Murmurers, complainers... walking after their own lusts

'Walking after their own lusts…'

We are CONSUMED by walking after our own lusts.

Don't mistake the word lust solely for sexual desires. People lust after many, many things. Being self consumed seems to be the flesh nature we are taught to nurture.  Giving into the wants of self is taught to be acceptable, and normal. We use that word a lot. Normal. It's normal to want this, it's normal to want that, it's normal so that makes it acceptable.  Yet who decided what is normal? Without guidance we are at the mercy of believing we know what is best for ourselves and with each of us individuals having differing opinions on what is best how can we ever truly know what is ultimately the best. The best turns out to be what a majority decides which doesn't necessarily make it truly the best, it only makes it a majority desire, a majority lust.

Again we come back to the fact of WHO we choose to believe in, who we choose to follow. Do we believe in a Creator? Do we choose to follow the outline for living given to us by our Creator? Or do we choose to follow our own outlines, or the outlines others like us have made?  Who do we choose to follow?

You might say you follow the laws of the society you belong to and that's a good thing or you'd be in jail. But on a more personal level where society's laws fall short, what do you follow, what moral principles do you adhere to? 

Are you consumed by walking after your own lusts? 

God has given us guidelines in His word. We know the truth. Do we have to like these truths? They will WAR against our FLESH nature, the part of us that is inclined to sin. The thing is, do we serve the flesh with our mind? Or do we serve the Lord with our mind? Do we choose to serve self or God? We make that choice and we make it all the time.  We face daily choices, daily temptations, daily trials and we have to choose who we will follow. We can CHOOSE to follow our own lusts, we can, and we most likely will because of our flesh nature that wars against our spiritual nature. We need to choose to follow God with our minds and seek forgiveness for the times we don't follow His will but our lusts. We must NOT willfully, recklessly, thoughtlessly embrace the lust warring against us.

Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

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

Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

This is truth--  read this--

Jud 1:14  And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

Jud 1:15  To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

Jud 1:16  These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.

That is truth also.

We must not choose to walk after our own lusts. We must be mindful that we have these lusts within us and give ourselves to our Savior, asking for His help, His forgiveness, His saving ability because we truly are helpless to do anything but constantly choose to follow Him, constantly choose to serve Him, and to follow His will NOT our lusts.

Please Father, please we would be YOURS always!

In YOU, in Christ Jesus our LORD now and forever!

Amen.

If you believe- Evil Spirits Exist

If you believe in Jesus Christ you believe- EVIL SPIRITS EXIST.

This is truth. A truth we love to ignore or regulate to a fictional context such as books, movies, and tv shows. We don't want to think of them as a REALITY. Just when do we suppose their reality was done away with? Some might say when people became enlightened. They might say when people stopped believing in witchcraft - witches and sorceries. When science came into fashion over superstition.  Yet, our SAVIOR believed and believes in evil spirits. The very Savior we claim to love knew the reality of evil spirits.  The Apostles knew that evil spirits were real as well- they dealt with them, casting them out of the people they were possessing. 

Now read the following--

Act 19:13  Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.

Act 19:14  And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.

Act 19:15  And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?

The evil spirit used the man's voice to speak and ANSWERED those trying to get it to release the man it was possessing.  The EVIL spirit ANSWERED!  The evil spirit told them it KNEW JESUS, it KNEW PAUL as forces that had the POWER of GOD to command it to obey.  The evil spirit did NOT know these pretenders who dared to use the name of Jesus, a name they did NOT believe in as their Savior.  This evil spirit using the man it possessed ATTACKED all of those pretenders- SEVEN sons of a CHIEF of the PRIESTS of the Jews. 

Act 19:16  And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

One man against SEVEN men!  One man possessed by an EVIL SPIRIT. 

This all happened after Jesus died, was raised from the grave and went to heaven. This all happened while the apostles lived and were spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Act 19:17  And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

What had happened to the seven sons of the chief priests of the Jews was spread far and wide. People witnessed their attack, they witnessed their lying to the evil spirit who KNEW they weren't coming to it in the name of the SAVIOR, in the power of the Savior.  They also knew that the true witnesses of the Savior were able to cast out evil spirits. They realized the TRUTH of the WAY being spread by the Apostles, the Disciples of the Savior and they had to believe!

Act 19:18  And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.

Act 19:19  Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.

Many of those who believed PRACTICED evil ways!  Read that!

They USED CURIOUS ARTS.

They USED BOOKS of these CURIOUS ARTS.

They USED VERY EXPENSIVE BOOKS of CURIOUS ARTS, things they knew were CONTRARY to the WAY Of the Savior Jesus Christ.

They BURNED these books publically revealing their commitment to the WAY, the TRUTH they were learning and believing. 

This is truth and today we discount this and believe that NOTHING we do matters at all. We tease the evil spirits, we live with them among us and we laugh and play and believe that it's all good.

I'm not saying any of us know where the evil spirits are, who they are possessing. It seems as if there isn't a way to know as there was back in the days of the Apostles. Some say they know, and maybe if I were confronted boldly by one inside someone I'd know, I just can't know that I would. I don't have the answers to this but I DO know that EVIL SPIRITS did NOT DISAPPEAR from the earth.

I know EVIL ways have not disappeared from the earth. 

Curious arts are still prevalent and used all the time- ALL THE TIME. And they are used by those who have NO idea they are using evil, and they wouldn't believe you if you told them they were. They see no EVIL, they see no harm in their curious arts.

We know this--

Deu 18:9  When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.

Deu 18:10  There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,

Deu 18:11  Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

Deu 18:12  For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

ABOMINATIONS-

Divining.

Observing times.

Enchanting.

Witchery.

Charmers.

Consulters with familiar (EVIL) spirits.

Wizards.

Necromancers.

We know this--

Dan 2:1  And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.

Dan 2:2  Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king.

Dan 2:3  And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.

Dan 2:4  Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation.

Dan 2:5  The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.

Dan 2:6  But if ye shew the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honour: therefore shew me the dream, and the interpretation thereof.

Dan 2:7  They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation of it.

Dan 2:8  The king answered and said, I know of certainty that ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me.

Dan 2:9  But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can shew me the interpretation thereof.

Dan 2:10  The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king's matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean.

Dan 2:11  And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.

Dan 2:12  For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.

Dan 2:13  And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.

Dan 2:14  Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king's guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon:

Dan 2:15  He answered and said to Arioch the king's captain, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel.

Dan 2:16  Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would shew the king the interpretation.

Dan 2:17  Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions:

Dan 2:18  That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

Dan 2:19  Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.

Dan 2:20  Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his:

Dan 2:21  And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

Dan 2:22  He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.

Dan 2:23  I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter.

Astrologers, soothsayers, magicians-  NONE of these are of GOD!

Daniel- a prophet of GOD, he alone had GOD on His side.

All these things we do today and think harmless, GOD FORGIVE US! PLEASE GOD FORGIVE US! 

With our minds we SERVE YOU, and YOU ALONE!

Bless us! Keep us in YOU! SAVE US FROM OURSELVES! KEEP US FROM EVIL! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!

Let us look SOLELY to YOU for ALL THINGS, not to any person at all whatsoever, but YOU!

In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ our LORD! Now and forever, AMEN.

Not for those only wanting milk like babes in their Bible Studying, but would rather have meat

Rom 1:8  First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.

Rom 1:9  For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;

Rom 1:10  Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.

Rom 1:11  For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;

Rom 1:12  That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

Rom 1:13  Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.

Rom 1:14  I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.

Rom 1:15  So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.

Rom 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Rom 1:17  For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

Rom 1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

Rom 1:19  Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse

Rom 1:21  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Rom 1:22  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools

Rom 1:23  And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

Rom 1:24  Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves

Rom 1:25  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

Rom 1:26  For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

Rom 1:27  And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

Rom 1:28  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient

Rom 1:29  Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

Rom 1:30  Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

Rom 1:31  Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

Rom 1:32  Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Truth.   Hating the truth, we know the truth will be hated.

If, and this is a big IF, anyone has read this far and has been celebrating the recent decision to glorify homosexuality in all its forms male and female with the supreme court of the United States deciding that it is acceptable, they must be outraged by this truth and hating this truth. They are determined to hate the truth but they won't call it truth, they call truth lies and they call love hate.  They most likely will NOT continue to read this, but it doesn't matter, it must be said.

Eternal death is warranted for ALL who would choose self over love-  God is love.

Rom 1:25  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

SERVED THE CREATURE MORE THAN THE CREATOR- this is humanity's gravest error. This is the root cause of the evil. We SERVE SELF more than GOD. And we justify this saying- we have the RIGHT to do this, saying -who is God that He deserves our servitude. We LOWER God to a being BELOW us, and HE IS OUR CREATOR!  People just don't comprehend they are CREATED beings.   Even those who recognize their creation by two other human beings often despise those who created them physically.  People are consumed in self serving.

And the haters of truth hate this truth because they love themselves and their ideas of self and self gratification -mental, emotional, physical self gratification before all else. They demand the rights for ALL to be self orientated and therein lie to themselves by believing because they are fighting for all to be self orientated they are in fact benevolent and charitable, unselfish, and this -they call love.

We live in a world of self, and that self has become a monster disguised as love.

It is NOT ABOUT US! 

Yet people have become completely and utterly BLINDED to this.  They can't imagine that it could be about anything other than US. Even in fighting for OTHERS we deem ourselves selfless, but that fight we are fighting for others is for their right to be self-consumed as we are. How often people desire to help others- but not towards the only true hope- that hope they've deemed lunacy, hogwash, pipe dreams, delusions.   And truth, Jesus taught us to help meet the LIFE sustaining needs of each other and in doing so we are teaching His love. But Jesus did NOT teach anyone to help others meet self serving desires to reveal His love.  Satan has convinced the majority of the human race that their personal happiness, pleasure, emotional, mental, physical needs are of the most supreme importance deserving rights governed even by laws.

We will NOT convince anyone at all that they are wrong, their delusion is too cemented.  We can ONLY pray that their hearts become softened by the Holy Spirit. When they fully reject the Holy Spirit there is nothing more for them, nothing.

They have abandoned GOD their CREATOR and erected a GOD of their own devising, a false God who ultimately will lead them all to eternal death- NOT eternal pain and suffering, but eternal non-existence.

They do not want a God who does not want their self serving glorified.

How can we, who live the existence of such a self-serving world, truly serve God?

We must consecrate our entire lives to serving Him, to HIS will being revealed to us in ALL things that we may SERVE Him.

We must seek forgiveness endlessly, comprehending the flesh nature of our existence. We must with our MINDS choose to serve GOD first and foremost in all things.  Does this make us perfect, no! Christ alone has that power to take the filthy rags of our righteousness from us and put upon us HIS white robe of His righteousness! Christ alone is our answer.

Amen!

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Only one true happiness promised- hope

Heb 13:18  Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.

When we honestly say and believe there is no such thing as right or wrong, we are deceived.  Take a LONG moment and realize the implications of there being no right or wrong - morally. 

To take away morality is to take away life because without morality no one can fault another for choosing to take another's life. You cannot say taking another person's life is wrong unless you base it on some sort of moral conviction that it is wrong.  And if you truly believe it is okay to take another person's life where does that leave a society of such people? No one, absolutely no one is safe to live without fear of losing their life  not the greatest, most powerful person to the least powerful.  We've all (or most of us) have seen movies where societies are ruled by dictators who kill at will- truthfully this has been a reality in our world. People who choose to rule and are allowed to rule with others following their rules even to the point of killing those they deem undesirable for any reason at all whatsoever. Those ruling make their own ideas of what is right and wrong to them and that is their personal moral code they choose to live by, and others choose to accept as their moral code.  Our entire world has many different moral codes and when a majority stands up and proclaims a moral code many believe that moral code must be the right moral code because it's followed and accepted by a majority worldwide.  Then you get the dissidents from that majority moral code and they are the ones in the wrong- to the majority.

Morality simply cannot be whatever a person deems is moral based on personal preference. Morality simply cannot be whatever a majority whim deems moral.

There is a morality that exists and it exists for all, yet many who choose to create and follow their own moral code will choose to doubt the morality for all. The morality for all doesn't fit with their ideas of fairness, of right and wrong, of good and bad, of evil and love.

Most but very obviously NOT all people believe murder is wrong.  Murder- ending a person's life for no other reason than you don't want them to live.  The murderer deciding it is fine for another to no longer have the privilege of living that they themselves have. There really are people who believe they have the moral right to take another's life because they don't want them to have life and for no other reason- no offense whatsoever against any moral code- but they just no longer want that particular person to live like they are being allowed to live.  What RIGHT does anyone have to say that person's moral code is wrong if there is NO one right moral code of life?

Now comes the scrambling to say well there are certain things that ARE universally moral or immoral. Who decided? Who made that deciding factor to say this is morally wrong, but that isn't? What person? Was it a majority vote? Did a majority get together and say no one should have the right to take another's life just because they want that life over. However they can take another's life under THESE certain conditions.  A moral code is being decided upon by people and they determine they have the right to create this moral code, and those who do not follow the moral code are deemed immoral.  The problem that occurs when people decide on a moral code for themselves is it is based on their perception of morality and as we've already determined one person may deem killing another arbitrarily is morally just and that is their moral code. If there were enough people to agree to that morality, that would become the moral code universally, aside from dissidents. 

We know other than a minority of people we consider aberrant  in our world most do consider killing someone simply because you desire to end their life is wrong. We even have come up with a MOSTLY universal code on murdering for reasons, and we've made a list of what reasons are acceptable and under what conditions. You may kill someone if they are trying to kill you. You may not kill someone because they do not believe the things you believe. You may kill someone if they've killed others without any of the acceptable reasons allowed. You may not kill someone if they kill for personal gain. You may not kill someone for personal insult. You may not kill someone for theft.   The lists go on and on and each group of people have their own set of moral codes and all the fine print that goes with them.  Created by the people for the people.

There is no REAL universally accepted moral code. No REAL moral code everyone adheres to, but that does NOT mean there ISN'T a moral code that exists for everyone.  A moral code created by a NON HUMAN. A moral code created NOT by the people for the people. A moral code created by ONE who has proven by HISTORICAL FACTS to exist.

Facts. Something undisputable. No room for LOGICAL doubt. Historical PREDICTIONS coming to past as PREDICTED on such a universal scale to doubt them is literally to doubt FACTS.

Take a prediction made hundreds of years before it comes to pass. 

Take a lot of predictions made that have ALL without fail come to pass.

You can choose to call them lucky guesses. You can choose to call them made up lies simply because you wish to disregard logic. You can choose to call it all nonsense and not look at the facts at all whatsoever.  You can do what you please, no one can force you to believe anything. People can coerce others to believe things, brain wash them, torture them, mentally break them-this does occur beyond doubt. But ultimately without that torture and such, no one can force belief upon another. You can force a false acceptance of believing, but you cannot force genuine belief upon another.

People have the right to say they don't believe and they can give all their reasons or no reason at all for not believing.

Personally I CANNOT disregard the historical proof, the undisputed (LOGICALLY UNDISPUTABLE) logic. I cannot.  I see etched in the earth itself proof of history. 

Is this my personal belief-  it is what I choose to believe, yes. I choose to believe in logical proof.

What is this logical proof I'm choosing to believe in?

My Creators- God the Father, God the Begotten Son Jesus Christ, God the Holy Spirit.  My Creators.  And I believe my NON-HUMAN Gods (before God -the declared to be SON took on FLESH), created me and gave me moral codes that are NOT mine to dispute,  they are not mine to change, and they are UNIVERSAL to all human beings.

I believe when a human being decided to disobey this Creator given moral code they invited every bit of conceivable evil into their lives.  Created with the ability to choose to disobey they did disobey and made it so that choice would confront every human being (mentally capable) in the future.  The same choice in a world of disobedience, rather than the same choice in a world without disobedience. The evidence of disobedience a reality, not just a sure consequence. Given the chance to witness the results of disobedience to know what it means to disobey and to suffer consequences of disobedience- we each choose.  We have history filled with disobedience and results of disobedience.  We suffer daily with the consequences as we age- even the healthiest person never sick a day in their lives, never injured will still suffer the consequences of an aging body even if their last breath is their first sickness at an old age.  We see the suffering in others and in the world itself all around us in many ways.  If we choose to call all the suffering, all the evil, all the sickness- normal and just how it is all suppose to be without reason, that is a choice we make.

My Creators did not create me to accept that the world I live in as the world intended, as the world I was created to live in.  My Creators created me and allowed me to choose to believe or not believe in something much better, a life in a world without any disobedience and the resulting consequences of that disobedience.

The evils allowed into the existence are beyond any number I could give them. A life being call fair and meaning being allowed a happiness outside of the hope for a life beyond this life without disobedience, does NOT exist.  This thing people call their right to happiness outside of that hope DOES NOT EXIST! All things outside of that hope are tainted by disobedience. 

IF we are given things that make us feel an imitation of true happiness - outside of that hope- we are given them to deceive us into believing we have a right to more of that happy feeling outside of that hope.

If we are given things that make us feel a happiness- with that HOPE real within us- then we are blessed for that, truly blessed. But we are NOT promised a single moment of happiness beyond the HOPE of that eternal life in a world without disobedience.  

So while the majority of people search for what they believe is their RIGHT to happiness and convince others they too have this RIGHT to happiness they are DECEIVED.

Every one created has a choice (those mentally capable is always a given). 

There WILL be a world without disobedience, and we are all offered a way into that world without disobedience by accepting that our God in the Flesh, the Begotten Son, Jesus Christ is that offered Way.  There in that world without disobedience, a world to come, we are promised happiness beyond our ability to comprehend. This is our HOPE.

Heb 13:18  Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.

We need to pray for one another.  We need to pray for those who have the Hope of the Way within them to live in the HOPE through all of this life's agonies resulting from living in a world filled with the consequences of disobedience. We need to believe we have a good conscience- living with that HOPE of the WAY and praying that the HOPE living in us results in our lives being lived honestly, without guile.

Please, Father God in heaven, keep us in You, keep us in the HOPE while this world does its best to rip the only real HOPE there is from us in every way it can through all evil in all its many deceptive and not so deceptive forms. In the name of our SAVIOR the declared, begotten SON God in heaven at Your side, through the workings of the HOLY SPIRIT God now and forever.

Amen!

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Quiet

There is something very important about being quiet and listening, something we all too often don't do. We are in a rush to voice our thoughts, our feelings, our beliefs, our ideas. The thoughts pop into our heads. Instant thoughts in relation to something being said perhaps and we want that thought voiced. We rarely take time to consider the implications of our thoughts, they are thoughts and we value our thoughts very highly and believe others should as well.  How often would we love to take back something we've said?  If we were LISTENERS we wouldn't have to have that desire so much.

Pro 17:27  He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.

Pro 17:28  Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.

He who has KNOWLEDGE-  SPARES HIS WORDS.

This doesn't say he who has knowledge speaks his words.  

I'm not saying the knowledgeable shouldn't speak not by a long shot, but one who truly has the knowledge that COUNTS understands how and when it is necessary to speak.  Those with this understanding, this knowledge, comprehend the value of their words and the words of others.

Even FOOLS who understand when to not speak are considered wise fools. This is truth!

One who is esteemed to be one with understanding is often esteemed for their KNOWING when NOT to speak.

This is very, very true.  Have you ever had a conversation with someone where you've spent time contemplating what you want to say and the other person wants you to hurry up with your reply? They don't quite understand why you have to think about what's being talked about and it bothers them?  Or perhaps you've been on the other side of this, wanting someone to speak when they want to take time to think.   Thinking instead of speaking is often frustrating when you want someone to speak, yet weighing words is truly better than speaking rashly even on subjects that someone might not consider all that important.

And what about this verse--

Ecc_9:17  The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools.

Heard in quiet more than the noise.

Are we more apt to truly listen to someone we who is prone to quiet speaking or one who is loud and braying constantly? Seriously. A loud, obnoxious person can drone on and on and we will tune them out, not truly caring about what they are talking about, but get a quiet, soft spoken person speaking and we are more prone to lean in to truly hear what they are saying. 

1Th 4:11  And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you

Study to be quiet.

STUDY to be QUIET!

Have you ever challenged yourself to go a day without speaking at all? I'm not talking about when you were sick and couldn't speak due to illness or injury, but purposefully chosen to go a day without speaking. Or if not a day have you challenged yourself beyond the game playing of seeing who can be quite longer, ever?  What about taking a vow of a weekend of silence?  Maybe it's impossible because of your living situation- you have young children that wouldn't comprehend such a thing. How about a conditional silence, only speaking when spoken to, or when absolutely necessary (for a child or others wellbeing and safety)?  Is it silly to try such a challenge? What would you have to lose? What if you studied to be quiet in other ways but truly contemplated being quiet and what that means.   I'm not talking about being quiet and using a pen and paper. I'm not talking about getting all agitated and miming away in charades to others what you want to say but aren't speaking. I'm talking about NOT communicating at all, but being truly quiet.   I've never really done something like that but it's something I'm contemplating a bit just to see if I can be quiet in that sort of way.  I'd want those around me to know I was going to do this so they didn't think I was ignoring them, because I would be LISTENING, there would be no ban on listening at all, just on speaking and just for a short period of time as a study of sorts.  Being quiet in other ways if that isn't feasible could be trying my best to give a FULL minute or more before just spouting off whatever it was I want to say either in initiating a conversation or responding to one.  Being quiet in order to think, to study what is best to say or whether it's best to say nothing.

Truly there is a lot of food for thought here.

1Pe_3:4  But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

By the grace of God.

Quiet.

Why do we insist on calling evil things good?

Act 16:16  And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:

Act 16:17  The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.

Act 16:18  And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

Act 16:19  And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers

*******

People can be psychics.  There was a particular psychic in the Bible- a young woman who had the spirit of divination.  She was a slave- owned by masters who exploited this spirit of divination within her, making a lot of money from her ability.

When  Paul and those working with him to spread the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ were in her area  this possessed woman announced loudly that they were servants of the most high God and they could show them the way of salvation.  She didn't do this once, she did this many times.  A woman known to many in the area- known for her soothsaying, her divination, known for being able to tell people things she had no right to know other than an EVIL spirit was possessing her and allowing her to know things she could never know without that EVIL spirit.  But just like today, people do NOT want to believe EVIL is involved in psychic ability, they don't want to believe people can be possessed of evil spirits that can actually give them knowledge of things they couldn't know without the evil spirit. People want to believe that at long as a psychic isn't hurting anyone with their knowledge they're fine. As long as they're giving people glimpses into their future, or connecting them with supposed living dead and easing their worries, and people are benefitting from their advice where's the harm. Evil spirits doing good?  No. The evil spirits entrap by their guise of good, they are wolves in sheep clothing.  And people believe in them, trust them. 

So, why didn't Paul want the woman possessed touting their mission?  She was speaking truth, the evil spirit within her was speaking the truth. Evil and God do NOT go together. Having an evil spirit encouraging people towards salvation was being done to further the end of the evil spirit. As long as the evil spirit could proclaim truth it could keep those who came to the truth believing that the evil was acceptable to God.

Paul had enough, it grieved him to hear the woman in her possessed state proclaiming them as teachers of salvation.  He cast the evil spirit from her. Did it leave right away, it doesn't appear so. It left within an hour.  Why not instantaneously?  Perhaps to show us that things don't always happen in an instant.  The evil spirit did leave the possessed girl and her masters knew it and were very upset. They knew without that evil spirit the girl had NO POWER of her own to be a diviner, to be a soothsayer. The evil was CAST out. The power that her masters used to make money, to make their living. The power that gave people false hope, lies all eventually leading to death- not salvation in Christ Jesus, that power was EVIL.

The masters of the girl took hold of Paul and Silas and dragged them off to answer for what they'd done.  Evil was taken out of the girl, and that evil had brought gain to them.

MANY things to us seem to be good and gainful, but if they stem from evil or evil ways they are not worth possessing. 

We have to realize that EVIL in forms of GOOD THINGS exist all around us! We can't blind ourselves to truth. If we say we don't believe in psychics we'd be fooling ourselves and allowing ourselves to be deceived. If we say we don't believe in evil in its many forms, we accept deception. We open ourselves to being lost when we choose to remain blind to truth.

Paul cast out evil that you can only imagine many thought was good. There had to be many people who depended upon that soothsayer's words, many who paid lots of money over time to hear the evil spirits words. These people weren't happy either. They'd lost something special to them. Yet that special thing was EVIL.

Salvation through our Savior Jesus Christ is TRUTH, is Good. And all evil in the guise of good are lies and do not lead to salvation. We must accept Christ and forsake evil- even the evils we've come to call good, the evils we've come to love. 

Please LORD, please reveal to us the evils in our lives wherever they are and help us to ask You to cast them from our lives. Keep us in YOU! Please, Lord, save us even from ourselves, especially from ourselves!  Please. By YOUR GRACE and MERCY!

Amen!

If the Lord wills .... always!

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.

If the Lord will.

Truth!

All our plans must be decided upon God's will, not our own.

We cannot understand the will of God in all things. We have to live by the faith that tells us He knows the reasons why all things unfold as they do.

God's will.

Yes, we all have our own idea of what our wills may be and we try to figure out God's will. We may will that we do obtain a lot of gain for even good reasons. But our good reasons may not be God's. Our poverty may enrich us in ways we can't imagine. We need to trust in our God, and HIS WILL.  Yes, go ahead and do what we believe God's will to be, step out in faith and be willing to be led by Him. And if it is NOT His will we need to pray that we are shown a new path.  We should never be so set on a certain path that we cannot let God lead us where He needs to.  God's will be done.

Every morning we wake up may God's will be done for us in that day in our lives.

God YOUR WILL! Please, YOUR WILL!

In the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, YOUR WILL be done in OUR LIVES ALWAYS!

AMEN.

He will never leave us even in our worst conditions!

Heb 13:5  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Heb 13:6  So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

Never leave us!

Never forsake us!

The LORD is my helper!

This is the fifth day of my suffering with vertigo. If you're like me, when I used to hear about vertigo I would think of that old movie of the same name where heights and fear and such brought on attacks of dizzying motion.  What vertigo for me was a sudden onset acute loss of balance, dizziness in my total surroundings accompanied by awful nausea. I wasn't sure what was happening to me, I'd never felt anything like it before. I felt like I might be dying, it was so incredibly frightening and it just wouldn't stop, I couldn't feel better even upon getting sick which in past experiences with the flu would bring at least a brief respite of that nauseous feeling. I even had severe morning sickness with my son and it was a million times worse than that because of the total disorientation from the dizziness,  non-stop moving of the world all around me no matter what I did.  Finally after hours of agony I was talked into going to the ER and it was there they gave medicine for dizziness and nausea which helped tremendously- but not fully.  I was sent home with meds and the entire next day they didn't work like they had seemed to. I went back to the ER (not having a physician) and they gave me a different med for dizziness which seemed to help.  Then later the next day my whole world crashed again and I was right back to where I started- feeling horrific!  And here we are to today- still with everything wonky, taking pills for the nausea it causes and wondering if I'll ever feel right again.

I pray for a cure, a miracle, for help and I know my prayers and the prayers of others are being heard because at least some of the intense anxiety that had been brought on by the initial attack has subsided. PRAISE GOD FOR THAT.

There are so many things that can go wrong with us, so many health issues that can attack us in so many ways!  Our health is truly an incredible blessing that we don't praise God enough for, at least I haven't.

Now, whether I'm to go on this way indefinitely I don't know, I have no answers at all. But I have to make the best of this awful condition. Others I know personally have had to do the same and are called to do the same constantly and have been for years and years. No, their affliction might not be exactly like mine, theirs could be a lot worse and PRAISE God for giving them the strength they have needed and will need to survive.

All glory to God in ALL things! All glory to God!  I can't, by HIS grace let this keep me from my studying, my praying, my desire to know my God above all things! 

Writing this has been a huge challenge and may continue to be, but through Him I can do all things, He will NEVER leave or forsake me even through the worst of the worst!

All praise to God and all thanks to Him and to all who are praying  and caring for me so wonderfully!

In His LOVE always!

AMEN> 

Judging another's eternal life condemns us

Rom 2:1  Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

We cannot JUDGE others! Yet we do so and often.

When we judge others we truly do condemn ourselves.  We are all guilty. Maybe our sin isn't the same as another's, but it's sin just the same.  It's easy for us to see the sins of others, isn't it? Much harder for us to take a good look at ourselves and recognize the sin, the evil that resides in us and makes its home in who we are.  We need the chastisement of the Holy Spirit, through the Father. We need our sins lay bear, not hidden, not glossed over. We should hate our sins, and seek forgiveness for them.  Instead we look at the sins of others and yes, we may ask God to forgive them but we need to forgive them as well and NOT condemn them. We must recognize the sins we have of our own are more than enough to judge- judging ourselves.

Mat 7:1  Judge not, that ye be not judged.

Mat 7:2  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Mat 7:3  And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

Mat 7:4  Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

Mat 7:5  Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

TRUTH.

We must cast the BEAM out of our own eye!  Until the beams are gone from our eyes we will never be able to help anyone. 

By the grace of God may we KNOW and KEEP HIS TRUTH!

All in HIS LOVE!

Who will render to every man according to his deeds

Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? 

Rom 2:5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; 

Rom 2:6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds: 

Rom 2:7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: 

Rom 2:8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, 

Rom 2:9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; 

Rom 2:10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: 

Rom 2:11 For there is no respect of persons with God.

*******

Truth. This is truth we don't like to hear. We don't like to hear it because it is truth that calls for the things we call 'works', and when we call them 'works', we tell ourselves that we are not saved by 'works' and therefore don't have to concern ourselves with them.

Such a convoluted situation. 

We read this--

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Jas 2:17  Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

Jas 2:18  Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

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

Jas 2:20  But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

The truth we are saved by GRACE.

We are saved by JESUS CHRIST.

We believe- this is faith.

We believe and from that belief we obey, and from that obedience we live.

If we obeyed without belief, without faith,  what would that mean? If we obey God without believe in God's Son and the sacrifice of His Son, what would that mean?

Before Christ came, those who believed in God followed ceremonial laws. After Christ came those laws were no longer  valid. Belief- faith in Christ Jesus our Lord and His Sacrifice for us is TRUTH. 

If we don't obey the truth, believe the truth, we have nothing.

When we do not live the truth - Christ in us, the Holy Spirit in us will convict us of the truth we need to live. 

We fail and our hearts ache, our emotions tell us we are hopeless, and that must remind us Christ is our hope! He is truth!

When we read about 'Rom 2:6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds' - We shouldn't fear.  We should comprehend that we find FORGIVENESS in CHRIST.

More on this tomorrow by the GRACE and MERCY of our LORD!

A new and living way

A new and living way.

Ceremonies had their place, they had their purpose.  The thing is- a ceremony that is imperfect from the beginning, something to hold to until a more perfect way is found, must be discarded once the new way is revealed.  We do this all the time- out with the old in with the new - it's a constant in many things.  I'm not saying ALL old things are replaced- we have many buildings, many moral laws and such that will never be replaced. Truth will never be replaced.  In the very beginning right after the first sin was committed by human kind God revealed a plan-

Gen 3:14  And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

Gen 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

TRUTH.

 Before Moses and the ceremonial laws were enacted this truth was given. There would come a SEED - a descendent of the human race that would destroy Satan.

God's people knew of this so they KNEW at some point in time a SEED- a Descendent would come. 

The LAMB of God- symbolic of the SAVIOR to be sacrificed.  Jesus became the NEW WAY- the ceremonies were only temporary- put in place until the better WAY could come.  And the better way did come!

Heb 10:19  Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

Heb 10:20  By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

Heb 10:21  And having an high priest over the house of God;

Heb 10:22  Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

Heb 10:23  Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

Heb 10:24  And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching

More tomorrow by the grace of our LORD- JESUS CHRIST!

Amen!

A devout man

Act 10:1  There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,

Act 10:2  A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.

Act 10:3  He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.

Act 10:4  And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.

A devout man-

Feared God- as all in his household.

Gave much alms to people.

Prayed to God always.

A devout man.

Are we devout people?

We desire God to hear our prayers, to accept our offerings in the form of giving to others, we don't pray without believing God hears, do we? Why would we? What sense is there in praying if we can't believe God hears?

Here was a man - a devout man, a devout believer. An angel came to this man and told him that his prayers and alms were seen by God- a memorial before God. God wanted to reward such a memorial and how did He reward it? With riches? No. With  glory? No.  With worldly things? No. He sent one of Jesus' disciples, the apostle Peter to him to open His eyes to the truth of salvation through Jesus!  What a BLESSING!

This devout man was NOT A JEW.

This devout man that God heard was UNCLEAN according to Jewish ways.

God specifically honored this man, Cornelius, by sending Peter to him to bring him the message of salvation, to give him the truth.

God blessed Peter in this as well, revealing to Peter the truth of His love - which is for ALL, not just for the Jewish people, but ALL.

I'm not Jewish, but I believe in God, I believe in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ!  By the grace of our SAVIOR I can belong to Him, I can be a child of the King! I can be an heir of salvation!

I long to be devout as Cornelius was devout, and by God's grace I can be, He can be -in me! 

All by the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR- JESUS CHRIST!

Please Holy Spirit, please….

Off with the old, on with the new

To renew something is to take something that is old and make it like new.  We need to be made new.

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

Renewed IN KNOWLEDGE.

How do we expect to be renewed in knowledge if we aren't acquiring knowledge? Seriously. Some people fully believe they know ENOUGH about God, about the Bible, about Jesus Christ.  They believe they learned of it all at some point in time enough for them to not need to learn any more. They might believe they renew that knowledge when they pray and maybe they do. Maybe for some it's all they have. Maybe I'm wrong it's a very real possibility. But I do know that if we have access to learn more of our Savior we must strive to do that, right?  I'm not saying we can EARN salvation I will NEVER say that, and I hope I NEVER imply that either. God's word tells me this--

I have put on the new man and that new man is renewed in knowledge of God.

Knowing God, knowledge of God. 

If God's word tells us not to lie to one another because we've put off the old man and the things of the old man, then that is truth. If God's word tells us we have put on the new man, and that new man is renewed by knowledge, then we must have knowledge and the ability to gain knowledge.  Our knowledge of God is something we must NEVER lose sight of. Our knowledge of God is something that must go before us in all things!  Our knowledge of God whether it's through a deep study of the Bible on a daily basis or through knowing a single passage that we've taken to our heart, must be the knowledge of God that renews us, transforms us!  Knowing God in a simply way could truly be all we need, more so than a million hours of studying that have yet to penetrate our hearts.  We must NEVER believe we know enough of God. We must always strive to know Him, through Him.  God will teach us if not from His word, then from life itself.

Eph_4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Put on the new man.  The new man- through God is created in Christ's righteousness, and true holiness.

2Co_5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

If we are in Christ we are NEW creatures.

New in Christ.

A daily rebirth! 

Is it any wonder our Savior taught us to pray for daily bread?

Christ is our bread, the bread of life! Daily we need to be renewed in HIM.  This is truth! This is CHOICE. This is LOVE. This is GOD.

A daily renewal, a daily transformation, a daily learning, a daily growth all in CHRIST, through CHRIST!

By HIS GRACE and MERCY!

IN HIS LOVE!

May we be renewed, may we be transformed!

Amen.