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Friday, August 29, 2014

Enough said.

Ecclesiastes 7:13-14
Consider the work of God;
For who can make straight what He has made crooked?
In the day of prosperity be joyful,
But in the day of adversity consider:
Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other,
So that man can find out nothing that will come after him.




Wednesday, August 27, 2014

The first thing a country will do is assess the weakness of another. When God is honored in a society and has been historically, the disheartened enemy knows it does not have a chance against such strength.

Nehemiah 6:15-16
So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days.
And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was done by our God.

Sunday, August 24, 2014

This was once me. God claimed me from this slavery. I am most grateful.

Proverbs 23:29-30
Who has woe?
Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions?
Who has complaints?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?
Those who linger long at the wine,
Those who go in search of mixed wine.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

The verse below has more wrong-headed thoughts from Job's friends. Young Elihu made an error many of us make. God asks for our obedience but He does not promise prosperity in return. We don't earn God's grace. He grants it for His own reasons.

Job 36:10-12
 (Elihu speaks of his misunderstanding of how God works: )
He opens their ears to instruction 
and commands that they return from iniquity.
If they listen and serve him,
they complete their days in prosperity,
and their years in pleasantness.
But if they do not listen, they perish by the sword and die without knowledge.


Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Think of all the people who cringe just hearing the name Jesus Christ. They must not realize they are perishing. Speak His name. You might help save someone.

1 Corinthians 1:18
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.


Wisdom. Job goes pretty deep explaining how God saw wisdom and declared it. Job also quotes Solomon, Proverbs 9:10. Solomon had asked for wisdom and God granted it. Ask.

Job 28:23-28
“God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.
For he looks to the ends of the earth 
and sees everything under the heavens.
When he gave to the wind its weight 
and apportioned the waters by measure,
when he made a decree for the rain 
and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.
And he said to man,
     ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
      and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

Sunday, August 17, 2014

I think the trees have it right. They just do their job. They don't complain, they don't covet, they don't sin. They just provide shade and green and a resting place for whatever needs it. Apparently trees also sing for joy.

Psalm 96:11-13
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
let the field exult, and everything in it!
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
before the Lord, for he comes,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness,
and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Saturday, August 16, 2014

I love collecting blessings from the Bible. This is a good one. Bless all who read this.

Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.


Friday, August 15, 2014

Yes, let us do this. To paraphrase Paul, our salvation is nearer than we think.


Romans 13:12
The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.


Wednesday, August 13, 2014

I think this is great advice, especially for me!

Romans 12:3
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.


Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Hypocrite! Not a good thing to be when you need salvation. The message to us: trust in God. Job did and so did Christ, even when they slew Him.

Job 13:15-16
Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.
Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.
He also shall be my salvation,
For a hypocrite could not come before Him.


Sunday, August 10, 2014

This Psalm explains what I have come to understand: my thoughts are futile. Faith is what matters. Faith does not require thinking.

Psalm 94:8-11
Understand, you senseless among the people;
And you fools, when will you be wise?
He who planted the ear, shall He not hear?
He who formed the eye, shall He not see?
He who instructs the nations, shall He not correct,
He who teaches man knowledge?
The Lord knows the thoughts of man,
That they are futile.
Bible Gateway Link: Psalm 94:8-11 (NKJV)


Saturday, August 9, 2014

When we cry out, 'how can God let such horrible things happen?' This verse the answer. It is not our perspective that matters, it is God's.

Romans 9:14-16
ABC News
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!
For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”
So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
Bible Gateway link: Romans 9:14-16 NKJV

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

If your friend were suffering greatly (as Job was) it would make sense to point out that friend's strengths. But, Job was in no shape to hear this from his friend Eliphaz. (Who by the way, gave him rotten counsel overall.) But when I was suffering greatly with pain, it turned out my integrity WAS my hope. I am forever grateful to God for it.

Job 4:3-6
Surely you have instructed many,
And you have strengthened weak hands.
Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,
And you have strengthened the feeble knees;
But now it comes upon you, and you are weary;
It touches you, and you are troubled.
Is not your reverence your confidence?
And the integrity of your ways your hope?

Monday, August 4, 2014

Queen Esther saved her people on the urging of Mordecai. One well placed person can alter history. We should ponder that the next time we think we should not get involved in someone else's crisis.

Esther 8:7-8
Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, “Indeed, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he tried to lay his hand on the Jews.
You yourselves write a decree concerning
the Jews, as you please, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for whatever is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring no one can revoke.”

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Sometimes it is well to acknowledge the basic facts. Moses did. This is the beginning of one of his prayers.

Psalm 90:1-2
Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.


Friday, August 1, 2014

Such a good source of context, the Bible. It shows just how long this has been going on. By the way King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) is thought by scholars to be Persian, now known as Iranian.

Esther 3:8-11
Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from all other people’s, and they do not keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain.
If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.”
So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.
And the king said to Haman, “The money and the people are given to you, to do with them as seems good to you.”