Showing posts with label conflict. Show all posts
Showing posts with label conflict. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Enduring Faith

Enduring by faith: Romans 1:17   NIV

17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."   Speaking words of faith…

Diligently Seek Him: Hebrews 11:5-6    NIV…..5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Enoch walked with God. He had relationship with Him. He did have to run to catch up to HIM!

 VERSE 6:  Without faith, it is impossible to please God.

Living by Faith, receiving His promises: Hebrews 10:36-39      NIV

36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For in just a very little while,

"He who is coming will come and will not delay.

38 But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him."   39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

Philippians 1:25-30   Amplified Bible……………25 Since I am convinced of this, I know that I shall remain and stay by you all, to promote your progress and joy in believing and glorying in Christ Jesus, through my coming to you again. 26 So that in me you may have abundant cause for exultation. 27 Only be sure as citizens so to conduct yourselves [that] your manner of life [will be] worthy of the good news (the Gospel) of Christ, so that whether I [do] come and see you or am absent, I may hear this of you that you are standing firm in united spirit and purpose, striving side by side and contending with a single mind for the faith of the glad tidings (the Gospel) 28 And do not [for a moment] be frightened or intimidated in anything by your opponents and adversaries, for such [constancy and fearlessness] will be a clear sign (proof and seal) to them of [their impending ] destruction, but [a sure token and evidence] of your deliverance and salvation, and that from God. 29 For you have been granted [the privilege] for Christ’s sake  not only to believe in (adhere to, rely on and trust in) Him, but also to suffer in His behalf. 30 So you are engaged in the same conflict which you saw me [wage] and which you now  hear to be mine [still].

From verse 27 are we those worthy of the good news the Gospel so that we stand firm in united spirit and purpose that God sent forth?

It is God’s grace which causes us to throw ourselves at the feet of the Lord Jesus. It should certainly look like praise and much rejoicing for His pleasure. For He granted us salvation through Jesus and by His grace to us,  we have a life abundantly forever which we have not earned nor have we merited. It is only through Jesus that we live, move and have our being.

Hebrews 10:22-25    NIV…………22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

1 Corinthians 16:13-14    NIV

13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. 14 Do everything in love.

May we on this journey with God always maintain what Paul had for all the churches. That whether there were false brethren, danger in the wilderness, sleeplessness with hunger or thirst….may our daily thinking keep watch over ourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made us overseers. May we be those shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

 (circle of influence)   So be on your guard

The GUARANTEE of the Holy Spirit: Where Burden Turns to Wonder             

As a Christians have you ever had somebody tell you they're out to get you? They are going to level you? They're going to get you fired, plotting against you, or are out to take your children or spouse? Maybe you've had children or a spouse turn against you. But what God commands is what is to be seen spiritually in our lives.  Heard of this Christian missionary going from their church overseas to be held captive by those who have evil hearts. Steven Riddle and his wife, pastors of a church here in the U. S. but went overseas to help. But in that which hurt came against them. But God gave them His peace that whether shot or not, they would come home and unite with friends and family. And they did. Their peace was preaching to others all the way home and the many months of rehabilitation in another country.

Acts 20:22-31  NIV…………..22 "And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. 24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. (he is speaking of the task, that set before him was to testify)

25 "Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. 26 Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men.   27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. (the will of God is His Word)

28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.  ( circle of influence)

29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

Foundational Scripture: 2 Corinthians 1:6-24     NKJV……. 6 Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. 7 And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.      Jesus Christ, the hope of glory in us…Paul was encouraging them in their faith walk…

8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired ( some doubt) even of life.

Paul is stating information on his trials. From Asia probably meant his trials in Ephesus or even Lystra. He was sharing his trials with them, and how his endurance caused them to reap the benefits. Of those places Paul experienced the miraculous of God in his life. He experienced it by the Holy Spirit. He could walk away from a situation no matter how severe it was at the time.

By these trials, his life had been endangered, perhaps, more than once, and he had been called to look death calmly in the face. Of  all these trials;  he would not have the Corinthians ignorant; but desired that they should be made aware of them, that they might sympathize with him, and that through their prayers they might be turned to his benefit. ….. Paul was speaking of that which he had to contend whether it was with wild beasts or destroyed by the people.

2 Corinthians 11:22-28      NKJV

22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they ministers of Christ?--I speak as a fool--I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness-- 28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.

 2 Corinthians 4:8-12    NIV

 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

Perplexed  from verse 8…  is not having a way out…but not in despair that is…..at a loss…what is the situation and what do you do next…..???

 2 Corinthians 1:9

9 Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, 10 who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, 11 you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many.

12 For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom ( not of the old man) but by the grace of God, and more abundantly ( beyond measure the Word was preached)  toward you.       

Living as the new man, in that godly sincerity, it was not in or by any man-made ideas of worship. The grace of God had been displayed by their opportunities to minister there.

Their testimony was to glory in the presence of God.  For it is by our faith our worship  pleases God…..God’s holiness is the foundation of everything else God is  and is totally and completely set in Him.  Whatever Paul did, it was always about serving God as the New Man.  Their trust had to be in God Himself.

 Is our faith, that trust in God??? When we no longer see what was once our home, will we melt or will we stand for the Lord in this hour?

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Sunday, July 25, 2021

Is this really Fruit Loops?

 

 Fruit should appear as fruit and taste like it! 
When our daughter had just completed kindergarten, the new school year was about to begin and there was a project of one cereal company to add a bonus packaged cereal to your big family sized box of cereal. To us, it meant someone was trying to manipulate our child ( or children) into this new way of eating too much sugar. And at the time, we had gotten a box of cereal, something like with bran but there was something added like a bonus called fruit loops was attached to the box. 

Of course, when our daughter saw it, she asked for it. Not to have a fight about cereal, we opened it, although adding no milk to it, but only putting some in her hand for taste. Telling her to taste each color, and then she spoke that they all tasted the same. Then she said, " why would they call it fruit loops"? She tasted the last color exploding with the sugared flavor, she shook her head, and walked away and I am left holding this small box of cereal, oops I mean this box of sugar and put it away for good. ( And I was wondering how someone could get away with telling another as a child that the colored stuff was fruit!) Now anything from the beginning given as a lie will not make a foundation firm for anything! 

On thinking about this early on today, I was reminded of an incident that is in the Old Testament. It was this: Genesis 38: It came to pass at that time that Judah departed from his brother's and visited a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah. 2 And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua, and he married her and went in to her. 3 So she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. 4 She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. 5 And she conceived yet again and bore a son and called His name Shelah. He was at Chezib when she bore him. 6 Then Judah took a wife for Er his first-born, and her name was Tamar. 7 But Er, Judah's firstborn was wicked in the sight of the LORD and the LORD killed him.

You know visiting others not with God, is everything outside of God and outside of purpose in God. Judah lusted after a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. From the Dake's study Bible, they listed Er as being fifteen years old when he took Tamar as his wife!


Genesis 38: 8 and Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife and marry her and raise up an heir to your brother." 9 But Onan knew that the heir would not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in to his brother's wife, that he emitted on the ground, lest he should give an heir to his brother. 10 And the thing which he did displeased the LORD; therefore He killed him also. 11 Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, "remain a widow in your father's house till my son Shelah is grown." For he said, "Lest he also die like his brothers." And Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house. 

Genesis 38:12 Now in the process of time the daughter of Shua, Judah's wife died; and Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheep-shearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 13 And it was told Tamar, saying, "Look, your father -in- law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep. 14 So she took off her widow's garments, covered herself with a veil and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place which was on the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given to him as a wife. 15 Then he turned to her by the way, and said, " Please let me come in to you" ; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. So she said, "what will you give me, that you may come in to me?" 17 And he said, "I will send a young goat from the flock." So she said, " "will you give me a pledge till you send it?" 18 Then he said, "What pledge shall I give you?" so she said, "Your signet and cord, and your staff that is in your hand." Then he gave them to her and went in to her and she conceived by him. 19 So she arose and went away, and laid aside her veil and put on the garments of her widowhood. 20 And Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman's hand, but he did not find her.

Genesis 38: 21 Then he asked the men of that place, saying, "Where is the harlot who was openly by the roadside?" and they said, "There was no harlot in this place." 22 So he returned to Judah and said, "I cannot find her. Also, the men of the place said there was no harlot in this place." 23 Then Judah said, "Let her take them for herself, lest we be shamed; for I sent this young goat and you have not found her." 24 And it came to pass, about three months after, that Judah was told, saying, "Tamar your daughter -in-law has played the harlot; furthermore she is with child by harlotry." So Judah said, "Bring her out and let her be burned!" 


Genesis 38:25 When she was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, "By the man to whom these belong, I am with child." and she said, "Please determine whose these are---the signet, and cord and staff." 26  So Judah acknowledged them and said, "She has been more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah my son." And he never knew her again. 27 Now it came to pass, at the time for giving birth, that behold, twins were in her womb. 28 And so it was, when she was giving birth, that the one put out his hand; and the midwife took a scarlet thread and bound it on his hand, saying, "this one came out first." 29 Then it happened, as he drew back his hand, that his brother came out unexpectedly; and she said, "How did you break through? This breach be upon you!" therefore his name was called Perez. 30 Afterward his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand. and his name was called Zerah.

Humans can be moved by immoral acts. BUT Born-again people should not be moved by that in regards that they are regenerated by the Holy Spirit into living for God. But here we have a man who made a promise. Evidently the man was making promises he could not keep and she, Tamar, knew him for being the immoral and without restraint and integrity. For he had sent her away to live in her father's house till the boy, Shelah, became a man. Now remember in those days, the men mostly took young girls for wives, so Tamar was  probably not much older than Shelah when he was born. 

Still, this Judah acted out a scene he had done before. His wife now gone and his time of living returned without her by his side, he goes to help shear his own sheep. And he sees this woman beside the two springs area. She has the look of the "harlot". She has on eye makeup and the attire of a harlot.  But knowing his habits, she requires his authority be given her. She required his signet, his cord and staff. So when the Adullamite shows up with a goat, the woman is not found. No one has seen "this harlot". 

Interesting how you can get someone to see the harlot and others do not see! Judah's plan then is to tell no one of what occurred. But alas this Tamar is pregnant. And she has those objects in her possession. The righteous is seen and the unrighteous wanted to hide his real identity and the object of his pride being outwitted.

In truth, Judah rejected the covenant family's marriage traditions seen in Genesis 24:3 " and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell;; Genesis 28:1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him and said to him: "You will not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.  So here we have the son Er, and was the wicked person in the Lord's sight and married to Tamar!

 So Tamar was left behind in that marriage when Er was killed because of wickedness. Then Onan would not mate with her for children and he was killed. Disreputable behavior can be seen when one starts to lie and call something what it is not. Because the father, Judah was enamored with those God said to stay away from, his own boys became like what he lusted about. His first son was wicked like those people Judah married into. And Onan, well, he chose to spill his own fluids on the ground and this was evil in the sight of God, too. It was Judah's marriage to the Canaanite woman that was the very first step into intermingling of God's people with a race that was the proverbial for its gross immorality. God had warned them not to do that. Judah fratenized with the world and paid a really big price.


Keeping authority is remembering to be righteous in the Lord. In describing the scene so clearly one would have seen this when Judah did not hesitate to bring Tamar to justice. No quiver would be found in his voice. He would not have shuddered in any kind of fearfulness to have his first son's wife brought up on these charges. It was the Israelitish society that must be preserved from folly and much wickedness. Preparations are made. The stake is planted in the ground, the pile of wood is arranged and the crowd gathers. Tamar walks into the scene. ( to me it seems like a horror movie!) But she carries the authority given her. He, Judah, who called for the justice now himself  must face the justice of God!

She was righteous in what she did although dangerous.Yes, this was about reputations, pride and honoring or worshiping the wrong thing! If Judah had remained within the family heritage of covenant seen in Genesis 24:3 or Genesis 28:1, then he would have not had his life revealed as the idolater and fornicator. 

Busy about life, and he forgot about God! Busy in his own ways, and he failed. He was not a man given to truth. He refused to give his son Shelah to Tamar. And she, who was influenced by no other means than that which was the common to all Israelitish women, that desire to have children who might be heirs of the promise made to Abraham, did what she could for a family she knew was hers.

Conflicts appear! And we are to be those who commit to peaceful ends, but conflict is with a fight for righteous ways in righteous behavior having that characteristic of integrity. For we prevail by God's words, a truth with no threats but warnings indeed and it only comes to those committed to work it out in the justice of God.

Even to a child of seven, our daughter did not see fruit. All she saw was a box with colored objects which the label read out was that of fruit. It did not appeal to her and from a cereal manufacturer maintaining their voice of saying it was so was wrong then and it is wrong today! Even so to us as adults should not be chasing after that which has no integrity, no life or peace in it. Because if you follow after lies for long enough, you will either become like the lie spoken or you will fight not to win over another, but fight to prevail in truth where your character is seen of righteousness and not to be appearing as a fruit loop loaded with sugar and absolutely no substance for good!



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No Spiritual Hospice

  Ephesians 6:10-18 NKJV   10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God t...