Beauty in your life- change your thoughts for a positive outlook
What snack would you eat right now?
I would eat a Quest Protein Bar. It’s z fast easy snack that’s very low in sugar and only 140 calories. At 140-190 calories z bar and 20-21 grams of protein.
I began eating these when I had knee surgery. Protein helps repair damaged body tissues and form antibodies to help fight infection and produce collagen which is essential for scar formation.
Come up with a crazy business idea.
Some pet owners want more for their fur babies than just mete boarding when they have a choice to leave them for vacation, business trips, or even an extended time in the hospital. I think a pet hotel would be an excellent choice. One that offers upscale facilities, food, and entertainment.
Some added services would include:
Within the Christian faith, there are no ethnic divisions or racial walls. Nevertheless, at the center of Christianity is Jesus, and Jesus is a Jew.
Jewishness of Jesus -Yeshua
The movement which began with Jesus the Jew has grown to include every tribe and nation on earth. The Christian faith has crossed over every cultural line and social barrier. Yet all to often, the Jewishness of Jesus -Yeshua is lost among believers. Many people. Jews and Christians alike, are astonished when they first realize that Jesus is a Jew.
Jesus was born to a Jewish mother, in a Jewish family. Like all Jewish sons, He was circumcised on the eighth day. In keeping with Jewish tradition, He was given His Hebrew name on the same day He was circumcised. He was named Yeshua. Yeshua means “salvation.” He was named Salvation because He will “save His people.” He people are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: Jewish people.
Jesus was raised as a Jew within an Orthodox Jewish community. Nazareth, His hometown, was a thoroughly Jewish village pioneered by descendants of King David. Keeping with the ancient Jewish tradition, He had His hair cut when He was three years old. He kept the festivals and the Sabbath. He ate only kosher. He ate matzo on Passover; He fasted on the Day of Atonement.
He dressed as a Jew. He did not wear a mixture of wool and linen. He wore fringes on the corners of His garments. He wore Tefillin (phylacteries).
He had a Jewish education. He learned Hebrew. He learned the Hebrew blessings. At age 5, He began to learn the Torah (Bible). He went to the Synagogue every Sabbath. He taught from the Holy Books of the Jews. He taught about the God of the Jews. His disciples were all Jews. They called Him “Rabbi.”
Theology often parts Jesus against Judaism. But the anti-Jewish Jesus is not the Biblical Yeshua. He is a creation of the anti-Semitic and anti-Torah climate of the developing gentile church.
The gospels in the Bible portray Yeshua as a faithful and deeply committed Jew operating within the context of First Century Judaism. Although His interpretation of the Torah (Bible) was often at odds what that of His contemporaries, He never abolished the Law of God. He repeatedly demonstrated His affection for His people. He compared Himself to a shepherd and Isreal to His sheepfold.
Yeshua is a Jew. The Yeshua of the gospels is not a one-size-fits-all mystic. To remove Him from His Jewish context is to misunderstand Him. He lived as a Jew, He taught as a Jew, He prayed as a Jew and He died as a Jew. His blood was Jewish blood. The sugb above the cross said, “Yeshua of Nazareth, King of the Jews.”
Someone used Artificial Intelligence to create an image of what Jesus really looked like. This is what He looked like, and it’s different than all the images that we have come to recognize.
Do you remember the “Rubik’s Cube” that crazy cube made up if rows of colored squares that would rotate in every direction? The idea was to line up the little squares in a way that all six sides contained only one color. If you had one you probably remember how badly you wanted to solve it.
That “Rubik’s Cube” is just one thing in a long list of things I started with great enthusiasm, that went by the wayside as j lost interest in them, things that I started and lost interest in.
I’m sure if you think back through you life it wont take long to compile a list of things you started with great enthusiasm and lost interest in too.
We lose interest as we begin to see ourselves as unable either to physically or mentally complete the project. We are unable to understand the basic concepts that would allow us to finish whatever it is that we have started. We decide that even while others may be able to don’t, we can perform at that level. We can’t make it work.
There was no shame in that “Rubik’s Cube,” hidden in the back of the closet and forgotten about. It probably saved hours of frustration.
The problem comes when we do the same thing happens with our spiritual life or even our beliefs. I remember being on fire for God, it started out that I was full of enthusiasm and excitement, and I wanted to shout it out from the rooftops how good God is.
Many people lose this enthusiasm and excitement over time, they lose their focus. They decide it doesn’t work for them. The joy they experienced with salvation stagnates with neglect into the traditions and soon they become disillusioned with the entire experience. Some fall away and never return and others remain in the church long after they gave given up on experiencing a meaningful relationship with God. They hang on to the habit of going to church but no longer expect to experience growth.
Let’s look at Revelation 2:4-5 you will find a better to a stagnate church in Ephesus,
“But I have this against you, that you left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and so the first works; or else I am coming to you swiftly, and will move your lampstand out of it’s place, unless you repent.”
If you have lost your first love, I urge you to repent. If you have traded the Gospel of Jesus for a ceremony called church. Or set aside the teachings of Jesus for the traditions of men. It today’s world it is easy to backslide. In our busyness, it’s easy to put God off for another time but another time never comes.
For a person to remain an active believer we have to do more than merely attend a weekly worship service. If we are to remain in Christ and not fall away we must forever be active in Christ.
If we are to continue in His service do not become disillusioned we have to understand few stages of growth and maturity through Christ. There are three stages of being a mature believer. That maturity is not a destination to be reached but a continual journey that should be experienced and enjoyed.
Stage 1.
Surrender. Surrendering in the Bible is different from what we it means in the world. The world identifies surrender as humiliation, But the Bible identifies it is the willingness to surrender your life, your desires and your will to Jesus.
Today there are many who have professed to God but have never surrendered their lives to Him. They have fallen for the lie of an easy salvation that requires one to only stand up and express a belief to obtain eternal life. I do not believe that one can repeat a canned prayer off a 3×5 card and have a surrendered life to Jesus. And salvation cannot be earned by good works, it comes by grace through faith, it is the gift of God not works, so that no one can boast.
We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 19:2)
There are many.p in this country on church rolls, listed as members who will be nothing more than fodder for the fires of hell unless they surrender their lives to Jesus. If you think you can have the assurance of eternal life because you stood up and made a public profession of Jesus and then put your Bible away on a shelf like an unsolved puzzle to gather dust, then you are mistaken, without surrendering to God, you are a candidate for hell.
Matthew 21:28-31 tells of an account of 2 sons in the vineyard,
“”But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, some, go, work in my vineyard. He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. Then he came to the second and said likewise, And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,” but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?’
Those who place their faith in public profession that produces no work are no better off than the son who said he would but then did not go.
A stagnant believer that produces no fruit is no surrendered to Christ. We cannot always be a good judge of the fruit of others but we should a least check our own branches for fruit.
If we are truly surrendered to God there will be growth because if you are surrendered then you will be in submission and if you are in submission there we will growth.
We must come to the knowledge of our own sin, we must come to the knowledge of salvation that we have been offered by the blood of Jesus which brings us to a state of love and appreciation for a God who would sacrifice His Son for us. Our surrender is an acknowledgment of our love for Gid, it is a step that we confront the first and greatest commandment,
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” – Matthew 22:37.
Stage 2
Submission. This is the process of learning and applying God’s rules for our lives as we learn to let others see Jesus living in us and it is during this process that we discover in our attempt to serve God that we serve those around us. It is in our state of submission that we, imitating Jesus, learn the second greatest command,
“Love your neighbor as yourself” – Matthew 12:31
If we are to be like Jesus then we must live as He lived and He tells us clearly in Matthew 20:28,
“The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
And as we seek to serve Him we are told in Matthew 25:40 what we must do as Jesus proclaims,
“I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”
Doing for others is serving Jesus. It is a never-ending process that we build on the rest of our lives as we aspire more and more to be like Him.
Submission: learning to love our neighbors will lead us to the third stage.
Stage 3
Sharing. By submission to His will for your life the Holy Spirit will build such a great love within you for others that you will not be able to sit on the sidelines while a world full of lost people, each one made in the image of God, goes to hell for lack of the gospel message. As we grow and mature into the third stage of maturity we find ourselves compelled by compassion to reach the lost. We must take the literal and personal command from God as individuals,
“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen” -Matthew28:19-20
I am still growing in this process. I will continue to mature as a true believer in Christ until Jesus returns.
It’s easy to become overwhelmed and discouraged as we face the challenges of this life, but we cannot afford to lay our belief in Christ aside like some incomplete puzzle that we have lost interest in. Our salvation is at stake as well as all those who will ultimately be affected if you stay on track in our spiritual growth and maturity.
It doesn’t matter where you are in the process but it does matter whether or not you are still involved in the process.
Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a youth. What became of it?
One of the things I was attached to was my Siamese cat. My father breeder Siamese cats and sold them. Usually, I was not allowed to touch them as kittens. They were for profit only. I think my father got tired of me asking for a cat. And finally gave in and let me have one. He was a Chocolate Point Siamese and I named him Arthur. He became by emotional support pet forever.
Between him and music, it took my mind off what was going on in my life. Arthur finally died of old age, then I turned to music even more to get through my tough spots as a youth.
I believe many people are concerned and even worried about the difficult events that have been happening in America, and around the world. People of all political perspectives are not sure what’s coming next. A majority of people wonder why certain events are occurring. People are accusing one another of being evil.
I believe that Jesus and His Apostles warned us about what we are experiencing. 2 Timothy 3:1 is where Paul was looking into the future when he made the statement, “In the last days difficult times will come.” These times have been here for some time and these times will become more difficult.
Typically, when we talk about the last days, we think about the 7-year tribulation, the battle of Armageddon, and the second coming of Christ. And while those events are important to talk about. We need to focus on the deceptions that will occur in the last days. This can help us wisely understand what we have and will be experiencing.
Let’s look at 5 truths about deception in the last days.
The first truth is that Jesus warned the disciples about deception related to His second coming in Matthew 24:4-5, He said that would occur before the 7-year tribulation,
“See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, I am the Christ, and will mislead many.” (NASB)
Jesus warned us twice to not be misled. The Greek word misled is planar, it can also mean “deceived.” Jesus is warning us not to be deceived. Jesus warned His disciples about a very large number of receivers. That warning about deception is already in progress. In Matthew 24 Jesus tells us that during the last half of the tribulation, deception will explode and be extremely convincing because they will use great signs and wonders to mislead.
“For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold I have told you in advance” -Matthew 24:24 (NASB)
The deception will be so powerful that only the elect believers can escape the deception. That means unbelievers in our country and around the world will be deceived. The tribulation period will be a time of tremendous deception. That is why Jesus warned His disciples. He said, “Behold I have told you in advance.” He wants believers to not be ignorant.
The second truth is to avoid deception about truth. Paul warned us that truth and righteousness would be twisted or distorted in the last days. In 1 Timothy 4:1-4 he wrote,
“But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as a branding iron” (NASB)
Paul says in the later times just before the second coming of Christ, deceitful spirits will increase. The demons will use people who have a seared conscious. The demons will use men and women who are insensitive to sin and evil. What will they teach? The answer is given in Matthew 24:3-5. They will distort biblical truth. Their instruction will be deceptive. The result of their instruction is given in in part in2 Timothy 3:1-5,
“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, relivers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied it’s power; Avoid such men as these” (NASB).
In 2 Timothy 3:8, we are told that such people are opposed to truth. They reject biblical truth and seek to deceive. In the last days evil will be considered good, and good will be considered evil. People will increasingly become more insensitive to sin, their consciences will be seared and their hearts hardened to others. This means in the last days evil will explode.
Interestingly there is an article called Imprimis that’s titled “Orwell’s 1984 and Today.” It is a snapshot of the future.
We have cut the links between child and parent and between man and man, and between man and woman. No one dares trust a wife or child or a friend any longer. But in the future, there will be no wives and no friends. Children will be taken from their mothers at birth, as one takes eggs from the hen. The sex instinct will be eradicated. Procreation will be an annual formality like the renewal of a ration card…There will be no loyalty, except loyalty toward the Party. There will be no love, except, the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy…All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always -do not forget, Winston – always there will be intoxication of power, constantly growing subtle. Always, at every moment there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face.
O’Brien
We may not agree with every comment, but we are living in a world where biblical truth is increasingly hated and considered evil. The trend he describes is occurring.
The third truth is to avoid deception about the antichrist. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 gives us another warning. This warning is about an evil leader who will appear in the last days -at the beginning of the tribulation. Paul warns us,
“Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction who opposes and exalts himself about every so-called god or object of worship.” (NASB)
This verse is about the antichrist. He will be the leader of a nation. He is called the “man of lawlessness.” That describes his character. He will not be subject to God’s moral law of to any government laws. This lawless man will be a proud man who does not feat anyone! He will be the ultimate evil man. Eventually, the antichrist will seize control of the world and then rule the world. Paul warns people not to be deceived by him. That means this man will initially appear as a nice man, but through deception, he will gain control.
Thessalonians 2:8-10 gives us more information about this man. We are told,
“Then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will day with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one who is coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and will all the deception of wickedness for those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.” (NASB)
There are three things about the antichrist in these verses. First, the antichrist will come “in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all deception of wickedness.” That is, he will be very politically powerful. His primary tool will be the art of great deception. Like a magician, he will skillfully deceive people into believing one thing while actively doing something else. Second, we are told that people will be deceived. That is, the vast majority of people will think he is doing good. They will trust him. Everyone but true believers will be deceived by him. Why will they like his magic tricks? We are told that those who will be deceived are those who “did not receive the love of the truth.” That is referring to non-believers. They reject biblical truth. Third, this lawless man will be killed by Jesus at the second coming of Christ. The antichrist is the ultimate deceiver.
So far, we have been warned about false Christs, false teaching, and the antichrist. Who is responsible for all of these? The answer is Satan. Satan’s role in deception in the last days. It comes from Satan who is the architect of deception. He will aggressively work to deceive the world. He is “the deceiver.” In Revelation 12:9 we are told,
“The devil and satan, who deceives the whole world.” (NASB)
That is, Satan is the master deceiver of the world.
Revelation 13 describes the future antichrist and false prophet. In verses 3 and 4, we are once again told the antichrist will deceive the world so that the whole earth follows and worships him. The world will think this man of lawlessness is a wonderful leader. Why! Verse 2 gives us the answer. The dragon or the devil or Satan empowers him (Revelation 12:9).
Verses 11-18 introduce us to the false prophet. He will be the leader of a false religion that will span the world. Verses 13-14 says,
“He performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven to the earth in the presence of men. And he deceived those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life” – Revelation 13:13-14 (NASB)
The false Prophet will deceive everyone on earth too. His worldwide religion is described in Revelation 19:23 as a deceptive organization. It will be a false religion that suppresses Christianity. Revelation 19:20 3;10 the devil, the antichrist and the false prophet are described as deceptive.
This helps true believers understand that in the last days, the great evil and deception will be orchestrated by satan. Those who reject divine truth are the ones who will think the antichrist is wonderful. Then evil men will become even worse. Ephesians 6:12 says we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
What’s God’s purpose in deception in the last days?
It is explained in 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12,
“For this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness.” (NASB)
We are told that God will send a deluding influence on the world or a deceiving influence so that they will believe what is false. That is, God will cause the world to be deceived. Why would God do that? God gives us the answer. He will do it, “in order that they all may be judged who did not believe in the truth but took pleasure in wickedness.” God will intentionally cause those who have already ultimately and finally rejected Jesus and are indulging in the pleasures of sin to be completely deceived. He gives them over because they have rejected Jesus. Then when God judges them, His judgments will prove He is righteous. They will prove they deserve hell.
What is to be learned from all of this? Jesus and Paul have warned us not to be deceived in the last days about the second coming of Jesus, the distortion of truth, the increase in evil, and the rise of the antichrist. They warned us that satan will be the master deceiver and will cause worldwide deception. God will cause those who have rejected the truth and enjoyed sin, to be decided and to believe lies.
I believe that the tremendous increase in evil, lies, and deception that we have been observing for decades is not just due to people being sinners. It is the handiwork of satan, which God is increasingly allowing as we more quickly move to the end. As God releases control, we will see how mankind will become when God stops restraining evil and deception.
Matthew 25:34 tells is that God the Father made plans for His kingdom from the foundation of the world. What we are seeing is the execution of His plan. We are marching faster now toward the second coming of Jesus Christ.
The Lord willing, maybe those who are living in these days might someday soon discover that Jesus told His disciples that His second coming will be obvious to everyone when it occurs. In Luke 17:23-24 Jesus said,
They will say to you, “Look there! Look here! Do not go away, and do not run after them. For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day.” (NASB)
When He returns everyone will see Him. When Jesus comes in a blaze of light and everyone around the world will see Him. We should pray, Come quickly, Lord Jesus! come.
What is your mission?
My mission is and always will be to help people not make the same mistakes I have in life. And let people know there is someone out there who has love and cares for them even when they feel like they cannot love and care about themselves, God loves us.
The world can be a very dark place if you rely on other human beings. Because human beings will ultimately hurt you, and can lead you astray. God doesn’t.
“All my life I’ve been told I belong at the end of the line, with all the other not quotes, with all the never get it rights. But it turns out I’ve been the one you’ve been looking for all the time, I am a nobody trying to tell everybody all about somebody who saved my soul” – Casting Crowns
My mission is to share what I have learned, to pass on my knowledge and freely give the knowledge that I have freely received.
When we look to the right of us and see, there was no one who is concerned for me. Refuge has fled from me. No one cares for my soul. (Psalm 145:4). Very few people in life care for your soul, stay close to the ones that do,
If I help make one person in my life, by telling of my journey and struggles I have endured in life then I have accomplished my mission. Jesus would have left the 99 to save the one.
What are your thoughts on the concept of living a very long life?
My concept is probably a bit different than everyone else. I believe that we have naturally ruined our chance to live very long lives at least in America. We have been eating “toxic foods” for years. By choice or ignorance. For example, Nutmeg has something called myristicin that can cause seizures, hallucinations and others.
Along with that with add MSG, Sodium Nitrite that is known for causing cancer. There are many more additives that are in our foods.
The point is they want to use scientific methods to have us live longer lives. While we continue to eat all the garbage they put in our food. Which I think is pointless.
Everyone doubts God at one time or another in our lives.
For a long stretch of years, I doubted God, sometimes I even hated Him because of the things I had to go through in my life. I was drowning in misery with no clue how to fix it. I cried out for help many times. And kept crying and begging and pleading with Him to rescue me. But, no answer, no response, and definitely no rescue. I was wondering where I stood with God.
Even after a became born again (baptized) I almost lost my faith over it. Only later did I come to understand the truth.
The whole time I was crying and begging and pleading with God for a rescue, He had already answered every one of my prayers. But I was too spiritually deaf and blind to notice.
I could have spared myself literally years of agony. If only I had known than what I know not about overcoming spiritual deafness.
First, You Need To Face The Truth
As it turns out, the entire time I was wondering why God was silent in my life, especially when I needed Him the most, I had put Him on mute.
I spent countless years tormenting myself, wondering why God was ignoring my pleas. I told myself maybe my mother was right “I was worthless”, so worthless that God didn’t even want me. He had abandoned me.
Come to find out, I was the problem not Him.
It was a face planting moment for me, but it was also an empowering one. Because when you realize you’re the problem, you have the power to fix it by changing what you’re doing. Like overcoming your spiritual deafness.
After I was born again, I thought things would be simple. I was like okay “I’m saved, God will speak to me now.” I wished that was the way it worked. But I was so used to shutting everyone out of my life -even God. It took a few years to break down the wall I had put up.
A few years actually it was about 4 years. I repented from my sins every way I knew how. And I still kept hearing I wasn’t worthy to be God’s child.
The truth is we can find lots of reasons why our spiritual ears have gone deaf to God’s voice. In my experience, I missed the signs of God answering my prayers.
It’s easy when you’re,
I realized I had been talking for 4 years and not heard a word God was saying back.
I considered myself pretty lucky that God stopped me one day and forced me to listen to Him. I was the scariest thing I ever endured in my life. Someone once told me, God will answer in whispers, until He won’t then the trials come as if to scream at us. That day I remember walking out of the grocery store, telling God in my thoughts,all my sins and asking if would listen that time and accept my repentance and forgive me. That was that year that I was diagnosed with cancer. I am definitely not saying God sent it. Cancer is clearly from the pit of hell. But during that time, I learned to trust God wholeheartedly. I knew I was forgiven for my past sins, and I grew so much in the Lord when I was struggling with cancer. I decided that I was not going to let Satan win then or ever.
If you want to have a hope of overcoming spiritual deafness you need to pray. If you don’t know where to start, start by talking to Him as if He was sitting across the table from you.
You may not only have spiritual deafness. You may also be spiritually blind because of sin. And you can’t deal with it if you don’t bring it out into the open and face it head-on.
So, ask God to reveal any hidden and no so hidden sin in your life.
One good thing to realize is that Satan condemns but God convicts, which are poles apart. Satan’s condemnation makes you feel detestable and hopeless. But God’s conviction make you feel clear and repentant about your sins.
When we ask God to convict us of our sin, we won’t feel bad for a few minutes and then suppress the discomfort and go spiritually deaf again.
When we feel convicted about our sins, we will realize we need to go further. We need to turn away from that sin. For example, I can’t ask for forgiveness for going to the bar and getting drunk while spending all my money on bingo, and then turn around and do the exact same thing the next night.
The next step is to confront your pride and fear. After you’ve begun to confess your sins, it’s time to tune your ears to God’s frequency.
This means you need to drop-kick anything that is blocking your reception out of the door. This means you need to deal with 2 culprits that can cause spiritual deafness, pride, and fear.
Ask God to reveal any pride or fear causing you to ignore godly wisdom and counsel. Whether you want to admit it or not in can be from wise people in your life.
If you have an independent spirit like me, if you’re not careful, you’re independence can nurture a spirit of pride. My independence led me to believe that I didn’t need anyone and that people let me down all the time so I’m afraid to depend on anyone but myself.
The thing is, the only one you need to depend on is God. And you won’t overcome your spiritual deafness if you insist on staying independent.
Ask the Lord to rid you of the spirit of pride and fear. When you do, you will value His guidance more highly than you value your pride and fear. This will give you a great start by praying to get rid of these.
Pray for the courageto shed pride and fear like the old rags they are.
Set your priorities straight. At this point, your ears should be getting clearer and you should be on fire for the Lord from how hard you kicked pride and fear in the butt.
Now it’s time to deal with your priorities. Ask yourself who is first in your life. Who’s help or advice do you seek out first? Whose opinion matters most to you? Who are you most afraid to disappoint?
Is the answer anyone other than God? Then pray for Him to increase in your life and for yourself and others to decrease.
When I first asked myself these questions, I was sure I put God first in everything. But just a few weeks ago. My jeep was having an idiot problem (the idiot was me). I have used the remote start to warm it up. And when I got in it, it wouldn’t go into gear. I panicked. And the first thing I did was to call my husband at work. He couldn’t tell me anything over the phone (of course ). I was getting ready to call my Bible study group to tell them I wouldn’t be there. Immediately I heard God say, why didn’t you ask me? As soon as I asked him, it was like a lightbulb went off in my head. Open and close the door. And imagine that, it worked.
If you want to follow God’s will but you feel pretty sure your plan is better? Try getting the courage to go His way instead of yours or someone else.
Either way you need to pray for growth in your desire to follow His will over yours or anyone else.
So many times God’s direct instructions are ignored or maybe even forgotten. We need to pray for a Rhema word (Revelation) about any area where we’ve neglected to follow His will. Matthew 6:33 says “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Counting the cost. You have to decide 3 things to overcome spiritual deafness,
If the answer to these questions is yes. It’s time to get realistic about what your decisions mean. Because the truth is, tuning into God on purpose and elevating Him to first place in your life will cost you.
To count the cost and decide of you want to pay it, Ask yourself these 2 questions:
1. What will it cost you to ignore God’s voice?
Close your eyes and picture your life if you choose not to do what He says. What’s the best that can happen? What’s the worst that can happen?
2. What will you gain by listening to and following God’s voice?
Close your eyes and picture your life if you choose to do what He says. What’s the best that can happen? What the worst that an happen?
After you’ve counted the cost, make a conscious decision about the option you’re choosing. Will you obey God’s voice or ignore Him?
Don’t try to hedge your bet of sitting on the fence. Decide.
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” -Matthew 6:24.
After counting the cost of overcoming spiritual deafness, you may decide that listening to God will cost more than you’re willing to pay. If so, know this – He is always ready to receive you when your ready to come to Him.
On the other hand, you made decide that obeying God is well worth the cost. If so, then you need to do one more thing. Act.
Prayer is an unmatched weapon in your arsenal. But action after prayer is even more so.
This means you need to get your ears in to the habit of hearing God.
My relief when I understood my part in creating my spiritual deafness was extreme. I was relieved beyond words because it meant God had not stopped loving me, despite my sins.
Overcoming spiritual deafness takes courage and commitment to God and your relationship with Hin above all else. And courage isn’t way but the payoff was well worth it.
What could you do differently?
Change is almost always scary and seldom simple. The more significant the change is the harder it can take to take the first step.
A lot of us get stuck in our ways once we hit a certain age. Past that point, breaking out of our old habits and making an effort to improve ourselves become much harder.
I could develop break some bad habits, and get out of my comfort zone more. I believe when we get stuck in our same old ways, we lose opportunities that life can give us.
I could go to the gym more, I could work harder to make my goals a reality. There are always things we could do differently. It just getting that push to get started.
While something’s are out of our control, some things are not. We need to change the things we can for the better and be okay with the things we cannot.
I would love to move to a different climate -one that’s warmer. But right now that is something that I can’t control right now. So I focus on the blessings in my life and work to make things better by doing things differently.
Strengthening God’s Foundations For Us In Battle
Psalm 11 is a call to righteousness and holiness.
“In the Lord I put my trust; How can you say to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain? For look! The wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow on the string, that they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart. if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” -Psalm 11:1-3
God tells us that although our soul wants to “Flee as a bird…when the wicked bend their bow” (the enemy attacks us). He has a different plan for us.
God needs us to stand strong and fight the enemy. The prayers from Psalm 11 strengthen us for the battles we are fighting for ourselves and for our nation.
“The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord is on His heavenly throne. He observes the sons of men; His eyes examine them. The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence His soul hates“ -Psalm 11:4-5
God is clear when He says He hates wicked and violent people. While God uses every trial to refine us, ultimately He needs us to stand against evil and fight for righteousness in the earth, our nations, and our communities.
“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?“ – Psalm 11:3
When the enemy attacks us, Satan’s hope is to destroy our faith. At the same time God uses these attacks to strengthen and increase our faith and to train us as soldiers in the Army of God.
“Let Him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and scorching wind shall be the portion of there cup“ -Psalm 11:6.
Ephesians 6:12 tells us, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers in heavenly places.”
“For the Lord is righteous, He loves justice, upright men will see His face” -Psalm 11:7.
This Psalm is the Sword of the Spirit, for the battles our nation and the world are facing. Now is the time to pray and declare the promises in this very specific prayer to defeat the enemy’s attacks against us.
How to we pray and declare the promises of Psalm 11? Pray God’s Word directly from this Psalm. God wants us to pray His words from the Bible.
We are in the greatest season of refining in the history of the church.
The fruit of this will be a deeper relationship with God and walking continually in His blessings, provision, and protection.
If we look into the account of Abraham’s righteousness we can begin to see a picture of what real faith is. Abraham can teach us 7 things about real faith.
1. Real faith comes with risk and loss. Abraham was told to leave the people and place he knew for the unknown.
2. Real faith is not perfect faith, but faith in a perfect God. Once Abraham gave away the promised land, and twice he gave away his wife Sarah, but God was faithful to return both.
3. Real faith struggles to trust both God’s will and timing. Abraham struggled to trust God’s promise as he waited from age 75 to 99 for Isaac to be born.
4. Real faith has always been in Jesus. Abraham looked forward to Jesus’s first coming, and we look backward at His first coming, and forward to His second coming.
5. Real faith results in obedience. Abraham’s trust in God resulted in him doing what God told him – like leaving his father and family to find a new national.
6. Real faith grows as God proves faithful. After waiting more than two decades for Isaac to be born, his faith grew so strong that he even trusted that God could bring Isaac back from the dead if needed (Hebrews 11:17-20).
7. Real faith sees beyond life. Hebrews 11:10 says Abraham, “was looking forward to the city whose designer and builder is God.
Like the rest of us, Abraham started as just another lost pagan from a messy family. He came from Ur of the Chaldeans, which probably means he was a Babylonian bad guy (Nehemiah 9:7; Acts 7:2-3). He was a Gentiles who was saved God’s grace at the age of 75 and he circumcised himself 24 years later at the age of 99 along with his household, thereby the Jewish national (Genesis17:24-26).
From Pity to Praise