Habakkuk 1:5 Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. -LORD God
Ephesians 4:30 “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”
The death of a child is like no other death. It is a never healing pain. It is a loss of part of yourself. It causes immense personal distress. I have personally suffered a miscarriage. I have sat with friends who have lost their children and seen the despair and pain written across their faces. Our children are not supposed to die before us. We grieve at the thought of being separated from them, not hearing their voices, seeing their faces, never seeing their full potential fulfilled.
As parents, we grieve, get angry when we see our children heading down a path of self-destruction. We many times stand face to face with a defiant, sulky, self-defiant, self-righteous, self-absorbed child. Yet, many of us stand, as that child, in the face of God. And you know what? Our Father grieves.
Our God, our Father, gives us the Holy Spirit as a guide. Still we disregard the promptings as a teenager sneaking out of the house for a night of mischief. We get angry at God because we look at the rules and start manifesting feelings of judgment. The same reasons I would get angry at my parents when I was young. Now as a parent myself, I understand. My parents loved me.
Our Heavenly Father grieves as we disregard His guidance. On judgment day, I can visualize God with tears in His eyes as He has to turn away from His children, His creations, who have chosen to be eternally separated from Him. I imagine it like being at the side of a hospital bed as you watch your child take his last breath.
Tread lightly, tread gently, my Christian friends. You never know what brokenness that might have been. It takes doing, saying a thousand good things To make one bad experience seem okay. -Christine McDonald
I share this to remind you that helping hurting individuals isn’t an easy or fast process. Prepare your heart, mind, and actions so you can avoid creating a co–dependent relationship. You want to encourage the individual to identify their own emotions, problem solve on their own, learn new responses, and recover a healthy normal. Oftentimes, they have disassociated from their own emotions and thoughts for so long that they don’t know their own feelings. They may have been a slave to someone else for so long that they don’t know how to think for themselves or problem solve constructively. They may have mastered responses to manage each situation, be it good or bad, but those responses were mastered for others, not themselves.
We can’t be their rescuers. But we can be agents of God’s reconciliation and agents of human flourishing. Our aim should be to help them flourish and grow, to be strong individuals who are able to make choices on their own when they need to, who find their own voice and place in the world, who learn to trust their own abilities, and who experience wholeness as the beings God created them to be.
Key Theme: A positive mental attitude towards God results in obedience and responsive action to God’s word. In return, God responds to obedience to His Word.
Asa was a good king of the southern kingdom, Judah. His mental attitude and actions towards God dictated God’s response to Judah and King Asa both positively and negatively. Asa’s mental attitude resulted in physical action and deeds. Ultimately, there are consequences to our obedience of God’s Word.
Asa’s actions were the result of his attitude. His attitude is expressed in…
1 Kings 15:11 Asa did what was right in the sight of the Lord.
1 Kings 15:14b- nevertheless the heart of Asa was wholly devoted to the Lord all his days.
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Because of this mental attitude, Asa was obedient to the Lord in regard to His commandments.
Societal reforms were made by Asa according to God’s Commandments. Asa called on Judah to worship the one true God in 2 Chronicles 15:10-15. As a result, the Lord gave them rest on every side.
Asa called for the removal of male cult prostitution and idolatry in the land in 1 Kings 15:12.
Asa sacrificed precious metals and dedicated family items to the Lord in 1 Kings 15:15. This resulted in peace and prosperity with fortified cities.
Military and political decisions were driven by Asa’s attitude toward God. A result of Asa’s convictions was that citizens from Israel defected to him when they saw that the Lord was with Asa (2 Chronicles 15:9).
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In military affairs, there are two examples of Asa’s mental attitude. One is positive towards God and the other is negative.
When confronted with the Ethiopians, Asa turned to God. Asa called on the Lord in battle. God responded and the Lord routed Ethiopia. The dread of the Lord had fallen on the Ethiopians. Judah enjoyed the spoils of victory with plunder and livestock (2 Chronicles 14).
The second example involves Asa against the Kingdom of Israel. Instead of trusting in the Lord, Asa turned to the king of Aram in Damascus. Asa requested a treaty for safety with the King of Aram and gave him silver and gold. There were consequences for trusting in the King of Aram instead of God. Hanani the prophet indicated that the army of the King of Aram had escaped from his hand and that there would be wars in Asa’s land (2 Chronicles 16:1-8).
When Asa turned from God, his kingdom began to suffer. He imprisoned the prophet out of anger. Asa turned on his people and oppressed them. Ultimately, he became sick with diseased feet. Instead of turning to the Lord, he turned and trusted physicians. Asa died two years later (2 Chronicles 16:9-13).
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Asa trusted in the Lord for the first 35 years of his reign. Judah benefited during this time with peace and prosperity. In the last six years of Asa’s reign, he turned away from God. The kingdom declined, war returned, and the people were oppressed. Asa was obedient to God in his early years, but failed late in life in regards to his mental attitude.
God makes it clear that He wishes for obedience. There are consequences for our choice of mental attitude towards God. The prophet Azariah indicated to Asa:
2 Chronicles 15:2bthe Lord is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.
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God indicates that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.
2 Chronicles 16:9For the eyes of the LORD roam throughout the earth, so that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will have wars.
Israel’s collective heart was not devoted to the Lord God. As a result…
2 Chronicles 15:6bWhen there was absence of God in Israel, God troubled them with every kind of distress.
But God is true to His Word, 2 Chronicles 15:7“but you, be strong and do not lose courage, for there is reward for your work…”.
Be sure, that your work is born out of your heart and obedience to God’s Word.
Isaiah 42:5 Thus says God the LORD, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it…
As we celebrate this day of Thanksgiving, let us remember Who gave us life, that we are living, aware, breathing, and awake by the grace of God.
Life is not of ourselves. We are not responsible for our existence. God created.
By His grace, we are all here on this Earth, His creation, He created. God is beyond patient with how we steward His creation. He is beyond patient with how we as humanity treat each other, His children.
Job 34:13-14 If He should set His heart on it, If He should gather to Himself His Spirit and His breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.
We have life and we should be thankful for our lives.
Romans 14:6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.
On this Thanksgiving, give thanks to the Lord. Because of Him, we have this opportunity called life.
Matthew 7:20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister, Australian Labor Party
Bad move in this hour. The Lord’s hand is in motion and I think the Labor Government in Canberra just signed it’s own job termination letter with this. Former PM Morrison’s folks had better be looking at getting the band back together. Do I write this because Yair Lapid is a wonderful and favored by God? That formulation would be simplistic and more bluntly, silly. I am not going to pronounce on Mr. Lapid’s faith (because I do not know his heart), but by Mr. Lapid’s fruit, Matthew 7:20 for the rest.
The government in Canberra, took the decision under PM Morrison to move the nation of Australia, closer to God’s design and agreement. Which means honoring the covenants God has formed. In the case of recognizing Jerusalem as the eternal capital, it was an affirmation of something plainly evident. It was making right an historical fact, that is apart from the covenantal imperative (the central issue).
Under the dispensation of grace, God will not want the people of Australia to suffer for the decision of it’s leadership especially in the urgency of this hour. Though we ARE in the dispensation of Grace, the dispensation of the law still applies in the conduct of mankind overall.
This period of history is one of an interim judgement.
To make an entire people accountable for the errant decision of it’s leadership, I cannot see the Lord permitting that for very long. The grace that the rest of us are extended (when we make a wicked or bad call) will be given to the Australian leadership. But how long it will remain extended is known strictly to Him.
Genesis 12:1-3 Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Leviticus 23:33-36 Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘On the fifteenth of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths for seven days to the LORD. On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work of any kind. For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the LORD; it is an assembly. You shall do no laborious work.’”
When working in the fields during harvest, people lived in tents. The tents served as a reminder of the forty years of wandering in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt. The holiday is a reminder of the provision and safety God showed Israel during their travels in the desert as noted in Deuteronomy 8. The feast is a thanksgiving for the harvest of grapes (Exodus 23:16). It is to be a joyous festival (Deuteronomy 16:14). Sabbatical rest without work is part of the holiday. (New Manners and Customs of Bible Times).
This is the last of God’s appointed feasts or festivals. This holiday is known by many names. It is called the Feast of Tabernacles, Sukkot, the Feast of Booths, the Festival of Tents, or the Feast of the Harvest because it is after the harvest in the fall. Simply put, it is also called “the feast” or “the festival”.
The new moon was identified in Israel on Tuesday, September 27th, 2022. Sukkot/Feast of Tabernacles/15th Day of the 7th Month is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, October 11th at sunset. As calculated by modern man, Tabernacles is scheduled to begin on sunset Sunday, October 9th through Sunday, October 16th, 2022.
Tishri is the seventh month on a Hebrew calendar. This festival is a week-long festival from Tishri 15 to 21.
Tabernacles is the last of three festivals where men are required to make a road trip to Jerusalem and go to the Temple.
Per Zechariah 14:16-19, the Feast of Booths is the only God appointed holiday gentile nations will be required to attend. The nations will be required to go before the Lord Jesus Christ during the Feast of Booths. For those nations who do not attend, no rain for your crops.
Zechariah 14:16-19 Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. And should any of the families of the earth not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, then the rain will not fall on them.And if the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.
Key verse: “And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately” (Luke 12:36).
Each time a conversation gets to the direction of the return of Jesus Christ, many people are either dismissive, amused or unconcerned. This is because they think it is unlikely or if it will happen at all, that it would be in the distant future. In the process, they miss the essential lesson of ensuring that the Lord’s coming does not meet them unprepared.
Jesus Christ assures His disciples that almighty God has reserved a place in heaven for them. Believers should therefore, not misplace their priorities but jettison anything, including love of money, that could hinder their love, obedience and service to the Lord. They must allow their lives to shine brightly, while living in constant expectation of the imminent return of our Lord Jesus Christ so that when He comes, they would be ready. In fact, He would come when most people are not expecting Him.
Great blessings await those He will meet ready at His return. But those who fail to prepare for His coming and are consumed by the rat race, revelry and oppressive activities of the world, would suffer eternal separation from Him. Those that are ignorant of His advent will also face punishment; while those that knew but refused to get themselves ready, will get a more severe punishment.
This is a timely warning, especially in our present age when all talk about the return of Jesus Christ seem like fable to many. To be ready, you must not condone even the slightest sin in your life but shun all evil distractions of the world. You must diligently follow the Lord, faithfully engage in the service of winning and preparing souls for heaven and growing daily into the nature and stature of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: How ready are you to meet the Lord?
Why do we seek the approval of others more so than we seek the approval of God? Why do we let the opinions of others affect us so much?
Do not let the opinions of others dictate who you think you should be. Just be you & do what you know is right in your heart & naturally attract those that are right for you.
Stop doing backflips for people that will only use you to benefit themselves. Be happy in God rather than miserable being who you aren’t. Avoid fools.
Galatians 1:10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant to God.
Proverbs 18:2 A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.
The month of Elul initiates a 40 day period called Teshuvah. The point of the season is to prepare for the civil Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. This appointed feast day is also referred to as Yom Teruah by Jews. Christians may refer to the day as the Feast of Trumpets. The season of Teshuvah concludes on Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement.
Teshuvah is a time to turn toward God. People are called to turn away from their sin, repent, and change course. It is a time of inward reflection and sincere self-assessment. The goal is a change in lifestyle away from sin to obedience in God’s word. The 40 day period starts on Elul 1 and ends on Tishri 10, Yom Kippur.
Elul is the last month of the civic calendar in Judaism. Elul is the sixth month of God’s calendar. Jewish tradition points to the name of the month to be an acronym of “Ani l’dodi v’dodi li” a quote from Song of Songs 6:3 I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine…
In Aramaic, the vernacular of the Jewish people at the time that the month names were adopted, the word Elul means “search”. Per Strong’s Concordance, Elul means “nothingness” in the Hebrew. The month is mentioned one time in the Bible. Nehemiah 6:15 So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.
This year, 5782/2022, the start of Elul will begin at the sighting of the sliver of the new moon by two witnesses. It is estimated to be observed at sun set from possibly Saturday, August 27 to Monday, August 29.
This year, 5782/2022, the season of Teshuvah is unique and exceptional.
The end of the month of Elul marks the end of a sabbatical or shemitah year. On a western Gregorian calendar, that is Sunday, September 25 to Tuesday, September 27, 2022. Remember, the new month, and in this case the new civil year, is decreed upon the confirmation of the new moon by two witnesses. Historically, God releases debt on the last day of the last year of a seven year cycle.
Deuteronomy 15:1-2 At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts. This is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the LORD’S remission has been proclaimed.
Historically, this is not a good omen for economic markets. If history is any indicator, fasten your seat belts. The land completes its rest on approximately Sunday, September 25 to Tuesday, September 27, 2022 pending two witnesses confirming the new moon. God is going into action and debt will be released. Keep your eyes on the markets. Planet Earth is likely to get even more interesting. Like we do not have enough to be concerned about already.
For those of you who are not familiar, this is JP Sears.
JP Sears is a comedian who tours the country extensively doing stand-up comedy and publishing weekly online videos. His videos have been viewed more than 500 million times. In addition to inspiring laughter in a weird world, JP’s work takes an unapologetic stand for freedom, free speech, and encouraging people to free themselves from fear.
CAUTION! JP will use very adult language and he is not afraid to engage in controversial topics. Some of you will likely be offended. Warning completed…
JP will openly admit. He is not a Biblical scholar.
But JP does understand fundamental truth about a few Bible verses and concepts.
Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
2 Corinthians 11:14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
Click on the link below and look what happens when these verses are applied in today’s world…
