“. . . EAT AND DRINK WITH YOU . . .”

Consider this mealtime prayer, especially for a family holiday meal.

“Jesus, you said You stand and knock at our door, waiting for us to hear Your voice and open the door—You said You would then come in and eat and drink with us.
So, we hear You knocking and hear Your voice—we open the door—come in, Jesus, eat with us and drink with us. Amen.”

If Jesus knocks at our door, one on one . . .
If we hear His voice, one on one . . .
If we open our door, one on one . . .
If Jesus comes in, one on one . . .
If Jesus eats and drinks with us, one on one . . .
. . . Then most surely Jesus will be included in our conversation with others around the table ! ! !

Everything we talk about, definitely about the meal, and anything else in our lives—Jesus wants to be in all of it.*
Tell the others about things Jesus has done in your life lately—tell about things Jesus has done in your heart lately.
Tell about what Jesus has brought you through—or what He is bringing you through.
You don’t have to wait to share, until everything is taken care of.
You may inspire someone else to do the same.

“In all your ways acknowledge Him . . .”
“. . . and [so] He will direct your paths.”

* If we love Jesus, He pays close attention to all of our conversations—so it’s only natural to include Him in what we say.
“Those who loved the Lord spoke often to one another, AND the Lord hearkened (listened closely) and heard them.”

D E I – – – EXCEPT . . .

A few examples of the ridiculous, to show the hypocrisy of DEI:
Diversity
Equity
Inclusion.

Dominance
Enforcement
Inconsistency

Saturated Publicity – – – brainwash with lies
Selective Application – – – isolate opposition
Subjective Enforcement – – – destroy dissenters

The rule ‘i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’ in spelling fits the DEI rules.
Inclusion before Exclusion, except after Christians.

SACRIFICED LATELY ?

Have you sacrificed lately ?
Have you sacrificed ever ?

The following riddle may help to put sacrifice in a new perspective.

What do
+Punishment
+Persecution
+Sacrifice
have in common ?

Wish I could hide the answer while you think about it.
Or I could write some more to give you time.

The answer:
Suffering

+With Punishment you suffer, and it’s your fault.
+With Persecution you suffer, and it’s not your fault.
+With Sacrifice you suffer, and it’s your choice.

So,
Have you sacrificed lately ?
Have you sacrificed ever ?

How about giving ?
Has your giving involved sacrifice ?
Has your giving involved suffering ?

We can give without sacrifice—give what we can spare.
We can’t sacrifice without giving—if it doesn’t hurt, it’s not sacrifice.
– – –
Does this spoil what we’ve always thought about our giving ?
Or does it challenge us to a new experience in giving—for the first time ?
Think for a few minutes about Jesus’ giving to us—His sacrifice for us.

Therefore, can a millionaire sacrifice and remain a millionaire ?
Can I sacrifice and maintain my current standard of living ?

WHICH WILL IT BE ?

Will it be real American leaders, willing to sacrifice for freedom—taking out the tyrants taking us down ?

OR

Will it be Chinese invaders here, now—taking out real American leaders and taking over ?

PAINFUL PROGRESS

“Progress without pain is not possible.”
—–David Jeremiah

PATH TO POWER

“In his weakness, Paul became a receptacle for the power of God, that he could not know otherwise.”
—–David Jeremiah

“TRENDING”

Does popular make it important ?

LOOKING BACK – – – AT NOW

In light of the rapid acceleration of everything destructive to America, what if we could look back (years from now) at this present time, after the history books are written (or, shall we say, after America is history) ?

Could it possibly become clear then, what we could have done to stop all this godless insanity, and restore and preserve this greatest nation in all of human existence ?

Sadly, we still seem locked into ‘same old’ answer to “What can we do?”
Get informed, vote, and run for office.

But the current circumstances with rapid development of imminent destruction, call for more ! ! !
Every leader on the ‘good guys’ side still calls for non-violence.
Just where would that have left us at our founding and the revolution ?

Looking back . . . at then—clearly we did what we had to do—we did the right thing.

Looking back . . . at now—honestly, it looks like we don’t have a clue ! ! !

Americans who experienced Cuba, Venezuela, China, Russia, etc, tell us how far down the same road we are, and plead with us to stop.

It seems we are afraid to consider the sacrifice and once again “pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.’
Those men made good on their pledge, LITERALLY, and paid dearly.

– – –

And, we don’t have a leader, right now.
We can’t wait for the election next year to save us—it will be too late.

And for all those who pray for revival, “because only God can save us”—true in the American Revolution—but those same people praying and preaching picked up their guns and killed British soldiers.
That’s how we got America.
Then they gave us the first amendment so we could freely rely on God publicly, and they gave us the second amendment, so we could act on that revival and do it again, for freedom, with our guns.

“Freedom will look easy when we don’t have to die to get it.”—–George Washington

We forget that part.
No one is ready to take out evil people if we might get killed or go to prison or lose our reputation or our livelihood.
The justice system is not working to take out evil people—so who’s going to do it ?
Have we come to a point in this country where we are willing to watch these evil people destroy America, and not stop them ?

Does that cost of freedom not apply to Americans today ?

– – –

We have other things to think about . . .
“In the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark.”

THE PIGPEN – – – WHAT’S THAT SMELL ?

Of course the pigpen smells bad—real bad, unless you’re the pig farmer.
And if you spend any time in the pigpen, you’re going to smell real bad too.

Just how do you get into the pigpen, because obviously it’s nobody’s idea of fun ?

First, you start wanting what you think you’ve got coming—and you want it now.
It doesn’t matter to you who’s standing in your way, who you have to dishonor, Who you have to disobey—you want it now.

That’s starting to smell—that stinks.

Your wish is granted, but it seriously hurts someone you’re supposed to love (a Father who loves you).
Your stinking thinking means you don’t care—you want it now.
You just want to have fun, and you’ll have money to buy lots of it.

Question: How long will it last ?
Answer: Not long.

Running out of money, and economic wipeout from famine, simultaneously—that stinks—coincidence, or arranged ?

Complete personal crash, and you’re faced with just trying to stay alive—feeding pigs, wanting to eat with pigs, stinking like pigs.
What a place to “come to yourself”, like after unconsciousness from drugs and drinking.
Well, whatever it takes.

Your attitude was stinking from the beginning—money masked the misery inside for a little while.
The truth eventually comes to light.

You were already in the pigpen, even when there were clean sheets on the bed for every night of pleasure that smelled so good.

Thank God for sending us to a stinking pigpen whenever we need to come to our senses, and return home to our Father, and plead our guilt of sin and unworthiness.

– – –

The pigpen—what’s that smell ? —stinking sin, pride, selfishness, stinking pleasures.

Repentance, acceptance, love, forgiveness—what’s that smell ? —barbecued beef—“the fatted calf” butchered for just this occasion—celebration—dead to alive—lost to found—restored to the family.

(Written on the day to remember fifty years of . . .)

DISCERN – – – AND JUDGE

“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?“—–His Book

Discernment and judgment starts in the house of God, but it doesn’t stop there.
It’s time for Christians to . . .
– do something besides surviving.
– remember we have an offensive weapon, the Bible, besides all the defensive, protective armor.
– overcome the cultural accusation, criticism, intimidation to not judge.
– strengthen and encourage each other and pray together for faith, wisdom, and boldness to stand up, speak up, and make a difference—be different, so others will say of us, “They have been with Jesus.”
– – –
What did Jesus say besides “Judge not . . . “?’

That’s only part of what He said then, plus more specifics on addressing and fixing wrongs in others.

“Judge not, so that you will not be judged—BECAUSE the same standards for discerning [understanding right and wrong when you see it] and judging [speaking up to address specific right and wrong to specific people] also apply to you.”

That is why Jesus made such a graphic deal about a log and a speck in the eye.
“First remove the log in your own eye; then you will see clearly to remove the speck in another’s eye.”
– – –
Interesting observation—so many of Jesus’ illustrations and sayings stick with us thousands of years because they carry weight, because He carries authority.
– – –
Remove the log in our own eye, to see clearly and judge and speak up to remove what is wrong and obstructing sight in others.

It will not be easy, not fun, not popular, we may not win—but we must not hesitate, not compromise, not back away, not be silent.