Lift up your eyes to God, wait and watch for God to send his mercy. The more you wait, the more you need to cry out to God because the evil and proud offer you no help—they have only contempt for God.
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“Faithful in Christ Jesus” —what an excellent reputation! Such a label would be an honor for any believer. What would it take for others to characterize you as a faithful follower of Christ Jesus?
Hold fast to your faith, one day at a time; faithfully obey God, even in the details of life. Then you will be known as a person who is faithful to the Lord.
EXCERPT from Framed by God
Life for me had started to look up. High school came and went successfully. Five years passed, and it was 1989. I was reaching my eighteenth birthday, and I was ready to step into a new chapter of my life. The Hill family had helped me successfully reach my high school graduation day. Mr. and Mrs. Hill emphasized to me how important it was for me to go to college and further my education. They stressed daily the importance of having the right and positive attitude; and they taught me that it was essential for me to associate with like-minded believers. It was a must that I surround myself with the right people in order for me to become successful—people with a positive vision for their future who were trying to live on the same path I was now trying to live on. I had big hopes and dreams because…
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Choices and Consequences
Living a life without the fear of reprisal is the view of the world today. There seems to be this unyielding effort to push the philosophy of, “It’s my life and I can do what I want.” There an incessant need to promote a rebellious state of mind in people. Look at our society today as opposed to the society our fathers and grandfathers grew up in. Our forefathers lived in a time where the rule of law matter. People respected the laws of the land even if they did not agree with it. And even greater they respected the law of God. There was a real fear of God in the land. No matter what was going on around them God took dominance over all. I can remember when a rain storm would come. The sky would clap with thunder. The lightening would crack loudly across the heavens above and my grandmother would say, “You all need to sit down, be still while the lord is doing his work.” Whatever one make think about her comments. The fact remains there was a reverence for God by all. Even those who were partakers of the world’s pleasures had reverence for God. But that is not view of the world today. The view today is to live life without fear of reprimand. Without fear or belief of the eternal damnation declared in God’s word.
This is a dangerous way of thinking because refusing to believe in a literal Heaven and Hell does not eliminate the consequences of one’s actions for coming upon you. Those consequences are not eliminated because you also have to face consequences in this life as well. That is where society has gone so dreadfully wrong. You see life has a boomerang affect. Whatever you do has a cause and effect to it. When you do good then good comes back to you. When you do bad then bad comes back to you. So many times there is suffering in one’s life because of the lifestyle that is being lived. One may ask, what do you mean? Well, I mean a living a lifestyle making wrong choices; drinking, partying, lying, cursing, lusting, hating, disrespecting, envying etc. is brings negative things into your life. Sickness, disease, poverty, stress, high blood pressure, loss of joy, and desire for life all stem from a choices made to live in the ways of the world.
“If thou wilt NOT observe to do all the words of this law…then the Lord will make thy plagues…great plagues and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of…Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee”
(Deuteronomy 28:58-61 NKJV).
Sin and sickness are closely associated in the New Testament, as well as in the, Old, for Jesus Himself said, in dealing with sickness, “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee” (Mark 2:5 NKJV)
And to another, “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee” (John 5:14 NKJV).
God meant what He said when declared, Obedience brings healing! Disobedience brings disease and sickness. The unsaved and disobedient, must prepare for healing by getting right with God! The Apostle Paul deals explicitly with the subject of sickness, “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” (1 Corinthians 11:30 NKJV)
This verse clearly states there is a definite cause for sicknesses. We should give this careful consideration and make sure that we know and understand what this “cause” is.
“If you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you” (Deuteronomy 28:15 NKJV)
“The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him. The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.” (Deuteronomy 28:20-24 NKJV)
The cause for the anguish one faces in society today is easily seen if one dares to view life from the inside out. Asking the question, what am I doing in my life that is causing me undo stress? What am I doing to contribute to the stresses and struggles in my life? How can I change my lifestyle to eliminate the sickness and pressures in my life? When you are willing to accept there are consequences for your actions and behaviors then it is easier to seek change in your life.
Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man;
“One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
“Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”
(Luke 5:15-28)
And this is only one of many example s of the healing power of God on display when forgiveness of sin has taken place. If you want to see changes in your life then seek forgiveness from God. Make up your mind to make a conscious effort to think different than you have in the past. Seek to base you decisions in life and actions toward life on the word of God. Then watch in amazement and give God the Praise for the changes in your life.
mitchellkevin 