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Archive for the ‘Inspiration’ Category

Idle Is Bad; We Need To Warn Each Other As Brothers

15 Aug

2 Thessalonians 3:11-15 –11 We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat. 13 And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.

14 If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed. 15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “catch the fever.”

That’s what Paul is warning the worker’s for Christ here.  The difference is he doesn’t want the workers to catch the idle fever.

Never tire of doing what’s right and do not associate with those that are going to keep you from the goal.

Harsh words and the world will gnash its teeth as such things.  However, Paul is trying to remind believers of what’s important.  Could you imagine where we would be if the early church went idle and did their own
thing?  What would have become of the church?

What would happen if the church today became idle?  Would they throw God out of school?  Would people start killing their unborn children in the name of convenience?  Would they start chasing after the world instead of their hearts chasing after God?  Would they start picking a choosing which passages they like and not others?

Sounds too familiar doesn’t it?  These are the things that happen when a country was strong in the Lord becomes complacent and idle.

 
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Posted in Encouragement, Inspiration, Motivation

 

Quote – A. W. Tozer

14 Aug

We must meet the uncertainties of this world with the certainty of the world to come.
A W Tozer

 

Faith!

Do you believe what the Word of God says?

Do you believe that the Lord is with you like the Word says?

Do you believe all the promises that are ahead?

Faith.  The Lord loves faith and the belief in His Word.  Do you know how to strengthen your faith?  By
reading and studying God’s Word.  Watch and see how God answers prayer that is in His will.  That and seeing Him work around you everday will help build your faith.

God has promised wonderful things in His world ahead.  Do you blieve that?

Let’s show the Lord then with our faith.

 
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Posted in Encouragement, Inspiration, Motivation

 

Praying For The Lord To Protect Us

12 Aug

David writes in many a Psalm for God’s protection from his enemies.

Psalm 59:1-2 – 1 Deliver me from my enemies, O God; protect me from those who rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from evildoers and save me from bloodthirsty men.

As protectors of our own families I think we need to always pray for God’s protection.  Ask the Lord
to always keep you safe.

We live in a very nice country, but there are many things beginning to unravel and crime has been an issue for quite some time.

We don’t have even one billionth of Lord’s strength.  But He wants us to pray.  He wants us to put our trust in Him.  This is what David is doing.  He’s praying and crying out to the Lord.  He knows his strength is only good as His Lord.

If you don’t ask for the Lord’s protection in your prayers, please start doing so.  Nobody else is more powerful than our God.

 
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Posted in Encouragement, Inspiration, Motivation

 

Let The Peace Of Christ Rule Your Hearts

11 Aug

Collisions 3:15-17- 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

When you let something rule over you, what’s it doing?  It’s in control.

We need to the peace of Christ control us.

Let the Word dwell richly in you.  What happens when you dwell on something?  It engulfs you.  It controls your thoughts.  It can rule over you.

You’ll hear people say to people who are troubled, don’t dwell on it.

My word to you regarding Jesus and His Word is to dwell on it.  Let it control your thoughts, actions and let it rule over you.

Do everything in the name of Jesus.  You won’t regret it.  You’re not going to stand in front of the Lord and have Him look at you and say, “Really, I mean c’mon did you really have to give me that much love and attention?”

No.  You can’t out give the Lord on time or resources.  But we can certainly not give enough.

Let the Peace of Christ rule over you, nothing else.

 
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Put The Good To Practice

10 Aug

I am putting down a very popular couple of verses in today’s post.

Philippians 4:6-7 – 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

These are great verses that many of us see a lot.  I love these verses because they are life verses.  We all need to pay attention and obey these verses.

Don’t be jumping just into anything all scatter brain.  Don’t get all worked up or anxious
either.  Take things to the Lord in prayer.  He wants us to.

When we put our trust into God, that’s when the peace comes in.  The protection from God is for our
hearts and minds.  There is stuff in the world and philosophies that really can get a guy off track for a long
time.  Literally years.

Some really great verses follow these two also.

Philippians 4:8-9 –8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

In with the good stuff and out with the bad.  We are in a testing period.  It’s not the only thing we’re in right now, because we are also in a war.  Still this is a time of “what are you going to do?”

What are going to choose?  Whom are you going to choose?

Paul makes it real simple.  Choose what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent,
and praiseworthy.  What do all these things have in common?  THEY’RE GOOD!  They’re not what I choose to do because I can do whatever I want.  These things are how we are supposed to live and they don’t come natural to the sinful nature.

Choose to do good.  Choose to serve God.  This isn’t a time to say, “Oh hey Jesus, you’re my Savior and I’ll never forget that, but now I’m taken care of when I die.  Since that’s the case I can do whatever I want.”

That thinking is talked about a lot in the bible and it never is looked at well at all.  Accepting Jesus is a lifetime commitment.  It’s not a one time at the altar acknowledgment.

Would you want your children treating you like that?  A little bit a lip service and a whole lot of
doing everything that is contrary to the things that are right?

Put into practice the things that are of God.

 
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Posted in Inspiration, Motivation

 

Psalm 8

09 Aug

Psalm 8:1-9 – 1 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
above the heavens.
2 From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.

3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You made him ruler over the works of your
hands; you put everything under his feet:

7 all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

9 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

I love that how in this Psalm David gives praise to the Lord in the beginning and at the end.

In between it he mentions how Big and Awesome God is that he created the heavens and the stars and yet God still allows man who was made a little lower than the angels to still reign over the other creatures that He created on this earth.

The Lord is love and he loves the human creation He made.  However, He wants us to love Him
back.  If you can’t love the Lord who made you, you won’t find the free grace He has offered.  It takes a repentant heart to find the way back to God.  One must accept His death on the cross and die to their sinful prideful nature.

That’s when one finds out how majestic and loving our Lord is.

 
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Posted in Encouragement, Inspiration, Reflections, Salvation

 

Quote – Dwight L. Moody

07 Aug

Some people think God does not like to be troubled with our constant coming and asking. The way to trouble God is not to come at all.
Dwight L. Moody

 

There is a misnomer that God is too busy since there is so much going on.  Therefore I will only bother Him when things get really bad and as soon as they get better I won’t bother Him at all.

God doesn’t have a problem multitasking.  He also isn’t interested in us living and doing our own thing without Him.

God created man for relationship, not for us to take off do our own things in a haywire mess.  He didn’t make us to have man completely run away and reject God.

John 15:5-6 – 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

The easiest way to get away from God is to constantly not seek Him.

If we examine our own lives, we get into the most trouble when we are doing our own thing and don’t seek Him.  This is to be expected since we are fallen sinful creatures.

Who in the bible is a man after God’s own heart?  That’s right David.  David looked to God for his guidance and constantly prayed and gave Him praise.  During those times God didn’t tell David, you know I think you’re a little clingy or to close and you’re smothering me.

No, the people in the bible who constantly seek and praise God like David and others, we’re considered those who showed God the most love and were those that after His heart.

You’re not troubling God unless you’re off trying to do it all on your own.

 
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Posted in Quotes

 

Another Last Days Warning From Jude -Part 3

05 Aug

Jude 1:17:22 –17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

The first two days we went over the first two paragraphs and today we will wrap up the third.

The third paragraph is about caring and loving others.  Verse 22 tells us to be merciful to those who
doubt.  To doubt that Jesus is Lord has bad enough consequences already.  I believe as long as those who listen continue to do so, we need to plant or water seeds that may already be there.

Verse 23 I believe is telling us to take by the hand those who need it.  There are certain people that need to be snatched away from things that keep them from the Lord.  There is no forcing involved in what we are talking about but more persistence in their guidance.  As we know you can’t force anyone to love the
Lord or do what God wants if they don’t have it in their heart.

Mercy mixed with fear. I believe it is important to lovingly deliver the message of what happens to those that are not saved.  It’s not popular but if the Bible is constantly warning us, then we need to be motivated by it and share it along with the love message to others.

Last we need to hate sin.  We need to stay far away from it. One thing that kind of pops in my head reading the last of verse 23 is; I hate cigarette smoke.  However, if you have been around those who smoke a lot and in close proximity your clothes will wreak of smoke.   We need to hate even
the stuff that is linked to sin.

So in a recap Jude warns us in paragraph one of those who can lure believers away.  In paragraph
two we need to pray in the Spirit and stay strong until His return.   In paragraph three we need to care about others, love them even though they may doubt, try to reach them the best we can, and don’t follow them into sin.

Continue to stay focused and strong because He is coming soon.  Sooner today than yesterday.  The signs continue to keep moving forward concerning the second coming, which I believe brings the rapture that much closer.

 
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Posted in Encouragement, End Time Prophecies, Inspiration

 

Another Last Days Warning From Jude -Part 2

04 Aug

Jude 1:17:22 –17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

Yesterday we discussed the first paragraph.

Today we’ll discuss the second paragraph.

We need to pray in the Spirit of God.  It mentions it in Ephesians when talking about the full armor of God.

Ephesians 6:17-18 – 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

We need to pray in the Spirit when we pray.  Why?  Because there are a lot of people that pray for their selfish desires.  Not needs, but desires that are not of God.

Here’s an example of two prayers.

First prayer.  Lord please help me to reach others with your Word so they may find You and have a
relationship with You.

Second prayer.  Lord please give me more money that I can spend on some great things that I’ve
always wanted to buy.  I know if I could just have this I would really be fulfilled.

I tried to make it obvious in the two prayers by having them on each end of the spectrum.

One is for the Kingdom of the Lord and comes from the Spirit of God.  The other is not at all and is of
the world.  We need to pray in the Spirit so His thoughts can be more of our thoughts.

Once we get to the point of praying in the Holy Spirit for the things of God we need to stay there.
Verse 21 encourages us to keep ourselves in God’s love.

Tomorrow we will finish up with verses 22 & 23.

 
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Another Last Days Warning From Jude -Part 1

03 Aug

Jude 1:17:22 –17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

Jude is not a large book, but he drives home towards the end of his one chapter things for us in the last days.

Today I am going to concentrate on the first paragraph.

Jude states remember what the apostles told you.  We read that similar comment in 2 Peter regarding
scoffers.

2 Peter 3:3-4 – 3 First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”

Paul also in 2 Timothy speaks about the other portion in the last days that Jude appears to be referring to.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 – 1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

I don’t know about you but I see both of these things happening.  Scoffers and lovers of themselves is very common in this country and very prevalent in the so called church.

We need to heed to these warnings and make sure we don’t fall into this trap ourselves. Paul also warns to have nothing to do with them.  I take that as pray for them, continually lovingly warn them, but don’t get sucked in.   Tomorrow we will continue with these passages.

 
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Posted in Encouragement, End Time Prophecies, Inspiration

 
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