mystery (2499)

everyone is stressing the importance of communication.
...is total transparency what I really want?
...and what about privacy?
...should secrets be allowed?

who exactly are THE RULERS OF THE DARKNESS
OT THIS WORLD? The answer to this may hold the
key to most of our communication problems
and the quarrels and fights that sometimes follow
a 'breakdown in relationships'.

I suspect that I may be to blame.

Whenever I withold information
or stop comunicating do I become
A RULER OF THE DARKNESS?

What do you think?

Reasons for silence.
Back on the playground at Central Branch Elementary School
more than 40 years ago a 'difference of opinion' developed between
myself and another fifth grader. The situation soon escalated to a
loud 'discussion' which subsequently deteriorated into a fist fight.
the winner of which to this day has not been conclusively determined.

Although the female over which the difference
had developed was no where near the scene, word quickly
got around and added to the general discomfort of
my 'supporters' and myself. For about two weeks following
this 'historic' event, my opponent and myself sat across from
each other in class daily, without exchanging a single word.
...back then this was called malice.

Some variations on this are now described as snubbing,
giving the 'silent treatment' or getting the 'cold shoulder.
Students of human behaviour speak of approach-avoidance conflicts.

so...what do you think is at the root of all this?

flawed, fallen, faithful

I was driving home listening to this.....
Bob: We all come into marriage with expectations about what marriage is going to be like and how our spouse is going to act in marriage, but where exactly did those expectations come from? Well, Paul David Tripp says we set each other up.
Paul: Part of the problem is the weirdness of Western culture dating, which is a step above used car sales. When I’m dating the last thing I really want is for you to get to know me, so a man who doesn’t like to shop will shop. A woman who doesn’t like to watch sports will watch sports. And then, six months into marriage this woman will be crying, “This is not the man I married.” This is the man you married. The man you dated was a fake. (Read Full Transcript)

AND this lymerick popped into my head.....

A flea and a fly in a flue

Were imprisoned

So what should they do

Said the flea 'let us fly'

And the fly said 'let's flea'

So they fled through

A flaw in the flue

A potential wife is looking at a potential husband with what I call "goo-goo eyes." I can barely get their attention and she'll say something along these lines: "I don't think I could ever get angry at him."......I'm angry just to hear it! I'm thinking, "Now what's a more biblical way of thinking about marriage?" Here it is: What is marriage? It's a flawed person married to a flawed person in a fallen world.

Is it necessary (2475)

If what we've heard or said about another person causes us (and others) to despise them or mistreat them, God will hold us responsible for the pain and suffering our words have caused.

We've got to stop and ask ourselves: Is what we're about to say true? Is it kind? Is it helpful? Is it necessary – either to have the conversation at all, or to include all of the details? Would we be embarrassed if the person we're speaking about somehow overheard what we were saying? Would they?

Christin Ditchfield was a challenge to me personally ....Today I repent of my judgemental attitudes.

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Hosea 6:1 "Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.

Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 7:7 But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. (NASB ©1995)

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GOING DEEPER with Oswald Chambers

"Out of the heart proceed . . ." Matthew 15:18-20

family ties

maaadd dunk

http://www.nba.com/knicks/schedule/
http://knicktv.com/

fog (2414)

F EAR
O F
G OD

Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 29Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 30For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 31It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

WARNINGS & ENTREATY
If I have the fear of God it means
that I konw that God punishes Sin.

Leviticus 26
_______________________________

<< Leviticus 26 >> King James Version 1Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God. 2Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD. 3If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; 4Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. 6And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. 7And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 9For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. 10And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new. 11And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. 12And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. 13I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright. 14But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; 15And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: 16I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. 18And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. 19And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass: 20And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits. 21And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. 22I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate. 23And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me; 24Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. 25And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. 26And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied. 27And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; 28Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. 29And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. 30And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. 31And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours. 32And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. 33And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. 34Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. 35As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it. 36And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth. 37And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies. 38And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. 39And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them. 40If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; 41And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: 42Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. 43The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes. 44And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God. 45But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the LORD. 46These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the LORD made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.

_______________________________

the rulers of the darkness
hidden things - deceitful handling
manipulation - witholding information
twisted facts & half-truths

principalities & powers

spiritual wickedness in high places

giving birth (2390)

THIS IS HUGE ! !

“I am elated,” said Allan Young, chair of UCCI’s faculty of education. “It feels like giving birth to one’s very first child – there’s the pain of delivery, but after the child arrives, there is that euphoric feeling of having brought forth new life.”

duties undone

THE CONFESSION and the request

We have not known Thee as we ought,
Nor learned Thy wisdom, grace and power;
The things of earth have filled our thought,
And trifles of the passing hour.
Lord, give us light Thy truth to see,
And make us wise in knowing Thee.

We have not feared Thee as we ought,
Nor bowed beneath Thine awful eye,
Nor guarded deed and word and thought,
Remembering that God was nigh.
Lord, give us faith to know Thee near,
And grant the grace of holy fear.

We have not loved Thee as we ought,
Nor cared that we are loved by Thee;
Thy presence we have coldly sought,
And feebly longed Thy face to see.
Lord, give a pure and loving heart
To feel and know the love Thou art.

We have not served Thee as we ought,
Alas, the duties left undone,
The work with little fervor wrought,
The battles lost or scarcely won!
Lord, give the zeal, and give the might,
For Thee to toil, for Thee to fight.

When shall we know Thee as we ought,
And fear and love and serve aright?
When shall we, out of trial brought,
Be perfect in the land of light?
Lord, may we day by day prepare
To see Thy face and serve Thee there.

HEAR IT HERE

Advice (2375)

William Penn once said: “Right is right, even if everyone is against it; wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it.” His words ring true yet today.

When you look around, do you feel like you’re out of step with the rest of the world? Do you wonder why you seem to be among the few that still stand by your values and principles?

Five ways to sabotage your body .....

Praise! Marilyn is doing wonderfully. She got her second shot yesterday and there is no more pain in her back! Praise the Lord – it worked! She will be going for a third shot in a few weeks. Continue to pray for her complete healing and recovery from this back pain.

Advice - best given by example :Warren Buffett

"Choose you this day whom ye will serve."
It is a deliberate calculation, not something
into which you drift easily : Oswald Chambers

Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) was a Scottish minister
and teacher whose teachings on the life of faith and
abandonment to God have endured to this day.

no grapes

Please pray for Bob . He is going to mediation regarding
his divorce today at 2:00 pm. Pray that they will get this
settled and not have to go to trial. Pray for Bob that he
will have God’s grace and strength;
Lord’s will and guidance.

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We don't become discouraged, since God has given
us this ministry through his mercy. Instead,
we have refused to use secret and shameful ways.
We don't use tricks, and we don't distort God's word.
As God watches, we clearly reveal the truth to everyone.

2 Corinthians 4
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LIE # 1
if you do it you will.....be as God.
you will get to decide what is good and what is evil.
....so is the world in a mess today ?...or what !!!
how about your personal world?
is everything HONKYDORY ?

if your answer is no....
how did you decide wether
things are good or not?

me personally?.....
I am going to stick with the word....
what word you may be asking...
well....whatever GOD said !!!

if GOD said don't do it...then I won't
if GOD said it is Good, then it is
it GOD said it is evil, then it is....

I never get to decide...and that is OK
whenever I start to decide...I am beleiving THE LIE...
I am making myself God....

COMMANDMENT # 1
you must have NO OTHER GOD

here are some DECLARATIONS to help you

1. every GOOD and perfect gift comes from GOD
2. all things work together for GOOD to them that love GOD
3. evil shall slay the wicked, and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate
4. the Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants and

NONE of them that trust in Him will be desolate.

FINALLY...my friend Malcom M said "

Ron you have to let GOD be GOD."

so...are all the bills paid on time this or any month?
did the kids turn out the way you thought they should?
are you being paid what you think you are worth?
do we have the right man in the oval office?
should you be taking vitamins or prescription stuff?
will the oil spill in the gulf ever get fixed?
are you feeling good about yourself?

does any of this really matter?

CHECK THIS OUT -

(http://gwt.scripturetext.com/habakkuk/3.htm)
17Even if the fig tree does not bloom and the vines have no grapes, even if the olive tree fails to produce and the fields yield no food, even if the sheep pen is empty and the stalls have no cattle-
18even then, I will be happy with the LORD. I will truly find joy in God, who saves me.

(http://gwt.scripturetext.com/2_corinthians/4.htm)
8In every way we're troubled, but we aren't crushed by our troubles. We're frustrated, but we don't give up. 9We're persecuted, but we're not abandoned. We're captured, but we're not killed.

the crossroads

In 1776, before our nation was even born, our founding fathers had to decide if this new nation, America, was even worth fighting for. Would the price they would pay be worth it? But thank God they were willing to pay that price, and today we are blessed to live in the greatest nation in the world. But the question is this - Are we willing to stand up and fight today to keep American great?

We all clearly see the erosion in a nation's high moral values, our sense of right and wrong, and our deep commitment to God. As a nation, so many of these are just going away, and we Americans are at a crossroad. In the Bible, in the Book of Jeremiah it says, "Stand at the crossroads and look for the ancient paths. Ask where the good way is and walk in it." It was President Lyndon Johnson who said, "If we fail now we shall have forgotten in abundance what we learned in hardship; that democracy rests on faith, that freedom asks more than it gives, and that the judgment of God is harshest on those who are most favored". So what must we do? We must realize that there is a price to pay today. That we must stand up for what we know to be good and right, and realize that if we don't stand up, no one else will.

In 1864, during one terrible battle in our Civil War, one Union Army flag bearer Leopold Karpeles, distinguished himself by an incredible act of bravery, an act so brave it won him the Medal of Honor. Eyewitnesses tell us that the Union Army was being slaughtered in that battle, and the soldiers began to run. Now, Sergeant Karpeles could have run too, but as the one who carried the flag, his job was to rally the soldiers. So while carrying no weapon, only that flag, he found the highest spot to stand, putting him clearly in the line of fire, and he began waving that flag and shouting, "For God's sake boys, don't forget your colors". And the retreating soldiers, seeing him standing there in the direct line of fire, waving that flag, they all stopped and turned from their retreat and they fought. Flag bearer, Leopold Karpeles, knew his job and stood up. Regardless of the danger, he stood up.

We all know the song, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", but there's one verse you may not have heard. It says,
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat.
O be swift my soul to answer Him, be jubilant my feet,
Our God is marching on".
Dear God, we thank you for our great nation. Give us the strength to stand up.

 

http://www.visionradioproductions.com/node/478