Sonship With God Almighty

Posted on September 11, 2022 by Roland Ledoux

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. – 1 John 3:1-2.

Being called children of God is a sure sign of God’s love. With wonder in his heart, John marveled that believers should be called “God’s children,” an expression that emphatically emphasizes their relationship with God. Those who believe in Christ Jesus right this moment are God’s children now, they do not have to wait to be known by the Father as His children.

This relationship that the individual has to God results in the world not knowing them (see John 1:9–13); but it also gives believers an unshakeable confidence and assurance in their relationship to the Father. John asserted that there was no progressive process by which believers gradually become God’s children, it happens the moment an individual believes in Christ Jesus and His redemptive work.

Although the future will bring changes in believers’ bodies, as far as being glorified like Christ’s, the future will in no way make them more God’s children than what they are today. In Christ believers are as related to God as they will ever be and that relationship can never be broken.

When Christ appears to take his church to heaven, all believers “will be like him,” possessing glorified, resurrected bodies as Paul confidently writes under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration:

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. – Romans 8:16-17.

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. – Romans 8:29-30.

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. – 1 Corinthians 15:51-53.

The present unglorified body should not block the expression of one’s true relationship to God. The coming of Christ will only be a change in the mode of the believer’s existence, not a change in his position before God. John in his epistle/letter is trying to reassure Christians, not just in his day, but beyond, because during his time his opponents, who had become many, had raised questions about a believer’s present standing with God as compared with their eternal standing. The beloved Apostle is making it perfectly clear that your relationship with God AS Father, starts and endures from the moment a person accepts Christ Jesus and His mission to restore that relationship with the Father that was lost through Adam.

When it is all said and finished, there is no doubts about our standing with God Almighty, as our Heavenly Father. We truly become “children of God” as well as co-heirs with Jesus Christ! What an awesome and amazing truth!

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Thanks in part to Tyndale Concise Bible Commentary.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
**Scripture Links provided by Biblia.com
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Questions On Bible Prophecy – 1

Posted on September 11, 2022 by Roland Ledoux

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*Pastor’s Note: As I mentioned some time ago, I have been doing a lot of study on Bible prophecy and I have started to become familiar with the writings of several great teachers who specialize in Biblical prophecy.

Over the next few weeks, as part of my Prophetic Words category, I’m going to share one or two questions, in no particular order from the excellent book by Mark Hitchcock entitled, The Complete Book of Bible Prophecy. My hope and prayer is that it will give some insight into much of the end-times prophecy the Bible speaks of and hopefully alleviates some of the fears and confusion people have about studying prophecy.

Bible prophecy ALWAYS points to God and His plans for this world that He created through Christ Jesus. Therefore, for true Christians, it is meant to be a comfort that God continues as always to have everything under control despite what it might appear to the average person.

Mr. Hitchcock’s teachings are informative and enlightening as well as inspirational and any book you can get for yourself from his writings will most definitely be well-worth it. I hope you are blessed AND informed and some of these questions and answers will give you a greater strength to walk in confidence and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The following is the first question I present to you from his book:

How Close Are We to the End?

At every prophecy conference I have ever attended, someone always asks this question. After all, this is the big question, isn’t it? How close are we to the end? How much longer will it be until Jesus comes back?

This question reminds me of the man who was sitting downstairs late one night reading, while his wife had already retired to bed. He heard the grandfather clock begin to chime in the hallway and started counting the chimes to see what time it was. The clock chimed nine, ten, eleven, twelve—then thirteen! Upon hearing the thirteenth bell, he got up, ran up the stairs, bolted into the bedroom to wake up his wife, and said, “Honey, wake up, it’s later than it’s ever been!”

That’s the one sure answer to this question I can give. We are closer to the end than we’ve ever been. However, the ultimate answer to this question is, no one knows for sure how close we are to the end except the Lord. We can point to various signs the Lord has given us, such as the regathering of Israel to her land, the European Community as the possible reuniting of the Roman Empire, the continued heightening of tensions in the Middle East, the unstable conditions in Russia, and the development of a one-world economy that the Antichrist could easily control. And it does appear that these signs point to the imminent return of Christ. So the Rapture must be even nearer. But how near? We really don’t know. These signs indicate that the general time of the Second Coming is near. But we still must confess that we don’t know the specific day or the hour of his coming for his church. We can confidently say that “Jesus may come today,” but we must also admit that he may not come in the next decade. He may not come in my lifetime or yours.

One passage often used to pinpoint the coming of Christ is Matthew 24:34: “‘I assure you, this generation will not pass from the scene before all these things take place.'” Some use this verse to prove that once the signs of the last days begin, Christ will return within one generation, which is usually calculated to be about forty years. However, this verse probably means that the generation that personally witnesses the signs in Matthew 24:4–30—that is, the Tribulation period—will not pass away before Christ returns. Thus, Christ could return sixty, seventy, eighty, or more years after these signs begin. Therefore, this verse should not be used to establish a date for the coming of Christ.

For those of us today who see the storm clouds of some of these signs gathering on the horizon, all we can say is that we believe we are in the end times in a general sense.

My grandfather was a pastor who loved the prophetic Scriptures. When Israel became a nation in 1948, he recognized the prophetic significance of this event. My father has told me that my grandfather commented on numerous occasions that he believed Jesus would come in his lifetime. He lived his life believing the end was near and looking for the Rapture. However, the Lord called my grandfather home in 1963 at the age of sixty-three. Was my grandfather wrong? No, he wasn’t wrong. He didn’t miss the Rapture. He is presently with the Lord, and at the Rapture he will be resurrected to join the Lord and his saints in the air. The precious hope of the Rapture added unspeakable joy to his life. The point of prophecy in Scripture is that we are to live as if Christ could come at any moment. That’s all we can do. We must leave the timing of this event with the Lord.

All I can say when people ask me how close we are to the end is that I earnestly believe that Jesus could come today, and I pray that he will. That’s close enough for me!

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Mark Hitchcock, The Complete Book of Bible Prophecy (Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1999)
Scripture links provided by Biblia.com
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Is Work a Curse?

Posted on September 11, 2022 by Roland Ledoux

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WHAT was the curse that God put on creation (Genesis 3:17–19)? One of the most stubborn myths in Western culture is that God imposed work as a curse to punish Adam and Eve’s sin. As a result, some people view work as evil. Scripture does not support that idea:

  • God Himself is a worker. The fact that God works shows that work is not evil, since by definition God cannot do evil. On the contrary, work is an ongoing activity of God (John 5:17).
  • God created people in His image to be His coworkers. He gives them ability and authority to manage His creation.
  • God established work before the Fall. Genesis 1 and 2 record how God created the world. The account tells how He placed the first humans in a garden “to tend and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). This work assignment was given before sin entered the world and before God pronounced the curse (Genesis 3). Obviously, then, work cannot be a result of the Fall since people were working before the Fall.
  • God commends work even after the Fall. If work were evil in and of itself, God would never encourage people to engage in it. But He does. For example, He told Noah and his family the same thing He told Adam and Eve, to have dominion over the earth (Genesis 9:1–7). In the NT, Christians are commanded to work (Colossians 3:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:11).
  • Work itself was not cursed in the Fall. A careful reading of Genesis 3:17–19 shows that God cursed the ground, not work, as a result of Adam’s sin: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it.”

Notice three ways that the curse affected work: (1) Work had been a joy, but now it would be “toil.” People would feel burdened by it and even come to hate it. (2) “Thorns and thistles” would hamper people’s efforts to exercise dominion. In other words, the earth would not be as cooperative as it had been. (3) People would have to “sweat” to accomplish their tasks. Work would require enormous effort and energy.

Most people know how burdensome work can be. Workplace stresses and pressures, occupational hazards, the daily grind, office politics, crushing boredom, endless routine, disappointments, setbacks, catastrophes, frustration, cutthroat competition, fraud, deception, injustice—there is no end of evils connected with work. But work itself is not evil. Far from calling it a curse, the Bible calls work and its fruit a gift from God (Ecclesiastes 3:13; 5:18-19).

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Courtesy of Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary
Scripture links provided by Biblia.com
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Avoiding False Hope and Pride

Posted on September 11, 2022 by Roland Ledoux

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The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis, is a Christian devotional book first composed in Medieval Latin as De Imitatione Christi (c. 1418–1427). The devotional text is divided into four books of detailed spiritual instructions. The devotional approach of The Imitation of Christ emphasizes the interior life and withdrawal from the mundanities of the world, as opposed to the active imitation of Christ practiced by other friars. The Imitation is perhaps the most widely read Christian devotional work after the Bible, and is regarded as a devotional and religious classic. The book was written anonymously in Latin in the Netherlands c. 1418–1427. Its popularity was immediate, and after the first printed edition in 1471-72, it was printed in 745 editions before 1650. Apart from the Bible, no book had been translated into more languages than the Imitation of Christ at the time.

AVOIDING FALSE HOPE AND PRIDE

VAIN is the man who puts his trust in men, in created things.

Do not be ashamed to serve others for the love of Jesus Christ and to seem poor in this world. Do not be self-sufficient but place your trust in God. Do what lies in your power and God will aid your good will. Put no trust in your own learning nor in the cunning of any man, but rather in the grace of God Who helps the humble and humbles the proud.

If you have wealth, do not glory in it, nor in friends because they are powerful, but in God Who gives all things and Who desires above all to give Himself. Do not boast of personal stature or of physical beauty, qualities which are marred and destroyed by a little sickness. Do not take pride in your talent or ability, lest you displease God to Whom belongs all the natural gifts that you have.

Do not think yourself better than others lest, perhaps, you be accounted worse before God Who knows what is in man. Do not take pride in your good deeds, for God’s judgments differ from those of men and what pleases them often displeases Him. If there is good in you, see more good in others, so that you may remain humble. It does no harm to esteem yourself less than anyone else, but it is very harmful to think yourself better than even one. The humble live in continuous peace, while in the hearts of the proud are envy and frequent anger.

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Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ (Logos Research Systems, 1996)
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A Supernatural Book – John Linton – 5

Posted on September 11, 2022 by Roland Ledoux

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gs john linton John Linton (1888 – 1965) John Linton is not normally listed among the elite of the evangelists in this century: Moody, Sunday, Bob Jones, Sr., Appelman, John Rice. But he was not some lesser light—God mightily moved through his ministry. He left a trail of converts to Christ as well as revived, restored, rejoicing churches.

His gospel soundness, his compelling delivery, his Scotch brogue and his devotion to our Lord made him widely acceptable. You cannot hear the inimitable Scotch brogue in his sermon, but you can enjoy its sweet and powerful message.

He died at age 77 in the pulpit while conducting evangelistic services.

The Bible – A Supernatural Book
The Scientific Accuracy of the Bible – Part Two

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God . . . – 2 Timothy 3:16.

Until recent years science believed the moon to be a great luminous body like the sun. It was counted a remarkable discovery when science proved that the moon does not shine itself but only reflects the light of the sun. But the Bible had already told us this: “The moon . . . it shineth not” (Job 25:5).

The ancients all insisted that the moon was larger than the sun. Modern science knows better. Sir James Hopwood Jeans, who has no superior as an astronomer, has shown that the sun is five million times as big as the moon.

Did the Bible reveal this fact? It is right there in the opening pages of God’s Word: “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night” (Genesis 1:16).

The opening words of Genesis indicate light on this earth before the fourth day of creation when the rays of the sun appeared: “Let there be light: and there was light.”

This was believed impossible until the great scientist de Laplace showed that in the condensation of the original formless chaos there was such molecular and chemical action as must have emitted light. No scientist now disputes this.

Boardman, in his Creative Week, asks, “Why will the Academy vote Moses a blunderer for declaring that light existed before the sun appeared and yet vote de Laplace a scientist for affirming precisely the same thing?”

In other branches of science the Bible reveals the same divine foreknowledge.

In 1615, William Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood. It was then seen that the life of the body was in the blood.

Before Harvey’s discovery, doctors tried to cure people by bloodletting. They didn’t know that the blood was the very life. But away back in Leviticus 17:11 we read, “The life of the flesh is in the blood.”

Sir James Simpson of Edinburgh, through the invention of chloroform, did more than any other man has done to relieve human suffering. This humble, Bible-believing Christian declared that the words of Genesis 2:21 led him to his great discovery. “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof.”

Sir James Simpson believed the Bible to be God’s Word and concluded that God would know how to perform a surgical operation. The experiment proved successful.

The same Bible teaches that the second coming of Christ takes place in a moment of time. Paul said it would be “in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:52). The Bible actually declares that at this precise moment it will be both night and day on the earth:

“In that day . . . he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.”

“I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.”—Luke 17:31, 34.

At night sleeping in bed, in the day working in the field—all at one moment of time. How can this be possible? Because the world is round; and while we are sleeping at night, men on the other side of the world are working in daylight. But it was not until many centuries after the Gospels were written that men came to understand that night and day reigned at one moment on this earth!

It is because of the scientific accuracy of the Bible and its knowledge of facts before men discovered them that Dr. James Orr, in The Bible Under Trial, page 41, asserts:

With any amount of critical violence you cannot get the supernatural out of the Bible. It is there and will reassert itself.

To Be Continued

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*Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible: King James Version. In Public Domain.
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Uphill Climb

Posted on September 11, 2022 by Roland Ledoux

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For Sunday September 11, 2022

UPHILL CLIMB

Psalm 78:53-54
He led them on safely . . . and He brought them to His holy border.

Let’s face it: the Christian life is not a walk in the park; in fact, most of the time it is an uphill climb on rugged terrain. It shouldn’t surprise us, for Jesus told us that we would have tribulation in this world (John 16:33). Still, when trials come, we tend to question why this would happen to us. Fortunately, God’s Word promises us a safe landing.

Joseph must have understood this at a young age when, after being betrayed by his own brothers, he faced so many trials that anyone else would have given up. He trusted the Lord with the outcome of his life; at the end of it all he was blessed beyond measure, and his family was preserved during a nationwide famine.

Billy Graham once said, “I’ve read the last page of the Bible. It’s all going to turn out all right.” It is precisely this perspective that will prevent us from becoming bogged down in the struggles that are inevitable in the lives of believers. It will also strengthen our resolve to press on until the return of our King.

Friend, if you are experiencing a trial, set your mind on the safety and blessing that lie at the end of your difficult journey, and trust the Lord with the outcome. He won’t let you down.

God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage.
UNKNOWN

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David Jeremiah, Turning Points with God: 365 Daily Devotions (Tyndale, 2014)
*Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture links provided by Biblia.com
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God Gives Life, Not Tips

Posted on September 11, 2022 by Roland Ledoux

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“All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God . . . – Deuteronomy 28:2 (Read verses 2-13).

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. – Hebrews 10:35-36.

Christian Life – A Revolutionary Life

The San Diego police department established a We Tip anonymous witness program in September, 1984. By the fall of 1994 the program had helped solve 2,085 crimes in San Diego County. Rewards from $25 to $1,000 were paid to those who informed on drug dealers, homicide suspects, sex perverts, etc. Citizens who participated in the program never had to identify themselves. The tips resulted in the arrest of a thousand suspects and convictions in fifty-seven homicide cases. Through this program, the police department disbursed over $139,000 in rewards, with another $81,000 offered that has never been claimed.

God is not handing out $25 to $500 tips for information. He offers a revolutionary life that cannot be measured, evaluated, or understood just now. He offers a dream of one day being what we can only imagine now, of life at a level that is only a vision now. While our hopes remind us of what we would like to be, our victories remind us of what life sometimes can be—and our defeats remind us of what life often is. We desperately need God’s vision of what life can be in him!

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Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley copyright © 1995 by Word, Incorporated. Used by permission.
*Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture links provided by Biblia.com
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Grant That I May Have Your Patience

Posted on September 11, 2022 by Roland Ledoux

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Thomas à Kempis, Prayer for Sunday 9-11-2022

I bless you, and give thanks to you, O Lord Jesus Christ, most mighty King of kings, for your persecution, and for the hardships forced upon you, in the days of your childhood, when you fled from the face of the most wicked King Herod, and were driven forth as a stranger and an outcast from your own land, and had to enter in secret that land of Egypt, from which, in the days of old, you had with a mighty hand led forth the children of Israel.

Grant to me now, I ask you, O my beloved Jesus, to tread, at least in my small degree, in your steps, in this matter of patience; give me grace not to murmur when I have to suffer wrong; but rather humbly to give way to an angry man, to submit cheerfully to being laughed at, and evil spoken of; and when any one vexes and annoys me, give me grace to curb my anger against him, to pray earnestly for his salvation, and so far as may be, to set down his fault to the account of the old serpent who led him into it.

Give me grace to live peaceably with others, willingly to give way to them, and with them patiently to bear, for your honor and glory, the lack of this world’s goods, no matter how great it may be.

Amen.

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Elliot Ritzema, ed., 400 Prayers for Preachers (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012)
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Blessings Through Light

Posted on September 9, 2022 by Roland Ledoux

*Pastor’s Note: This is from a favorite writer of mine who also does awesome poetry. As so many of you know, I love poetry and I’ve read a lot of Sister Kathy’s poetry. Here is one of her recent posts. By the way, the artwork with the poetry is from her husband Paul who is an avid and awesome painter too! I hope you will be blessed and enjoy this jewel from Sister Kathy and her husband Paul Boecher.

As I usually ask, please stop by and let her know you appreciate her ministry (and Paul’s for that matter) for us as well as for the Lord. While you’re there, check out her other articles and Paul’s paintings. She is a very prolific writer and poet. Remember, these teachings and the poetry and Paul’s paintings, are a sacrifice of praise and worship to the Lord! Give her a like and some encouragement! Also, Kathy and Paul could both use our continued prayers. Thanks and God Bless!

atimetoshare.me – Home

pcp blessiing pb-kbART & POETRY BY PAUL & KATHY BOECHER©

Sunlight dances across brilliant blue skies,

Weaving a kaleidoscope of light and color,

Twisting and turning through boughs and leaves,

It balances just the right amount of a warm, comforting glow.

Each fragment of fractured light disperses into brilliance,

Tiny mirror like reflections float across the water,

Reflections of the blessings God sprinkles into our lives,

Capture those everyday things.

Cling to them with hugs of joy and thanksgiving,

Plant them firmly in your memory,

Never let them go,

They are God’s daily gifts to us.

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Daily Prayer & Praise 9/09/2022

Posted on September 9, 2022 by Roland Ledoux

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Prayer for Friday

Lord God, we thank You that it is Your will to strengthen us through Your presence, through Jesus Christ, the Leader, Lord and Master of Your cause, Who is and remains victor among all on earth. Our souls need strength and our hearts need confidence so that in our time we can draw near to You and to Your kingdom through Your Son. Bless us and strengthen us with the Holy Spirit whenever we begin to grow weary. Your Holy Spirit can give us the power and strength to believe and hope, the strength and the foresight to see the salvation that is coming to give joy to all the world. In the glory of our Savior’s name, in Jesus Christ, we pray.

Amen.

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Adapted from the Daily Written Prayers of Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt, 1842–1919. In Public Domain
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The Googol

Posted on September 9, 2022 by Roland Ledoux

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No matter how large a number is, it is finite: it is always possible to mention a number that is larger. Scientists speak of the “googol.” It is a one, followed by 100 zeros. The googol is inconceivably large. But then think of the “googolplexes” which we believe is the googol raised to the googol-th power. It is said, that if this number were written out, there would not be space on earth to contain the pages required. In fact, they would more than fill our galaxy!

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1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 – Ole Hallesby

Posted on September 9, 2022 by Roland Ledoux

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Friday September 9, 2022

1 THESSALONIANS 5:17-18

Pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Childlike prayer for the Spirit of prayer will little by little bring a change into our prayer life such as we had scarcely thought possible.

Without our noticing the change, prayer will become the unifying center of our busy and distracted lives.

All that we experience from day to day will draw our hearts and minds quietly and naturally toward God. A desire to speak with God about everything will arise from time to time.

The things we see and hear in connection with our dear ones, our friends, our enemies, the converted, the unconverted, in connection with things temporal and spiritual, little things and greater things, the easy and the difficult—all the observations and experiences which give form and content to our daily lives will begin in a natural and happy way to formulate themselves into prayer.

Two people who love each other have not really experienced the things of love until they have told each other of their experiences. So also in prayer. The Spirit of prayer unites your soul with God in such a way that you speak with God about your experiences even before you are through experiencing them, whether you do this only in petition, or in sighing, grieving, fervent desire, or in thanksgiving and adoration.

You will experience it as blessed release thus to be able to speak with God about everything in your daily life, especially to be able to speak with Him about it at once, while it is still warm with interest and of actual import.

It will dawn on you more and more that prayer is the most important task in which you engage. And that you cannot employ your time to better advantage than in prayer, either while you are resting or while you are working.

Wherever you are!

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O. Hallesby, God’s Word for Today: A Daily Devotional for the Whole Year, trans. Clarence J. Carlsen (Augsburg, 1994)
*Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Simple Math For All!

Posted on September 9, 2022 by Roland Ledoux

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ns 9-9 God's math

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Reflecting With God 9/09/2022

Posted on September 9, 2022 by Roland Ledoux

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Thinking, praying, reading, studying the Bible – when we do these things, we are reflecting on the Word of God. To reflect is to contemplate and/or consider, and God wants us to deeply reflect on His Word so that we can better understand Him.

All Scriptures Used are NKJV, New King James Version

Friday Reflecting

“The beloved of the Lord.” – Deuteronomy 33:12.

Who is the beloved of the Lord? It is one who believes in the love that God has toward him.… Peter had a great idea of his own love to Christ; “though all men forsake thee, yet will I not forsake thee”; but John was content to speak of himself as the beloved of the Lord. “O Daniel, greatly beloved,” said the angel to that man of God.… Do you hesitate to class yourself with Daniel and John? Tell me, is there any greater expression of the love of God, than was given in the surrender of His Son to Gethsemane, Gabbatha, and Calvary? Did Daniel or John ever receive any more affecting love token than this? Be only bold enough to know the love that was expressed when Christ tasted death for you, and you may without hesitation sit down beneath the same tree with Daniel and John, and expect them to listen while you speak of the Crucified One.
~ BOWEN

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Intimacy With The Lord – 3

Posted on September 8, 2022 by Roland Ledoux

*Pastor’s Note: This is the third and last of the three parts of a message I posted on my first website back in the early 90s. I HAVE updated some of the Scripture references and the pictures were added for this posting. Thanks, and God Bless!

“DO NOT despise prophecies.” To many are teaching that this is in respect to the foretelling aspect of the spiritual gift of prophecy. However, that is not what Paul is speaking about, rather, he is exhorting and teaching about respect for the preaching/teaching of the Word of God with authority and anointing, which is the ministry gift of prophecy. That is why this phrase refers to the spoken Word of God. We are not to hold in contempt the preaching or teaching of the Word of God. The written Word should always be our standard of what is true and what is not.  If someone teaches or preaches the Word, it is a high calling, but remember it is the Word that gives life and not the speaker.  God has shown us in His Word all that we need to know about Him while we are on this earth; which includes the past and the future!  You can only know someone intimately the more you know about them, their character and their nature.  In His written Word, we have witness to the truth of all that God says, and witnesses to the very character and nature of God as our Heavenly Father.  The Bible says that, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” – Romans 10:17.  Belief in what the Father says and does and Who He is, comes from the written and spoken Word of God.  Do not despise it if you wish to know just what He has in store for you as His child as well as Who truly loves you beyond measure!

“Test all things; hold fast what is good.” I love how the New American Standard Bible puts this same verse; “But examine everything; hold firmly to that which is good.”  This verse is in direct relation with the previous verse.  We are not to despise or hold in contempt, but we are also personally responsible for what we accept as “from the Lord.” The Apostle John, later on, in his Epistle, confirms exactly what the Apostle Paul is stating here, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” – 1 John 4:1. This was so foremost on the minds of the Apostles that they all made sure, Christ’s disciples didn’t accept everything blindly. Test what you hear, examine it, so as to verify that what you hear is truly in line with God’s Word. Once it’s been verified, hold on tightly to it!

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Again, we must remain in communion with the Holy Spirit who will lead us and guide us into all truth.  The Apostle John reiterates this even earlier in his epistle which you can read in 1 John 2:26-27.  We can examine carefully by studying the scriptures in the light of what has been told us.  Luke commended the Bereans because they searched the Scriptures daily, not to dispute Paul and Silas in their teaching, but to be sure that what they were hearing was true to the written Word. (See Acts 17:11). Just like in this modern age, it is easy to form an opinion of someone based on what another has said.  But unless you develop a true relationship with that person yourself, you may be getting a tainted picture of that person.  You may decide in your heart that the person in question is not worth getting to know.  Wouldn’t it be a shame if that is how we view our Heavenly Father; by the things that some people are saying about Him.  If we don’t take the time to get to know the real Father, in spirit and truth, then we’re the ones to miss out.  We need to “hold fast” to that which we know is right.  Just like a child who has received a new toy, it is almost impossible to wrench it from their grasp.  We are to do the same thing concerning the “Truth” of our Heavenly Father.

“Abstain from every form of evil.”  Evil is that which brings death and separation from God.  It is a chasm between God and the believer that can’t be breached.  If we have followed all the previous steps, and we are “walking” with God, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, the Anointed One, is abiding or residing within us.  We will know all the subtleties of the evil that lurks our way.  Paul said in Galatians 5:19-21, that if anyone practices or partakes of these deeds of the flesh that he lists, they shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.  Jesus Himself, said that we cannot serve two masters.  We cannot serve that which pleases us and that which pleases God.  It has to be one or the other.

Seven short verses, and yet so powerful concerning our relationship with the Father.  I hope that you also can see the keys to developing an intimate, personal relationship with your Father.  Christianity as said earlier is not just a label, but it is a lifestyle; one that costs the true Christian his life; his life surrendered to God’s all perfect will.  No, I myself, haven’t arrived yet.  But just like Paul, (I’m) “Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians  3:13-14 (NASB).

Now in closing, look at the next two verses in 1 Thessalonians 5;  “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will do it” (verses 23-24 NASB).  After all is said and done, it is still God, our Father, who is doing the work in us.  It is just a matter of you choosing to let Him complete it.  He is already walking intimately with you; won’t you give up and walk intimately with Him?

vm walking with God

*Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
**Where noted, Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible®, NASB Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture links provided by Biblia.com
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Daily Prayer & Praise 9/08/2022

Posted on September 8, 2022 by Roland Ledoux

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Prayer for Thursday

Lord God, our Father in Heaven, we turn to You in these times when we are under so much stress and temptation and we witness the dire circumstances surrounding us. Let Your light glow in our hearts to give us firmness, patience, and perseverance throughout the time of testing, no matter how long it lasts. Your hand can and does change everything. Your hand can shorten the time we must wait until Your light shines out of the darkness of death and evil, until Your light reveals Your holiness, Your character and nature to Your children and to the whole world. You are our God and Father as You have promised, and remaining at Your side, we look to You in faith and trust as a child holding tightly to their parents hand. You will bring about goodness, justice, and mercy as You have promised, and so fulfill Your will. In the only name above all other names, in Christ Jesus, Your Son, we ask these things.

Amen.

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Adapted from the Daily Written Prayers of Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt, 1842–1919. In Public Domain
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A Comparison

Posted on September 8, 2022 by Roland Ledoux

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The great projectiles which we fire in warfare, from the coast artillery, travel at a speed of about one mile per second. As the earth moves around the sun, it travels at a speed of about eighteen and one-half miles per second. Thus there is more than 300 times the energy in any part of the earth as it travels around the sun than there is in an equal mass of a great coast artillery shell.

Furthermore, some galaxies—each carrying billions of stars—travel as fast as 60,000 miles per second. What energy in creation!

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Do It Yourself – Oswald Chambers

Posted on September 8, 2022 by Roland Ledoux

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Thursday September 8, 2022

DO IT YOURSELF

2 Corinthians 10:5
Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself
against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought
into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

Determinedly Demolish Some Things.

Deliverance from sin is not deliverance from human nature. There are things in human nature, such as prejudices, which the saint has to destroy by neglect; and other things which have to be destroyed by violence, that is, by the Divine strength imparted by God’s Spirit. There are some things over which we are not to fight, but to stand still in and see the salvation of God; but every theory or conception which erects itself as a rampart against the knowledge of God is to be determinedly demolished by drawing on God’s power, not by fleshly endeavor or compromise (v. 4).

It is only when God has altered our disposition and we have entered into the experience of sanctification that the fight begins. The warfare is not against sin; we can never fight against sin: Jesus Christ deals with sin in Redemption. The conflict is along the line of turning our natural life into a spiritual life, and this is never done easily, nor does God intend it to be done easily. It is done only by a series of moral choices. God does not make us holy in the sense of character; He makes us holy in the sense of innocence, and we have to turn that innocence into holy character by a series of moral choices. These choices are continually in antagonism to the entrenchments of our natural life, the things which erect themselves as ramparts against the knowledge of God. We can either go back and make ourselves of no account in the Kingdom of God, or we can determinedly demolish these things and let Jesus bring another son to glory.

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Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year (Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986)
*Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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The Bible Changes You!

Posted on September 8, 2022 by Roland Ledoux

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ns 9-8 bible changes you

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Reflecting With God 9/08/2022

Posted on September 8, 2022 by Roland Ledoux

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Thinking, praying, reading, studying the Bible – when we do these things, we are reflecting on the Word of God. To reflect is to contemplate and/or consider, and God wants us to deeply reflect on His Word so that we can better understand Him.

All Scriptures Used are NKJV, New King James Version

Thursday Reflecting

Moses finished speaking. – Deuteronomy 32:45.

So we all shall do some day. Moses knew it was the end for him; we may not know when our end is at hand. Any word of ours, spoken amid glee and merriment, may be our last. If we always thought of this would it not make us more careful? Would we ever say an unkind word to a friend, if we felt that we may never have an opportunity to unsay it or atone for it? Would we ever utter an angry, untrue, or unclean word, if we only remembered that it may be the last utterance our lips shall give forth? We want to have beautiful endings to our life, to leave sweet memories behind us in the hearts of those who love us. We want our names to be fragrant in the homes on whose thresholds our footfalls are wont to be heard. We want the memory of our last words in our friends’ ears to live as a tender joy with them as the days pass away. We can be sure of all this only by making every word we speak beautiful enough to be our last word. For with any sentence we may come to the end of our speaking.
~ J. R. MILLER

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