Day: September 27, 2017

​Lyndia Tate

Lyndia Tate

True Riches! There is constant friction among

people who are depraved in mind and

deprived of the truth and who imagine that

godliness is a means of gain. But godliness

with contentment is great gain, for we

brought nothing into the world, and we cannot

take anything out of the world. But if we have

food and clothing, with these we will be

content. But those who desire to be rich fall

into temptation, into a snare, into many

senseless and harmful desires that plunge

people into ruin and destruction. For the love

of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is

through this craving that some have

wandered away from the faith and pierced

themselves with many pangs (1 Tim.

6:6-10). I know your works. You are neither

cold nor hot. You are lukewarm. You say, I

am rich, I have prospered, and I need

nothing. I counsel you to buy from me gold

refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and

white clothes so that you may clothe yourself

and the shame of your nakedness may not be

seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that

you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove

and discipline, so be zealous and repent

(Rev. 3:15-19). Whoever trusts in his riches

will fall (Prov. 11:28). The blessing of the

LORD makes rich (Prov. 10:22). Jesus said

to him (the rich young ruler) If you would be

perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to

the poor, and you will have treasure in

heaven; and come, follow me. When the

young man heard this he went away

sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And

Jesus said to his disciples, Truly, I say to

you, only with difficulty will a rich person

enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt.

19:21-23). I saw a great vanity under the

sun; one person who has no other, either son

or brother, yet there is no end to all His toil,

and his eyes are never satisfied with riches,

so that he never asks, For whom am I toiling

and depriving myself of pleasure? This also

is vanity and an unhappy business. Better is

a handful of quietness than two hands full of

toil and striving after wind (Eccl. 4:7,8,6).

Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the

land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight

yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give

you the desires of your heart (Psa. 37:3-4).

Seek first the kingdom of God and His

righteousness, and all these things shall be

added to you (Matt. 6:33). Blessings all the

way home, Randy.

Paula Maillet — September 26Choose Your Weapons Wisely

Paula Maillet — September 26

Choose Your Weapons Wisely

“For though we walk in the flesh,

we do not war according to the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds…”

2 Corinthians 10:3-4

We have a vicious enemy who is committed to destroying us. He is behind every foul, rotten thing that happens in this world. He is a supernatural being who can see things we can’t, and who has power above ours.

Does that mean we are sitting ducks for him? For most – yes.

For the few who know the Scripture’s prescription for confronting this evil being …no. It’s “no,” for those who use the teaching of the Word of God rather than trying to use human reasoning and human methods to fight the enemy.

When something bad happens, do you “try to make it better” using your human efforts? Have you noticed that that doesn’t work?

Confronting a supernatural enemy using the weapons God has made available to us makes all the difference in the world. So what ARE the weapons?

Knowing and applying the Word of God, accompanied by fasting and prayer. Notice that these are what Jesus himself used when he walked the shores of Galilee. Will that always change the circumstances?

Sometimes. More often than not it will change YOU. God uses the hard things of life to develop us, to mature us, to make our lives successful.

Jesus still had to go to the cross. But that one act changed the eternities of many, many people. Paul still had to remain in prison. But while in prison he wrote a large part of the New Testament. What could have been letters lost to history went down in history to become life-changing teaching for us. What we can be SURE of, is that God WILL turn every situation around to the good for those who love him and follow what he has prescribed for us. (Romans 8:28)

Don’t waste your trials and tribulations. Follow the methods your creator has provided and you will be changed and you will find him faithful to turn it all out for the good.

God’s Full ArmourPROPHETIC UPDATE27 September 2017

God’s Full Armour

PROPHETIC UPDATE

27 September 2017

Double Standards ISIAH 5:20-23

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink, who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away justice from the righteous man!” One of the most incomprehensible things in life is the way the media is against Israel and Christians. Anything which looks like it might disadvantage Muslims, however, will be commented on by the interantional media, naming the “perpetrator”. How many Christians have been murdered in Syria? And not only Christians, but also their own Muslim allies. And what does the media do? They mention a few cases and that is the end of it – only the statistics, for example, “a bomb exploded and 50 people died”. We never hear about the incident again.

In America the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church of the USA and the United Methodist Church support organisations like the “Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)” movement, which singles out Israel as the great scape-goat in the Middle East, and pleads for sanctions against Israel. But not one word from them is ever heard about all the Christians killed in the Middle East.

The same trend is seen in the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches. They will criticize Israel daily but they will never say anything about the Muslims’ “holy war”.

In Britain, gangs of Muslim youths have been capturing, torturing and raping school girls for years. The authorities have been keeping this quiet for a long time, and they have not done anything to stop it. According to Peter McGloughlin’s book, “Easy Meat: Inside Britain’s Grooming Gang Scandal” literally thousands of British girls have been raped and the authorities have kept this quiet. The reason is fear. They are afraid that they would be branded as racists and Muslim haters if they make this known.

We see this trend everywhere today. People are easily labelled racist or haters of any non-Christian religion. But it seem to be acceptable when Christians are called everything that is bad, and the facts are not verified.

Paul says this too, in 2 Tim. 3:12-13, and this is how it is in the end-times: “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

Answers From the Book

Answers From the Book

QUESTION: I heard a statement saying, “Don’t be Ishmael.” What does this mean?

ANSWER: Abram (Abraham) and Sarah (Sarai) were getting older. The Lord had blessed them in many ways, but He had not blessed them with children. Abraham asked the Lord about this and in Genesis 15:5 we have the Lord’s reply, “And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.” Abraham’s seed would be of greater number than all the stars in the sky.

Sarai acted like many of us do. Sarai was trying to help God fulfill His promises, and that is something we do not need to do. She knew the Lord had promised Abraham many children. She considered herself too old to bear children, so she sent Abraham into Hagar so that he might have a child with her. We read in Genesis 16:1-3, “Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.” Although it was Sarai’s idea to have Abraham sleep with her servant, she soon began to hate her. We read in verse 6, “Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.” To avoid being mistreated, Hagar ran away. We then read in verses 11-12, “And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name ISHMAEL; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” Ishmael is considered to be Abraham’s son ‘after the flesh’. He was not the promised son, even though Abraham prayed that he might be.

Genesis 17:18-21 says, “And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.” Because Ishmael was the son of Abraham, the Lord did bless him exceedingly, but the one through whom God’s covenant would be established was Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah. In fact, we read in Genesis 22:1-2, “And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, THINE ONLY SON ISAAC, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” Of course, Isaac was not the ONLY SON of Abraham, but he was the only son that the Lord recognized as being Abraham’s lineage through whom the blessings of Abraham would come, establishing Israel through his seed.

Ishmael was a product of a lack of faith. Sarah did not believe she would be the one to produce the seed that the Lord promised Abraham. Ishmael is also a type of compromise. Abraham and Sarah grew tired of waiting for the Lord to provide the promised seed. They fretted over being too old and so used Hagar to give them a son, thinking this could be the one promised. Instead of waiting on Him, they compromised and acted according to human reasoning. Oh, how we fail when we lose faith and compromise the truth of God. We read in Galatians 6:8-9, “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

​J.C. Ryle

J.C. Ryle

Be On Guard Against False Doctrine

Let us be on our guard against false doctrine. Unsound faith will never be the mother of really sound practice, and in these latter days, departures from the faith abound. See then that your loins be girded about with truth, and be very jealous of receiving anything which cannot be proved by the Bible.

Do not think for a moment that false doctrine will meet you face to face, saying, “I am false doctrine, and I want to come into your heart.” Satan does not go to work in that way. He dresses up false doctrine like Jezebel — he paints her face and attires her hair, and tries to make her like truth. Do not think that those who preach error will never preach anything that is true. Error would do little harm if that was the case. No! Error will come before you mingled with much that is sound and scriptural. ~ J.C. Ryle

​Streams in the Desert – September 26

Streams in the Desert – September 26
2017Sep 26
We walk by faith, not by appearance (2 Cor. 5:7, RV).
By faith, not appearance; God never wants us to look at our feelings. Self may want us to; and Satan may want us to. But God wants us to face facts, not feelings; the facts of Christ and of His finished and perfect work for us.
When we face these precious facts, and believe them because God says they are facts, God will take care of our feelings.
God never gives feeling to enable us to trust Him; God never gives feeling to encourage us to trust Him; God never gives feeling to show that we have already and utterly trusted Him. God gives feeling only when He sees that we trust Him apart from all feeling, resting on His own Word, and on His own faithfulness to His promise. Never until then can the feeling (which is from God) possibly come; and God will give the feeling in such a measure and at such a time as His love sees best for the individual case.
We must choose between facing toward our feelings and facing toward God’s facts. Our feelings may be as uncertain as the sea or the shifting sands. God’s facts are as certain as the Rock of Ages, even Christ Himself, who is the same yesterday, today and forever.
“When darkness veils His lovely face

I rest on His unchanging grace;

In every high and stormy gale,

My anchor holds within the veil.”

Oswald Chambers 

The “Go” of RenunciationBy Oswald Chambers
…someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” —Luke 9:57 
Our Lord’s attitude toward this man was one of severe discouragement, “for He knew what was in man” (John 2:25). We would have said, “I can’t imagine why He lost the opportunity of winning that man! Imagine being so cold to him and turning him away so discouraged!” Never apologize for your Lord. The words of the Lord hurt and offend until there is nothing left to be hurt or offended. Jesus Christ had no tenderness whatsoever toward anything that was ultimately going to ruin a person in his service to God. Our Lord’s answers were not based on some whim or impulsive thought, but on the knowledge of “what was in man.” If the Spirit of God brings to your mind a word of the Lord that hurts you, you can be sure that there is something in you that He wants to hurt to the point of its death.
Luke 9:58. These words destroy the argument of serving Jesus Christ because it is a pleasant thing to do. And the strictness of the rejection that He demands of me allows for nothing to remain in my life but my Lord, myself, and a sense of desperate hope. He says that I must let everyone else come or go, and that I must be guided solely by my relationship to Him. And He says, “…the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
Luke 9:59. This man did not want to disappoint Jesus, nor did he want to show a lack of respect for his father. We put our sense of loyalty to our relatives ahead of our loyalty to Jesus Christ, forcing Him to take last place. When your loyalties conflict, always obey Jesus Christ whatever the cost.
Luke 9:61. The person who says, “Lord, I will follow You, but…,” is the person who is intensely ready to go, but never goes. This man had reservations about going. The exacting call of Jesus has no room for good-byes; good-byes, as we often use them, are pagan, not Christian, because they divert us from the call. Once the call of God comes to you, start going and never stop.
   
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WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The attitude of a Christian towards the providential order in which he is placed is to recognize that God is behind it for purposes of His own.  Biblical Ethics, 99 R