Posts Tagged ‘religion’

Spiritual Training 02 August 2012

Posted: August 2, 2012 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Spiritual Training, 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.

Proverbs 1:10-19 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: August 1, 2012 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Proverbs, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command
 (Warning Against Enticement)
 
Sin is enticing because it offers a quick route to property and makes us feel like one of the crowd.  But when we go along with others and refuse to listen to the truth, our own appetites become our masters, and we’ll do anything to satisfy them.  Sin, even when attractive, is deadly.  We must learn to make choices, not on the basis of flashy appeal or short-range pleasure, but in view of the long-range effects.  Sometimes this means steering clear of people who want to entice us into activities that we know is wrong.  We can’t be friendly with sin and expect our lives to remain unaffected.

Proverbs 1:10-19 (10):  My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them.  (11): If they say, “Come along with us; lets lie in wait for someone’s blood, let’s waylay some harmless soul;  (12): Lets swallow them alive, like the grave, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; (13): we will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder; (14): throw in your lot with us, and we will share a common purse  (15): my son, do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths; (16): for their feet rush into sin, they are swift to shed blood.  (17): How useless to spread a net in full view of all the birds! (18): These men lie in wait for their own blood; they waylay only themselves!  (19) Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the lives of those who get it. 

Spiritual Training 01 August 2012

Posted: August 1, 2012 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Judges, Personal Growth, Proverbs, Spiritual Training, 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 Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Proverbs, Spiritual Training, 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!

Proverbs 26:07 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: July 26, 2012 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Proverbs, Spiritual Training, 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 26 July 2012

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

 Jephthah’s rash vow brought him unspeakable grief in the heat of emotion or personal turmoil it is easy to make foolish promises to God.  These promises may sound very spiritual when we make them, but they may produce only guilt and frustration when we are forced to fulfill them.  Making spiritual “deals” only brings disappointment.  God does not want promises for the future, but obedience for today.

Judges 11:30-31, 34-35 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, what ever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”

34-35 Then Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines!  She was an only child.  Except for her he had neither son nor daughter.  When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried.  “Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break. 

Spiritual Training 25 July 2012

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

 Judges 11:30-31 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, what ever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”

In God’s law, a vow was a promise to God that should not be broken (Numbers 30:1,2; Deuteronomy 23:21-23).  It carried as much force as a written contract.  Many people made vows in Biblical times.  Some, like Jephthah’s were very foolish.

When Jephthah made his vow, did he stop to consider that a person, not a sheep or goat, might come out to meet him?

Proverbs 25:6-7 Wisdom for the Soul

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

Proverbs 25:6-7 Do not exalt yourself in the King’s presence and do not claim a place among great men, (7) it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here,” than for him to humiliate you before a nobleman. 

Jesus made this proverb into a parable (Read Luke 14:7-11).  We should not seek honor for ourselves.  It is better to quietly and faithfully accomplish the work God has given us to do.  As others notice the quality of our lives, then they will draw attention to us.

Proverbs 24:10 Wisdom for the Soul

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

Proverbs 24:10 If you falter in times of trouble, how small is your strength. 

Times of trouble can be useful.  They can show you who you really are, what kind of character you have developed.  In addition, they can help you grow stronger.  When Jeremiah questioned God because of the trouble he faced, God asked how he ever expected to face big challenges if the little ones tired him out (Jeremiah 12:5).  Don’t complain about your problems.   The trouble you face today is training you to be strong for the more difficult situations you will face in the future.

Spiritual Training 24 July 2012

Posted: July 25, 2012 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Judges, Personal Growth, Spiritual Training, 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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