Walking Carefully Yet Without a Care: Walking the Razor Edge

Philippians 4:6-8
King James Version
6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-8
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
6 Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.

7 And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 5:15-16
King James Version
15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,

16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Ephesians 5:15-16
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
15 Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise (sensible, intelligent people),

16 Making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil.

I am pondering these verses today. How can we walk both circumspectly, taking great care AND yet take care for nothing? There are no contradictions in the Bible so how are both of these statements true.

I think the keys lie in “letting God” transform us instead of trying to self help ourselves into godliness and a radical shift of trusting and believing God.

My testimony. I had crohn’s disease for a very long time, close to 18 years. For 18 years I had to take care about everything I ate, limiting drama and vexation, how much I slept, not overdoing it etc. Everything I did was so consequential. I was trained by the world and sickness to take “care” continuously or else!

I find in walking away from sickness, I need my thinking and habits to be reprogrammed. I am learning to choose foods that are healthy to my body over the ones that simply taste good to my tongue. I am letting go of needing to think intensively about how much or if my body can tolerate foods (I can now do all things in Christ who strengthens me) and instead just tune into the biblical truth of “everything in moderation” and the gift of temperance (self control, more accurately Holy Spirit guided).

When I was healed of all food intolerances, I was surprised to discover I actually full much sooner and had a strong urge to stop eating while there was still plenty of food on my plate. God knows what we need. If we treat our bodies as God’s temple and ask Him to give us the desire to feed it was is healthful and in the right quantities, I believe He will help us in every single detail.

So now, I am much more mindful of not putting things that are toxic to my body in but eat freely of all the healthy things that used to cause me much distress and suffering. I take care to honour God in all things including what I eat and yet I am more and more free of the fear that used to surround eating simple healthy foods that used to grip my life and control my days.

1 Corinthians 10:30-33
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
“30 If I partake [of my food] with thankfulness, why am I accused and spoken evil of because of that for which I give thanks?

31 So then, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you may do, do all for the honor and glory of God.

32 Do not let yourselves be [hindrances by giving] an offense to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God [do not lead others into sin by your mode of life];

33 Just as I myself strive to please [to accommodate myself to the opinions, desires, and interests of others, adapting myself to] all men in everything I do, not aiming at or considering my own profit and advantage, but that of the many in order that they may be saved.”

Why do I take the time to share this? In my healing journey, I have found that when I start to fret and worry about this and that and don’t simply believe what the Word of says and do it without allowing my reasoning and former experiences (remember, I was trained for 18 years to believe that certain wonderfully healthy foods would make me feel very sick) then these symptoms start to creep back in again.

Here is what the Bible says.

Philippians 4:13
“I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].”

A couple of little testimonies to my inner dialogue where these verses came into play.

When I had my last child, I was up many a night as that child just loved to nurse. Historically if I missed sleep for days on end as I did during those 6 months of my life, I ended up feeling ill and lost ability to function. With a houseful of children and my husband at work, that was simply not an option. So every night while I was nursing, I redeemed the time by praying blessings over my children and rejoicing in the preciousness of these gifts from God. I thanked God for multiplying the hours of rest I did get so that I could function well the next day. In hindsight, I should have prayed that I would abound each day. I made it through and did function well through those months. In the end I was led to sleep train this precious one. Now I can from a place of both Word knowledge and experience encourage other moms to embrace those long tiring moment of a needy child being on our laps and use the time to pray powerful, life impacting blessings on a child that perhaps had assignments, or curses or just general health issues at play. All my children are now excellent sleepers. I am truly thankful for the lessons God taught me during the “night watches” of motherhood.

Regarding food, I went about 10 years or more without really being able to digest fruit and vegetables and other things high in fiber and the like. Eating these things led to such a disturbance in my bowels that the pain alone made them unworthy of consumption. I had two life saving surgeries that radically reduced the amount of essential internal plumbing I have that most people rely on to digest their food. So in the natural, there was virtually nothing to be done other than avoid the foods that were hurtful and try to supplement in the nutrition that I missed out on via these other healthy foods. I was spending time with God, and I remember hearing “Why do you believe that you cannot do what I say you can do?”. I was convicted. “I say you can do all things in Me who strengthens you” The mental math picture popped into my brain and the thought came next “If you can only digest 5% in the natural, Christ will do the other 95% for me”…. Truly I CAN do ALL things in Christ who strengthens me so surely I can digest some grapes, nuts etc. So I took Him at His Word. To this day, these words echo through my heart every time one of those lingering thoughts come and I am tempted to be careful, fearful of eating certain foods. I speak out loud these same promises and remind myself that I will take care for nothing and can do all things including digesting this bit of food I am eating.

Does anyone remember the rage of the book “Wheat Belly” or something similar? I remember all sorts of homeschooling mamas suddenly trying to convince everyone that the wheat we eat is so unnatural and unhealthful that it is causing most of the digestive distress in the world. That of course and eating dairy…. So suddenly I was faced with a temptation to have to give up two of the only foods I could still eat at the time. Then God revealed these verses to me.

Psalm 81:15-16
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
“15 [Had Israel listened to Me in Egypt, then] those who hated the Lord would have come cringing before Him, and their defeat would have lasted forever.

16 [God] would feed [Israel now] also with the finest of the wheat; and with honey out of the rock would I satisfy you.”

Exodus 3:8
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
“8 And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand and power of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a land good and large, a land flowing with milk and honey [a land of plenty]—to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.”

Now why would God promise to feed me with the finest wheat if he never intended me to eat any of it? Why did Jesus choose bread of all things to represent His Word and Himself in our daily lives if the wheat it is made from is harmful to me? If eating sweetened foods was a sin and drinking milk was unnatural to my body, why would He bring me into a land flowing with sweet honey and milk? Before jumping onto one of these latest phases and crazes, I am learning to consult God’s Word on the matter.

There are those who say that fruit is now bad because it is full of sugar and that nuts are bad because they have the wrong kind of fat… I can say with confidence that God has given me the fruit of the trees as food so I can eat them with thanksgiving and praise Him for making them so delightful to my tasted buds.

This is simply my own testimony. A little glimpse of my own personal experiences with God. I have found that we cannot live by or act on the “rhema” (Word of God revealed to another with unction and understanding and ability to apply it and live by it) of another person. God must reveal it to our own hearts with the verses that our hearts and mind can embrace and with that anointing to believe it and act on what we hear. So I am NOT sharing these things to condemn, judge or suggest that you should change your lifestyle. I share them to say that truly truly all things are possible with God and as we come to know Him more and hear Him better, He faithfully delivers us and empowers us to walk in greater and greater blessing and freedom. I share hopefully to bring hope that things can change and yes, that God’s Word is absolutely true “Yes and Amen in Christ”.

In short, this rhema revelation has been part of the core promises that God revealed to walk me out of the bondage I formerly lived in both to sleep deprivation and food intolerances. I pray you will increase in your knowing of God and your ability to hear Him and be blessed by His abundance and lavish generosity and favour.

With love in Christ.

Antidote to Accusation and Blame: Weapons of our Warfare 1(example Blame Game in Garden of Eden)

How to we avoid falling into the pitfalls, snares and temptations laid before us? I will try to tackle this topic in a series of posts and would appreciate your suggestions and contributions on the tactics and antidotes God brings to your minds.

2 Corinthians 10 BSB “……3For though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. 4 The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We tear down arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

https://biblehub.com/2_corinthians/10-4.htm If you would like to see other verses pertaining to our weapons, please check out this link as it is a helpful tool to become familiar with.

This is literally one of the oldest tactics in the book… If you sin against God, justify and excuse your own behavious by casting the blame on someone else.

Antidote 1: Acknowledge that to blame/accuse others breaks the greatest of God’s commandments. 1st, in doing so, we are not sincerely repenting for and acknowledging our sin. He says against Him alone have we sinned. Hence we culturally have been trained to break the two greatest commandments and think it is so normal to do that we often miss it. The first commandment to love God with all and we are breaking the second greatest to love others as Christ loved us.

Antidote 2: Meditate on the fact that God categorically rejected this tactic.

Note in the verse below that God held all three parties involved to account and blaming others did not gain them any mercy or pardon. God will hold us all to account regardless if someone else tempted us to break His Word.

“9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.”

This blame game will not fly in God’s courtroom

Antidote 3: Not the least of the 3, eyes on Jesus.

Hebrews 12:2 Berean Study Bible “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart”

Antidote 4: Recognize that God has promised redemption and forgiveness to the repentant who are willing to take responsibility for their actions.

2 Chronicles 34:26-28
New Living Translation
26 “But go to the king of Judah who sent you to seek the Lord and tell him: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the message you have just heard: 27 You were sorry and humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this city and its people. You humbled yourself and tore your clothing in despair and wept before me in repentance. And I have indeed heard you, says the Lord. 28 So I will not send the promised disaster until after you have died and been buried in peace. You yourself will not see the disaster I am going to bring on this city and its people.’”

So they took her message back to the king.”

This passage floored me. God delayed His wrath on an entire generation for the sake of one sincerely repentant man. God is merciful and faithful to the repentant. We must never forget the profound depths of His mercy towards such a one.

Master Key to the Kingdom

1 Corinthians 2:2-5King James Version”2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”

I have been meditating on this passage. “I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified”.

Who Jesus is, who we are in Him and what He has fully accomplished on the cross impact absolutely every part of our lives. Our perspective is perpetually amiss if we see things through any other lens than who Jesus is and what He has done.

It dawned on me that every need we have, every single can be satisfied in knowing , understanding fully and in truth, the Lord Jesus Christ (this means an intimate and continuous relationship with Him) and getting a revelation of everything that He accomplished on the cross. The gospel is very simple and is expressed fully in this passage of scripture. Knowing Jesus and Him crucified are the master keys that unlock every door of the Kingdom.

Areas of intense impact. (Oh, and I get it, there is likely/ possibly something on this list that will potentially contradict what you believe, that’s ok. Let me know what it is and I can send you the verses that each is based on as there are many verses to support each statement)

  1. We can now live under the New Covenant
  2. We can now inherit every benefit and blessing outlined in Jesus’ Last Will and Testament (these are huge)
  3. We live within a complete hedge of protection like Job did before and after His time of “sifting” as we get a revelation that we are now the righteousness of Christ in HIM.
    1. Job 1 KJV “Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.”
  4. We can do everything that scripture says we can, including heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, live in perfect peace, live in radical health, walk blamelessly AND we now have the capacity in Him to stop sinning as part of our general lifestyle Mark 16:16-20 see also post https://healinganddiscipleship.com/2019/08/13/the-call-to-be-holy-blameless-and-spotless/
  5. We really can to do everything He says we can in Him, and through Him (the list is mind blowing and extensive) “We can do all things in Christ who strenghthens us”

The Law The Ministry of Righteousness The Ministry of Condemnation???? (Paul’s Thorn an exploration)

This is one of those topics that just seem to elude my understanding and slip through my grasp so many times. And this week, I was blessed with iron sharpening iron and the picture has come dramatically more into focus. Not perfectly in focus mind you but much much clearer.

In my mind I have a picture of a page with the Words… I havent unlocked how to format this in wordpress so I will do my best.

THE WORD OF GOD

The Ministry of Grace, Blessings and Life VS The Ministry of Condemnation, Death and curses

And beneath all the verses that pertain to these things.

I also have the image of God’s courtroom in my mind, where the enemy is accusing the brethren day and night. I have the image of me standing as the accused before God.

Revelation 12:10 KJV “10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”

I have the picture of the perfect Judge, the Lord Almighty speaking to me before the trial opens with these words from Deuteronomy 30. He tells me the terms of His courtroom and than invites, nigh, almost pleads with me to choose life.s

19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:20 That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

I hear in His words the echo of the choice He set before Adam and Eve, here are two trees, the Tree of Life (I believe this is Jesus Christ and His Word) and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (I believe this is self rule and self will and choosing that our own reasoning and understanding is greater and more greatly to be trusted than God’s Word)

I hear God giving the same message in both. If you obey me, I give you all of these things, I will fellowship with you, I will bless you and give you all things pertaining to life and godliness.

2 Peter 1:2-4 KJV “2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

You have only two choices before you, submit to God and build your life on believing Him utterly and obeying Him completely out of Love…. Noah, Abraham, Job, Moses, Joshua were such men… and reap blessings and life abundantly.

OR

Choose to apply your own understanding to God’s Word and elevate your own intellect and reasoning above the Word of God… King Saul, Samson, and too many other kings mentioned in the Bible to list… and reap the penalties for rebellion… and live under curses, death, shame and condemnation.

My I think “Aha” moment came when I realized these are all part of the same eternally consistent, legally binding, absolutely just, absolutely unchanging Word of God… and what some I have learned refer to as the Law of God…. The legally binding elements of His Word.

Back to the court room picture. I stand as the defendant. If I have the wisdom through studying the Word of God to obey the Lord’s instructions in these circumstances, I quickly agree with my accuser…

Matthew 5:25 KJV “25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.”

I accept Jesus Christ’s impossibly generous gift of paying the penalty by enduring the tortures and death and persecutions that He went through for my sake and I “plead the blood of Christ” “Yes I am guilty of all that He says, I deserve all that he demands, but I stand before you a free woman as this marvellous wondrous Saviour has paid my penalty in full. I am eternally His and My life and every judgement you try to level at me has been marked by the blood of Jesus. Therefore address all your accusations to my Advocate and to the Judge. I have no defense. And yet I stand here utterly accepted and forgiven, sealed by the blood of Christ and the Holy Spirit.”.

If I am in the flesh, in the mindset of the world, in what the Word of God calls foolishness, I quickly jump to my own defense, I argue about how I was certainly justified, falsely accused, I reason that anyone would have done the same in my shoes, I convince myself more than anyone else that my self righteousness is worthy enough argument to dismiss all charges…. and even in taking up my own defense act in utter rebellion against God’s own Word and Law. My case is closed and my file stamped with guilty, condemned and sentenced to every curse written in the Word and death.

If I am understanding this rightly, this one thing. Whether or not I sincerely accept Jesus and Lord and submit to Him utterly as master of every aspect of my life and I live under the ministry of GRACE…. I now qualify to live under GRACE… I have agreed with God to study His Word passionately, to submit to His correction, to His washing, to HIs convictions and to repent, be moldable, be sincere, walk with integrity and to adhere to His regulations as He has outlined them in HIS Word directed to those walking under the ministry of GRACE. Every blessing of the Word of God has been opened to me as a citizen of His Kingdom. The same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, is now quickening my mortal body, leading me into all truth, I am hiding the Word in my heart regularly that I might not sin against Him. When I falter, He convicts me, counsels me, raises me up, renews me, empowers me, changes my desires as I seek Him. He lives in me, He never fails me, He never forsakes me and He showers my life with mercy and grace.

As one under grace, my primary training comes through intimate ongoing fellowship with the Son, in studying His Word continuous, fellowshipping with the saints, in submitting to other believers, in submitting to the loving correction of my Heavenly Father, in continuous ongoing incessant praise and thanksgiving… yes, God certainly sets boundaries for such a one, and the closer one draws to Christ, the less appealing even approaching those boundaries becomes. The punitive rod of correction is minimally required as the heart of such a one is so tender and responsive to the slightest rebuke of the Master and longs and takes such great delight in pleasing/living for Him. Thank God He is still faithful to allow us to experience the consequences of walking outside of His will so we can recognize that we have left the right path.

OR I choose to continue to be my own God, refusing to obey Him and submit utterly to His Word. Here is what the Word of God says about such a one. Condemned, subject to sin, subject to the beggarly elements of this world, destined to die and suffer eternal separation from God, subject to every curse written in God’s Word.

John 3:17-19 KJV 17 “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

Such a one lives under the curses of the fool listed in Proverbs. The rod is constantly required and still they refuse to turn and be healed. There is hardness of heart, intense self will, and rejection of God, His Lordship, His Word and His Law.

Proverbs 26:2-4 KJV ” As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. 3 A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool’s back. 4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.”

Proverbs 9:8-10 KJV “8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. 9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.”

Proverbs 13:1-3 “13 A wise son heareth his father’s instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke. 2 A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence. 3 He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.”

There are many such verses that I pray will now leap out to you as you read… There are so many promises directed to those marked and sealed as righteous… and also so many curses that those who are marked as rebels/condemned may suffer.

John 5:23-25 “23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. 24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

2 Corinthians 3 ESV “Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnationthe ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.”

Acts 20:24 ESV “24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Romans 8:1-4 KJV “8 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

So in the simplest terms possible, I believe there is the Law of God, but there are two separate ministries under that Law. The Bible tells us the default setting is condemned per John 3 above. For those who are condemned it a source of condemnation, fear, feeling judged, wrath, buffetting etc.

But when we accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord (truly submit to Him in all areas of our life). For Kingdom citizens the Law is a source of guidance, protection, healing, favour, blessing, security, hope, joy, peace.

Let’s look at the root language of these words.

from https://biblehub.com/greek/1248.htm

definition ministry:

diakonia: service, ministryOriginal Word: διακονία, ας, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: diakonia
Phonetic Spelling: (dee-ak-on-ee’-ah)
Definition: service, ministry
Usage: waiting at table; in a wider sense: service, ministration.

HELPS Word-studies

Cognate: 1248 diakonía – ministry; active service, done with a willing (voluntary) attitude. See 1249 (diakonos).

For the believer, 1248 /diakonía (“ministry”) specifically refers to Spirit-empowered service guided by faith (4102 /pístis, “the Lord’s inbirthed persuasion“).

[Observe the close connection of faith (4102 /pístis) and 1248 (diakonía) in Ac 6:1-7,21:19,20; Ro 12:3,7; 1 Cor 16:13,15; Eph 4:12,13; 1 Tim 1:12,14; 2 Tim 4:5,7.]

from https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/ministry

Ministry


MIN’ISTRYnoun [Latin ministerium.] The office, duties or functions of a subordinate agent of any kind.

1. Agency; service; aid; interposition; instrumentality.

He directs the affairs of this world by the ordinary ministry of second causes.

2. Ecclesiastical function; agency or service of a minister of the gospel or clergyman in the modern church, or of priests, apostles and evangelists in the ancient. Acts 1:17Romans 12:72 Timothy 4:5Numbers 4:12.

3. Time of ministration; duration of the office of a minister, civil or ecclesiastical.

The war with France was during the ministry of Pitt.

4. Persons who compose the executive government or the council of a supreme magistrate; the body of ministers of state.

5. Business; employment.

He abhorred the wicked ministry of arms.

CONDEMNATION

Word study

Cognate: 2633katákrisis (from 2632/katakrínō, see there) – the sentence of condemnation handed down after someone is found decidedly guilty.

Isn’t this amazing? Decidedly guilty and the sentence handed down to such a one. Most of us believe we can and are swinging wildly back and forth living moment to moment under grace when our performance is good and under condemnation when it is bad. I believe what the Word says is that we are under one or the other. That this is established per the conditions outlined in His Word and that we ultimately choose which one we live under. I do think there are verses indicating that if we repent and turn then we come under righteousness. I also see verses that indicate if we persistently and continually reject the ministration of the Holy Spirit, rejecting His counsels, in other words if we turn from the ministry of grace, then we come back under the ministry of death and condemnation.

Hebrews 10 BSB”…25Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. 26 If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains, 27but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume all adversaries.…”

Confusion comes in when we try to straddle both ministries and live under both.

RIGHTEOUSNESS

https://biblehub.com/greek/1343.htm

HELPS Word-studies

1343 dikaiosýnē (from 1349 /díkē, “a judicial verdict”) – properly, judicial approval (the verdict of approval); in the NT, the approval of God (“divine approval”).

1343 /dikaiosýnē (“divine approval“) is the regular NT term used for righteousness (“God’s judicial approval“). 1343 /dikaiosýnē (“the approval of God”) refers to what is deemed right by the Lord (after His examination), i.e. what is approved in His eyes.

I could not help but laugh out loud when I saw the meanings of these words. God showed me the truth in His Word by quickening it to my heart, and the word studies utterly confirmed what He had revealed. He is truly astonishingly good.

Some scriptures to take especial note of

James 2 ESV “8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

Mercy triumps over judgment. Those who walk under the law of liberty (I believe another term for the ministry of righteousness) Therefore we must go forward circumspectly and guard our heart against judging others.

LIBERTY

https://biblehub.com/greek/1657.htm

Strong’s Concordance

eleutheria: liberty, freedomOriginal Word: ἐλευθερία, ας, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: eleutheria
Phonetic Spelling: (el-yoo-ther-ee’-ah)
Definition: liberty, freedom
Usage: freedom, liberty, especially: a state of freedom from slavery.

Matthew 7 KJV “7 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”

1 John 2 “…10Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause of stumbling in him. 11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

Therefore, we need to put aside all bitterness, we can not live under the ministry of righteousness while condemning and judging and not forgiving others. We must understand that there are two central commands on which everything else hangs and on which the judgement over our lives is decided. Love the Lord with all and Love our neighbour. To break these is to be found guilty and sentenced to the ministry of condemnation.

I will continue to add to this post if and as I am led by the Lord. It is in rough form yet so I ask you for grace and forbearance… but what I joy to think of what it means to live as one whom the Lord will not impute their sins.

Romans 4 Berean Study Bible “Blessed are they whose lawless acts are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 8Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”

COVERED

https://biblehub.com/greek/1943.htm

Thayer’s Greek LexiconSTRONGS NT 1943: ἐπικαλύπτω

ἐπικαλύπτω: (1 aorist ἐπεκαλυφθην); to cover over: αἱ ἁμαρτίαι ἐπικαλυπτονται, are covered over so as not to come to view, i. e. are pardoned, Romans 4:7 from Psalm 31:1 ().

Paul’s Thorn… an example of the struggle we have with this reality.

In light of these things, let us revisit Paul’s thorn.

2 Corinthians 12:5-9 “5 On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses— 6 though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. 7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

So Paul, having lived under the ministry of condemnation up until his conversion on the road to Emmeaus shows us he was still working this out. He believed he needed a thorn to minister righteousness to him. He believed a rod of some sort would be the best tool to keep him in line. The Word of God says that “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you”. It is written that the wise learn via instruction, and the fool with a rod to the back per the verses I quoted above. God’s answer to Paul again reveals Paul’s transition from condemnation to grace. God says, Paul you don’t need that thorn anymore, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Do you know what some of the fruits of the knowledge and wisdom of Christ and His Kingdom is? Meekness and humility. The greater the revelation we have if our hearts are right with God, the greater measure of these fruits become possible.

Galatians 5
English Standard Version
5 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.’

The enemy would be delighted to keep us in confusion. He would be delighted to keep us in any form of bondage he can.

James 1:5-8 “5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

I hope to keep adding as I have so many more verses running through my head as the Lord leads into even deeper understanding of these things. The more intimately I grow to know Him, the more clear things become.

Genesis 3:22-23 King James Version 22 “And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.”

Faith as a Mustard Seed: A Glimpse into How God Speaks to Me Personally

Folding laundry, washing dishes, any mundane task of daily life is such a marvelous time to meditate on God’s Word. As my hands work, my mind is free to roll things over and over again and seek the Lord on what He means. My most profound aha moment are often during the most repetitive work of my days.

Tonight as I tackled the mountain of laundry that has built up whilst our washing machine was down, the thought came to me “What kind of faith does a mustard seed actually have?” I have never read it quite that literally before… but since if we have faith as a mustard seed the mountains will be cast into the sea, it is something worth pondering.

And it struck me, a mustard seed does not think at all for itself. It just does as God made it to do. In dying to its present form (a small round seed) and submitting wholly to the transformation process that God has programmed into it at the most profound/core level, it grows into an altogether different shape and form that serves a far greater purpose than what it could while locked in seed form. Is it so simple?

Having faith is a mustard seed is it simply being able to let go of my present state, form, thoughts, beliefs and allow will of God to be fully expressed in my form, actions, thoughts and being? I will continue to ponder this wonderful verse.

I share as some have asked me how do I personally hear things from God. The short answer is I think about His Word often and ask Him continually to show me what it means. And then a thought that doesn’t sound like something I would think it the natural pops into my head, as I mentioned, often while I am taking take of my home and my hands are occupied with some form of simple manual labour. And then I usually share with someone else or write down what I have heard in my journal so that I can meditate on it some more later and seek God especially confirmation in His Word to prove the matter out. Many blessings.

“Making the Word of God of None Effect”

This post contains truths that are little explored, vastly powerful and that the flesh/carnal mind most likely won’t want to hear. It is written for those who are humble, meek and seeking the Lord to become more fruitful and faithful in their walk. I pray for eyes that see and ears that hear and a heart to understand and submit wholly to God and His Word as you read these verses. In Jesus Christ’s precious name.

Mark 7:13 King James Version “13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.”

Ok, So none of us want to hear that there is something that we do, even a few things that we can do that would make even the Word of God of “none effect” and yet the Bible tells us that we do “many such like things” and that we can deliver these same traditions to others.

This means that erroneous traditions and frankly bad teaching can actual block the working of the Word of God.

Some common traditions that I have had to reject whilst learning to walk in health and the promises of God:

  • everything my parents taught me about what to do when I feel a symptom coming on including bed rest, foods to eat and avoid, etc (remember I come from a non-religious background). I will all too likely offend someone if I list them as these are enshrined in our cultural experience and frankly sources of deep comfort to us in times of distress.
  • various mythologies and sayings about things that have the power to make people sick
  • relying on and regularly using supplements, medicines and natural remedies as central props in my health and recovery from sickness
  • giving the reports of doctors and specialists more clout than God’s Word in considering my prognosis
  • the need to self coddle, to desire compassion and caretaking of others
  • the belief that I am in a way a victim of sickness, instead of a victor over sickness in Christ

The renewing of my mind, the exposure and expunging of the traditions of man have been central in my own walk with the Lord and in establishing abundant health, in withstanding sickness and in walking in victory.

Proverbs 4:20-24 English Standard Version

“20 My son, be attentive to my words;
incline your ear to my sayings.
21 Let them not escape from your sight;
keep them within your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them,
and healing to all their flesh.
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life.
24 Put away from you crooked speech,
and put devious talk far from you.”

Revelation 12:10-11 English Standard Version “10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”

We overcome “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony”. If we do not understand the significance of the the blood of the Lamb or if our testimony is corrupted with lies and half-truths, we concede the victory.

Psalm 149 KJV ” 4 For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation. 5 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. 6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; 7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; 8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; 9 To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord.”

The high praises of God are when we praise Him by quoting scripture back to Him in worship and thanksgiving.

James 4:2-4 English Standard Version “2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

As we are capable of asking wrongly, surely we must take care to find out how to ask rightly and seek the Lord’s instruction and correction.

We tend to try to take great comfort in assuaging that little niggly feeling that we might have something to do with why our prayers are not being answered or why we are not seeing abundant Kingdom fruit in our lives. Scripture is blessedly not silent on the whys of why this happens and for those who are willing to humble themselves and seek the Lord’s direction even here, all things can be made perfect in Christ.

Proverbs 25:25-27 English Standard Version “25 Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. 26 Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked. 27 It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one’s own glory.”

There are many dangers in compromising with unrighteousness

Titus 1:15-16 English Standard Version “15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. 16 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.”

Unbelief is surely one of the most overlooked and predominant sins of our time and renders a person “detestable, disobedient and unfit for any good work”.

This post is incomplete.. I hope to come back and develop it more but will publish it in draft form as I think the truths here are powerful and perhaps contain scriptural keys for people to walk in health.

Facts VS Truth… Dispelling that feeling of hypocrisy

2 Corinthians 5:5-7 King James Version
“5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)”

Isaiah 53:1King James Version
“53 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?”

Hebrews 11:1-3 King James Version
“11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”

Matthew 17:20 King James Version
“20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”

1 Peter 2:24 King James Version
“24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”

I am always blessed and amazed when God has me pondering something and then almost immediately the memo gets confirmed through the message of another…

Dear friends, there has never been a season where understanding God’s Word about walking in health, receiving complete healing in our own bodies and being able to minister the healing power of Christ, in Christ, as His body, His mouth, His heart, His expression on Earth has been more important than it is today.

As we come into perhaps the very very end of days, we are warned that 1/3 of the population will die, meditation on Psalm 91 gives us essential keys to walking through such a season in Christ and health

Psalm 91 King James Version
“91 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. 3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. 4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. 5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; 6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. 7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. 8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.”

Please pause and mentally note the condition on these verses… Taking a “jab” or a manmade medicine of any kind, is not the condition. Refusing to take the “jab” is not the condition. There is one condition. “He that dwells in the secret place.”

Human convictions for or against anything will amount to very little in light of the intensity of shakings that we may well witness in the coming times. What will matter is how intimately we know and hear and follow Christ.

So this message made me smile, perhaps cry and laugh all at the same time.. starting at 3hours and 10 minutes in. I recommend the whole video, especially the testimonies which also powerfully confirm what I am hearing from the Lord in my own fellowship time with Him.

I hope to expand this post. Here is the brief summary of what I am hearing.

The facts are very real… they are extremely powerful and include things like the laws of gravity. Facts will rule the day for most people who are of the world, in the world, submitted to the flesh, the appetites and cravings of the physical body, those who put their hope in man and those who refuse to commit wholeheartedly to learn to hear, submit and obey every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

The Truth will overrule all the natural facts. Jesus is not constrained by the facts. If you are in Christ, you are not constrained by the facts.

What does that mean? Please watch the video(s) above and all the verses in this post and see what God shows you and share in the comments. I would be so blessed to hear what He reveals to you.

Matthew 14:27-31 King James Version
“27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. 28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?”

Uprooting the Weeds: Denying Self, Sin and The Appetites of the Flesh

Overview: How to recognize it, deal with it and understand God’s provision for us to overcome sin with His help.

Prayer: “Keep me from deliberate sins. Don’t let them control me. Help me to confess and repent when I fall short and so that I can be cleansed and set totally free.” Psalm 19:13, Psalm 32:5

1.________________________________________________________________________________________

1 Timothy 2:3-7 “…God our Saviour, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men – the testimony given in its proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle – I am telling the truth, I am not lying – and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles.”

Romans 2:3-4 “Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgement when you do the same things? Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?”

2 Samuel 14:14 “All of us must die eventually. Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not just sweep life away; instead, he devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from him.”

2.____________________________________________________

Jeremiah 3:12-22 “Therefore, go and give this message to Israel. This is what the Lord says: “O Israel, my faithless people, come home to me again, for I am merciful. I will not be angry with you forever. Only acknowledge your guilt. Admit that you rebelled against the Lord your God and committed adultery against him by worshiping idols under every green tree. Confess that you refused to listen to my voice. I, the Lord, have spoken! “Return home, you wayward children,” says the Lord, “for I am your master. I will bring you back to the land of Israel— one from this town and two from that family— from wherever you are scattered. And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will guide you with knowledge and understanding. “And when your land is once more filled with people,” says the Lord, “you will no longer wish for ‘the good old days’ when you possessed the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant. You will not miss those days or even remember them, and there will be no need to rebuild the Ark. In that day Jerusalem will be known as ‘The Throne of the Lord.’ All nations will come there to honour the Lord. They will no longer stubbornly follow their own evil desires. In those days the people of Judah and Israel will return together from exile in the north. They will return to the land I gave their ancestors as an inheritance forever. “I thought to myself, ‘I would love to treat you as my own children!’ I wanted nothing more than to give you this beautiful land— the finest possession in the world. I looked forward to your calling me ‘Father,’ and I wanted you never to turn from me. But you have been unfaithful to me, you people of Israel! You have been like a faithless wife who leaves her husband. I, the Lord, have spoken.” Voices are heard high on the windswept mountains, the weeping and pleading of Israel’s people. For they have chosen crooked paths and have forgotten the Lord their God. “My wayward children,” says the Lord, “come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts.” Yes, we’re coming,” the people reply, “for you are the Lord our God.”

3._________________________________________________________

Jeremiah 36:3 “Perhaps the people of Judah will repent when they hear again all the terrible things I have planned for them. Then I will be able to forgive their sins and wrongdoings.”

Exodus 20:6 “But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.”

Numbers 14:18 “The Lord is slow to anger and filled with unfailing love, forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion. But he does not excuse the guilty. He lays the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations.”

5._______________________________________________________________

Ezekiel 18:23-24 ““Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign Lord. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live. However, if righteous people turn from their righteous behaviour and start doing sinful things and act like other sinners, should they be allowed to live? No, of course not! All their righteous acts will be forgotten, and they will die for their sins.”

6.________________________________________________________________

Psalm 51:1-4 “Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night. Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.”

7.______________________________________________________

Colossians 2:13-15 “You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He cancelled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.”

Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.”

7._____________________________________________________

Isaiah 43:25 “I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.”

Psalm 65:3-5 “Though we are overwhelmed by our sins, you forgive them all. What joy for those You choose to bring near, those who live in your holy courts. What festivities await us inside your holy Temple. You faithfully answer our prayers with awesome deeds, O God our saviour. You are the hope of everyone on earth, even those who sail on distant seas.”

Psalm 86:5 “For You, O Lord, are good, and ready to forgive [our trespasses, sending them away, letting them go completely and forever]; and You are abundant in mercy and loving-kindness to all those who call upon You.” [The Amplified]

Psalm 103:12 “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.”

8.____________________________________________________

Romans 5:16-18 “And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ. Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone.”

9.____________________________________________________

Proverbs 3:7-9 “Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones.”

10.________________________________________________________

Hebrews 12:1-3 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honour beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.”

James 5:16 “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”

23.Confession linked to healing
Concordance : healed = G2390 1) to cure, heal 2) to make whole a) to free from errors and sins, to bring about (one’s) salvation

Proverbs 28:13 “People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.”

Psalm 66:17-19 “For I cried out to him for help, praising him as I spoke. If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer.”
(see note on prayer week)

Romans 10:9-10 “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.”

John 6:63-65 “The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But some of you do not believe me.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones didn’t believe, and he knew who would betray him.) Then he said, “That is why I said that people can’t come to me unless the Father gives them to me.”

2 Chronicles 6:24-25 “If your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and if they turn back and acknowledge your name and pray to you here in this Temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and return them to this land you gave to them and to their ancestors.”

1 Corinthians 11:28-32 “That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honouring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died. But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way. Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.”

2 Corinthians 7:1 “Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.”

1 John 1:6-10 “So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.”

2 Kings 22:18-20 “But go to the king of Judah who sent you to seek the Lord and tell him: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the message you have just heard: You were sorry and humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I said against this city and its people—that this land would be cursed and become desolate. You tore your clothing in despair and wept before me in repentance. And I have indeed heard you, says the Lord. So I will not send the promised disaster until after you have died and been buried in peace. You will not see the disaster I am going to bring on this city.’” So they took her message back to the king.”

11.______________________________________________________

Mark 11:25 “But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.”

Psalm 97:10 “You who love the Lord, hate evil! He protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked.”

12._______________________________________________________

Acts 10:43 “He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.”

Romans 3:22-24 “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.”

Romans 8:1-2 “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.”

13._______________________________________________________

Matthew 5:44 “But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!”

14._______________________________________________________

Romans 8:38-39” And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Hebrews 8:12 “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

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1 Corinthians 5:10-12 “But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people. It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning.”

1 Corinthians 5:3-7 “Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the Spirit. And as though I were there, I have already passed judgment on this man in the name of the Lord Jesus. You must call a meeting of the church. I will be present with you in spirit, and so will the power of our Lord Jesus. Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns. Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old “yeast” by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us.”

1 Corinthians 15:32-34 “And what value was there in fighting wild beasts—those people of Ephesus—if there will be no resurrection from the dead? And if there is no resurrection, “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!” Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.” Think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning. For to your shame I say that some of you don’t know God at all.”

16._______________________________________________________
Genesis 6:5-8 “The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.” But Noah found favor with the Lord.”
Even if there is only one righteous person, God spares the one righteous man so do not look to others for their example but always to God

Leviticus 19:16-18 “Do not spread slanderous gossip among your people. “Do not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is threatened. I am the Lord. “Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives. Confront people directly so you will not be held guilty for their sin. “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”

Love your neighbour as yourself stands out. I think this verse explains how to love your neighbour.

1.so fascinating that spreading slanderous among your people… next not stand idly by when your neighbour’s life is threatened. And Jesus ties these two together by saying that when we gossip against someone we are murdering them with our tongue. How often do we become accomplice to this murder by the tongue.

2.Confront people direclty…. if someone is sinning and attacking others, by addressing and confront the behavior we walk in love. So many choose to stew over the things done to them under the guise of overlooking sin and being the bigger person by walking away from conflict when really they are harbouring resentment and increasing the bitterness instead of seeking peace and resolution. One book we own on teaching children conflict resolution from a biblical perspective calls this behaviour peace faking.

Luke 17:3-4 “Pay attention and always be on your guard [looking out for one another]. If your brother sins (misses the mark), solemnly tell him so and reprove him, and if he repents (feels sorry for having sinned), forgive him. And even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and turns to you seven times and says, I repent [I am sorry], you must forgive him (give up resentment and consider the offense as recalled and annulled).”[The Amplified Bible]

1 Corinthians 5:1-13 “I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you—something that even pagans don’t do. I am told that a man in your church is living in sin with his stepmother. You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship. Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the Spirit. And as though I were there, I have already passed judgment on this man in the name of the Lord Jesus. You must call a meeting of the church. I will be present with you in spirit, and so will the power of our Lord Jesus. Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns. Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old “yeast” by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. o let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth. When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people. It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.”

2 Corinthians 2:6-8 “Most of you opposed him, and that was punishment enough. Now, however, it is time to forgive and comfort him. Otherwise he may be overcome by discouragement. So I urge you now to reaffirm your love for him”

1 John 5:16-18 “If you see a Christian brother or sister sinning in a way that does not lead to death, you should pray, and God will give that person life. But there is a sin that leads to death, and I am not saying you should pray for those who commit it. All wicked actions are sin, but not every sin leads to death. We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.”

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Jeremiah 16:17 “I am watching them closely, and I see every sin. They cannot hope to hide from me.”

Ezekiel 11:5 “Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon me, and he told me to say, “This is what the Lord says to the people of Israel: I know what you are saying, for I know every thought that comes into your minds.”

Ezekiel 21:24 “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Again and again you remind me of your sin and your guilt. You don’t even try to hide it! In everything you do, your sins are obvious for all to see. So now the time of your punishment has come!”

John 3:19-21 “And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”

actions were evil… all who do evil hate the light.. there is really no middle ground. If we are embracing intentional sin we are embracing darkness. I definitely notice that people who choose to walk in disobedience love to surround themselves with others who agree with them and walk as they walk, almost like they are trying to block out the light by surrounding themselves with darkness

.

Proverbs 28:13 “People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.

Psalm 32:3-5 “When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.”

Psalm 44:21 “God would surely have known it, for he knows the secrets of every heart.”

Psalm 90:8 “You spread out our sins before you— our secret sins—and you see them all.

Zephaniah 1:12 “I will search with lanterns in Jerusalem’s darkest corners to punish those who sit complacent in their sins. They think the Lord will do nothing to them, either good or bad.”

1 Corinthians 4:5 “So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time—before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.”

Luke 12:1-3 King James Version (KJV)
12 In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
2 For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.
3 Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

From https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+12:1-3&version=KJV

1 Corinthians 5:4-10 King James Version (KJV)
4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.

From https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+5%3A4-10&version=KJV

18._______________________________________________________

[The Message] James 4:7-10 “So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.”

Proverbs 3:7-9 “Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones. Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce.”

19.____________________________________________________
Genesis 1:26-31 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” [KJV]

Psalm 139:14-16 “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” [KJV]

20.____________________________________________________

Genesis 25:22 “But the two children struggled with each other in her womb. So she went to ask the Lord about it. “Why is this happening to me?” she asked.” (Esau and Jacob)

Isaiah 48:8 “Yes, I will tell you of things that are entirely new, things you never heard of before. For I know so well what traitors you are. You have been rebels from birth.”

Isaiah 64:6 “We are all infected and impure with sin.When we display our righteous deeds,they are nothing but filthy rags.Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall,and our sins sweep us away like the wind.”

Numbers 14:18 “The Lord is slow to anger and filled with unfailing love, forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion. But he does not excuse the guilty. He lays the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations.’”

Psalm 51:5 “For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.”


Psalm 58:2-4 “These wicked people are born sinners; even from birth they have lied and gone their own way.”

Romans 8:38-39 “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

1 Timothy 2:3-7 “…God our Saviour, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men – the testimony given in its proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle – I am telling the truth, I am not lying – and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles.”

God’s will is for all men to be saved (sozo) made whole spirit, soul and body. Jesus gave himself as a ransom for ALL men… not just some. H – Jesus truly came as a man which is what qualified him to be truly a mediator between God and man. He also reveals what we will be like in the future.

21.____________________________________________________

James 1:12-17 “12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. 13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 16 Do not err, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

L- Excellent answer to why bad things happen if God is good. Likely the most common reason why. When we realize that Satan is the god of this world and that God the Father is the source of all goodness we get a better picture. When we exclude God, we exclude goodness from the world which is by default ruled by Satan. So the badness in the world is actually a glimpse of what life is like in God’s absence. We also see the fruit of human government in place of God’s government. Worst of all we then turn and blame God. It’s the classic, a child wants all the benefits of the parents income and resources but wants to disobey the rules and boundaries that the parents set. If the child persists, they often find themselves.

G- people try to pass the buck. Try to blame others especially God instead of taking responsibility.

R – every good thing was available to Adam, but because of our own free will, we want things on our terms and not God’s. We saw what was good and disregarded God’s boundaries and took for ourselves instead allowing God to provide in His way and His timing.

S-Philipians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

G – Pinocchio, if we follow sin we turn into donkeys.

James 4:1 “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”

Psalm 36:1-4 “Sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts. They have no fear of God at all. In their blind conceit, they cannot see how wicked they really are. Everything they say is crooked and deceitful. They refuse to act wisely or do good. They lie awake at night, hatching sinful plots. Their actions are never good. They make no attempt to turn from evil.”

Romans 5:12 “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” (also see 5:18 for what Jesus has done to counter this)

Romans 7:7-8 “Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.” But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, and I died. So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead. Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me. But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good.”

Romans 7:15-25, “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.”

22.____________________________________________________

Luke 4:1-13 “Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry. Then the devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread. But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone. Then the devil took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. “I will give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them,” the devil said, “because they are mine to give to anyone I please. I will give it all to you if you will worship me. Jesus replied, “The Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.” Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect and guard you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’” Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’” When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him until the next opportunity came.”

(Awesome example to follow to see how Jesus himself resisted the enemy.
Q1- How long was Jesus tempted for?
Q2- Who was with Jesus at the time of his temptation? (for some reason the enemy likes to get us when we are isolated and alone but note in this case the other presence is very clear , that is the Holy Spirit )
Q3 – How did Jesus refuse the temptation? In every case quoted the Word of God
Q4 – How persistent was Satan?
Q5 –What were the natures of the temptations? Physical need, power and finally to test the Lord’s truth (this was the same temptation that Adam succumbed to)
Q6- Was Satan temporarily or permanently deterred?

23________________________________________________________________

James 2:10 “For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.”

24.____________________________________________________

Romans 14:14 “I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.”

Romans 14:15-30 “And if another believer is distressed by what you eat, you are not acting in love if you eat it. Don’t let your eating ruin someone for whom Christ died. Then you will not be criticized for doing something you believe is good. For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God, and others will approve of you, too. So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up. Don’t tear apart the work of God over what you eat. Remember, all foods are acceptable, but it is wrong to eat something if it makes another person stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else if it might cause another believer to stumble. You may believe there’s nothing wrong with what you are doing, but keep it between yourself and God. Blessed are those who don’t feel guilty for doing something they have decided is right. But if you have doubts about whether or not you should eat something, you are sinning if you go ahead and do it. For you are not following your convictions. If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.”
Sin is subjective on some level

1 Corinthians 8:12 “And when you sin against other believers by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ.”

25.____________________________________________________

Hosea 14:1-8 “Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for your sins have brought you down. Bring your confessions, and return to the Lord. Say to him, “Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us, so that we may offer you our praises. Assyria cannot save us, nor can our warhorses. Never again will we say to the idols we have made, ‘You are our gods.’ No, in you alone do the orphans find mercy.” The Lord says, “Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever. I will be to Israel like a refreshing dew from heaven. Israel will blossom like the lily; it will send roots deep into the soil like the cedars in Lebanon. Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees,as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon. My people will again live under my shade. They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines. They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon. “O Israel, stay away from idols! I am the one who answers your prayers and cares for you. I am like a tree that is always green; all your fruit comes from me.”

Isaiah 33:24 “he people of Israel will no longer say,“We are sick and helpless,” for the Lord will forgive their sins.”

Matthew 9:2 “Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Be encouraged, my child! Your sins are forgiven.”

Psalm 38:3 “Because of your anger, my whole body is sick; my health is broken because of my sins”


Daniel 4:27-37 ““‘King Nebuchadnezzar, please accept my advice. Stop sinning and do what is right. Break from your wicked past and be merciful to the poor. Perhaps then you will continue to prosper.’ “But all these things did happen to King Nebuchadnezzar. 29 Twelve months later he was taking a walk on the flat roof of the royal palace in Babylon. 30 As he looked out across the city, he said, ‘Look at this great city of Babylon! By my own mighty power, I have built this beautiful city as my royal residence to display my majestic splendor.’ 31 “While these words were still in his mouth, a voice called down from heaven, ‘O King Nebuchadnezzar, this message is for you! You are no longer ruler of this kingdom. 32 You will be driven from human society. You will live in the fields with the wild animals, and you will eat grass like a cow. Seven periods of time will pass while you live this way, until you learn that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses.’ 33 “That same hour the judgment was fulfilled, and Nebuchadnezzar was driven from human society. He ate grass like a cow, and he was drenched with the dew of heaven. He lived this way until his hair was as long as eagles’ feathers and his nails were like birds’ claws. After this time had passed, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven. My sanity returned, and I praised and worshiped the Most High and honored the one who lives forever. His rule is everlasting, and his kingdom is eternal. All the people of the earth are nothing compared to him. He does as he pleases among the angels of heaven and among the people of the earth. No one can stop him or say to him, ‘What do you mean by doing these things?’ 36 “When my sanity returned to me, so did my honor and glory and kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored as head of my kingdom, with even greater honor than before. 37 “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of heaven. All his acts are just and true, and he is able to humble the proud.”
Case study of sin- prophet/God pleads with person to turn from sin, person refuses, suggers consequences of sin and is humbled until turns back to God. The ending is God is perfectly just and glorified.

Daniel 5:23-30 “For you have proudly defied the Lord of heaven and have had these cups from his Temple brought before you. You and your nobles and your wives and concubines have been drinking wine from them while praising gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor know anything at all. But you have not honored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny! 24 So God has sent this hand to write this message. 25 “This is the message that was written: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin. 26 This is what these words mean: Mene means ‘numbered’—God has numbered the days of your reign and has brought it to an end. 27 Tekel means ‘weighed’—you have been weighed on the balances and have not measured up. 28 Parsin means ‘divided’—your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” 29 Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was dressed in purple robes, a gold chain was hung around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom. 30 That very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, was killed.”
26.____________________________________________________

Deuteronomy 29:26-28 “Instead, they turned away to serve and worship gods they had not known before, gods that were not from the Lord. That is why the Lord’s anger has burned against this land, bringing down on it every curse recorded in this book. In great anger and fury the Lord uprooted his people from their land and banished them to another land, where they still live today!’

Jeremiah 30:10-17 “So do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant; do not be dismayed, Israel,” says the Lord. “For I will bring you home again from distant lands, and your children will return from their exile. Israel will return to a life of peace and quiet, and no one will terrorize them. For I am with you and will save you,” says the Lord.“I will completely destroy the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you, but with justice; I cannot let you go unpunished.” This is what the Lord says:“Your injury is incurable— a terrible wound. There is no one to help you or to bind up your injury. No medicine can heal you. All your lovers—your allies—have left you and do not care about you anymore. I have wounded you cruelly, as though I were your enemy. For your sins are many, and your guilt is great. Why do you protest your punishment— this wound that has no cure? I have had to punish you because your sins are many and your guilt is great. “But all who devour you will be devoured, and all your enemies will be sent into exile. All who plunder you will be plundered, and all who attack you will be attacked. I will give you back your health and heal your wounds,” says the Lord. “For you are called an outcast— ‘Jerusalem for whom no one cares.’”

Ezekiel 5:16-17 “They will see what happens when the Lord punishes a nation in anger and rebukes it, says the Lord. “I will shower you with the deadly arrows of famine to destroy you. The famine will become more and more severe until every crumb of food is gone. And along with the famine, wild animals will attack you and rob you of your children. Disease and war will stalk your land, and I will bring the sword of the enemy against you. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Jeremiah 40:2-3 “The captain of the guard called for Jeremiah and said, “The Lord your God has brought this disaster on this land, just as he said he would. For these people have sinned against the Lord and disobeyed him. That is why it happened.”

27.____________________________________________________

Isaiah 24:4-6 “The earth mourns and dries up, and the crops waste away and wither. Even the greatest people on earth waste away. The earth suffers for the sins of its people, for they have twisted God’s instructions, violated his laws, and broken his everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse consumes the earth. Its people must pay the price for their sin. They are destroyed by fire, and only a few are left alive.”

Jeremiah 3:9-10 “Israel treated it all so lightly—she thought nothing of committing adultery by worshiping idols made of wood and stone. So now the land has been polluted. 1But despite all this, her faithless sister Judah has never sincerely returned to me. She has only pretended to be sorry. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Jeremiah 23:10 “For the land is full of adultery,and it lies under a curse.The land itself is in mourning—its wilderness pastures are dried up.For they all do eviland abuse what power they have.”

Numbers 35:33-35 “This will ensure that the land where you live will not be polluted, for murder pollutes the land. And no sacrifice except the execution of the murderer can purify the land from murder. You must not defile the land where you live, for I live there myself. I am the Lord, who lives among the people of Israel.”

28.____________________________________________________

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Romans 8:1-2 KJV “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

29.____________________________________________________
Ezekiel 39:23-24 “And the nations shall know, understand, and realize positively that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they trespassed against Me; and I hid My face from them. So I gave them into the hand of their enemies and they all fell [into captivity or were slain] by the power of the sword. According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I dealt with them and hid My face from them.”[The Amplified Bible]

Judges 13:1 “Again the Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines, who oppressed them for forty years.”

Romans 1:24-32 “So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.”

Zechariah 11:6 “Likewise, I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,” says the Lord. “I will let them fall into each other’s hands and into the hands of their king. They will turn the land into a wilderness, and I will not rescue them.”

30.____________________________________________________

Luke 17:1-2 “One day Jesus said to his disciples, “There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting! It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin.”

31.____________________________________________________

Leviticus 26:14-17 ““However, if you do not listen to me or obey all these commands, and if you break my covenant by rejecting my decrees, treating my regulations with contempt, and refusing to obey my commands, I will punish you. I will bring sudden terrors upon you—wasting diseases and burning fevers that will cause your eyes to fail and your life to ebb away. You will plant your crops in vain because your enemies will eat them. I will turn against you, and you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will run even when no one is chasing you!”

Deuteronomy 28: 20-29 + “The Lord himself will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in everything you do, until at last you are completely destroyed for doing evil and abandoning me. The Lord will afflict you with diseases until none of you are left in the land you are about to enter and occupy. The Lord will strike you with wasting diseases, fever, and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew. These disasters will pursue you until you die. The skies above will be as unyielding as bronze, and the earth beneath will be as hard as iron. The Lord will change the rain that falls on your land into powder, and dust will pour down from the sky until you are destroyed. “The Lord will cause you to be defeated by your enemies. You will attack your enemies from one direction, but you will scatter from them in seven! You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. Your corpses will be food for all the scavenging birds and wild animals, and no one will be there to chase them away. “The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, scurvy, and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. The Lord will strike you with madness, blindness, and panic. You will grope around in broad daylight like a blind person groping in the darkness, but you will not find your way. You will be oppressed and robbed continually, and no one will come to save you. “ +

32-35 “ You will watch as your sons and daughters are taken away as slaves. Your heart will break for them, but you won’t be able to help them. A foreign nation you have never heard about will eat the crops you worked so hard to grow. You will suffer under constant oppression and harsh treatment. You will go mad because of all the tragedy you see around you. The Lord will cover your knees and legs with incurable boils. In fact, you will be covered from head to foot.” +
58-62 “If you refuse to obey all the words of instruction that are written in this book, and if you do not fear the glorious and awesome name of the Lord your God, then the Lord will overwhelm you and your children with indescribable plagues. These plagues will be intense and without relief, making you miserable and unbearably sick. He will afflict you with all the diseases of Egypt that you feared so much, and you will have no relief. The Lord will afflict you with every sickness and plague there is, even those not mentioned in this Book of Instruction, until you are destroyed. Though you become as numerous as the stars in the sky, few of you will be left because you would not listen to the Lord your God. +

65-68 “There among those nations you will find no peace or place to rest. And the Lord will cause your heart to tremble, your eyesight to fail, and your soul to despair. Your life will constantly hang in the balance. You will live night and day in fear, unsure if you will survive. In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were night!’ And in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’ For you will be terrified by the awful horrors you see around you. Then the Lord will send you back to Egypt in ships, to a destination I promised you would never see again. There you will offer to sell yourselves to your enemies as slaves, but no one will buy you.”

Psalm 38:3-5 “Because of your anger, my whole body is sick; my health is broken because of my sins. My guilt overwhelms me— it is a burden too heavy to bear. My wounds fester and stink because of my foolish sins.”

2 Samuel 12:13-23 “Then David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. Nevertheless, because you have shown utter contempt for the Lord by doing this, your child will die.” After Nathan returned to his home, the Lord sent a deadly illness to the child of David and Uriah’s wife. David begged God to spare the child. He went without food and lay all night on the bare ground. The elders of his household pleaded with him to get up and eat with them, but he refused. Then on the seventh day the child died. David’s advisers were afraid to tell him. “He wouldn’t listen to reason while the child was ill,” they said. “What drastic thing will he do when we tell him the child is dead?” When David saw them whispering, he realized what had happened. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.” Then David got up from the ground, washed himself, put on lotions, and changed his clothes. He went to the Tabernacle and worshiped the Lord. After that, he returned to the palace and was served food and ate. His advisers were amazed. “We don’t understand you,” they told him. “While the child was still living, you wept and refused to eat. But now that the child is dead, you have stopped your mourning and are eating again.” David replied, “I fasted and wept while the child was alive, for I said, ‘Perhaps the Lord will be gracious to me and let the child live.’ But why should I fast when he is dead? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him one day, but he cannot return to me.”

32.____________________________________________________

2 Kings 22:18-20 “But go to the king of Judah who sent you to seek the Lord and tell him: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the message you have just heard: 19 You were sorry and humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I said against this city and its people—that this land would be cursed and become desolate. You tore your clothing in despair and wept before me in repentance. And I have indeed heard you, says the Lord. So I will not send the promised disaster until after you have died and been buried in peace. You will not see the disaster I am going to bring on this city.’”
So they took her message back to the king. God spared the righteous . repenting can spare the consequences, God can sometimes be swayed.

33._________________________________________________________

2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.”

Specific Diseases, Body parts linked with certain sins (very incomplete list, this is a work in progress)

Bones
Proverbs 14:30 “A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones.”

Infertility
Genesis 20:17-18 “Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants, so they could have children. For the Lord had caused all the women to be infertile because of what happened with Abraham’s wife, Sarah.”

Punishment for unknowingly marrying another man’s wife, note that even though the sin was done in ignorance, consequence was still enforced.

Leprosy
Numbers 12:1-15 “While they were at Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because he had married a Cushite woman. They said, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he spoken through us, too?” But the Lord heard them. 3 (Now Moses was very humble—more humble than any other person on earth.) So immediately the Lord called to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam and said, “Go out to the Tabernacle, all three of you!” So the three of them went to the Tabernacle. Then the Lord descended in the pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle. “Aaron and Miriam!” he called, and they stepped forward. And the Lord said to them, “Now listen to what I say: “If there were prophets among you, I, the Lord, would reveal myself in visions. I would speak to them in dreams. But not with my servant Moses. Of all my house, he is the one I trust. I speak to him face to face, clearly, and not in riddles! He sees the Lord as he is. So why were you not afraid to criticize my servant Moses?” The Lord was very angry with them, and he departed. As the cloud moved from above the Tabernacle, there stood Miriam, her skin as white as snow from leprosy. When Aaron saw what had happened to her, he cried out to Moses, “Oh, my master! Please don’t punish us for this sin we have so foolishly committed. Don’t let her be like a stillborn baby, already decayed at birth.” So Moses cried out to the Lord, “O God, I beg you, please heal her!” But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had done nothing more than spit in her face, wouldn’t she be defiled for seven days? So keep her outside the camp for seven days, and after that she may be accepted back. So Miriam was kept outside the camp for seven days, and the people waited until she was brought back before they traveled again.”

2 Kings 5:26-27 “But Elisha asked him, “Don’t you realize that I was there in spirit when Naaman stepped down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to receive money and clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and cattle, and male and female servants? Because you have done this, you and your descendants will suffer from Naaman’s leprosy forever.” When Gehazi left the room, he was covered with leprosy; his skin was white as snow.”
Greed

Common Blocks:

1.____________________________________________________

Hebrews 6:1 “So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God.”

Romans 2:12-16 “When the Gentiles sin, they will be destroyed, even though they never had God’s written law. And the Jews, who do have God’s law, will be judged by that law when they fail to obey it. For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight. Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right. And this is the message I proclaim—that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone’s secret life.”

2.____________________________________________________

Matthew 5:22-24 “But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell. “So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.”

Ephesians 4:26-27 “And “don’t sin by letting anger control you. Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil.”

James 1:19 “Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. “

Mark 6:10-11 “Wherever you go,” he said, “stay in the same house until you leave town. But if any place refuses to welcome you or listen to you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate.”

John 13:1-15 “Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.” “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.” Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!” Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you.” For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.” After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.”

Psalm 37:7-9 “Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper— it only leads to harm. For the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land.”

Romans 12:18 “Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.”

(Book that Really helped me with this is Murdered Heiress, Living Witness)

Deuteronomy 32:35 [the Amplified] “Vengeance is Mine, and recompense, in the time when their foot shall slide; for the day of their disaster is at hand and their doom comes speedily.”
[NLT] “I will take revenge; I will pay them back. In due time their feet will slip. Their day of disaster will arrive, and their destiny will overtake them.’”

Leviticus 19:18 “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”

Matthew 5:44 “But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!”

Psalm 37:12-13 “The wicked plot against the godly; they snarl at them in defiance. But the Lord just laughs, for he sees their day of judgment coming.”

Psalm 75:2-3 “God says, “At the time I have planned, I will bring justice against the wicked. When the earth quakes and its people live in turmoil, I am the one who keeps its foundations firm.”

Psalm 94:23 “God will turn the sins of evil people back on them. He will destroy them for their sins. The Lord our God will destroy them.”

Psalm 97:10 “You who love the Lord, hate evil! He protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked.”

Psalm 135:14 “For the Lord will judge and vindicate His people, and He will delay His judgments [manifesting His righteousness and mercy] and take into favor His servants [those who meet His terms of separation unto Him].” [The Amplified]

Romans 12:19 “Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord.”

2 Samuel 22:48 “He is the God who pays back those who harm me; he brings down the nations under me”

1 Samuel 5:6-12 “Then the Lord’s heavy hand struck the people of Ashdod and the nearby villages with a plague of tumors. When the people realized what was happening, they cried out, “We can’t keep the Ark of the God of Israel here any longer! He is against us! We will all be destroyed along with Dagon, our god.” 8 So they called together the rulers of the Philistine towns and asked, “What should we do with the Ark of the God of Israel?” The rulers discussed it and replied, “Move it to the town of Gath.” So they moved the Ark of the God of Israel to Gath. 9 But when the Ark arrived at Gath, the Lord’s heavy hand fell on its men, young and old; he struck them with a plague of tumors, and there was a great panic. 10 So they sent the Ark of God to the town of Ekron, but when the people of Ekron saw it coming they cried out, “They are bringing the Ark of the God of Israel here to kill us, too!” 11 The people summoned the Philistine rulers again and begged them, “Please send the Ark of the God of Israel back to its own country, or it will kill us all.” For the deadly plague from God had already begun, and great fear was sweeping across the town. 12 Those who didn’t die were afflicted with tumors; and the cry from the town rose to heaven.“

3.____________________________________________________

Hebrews 10:26-27 “Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies.”

4.____________________________________________________

Jeremiah 31:20 “Is not Israel still my son, my darling child?” says the Lord. “I often have to punish him, but I still love him. That’s why I long for him and surely will have mercy on him.”


Psalm 107:10-22 ”Some of you were locked in a dark cell, cruelly confined behind bars, Punished for defying God’s Word, for turning your back on the High God’s counsel— A hard sentence, and your hearts so heavy, and not a soul in sight to help. Then you called out to God in your desperate condition; he got you out in the nick of time. He led you out of your dark, dark cell, broke open the jail and led you out. So thank God for his marvelous love, for his miracle mercy to the children he loves; He shattered the heavy jailhouse doors, he snapped the prison bars like matchsticks! Some of you were sick because you’d lived a bad life, your bodies feeling the effects of your sin; You couldn’t stand the sight of food, so miserable you thought you’d be better off dead. Then you called out to God in your desperate condition; he got you out in the nick of time. He spoke the word that healed you, that pulled you back from the brink of death. So thank God for his marvelous love, for his miracle mercy to the children he loves; Offer thanksgiving sacrifices, tell the world what he’s done—sing it out!” [The Message]

5.____________________________________________________

Deuteronomy 29:19-21 ““Those who hear the warnings of this curse should not congratulate themselves, thinking, ‘I am safe, even though I am following the desires of my own stubborn heart.’ This would lead to utter ruin! The Lord will never pardon such people. Instead his anger and jealousy will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will come down on them, and the Lord will erase their names from under heaven. The Lord will separate them from all the tribes of Israel, to pour out on them all the curses of the covenant recorded in this Book of Instruction.”

The silver lining…
Deuteronomy 30:2-10 “If at that time you and your children return to the Lord your God, and if you obey with all your heart and all your soul all the commands I have given you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes. He will have mercy on you and gather you back from all the nations where he has scattered you. Even though you are banished to the ends of the earth, the Lord your God will gather you from there and bring you back again. The Lord your God will return you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will possess that land again. Then he will make you even more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors! “The Lord your God will change your heart and the hearts of all your descendants, so that you will love him with all your heart and soul and so you may live! The Lord your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate and persecute you. Then you will again obey the Lord and keep all his commands that I am giving you today. “The Lord your God will then make you successful in everything you do. He will give you many children and numerous livestock, and he will cause your fields to produce abundant harvests, for the Lord will again delight in being good to you as he was to your ancestors. The Lord your God will delight in you if you obey his voice and keep the commands and decrees written in this Book of Instruction, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.”

Romans 2:1-2 + 9 “You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things.” + “There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile.”

6.____________________________________________________

Isaiah 30:1 ““What sorrow awaits my rebellious children,” says the Lord.“You make plans that are contrary to mine. You make alliances not directed by my Spirit, thus piling up your sins.”

Isaiah 65:12 “now I will ‘destine’ you for the sword. All of you will bow down before the executioner. For when I called, you did not answer. When I spoke, you did not listen. You deliberately sinned—before my very eyes— and chose to do what you know I despise.”

Jeremiah 35:17 “Therefore, this is what the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Because you refuse to listen or answer when I call, I will send upon Judah and Jerusalem all the disasters I have threatened.’”

7.______________________________________________________

1 Timothy 4:1-3 “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.” [KJV]

9.____________________________________________________

Hosea 4:6” My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. “

Deuteronomy 5:9 “you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,”

Exodus 20:5 “You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. “

Isaiah 65:6-7 ““Look, my decree is written out in front of me: I will not stand silent; I will repay them in full! Yes, I will repay them— both for their own sins and for those of their ancestors,” says the Lord. “For they also burned incense on the mountains and insulted me on the hills. I will pay them back in full!”

Numbers 14:18 “The LORD is longsuffering [patient] and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.”

10.____________________________________________________

Ezekiel 18:4 “For all people are mine to judge—both parents and children alike. And this is my rule: The person who sins is the one who will die.”

Ezekiel 18:19-22 “‘What?’ you ask. ‘Doesn’t the child pay for the parent’s sins?’ No! For if the child does what is just and right and keeps my decrees, that child will surely live. The person who sins is the one who will die. The child will not be punished for the parent’s sins, and the parent will not be punished for the child’s sins. Righteous people will be rewarded for their own righteous behavior, and wicked people will be punished for their own wickedness. But if wicked people turn away from all their sins and begin to obey my decrees and do what is just and right, they will surely live and not die. All their past sins will be forgotten, and they will live because of the righteous things they have done.”

Jeremiah 31:29 “The people will no longer quote this proverb:‘The parents have eaten sour grapes,but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste.’

Jeremiah 32:17-19 “O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you! You show unfailing love to thousands, but you also bring the consequences of one generation’s sin upon the next. You are the great and powerful God, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. You have all wisdom and do great and mighty miracles. You see the conduct of all people, and you give them what they deserve.”

Jeremiah 14:20 “Lord, we confess our wickedness and that of our ancestors, too. We all have sinned against you.”

Nehemiah 9:1 “The Israelites broke off all relations with foreigners, stood up, and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their parents.”

1 Peter 1:17-19 “And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as “foreigners in the land.” For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.”

Psalm 51:1-10 “Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night. Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just. For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there. Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me— now let me rejoice. Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.”

Psalm 19:12-14 “How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults. Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

1 Corinthians 10:12-13 “If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.”

Take Home Suggestions:
• Simple prayer: “Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, please forgive me for _ today, I renounce and repent of this sin for myself and my generations. I have been trying for (days/weeks/months/years) to get rid of it but my way just isn’t working, Father I ask for, and want your help. Change my will, my thoughts, my willpower etc, help me to do this in your strength.”
• Consider water baptism if you haven’t already been baptized, this represents dying to
the old sin-filled nature and arising out as the new creature in Christ

Resources for further study:
• Water Baptism brochure from New Hope
• “Victory over the Darkness” and “The Bondage Breaker” by Neil Anderson

Hearing The Voice of God

BEING FAITHFUL IN THE SMALL THINGS = EXPONENTIAL INCREASE

Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint,[a]
    but blessed is he who keeps the law.” ESV

John 10:2-4
English Standard Version
“2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.”

Hosea 4:1-7
King James Version
“4 Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. 2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. 3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. 4 Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest. 5 Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother. 6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. 7 As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.”

Hosea 4:1-7
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
4 Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy (a pleading contention) with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no faithfulness, love, pity and mercy, or knowledge of God [from personal experience with Him] in the land.2 There is nothing but [false] swearing and breaking faith and killing and stealing and committing adultery; they break out [into violence], one [deed of] bloodshed following close on another.3 Therefore shall the land [continually] mourn, and all who dwell in it shall languish, together with the wild beasts of the open country and the birds of the heavens; yes, the fishes of the sea also shall [perish because of the drought] be collected and taken away.4 Yet let no man strive, neither let any man reprove [another—do not waste your time in mutual recriminations], for with you is My contention, O priest.5 And you shall stumble in the daytime, and the [false] prophet also shall stumble with you in the night; and I will destroy your mother [the priestly nation].6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you [the priestly nation] have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you that you shall be no priest to Me; seeing you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children. 7 The more they increased and multiplied [in prosperity and power], the more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame.”

Matthew 25 AMPC “14 For it is like a man who was about to take a long journey, and he called his servants together and entrusted them with his property.15 To one he gave five talents [probably about $5,000], to another two, to another one—to each in proportion to his own [a]personal ability. Then he departed and left the country.16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he gained five talents more.17 And likewise he who had received the two talents—he also gained two talents more.18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.19 Now after a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.20 And he who had received the five talents came and brought him five more, saying, Master, you entrusted to me five talents; see, here I have gained five talents more.21 His master said to him, Well done, you upright (honorable, [b]admirable) and faithful servant! You have been faithful and trustworthy over a little; I will put you in charge of much. Enter into and share the joy (the delight, the [c]blessedness) which your master enjoys.22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, Master, you entrusted two talents to me; here I have gained two talents more.23 His master said to him, Well done, you upright (honorable, [d]admirable) and faithful servant! You have been faithful and trustworthy over a little; I will put you in charge of much. Enter into and share the joy (the delight, the [e]blessedness) which your master enjoys.

24 He who had received one talent also came forward, saying, Master, I knew you to be a harsh and hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you had not winnowed [the grain].25 So I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is your own.26 But his master answered him, You wicked and lazy and idle servant! Did you indeed know that I reap where I have not sowed and gather [grain] where I have not winnowed?27 Then you should have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received what was my own with interest.28 So take the talent away from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will be [f]furnished richly so that he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have will be taken away.30 And throw the good-for-nothing servant into the outer darkness; there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.

31 When the Son of Man comes in His glory (His majesty and splendor), and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.32 All nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them [the people] from one another as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats;33 And He will cause the sheep to stand at His right hand, but the goats at His left. 34 Then the King will say to those at His right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father [you [g]favored of God and appointed to eternal salvation], inherit (receive as your own) the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you [h]brought Me together with yourselves and welcomed and entertained and [i]lodged Me,36 I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me [j]with help and ministering care, I was in prison and you came to see Me. 37 Then the just and upright will answer Him, Lord, when did we see You hungry and gave You food, or thirsty and gave You something to drink? 38 And when did we see You a stranger and welcomed and entertained You, or naked and clothed You?39 And when did we see You sick or in prison and came to visit You?40 And the King will reply to them, Truly I tell you, in so far as you did it for one of the least [[k]in the estimation of men] of these My brethren, you did it for Me.

41 Then He will say to those at His left hand, Begone from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!42 For I was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink,43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me and entertain Me, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me [l]with help and ministering care.44 Then they also [in their turn] will answer, Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?45 And He will reply to them, Solemnly I declare to you, in so far as you failed to do it for the least [[m]in the estimation of men] of these, you failed to do it for Me. 46 Then they will go away into eternal punishment, but those who are just and upright and in right standing with God into eternal life.”

Dear Brothers and Sisters, I woke up with these verses on my heart today. God has promised My sheep hear my voice. For most the process of hearing His voice starts with simply reading the Word of God with a sincerely seeking heart.

Simple steps to hearing His voice:

  1. Sincerity
    • Matthew 5:3 “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.”
  2. Setting apart time to listen diligently
    • Matthew 7:7-8 “Amplified Bible, Classic Edition7 [a]Keep on asking and it will be given you; [b] keep on seeking and you will find; [c]keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.”
  3. Predetermine to “SHEMA” = Listen diligently and OBEY
    • Matthew 13 “King James Version 13 The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. 2 And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. 3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: 5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. 10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. 17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
    • 18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. 19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. 20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; 21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. 23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
      • REALIZE we have an enemy who delights in snatching away the WORD of God that is sown and yet not hearkened to, not obeyed, not heeded whole heartedly. Anyone who listens but does not obey or delays, defers obeying is self deceived.
    • John 14:15-17 New Living Translation “If you love me, obey[a] my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate,[b] who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.[c]”
      • Loving Jesus requires obeying his Word. Take note, of those ifs. Notice that Jesus asks the Father to send the Holy Spirit to those who love Him AND obey His commandments. We need to take the first steps and THEN Holy Spirit comes and empowers us, teaches us, leads us, equips us etc. Many are stunted because they do not get serious about obeying.
  4. KNOW and BELIEVE that God will deliver on EVERY SINGLE promise. Romans 4 is a delightful confirmation of what God can do for a man who believes His Word.
    • John 6:29 “New Living Translation 29 Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”
    • Hebrews 11:6 “New Living Translation 6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.”
    • 2 Corinthians 1:20 “New King James Version 20 For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”
    • Hebrews 6:18 New Living Translation “18 So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.”

Scripture tells us plainly that God’s people perish for lack of two things… Lack of vision and lack of knowledge. The only way to gain either one of these precious things is to hear, truly hear God’s voice. He has promised to shepherd His sheep consistently, relentlessly and tirelessly. He is utterly devoted and faithful to His sheep. “My sheep hear MY voice”. This is a scriptural truth, which exceeds every worldly fact.

Flip this around and hear what this is saying

“Anyone who does not hear my voice, is not my sheep”

“Anyone who does not follow The Shepherd, is not His sheep”

Dear friends, so many are have deceived themselves into thinking that mere words and confessions guarantee salvation. Please wake up and realize that at the end of the day, many are in dire danger of hearing these words

Matthew 7:22-27
English Standard Version
“22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ 24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Friends, if we cannot hear God, we are doomed to perish. “My people perish for lack of vision”… The very heart of being a disciple is discipline. A disciple has a God given vision and the dicipline to faithfully carry out all the steps given to them by the shepherd to see the vision come to pass. We need to seek out His purpose, His plan for our lives and then throw ourselves into these with everything we have.

Perhaps today, the vision God gives you is to simply carve out time to hear His voice. That would be a beautiful first step to hearing His voice better and clearer. Perhaps He has given you a bigger vision, be faithful in the first step and he will multiply and provide for the next steps.

1 Timothy 4 NLT”6 If you explain these things to the brothers and sisters,[c] Timothy, you will be a worthy servant of Christ Jesus, one who is nourished by the message of faith and the good teaching you have followed. 7 Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales. Instead, train yourself to be godly. 8 “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” 9 This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it. 10 This is why we work hard and continue to struggle,[d] for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers.11 Teach these things and insist that everyone learn them. 12 Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. 13 Until I get there, focus on reading the Scriptures to the church, encouraging the believers, and teaching them.14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift you received through the prophecy spoken over you when the elders of the church laid their hands on you. 15 Give your complete attention to these matters. Throw yourself into your tasks so that everyone will see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching. Stay true to what is right for the sake of your own salvation and the salvation of those who hear you.”

“Above all things guard your heart, for out of it flow the issues of life” paraphrase of Proverbs 4:20-24 I have a post on guarding your gates, keep your eye pure, your ear pure, your cistern pure and you will hear His voice more consistently and more clearly. I find personally that spending a lot of time on social media, frankly on any media of any kind, clouds my vision and causes a lot of static in my hearing that hinder my ability to see and hear clearly what God is saying to me personally.

Blessings, rest and know that He has promised all his sheep can hear clearly and follow Him utterly. And if you all, when you fall, know that is part of this journey.. “though the righteous man falls 7 times, he gets back up”. Simply repent, stand up and resume the race. Be gracious with yourself and know that the Father takes delight in those who are learning to run the spiritual race as much as we all took delights in our little children learning first to roll over, rock, crawl, toddle, walk and finally run.

With love in Christ,

Lisa

Power of Love: Common Blocks

Reminders

Psalms 66:18 “If I had not confessed the sin in my heart,  my Lord would not have listened.”

Proverbs 28:9 “God detests the prayers of a person who ignores the law.”

1.__________________________________________________________________

1.Idolatry

Deuteronomy 6:11-19 “When you have eaten your fill in this land, be careful not to forget the Lord, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt.  You must fear the Lord your God and serve him. When you take an oath, you must use only his name.  “You must not worship any of the gods of neighbouring nations, for the Lord your God, who lives among you, is a jealous God. His anger will flare up against you, and he will wipe you from the face of the earth.  You must not test the Lord your God as you did when you complained at Massah.  You must diligently obey the commands of the Lord your God—all the laws and decrees he has given you.  Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so all will go well with you. Then you will enter and occupy the good land that the Lord swore to give your ancestors.  You will drive out all the enemies living in the land, just as the Lord said you would.”

Deuteronomy 7:25-26 ”You must burn their idols in fire, and you must not covet the silver or gold that covers them. You must not take it or it will become a trap to you, for it is detestable to the Lord your God.  Do not bring any detestable objects into your home, for then you will be destroyed, just like them. You must utterly detest such things, for they are set apart for destruction.”

Ezekiel 14:3-8 “Son of man, these leaders have set up idols in their hearts. They have embraced things that will make them fall into sin. Why should I listen to their requests?  Tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The people of Israel have set up idols in their hearts and fallen into sin, and then they go to a prophet asking for a message. So I, the Lord, will give them the kind of answer their great idolatry deserves.  I will do this to capture the minds and hearts of all my people who have turned from me to worship their detestable idols.’  “Therefore, tell the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent and turn away from your idols, and stop all your detestable sins. I, the Lord, will answer all those, both Israelites and foreigners, who reject me and set up idols in their hearts and so fall into sin, and who then come to a prophet asking for my advice.  I will turn against such people and make a terrible example of them, eliminating them from among my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

Hosea 4:11-12 “to worship other gods. “Wine has robbed my people of their understanding. They ask a piece of wood for advice!  They think a stick can tell them the future! Longing after idols has made them foolish. They have played the prostitute, serving other gods and deserting their God.”

Hosea 5:5-15 ““The arrogance of Israel testifies against her;  Israel and Ephraim will stumble under their load of guilt. Judah, too, will fall with them. When they come with their flocks and herds to offer sacrifices to the Lord, they will not find him, because he has withdrawn from them. They have betrayed the honour of the Lord, bearing children that are not his. Now their false religion will devour them along with their wealth. “Sound the alarm in Gibeah! Blow the trumpet in Ramah! Raise the battle cry in Beth-aven! Lead on into battle, O warriors of Benjamin! One thing is certain, Israel: On your day of punishment, you will become a heap of rubble. “The leaders of Judah have become like thieves. So I will pour my anger on them like a waterfall. The people of Israel will be crushed and broken by my judgment because they are determined to worship idols. I will destroy Israel as a moth consumes wool. I will make Judah as weak as rotten wood.  “When Israel and Judah saw how sick they were, Israel turned to Assyria— to the great king there— but he could neither help nor cure them. I will be like a lion to Israel, like a strong young lion to Judah.  I will tear them to pieces! I will carry them off, and no one will be left to rescue them. Then I will return to my place until they admit their guilt and turn to me.  For as soon as trouble comes, they will earnestly search for me.”

Hosea 7:8-10 ““The people of Israel mingle with godless foreigners, making themselves as worthless as a half-baked cake!  Worshiping foreign gods has sapped their strength, but they don’t even know it.  Their hair is gray, but they don’t realize they’re old and weak. Their arrogance testifies against them, yet they don’t return to the Lord their God or even try to find him.”

Judges 10:11-14“The Lord replied, “Did I not rescue you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines,  the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites? When they oppressed you, you cried out to me for help, and I rescued you.  Yet you have abandoned me and served other gods. So I will not rescue you anymore.  Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen! Let them rescue you in your hour of distress!”

1 Peter 2:1 “So get rid of all evil behaviour. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech.”

2.Unbelief

Mark 6:5-7 “And because of their unbelief, he couldn’t do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.”

Romans 11:22-23 “Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is severe toward those who disobeyed, but kind to you if you continue to trust in his kindness. But if you stop trusting, you also will be cut off.  And if the people of Israel turn from their unbelief, they will be grafted in again, for God has the power to graft them back into the tree.”

3.Pride

Psalm 138:6 “Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud.”

4.Envy, jealousy

Acts 8:20-24 “But Peter replied, “May your money be destroyed with you for thinking God’s gift can be bought!  You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right with God.  Repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive your evil thoughts,  for I can see that you are full of bitter jealousy and are held captive by sin.”

James 3:16 “For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind”

Proverbs 14:30 “A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones.”

Proverbs 23:17-18” Don’t envy sinners, but always continue to fear the Lord.   You will be rewarded for this;   your hope will not be disappointed.”

Proverbs 27:4 “Anger is cruel, and wrath is like a flood, but jealousy is even more dangerous.”

1 Peter 2:1 “So get rid of all evil behaviour. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech.”

5. Clinging to the Things of this World and Not turning to God

Hebrews 12:16 “Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who traded his birthright as the firstborn son for a single meal.”

Hosea 13:13 “Pain has come to the people like the pain of childbirth, but they are like a child who resists being born. The moment of birth has arrived,  but they stay in the womb!”

L

Jeremiah 2:11 “Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones, even though they are not gods at all? Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols!”

2 Chronicles 16:12-13 “In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa developed a serious foot disease. Yet even with the severity of his disease, he did not seek the Lord’s help but turned only to his physicians.  So he died in the forty-first year of his reign.”

..

6. Sin can prevent healing

Hosea 7:1 “I want to heal Israel, but its sins are too great.  Samaria is filled with liars. Thieves are on the inside and bandits on the outside!”

Other Topics I wil explore in separate posts:

_

Eyes to See and Ears to Hear and the Ability to understand

Verses about the circumcision of the flesh (ears, heart )

Galatians 5:19-22

What causes spiritual blindness

Traditions of man

Fear of man

Believing the witness of our physical senses over the Word of God

Take Home Suggestions:

  • Meditate on and read Psalm 139 or Ephesians 3:17-19 often