Posts Tagged ‘politics’

Proverbs 15:22 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: August 15, 2012 in Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Proverbs 15:22 Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. 

People with tunnel vision, those who are locked into one way of thinking, are likely to miss the right road because they have closed their minds to any new options. We need the help of those who can enlarge our vision and broaden our perspective.  Seek out the advice of those who know you and have a wealth of experience.  Build a network of advisers.  Then be open to new ideas and be willing to weigh their suggestions carefully.  Your plans will be stronger and more likely to succeed.

Spiritual Training 14 August 2012

Posted: August 14, 2012 in Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Judges, Personal Growth, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command
Samson and Deliah 

Judges 16:01 One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute.  He went to spend the night with her.    

It appears that Samson totally forgot the mission that God called him to do.  Samson was supposed to be plotting the demise of the Philistines.  First we find him planning a wedding.  Imagine getting measured for a tux when you’re supposed to be planning an attack against your bride’s family! AFter that did not work out, he is distracted again with a prostitute.  Samson was so distracted by his constant pursuit of sexual gratification that he never became the Moses like deliverer that God intended for him to be. 

Lets Bring it Home: What about us? Are we also distracted by your interest in sex?  Would you be forced to admit that you spend a good bit of time trying to satisfy your desires in ways that you’d never want anyone to know about?

Do you read trashy novels?

Do you spend time in Internet chat rooms flirting with total strangers?

Do you download pornographic pictures onto a top-secret dis?

Do you watch adult movies when you’re home alone?

Do you visit strip clubs and adult bookstores when you’re out of town?

Do you masturbate regularly?

Do you call 900 (phone sex) numbers?

Do you concoct lies and excuses to cover up these activities?

Do you have a secret intimate relationship with someone?

Do you find ways to excuse behavior that you know in your heart is inexcusable?

If your answer is “Yes” to any of these questions, then my friend, you have strayed far from where God wants you to be.  It doesn’t matter if you still give some of your time and energy to God service.  Any amount of time invested in the pursuits listed above is an indication that you have lost sight of God’s plan for your life.  Lust is controlling you, and if you don’t take action to correct he problem, it will ruin your life.

 

Spiritual Training 09 August 2012

Posted: August 9, 2012 in Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Judges, Personal Growth, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command
Samson

Judges 15:1-3 Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife.  He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room. “But her father would not let him go in.  “I was so sure you thoroughly hated her,” he said, “that I gave her to your friend.  Isn’t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.”Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.

Judges 15:8-11: He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them.  Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.  The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi.  The men of Judah asked, “Why have you come to fight us?” “We have come to take Samson prisoner, “they answered, “to do to him as he did to us.”  Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rook of Etam and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us?  What have you done to us?” He answered, “I merely did to them what they did to me.”

Samson’s reply in 15:11 tells the story of this chapter;  “I merely did to them what they did to me.” Revenge is an uncontrollable monster.

Lets bring it Home:  Each act of retaliation brings another.  It is a boomerang that cannot be thrown without cost to the thrower.  The revenge cycle can be halted only by forgiveness.

Proverbs 2:11 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: August 2, 2012 in Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

 Proverbs 2:11  Discretion will protect you and understanding will guard you. 

 Discretion is the ability to tell right from wrong.  It enables the believer to detect evil motives in men and women.  With practice it helps us evaluate courses of action and consequences.  For some it is a gift; for most it is developed by using God’s truth to make wise choices day by day.  Hebrews 5:14 emphasizes that we must train ourselves in order to have discretion.

Spiritual Training 02 August 2012

Posted: August 2, 2012 in Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command
Samson
 Judges 13:2-5 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless.  The angel of the LORD appeared to her and said, “You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son.  Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, be-cause you will conceive and give birth to a son.  No razor may used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines.    

 
Samson was to be a Nazirite-a person who took a vow to be set apart for God’s service.  Samson’s parents made the vow for him.  His vow was sometime temporary, but in his case it was for life.  As a Nazirite, Samson could not cut his hair, touch a dead body, or drink anything containing alcohol.  Manoah’s wife was told that her son would begin the deliverance of Israel from Philistine oppression.  Samson never attempted to rally his countrymen in an organized attempt to overthrow the Philistines.  If he had, we know he would have been successful, for God had already approved the idea and was apparently just waiting to bless the effort.

Lets bring it home: Be faithful in following God even if you don’t see instant results, because you might be beginning an important job that others will finish.

Spiritual Training 01 August 2012

Posted: August 1, 2012 in Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Judges, Personal Growth, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command
Samson
Judges 13:1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so the LORD delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.  

God was fed up with his people.  He was so disgusted with their disobedience that he decided to hand them over to the Philistines.  The idea was that the crack of a whip across their backs might help them see the error of their ways.  But it didn’t work.  Not only did they accept slavery as a way of life, their lack of repentance suggests that they actually grew content with it.  This suffering was not caused by God, but resulted from the fact that the people ignored God, their Judge and Ruler.  That they didn’t cry out to God is amazing, but not half as amazing as the fact that God decided to deliver them anyway.  In what could only be described as phenomenal act of grace, God decided to rise up a strong man to lead His unrepentant people out of bondage.  That man was Samson.

Lets bring it home: What will it take for us to follow God?  The warnings in God’s World are clear: if we continue to harden our hearts against God, we can expect the same fate as Israel.

Proverbs 31:4-7 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: July 31, 2012 in Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Proverbs 31:4-7 It is not for Kings, O Lemuel-not for Kings to drink win, not for rulers to crave beer, lest they drink and forget what the law decrees, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights.  Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more.

Drunkenness might be understandable among dying people in great pain, but it is inexcusable for national leaders.  Alcohol clouds the mind and can lead to injustice and poor decisions.  Leaders have better things to do than destroy themselves with alcohol.

We are told that every day in Washington there are many cocktail parties for our government officials.  Republicans and Democrats both have this in common-the party membership doesn’t make any difference.  It is tragic to have drinking men in high potions of government!

Spiritual Training 31 July 2012

Posted: July 31, 2012 in Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Judges, Personal Growth, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command
Read Judges 10:6 – 12-7
Jephthah

It’s hard not to admire people whose word can be depended on completely and whose actions are consistent with their words. For such people, talking is not avoiding action; it is the beginning of action.  People like this can make excellent negotiators.  They approach a conflict with the full intention of settling issues verbally, but they do not hesitate to use other means if verbal attempts fail.  Jephthah was this kind of person.

In most of his conflicts, Jephthah’s first move was to talk.  In the war with the Ammonites, his strategy was negotiation.  He clarified the issues so that everyone knew the cause of the conflict.  His opponent’s response determined his next action.

The fate of Jephthah’s daughter is difficult to understand.  We are not sure what Jephthah meant by his vow recorded in Judges 11:31 In any case, his vow was unnecessary, We do not know what actually happened to his daughter-whether she was burned as an offering or set apart as a virgin, thus denying Jephthah any hope of descendants since she was his only child.  What we do know is that Jephthah was a person of his word, even when it was a word spoken in haste, and even when keeping his word caused him great pain.

Lets bring it home: Ho do we approach conflicts?  There is a big difference between trying to settle a conflict through words and simply counterattacking someone verbally.  How dependable are the statements you make?  Do your children, friends, and fellow workers know you to be a person of your word?  The measure of your trustworthiness is your willingness to take responsibly, even if you must pay a painful price because of something you said.

Proverbs 26:07 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: July 26, 2012 in Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Proverbs 26:7 – Like a lame man’s legs that hang limp is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. 

Some people are so dulled that they won’t sense the wisdom even if they memorize these proverbs.  A mindlessly quoted proverb proves as useless as a paralyzed body part.  Only those who want to be wise have the receptive attitude needed to make the most of these wise words.  If we want to learn from God, he will respond and pour out this heart to us.

Spiritual Training 24 July 2012

Posted: July 25, 2012 in Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Judges, Personal Growth, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Judges 11:1-3 Jephthah the Giledite was a might warrior.  His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute.  Gilead’s wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. “You are not going to get any inheritance in our family,” they said, “because you are the son of another woman.”

 3. So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a group of adventures gathered around him and followed him. 

Circumstances beyond his control forced Jephthah away from his people and into life as an outcast.  Today, both believers and nonbelievers may drive away those who do not fit the norms dictated by our society, neighborhoods, or churches.  Often, as in Jephtah’s case, great potential is wasted because of prejudice a refusal to look beyond ill-conceived stereotypes.

Lets Bring it home: Look around you to see if there are potential Jephtah’s being kept out due to factors beyond their control.  As a Christian you know that everyone can have a place in God’s family.  Can you do anything to help these people gain acceptance for their character and abilities?

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