The Devotional - A Look at the Book #578

A Devotional Look at the Book #578

Papa J's rules for Livin #2

Make no bones about it! Bitterness in the heart is like a knife that whittles away at those nearby. Left unchecked; one will have only skeletons for friends. Proverbs 18:24

On one of the subs I was on… I forget which one; we were on the surface preparing to submerge. The process for taking a perfectly good bubble and making it sink is to cause the bubble to have a negative reaction to buoyancy. In this process it is also necessary to keep water out of the main bubble where the people are and fill up those outer bubbles that keep the submarine on the surface. Leaving the forward hatch open is a very dangerous mistake that should never happen. After receiving a report from the Chief of the Watch that the ship was ready to dive (a straight board) for you sub sailors, the Officer of the Deck ordered the Diving Officer to submerge the ship who ordered the Chief to open the ballast tanks and submerge the ship. Something had tripped the switch to the forward hatch as being shut; it even looked shut but it was open to the tune of twenty three thousand gallons of water per minute coming into the people tank. Immediately was the sound to emergency blow the ballast tanks and the boat grudgingly came back to the surface. This is a true event and I am here to explain it; some would say that this was a mechanical error. Okay, but that does not take the human being out of the lime light. Cables and other objects are in these hatches while the ship is in port and before going to sea these hatches (all of them) must be inspected for obstacles that would prevent the hatch from shutting completely, this simple task was not done properly and the result was dangerous, even the mission was delayed. This same sort of thing goes on daily in religion; religion looks right, but dangerously deceptive and religion delays the mission. The people who follow religion will gladly swallow the camel while gagging on the gnat. Matthew 23:1-36.

2 Corinthians 12

2 Corinthians 12:1 – Sometimes it is necessary to boast about our life in Christ; while it may not be spiritually profitable and should never be materially profitable… boasting about what the LORD has done and is doing in our lives is important. If it were not then we would never know the power of God that is often dismissed as nothing more than human reasoning.

I believe in boasting in the LORD, but I also believe that we can get carried away like many charismatic churches do over things that are not spiritual in a godly environment but demonic. This could take us on a rabbit trail since all the gifts that people of these faiths believe they have belong to the church of Jesus Christ and not to the private interpretations of the individual. So boasting is not to be of who and what I am, but who the LORD IS and what He is doing through the Holy Spirit within.

God does all things in an orderly and perfect way, if; and He does reveal some attribute of truth to you and me, He will do it by way of revelation. So in using this method… does He do it in order for you to keep it secret or to share it with others? Hmmm! We should think about this, it is food for thought as the rest of the chapter speaks specifically to this subject and those results of revelation in the weaknesses of our flesh.