God's Will In ALL Things, Good and Bad.

What is our life?

Our life is a VAPOR.

Our life appears for a little time and then it vanishes away.

This is TRUTH, this is GOD'S TRUTH.

We know this is truth don't we? Tell me right now who your great, great, great, great grandmother was, what was her name? How old was she when she passed? How many children did she have? Do all this without looking up any genealogy charts. Can you? This person was vital to your being born, without this person you never would have existed. You can take that all the way back to the very beginning of time. And there would be many, many grandmothers, many greats to count to get back to the beginning of you.  Each of those individual grandmother's lives appeared for a little time and vanished away, this too is our fate as a human being. We appear for a little while and vanish away. We  have to comprehend the BIGGER picture of our life.

We make plans for our lives, some short term, some long term and these plans mean absolutely NOTHING if they are not made with the desire for God's will to be done first and foremost.

All too often we are shown just how little control we have over our lives. Some of us are given shocks through ill loved ones, through the loss of a loved one, through an accident resulting in injuries, through so many little things we are allowed to see just how all our own plans fall short.

When we pray for God's will to be done in our lives and believe that God's will, will be done in our lives we have to believe even when we cannot comprehend the how's and why's that His will is being done- no matter what happens and He is in control.

Satan will endeavor to get us to question God's will endlessly.  Who hasn't read or heard the story of Job in the Bible? So many awful things happened to Job and still He held fast to God's will. He believed no matter how awful things became- having all his children die at once, here read it…

Job 1:12  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

Job 1:13  And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:

Job 1:14  And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:

Job 1:15  And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Job 1:16  While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Job 1:17  While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Job 1:18  While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:

Job 1:19  And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Tragedy after tragedy, after tragedy. Just imagine you're at home and a person knocks on the door only to tell you that a good portion of how you make your money is gone, wiped out. And while that person is telling you that awful news another comes up and says a band of ruthless criminals have taken your goods and killed those watching them.  And then another comes up and says that a fire destroy yet another of your sources of income. While that person is telling you their awful news and you can barely stand to hear another word, another person comes to you and tells you that your sons and daughters who were at a party together have all been killed in a freak storm.  Seriously, try to imagine it as a reality. The devastation you feel goes beyond anything you've ever felt before. You simply can't believe all that awfulness has taken place.  Now, how tempted are you to BLAME God, to CURSE God?

This is what Job did-

Job 1:20  Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,

Job 1:21  And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

Job 1:22  In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

We don't even have to have half of that stuff happen to us, not even a quarter of that stuff, not an eighth, or a sixteenth of it, not even the tiniest fraction of such horrors happen to us and we are cursing God and charging Him foolishly. 

Yes, it is God who allows the good and the bad to occur in our lives, He allows it, but He NEVER allows it for His amusement, for sadistic purposes, not ever. The reasons go beyond our comprehension and WE through FAITH must believe that whatever those reasons are they are ultimately for the good in an eternal way, not in a here and now way, but in an eternal way. 

Job could worship God because He understood this truth. Blessed be the name of the LORD. No matter what, blessed be the name of the LORD. HIS WILL, NOT OURS BE DONE.

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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.

Jas 4:16  But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

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So, yes, make your plans, dream your dreams, hope your hopes, but in all of it- through every single heart ache, every single tear, every single tragedy NEVER DOUBT that GOD is still GOD and HIS WILL is greater than any idea we may ever conceive of as being good, right, and just.  Cry your gut wrenching, heart breaking sobs of the deepest grief but know GOD has plans beyond anything we can comprehend and to say we must comprehend only reveals our ignorance of FAITH in God.

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.

That doesn't say…  all GOOD things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose.   It says ALL THINGS and that ALL includes the deepest, darkest days of our existence, when we would wish we'd never been born.

We must BELIEVE.  

We must desire the LORD'S WILL, and rejoice in HIM not in our own plans.

YOUR WILL, LORD, YOUR WILL!

By Your grace!

Through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior now and forever!

Amen.

Do not speak evil of anyone!

Jas 4:11  Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

Jas 4:12  There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

This is TRUTH!

Yet we don't seem to hesitate to speak evil of one another. And by evil I mean speaking unkindly, speaking untoward, speaking to degrade anyone in anyway, speaking to lift yourself up while putting them down, speaking what is even true if it is speaking to degrade someone is wrong! We try to justify our speaking evil of one another. We convince ourselves that we are doing good, that we are doing right, we are doing fine when we put another down rightfully so because WE are right and THEY are wrong. They are dirt, we are less dirt. They are evil, we are not so evil.  They are hurtful and hateful, vicious, and cruel, nasty, vile and we are not.  They deserve to be out-ed as evil, while we need to be the one out-ing them to reveal to them and all others around us that we know they are evil. 

The trouble with ALL this is we are EVIL when we speak evil of another, so we are in essence just as evil if not more evil than the one we are claiming is evil.

I'm NOT saying people aren't evil and that people don't hurt us with their evil ways, they are and they do, but we are NOT to meet evil with evil, not ever.

Satan would have us think otherwise. Satan wants us to use evil to fight evil and try to call our own evil good. Satan wants us to justify our actions, our words, our judging but we CANNOT afford to do that! We cannot afford to use evil in anyway.

Please FATHER we would not do evil! We don't want to judge one another! We are NOT judges! We are not lawgivers! You are the Lawgiver! You are able to save and destroy!

Help us, please, keep us from evil in all its forms!

All by the love and grace of the LORD JESUS CHRIST OUR SAVIOR, now and forever!

AMEN

He will lift us up.

Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

Jas 4:9  Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

Jas 4:10  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

People want to be happy, we go to great lengths to be happy, to NOT be afflicted, to not mourn, to not weep.  People will say God wants us to be happy, not sad and they're right, but God also wants us to recognize that being RIGHT with HIM is more important than any happiness.

All the happiness we find without God is worth NOTHING.

We are better off being afflicted, mourning, weeping than being without God!

Our happiness is NOT the key to life. Our happiness is NOT what we have to seek.  We seek GOD first.  We humble ourselves before God.

We cannot afford to be double minded. Being double minded is fence sitting, choosing no side, choosing neither good nor evil.  In being double minded you choose evil over good, by not choosing God. 

We truly have to purify our hearts and cleanse our hands!

We have to choose God first, self second.  And it's only through our Savior this is possible.  By His grace and mercy we have HOPE, by HIS righteousness we have HOPE.  Please, Father, bless us, teach us to humble ourselves so that You will lift us up!

All in YOUR name!   Amen.

You gave us life

Psa 71:1  In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.

Psa 71:2  Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me.

Psa 71:3  Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.

Psa 71:4  Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

Psa 71:5  For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD: thou art my trust from my youth.

Psa 71:6  By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.

All praise, glory and honor unto You my God.

Please, help me to put my trust in YOU. All too often I try to trust in my own ways, my own self and yes, all too often I'm put to great confusion.  When we trust in you and not ourselves we have to realize that no matter what we are called to go through that You are in control even if we don't understand. We need to trust in YOU to get us through all the confusing things life has to throw at us, and it has a lot. 

We need Your deliverance, Your righteousness, because we can never be righteous in and of our own selves. We need Your righteousness.  We can only escape the evil this life has to offer through You.  Please Lord, hear us, save us!

You are our strong habitation and we have to CONTINUALLY resort to YOU, something we don't do as often as we need. We NEED You. Please, give the commandment to SAVE US, You are our ROCK our FORTRESS.

Please, LORD, help us, You are our all in in!

All in Your LOVE we HOPE in YOU, You took us out of our mothers wombs, You gave us life, help us live it to YOU, for YOU.

Keep us, Lord, keep us in You!

All by the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His love.

The Devil Will Flee

Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

When you submit yourself to someone, what are you doing?

Submit- accept or yield to a superior force or to the authority or will of another person.

synonyms:        give in/way, yield, back down, cave in, capitulate (Dictionary Def Google)

You are accepting, you are yielding to a SUPERIOR FORCE, a SUPERIOR AUTHORITY, the WILL of ANOTHER.

Do you yield yourself to God?

Do you recognize God as a Superior Force?

Do you recognize God as a Superior Authority?

Do you yield to the WILL of God?

We have to ACCEPT God's will.

We have to truly understand that GOD is our AUTHORITY. God is the one we answer to and NO other. We don't even answer to ourselves first, but GOD first!

When we truly accept God's will, when we truly recognize God's authority in our lives we must listen to Him, we must RESIST the DEVIL!  The devil will FLEE from us when we RESIST him!  Safe in our submission to God we resist the devil. Without that submission to God all our resisting in the world would do nothing.  Only in that connection we have with God do we have hope! The devil FEARS GOD, the devil FLEES by God's command. The devil does not fear us at all when we are separated from God!

1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

1Pe 5:9  Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

1Pe 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

TRUTH!

We resist the devil in our FAITH to GOD.

Please, Father please help us to be fully submitted to YOU, fully submitted so that we may resist the devil and he will flee!

All by YOUR LOVE, through our Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord!

Amen.

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Seeking God's Will, Not Self Will

The Proud.

Jas 4:6  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

Pride- self adoration.

Self-centeredness in whatever form it takes in our lives is completely wrong.

Why? Why is self-centeredness wrong?

We are supposed to be ONE in agreement, all of us, every single one of us is supposed to be in agreement.  Does that sound wrong to you? So many will say it does. They say we can't all be in agreement, that it would somehow destroy our individuality. Being in agreement does not mean being identical to each other. You know this is true, that this is factual, because we deal with each other all the time and a lot of that time is spent in agreement with each other. We couldn't live in the same house with each other if we couldn't live in agreement.  We couldn't have the societies we do have if we couldn't make agreements.  When agreements get broken that is when the trouble begins.

God has to resist the proud, the self-centered.  It is the humble person who is in agreement with God's will, seeking God's will and not their own. A proud person will resist God in favor or self.

Seeking God is seeking God's will. Seeking self is self-will.

We have to ask ourselves constantly whose will we are seeking. And how we answer that will tell us who we are following.

Please LORD keep us from doing our own will, and help us to do Yours in ALL things, not just things of convenience, not just in things that please us, but in all things trusting in YOU always!

All by YOUR grace, YOUR love!

Amen.

The Spirit Within

The natural spirit within us, the spirit un-renewed, the spirit untouched by the Holy Spirit is evil.

The unregenerate man within us is naturally evil and filled with evil tendencies. We cannot renew ourselves, not ever! We cannot regenerate ourselves! We cannot act the part of the Holy Spirit and change our hearts. We cannot be born again of ourselves.  Of ourselves we are filled with lusts-

Jas 4:5  Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

The spirit that dwells within us, lusts to envy. The Holy Spirit without saves us from the spirit inside of us that would have us live to the flesh.

Gen 8:21  And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

The imaginations of our hearts is evil from our youth.  We ONLY have hope in our SAVIOR.

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.

TRUTH! We live by what we can know without seeing!

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, covenantbreakers, 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.

God or Self?   Whom do you serve?

We war against ourselves and the natural spirit within us, the flesh that would do evil. We must choose GOD over self and the natural spirit, the flesh ways. We make that choice daily, hourly, always as constant lusts will rise up in us.

Tit 3:1  Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,

Tit 3:2  To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.

Tit 3:3  For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

Tit 3:4  But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,

Tit 3:5  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

Tit 3:6  Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;

Tit 3:7  That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Tit 3:8  This is a faithful saying, and these things I WILL THAT THOU AFFIRM CONSTANTLY,  THAT THEY WHICH HAVE BELIEVED IN GOD MIGHT BE CAREFUL TO MAINTAIN GOOD WORKS. THESE THINGS ARE GOOD AND PROFITABLE UNTO MEN.

Tit 3:9  But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

TRUTH!

Please Savior, please bless us in YOU as every day we face challenges against the lust warring inside of us. Please, bless us! Keep us from all evil even the evil within us! Please, let us live for YOU and YOU alone! All through the power of Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!

Amen!