Christ has the power! Please Savior, save me from my self!

I am helpless to save myself. I am helpless to be that person I know I should be doing the things I know I should (or should not) do.  With my MIND I WILL be that person! With my mind I will trust in my Savior who has the power to change all that needs to be changed in me.  He can do this through HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS!

So while I know my uncharitable thoughts and feelings are wrong and NOT of God, and I feel helpless to change those thoughts and feelings, I must rely upon my MIND to tell me they are wrong and undesirable.  I must ask for forgiveness for that NATURAL part of me, that part that can claim 'I am what I am like it or leave it', that awful part of me that is the natural self that says such things must be silenced by God. I know the right from wrong, the light that has been given to me and I must NEVER try to call wrong right, or right wrong.  I must CONFESS my faults and seek forgiveness for them, never excuse them by the grace of God!

Please FATHER in heaven, PLEASE save me from myself. Take me, all of me and use Your power to let me belong to You and Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Let me be YOURS, please, Lord, let me be YOURS! 

Amen.