Making a Difference in your Life, in the Parts that are for Keeps!
Does “bestseller” increase validity, or bank account ?
The fastest way for me to make a million would be to write a book and make a movie about the truth—but then, I probably wouldn’t live to enjoy the money.
Perhaps, the smaller my audience, the longer I’ll live—but then, what is my purpose in standing up and speaking out (or not) ?
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Polls, Percentages, and Passing Popularity do not Provide a Permanent Place in Principles of Truth.
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”
Pride is a big deal to God—the ultimate sin—the first sin—the sin that got satan kicked out of heaven.
So, humility must be a pretty big deal to God.
It’s all over the Bible.
“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”
I always wondered just how we’re supposed to humble ourselves.
We know all too well what it’s like to be humbled—no fun—and who would do that to yourself, on purpose?
I recently noticed that this verse was one connected sentence, not two separate instructions like I always thought.
So, casting our cares on Him must be the way to humble ourselves.
As long as we worry, we’re trying to take care of some things that God might not.
We forget that He cares for us, completely.
HE WILL TAKE CARE OF US, COMPLETELY.
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How in the world do we ever learn this, once and for all?
We don’t.
We just get reminded again, and “cast all our cares upon Him, because He cares for us.”
And that, my friends, is the humility He asks of us.
God knows us well.
“The heart of man is [not so good], . . . Who can know it?”
So God put in His Word what we need to know and what we need, to deal with ourselves.
If “trust in the Lord” was all the instruction necessary, the verse would end there.
God gives additional words to help us focus only on Him, because we get distracted by a multitude of stuff, inside and out.
First, the Word adds, “. . . with all your heart.”
Think about that, often.
It’s legitimate in the Christian life to be reminded of the simple basics over and over.
Don’t let regret or guilt whenever you forget God’s commands and promises, keep you from hearing them again.
We always benefit from re-reading and re-listening to everything in the Bible.
If we trusted God with all our heart, and stayed there, kept focused, that would be great.
But God knew what we’re likely to do right away, so He added, “. . . and do not lean on your own understanding.”
And then, a formula for specific action that we can practice to keep on track:
“In all your ways . . .”
In every single area of your life, in everything . . .
“In all your ways acknowledge Him . . .”
In every single area of your life, in everything, recognize God.
It’s like this: Just how close do I want to walk with God ?
Do I practice taking care of some things myself, or could Jesus be involved IN EVERYTHING, just like He was standing/walking/talking right beside me all day ?
Then, the end result, the final point of arrival, the goal, God’s goal for us in this passage:
“. . . and He will direct your paths.”
All of them ! ! !
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Now, I hope you will always read and remember this part of His Word phrase by phrase, and practice it phrase by phrase, and experience His promise every step by step.
“The heart of man is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked;
who can know it ?”
“Trust in the Lord
with all your heart,
and lean not on your own understanding.
In all your ways
acknowledge Him,
and He will direct your paths.”
We want to just get past this tough time.
We pray for it to be over, for deliverance.
What does God promise about our trouble ?
“In the world you will have tribulation (that’s big trouble, long-term trouble) . . . “
“Man is born into trouble, as the sparks fly upward.”
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous . . .”
“Whoever the Lord loves He chastens (disciplines, corrects, severely) . . .”
“Call on Me in the day of trouble . . .”
“The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away . . .”
“Though He slay me . . .”
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me ?”
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Rarely can we see the whole picture like God sees it, in our time of trouble.
When God chooses to use a person mightily, He first tests him severely.
That statement holds true with the Bible verses above—and there are more.
And, there is more to these verses, as indicated by . . .
“In the world you will have tribulation (that’s big trouble, long-term trouble), but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.“
“Man is born into trouble, as the sparks fly upward.” “Consider the end of Job.“
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.“
“Whoever the Lord loves, He chastens (disciplines, corrects, severely), so God deals with you as sons.“
“Call on Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.“
“The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.“
“Though He slay me, yet I will trust in Him.“
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me ?”
Jesus suffered on the cross, forsaken by God, for our sake, the likes of which we’ll never know.
Accept what Jesus did for you, and trust His perspective to cover the tough times and the mysteries of this life.
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
“. . . the Biden administration’s default setting of mollifying and appeasing Xi Jinping. That only emboldens the Chinese Communist Party, when we should be doing everything possible to deter, delegitimate, and destroy it.”
—–Frank Gaffney
Secure Freedom Minute
“We are not called to be nice. We are often called to be confrontational.”
“Nice is not a fruit of the Spirit.”
—–Sandy Rios, afr.net
“Woe to them that are at ease in Zion.”
“Endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
A few years ago I realized that most of my prayers were asking God to make life easier.
“We must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God.”
I will say to my soul, “You have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you.”
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Christians suffering severely, many with martyrdom, around the world today—that is the norm through history for following Jesus—rather than the easy Christianity in America.
– – –
“You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world.”
I say again,
“It will become harder to be a Christian in America—but it will be easier to tell who is a Christian (because it will be harder, more real).”*
– – –
The question coming up now:
Will Americans who claim or assume Christianity make the transition from easy to costly, following Jesus.
That change is upon us.
A remnant, a minority, will be faithful—and God will be faithful to them through it all.
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*Read this:
2020—A CLEAR SPIRITUAL VISION
(AWordforThought.com)
God has feelings, strong feelings about everything He created, and keeps on creating—most especially people, made ‘in His image.’
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When God made the world, He simply said “it was so” and “it was good.”
When God made man and gave him dominion over everything, He said “it was so” and “it was VERY GOOD!”
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God is pleased with all of His creation, but He has special feelings for the people He created—love and sadness, smile and frown, joy and grief, pleasure and anger, compassion and regret—feelings demonstrated in action—mercy and judgment, forgiveness and justice, patience and accountability, day of grace and day of reckoning.
– – –
Consider God’s very special feelings about the little children He created and still creates with us, safe and unseen ?
He sure talks a lot about His feelings for them in His Book.
– – –
Consider His horror over harm to any of them.
– – –
What about the person who causes such harm ?
“If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble . . . “
– – –
What about the death of a child ?
– – –
What about the murder of a child ?
– – –
What about the person who causes the murder of a child ?
“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble (to sin) (to die), it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”
– – –
– – –
Before I was born, God knew all my DNA.
Before I was born, God knew my every breath.
Before I was born, God knew my life’s history.
– – –
Why all the trouble with details ?
Because, besides all that, He loves me, He wants a relationship with me after I’m born, just like He had already knowing all about me for the nine months before I was born.
– – –
Who would dare to mess with a God like that ?
– – –
“O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You. [When I am born, I am still with You.]
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.”
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And that is
THE ULTIMATE ULTRASOUND ! ! !
Say “No” to the devil, and he will go.
Say “Yes” to Jesus, and He will come.
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Be sure to say “No” to the devil in the name of Jesus, in His power.
Be sure to not leave a vacuum in your soul after you tell the devil to go, or he will return with multiple demons and worse devastation.
Be sure to open the door and invite Jesus to come and control every part of your life.
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“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat and drink with him.”
Every counsel to not worry has a flipside—that we must plan—that we must take care of things.
There is a serious problem when we apply human counsel to flip Bible verses to fit our thinking for ourselves.
“God helps those who help themselves” is not even in the Bible—it doesn’t match with the Bible.
“ Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’ But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.”
“Take no thought for tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. The problems of tomorrow will be sufficient for tomorrow. [Don’t add tomorrow’s troubles onto today.]”
Here are the verses immediately before:
“Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, With what shall we be clothed?
(For the unbelievers seek after all these things.) Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
But seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
(This is a reprint from 2014.)
There is now a glut of documentation for the lawless evil in the highest levels of the United States government. And sadly, it is trickling down to the lower levels in many places.
I am increasingly disturbed as I listen to the people I trust bringing out new facts of corruption continuously. What troubles me even more now, as I observe the zeal and passion for uncovering scandals, is that it becomes an end in itself. Investigators, reporters, and commentators at the top of their field have job security like never before, and they do a great service. But it is not enough.
I’ve said before that the two greatest hazards for our country are 1) The news of the day and 2) The democratic process.
I believe that most of the time and attention given to the currently prominent disasters actually serve to distract all of us from the real agenda proceeding unabated, until it is too late.
It seems like everyone with an audience still pushes for the next election to solve our problems in Washington, like it has in the past, like it is supposed to. But as I wrote recently, that is not enough, just like the democratic process was not enough to form this country.
People don’t want a revolution, and pundits and politicians hold their tongue and try harder through ‘business as usual’ channels.
Truth is, we don’t know how to revolt.
+The House won’t impeach because the Senate won’t follow.
+The internet (surveillance) makes revolution seem impossible, unknown, and awkward.
+The people who depend on the government won’t revolt.
+The government already has us over the barrel.
But I appeal to the very small percentage of the population who understand the gravity of our condition to the point of revolution, and are ready to sacrifice.
So it was 240 years ago. We can’t keep dreaming that history won’t repeat itself. I believe in American exceptionalism, but we are not that exceptional to avoid what we must do to preserve our freedom.
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