The Devotional – A Look at the Book #680

The Devotional – A Look at the Book #680

Meditate on this!

A statute is a law enacted by a state body of legislators. These are not normally enacted to satisfy the operational mandates of another state but for and within the state wherein one dwells. God has statutes for His saints. If you are a believer in the Person of Jesus Christ, then you are a citizen of heaven; therefore allow your heart to rejoice as His statutes are right for YOU! Psalm 19:8a

Some years ago there was a woods and brush fire in our area of over fifty acres. It was a hot day to begin with and now I found myself walking through areas of the fire with a water pack and a fire rake. We were assigned to an area that was already burned, but there were hot spots and fire lines. We were told to cross the lines of fire and too rake the hot spots spreading the flame to weaken the flames potential and then put the fire out with the least amount of water. Also, because of the heat we were allowed to relax the wear of our fire fighter bunker gear. I was wearing my helmet, trousers and boots and a t-shirt. I had this feeling of euphoria come over me. I felt like superman (that was dumb) but I felt like; “here I am walking around on hot colds and not getting burned” then I began thinking… there are only three of us here in this burned our section of woods. There are no sounds of life other than… “rake, rake, squirt, squirt” coming from the three of us. No birds singing, no little animals running too or fro, it was a bit erring and then I felt like running. I planted my feet and stayed, I also wondered what the others were thinking. Then one of them said; “look bear tracks!” Well, we had nothing to be concern about, the bear was no where near, most likely he or she moved to the next county. Then I remember the LORD and a passage in Isaiah 35. Verses 3-4 take a moment and read and know that whatever is troubling you today, as a citizen of Heaven, His statutes will rejoice your heart.

Psalm 27

Verses 1-3 – One thing I know is that there is not a day that goes by that fear can creep in and destroy the moment. We seek to be delivered from fear, but we often forget that it is God who comes to our rescue. Both the believer in Jesus and the unbeliever are rescued by God and in many cases He does so while we remain ignorant that He was the one saving us from harm. Getting hold of this truth this truth as King David did will increase our faith in God.

Verses 4-6 – as faith increases so does our desire to be with Him; first while alive we seek out a strong church family and with that family we enjoy the beauty or delightfulness of our LORD. A pavilion of safety is needed by all of us who trust in God our savior. In a secret place, yes but in this place of hiding we are seated with Him… high above our enemies and the enemies of God. Do you find yourself singing praises to the LORD? I hope you do! God is worthy of our praise.

Verses 7-9 – ever notice that when we declare our faith toward God and in God we find an increase in our conversation to Him. We ask Him to hear our prayers and He does, we seek His mercy and He answers us boldly by saying… “Seek My Face” then see what your hungry heart will do! “Your face Oh LORD, I will seek. The fervent prayer of a righteous person will reveal the grace of God in the heat of our daily battles, are you not totally at awe and is not your soul rejoicing in this? Mine is! James 5:13-18

The Devotional – A Look at the Book #679

Meditate on this!

A good testimony these days can be made worthless; there is always someone nearby who would like to pick it apart, destroying the person and the testimony. Those that do simple minded; yet there is hope for the simple, to become wise they only need to know that the testimony of God stands true throughout time and eternity and no one is able to pick it apart.  Psalm 19:7b and Matthew 5:18

When I first heard about the gospel of Jesus Christ I was thirty-four and by May of 1975 when I was 35 I personally believed in Jesus and became born-again. The change from unbelief to belief was dramatic for me. The first book of the Holy Bible I read was Job and the first scripture I put to memory was Isaiah 1:18. The Book of Job was good for me in that I was able to see that life not based on what man can get out of it on his own; but what God is willing to provide if man is submissive to God’s Will. Also the Isaiah passage was important since knowing that I had been washed of my sins; being baptized into the death of Jesus and raised in the resurrected Life of Jesus; this Isaiah passage (even though the passage has to do with the restoration of the nation Israel rather than an individual like me and though I did not know this at the time) helped me to understand the completeness of God’s forgiveness. Our sins before our God are red, sort of makes me think that God sees the blood of His Son with each sin, yet because He loves us white as snow which will eventually melt into individual holiness and we mature in Christ. What joy fills my heart even to think of God’s love, 1 John 4:7-19.

2 Thessalonians

2:1-3 – Now, brethren, concerning the coming of the LORD Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you. Not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the Day of the LORD had come.

Do not be deceived… read the chapter and know that God has ordained His Word to provide comfort and not fear! Some teach fear by abandoning the literal interpretation of the Word of God for conjecture and personal gain and remember that the saints of God are reminded to wait on the LORD.

2:16-17 – Now may our LORD Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace. Comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.

The Devotional – A Look at the Book #678

by Jesse Abel

Meditate on this!

Psalm 19 is a masterpiece of wisdom and better then a gold mine for the prospector who seeks to know God. The law of God is perfect; it is able to restore the soul of man to a right relationship with the Creator. Oh if we could understand the value of this truth. Psalm 19:7

When is the right time to share the LORD Jesus with someone who is unsaved? I believe that if that moment is not ordained by God, then the effort will fall on deaf ears. So this brings up another question; are there prerequisites; in other words are we to be prepared? Colossians 4:2-6, I believe that there is enough evidence in the Holy Bible to say yes. Even the thief as we have titled him on the cross next to Jesus was prepared and the timing of his salvation was evident. Luke 23:43; since the other Gospels do not mention the thief’s conversion; would this indicate that only twenty five percent of God’s qualified saints are prepared too witness the work of God that brings justification to the; whosoever wills? I recall to mind that on most of the submarines I served on about ten percent (13) of the men were saved, but only two or three of these men were willing to walk in wisdom and redeem the time. I do not have a lot to do with percentages, but it is evident… at least from my simple observation that our nation is in trouble. This trouble is not because of all of the worldly hype that falls out of the mouth and actions of the unsaved, or even those so called Christians, but if you boil off all of this dross you will see that very few of us saints (believers) are praying that God would open the door for a word of truth to be spoken. Yes; like a fine recipe; our speech should always be with grace and seasoned with salt in order that we might know how to answer each prepared heart.

Ephesians

Sometimes our personal misconceptions block our view of the grace of God. In our upbringing we gain characteristics that are developed by our moms and dads. If they are deceived in some way we too become deceived. As we get older we either develop in the like mindedness of that deception or we come to a point when we realize the error and seek to make changes. Even when change does happen there will be excess baggage that does not easily go away. Many traits of our family follow us to our grave.

In Ephesians 4:25-32 we are commanded by God to not grieve the Holy Spirit whom He has given to us. How do we grieve the Spirit? At the top of the list is lying, next anger, then giving place to the devil and stealing is in these verses too along with corrupt communication. As we march through the final verses God points out through the apostle a list of sins that grieve God. Bitterness, wrath, anger, loud quarreling and evil speaking; these ought not to be found in the house of God, nor in the homes of his saints.

Anger is unavoidable, it is an emotion that occurs everyday, Paul under the power of the Holy Spirit says that we can be angry, but not to sin as a result of it. When we sin we immediately knock out fellowship with God and the person we are angry at. This does not, nor will it ever produce the tenderheartedness that God calls each of us too. Forgiveness is a choice; it is also one of those “one another” commands from the Word of God that basically says, “I first, demonstrated my love to you through my Son Jesus” Romans 5:8. If I can forgive you and I have, why should you hold a different point of view?

The Devotional – A Look at the Book #677

by Jesse Abel

Meditate on this!

 The Sun of our galaxy is the largest object that God created. Human estimation is that the sun is roughly 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit at the surface. As a believer in God and Creation the sun has fulfilled the Plan of God for the last six plus thousand years in perfect obedience to God. Are you not thankful to God for this truth? As far as I can tell… evolution is disobedient to every claim made by man. Psalm 19:4b-6

I am not sure if this little story is true, but I can see it happening; especially in those days when groups of believers would go door to door handing out tracts and sharing the gospel. One young girl of twelve reportedly went to the door of a house alone since everyone else had fanned out to other neighboring homes. She knocked on the door and eventually the door opened and a scantly clad middle-aged man stood staring down at her. “What do you want girl?” was the reply. The young girl was shocked at the sight before her; she had never seen anyone look so shabby, also the air coming out of the house reeked, she became frightened and it was as if all of her planned words took wings and flew away, and she simply did not know what to say! The man said harshly; “little girl; why did you knock on my door? Her reply! “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” and she turned and ran back to the main sidewalk and back to the others of the church who were returning too. The middle aged man was worried about the girl’s statement, in fact; as his worry increased and he began seeking to find out what prompted the girls visit. He asked a neighbor and it was explained that the girl and the group she was with came from the local church just a few blocks away. Before the following Sunday, the man met with the pastor of the church and asked him to explain the girl’s comment. Then Sunday came and after the service the man searched out the little girl and thanked her for sharing Jesus with him on the day he was considering suicide. So what verse is it? Her Sunday school memory verse of the week before Hebrews 9:27.

A View from Psalm 24… and 25

The earth belongs to the LORD and all the fullness of it. The world and those who dwell in it belong to Him too. So how does that grab you? Do you believe it or do you think that God lies. Woe to you if you do! You and I belong to the LORD God who created the heavens and the earth. Even the oceans, rivers, lakes and ponds know this. His laws are so effective that all of nature obeys His every command. Of course to fully understand this truth you would need to believe that He is God and is the rewarder to those who diligently seek Him. Psalm 24 and Hebrews 11:6

We cannot know how wonderful God is in our fallen condition as Adam’s descendant. We cannot go where God is and ask Him. Our hands have handled the sin of the world and our heart is not pure. If you have ever involved yourself with an idol; Oh, come on now, anything that distracts you from coming to God is an idol. How about those under the breath swear words, yes there are five strikes against you in these few passages of Psalm 24:3-4

Notice though that God reveals the other side of these condemning strikes; mankind the only disobedient segment of creation, apart from the fallen angels has the wonderful opportunity to be obedient. The remainder of this Psalm points to God’s love and forgiveness. Notice that for His Name’s sake He will pardon you just as He did for King David. You say well I do not see that in Psalm 24. Right! You will have to read at least to verse 11 of Psalm 25. The Kingdom belongs to God; just as His forgiveness and deliverance does too. John 3:16

The Devotional – A Look at the Book #676

by Jesse Abel

Meditate on this!

 A measuring rod has gone out through all the earth and the words of Creation have reached to the end of the world. In other words God has measured the lifespan of earth and by the Power of His Word, His Creation will obey His Voiced command too the end. Psalm 19:4

Failure is something that we all have opportunity to face from time to time. I suppose it would be manageable if failure were like a wart, one could remove it and move on; but failure is much more than a wart. Failure in an urgent moment can and does cost life and the best fix to avoid failure in critical events is to train your self and others, not to fail. From the military professional to the seaman recruit, or private; in the line of fire it will be the training or lack of training that delivers victory or defeat. Sounds like a wholesome statement does it not? You know as well as I do that the more you train and the more experience we gain and the better we are at overcoming the obstacles faced. Yet, there is a very important element missing in this thought and it is one that the world we live in fails too recognize. Again using Proverbs lets look at Proverbs 22. The king directs his nation, but his heart knowing it or not is in the hand of the LORD. We do what seems right in our eyes, but God weights our motivations and if you read through this chapter you will see that when everything humanly possible looks so right; failure will often be a surprising slap in the face. Notice the last verse… The horse is prepared (the preparations of man) for the day of battle, but deliverance (victory) is of (from) the LORD.

Various Scripture in Hebrews

The arguments and the dogma of who wrote the book of Hebrews can be distracting, sort of reminds me of what the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:5-17. If you melt down all of the religious jargon over the “who wrote the book of Hebrews you still come up with”, “Gee! I really don’t know?” But I like what the writer says (who ever he is)… “has in these last days spoken to us by His Son”. Yes I agree that all of the Bible came to us through the hand and pen of man, but lest we need to be reminded again and again. God is the Author of His Word.

It is as if the writer of Hebrews knew that his identity would be obscure, or maybe he purposely clothed his identity so that we could focus on his opening statement and let God teach us Hebrews 1:1-4. God is responsible for every word spoken; Jesus is God manifested in the flesh, revealing the brightness of His glory through the expressed image of God. He upholds Creation as we read earlier in Psalm 19 by the Power of Word. While it may matter to some; “who wrote the book of Hebrews?” it remains always that God wrote the only book of love… the Holy Bible.

Hebrews 1:3-4 clearly reveals this love of God; He had by Himself purged our sins, and rose again. He is risen and at this moment He is seated at the right Hand of the Majesty on high, thus He has obtained a more excellent name then His messengers (the fathers and prophets; or writers) and if you need to hear the word angel; okay He has a more excellent Name then they. So in conclusion… the Author and finisher of our faith in the Word of the Living God; is God.

The Devotional – A Look at the Book #675

The Devotional – A Look at the Book #675

by Jesse Abel

Meditate on this!

 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the expanse of heaven shows the work of His Hands. Each day speaks and each night reveals knowledge and there is no language or tongue where the voice of God’s Creation is not heard. Psalm 19:1-3

Panic is a fear that will immobilize the strongest person. It is one of those conditions that can be so dangerous that it will kill, not only the person who is in panic, but also whoever may be standing near enough to the event. One of the training sessions during my time as a Fire Fighter was how to deal with fear, so I thought it would be good to explain this morning how we can detect fear that leads to panic and get beyond it to save your life or someone else nearby. Proverbs 9 helps to explain this. Stress and fear are recognizable and this should be on your mind as a tool of experience. Proverbs 9:1-6 speaks of the wisdom of experience. Panic is somewhat like hyperventilation; rapid breathing, dizziness, confusion and several other symptoms like fingers that will not work. This condition happens to all of us, but it depends on what you do with it. If you feed fear with fear the panic becomes worse. So as in Proverbs 9:7-9. To overcome panic we must be willing to instruct and teach our self to be wiser then the moment. Seek the help of God… sort of like there; are no atheist in the foxhole. Proverbs 9:10-12. Of course there are those who do not learn this lesson and foolishly freeze and do nothing and die. Proverbs 9:13-18.

Various Scripture

Someone recently went through the Pauline Epistles and talked about the thankful heart of the apostle. I thought it would be good to follow up on that this morning since there are not many thankful people in the world around us, including many believers. Believers… what is a believer? A believer is someone who believes. Believes what? In context; believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; that He died for your sin as a descendant of Adam and your personal sins. Romans 5:12-21 and to identify personal sin, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.

A thankful heart begins with believing that truth above. The world around us because of sin, rejects the though of giving thanks for anything, most of us say thank you because it is the polite or religious thing to do. But inside our heart where we keep the world away from we are bitter and complaining, now don’t go and say it isn’t so… why sin, but if you did not nip it; there is confession. 1 John 1:9.

Notice some of the thankfulness of the apostle: Romans 1:8; 7:25; 1 Corinthians 1:4; Philippians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Timothy 1:12; 2 Timothy 1:3 and Philemon 1:4. Now there is something noteworthy in these passages that are often overlooked. The apostle Paul was thankful for the people that God brought into his life. We might find people who express thankfulness for places and things, but we are generally unthankful at most people even though we play the hypocrite in there face. We need to repent of this and be thankful that God believes in you and has given you someone or the many to be thankful for.

The Devotional – A Look at the Book #674

Meditate on this!

 “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though He may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” Your sole response to this question by Jesus Christ will determine your soul’s eternal destiny. John 11:25-26

One time in the past I had ambulance duty during the night and sometime just after midnight we received a call from a local nursing home. One of the men in the home was having difficulty breathing, it took me about four minutes to get to the station and along with two others we hopped into the ambulance and darted across the street to the nursing home all within ten minutes. The man in his mid fifties was complaining of heaviness in his chest and was breathing hard. We gave him oxygen and place him on the gurney. His three hundred plus pounds caused the gurney to creak and grown but it held him. Also and because of the man’s complaint, the paramedic arrived. Four technicians and well over one hundred thousand dollars of equipment darted down the highway to the local hospital. All of this took about forty five minutes. We took the man’s vitals every five minutes and all seemed unusually normal. After arriving at the hospital and getting the man settled into a bed with several nurses and attendants helping the man asked if he could have a coke. Someone asked him why? And with a rage that I have not witnessed before, he said. “I asked my brother to bring me a coke last evening and he refused and I got very angry at him. I also knew that if I could find someway to get the hospital I could get one. Because of his angered state of mind, he got the coke. It only cost the local tax payers just over one thousand dollars. In some ways, I see that this is not the state of the Union, but the condition of the country. Ecclesiastes 6:1-12

Various Scripture

I enjoy the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Lamentations; however I can bog myself down and become depressed when comparing our current state of affairs too those cycles of discipline that God uses on nations that forget Him. If one takes the time to look at our current events then you no doubt know that of the five recorded disciplines that God uses to correct an entire nation, this nation is well into the fourth cycle, yet we still like watching the “tap dancing” around this issue rather then actually going to God for help and restoration. 2 Chronicles 7:14

The apostle Paul states in Romans 1:16-17 that he is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, so why would he make such a statement? Some religions are ashamed and make the gospel a human effort to gain God’s favor. In other words these religions use human power and religious motivation to seek to gain favor from God. In doing so these councils fail in recognizing the grace of God, and so what is a good definition of grace.

The gospel does not come from man, it comes from God; fully equipped with His power to reveal the need of salvation to all mankind. First to the Jew and also to you and me; the righteousness of man cannot accomplish this work. The grace message of salvation belongs to God to give it too whosoever will receive it. This righteousness is not found in all “religious faiths” but it is past down from faith to faith. In other words the faith of someone who is justified by the righteousness of God, shares his or her faith with another and that faith comes alive in that person who carries it to another; thus the justified shall live by the grace of God through faith. Galatians 2:16.

The Devotional – A Look at the Book #673

by Jesse Abel

Meditate on this!

Do you know the name of the janitor where you work? Most of us do not! Is it important to know his or her name? God knows the janitor’s name and yours too! There are several books that God has the names and deeds of all the living and the dead. Check it out – Revelation 20:11-15

Time is marching on today and I am well behind, so this section will be left blank. (I don’t think so!!!) Ever notice those big volumes of “how to” books. You open the book and the first page you see is blank, with the words boldly written. This page is intentionally left blank! I always get a laugh from that statement don’t you? Then as if that were not enough… again at the end of every chapter, another blank page with the same dumb statement. “This page is intentionally left blank” my first thought is… hey Mr. Publisher the page is not blank, it has the statement of “This page is intentionally left blank” on it. Are you not totally thankful to God our Father who teaches us the good things of life, who fills our hearts with joy and peace? Have you noticed too like king David that the thoughts of the LORD toward us are so many in number that these out-number the sand on the seashore? When He reminds us of His love for us, He does so with JOY! Psalm 40:5 and Psalm 139:1-24 and rejoice; there is not one intentional blank page.

Lamentations

Lamentations 1:7-22 – There is a lot in this first chapter of Lamentations that parallels the current events in the lives of people today here in the United States of America, if we do not see this; we are then like the contemporary proverb: If you are not a part of the solution, then you are a part of the problem! Now let’s take a brief look at the problem.

Take the time to read this chapter, there is every kind of sin, transgression and iniquity being carried out by the nation of Israel. I am not going to list the sins since you are taking the two or three minutes to read. Now the question I have is this! Are you the problem since you are no longer the virgin daughter or man of valor? Is the problem all of the corruption of government, or is it all the greed found in private enterprise? No! Emphatically NO! These are only the resulting conditions of something much worse.

The problem is that this nation which includes the responsibility of you and me has turned it’s backside to their Creator. We have rejected peace with God and He has turned us over; individually and nationally to way of life we have chosen. This way is found in Romans 1:18-32. Someone recently said… well how do you make this conclusion? Well, number one: God has ordained His Word as Truth and it is trustworthy beyond anything else we might read. Okay, you might agree here… but how did I start down such a slippery slope? If you were ever disobedience to your parents; this was the turning point. Romans 1:30.

The Devotional - A Look at the Book #672

by Jesse Abel

Meditate on this!

Eternity is not a nothing after death experience as some foolish thinkers would want you to believe. He who formed your Soul also formed Eternity and both are secure forever. Being alive simply means you are in “time” and absent from Eternity; Psalm 39:5-6; Ecclesiastes 3:11 and James 4:13-17.

Remember those five and dime stores of the past. Well if you are older than fifty-five you will remember. For all the rest, please go have a talk with gramps or grammie. I heard a story recently of a young boy of ten years who saddled up on one of those stools that spun like a top while you waited for your order to be filled, or while you waited for the soda person to wait on you. Yes, I know I am being nice; we used to call them “sodajerks” what at name! Of course, the stool did not spin under its own power; we always helped it with our feet and all the time scuffing up the counter space. Well back to the boy of ten. He asked how much for a chocolate sundae. “Fifty cents” was the reply from the lady behind the counter. After counting his money the young man replied, “How much for a dish of plain vanilla.” A bit impatient the counter person said; “thirty five cents”. After another count of his money the young man said; “I’ll have the dish of vanilla, please”. The clerk in sort of a huff because customers were backing up now, told the young man to be patient and she would bring him his dish of ice cream. Ten minutes went by, then fifteen and finally she brought the dish of vanilla to the young man. He thanked her and he enjoyed his few moments of bliss and the ice cream. After leaving the store the lady behind the counter went to remove the empty dish and napkin. Under the napkin was a fifteen cent tip. You see the boy could afford the sundae, but he could not afford the thought of not leaving a tip. The ones who share are the ones who have a joyful heart, the one who is selfish has a grudging heart like that of the clerk. 2 Corinthians 8:1-7

Lamentations

Lamentations 1:6 – I am not sure of what people think of me and I reckon that is a good thing since I really do not care to know. But here is a little peek into my heart of hearts. Certainly I do not like this invasion of my privacy, but what I will say will not be a surprise to some of you because I know that you are right there with me. It is very difficult for me to watch the news or television. The news is full of suffering and death and most of the programs are full of immorality on every measurement of the scale.

Inside my heart I cry with hard rolling of emotion over the circumstance of life I see on the faces of people in the news. I do not know them, but their face tells the story of heartache, suffering and hopelessness. Also, in my heart there is another rolling of emotion. Anger as people portray them self as doing good and all the while the character they act out is an idolater, a sorcerer, is contentious, is jealous or a drunk; some are adulterers or drug dependent. All done in the name of; what I call “hyper-self righteousness” or extreme deception. Yes my heart aches because I know that Lamentations 1:6 is true for the USA today.

Our daughters have loss their godly splendor and have traded it for the lust of the eyes, not their eyes but the eyes of licentious creatures (male and female) vampires that steal away their innocent blood with seducing ways. Our sons rather than being a stag have traded away their manliness for the cowardly actions of a doe that has no strength to defend itself against the destroyer. This is a serious matter folks, in addition to our failure over national matters, the future of most of our young people is being programmed to accept every kind of immorality as normal. Lamentations 1:16

The Devotional – A Look at the Book #671

by Jesse Abel

Thought for Today

There are four Divine Institutions established by God for mankind to live by! One God; One man for one woman; One family and One Nation. These are fully developed from Genesis One through Genesis Twelve. When we have no regard for God, we destroy His Institutions, such as; Marriage in this country is nearly destroyed. 1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Once when I was small I saw my father all beaten up. He was so badly beaten that his face needed surgery. Since my mother did not seem to be worried but rather angry at him, I too felt angered and critical over his injuries. Of course, I did not let on that I was angry, only my mom. But inside I was boiling mad; why had he allowed this to happen and why didn’t he fight back. Really I had no way of knowing whether he fought back or not, I knew none of the circumstances. I did learn that he had been caught cheating at a poker game. The world around us is full of cheating poker players. You do know that; don’t you? Now you are going to think that I never got over that beating that my dad took for cheating. A worthy thought on your part but wrong. Have you not noticed that most of the transactions you are involved in that you come away thinking… “I wonder if that person or place of business treated me fairly!” If you are thinking this then no doubt that either the potential was there for cheating to occur, or you were cheated. Now there is another side of the coin… maybe your action were that of the cheater! There is a short book in the Holy Bible titled “Esther”. All cheating is a conspiracy to do evil and please notice what a man by the name of Haman conspires to do and the out come. Esther 1:1- through Esther10:3 now this sounds like a lot of reading, but it is not and if you have time… it is a good read.

Lamentations

Lamentations 1:5 – Some times I feel exhausted with going over and over again in writing about things that seem so obvious to me and honestly I do wish that I were wrong. Now, I do not say that I am so absolutely right that there is no wiggle room for error, but if we as a nation would take a recess from all of the blinding hype that is published by the liberal media we might be able to dig ourselves out from under the dung of the day. Our adversaries… yes we have enemies and these enemies, like it are not are in our face and prospering in our local cities and towns all across this nation.

Do I hear a “so what?” if so then some of us are the problem in that we have become so liberal minded that we are of no national good. In other words we have become more protective of our sinfulness as a nation by trading in, Divine institutional responsibility for human goodness. What is human goodness Jesse? Well, it is human goodness to say that abortion is not murder while The One God says that to take a human life intentionally is murder, to say that same sex marriages in normal, when The One God says that one man for one woman is normal and that all other forms of marriage promote SIN.

To decide to have as many children as one can produce with as many partners as one can accommodate in a life time is selfishness, but it is the way of this nation today! God condemns this action and calls this a multitude of transgression. So the little children that are fostered in these conditions are blight on the nation, not a blessing. So why is it important that we establish strong national boundaries? Obviously our liberal minds have no clue that there is a major push, by Continental Americans to control our government and freedom. But this is a small effort to chip away at our strength for the much larger enemy called for by religion… the work of the devil or the axis of evil.

The Devotional - A Look at the Book #666

by Jesse Abel

Meditate on this!

Now here is an area of the Word of God that can easily be avoided. Yesterday I just said… read chapter five and today I would like to just sweep sexual impurity under the rug in chapter six. What will I wish to do tomorrow? If you are a believer in Jesus, your body is not your own and if you are using it for selfishness and impurity… how then does the Holy Spirit find rest in His Temple? 1 Corinthians 6:12-20.

At work there is a lot of construction going on. The builders have taken a very old building and given it a major make over. When the masons were laying cinderblocks I was especially interested in the exactness of laying each block and the thickness of the mortar. I noticed that each block was not perfect; in fact the flaws in a cinderblock are many. Also these blocks are very porous, if you were to stack these blocks one on top of the other the stability and strength to endure weight would decrease rapidly. The mortar that binds these blocks together must be of the right density otherwise the weight of the blocks would cause the wet mortar to seep out under the load of weight. Overall the process of laying cinderblock is unique, stable and very strong. Why was I interested? I once heard a Bible teacher talking about integrity. The circumstances of life are like cinderblocks, flawed and full of porous material. Integrity of life is the mortar we use to stabilize our circumstances. If we do not have good integrity our circumstances will crush us. Proverbs 11:1-15. Notice all the building blocks of life that need good biblical integrity.

Lamentations

Lamentations 1:2-4 – Hidden behind all of the laughter and devil may care attitudes of life today are the bitter tears of what lays ahead. There are the bitter tears of loneliness as our allies of years ago are now our enemies and our enemies of long ago make us feel that they are our friends. A false comfort, a false hope and a treacherous future is what we face. You can say… Bah! Humbug to this; in fact you can say anything your heart desires, but all you really need to do is open your eyes.

Do you believe that we are giving up our cities and towns to an enemy? No! We are not giving them up! The enemy already has many of these cities. The Muslims control Dearborn, Michigan and the Mexican population in many States out number the natural born citizen. All of our persecutors; persecute on two sides. One: by changing our liberty, culture and spiritual heritage; and two: by infiltrating our government and destroying our Constitution.

We are beginning to see signs of blocked roadways to our places of worship. Our feast days, like Resurrection Day, Christmas and other holy days are bombarded with aggressive secular interests. Lies that are readily believed by children who will carry these lies to their grave. You say… awe your just bitter and full of self pity over some issue of life you can’t handle. Oh how I wish that were the case; but like you I see that there are not many virgin daughters these days past the age of twelve. Now tell me that this is RIGHT!

The Devotional – A Look at the Book #665

Meditate on this!

The circumstances of human life find a home in every way of life. The children of Israel rose up to play while Moses was on the Mount in Exodus 32:6. Defilement today is found in our local churches. Satan is very real and active… he has two weapons; religion and immorality. 1 Corinthians 5:1-13

A cowboy lay sprawled across three entire seats in the posh Amarillo Theater. When the usher came by and noticed this, he whispered to the cowboy, 'Sorry, sir, but you're only allowed one seat.' The cowboy groaned but didn't budge. The usher became more impatient: 'Sir, if you don't get up from there I'm going to have to call the manager. 'Once again, the cowboy just groaned. The usher marched briskly back up the aisle, and in a moment he returned with the manager. Together the two of them tried repeatedly to move the cowboy, but with no success. Finally they summoned the police. The Texas Ranger surveyed the situation briefly then asked, 'All right cowboy what's your name?' 'Fred,' the cowboy moaned. 'Where ya from, Fred?' asked the Ranger. Barely audible and with pain in his voice, and without moving a muscle, Fred replied ....the balcony! What we observe with our eyes and perceive in our minds will often lead us too a false conclusion. Man’s religion is a false conclusion and work of the devil to direct man to seek God’s favor. The Holy Bible in both the Old and New Testaments reveal that God Himself gives necessary favor to those who take His Word literally and believe it. Isaiah 49:8-9; Luke 4:18-19 and John 14:1-6. Also see 2 Corinthians 3:4-6.

Lamentations

Yes I reviewed this book recently, but our times are changing rapidly. I do not know what goes on in your heart these days but I hope you are not being duped like your neighbor. Some of us are old enough to remember when our streets were filled with people who enjoyed life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I remember also; going to Spain some thirty years ago and seeing the depression, anxiety and hopelessness on most of the citizens of Barcelona.

Today when I look at what we would call; “red blooded United States American Citizens” I see them depressed, anxious and hopeless. Oh how we were great among the nations! “Awe Jesse… you ought not to say… how we were great! But instead say that we stand on the verge of losing our greatness” Yep, I reckon I could say that, but then I would be like you… blinded by the treasonous lies of this keen enemy that surrounds our provinces and with stealth methods; turning the real American into a slave.

The sounds of a once strong nation are now smothered in tears of the ignoring populace, people like those found in the book of Proverbs 24:30-34. Secular statements… “Ignorance is bliss” or “what you don’t know, won’t hurt you” are true only to those who are slaves. So when I read Lamentations 1:1; I understand that Jeremiah the writer of this wonderful book is looking at his nation Israel and the city of Jerusalem. But I see the United States in his… Jer-USA-lem.