Our emotions get in the way or our reason. I find myself "emoting" sometimes when it is not necessary. During those times I pray and read the Word until the emotion leaves and the reason returns.
When reason returns I am reminded how much Christ suffered for me and that I too would suffer because of my love for Him.
Because He suffered my sins have been no longer accounted to me, and with that comes many forms of persecution.
Isaiah 1:18
"18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
John 15:18
"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you."
Matthew 10:22
"And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved."
For the sake of us old foggies who grew up during a time when we were taught proper English and punctuation, not to mention speech principles, could all those under the age of 30 please, slow down your speech and enunciate your words so that they can be understood?
My intention is not to be critical but rather to instruct. I was at a doctors' office recently and the nurse spoke so fast with such slurring of her words that I had to assert twice, that I could not understand her. At first I think she thought I meant that I didn't understand her instructions and repeated them to me. After a couple of times like this I finally had to explain that she needed to slow down and pronounce her words more clearly.
At first I used the word "enunciate", she looked puzzled as though she didn't understand what the word meant so I changed to another word "pronounce."
The sad thing is that so many young people have been allowed, in school and by parents, to practice a lazy form of communication so long, that they don't know something is wrong. Somewhere along the way, teachers and parents permitted this laziness in speech.
I have to assume that many students never had to get in front of the class and give a report, when grading was based on diction as well as content.
Sadly the easier we are on the children, with the intent on becoming their pals, the less the children will learn. We must stop attempting to be friends with students and become their instructors requiring excellence in everything they do, making them redo anything that does not measure up, while requiring things to be done on time.
I have also met many young people who do not understand the concept of being on time. They show up to things when they feel like it, unless it is a formal occasion where everyone must be on time to participate, such as a wedding or doctor appointment. This shows me that they can be on time if they really want to.
Young people have been taught by example and lack of incentive to only do that which gets them by, while courting an attitude that no one else really matters.
I was attracted to a couple of books that someone recommended to me because of a conversation we had on this subject. The books are "Weapons of Mass Instruction" and "Dumbing Us Down" by a man named "Gatto." I have yet to finish the books, but the point is well taken, that our educational system is producing drones, being indoctrinated in liberal thinking while withholding needed instruction in important skills such as reading, writing and arithmetic.
The best thing any parent can do for their children now, is to remove them from public institutions or never enter them in first place. The longer they go to these places the more corrupt they become, learning to think as they are told to think rather than being taught how to think for themselves.
The young people believe they are thinking for themselves when in fact they are parroting what their teachers have fed them day after day. When we realize that teachers spend much more time with our children than we do, we have to believer their influence is much greater. When we send our children to be taught by others, our children elevate those "professionals", as they see it, above their parents.
Never in the Word of God do we see the concept of a "public school", where the children go to learn in mass. We are also taught by the public school system that everyone should have the ability to attend college, even if their natural bent does not show they would be interested in that form of education.
College provides an education for certain skills, but many other forms of education can be much more beneficial without the immense cost that is required for one to go to college.
I am a fan of apprenticeship, the young adult has the opportunity to work one on one with a person or group of people to learn a skill that will make them a decent living.
There are many jobs that do not require college that can bring in good wages if one is willing to start at the bottom and work their way up as they show diligence and excellence.
I realize that there are occupations that require a college degree to be hired, but there are so many more that do not. If a person has lots of money, or will earn it to go to college then I say go for it, as long as you are not going into debt to do it and you have a particular skill you are going for, otherwise look for the natural bent in your interests and go for that through programs you can afford.
If we could just teach diligence to our young people and respect for the principles of God, we would see so many youth blossom.
Provebs 6:6-11
Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise,
7 Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler,
8 Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest.
9 How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep—
11 So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.
Proverbs 10:4
"A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich."
Proverbs 12:24
"The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor."
2 Peter 1:5-7
"For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love."
ABOVE ALL, SEEK THE LORD FOR YOUR CALLING AND OBEY HIS PRINCIPLES IN ALL YOU DO AND HE WILL GUIDE YOU.
Isaiah 58:11
""And the LORD will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail."
God will make us successful in whatever He has for us, it may not mean lots of money, but our success will be spiritually and He will always give us enough materially.
No where in the Word of God do we see a suggestion to celebrate any other ceremonial observance than the Lord's supper.
All our human traditions, holidays that have been integrated with paganism, are not of God. He never directed us to celebrate His birth, nor did He tell us to set aside a special day for the celebration of His resurrection.
If we love "resurrection day", as a day to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, then don't call it by a pagan name, "Easter." However why would we desire a separate holiday from what God gave us. He gave us the Lord's supper that already celebrates His resurrection and His first century church never celebrated His birth.
No one is condemned because they have stayed with their human traditions, that elevate Christ, however when a human tradition is practiced over a God ordained celebration such as the Lord's supper, that tradition of men always without fail, degenerates. Because it is not based on Christ, rather the name of Christ was attached to the original pagan practices, it is not blessed by God.
Notice that the humanistic celebrations of Easter and Christmas are nearly out of control in terms of celebration and spending on material goods, while the Lord's supper is being neglected and ignored.
When you attend a family gathering on these man made holidays, take notice of whether or not the crowd is focused on Christ. Ask yourself the question, "is Christ elevated here, in more than just the prayer over the meal?" Another question might be "does anyone speak of the Lord, seek prayer and Bible reading at this gathering?"
My personal encounters, suggests to me, that most people experience what I have, the gatherings are not only, not focused on Christ, they even violate His principles in many ways.
The original reason for my disdain for the man made holidays was all the activities that I was raised with. I saw revelry, gift giving, one-up-manship in the giving, money spent on personal pleasure while ministries were neglected and much more that dishonored Christ, and all of this was done by "Christians." Christ was not elevated while sin was tolerated. The music that played throughout the celebration were secular people singing Christmas songs, not necessarily Christian, people like Elvis, Sinatra and other wicked secular performers were the means of edification to the people at the group. Those who were avoided were the Christians who were not comfortable with all of this.
One of the most aggravating things for me is to watch activities at these holidays, "Easter" and "Christmas", being enjoyed by Christians including all the trappings of the pagan holidays such as "Easter Eggs" and "Santa Clause." Can anyone tell me where in the Word of God does He ever tell us to celebrate these holidays, or tell us to be sure to enjoy the easter eggs, bunnies, Santas and Elves? And, yet many believers are doing these things, elevating fantasy above Christ, while in the process teaching the children that Christ, Santa, bunnies and elves are all fairy stories to enjoy.
It is bad enough that we have added man made holidays to our Christianity, but even worse when we dilute the message of the cross, the gospel, by adding fairy tales making all of it equal.
We might ask why the next generation does not take Christ seriously? The answer is that they have been raised and indoctrinated for many years with their yearly holidays of all these pagan entities. The youth take Christ as seriously as they take all these other cartoon characters, with little regard.
So many think these things are innocuous, but we can see where it has led, our youth are only interested in entertainment and personal gratification. Worship has become a dirty word, boring and uninteresting because it does not entertain us, but is designed by God to elevate and bless Him.
Let us consider asking the Lord to remove from our hearts anything that does not bless Him. We never do anything in isolation, all our activities suggest things to others about us and about our God. Nothing is without consequences, we either elevate Christ in our life or we do not. No one will be perfect in this matter of elevating Christ, but may I suggest that the holidays have had a monstrous impact on the children, effecting their view of Christ making it harder to reach them with the gospel.
Something to think about! If you feel you must continue with the holidays, perhaps it can be a time of reflection on Christ alone, dropping all the pagan practices and trappings that have diverted attention away from Christ.
Prayer doesn't work, it's merely words, God works He is a person and cares about those who are His.
When we pray it matters very much who we pray to. If we pray to a false god then the prayer goes into the air and falls to the ground. Many people are praying to false gods or into the air thinking all they have to do is speak something and it comes to them by their sheer willpower. These are useless new age banterings that mean nothing but make the person speaking feel better.
The same attitude is employed with speaking at grave sites to the person in the ground. People think that the dead person can hear them, when they cannot. The practice of speaking to dead people is pagan, having no value at all except to bring good feelings.
When a born again believer speaks to God, beginning with the statement that we are desiring His will, no matter what it is, then we will hear from God. He will say, either yes or no or wait. Whether or not we accept His will, shows us what our faith is really all about.
Are we praying to get what we want from God while caring little if anything about what He wants for us? Or, are we praying to God to bring our requests and including our desire to be in His will, even if it means not getting what we want?
1 Thessalonians 5:18 -" In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
1 Thessalonians 4:3 - "For this is the will of God, [even] your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:"
1 John 2:16-17 - For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."
Romans 12:2 -" And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
John 6:38-40 - For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me."
Christ Who is God obeyed the Father's will and He expects us to seek His will too.
Luke 6:46 - And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Romans 12:1 - "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service."
Matthew 28:19 - "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:"
Matthew 7:21-23 -"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
Matthew 6:33 -"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
Repentance does not mean to turn around and go the other way as so many of us used to believe, it means to "change one's mind."
When we realized that Christ does all the work in us, then changing our actions does not save us or help us, it is changing our mind toward sin and toward Christ, desiring to be changed by Christ that is in the heart of someone whom God will change.
When we stop trying to be good of our own effort, is when Christ will begin His work in us. Our futile efforts just lead to the sin of pride. However, confessing to God that we are unable to be good enough, is the first step in humility and submission.
Without humility and submission God will not work in us. He must first remove all pride and self sufficiency from us, then He can do His work in us.
James 4:6 "But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."
James 4:7 "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
I have been encountering, once again, people who love to display pictures of a man depicting Christ. I cannot understand why some people do not get this whole matter of idols.
One person said in disgust of modern Christianity, that we would not know Jesus if He came to our door, while showing a picture of a man who was suppose to represent Christ. It seems reasonable to accept this unless one knows the Word of God. My answer to her was this:
"If a man came to our door claiming to be Christ we would know it was not Him because of the scripture that says this: Luke 17:20-25 "20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’[a] For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
22 Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’[b] Do not go after them or follow them. 24 For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. 25 But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation"
It is important to know the word of God. Far too many people are resting their faith on human thinking because they do not know their Bibles, these are the people who will be fooled into following a man or doctrine that is not of God.
The Word of God is our standard for all our thinking, not emotional desires. I shiver when I looked at that photo because I came out of the Catholic church and left behind all the idols, statues, pictures and rituals that permeated that religion. I am finished with anything fleshly. God is Spirit and we must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. If we need something to see we lack faith.
Hebrews 11:1 "11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things NOT seen."
Those who must see a material idol, lack faith and need to go back to the Word to discern what true faith looks like.
John 4:24
"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
The best way to become close to God is to read His Word, pray frequently and obey what He tells us. We can learn to hear the Holy Spirit, when we walk closely with Him we know when He is speaking, and we can discern when we are thinking fleshly, or Spiritually.
Romans 8:1
"8 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Galatians 5:25
"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."
Matthew 12:39
"39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:"
If we require idols of any kind to help us believe, or to remind us of Christ, then we lack faith. Christ lives in every believer, He is Spirit and we walk in the Spirit, therefore we should have no need for a physical sign, except when we lack the faith that Christ lives in us.
Are we ready to eliminate all idols from our lives in favor of that powerful faith in Christ alone.
John 6:28-29
"28Therefore, they said to Him, "What shall we be doing so that we shall be working the works of God?" 29Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you* be believing [or, trusting] in Him whom that One sent."
Objects have no value in our relationship with Christ or our worship, the are detractors from the work of Christ in our Spirit.
Words do not save us. A desire to be cleansed from our sin by Christ is a show of placing faith in Him. He will only change a person if they want to be changed by Him.
Those who would rather change themselves through their own effort, will only see a humanly temporary change, not the change that Christ can do. God will let us do things our own way, but it will not be lasting because our flesh gets weary from the trying.
Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Psalm 46:10
"“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
If anyone just wants His blessings and the safety He has to offer, then He will not change them into a new creation and they will not have His blessings.
Proverbs 23:6
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
Psalm 51:17
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise."
Do we want Christ? OR Do we just want His stuff?
"8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
10 And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
12 Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?
13 But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."
Too many people are trying to reach God by their own efforts, some even demanding of Him as though He owes them something, when in fact, we owe Him everything.
Christ is not a puppet to demand things from nor someone to be ignored except when we need Him. He is not there to help us be a better person, He is the one to change us into what He wants us to be, an entirely different creation from what we were before we trusted Him.
To many think their character is their own project for God, this is wrong. God works in us He makes us new, we cannot make ourselves new because it is done from the inside out, a matter of spiritual change. When we are spiritually changed, then our flesh will follow.
Ephesians 2:10
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them."
