NICE AND EASY – – – NOT !

April 7, 2023 By Leave a Comment

“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.”

– – –

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.
– – –
– – –
*Read this:
2020—A CLEAR SPIRITUAL VISION
(AWordforThought.com)

Filed Under: Educational, Faith Based, Inspirational, Time

IMPROVING ON MALE AND FEMALE ?

April 7, 2023 By Leave a Comment

To be consistent in the frenzy to re-define male and female, re-arrange male and female parts, eliminate male and female – – – then lots of luck to the politically correct tsunami of words to re-label everything in the construction industries of plumbing and electrical – – – communication without saying ‘male’ and ‘female’ ? ? ?

My prediction—they’ll try—and they’ll be stopped dead in their tracks.
So much for business bowing down to all things lgbt.
– – –
– – –
“lgbt is a bunch of non-reproductive, regressive mental mutations—applied evolution, attempted today—just the latest season in the series, ‘Did God really say?'”

Read EVOLUTION IS DE-VOLUTION at AWordforThought.com

Filed Under: Educational, Political---Cultural

PROMISES – – – EASTER PROMISES ! ! !

April 7, 2023 By Leave a Comment

Jesus clearly said He would rise from death in three days.
Later, He even said, “I told you so.”
On the day He died, who believed Him ?
After He died, what did His followers do ?
Where did they go ? They hid behind locked doors.
After Jesus appeared to them, they were still hiding.
– – –
We have Jesus’ promise, and proof, of His resurrection.
And we have multitudes more promises of what He will do for us.
Do we know those promises ?
Do we believe them, or just know them ?
If we believe them, do we count on them, and act on them publicly ?
Do we accept danger and opposition and real trouble, real cost, real persecution ?
Of all the people we know, who knows that we carry the name of Jesus with us wherever we go ?
– – –
– – –
After Jesus appeared to His disciples, they were still hiding . . .
UNTIL . . .

Until the Holy Spirit came after ten days of prayer after Jesus went back to heaven.
Then, all-heaven broke loose, and Peter preached, and the others preached in all the languages of the foreigners in Jerusalem celebrating the Jewish feast of Pentecost—and 3000 people became believers in Jesus.
– – –
– – –
What about us, today ?
Same as day one.
UNTIL we pray and receive the Holy Spirit . . .

All-heaven can break loose in our lives at any time, and we can boldly tell everyone about Jesus who died in our place and rose back to life so we can too.
We start by making sure “all the people we know, know that we carry the name of Jesus with us wherever we go.”

Filed Under: Faith Based, Inspirational

COMPLAIN LESS – – – EXPLAIN LESS

March 29, 2023 By Leave a Comment

The problem with complaining:

You have to convince the other person to be interested in your problem to the point that they care enough to carry some of your burden and make you feel better—not complaining just to vent.
Actually, most complaining is just one-sided, and makes no difference to the other person.

– – –

The problem with explaining:

You have to convince the other person to accept your explanation to their satisfaction to line up with their existing viewpoint, before they can make you feel better after explaining.
Most people believe what they want to believe—and they stick to a position that exempts their involvement to make a difference.
So, most explaining is one-sided, and makes no difference to the other person.

– – –

What about God and complaining and explaining?

God complains about our complaining, and He doesn’t always explain what we’re complaining about, but He is sustaining us through it all. (Thanks to Jeff Shreve on afr for adding the ‘sustaining’ line.)

– – –

Complain less.
Explain less.

– – –

Eat less (just thrown in for free).

Filed Under: Inspirational

HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE

March 22, 2023 By Leave a Comment

That is another oxymoron, of the highest order.

When ‘Christianity’ became the official religion of the Roman Empire a few hundred years after Jesus’ ascension, it was not good for the church.
That turned into power for the Catholic Church, and power always generates a craving for more power.
And so, the Catholic Church found no limits to extending their power and control over the people—spiritually, financially, politically.

When the Reformation freed many Christians to rediscover a true relationship with God and reading the Bible themselves, the Catholic Church doubled down on their authority over the members.
It remains an amazing mystery how they can maintain so much control over so many people.
The massive power of the Catholic Church continues to this day—not much different from days of The Holy Roman Empire.

“Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
“An observation that a person’s sense of morality lessens as his or her power increases. The statement was made by Lord Acton, a British historian of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.”

We see before our eyes today increasing corruption from such power—in the church.

Filed Under: Educational, Faith Based, Financial, Political---Cultural

WITHOUT THE LABEL

March 22, 2023 By Leave a Comment

Describe someone’s condition without saying the name of the condition.
– – –
That can be very helpful in communicating the person’s individual experience and personalizing rather than compartmentalizing the response.

There is a place for labels, to assist research and treatment, but be careful to not impose a blanket medical condition and miss important factors unique to the individual, including how the person feels about the label.
One can feel hope when the condition has a name, or feel like no one is listening to what they have to say anymore.

Most people, upon hearing they (or someone) have such and such illness or condition, immediately lock into thinking and talking from what they know or think they know about it—as in, what they’ve been told about it.
– – –
We have become accustomed to search for answers from the medical establishment with a name for everything—then we expect help from experts who are supposed to know.
It is not universal, but there is a tendency to turn over our bodies and our minds to educated professionals.
And health insurance has reinforced this through outside control of money for all things medical, and mental.
– – –
We need to regain and retain ownership of our health and the money to pay for it.

Common sense in common people makes the most sense.

Filed Under: Financial, Health

HOW CAN WE KNOW WHAT’S TRUE ?

March 18, 2023 By Leave a Comment

How can we know if something is true?

Start by asking another question,
How can we know if it’s from God?

And, another question,
How does it match with the Bible?

– – –

“They received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.”

“Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own.”

– – –

So the search for truth boils down to this—sooner or later we must recognize that the Bible is the source of truth and the standard for truth to measure everything.

The search for truth brings another soul-searching question,
Do I want to do the will of God?

Then the search for truth is up to the individual’s willingness to spend time in the Bible every day. It’s that simple.

– – –

Warning: Remember Satan’s first words in the third chapter of the Bible—effective then and ever since,
“Did God really say, . . .?”

Filed Under: Faith Based, Inspirational

FOUNDATIONS – – – ROOTS – – – RESULTS

March 18, 2023 By Leave a Comment

Trees by a river don’t wither, because their roots have access to water.
They produce year after year.
Without deep roots and water, plants dry up and blow away with the wind in summer.

Houses built on rock don’t settle or shift because their foundations are secure.
They stand year after year.
Without solid base, houses sink and wash away with the wind and water in storms.
– – –
Individuals and nations, and city leaders, that walk in step with ungodly council, that stand with people promoting sin, that sit alongside those who scorn any mention of the things of God—will bring destruction.
Politicians check the wind, and follow accordingly.

It was not so in the rock-solid foundation of this country, the Bible.
Statesmen check the truth, and lead accordingly.
– – –
The following words apply to individuals—and they still apply to individuals who become civic leaders:

The Bible says,
“Blessed is the man
Who does not walk in step with ungodly council,
Who does not stand with those promoting sin,
Who does not sit with those who scorn the things of God;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.”

Jesus said,
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Filed Under: Educational, Faith Based, Inspirational, Political---Cultural

HOW MANY ?

March 15, 2023 By Leave a Comment

HOW MANY STARS IN THE SKY ?
HOW MANY GRAINS IN THE SAND ?
HOW MANY HAIRS ON MY HEAD ?

A multitude of Bible verses about the stars.
My favorite is a very short end of a verse in creation, “. . . and He made the stars also.”—minor detail ? just to show the magnitude of our God.
How many stars ? Only God knows, “He tells the number of the stars; he calls them all by their names.”—minor detail ? just to show the magnitude of our God.

I wonder how the number of stars in the sky compares to the number of grains of sand on the earth.
God doesn’t miss an opportunity to show His love with big numbers in creation beyond our counting.
“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.”— minor detail ? just to show the magnitude of our God.
How many grains of sand ? How many times does God think about me ?

Our concern about losing our hair—not to worry, God keeps track of every one.
How does that detail compare to the ‘big’ things that give us anxiety ?
“Even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore do not fear . . .”—minor detail ? just to show the magnitude of our God.
How many hairs ? Enough for Jesus to bother to count to tell us to not fear.

Filed Under: Faith Based, Inspirational

ULTIMATE ULTRASOUND

March 15, 2023 By Leave a Comment

God has feelings, strong feelings about everything He created, and keeps on creating—most especially people, made ‘in His image.’
– – –
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!”
– – –
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.”
– – –
– – –
And that is
THE ULTIMATE ULTRASOUND ! ! !

Filed Under: Educational, Faith Based, Family, Health, Inspirational, Political---Cultural, Time
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »