PRAY – – – or – – – WORRY

Prayer matters.

Worry doesn’t matter.

Prayer makes a difference.

Worry does not.

“Worry for nothing.”

“Pray for everything.”

“Be thankful for everything.”

“Don’t worry about tomorrow.”

Worry tomorrow.

“Today has enough . . .”

“As your days—so will your strength be.”

First we get another day—then we get what we need for the day.

Sometimes a phrase or a line can help make the difference in a moment, for a day, especially if it is a word from His Word.

All the short quotes above are from the Bible. Keep yours open, and turn to it often.

IS GOD’S WORD ENOUGH ?

Starting with Eve in the garden, people expect someone to tell them what God really says.

And learned theologians, and some not so learned, have been quick to oblige, consistently and persistently giving their explanation of what the Bible says—as though the Bible is not clear, to speak for itself.

Read your Bible first.

Read your Bible every day.

I SEE IT NOW – – – SORT OF

Now we see through a glass—darkly . . .

We get to see some things now—occasional moments of greater clarity—then cloudy again.

What is our purpose/our goal?

We plan.

We work.

We plan more.

We work more.

We save more, to make life smoother, clearer, more enjoyable.

But what does it all depend on ?

What must we possess, for success, to see life clearly ?

After all our efforts, remember this:

BEFORE all our efforts, remember this:

“All depends on our possessing

God’s abundant grace and blessing,

Though all earthly wealth depart.

He who trusts with faith unshaken

In his God is not forsaken

And who keeps a faithful heart.”

If you want more encouragement and clearer perspective like the above verse, type the first line on the internet to read all six verses.

“IT’S NOT FAIR”

Kids say “no fair” all the time, and don’t think twice about it—adults should make life fair.

Big surprise—grow up, it’s still not fair, so there.

Accept that life is not fair, and get to work.

Or

Complain through life.

Or

Become a ‘promising’ politician.

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Actually one of the most appealing parts of politics—make lots of promises, and the complainers will cheer you and pledge to vote for you to “make things fair.”

That makes you feel like you’ve got power.

And if the complainers really mean it, they will actually give you power.

THEN . . .

No one dare talk about reality, what happens next, has happened before, what always happens.

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First a mouse trap

Then a rat trap

Then a bear trap

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First inclusion

Then acceptance

Then rights

– – –

Then “equality”

Then “fair”

Then demands

– – –

Then promises

Then more demands

Then restrictions

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Then rejection

Then hostility

Then more demands by the ‘powered’ politicians

– – –

Then a knock on the door

Traps—become actual physical

Trap on wheels

Bigger trap downtown

No fair ?

Indeed

– – –

Politicians who are offered power must decide . . .

George Washington said no to the offer himself—King George ? (ultimate irony!).

Donald Trump promised to give power back to the people, and did it, and capitalism rose again.

– – –

Democrat candidates all clamor and shout in frenzy to give them power to make everything ‘fair’ for everyone.

But believe me—believe history—if any of these ‘promising’ candidates get the power they’re asking for to do what they’re promising—that is the day they will forget all the people they promised . . . because they now have power—and they won’t use it to make life fair, GUARANTEED!

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But as pointed and prophetic and ‘no brainer’ as all that may be, it is not the bottom line of this article.

In light of the enormous influence that culture and politics have had on the church in America, the parallels in the church with the above are frightening.

Churches have often gravitated to power . . . concentration of power in leadership and church hierarchy and even doctrine.

But my greater concern is people expecting the church to make something fair then, when stuff falls apart, because it’s supposed to stand for God.

– – –

Problem is, the church has been following rather than leading, and doesn’t have a message much different than comfort promised by the world.

And when things turn ugly because the ‘promising’ politicians turn, on the people big time, the church won’t know what to do (in the same darkness, shock), because we have not stuck to the message of Jesus—plain and simple and sometimes hard.

DIVERSE TO INCLUSIVE TO . . .

A healthy society does not start down this road and survive.

– – –

From diverse to inclusive to exclusive to divisive to demanding to destructive to deadly anarchy to tyranny.

Not opinion—just fact.

WHOSE LIFE IS WORTH LIVING ?

How sweet to hold a newborn baby

And feel the pride and joy he brings.

But greater still the calm assurance

This child can face uncertain days

Because He lives.

Because He lives, they can face tomorrow.

Because He lives, all fear is gone.

Because we know, He holds their future.

Their life is worth the living,

Just because He lives.

WRITE IT DOWN

davidjeremiah.org

The Written Word 6-29-22

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If you listen to the above message (30 minutes), you will find something unique, something you most likely have not heard before, something that could be life-changing.

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This is available on the internet any time for the next 30 days.

“HALF SLAVE, HALF FREE” – – – HALF DEATH, HALF LIFE ?

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.

I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided.

It will become all one thing or all the other.

—–Abraham Lincoln, June 16,1858 after the Illinois Republicans chose him as their candidate for U. S. Senator

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Indeed, how telling is that quote for our country today.

We have quickly become unsustainably divided in America.

The emphasis on race has been used beyond reality to whip up division, because it is an old, convenient means to weaken a country for takeover.

What is far more significant in our current division and the very survival of our divided America, is what God says about our killing babies—for fifty years across the country, and now dividing us state by state for life or death.

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A day after Roe has been overturned, WE THANK GOD ! ! !, and we thank Donald Trump for his three Supreme Court appointees that made yesterday possible ! ! !

We know how much more work is required to abolish abortion across America.

Judgment has already started falling for the blood of sixty million babies.

Now the question, “How long can this country stand, half ‘death’ and half ‘life’?”

Rephrasing from Lincoln’s speech:

“‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.

I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half death and half life.”

CONTENT ? or DISTURBED ?

Disturb us, Lord, when

We are too well pleased with ourselves,

When our dreams have come true

Because we have dreamed too little,

When we arrived safely

Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when

With the abundance of things we possess

We have lost our thirst

For the waters of life;

Having fallen in love with life,

We have ceased to dream of eternity

And in our efforts to build a new earth,

We have allowed our vision

Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,

To venture on wider seas

Where storms will show your mastery;

Where losing sight of land,

We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back

The horizons of our hopes;

And to push into the future

In strength, courage, hope, and love.

—–Attributed to Sir Francis Drake, 1577

TIME AND STRESS

(I wrote this in my notepad after the spring change to daylight savings time, and failed to post it.)

I’m guessing a lot of people are getting up late this morning—or at least struggling to get up on time this week—and not because they failed to change their clocks.

We punch buttons on our technology and get instant results, but we can’t change the fact that our internal clocks don’t operate that way.

Even if you went to bed earlier last night, something tells you that something isn’t right inside.

And the more we try to override the way we’re made in any area (even using technology and science), the more we add stress and distress to our lives.

In generations past, like the pioneer days, I believe people had more peace, time, energy, and emotion to deal with life, with less stress, than we do, because they had consistent rest, without arbitrary interruption in their schedule.

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Interesting how we still talk, and many complain, about the switches with DST.

It shows that we’re not designed to get used to such sudden, overnight changes.

We adjust to the seasons because they are gradual, and they are designed by the same Creator that made us to fit in His creation.