Outstanding

Outstanding!

1 Corinthians 16:14 GNT “Do all your work in love.”

Whoever follows the above passage is outstanding. 😊 Doing everything in love will make you stand out above the rest. Not that you want to you just will. Paul inspired by the Holy Spirit was talking in the passage above about charity: agape love. This kind of love is deep. It’s brotherly affection, a love feast, good will, and benevolence. It’s filled with tender affection and compassion. It seeks only good for others. We are told to do everything in love especially towards our brothers and sisters. How opposite this love is from the world’s:

John 15:19 NIV “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”

We are in a demon possessed generation. That’s why many act so weird and cranky. The world’s love is different from the love of God. Even when the world shows you love it’s phony. They only desire to use you. Those who seek acceptance, praise, or love from this world are in trouble:

John 5:44 RSV “How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”

John 12:43 RSV “For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.”

1 Thessalonians 2:4 RSV “But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please men, but to please God who tests our hearts.”

Those who live the life of love to please God and not men will be greatly rewarded:

Revelation 22:12 KJV “And, behold, I come quickly; and MY REWARD IS WITH ME, to give every man according as his work shall be.”

Romans 13:10 RSV “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

1 Corinthians 13:4‭-‬7 GNT “Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fail.”‬‬

Become and stay outstanding by living the life of love. Love is God and God is love. Don’t let the world change you. 😊

1 John 4:7-8 GNT “Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

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There’s Something Going On

There’s Something Going On

2 Timothy 3:13 NIV “While evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

Doesn’t it feel like something different is happening as evidenced by people’s behavior? Like a sudden shift in the spiritual realms? We know that the evil one does things subtly, covertly, and gradually, so much so that you hardly notice or don’t notice at all it’s going on. He’s a deceiver. But some of his moves lately seem to have a haste about them and are more noticeable. It’s as if things have spiked not from the incremental level 3 to level 4 but from a level 3 to level 6! People are acting so differently these days you would think someone has poured evil juice into their drinking water, or food supply, or vaccines. Hmmmm. 🤔

THE EVIL KING

If you were an evil king who just found out you had a terminal illness and didn’t have long to live what would you do? Would you do the noble thing and get your house in order? Or would your main focus be destroying all of your enemies before you die? The latter is the Devil’s main focus:

Revelation 12: 10-12 NIV “For the accuser [Satan] of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! HE IS FILLED WITH FURY, because HE KNOWS that HIS TIME IS SHORT.”

The above passage is the first place in the Bible where I remember reading the devil has a ticking time bomb attached to him. Satan’s original home was in heaven where he dwelled in the very presence of Almighty God. This was before his rebellion. God lives outside of time. He lives in eternity. Satan has been kicked out of heaven though and thrown down to earth. He and his angels are now subject to the confines of time just like mere mortals. This is a HUGE HUMILIATION for the devil. Not only did he go from the penthouse to the poor house, he’s dying and he knows it. For this he is royally pissed! Hence the heat, the persecution we feel. As Revelation says, “Woe to the earth and the sea,” the devil, “Is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.” He is focused on revenge; destroying all of God’s people:

Revelation 12:13,17 KJV “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

Yes, if you keep God’s commands and hold fast to the testimony of Jesus Christ the Devil is after you. He always works overtime. He doesn’t take a day off or go on vacations. In fact this entire world system which he rules is designed for our downfall. But be encouraged, OUR TRIUMPHANT VICTORY HAS ALREADY BEEN FORETOLD!!! 😀

Revelation 12:11 NIV “THEY TRIUMPHED OVER HIM [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb [JESUS] and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”

Because of Jesus God says we win! We’re winners! 😃 Not just in the end, we’re winners right now:

Romans 8:37-39 NIV “No, in all these things WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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When I Don’t Get What I Want

When I Don’t Get What I Want

Proverbs 13:12 KJV “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.”

Not getting what you want can make you sick. And if we’re not careful it can make us sick to death. There are many great men and women in the Bible who did not always get what they wanted either. And yes, it sometimes made them sick. Some of them even vented their anger to and at God. Moses was one of them. (Numbers 11:10-15) Jeremiah was another. (Jeremiah 12:1-3) So was Jonah. (Jonah 3:10-4:11) What I love about these (and others) is they were real. What I also love about them is although their thinking was wrong at times (being angry at God and all) they at least had enough sense to talk to God about how they were feeling.

Let’s face it, none of us are superman or superwoman. If you’ve been in the faith long enough you may have gotten mad at God sometimes too when things didn’t go your way. I know I have. ‘Hope deferred sometimes makes our hearts sick too.’ But when these moments occur do we have enough sense to talk to God about our feelings like Moses, Jeremiah, Jonah and others? Or has our hearts grown stone cold? Do we find ourselves not praying to God at all anymore? Do we also find ourselves not reading His word like we used to? Are we shunning God? If the answer is, “Yes,” be honest about it. Because confession is the first step to our broken heart being cured.

God himself says, ‘not getting what you want can make your heart sick.’ (Proverbs 13:12) He understands how the heart works. He made it. He already knows how we’re feeling. God is so cool about the whole situation; His word says:

Psalm 43:18 NIV “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” 😃

When Moses, Jeremiah, and Jonah ranted to God about how unfair life was to them God didn’t hurl lightning bolts at them. And he won’t throw lightning at us either. In fact He wants us to come to Him in prayer with all of our problems, with all of our disappointments and hurts:

Matthew 11:28 NIV “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

The worse thing we can do is alienate ourselves from God and from fellow believers. We need God more than anything. And we need our brothers and sisters more and more each day:

‭Hebrews‬ ‭10:24-25‬ ‭GNT‬‬ “Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and to do good. Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another ALL THE MORE, since you see that the Day of the Lord is coming nearer.”‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Fellow believers can help us get out of our rut:

Ecclesiastes‬ ‭4:9-10‬ ‭NET‬‬ “Two people are better than one, because they can reap more benefit from their labor. For if they fall, one will help his companion up, but pity the person who falls down and has no one to help him up.”‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ ‬‬

Isolating ourselves and sulking too long about life’s disappoints can make us REALLY sick. Use what God has given us; prayer, his word, and each other His church. Be willing to share some of our problems with one another. This can be very encouraging. And also be willing not only to be a good listener to our fellow believers problems, be willing to carry each other’s burdens:

Galatians 6:2 NIV “CARRY EACH OTHER’S BURDENS, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

As we continue to seek God regardless of what we do or do not have we will learn a whole lot about our heavenly Father and about ourselves. There are things we need to learn before we go home to heaven. When it’s all said and done we will also learn that some of the things we wanted so badly were not good for us. And we will thank God for not allowing those things to consume us.

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