Month: June 2024

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Wise or Foolish?

Be wise

Prov 13 Once again we see the fruit of discipline for one’s person as one’s children. Just as in Psalm 1, it is the wise who are blessed and given honor from the Lord and in contrast is the ones who choose to not are called fools. Over and over the writer encourages the reader to choose wisely lest they fall into the camp of the fools. 

Again, you can dress like a homeless person but instead have great wealth but you choose to not take advantage of it. This person is also a fool. 

Fools are those who have abundant blessings but choose to act as if they have none. They are fools because they have rejected the discipline of parents and circumstances God has allowed into their life. These are the tests that God presents that we may choose wisely, to reject and not learn from these tests is foolish. 

Help me Lord to choose wisely lest I too be called a fool. 

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Dressed for war

be strong and courageous


Eph 6 Paul lived in a time when the threats against Christians was widespread and very real. It was not just threats but actual physical altercations. Today, we have moved from the physical to the war of words. We no longer put on a sword to defend ourselves but now our enemy puts on the garment of hypocrisy and eloquent words. Satan is clever and he has shown us how he fights and it isn’t with a true soldier’s garment, but his soldiers come dressed in actual finery.  We must be discerning lest we too fall victim to his schemes for the result is the same,  defeat the believer through innuendos, threats, lies, deceit masked as what is acceptable and the phony “I believe in Jesus too,” sayings but the truth of the matter is this: he has blinded the minds so that they who do not believe the true Christ but believe in a false manifestation of Him which leads men to believe they must work their way to heaven.  [2 Cor 4:4] 

Today, believer, you must be dressed for war by putting on the armor of the scripture and strap your sword, which is the Word of God, upon your thigh. You must hide yourself in your prayer closet and pour out your groaning to He who will intercede for you. And when you emerge, you will have the promised Spirit with His wisdom and power for without prayer, you are only engaging the enemy with false ideas and ways.

War is real and we must prepare for it because our life depends on it. 

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Character

Eph 5 The character of the believer

How often have you encountered someone who takes the name of the Lord in vain? Do we also fall victim to this behavior? Do we dishonor the Lord by what we say?  Paul reminds the Ephesians, who lived amongst unbelievers such as us, to live a holy life in all conversations and actions. He reminds us that those who are unbelievers are living in darkness but we are to be light bearers. The Apostle John wrote that those who  are unbelievers walk in darkness for they loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil, but it must not be so for the believer. 

Instead, Paul lists the traits of those who are Christ followers: for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth— trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Again in Galatians 5 Paul lists the Fruit of the Spirit which all believers are to demonstrate to the unbelieving world. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control”[Gal 5:22-23] 

Today be a light bearer. Live holy lives before a dark world. 

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Remember…

John 16 Three words to remember:

John has written all of these words that we might believe and become overcomers. In John 16 once again John returns to his prologue ideas: Jesus is the Word from the beginning. John used three words repeatedly: truth, love, witness and this chapter adds one more overcomer. John quoted the words of Jesus: I AM the way, the truth, and the life and NO man comes to the Father but through Me. 

John used the word truth 45 times. He used the word love 80 times. Jesus called he and his brother Sons of Thunder and they lived by that motto until their deaths. Yet, as John writes, he recalls that the Master “Taught that God is a God of love, that God loved His own Son, that God loved the world, that God is loved by Christ, that Christ loved the disciples, that Christ’s disciples loved Him, that all men should love Christ, that we should love one another, and that love fulfills that law. Love was a critical part of every element of John’s teaching and the dominant theme of his theology.” (Twelve Ordinary Men by John MacArthur pg 116) John was a thunderous defender of the truth and in that sense was a Son of Thunder to the end. John used the word witness nearly 70 times : the witness of John the Baptist, the witness of scripture, the witness of the Father, the witness of Christ, the witness of miracles, the witness of the Holy Spirit and the witness of the apostles. [ibid pg 116] 

John 16 teaches us that we are to be overcomers no matter what the world throws at us. We have the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit to bring all that Jesus taught to our minds, [Jn 14:26] to empower us against the ruler of the enemy, who has been condemned by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As we wander through the OT and NT we come across the many who have overcome: Joseph, Ruth & Naomi, John (the last surviving apostle), Stephen, Paul, Peter and many others. 

Jesus reminds us that as an overcomer we have joy that is made full. [Jn 16:24]. Is your joy full today? Are you an overcomer or do you yield to the ways of the enemy? 

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Do’s and Don’ts

How to have a peaceful home

Eph 4 Do you have someone who rubs you the wrong way? There are those who seem to find pleasure in starting factious conversations and actions. How do we handle these kinds of people? Paul gives us some practical ideas all with the purpose of not grieving the Spirit by whom we were redeemed. After a lengthy dialog Paul succinctly says, “You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, that it would give grace to those who hear” [Eph 4:29] How often do our thoughts erupt into words that are displeasing to the Lord? Paul reminds us that to do so grieves the Holy Spirit who has sealed us, marked us out as believers in Christ. 

In light of eternity, how often have we said things we wish we could take back? Paul reminds us that one day we will be held accountable for every word we utter before the Holy Father. Are you ready to do that? Is your speech pure and holy so that when you stand before Him you are unashamed? 

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Praise God!

The key to salvation

Eph 3 Praise God for His immeasurable grace and gift of salvation 

Paul writes to the Ephesians to know that it was by the grace of God that He revealed the promise of salvation to all Gentiles…as well as the Jews. This mystery was revealed so that we might glory in this revelation. Paul writes: 

“the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.” [Eph 3:6]  Consider those points: fellow heirs of the kingdom of our Savior, fellow members of the body meaning the church. In addition, fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. No longer do the 

Gentiles sit apart from the grace and salvation of God but now we, who are the Gentiles, are able to say praise be to God for now I, like the Jew, can inherit the kingdom of God.  I can glory in the promises of Christ with all its blessings. I, like the Jew, can inherit the kingdom which awaits for His appearance and gathering of the saints. 

Remember and cling to this promise: “the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access to God by way of Christ’s faithfulness.”[Eph 3:12-13] We the Gentiles now have all of the above and in addition, we have this promise: we can boldly enter the Holy of Holies to present our gifts and prayers to the Father. And this all happened because of the faithfulness of God’s Holy Son who gave his life for us.

Amazing thoughts to ponder today. 

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