Just went to my high school class reunion, my first, ever, after many years. Talk about scary? I didn’t know any classmates and they didn’t know me. As the night went on, I started remembering a few and then many, with the help of “name tags.”I was amused at how many red-haired kids were now white as snow. Fat people were thin, and thin were fat, and non-lookers became quite nice-looking in the twilight years. You get the drift. We laughed and reminisced. On the sad side I discovered that 15 or so classmates had died, some of them were my friends of bygone days. I was moved as their names were read and a candle was lit for each.. I was then constrained to tell a large group of the survivors how that God had rescued my life several years past High School and gave me a purposeful life.…
Category: <span>Walk, for Christians</span>
We Must know that God keeps us — but from what? Jude 1:24 teaches “… to keep you from falling …to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Psalms tells us:: “The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.” “The Lord will keep you from all evil.” “he will keep your life.” “The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.” Psalm 121:6-8 “Our God … holds our soul in life, and suffers not our feet to be moved.” Psalm 66:9 Jabez, called on the God of Israel, Oh that thou would bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou would keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.” 1 Chronicles 4:1 Then…
2 Timothy 3:1 reveals dark spirit trends of this age to be guarded against: “… men will be… in love with their selves,* money-lusters braggarts,* show-offs,* hinderers of others success,* un-reconciled to parents,(and adults in general) showing zero appreciation,* diametrically opposed to-what is right, diametrically opposed to-social normality, abject unwillingness to sacrifice,* diabolic slanderers, * way out of control mentally and emotionally,* brutal in speech and action,* opposed to anything of true healing excellence,* traitors,* blatant betrayers,* 17. reckless, 18. puffed up with pride,* 19. filthy sex mongers instead of lovers of God…” (paraphrase mine) I’ve seen these in the news. Mat 24:12 And because lawlessness shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. Some current events that turn our heads: “New York City … fathers propose to eliminate school programs for gifted students out of a concern for diversity and inclusion.” (success inhibitors)? “J.B. recently revoked his long-held…
“ Here and there, in clefts and basins, and on the hillsides, grade on grade, you observe a patch of corn, a clump of olives, a single palm.” “Even in the wilderness nature is not so stern as man.” Taken from Hepworth Dixon (“The Holy Land”) Metanoea, Metanoea Metanoea! (Repent, Repent, Repent!) The kingdom of heaven is at hand! John the Baptist/Herald proclaimed in the wilderness — Repent! “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” Camel’s hair, and a leather girdle about his loins he wore. Locusts and wild honey was his meat. “Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.” Matthew 3:5-6 Repent?— “a virtuous alteration of the mind and purpose as begets a like virtuous change in the life and practice.” Sorrow is not, as is popularly conceived, the primary notion of…
In order to know we are safe, our knowledge must be of a deeper kind: “The general word in the New Testament for knowledge is (gnosis) (knowledge stored on the left side of the brain, the perception and awareness area) To be vital, knowledge must go beyond (gnosis), and become (epignosis), which is experiential knowledge applied to the human soul — it gives a preciseness and experiential understanding of truth. The exchange is accomplished as knowledge transfers through the new heart ( in the human spirit) of a saved believer. Ezekiel 36:26 When God’s knowledge (His Word), is.transferred by the Holy Spirit to the human spirit, then it makes the written Word a Living Word — renews us continually and protects us invisibly. Let’s further describe epignosis; Epignosis enables a believer to live according to spiritual ethics. The believer has more than definitions. He has power in truth. There is purity in his thinking process,…
I have met many who have lost their appreciation for life. They’ve traded their ability to live freely, to love, and to laugh, for reactions, repressions, and denials. Some folks, hurt by love, have discarded love forever; it bears too much pain. Others, worn down by oppressive relationships, jobs or circumstances, have given themselves over to drugs, alcohol, or other means of artificial comfort. I have discovered that a person’s ability to resist stress is only temporary. Eventually that stress envelops that individual and wears him down. Now, he readily yields to those stressors because it’s human to get “stress relief” at all costs. Evil takes advantage of these “human” qualities and attempts to wear out the saints — they try to make life become “too hard — too long.” Their evil government looks for eventual capitulation –then they offer freedom and release — but the new-found freedom equals slavery.…
. ” Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.” Isaiah 43:4 That which enables us to carry weight in this world stems from our being precious in His eyes. It speaks of extreme love, a favor surpassing that of men. Indeed, it refers to a choosing, as God did with Israel when He brought them forth from Egypt. This “preciousness” gives us weight in our words, in our countenance, in our judgments — It coincides with our being liberated from our personal bondage. Un-redeemed mankind seeks honor among its fellows, a formula which may require denigrating ‘dishonor for acceptance’ In dishonoring it’s bodies. These surrender to uncleanness, immerse themselves in heart-lust, become passionate for disgraceful dishonoring, and finally relinquish all discriminatory ability — they find their way back to “shame” as a…
In 1 Corinthians 15:10. Paul proclaims: “I am what I am by the grace of God. “There is nothing that will bend a man’s will like the recognition of divine love which is blessedness to come in contact with, and to obey.” “You may try to sway him by motives of advantage and self-interest, and to thunder into his ears the pealing words of duty and right and ‘ought,’ and there is no adequate response.” “You cannot soften a heart by the hammers of the law. You cannot force a man to do right by brandishing before him the whip that punishes doing wrong.” “You cannot sway the will by anything but the heart; and when you can touch the deepest spring it moves the whole mass.” Maclaren biblehub.com “You have seen some ponderous piece of machinery, which resists all attempts of a puny hand laid upon it to make it…
Accede, Accept, Access. “Come to, receive, come in — for coming, for taking, for entering.” The words of my Title are from Latin derivation, but have great significance to us believers. They mean: We come, we believe, we gain entrance. Jesus cried out, “come,” and we came — then we received Him — then we were given power to become sons of God with access to Father. To come required a drawing of invitation. To receive required a removal of obstacles and a cleansing. To enter requires continuance in our purified state. Friends, we are accepted in the beloved — we have touched power and grace — we have access to the Father in heaven! When we consider the above with a view to a gathering of souls, we discover “Unity, Peace, and Oneness.” For these we must endeavor — to keep the unity of the Spirit… a unity produced…
As we obey the truth, God may allow us to be placed in precarious situations and locales — only to deliver us and reveal His glorious nature. Why does He do this? — so we can see the vast difference between Almighty God and un-mighty man. Here, watch one such occasion: “And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, “Shadrach, Meshach,…