Just because a person loves deeply does not make them invulnerable to error. Love can lead us into situations that are precarious and painful.
Elihu, God's young right minded man in the oldest book of the Bible, said this to Job...
"Look at the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds, which are higher than you. If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him? If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand? Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself, and your righteousness a son of man." - Job 35:5-8 ESV
Even in a modern translation this passage can be difficult to understand. But, It is basically saying that we don't know how to love even when we have the genuine desire to love because our thinking can be Earth bound and errors have piled up to a point where we are willing to compromise for expediency's sake and not even realize it. We plea bargain our love to move things along... God doesn't.
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater," - Isaiah 55:9-10 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. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned." - Romans 12:2-3 ESV
"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:" - Philippians 2:5 KJV
"The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 'For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?' But we have the mind of Christ." - 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 ESV
Jesus' love was not watered down or compromised. The Pharisees saw people as sinners but Jesus saw people a precious but lost. He loved very aware that the people He loved many times didn't know how to think. That didn't make Him superior to those around Him. He became a servant and teacher in compassion.
I watched a young couple care for their small children at Christmas over the course of a few days. They did it so brilliantly. Even though those little ones often didn't yet know how to think about many things those parents served and led those children with such love even though it was obviously exhausting.
Jesus watched how His Father loved people and then He loved them. We watch how Jesus loves people and then through Him we see the Father's methods.
Our own sentimentality can do a great deal of damage. When we see sentimentality creeping in we don't have to harden our heart, which is a natural impulse to protect ourselves. Instead we can just 'repent' by turning to God and His thinking.
Sin doesn't crowd out God's thoughts causing Him to compromise. God is free to think in grace because transgressions have been paid for and blotted out by the blood of Jesus.
God's love is expensive. He pays a price beyond what something is perceived to be worth on Earth. He pays in time and energy and teaches us to think like He does... if we are available to it that is.
--
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Virtue In The Mix
"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence," - 2 Peter 1:3 ESV
The word translated 'excellence' is Arete (Strong's G703)
"by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge," - 2 Peter 1:4-5 ESV
The word translated 'virtue' here is that same word Arete (G703) and it is better translation of the word although God's virtues are also excellent. Arete is linked to Arren (G730) which would be best translated manliness. Virtue is what it means to be God like manliness is what it means to be a man.
All our faith needs is to have God being God added to it. All any sick person in the Gospels needed was Jesus being Jesus in front of them. Their faith was supplemented by God in the flesh being who he was and then knowledge entered the mix and every individual was healed.
"and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins." - 2 Peter 1:6-9 ESV
If we do not know that God is the God of all grace we are going to have huge blind-spots.
Self-control in the Greek is Egkrateia (G1466) and it means the control that is exercised by virtue. If our faith has no grace then who is really in control? Do we have virtue? We have something but it isn't virtue and what we have is extremely inconsistent.
Godliness here is not God-likeness it is more like awe of God's qualities. Eusebeia (G2150) speaks of the devotion a person who outwardly dedicates their life to a divine cause or the awe their devotion generates in others.
Lastly two types of love are mentioned Philadelphia (G5360) and Agape (G26). Kindness must have God's love added to it.
Sorry all you love loving hippy types out there... kindness by itself won't cut it. Kindness alone gets rolled over by the freight train of tyranny and doesn't even see the train coming. Human kindness devoid of virtue gets used by evil as a tool like the grifter uses human decency as a tool in his con.
Without virtue we would be blinded by our own weakness and smallness. Our identity would be based on what we do and how we see ourselves. God's virtue mixed into our faith is the first step to having our eyes opened.
"Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall." - 2 Peter 1:10 ESV
God never fails to be God. Men fail to be manly everyday but God's perfections are ever perfect. His love isn't going to fail.
Maybe we need to repeat that again and again... 'God's love isn't going to fail.'
We repeat it again looking past ourselves believing like only a believer has the privileged to believe... 'God's love isn't going to fail.'
Today I move into my day linking my calling to God's virtue. God has chosen to love me and God has chosen to love each person I'll meet today. I choose to supplement my faith with His virtue.
His love never fails.
--
The word translated 'excellence' is Arete (Strong's G703)
"by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge," - 2 Peter 1:4-5 ESV
The word translated 'virtue' here is that same word Arete (G703) and it is better translation of the word although God's virtues are also excellent. Arete is linked to Arren (G730) which would be best translated manliness. Virtue is what it means to be God like manliness is what it means to be a man.
All our faith needs is to have God being God added to it. All any sick person in the Gospels needed was Jesus being Jesus in front of them. Their faith was supplemented by God in the flesh being who he was and then knowledge entered the mix and every individual was healed.
"and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins." - 2 Peter 1:6-9 ESV
If we do not know that God is the God of all grace we are going to have huge blind-spots.
Self-control in the Greek is Egkrateia (G1466) and it means the control that is exercised by virtue. If our faith has no grace then who is really in control? Do we have virtue? We have something but it isn't virtue and what we have is extremely inconsistent.
Godliness here is not God-likeness it is more like awe of God's qualities. Eusebeia (G2150) speaks of the devotion a person who outwardly dedicates their life to a divine cause or the awe their devotion generates in others.
Lastly two types of love are mentioned Philadelphia (G5360) and Agape (G26). Kindness must have God's love added to it.
Sorry all you love loving hippy types out there... kindness by itself won't cut it. Kindness alone gets rolled over by the freight train of tyranny and doesn't even see the train coming. Human kindness devoid of virtue gets used by evil as a tool like the grifter uses human decency as a tool in his con.
Without virtue we would be blinded by our own weakness and smallness. Our identity would be based on what we do and how we see ourselves. God's virtue mixed into our faith is the first step to having our eyes opened.
"Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall." - 2 Peter 1:10 ESV
God never fails to be God. Men fail to be manly everyday but God's perfections are ever perfect. His love isn't going to fail.
Maybe we need to repeat that again and again... 'God's love isn't going to fail.'
We repeat it again looking past ourselves believing like only a believer has the privileged to believe... 'God's love isn't going to fail.'
Today I move into my day linking my calling to God's virtue. God has chosen to love me and God has chosen to love each person I'll meet today. I choose to supplement my faith with His virtue.
His love never fails.
--
Monday, December 29, 2014
The Day Of Sevenfold Light
"Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound." - Isaiah 30:26 KJV
In finished work perspective people are healed of the shock that came over them because of wounds. Night seems like day and there is a recreation just like in those first seven days of creation. Jesus was slain before the foundation of the world and has fresh, but bloodless, wounds in His feet and hands when the world ends. Sins are paid for. A way was made before man was formed from the dust.
The word translated 'stroke' in verse twenty six is a unique word. It is the confusion brought on by a severe wound. People go into a state of shock when wounded intensely and then what happens is not processed correctly or at all until later.
It takes this kind of illumination to heal a person of trauma. Or perhaps I should say this illumination accompanies the healing. God does the healing on His appointed day.
The winter solstice just happened in December. It was the shortest day of the year... the one with the least light. But, even the summer solstice does not have seven times more light than that short day. None the less we know that the amount of light in a day is determined by where it is on God's calendar. God uses a timing reference.
People see their relatives at Christmas and strong relationships get stronger and new bonds may form but it is amazing how old wounds remain. Soon after the festivities die down things return to the way they were. Shock from long ago wounded someone's capacity and no healing has come yet. The nights are still dark for the wounded person.
Don't be discouraged. Small times of love can have huge repercussions down the road.
"The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver... He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God." - 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, 10-11 ESV
"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth... For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building." - 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, 9 ESV
Sowing eternal perspective will reap a harvest one day if it falls on good ground. Operating in the kindness of forgiveness is sevenfold light that is water to the seed that will one day grow into a day of sevenfold light. That rare day is on God's schedule.
The seed of eternal perspective is watered by the cleansing nourishing water of God's word that reveals God's heart of love in His completed plan.
"Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;" - Isaiah 59:1 ESV
We sow seeds of the love that has been given to us. We water in a consistent way. We don't strive in it. We live believing in a future healing holding the present miraculous knowledge in our minds so that it becomes a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.
I want to be where two or more are gathered together fellowshipping around and in sevenfold light. That is the place where light shines in the world. Theology becomes real time illumination when two or more are gathered and truth is revealed and believed.
--
In finished work perspective people are healed of the shock that came over them because of wounds. Night seems like day and there is a recreation just like in those first seven days of creation. Jesus was slain before the foundation of the world and has fresh, but bloodless, wounds in His feet and hands when the world ends. Sins are paid for. A way was made before man was formed from the dust.
The word translated 'stroke' in verse twenty six is a unique word. It is the confusion brought on by a severe wound. People go into a state of shock when wounded intensely and then what happens is not processed correctly or at all until later.
It takes this kind of illumination to heal a person of trauma. Or perhaps I should say this illumination accompanies the healing. God does the healing on His appointed day.
The winter solstice just happened in December. It was the shortest day of the year... the one with the least light. But, even the summer solstice does not have seven times more light than that short day. None the less we know that the amount of light in a day is determined by where it is on God's calendar. God uses a timing reference.
People see their relatives at Christmas and strong relationships get stronger and new bonds may form but it is amazing how old wounds remain. Soon after the festivities die down things return to the way they were. Shock from long ago wounded someone's capacity and no healing has come yet. The nights are still dark for the wounded person.
Don't be discouraged. Small times of love can have huge repercussions down the road.
"The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver... He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God." - 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, 10-11 ESV
"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth... For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building." - 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, 9 ESV
Sowing eternal perspective will reap a harvest one day if it falls on good ground. Operating in the kindness of forgiveness is sevenfold light that is water to the seed that will one day grow into a day of sevenfold light. That rare day is on God's schedule.
The seed of eternal perspective is watered by the cleansing nourishing water of God's word that reveals God's heart of love in His completed plan.
"Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;" - Isaiah 59:1 ESV
We sow seeds of the love that has been given to us. We water in a consistent way. We don't strive in it. We live believing in a future healing holding the present miraculous knowledge in our minds so that it becomes a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.
I want to be where two or more are gathered together fellowshipping around and in sevenfold light. That is the place where light shines in the world. Theology becomes real time illumination when two or more are gathered and truth is revealed and believed.
--
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Packing The Car To Go Home
Many people traveled to be with loved ones and then went home these last few days. Some are still there resting and enjoying one another and will travel over the next few days.
Jesus packed His car to go home by going to the cross and then ascending to Heaven. At Pentecost He sent us another great gift... The Holy Spirit was just what we needed. He would fill us completely and connect us fully to God. God wants closeness with the ones He loves. He wants it more than a few times a year. He wants an all the time closeness sprinkled with great events here and there.
I want this coming year to be a year of greater fuller connection with God, family and people who are strangers right now. Love can change strangers into friends and family.
--
Jesus packed His car to go home by going to the cross and then ascending to Heaven. At Pentecost He sent us another great gift... The Holy Spirit was just what we needed. He would fill us completely and connect us fully to God. God wants closeness with the ones He loves. He wants it more than a few times a year. He wants an all the time closeness sprinkled with great events here and there.
I want this coming year to be a year of greater fuller connection with God, family and people who are strangers right now. Love can change strangers into friends and family.
--
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
A Sense Of Belonging
Grace gives us a place where we belong. God extends His welcome to us. Eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil resulted in Adam and Eve being on the outside. Grace results in us being on the inside.
A narcissist never feels like an outsider. I think most of us have felt that feeling of being on the outside even if it was self imposed.
The prodigal son story comes to mind. One son pushed himself outside. His mind was already wandering and soon His body matched his mindset. The elder brother thought his brother was unfit to belong again. The Father was generous and welcoming claiming both brothers were the possessors of his possessions.
"So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future - all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's." - 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 ESV
There are confident people out there that are admired because of their confidence but their sense of belonging is really theft. Our belonging, if it is real, is a nested belonging that is the result of grace. Like the prodigal we have minds that tend to wander outside and like the elder brother we also have minds that own a position for the wrong reasons.
"You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men." - 1 Corinthians 7:23 ESV
"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV
We belong because of grace. We belong to God in Christ who is right where He belongs in the Father's heart. God is everywhere so we can have a sense of belonging wherever we are.
"And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plumb line; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter. Then your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be beaten down by it. As often as it passes through it will take you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be sheer terror to understand the message. For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on, and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in." - Isaiah 28:17-20 ESV
That takes a different tone doesn't it? It took a famine in the land for the prodigal to discover where he really belonged. If we belong to God than there are places we don't belong. There are ways of thinking that will cause extreme dissatisfaction. If it is not grace than it is like a cover that is too narrow to cover us and keep us warm.
Holidays are funny times because what we have and what we don't have become amplified.
"Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;" - Ephesians 1:5-7 KJV
We belong because God sent His Son into the world. We belong because Jesus paid our entrance fee. That is the one and only reason. It is a narrow gate that many do not find but it opens into a wide place.
There is food and comfort aplenty in the father's house. Grace is a warm blanket that covers us in spite of us. God has a table with a place set just for us and a warm embrace waiting that will nourish us and give us back the strength we lost in our wandering.
--
A narcissist never feels like an outsider. I think most of us have felt that feeling of being on the outside even if it was self imposed.
The prodigal son story comes to mind. One son pushed himself outside. His mind was already wandering and soon His body matched his mindset. The elder brother thought his brother was unfit to belong again. The Father was generous and welcoming claiming both brothers were the possessors of his possessions.
"So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future - all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's." - 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 ESV
There are confident people out there that are admired because of their confidence but their sense of belonging is really theft. Our belonging, if it is real, is a nested belonging that is the result of grace. Like the prodigal we have minds that tend to wander outside and like the elder brother we also have minds that own a position for the wrong reasons.
"You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men." - 1 Corinthians 7:23 ESV
"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV
We belong because of grace. We belong to God in Christ who is right where He belongs in the Father's heart. God is everywhere so we can have a sense of belonging wherever we are.
"And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plumb line; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter. Then your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be beaten down by it. As often as it passes through it will take you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be sheer terror to understand the message. For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on, and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in." - Isaiah 28:17-20 ESV
That takes a different tone doesn't it? It took a famine in the land for the prodigal to discover where he really belonged. If we belong to God than there are places we don't belong. There are ways of thinking that will cause extreme dissatisfaction. If it is not grace than it is like a cover that is too narrow to cover us and keep us warm.
Holidays are funny times because what we have and what we don't have become amplified.
"Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;" - Ephesians 1:5-7 KJV
We belong because God sent His Son into the world. We belong because Jesus paid our entrance fee. That is the one and only reason. It is a narrow gate that many do not find but it opens into a wide place.
There is food and comfort aplenty in the father's house. Grace is a warm blanket that covers us in spite of us. God has a table with a place set just for us and a warm embrace waiting that will nourish us and give us back the strength we lost in our wandering.
--
Monday, December 22, 2014
How We War Reflects How We Walk
"For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh." - 2 Corinthians 10:3 ESV
It's funny how these two things are linked. In the previous verses Paul addresses the fact that there are people who think he, and those with him, walk according to their natural tendencies but one of the things that Paul cites as evidence to the contrary is the way he deals with conflict.
When we 'practice the presence of God' our potential reactions can instead be manifested as responses because we are aware of a different provision.
"For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. Look at what is before your eyes." - 2 Corinthians 10:4-7a ESV
Reaction can undermine our confidence because then our source comes into question. There is a potential opening to self condemnation and accusation from those around us.
Here is a verse that has been a well of refreshment for me.
"Then he said to them, 'Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.' " - Nehemiah 8:10 ESV
God's joy becomes our first line of defense. We go happily on the mission as a person who is sent out with portions to deliver. Conflicts and knowledge of personal shortcomings must catch up to a person with the divine momentum of joy and that in itself is not an easy thing to do.
Away we go plucking accusations against God (and us) out of the air and casting them down as we make our divine deliveries. The care has to catch us first. Correction can be absorbed and applied while condemnation just rolls off of us.
The conflict has to stop us in order to engage us and the joy that has become our strength is God's joy. Someone may not be happy with us but God is. We may feel off balance but God Is thinking great thoughts about us. God has joy because of the finished work. Sin is paid for. He loves the fellowship and communion of His children. His Shalom becomes our peace. His joy becomes our momentum.
Even if we fail and react God stays the same so we can rebound quickly and go on. Condemnation can be cast down and we can be up and moving again by God's power.
People will see the way we 'fight' and become aware of our altered spiritual state. They may just think we have 'happy dispositions' but the Spirit will witness something else to them if they are available to hear it.
--
It's funny how these two things are linked. In the previous verses Paul addresses the fact that there are people who think he, and those with him, walk according to their natural tendencies but one of the things that Paul cites as evidence to the contrary is the way he deals with conflict.
When we 'practice the presence of God' our potential reactions can instead be manifested as responses because we are aware of a different provision.
"For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. Look at what is before your eyes." - 2 Corinthians 10:4-7a ESV
Reaction can undermine our confidence because then our source comes into question. There is a potential opening to self condemnation and accusation from those around us.
Here is a verse that has been a well of refreshment for me.
"Then he said to them, 'Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.' " - Nehemiah 8:10 ESV
God's joy becomes our first line of defense. We go happily on the mission as a person who is sent out with portions to deliver. Conflicts and knowledge of personal shortcomings must catch up to a person with the divine momentum of joy and that in itself is not an easy thing to do.
Away we go plucking accusations against God (and us) out of the air and casting them down as we make our divine deliveries. The care has to catch us first. Correction can be absorbed and applied while condemnation just rolls off of us.
The conflict has to stop us in order to engage us and the joy that has become our strength is God's joy. Someone may not be happy with us but God is. We may feel off balance but God Is thinking great thoughts about us. God has joy because of the finished work. Sin is paid for. He loves the fellowship and communion of His children. His Shalom becomes our peace. His joy becomes our momentum.
Even if we fail and react God stays the same so we can rebound quickly and go on. Condemnation can be cast down and we can be up and moving again by God's power.
People will see the way we 'fight' and become aware of our altered spiritual state. They may just think we have 'happy dispositions' but the Spirit will witness something else to them if they are available to hear it.
--
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Pack Some Courage
We are going to need courage.
"The devising of folly is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to mankind. If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, 'Behold, we did not know this,' does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work? My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste. Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off." - Proverbs 24:9-14 ESV
Courage makes us part of the rescue party. We become ones who go or ones who are praying for and supplying the ones who go.
The scoffer lacks courage and the faint in heart end up in their company by default. Right and wrong is a small cause. It is low ground for those of small strength. Those with little power complain about those in power. Murmuring only results in gridlock and delay.
Courage rescues us and others.
Grace is a high cause. Mercy is royal. Grace is pure unadulterated good news. It mocks nothing. It only invites.
"When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you." - Matthew 10:19-20 ESV
Live in grace now and you will have the guts to say what needs to be said later. Pray now and the answer will come later. Live in vision now. You may be mocked for it but you won't be a weak minded mocker.
Courage is cultivated. Sure, Some of us are more timid than others in our make up. There are bold ones that seem to be bold from an early age. Courage is more than that.
"But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." - Jude 1:20-25 ESV
We don't know what the day will bring. I want to be ready so I'm going to pack what God has given me right where I can reach it if I need it then take a deep breath and rest in what God has done.
Jesus Is all I need to be courageous. His joy is my strength.
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"The devising of folly is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to mankind. If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, 'Behold, we did not know this,' does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work? My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste. Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off." - Proverbs 24:9-14 ESV
Courage makes us part of the rescue party. We become ones who go or ones who are praying for and supplying the ones who go.
The scoffer lacks courage and the faint in heart end up in their company by default. Right and wrong is a small cause. It is low ground for those of small strength. Those with little power complain about those in power. Murmuring only results in gridlock and delay.
Courage rescues us and others.
Grace is a high cause. Mercy is royal. Grace is pure unadulterated good news. It mocks nothing. It only invites.
"When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you." - Matthew 10:19-20 ESV
Live in grace now and you will have the guts to say what needs to be said later. Pray now and the answer will come later. Live in vision now. You may be mocked for it but you won't be a weak minded mocker.
Courage is cultivated. Sure, Some of us are more timid than others in our make up. There are bold ones that seem to be bold from an early age. Courage is more than that.
"But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." - Jude 1:20-25 ESV
We don't know what the day will bring. I want to be ready so I'm going to pack what God has given me right where I can reach it if I need it then take a deep breath and rest in what God has done.
Jesus Is all I need to be courageous. His joy is my strength.
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