Give Diligence.

2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 

2Pe 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 

2Pe 1:6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 

2Pe 1:7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

2Pe 1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

2Pe 1:9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 

2Pe 1:10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: 

2Pe 1:11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Give diligence…

Make your calling and election sure…

If ye DO these things…

ACTION on OUR PART!  Being a Christian is NOT PASSIVE! You don’t claim your salvation and box is up and tuck it away in a chest of drawers. Your salvation is ACTIVE.  If we aren't active in our saved state then we truly have forgotten we were purged from our OLD SINS. If we continue to commit the same ol' sins, or even brand new ones- we are forgetting the purging. We can be BLIND and we ARE blind if we lack the following--

Charity, brotherly kindness, godliness, patience, temperance, knowledge, virtue, faith.

Do you lack these things? Take a long hard look at yourself because it won't do any good if you don't, and ask yourself if you lack any of the above. If you can answer yes to any of them then perhaps you've become blind and aren't looking for the BLESSED HOPE.  If we STOP looking for the GREAT EXPECTATION of our SAVIOR'S RETURN, then it is very easy to slip into behavior that reveals the lack of conviction we have in our longing for Christ's return.

Satan would have us all believe that we'll never have the above as we should, but we have to pray that our God shuts Satan up and lets us see ourselves unblinded and without the despair Satan would draw us down into any way he can.

You could very well have the above any your humbleness will keep you from boasting, but I'm not asking you to boast to anyone, this is strictly a self-examination. You truly could not be blind and are living as God would have you, and if you are PRAISE the LORD! OR you may be okay on a few of the above mentioned things but not on all of them and you're a work in progress. However if you are BLIND and lack all the above pray desperately long and hard for sight, for the eyesalve that our Savior can give to us!

Having the above doesn't mean you won't ever be mean, unloving, etc but it means you will recognize when those times come and seek forgiveness for them instantly as soon as the realization hits you. We are works in progress and wretched human beings with flesh temptations. May God deliver us from all of them as He wills!

Please, Father God, we would not be blind, we need to see and we need to have all the attributes of one with the sight given to us by the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior! 

Recovering Ourselves.

Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 

Mat 13:14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 

Mat 13:15  For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 

Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. 

Please Lord let us have eyes that see, ears that hear and an understanding heart, please we would be converted and healed!

We need to be converted!

Act 3:19  Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; 

Act 3:20  And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 

Act 3:21  Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. 

We long to have our sins blotted out as we wait for the times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord!

We long for the times of restitution of all things!

Please, LORD, please, our unworthiness would crush any and all hope we have, PLEASE Let us be YOURS!

2Ti 2:22  Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 

2Ti 2:23  But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. 

2Ti 2:24  And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 

2Ti 2:25  In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; 

2Ti 2:26  And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. 

May we recover ourselves out of the snare of the devil!  As we spoke about yesterday, the reality of the Devil is something people tend to ignore. They readily call upon God but think nothing of the Devil attacking them. They'd rather call it… a bad break, bad luck, that's the way it is, that's life… but to hear them say they'd wish Satan would stop attacking them, that Satan is wreaking havoc on them, that the evil angels are working overtime, you don't hear that so much.  Satan would have it all blamed on anyone other than himself, anyone! Satan would rather us blame ourselves than him and so many do.

Please, Lord…save us! We are not worthy, You are worthy, be worthy for us! Forgive us! Please! We believe, help thou our unbelief!

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

Sustained.

Psa 3:1 ...LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me. 

Psa 3:2 Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah. 

Psa 3:3 But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. 

Psa 3:4 I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah. 

Psa 3:5 I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me. 

Psa 3:6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about. 

Psa 3:7 Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. 

Psa 3:8 Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.

This means so much to me. I may not have armies of people seeking to destroy me but I know that Satan has armies of evil angels at his beck and call and they don't let up their attacks against us. If we believe in God's holy angels and how can we NOT believe in Satan's evil angels, then we know they work against us? It's so easy for people to believe in God yet ignore the reality of the Devil.  Yet, GOD believes in the Devil! Read the Bible, read God's word. God believes in Satan-the father of lies, the Devil, the deceiver, the evil one. We know evil spirits roam the earth and have no qualms about invading our very person let alone annoying us from the outside.  We hate the fact they can attack us at will, but we have to LOVE the fact our God is greater than them all!

Satan would have us believe there is no hope for us, no help for us in God, but we KNOW our God is a SHIELD for us, One who lifts our head. Our God hears us! Our God sustains us! We must not be afraid of any who would set themselves against us.   God will save us! God has already won the spiritual war against Satan, against evil. Salvation is truly found in the LORD and only in the LORD!

Please, Lord, please bless us with Your salvation through Jesus Christ our LORD and Savior!

Sustain us, Lord! Sustain us through the seemingly endless attacks. 

Are we looking for that Blessed Hope daily?

Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 

Tit 2:12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 

Tit 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ

*******

Looking for that blessed hope.

Looking for that glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.

Are we looking?

Or have we stopped looking?

How often is the thought of our Savior's return on our minds? It should be a DAILY thought, yes?

Remember the daily prayer our Savior taught to those who asked to pray-

We know it's at least a daily prayer because Jesus says -'…our DAILY bread.'  And he also said- '…Thy kingdom come.'  Daily we need to pray about the KINGDOM to come- because that kingdom comes with our blessed hope, with the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

We need to look for the kingdom as a REALITY!

When we think of our future we need to think first and foremost if our future revolves around the KINGDOM coming, around our SAVIOR returning.  If our future is more about our lives here and now upon earth than it is about the KINGDOM to be then we have some serious thinking to do about our relationship with God.

Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 

Tit 2:12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world

The GRACE of God that BRINGS SALVATION has appeared to ALL men- TEACHING us- to deny ungodliness, to deny worldly lusts, to live soberly, to live righteously, to live godly right NOW in our present world. Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ

Self or God?

Being a glutton, a drunkard- people who eat and drink to indulge self over glorifying God are NOT God's.

Throughout the Bible we read of gluttons and drunkards and NEVER in a good way. Choosing drink and food over God is wrong. ANYTHING and it doesn't matter what it is- that takes the place of God in our lives is wrong. ANYTHING that isn't to God's glory is wrong.  We skate around this issue so much. We dance in and out and all around about how we are glorifying God.  We are so selfishly bent in our lives we don't know how to glorify God in all we do. We simply do not know, so instead we glorify ourselves and pretend it's alright with God.

Php 2:21  For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.

Rom 16:18  For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. 

2Ti 3:4  Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 

2Ti 3:5  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 

Rom 13:14  But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Rom 14:17  For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 

We are self-servers, self-lovers, and self-deceivers is there any wonder our Savior won't know us. We are pretenders, and we have to STOP pretending and start obeying the Word of our LORD.

Please, LORD, please we are so wretched! Please do ALL for us we cannot do and PLEASE teach us to do what we have to do ourselves through Your strength! We know how awful we are, we know how to indulge ourselves but not how NOT to indulge ourselves. Please… help us, save us from ourselves.

All through Jesus Christ our LORD and SAVIOR, NOW and FOREVER!

Do all do to the glory of God.

1Co 10:31  Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 

Whatsoever we do- meaning EVERY SINGLE THING WE DO.  Going to church once a week, praying religiously in the morning and evening, studying your Bible every single day these are all wonderful things, but NOT a single one of them matters if we aren't living to God's glory in ALL we do. If we can set God aside as if He were one of our garments we put on and take off as we please, then we are not giving God glory in all we do. If we say we have a God time, a special time with God- that's a good thing right? It is, but NOT if that's the only place we have God. When that hour, or half-hour is up and we end our special God time and get on with our lives we have to take God with us, not leave Him in that time we set aside.  Today a lot of couples will make- date nights.  It's not that they aren't together every other night, but they set aside a special time to get closer, to renew their union. We have to have God all the time, ALL the time, in ALL we do or else we are not doing all to the glory of GOD.

When we are eating… we can either eat to God's glory, or not eat to God's glory.

When we are drinking… we can either drink to God's glory, or not drink to God's glory.

How do we NOT eat and drink to God's glory?

Deu_21:20  And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.

Pro_23:21  For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

Pro 21:17  He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich. 

Isa 28:1  Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! 

1Co 5:11  But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. 

1Co 6:10  Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 

Gal 5:21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 

Php 3:18  (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 

Php 3:19  Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) 

Php 2:21  For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. 

1Sa 2:29  Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people? 

Eze 13:19  And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies? 

Luk 12:19  And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 

Luk 12:20  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 

Rom 16:18  For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. 

2Ti 3:4  Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 

2Ti 3:5  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 

2Pe 2:13  And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you

Eze 16:49  Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 

Pro 23:1  When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee: 

Pro 23:2  And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. 

Pro 23:3  Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat. 

Rom 13:14  But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Rom 14:17  For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 

More about this tomorrow by the GRACE and MERCY of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST now and forever!

Over Abundance.

'“You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (vv.19-20). You are members of Christ, you are a temple of the Holy Spirit, you are not your own. You were purchased by God with a price. Everything of yours belongs to Him, especially your body. The union of Christ with you and the seal of the Holy Spirit within you proves that your body particularly is God’s. “So glorify God in your body.” Brethren, God wishes us to honor Him there. He wants us to glorify Him both through the consecration of this “body for the Lord” of ours and also through the grace exhibited by the “Lord for the body” of His. Let us be sober and watchful lest we use our bodies for ourselves or permit them to fall into a condition as though the Lord were not for the body. Thus we shall glorify God and allow Him to demonstrate His power freely in delivering us from weakness, sickness and suffering as well as from
self-interest, self-love and sin. '  The Spiritual Man - by Watchman Nee


Anyone who know me- and most of you reading this probably don't- that's assuming there are people reading this which is in God's hands, not mine, but anyone who knows me knows that I've always had an issue with my weight.  Perhaps this is my 'thorn in the flesh', I don't know. But knowing something and doing it are two different things. We live in a time here in the western world where food is abundant and unhealthy food cheaper than healthy food. We crave sugar, we become addicted to it and call it an acceptable addiction because it's not hurting anyone- unlike a lot of addictions that can hurt a person and those around them. But truly it does hurt people. I can't tell you the number of times food addiction - gluttony- has impacted my life negatively. I can't tell you the number of diseases that are brought on in part by obesity and yet the addiction to food is so great we simply don't care. Food becomes all consuming.  Truly it is a sin of the end times-


Luk_21:34  And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.


Definition of surfeit
1. 1 :  an overabundant supply :  excess
2. 2 :  an intemperate or immoderate indulgence in something (such as food or drink)
3. 3 :  disgust caused by excess


From <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/surfeit>



Satan has woven his web well and snared so many people in that web. We don't look at our over abundant supply as being a bad thing, we don't look at indulging our desires as being wrong. We've stopped calling sin - sin. All the while we point out other sins and have no trouble recognizing those as being sinful- things we aren't particularly addicted to ourselves. We struggle, we flail about wanting to somehow, someway find an excuse for our particular, harmless to others, indulgences in sin.


Whatever we do we have to stop pretending that we don’t sin when we over eat.


Reading that excerpt above, this part - 


'Let us be sober and watchful lest we use our bodies for ourselves or permit them to fall into a condition as though the Lord were not for the body. Thus we shall glorify God and allow Him to demonstrate His power freely in delivering us from weakness, sickness and suffering as well as from
self-interest, self-love and sin. '


Letting our bodies fall into a condition as though the Lord were not for the body…. Have we done this? Do we continue to do this?


As with ANY sin we are prone to, we need to pray and repent, seeking forgiveness constantly if it's a sin that has us caught up in its grasp unrelentingly. We will be freed from that sin, we will be loosed from its hold on us. We must never stop recognizing for what it is, no matter what!


More tomorrow by the GRACE of God! All through JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD!