The devil comes only to steal, kill and destroy.
The Lord says "I have come that they may life and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep."
Because strait is the way and narrow is the gate, which lead unto life, and . . . few . . . there are who find themselves finding it. ONLY BY THE GRACE OF GOD SHALL YOU FIND THE STRAIT AND NARROW WAY.
(He keeps showing me the alternative...and I am not fond of having to relate it), but it is horrific nearly beyond human imagination. Just remember, the fear of God IS THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM! That wasn't said, Written in jest! Nope. Please, listen.
HE IS LORD and HE WILL NOT TOLERATE (CANNOT!) anything other than His Holy Presence... (Hence, THANK GOD! we have Jesus, GOD, Who suffered on our behalf. It is astounding, lovely, beyond comprehension (hence why we get an eternity to suss it out!:) . . . . . The whole scenario is heavy, real, deep, dreadful, glorious, intense IF YOU HAVE THE EYES AND SOUL AND EARS AND SPIRIT TO hear The Word.
The many . . . who throw stones, who take the devilish ticket, who take the easy road . . . will throw calumny at you, with puffed up chest, proud, living a prideful life of self assertion, fancying themselves actually doing things.
The humble know that God rules ALL THINGS and are gloriously humiliated knowing and experiencing his easy yoke (yet, a yoke it is!).
Cleave to The Word Of God . . . and that means . . . search Him night and day . . . strive . . . find yourself yearning for the Truth and the Light and His HOLY Presence.
This is serious business. This is serious life. This is amazing potential. BUT NOT IN YOURSELF.
Empty out yourself. THE ONLY ONE THAT MATTERS AND WHO DESERVES THE ATTENTION AND WORSHIP IS GOD ALMIGHTY!
(just a fellow shouting from the watchtower and seeing the hordes a-gathering, fwiw)
2 comments:
Dear Bro. T.
One of my very favorite scripture sayings is: Matthew 11:28-30: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.". When there are times when I'm down and out and sad, I remind myself of this very fact that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. I feel a lot of comfort in this because He knows how we are feeling all of the time and is close by. And yes, the fear (love, astonishment, being in awe) of the Lord is certainly the beginning of wisdom. Plus, it is found in Solomon's writings that "understanding" is defined as the knowledge of the Holy. An interesting fact I discovered in Ecclesiastics or Proverbs is that Solomon spoke of the "simple minded." I think he was referring to those without "understanding" (lacking in the knowledge of the Holy)? What do you think?
Peace and the Lord's favor,
Roger
It is my thought that all of these little foibles are mirrors of our faith held in front of us so we will know where we are at.
The infrastructure is crumbling. It must so that the Lord can make things new. "They" will not get their way. The Lord will have His way. And He will have you.
But He wants us to know where we are at. So when this breaks, that breaks, you don't have enough money for food, or for some of the luxuries you have enjoyed (I'm sweating the farrier and will probably have some late fees from bills to further eat my paycheck this cycle), you aren't quite making ends meet every month, and little annoyances happen - what we should notice is how ruffled are we during all of this.
Are you angry? Doubting? Worried? Sure some of this is normal when life hands you a lot at the same time. The Lord doesn't expect us to be inhuman, or like machines, or to fake positivity. For the believers who know the Lord provides and that His grace is sufficient for us, we might rather have a very calm demeanor no matter what.
I left my home on two weeks worth of business travel with $30 to my name. I took 9 flights in two weeks and went to the West Coast and across the Atlantic. I have a mortgage and all of these bills, and travel is...interesting... these days. I wasn't stressed.
As time goes on I can imagine we won't even give attention to these types of inconveniences. Things break, you fix them, or not, or later, depending on cost and availability of cash, and Americans have SO MUCH they can actually live without. You won't have to, though, in most cases, because the Lord provides, but where your faith is determines how much you stress it, and that is what these things are showing us. While "they" put the squeeze to us, take our jobs, bring in the foreign armies, increase the cost of everything, and try to destroy because that is all they know how to do, guess what? We in the Lord are not squeezed or destroyed. We walk in the light of truth. We find the good. We keep our feet moving. We skate through it on well-oiled wheels. We know who the victor is.
It is my opinion that only 1 in 12 male believers have real faith. Twelve, one from each tribe, went into the promised land to scout it. Eleven came back with tales of how we can't. Caleb, though, knowing who God is, had a tale of how well able we are. I am waiting for the Calebs to arise.
It only takes 1 in 12. Things will get worse, so this is the prep time. A grace period. Look in the mirror. It's a gift.
C
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