Perspectives; Thoughts; Comments; Opinions; Discussions

Archive for May, 2011

Society of Victums!?!?!?!


Even a light perusal of the news, and it becomes oh so very obvious that we live in a Society that has become “Victim” oriented. The excuses used to explain why someone did what they did has become a game of “one-ups-man-ship” Each new victim has a grab-bag of blame giving way to excuses for their bad behavior, and each one convinced that we the citizenry are stupid enough to let them get away with it (no examples need be given).

I heard a couple being interviewed today and something the husband said hit me like an arrow. They had been in an accident and both burned severely. The wife was not expected to live, and as she made each progressive step to recovery, the doctors would warn her husband not expect her to walk, use her hands or be able to do much with her life. God had other plans, and they give Him all the glory from their recovery. 20/20 did an interview with them and left out the part of God’s intervention, but that has not stopped them from telling everyone who will listen that God is the reason for the miraculous in their burn recovery.

Now, what did the husband say. He said, “….we decided a long time ago to be burned SURVIVORS NOT,  burn VICTIMS“. There it is. The difference between those that want to live by excuses, and have people feel sorry for them, and those that choose to be VICTORS. It is that one word – SURVIVOR.

The Apostle Paul wrote in his second letter to the Corinthians in chapter 4: “……7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.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 also be revealed in our mortal body.12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.’………….

16‘ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (the NIV)

Studying the life of the Apostle Paul reveals that he suffered many hardships by the hands of men and nature. Here is this passage he sums up those experiences saying, “yes we were knock down, but ….. WE WERE NOT KNOCKED OUT!” Paul and his companions choose NOT to accept the role as victims, but chose to give glory to God and testify to being SURVIVORS of the trials. Which person would you rather sit and listen to?

Victim or Survivor is just that, A CHOICE. You choose to be a victim and you choose to be a Survivor (The Victor). As a victim you get to have a “pity-party”, yet few if any show up to the party(and they never bring gifts). As a Survivor (victor) you get to live and get on with your life having become stronger, of more value and smarter as a result of the trial. No one is going to make that choice for you, you have to make it yourself.

When we stand before God one day, we’ll find out that excuses NEVER work with Him. So, what are you going to do now?

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Category:

Family, Personal, Political, Spiritual

Can’t Help But Remember the Reason for Memorial Day


I am so very blessed in so many ways. I am truly a man without excuses because of the family that raised me. Yes, I said a family. A Great-Grandmother, two sets of Grand-Parents, my parents, and a gaggle of Aunts and Uncles. Not even a whiff of dysfunction anywhere. I was born into a Christian family, and not one religious christian could be found. Every one without exception whore their personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ on their sleeve. No matter when you saw any of them, they would be the same as you saw them on Sunday. I really do not have any excuses for messing up.

I learned at a young age that my dad’s brother was killed at the end of World War II. He was a navigator in the Army Air Corp. His flight crew was taking one of their normal runs in the Philippine Islands. As they were about to take off to return to their home base, they were warned of a storm in their flight path and recommended they stay where they were until the storm passed by. The Pilot thought they could make it, and they never heard from any of them ever again.

Dad served n the Army and later in the Merchant Marines. One of my aunts married a career Marine, who became one of my lifetime heroes. He served in Korea. During one his transport missions they were ambushed. He was injured and couldn’t get away, so he pretended to be dead. A North Korean drove his riffle butt into my uncles back, breaking it. After coming home and getting healed, he went back. He was the lead truck driver behind General Puller’s jeep leading the 1st Marines out of the infamous Frozen Chosin Reservoir. His life of dedication, commitment and service added to the lessons learned from my dad and grand fathers.

When it came time for me to serve, and I thought I might be drafted into the Army, I took advantage of a special offer to join the Marin Corps. I served in Vietnam, earned a Purple Heart, and came real close to making the Marine Corp a career. Jill, my wife to be (and has been for over 40 years) had another idea.

A couple of years ago my dad asked me to accompany him to Texas over Memorial Day Weekend. The idea was for just the two of us to get away, see where he was born and raised, and on that Sunday, his brother, Ovie Junior Broussard, was being recognized. The church my dad and his family were raised in had a memorial outside the church honoring the members of their church that had died in service to their country. The church had moved to a larger property, and had built a massive memorial with a bronze statue of a soldier bowing before this memorial praying for a lost comrade. My dad was to get a smaller version of the statue during the ceremony.

We left here on Wednesday and came home the next Monday. To this day, dad and I often refer to that weekend and how much it meant to both of us. But that’s not the only reason I remember the reason for celebrating Memorial Day.

Like many others, I lost many great friends while in Vietnam. One in particular came home with me on weekend leave almost every weekend. It was four of us, Don Grubb, Don Cunningham, Jim Burnett and myself. Cunningham and I were placed on squads within the same Regiment, several miles apart. The third day in country, Don was setting out a Claymore Mine and a sniper killed him. That was the toughest of all the losses. Because our Daughter Amanda and her husband Scott invited us out to dinner and then to see the Copy of the Vietnam Memorial that was displayed at Rose Hills (never able to make my self see it before), I made it a priority to find his name. I did.

All the talk in the world about war is utterly worthless. No one actually loves war except for those that want to lord control and power over others. To those of us who willingly went to war for our country, war was a necessity to defeat those that want to lord control and power over others. It’s that simple. I’m not asking people to love war, but to accept that sometimes we are called upon to fight for freedom. The Bible is full of war references, and God used verbiage of war when writing through men like the Apostle Paul. We all are in an ongoing Spiritual War. The advantage we have is we know the Victor and that we win because we belong to Him.

In closing, keep up the good fight a faith.

Category:

Family, Patriotic, Personal

Can You Count the Clouds?


Psalms 108:4 The deeper your love, the higher it goes; every cloud’s a flag to your faithfulness. (The Message)

Have you ever heard a more excellent expression of praise than to describe the unlimited Faithfulness of God as “Flags “. Only the Holy Spirit could give Eugene Peterson this word picture. The question above is a challenge; Can you count the clouds? If not, then we cannot count the times God has been FAITHFUL.

I know what struggles are and I know how dark our enemy can make our lives. At those times, counting God’s faithfulness is difficult. Remember this verse in every aspect of your life. It will open the door for the Holy Spirit to do “the remembering” for you.

Relax. Let the Holy Spirit do His job. Use these times to learn how to REST in Him so you can enter His Rest.

Category:

Family, Spiritual

Know Yourself


Part of my daily devotions is reading “Right From the Heart – 1 Minute Devotions”, by Bryant Wright. Yesterdays devotional was from Philippians 3:10 “I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself.” (The Message). Here is the devotional (highlighting mine). We’ll discuss afterward;

“The person we spend the most time with is our self, so we tend to be pretty interested in ourselves. I ask you: Do you really like yourself? Would you rather be somebody else? Are you realistic about your strengths and weaknesses?

Socrates gets credit for saying, “Know thyself,” even though what he really said, was, “the unexamined life is not worth living.” Either way, the message is clear. Knowing ourselves is a key to a meaningful life.

Let me go a step further. Since God is your Creator and He knows you better than anyone, why don’t you get to know God personally and then you’ll get to know yourself–the real you–better than you ever could on your own. God gives us the way to know Him through Jesus and His Word. If you get to know Him, you’ll come to know yourself and why you’re here. You’ll be on the road to a very meaningful life.”

We walk around with someone everyday and we really don’t take the time to really know him or her. We think we know who that person is that looks back at us from the mirror, but is it a realistic perspective? I suggest that’s the real reason we don’t get to know The Triune God Who is walking beside us everyday. Ignorance of a person, subject or matter last only for a short time. That excuse goes away real fast.

What are we afraid of is getting to know ourselves, or at least own up to the real person? I’m 64 years old. The last 15 to 20 years has been a series of “reality-checks”. Not fun in any way, shape or form. However, as I have deliberately submitted myself to God’s examination with the determination to really except who I am, has peace and joy reentered my life. The “Jerry” I though I knew, really never existed. As I peeled back the layers of the façade was I able to see the real me, the me I didn’t like, the me I did like and what God was looking at. As I yielded THAT man, I found my vision of The Triune God change and our relationship has been greater than ever.

No, such an examination is NOT fun, nor do I want to paint a word picture of the process being easy. Yet, the results are so fantastic, fulfilling and beneficial. There are some of us that need help doing this, I am one of them. So what. Better to admit we need help and get it, than to continue in some phony act that most people can see through. Yes it’s a lot of work. Most great accomplishments require hard work. Do I really have to tell you that nothing happens in this life easily? And yes, He still gives strength to the weary to accomplish the goal. This goal He is eager to help you achieve.

The end result we all want to knowing God as much as He desires us to know Him. To have that unhindered prayer life and a confident faith knowing we have the best relationship possible with Him is worth the effort. Take the Niki philosophy and “Just Do It”.

Category:

Spiritual

I Love Israel


It is important for us to remember history, the real version, and not from some revisionist with an agenda. As we are face with present day dilemmas, many times they are the result of the fact that we have forgotten our history. It is easy to get caught up in an agenda of crafty people who want to shape the world in their own, private image and philosophy. Today is a great example.

President Obama gave a speech saying that he wants Israels to give into the demands of the Palestinians and redraw the lines of their borders to the point in 1968 (that would make Israel only 8 miles wide). President Obama, joining with other world leaders like Iran, want Israel to give up the land that God gave them, and deny their heritage and history. In other words, by allowing others to tell them what they must do with their own land will make them defenseless, unable to protect their nation, and be wiped off the face of the world (the vision and mission of Iran and many other Muslim nations). Sounds gret, right?

Let’s look at history (the real one);

  • God gave the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants, Israel.
  • God brought Israel out of bondage in Egypt into the promised land and established for the nation of Israel.
  • No matter the many times that Israel was taken into exile, God always restored the land to Israel.
  • A Muslim Terrorist named Arafat formed a following in Saudi Arabia and eventually tried to assassinate the Royalty so he could take over the country. He and his followers were driven out of Saudi Arabia, and no other nation  would allow them to enter their country.
  • He forced his way into Israel while they were struggling to reestablish their nation and God give n boundaries.
  • He claimed they were a people called the Palestinians who were at one time the owners of that land. Could never prove it, and because he was a well-known terrorist, other nations were afraid to confront him, and they gave into his demands. Thus the followers of Arafat, terrorists, became a people, who had no provable history, were allowed to become squatters in Israel.
  • They remain squatters to this day, making demands, they have no right to make, except for the rights given them by other nation heads who have joined with these terrorist squatters because they keep throwing temper tantrums by killing more and more Israelis, forming other terrorist groups calling them a “people”, and threatening to do the same in other nations.
  • Oppose them, and they throw more tantrums, making more trouble, teaching their children hatred against Israel and those that support Israel.
  • The Left has produced one “Israel-Hater” after another. President Obama sat under one of them for over 20 years, Pastor Write. When you look at all the people President Obama has associated with, you’ll see a long line of “Israel-Haters”, and some of them he brought into the White House as advisers.
  • Now President Obama has joined forces with the Palestinian Leadership in demanding Israel give up more of their inheritance.

Tragic is the nation that does not support and protect Israel. God said He blesses those that bless Israel, and is against those nations that are against Israel. We cannot count on our elected officials to do what is right. We must remain obedient to God and pray continually for the blessings, prosperity of protection of Israel.

Who are you aligning yourself with?

Category:

Political

Where, Looked, Acted, Covered Up


2 Samuel 11-12

David was Where he was not supposed to be, looked at what he was not supposed to look at, and acted on his desire upon whom he was not supposed to be with. James tells us in chapter one that we are drawn away of our OWN lusts. Then when lust is acted upon, sin is birthed, and left to itself, destruction.

David was at the palace instead of leading the fighting where he had the anointing and training from God.

Because of his boredom, he was walking around. He ended up looking at what he should not have lingered, fueling his lust.

He acted on that lust and had the woman brought to him, even though he knew she as married to one of his soldiers.

He sent her home as if nothing had happened treating her with disdain as if she were a prostitute.

He tried to hide everything by trying to force her husband to go home and have relations with her. He proved to be more honorable than David.

David committed murder by the hands of an enemy, that David was supposed to be fighting with the troops.

At least David owned up to the sin and repented, but the destruction was already set in place.

How am I like David? Where have I been where I was not supposed to be, gave my attention to what I was not supposed to look at, lusted upon what was not honorable before God, and acted upon with no regard for my covenant relationship through the Lord Jesus Christ?

Where did I try to cover it up with flesh type efforts? Is what I am reaping now the results of that (those) sins?

“Lord, I repent in Jesus Name and ask that You cleanse me from all unrighteousness with the Blood of the Lamb, and by Your Spirit never to do such a thing again. In Jesus Name, Amen”.

Category:

Spiritual

Judgment


My wife and I were having a discussion last night when she accused me of being judgmental. She wasn’t being mean, and she was not trying to fight. In her opinion my statement was judgmental. Instead of reacting to the accusation, I asked a question instead; “How do you define judgmental?” She was lost for an answer at first, then she said, “when you judge these kinds of people because you don’t like them.” I asked another questions; “How am I judging when all I am doing is stating the fact that because of the values I live by, and the Scripture I know and have studied, their life choices are wrong, and I do not like their choices being forced on me?” She had no answer.

There is the problem between Right and Left politics. Name any group holding onto the Left for their Political Support, and you will find several consistencies. The primary being that when you voice any disagreement with their position, life choices, political policies or any aspect of value differences, than you are accused of being judgmental. That is interesting because the primary religion in the world that teaches against being judgmental is Christianity. Another consistency; They only throw scriptural values at Christians knowing they will recoil at the thought of being caught at being judgmental.

Well, let’s dispel that accusation right here and now. Ask anyone you know to define “Judging, or being judgmental”. You will probably find what I have that most people cannot give you an accurate definition. So I went to Wikipedia. Here is what they say;

Judgement

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Judgement (or judgment[1]) is the evaluation of evidence in the making of a decision.[2][3][4]The term has three distinct uses:

For other uses, see Choice . Choice consists of the mental process of judging the merits of multiple options and selecting one of them. While a choice can be made between imagined options (“what would I do if …?”), often a choice is made between real options, and followed by the corresponding action. For example, a route for a journey is chosen based on the preference of arriving at a given destination as soon as possible. The preferred (and therefore chosen) route is then derived from information about how long each of the possible routes take. This can be done by a route planner. If the preference is more complex, such as involving the scenery of the route, cognition and feeling are more intertwined, and the choice is less easy to delegate to a computer program or assistant. More complex examples (often decisions that affect what a person thinks or their core beliefs) include choosing a lifestyle, religious affiliation, or political position. Most people regard having choices as a good thing, though a severely limited or artificially restricted choice can lead to discomfort with choosing and possibly, an unsatisfactory outcome. In contrast, unlimited choice may lead to confusion, regret of the alternatives not taken, and indifference in an unstructured existence; and the illusion that choosing an object or a course leads necessarily to control of that object or course can cause psychologicalproblems. Just because I don’t agree with your;

  • Choices
  • Ideas
  • Opinions
  • Perspectives
  • Political Views
  • Life Style Choices
  • And any thing else;

DOES NOT MEAN THAT I AM JUDGING YOU, NOR DO I HAVE SOME SORT OF PHOBIA!!!!!!!!! What it means is that I have MY OWN;

  • Set of Choices
  • Ideas
  • Opinions
  • Perspectives
  • Political Views
  • Life Style Choices
  • And any thing else;

Next time you find yourself in that situation remember, ask questions, and let them quiet themselves.

Category:

Family, Political, Spiritual

If


Exodus 15:26 ASV “….and he said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his eyes, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon thee, which I have put upon the Egyptians: for I am Jehovah that healeth thee.”

That’s the place where God set up rules and procedures; that’s where he started testing them.

God said, “If you listen, listen obediently to how God tells you to live……”

Once you’ve made the decision to LISTEN then OBEY what your told. Obedient listening is one of the laws of success with God.

“IF” implies a choice has to be made. Obedient Listening always starts with a choice of our will to obey (and prosper), or not listen (pay attention) and fail (suffer loss and/or destruction).

No matter where you are in your life you are the sum total of your choices; good, bad and ugly. That includes those choices yo made on how to respond to “unfair” disasters in your life. How we respond is a choice.

We live in a society that tries to make others or circumstances responsible for the results in their lives. In reality, we are the owner of our choices. Want to change the outcomes in your life? Take ownership of your choices .

Category:

Political, Spiritual

The Question


Genesis 18:24 MSG

Is anything too hard for God? …… Gen 18:14.

A great and challenging question of our faith. However, is our live reflective of that question? Can any one see our faith by our actions that we have put that kind if feet to our faith?

We live in a time when men find it popular to play the victim, while others rehearse their worries and fears so much that they’ve become drunk with their problems. Look around the church today and open your eyes to see the drunks in the congregation. They are drunk with the situations in their lives. In some cases they actually believe that their problem is bigger than God. Like any other drunk that cannot be reasoned with, their prayer life is dead. (1st Peter 4:7 “be sober minded”; “be clear-minded”). Whenever any if us are so drunk with our circumstances that we cannot hear the still soft voice of God the Holy Spirit, then our prayers are dead because they have no faith in them.

It’s time to sober up and get back to the fight of faith.

Category:

Spiritual

Proposed New Taxes


The following was sent to me by a friend of mine, Mr. John Smith (his real name). He is the one who added the comments to this AP article. If you are as outraged as we are about this, than please let as many people as you know to read this, leave their comments and keep sharing this.

Thank You,

Jerry Broussard

_________________________________

Not sure who added the ‘comments’..so I took the liberty of brushing a couple of them up…in the interest of civility…and left them in. John Smith

Senator Eyes Collector Cars as Revenue
Source New York Times article Mar.28, 2011
Auto Enthusiasts who dodge taxes are in Schumer’s crosshairs Washington, D.C.  – AP
.Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) held a press conference today in the Capitol’s rotunda and stated that he is in the process of drafting a bill that will create a federal tax on all collector, antique, historic, special interest, hot rods and race cars.

“This country is operating at a huge budget deficit,” said Senator Schumer, “thanks to the previous administration’s failure to seek new sources of revenue. (always blame Bush?)   We can no longer continue to just raise the taxes we already have.  We are reaching the point of diminishing returns. We must find new sources of revenue. (Is the idea of cutting spending, instead, of raising taxes, completely outside of the mind-set?)

“There are more than one million collector cars in this country”, said Schumer, “and many of them are unregistered and untaxed.  These vehicles represent sometimes sizable assets which often appreciate from sale to sale.  Much of these capital gains remain untaxed.  It’s about time these collectors—all of whom are rich—begin to pay their fair share.  I’ve never heard of a poor person owning a Corvette, Ferrari, Deusenberg or Cobra.” (Is he unaware of the hundreds of thousands of those who aren’t ‘rich’, but love our cars or bikes)

Citing the results of this year’s automobile auctions in Scottsdale, Arizona as an example,where reported sales were in the tens of millions of dollars,  Schumer said, “We’re not talking about rusty old clunkers, here.  Some of these cars represent the pinnacle of automotive history.  Collectors who buy and sell them often do so privately.  Some transactions are in cash and others include trades.  All of these are under the Internal Revenue Service’s radar.  Well, that will soon end. 

“Each state has different laws and requirements for collector cars.  Those which tax them as personal property often use outdated values.  An owner can pay taxes on a car the state determines is worth $5,000 and then turn around and sell it for $100,000 or more.”
Until now, all of this has been the purview of each state. Schumer’s law will sidestep all state laws by levying a federal tax in addition to anything the individual states do.  This new federal tax will be similar to the present federal tax on gasoline, which is in addition to whatever a state assesses.

Part of the Schumer law includes the IRS opening up a special department to deal with collector cars.  (read..more Federal employees / bureaucrats)  Values will be calculated annually and owners will be required to list all cars they own on their 1040 tax form.  Because not all vehicles are registered, and thus may not be known to the individual states’ motor vehicles departments – especially race cars which are not driven on public roads—the IRS will make use of the existing network of individual collector car enthusiast organizations across the country.

Many of these car clubs maintain accurate registries which detail each car by its vehicle identification number and present or last known owner and their location.  (Which will then…’magically’…disappear, thank you, very much)  Assembling an all-inclusive federal database in conjunction with these registries will be one of the first steps in implementing the new law. (Oh great! Now the taxpayers have to pay the salaries and benefits of another thousand government employees )  Once the database of owners is cross-referenced with an annual index of current collector car values, every collector or race car in the country can be taxed at a fair rate.

Initially, Schumer says, it will be 10% but that would rise depending on the type of car, number produced and condition.  “Collectors are willing to pay more for certain cars,” said Schumer, “because of their history or the small number that were produced.”

These factors increase a vehicle’s worth to buyers, so why should these cars not be taxed at a higher rate?  It’s no different than our current progressive income tax rate.”

It is estimated that an annual 10% tax on all collector cars presently owned by American taxpayers—at their prevailing market value—would be more than $250,000,000.  In four years the coffers of the federal government could be fattened by a billion dollars.  “That’s only a conservative estimate,” said Schumer.

“Nobody knows exactly how many collector cars are out there.  But by this time next year, we will know.  Owners of these cars will finally have to pay up.  Their free ride—on the backs of the poor—is over.”  (What a load of crap!  Does anyone actually buy in to this? Unfreakin’ real)


(Seriously!  Does anyone think this is a good idea on any level?  Anyone?  For those who do; please line up to the left to get your number tattooed on your arm now)

 

Google link:

Category:

Political

More Questions with All The Changes in the Story


If you have been following all the reports of Bin Laden’s demise, the more the Obama Administration talks about the incident to more questions they create. To anyone paying attention, it has become obvious that the Obama Administration is not reporting the incident with honesty. Considering the week they had while waiting for the DNA and other confirmation techniques to confirm it really was Bin Laden, you would think they would also work on a consistent story of what happened.

  1. First he went down firing on the Seals and then got shot.
  2. Next he was reaching for his gun, pushed his wife in front of himself and was shot.
  3. Next he did not have a gun, but tried to knife them and was shot.
  4. Next he had no gun nor knife, wife tried to save him getting her shot in the leg and then he got shot.
  5. There was a 40 minute fire fight (but only three people firing weapons?????????????????).
  6. The picture taken while the entire administration was watching the entire attack unfold shows our President catatonic while Secretary Clinton aghast at what she was seeing. Remember, they had a week to get the story together.
  7. Now we’re told that the chopper the Seal Team destroyed is actually NOT destroyed but in the hands of the Pakistanis being dismantled and we already know they use the Chinese to reverse engineer any thing they get their hands on.

If this had been the Bush administration the Left would be screaming “bloody-murder” and wanting people’s heads. I agree, we do need some heads to roll if this was in fact an execution, not a result of a war-like operation on an enemy target. Please understand, I am NOT questioning what the Seals did (and why the Seals and not Marine Recon or the Army Rangers, both having much more experience in such operations). I am questioning why all the daily, and often hourly change of the story.

Once again we have absolute proof the Left cannot be trusted. They have genuine problems with truth, and to make matters worse, they think the American people are so stupid as to not notice. I’ve noticed. What about you?

Category:

Political

Experiencing the Trouble


Psalms 129: 1 “They’ve kicked me around ever since I was young”-this is how Israel tells it –2 “They’ve kicked me around ever since I was young, but they never could keep me down.3 Their plowmen plowed long furrows up and down my back;4 Then God ripped the harnesses of the evil plowmen to shreds.”

I do not know of any one testifying to an unbeliever how life with God is filled with such challenges. Who would ever become a believer? However, when the testimony of how God delivers from lives disasters, hope is generated and life with God is desirable.

How many of us face the kind of trial David describes here, where the problem is physical, punishing and undeserved? What kind of faith do we have then? How sympathetic are we to others when they are going through such trials?

Judging other people’s faith is never a correct answer. Being a stretcher bearer is, while remaining a vessel available to God for Him to deliver His grace in that person’s life.

Category:

Spiritual

The Real Source


Psalms 121: 1 I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains?2 No, my strength comes from God, who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.

In Ephesians 6 we’re told to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. When that is a personal revelation is when we join David in this joyful expression; My strength is not in mountains or any other source-My strength is in God alone.

Category:

Spiritual

The Price of Presumptuous Sin


2 Samuel 4: 5 One day Baanah and Recab, the two sons of Rimmon, headed out for the house of Ish-Bosheth. They arrived at the hottest time of the day, just as he was taking his afternoon nap.6 They entered the house on a ruse, pretending official business. The maid guarding the bedroom had fallen asleep, so Recab and Baanah slipped by her7 and entered the room where Ish-Bosheth was asleep on his bed. They killed him and then cut off his head, carrying it off as a trophy. They traveled all night long, taking the route through the Arabah Valley.

The shear arrogance of a person who is so presumptuous as to nap at a time of war. He knew his best General was dead, knew that God’s favor was with David and he has the audacity to nap with only a maid to guard him.

How are we like him? Where are we so arrogant and presumptuous before God that we’ve left ourselves exposed to our enemy allowing them to do as they please with our lives? Such presumption on God is dangerously foolish and we only have ourselves to blame.

It’s time for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ to evaluate herself, repent and turn from her wicked ways. Then, and only then, can The Church find true revival, be energized by The Power of The Holy Spirit and resume our given orders.

Category:

Spiritual

How Far Have We Fallen


1 Chronicles 5:1 The family of Reuben the firstborn of Israel: Though Reuben was Israel’s firstborn, after he slept with his father’s concubine, a defiling act, his rights as the firstborn were passed on to the sons of Joseph son of Israel. He lost his “firstborn” place in the family tree.

In today’s society what Reuben did was no big deal. Their response would be expressed, “It was just sex. Whats wrong with two consenting adults enjoying one another?”

That’s how far we have fallen as a society. That is also why God recorded in 1st Peter that judgment begins in the house of God. We stand judged for the decline in society because of our lack of being salt and light.

Each time God brought revival to His Church, society’s moral fiber improves dramatically. That’s proof of the people changing power we’ve been given as Christian covenant believers. That’s also proof of our judgment when society falls as far as it has.

If you are not praying for revival, shame on you. There has never been a time in history where revival is needed more than right now. Let that be the foundation of our prayer till the Holy Spirit manifest His revival in the church.

Category:

Spiritual

What Do You Believe?


1 Chronicles 5:25 But they were not faithful to the God of their ancestors. They took up with the ungodly gods of the Peoples of the land whom God had gotten rid of before they arrived. (The Message)

How much more is our believing judged because we have the recorded history of their sin that caused such great loss and destruction? We are without excuse and yet we hear surveys of what is held as brief in the church today that has become a mixture of worldly philosophy and society humanism. You begin to wonder what is being taught in those churches, or how much those people are paying attention.

There are two forms of Christianity today. Christianity the religion and the real Christianity the Relationship. The first being like any other form of religion, lifeless, full of compromise and humanism, rationalistic belief. The second is what Jesus died and rose from the dead to establish; a personal, one-on-one relationship with each believer who puts their trust and hope in Him accepting the salvation of that blood bought covenant.

Simply being religious can, and usually does, lead people away from God getting them to worship what is man-made and damned-able. When we adhere to our Covenant Relationship we are NEVER led astray, for as Jesus said to the woman at the well, true worshipers worship God in spirit and in truth.

Which Christianity are you serving?

Category:

Spiritual

“God Life” Benefits


Psalms 81:6 “I took the world off your shoulders, freed you from a life of hard labor.7 You called to me in your pain; I got you out of a bad place. I answered you from where the thunder hides, I proved you at Meribah Fountain.

We read in 1st Peter to cast all our cares; anxieties; burdens on the Lord Jesus Christ BECAUSE He cares for us. Here in this song we find a confirmation.

On a particular day in Vietnam we were rushing out to rescue another company who had been fighting for several days, had run out of ammunition and fighting hand-to-hand. As a Marine my job was the portable shoulder rockets and explosives. I had 6 rockets in a special pack on my back (125 lbs.) and my regular pack (35 lbs.). The load was not quit right and as a result, my left arm became limp with no feeling in it.

My arm was flopping around like a flag in the breeze leaving me useless to my platoon. My support man came up behind me lifting the load until feeling and control returned to my arm. He then help me adjust the load, all the time as we were rushing out to reach the company in trouble. Moments later I had to release one the rockets disabling the enemy and we were able to save what was left of the platoon.

That fellow Marine saved my arm enabling me to get back in the fight saving our lives and accomplishing our rescue.

I see that in this verse. Many times God rescues us in such a way of getting us back in the fight rather than doing the job for us, disabling us from learning, growing, get stronger and making us lazy. His help is not always what we expect, but it is always perfect in His delivering the Grace at the right moment to realize the victory.

Category:

Spiritual

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