He Will Not Strive Forever

Our God is patient with us but His Holy Word makes it quite clear that "He will not strive with us forever." Genesis 6:3

That truth should be quite sobering to us individually and as a nation.

If individual people had not alienated themselves from the LORD by our wanton disregard for His law and His truth and His salvation, our nation could not be on a path to abandonment of ONE who made us strong and free.

Collectively, we have allowed the abrogation of our forefathers' Christian faith that is being subtly replaced with foreign gods and false religions. Collectively, we have selected godless men to represent us in the echelons of power.

As individuals and as a people, we must return to the GOD of our fathers. We must repent of our sin against the Holy Savior who gave Himself for us and allow Him to restore us to the place of faith and commitment to the WAY and the TRUTH that are LIFE!

We must, for indeed, HE WILL NOT STRIVE WITH US FOREVER.

God Can

God Can Author Unknown

When you feel unlovable, unworthy and unclean,
When you think that no one can heal you,
Remember, God Can heal.

When you think that you can't be forgiven
Because of your guilt and your shame
Remember, God Can forgive.

When you think that your secrets are hidden
And no one can see deep within
Remember, God Can see.

When you have plunged to the bottom
Where cries go unheard
Remember, God Can hear.

When you think that none can love
The real person deep inside of you
Remember, God Does love.

Psalm 103:13
13 As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities them that fear Him.

1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Deuteronomy 31:
6 Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid: for the LORD your God, He it is that goes with you; He will neither fail you, nor forsake you.

The flowers of the field are gloriously arrayed...How much more shall HE provide clothing for you! The sparrow cannot fall to the ground without HIS knowledge...How much more does HE know you and care for you!

The Alabaster Quill

Words to Ponder

"Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven." Psalm 85:11

Quotes of Presidents

"The ULTIMATE AUTHORITY... resides in THE PEOPLE ALONE." James Madison

“For better or for worse, the ability to speak freely has the capacity to enlighten us so that our footsteps may move towards better and brighter days, or it may be used to silence voices that could sound as voices of reason and wisdom to redirect our paths.” Kristen Powers

Intimacy with God

January 31

Intimacy with God by Mike Bickle

“And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” II Peter 1:19

God has raised up leaders in the church throughout the generations who have functioned as prophets of God crying out against the sins of the people.

John Wesley, for instance, turned England back to God when the people's personal unrighteousness and apathy had brought them to the edge of societal chaos. This outcry is similar to the prophetic cry against social injustice, but different in that it is specifically directed to the people in the church.

It is less like Jonah prophesying against Nineveh and more like Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesying to Israel and Judah. People such as Billy Graham, Charles Colson, John Piper, David Wilkerson, and A. W. Tozer stand out in my mind as prophetic ministers raised up to cry out against unrighteousness in the church as they revealed the deep things about the knowledge of God.

Their words have been anointed by the Holy Spirit to awaken hearts to holiness and passion for Jesus. We who are believers in Christ must emulate them in our attuning our spirits to the Spirit of the Living God so HE may speak to us and show us the deep things of Christ.

May He give us a clear understanding of the men and women of God whom He is using as prophetic ministers to our world today. May He open us to hear Him when He calls us to be among them.

May He anoint our spirits and awaken our hearts to holiness and passion for Jesus Christ the Son of God. May He cause us to be attendant to the words He is speaking though His prophets today, so we do not miss the revelations of the Holy Spirit that He brings to us.

God uses prophetic voices, just as He used John the Baptist, to prick the conscience of believers unto full revival.

 

 

Christian Civilization

Christian Civilization by Bill Federer

 

"World is divided between pagan brutality and the Christian ideal. We choose the Christian ideal." -FDR

Franklin D. Roosevelt warned at Madison Square Garden, October 28, 1940: "WE GUARD AGAINST the forces of anti-Christian aggression, which may attack us from without."

FDR said in a Fireside Chat, April 28, 1942:  "THIS GREAT WAR effort must be carried through... It shall not be imperiled by the handful of noisy traitors - betrayers of America, betrayers of Christianity itself."


At a Campaign event in Brooklyn, New York, November 1, 1940 he said:  "THOSE FORCES HATE democracy and Christianity as two phases of the same civilization.  They oppose democracy because it is Christian. They oppose Christianity because it preaches democracy...PRESERVATION OF THESE rights is vitally important now, not only to us who enjoy them, but to the whole future of Christian civilization."



"WE FACE ONE of the great choices of history...the continuance of civilization as we know it versus the ultimate destruction of all that we have held dear - the Christian religion against godlessness."

FDR addressed Congress regarding the Yalta Conference, March 1, 1945:  "I SAW SEVASTOPOL and Yalta! And I know that there is not room enough on earth for both German militarism and Christian decency."

Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a radio greeting to the Boy Scouts, February 7, 1938:  "ON THIS 28TH birthday of the Boy Scouts of America we should be especially thankful for a youth movement which seeks merely to preserve such simple fundamentals as physical strength, mental alertness and moral straightness."

To the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, December 6, 1933:  he said, "EARLY CHRISTIANS CHALLENGED the pagan ethics of Greece and of Rome; We are wholly ready to challenge the pagan ethics...of our boasted modern civilization."

FDR stated May 27, 1941: "THE WHOLE WORLD is divided between...pagan brutality and the Christian ideal. We choose human freedom which is the Christian ideal."



FDR remarked in his State of the Union, January 6, 1942: "THE WORLD IS too small...for both Hitler and God... Nazis have now announced their plan for enforcing their...pagan religion all over the world - a plan by which the Holy Bible and the Cross of Mercy would be displaced by Mein Kampf and the swastika and the naked sword...



THE NAZI WORLD does not recognize any God except Hitler; for Nazis are as ruthless as the Communists in denial of God... Will our children wander goose-stepping in search of new gods?"



Though Franklin Roosevelt was a liberal in his day, since then both the left and the right have moved further to the left resulting in FDR's statements appearing conservative by comparison.

In a Fireside Chat, March 9, 1937, FDR stated:
"I HOPE THAT you have re-read the Constitution of the United States... Like the Bible, it ought to be read again and again...WE CANNOT READ the history of our rise and development as a nation, without reckoning with the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic... Where we have been the truest and most consistent in obeying its precepts, we have attained the greatest measure of contentment and prosperity."




"OUR ENEMIES ARE guided by...unholy contempt for the human race. We are inspired by a faith that goes back...to the Book of Genesis: 'God created man in His own image.'"



FDR told the American Youth Congress, February 10, 1940: "I KNEW THAT some day Russia would return to religion for the simple reason that four or five thousand years of recorded history have proven that mankind has always believed in God in spite of the many abortive attempts to exile God."





"I DOUBT IF there is any problem in the world...that would not find happy solution if approached in the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount...in conformity with the teaching of Him Who is the Way, the Light and the Truth."


"AN ORDERING OF society which relegates religion...to the background can find no place within it for the ideals of the Prince of Peace. The United States rejects such an ordering, and retains its ancient faith."




FDR stated January 31, 1938: "THERE HAS BEEN definite progress towards a spiritual reawakening... I receive evidences of this from all our Protestant Churches; I get it from Catholic priests and from Jewish rabbis as well...
CHURCHES AND GOVERNMENT...can work hand in hand... Government guarantees to the churches - Gentile and Jewish - the right to worship God in their own way... State and Church are rightly united in a common aim."



In a Radio Address, November 4, 1940, FDR stated:

"DEMOCRACY IS THE birthright of every citizen, the white and the colored; the Protestant, the Catholic, the Jew.  YOUR GOVERNMENT IS working...with representatives of Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish faiths. Without these three, all three of them...things would not be as...easy."

Regarding Jewish Refugees, FDR stated on June 12, 1944:

"THIS NATION IS appalled by the systematic persecution of helpless minority groups by Nazis... The fury of their insane desire to wipe out the Jewish race in Europe continues undiminished...Many Christian groups also are being murdered... Nazis are determined to complete their program of mass extermination."



FDR stated regarding Justice for War Crimes, March 24, 1944: "IN ONE OF the blackest crimes of all history - begun by the Nazis...the wholesale systematic murder of the Jews of Europe...Hundreds of thousands of Jews...are now threatened with annihilation as Hitler's forces descend more heavily...

That these innocent people, who have already survived a decade of Hitler's fury, should perish on the very eve of triumph over the barbarism which their persecution symbolizes, would be a major tragedy."

FDR wrote to Rabbi Stephen Wise of the United Palestine Appeal, February 6, 1937: "THE AMERICAN PEOPLE...watched with sympathetic interest the effort of the Jews to renew in Palestine the ties of their ancient homeland and to reestablish Jewish culture in the place where for centuries it flourished and whence it was carried to the far corners of the world...

Two decades have witnessed...the vitality and vision of the Jewish pioneers in Palestine. It should be a source of pride to Jewish citizens of the United States that they, too, have had a share in this great work of revival."

FDR stated September 11, 1941: "THE TIMES CALL for...inner strength that comes to a free people conscious of their duty and the righteousness of what they do, they will with Divine help and guidance - stand their ground."


"WITH CONFIDENCE IN our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God."

The Law of Kindness

 

Let the Law of Kindness Govern Your Actions

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.

The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there."

The little boy then understood how powerful his words were. He looked up at his father and said "I hope you can forgive me father for the holes I put in you."

"Of course I can," said the father.

It's not always anger, it is your actions in general. There are no "fresh starts" in life. There is no new beginning. Forgiveness comes easy for many people but the scars of the past, they never go away. Watch what you do today, because sometimes the price isn't worth the reward.

 

The Conversion of Saul (the Apostle Paul)

Acts 9:1-17

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

White As Snow

The Apostle Paul said he was chief among sinners. I Timothy 1:15

In his zeal for his faith, he went about capturing believers to turn them over to the authorities to face the consequence of their embrace of JESUS CHRIST as their Savior and Lord.

Paul, called 'Saul' before his conversion (see Acts, Chapter 9), stood by, holding the cloaks of those who stoned the first martyr to death. (See Acts 7:54-60.)

In this regard, he was not unlike the most virulent haters of our LORD and of those who follow Him in today's world.

Persecution for the sake of CHRIST is nothing new, although it has attained a higher level today. More people have been martyred in recent years than in previous centuries. It will exacerbate in the future.

But even when people of faith in JESUS are being brutalized by haters of the Gospel, the HOLY ONE is holding out a hand of mercy to those who hate HIM, just as HE did to the Apostle Paul.

LORD JESUS, we who love YOU, we who call upon YOUR NAME THAT IS ABOVE ALL NAMES, Philippians 2:9, ask YOU to visit YOUR PEOPLE with the strength to be faithful, even in the face of diabolical persecution.

And JESUS, we would not forget to ask YOU to visit their persecutors, to reveal YOURSELF, YOUR LOVE, YOUR GLORY to them so they would turn from their wicked way, so they would love YOU--even unto death.

It is in YOUR NAME, we pray, JESUS, and it is in the authority of the power YOU have given to us that we stand, O, great GOD and KING. Amen.

The 700 Club

 It was the sacrifice that He paid on Calvary that we can be forgiven. Thank you, Jesus!

Philippians 2:1-11

2 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

⁶ Who, being in very nature^[a] God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature^[b] of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Above Every Name

"THE SAME POWER THAT RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD DWELLS IN YOU." ROMANS 8:11

"...in YOU."

The same power that raised JESUS from the dead dwells in every believer. Not in a selected few who are empowered to do mighty spiritual exploits, but in all who name the name that is above every name.  (See Philippians 2:9.)

That same power dwells in YOU!

What insurmountable circumstance are you facing?

Perhaps you haven't been attacked by a knife-wielding, crazed hater of Christ, perhaps you haven't been threatened by virulent unbelievers who would gladly murder you for the 'god' they serve (the one who "comes to steal, kill and destroy." John 10:10)

Perhaps your adversary is the loss of a job in a troubled economy. Perhaps your adversary is a spouse who disdains the Christ he sees in you.

Perhaps your adversary is a debilitating disease that is not responsive to treatment.

WHATEVER you are facing, "THE SAME POWER THAT RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD DWELLS IN YOU!"

Employ that power, remembering that you "walk by faith, not by sight." II Corinthians 5:7
Don't give up if you've wrestled with your adversary for many hours or many weeks or many years...DON'T GIVE UP!

The longer the problem has endured, the more glory will JESUS receive when HE topples it!
Keep praying! Keep trusting! Keep believing the CHRIST YOU SERVE IS FAITHFUL!

Man tries to stab priest...but is taken down by the power of God. This is my kind of church, wish I could find one like this where I live. These people know their authority in Jesus Christ!

Seek and Save

The Son of Man, JESUS, came to seek and save the lost. That means He came for everyone who's ever been born, because we're all lost.

Some of us may not know we're lost. We have life pretty well together. We have good jobs, a substantial financial portfolio, solid relationships with the important people in our lives, we may even have "a form of godliness" that we think is sufficient to gain us access to Heaven.

Many of us are deluded. We are measuring ourselves by the world's standard. We may not be among the 62 ultra wealthy people who control the preponderance of the world's assets, but we are among the small percentage who enjoy a level of financial acumen to allow ourselves quite comfortable lifestyles.

We see as the world sees. We mistake the comfort and ease of our lives with blessings from God; we fail to grasp that some of His most highly favored saints live in poverty and suffer persecution.
We cannot apprehend the reality that those who hold fast to Him under duress possess a favor that those who are comfortable and secure cannot begin to fathom.

All mankind is lost, and our precious SAVIOR has come to seek and save all of us, but many have accepted easy grace--grace without sacrifice.

What have you given up for JESUS? What have I given up for the LORD?

If we're honest with ourselves, most Western Christians will answer, "Not much." Perhaps we would have to say, "I have given up nothing for the sake of my faith."

We're rich. We're comfortable. We're free from persecution.

Should we disdain the good life? Perhaps HE doesn't expect us to abandon our security by going to a part of the world where we could witness to terrorists who would execute us for our faith.

Perhaps HE would simply have us to open our purses a bit further and give generously to our Christian brothers who suffer for their faith.

Perhaps HE would have us to be aware that although our nation has been generous to muslim refugees, it has not opened our borders to Christian refugees. Perhaps HE would have us to use our influence to change that dire circumstance.

JESUS has come to seek and save the lost...are we who profess faith in HIM facilitating HIS endeavor?

Words to Ponder

"I will stand upon my watch, and set myself upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved." Habakkuk 2:1

Quotes of Presidents

“The Chief Justice says, 'There must be an ULTIMATE ARBITER somewhere.' True, there must... The ULTIMATE ARBITER is THE PEOPLE." Thomas Jefferson

"Nothing is more wonderful than being free, but nothing is harder to learn how to use than freedom." Alexis de Tocqueville

Forgiving Those Who Judge You

 

January 30

Forgiving Those Who Judge You

From: Today God Is First by Os Hillman

"After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before." Job 42:10)

Have you ever been wrongly judged? Have you ever had people assume there was sin in your life because of the troubles you may have experienced? Or perhaps they judged your motives as wrong. What if the people judging you were your closest friends?

This was exactly what happened in the life of Job. His friends did not understand how a godly person could ever go through his degree of adversity unless God was judging him for his sin.

However, his friends were wrong and God intervened. "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as my servant Job has," said God to Job's three friends.

Nothing has really changed after thousands of years. I recall going through a seven year job experience. Friends in the marketplace could not understand why I would experience such calamity unless I had made poor choices.

Those in the Church often wrongly equated trouble with sin. Sometimes this can be true, but often trouble is simply a consequence of a call on one's life such as Joseph experienced.

Joseph was required to forgive his brothers. Even Jesus was required to forgive the disciples for their betrayal of Him at His hour of need. You and I are required to forgive those who wrongfully judge us.

This forgiveness is often THE most important step in gaining restoration in our own lives. The scripture above reveals that it was not until Job prayed for his friends that he was restored in the things he had lost.

Is there someone in your life you need to forgive? It may be the missing piece of your puzzle for restoration.

 

High Flight

High Flight by John Gillespie McGee

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, --and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of --Wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air...
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark or even eagle flew --
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high un-trespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

The first and final lines, "Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth..Put out my hand and touched the face of God," were quoted by President Ronald Reagan thirty years ago on January 28 after the explosion of the space shuttle CHALLENGER, which took the lives of all the astronauts aboard.

Winter Project

‎Jean Doepkens Wright‎ to Outer Banks NC Local Artist Page

Something to do when it is too cold and windy to walk the beach...decorate seashells from your collection with ultra-fine Sharpies!

Psalm 139

Psalm 139 a psalm of David

O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.

2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.

5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.

14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.

20 For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.

21 Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?

22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

You, Me, and the Apocalypse by Dr. Jim Denison

I watched You, Me and the Apocalypse last night on NBC. The show is based on the premise that an eight-mile-wide comet will annihilate the world in thirty-four days. The greater fiction is not that a planet-destroying comet is coming, but that we have another thirty-four days to live. The fact is, tomorrow is promised to no one. Yesterday we observed the thirtieth anniversary of the Challenger disaster. The tragedy still reminds us that life is fragile. President Reagan concluded his tribute to the fallen astronauts: "We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God.'" Recognizing our mortality leads us to focus on immortality. We know that we will stand before God one day (2 Corinthians 5:10). But it's easy to think about that fact later. We're busy people facing challenging times. Why is our accountability in heaven relevant to us on earth? Because the God of heaven is also the God of earth. He is both omnipresent and omniscient. He is where you are right now, a fact Jacob learned at Bethel: "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it" (Genesis 28:16). He is reading your thoughts this moment: "O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. . . . Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether" (Psalm 139:1–2, 4). Think of the person whose opinion means the most to you. Imagine going through your day with that person at your side, hearing everything you say and watching everything you do. Imagine that this person has been granted omniscience and can read your thoughts. How will your day be different? An essential leadership principle is that people do not do what you expect—they do what you inspect. God knows that this is so. That's why his word so clearly teaches that he is present in all we think, say, and do. Now add this fact: The Lord who inspects us also empowers us. If you'll ask God's Spirit to guide and strengthen you for God's purposes (Ephesians 5:18), he will answer your prayer. So stay conscious of God's presence today, and you will impact your culture and glorify your Father. Your mortal life will produce immortal good.

Seeking after Him

Seeking after Him

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled." Matthew 5:6
Desire is an inward longing for something man does not have but for which he senses a need. Hunger and thirst are appetites God gave humans to make them aware of their various needs. Man hungers for food and obtains it or perishes. Man hungers for love and searches for it or he wastes away in the emptiness of himself.

Hunger for God's Word evidences the spiritual appetite God gives Christians to make them aware of spiritual needs. Man is aware of his physical needs by nature, but he cannot be aware of his spiritual needs unless God, by His Spirit, makes him aware of them.

Because God does not impose Himself on man, He will not require that man abandon his pursuit of the world to follow after Jesus, but HE will be there to enlighten the person who determines of his own free will to search after Him.

There has to be an awareness of need followed by man's desire to have what he needs. The desire moves him to fervently fix his mind on Jesus.

In other words, man's desire for the things of God sets into action his will to receive them.

But the Word tells us that a time is coming when men will not seek after the truth of God, they will not desire sound doctrine. Man's reprobate mind will be so desirous of his own will and his own way that he will deliberately set about to surround himself with teachers who will affirm his godless pursuits, will justify his ungodly behavior.

When that happens, man will be lost in the fog of his own deception. In his pursuit of the things he esteems above the LORD, he will lose his way to the salvation that Christ has supplied through His propitiatory life, death and resurrection.

That loss removes from him the blessed hope that promises eternal life. Our loving Father God desires that all men come to a knowledge of salvation so He strives to orchestrate the lives of men so they will nurture their spiritual hunger above all others.

Because the Holy One desires mankind's eternal good, HE wants lost, unregenerate man to stop his ears to the teachers who say what their itching ears desire to hear--and to listen for His truth above all else.

Keith Benjamen Ehlert

Safely Home

The story has been told, but bears repeating, of the family that received an opportunity to accept a job offer in a distant country.

Because of the difference between the laws of that land and the rights assured under the legal code, declared in the Constitution, of the United States, the wife was most reluctant to go.

The very next Sunday as the family attended service in their Pentecostal Church, there was a 'message in tongues.' The interpretation was, "You can go anywhere in the world and I will be with you and bring you home safely." Genesis 28:15

Needless to say, the couple accepted the opportunity to live abroad and enjoyed several blessed years under the hand of God's protection. The whole earth belongs to HIM and nothing can enter the lives of HIS children that HE has not ordained for their ultimate blessing.

Even death, when it comes, is the believers realization of the fullness of life.

Words to Ponder

"In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." John 1:4-5

Quotes of Presidents

"After a week on perplexing problems...it does so rest my soul to come into the house of The Lord and to sing and mean it, 'Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty'...My great joy and glory in occupying an exalted position in the nation is that I am enabled, to preach the practical moralities of The Bible to my fellow-countrymen and to hold up Christ as the hope and Savior of the world." Theodore Roosevelt

“An entire generation of Christian people is being murdered off." Oliver North

Hearing God's Voice

 

January 29

Hearing God's Voice

From: Today God Is First by Os Hillman

Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. I Samuel 3:7

Samuel was born to Hannah, a woman who had a deep commitment to God. She was barren, but she cried out to God for a son. The Lord gave her Samuel, whom she completely gave to the Lord for His service.

After weaning him, she took him to the house of the Lord to be reared by the priests. Eli was the priest of Israel, but he was not a godly leader. He had allowed much corruption, including the sins of his sons, in God's house. God was not pleased with Eli and later judged him and his household.

Samuel grew up in the temple serving God. He also grew up seeing the hypocrisy of Eli's household, yet this did not change the young man. God was with him. We learn that even though young Samuel had a belief in God, he had not yet experienced a personal relationship with Him.

God called to Samuel three times, but Samuel thought it was Eli, the priest, calling him. Finally, Eli told him to say, "…Speak Lord, for your servant is listening" I Sam. 3:9. This is what Samuel did, and God began telling Samuel important things to come.

Many of us grow up in religious environments. We go to church every week. We have a head knowledge of God, but we do not recognize God's voice in our lives.

There comes a time when we must recognize God's voice for ourselves. God does not want us to have a religion; He wants us to have a two-way relationship with Him. Samuel was never the same after this encounter. He would know God's voice and would respond to Him in obedience.

Do you know God's voice?

Can you recognize it when He speaks?

In order to hear God's voice, you must be clean before Him and listen. Listen to God's voice today and follow His plans for you.

 

 

Fun in Amish Country

February 10, 2012 · 

Only in PA would u see this!!!

Law of God vs. Law of Sin

"I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin." Romans 7:25

We all need help to be what the LORD wants us to be. Even Paul, the great apostle who wrote the preponderance of the New Testament confessed, "What I want to do, I fail to do; what I don't want to do, I find myself doing. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who can deliver me!!" Romans 7:23, 24

Human nature is the antithesis to godly nature. Since the fall, man has been at enmity with God. We were created for fellowship with the Holy One and He desires that fellowship to be restored, so JESUS took the punishment for our sin so we can know God as Adam knew him before he followed Eve into sin.

In order to attain that precious relationship, we must first recognize that we are sinners in need of a Savior. We must accept JESUS as our only Savior and Lord.

When we have done that, we will be born again.

When we falter in our Christian walk, when we lapse back into the way of the world, we will cry out as Paul did; we will "die to self daily," I Corinthians 15:31, as he did, and our precious LORD will restore us to Himself as He did Paul; and He will use us where we are as He did Paul--even if, like him, we are bound in a dungeon.

 

The Alabaster Quill

Romans 6:6
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Biblically Illiterate

Many of us have become Biblically illiterate. Just as our academic acumen has diminished in recent decades, so has our knowledge of the BIBLE, the infallible Word of God.

Our institutions of higher learning--Harvard, Yale, Princeton, were established to promote the study of the BIBLE, to equip men to know the truth that sets them free.

Circuit riding preachers traversed the countryside on horseback in weather fair and foul in order to share the Word of God with the populace.

There was a great respect in the Holy One and men of faith lived in the faith they professed. There was such a spirit of reverence for the LORD among Americans that a foreign observer, Tocqueville, was prompted to say, "America is a nation with the soul of a church."

But we have lost our First Love, we have turned our back as a nation and as individuals on the Christ who came to set us free. We have embraced the notion of multi-culturalism and in so doing, we have taken an asp to our bosom.

We have become so oblivious to God's truth that even as we see the Word of God unfolding before our eyes we cannot recognize it. The signs of the Last Days are all around us, but we are so preoccupied with the pursuit of the trappings of the world that we cannot see.

TRUTH--ultimately your only friend, for JESUS is TRUTH.

Turn Back

If one cannot see the profound relationship that the founding fathers of this nation had with the True and Living GOD, if one cannot see the veracity of their intent to place this nation at the feet of JESUS, one is not scrutinizing the facts.

Today's history books and today's students of the past have distorted reality in order to accommodate today's politically correct agenda. The average American is unmindful of this perversion of our true history for reasons that are incomprehensible to those who cherish it.

When the truth is recognized, it becomes quite apparent that the distinction between this country and others is pronounced, and the resultant blessings upon this land are evident.

In recent decades, this nation's citizenry has lost interest in and lost sight of its heritage; has faltered from its promise and plummeted from the 'American Dream.'

The Word of God admonishes, "In returning shall be your strength." Isaiah 30:15 If we are wise, we will turn back to the Christ who established us as a nation by allowing our rag-tag farmer army to defeat the British who had the greatest war machine on the planet at that time.

If we are wise we will turn back to the Savior who allowed us to defeat a foe who decimated our navy by turning our factories into foundries of war materials and our fighting forces into the invincible destroyers of evil that they became.

If we are wise, we will turn back to the Jesus who enabled our schools to rank at the pinnacle in every area of study and our students to become the doctors and scientists and engineers and astronauts who astounded the world.

If we are wise, we will see the truth of the Biblical admonition, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, " Psalm 33:12, and we will turn back to Him.

Nation In Distress

January 28

Spiritual Harassment

From: Today God Is First by Os Hillman

"Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8-9).

I was twenty years old when I approached the first tee of the sectional qualifying round of the Professional Golfers Association US Open, one of the most prestigious golf tournaments in the world. I was a college golfer and was teeing it up with the world's best golfers. I was competing against many of the tour players for only a handful of spots available to get into the tournament.

I was called to the tee and teed up my ball when something unusual happened. As I am looking down at my ball I notice the shoes of someone standing no more than two feet from where I am about to tee off.

I am thinking to myself with great irritation, "Who in the world is standing this close to me!?" I look up and it is Sam Snead, still one of golf's greatest players. This man was known for intimidating tactics. But this was beyond belief. Here he was trying to intimidate a young college player. I proceeded to ignore his presence and hit the ball straight down the fairway.

In the spiritual realm we deal with spiritual harassment from Satan and his legions. The Bible says "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" Ephesians 6:12.

It is important to recognize when we are coming against these forces. Satan attempts to distract us from our calling and destiny in life. We often trivialize the reality of the spirit realm of evil.

Paul tells us we must set our minds to deal with the spiritual realm of evil when it impacts our lives. "Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Ephesians 6:13.

The next time you feel obstacles have been placed in your life designed to distract you from your God-ordained mission, remember Paul's words and stand firm in Christ.