BLESS THE LORD

Bless the Lord, O my soul, Bless His holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all His benefits.
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

2012 READING PLAN

Melissa and I have 5 days to decide on a reading plan that will be right for us this coming year.  We will be finishing our plan for this past year on the 29th and hope to have decided on another one by then.  This year, we have read the entire bible once through and got to read the following books a second time: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Isaiah.  We also read all of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John four times.  It was good to continually be reading the life of Jesus all through the year.  I have grown much in my knowledge of what he actually did when he was here, in the flesh.

This new year, we will be aiming at something different.  We will be seeking to 'master' 12 books, one per month, by reading the entire book in one (or two if necessary) days, every day for one month.  By the end of the year, we will have read through 12 books many times and will have a very good grasp about what the entire message of those books are.  Along with this, we would like to read the Bible through again this year once, but have yet to decide on the exact method or specific plan.  I would like to take the time to encourage you to find a plan (there are many on the internet) that fits you and get into God's written word this year.  There is nothing more important you could be doing.

THE URGENCY OF MISSIONS

THE STORY BEHIND THE HYMN

GOD'S GOODNESS

I am truly grateful for Melissa's tumor markers falling so dramatically this time around.  We just got home from another visit to the doctors in Tulsa at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America and have found that the new drugs she is on are working very nicely.  I am thankful to serve a loving God who listens to men.  God's sovereignty ought not amaze us so nearly as much as God's love for us.  It is right for God to have control of all things.  Such a being would not be God without such control and yet his love for us is not necessary to his being.  His love for us is something he chooses to do out of his sheer....well love for us.  I pray that your service to him would flow out of this never ending fountain that bears the name of Jesus.  God truly did love the world so much that he sent Jesus for the purpose of joining me to him by taking away all things that have separated us.  Why?  Well, because of his love for me.  And it is this love for me that allows, nay, is the very fiber and fuel of my boldness to ask God to do great things for me, one being that Melissa get better and not die from this terrible illness.  This is a desire of mine and I wholeheartedly desire others to see God move on my behalf so that they might begin to see the extent of God's love for them.  Yes, God is sovereign, but he is willing to use that sovereignty to give his children good things if only they would have faith to ask.

A NEW NAME AROUND HERE

Well, I renamed the blog today.  I was driving to Tulsa, OK with Melissa so she could get treatment and noticed that I was driving 55 in a 75.  I am in no hurry to get anywhere any more.  I am grateful for the great peace the Lord has given me recently.  Many have been praying for this for quite sometime and I can truly say that the Lord has come through on my behalf, thus the new name.  No hurry to get anywhere here, just a wonderful expectation that if I continue cruising in this direction, steady, I will arrive finally at my Lord's gate where I will be admitted to a true and more complete rest than I can ever conceive of here.

IRAQ WAR IS OVER

If you haven't heard, the war in Iraq is officially over.

Al Jazeera seems to have reported most accurately on the current situation.

Read it here:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/12/2011121412317948778.html

180: A DOCUMENTARY

CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES:
VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED

THE CHIEF END OF MAN

The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. This statement, although simple enough to understand and confess as what one believes, carries with it a great number of implications which if not endorsed by actual practice of the one confessing it becomes the very statement that should be used as proof of that one’s hypocrisy. Holding to a set of beliefs without practice is a very great evil commonly practiced by those in our day. Many do it out of ignorance, not understanding what the term ‘belief’ means biblically, but it is a deadly ignorance that needs to be addressed.  John 3:36 reads, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” It is clear from this verse that those who believe in the Son, have eternal life and are obedient to him. It is stated that whoever does not obey shall not see life making it evident those who shall see life, namely those who are obedient. So, we see here that obedience is an activity of belief and not just some option that man has the freedom to choose or not to choose after having obtained their salvation from the Son of God. Biblical salvation includes the whole man. Every aspect of man must come under the influence of the Holy Spirit. His mind, heart, soul, and strength must all be used to glorify God and enjoy him, otherwise no salvation has occurred. This stands to show that if one is not in the practice of this, one is not a Christian, and therefore doomed to be trodden in the winepress of the fury of God’s wrath.

I will write more on this later, but here is a something to think upon until then. If the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever and man has not been doing this since Adam, what is it that man has been doing as his chief end? And why is this so extremely displeasing to God that he stands to make all who do this drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath for eternity?

SEEK GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART

FARTHER ALONG

Tempted and tried, I wondered why
The good man died, the bad man thrives
And Jesus cries because he loves em’ both
We’re all cast-aways in need of ropes
Hangin’ on by the last threads of our hope
In a house of mirrors full of smoke
Confusing illusions I’ve seen

Where did I go wrong, I sang along
To every chorus of the song
That the devil wrote like a piper at the gates
Leading mice and men down to their fates
But some will courageously escape
The seductive voice with a heart of faith
While walkin’ that line back home

So much more to life than we’ve been told
It’s full of beauty that will unfold
And shine like you struck gold my wayward son
That deadweight burden weighs a ton
Go down into the river and let it run
And wash away all the things you’ve done
Forgiveness alright

Still I get hard pressed on every side
Between the rock and a compromise
Like the truth and pack of lies fightin’ for my soul
And I’ve got no place left go
Cause I got changed by what I’ve been shown
More glory than the world has known
Keeps me ramblin’ on

Skipping like a calf loosed from its stall
I’m free to love once and for all
And even when I fall I’ll get back up
For the joy that overflows my cup
Heaven filled me with more than enough
Broke down my levee and my bluff
Let the flood wash me

And one day when the sky rolls back on us
Some rejoice and the others fuss
Cause every knee must bow and tongue confess
That the son of god is forever blessed
His is the kingdom, we’re the guests
So put your voice up to the test
Sing Lord, come soon

-Josh Garrels
from
Love&War&The Sea In Between

WHO AM I?

by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

-written in a Nazi prison 

Who am I? They often tell me

I stepped from my cell’s confinement

Calmly, cheerfully, firmly,

Like a squire from his country-house.

Who am I? They often tell me

I used to speak to my warders

Freely and friendly and clearly,

As though it were mine to command.

Who am I? They also tell me

I bore the days of misfortune

Equally, smilingly, proudly,

Like one accustomed to win.

Am I then really all that which other men tell of?

Or am I only what I myself know of myself?

Restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,

Struggling for breath, as though hands were

compressing my throat,

Yearning for colors, for flowers, for the voices of birds,

Thirsting for words of kindness, for neighborliness,

Tossing in expectation of great events,

Powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance,

Weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making,

Faint, and ready to say farewell to it all?

Who am I? This or the other?

Am I one person today and tomorrow another?

Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,

And before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling?

Or is something within me still like a beaten army,

Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?

Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.

Whoever I am, Thou knowest, 0 God, I am Thine!

JASON BELLARD

I thought I would share this site with others.

http://www.godislight.co.nr/

THE MOCKING STONE

This large stone I carry is difficult to manage.
Bulky, I cannot move it how I would like to.
Although I must admit, it is not heavy like it once was,
it is still there, mocking the saints of God.
How did it get here? When did it first appear?
It has been so long I cannot recall its inception.
Regardless, it is great and remains.
My steps are from the Lord, how can I understand my way?
I will wash my robe.
I will thirst and conquer.
I will make myself ready with fine linen, bright and pure.
Lord God, the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!

IT IS WELL, WITH MY SOUL

"

A POST WORTH READING

Here is the link to a blog I subscribe to.  The man who writes there often has many good things to say but today is really worth sharing.  Here is the link.  Enjoy.

http://www.reformedandconservative.com/2011/11/worship-and-beauty-and-difference.html?showComment=1322663733384#c7993102532642353535

BACK TO WORK

Today is Monday.  Not just any Monday, but the Monday after Thanksgiving.  Four days off of work is a very long time.  It was a wonderful time.  I cannot remember the last time I had that many days off with nothing special to do.  Sure, there was the week off of work to go to Texas and Tulsa as well as all of the monthly trips to the Cancer Treatment Centers of America to get Melissa's treatment but we were just as busy there as I would have been if I went to work instead.  These past four days have been so wonderfully refreshing because there was nothing to do but sit in my apartment and well, do nothing.

WWII in HD

If you have not seen the movie series titled, "WWII in HD", then you should.  I have watched it in the last two days and it has prompted and galvanized a greater appreciation to God for the grace He has shown me by keeping me from seeing and experiencing greater amounts of horror than otherwise possible.  We live in a world of pain and this great country I was born into continually fails to appreciate God for that grace which we deem so common.  In light of the world around us, it is not as common as we would like to pretend.

“If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.” - Charles Spurgeon

VICTORY OVER SIN

The vanquishing of sin in your life as a Christian is many times held back by God for the purpose of driving you to your knees in prayer, promoting more dependence on God and less dependence upon self.  True fellowship with God is necessary to overcome the sin that so easily entangles you.  Not just biblical truth itself, but actual, secret meetings with God.  Meetings where you take the time to pour out your heart before the Lord, requesting that God use His strong arm on your behalf to destroy any strongholds that the enemy has built up in your life.  Regular meetings with God until you can confidently say with the Psalmist, "I love the Lord because He hears my voice and my prayers for mercy.  Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!"  Let the fact that God has heard your prayers and vanquished these pockets of resistance in your life be real and practical and not just theoretical.  Dear reader, ask yourself, "Can I truly say with the Psalmist that I will pray as long as I have breath because He hears me?"  Have you set yourself to pray for specific things in your life and continued in prayer until it has been won?  We truly do not have, because we have not truly asked.  Go.  Meet with God and He will deliver.  Depend not upon yourself any longer and you will surely be delivered from whatever it is that is coming in between you and your God.

WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?

TRACTS

The Lord has opened many doors for getting tracts out this weekend.  Just this morning, I got out over 50 of the www.illbehonest.com business cards that I had printed and that before 5am!  Pray that the Lord might use these paper messengers of hope to advance His kingdom in the Kansas City area.

PARENTAL ADVICE for OWS PROTESTERS (by Marybeth Hicks, Washington Times)

Call it an occupational hazard, but I can't look at the Occupy Wall Street protesters without thinking, "Who parented these people?"


As a culture columnist, I've commented on the social and political ramifications of the "movement" - now known as "OWS" - whose fairyland agenda can be summarized by one of their placards: "Everything for everybody.


Thanks to their pipe-dream platform, it's clear there are people with serious designs on "transformational" change in America who are using the protesters like bedsprings in a brothel.

Yet it's not my role as a commentator that prompts my parenting question, but rather the fact that I'm the mother of four teens and young adults. There are some crucial life lessons that the protesters' moms clearly have not passed along.


Here, then, are five things the OWS protesters' mothers should have taught their children but obviously didn't, so I will:


• Life isn't fair. The concept of justice - that everyone should be treated fairly - is a worthy and worthwhile moral imperative on which our nation was founded. But justice and economic equality are not the same. Or, as Mick Jagger said, "You can't always get what you want."

No matter how you try to "level the playing field," some people have better luck, skills, talents or connections that land them in better places. Some seem to have all the advantages in life but squander them, others play the modest hand they're dealt and make up the difference in hard work and perseverance, and some find jobs on Wall Street and eventually buy houses in the Hamptons. Is it fair? Stupid question.


 • Nothing is "free." Protesting with signs that seek "free" college degrees and "free" health care make you look like idiots, because colleges and hospitals don't operate on rainbows and sunshine. There is no magic money machine to tap for your meandering educational careers and "slow paths" to adulthood, and the 53 percent of taxpaying Americans owe you neither a degree nor an annual physical.

While I'm pointing out this obvious fact, here are a few other things that are not free: overtime for police officers and municipal workers, trash hauling, repairs to fixtures and property, condoms, Band-Aids and the food that inexplicably appears on the tables in your makeshift protest kitchens. Real people with real dollars are underwriting your civic temper tantrum.


 • Your word is your bond. When you demonstrate to eliminate student loan debt, you are advocating precisely the lack of integrity you decry in others. Loans are made based on solemn promises to repay them. No one forces you to borrow money; you are free to choose educational pursuits that don't require loans, or to seek technical or vocational training that allows you to support yourself and your ongoing educational goals. Also, for the record, being a college student is not a state of victimization. It's a privilege that billions of young people around the globe would die for - literally.


 • A protest is not a party. On Saturday in New York, while making a mad dash from my cab to the door of my hotel to avoid you, I saw what isn't evident in the newsreel footage of your demonstrations: Most of you are doing this only for attention and fun. Serious people in a sober pursuit of social and political change don't dance jigs down Sixth Avenue like attendees of a Renaissance festival. You look foolish, you smell gross, you are clearly high and you don't seem to realize that all around you are people who deem you irrelevant.


 • There are reasons you haven't found jobs. The truth? Your tattooed necks, gauged ears, facial piercings and dirty dreadlocks are off-putting. Nonconformity for the sake of nonconformity isn't a virtue. Occupy reality: Only 4 percent of college graduates are out of work. If you are among that 4 percent, find a mirror and face the problem. It's not them. It's you.

JOSH GARRELS

I found this guy through someone's blog that I follow.  The lyrics in all of his music are solid.  By 'solid', I mean biblical.  The sound is nice, although it takes a little bit to get used to.  The music has the sound of 'Iron and Wine' if you are familiar with them.  I have very much enjoyed it and have actually been encouraged by the songs on this album to worship God truly.  He is a great encouragement to the brethren and you can sense this attitude in all of the songs.  The best part of the whole thing is that you can download the entire album at no cost.  I would pay double for this sort of music.

http://joshgarrels.bandcamp.com/

EDWARDS' RESOLUTION #63

63. On the supposition, that there never was to be but one individual in the world, at any one time, who was properly a complete Christian, in all respects of a right stamp, having Christianity always shining in its true luster, and appearing excellent and lovely, from whatever part and under whatever character viewed: Resolved, to act just as I would do, if I strove with all my might to be that one, who should live in my time. Jan.14′ and July ’3′ 1723.


Jonathan Edwards is saying here that there can only be one person who at any one time is 'the strongest Christian alive'.  And the goal for his life is to be that man.  Let us seek to have this attitude.  

HINDERING PURSUASIONS OF THE ENEMY - CLINT LEITER

TIME WELL SPENT

I watched this hour long teaching from Tim Conway, Pastor of a church in San Antonio, TX.  The video can be found on www.illbehonest.com

SPURGEON QUOTE ON HELL

"Scripture does not speak of the fire of hell as chastening and purifying, but as
punishment which men shall receive for deeds done in the body. They are to be
visited with many stripes, and receive just recompense for transgressions. What can
there be about hell fire to change a man’s heart? Surely the more the lost will suffer
the more will they hate God."  -CH Spurgeon

A WALK IN AMARILLO

I read Leviticus 5 today.  Verse 17 reads,

"Now if a person sins and does any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, still he is guilty and shall bear his punishment."

 This points to the Holiness of God.  Men have a great need before this Holy God.  He will not allow one stain to remain upon us if we are to actually enter into the fulness of God.  Even many who are unaware of their sins are guilty before God.  There is no way to come to God but to see this truth about our sins.  Throughout Leviticus it tells us that when a man sins and realizes he has sinned he is to confess it and bring an offering of some sort or another for the priest to offer on his behalf to atone for his guilt.  This requires a knowledge of their sins.  I thought about the people who never realized they had sinned.  Bearing any sort of guilt before God is a dangerous thing for He is Holy.

Thinking about all of this, I went for a walk in Ellwood Park in Amarillo, TX.  I was shocked at all of the people I saw there.  Many of them on drugs, homeless people pushing shopping carts, youth sitting around using all sorts of vile speech.  Irreverently scrawled on the sidewalk in spray paint was the phrase, "Jesus was a Jedi".  I felt extremely outnumbered and actually feared for my safety.  Many stared at me as I walked around the outside track around the park.  I wondered how many of them were wondering how much money I had on me.  How many would take advantage of someone like me if the timing were right?  I was sure of one thing.  All of them would stand before the Holy God I had read about hours earlier and face punishment for their sins whether or not they knew about them in advance.  Denying our sin before God will not be an option in the great day of judgment.

I felt shame in my heart as I was too afraid to approach the great numbers of lost in this one park in Amarillo.  I truly felt fear and could not approach them.  When I got back to Melissa's mothers apartment, whom we are visiting this week, I prayed that God would send more laborers into the harvest.  The fields are white; I saw them myself.  It is a frightening world we live in, full of evil men and women who hate God and despise Jesus and the message that His disciples are daily sent to speak about.  Who really wants to hear that everything they've ever done was sinful?  Who really wants to hear that they've got to give everything in this world up to Jesus, who promises a life of heartache for an eternity of bliss?  Everyone in the world wants their treasure now and not later.  Without the power of God working in their hearts I can do nothing for them.  Without God working in my heart I cannot even go to them.  I have really been humbled by this experience and wanted to share it with you all.

Perhaps it does not make much sense.  Perhaps you cannot understand why it was so hard to talk to anyone today.  Frankly, neither can I.  Those that know me know that I am very bold and outgoing on my own and do not need God for help in this area.  But maybe that is exactly the point of it all.  I would go without waiting for Him to send me.  I have before.  God is teaching me to trust Him for everything.  Especially for those things with which I am so confident with myself already.  Humility is what I need.  God is at work and I thank Him for that, even if I do not understand everything He is doing in me.  I do not want to trust in myself anymore.  I saw how quickly I could fail myself today and want nothing to do with it anymore.

FORSAKE YOUR LIFE

OUR UNION WITH CHRIST

"Nothing is more precious than hearing God say to us personally: No condemnation. Or hearing him pronounce the words over our guilty heads, Justified! If you cherish this verdict and this standing with God, then cherish your union with Christ. Make it part of what you value most in the world."

-John Piper

PLEASE PRAY

Please, pray for Youcef Nadarkhani an Iranian pastor who could be executed as early as tomorrow because of his faith in Christ.

http://aclj.org/iran/iran-upholds-christian-pastor-apostasy-conviction-execution-wednesday

 

ALL I HAVE IS CHRIST

SPIRITUAL DEPRESSION ITS CAUSES AND CURE

I am reading 'Spiritual Depression Its Causes and Cure' by Martyn Lloyd-Jones and have found a most profound passage that I thought worthy of sharing.  The book has been excellently written and is difficult to put down.  The passage I am quoting is concerning sin and whether or not you know that you are a sinner.

"Here is the test for you and me:  Are you loving God with all your being?  If you are not, you are a sinner.  That is the test.  'All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.'  God has made us and He has made us for Himself.  He made man for His own glory and He intended man to live entirely for Him.  Man was to be His representative, and was to dwell in communion with Him.  He was to be the lord of the universe, he was to glorify God.  As it is put in the Shorter Catechism: 'The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever', and if you are not doing so you are a sinner of the deepest dye, whether you know it and feel it or not....So the question is:  Do you know God?  I am not asking if you believe in God, or if you believe certain things about Him.  To be a Christian is to have eternal life, and as our Lord says in John 17:3: 'This is life eternal to know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent'.  So the test we apply to ourselves is that.  Not, 'Have I done this or that?'  My test is a positive one: 'Do I know God?  Is Jesus Christ real to me?'  I am not asking whether you know things about Him but do you know God, are you enjoying God, is God the centre of your life, the soul of your being, the source of you greatest joy?  He is meant to be."

SORELY DISAPPOINTED

I am sorely disappointed this morning, both in myself and the American church.  I have been reading a book titled 'Radical' by David Platt and it has been very engaging.  I have gotten angry while reading it due to the great dilemma's he has created in my mind concerning how I have lived the last 29 years of my life and how I see the great majority of American Christians living theirs.  I must say, this book did not plant these thoughts in my mind.  I have been thinking them for quite sometime, but until reading this book I did not know how to explain the problem or describe it to others.  I will read the last chapter today before I go in to work, and truly, the main issue is a lack of one's dying to self.  I am sure all Christians, across the board, have struggled with this, but Americans have a way of not only NOT dying to self, but extravagantly living for one's self, slapping every man, woman and child in the face who has suffered severe persecution for the sake of Jesus Christ.  We live as if no one has ever suffered for the gospel's sake.  We live because they died and give little or no thought of it.  We forsake a great teaching of Christ when we decide to live our live behind our excuses, forsaking the needs of those around us.  How can the world hate us when we are just like them?  When will our families give us our promised persecution when we do nothing but think of our families?  How can we be hated in America, when we are living just like Americans do?  It isn't about what vices you've been delivered from since converting to Christianity.  It is about what you have done with the great freedom you have been given from those vices that matters.  Are you living for yourself?  I do not mean, are you still spending yourself on foolish vices, I mean are you, even though converted, living for your self?  You can be doing all sorts of Christian things, feeling as though you are not living for yourself when indeed you do nothing except that which is beneficial to yourself.  This is nothing but living for one's self!  Will you change your schedule for others in need around you, even if those closest to you will be angry with you?  Everyone can help out in their free time, even the world volunteers their free time to causes.  Are you helping when it hurts?  When no one else wants to help out and you are all alone in a situation are you willing to give up your desires, your time, your money and plans so that others can use you up like a few sheets of toilet paper that get one swipe and than thrown into the toilet?  This is death to self and it is likened to death because it hurts.  It flies directly in the face of how all Americans were raised to think and live and so you must be on guard at all times.  American self will not submit to this sort of behavior this side of eternity.  We are, as Christians, called to drown self in the pool of others needs and hold him under that blessed water until Christ returns.  He will writhe around in selfish anger and cry out for sustenance, but get violent with him!  Choke self out until he bleeds, until you sweat great drops of blood doing so.  You have been called not to glory in your American freedom, but to spend that freedom on others, even if it costs you your reputation, your family, your money and your precious, precious down time.  And so I ask, how is your freedom as an American hurting self or is it this freedom we have still a benefit to self?  The answer to this question will tell you how far off the battlefield you have wandered.

JC RYLE ON SANCTIFICATION

Sanctification is the only sure mark of Gods’ election. . . . It is not given to us in this world to study the pages of the book of life, and see if our names are there. But if there is one thing clearly and plainly laid down about election, it is this — that elect men and women may be known and distinguished by holy lives.

“Peter . . . to those who are elect . . . in the sanctification of the Spirit” (1 Peter 1:1–2).
“Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29).
“He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy” (Ephesians 1:4).

“We know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.” (1 Thessalonians 1:4–5).

DESIRING TO FEEL SAVED BEFORE COMMITTING TO CHRIST

"I have talked with people that have no assurance of sins forgiven. They wanna feel saved before they’re willing to commit themselves to Christ. But I believe that the only ones whom God actually witnesses by His Spirit are born of Him, are the people whether they say it or not, that come to Jesus Christ and say something like this: “Lord Jesus, I’m gonna obey You and love You and serve You and do what You want me to do as long as I live even if I go to hell at the end of the road simply because You are worthy to be loved, obeyed and served. And I’m not trying to make a deal with You.” -Paris Reidhead

A QUICK VIDEO

PLEASE PRAY

This Saturday (8/6/2011) I am going to be visiting a man I began writing to several months ago.  He is in Potosi Correctional Center, in Missouri.  He is on death row awaiting his punishment.  This will be our first meeting together, face to face and I must admit, I do not know what to say.  He is a practicing Muslim, converting to the religion after he was incarcerated.  We have written back and forth many times, speaking much about religion.  I am hoping that we can speak candidly about where he thinks he will be after he is put to death, but how do you bring up a topic this heavy?  I am not even sure I ought to go there on my first visit.  Please be praying that I am a good friend to this man.  Pray that I love him when I see him.  Pray that I do not treat him as if he is just an evangelization experiment, but that I treat his soul as something worth 10 million times the price of my own.  Pray that God saves Him, because ten thousand visits won't do any good if God does not move.

A LOT OF TALK...

I'm not usually one to speak out about politics in any formal fashion, especially on this blog.  But today I feel like I have to.  It seems to me that everyone has an opinion about this debt ceiling 'crisis' going on in Congress right now.  Perhaps, by the time you read this, it will have all been worked out, but I just wanted to express one simple principle.  Many have spoken with me about this controversial topic.  In almost every one of those conversations I ended up asking, "Did you write your Congressman?"  and everyone's answer was, "No".  I do not understand why no one tells their Congressman what they are thinking.  Your Congressman is your voice in Washington.  If there is something to be voted on, and you feel one way about it, you should write your Congressman to let him/her know how you are feeling.  If enough people do this, and view it your way, your Congressman may be swayed to vote that way, thus making your voice heard in Washington.  Many people my age have never said anything via email to their Congressman. They have Facebook directories, Twitter directories and formal directories whereby you can contact them.

To find your representative in the House of Representatives visit this site:  http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

To find your Senator in the Senate visit this site: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=ALL

Please, if you have an opinion on any given topic, voice it to someone who can do something about it.  Why even worry about it, if your not planning on telling anyone who can?

JESUS CHRIST IS YOUR ONLY HOPE

SPURGEON ON IDLENESS

"Everyman ought to have patience and pity for poverty, but for laziness a long whip."

"A man who wastes his time in sloth offers himself to be a target for the devil, who is an awefully good rifleman. In other words, idle men tempt the devil to tempt them."
"A sluggard is fine raw material for the devil, he can make anything he likes out of him, from a thief up to a murderer."
"If the devil catch a man idle he will send him to work [for him], and find him tools."
"Idle folks often never know what leisure means, they are always in a hurry and a mess, by neglecting to work at the proper time they always have a lot to do."
"Trying to insruct an idle man is like trying to hold water in a siv or fatten a greyhound"
John Ploughman : "For once I was going to give our minister [Spurgeon] a pretty long list of the sins of one of our people he was asking after, I began with, "He's dreadfully lazy", "That's enough!" said the old gentleman, "all sorts of sins are in that one, that's enough to know a full pledged sinner."
"Our Lord Jesus told us, the enemy sowed while men slept. It is by the door of sluggishness that evil enters the heart more often it seems to me than any other."
"My advise to my boys has been to get out of the sluggards way, or you may catch his disease and never get rid of it. I am always afraid of their learning the ways of the idle and I am very watchful to nip anything of the sort in the bud, for you know it is best to kill a lion when it's a cub"
"Some professors [of Christianity] are amazingly lazy and make sad work for the tongues of the wicked. I think a godly plowmen ought to be the best man in the field and let no team beat him. When we are at work, we ought to be at it, and not stop the plow to talk, even though the talk may be about religion. For then we not only rob our employers of our own time, but of the time of the horses, too. I used to hear people say, "Never stop the plow to catch a mouse," and it's quite as silly to stop for idle chat; besides, the man who loiters when the master is away is an eye-server, which, I take it, is the very opposite of a Christian."
"Religion never was designed to make us idle. Jesus was a great worker, and his disciples must not be afraid of hard work"
-Charles Spurgeon

GOD KNOWS BETTER THAN WE DO....ALWAYS

ABOUT SCHOOL

I have been tossing around the idea of going to school again.  History would be the major, in the hopes of making myself more useful to society than I currently am.  In a perfect world, I would be able to get a Masters degree or maybe even a (don't say it) Doctorate and become an actual Historian, but I live in the real world and realize that if I were to attain to those levels in education, it would need God's massive hand working and not just my own endeavoring.  In the meantime, I am seeking out that which will be most pleasing to me, namely a basic college education.  Enough about me though.  I have been praying and thinking much for quite sometime about all of this.  I have emailed some friends (older and wiser) to see what they have had to say to me about it.  There are a great many obstacles and I cannot decipher as to whether they were placed there to keep me from doing this, or if they were put there to show me how much I truly desire this, seeing how I am still leaning in that direction despite all of the opposition.  At any rate, the Lord is ever guiding me along through life and I can be certain that whether I succeed or fail He is leading me to something a million times greater than any education in this life could get me.

HOW TO DEFEAT CALVINISM

I thought this video was pretty funny. It has been posted in good humor, please do not take offense.

JAMES STEWART ON SALVATION

There are many who want to be saved from the consequences of their sin, who do not want to be saved from the love of it.  Many want to be delivered from sin’s curse and sin’s wages, who do not want to bow their neck to the yoke of Christ.  There are many who are attracted by the Gospel message and see the way of salvation, which are still possessing a craving for this present evil age.  How great the need for care, lest by an inadequate presentation of the truth of the Gospel we deceive these souls into a false profession.  There is a grave danger that many people will make a mistake of substituting an emotional religious crisis for a born again experience.  To preach Christ as Savior without preaching Christ as Lord makes a mockery of the Gospel and the entire Christian life.  There must be true repentance (Acts 8:21-23).  THE SON OF GOD DOES NOT SAVE REBELS.  There must be true submission (repentance) before there can be salvation.  What a parody of the Gospel when many are told to ‘trust Jesus to take them to Heaven when they die,’ who nevertheless are living in the practice of sin and rebellion against His laws.  The grace of God does not give deliverance to the sinner from the penalty of his sins and then give him liberty to live a life of sin.  Paul tells us that the pardoning grace of God TEACHES us to live a life of HOLINESS.  Read Titus 2:11-15. — Scottish Evangelist James A. Stewart (1910-1975).

ADVICE FROM JOHN BUNYAN

1. Believe that if you seek to walk in a way pleasing to God, then you will meet with many temptations from the evil one.

2. The first day that you enter into Christ’s congregation, watch out for the temptations.

3. When the temptations come, beg God to carry you through them.

4. Be suspicious of your own heart, that it does not deceive you into thinking that
you are more holy than you are.

5. Beware of the flatteries of false brethren.

6. Walk continually in the Word—the life and power of truth.

7. Fix your eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.

8. Watch out for the "little" sins.

9. Keep the promise of eternal life warm in your heart.

10. Renew your faith in the blood of Christ.

11. Honor those who are doing the blessed work of God in your generation.

12. Follow after and emulate the godly Christians of your generation.
Grace be with you. Amen."

-John Bunyan

YOUR CONSCIENCE

J.I. Packer wrote in A Quest for Godliness:

"It is a universal experience that conscience is largely autonomous in its operation; though sometimes we can suppress or stifle it, it normally speaks independently of our will, and sometimes, indeed, contrary to our will. And when it speaks, it is in a strange way distinct from us; it stands over us, addressing us with an absoluteness of authority which we did not give it and which we cannot take from it. To personify conscience and treat it as God's watchman and spokesman in the soul is not, therefore, a mere flight of fancy, it is a necessity of human experience."

PROVERBS 19:16

Proverbs 19:16 reads:

He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul, But he who is careless of conduct will die.

This proverb gives us a different perspective of the same truth that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 7.  Jesus told the crowd that many will say to Him in that day (Judgment Day) "Lord, Lord" but will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.  That many will profess Jesus as Lord on the day of Judgment and yet will be told to depart due the Jesus' not knowing them.  Jesus also clarifies who will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.  He says in verse 21, "...but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter."  Now, we know that Jesus was the only man who ever truly did the will of the Father, perfectly and so it is fair to say that Jesus is not implying that no one but Him will be in Heaven.  Rather, Jesus is teaching that those who have an attitude and lifestyle that is devoted to doing the things that please God, rather than self are the ones who will enter. 

This proverb teaches the same thing only with a twist.  It tells us that the one who keeps the commandment is the one who will keep his soul, sounding similar to the teaching that whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, but he who lose his life will save it.  The man that puts what God wants over and above anything that self wants which is contrary to God will in fact keep his soul.  This is saying exactly what Jesus is saying, when Jesus says, "He who does the will of My Father".  Both verses are pointing to the same sort of man.  The man who truly prays, "Thy Will be done".

The latter half of the proverb is where we see the twist though.  I expected it to say something along the lines of, "but the man who forsakes the commandment will die" or "but he who rejects God will die".  I thought it would say something particularly highlighting disobedience, but what do we see?  The proverb writer heads to a deeper root to the problem.  While disobedience to God will always be the result of the people Jesus spoke of when he labels them 'workers of iniquity' in verse 23 of Matthew 7, the proverb tells us 'why' they do so.

It says that 'he who is careless of conduct' will die.  What does that mean?  If someone is careless of conduct, there problem isn't usually that they outwardly, consciously disobey God.  The real problem is that they do not even care about their conduct when it concerns God.  They are careless, unconcerned and so self-centered that they do not care if there is even a God to be obedient to.  This explains their puzzlement in that terrible Last Day of Judgment.  They are standing there in front of Jesus Christ, the Great Judge crying out, "Lord! Lord! didnt' we serve you?"  This is because they spent their lives professing to be attached to Christ and yet never truly concerned themselves with reading God's word to see what is required of them.  They sat around telling one another, "Nobody's perfect", everytime someone tried to rebuke them for failing to meet God's standards instead of putting on the proverbial sackloth and ashes and heading to the cross of Christ for mercy.  They were careless and in the end, it will cost them everything.

BLESSINGS OF REDEMPTION

Ephesians 1:3-4 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love."

This passage tells us some soul-rocking truths that, if grasped, are life changing.  Intellectual perception of them is one thing, but to have these truths sink into your heart is when they will become truly beneficial in a practical way.

We were chosen to be holy and blameless before God long before this world were ever created.  Holy and blameless.  We were not chosen to be justified despite all of our sins, only to be left to live with the filthiness of sin.  We were chosen to be holy.  Chosen to be blameless before God.  The phrase 'before Him' is one which describes our lives currently.  We are living before Him now.  We are to be holy and blameless before Him.  In our striving against sin, we can think on this passage and know that the very striving is what we were chosen for.  To be holy and blameless before Him.  We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.  (Ephesians 2:10)

1 CHRONICLES 12

I read this chapter today and had some thoughts concerning our battles with sin and how this chapter related.  The chapter is listing out all of the men from all of the different tribes that came to David at Ziklag to help him in fighting against his enemies.  It is a very descriptive chapter, telling us what the men specialized in and who and how they were acquainted with both David and his enemies.  If thought of from a military standpoint, one can see that David would have received much intelligence as to Saul's military weaknesses and strengths.  In verse 2 it speaks of bowmen, who, coming from the tribe of Benjamin were Saul's kinsmen, which means they probably had information concerning Saul that could be relayed to David.  Information that may have gone unknown had these so close in relation to Saul not come to David's side in the conflict.  Verse 8-15 speaks of an elite group of warriors from the Gadites who apparently were extremely lethal on the battlefield, given the description in verse 14.  We see the truth in this description because of the special mission they were given in verse 15.  They were the first to cross the Jordan and enter into the fight, putting to flight all those who were camped there.  This has the sound of Special Ops, which, always enters the enemy territory prior to the larger invading force.  These men must be many times harder than the average soldier.  In verse 18 we see the Spirit of God coming upon men and leading them to assist David in whatever he plans.  And in verse 22 it sums up what has been happening by saying:

For day by day men came to David to help him, until there was a great army like the army of God.

 And I thought about the phrase, 'day by day'.  David must have experienced some anxiety in these days.  He was waiting for the Lord to provide for him and daily he was seeing God's provision, growing his army until it was large enough to win the battle.  The hearts of many men were changed at different times, causing them to trickle into the camp of David over a period of time and not all at once.  And is this not a picture of the Christian walk?  Were we at once, upon conversion, fully armed and ready for battle?  I do not think so.  Are we not daily being added to, in knowledge and wisdom, with the weapons of our spiritual warfare that we have decided to engage in?  And yet, we must wait for God in this battle.  We must wait for the resources to trickle in, day by day, so we can wage war successfully.  The Lord provided for David enough men with the right tactics and training to successfully fight a war and he will do no less for us.  But, we must do what David did and wait for our army to be built by God.

Verse 38 tells us:

All these, being men of war who could draw up in battle formation, came to Hebron with a perfect heart to make David king over all Israel; and all the rest also of Israel were of one mind to make David king.

The provisions from God will be of a perfect heart able to help you abstain from the fleshly lusts that are waging war against your soul.  They will, so to speak, make you King and ruler over this body of death.  Sin will no longer reign, but you will reign as King.  Let us seek the Lord for help in this battle of the ages. 

PSALM 147:11

The LORD favors those who fear Him,
Those who wait for His lovingkindness.

This verse comes at the tail end of the Psalmist writing that God provides for all the earth and that He does not delight in the strength of things other than Himself.  This verse tells us that God favors those men who fear Him.  Those who, instead of giving in to sinful temptations, wait on God for deliverance from this evil found within that is waging war against our souls.  Instead of seeking solutions apart from God for all of life's problems, we wait on God for deliverance.  God's strength is the only strength that God is pleased with.  As men, all we are required to do is wait for His lovingkindness to come to our rescue, when God renews our strength with His strength.  The Lord favors those who fear Him, not those who run around trying to find solutions outside of God.

PSALM 142-BEING LONELY IN A WORLD FULL OF PEOPLE

I cry aloud with my voice to the LORD; I make supplication with my voice to the LORD.  I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare my trouble before Him.  When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, You knew my path.  In the way where I walk they have hidden a trap for me.  Look to the right and see; For there is no one who regards me; There is no escape for me;  No one cares for my soul.  I cried out to You, O LORD; I said,

“You are my refuge, My portion in the land of the living. Give heed to my cry, For I am brought very low; Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me. Bring my soul out of prison, so that I may give thanks to Your name; The righteous will surround me, for You will deal bountifully with me."