In today’s world it’s more important than ever to constantly be aware of our surroundings and potential dangers, staying alert and mentally prepared for unexpected situations. We don’t need to fear but be observant.
With this recent attack in New Orleans in has reminded me to always be aware of my surroundings. And be ready to react quickly to anything that might happen around us.
Situational awareness means actively scanning our environments to understand potential risks and opportunities.
Keeping our heads on swivel also includes being vigilant about social cues, scammers, and physical dangers.
Keeping your head on swivel is associated with military and law enforcement where maintaining constant alertness is crucial. But with what’s happening in our world today,we need to adopt this into our daily lives as citizens.
The greatest gift someone could give me is time. Time is a finite resource that cannot be regained once spent, making it more precious than any material possession.
Someone spending time to someone else signifies that they are invested in a person and their well being.
Time unlike money or items is unique because people are so unwilling to give it.
The greatest gift is spending time with another person because when someone’s time is given they give you a portion of their life that they will get back.
Strongholds are mental barriers that keep us from reaching the next level in our lives that is God’s will for u. Strongholds keep hold us back from our destiny by convincing us to not do what we know we should, often seemingly reasonable thoughts that are really vain excuses. One example of a stronghold is caring about what other people think of us.
One way strongholds work in us is when we consider doing something good, then the stronghold in our minds instantly comes us with the reasons why we shouldn’t do that thing,
Maybe we consider exercising more or eating better, but then an excuse comes to mind. It can be any good thing we think of doing and then we think of reasons why we shouldn’t.
Strongholds are merely incorrect thinking patterns. They are patterns in our minds that are programmed to think contrary to the truth.
A common scenario I’ve had in my life is where I feel guilty or shameful of my life. I hear my mother’s negative words playing in my head at times. I have to remind myself I am not who she said I was. I am a good person, I deserve to have good things in my life. For 18 years I heard my mother speak awful things to me, and I still struggle with that thought pattern she invoked in me. I was so used to thinking about my mother and my past that it drove me to think everything I did good or bad that I was a failure. That was a stronghold.
Strongholds can and do play a big part of hoe we feel about ourselves. If we think we’re a failure, we will feel like a failure. If we constantly think about our past failures (perceived or not) we will associate ourselves with them. If we think we’re hopeless, we will feel hopeless. If we know God has forgiven us, we will feel forgiven inside. Changing the way we think can make a big difference in the way we feel.
Strongholds are built on deception and lies that we have accepted in our minds. So, how do we counter a lie? With the truth. Where do we find the truth? In the Word of God (the Bible). Our weapon against any stronghold is the “Sword of the Spirit.”
“For though we walk in the flesh, we don’t wage war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Messiah” -2 Corinthians 10:3-5
This passage says to throw down our imaginations. Satan plants these in our minds when he asks us a question that starts out “What if?” Don’t try to reason things with satan, just throw it out and leave him hanging. Get your mind on God’s Word and off what satan is trying to tell you.
We are also told in this passage to bring every thought into captivity that comes to our minds that opposes the knowledge of God. Since God associates Himself with His Word (1 John 1:1) if anything comes into our minds that is contrary to His Word, throw it out. Don’t waste your time thinking about it or trying to reason with it. If Satan is trying to tell you that God does not want to forgive you, or that you are unworthy of His love, then throw it out. Why? Because His Word says otherwise.
One of the last things satan wants us to know is God’s forgiving and loving nature toward us even after we have messed up.
We don’t need to listen to the garbage satan feeds us. James 4:7 tells us,
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
I attended college in eastern Utah where I studied some Criminal Justice and Psychology.
Life sometimes gets in the way, my children were young and I chose them over further education instead of having to travel 150 miles to continue my education.
I have also taken classes at ULC online to get my credentials in ministry.
No good comes from ungodliness. Engaging in behaviors that are considered morally wrong or against God’s will will not lead to positive outcomes. Essentially, sin or lack of righteousness will not produce good results in our lives.
There are negative consequences that occur when living an ungodly life both personally and in our relationships with others.
Titus 2:12 teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live a self-controlled life, to live upright and godly lives in this present age.”
In the Bible, the Tree of Death is a symbol of the temptation of sin and death, while the Tree of Life represents eternal life.
The Tree of Death
In the Garden of Eden, God placed a tree of knowledge of good and evil, which promised death and sin if Adam and Eve ate from it. Satan convinced Eve that the fruit was beautiful and good, when in reality is was deadly poison.
The Tree of Life
The Tree of Life was also a tree in the Garden of Eden that promised eternal life if Adam and Eve had remained obedient to God. This tree represents God’s blessing and providence, and what Adam and Eve’s life would if they remained obedient.
The Tree of Life reappears in several places in the Bible. Including the Tabernacle, the Temple in Jerusalem, and in the Revelation.
The final chapters of the Bible describe the Tree of Life as a physical life in the center of God’s restored creation. It produces fruit each month, has leaves that heal the nation and sits by a river that comes from the Throne of God.
When Jesus was crucified it was done on a dead tree. Jesus died on a tree of sin and death. (He died for our sins and death). And gave us a tree of life so we could have eternal life with Him.
If we choose the Tree of Life – promises, and blessings come from it. We can also choose the Tree of Death (deny God). The Tree of Death that promises sin and death.
Do you play in your daily life? What says “playtime” to you?
Now that winter is here I change my outdoor activities to indoor ones. They may include a game a phase 10 with my friends, or just going to an afternoon movie at the theater. Or maybe a lunch or coffee with friends, an afternoon of shopping with my daughter. I also enjoy taking photos of nature.
There’s not much to do in the town I live in, everything is pretty low-key during the colder months.
As we go through life we accumulate countless experiences. Many of these experiences will create wonderful memories, which we will cherish, however some experiences can torment us for years. This is because we are never immune to pain.
Pain is inevitable in life
Most people avoid pain and the emotions that lead to suffering
Pain can be our greatest teacher if we can foster the wisdom to harness the lessons
Our ability to learn and grow even when it involves difficult and uncomfortable experiences can be a valuable asset that should be embraced. Lessons learned can lead to significant personal development, despite the initial pain and discomfort we have to endure.
Pain is a teacher that challenges our situations and setbacks but can serve as valuable learning opportunities, pushing us to grow and adapt.
We when can accept painful learning experiences we demonstrate resilience and the capacity to overcome obstacles. The old saying “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” comes to mind.
While the initial process of learning might be difficult, the knowledge and skills we gain can provide significant benefits in the long run.
Modern society prioritizes rapid outcomes over effort. The hunger to over perform is indirectly proportional to the pain we are willing to stand. The “no pain, no gain motto seems no longer a thing.
We have come to believe that easy and fast equals better. And the best teachers are those who make learning unchallenging.
Aristotle said “Learning is not child’s play.”
Easy learning is deceiving. Its effects are an illusion, and are anything but long lasting. We have it backwards. When learning is easy, we become over-confident.
Spoon feeding, in the long run, teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon” -E.M. Forster
It’s true that people often give up on their goals because they are stressful. There is a benefit from learning to do something well.
The biggest challenges I face has been following Jesus. Going against the grain of society. In a world that values materialism, and instant gratification. Some people have misconceptions about what it is to follow Jesus. Such as its association with judgement, or fundamentalism. While society is in pursuit of material wealth, and instant gratification, Jesus emphasis on humility, and love.
God’s plan is always best. Sometimes the process is painful and hard. But don’t forget that when God is silent, He’s doing something for you.
Being offended means being upset over minor things, but simultaneously feeling no shame or remorse for one’s own actions which often implies a sense of defiance or disregard for someone’s sensitives.
This person might take offense at the slightest perceived criticism or disagreement, feeling hurt or disrespected.
It’s a willingness to acknowledge any wrongdoing or take responsibility for one’s on behavior.
Ephesians 4:31 tells us to “Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.
When people are offended, they tend to talk negatively about anyone who hurts us. Instead of trying to resolve any issue peacefully.
Not many things makes me feel nostalgic for my childhood. I don’t really yearn for the past. Most of what people think of as nostalgic brings back bad memories. The simple things in life were valued, cheaper houses, food, and good morals and values I yearn for. The thing that brings back good memories is the music.
Our Salvation rests on three things: God, sin, and death. This is the hardest thing to teach because today in our world generally, these three things have lost their meaning. For millions of people, God is no more than a name with which to personify their a feeling of beauty and goodness, for a reservoir of goodwill. God is a dream, an ideal, almost devoid of existence. God has become dependent on man and the only inference to be drawn is that if there were no men there would be no God. And if there is no God, there can be no sin, and the word “sin” has almost vanished from use.
All that remains of the idea is a social maladjustment or the vestiges of a earlier stage of evolution. Where God and sin have been banished from minds, and death is no longer with a evil, but an event to be accepted as the natural end of life. W
hat happens after death and to the soul, there are no qualms. Many people give no conscious thought to the problems of death or future life.
John speaks of sin in 1 John 3:4, saying sin is lawlessness. This definition is profound because it is much more than the transgression of law, it is the act of passing over a mark set by law. It’s a tendency towards transgression and the motive that impending it, as well as the deed itself. Lawlessness identifies the sin as the characteristic in men which abandons restraint or control from a source outside themselves. It is that which man sets up himself as the standard by he measures his own life. A demand for self-rule, and becomes their standard of truth to whatever the person wants it to be. An invention if you will of a doctrine of immortality of their soul. Which in the long run invades their relationship with others, and brings abandonment of truth and faithfulness with God.
Through lawlessness people become their own measure of good, the good the desires that satisfies their own ego, and may be the cruelest evil for other people.
Paul says in Hebrews 11:6 “God is the rewarder of those who seek Him.” It is the very ground of hope in reward the fulfillment of promises. This faith is the ground on which righteousness is reckoned to men by God. And since is the exact opposite, since is denial, not formally, but in practice that God is true, or that He exists. Only a fool says “There is no God Corrupt are they, and have done abominable works. There is none who do good” (Psalm 14:1). Corruption is the direct result of the inward denial that there is a God.
People that deliberately go their own way against the will of God is eitherto make Him a liar or to treat Him as non existent. With God people would draw no breath.
It is the absolute being of God which makes the sentence of death for disobedience not only just but inevitable. If God is God, then the wages of sin could not be other than death. The one thing that God cannot do I’d to deny Himself, to deny His own being and truth, and for God to allow who He has made to claim moral self-rule would be to tolerate a challenge to Hid supremacy. That would be nothing less than the abdication of the Devine Dynasty from the rule of His own universe, leaving it in chaos – a hypothesis which is literally unthinkable. It can be stated only to be rejected, because it disrupts reason itself and no sane mind could contemplate it.
From Pity to Praise 