If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be, and why?
David lived a victorious life for God, but he still wanted to achieve more. So God assured him that the good work He began with David would continue with his offspring. So too, is our work only set for a time, but God uses us within His larger kingdom plan to continue what has been started by others and to pass on our responsibilities to those who follow us.
I used to say that to myself until I grew closer to God and read the Purpose Driven Life! I learned God made me for His joy. I do have purpose here on earth because God said so. Also learned bad things do happen in life,. Knowing God promises to be there no matter all I have to do is ask Him to be with me. I learned there is only one of me and God wouldn’t have it any other way. Knowing You Father God, you’re able to have anything You want. I humblie thank You for Your unconditional love in Your, Son Jesus name Amen
God, thank You for all that You have done and continue to do through me. It is a joy to be able to serve Your kingdom. As I reflect on my work, I thank You for those who came before me, giving me a foundation to build on. Please grant me the grace to raise up others to continue in service to You beyond my years. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Trials and tribulations are an inevitable part of the Christian walk and (or) life. There are times where we will be mocked for what we believe and it will leave us weary and down. Christ tells about this in scriptures.
Isaiah too foresaw Jesus, God’s servant, being mocked (Isaiah 50:6). Jesus too predicted that people will mock him (Mark 10:34). It happened to him like that (Matthew 27:29 and 41). So let us remember that the sufferings of Jesus intensified because of mockery he faced.
Proverbs 17:5 ESV Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker; he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.
Psalm 1:1 ESV / 140 helpful votes Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 Peter 3:3-7 ESV / 96 helpful votes Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
Galatians 6:7 ESV Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
Isaiah 57:4 ESV Whom are you mocking? Against whom do you open your mouth wide and stick out your tongue? Are you not children of transgression, the offspring of deceit,
Proverbs 15:12 ESV A scoffer does not like to be reproved; he will not go to the wise.
Proverbs 14:6-9 ESV A scoffer seeks wisdom in vain, but knowledge is easy for a man of understanding. Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet words of knowledge. The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools is deceiving. Fools mock at the guilt offering, but the upright enjoy acceptance.
Ephesians 4:29 ESV Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Romans 12:2 ESV Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Ephesians 5:4 ESV
Have you wondered about how much the riches of God’s glory must be? It’s a common phrase that we come across, but we rarely stop to think about what it really signifies. Do the riches of God’s glory come with a limitation? The simple answer is no, they do not. The riches of God’s glory are endless and ever-abounding. When you view this verse from the point-of-view that God’s riches are endless, it totally blows your mind. The amount of strength that we are able to receive from God is boundless. There is no limitation to it.
We are always going to need to be strengthened as we go through this world. There are challenges that await us at every corner. When we think that we have got everything under control, the enemy springs up and tries to make us feel as if we are worthless. There are days where we can easily fend off his attacks, but there are also days where those attacks will take a large toll on us. In those moments, we are unable to pick ourselves up and it becomes very hard to push on.
It is in those moments, we need to call on God for his strength. The reality of the matter is this: our own human strength will never be able to sustain us. If it was, we would have no reason to depend on God. It is only through God, we are able to face the trials of life.
It is evidenced through both Old Testament and New Testament Scripture that God does have the power to heal our physical bodies. Miraculous healings still happen today! Use the following Bible verses to talk to God about your pain and fill your heart with hope.
Father, help me to keep my focus on you when the pain and hurt are overwhelming. Help me to be faithful and to see the good and blessings that surround me. Please strengthen my mind, heart, and body, and heal me today. May the Holy Spirit guide me in peace and comfort today. Amen.
Your life without a computer: what does it look like? I was born in 1972! We didn’t have a personal computer for our homes. We did have them in our schools! I learned to use one by seventh grade!
Do you see yourself as a leader? Yes! QUOTE OF THE DAY “Seek to learn on earth those truths which will remain ever valid in Heaven.” St. Jerome
The Left is engaged in a plot to ban President Trump from the ballot nationwide. Now we face a vital MIDNIGHT deadline as we fight in court to stop it.
It’s the most dangerous subversion of our constitutional right to vote I’ve ever seen. Far-Left organizations are filing lawsuits to prevent Americans from voting for the candidate of their choice – declaring President Trump “disqualified” from office for insurrection under the 14th Amendment. The implications go far beyond his candidacy.
There are now lawsuits in 13 states, and we were just in court yesterday in Colorado to intervene on behalf of the Colorado Republican Committee. We’re already in talks with potential clients to intervene in other cases.
These lawsuits are a direct violation of the voting rights of millions of Americans. It’s election interference and blatantly unconstitutional.
These cases are headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
I’ve argued and helped win election integrity cases at the Supreme Court before, and we can do it again.
But to have the resources we need for this massive legal undertaking – the biggest fight to defend the Constitution and your right to vote we’ve ever engaged in – we are going to need each and every one of you.
Our Matching Moment Deadline is MIDNIGHT tonight. Have your gift DOUBLED as we go to court to defend our constitutional republic.
Read Time: 5 min 32 sec | View in Browser | Listen to Podcast
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QUOTE OF THE DAY “Seek to learn on earth those truths which will remain ever valid in Heaven.” St. Jerome
Hunter Biden Indicted
The indictments keep coming.
This time, it’s President Biden’s son Hunter who was indicted yesterday on three federal charges, a first for a child of a sitting president. Hunter is accused of lying about his drug use when buying a firearm in 2018 — he’s since said he was addicted to crack cocaine at the time.
The indictment makes no mention of any of the tax violations that were part of a previous plea deal. That deal, which would have allowed Hunter to avoid jail time, unexpectedly fell apart in July after a judge raised concerns.
Hunter’s lawyer criticized the indictment, saying it’s the result of “MAGA Republicans’ improper and partisan interference.” Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) called the indictment a “starting point” for “justice.” Everyone agrees that courtrooms will play a big role in the 2024 presidential race.
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ABOVE ALL, LOVE While you likely have no control over the politically contentious investigations into Hunter Biden or anyone else, you can control how you speak about them. Leave others with no doubt of your love for everyone involved.
“No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.” Ephesians 4:29
Fox News Login Watch TV Menu FOX NEWS FLASH JESSE WATTERS: Democrats are setting Trump up for the greatest comeback in political history The Colorado Supreme Court ruling is stayed until Jan. 4 By Fox News Staff Fox News Published December 20, 2023 9:32pm EST Facebook Twitter Flipboard Comments Print Email Watters: You can’t save democracy by denying Americans the ability to voteVideo Watters: You can’t save democracy by denying Americans the ability to vote Fox News host Jesse Watters reacts to the Colorado Supreme Court disqualify former President Donald Trump from the state’s primary ballot on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime.’
Fox News host Jesse Watters says former President Trump is becoming “more powerful in the eyes of the voters” on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
COLORADO SUPREME COURT DISQUALIFIES TRUMP FROM 2024 BALLOT
JESSE WATTERS: You can’t save democracy by denying Americans the right to vote. You can’t find somebody guilty of a crime that they haven’t been charged with. In a 4-3 ruling, the Colorado Supreme Court said Trump engaged in an insurrection and, under the 14th Amendment, insurrectionists are constitutionally prohibited from holding office. Northern interests wrote this into the Constitution, so Southern Confederates, who took up arms against the Union and fought in the Civil War, couldn’t hold federal office. Donald Trump telling people to march peacefully and patriotically and then telling them to go home isn’t an insurrection. Unelected state judges without a trial, a hearing, or any due process, convicted a former president of a federal crime 2,000 miles outside of their jurisdiction and disenfranchised 6 million Americans in Colorado.
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— COLORADO SUPREME COURT DISQUALIFIES TRUMP FROM 2024 BALLOT
JESSE WATTERS: You can’t save democracy by denying Americans the right to vote. You can’t find somebody guilty of a crime that they haven’t been charged with. In a 4-3 ruling, the Colorado Supreme Court said Trump engaged in an insurrection and, under the 14th Amendment, insurrectionists are constitutionally prohibited from holding office. Northern interests wrote this into the Constitution, so Southern Confederates, who took up arms against the Union and fought in the Civil War, couldn’t hold federal office. Donald Trump telling people to march peacefully and patriotically and then telling them to go home isn’t an insurrection. Unelected state judges without a trial, a hearing, or any due process, convicted a former president of a federal crime 2,000 miles outside of their jurisdiction and disenfranchised 6 million Americans in Colorado.
Every time Trump’s arrested, he becomes more powerful in the eyes of the voters. What’s going to happen when they take him off the ballot? They’re turning Trump into the greatest political underdog America has ever witnessed. They’re setting up the greatest comeback story in American political history. They say they’re protecting us from danger, but Trump’s not a danger to us. He’s a danger to them. And Americans are starting to ask themselves why? It feels like the left wants violence because that’s where this is going. We’re being baited so their actions are justified. That’s how it feels. The more the left overplays their hand, the scarier this gets
What’s your favorite time of day? In the morning I love watching God bring the sun up in the east!
Delana,
There is an impending storm, and I’m really concerned that many people just are not ready for it. President Biden is empowering anti-Christian forces to eviscerate your religious liberty.
A Christian kid was unconstitutionally suspended for telling his classmates about Jesus. A pastor was threatened with arrest for praying in front of the Chinese embassy, employees are banned from going to church on Sunday, the faith of our soldiers is under fire, and the Deep State is spying on churchgoers and calling Christians “criminals.”
It’s a surreptitious war on our faith that could destroy everything we’ve fought for.
But we can win. We helped defeat Biden’s effort to end your right to go to church at the Supreme Court this year.
I’ve never seen anything like this. If we don’t act now, we could lose everything we’ve fought for. We are your last line of defense in court. But to have the critical resources necessary to defeat Biden’s endless attacks on your faith at the Supreme Court, we need your support.
Our Life & Liberty Drive has been tremendously successful. But our deadline is in just about 72 hours, and we’re still short of our goal.
Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., is planning to use the upcoming government spending fight to pump the brakes on the federal and state prosecutions targeting former President Trump.
He said on Monday that he intends to introduce two amendments to the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, which allocates funding to the Justice Department, among other offices.
Both would prevent federal funds from going toward the prosecution of a major presidential candidate ahead of the 2024 White House race. The first is aimed at federal cases and the second at state prosecutions.
TRUMP LAWYER CALLS FOR SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH TO BE INVESTIGATED, SAYS CHARGES ARE ALL ‘THEATRICS’
Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars have no place funding the radical Left’s nefarious election interference efforts,” Clyde told Fox News Digital. “Together, Jack Smith, Alvin Bragg, and Fani Willis intentionally brought four sham indictments against the sitting president’s top political opponent, President Donald J. Trump, as the upcoming 2024 presidential election ramps up.”
Clyde is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, which has been tasked with assembling 12 different spending bills for the next fiscal year, which begins on Oct. 1.
TRUMP CAMPAIGN RAISES $7.1 MILLION IN FUNDRAISING SINCE MUGSHOT WAS TAKEN THURSDAY, FOX NEWS CONFIRMS
Who is your favorite historical figure? Jesus! When you surrender to God by living generously, it changes lives.
What’s your most prized possession? There’s nothing wrong with having things, or with enjoying them. The problem comes when our things have us.
Thankfully, God modeled a different way to live when He sacrificed His greatest treasure for us. His generosity is sacrificial and counter-cultural.
When we give like God does, and we honor Him with that giving, it draws us closer to Him. It causes us to stop looking at ourselves, and start looking out for others. The more we draw near to God, the more our priorities and values start to reflect His.
So, how do you live generously? It starts with asking God to give you a generous mindset. If you’re not sure how to do that, try praying this prayer.
God,
Thank You for showing me what generosity looks like. I confess that at times it’s easy for me to focus on things that don’t matter. But today, I surrender to Your will, trusting in You completely. Change the way I think, and give me a generous heart. Make me aware of the resources I have, and how I can use them to serve others. Help me to live a life that blesses others just as You have richly blessed me.
What’s your favorite recipe? Anything with Buffalo meat!
Dear Lord, we want to surrender our own will and put all our focus on You so that we are able to go where you have called us. Amen.
Usually we keep the Triad locked for Bulwark+ members but today it’s open for everyone. If you’ve been on the fence about joining, I hope you’ll hop down today. The next 15 months are going to be pretty important and we’re able to keep 90 percent of what we do free for everyone precisely because of the support of our members. Come ride with us, into the breach. Again.
On Friday, I was on The Bulwark pod with Charlie and we were discussing how to commemorate the latest image in our long, slow-rolling, not-yet-fully-satisfying vindication: the mug shot. So this weekend we threw up a few options on The Bulwark Store for y’all to peruse. Check ‘em out. Now, let me give you a little live, on-the-ground reporting from the bayou. I went so you didn’t have to.
(Images: Getty, Shutterstock. Art: Hannah Yoest.) Lafayette—On Friday Republican activists decked out in Let’s Geaux Brandon attire filed into a sleepy conference center connected to the CAJUNDOME as two projector screens aired Right Side Broadcasting News’ archival footage of a Donald Trump rally from back in the good ol’ days. Back when their cup ranneth over with the tears of triggered libs and all was right in their world. Back before their man was indicted, weighed, photographed, arraigned and forced to surrender to the custody of Fulton County Courthouse on orders of District Attorney Fani Wills. This was the annual gathering of the Louisiana GOP, titled “Victory 23: It’s Bigger Than All Of Us” though the vibes were less than victorious. It was just one day after the mugshot seen ‘round the world, but there were no signs that the legal troubles of their standard bearer weighed on their consciences.The congregants who made the trek to Lafayette for the sparsely attended confab had a lot of complaints—but none of them were directed at the man setting their beloved party on fire. They were unhappy about the direction of the state, their sitting Democratic governor, and their traitorous Republican senator. But most of all they were enraged at how the Department of Justice is treating their rightful president, Donald J. Trump. This stated bitterness was offset by another overriding theme of the day: their hope, their faith, and their desire to fight for the “soul of the nation.” to borrow a phrase. Speakers prayed for Louisiana. They prayed for humility. They prayed for rain. But mostly they prayed for resurrection. Share As the brass notes of “Fight for LSU” faded, the Leadership Institute’s Heather Sellers took the stage to scattered applause. She had come straight from the debate in Milwaukee and said to the crowd that while she knows who she thinks won the debate, she wanted to know “what y’all think.” There’s a short pause as the crowd determined their role in this impromptu call and response. I leaned forward in my chair excited to hear what names get shouted out. Vivek? Nikki? Dee-sanctus? A lone voice yelled TRUMP. And then a rolling chorus echoed TRUMP. TRUMP. TRUMP. Sellers responded, “I’d have to agree.” [Note for anyone in future generations uncovering this political time capsule for an AI-assisted college essay: Trump did not attend the debate in question.] And that pretty much captured the mood of the assemblage. During the afternoon I did not encounter a single item of clothing or flair representing a 2024 candidate other than Trump. There was JUSTICE FOR TRUMP gear, and MAGA hats, and Try That In A Small Town tees—but no sign of merch from any of the other presidential aspirants. It was as if there wasn’t even a presidential primary happening. I suppose that’s because,in this room, there really wasn’t. I moseyed up to a few early-20s staffers who were working the event, curious to see if maybe they had an alternative view from the blue-haired attendees and approved speakers. “Just curious, who are you guys supporting in the primary,” I asked The first guy replied, “well we are a Trump party.” The others nodded. “But if it wasn’t him I would like Vivek.” This was the basic sentiment from every person under the age of 30 that I talked to. (One young woman was also impressed with Nikki Haley.) But it was the caveat at the start of his answer that was the most telling. The matter-of-fact, unquestioned, quasi-religious acknowledgment of Trump. Whether directed or not, intentional or not, the people who work at the state Republican Party of Louisiana still identify themselves at some level as being on the Trump team. And despite all the former president’s legal troubles, that’s not irrational. The latest GOP primary poll in Louisiana has Trump ahead by an Assad-like 65 points.
How would you design the city of the future? Show the love of God!
Dear God, we value both the physical and spiritual bodies You have so delicately created. We will protect one another and work harder to build each other up spiritually. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. Corinthians 3:17
There are a variety of ways our bodies can be destroyed both physically and spiritually. We can be physically abusive by fighting or intentionally disregarding safety protocols. We speak hurtful words, gossip or lead others into sin, be it intentional or not. We know to treat our own body as a temple, and we must be sure to treat those around us the same. We will protect one another in all physical settings and build each other up spiritually.
We have set up the Harvest Maui Relief Fund to provide tangible support for our church’s local relief efforts. Enable images to see what you’re missing from Harvest Ministries.
Friday, August 25, 2023 Impact Without Compromise
LISTEN “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.”
—Matthew 5:14
Years ago, I arrived home during one of California’s rolling blackouts. All the power was gone. The Internet was down. Even the streetlights were off. There was no light anywhere.
However, I did have my cell phone, which had a low battery. Still, there was a little light emanating from it, and I was able to use it to find my way around. And I discovered that a little light goes a long way.
We live in a very dark time culturally, and a little light will go a long way. We have an entire generation of young people who seem to be adrift morally and spiritually. That is why the world so desperately needs the gospel.
The Bible clearly teaches that our culture will grow darker. It isn’t going to get better; it’s going to get worse. Even though humanity has increased in scientific, medical, historical, educational, psychological, and technological knowledge to an astounding degree, we have not changed our basic nature.
Our confidence has increased, but our peace of mind has diminished. Our accomplishments have increased, but our sense of purpose and meaning have all but disappeared. Instead of improving the moral and spiritual quality of our lives, our discoveries and accomplishments have simply provided new ways to show ourselves for what we really are: depraved, sinful, and wicked.
The spiral is downward, not upward.
As Christians, we might be tempted to withdraw to our own subculture. But that is not what we’re supposed to do. The objective of believers is not to isolate but to infiltrate. It is not to evade but to invade.
Jesus said, “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14 NLT). We need to impact our culture without being compromised by it.
Psalm 145:17-18 (nkjv) 17 The Lord is righteous in all His ways, Gracious in all His works. 18 The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.
Psalm 145:17-18 (nkjv) 17 The Lord is righteous in all His ways, Gracious in all His works. 18 The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. Before God began to form the earth, it was formless, empty, and dark. Even in that state, “the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2). On day three of Creation, God pulled back the waters and dry land appeared. Chaos turned into order on earth.
In Psalm 46, the psalmist seems to call upon that Creation imagery. Instead of the land and mountains appearing out of the sea, he sees the earth being “removed” and “the mountains [being] carried into the midst of the sea.” The sea roared and was troubled (verses 2-3). Instead of God bringing order out of chaos, as He did at Creation, it seems that the psalmist’s life (and Israel’s) is devolving into chaos. But he knows one thing is true: Just as the Spirit of God was hovering over the earth, so God is “a very present help in [his time of] trouble…. The Lord of hosts is with us” (Psalm 46:1, 7).
When you sense that chaos is replacing order in your life, remember that God is your always-present help. Call on Him to calm the chaos and restore the order.
If you don’t surrender to Christ, you surrender to chaos. E. Stanley Jones
Ezekiel 5:1 – 8:18 (nkjv)
A SWORD AGAINST JERUSALEM
5 “And you, son of man, take a sharp sword, take it as a barber’s razor, and pass it over your head and your beard; then take scales to weigh and divide the hair. 2 You shall burn with fire one-third in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are finished; then you shall take one-third and strike around it with the sword, and one-third you shall scatter in the wind: I will draw out a sword after them. 3 You shall also take a small number of them and bind them in the edge of your garment.4 Then take some of them again and throw them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will go out into all the house of Israel.
5 “Thus says the Lord God: ‘This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations and the countries all around her. 6 She has rebelled against My judgments by doing wickedness more than the nations, and against My statutes more than the countries that are all around her; for they have refused My judgments, and they have not walked in My statutes.’ 7 Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you have multiplied disobedience more than the nations that are all around you, have not walked in My statutes nor kept My judgments, nor even done according to the judgments of the nations that are all around you’— 8 therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Indeed I, even I, am against you and will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations. 9 And I will do among you what I have never done, and the like of which I will never do again, because of all your abominations. 10 Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments among you, and all of you who remain I will scatter to all the winds.
11 ‘Therefore, as I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you; My eye will not spare, nor will I have any pity. 12 One-third of you shall die of the pestilence, and be consumed with famine in your midst; and one-third shall fall by the sword all around you; and I will scatter another third to all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.
13 ‘Thus shall My anger be spent, and I will cause My fury to rest upon them, and I will be avenged; and they shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it in My zeal, when I have spent My fury upon them. 14 Moreover I will make you a waste and a reproach among the nations that are all around you, in the sight of all who pass by.
15 ‘So it shall be a reproach, a taunt, a lesson, and an astonishment to the nations that are all around you, when I execute judgments among you in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I, the Lord, have spoken. 16 When I send against them the terrible arrows of famine which shall be for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, I will increase the famine upon you and cut off your supply of bread. 17 So I will send against you famine and wild beasts, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken.’”
JUDGMENT ON IDOLATROUS ISRAEL
6 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2 “Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, 3 and say, ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains, to the hills, to the ravines, and to the valleys: “Indeed I, even I, will bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.
4 Then your altars shall be desolate, your incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. 5 And I will lay the corpses of the children of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones all around your altars. 6 In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate, so that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, your idols may be broken and made to cease, your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished. 7 The slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord. 8 “Yet I will leave a remnant, so that you may have some who escape the sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the countries. 9 Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations where they are carried captive, because I was crushed by their adulterous heart which has departed from Me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols; they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations. 10 And they shall know that I am the Lord; I have not said in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them.”
11 ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Pound your fists and stamp your feet, and say, ‘Alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! For they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. 12 He who is far off shall die by the pestilence, he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who remains and is besieged shall die by the famine. Thus will I spend My fury upon them. 13 Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when their slain are among their idols all around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every thick oak, wherever they offered sweet incense to all their idols.
14 So I will stretch out My hand against them and make the land desolate, yes, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblah, in all their dwelling places. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.’”’” JUDGMENT ON ISRAEL IS NEAR 7 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “And you, son of man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel:
‘An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. 3 Now the end has come upon you, And I will send My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways, And I will repay you for all your abominations. 4 My eye will not spare you, Nor will I have pity; But I will repay your ways, And your abominations will be in your midst; Then you shall know that I am the Lord!’
5 “Thus says the Lord God:
‘A disaster, a singular disaster; Behold, it has come!
6 An end has come, The end has come; It has dawned for you; Behold, it has come! 7 Doom has come to you, you who dwell in the land; The time has come, A day of trouble is near, And not of rejoicing in the mountains. 8 Now upon you I will soon pour out My fury, And spend My anger upon you; I will judge you according to your ways, And I will repay you for all your abominations.
9 ‘My eye will not spare, Nor will I have pity; I will repay you according to your ways, And your abominations will be in your midst. Then you shall know that I am the Lord who strikes.
for them. 12 The time has come, The day draws near.
‘Let not the buyer rejoice, Nor the seller mourn, For wrath is on their whole multitude. 13 For the seller shall not return to what has been sold, Though he may still be alive; For the vision concerns the whole multitude, And it shall not turn back; No one will strengthen himself Who lives in iniquity.
14 ‘They have blown the trumpet and made everyone ready, But no one goes to battle; For My wrath is on all their multitude. 15 The sword is outside, And the pestilence and famine within. Whoever is in the field Will die by the sword; And whoever is in the city, Famine and pestilence will devour him.
16 ‘Those who survive will escape and be on the mountains Like doves of the valleys, All of them mourning, Each for his iniquity. 17 Every hand will be feeble, And every knee will be as weak as water. 18 They will also be girded with sackcloth; Horror will cover them; Shame will be on every face, Baldness on all their heads.
19 ‘They will throw their silver into the streets, And their gold will be like refuse; Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them In the day of the wrath of the Lord; They will not satisfy their souls, Nor fill their stomachs, Because it became their stumbling block of iniquity.
TEMPLE 8 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there. 2 Then I looked, and there was a likeness, like the appearance of fire—from the appearance of His waist and downward, fire; and from His waist and upward, like the appearance of brightness, like the color of amber.
3 He stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my hair; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the image of jealousy was, which provokes to jealousy. 4 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the plain. 5 Then He said to me, “Son of man, lift your eyes now toward the north.” So I lifted my eyes toward the north, and there, north of the altar gate, was this image of jealousy in the entrance.
6 Furthermore He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here, to make Me go far away from My sanctuary? Now turn again, you will see greater abominations.” 7 So He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, there was a hole in the wall. 8 Then He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall”; and when I dug into the wall, there was a door.
9 And He said to me, “Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there.” 10 So I went in and saw, and there—every sort of creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed all around on the walls. 11 And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. Each man had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. 12 Then He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’”
13 And He said to me, “Turn again, and you will see greater abominations that they are doing.” 14 So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the Lord’s house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.
15 Then He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Turn again, you will see greater abominations than these.” 16 So He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house; and there, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping the sun toward the east.
17 And He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence; then they have returned to provoke Me to anger. Indeed they put the branch to their nose. 18 Therefore I also will act in fury. My eye will not spare nor will I have pity; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”
What motivates you? It’s not what motivates me, it’s Who motivates me! God’s loving Words motivates me!
What has any one of us done for God, or given to God that he should have sent his Son, Jesus, to save us? We have done nothing to deserve salvation. We have done nothing to deserve any of the blessings we have been given. It is only through the unconditional love of God that any of this has been done. True, we can look around and see that others may be better looking or smarter, or healthier or wealthier than others. There will be those who seem to have more and we might feel cheated. But just as they did nothing to deserve what they have, we have done nothing to deserve what we have. God’s gifts are not based on whether or not we deserve what we have but the gifts we have been given fit into his plan for our benefit and the benefit of others. Many years ago there was a movie called “It’s A Wonderful Life.” In the movie the main character feels like he is a failure and that it would have been better if he had never been born. In the course of the movie, he learns about how his life has touched others in both major and minor ways. But each person he touched also influenced the lives of others. We don’t always see the effect our lives have on others, but God does. If we never existed, someone’s life would have been less for our not being there. The most important thing we have received is the gift of eternal life and none of us have done anything to deserve that. And so we pray as Paul did:
Jesus of Nazareth, the Greatest Story Ever Told. All movies about Jesus and the Bible.
On this day in 1893, writer and humorist Dorothy Parker was born in Long Branch, New Jersey. She gained national recognition for her wit and cutting voice as a critic, poet and screenwriter.
We Are Simply a Staff
Yael Eckstein | August 22, 2023Engraving by Gustave Dore (1832 – 1883)
“When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.” — Exodus 7:9
Miracles are central to both the Jewish and Christian faiths, and both biblical narratives are replete with miracles. Enjoy this collection of devotional teachings on the nature of God’s awe-inspiring signs and wonders.
Today, human beings can accomplish things previously unimaginable through science, technology, and medicine. We can cure deadly diseases, send man to the moon, turn the sun into energy, and print 3D objects.
On a more basic level, we buy our food from supermarkets, turn on lights with a flick of a switch, and get from one side of the world to another in a matter of hours. If man can make such miracles, what do we need God for?
While our abilities have certainly increased throughout history, this dangerous thought pattern has existed for thousands of years.
We Are Simply a Staff
The story of the Exodus from Egypt is full of God’s miracles. In God’s first show of power, He commanded Moses to tell Aaron to turn a staff into a snake. However, when Aaron carried out this act, Pharaoh called upon his magicians to do the exact same thing. In fact, according to Jewish tradition, any child in Egypt could perform the old “stick to snake trick.” With His infinite abilities, why didn’t God start with something more impressive?
The Jewish sages explain that this miracle was meant to send a poignant message about the power of man and God. In ancient Egypt, snakes were the main symbol of royalty and deity. After Pharaoh’s magicians replicated this miracle, Aaron’s snake swallowed up Pharaoh’s snakes, showing that while Pharaoh’s tricks may seem impressive, only the acts of God will last forever.
At the end of the story, Aaron’s snake turns back into a staff, this time sending a message to the children of Israel. Man is not God; we are simply a staff—a tool in His hand. No matter how impressive today’s achievements may appear, we cannot be fooled by modern magic. We have only been able to create such incredible miracles because God endowed us with wisdom and enabled our success.
Your Turn:
The next time you enjoy a modern miracle or experience success, remember to thank God, the One True Miracle-Maker.
revolutions felled and founded new cultures and governments, while world wars raged, and even now into the present age, Christianity has stood strong, lovingly maintaining the doctrines laid out 2,000 years ago by a Carpenter from Nazareth, Who was also told, “Delete it,” in the parlance of the day, and lost far more than just His job.
Just as American patriots once agreed on what liberty is while sitting around their drinks in pubs, just as they once proclaimed what they knew to be true in the pages of their newspapers and gazettes, just as they once shouted their common beliefs in the streets, so too have today’s American patriots, speaking in today’s town square, agreed that conservatives must not condemn or denigrate Christianity but embrace it.
Hopefully, today’s patriots will continue following in the footsteps of their forefathers and will not be content with pub-table conversations, printed words, and marching in the streets, but will speak at the ballot box too and elect representatives who respect and even share their beliefs, the beliefs that this nation was built upon.
What do you enjoy most about writing? VERSE OF THE WEEK “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.” Romans 13:14
ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE It can be easy to become anxious over things that seem out of control. Scripture reminds us that Jesus will be with his followers in scary and uncertain times and all the way into eternity.
“Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for you are with me; your rod and your staff — they comfort me.” Psalms 23:4 (CSB)
Verse to consider when old enemies show signs of becoming friends… “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Matthew 5:9
CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE Disastrous weather is a stark reminder that sin broke all of creation, not just humankind. In the face of chaos and fear, share your hope in the God who will make his entire creation new again.
“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered… the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.” Isaiah 65:17, 19
Continuing Present Tense Life
1 John 1:7 (NIV®) If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
I’ll admit I wasn’t completely engaged when my English teachers talked about verb tenses. I was more interested by the time I was older and got to study Greek, and I learned the verbs in this passage are continuing present tense. A literal reading says something like this: If we continually walk, we continually have fellowship, and Jesus’ blood continually cleanses us. That brings something to light that is not apparent at first: The promise of cleansing is conditional upon walking in the light and fellowshipping with one another. This is one of the many times where Scripture says we actually need to interact with one another in order to reach spiritual maturity. The purpose of Christian fellowship and friendships is not to fool everyone into thinking we’ve got it all together. Their purpose is to remind us of the power of God that is available to deliver us, to cleanse us, and to give us the encouragement we need to face the challenges of today.
THINK ABOUT IT Christian fellowship helps us keep our eyes on God and builds unity. As we pray, worship, and praise, we grow in Christ.
PRAYER Heavenly Father, help me consistently walk in the light of Your truth and in fellowship with those who are Yours. Thank You for the blood of Jesus that continually cleanses me, for Your protection, and for Your continual deliverance. In Jesus’ name, amen.
After all, both candidates would like to run against a historically unpopular opponent.
The much maligned and passionately non-partisan public interest group, No Labels, knows what the political parties also know but do not want the average American voter to know, or, at least, not to think about too much.
The Dems and GOP are about to nominate the two candidates with the consistently lowest approval ratings in the history of modern polling for the highest office in the land. And, most importantly, they don’t want you to dwell on that too much, if at all.
But it is true. A compelling review of statistical data from the nation’s most respected polling firms, aggregated and presented by the gurus of polling at Five Thirty Eight, tells a troubling story. Americans are being set up to vote for the two most low-approval political personalities since Herbert Hoover.
President Biden has a low approval rating primarily because he is showing his age. His movements and speech are halting and sometimes troubling; there is no hiding it. And the more he tries, the more evident it becomes. And, of course, his son Hunter has become an albatross with which his candidacy must contend. That’s unfortunate for him. Notwithstanding the embarrassment his son, Hunter, has caused him, he has accomplished more than he is given credit for. By any objective standard, he has had a very credible presidency.
Trump is unpopular with almost everyone outside of his MAGA base primarily because he is the most unpresidential, dishonest, and self-serving candidate in American history and, need I say it, the most (and only) criminally indicted candidate. That said, I’ll hasten to add his Presidency is not without its important positive accomplishments.
Nonetheless, in the 48 months of his Presidency, Donald Trump never achieved a 50% approval rating in these top-rated polls. Not once. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. He never received a majority of the popular vote in his two presidential runs either. It is astounding that the Republican Party is so determined (if not intimidated) to stick with such a popular-vote loser. Hillary Clinton beat him by nearly three million popular votes in 2016, and Joe Biden beat him by seven million popular votes in 2020.
His inability to accept or recognize his chronic popular-vote loser status is unprecedented in American politics. While he beat Hillary Clinton in the electoral college, he claimed, without the remotest substantiation, that illegal votes gave Clinton the popular vote (sound familiar). His inability to accept that he is unpopular with most American voters suggests an inherent personality weakness his bravado can’t camouflage. It is troubling and probably, even dangerous.
Donald Trump began his Presidency in 2017 with less than a 50% approval rating on day one and spent all 48 months of his Presidency thereafter less popular than he was on his first day in office. Biden, however, hasn’t done much better. According to multiple polling data, Biden remained barely above water (positive approval) for about 215 days into his Presidency, then slipped into negative (disapproval) territory, and has remained there ever since.
Looking over polling data for every President since Harry Truman, no one has done as poorly as candidates Trump and Biden. Yet these are the two choices the Democrats and Republicans are locked into, insist we accept, and viciously denigrate any suggestion that the country consider any other options, such as a unity ticket that No Labels strives to offer.
Not for one day of his Presidency has Joe Biden bested even the lowest approval rating of Barack Obama, for whom he served as Vice President. The George W. Bush presidency ran circles around President Biden’s Presidency, with high approval ratings (above 50%) until his last year in office.
Bill Clinton, whose first term was somewhat of a roller coaster, enjoyed periods above 50% approval each year of his first four years in office. Bush 41 was remarkably popular until his last year in office, and Ronald Reagan’s first and fourth years of his first term were solidly above water.
Gerald Ford’s Presidency, which in terms of time served in office is roughly the same as the time President Biden has been in office thus far, had an approval rating approximately the same as President Biden’s, uniformly below 50%.
Democrat John Kennedy and Republican Dwight Eisenhower have been the most popular presidents in the past 80 years. Without belaboring the point, the two presidents with the lowest favorability ratings during their time in office, going back to Harry Truman, are Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Yet, party pros become apoplectic when anyone has the temerity to suggest any consideration of alternatives to either Biden or Trump.
Well, here’s a reality we need to ponder. Young voters have been abandoning the two major parties in droves. So much so that about half the electorate now register as Independent today. In other words, Independents are about the size of our two traditional parties combined. Historically, most so-called Independent voters typically leaned toward and thus voted for either Democrats or Republicans. They were reliably called “leaners” in the polling world.
But here’s the thing. Today, Millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996) and so-called Gen Z (those born between 1965 and 1980) tend to be among the most ardently independent voters, and, according to the Harvard Institute of Politics, young voters dislike both Trump and Biden. Small wonder, then, that in a recent poll by the Institute, President Biden’s approval rating was under 40%.
In the past, Independents invariably leaned, election after election, toward the Party they felt most comfortable with. While they registered as “Independent,” the political pros pretty much knew how they would vote. Today, that’s far less certain because both parties are about to nominate candidates with historically low approval ratings.
An attractive alternative giving former President Trump and President Biden, both of whom sport historically and consistently low approval ratings, a real run for the money may not be as farfetched as many assume.
Moral questions, and in what ways can they align? This article tries to clarify some of the differences and similarities between Christian ethicists and secular ethicists. However, it is still worth noting that modern ethics is largely a secular discipline, even among those who practice the Christian faith.
When studying Christian ethics, we need to distinguish those who decide to arrange evidence and arguments derived from or supported by distinctly Christian sources of authority (such as biblical texts), from those who do not. Using scripture to support an argument will only be persuasive if the authority of scripture is already, to some extent, accepted by a reader.
It is possible to draw on examples or principles based on these sources, and then attempt to justify it in a way which does not rely on the authority of those sources. Equally, it is possible to develop a positive ethical theory which does rely on the authority of these sources, and yet develop criticisms of other ethical positions which are purely critical – relying on no particular positive stance, perhaps because the criticism points out an internal contradiction. These interventions might have an underlying Christian motivation, but take a very similar form to criticisms that a secular philosopher might make.
JOIN TAC, Support the Constitution and liberty! From just $2/month, click here Most people are familiar with the Constitution’s preamble. A lot of people were required to memorize it in school. But while the preamble is arguably the best-known part of the Constitution, it is the least important.
Like so many other parts of the constitution, many people today believe that the preamble authorizes all kinds of federal power it never authorized in the first place.
For all of its poetic beauty and the sweeping principles it highlights, the Constitution’s preamble doesn’t actually do anything. You could cut the preamble completely out of the Constitution and it wouldn’t change the makeup or operation of the federal government one iota. That’s because a preamble doesn’t grant, delegate or restrict any government power.
In a legal document, a preamble does not carry the force of law. Black’s Law Dictionary describes a preamble this way.
“A clause at the beginning of a constitution or statute explanatory of the reasons for its enactment and the objects sought to be accomplished.”
While they do not confer any power or carry legal force, preambles do serve a purpose. They act as “a key to open the mind of the makers.” In other words, the preamble is not a source of substantive rules, but a statement of assumptions and purposes that sheds light on the main body of the document.
In simplest terms, the preambles serve as a guide on how to read a constitution or a statute. They identify the parties to the legal document, recite crucial facts related to the document and explain its purpose. The Constitution’s preamble serves all three of these purposes.
While the preamble reveals the “why” of the Constitution — “to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” — it does not tell us how the new governmental structure will accomplish these goals.
And again, I can’t emphasize this enough – while the preamble outlines the broad objectives of the federal government, it does not confer any authority to the government at all.
Most people are familiar with the Constitution’s preamble. A lot of people were required to memorize it in school. But while the preamble is arguably the best-known part of the Constitution, it is the least important.
Like so many other parts of the constitution, many people today believe that the preamble authorizes all kinds of federal power it never authorized in the first place.
For all of its poetic beauty and the sweeping principles it highlights, the Constitution’s preamble doesn’t actually do anything. You could cut the preamble completely out of the Constitution and it wouldn’t change the makeup or operation of the federal government one iota. That’s because a preamble doesn’t grant, delegate or restrict any government power.
In a legal document, a preamble does not carry the force of law. Black’s Law Dictionary describes a preamble this way.
“A clause at the beginning of a constitution or statute explanatory of the reasons for its enactment and the objects sought to be accomplished.”
While they do not confer any power or carry legal force, preambles do serve a purpose. They act as “a key to open the mind of the makers.” In other words, the preamble is not a source of substantive rules, but a statement of assumptions and purposes that sheds light on the main body of the document.
In simplest terms, the preambles serve as a guide on how to read a constitution or a statute. They identify the parties to the legal document, recite crucial facts related to the document and explain its purpose. The Constitution’s preamble serves all three of these purposes.
While the preamble reveals the “why” of the Constitution — “to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” — it does not tell us how the new governmental structure will accomplish these goals.
And again, I can’t emphasize this enough – while the preamble outlines the broad objectives of the federal government, it does not confer any authority to the government at all.Constitution 101: The Preamble audio and video podcast here
The structure of the government and the delegation of powers follow in the various articles of the Constitution. For instance, Article 1 Sec. 8 assigns specific enumerated powers to Congress. Article II delegates specific powers to the president. Article III establishes the authority of the judiciary. Without the delegation of powers that follow, the preamble is nothing but a poetic list of objectives with no mechanism to carry them into effect.
Many Americans don’t understand this. They believe the preamble empowers the federal government to take any action conceivable to achieve the Constitution’s stated objectives. As a result, they point to it to justify all kinds of unconstitutional federal actions. They believe that the federal government can do anything and everything to “provide for the common defense,” to “promote the general welfare,” or to “secure the blessings of liberty.”
Conniving politicians take advantage of this ignorance.
In fact, politicians began abusing the words of the preamble to justify federal actions almost before the ink was dry on the Constitution. Defenders of the Alien and Sedition Acts appealed to the preamble, claiming it supported federal laws that criminalized criticism of the government, ignored due process, and assumed power over immigration that was not delegated. James Madison dispensed with their arguments in the Report of 1800.
“They will waste but little time on the attempt to cover the act by the preamble to the constitution; it being contrary to every acknowledged rule of construction, to set up this part of an instrument, in opposition to the plain meaning, expressed in the body of the instrument. A preamble usually contains the general motives or reasons, for the particular regulations or measures which follow it; and is always understood to be explained and limited by them. In the present instance, a contrary interpretation would have the inadmissible effect, of rendering nugatory or improper, every part of the constitution which succeeds the preamble.” [Emphasis added]
The preamble is like the introduction to a book. It gives you a general idea as to what the book is about. But you would never write a book report just by reading the introduction – that is if you care about getting a decent grade.
Anybody trying to justify this or that federal action through the words of the preamble almost certainly hopes to expand government power beyond its constitutional bounds. The preamble tells us a little, but it doesn’t reveal a lot. People need to keep those well-known words in their proper context.
BUILDING A FOUNDATION This is the kind of essential foundational information that we work hard every single day to get out to more and more people. And nothing – absolutely nothing – helps us get that job done more than the financial faith and support of our members.
All donations are used to help to protect our God and our Constitution. Well you can’t take away our God.
In the years leading up to the birth of the nation we know as America, political discourse was exercised in pubs, in the pages of newspapers, in the town square, and on the steps outside courthouses. The patriots who forged America would define and refine together what liberty means and what responsibilities are carried with it, how men are governed and by what authority, and what a nation is and what it means to be an American.
Today, that same patriotic spirit that burns in the hearts of conservatives articulates itself largely on social media. On Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and even on less mainstream sites like Gab or former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social, conservatives carry on the work of their forefathers and clarify ideologies, debate traditions, and ask what it means to be an American conservative. Just as early American patriots made their voices heard in the streets of Boston, Philadelphia, and Annapolis, so American conservatives made their voices heard on Twitter last week, resoundingly declaring that Christianity is core to conservatism.
Lizzie Marbach, a former Trump 2020 campaign staffer and current Ohio pro-life advocate, tweeted last week, “There’s no hope for any of us outside of having faith in Jesus Christ alone.” The tweet itself garnered a moderate amount of notice and many social media users agreed with Marbach, who was essentially repeating longstanding (and, honestly, pretty basic) Christian doctrine. And then along came Max Miller. The Republican congressman from Ohio and former Trump staffer reposted his fellow former Trump staffer’s tweet with his own derisive commentary, saying, “This is one of the most bigoted tweets I have ever seen. Delete it, Lizzie. Religious freedom in the United States applies to every religion. You have gone too far.” Enjoying news and commentary from a biblical worldview?Stand with us by partnering with FRC.
First of all, it is important to note that Marbach is not a sitting legislator, nor even a government employee. Her tweet did not advocate, endorse, or even remotely suggest the suppression or persecution of any religious group or set of religious beliefs. This makes Miller’s comments all the more infuriatingly ironic: while claiming to support “religious freedom,” a sitting U.S. congressman told an American citizen to delete her profession of one of the most fundamental doctrines of her faith — a faith shared, by the way, by an estimated 70% of Americans.
Miller, who describes himself on Twitter as a “proud Jew,” was instantly ridiculed, shamed, and flatly contradicted by conservatives. Political commentator and podcast host Matt Walsh asked, “Do your constituents know that you consider basic Christian teaching to be ‘bigoted’? They do now I guess. Good luck in the next election!” Journalist Jack Posobiec, senior editor at Human Events, posted a meme reading, “[T]he best time to delete this tweet was immediately after sending it, the second best time is now.” Media personality and former GOP congressional candidate Lauren Witzke quipped, “Mask off moment.” Countless others commented simple variations of “Christ is King.”
Miller went further than merely airing his ignorance, though; he complained to Marbach’s employer, Ohio Right to Life, where his wife is a board member, and she was fired from her position as communications director. Ohio Right to Life stressed that Marbach wasn’t fired due to “any single event,” but even the ol’ post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy might be a bit of a stretch in application to this particular scenario.
In 2020, President Trump famously said, “It’s called ‘we do a little trolling.’” Well, trolling works. After the torrent of purely-digital backlash from Americans, Miller was forced to apologize. He said, “I posted something earlier that conveyed a message I did not intend. I will not try to hide my mistake or run from it. I sincerely apologize to Lizzie and to everyone who read my post.” Now, whether the apology was sincere or simply a PR necessity in the wake of denigrating the beliefs of over two thirds of Americans is not yet clear, though it’s worth noting that Miller did not delete his tweet calling expression of Christian thought “bigoted” and ordering an American Christian to “delete” her tweet, nor has he apologized for his role in having Marbach fired.
In fact, Marbach herself showed Miller just how “bigoted” and threatening Christians are by publicly forgiving him. She tweeted, “Max, I accept your apology 100%. However the truth is that it is not me from whom you need forgiveness, but God himself. I genuinely pray you seek him and find salvation!” She also posted the text of Matthew 18:21-35, in which Christ tells the parable of the unforgiving servant and instructs His disciples to forgive others not just seven times but “seventy-seven times.”
Aside from Miller’s appalling behavior and lackluster attempt at an apology, this episode demonstrates the commitment of conservatives to Christian ideals. Those who do not identify as Christian — atheists and agnostics, even some of Miller’s fellow Jews, were among his detractors — but as conservatives recognize the inherent truth that, without Christianity, there is nothing to conserve. The entirety of the conservative movement is founded upon distinctly Christian principles, traditions, and culture: liberty, order, virtue, duty, sacrifice, and all those noble ideals Americans have fought, bled, and died for over the past 250 years. These ideals were practiced, preached, preserved, clarified, and dogmatized by Christianity.
While nations and empires have risen and fallen, while the Roman republic decayed into tyranny, while kingdoms and races warred across medieval Europe, while European powers pioneered new lands, while the dream called America was realized, while bloody revolutions felled and founded new cultures and governments, while world wars raged, and even now into the present age, Christianity has stood strong, lovingly maintaining the doctrines laid out 2,000 years ago by a Carpenter from Nazareth, Who was also told, “Delete it,” in the parlance of the day, and lost far more than just His job.
Just as American patriots once agreed on what liberty is while sitting around their drinks in pubs, just as they once proclaimed what they knew to be true in the pages of their newspapers and gazettes, just as they once shouted their common beliefs in the streets, so too have today’s American patriots, speaking in today’s town square, agreed that conservatives must not condemn or denigrate Christianity but embrace it.
Hopefully, today’s patriots will continue following in the footsteps of their forefathers and will not be content with pub-table conversations, printed words, and marching in the streets, but will speak at the ballot box too and elect representatives who respect and even share their beliefs, the beliefs that this nation was built upon.
S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.
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“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”
Psalm 34:18
Without perspective given by the Spirit, our love will only reach as far as the human eye can see. Brokenness comes in all forms and fashions. Without Jesus, the man or woman covered in dirt and filth standing on the street corner begging for help is just as broken as the millionaire lying and cheating his way into fleeting fame and fortune. It’s just that our brokenness takes on varying forms depending on what temptations and trials get the better of us.
Jesus saw past the brokenness to the hearts of those around him. He chose to love and minister to the core of the person rather than being intimidated by the symptoms of sin in those around him. He saw into the heart of the woman at the well in John 4 and ministered to her brokenness caused by failed marriages and sexual sin. We see him speak to the core of the wealthy tax collector, Zacchaeus, in Luke 19 and love him by spending time with him when no one else would.
If we are ever going to love others well, we have to devote ourselves to loving people at a heart level. We have to care for and speak to the core of their wounds rather than dismissing them for their external problems.
Romans 15:1-5 says: We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.’ For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus.
We must follow the example of Jesus and love those no one else will. We must take in the outcasts, orphaned, widowed, poor, prideful, arrogant, and selfish. We must have our Father’s heart for the enemies, strangers, socially unacceptable, and downcast. If we don’t love them, who will? If we don’t speak and provide love for the deep wounds that cause their brokenness, who will? If we don’t reveal the heart of our Father, who will?
Psalm 34:18 says, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” May you discover the unconditional love your heavenly Father has toward those broken and crushed today as you enter into guided prayer.
Today’s devotional was written by Craig Denison.
1. Meditate on the importance of seeing past brokenness to the heart of those around you. Allow Scripture to fill you with desire and purpose to love people well today.
“So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.”Romans 14:19
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”Hebrews 10:24-25
2. Whose brokenness has kept you from loving them well? What person would God fill you with the ability to minister to today that desperately needs a touch from God?
3. Ask the Lord for his heart for that person. Ask God to give you an understanding of what wound he wants to minister to. Ask him to give you a creative insight on how to love them well today.
“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”Psalm 34:18
International Fellowship of Christians and Jews HomeLearnHoly Land MomentsDaily DevotionalsThe Power of Sincere Prayer The Power of Sincere Prayer Yael Eckstein | August 18, 2023
Elderly woman clasping hands and looking up Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, “Do not accept their offering. I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, nor have I wronged any of them.” — Numbers 16:15
Prayer in Judaism is defined as “the work of the heart,” which profoundly changes the nature of prayer from one of entreating God to an act that transforms who we are—not what God does. These devotions focus on different facets of prayer and what lessons we can learn about the power of our prayers.
The Book of Numbers describes Korah’s rebellion against Moses and Aaron. In the aftermath of this crisis, Moses requested of God, “Do not accept their offering.”
This prayer is strange on a number of levels. Why is this spiritual giant acting like a spiteful child, trying to get his Father to pick sides in a sibling rivalry? Moreover, if it is so clear that Moses and Aaron are righteous—while Korah and his followers are somewhere between misguided and evil—why would Moses need to ask God to refuse their offering? After all, God knows all and would surely act with justice.
The Power of Sincere Prayer We find a similar situation during Temple times. On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would enter the innermost sanctuary and perform the most sacred service. Afterward, he would utter one final prayer: that God not listen to prayers of the travelers.
Much like today, when we may hope for sunny weather on our vacation, travelers used to pray that it would not rain while they were on the road. However, if God answered every traveler’s prayer, it would never rain. The High Priest needed to intervene for the sake of the crops.
But again, why would the High Priest think that God would answer these selfish prayers? According to the Jewish sages, these scenarios teach us about the power of sincere prayer. Even though the prayers of the rebels and the travelers may have stemmed from self-interest, their faith was genuine; they truly believed that God ran the world and their prayers mattered.
This deep faith gave their prayers a power so great that their prayers could only be thwarted by the likes of Moses and the High Priest.
Your Turn: Like the rebels and the travelers, pray from a place of deep faith. Like Moses and the High Priest, pray for the sake of heaven and you will experience the power of sincere prayer.
What’s the most money you’ve ever spent on a meal? Was it worth it? $100.00 Yes!
Many of us find ourselves saying, “I don’t have time,” especially when it comes to things like volunteering. However, it’s important to remember that God intended for us to serve in the church.
Perhaps: the most glorious word in the English language is “forgiveness.” Billy Graham
“The promise is not only for those people that live under the law of Moses. It is for anyone who lives with faith like Abraham.”
Romans 4:16 (ICB)
No matter who you are and no matter what you’ve done, God loves you and wants you to come home to him. He wants to shower his grace on you. He wants to throw a party for you when you return.
The Bible says in Romans 4:16, “The promise is not only for those people that live under the law of Moses. It is for anyone who lives with faith like Abraham” (ICB).
The apostle Paul is saying that, in the Old Testament, the Jewish people (the nation of Israel) lived under the Law of Moses. But Abraham, who became known as the father of faith, came into God’s grace by faith—continuing to hope against all hopelessness—and that same grace is available to anyone today when they place their faith in Jesus Christ.
That was amazing news then, and it is amazing news now! All of us can come to God through faith in his Son, Jesus Christ.
Does “everybody” include short and tall people? Yes. Does it mean rich people and poor people? Yes. Does it include politicians and blue-collar workers? Yes. Does it include people from every ethnic background? Yes. Does it mean people from every country in the world? Yes. Does it mean people who go to church every Sunday? Yes. Does it mean people who have never even seen a Bible? Yes.
God’s grace is available to you no matter what—despite your secret sins, your faults, and your weaknesses. When you accept Jesus into your life, God’s grace is at work when you’re walking closely with him, but also when you feel far from him.
When the Bible says that God’s grace is available to all, it gives no preconditions. The heart of Christianity—the heart of God’s grace—is this: When God sent his Son to die on a cross, he did it for everyone.
Think about this truth: As you go about your day today, you’ll never set eyes on someone who Jesus didn’t die for. And that includes the person you see in the mirror every day!
PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >> Talk It Over
Why do many people have a hard time believing in God’s grace? How should God’s grace change how you treat others—even those you see as not deserving grace from you? How does grace affect the way you approach God? What is your choice about Jesus?
The Bible says you can only get to heaven by trusting in God through his Son, Jesus Christ. You cannot earn your way into heaven: “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV).
If you’re ready to commit your life to Jesus, start with this prayer: “Dear God, you have promised that if I believe in your Son, Jesus Christ, everything I’ve ever done wrong will be forgiven, I will learn the purpose of my life, and you will accept me into your eternal home in heaven one day.
“I confess I have sinned, and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe that Jesus died to take away my sins and that you raised him to life. I want to trust Jesus as my Savior and follow him as Lord from this day forward. Guide my life and help me to do your will. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.”
If you just prayed to accept Jesus, please email me at
Can you have both fear and love? 1 John 4:18 observes, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” Yet in Philippians 2, Paul urges his readers to work out their salvation “in fear and trembling.” What is the difference between these two kinds of fear?The difference is the fear of punishment. Paul does not urge the Philippians to work out their salvation for fear of losing it if they fail to perform well. Neither was Paul urging them to work for their salvation. He assures them, in verse 13, that God was already working in them “to will and to act.” Instead, he is talking about a salvation they have already begun to experience. New Testament scholar H. C. G. Moule describes this sort of fear as “a reverent and wakeful conscience in his holy presence.”To help them with this, Paul hoped to send his protégé Timothy soon to take stock of the situation and bring back a report (vv. 19 23). For now, he was sending them Epaphroditus who had been their connection to Paul. Epaphroditus was probably sent by the church with funds to help Paul’s ministry and to assist in other ways. In verse 25, the apostle calls him a messenger or minister sent to care for Paul’s needs. Paul also calls him a brother, co- worker, and fellow soldier.Working out our salvation is the process God uses to help us fully grasp the reality of a salvation that Jesus Christ has already accomplished for us. God works from within and sends His servants to help us as they work from the outside.>> The wrong kind of fear can be as crippling to spiritual growth as complacency. Don’t freeze up in fear. Instead, draw near to God with a reverent awareness of His presence.
Intend to Grow Today
James 4:13-14 (NLT®) Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.
How many times have you thought about what you will do for God when the next season of life comes along? Less time at the lake, more time at church. Less money on fun, more on Kingdom endeavors. It’s easy to assume we will have a tomorrow when we can do better than we intend to do today, but none of us has been promised that tomorrow. I don’t want to sound grim, but I do think it’s a good idea to live as if tomorrow is not guaranteed. I’m not saying you should live like you’re in a movie where you must finish your to-do list in one day, but I do want you to think about the state of your relationship with Jesus. If you need to make any changes, don’t wait—make them today.
THINK ABOUT IT Every day you are alive is another chance to become a more fully devoted follower of Jesus of Nazareth. Do not procrastinate. Following Jesus is the greatest and most rewarding path you can take in life.
PRAYER Heavenly Father, thank You that “tomorrow” rests in Your watchful care as You are preparing me for an eternity in Your presence. Holy Spirit, help me cooperate with You now to invest every moment I have in God’s Kingdom purposes, laying aside anything that hinders that assignment. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Fight for Hope Psalm 137:3-6 (NIV®) Our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land? If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.
This was written after the Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem and taken the Hebrews captive. God’s people had watched as the invaders tore down the walls, slaughtered people in the streets, and destroyed the Temple. All they had known was gone, and now, they were living in Babylon—in the first Jewish ghetto. Can you imagine their despair? But I hear something beautiful in the psalm. I hear them fighting for hope. It seemed like their circumstances were about to overwhelm them and wash them away. Yet, they pleaded with the Lord to help them remember. When you feel like you have been taken captive by your circumstances, do as they did, and fight for hope. Remember what God has done for you in the past, and then, trust Him with your future.
THINK ABOUT IT Your problems may be physical, financial, emotional, or spiritual—but remember, God sees you and cares. Put your faith, trust, and hope in Him.
PRAYER Heavenly Father, thank You for all You have done for me. Your grace and mercy, through the cross, have delivered me from all my sins and given me a living hope. No matter my circumstance, I rejoice in the kindness and love You have poured upon my life. In Jesus’ name, amen.
What do you love about where you live? Bible study is important, but integrating it into your daily routine can be challenging. At Bible Gateway, we understand this and our goal is to provide you with tools to keep you pushing forward in your faith journey. Today, we are sharing with you a free download about the importance of Biblical context.
You might imagine that Jesus would pick the brightest and the best person to begin His Church—but that’s not the case.
Jesus recruited Peter from a fishing business, not a rabbinical school. When Peter interacted with Jesus, there were many times he put both feet in his mouth and kept walking. I tell you this to remove the idea that to serve the Lord, your life has to be perfect, or that your instincts always have to be spot-on to be trusted with a role of significance. If those preconditions are true, Peter could have never made the cut. Yet he became a character of tremendous influence.
Several of my recent sermons are about Peter’s life and teachings, and you can find all of them on the
Joseph Prince Ministries | Daily Grace Inspirations
Therefore do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear? . . . For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6:31-33
MAKE JESUS YOUR PRIORITY AND SEE BLESSINGS ADDED TO YOU When I talk about not worrying and keeping our eyes on Jesus, some people think that I am not being practical. Beloved, you can worry all you like about your current crisis, but it will not improve or change your situation one bit. Please understand that I am not making light of what you are going through. I am just offering you the best solution I know that works. Your breakthrough will not come as a result of your struggling. It will come when you rest in the person of Jesus and His finished work.
Jesus said, “do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on” (Matt. 6:25). Now, Jesus was not saying that these things—food, drink, and clothing—are not important. In fact, He says that “your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” But what Jesus wants us to do is to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” and He promises that “all these things shall be added to you.”
Now, who is God’s righteousness? Jesus Christ. And who is the king of the “kingdom of God” that we are to seek? Jesus Christ (Rev. 19:16)! Jesus was actually referring to Himself when He was preaching this. When you seek Him first in your life and make Him your priority each day, all these material provisions—what you will eat, drink and wear—will be added to you.
God does not delight in taking things away from you. He delights in adding to you, increasing you, promoting you and enriching you. Psalm 68:19 says, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits . . .” The Lord loads us with benefits daily! That is how good our Savior is. His mercies and His unmerited favor are new every morning. That is the way to live and enjoy life, knowing that Jesus is with you and for you every step of the way.
Put Jesus first in everything that you do. Honor Him and give Him preeminence in your daily life. Partake of His finished work daily by reading His living words to you. Practice the presence of Jesus and be conscious that He is with you, the same way that Joseph in the Bible was conscious that the Lord was with Him. Jesus will bless the works of your hands, and everything you touch will indeed prosper and bring good success into your life.
Beloved, if there are anxious thoughts on your mind right now, know that the Lord cares deeply and wants to give you His shalom-peace. He is your best friend, and you can freely share your worries and cares with Him. He is right beside you, providing for your every need. That’s who our Jesus is!
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If you or a loved one are facing a health or mental wellness challenge today, know that we are praying for you. We would also like to encourage you to read “How do I walk in faith and wisdom as I look to the Lord for healing?” to help you build your faith as you wait for your breakthrough.
Many people received God’s gift of life by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ.”
Romans 5:15 (NCV)
If you looked in your mail today and found a free gift waiting for you, it wouldn’t really be free. Someone paid for it at some point.
The same is true of God’s grace. It’s totally and completely free to you—but Jesus paid for it.
It cost Jesus his life.
That’s why salvation comes through Christ and Christ alone—because he’s the one who paid for the grace we receive. The Bible says, “We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved” (Acts 15:11 NIV).
Nobody else but Jesus volunteered to pay for your sins. And nobody else but Jesus paid the price for all the blessings God brings your way.
Romans 5:15 says, “Many people received God’s gift of life by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ” (NCV).
When you receive the grace of God through Christ alone, you are “in Christ.” That phrase is used more than 120 times in the Bible. And being in Christ changes how God looks at you.
You may think that when God looks at you, he sees all your sins, failures, and rough spots. But when you’re “in Christ,” God just sees Jesus. You may see all of your scars, messes, and problems—but God sees perfection in Christ.
That’s grace, and it can only be found in Christ.
God’s love for you isn’t based on what you do. It’s based on who you are in Christ. In fact, there’s nothing you could ever do to make God love you any more—or any less.
When you come to God through Jesus Christ, he won’t reject you. The Bible promises, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13 NIV).
God is ready and willing to give you his grace and secure a future for you in heaven.
You just need to accept his grace!
God’s love is unchanging despite our sin. Why, then, do you think so many people feel unloved by God? Who in your life needs to hear about God’s unchanging love? What will you do about it? How should you treat grace when you consider that it cost Jesus his life? Have you received God’s grace through Jesus Christ?
No matter what you’ve done or where you’ve been, you’ve got a place in God’s forever family ready and waiting for you. The invitation is wide open. Just believe and receive.
Trust in God’s character and the grace he extends. Confess your sins and ask God to forgive you. Claim the promise of Jesus, that salvation is free and open to anyone who turns from their sins and agrees to follow him as their Lord and Savior. Humbly ask God to accept you into his forever family.
Are you ready? Here’s a prayer you can start with: “Dear God, I know when I die, I’m going to give an account of my life to you. I know I have sinned against you, and I have lived by my plan, not yours. I want that to change, starting right now. I want to turn away from my sins and toward you.
“Thank you for sending Jesus to die for all that I’ve done wrong so that I don’t have to pay the penalty. I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness. I know only your grace can save me, Lord. I could never be good enough to get into a perfect place.
“Jesus, thank you for loving me so much that you took all my guilt on yourself. You made me acceptable for heaven, and I humbly ask you to save me. I believe in you, Jesus. And I believe you will keep your promise to save me instantly, certainly, completely, and eternally. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.”
FULL ISSUE RESOURCES GIVE NO API Imperfect Examples Saturday, August 19 | Philippians 3:12–21 On the Go? Listen to Today’s Devotional Have you ever seen the Christian slogan: “Not perfect, just forgiven”? We might be tempted to dismiss this as an excuse for bad behavior if it were not for Philippians 3 where the apostle Paul makes a similar point.
Paul says his main goal, after obtaining righteousness through faith, was to experience Christ fully. He describes this desire in verse 10, saying that he longed to “know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” This did not mean that Paul believed he had achieved a state of perfection. In verse 12, the apostle admits that he had not “already obtained all this” or “already arrived at my goal.”
Paul compares his Christian experience to being a runner in a race. He does not see himself as someone who is trying to reach out and win Christ because he understands that Christ is already holding on to him. We might even say Christ is carrying him as he runs. The apostle says, “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
Despite the translation of the NIV, the word “win” is not in the text. Verse 14 literally says that Paul’s objective is to “press on for the prize” or “unto the prize.” His aim was to finish the race and grasp a prize that Christ has already won on our behalf. That prize is “the upward call.”
What implication does this have for us as we pursue the Christian life? It means that our growth as a Christian is a progress; it is not instantaneous. It also means that living for Jesus requires Christ-empowered effort. In verses 13–14 Paul speaks of “straining” and “pressing on.”
>> One way we can learn how to live the Christian life is by reading God’s Word and learning from others who are mature (v. 17). Who is your role model in the Christian faith? Beware of the sort Paul describes as “enemies of the cross of Christ” (v. 18).
Pray with Us We were told as children to choose our friends wisely. Father, grant us discernment as we follow the example of mature believers, that we will be guided by Your Spirit and Word as we learn how to live the Christian life. In Jesus Christ name Amen.
How do you plan your goals? O Lord my God, I cried out to You, and You healed me. Psalm 30:2
I ask God everyday to guide my steps!
God revealed Himself to His people Israel by a series of covenant names, one of which was Jehovah Rophe—“the Lord who heals.” Having redeemed His people from Egypt, God told them if they would walk in His statutes they would be spared from the diseases He brought on the Egyptians—“For I am the Lord who heals you” (Exodus 15:26).
Psalm 41:1-3 (nkjv) THE BLESSING AND SUFFERING OF THE GODLY To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. 41 Blessed is he who considers the poor; The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. 2 The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive, And he will be blessed on the earth; You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies. 3 The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness; You will sustain him on his sickbed.
Conversely, if Israel failed to walk in obedience to God, they would suffer the diseases of Egypt and more (Deuteronomy 28:60-61). Part of the covenant expectations that Israel had of God was that He would forgive all their sins and heal all their diseases (Psalm 103:2-3). The coming Messiah would be “bruised for our iniquities” and we would be “healed” by His “stripes” (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24). Healing, or salvation, was considered to be inclusive of both body and soul. So it is no surprise that we find the psalmist David praying for healing in Psalm 30. And it should likewise be no surprise that God answered his prayer (verse 2).
From your head to your toes, if you are in need of wholeness and good health, ask the Lord who heals you.
Any sinner may be healed if he will only come to Christ.
Jeremiah 44:1 – 46:28 (nkjv) ISRAELITES WILL BE PUNISHED IN EGYPT 44 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt, who dwell at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘You have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them, 3 because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods whom they did not know, they nor you nor your fathers. 4 However I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, “Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate!” 5 But they did not listen or incline their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods. 6 So My fury and My anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it is this day.’
7 “Now therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, out of Judah, leaving none to remain, 8 in that you provoke Me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to dwell, that you may cut yourselves off and be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? 9 Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10 They have not been humbled, to this day, nor have they feared; they have not walked in My law or in My statutes that I set before you and your fathers.’
Jeremiah 44:1 – 46:28 (nkjv) 11 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will set My face against you for catastrophe and for cutting off all Judah. 12 And I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to dwell there, and they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine. They shall die, from the least to the greatest, by the sword and by famine; and they shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse and a reproach! 13 For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, 14 so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to dwell there shall escape or survive, lest they return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return and dwell. For none shall return except those who escape.’”
15 Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods, with all the women who stood by, a great multitude, and all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying: 16 “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you! 17 But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and saw no trouble. 18 But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.”
19 The women also said, “And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes for her, to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands’ permission?”
20 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people—the men, the women, and all the people who had given him that answer—saying:
21 “The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the Lord remember them, and did it not come into His mind? 22 So the Lord could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you committed. Therefore your land is a desolation, an astonishment, a curse, and without an inhabitant, as it is this day. 23 Because you have burned incense and because you have sinned against the Lord, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord or walked in His law, in His statutes or in His testimonies, therefore this calamity has happened to you, as at this day.” 24 Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women, “Hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt! 25 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: ‘You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying, “We will surely keep our vows that we have made, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” You will surely keep your vows and perform your vows!’ 26 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: ‘Behold, I have sworn by My great name,’ says the Lord, ‘that My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “The Lord God lives.” 27 Behold, I will watch over them for adversity and not for good. And all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end to them. 28 Yet a small number who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah; and all the remnant of Judah, who have gone to the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall know whose words will stand, Mine or theirs. 29 And this shall be a sign to you,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that My words will surely stand against you for adversity.’
30 “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.’”
ASSURANCE TO BARUCH 45 The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the instruction of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: 3 ‘You said, “Woe is me now! For the Lord has added grief to my sorrow. I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.”’
4 “Thus you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, what I have built I will break down, and what I have planted I will pluck up, that is, this whole land.
5 And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I will bring adversity on all flesh,” says the Lord. “But I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go.”’” JUDGMENT ON EGYPT 46 The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the nations. 2 Against Egypt.
Concerning the army of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, which was by the River Euphrates in Carchemish, and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
3 “Order the buckler and shield, And draw near to battle! 4 Harness the horses, And mount up, you horsemen! Stand forth with your helmets, Polish the spears, Put on the armor! 5 Why have I seen them dismayed and turned back? Their mighty ones are beaten down; They have speedily fled, And did not look back, For fear was all around,” says the Lord.
6 “Do not let the swift flee away,Nor the mighty man escape;They will stumble and fallToward the north, by the River Euphrates. 7 “Who is this coming up like a flood, Whose waters move like the rivers? 8 Egypt rises up like a flood, And its waters move like the rivers; And he says, ‘I will go up and cover the earth, I will destroy the city and its inhabitants.’ 9 Come up, O horses, and rage, O chariots! And let the mighty men come forth: The Ethiopians and the Libyans who handle the shield, And the Lydians who handle and bend the bow. 10 For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, A day of vengeance, That He may avenge Himself on His adversaries. The sword shall devour; It shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood; For the Lord God of hosts has a sacrifice In the north country by the River Euphrates.
11 “Go up to Gilead and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt; In vain you will use many medicines; You shall not be cured. 12 The nations have heard of your shame, And your cry has filled the land; For the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty; They both have fallen together.”
BABYLONIA WILL STRIKE EGYPT 13 The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon would come and strike the land of Egypt.
14 “Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol; Proclaim in Noph and in Tahpanhes; Say, ‘Stand fast and prepare yourselves, For the sword devours all around you.’ 15 Why are your valiant men swept away? They did not stand Because the Lord drove them away.
Create an emergency preparedness plan. Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.”
On this day in 1978, a hot air balloon landed in Miserey, France, about 137 hours after taking off from Presque Isle, Maine. The Double Eagle II was the first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean, piloted by Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman.
Did you know that prayer is how God often opens doors for sharing the gospel?
Serving with Navigators Nations Within, Alex and his wife, Mary, saw God create opportunities to share the gospel with their Seattle neighbors through the power of prayer.
They knew these neighbors previously from living overseas in Asia, but now had a greater opportunity to invite them to follow Jesus.
Be inspired by their story to “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him” Psalm 37:7 (NIV). Then watch for the opportunities and connections He creates.
Tenacious Faith
1 Peter 2:9 (NIV®) You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Our generation has witnessed a steep decline of Christian influence on the culture. I believe that is because we have been content to call ourselves Christians while we display a polite, compliant faith. Not long ago, we routinely prayed publicly in Jesus’ name. The Ten Commandments were displayed in public buildings. Honesty and purity were highly regarded and encouraged. We let those things go without much complaint, and now, our society has difficulty deciding who is a man or a woman! The spiritual complacency we have settled into is not sufficient to address the challenges we are facing. We need to realize what it means to be God’s chosen people. Like Peter, we need to be willing to publicly declare that His way is the best way. We need to come to terms with what it means to have a living and active faith that makes a real difference in our own lives and the lives of others.
THINK ABOUT IT Does your faith make a real difference in your life and the lives of others? Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with a new kind of faith—a tenacious faith that will empower you to be a more effective ambassador for God’s Kingdom.
PRAYER Heavenly Father, I am Your child, Jesus is my Lord, and the Holy Spirit is my Helper. You have designed me to make a difference for Your Kingdom. I choose Your path with my entire being. Grant me the determination to complete the course You have chosen. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Dear Delana,
Please join us in praying for the people in Maui who have lost so much in the recent fires, and for those who are doing their best to help them recover. Let’s pray for God’s supernatural comfort, courage, and strength, and for stories of His faithfulness to emerge from the tragic circumstances.
While we’re praying, let’s also ask for God’s mercy on our cities. They are in disarray far beyond what’s being reported, and we need His help!
Let’s pray:The corporate prayers of God’s people make a difference. When God’s people care enough to join together and invest their time, energy, and effort in prayer, it has a unique impact in Heaven.
What’s the most delicious thing you’ve ever eaten? God’s Holy Word!
Remember, with a movement as large and dedicated as ours, it’s not about the amount our supporters give, but the sheer number of grassroots patriots who step up when it matters most.
For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Revelations 7:17
Weeping may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning. (Psalm 30:5) God’s children may have sorrow and tribulation in this world for what, in the light of eternity, will be but a brief moment, but they will find everlasting joy. Heaven will be a place without tears.
O Comforter of our souls, you are he who will wipe away all tears from our eyes. We may weep here for lost loved ones, but we will meet them again if they died in Christ. We may weep now for pain and misery that come upon us, but it will all pass away. We may feel sorrow for a host of things on earth, but in Heaven, we will find only joy. O prepare us for that place and let our eternal hope make present troubles easier to bear. Amen.
Jesus is the first first Intimate love of my life!
God’s Not Intimidated
Psalm 95:1-4 (NIV®) Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him.
I love the psalmist’s perspective in this passage, that from the depths of the earth to the peaks of the mountains, God is in control of everything. Each one of us faces obstacles and challenges that we wish would just go away. Sometimes, I imagine God is shocked by the difficulty of my circumstances, never having seen anything quite as bad as what I’m facing. There’s something tremendously liberating for me to be reminded God is in control—even the deepest valleys and the highest mountains, the things that challenge me the most, are not intimidating to Him. He is willing and able to lead us in a triumphant walk through every circumstance.
What brings you peace? Who brings me peace? God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit! We reverently reflect on Your work through us, convicting and refining us, and on Your presence in and around us. We rest in Your promise to bring Your work in us to completion. Our salvation is won, our sanctification is on going.
“Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.”
Ephesians 4:26-27
Ephesians 4:26-27 offers revelation on an important and often unknown spiritual principle. Scripture says, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.” When we allow anger to fester within us for days, weeks, months, and sometimes years, we allow the enemy to gain a foothold in our lives that robs us of the abundant life provided in Christ. In Ephesians, Paul is clear that anger in itself is not a sin; it’s when we allow anger to remain instead of choosing grace and forgiveness that we break God’s command.
When people wrong us the natural response is to be angry, and that is all right! Jesus himself was often angry. Matthew 21:12 tells us, “And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.” Jesus was consistently angry with those who claimed to know God and took advantage of others. Nothing made him more angry than pharisaical people. But Jesus also modeled forgiveness of the highest form. Rather than being filled with anger and allowing it to fester inside of him, he offered his life out of his love for the very people who shouted, “Crucify him!” and “Free Barabbas!”
The truth is that our anger is often a symptom of our brokenness rather than the result of the wrongs of others. Often, anger is rooted in our own insecurities and pride rather than a righteous anger for justice. It’s for this reason the Bible tells us over and over again to be slow to anger. James 1:19-20 says, “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”Proverbs 19:11 says, “Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.” And Proverbs 29:11 says, “A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.”
The Lord desires to make us a people filled with his grace and compassion over our own anger and prideful sense of justice. God, who was deserving of everything, gave it all up to show us grace. Jesus is the rightful King of kings and Lord of lords. But rather than claiming what was rightfully his own, he humbled himself before a Roman prefect and a rebellious people and gave up his own life. And now he asks you to do the same. Jesus is asking you to lay down your rights and pride to pursue a higher calling of unconditional love. He’s asking you to show grace where none is deserved. He’s asking you to offer mercy where there should rightfully be none. And he’s asking you to forgive others so that heaven might come to earth through your actions. Commit to living a lifestyle of continual forgiveness today, and allow God to work through you to bring salvation and restored relationship to a world in desperate need of a Savior.
1. Meditate on God’s command to live a lifestyle of continual forgiveness. Allow his word to fill you with a desire to be slow to anger and quick to forgive and offer grace.
“Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.”Ephesians 4:26-27
“Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.”Proverbs 16:32
“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”Ephesians 4:32
2. Who do you need to offer forgiveness to today? What anger have you allowed to fester in your heart?
3. Forgive that person or those people in your heart right now. Offer grace to them in your heart that you might receive healing in the place of bitterness.
“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”James 1:19-20
“And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”Mark 11:25
Forgiven
1 Peter 2:23 says, “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” May we become like Jesus and offer grace and forgiveness to others who are undeserving. May we be reflections of his love by being slow to anger and quick to offer mercy. May his light shine through us today into a world wrought with darkness and pain.
We have created our VERY FIRST devotional for kids called My Time With God! A 20-day devotional helping kids lay a foundation for connecting with the God who loves them every day.
My Time With God is based on our printed devotional, Foundations, which is intended to help you and your kids break down barriers to spending time alone with God and experiencing God’s presence.
We pray this resource helps grow the faith of many children.
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”
1 Peter 2:24 All of us have experienced trial and pain. All of us are living life wounded and scarred. We learn to deal with our wounds and press forward, but whether we acknowledge it or not, wounds and scars change us. There are no perfect parents. There are no perfect friends. There are no perfect siblings or spouses. We live in an imperfect world with imperfect humans. We lash out and hurt others because we are broken and in need of healing.
One of the most critical spiritual exercises we can undergo is allowing God to heal our past wounds and guide us to a lifestyle of forgiving present scars. Without healing and forgiveness, other people’s mistakes will affect our future. Without the inner working of the Holy Spirit, we will live in continual suffering from the sins of others.
Our God is a God of healing. Psalm 147:3 says, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”Psalm 103:2-4 says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.”1 Peter 2:24 says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” Your heavenly Father longs to speak to the wounded places in your life and heal them with his love.
What past experience, trial, hurtful word, or person is still harmfully affecting your life today? Where do you need the Holy Spirit to come and speak healing over you? Where do you need to cry out to God in anger or frustration over a wound? Opening the wounded places of our hearts is an emotional and difficult process, but until we allow God into the harmful events of our pasts we will never experience true freedom and restoration from them. Until we allow ourselves space to deal with what for some have been harmful and defining moments, we will never experience the entirety of the abundant life available to us.
And as the Lord begins to heal our wounds, we must allow him to guide us to a lifestyle of forgiveness for our present scars. We must forgive those people who hurt us so the scars in our lives become symbols of God’s redeeming love rather than reminders of painful events. James 2:13 says, “Mercy triumphs over judgment.” Show mercy to those who are undeserving of it just as your heavenly Father has shown you mercy. Love your enemies as Jesus did so that you can experience triumph instead of pain, freedom instead of enslavement to negativity, and joy instead of anger. May your heavenly Father be allowed to love you, hold you, and care for the places in your heart that need his healing touch the most.
1. Meditate on God’s desire to heal your wounds. Allow Scripture to fill you with courage to open your heart to the Spirit, and let him provide healing today.
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”Psalm 147:3
“But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”Isaiah 53:5
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”Matthew 11:28
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what he wants to heal today. What wound is affecting your life? Where do you need God to speak his truth and love over you?
3. Open your heart to the Lord and ask him to speak truth and love to your wound. Ask the Holy Spirit to heal your wounds in whatever way he desires. Trust and follow his leadership.
“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”Zephaniah 3:17
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.”Psalm 103:2-4
Receiving healing for wounds and the courage to forgive present scars is a constant process. There will always be more for the Lord to heal. There will always be new wounds the Lord wants to speak to. If you will allow the Lord to faithfully love and heal your wounds, you will experience abundant life to greater depths than you thought possible. May you be filled with newfound courage and freedom today in response to the overwhelming love and power of your heavenly Father.
The beloved wild horses that roam freely in North Dakota’s Theodore Roosevelt National Park could be removed under a National Park Service proposal that worries advocates who say the horses are a cultural link to the past. Visitors who drive the scenic park road can often see bands of horses, a symbol of the West and sight that delights tourists. Advocates want to see the horses continue to roam the Badlands, and disagree with park officials who have branded the horses as “livestock,” the AP reports.
The Park Service is revising its livestock plans and writing an environmental assessment to examine the impacts of taking no new action—or to remove the horses altogether. Removal would entail capturing horses and giving some of them first to tribes, and later auctioning the animals or giving them to other entities. Another approach would include techniques to prevent future reproduction and would allow those horses to live out the rest of their lives in the park. The horses have allies in government leaders and advocacy groups. But one advocate says the horses’ popularity won’t stop park officials from removing them from the landscape of North Dakota’s top tourist attraction.
“At the end of the day, that’s our national park paid for by our tax dollars, and those are our horses. We have a right to say what happens in our park and to the animals that live there,” says Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates President Chris Kman. Last year, Park Superintendent Angie Richman told the Bismarck Tribune that the park has no law or requirement for the horses to be in the park. Regardless of what decision is ultimately made, the park will have to reduce its roughly 200 horses to 35-60 animals under a 1978 environmental assessment’s population objective, she previously said. Kman says she would like to see a minimum of 150-200 reproductive horses remain for genetic viability.
Wild horses were accidentally fenced into the park after it was established in 1947, says Castle McLaughlin, who researched the history of the horses while working as a graduate student for the Park Service in North Dakota. Park officials in the early years sought to eradicate the horses, shooting them on sight and hiring local cowboys to round them up and remove them, she says. The park even sold horses to a local zoo at one point to be food for large cats. Around 1970, a new superintendent discovered Roosevelt had written about the presence of wild horses in the Badlands during his time there in the 1880s. Park officials decided to retain the horses as a historic demonstration herd to interpret the open-range ranching era. “However, the Park Service still wasn’t thrilled about them,” McLaughlin tells the AP.
(Read more Theodore Roosevelt National Park stories.)
How do you know when it’s time to unplug? What do you do to make it happen?
God does for me!
Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed U.S. Attorney David Weiss as special counsel to investigate Biden family finances.
Garland folded, stopped ignoring DOJ regulations, and finally appointed a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden and (indirectly) President Joe Biden for their corrupt family business dealings.
But appointing U.S. Attorney Weiss as special counsel, a man who tried to unethically slide Hunter’s corrupt plea deal past a federal judge, is a sick joke. In fact, Mr. Weiss should be under investigation for his dishonest statements to Congress and his compromised, sweetheart plea deal for Hunter Biden.
Given the powerful and unrefuted testimony before Congress by senior IRS investigators that the criminal investigation of Hunter was obstructed by the Justice Department (when Weiss was nominally running the investigation) in order to protect Joe Biden, Weiss is the last person who should be special counsel.
Congress should speed up and escalate its investigations of Biden corruption, as the Justice Department is ethically broken.
In the meantime, Judicial Watch will continue its leadership role in investigating and exposing the worsening Biden corruption crisis through numerous FOIA and other federal and state legal actions.
Hearing Set in Judicial Watch Lawsuit Seeking Videos and Emails from January 6 Protest at Capitol
A congressional coverup is ongoing about January 6, but our lawsuit to undo it is proceeding apace.
A federal court in Washington, DC, set a hearing in our lawsuit against the U.S. Capitol Police seeking videos and emails concerning the protest at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021
The hearing will be held before U.S District Court Judge Ana C. Reyes on August 15 at 1:00 pm ET.
We filed our lawsuit under the common law right of access to public records in February 2021 after the US Capitol Police refused to provide any records in response to a January 21, 2021, request seeking:
Email communications between the U.S. Capitol Police Executive Team and the Capitol Police Board concerning the security of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The timeframe of this request is from January 1, 2021, through January 10, 2021.
Email communications of the Capitol Police Board with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security concerning the security of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The timeframe of this request is from January 1, 2021through January 10, 2021.
All video footage from within the Capitol between 12 pm and 9 pm on January 6, 2021. Through its police department, Congress argues that the videos and emails are not public records, there is no public interest in their release, and that “sovereign immunity” prevents citizens from suing for their release.
Through its police department, Congress argues that the videos and emails are not public records, there is no public interest in their release, and that “sovereign immunity” prevents citizens from suing for their release.
In opposing the broad assertion of secrecy, we detail Supreme Court and other precedents that uphold the public’s right to know what “their government is up to:”
In ‘the courts of this country’ – including the federal courts – the common law bestows upon the public a right of access to public records and documents” … “the Supreme Court was unequivocal in stating that there is a federal common law right of access ‘to inspect and copy public records and documents.’” … “[T]he general rule is that all three branches of government, legislative, executive, and judicial, are subject to the common law right.” The right of access is “a precious common law right. . . that predates the Constitution itself.’
The Court of Appeals for this circuit has recognized that “openness in government has always been thought crucial to ensuring that the people remain in control of their government….
“Neither our elected nor our appointed representatives may abridge the free flow of information simply to protect their own activities from public scrutiny. An official policy of secrecy must be supported by some legitimate justification that serves the interest of the public office.”
The U.S. Capitol Police continues to hide these key January 6 videos and emails from the American people. It is particularly frustrating that the new House Republican leadership has allowed the Capitol Police to continue to defend this secrecy, which was first pushed under the Pelosi Congress in federal court.
Judicial Watch Sues National Archives for Records of Its Role in Trump Records Dispute
The National Archives is hiding, in absolute violation of federal FOIA law, the full truth about its selective, abusive targeting of President Trump.
We filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suit against the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for records of the Archives’ role in President Trump’s White House records controversy; whether it offered Trump a secure storage location other than the National Archives; and if the Archives consulted with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence regarding the classification or declassification procedures of any of the alleged classified documents found at Trump’s Florida residence (Judicial Watch v. National Archives and Records Administration (No. 1:23-cv-02267)).
We sued after the National Archives failed to substantively respond to a June 15, 2023, FOIA request for:
Policies, procedures, regulations, or other documents outlining NARA procedures assisting a U.S. President during transition from office. Records from January 1, 2009, to present.
Coordination with the Department of Defense to assist with inventory, packing or transport of any records from the White House, from November 1, 2020, to December 1, 2021.
Advice and assistance regarding “records” provided by NARA to former President Trump, his transition team, record custodians or representatives from May 1, 2020, to July 1, 2021.
NARA employees assisting former President Trump and/or his representatives inventorying, reviewing, packing, or moving boxes at the White House from November 1, 2020, to April 1, 2021.
Request for assistance from former President Trump or his representatives to assist with packing, inventorying, reviewing, or storing records from November 1, 2020, to February 1, 2022.
NARA offering or providing a secure storage location other than the National Archives for records potentially being retained by former President Trump or his representatives from November 1, 2020, to December 31, 2021.
NARA inserting placeholder pages in any of the 15 boxes obtained from former President Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago, FL, from November 1, 2020, to December 1, 2022.
Consultations with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (“ODNI”) concerning classification or declassification procedures of any of the alleged classified documents found in the 15 boxes recovered from former President Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago, FL, from January 21, 2021, to present.
In an April 2 letter to Michael Turner (R-OH), Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Trump attorney Timothy B. Parlatore said the Archives “unfortunately has become overtly political and declined to provide archival assistance to President Trump’s transition team.”
We are in the forefront of the court battles for transparency regarding Biden administration’s targeting of former President Trump.
In June 2023, we obtained DOJ records that showed top officials of the National Security Division discussing the political implications of Trump allowing CNN to use closed-circuit TV (CCTV) footage of the raid on his Mar-a-Lago home. The documents confirmed that the Justice Department had asked that Mar-a-Lago CCTV be turned off before the raid.
A separate Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuit against the National Archives and Records Administration resulted in the release of records about the unprecedented document dispute between Archives and President Trump. Click here or here to review the records.
In September 2022, we filed lawsuits against the DOJ for its records and the FBI’s records about the Mar-a-Lago raid search warrant application and approval, as well as communications about the warrant between the FBI, Executive Office of the President and the Secret Service.
In October 2022, we sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for all communications of the U.S. Secret Service internally and with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) regarding the raid on Trump’s home and for any video or audio recordings made during the raid.
In November 2022, we sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for all communications between the Secret Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) regarding the search warrant that precipitated the raid on former Trump’s Florida residence at Mar-a-Lago.
As you can see, Judicial Watch will not slow down one bit on exposing the unprecedented upending of the rule of law by the Biden administration in its targeting of Trump and other innocents.
Mexican Cartels Get Ammo, Guns, Money from U.S.
We often report on the invasive trafficking of people, drugs and guns into the United States from Mexico, but here’s a twist: Transnational criminal organizations smuggle firearms from the United States into Mexico. And our government does very little to thwart this reverse flow. Our Corruption Chronicles blog has the details.
While Mexican drug cartels seize unprecedented control of the southwest border, the frontline Homeland Security agency charged with safeguarding the U.S. fails to regularly conduct outbound inspections that could disrupt the Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCO). The checks for traffic departing the country at ports of entry (POE) would be detrimental to the illicit operations because they prevent illegal exportation of currency, firearms, explosives, ammunition, and narcotics. Nevertheless, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) does not consistently inspect outbound traffic, according to a federal audit that reveals there is no structural outbound inspection with oversight from the agency’s Office of Field Operations (OFO).
“TCOs require a steady supply of firearms and ammunition to assert control over the territory where they operate, eliminate rival criminal organizations, and resist government operations,” says the report, released this month by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General. “Further, bulk cash smuggling remains a favored means for TCOs to repatriate their illicit funds from or move funds into the United States to support their criminal operations. TCO networks on the Southwest border smuggle narcotics into the United States, while illegally exporting currency from drug proceeds and firearms into Mexico.” Operations are not limited to the Mexican border, the DHS watchdog writes, confirming that TCO networks also use the northern border to smuggle high-potency drugs and currency both into and out of the United States.
Federal law authorizes CBP to seize illegally transported firearms, ammunition, explosives, narcotics, and currency out of the United States. Statistics provided in the report show that it is an effective way to disrupt TCO operations. For instance, between 2018 and 2022, agents seized $58 million in illegal currency and 2,306 firearms. It demonstrates the value of outbound inspections to CBP’s mission, which is to protect the American people, safeguard our borders and enhance the nation’s economic prosperity. However, agency policies do not require outbound inspections though officers at some land border crossings perform them on personal vehicles and pedestrians departing the U.S. In most locations CBP officers are not conducting outbound inspections, the DHS watchdog found, determining that the agency is “missing opportunities to stop currency, firearm, explosives, ammunition, and narcotics from reaching TCOs that perpetrate cross-border violence.”
CBP is responsible for 167 land crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border, which stretches nearly 2,000 miles and Canada, the world’s longest international border with 5,525 miles. Investigators from the DHS IG’s office visited 108 of them during their probe. “We found the frequency of outbound inspections, inspection techniques, technology, and infrastructure in outbound inspection areas varied significantly between the two borders and among land border crossings,” they write in their report. “These inconsistencies occurred because there is no structured outbound inspection program with oversight from OFO headquarters.” Additionally, the agency does not have performance metrics to measure the impact of widespread outbound inspections or a comprehensive outbound inspection policy.
The report comes just weeks after congressional testimony from federal sources in counterterrorism, intelligence and drug enforcement exposed how the Biden administration’s reckless open border policies have greatly facilitated the business model of TCOs. Mexican drug cartels have seized unprecedented control of the nation’s southwest border, the congressional hearing determined. Days earlier at a separate and equally alarming congressional hearing, another group of law enforcement sources confirmed that Mexican TCOs are successfully smuggling mass quantities of deadly illicit fentanyl past Border Patrol agents and CBP officers into the U.S. Federal authorities can hardly afford to miss opportunities, such as conducting outbound inspections, that can disrupt cartel operations.
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: Colossians 3:13
To remove the curse of God for breaking his Law from us, Jesus took our guilt upon himself and suffered that curse in our place. God cannot demand “double payment” for sin, so that he cannot justly condemn those whose sins were paid for in full on the cross. That is why there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).
O Lamb of God, it is your blood that takes away the sin-debt of the world, even of every one who believes on your name. We could not bear the punishment of our sin, nor endure the day of God’s wrath against sin. We praise you for your work of love on the cross, where you redeemed us from the curse of the Law. Amen.
That’s not just our view, it’s how James Madison described it.
“I go on the principle that a Public Debt is a Public curse and in a Rep. Govt. a greater than in any other.”
That’s because, as Madison put it, debts are one of a trio of tools that people with power use to establish tyranny.
“Armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.”
Madison was far from alone.
Thomas Jefferson said he considered “public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared.”
In his Farewell Address, George Washington urged us to use debt sparingly – and, get this, actually pay it off as quickly as possible!
“As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it”
In other words, running a perpetually growing debt is not just a bad economic choice, it’s also a threat to national security.
Benjamin Franklin warned that running into debt gives “to another Power over your Liberty.”
Thomas Jefferson put it this way:
“It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which, if acted on, would save one half the wars of the world”
That’s not just our view, it’s how James Madison described it.
“I go on the principle that a Public Debt is a Public curse and in a Rep. Govt. a greater than in any other.”
That’s because, as Madison put it, debts are one of a trio of tools that people with power use to establish tyranny.
“Armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.”
Madison was far from alone.
Thomas Jefferson said he considered “public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared.”
In his Farewell Address, George Washington urged us to use debt sparingly – and, get this, actually pay it off as quickly as possible!
“As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it”
In other words, running a perpetually growing debt is not just a bad economic choice, it’s also a threat to national security.
Benjamin Franklin warned that running into debt gives “to another Power over your Liberty.”
Thomas Jefferson put it this way:
“It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which, if acted on, would save one half the wars of the world” For Pres. Washington, paying off the debt was “urgent.” That’s how he put it in his Fifth Annual Message to Congress:
“No pecuniary consideration is more urgent than the regular redemption and discharge of the public debt. On none can delay be more injurious or an economy of time more valuable.”
The Antifederalist writer Brutus agreed, and during the ratification debates, forcefully expressed his concern about the ability to borrow:
“I can scarcely contemplate a greater calamity that could befal this country, than to be loaded with a debt exceeding their ability ever to discharge. If this be a just remark, it is unwise and improvident to vest in the general government a power to borrow at discretion, without any limitation or restriction.”
For many in the founding generation, leaving massive debt to future generations was also morally unacceptable, and something that should be rejected. Washington referred to it as “ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear.”
Thomas Jefferson emphatically agreed, writing to John Taylor that “the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.”
There’s a basic, but extremely essential, lesson here.
If you want more liberty, if you want a strong national defense, if you want more peace and prosperity – you have to reduce debt. That means you have to make the government smaller.
With the amount of debt we’re facing these days, that might be the understatement of the century.
And an even bigger understatement is that relying on people in government to limit government spending is a totally failed strategy.
Lysander Spooner may have summed it up best. Writing in No Treason VI, he put it this way:
The lesson taught by all these facts is this: As long as mankind continue to pay “National Debts,” so-called,—that is, so long as they are such dupes and cowards as to pay for being cheated, plundered, enslaved, and murdered,—so long there will be enough to lend the money for those purposes; and with that money a plenty of tools, called soldiers, can be hired to keep them in subjection.
But when they refuse any longer to pay for being thus cheated, plundered, enslaved, and murdered, they will cease to have cheats, and usurpers, and robbers, and murderers and blood-money loan-mongers for masters.
Nothing helps us get this kind of message out to more people every day more than the financial faith and support of our members.
Many Americans today view the Constitution as a “living, breathing” document. As a result, we live under the largest government in history.
By living and breathing, they mean the Constitution was written as a “dynamic” document; flexible, so it can change with the times. Instead of maintaining a fixed meaning, judges, lawmakers and bureaucrats mold its various clauses and provisions to fit the needs of the day.
Woodrow Wilson was one of the first politicians to define and aggressively advocate this idea of a living, breathing document in his book Constitutional Government in the United States, and while stumping on the campaign trail in 1912.
“Society is a living organism and must obey the laws of life, not of mechanics; it must develop. All that progressives ask or desire is permission – in an era when ‘development,’ ‘evolution,’ is the scientific word – to interpret the Constitution according to the Darwinian principle; all they ask is recognition of the fact that a nation is a living thing and not a machine.”
But a living, breathing Constitution is really a dead Constitution.
America’s founding document essentially serves as a contract between the people of the states. Through the Constitution, they formed the Union, set up a general government to administer specific objects and delegated to it specific, enumerated powers.
You can’t have a living, breathing contract.
Think about it. Would you sign a living, breathing mortgage? Would you enter into a living, breathing employment contract? Would you sign a living, breathing agreement with a builder to put an addition on your house?
Of course not! Because you would have no idea what that contract really means.
Contractual provisions have a fixed meaning. When you sign on the dotted line, you expect them to remain constant over time. When disagreements come up, both parties argue their position based on how they understood the contract when they signed it. Nobody would accept a banker saying, “Well, I know the mortgage meant so-and-so, but now it means something different. It’s a living breathing mortgage.”
That’s absurd.
And a living breathing Constitution is no less absurd.
People can only live together and cooperate in a society with an agreed upon, consistently applied set of rules. We call this the “rule of law.” The principle roots itself in the idea that no individual or institution stands above the law, and that rules consistently apply equally to all people in any given situation. Rule of law creates a bulwark against arbitrary power, whether wielded by a totalitarian leader, promoted by mob rule, or exercised by duly elected legislators.
The rule of law requires consistency. Otherwise, government becomes arbitrary. When the limits on government power become subject to reinterpretation by the government itself, it becomes limitless in power and authority.
That’s exactly what we have today. The federal government makes up things as it goes along. The feds claim to power to do all kinds of things never authorized by the constitution, all based on this living, breathing lie.
But how do we know what those enumerated powers really mean? How do we determine the extent of powers delegated?
The only rational way to understand the Constitution lies in an interpretive process known as originalism. To read the Constitution through an originalist framework means we seek to understand how the people understood it at the time. In other words, what they believed they were agreeing to. Otherwise, meaning becomes a moving target, subject to the changes in language and societal assumptions over time.
James Madison asserted that we must view the Constitution in this way in a letter to Henry Lee.
“I entirely concur in the propriety of resorting to the sense in which the Constitution was accepted and ratified by the nation. In that sense alone it is the legitimate Constitution. And if that be not the guide in expounding it, there can be no security for a consistent and stable, more than for a faithful exercise of its powers. If the meaning of the text be sought in the changeable meaning of the words composing it, it is evident that the shape and attributes of the Government must partake of the changes to which the words and phrases of all living languages are constantly subject. What a metamorphosis would be produced in the code of law if all its ancient phraseology were to be taken in its modern sense!”
Learning the ratifiers’ understanding takes some research and digging. On the other hand, some mystical veil of historical fog doesn’t obscure their view of constitutional powers. We have records of the ratification debates and the ratifying instruments themselves.
We also have the Federalist Papers and other documents written by supporters used to “sell” the Constitution to ratifying convention delegates, and the population at large. These essays were akin to a window sticker on a used car, explaining exactly what the people were “buying.” We have the numerous letters and essays written by opponents of the Constitution, along with letters written by framers and ratifiers. All of these sources help guide our understanding. With a little work, you will find the original meaning of the Constitution easily determined and understandable. Thomas Jefferson himself advocated this process of constitutional interpretation.
“On every question of construction let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or intended against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.”
It’s time to kill this idea of a living breathing Constitution before it completely kills the Constitution.17 YEARS DOWN. MANY MORE TO GO! In June, we celebrated our 17 year anniversary here at the TAC. What started as a blog with a goal of reaching a single person – or maybe a small handful of people – has grown into a movement for the Constitution and liberty.
We work hard every day to teach as many people as possible about the constitution and liberty – including essential foundational principles from the American Revolution. Plus – how to defend it all when government refuses to follow the rules given to it – which is 24/7/365.
Delana Forsyth c/o Attorney Andrew Phillips 108 N. Washington Ave 3rd floor Scranton Pennsylvania 18503
17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.
After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” …
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, …
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? …
Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? …
You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the Lord.
And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. …
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 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. …
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” …
And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher.
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Judges 7:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful
When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat.”
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What countries do you want to visit? Where ever God is! Jerusalem!
Jesus knew that the apostles would be persecuted for proclaiming the Kingdom of God and was warning them. It is also a warning for us. The apostles would proclaim the message risking death and were often persecuted, jailed, beaten and, except for the apostle John who died a natural death, were eventually killed. For two more centuries, the early Christians faced the same torture and death at the hands of the Romans. Most of us do not face the same dangers but the world is still not happy when we work to bring the Kingdom and its ideals to life today. I know that this is something we have talked about before and will talk about again, but Jesus wanted the apostles and disciples to be reminded more than once what the consequences were for those who believe, and we still need those reminders. Satan, Beelzebub, the devil, whatever we choose to call him is still active in the world. It can be so hard to recognize him! We face him in so many situations at work, at home, with our friends. Children and teenagers aren’t the only ones who are affected by peer pressure. Drugs, both legal and illegal are seen as the solution to pain. Drinking and driving is rampant. Road rage happens over something as simple as someone being cut off. Families are under stress, so violence becomes the solution. Workers can be encouraged to cheat their employers or their customers. “Everyone is doing it,” is a catch-phrase for giving in to temptation. To encourage doing the right thing is looked upon as not “being with it.” We can actually be punished or ostracized for living the Christian way of life. And so we still need to hear this message. Beware of those who can destroy the soul.
I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them. Hosea 11:4
Where the Lord leads us, He leads us with kindness. He does not burden us with the chains of slavery or the yoke of beasts. Instead, He binds us with love, cherishing us as His beloved creation, caring for our needs as we proceed through this life with Him. It may seem uncomfortable when He leads us away from the familiar, but we can be sure that where He leads us is good, and that He remains with us.
Lord, in my weakness I sometimes year for the things that I’ve left behind, and the life that You rescued me from. It is easy to forget how heavy the chains of bondage once were. Help me Lord, to take comfort in Your bonds of love, and to not forget that it is You who gives me comfort on our journey together. In Jesus’ name, amen.
What’s your favorite thing about yourself? I am not Ashamed of Jesus
June is designated as “Pride Month,” which is allegedly about inclusion and diversity, but the Pride Police don’t actually believe in that. There is no diversity of opinions on LGBTQ issues. It’s “My Way” or the Bigot Highway. They say Pride Month is about visibility, but there shall be no visibility for any resistance. Their mentality: agree, or vanish.
In Grand Rapids, Michigan, “scandal” erupted when a news manager at WOOD-TV wrote a memo to staff to remember that there were two differing views on Pride events in the community. Quickly, the station’s owner – Nexstar, the largest owner of TV stations in America – apologized for and insisted this both-sides memo was “not consistent with Nexstar’s values, the way we cover the news, or the respect we have for our viewers.”
There shall be only one side of these issues. That shows “respect” for….some members of the community. The rest should be ignored. Media corporations are at the head of the pack of “woke” corporations. The idea they are neutral moderators of any community’s affairs is ridiculous.
One of the primary enforcers of the LGBTQ Speech Code is GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation…but the D really stands for Debate, or Democracy.
In a badly disguised press release from the Associated Press, GLAAD released what they call a “Safety Index” on the social-media giants. The headline was “Twitter is the worst major social media platform when it comes to LGBTQ+ safety, says GLAAD.” There is not a single opposing view in this story, just the way GLAAD likes it.
AP reporter/publicist Barbara Ortutay tweeted out the main point from Sarah Kate Ellis, the GLAAD CEO: “Twitter is largely a cesspool now. You can’t post without getting attacked. There’s no room for conversation. It is just about hand-to-hand combat.” Ellis also said it’s like “backyard dogfights.”
Cesspool” is a code word for “not censored enough.” Sarah Kate Ellis is not interested in “conversation,” only conversion. GLAAD’s publicly stated goal is “accelerating acceptance,” and they prefer accelerating it by squashing all contrary opinions.
Ortutay explained away the opposing view this way: “Twitter‘s communications staff was eradicated after Musk took over the company and for months inquiries to the press office have been answered only with an automated reply of a poop emoji, as was the case when The Associated Press reached out to the company for comment.” No one else in America could offer a contrary opinion?
GLAAD is mad because Elon Musk took over and dissolved Twitter’s “trust and safety council” where GLAAD wielded power. Ellis complained on MSNBC on June 17: “Elon Musk has turned Twitter into a weapon against the LGBTQ community. He leads the charge.” Libertine leftists were furious that Musk would promote a tweet “falsely equating gender-affirming care to the ‘mutilation’ of children.”
Overall, Twitter failed to employ “safety precautions” like punishing users for “misgendering” trans activists or – gasp – using non-preferred pronouns.
As NBC reporter/publicist David Ingram explained in a Twitter story, “using pronouns other than what someone prefers is a common way to bully trans people.” It’s “bullying” to refuse to use “ze/zir” or whatever today’s fashion is.
The censors at GLAAD are in the business of bullying, starting with the usual method that these verbal slights spur suicide attempts. Since Twitter is failing to enforce GLAAD’s standards, they are demanding the government get involved in some heavy-handed content moderation. When the private “safety” enforcers can’t censor people, it’s time for federal intervention.
Bible Verses About Homosexuality Genesis 19:1-11 That evening the two angels came to the entrance of the city of Sodom. Lot was sitting there, and when he saw them, he stood up to meet them. Then he welcomed them and bowed with his face to the ground. “My lords,” he said, “come to my home to wash your feet, and be my guests for the night. You may then get up early in the morning and be on your way again.” “Oh no,” they replied. “We’ll just spend the night out here in the city square.” But Lot insisted, so at last they went home with him. Lot prepared a feast for them, complete with fresh bread made without yeast, and they ate. But before they retired for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house. They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!” So Lot stepped outside to talk to them, shutting the door behind him. “Please, my brothers,” he begged, “don’t do such a wicked thing. Look, I have two virgin daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do with them as you wish. But please, leave these men alone, for they are my guests and are under my protection.” “Stand back!” they shouted. “This fellow came to town as an outsider, and now he’s acting like our judge! We’ll treat you far worse than those other men!” And they lunged toward Lot to break down the door. But the two angels reached out, pulled Lot into the house, and bolted the door. Then they blinded all the men, young and old, who were at the door of the house, so they gave up trying to get inside. Leviticus 18:22 “Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin.” (NLT) Leviticus 20:13 “If a man practices homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman, both men have committed a detestable act. They must both be put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offense.” (NLT) Judges 19:16-24 That evening an old man came home from his work in the fields. He was from the hill country of Ephraim, but he was living in Gibeah, where the people were from the tribe of Benjamin. When he saw the travelers sitting in the town square, he asked them where they were from and where they were going. “We have been in Bethlehem in Judah,” the man replied. “We are on our way to a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim, which is my home. I traveled to Bethlehem, and now I’m returning home. But no one has taken us in for the night, even though we have everything we need. We have straw and feed for our donkeys and plenty of bread and wine for ourselves.” “You are welcome to stay with me,” the old man said. “I will give you anything you might need. But whatever you do, don’t spend the night in the square.” So he took them home with him and fed the donkeys. After they washed their feet, they ate and drank together. While they were enjoying themselves, a crowd of troublemakers from the town surrounded the house. They began beating at the door and shouting to the old man, “Bring out the man who is staying with you so we can have sex with him.” The old man stepped outside to talk to them. “No, my brothers, don’t do such an evil thing. For this man is a guest in my house, and such a thing would be shameful. Here, take my virgin daughter and this man’s concubine. I will bring them out to you, and you can abuse them and do whatever you like. But don’t do such a shameful thing to this man.” 1 Kings 14:24 And there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. 1 Kings 15:12 He put away the male cult prostitutes out of the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. 2 Kings 23:7 He also tore down the living quarters of the male and female shrine prostitutes that were inside the Temple of the LORD, where the women wove coverings for the Asherah pole. Romans 1:18-32 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness…. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people- none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Timothy 1:8-10 Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine …. Jude 7 And don’t forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God’s judgment.
God’s Words are forever and are the law! Christ said He came to fulfill the law. He did not come to erase the law. We are obey God’s Word no matter what! We are obey all of the Word we don’t get pick an chose what to obey! We don’t know whose going to stay in heaven and whose going to hell. We have been judged by God.
If you are discouraged, today’s Bible reading is one you need to hear. We meet up with God’s prophet Elijah after the victory on Mt. Carmel. What an incredible day it was! God showed up in power, and the false prophets were defeated. Then why was Elijah so discouraged?Anyone would expect that after God’s power was so clearly displayed, the people of Israel would have thrown Ahab and Jezebel out of the palace. Instead, Jezebel issued orders for the prophet’s assassination forcing Elijah to flee for his life (v. 3).When Elijah thought he was far enough away from his nemesis, he sat under a tree and lamented his existence (v. 4). His response is understandable. Who hasn’t been there? When faced with impossible circumstances, we ask, “Lord, I did what You wanted and I thought it would work out well, but the opposite happened. Why?!”Elijah was so discouraged he asked God to take his life (v. 4). But in the face of the prophet’s doubt, we see the patience of the Lord. God fed Elijah, and gave him time to rest, before telling him to keep moving. Forty days later God met him at a cave on Mt. Sinai. After allowing Elijah to vent his frustrations, God confronted him with the truth: I have a plan that you do not know about.God would anoint a new king in Syria, which meant God was at work beyond the borders of Israel. It meant Elijah would anoint Jehu as the next king over Israel, and Ahab would be dethroned. Finally, it meant anointing Elisha as his replacement, which meant God would not abandon Israel! If Elijah wondered who would be around to see all this, God reminded him that at least 7,000 people had not compromised themselves with Baal worship!>> Faced with the impossible, Elijah felt hopeless. He could only see things from his perspective. How might you be doing the same thing in your life? Do you need God’s perspective? Spend time in God’s presence today.
Pray with Us
Evil and suffering are realities, but they’re not the whole story. You have promised Your servants eternal life with You. In the meantime, there are many who still need to hear the gospel. Strengthen us; we want Your plan for the world.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:9-13).
This demonstration of prayer taught by Jesus was simple, yet it shows us how we can come to God in prayer. Jesus was often seen going away from crowds to pray and spend time with the Father. He recognized the significance of having a healthy prayer life, and practiced it regularly. It is no surprise that during His sermon the mount, He taught the people about prayer.
What Is the Context of the Lord’s Prayer?
Jesus taught the Lord’s prayer during His sermon on the mount. The sermon on the mount is found in Luke 5-7. It is three chapters and is the longest recorded sermon given by Jesus. Scholars believe it would have taken about 10-15 minutes for Jesus to deliver this impactful, life-changing sermon. When Jesus spoke, He taught the Lord’s Prayer to those who were at the sermon on the mount.
Before Jesus began teaching about prayer, He was instructing the people to not practice righteousness and goodness in front of others to get recognition and praise from fellow humans. Rather they should do good and righteous things in secret and God will reward them for their obedience and faithfulness.
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:1).
It is in this context that Jesus teaches about three spiritual practices that should be done in secret to the best of our ability. The first, when His followers give to the needy and poor. The second, when they pray. The third, when they fast. All these spiritual disciplines should be done in obedience to God, not to make ourselves look good in front of others. When Jesus spoke specifically about prayer, He warned the people to not pray openly to gain attention and to not pray long prayers to impress others.
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words” (Matthew 6:5-7).
Humanity is prone to pride, self-centeredness, and boasting of ourselves. Jesus warned against these inclinations and to instead be righteous for God’s sake and glory. Therefore, He taught them the Lord’s Prayer as an example of how to keep their hearts pure before the Lord in prayer. Jesus desired that His followers pray to the Lord for the purpose of deepening their relationship with God. Prayer is an important way for people to connect with God and be in relationship with Him.
What Are the Parts of the Lord’s Prayer?
The Lord’s Prayer is composed of five distinct sections.
The first, to give praise and glory to the Lord (v. 9). God has no equal, He alone is God and worthy of all praise.
The second, to ask for God’s kingdom to be done here on earth (v. 10). We bear the light of Jesus in a dark world and have been tasked with sharing the Gospel message of hope found in Jesus Christ.
The third, to ask for God’s provision and basic needs to be met (v. 11). God is our provider and takes care of all our needs.
The fourth, to ask God’s forgiveness of our sins just as we forgive others (v. 12). We are a forgiven people whom God has instructed to forgive others.
The fifth, to ask God’s help that we would avoid sin, temptation, and to not be overcome by the enemy (v.13). Truly, there is freedom and victory through Jesus Christ for those who are covered in His saving grace.
These five parts of the Lord’s Prayer are significant components to include whenever we pray to the Lord. God already knows what is on our hearts and minds (see Matthew 6:8), so when we pray, we don’t have to be eloquent or lengthy in words. God does not want prayer to be intimidating, or a way for us to impress others. Prayer is about trust, praise, and relationship. Prayer is about God’s kingdom, not building ourselves up.
Prayer can bring healing, restoration, and forgiveness — but it is all through God’s power, not our own.
Why Does Jesus Give Us the Lord’s Prayer?
Jesus was intentional with His time on this earth. Nothing He did was without meaning and purpose. It is why Christians are taught to live their lives as He did. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus explained that He taught this prayer because He did not want His followers to pray to impress others or gain human praise. Jesus gave us the Lord’s Prayer to teach the importance of having the right perspective and motives behind praying.
He also gave us the Lord’s prayer to reiterate the importance of having a prayer life. In His sermon, Jesus said, “when you pray” (Matthew 6:5), not “if you pray.” Having a prayer life is not negotiable. Prayer is how Christians talk to God, hear from God, and spend time in His presence. Jesus modeled a prayer life throughout the Gospels when He found time to get away and pray. In fact, before He was arrested and crucified, He went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. No doubt, prayer was vital to Jesus’ life, and He wants the same for His followers.
How Does the Lord’s Prayer Guide Us in Our Own Prayer Life?
Sometimes, prayer can feel intimidating. Often, people wonder how to pray or feel like they don’t pray well enough. Jesus’ sermon on the mount corrects those concerns. Prayer is simple. Prayer is talking to the God who loves you and wants to hear from you. If you don’t know where to start, start with the Lord’s Prayer. You can write it, read it, and hopefully, come to memorize it.
The Lord’s Prayer also teaches us significant things to include in our prayers: praise to the Lord, being part of furthering His kingdom on earth, for His provision, for forgiveness, and to avoid sin. As you work toward cultivating a prayer life, you can include these types of petitions and hopes to the Lord when you talk to Him in prayer. God loves His children and simply desires that we come to Him in prayer. The apostle Paul put it this way when he wrote to the church of Philippi:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
We can bring anything to God — just start by praying no matter what is going on in your mind, heart, or life. Prayer can accomplish big things in us — healing, restoration, provision, and most of all, prayer gives us the peace of God in the midst of whatever we face. What a promise God has made to us!
The Lord’s Prayer is a powerful prayer that comes from the very mouth of Jesus. It has taught Christians how to pray since the beginning of the church, and continues to minister throughout all generations of believers across denominational lines. The Lord’s Prayer brings us together as the body of Christ. Through it, we are taught how to pray, and we are taught how vital prayer is to a life lived for God.
Luke 11: 1-4
Lord Teach us to pray and Meditate on Your Word and stay in focus on You alone.
This post contains one of humanity’s greatest treasures. No one can deny that the Bible has profoundly affected civilization. It has true epic stories with life-changing power. That only comes from Lord God Almighty. The images have left their imprint on human history, especially in cultures touched by Judaism and Christianity. The American Constitution was writing from this belief.
This is an interesting story from the first Book of Kings, and will continue tomorrow. Ahab is the king of Israel and he wants a neighboring vineyard that the owner doesn’t want to sell. He goes home and tells his wife, Jezebel, that he is too sad and angry to even eat. She devises a plan to get Naboth killed, and this passage is the result. Do you ever wonder why passages such as these are included in Scripture? I know I do. Are they included as warnings, or are they there to let us know that history of Israel was not without its scandalous behavior? We are aware that Jezebel was a wicked woman. She plotted the death of Elijah – even though she didn’t succeed – but she was successful in getting Naboth killed. She got people to lie about him, claiming that he had cursed God and the king, and they stoned him to death as punishment for his crime. There were other kings and queens of Israel who sinned and led others to sin. And there were good kings and queens as well. But we need to remember that we can be seduced by leaders who make us believe that what we are doing is the right thing. This happened in Germany during the Holocaust; it has happened in Northern Ireland, in the Middle East, in South America. It can happen anywhere! We need to be watchful and not be led astray just because someone is in a position of authority.
Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you?
Yes! Being a Christian Patriotic woman, means being born free in the country in the world built on Judeo-Christian principles and not being killed for those principles.
Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you?
Yes! Being a Christian Patriotic woman, in the United States of means being born free in this country. in a country that I am not being killed for for my beliefs. I live in a country built on Judeo-Christian principles and not being killed for those principles.
From time to time I like to offer particular saints as sources of inspiration and models of virtue. And since this is the Feast of St. Scholastica, I just can’t pass up the opportunity to take a peek at her story today. After all, she’s St. Benedict’s beloved twin sister, and at Belmont Abbey College, she has a special place in our Benedictine hearts.
The founder of an order of nuns based a few miles from her brother’s monastery in Monte Casino, Scholastica spearheaded the women’s Benedictine movement alongside Benedict’s masculine order. In fact, my favorite story about St. Scholastica hinges on her proximity to Benedict, in more ways than one.
Once a year, the twins would meet to spend a day at a farmhouse between their communities, where they prayed, discussed spiritual matters and shared what amounted to an annual retreat. It was a blessing to which they always looked forward, a period of refreshment and fellowship.
On what would be their final meeting before her death, Scholastica asked Benedict to stay and continue their prayer and reflection through the night. But her brother refused, reminding her that this contravened the rule of his order, by which monks weren’t permitted to spend nights outside the monastery.
I like to imagine the scene that followed: Scholastica bowing her head and folding her hands quietly, as Benedict walks to the door and stops, stares out at the sudden storm, which is rapidly gathering in what had been, up to then, an immaculate sky. Turning back to his sister with consternation, he demands, “What have you done?” But she looks up and smiles, shrugging that “I asked for something and you refused, so I asked God and he granted it.”
I always enjoy the gutsy mixture of trust and love in that story – and the tenderness and sense of humor in her relationship, not only with Benedict – with whom she models the kind of Platonic friendship that embraces a shared journey toward the Good – but also with God. She asks without presuming, and the response she receives is a seamless expression of merciful love, through which she enjoys a few more hours of Benedict’s prayerful companionship before their earthly separation. St. Scholastica reminds me that God is playful and kind, and that when He seems to be thwarting my intentions – as Benedict may have felt, looking out at the storm – He’s actually offering a different gift.
St. Scholastica, pray for us!
That in all things God may be glorified,
In this section of Isaiah, the Israelites have returned from exile in Babylonia. The prophet is charged with raising up those who had been dispersed as well as those who had been allowed to return. But his mission was not to end there, he was to stand as a “light to the nations” to show God’s goodness and power. Jesus tells us in the gospel that we too must be lights to the nations. How is this to be done? It begins in our homes where we witness the love of God to our families. If our family members cannot see Christ’s love in us, who will see it? I am not talking about a piety that makes others uncomfortable, but a sincere faith that shines forth in good times and bad and reaches out to those in need. It doesn’t mean that we need to talk about our beliefs to everyone we meet either. St. Francis of Assisi is quoted as saying, “Preach always, and if necessary, use words.” Although he would probably be the first to question that he said it, he would certainly agree with it in principle. When asked why they became a Christian, most people answer that they wanted the qualities that they saw in other Christians. They have met Jesus in the words and actions of others. They see the difference in the way these Christians treat other people. They meet love in person and then they meet the God who inspires it. They see their “light.” Jesus tells us not to hide our light under a bushel, but to stand proud in our faith. Are we up to the challenge to let others see our light? Sometimes we make God’s word more difficult than it needs to be. God wants us to understand His Word, so He makes the most important things easy to reach. Forgiveness. Grace. Hope. Love. Righteousness. With every reading, He reminds us that these things are on our hearts, ready for us to use at all times and in all places. Thank you, Lord, for Your word. Thank you for revealing the truth of Your holiness. Help me to hold close to Your word just as You hold close to me, so that I may live in obedience. If I stray from Your path, use Your word to bring me near to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Heavenly Father, we come before You today as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to You, as these are our spiritual acts of worship. We give You our full attention, hearts, spirits, and minds, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
The day of Pentecost is 50 days after Easter. On this day, the Holy Spirit descended upon the 120 disciples in the upper room in Jerusalem. The sound of a strong wind came from heaven and individual tongues of fire rested upon the heads of everyone one of them, and they spoke in foreign languages or tongues.
Acts 2:5-13
5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under the sky. 6 When this sound was heard, the multitude came together and were bewildered, because everyone heard them speaking in his own language. 7 They were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Behold, aren’t all these who speak Galileans? 8 How do we hear, everyone in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, 10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabians: we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty works of God!” 12 They were all amazed, and were perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 Others, mocking, said, “They are filled with new wine.”
Acts 2:5-13
Commentary
Following the command of the Lord, 120 Jewish disciples from Jerusalem and all regions of the first-century world assembled in the upper room to awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit came, they were amazed, astonished, and shocked. The heard everyone speaking in other people’s languages. They could not understand what was happening. Onlookers and scoffers accused them to be drunk with wine.
Peter silenced the crowd saying that nobody was drunk as it was only 9 am in the morning. Peter quoted Joel 2:28. Joel had prophesied this day when the Holy Spirit will be poured out on the people so that young men will prophesy and old man will dream dreams.
Peter preached his first evangelistic sermon with and boldness and power, The Holy Spirit transformed Peter from a timid fisherman into a fearless evangelist and leader of the apostles.
The Jews who listened were convicted by Peter’s sermon. They asked Peter what must they do to be saved. Peter told them to repent of their sins, be baptised in the name of Jesus. and called on the name of the Lord for salvation.
As many as 3000 Jews believed in Jesus and were baptised on that day! They received the apostle’s teaching, fellowshipped, broke bread, and prayed.
This was how the first-century Christian church of Acts was born in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. The believers sold all their possessions and gave the proceeds to the apostles. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, the church grew rapidly.
It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions
Joel 3:28
Application
When the Holy Spirit descended on the believers, they spoke in tongues and prophesy. Speaking in tongue on Pentecost was speaking in known languages. Can you imagine a Chinese speaking in Arabic, a German speaking in French, or Japanese speaking in Dutch and so on? This was what happened. People were able to speak in foreign languages spontaneously and fluently.
Paul described speaking in tongues as one of the spiritual gifts in the book of 1 Corinthians 12 and 13. The tongues described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 and 13 may not be the same as in the tongues described in Acts 2.
At conversion, the Holy Spirit indwell a person and imparts spiritual gifts on him/her. Speaking in tongues and prophesy are two of the gifs of the Holy Spirit. There are seven spiritual gifts, wisdom, knowledge, healing, miracles, prophesy, speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues, 1 Corinthians 12:8-10.
8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues
1 Corinthians 12:8-10
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You once again for speaking to us Thank You for the day of Pentecost when You gave the Holy Spirit to the Jewish disciples in the upper room in Jerusalem. Thank You for this historic moment when the first Christian church of Acts was born, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
As Arizona Governor Doug Ducey criticized the Biden administration for failing to halt the flow of illegal immigrants, individuals were observed walking over a crack in the US-Mexico border barrier. Yuma Mayor Douglas Nicholls talked to the media while a reporter for a local NBC station videotaped a group of “nearly a dozen” migrants entering.
According to Nicholls, they’re seeing a lot more drug trafficking in our neighborhoods, affecting our schools. He claims that “drug trafficking affects our schools and the entire community. We appreciate the governor’s assistance, as well as the National Guard and Border Patrol officers.”
Moreover, Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona held a news conference in Yuma, accusing the Biden administration of “upending logical, successful measures like the Migrant Protection Protocols” and then reinstating them months later only when a court ordered it. He added that “thousands of migrants have been pouring into the United States every day along the Mexican border for many days.”https://lockerdome.com/lad/13456309840218726?pubid=ld-6133-2018&pubo=https%3A%2F%2Fthecongressionalinsider.com&rid=&width=280
Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona has urged President Donald Trump not to restart the Mexico-US Population Protection Program (MPP), which forces asylum applicants to wait in Mexico before appearing in immigration court in the United States. In October, Border Patrol officers encountered 164,303 migrants at the southern border, bringing the overall number of interactions for the fiscal year to 1,734,686.
The Transportation Security Administration is being investigated by Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas). TSA Administrator Pekoske was contacted by Gooden, along with Reps. David McKinley (W.Va.) and Mary Miller (Ill). Gooden was concerned that the TSA actively aided illegal aliens traveling across the nation without appropriate documentation.
Representatives from both parties have written to Transportation Secretary Pekoske, requesting an explanation of how the TSA screens non-US/Canadian people who do not have passports or travel papers issued by the United States. It accepted additional forms of identification, including a Notice to Appear (NTA) in court, the TSA wrote in an email to Gooden’s office. Agents scan a migrant’s biometrics, take pictures, and run their fingerprints through immigration and NCIC databases before issuing an NTA.
Moreover, by permitting these unknown and unvetted migrants to board aircraft and fly across the nation, the TSA and non-profit organizations are putting millions of Americans traveling for Christmas in danger. The TSA claims to have found other forms of identification for use in certain instances, such as when non-US citizens or non-nationals do not have an approved form of identification. TSA contacts the National Transportation Vetting Center (NTVC) for travelers under typical situations, seeking to verify a traveler’s identification.https://lockerdome.com/lad/13456309840218726?pubid=ld-6133-2018&pubo=https%3A%2F%2Fthecongressionalinsider.com&rid=&width=280
Furthermore, the TSA says it seeks public input on adequately screening persons who enter the country without valid identification. That’s excellent, but remember that nearly none of the 82,000 Afghans who arrived in the US before August were screened beforehand. There may be jihad terrorists and other criminals among them, but there’s no way of knowing until they conduct crimes.
Once again, the Biden administration wholly opposes the American people’s interests. Biden’s managers are opening the door to all kinds of criminal and terrorist activities by permitting illegal migrants to travel without appropriate identification. And it begs the question: Are they truly this stupid? Is it possible that the safety of Americans isn’t a top priority for their handlers?
According to Joe Biden’s managers, millions of illegal migrants fly the friendly skies without ID, paid for by who knows who and might be very explosive. If they had forgotten since the Obama administration left office, they now see what it means to have an America-Last administration.
WE have Enough Problems In America; Human Trafficking In Pennsylvania
I wish Josh Shapiro was around when I was trapped in human trafficking in Scranton Pennsylvania the was 1992 when my life was turned upside down. I did go to the Scranton Police Department and the Lackawanna Sheiffs Department. At that time i was told by both departments it was my fault. For 30 years I was caught in this horrable crime without help for any government. I have true stories to tell and I will be writing more about the unlawful government of Lackawanna County Pennsylvania. There are also a few judges I can write about as well. I am Praising the Lord for saving my life and never leaving me. My faith in Jesus has helped me as well. God bless everyone who reads this post, in Jesus name Amen. HARRISBURG — Two men who coerced six victims into prostitution with the false promise of easy money and then used drugs, violence and threats to control them have been arrested for human trafficking. Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s office worked closely with the Pennsylvania State Police and other law enforcement agencies to build the prostitution and trafficking case. Crowell was taken into custody by authorities outside Chicago over the holiday weekend, and Schiff, currently incarcerated in York County, was arrested as well. The men are charged with trafficking in individuals, corrupt organizations, involuntary servitude, conspiracy, possession with intent to deliver, prostitution and related offenses. Kenneth Crowell, 34, and Barry “Bear” Schiff, 50, coerced six women into a forced servitude as prostitutes in a human trafficking ring that operated in Lancaster, Montgomery, Philadelphia and York counties and southern New Jersey from 2014 until October 2017. “This is a horrible case where women were lured into prostitution by the false promise of easy money,” Attorney General Shapiro said. “When the victims tried to leave, these criminals used violence and threats of violence to keep them working as prostitutes against their will. Law enforcement collaboration and the use of a statewide investigating grand jury built this case. We will use every tool at our disposal to prosecute these kinds of human trafficking cases.” Click here for a video of Attorney General Josh Shapiro. The arrests mark the second human trafficking case brought by the Office of Attorney General and Pennsylvania State Police in recent weeks. Earlier this month, two defendants were held for trial on human trafficking charges in Montgomery County in a case broken open with the help of an Uber driver who alerted police to the existence of a trafficking victim. The charges against Crowell and Schiff stem from a joint investigation by the Office of Attorney General and Pennsylvania State Police, with assistance from Northern York County Regional Police, Dallas TX police, Millville NJ police, the North Star Initiative of Lancaster, and the Salvation Army of Greater Philadelphia Anti-Human Trafficking Program. The ring was uncovered when a woman reported to police that she was a victim of human trafficking during an undercover prostitution sting. “The Pennsylvania State Police are committed to investigating individuals and criminal organizations involved in the trafficking of humans for financial gain,” said Cpl. Gregg J. Kravitsky. “This investigation shows that by working cooperatively with law enforcement and other partners, we can bring those who commit these heinous acts to justice.” On April 4, 2017 two undercover Pennsylvania State troopers responded to a prostitution advertisement on the website Backpage. Using the listed phone number – later linked to a second number tied to nearly 350 similar ads over two months – the troopers arranged a meeting with the victim at a Lancaster hotel. After the troopers identified themselves, the victim told police she did not feel safe and wanted to “get out.” She said she was recruited by Crowell and Schiff as an escort while she was working at a York gentlemen’s club. The victim told the troopers Schiff bragged about selling opioid pills and heroin to the women working for him as a means of control. When she told Schiff she didn’t like him buying and supplying heroin in the hotel room where she worked, Schiff threatened her with a knife. A second victim testified before the grand jury that she needed money to fuel her addiction and began working for Crowell and Schiff believing they ran an escort service, not a prostitution ring. She testified she rarely slept and was sent in an Uber to buy large amounts of heroin for Schiff multiple times. According to the grand jury presentment, a third victim testified Schiff told the women his name was “Frank Luchese” and impersonated a mobster to intimidate them. She said she joined what she believed was an escort service run by Crowell and Schiff to pay off a drug debt to Schiff. When she tried to leave, Schiff told her he would “chop her up into little pieces and throw her in the river.” Victim four worked for Crowell and Schiff at various times between 2014 and 2016 as a way to obtain heroin and support her addiction. She testified Crowell tried to strangle her on several occasions, causing her to lose consciousness during one confrontation. A fifth victim who began working for Crowell and Schiff in 2015 testified that Schiff controlled her with prescription opioids and heroin. This victim testified that one time, after she refused Schiff’s demand for sex, Schiff slammed her head into a bucket of dirty water containing shards of broken glass. The victim suffered severe cuts and scarring on her knees and legs. After that incident, the victim sought help during a “date” from an undercover police officer and gave a full statement to police before being taken to the hospital for treatment. Because of the complexity of trafficking cases and the importance placed on them by Attorney General Shapiro, the office has specially designated Senior Deputy Attorney General Heather Castellino to prosecute human trafficking cases.
Picture of my BFF Avery and myself on our first day of Senior year I can’t believe it, but I’m about to start my 3rd year of college in a couple weeks, and most of my friends’ siblings are starting next week, so with a new school year quickly approaching, it’s time to get in […]
Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Dear God, give me wisdom to know when I am being led in a foolish direction. Help me to resist the temptation of alcohol today. I know it is not only leads to foolish decisions, it is also dangerous. Give me the courage to turn away from alcohol or anything offering false promises of happiness. You are the only thing that will bring me true fulfillment. Thank you for giving us refuge and courage to battle temptations such as these. Please use me to help others struggling with these temptations, Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen.
In this world, you will have enemies. There will be times when you are afraid. But, when you place your faith in God, you will find refuge. Like young birds are protected by their parents, God will offer you the same protection. Call on him when you need protection and he will cover you. You can rest safely with Him like a baby bird would do under the wings of its father. Believing in his truths will provide you with a shield and buckler – more protection against enemies and destruction.
Dear God, thank you for loving me enough to rescue me from my sin. You call me your child and you love me as a father. When I am afraid, let me feel you near. May I draw to you to find refuge and protection. I am placing my trust in you completely. While I know I will face struggles here on earth, help me to remember that you will never leave me or forsake me. O Lord, I cling to your promises. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Have you been treated unfairly? Have you ever been treated unjustly because of your faith? If so, take heart! The Bible reminds us that as Christians we will be persecuted. It also reminds us that Christ also suffered unjustly. He did not simply suffer – he died for our sins. He did this so that we might come to know God. Yet, in the death of his human flesh, he was still triumphant! When we suffer because of our faith, may we be reminded of Christ, who suffered infinitely more than we ever will in order to draw people to God.
Dear God, thank you for sending your son, Jesus Christ, to come to live on earth amongst us. We understand your son was sinless and blameless, yet He suffered because of our sins. This act of mercy and grace is more than we can comprehend. Help us to share the news of your son’s death and resurrection with others. And, when we are treated unfairly because of our faith in you, may we continue to press on because we know that you also suffered. In Jesus’ name, amen.
God appointed Samuel as His prophet during the period of selecting two kings: first Saul and then David. This verse follows the moment when the Lord called Samuel. From then on, Samuel continued to grow, the Lord was with him, and all of his prophecies came true. God did great things through Samuel, and it began when God spoke to Samuel and he listened calling himself the Lord’s servant. Are you willing to do whatever it is God has for you? God works mightily through His servants.
Lord, You did mighty things through Samuel. I praise You for Your mighty works. You do great things through Your people. You make small acts into mighty deeds. I will be Your servant. Whatever small things or large things you have for me, I will do. I bow before You, ready and willing to do Your will. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
When you are young, it is wise to remember God and live for Him. Do not wait until you are old to come to God. He can bring You more joy than any earthly thing. His rewards are greater than any prize on earth. Come to God and serve Him now. He deserves your praise when you are young and when you are old.
Heavenly Father, I will live for You now when I am young. I won’t wait until I am older. I want to serve You now and later. I want my every day to be spent serving You and being in Your will. I want to experience Your presence. I want to pray on my knees before and after I need a cushion to do so. You are great and I praise You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
So you love the Lord. What do you do about that? Isaiah was cleansed of His sin. The first thing he did was to say, “Send me. ” Are you willing to be sent by the Lord? Will you go for the Lord? Now, this may or may not mean traveling to another place. But essentially it means to do the will of the Lord and what He is calling You to do. The Lord has something for you. Follow His lead. If you don’t feel He is leading you, then prepare yourself to be sent, pray that He will send you, and wait for Him.
Lord, I want to do Your will. You have saved me and I am so grateful for that. You are too good to me. Send me. I want to do your work. I want to do whatever You have for me. If You ask me to be a janitor, I will. If You ask me to share the good news of Jesus with a friend or stranger, I will speak. If You ask me to give up my possessions, I will. If You send me somewhere I don’t want to go, I will obey. Whatever it is, send me. In Jesus’ holy name amen.
God is the source of peace. You could be the most stressed out person in the planet, but God can give you incomprehensible peace. Give your worries to the Lord. He raised Jesus from the dead; He can certainly give you great peace. Have faith in the Lord and seek Him, He will give you rest. God will do a great work within you, seek Him.
Lord, God of Heaven and Earth, You are the God of peace. Be my refuge from my troubles. Be my shelter in the storm. Be my rock surrounded by sinking sand. Your name is great. You are mighty. You do not cause turmoil within me though, You bring peace. Can I have peace that comes from You? I want to find refuge and rest in You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Why would a foolish man try to buy wisdom from another man? If he is a fool and not wise, he will not know whether or not the advice is good anyways. If you are afraid you are not being wise or that you are a fool, there is a remedy: reading Proverbs. The book of Proverbs is filled with wisdom. If you have children, read it to them before they go sleep. Teach others and yourself to value wisdom. It is one thing to not be wise but value wisdom and seek it, if that is the case you will eventually become wise. It is much worse to not care for wisdom or even to choose to stay unwise. The Bible also says that we can pray for wisdom, so go ahead and ask God for some wisdom whenever you need it!
Lord God, you are the God of wisdom and truth. You know all wisdom and created it. Lord, make me wise. You have set responsibilities before me, and I want to do them well, so give me wisdom on how to complete the task the best I can. You know me. You know the gifts You’ve given me. I know that You can never have too much wisdom, so make me wise. And always keep me humble because I do not want to be wise and proud. I come to You in Jesus’ name. Amen.
It is good and profitable to use God’s wisdom to solve situations. When we try and solve situations using our emotions, mistakes will always be made. You will find joy and happiness when you rely on the wisdom of God, because it always ensures that situations turn out for the best.
Dear God, I pray that when I am faced with situations that need to be resolved, may I never turn to my emotions or external influences. May your voice be the first one I hear and may I listen to it too. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
Salvation gives us every reason to be joyful and glad. Jesus Christ has stripped us of all sin and darkness, and He has given us light. He has made us pure before the Father’s eyes. The way a bridegroom would adorn His bride, is the way Christ has adorned us, out of His love for us.
Dear God, I am truly grateful for this gift of salvation. Father, I thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ, who has saved me, cleansed me, and made me new before you. I am free from the weight of my old life and I can live happily in this new life, as a part of you, because of what Christ has done for me. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
In times of trials and tribulations, no matter how young, fit, or strong we may be, there is nothing of our own that will be able to keep us going. The enemy will always strive to wear us down. But if we wait on God, trust in Him completely, He will refresh us and give us the strength we need to carry one.
Dear God, there are many things we face in this world on a daily basis. When we try to handle things on our own, we end up discouraged and exhausted. Lord, I ask that you strengthen us when we are weak, and may you sustain us at all times. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
When we are in Christ, we live a life of winning – no matter what. When we are alive, it is for the benefit of those around us as we continue to minister to them. When we die, it is still gain because we are simply returning to our heavenly home.
Dear God, I thank you that in you, there is always gain. I do not fear the works of man – even if it may lead to my death – because I know all situations always work out to your glory. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
When we are in Christ, we live a life of winning – no matter what. When we are alive, it is for the benefit of those around us as we continue to minister to them. When we die, it is still gain because we are simply returning to our heavenly home.
Dear God, I thank you that in you, there is always gain. I do not fear the works of man – even if it may lead to my death – because I know all situations always work out to your glory. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
Some tend to mistake God’s patience for slackness, and that is a mistake. If God wanted to, He could choose for Christ to return today. The reason why God hasn’t called such an order is because He wants as many people who are lost to become saved so that they do not perish in the Lake of fire.
Dear God, I pray for all of those who are lost and do not know you. I pray that their eyes will be opened to your goodness, Lord. May they realize that they need a Savior, and may the turn to you, Father. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
No matter what we do in our lives, as Christians we have to remember that all glory must go to God, the Father. He is the Creator of all things good and pure, and He is the only one who is deserving of all the glory and the praise.
Dear God, I would like to take this moment to reflect on your mightiness and on how glorious you are. There is no one like you. No one can ever love the way you have. No one could have created the universe the way you did. Father, I simply pray that in all I do, may all glory always be given to you. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
As Christians we move by faith and never by sight. Just because we cannot see God with our physical eyes, does not mean that He is not real – Because He is. The Christian walk is a walk of faith. We live contrary to the world that bases all their belief on what they can see, hear, and touch. If we forfeit our faith, and we do not believe in Christ, all our efforts will be in vain.
Dear God, I ask that you will help me remain faithful to this cause. Lord, whenever temptation or doubt comes my way, may you give me the strength to turn away from them and focus on you. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
As Christians we move by faith and never by sight. Just because we cannot see God with our physical eyes, does not mean that He is not real – Because He is. The Christian walk is a walk of faith. We live contrary to the world that bases all their belief on what they can see, hear, and touch. If we forfeit our faith, and we do not believe in Christ, all our efforts will be in vain.
Dear God, I ask that you will help me remain faithful to this cause. Lord, whenever temptation or doubt comes my way, may you give me the strength to turn away from them and focus on you. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
As you walk in your Christian life, you need to ensure that you remain rooted in Christ at all times. The enemy will try to railroad you and tamper with your faith. But as you can see, in this verse, God is able to keep you, through His Spirit, and remind you to focus on Christ at all times.
Dear God, I pray that no matter what may come my way. I will remain focused at all times, knowing that your Spirit is keeping me and strengthening me. I thank you, Lord, that I do not have to face this world on my own. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
Song is something that may bring people from very disparate parts of life together, for songs can reach beyond borders and into peoples’ lives. Therefore it may get stuck in their heads, or stay with them for years on end, the words or tune affixed to a special time and memory. Would it be preposterous to suggest we treat Gods’ love like such a melody? Is it not after all, something immaterial but which moves us in some deep and knowing way? Literally, spread songs of joy amongst friends and nations, if you can, seek out other religious songs in other tongues. Figuratively sing His praise, let it be one of your favorite songs to carry with you wherever you go.
Lord Almighty, hear my songs of praise, hear my love for You rising up like a melody. Remind me that it is just as important to speak Your name as it is to sing it. Grant me this audience Lord, just as I wish to hear it from others. May it please You, may it harmonize with Your promise of everlasting life and eternal grace. Amen.
Listen to others speak, and one may slowly begin to deduce things from their character. Are their words filled with more positives than negatives? Are there curses or praises? Are they loud and gregarious, or silent and defensive? These come down to individual characters and history, but it is important to pay mind to the kind of language you use as a believer, for it may profoundly affect your outlook on life and God. The word in Scripture is not like that which comprises every day exchanges, so pay respect to it, give it reverence; these words were carefully chosen, passed down through generations for you by Him.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for Your word, passed down to us through Scripture and the mouths of our forbearers. Like those who have gone before us, please help guide us Lord in giving our respect to them and to You, by using Your word with reverence and veneration, disseminating Your truth. May my words shine a light unto You Lord, Amen.
One can never praise enough Gods’ glory, even if one tries! Everyday set aside something you are thankful for and give thanks to the Lord in prayer. Every day give blessings to the Lord for all he has provided for you. Extol his name whenever there is a moment, and let his angels hear!
Lord my Almighty Father, I exalt Your name in the highest of Heaven! At your feet, I give my thanks and blessing, and pray that in each and every day, You hear my gratitude. Help me maintain my daily prayers and duty to You Lord, so that I may never stray from Your truth. Amen.
Dear Delana,
From time to time I like to offer particular saints as sources of inspiration and models of virtue. And since this is the Feast of St. Scholastica, I just can’t pass up the opportunity to take a peek at her story today. After all, she’s St. Benedict’s beloved twin sister, and at Belmont Abbey College, she has a special place in our Benedictine hearts.
The founder of an order of nuns based a few miles from her brother’s monastery in Monte Casino, Scholastica spearheaded the women’s Benedictine movement alongside Benedict’s masculine order. In fact, my favorite story about St. Scholastica hinges on her proximity to Benedict, in more ways than one.
Once a year, the twins would meet to spend a day at a farmhouse between their communities, where they prayed, discussed spiritual matters and shared what amounted to an annual retreat. It was a blessing to which they always looked forward, a period of refreshment and fellowship.
On what would be their final meeting before her death, Scholastica asked Benedict to stay and continue their prayer and reflection through the night. But her brother refused, reminding her that this contravened the rule of his order, by which monks weren’t permitted to spend nights outside the monastery.
I like to imagine the scene that followed: Scholastica bowing her head and folding her hands quietly, as Benedict walks to the door and stops, stares out at the sudden storm, which is rapidly gathering in what had been, up to then, an immaculate sky. Turning back to his sister with consternation, he demands, “What have you done?” But she looks up and smiles, shrugging that “I asked for something and you refused, so I asked God and he granted it.”
I always enjoy the gutsy mixture of trust and love in that story – and the tenderness and sense of humor in her relationship, not only with Benedict – with whom she models the kind of Platonic friendship that embraces a shared journey toward the Good – but also with God. She asks without presuming, and the response she receives is a seamless expression of merciful love, through which she enjoys a few more hours of Benedict’s prayerful companionship before their earthly separation. St. Scholastica reminds me that God is playful and kind, and that when He seems to be thwarting my intentions – as Benedict may have felt, looking out at the storm – He’s actually offering a different gift.
Many at Galatia had been influenced by the “Judaizers, ” Jewish Christians, or at least Christians in name, who sought to be justified through keeping the Law of Moses. But Paul tells them that the true function of the Law was not to save but to be a “schoolmaster” or “teacher” to bring them to Christ. Once they saw the impossibility of keeping the Law and the great culpability of breaking it, they would see their need to be saved by faith alone.
Lord, that schoolmaster (your Law) that revealed our need of a Savior is still revealing to us our shortcomings. As love is the fulfilling of the Law, and to love God and neighbor is the sum of it, we see the Law is a helpful guide for Christian conduct. Use it to test us and show us our flaws, then turn us by grace to the keeping of it through love. Amen.
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
To remove the curse of God for breaking his Law from us, Jesus took our guilt upon himself and suffered that curse in our place. God cannot demand “double payment” for sin, so that he cannot justly condemn those whose sins were paid for in full on the cross. That is why there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).
O Lamb of God, it is your blood that takes away the sin-debt of the world, even of every one who believes on your name. We could not bear the punishment of our sin, nor endure the day of God’s wrath against sin. We praise you for your work of love on the cross, where you redeemed us from the curse of the Law. Amen.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
It is in God’s design of things that children should grow up and leave the home. It is normal that they should go out and begin their own home. For our families to be strong and healthy, unlike the “fractured” if not broken families the world is so full of, husband and wife must remain in close, intimate union. And this union is a picture of the union between Christ and His Church.
God, help us to work at our relationships with others so that they will be all you intend them to be. Let my relationship with you be the foundation for a good relationship with spouse, children, parents, all family and friends, and every acquaintance. Amen.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved; )
Perhaps the two sweetest words in the whole Bible are found here, “But God. ” In the verse just preceding, it is stated that believers were “children of wrath even as others” before their conversion. But God had a great love for them, which led him to “quicken, ” that is “raise to life, ” those who were dead spiritually. Paul then adds emphatically, “by grace you are saved. “
May we say with conviction, O Lord, that old Christian saying, “There, but for the grace of God, go I. ” May we recognize that it was your saving love that made the difference with us. We were dead to God, unable to respond properly to him. But your love laid hold on us, Lord, and you imparted to us life. And we know that yours is a love that “will not let us go.” Amen.
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
The Holy Spirit is here called the Spirit of Wisdom, using a grammatical construction that in the Greek indicates the Spirit is the “source of” or “giver of” wisdom. In 2 Timothy 3:15, we learn that the Scriptures are “able to make you wise unto salvation. ” When God opens our understanding to see the truth of the Gospel, he enlightens us and imparts to us wisdom to know and act on the truth. He then gives us hope of future glory and assures us of that hope by “the working of his mighty power” in us. That is the very power that raised up Jesus from the dead.
Open our minds more and more, we pray, to understand your truths. Let the “resurrection power” of God that raised Jesus Christ’s body from the grave raise up our spirits to live more and more a “resurrection life” of obedience to you. Amen.
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
Faith is a gift from God, but it is also a thing that we are called to diligently work at and improve. In fact, these verses on diligence are further informed by verse 10 of the same chapter where our diligence is said to be the means of making “our calling and election sure. ” That is, when faith, virtue (moral fortitude), knowledge (gained through experience), self-control, patient endurance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love abound in our lives, it is fruit of righteousness that helps assure our hearts that indeed we are God’s children and will enter his everlasting kingdom (verse 11).
Lord, we take seriously your command to strive diligently after godliness and all Christian virtues in our daily walk. We know that you do not desire our faith to remain “alone, ” but that it should be accompanied by all Christian graces. We are encouraged to know that you will help us and guide us as we grow in all of these areas, step by step. Amen.
But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.
There will be days when you are tempted and days when you need protection, but you are a child of God. God will never leave you or forsake you – you will never have to walk through these challenging times alone. He is always faithful. He offers his protection and will help you stay away from evil. He has given you his Holy Spirit as a guide. Trust the Spirit to alert you when you have stumbled into trouble and call on him for protection.
Dear God, when I am fearful and need courage, I know you will strengthen me. You are always faithful and you will never leave me – thank you! Help me to trust you to guide me through difficult situations and protect me from any evil the evil one tries to use against me. O Lord, make my faith stronger so that I do not have a spirit of fear. Thank you for rescuing me time and time again. In Jesus’ name, amen.
When we try to rush ahead of God’s timing and His guidance, we will end up making a lot of mistakes. We need to humble ourselves under God’s guidance, realizing that He truly knows best. When we do so, we will reach the right points in our life at the right time. It’s all about trusting Him.
Doubt is normal. It was there in Paul’s time and it exists today. Maybe it is more prevalent today than it was in Paul’s time because there are so many people trying to discourage people from belief in God. The pagans of Paul’s time believed in gods, they just didn’t all know God. Today many claim that there is no God. They believe that scientists will soon be able to explain everything about how the world was created and answer any other question we might have. See, no need for God! And if there is no God then no heaven and no resurrection. If this is true then why bother depriving ourselves of all the pleasures we can get just because Christianity says love of God and of others should come first. But, there were too many people who witnessed Jesus after his resurrection. Too many people who were willing to die for the sake of Jesus and his teaching. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t die for a lie. And I doubt that they would either. So, as Paul says, since Jesus rose from the dead, we need to pay attention to what he said and to the promise that one day we too would rise if only we remain faithful. Doubt? Okay, but in the end, trust and belief.
According to Lionel Swain, of St. Edmund’s College, Ware, St. Paul believed intercession to be one of the most important aspects of faith and praying life, as praying for others is a recurring theme in his works. Prayer acts as a way for St. Paul to acknowledge God’s power. Intercessory prayer also acts as a way for the Apostle to “share in … the Father’s redemptive love”. Paul believed that prayer transformed the person doing the praying, as much as the one being prayed for, which creates a stronger bond between him and God.
Prof. Dr Johannes van Oort, Professor Extraordinarius in the Department of Church History and Church Polity of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, adds that, in addition to praying for wisdom, the early church was very much involved with different charismas, one of which being healing. Praying for other people’s illnesses was another way that intercessory prayer was important in the early church, as healing was a sign of “the power of God’s Kingdom”. This gift of healing is specifically mentioned, among the other charismata, as a sign of being a true Christian by Irenaeus of Lyons in his text, Against Heresies.
In addition to praying for each other in life, early Christians would pray for those who had died. There is no unequivocal evidence that Christians began to pray for the dead before the third century AD. G. F. Hamilton argues that the earliest example of Church prayer on behalf of dead Christians are found in the Sacramentary of Serapion of Thmuis (350 AD). Rather than pray for the departed in regular church services on Sunday, these early Christians would hold special commemorative occasions during the week. There was a sharp distinction drawn between remembering and praying on behalf of the dead, and those who were the “‘faithfully’ departed”, where Christians would only pray for those who had died as believers. The First Epistle of Clement (95 AD) contains a prayer which, while mainly for protection for the living, also includes the dead. Even quite early, a distinction was drawn between those who had died as Christians, and those who had died as unbelievers. In the Martyrdom of Polycarp (155 AD), Polycarp is killed and his bones are taken by fellow Christians and a shrine is set up to him, where they may remember his martyrdom. In contrast, the “Apology of Aristides” shows how those who were not Christians were grieved for, while the dead faithful were rejoiced over.
Theological perspective: In an article in Theological Studies, Catholic theologian Patricia A. Sullivan warns that saints should not be built up in a way that brings down God. Saint Augustine had famously said that we pray not to instruct God but to get our will in line with God’s. Sullivan warns away from the dictionary meanings of “intercession” as “intervention, mediation, arbitration, negotiation”, all of which sound like we are dealing with a hostile or unfriendly God, whom we need to manipulate to get what we need. Such is not the meaning of the hapax legomenon in the New Testament of the word for intercession. Sullivan goes on:
When we ask a saint to intercede for us, what is happening at a deeper level is that we are taking refuge in the all-enfolding community of the redeemed, approaching God thru saintly symbols of Christ’s victory and of our hope. Saints want always what God wants, what is best for us whether we pray for it or not. They are in a perpetual attitude of praise for God’s love and care, to which we join ourselves, praying, more precisely, with them rather than to them. The value of our petitions is that they turn us in confidence toward the God who loves us, allowing God’s work to be more effective in us, and thru us in others.
It would be anathema to ask God to try any harder to do good. By invocation of a saint “we take refuge in faith in the all-enfolding community of all the redeemed,” where “each is responsible for all”. They are “creative models of holiness”.
Although the idea of intercession or mediation (Arabic: s̲h̲afāʿa) has historically played a very prominent role in Islamic thought, it is not universally accepted by all Muslims in the present day.
The Quran says that the pre-Islamic Arab pagan gods will not be able to intercede with God on behalf of humankind, and that “the guilty” (al-mujrimīn,) will not benefit from any intercession on the Day of Judgment. Other passages that deny the efficacy intercession include. Still others say that God is the only intercessor.
However, “intercession is mentioned in the Qurʾān with respect to angels praying for the believers and the Prophet praying for erring but repentant Muslims.” Furthermore, it became an orthodox Islamic doctrine or “cardinal belief” that “Muḥammad will intercede for all Muslims on the Day of Resurrection.” While this particular tenet practically remained unchallenged throughout Islamic history, the widespread Sunni and Shia practice of asking deceased prophets and saints for intercession by praying at their tombs have become contentious issues in the modern Islamic world, with all these different types of intercession often being labelled by Salafi/Wahhabi Muslims as a type of polytheism, in a manner akin to the attitude of many Protestants towards the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox practice of saint-intercession. In prophetic sayings there is intercession of martyrs for “seventy relatives” in the Hereafter.
Some religions claim that praying for somebody who is sick can have positive effects on the health of the person being prayed for.
Meta-studies of the literature in the field have been performed showing evidence only for no effect or a potentially small effect. For instance, a 2006 meta analysis on 14 studies concluded that there is “no discernible effect” while a 2007 systemic review of intercessory prayer reported inconclusive results, noting that 7 of 17 studies had “small, but significant, effect sizes” but the review noted that the most methodologically rigorous studies failed to produce significant findings.
Does Jesus really want us to believe that our enemies are our parents, children, family or friends? Somehow, I don’t think so! It is really about priorities. Have you ever chosen to watch a sports program when your child wanted to talk to you? What about not sitting at the table for meals because a special game is on? We are called on to make choices all the time. We can choose God, or we can choose other. Is that late night party worth missing church? We can talk all we want about being too busy, but the truth is that we find the time for what we want to do. I love to read, knit, spend time with my friends and I hate doing the laundry, dishes, vacuuming, but it all needs to be done. I would rather pick up a good book than exercise. I can say that I am “too busy” to do the things I don’t enjoy doing, but the truth is, I choose to spend my time in other ways. The same is true about putting God first. A friend that is always put last doesn’t remain a friend for long. When it comes to God, we know he will never desert us, but what about our turning our backs on him? We know what we must do – put God first and then everything else falls into place. Even carrying the crosses each of us must bear in life is easier because we know we don’t have to do it alone. Sometimes we may have to disappoint a child or friend because we choose to do the right thing, but that is the price of being a disciple of Jesus.
If God has asked you to lay something down or pick something up — I promise you that in due time you will see the fruit of that decision. You will never ever regret obeying Him no matter how extreme, crazy, hard or illogical it might look. — it’s worth it every single time! Before […]
In this passage, we see a God who is not too happy with His chosen people. Because of their disobedience, they have blackened the name of the Lord. His reputation has been smeared among the heathen people of the area. He tells Isaiah to give His people a message: that He plans to restore His own name. He will ensure that these people know that He is God. Wow! Wouldn’t it be an awful thing to let God down in this way? To “profane” His name among His enemies? Sadly, we do the same thing when we don’t give Him the honor that is due Him while we are among his enemies in the world. When we allow people to speak against Him, or when we fail to lift Him up in their presence, we blacken His name. We cause Him to have to “vindicate the Holiness” of His own name, because we have refused to make His name holy. What a dreadful and treacherous decision! To put ourselves is such a position is a foolish thing indeed.
The entire book of Romans 8 about the assurance of salvation. Every Christian wants to be assured that he is actually saved. Many people wander around “in the flesh” believing that they’re saved, but if they read this chapter, it becomes the actual measure of salvation. It is a really good chapter to read if you want the assurance that you are indeed saved. This particular verse says that those who are walking in the spirit of God are the sons of God. If we’re led by the Spirit of God, what does that mean? What Paul is trying to tell us here is that if we are walking in the spirit of God, then we are actually going to kill the sin in our lives. We’re going to want it dead in order to please God, to glorify Him. You see, people who are not in the spirit, who were still walking in the flesh don’t really want to kill their sin. People who lie don’t want to stop lying; people who gossip don’t want to stop gossiping. If they do put on some semblance of killing their sin, it’s just so they’ll look better– not because they want to please God, Paul tells us here that if we truly want to be the sons of God, the children of God, then we are going to be led by the spirit. So one assurance of our salvation is this: we ask ourselves the question, “Am I trying to kill my own sin because I want to please God?” If the answer to that question is “yes,” then you are the child of God. That is evidence that the spirit lives in You because only the spirit in You would want to put an end to the sin in Your life. If you want assurance of salvation, look within to see what your motivations are for ending your own sin.
Father, I want to make Your name Holy. I want to be Your champion and tell the world of Your goodness and righteousness. Help me not to cower in the face of Your enemies, but to stand up and defend Your honor. Help me to be strong, even when I am afraid of the adversaries around me. With Your help and with Your power, You will never have to clean up a mess I have made of Your name. Amen.
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
But if ye will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall the hand of the LORD be against you, as it was against your fathers.
Famine, war, captivity…these are all the consequences of rebellion the people of Israel experienced. The Old Testament has example after example of the Lord turning his hand against those who did not obey him. It can be easy for us to judge these Old Testament citizens, but if we look closely at our own hearts, we will see that there have been times when we have disobeyed and rebelled against the Lord’s commandments. Rather than judging the Old Testament body, we should use their experiences as a guide. Rather than continuing in sin and having God subject us to his wrath, we should seek his face.
The early Christians were known by the example they showed in how they loved one another. In this short passage, we learn that they shared what they had so that no one went without. If we read further in chapter 4 we hear of how they sold their possessions and turned in their monies so that the apostles could distribute it according to one’s needs. Does this sound like the Christians of today?
Actually, it does describe Christians living in the poorer countries of the world. Many missionaries have described the welcome they have received and the good will of the people in the poor countries where they have served. I experienced the same on a mission trip to Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world. In the wealthier countries, keeping what they have seems more important than sharing with others. People are willing to donate what is not longer useful, clothing they have outgrown, furniture they need to replace, other items they no longer have room for, even cars that no longer work. But, are they willing to rent an apartment at a lower rate so that a poor family can live safely? They might rent to a low income family but usually with a government subsidy so they don’t lose any money. The rich can seem to feel that it’s their right to keep whatever they’ve earned – which is not actually wrong, but what of their responsibility to help the needy?
In the Gospel, Jesus points out clearly talks about our responsibility to the poor and the vulnerable, a preferential option for the poor. What about us?
Often we focus on the great, unearned, unlimited mercy God has shown us. Now we need to consider how we have shown mercy to others – and maybe even to ourselves! Where do you have a problem with being merciful? It could be with forgiveness, compassion for those who suffer from addictions, or who beg, or we might not be welcoming to the stranger. Each of us has a problem with someone or something. I worked in retail during high school and college and then married into the world of retail. One of my problems is having patience with store salespeople who are rude or who don’t have a clue about the products they are selling. I try. There are members of my family who don’t speak to one another. I know people who are so unforgiving that it interferes with their relationships.
God is merciful to us when we don’t know what we’re doing. He sends us help when we are lost. He forgives us over and over again. I also know people who continue to carry their past mistakes with them to the point where they can’t move forward in their lives. God has forgiven them, why is it that they can’t forgive themselves? Today, think about the areas of your life where God has shown you mercy, and then look at the areas where you need to pass that mercy on to someone else – or maybe decide that it’s time you put down your own baggage and forgive yourself. With God’s help, we can grow in our ability to share the mercy we have been shown with others and so relieve them of some of the pain they may be carrying.
Each time the Lord saved them, they poured out their thanks and let everyone know what God had done for them. It is now the Easter season, and we need to be just as enthusiastic in our thanks and praise as the Israelites. If they were grateful for the victories won for them, how much more should we be for Jesus winning the victory over sin and death. This is a battle that has won a victory for all people for all time. Never again will this battle have to be fought, and we didn’t have to fight it, Jesus did it all. There is a hymn that I’ve sung every year at the Baptist church during the celebration of the Seven Last Words on Good Friday that is called just that: “Jesus Did it All.” Not only did he do it all, but by his resurrection he let us know that the victory was won, the gates of heaven were opened and the power of Satan had been defeated. All we have to do is live each day following in the footsteps of Christ and accept the gift we have been offered. Why do we hold back? Do we take our faith so for granted that we no longer feel the need to say thanks? This year, let it be different and let those around you know of your gratitude for the victory won for you and for them.
Isn’t it amazing that God has the power to do great things through us? He pours His Spirit out and through Him alone, men and women are able to do things that they could never do apart from God. God can do anything. He has the power to move mountains, to speak His words through Humans, and to do great works in and through us. God is truly amazing!
I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
Here Jesus talks to His Father one of His final prayers on this earth. In this verse, He refers to the work He has completed. He knows that His time on earth has come to an end. He has reviewed His life and He says, essentially, “Father, I’ve done the best I can. There is nothing more for me to do here. I’ve prepared them as well as possible. It’s time to do this thing I came here to do.” And with that, it begins. The greatest act of love known to mankind is about to unfold.
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
One of Kari Jobe’s most famous songs is “You are for Me.” Based on this passage, the song emphasizes the love of a God who is faithful on our side. No matter what goes on in our lives, He is there. Paul makes an important argument here: God gave His own Son for us. How can He not be on our side? He chose us. Every decision we make, every step that we take, God is with us. He sees our going out and our coming in. He sees when we fall and when we fail and He still is on our side, with unconditional love. It doesn’t matter what the world has said about us. It doesn’t matter what we sometimes say about ourselves. He, the Lord of All, is for us. He’s in our corner and with God in our corner, who dares to be against us.
Lord, I thank You for what You did for me at Calvary. You gave Your life for me. You loved me unconditionally. You suffered and died for me. Help me to be worthy of Your sacrifice. Amen.
Dear God, you are holy and you are jealous. When we are tempted to disobey your commands, remind us of the Israelites and the ways they suffered because of sin. Remind us that sometimes we must be disciplined to learn a lesson, but help us to learn this lesson from those who went before us rather than having to walk through it ourselves. Forgive us for our sins, O Lord. Do not turn your hand against us. Please extend mercy on your children. In Jesus’ name, amen. Lord, I believe that You have the power to do mighty works in and through me. I believe that You work through Your Church in mysterious ways. I give my life to You to do whatever You want in and through me. You are mighty and wonderful. Your ways are mysterious, and I praise You for Your great works. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Father, I know that You are for me. I know that You have my best interest in Your heart. You gave up Your own Son to give me life and I thank You. If You are for me, then no one can be against me. Amen.
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This is a praise of joy in the Lord. The writer of this Psalm rejoices in the Lord. So should we. We should exalt in the Lord, the Highest. He is all things to us. We should praise His Holy name forever. He is worthy of all praise. Praise is one of the most powerful weapons against the enemy that we possess. When we praise, we affect ourselves, God, the enemy. When we praise, walls fall and troubles disappear. The lack of praise conversely affects everything in your life. While almost everyone would agree that praise is a good thing, many people don’t see the responsibility to praise God even when we don’t feel like it. When we give this “sacrifice” of praise unto God, we are overcomers. Praise comes naturally when we recognize the goodness in our lives. We should make it a point to praise Him every day.
The Christian life is a wondrous adventure, full of twists and turns, good times and also difficult challenges. Through all of it, God’s Word is our greatest resource for insight, wisdom, hope, and guidance. Every problem we face has its solution in the Word of God. Where there is a need for comfort, peace, or courage, He provides it. To find His wisdom, there is simply no substitute for spending time alone with Him in prayer and the study of His Scriptures. Each year I receive countless letters from people who ask if there is a way for them to know God’s will for their lives. The answer is yes. But before He will reveal this to us, we need to get to know Him—the way He thinks, acts, and demonstrates His love for us.
Are you tired of trying to overcome sin on your own? Are you worn out from trying to be perfect, in your own power? Have you tried to be righteous on your own and found yourself seriously wanting? Here is the good news: you don’t have to do this on your own. Jesus Christ paid the price for us, so that we could be saved from our sin, and so that we could also be partakers of the Father’s inheritance. The life of Christ is an unburdened life, filled with rest and blessed assurance.
Dear God, I thank you for the rest and peace I have in you as a result of what your son, Jesus Christ, did for me. Lord, I have struggled with my sin and I have grown weary from trying to be perfect on my own. Thank you, Father, for removing the burden from my shoulders and helping me overcome my struggles. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
Even Jesus rested, and He encouraged his apostles to rest. He wanted them to take breaks and rest. To take the time to go away and eat. There is nothing wrong with needing rest. God meant for us to take a Sabbath just as He did. He created the world in six days, and He rested on the seventh. You are not greater than God; take a rest.
Even Jesus rested, and He encouraged his apostles to rest. He wanted them to take breaks and rest. To take the time to go away and eat. There is nothing wrong with needing rest. God meant for us to take a Sabbath just as He did. He created the world in six days, and He rested on the seventh. You are not greater than God; take a rest.
A good husband is a jewel. A woman is blessed if her husband not only loves her and provides for her, but also treats her well and protects her. A good husband treasures his wife. He makes sure that her needs are met. He is her friend and her confidante. He makes her feel safe and he makes her feel confident. Through his eyes, she sees her own beauty and worth. This passage compares God to a husband. He cares for his Bride in the same way that an early husband cares for his wife. We can take comfort in the fact that we are safe in the arms of our husband who is our Maker and Redeemer. We have nothing to fear. We are loved and cherished by a kind and loving God.
Lord, Thank you for caring for me, for providing for my needs, for making me feel safe and protected. In You I see my true worth. I am treasured by You and Your love gives me confidence. In You, I am everything. Amen.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10
God did not appoint us to wrath but to obatin his salvation in Christ, through faith. Therefore, whether we be alive physically or not, we are still alive spiritually. We are always with Christ, for wherever we are, we are in spiritual union with him.
We were all once the children of wrath as all others (Ephesians 2:3), O Lord, for in that state we were born. But you appointed us to escape that wrath and obatin salvation through your Son. We know we are not deserving of anything good and can make no demands upon you. Help us, therefore, to ever present our prayers to you in true humility as those seeking mercy and grace.
The first thing I think of on this date is that 9 months from today it will be Christmas! But this is not what we should be reflecting upon. Imagine what it must have been like for Mary. Here she was, a simple girl in a small town, betrothed and getting ready to be married and now she is told that she has been chosen to be the mother of the Messiah. What must have gone through her mind! What will Joseph say? Will he still want to marry her? What does it mean to be a mother to a Savior? Joseph will answer the first two questions, but the rest she will have to learn, as most mothers do, day by day.
God has a plan for each of us as well. His plans are not made known in quite the same kind of grand announcement, but he does tell us. What do you enjoy doing? What gifts do you see in yourself? God doesn’t ask us to do or be anything other than what he has prepared us to do. He doesn’t ask one who gets F in science to be a doctor, for example. And since Jesus tells us that he has come to bring us joy, he’s not going to lead us to a vocation that will make us miserable. But the one vocation all the baptized have is to bring the message of Jesus to others. We do this by example as well as by word. He has planted the seed of faith in our hearts; all we have to do is live it.
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.
Solomon instructs his son to establish his paths ahead of time (verse 26) and then to not turn aside one way or the other, “to the right hand or to the left. ” We should be people of purpose who ponder our path of life, not people who wander aimlessly and are drawn ultimately into evil deeds.
Lord, help us to consider our ways and to ponder the path of our feet. Give us a clear vision of what we should do and where we should go and then keep us focused on doing your will, not distracted by the allurements of the world. The world’s “Vanity Fair” offers the pleasures of sin for a season, but lies in the heart of the “City of Destruction. ” Let us seek the pleasures of God instead and hunger and thirst after His righteousness.
A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.
You may have heard the old Yiddish saying “Man plans, God laughs.” This saying is intended to illustrate the futility of man-made plans. The Bible doesn’t say that God laughs at our attempts to plan our own way, but it does say that He directs our steps. Goal setting is desirable. It is important to have a plan for our lives. We all need to “devise our own way” to an extent. More important than having a plan, however, is understanding that without God, no plan we devise will come to fruition. Without His direction, any plan we make will fail. It is imperative that we understand that every gift, every good thing that allows us to succeed, comes from God. Until we understand that and accept that fact, our plans will be fruitless.
Father, I know that every good thing comes from You. You have blessed every gift and skill I possess. Any success I have is because of You. I need You in every aspect of my life. I need Your strength and Your guidance. I need You to guide my steps in every facet of my life. As I make goals, I ask You to direct me in the way I should go. I trust Your plan for my life and I put myself into Your hands. Amen.
Ministers of the Word, pastors and missionaries in our churches, are duty-bound to preach Christ in such manner as to labor “till Christ be formed in” their hearers. (Galatians 4:19) For Christlikeness is the ultimate rule of maturity and, in the next life, of perfection. God uses Biblical teaching and Bible-based warnings delivered by men of God in the pulpit and classroom and elsewhere to accomplish this.
Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
Think of the people you know. Who do you trust? Who makes you feel good to be with? When you find out that someone has lied to you, how can you know when they’re telling the truth? If you lie, how can people trust you? The people we feel good to be with are ones we can trust, who are kind. They are the ones who follow through with their promises, who are always ready to help out, who go out of their way to do acts of kindness. And, when we are with them, we want to treat them the same way. If we want to be treated well, we need to be those people! When I taught, it wasn’t always easy to get through the hallway crowded with teenagers trying to get in their lockers and make their way to the next class. One day in the faculty lounge, one of the teachers was complaining about the rudeness of the kids who never even bothered to hold the door. I commented that I didn’t have that problem. The kids usually held to door for me, and of course I would hold it for them if their arms were full. She just shrugged her shoulders and said that she wouldn’t hold a door for those ruffians. The way we treat others does matter. If you are judgmental, don’t be surprised if you find yourself judged. If you gossip, you may find yourself the object of gossip. The reverse is also true. If you are forgiving, you will be forgiven. If you are kind, you will be treated with kindness. It’s your choice and mine.
Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
Paul, of course, does not excuse sin here and supposedly assert that sin is not sin if you do it not thinking it to be sin. In truth, we all have a conscience given us by God that reveals to us the dictates of his holy law, convicts us with guilt when we violate it, and approves of our actions when we follow that law of God written on the heart of every man. But sin is sin because of the impure motivations and attitudes that necessarily attach to it and from which it flows. To the impure, whose very hearts and minds are defiled, everything is twisted into perverseness; but a pure mind will see the good in the things God has put in the world around us.
May our minds be purified day by day, being renewed by your Word and your Spirit. May our hearts be made singel in purpose, with the purpose to honor you in all things. May our consciences be kept active and healthy, and may we not ignore them to our own peril. As Martin Luther said, so may it be our motto as well, “To go against conscience is neither right nor safe. “
Not easy to love our enemies, especially when the faults of our enemies are often being placed in front of us by well-meaning friends or the media! But who really is our enemy? Usually the term enemy refers to someone we fear and fear usually comes from a lack of knowledge. This isn’t to say that there aren’t people who have enemies, who have been threatened or harmed by others. There are countries that attack other countries and violence under any circumstance needs to be stopped. But I don’t think that these are the enemies Jesus is talking about. Just because we disagree with the attitudes of others doesn’t mean that we have the right to hate. The best way to deal with enemies is to pray for them. In order to end hate in this world, we need to replace it with love and the author of love is God. I wonder what would happen if the entire Christian world prayed for an end of violence and hate every day for a year. An interesting thought, isn’t it! Perhaps all who are reading this today might make a vow to begin this Lent to pray each day, either in the morning or at night for an end of violence in our homes, our neighborhoods and our world.
I find this passage interesting. Hate goes against God’s laws. God is love, so there is no hate in God. Even in the story of Cain and Abel, God marks Cain so that no one will kill him. So how can we hate? It’s okay not to like someone, we all do that, but hate implies that we wish someone evil. That’s not okay.
To love our neighbor means that we don’t wish him any evil. This doesn’t mean that we have to approve everything our neighbor does. No, not at all, in fact this passage tells us it’s okay to rebuke someone, even a friend or family member and not get involved in behavior contrary to God’s law. Going back to Cain and Abel, revenge is also contrary to God’s will for us. So much violence would be avoided if people didn’t seek revenge.
As I mentioned the other day, today, a person who feels disrespected often gathers friends to “get even” with that person. This leads to a larger group of friends getting even with the others and so on and so on. Feuds of this sort have become commonplace among many groups of young people as we have become such a “them” and “us” society. Some feuds seem to last one generation to the next and often people don’t even remember when the bad feelings began, nor do they know the cause. How do you want to be treated? How do I? If I want to be treated kindly, with respect, then it is my responsibility to treat others the same. It’s not always easy to love those we don’t like, but that’s what God not only expects of us, but commands.
This passage from Isaiah talks about the purpose of God’s Word. Scripture isn’t written down and passed down to each generation because it’s a nice story. God’s Word has purpose just as the snow and rain do. It’s our job to discover what the purpose is for us. The overall purpose was to let us know of God’s love and saving power; that he was sending his son into the world to earn for us eternal life. His word would help us understand the forgiving nature of God and keep reminding us our responsibilities to ourselves, God and others. Lent is a perfect time to listen to this comparison of the nature of God and the elements of nature for Lent is the season of spring. We are hoping for the end of the snowy season of winter and looking forward to the rains of spring which will reawaken the earth so it will produce both beauty and food for us to enjoy. God’s Word can reawaken our joy which can become dormant during a cold winter season, and it is important that we take advantage of this season. Baptism has planted a seed in us, but unless it is nourished, it will not grow and we will not experience the joy and power that God wishes for us. The Scriptures will provide the water to nurture this seed, help it bud and bring it to fulfillment. May God’s Word in us not return to him void.
This psalm of David is considered to be his plea to God to forgive him for his sin in taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite because he lusted after her and then making sure that Uriah was killed in battle. I’m sure that none of you are guilty of such a crime. But, even if one of us were, God can forgive us. David was king of Israel at this time, and his reign did not end because of this offense. In fact, even though the child that he had conceived through his sin died, Bathsheba becomes the mother of Solomon and the Davidic line continues. Although we might not be guilty of such serious sin, who of us can say we have never sinned? David recognized his sinfulness and pleaded with God for mercy and forgiveness. We, too, need to recognize our sins, take responsibility and beg God for mercy and forgiveness.
Lent is a good time to add an “examination of conscience” to your nightly prayers. This gives us a daily review of how we are doing. What opportunities have I taken advantage of in which I could show God’s love? What chances did I miss, or totally reject? We need to remember that sins can be of omission too! The more aware we are of our behavior, the more the chance is that we will do the right thing. In college, I studied Russian and from the first month our teacher made us write down a sentence in Russian, even if it was only to say “it’s cold!” But, the need to do the assignment meant that every day we needed to think in the little bit of the language we were learning. It’s the same with the rest of our lives. If we are watching for opportunities to do the right thing, we are less apt to do the wrong.
Who has the right to boast? Someone who is a gifted artist, a musician, the top student in class, the wealthy man or woman, the top model, the award winning actor? That’s a partial list and you might add a few more. But what right do any of them have to boast? Who gave them the artistic ability, the musician’s ear or voice, the intelligence, the looks, the opportunities? The answer of course, is God. We didn’t earn the right to be born with any of these gifts. Nor are people who have fewer advantages being punished. As St. Paul says, if we are to boast – glory – let it be in the Lord. All that we have is gift! We didn’t earn it, we don’t deserve it, but we do have a responsibility to use and develop our gifts. The artist didn’t just get up one day, pick up a paint brush and bring the first attempt to the museum to be welcomed with open arms.
I have known intelligent people who sailed through high school and flunked out of college the first semester because he/she never learned how to study. We also have been gifted with faith. But faith, like any other gift needs to be practiced. I might sound like a broken record, but we do need to take advantage of this wonderful season to check and see how well we are doing. Let us show our gratitude for the gifts we have been given by thanking God and using them to the best of our ability.
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
What can the world offer you that lasts? Nothing. Everything in this world will pass away. Therefore, it is hopeless to cling to material possessions or earthly status. In the end, none of these earthly things will matter. However, those who love God and do his will shall have eternal life. Rather than invest in earthly goods, invest in the Lord. Where your time and money are, there your heart will be. Spend your time and money investing in doing God’s will and you will never be separated from him.
Let’s read this again. It gives lie to the attitude present in Jesus’ time, and sometimes in our own, the children should bear the shame of a parent’s transgression or that the parent should be blamed if a child does something wrong. It also lets us know that there is always room to change the direction of our lives and that God will gladly welcome us back. We are not always as generous as God. Families can be ruined if a member is sent to prison. Parents can be blamed because a child turns to alcohol or drugs. The woman who suffers a miscarriage is often asked what she did to cause it. For a long time, anyone who was HIV positive was thought to be condemned, and isolated along with either parents or children – a modern day leper. In Jesus’ time it was the man born blind who was asked whose sin had caused it, his or his parents’. If we steal and are fired, that’s reasonable. If we steal and our children are fired, that’s not reasonable. If a child goes to jail, the parents need to be consoled, not blamed. Our sins are our own, our punishment is our own. At the same time, God waits. God doesn’t want to lose any of his children. He pursues us with his grace and gladly welcomes us when we repent and return. May we do the same.
Dear God,I come before You to lay my panic and anxiety at Your feet. When I’m crushed by my fears and worries, remind me of Your power and Your grace. Fill me with Your peace as I trust in You and You alone. I know I can’t beat this on my own, but I also know that I have You, Lord, and You have already paid the ultimate price to carry my burdens. For this I thank you, All of us struggle with anxiety and stress. For every person living on earth there are life situations outside of our control that lead to worry and fear. If you are in the middle of an especially stressful situation such as financial burdens, troubled relationships, or health issues, you know that it can become easy to let worry take over. This can lead to physical symptoms, insomnia, and more. We encourage you to memorize some Bible verses that overcome worries and stress so that you can speak to yourself, say it out loud, or write it out when you have an anxiety attack. Amen.
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.”
Matthew 28:18-19 (NIV)
One thing is made very clear in Scripture: God wants you to tell people the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ. In fact, some of the first and last recorded words of Jesus were about sharing the hope you have in him.
In Matthew 4:19, at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus gathered a small group of fishermen and carpenters—just ordinary people—and said, “Follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” (NLT) These were some of the very first words Jesus spoke to his followers.
Do you see Jesus’ logic in that verse? If you’re not fishing for people, then you’re not really following him. The proof that you are truly in God’s family is that you’re bringing other people into the family.
Later in the book of Matthew, Jesus talked again about sharing your hope. This passage is called the Great Commission. Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:18-19 NIV). These were some of the very last words of Jesus before he went back to heaven.
Why does Jesus have “all authority in heaven and on earth”? Because he created the universe, so he’s been given all authority over it. Jesus authorizes you to go make disciples. This means you are God’s agent!
Is anyone going to be in heaven because of you? Have you ever led anybody to faith in Christ? Follow the first and last words of Jesus, and people will one day say to you in heaven, “Thank you! I’m in heaven today because of you.”
What Are the 4 Spiritual Laws that Every Christian Should Know?
What Are the Four Spiritual Laws in the Bible?
The term “Four Spiritual Laws” does not appear in Scripture, but the principles do. CRU’s goal was to create an outreach tool that would organize biblically based steps for salvation into a straightforward, easy-to-understand format. The introduction included in the little booklet states that “Just as there are physical laws that govern the physical universe, so are there spiritual laws that govern your relationship with God.”
This four-point evangelistic model has been used by Believers for decades to introduce the plan of salvation to anyone who hasn’t yet heard about Jesus. What makes this method different than similar witnessing tools is that the steps begin on a positive note.
Law #1 of the Four Spiritual Laws focuses on God’s nature and his intent toward humanity. Using John 3:16 as a reference, this first law describes God’s love for the world, as demonstrated through the sacrifice of His only Son, Jesus. This law also emphasizes God’s favorable plans for mankind through salvation. “I came that they might have life and might have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
Many believe this biblical representation of God is an essential part of effective evangelism. The idea that our Creator loves us and has good plans for the world may seem like a no-brainer to Believers, but it’s likely a foreign concept to many who were raised in other religions. God’s loving nature and benevolence also may come as a surprise to an increasing number of unbelievers who have only seen and heard about God through warped representations in secular media and cynical culture.
The first section of the pamphlet concludes with the question, “Why is it that most people are not experiencing the abundant life?”
Law #2 answers the question with a definitive statement. “Man is sinful and separated from God. Therefore, he cannot know and experience God’s love and plan for his life.”
The pamphlet cites Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” then expands upon the Scripture’s truth by defining sin in real terms and explaining the consequences associated with sin. According to this law, humanity was created to experience a close and loving fellowship with our creator. But because we preferred our own will to His, our rebellion caused a rift in the sacred relationship that ultimately led to a death sentence (Romans 6:23).
A simple diagram in the pamphlet illustrates the first law by depicting God’s holiness as opposed to humanity’s sinfulness. The gulf between the two points seems impossible to bridge because man has no means of reaching God through any human effort.
Law #3 shows the reader that the only way fallen mankind can ever reunite with a Holy God is through Jesus. “Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for man’s sin. Through Him, you can know and experience God’s love and plan for your life.”
Using Romans 5:8, 1 Corinthians 15:3-6, and John 14:6, the third law not only shows the reader the Way to God, but also explains the Truth about the cost of our salvation, and the Life it required—all pointing to Jesus.
The diagram accompanying this law illustrates Jesus as the only bridge for the eternal gulf that separates God from man. His Son died on the cross in our place to pay the penalty for our sins.
Law #4 is the action step that provides readers with practical instruction to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. This law uses John 1:12, Ephesians 2:8-9, and John 3:1-8 to explain what it means to receive Christ through faith and what it means to be born again.
Next, the fourth law reveals Christ’s invitation for salvation (Revelation 3:20). Through the use of another diagram, repentance and surrender are emphasized as crucial prerequisites for salvation, and a clear warning is issued about emotion-based or half-hearted decisions. “Just to agree intellectually that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for our sins is not enough. Nor is it enough to have an emotional experience. We receive Jesus Christ by faith, it is an act of the will,” the pamphlet explains
For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.
Who has the right to boast? Someone who is a gifted artist, a musician, the top student in class, the wealthy man or woman, the top model, the award winning actor? That’s a partial list and you might add a few more. But what right do any of them have to boast? Who gave them the artistic ability, the musician’s ear or voice, the intelligence, the looks, the opportunities? The answer of course, is God. We didn’t earn the right to be born with any of these gifts. Nor are people who have fewer advantages being punished. As St. Paul says, if we are to boast – glory – let it be in the Lord. All that we have is gift! We didn’t earn it, we don’t deserve it, but we do have a responsibility to use and develop our gifts. The artist didn’t just get up one day, pick up a paint brush and bring the first attempt to the museum to be welcomed with open arms.
I have known intelligent people who sailed through high school and flunked out of college the first semester because he/she never learned how to study. We also have been gifted with faith. But faith, like any other gift needs to be practiced. I might sound like a broken record, but we do need to take advantage of this wonderful season to check and see how well we are doing. Let us show our gratitude for the gifts we have been given by thanking God and using them to the best of our ability.
Throughout the New Testament, we see examples of Jesus giving water to those who are thirsty. While this holy water is symbolic for the water of life that only comes from believing in Jesus, Jesus also tells his followers that if they give actual water to those who are thirsty because they follow him, they will be rewarded. Those serving Jesus should not just be sharing the Gospel with others, but also giving to those in need of food and drink. We are called to help those in need – sometimes it begins with offering a cup of water.
Dear God, allow me to see those who are in need and show me how to meet their basic needs as well as their spiritual needs. Help me not to overlook how serving in simple ways shows the love of Jesus. Give me opportunities to love others following your example. Thank you for sending your son, Jesus Christ, to not only save me from my sins, but to be an example of love for all mankind. May I live a love of love that brings others to you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Temptations abound. As a Christ follower, we must understand that we will face temptation regularly. Even Christ was tempted. However, Christ did not give in to temptation. He withstood it. Using his example, we can also withstand temptation. The Lord knows we will be challenged, but He promises that we will be rewarded for staying strong and not giving in to temptation. When we do not allow temptation to separate us from the love of God, we will be blessed with eternal life.
Dear God, When I struggle with temptation, help me to cling to you. Do not allow me to fall under the weight of temptation and give in. I know sin separates me from you – help me to withstand temptation and hold strong to your truths so that I will never be apart from you. Help me to follow the example of your son, Jesus Christ, gave us when he resisted the devil. Give me the strength to endure temptation so that I may spend eternity with you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Prayer for your enemies is one of the deepest forms of love, because it means that you have to really want that something good happen to them. You might do nice things for your enemy without any genuine desire that things go well with them. But prayer for them is in the presence of God who knows your heart, and prayer is interceding with God on their behalf. It may be for their conversion. It may be for their repentance. It may be that they would be awakened to the enmity in their hearts. It may be that they will be stopped in their downward spiral of sin, even if it takes disease or calamity to do it. But the prayer Jesus has in mind here is always for their good. Our hearts should desire their salvation and desire their presence in heaven with us and desire their eternal happiness. May God give us grace to pray like the apostle Paul for the Jewish people, many of whom made life very hard for Paul.
Therefore, in view of Your mercy, transform me by renewing my mind with Your word. Cause me to see (name of person) as you see them, to have a heart of love for them as you love them to understand them through Your eyes and to have speech seasoned with wisdom when I speak to them. In Jesus’ Name, I pray. Amen.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
God made me and God don’t make no junk! This slogan found its way to t-shirts several years ago. It may not be grammatically correct, but it’s true, nonetheless. Paul tells us in this verse that we are God’s “workmanship”. We are made by His hands. We are not “accidents.” We are works of art, crafted by His loving hands. Therefore, we have value. Nothing can take that away from us. Ugly words, insults, snide remarks…they are meaningless in the face of the fact that we are His workmanship. If we could only truly believe that about ourselves, there wouldn’t be a bully anywhere with any kind of power over us.
The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
This is great advice for anyone, but here it is specifically given to older women. They are to have holy character reflecting Jesus. They are not supposed to drink too much or falsely accuse people. Lastly, they are to teach good things. It is interesting that older women are instructed to teach. Knowing they have a lot of wisdom, they are instructed to pass that wisdom on.
I find this passage interesting. Hate goes against God’s laws. God is love, so there is no hate in God. Even in the story of Cain and Abel, God marks Cain so that no one will kill him. So how can we hate? It’s okay not to like someone, we all do that, but hate implies that we wish someone evil. That’s not okay.
To love our neighbor means that we don’t wish him any evil. This doesn’t mean that we have to approve everything our neighbor does. No, not at all, in fact this passage tells us it’s okay to rebuke someone, even a friend or family member and not get involved in behavior contrary to God’s law. Going back to Cain and Abel, revenge is also contrary to God’s will for us. So much violence would be avoided if people didn’t seek revenge.
As I mentioned the other day, today, a person who feels disrespected often gathers friends to “get even” with that person. This leads to a larger group of friends getting even with the others and so on and so on. Feuds of this sort have become commonplace among many groups of young people as we have become such a “them” and “us” society. Some feuds seem to last one generation to the next and often people don’t even remember when the bad feelings began, nor do they know the cause. How do you want to be treated? How do I? If I want to be treated kindly, with respect, then it is my responsibility to treat others the same. It’s not always easy to love those we don’t like, but that’s what God not only expects of us, but commands.
God created both male and female in his image. From the beginning, he made both man and woman and caused them to fellowship with him and with each other in the garden. And God gave Eve to Adam to be his wife, and this was for a picture of the Church, the bride of Christ, whom the Father would give to the Son.
O Lord, we know you have created men and women both in your image and for your glory. You have given them each their proper strengths and roles. Some you call to serve you as singles, and devote fuller time to your kingdom. Others you call to marriage, and this is a picture of your love for your Church. May we all be content with the calling you have called us with.
God dwells in us as a result of His Love. How does He dwell in us? Through His Spirit. We have accepted the Spirit of God to reside in us and this means that we are subjected to his counsel and his guidance. We are not slaves to our selfish cravings or desires. We are now able to rise above them and live according to the way of the Spirit.
Dear God, I thank you that I am now one with you as a result of your Spirit living within me. Father I ask that I will always pay attention to your will for me and not what my selfish demands. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
Salt is a wonderful additive to food, especially if it’s freshly ground sea salt. But let it set on a shelf or in a shaker for too long and it becomes clumpy and tasteless. You might as well be shaking air on your food. It does nothing for a salad or a stead. It is useless because it’s lost its flavor. The only use for it is to throw it on the walkway to melt the ice in the winter. Jesus tells us in Matthew that we are like salt. In this passage, He talks about useless salt, salt that has lost its flavor. If we are the salt of the world, and we lose our flavor, then we become useless. We cannot improve anyone’s situation. We can’t properly minister to others because we have nothing to say. We are as useless as the salt that people use on the ground in the winter time. We aren’t fulfilling our purpose. We must strive to ensure that we don’t lose our “saltiness.” We must read and study and spend time in prayer so that when the time comes when someone needs our salt, we will be ready.
Father, Help me maintain my “flavor”. I never want to be useless to You. I want to be an asset to You. Show me how to maintain my “saltiness” so that I may be useful to the building of Your kingdom. Amen.
God is good. He sits on a throne and is greater than everyone, every being in existence, and every theory someone has of Him. He is mighty. He is above all, and yet humbles Himself to commune with man. God is the greatest. Isaiah saw a vision about the holiness of God, and this verse is the first part of it.
Lord, You are the greatest. You are pure. You are truth. You created all truth. You are greater than my conception I have of You. I can’t comprehend Your greatness. Yet, I know that You are amazing and awe worthy. I know You are better than everything else in my life combined together. I worship You. Lord, I put none above You. I praise You and come before You in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Human Trafficking Survivor; God and Country, Without God There is No Country/ Judeo-Christian / America Belongs to God 