A small tool to view real-world ActivityPub objects as JSON! Enter a URL
or username from Mastodon or a similar service below, and we'll send a
request with
the right
Accept
header
to the server to view the underlying object.
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"content": "Joy<br />Fruits of the Spirit, Part 4<br /><br /><a href=\"https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/joy\" target=\"_blank\">https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/joy</a><br /><br />Once again here are the fruits of the Spirit as defined in Galatians 5.<br /><br />But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23) {emphasis mine}<br /><br />When I started researching joy in the Bible, one thing really stuck out. Most mentions of joy are mentioned with hardship, fear, worry, persecution, and/or some other negative situation.<br /><br />Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, (James 1:2)<br /><br />fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)<br /><br />In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, (1 Peter 1:6)<br /><br />rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, (Romans 12:12)<br /><br />But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; (Luke 2:10)<br /><br />Whether it is Jesus suffering unfairly on the Cross or it is Christians suffering persecution for their faith, a right relationship with God leads to joy. Yes, joy is a gift from God, but I think it is also a sign of a right understanding of God. If we think all of the evil and hardship in the world is due either to chance or to evil “winning,” then we will worry and fret and not have joy. If we rightly know that God is in control and that “… God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28b), then we can have joy in all situations because we accurately know that everything will work out for good in the end.<br /><br />Many people think of happiness and joy as synonyms, but there is a huge difference between the two. Happiness is an emotion that comes about in response to good/fun/desired things happening. Joy is an emotion felt despite circumstances. It isn’t temporary. It doesn’t come and go. It isn’t dependent on circumstances. It is dependent on a relationship. It is dependent on a person, the Lord Jesus Christ.<br /><br />Joy is so much better than happiness. We don’t have to chase after it to catch it. We aren’t led astray by our desire for joy like we are when we are seeking happiness. It is given to us as a free gift from God to His spiritual children.<br /><br />Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)<br /><br />Joy is so wonderful that we can rejoice in “various trials,” knowing that they are for our good and other’s good. We can have joy in “various trials,” knowing that they will make us “perfect and complete.” How joyful is that?<br /><br />Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2) {emphasis mine}<br /><br />This verse seems like an oxymoron: “ for the joy set before Him endured the cross.” At first glance it looks like Jesus has joy in the cross, but in reality, He has joy in the result of the cross. When we know that God is in control and causes “all things to work together for good,” we can know that the end result of every difficult, unpleasant, or bad thing will be God’s good, at least for “those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” We can have joy in ALL circumstances. Also notice that Hebrews says, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.” This is important when it comes to joy. Just like Peter, when he was walking on the water to meet Jesus, started to sink when he took his eyes off Jesus and instead focused on the storm, we too can lose our joy when we take our eyes off Jesus and instead focused on the storm. After trusting in Jesus, the next key to joy is “fixing our eyes on Jesus.”<br /><br />If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. (John 15:10-11)<br /><br />If you use 1 John 2:3, “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments,” with John 15:10-11 (above), it becomes clear that all believers will have joy “and that your joy may be made full.” We won’t just have a little joy. Our joy will “be made full.” Keeping God’s commandments is another thing that leads to great joy. God’s commands aren’t joy killers; they are joy builders. He commands us what to do and not do because He wants our best, just like a parent tells their kids to eat healthy and to not run out in the street. The parent isn’t trying to ruin the kid’s fun. The parent is trying to protect them from harm and to help them to grow and stay healthy. God wants us to grow in Him so our “joy may be made full.”<br /><br />I especially love this passage on joy and rejoicing:<br /><br />In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:6-9) {emphasis mine}<br /><br />In this verse joy, trials, and faith are very closely linked. We have “joy” in “various trials” as “proof of your faith.” When we are “tested by fire” it leads to “praise and glory and honor … of Jesus Christ.” Best of all, if we “believe in Him, [we] greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible.” Imagine that! We can have a “joy inexpressible!” We don’t have to have a life of worry. We don’t have to have a life without meaning. We don’t have to have a life of despair. If we believe in Him we can have “joy inexpressible!” What more could anyone ask for?<br /><br />You will make known to me the path of life;<br />In Your presence is fullness of joy;<br />In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. (Psalm 16:11)<br /><br />Trust Jesus.",
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"content": "Joy\nFruits of the Spirit, Part 4\n\nhttps://trustjesus.substack.com/p/joy\n\nOnce again here are the fruits of the Spirit as defined in Galatians 5.\n\nBut the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23) {emphasis mine}\n\nWhen I started researching joy in the Bible, one thing really stuck out. Most mentions of joy are mentioned with hardship, fear, worry, persecution, and/or some other negative situation.\n\nConsider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, (James 1:2)\n\nfixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)\n\nIn this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, (1 Peter 1:6)\n\nrejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, (Romans 12:12)\n\nBut the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; (Luke 2:10)\n\nWhether it is Jesus suffering unfairly on the Cross or it is Christians suffering persecution for their faith, a right relationship with God leads to joy. Yes, joy is a gift from God, but I think it is also a sign of a right understanding of God. If we think all of the evil and hardship in the world is due either to chance or to evil “winning,” then we will worry and fret and not have joy. If we rightly know that God is in control and that “… God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28b), then we can have joy in all situations because we accurately know that everything will work out for good in the end.\n\nMany people think of happiness and joy as synonyms, but there is a huge difference between the two. Happiness is an emotion that comes about in response to good/fun/desired things happening. Joy is an emotion felt despite circumstances. It isn’t temporary. It doesn’t come and go. It isn’t dependent on circumstances. It is dependent on a relationship. It is dependent on a person, the Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nJoy is so much better than happiness. We don’t have to chase after it to catch it. We aren’t led astray by our desire for joy like we are when we are seeking happiness. It is given to us as a free gift from God to His spiritual children.\n\nConsider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)\n\nJoy is so wonderful that we can rejoice in “various trials,” knowing that they are for our good and other’s good. We can have joy in “various trials,” knowing that they will make us “perfect and complete.” How joyful is that?\n\nTherefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2) {emphasis mine}\n\nThis verse seems like an oxymoron: “ for the joy set before Him endured the cross.” At first glance it looks like Jesus has joy in the cross, but in reality, He has joy in the result of the cross. When we know that God is in control and causes “all things to work together for good,” we can know that the end result of every difficult, unpleasant, or bad thing will be God’s good, at least for “those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” We can have joy in ALL circumstances. Also notice that Hebrews says, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.” This is important when it comes to joy. Just like Peter, when he was walking on the water to meet Jesus, started to sink when he took his eyes off Jesus and instead focused on the storm, we too can lose our joy when we take our eyes off Jesus and instead focused on the storm. After trusting in Jesus, the next key to joy is “fixing our eyes on Jesus.”\n\nIf you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. (John 15:10-11)\n\nIf you use 1 John 2:3, “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments,” with John 15:10-11 (above), it becomes clear that all believers will have joy “and that your joy may be made full.” We won’t just have a little joy. Our joy will “be made full.” Keeping God’s commandments is another thing that leads to great joy. God’s commands aren’t joy killers; they are joy builders. He commands us what to do and not do because He wants our best, just like a parent tells their kids to eat healthy and to not run out in the street. The parent isn’t trying to ruin the kid’s fun. The parent is trying to protect them from harm and to help them to grow and stay healthy. God wants us to grow in Him so our “joy may be made full.”\n\nI especially love this passage on joy and rejoicing:\n\nIn this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:6-9) {emphasis mine}\n\nIn this verse joy, trials, and faith are very closely linked. We have “joy” in “various trials” as “proof of your faith.” When we are “tested by fire” it leads to “praise and glory and honor … of Jesus Christ.” Best of all, if we “believe in Him, [we] greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible.” Imagine that! We can have a “joy inexpressible!” We don’t have to have a life of worry. We don’t have to have a life without meaning. We don’t have to have a life of despair. If we believe in Him we can have “joy inexpressible!” What more could anyone ask for?\n\nYou will make known to me the path of life;\nIn Your presence is fullness of joy;\nIn Your right hand there are pleasures forever. (Psalm 16:11)\n\nTrust Jesus.",
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"content": "Read my post on the Fruits of the Spirit, \"Love\"<br /><a href=\"https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/love\" target=\"_blank\">https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/love</a><br /><br />Read Part 1 and Part 2<br /><br />But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23) {emphasis mine}<br /><br />We all love studying God’s love and grace. It is comforting and encouraging. On the other hand we generally hate studying God’s holiness and wrath. It is uncomfortable and convicting. If we don’t accept and know both sides of God’s character, we can’t truly know God. Yes, He is a loving God who sent His son to die on the cross to take away our sins, but He is also a holy, wrathful God. Having His son take our sins on His perfect self and die a horrific death on the cross doesn’t make sense if you don’t have a holy God who can’t abide sin, who is so holy that He can’t be in the presence of sin and must judge it and punish it fully. Jesus took our sins upon Himself so He could take the punishment we deserved. He then gives us His perfect, sinless righteousness so that is what God sees instead of our filthy, sinful selves. This is the perfect combination of love and holiness.<br /><br />Amazingly, this holy God has shown such love that He not only covered our sins, but He also filled us with His Spirit. He freed us from the chains of sin and empowered us with His character, so we can bear the fruits of His Spirit.<br /><br />We are like an empty, dirty glass. First He cleaned us and then He filled us. He fills us with His love until we overflow and His love flows out and upon those around us.<br /><br />Many of us, however, want to produce fruit by ourselves. We are like a travel mug with a tight lid that doesn’t let His love in or out, but unfortunately we like it because at least it isn’t messy. Be the open glass over flowing with the love of God.<br /><br />and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”(Mark 12:30-31)<br /><br />The greatest commandment is to love God and to love others. God’s mercy led Him to share His love with us so we can obey this command. Since this was God’s greatest command, it was also His first gift.<br /><br />One way that God says we learn to abide in His love is through obedience. Obedience leads to the fruits of the Spirit.<br /><br />If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. (John 15:10-11)<br /><br />If we want to obey we must know God’s commands. He shares His commands in the Bible. In addition to providing His commands of what to do and what not to do, maybe even more important, is that the Bible shares who God really is. To truly love God, we must know who He is.<br /><br />Too often we define who we think God should be. We make Him in our own image. We make Him less than holy, like ourselves. We make Him less self controlled, like ourselves. We make Him more petty, like ourselves. We, the created creature, do not have the right to define who God is, but He does have the right to define who we are and who we should be. We need to love and worship God for who He truly is and we can’t do that if we don’t know His word, the Holy, “God breathed” Bible.<br /><br />Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:7-8)<br /><br />Of course a discussion on love cannot conclude without mentioning 1 Corinthians 13.<br /><br />If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.<br /><br />Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.<br /><br />Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:1-13)<br /><br />The first 3 verses tells us some reasons that love is so important, but if we really want to know what love is, it is described in verses 4-7 both as what it is and what it is not. I’ve included two different translations (other than the NASB that I normally use) to help clarify a few of the ideas conveyed, since Greek is a little bit more concise and precise than English, these verses are clearer in the original language.<br /><br />Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV)<br /><br />Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NIV)<br /><br />Love is patient and kind. It is not jealous, prideful, or arrogant. It does not dishonor others, seek its own good, or cause irritation & resentment. It helps us to endure hardship (including when others do not act lovingly towards us). It causes us to have trust and hope. It helps us persevere. Love is the very essence of being Christ-like.<br /><br />We all love the warm fuzzy side of love, but one of our biggest problems when we emphasize love is we forget that God associates love with truth and discipline.<br /><br />He who withholds his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently. (Proverbs 13:24<br /><br />but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ (Ephesians 4:15)<br /><br />Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. (1 John 3:18)<br /><br />Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart (1 Peter 1:22)<br /><br />Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. (2 John 1:3)<br /><br />it [love] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. (1 Corinthians 13:6) [clarification mine]<br /><br />It is not love to encourage a person to continue to believe a lie or to act in a sinful way. We are not loving a person if we withhold a truth to make them comfortable.<br /><br />Benjamin Franklin said with regard to poverty, “I am for doing good to the poor, but...I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”<br /><br />I would say about love and truth, “I am for loving the lost sinners, but...I think the best way of doing good to the lost, is not making their sin easy and comfortable, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more the public condones sin, the more sin they commit, and of course became farther from faith in Jesus. And, on the contrary, the more God’s commandments and the truth are shared in love, the more they understand their need for a Savior and the more they turn to Jesus.”<br /><br />Don’t confuse permissiveness for love. It is the opposite of love. It is not loving for a parent to allow their child to eat only sweets because that is what the child wants. It is not loving for a doctor to encourage a patient to continue smoking when he knows that smoking leads to cancer and other health problems. It is not loving to encourage the continuation of sin or the continued belief in lies. A loving person tells the truth. “…and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:32)<br /><br />Many of the twelve step programs that teach how to recover from an addiction say the first step is to realize you have a problem. Sinners won’t seek a savior if they don’t realize they have a sin problem. They won’t seek the truth if they don’t understand that they believe a lie. They won’t repent and trust Jesus if they haven’t been told the truth about sin and Jesus. We have to speak the truth if we want to show love.<br /><br />Of course, how you tell the truth makes it loving or unloving. You can share the truth in a way that is loving and encouraging. Some people, instead of being overly permissive, error on the opposite extreme and speak the truth in the most hateful, condemning manner that is more of an attack on the person than on the sinful behavior or the lie. Loving truth is not permissive and it isn’t a personal attack. It is lovingly leading them to the truth for their good and not so we can “win”.<br /><br />Love isn’t just about our interaction with God and with others. It is even more.<br /><br />Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid. (Proverbs 12:1)<br /><br />It is also about our values and what is valuable to ourselves.<br /><br />I believe love is listed first in the Galatians list of fruits of the Spirit because it the most important fruit. The fruit that all Christians must bear. The fruit that leads to growth in oneself and allows us to help disciple and grow others. It is also the fruit that lasts forever.<br /><br />But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)<br /><br />The greatest of the fruits of the Spirit is love because love never ends.<br /><br />Trust Jesus.",
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"url": "https://www.minds.com/newsfeed/1651726242530988044",
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"content": "Read my post on the Fruits of the Spirit, \"Love\"\nhttps://trustjesus.substack.com/p/love\n\nRead Part 1 and Part 2\n\nBut the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23) {emphasis mine}\n\nWe all love studying God’s love and grace. It is comforting and encouraging. On the other hand we generally hate studying God’s holiness and wrath. It is uncomfortable and convicting. If we don’t accept and know both sides of God’s character, we can’t truly know God. Yes, He is a loving God who sent His son to die on the cross to take away our sins, but He is also a holy, wrathful God. Having His son take our sins on His perfect self and die a horrific death on the cross doesn’t make sense if you don’t have a holy God who can’t abide sin, who is so holy that He can’t be in the presence of sin and must judge it and punish it fully. Jesus took our sins upon Himself so He could take the punishment we deserved. He then gives us His perfect, sinless righteousness so that is what God sees instead of our filthy, sinful selves. This is the perfect combination of love and holiness.\n\nAmazingly, this holy God has shown such love that He not only covered our sins, but He also filled us with His Spirit. He freed us from the chains of sin and empowered us with His character, so we can bear the fruits of His Spirit.\n\nWe are like an empty, dirty glass. First He cleaned us and then He filled us. He fills us with His love until we overflow and His love flows out and upon those around us.\n\nMany of us, however, want to produce fruit by ourselves. We are like a travel mug with a tight lid that doesn’t let His love in or out, but unfortunately we like it because at least it isn’t messy. Be the open glass over flowing with the love of God.\n\nand you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”(Mark 12:30-31)\n\nThe greatest commandment is to love God and to love others. God’s mercy led Him to share His love with us so we can obey this command. Since this was God’s greatest command, it was also His first gift.\n\nOne way that God says we learn to abide in His love is through obedience. Obedience leads to the fruits of the Spirit.\n\nIf you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. (John 15:10-11)\n\nIf we want to obey we must know God’s commands. He shares His commands in the Bible. In addition to providing His commands of what to do and what not to do, maybe even more important, is that the Bible shares who God really is. To truly love God, we must know who He is.\n\nToo often we define who we think God should be. We make Him in our own image. We make Him less than holy, like ourselves. We make Him less self controlled, like ourselves. We make Him more petty, like ourselves. We, the created creature, do not have the right to define who God is, but He does have the right to define who we are and who we should be. We need to love and worship God for who He truly is and we can’t do that if we don’t know His word, the Holy, “God breathed” Bible.\n\nBeloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:7-8)\n\nOf course a discussion on love cannot conclude without mentioning 1 Corinthians 13.\n\nIf I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.\n\nLove is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.\n\nLove never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:1-13)\n\nThe first 3 verses tells us some reasons that love is so important, but if we really want to know what love is, it is described in verses 4-7 both as what it is and what it is not. I’ve included two different translations (other than the NASB that I normally use) to help clarify a few of the ideas conveyed, since Greek is a little bit more concise and precise than English, these verses are clearer in the original language.\n\nLove is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV)\n\nLove is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NIV)\n\nLove is patient and kind. It is not jealous, prideful, or arrogant. It does not dishonor others, seek its own good, or cause irritation & resentment. It helps us to endure hardship (including when others do not act lovingly towards us). It causes us to have trust and hope. It helps us persevere. Love is the very essence of being Christ-like.\n\nWe all love the warm fuzzy side of love, but one of our biggest problems when we emphasize love is we forget that God associates love with truth and discipline.\n\nHe who withholds his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently. (Proverbs 13:24\n\nbut speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ (Ephesians 4:15)\n\nLittle children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. (1 John 3:18)\n\nSince you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart (1 Peter 1:22)\n\nGrace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. (2 John 1:3)\n\nit [love] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. (1 Corinthians 13:6) [clarification mine]\n\nIt is not love to encourage a person to continue to believe a lie or to act in a sinful way. We are not loving a person if we withhold a truth to make them comfortable.\n\nBenjamin Franklin said with regard to poverty, “I am for doing good to the poor, but...I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”\n\nI would say about love and truth, “I am for loving the lost sinners, but...I think the best way of doing good to the lost, is not making their sin easy and comfortable, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more the public condones sin, the more sin they commit, and of course became farther from faith in Jesus. And, on the contrary, the more God’s commandments and the truth are shared in love, the more they understand their need for a Savior and the more they turn to Jesus.”\n\nDon’t confuse permissiveness for love. It is the opposite of love. It is not loving for a parent to allow their child to eat only sweets because that is what the child wants. It is not loving for a doctor to encourage a patient to continue smoking when he knows that smoking leads to cancer and other health problems. It is not loving to encourage the continuation of sin or the continued belief in lies. A loving person tells the truth. “…and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:32)\n\nMany of the twelve step programs that teach how to recover from an addiction say the first step is to realize you have a problem. Sinners won’t seek a savior if they don’t realize they have a sin problem. They won’t seek the truth if they don’t understand that they believe a lie. They won’t repent and trust Jesus if they haven’t been told the truth about sin and Jesus. We have to speak the truth if we want to show love.\n\nOf course, how you tell the truth makes it loving or unloving. You can share the truth in a way that is loving and encouraging. Some people, instead of being overly permissive, error on the opposite extreme and speak the truth in the most hateful, condemning manner that is more of an attack on the person than on the sinful behavior or the lie. Loving truth is not permissive and it isn’t a personal attack. It is lovingly leading them to the truth for their good and not so we can “win”.\n\nLove isn’t just about our interaction with God and with others. It is even more.\n\nWhoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid. (Proverbs 12:1)\n\nIt is also about our values and what is valuable to ourselves.\n\nI believe love is listed first in the Galatians list of fruits of the Spirit because it the most important fruit. The fruit that all Christians must bear. The fruit that leads to growth in oneself and allows us to help disciple and grow others. It is also the fruit that lasts forever.\n\nBut now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)\n\nThe greatest of the fruits of the Spirit is love because love never ends.\n\nTrust Jesus.",
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"content": "<br />Abide in the Vine<br />Fruits of the Spirit, Part 2<br /><br /><a href=\"https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/abide-in-the-vine\" target=\"_blank\">https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/abide-in-the-vine</a><br /><br />You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? (Matthew 7:16)<br /><br />The Bible talks in multiple places about people being known by their fruit. During most of humanity, we don’t have an obvious mark marking us as belonging to Christ or belonging to the Devil, but the way we think, speak, and act does show to whom we belong. The fruits of the Spirit, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (as listed in Galatians 5) are only found in those who have repented and trusted Jesus as savior. We can only produce this good fruit if we abide in the vine, the Lord Jesus Christ.<br /><br />First lets look at the whole passage relating to abiding in the vine and the fruit that we bear. Then I will break down the passage in order to glean the key points.<br /><br />1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 9Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.<br /><br />12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. 14You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. (John 15:1-16) {emphasis mine}<br /><br />“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. (John 15:1-2)<br /><br />Part of bearing fruit includes being pruned. When a plant is pruned, unhealthy branches and branches that are in the way (blocking the air and light or rubbing and causing damage) are cut away. Sometimes a plant even has to be moved to a better location with better soil or better light. Sometimes pruning seems brutal when a large number of branches need pruning, but it strengthens the plant and helps it to produce more fruit. In the same way, we need unhealthy habits and ungodly distractions cut away, so we can focus on God and and to serve Him faithfully.<br /><br />In Jesus’s parable of the sower He explains,<br /><br />And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. (Mark 4:18-19)<br /><br />The “the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things” need to be pruned away so that we can be fruitful. This pruning is not necessarily enjoyable at the time, but looking back, it is always needful and for our benefit. If our minds are in sync with God’s, we will look with fondness on those hard days and won’t trade them for anything. Those who run from this pruning will miss the benefit. Those who seek this pruning will grow and flourish the most fully.<br /><br />And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” (Mark 4:29)<br /><br />Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5) {emphasis mine}<br /><br />So often we try to live Godly lives in our own strength, but we fail miserably. We need to lean on God. We need to read, understand, and embody God’s word, the Bible. We need to pray for the Spirit’s guidance and strength. Sometimes we need to just rest and wait on the Lord. Other times we need to jump in and act in accordance to His will. Whatever the case and whatever the stage of life, we need to lean on God as our strength and our guide “for apart from {Him} you can do nothing.”<br /><br />If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. (John 15:6)<br /><br />Even worse, if we have not trusted God as savior, we can not only not produce fruit, we are good for nothing and will ultimately be “cast … into the fire and … burned.” It is so much better to be pruned and grow in Christ in this life, than to follow the easy path in this life and have an eternity of punishment, sorrow, and agony. It isn’t too late to trust Jesus. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)<br /><br />7If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. (John 15:7-8) {emphasis mine}<br /><br />It important to keep verse 8 in mind, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” when you read and try to interpret verse 7, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”<br /><br />If you abide in Jesus, your desires and interests should align with His. You should want to do His will and not just your own. This should cause you to wish for things according to His will and not to ask for frivolous things like wealth, power, and prestige. If you are bearing His fruit, you are His disciple. If you are His disciple, you obey Him. If you obey Him, you glorify Him. God isn’t a magic genie in a bottle that you rub when you have a request and then send back to the bottle when you’re done with Him. God is the creator of the universe. He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and holy. He is someone to praise and to obey, not to use and command.<br /><br />If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. (John 15:10-11)<br /><br />When we abide in Jesus, we love His word and submit to His will. We regularly obey His commandments (Unfortunately this doesn’t mean we will never disobey, but it should mean our normal way of life is obedience.) When we obey His commandments we abide in His love. When we abide in His love, we receive joy (one of the fruits of the Spirit). When we abide in Jesus life is good. It isn’t necessarily (or even likely) easy, but it is good because He is good.<br /><br />“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:12-13)<br /><br />In the Gospels, Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment.<br /><br />“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:36-40)<br /><br />When we have God’s love, we act on it towards God and towards others. When we wholeheartedly love God and His people, we will show love and love is the embodiment of obedience to our God and creator. When we show love to others, we are sharing the image of God, which was created in us. We are image bearers of our awesome God. This is what we were created to do.<br /><br />No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. (John 15:15)<br /><br />God does not need us to complete His will. He choses us to include us and allow us to “help” Him in the same way a parent lets their toddler “help.” Including a toddler in the work that needs to be done almost always makes it harder to complete the task and it tends to be messier. God including us in His work also is messier, but He loves us and working through us helps us to grow in maturity and love for Him and others just as allowing that toddler to “help” actually helps the toddler grow rather than truly helping with the task.<br /><br />We should truly be in awe of the idea that the creator of the universe, the creator of everything that is including time and space, would lower himself to think of us as friends instead of slaves. This is the ultimate honor and should never be taken for granted.<br /><br />16You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. (John 15:16) {emphasis mine}<br /><br />Let’s thank God for choosing us and appointing us to bear fruit. Let’s thank Him that our fruits of the Spirit will remain even after the end of the world.<br /><br />Trust Jesus.",
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"content": "\nAbide in the Vine\nFruits of the Spirit, Part 2\n\nhttps://trustjesus.substack.com/p/abide-in-the-vine\n\nYou will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? (Matthew 7:16)\n\nThe Bible talks in multiple places about people being known by their fruit. During most of humanity, we don’t have an obvious mark marking us as belonging to Christ or belonging to the Devil, but the way we think, speak, and act does show to whom we belong. The fruits of the Spirit, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (as listed in Galatians 5) are only found in those who have repented and trusted Jesus as savior. We can only produce this good fruit if we abide in the vine, the Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nFirst lets look at the whole passage relating to abiding in the vine and the fruit that we bear. Then I will break down the passage in order to glean the key points.\n\n1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 9Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.\n\n12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. 14You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. (John 15:1-16) {emphasis mine}\n\n“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. (John 15:1-2)\n\nPart of bearing fruit includes being pruned. When a plant is pruned, unhealthy branches and branches that are in the way (blocking the air and light or rubbing and causing damage) are cut away. Sometimes a plant even has to be moved to a better location with better soil or better light. Sometimes pruning seems brutal when a large number of branches need pruning, but it strengthens the plant and helps it to produce more fruit. In the same way, we need unhealthy habits and ungodly distractions cut away, so we can focus on God and and to serve Him faithfully.\n\nIn Jesus’s parable of the sower He explains,\n\nAnd others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. (Mark 4:18-19)\n\nThe “the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things” need to be pruned away so that we can be fruitful. This pruning is not necessarily enjoyable at the time, but looking back, it is always needful and for our benefit. If our minds are in sync with God’s, we will look with fondness on those hard days and won’t trade them for anything. Those who run from this pruning will miss the benefit. Those who seek this pruning will grow and flourish the most fully.\n\nAnd those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” (Mark 4:29)\n\nAbide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5) {emphasis mine}\n\nSo often we try to live Godly lives in our own strength, but we fail miserably. We need to lean on God. We need to read, understand, and embody God’s word, the Bible. We need to pray for the Spirit’s guidance and strength. Sometimes we need to just rest and wait on the Lord. Other times we need to jump in and act in accordance to His will. Whatever the case and whatever the stage of life, we need to lean on God as our strength and our guide “for apart from {Him} you can do nothing.”\n\nIf anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. (John 15:6)\n\nEven worse, if we have not trusted God as savior, we can not only not produce fruit, we are good for nothing and will ultimately be “cast … into the fire and … burned.” It is so much better to be pruned and grow in Christ in this life, than to follow the easy path in this life and have an eternity of punishment, sorrow, and agony. It isn’t too late to trust Jesus. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)\n\n7If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. (John 15:7-8) {emphasis mine}\n\nIt important to keep verse 8 in mind, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” when you read and try to interpret verse 7, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”\n\nIf you abide in Jesus, your desires and interests should align with His. You should want to do His will and not just your own. This should cause you to wish for things according to His will and not to ask for frivolous things like wealth, power, and prestige. If you are bearing His fruit, you are His disciple. If you are His disciple, you obey Him. If you obey Him, you glorify Him. God isn’t a magic genie in a bottle that you rub when you have a request and then send back to the bottle when you’re done with Him. God is the creator of the universe. He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and holy. He is someone to praise and to obey, not to use and command.\n\nIf you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. (John 15:10-11)\n\nWhen we abide in Jesus, we love His word and submit to His will. We regularly obey His commandments (Unfortunately this doesn’t mean we will never disobey, but it should mean our normal way of life is obedience.) When we obey His commandments we abide in His love. When we abide in His love, we receive joy (one of the fruits of the Spirit). When we abide in Jesus life is good. It isn’t necessarily (or even likely) easy, but it is good because He is good.\n\n“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:12-13)\n\nIn the Gospels, Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment.\n\n“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:36-40)\n\nWhen we have God’s love, we act on it towards God and towards others. When we wholeheartedly love God and His people, we will show love and love is the embodiment of obedience to our God and creator. When we show love to others, we are sharing the image of God, which was created in us. We are image bearers of our awesome God. This is what we were created to do.\n\nNo longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. (John 15:15)\n\nGod does not need us to complete His will. He choses us to include us and allow us to “help” Him in the same way a parent lets their toddler “help.” Including a toddler in the work that needs to be done almost always makes it harder to complete the task and it tends to be messier. God including us in His work also is messier, but He loves us and working through us helps us to grow in maturity and love for Him and others just as allowing that toddler to “help” actually helps the toddler grow rather than truly helping with the task.\n\nWe should truly be in awe of the idea that the creator of the universe, the creator of everything that is including time and space, would lower himself to think of us as friends instead of slaves. This is the ultimate honor and should never be taken for granted.\n\n16You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. (John 15:16) {emphasis mine}\n\nLet’s thank God for choosing us and appointing us to bear fruit. Let’s thank Him that our fruits of the Spirit will remain even after the end of the world.\n\nTrust Jesus.",
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"content": "This is my first intro post on the Fruits of the Spirit<br /><a href=\"https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/fruits-of-the-spirit\" target=\"_blank\">https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/fruits-of-the-spirit</a><br /><br />Know Them By Their Fruits<br />There are many verses in the Bible that talk about our fruits. They talk about bad fruit and good fruit. They talk about trusting or not trusting a person based on a person’s fruit. I’ll touch on a few of them here. This post will be Bible verse heavy post that is an overview. We’ll get deeper into the subject with subsequent posts.<br /><br />“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.<br /><br />“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:15-23)<br /><br />This fruit can be used to judge others, but can also be used to judge ourselves. We are fallible humans, so none of us will always perfectly exhibit the fruits of the Spirit, but there should be signs of fruit if we are truly saved children of God. A fruit tree will have a flower bud, blooms, a beginning of a fruit, an unripe fruit, or a ripe fruit. There will be progress from one to another. Sometimes circumstances can damage a fruit, but there are still signs of the fruit. As Christians, there should always be signs of the fruit of the Spirit. If there are more signs of bad fruit, we need to consider whether our faith is real and respond accordingly.<br /><br />But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.<br /><br />If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5:16-26) {emphasis mine}<br /><br />My plan is to work on a series of posts with more information on each of the fruits of the spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Hopefully this will be a blessing to you and help you to grow in the Spirit. Just keep in mind, that you will never successfully produce ripe fruit if you are not a born-again Christian who has been redeemed by Jesus Christ. Only those covered by the blood of the Lamb and filled with the Spirit of God can truly produce the fruit of the Spirit.<br /><br />“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. (John 15:1-2)<br /><br />The Plan<br />My next post will go into some details about abiding in Christ in order to bear fruit. Hopefully you are also longing for Jesus and to bear fruit in His name.<br /><br />For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. (Romans 8:22-25) {emphasis mine}<br /><br />Our fruit will not be fully and optimally ripe until Jesus returns, but we should “groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.” We should long to be the person God has created us to be and to be worthy of what He has done for us. I hope this is your desire as well.<br /><br />But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3:17-18)<br /><br />May the Holy Spirit of God fill you and grow you and grow abundant fruit in you.<br /><br />Trust Jesus.",
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"content": "This is my first intro post on the Fruits of the Spirit\nhttps://trustjesus.substack.com/p/fruits-of-the-spirit\n\nKnow Them By Their Fruits\nThere are many verses in the Bible that talk about our fruits. They talk about bad fruit and good fruit. They talk about trusting or not trusting a person based on a person’s fruit. I’ll touch on a few of them here. This post will be Bible verse heavy post that is an overview. We’ll get deeper into the subject with subsequent posts.\n\n“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.\n\n“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:15-23)\n\nThis fruit can be used to judge others, but can also be used to judge ourselves. We are fallible humans, so none of us will always perfectly exhibit the fruits of the Spirit, but there should be signs of fruit if we are truly saved children of God. A fruit tree will have a flower bud, blooms, a beginning of a fruit, an unripe fruit, or a ripe fruit. There will be progress from one to another. Sometimes circumstances can damage a fruit, but there are still signs of the fruit. As Christians, there should always be signs of the fruit of the Spirit. If there are more signs of bad fruit, we need to consider whether our faith is real and respond accordingly.\n\nBut I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.\n\nIf we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5:16-26) {emphasis mine}\n\nMy plan is to work on a series of posts with more information on each of the fruits of the spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Hopefully this will be a blessing to you and help you to grow in the Spirit. Just keep in mind, that you will never successfully produce ripe fruit if you are not a born-again Christian who has been redeemed by Jesus Christ. Only those covered by the blood of the Lamb and filled with the Spirit of God can truly produce the fruit of the Spirit.\n\n“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. (John 15:1-2)\n\nThe Plan\nMy next post will go into some details about abiding in Christ in order to bear fruit. Hopefully you are also longing for Jesus and to bear fruit in His name.\n\nFor we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. (Romans 8:22-25) {emphasis mine}\n\nOur fruit will not be fully and optimally ripe until Jesus returns, but we should “groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.” We should long to be the person God has created us to be and to be worthy of what He has done for us. I hope this is your desire as well.\n\nBut the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3:17-18)\n\nMay the Holy Spirit of God fill you and grow you and grow abundant fruit in you.\n\nTrust Jesus.",
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"content": "Pride: Could this be the root of All Sin?<br /><br /><a href=\"https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/pride\" target=\"_blank\">https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/pride</a><br /><br />First thing this morning I was reading Proverbs 16. (One of our pastors had recommended reading the Bible before doing anything online which I used to do, but hadn’t been doing lately.) There were multiple verses on pride.<br /><br />Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord;<br />Assuredly, he will not be unpunished. (Proverbs 16:5)<br /><br />Pride goes before destruction,<br />And a haughty spirit before stumbling. (Proverbs 16:18)<br /><br />It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly<br />Than to divide the spoil with the proud. (Proverbs 16:19)<br /><br />Since it is “Pride Month”, I started thinking about pride and especially Lucifer’s fall to become Satan or the Devil. What caused the most beautiful angel in heaven to become the monster we know as the Devil? It was PRIDE.<br /><br />“You had the seal of perfection,<br />Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.<br /><br />13You were in Eden, the garden of God;<br />Every precious stone was your covering:<br />The ruby, the topaz and the diamond;<br />The beryl, the onyx and the jasper;<br />The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald;<br />And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets,<br />Was in you.<br />On the day that you were created<br />They were prepared.<br /><br />14You were the anointed cherub who covers,<br />And I placed you there.<br />You were on the holy mountain of God;<br />You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.<br /><br />15You were blameless in your ways<br />From the day you were created<br />Until unrighteousness was found in you.<br /><br />16By the abundance of your trade<br />You were internally filled with violence,<br />And you sinned;<br />Therefore I have cast you as profane<br />From the mountain of God.<br />And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub,<br />From the midst of the stones of fire.<br /><br />17Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;<br />You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.<br />I cast you to the ground;<br />I put you before kings,<br />That they may see you.<br /><br />18By the multitude of your iniquities,<br />In the unrighteousness of your trade<br />You profaned your sanctuaries.<br />Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you;<br />It has consumed you,<br />And I have turned you to ashes on the earth<br />In the eyes of all who see you.<br /><br />19All who know you among the peoples<br />Are appalled at you;<br />You have become terrified<br />And you will cease to be forever.” ’ ” (Ezekiel 28:12b-19)<br /><br />Lucifer became prideful of his God given splendor and it transformed him from the most beautiful angel in heaven to a monstrous evil, the face in our nightmares. Instead of being grateful that God had made him and made him with great beauty, strength, and wisdom, he tried to steal God’s position and claim God’s glory. Pride can turn anything and anyone into something unimaginably ugly.<br /><br />How you have fallen from heaven,<br />O star of the morning, son of the dawn!<br />You have been cut down to the earth,<br />You who have weakened the nations!<br /><br />But you said in your heart,<br />‘I will ascend to heaven;<br />I will raise my throne above the stars of God,<br /><br />And I will sit on the mount of assembly<br />In the recesses of the north.<br />I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;<br />I will make myself like the Most High.’ (Isaiah 14:12-14)<br /><br />In the same way that pride transformed Lucifer, an angel of light, to Satan, the very face of evil, we, who are made in the image of God, can be transformed from God’s perfect creation that reflects the glory of God, to a thing that is evil and ugly and of no use to anyone except as an example of what not to do and what not to be.<br /><br />What does it say about our society when pride is held up as something to strive for? Why does one group brag about its pride? You could argue that pride is the root of evil and sin.<br /><br />We need to have a right understanding of ourselves and our relationship with God. If we haven’t submitted our lives to Jesus, we shouldn’t have pride in anything we think, say, do, or are. If we have submitted our lives to Jesus, and we are now a child of God, we need to not put down what God has honored with His covering, but the only pride we should have is in God and His glory and what Jesus did for us on the cross.<br /><br />Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, (2 Corinthians 3:5)<br /><br />indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; (2 Corinthians 1:9)<br /><br />Instead of being proud of who we are or what we have done, we need to praise and worship God for who He is and what He has done and who He has made us. He never makes a mistake.<br /><br />Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.<br /><br />2Serve the Lord with gladness;<br />Come before Him with joyful singing.<br /><br />3Know that the Lord Himself is God;<br />It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;<br />We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.<br /><br />4Enter His gates with thanksgiving<br />And His courts with praise.<br />Give thanks to Him, bless His name.<br /><br />5For the Lord is good;<br />His lovingkindness is everlasting<br />And His faithfulness to all generations. (Psalms 100)<br /><br />Trust Jesus.<br />",
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"content": "Pride: Could this be the root of All Sin?\n\nhttps://trustjesus.substack.com/p/pride\n\nFirst thing this morning I was reading Proverbs 16. (One of our pastors had recommended reading the Bible before doing anything online which I used to do, but hadn’t been doing lately.) There were multiple verses on pride.\n\nEveryone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord;\nAssuredly, he will not be unpunished. (Proverbs 16:5)\n\nPride goes before destruction,\nAnd a haughty spirit before stumbling. (Proverbs 16:18)\n\nIt is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly\nThan to divide the spoil with the proud. (Proverbs 16:19)\n\nSince it is “Pride Month”, I started thinking about pride and especially Lucifer’s fall to become Satan or the Devil. What caused the most beautiful angel in heaven to become the monster we know as the Devil? It was PRIDE.\n\n“You had the seal of perfection,\nFull of wisdom and perfect in beauty.\n\n13You were in Eden, the garden of God;\nEvery precious stone was your covering:\nThe ruby, the topaz and the diamond;\nThe beryl, the onyx and the jasper;\nThe lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald;\nAnd the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets,\nWas in you.\nOn the day that you were created\nThey were prepared.\n\n14You were the anointed cherub who covers,\nAnd I placed you there.\nYou were on the holy mountain of God;\nYou walked in the midst of the stones of fire.\n\n15You were blameless in your ways\nFrom the day you were created\nUntil unrighteousness was found in you.\n\n16By the abundance of your trade\nYou were internally filled with violence,\nAnd you sinned;\nTherefore I have cast you as profane\nFrom the mountain of God.\nAnd I have destroyed you, O covering cherub,\nFrom the midst of the stones of fire.\n\n17Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;\nYou corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.\nI cast you to the ground;\nI put you before kings,\nThat they may see you.\n\n18By the multitude of your iniquities,\nIn the unrighteousness of your trade\nYou profaned your sanctuaries.\nTherefore I have brought fire from the midst of you;\nIt has consumed you,\nAnd I have turned you to ashes on the earth\nIn the eyes of all who see you.\n\n19All who know you among the peoples\nAre appalled at you;\nYou have become terrified\nAnd you will cease to be forever.” ’ ” (Ezekiel 28:12b-19)\n\nLucifer became prideful of his God given splendor and it transformed him from the most beautiful angel in heaven to a monstrous evil, the face in our nightmares. Instead of being grateful that God had made him and made him with great beauty, strength, and wisdom, he tried to steal God’s position and claim God’s glory. Pride can turn anything and anyone into something unimaginably ugly.\n\nHow you have fallen from heaven,\nO star of the morning, son of the dawn!\nYou have been cut down to the earth,\nYou who have weakened the nations!\n\nBut you said in your heart,\n‘I will ascend to heaven;\nI will raise my throne above the stars of God,\n\nAnd I will sit on the mount of assembly\nIn the recesses of the north.\nI will ascend above the heights of the clouds;\nI will make myself like the Most High.’ (Isaiah 14:12-14)\n\nIn the same way that pride transformed Lucifer, an angel of light, to Satan, the very face of evil, we, who are made in the image of God, can be transformed from God’s perfect creation that reflects the glory of God, to a thing that is evil and ugly and of no use to anyone except as an example of what not to do and what not to be.\n\nWhat does it say about our society when pride is held up as something to strive for? Why does one group brag about its pride? You could argue that pride is the root of evil and sin.\n\nWe need to have a right understanding of ourselves and our relationship with God. If we haven’t submitted our lives to Jesus, we shouldn’t have pride in anything we think, say, do, or are. If we have submitted our lives to Jesus, and we are now a child of God, we need to not put down what God has honored with His covering, but the only pride we should have is in God and His glory and what Jesus did for us on the cross.\n\nNot that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, (2 Corinthians 3:5)\n\nindeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; (2 Corinthians 1:9)\n\nInstead of being proud of who we are or what we have done, we need to praise and worship God for who He is and what He has done and who He has made us. He never makes a mistake.\n\nShout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.\n\n2Serve the Lord with gladness;\nCome before Him with joyful singing.\n\n3Know that the Lord Himself is God;\nIt is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;\nWe are His people and the sheep of His pasture.\n\n4Enter His gates with thanksgiving\nAnd His courts with praise.\nGive thanks to Him, bless His name.\n\n5For the Lord is good;\nHis lovingkindness is everlasting\nAnd His faithfulness to all generations. (Psalms 100)\n\nTrust Jesus.\n",
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"content": "Knowing God from Psalm 19<br /><br /><a href=\"https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/psalm-19\" target=\"_blank\">https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/psalm-19</a><br /><br />1The heavens are telling of the glory of God;<br />And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.<br />2Day to day pours forth speech,<br />And night to night reveals knowledge.<br />3There is no speech, nor are there words;<br />Their voice is not heard.<br />4Their line has gone out through all the earth,<br />And their utterances to the end of the world.<br />In them He has placed a tent for the sun,<br />5Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;<br />It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.<br />6Its rising is from one end of the heavens,<br />And its circuit to the other end of them;<br />And there is nothing hidden from its heat.<br /><br />7The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;<br />The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.<br />8The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;<br />The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.<br />9The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;<br />The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.<br />10They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;<br />Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.<br />11Moreover, by them Your servant is warned;<br />In keeping them there is great reward.<br />12Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.<br />13Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins;<br />Let them not rule over me;<br />Then I will be blameless,<br />And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.<br />14Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart<br />Be acceptable in Your sight,<br />O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19)<br /><br />The first 6 verses of Psalm 19 speak of general revelation. This is what every person to ever live has seen. God’s creation speaks to the existence of a creator God and tells a little about this God, but it doesn’t tell people everything about God. It doesn’t tell what God expects of His creation.<br /><br />For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20) {emphasis mine}<br /><br />Through His creation, God has revealed enough about Himself that we are all guilty of not believing in Him and not submitting to Him as we should. The good news is that He has revealed Himself to us more fully and we can know, trust, and obey Him, although no one has ever done so perfectly, except Jesus Himself.<br /><br />In verses 7-14, His special revelation is praised and how it is useful to us is elucidated.<br /><br />The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;<br />The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.<br />The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;<br />The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.<br />The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;<br />The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. (Psalm 19:7-9) {emphasis mine}<br /><br />Multiple words are used to describe the truth, God’s word, and the Bible: law, testimony, precepts, commandments, fear, & judgments. God’s law, testimony, precepts, and commandments are explicitly spelled out in His written word, the Bible. The fear of the Lord is our right response to that written word and the judgments of the Lord are God’s righteous reaction to our response to His written word.<br /><br />You’ll notice that His word is described as perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, and true. Everything about God’s word is exactly as it should be. We should long for God’s word. Psalm 42:1 describes how we should feel about God’s word, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God.” Instead of wanting to do anything other than read God’s word, we should long to be filled with God’s word. We should seek to live according to God’s word. We should crave the word of God and His righteousness as strongly as we crave food. “Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.” (John 4:34)<br /><br />Most of us, most of our lives don’t seek God or His word as we should, but some of us do and sometimes we do. David doesn’t just long for God’s word, he takes it a step further. The first 5 references to God’s word are praised with a word and a praise, but his praise is much deeper for “The judgments of the Lord”.<br /><br />The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.<br />They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;<br />Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.<br />Moreover, by them Your servant is warned;<br />In keeping them there is great reward. (Psalm 19:9b-11)<br /><br />How often do we praise God for His judgments? We may think they are “true,” at least with our heads, if not with our hearts, but do we really think “they are righteous altogether” or do we question God’s commands or actions? How many think God’s judgment is “more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold” or “Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb?” Most of us will do just about anything to avoid the judgment of God. We will hide from God to avoid His judgment.<br /><br />When I was a relatively new Christian, I attended a large church in my home town when I wasn’t away at college. The leader of our college and career small group had what I would consider the greatest gift of exhortation that I have ever experience. Whenever exhortation is used, I think of him. When it came to discussions of right and wrong and how we should live our lives, he never boldly gave a command. He would ask a question. He gently led us to the truth. I knew he was leading me to the truth, but it was very uncomfortable. In the beginning, I’d try to be as hidden as possible. I didn’t want to be asked a question because I knew I was not going to like the answer that I knew was right. I avoided him like the plague. Eventually, I realized how much being around him grew me in faith and righteousness. I learned to love and seek out those piercing questions that were so uncomfortable because they helped me grow.<br /><br />In the same way, we should all seek out God’s judgment (or at least discipline).<br /><br />You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,<br /><br />“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,<br />Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;<br />For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,<br />And He scourges every son whom He receives.”<br /><br />It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. (Hebrews 12:4-11) {emphasis mine}<br /><br />We should diligently read God’s word. We should faithfully submit to God’s discipline. We should humbly submit to God’s will.<br /><br />Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.<br />Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins;<br />Let them not rule over me;<br />Then I will be blameless,<br />And I shall be acquitted of great transgression. (Psalm 19:12-13)<br /><br />Knowing God’s character and His will can aid us in submitting to Him so we do not transgress against Him. Of course, as Christians, we have the benefit of the Helper, the Holy Spirit, to help us to know, understand, submit, and obey. David didn’t have that benefit, but He knew that submitting to God was in his best interest and He sought God and God called Him “a man after my own heart.” That is my heart’s cry. I want to be called “a woman after God’s own heart.”<br /><br />Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart<br />Be acceptable in Your sight,<br />O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)<br /><br />Through learning God’s word, submitting to His will, being guided by His Spirit, and being covered by His Son my prayer is “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.”<br /><br />I hope this is your prayer as well.<br /><br />Trust Jesus.",
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"content": "Knowing God from Psalm 19\n\nhttps://trustjesus.substack.com/p/psalm-19\n\n1The heavens are telling of the glory of God;\nAnd their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.\n2Day to day pours forth speech,\nAnd night to night reveals knowledge.\n3There is no speech, nor are there words;\nTheir voice is not heard.\n4Their line has gone out through all the earth,\nAnd their utterances to the end of the world.\nIn them He has placed a tent for the sun,\n5Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;\nIt rejoices as a strong man to run his course.\n6Its rising is from one end of the heavens,\nAnd its circuit to the other end of them;\nAnd there is nothing hidden from its heat.\n\n7The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;\nThe testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.\n8The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;\nThe commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.\n9The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;\nThe judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.\n10They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;\nSweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.\n11Moreover, by them Your servant is warned;\nIn keeping them there is great reward.\n12Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.\n13Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins;\nLet them not rule over me;\nThen I will be blameless,\nAnd I shall be acquitted of great transgression.\n14Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart\nBe acceptable in Your sight,\nO Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19)\n\nThe first 6 verses of Psalm 19 speak of general revelation. This is what every person to ever live has seen. God’s creation speaks to the existence of a creator God and tells a little about this God, but it doesn’t tell people everything about God. It doesn’t tell what God expects of His creation.\n\nFor the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20) {emphasis mine}\n\nThrough His creation, God has revealed enough about Himself that we are all guilty of not believing in Him and not submitting to Him as we should. The good news is that He has revealed Himself to us more fully and we can know, trust, and obey Him, although no one has ever done so perfectly, except Jesus Himself.\n\nIn verses 7-14, His special revelation is praised and how it is useful to us is elucidated.\n\nThe law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;\nThe testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.\nThe precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;\nThe commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.\nThe fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;\nThe judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. (Psalm 19:7-9) {emphasis mine}\n\nMultiple words are used to describe the truth, God’s word, and the Bible: law, testimony, precepts, commandments, fear, & judgments. God’s law, testimony, precepts, and commandments are explicitly spelled out in His written word, the Bible. The fear of the Lord is our right response to that written word and the judgments of the Lord are God’s righteous reaction to our response to His written word.\n\nYou’ll notice that His word is described as perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, and true. Everything about God’s word is exactly as it should be. We should long for God’s word. Psalm 42:1 describes how we should feel about God’s word, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God.” Instead of wanting to do anything other than read God’s word, we should long to be filled with God’s word. We should seek to live according to God’s word. We should crave the word of God and His righteousness as strongly as we crave food. “Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.” (John 4:34)\n\nMost of us, most of our lives don’t seek God or His word as we should, but some of us do and sometimes we do. David doesn’t just long for God’s word, he takes it a step further. The first 5 references to God’s word are praised with a word and a praise, but his praise is much deeper for “The judgments of the Lord”.\n\nThe judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.\nThey are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;\nSweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.\nMoreover, by them Your servant is warned;\nIn keeping them there is great reward. (Psalm 19:9b-11)\n\nHow often do we praise God for His judgments? We may think they are “true,” at least with our heads, if not with our hearts, but do we really think “they are righteous altogether” or do we question God’s commands or actions? How many think God’s judgment is “more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold” or “Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb?” Most of us will do just about anything to avoid the judgment of God. We will hide from God to avoid His judgment.\n\nWhen I was a relatively new Christian, I attended a large church in my home town when I wasn’t away at college. The leader of our college and career small group had what I would consider the greatest gift of exhortation that I have ever experience. Whenever exhortation is used, I think of him. When it came to discussions of right and wrong and how we should live our lives, he never boldly gave a command. He would ask a question. He gently led us to the truth. I knew he was leading me to the truth, but it was very uncomfortable. In the beginning, I’d try to be as hidden as possible. I didn’t want to be asked a question because I knew I was not going to like the answer that I knew was right. I avoided him like the plague. Eventually, I realized how much being around him grew me in faith and righteousness. I learned to love and seek out those piercing questions that were so uncomfortable because they helped me grow.\n\nIn the same way, we should all seek out God’s judgment (or at least discipline).\n\nYou have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,\n\n“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,\nNor faint when you are reproved by Him;\nFor those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,\nAnd He scourges every son whom He receives.”\n\nIt is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. (Hebrews 12:4-11) {emphasis mine}\n\nWe should diligently read God’s word. We should faithfully submit to God’s discipline. We should humbly submit to God’s will.\n\nWho can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.\nAlso keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins;\nLet them not rule over me;\nThen I will be blameless,\nAnd I shall be acquitted of great transgression. (Psalm 19:12-13)\n\nKnowing God’s character and His will can aid us in submitting to Him so we do not transgress against Him. Of course, as Christians, we have the benefit of the Helper, the Holy Spirit, to help us to know, understand, submit, and obey. David didn’t have that benefit, but He knew that submitting to God was in his best interest and He sought God and God called Him “a man after my own heart.” That is my heart’s cry. I want to be called “a woman after God’s own heart.”\n\nLet the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart\nBe acceptable in Your sight,\nO Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)\n\nThrough learning God’s word, submitting to His will, being guided by His Spirit, and being covered by His Son my prayer is “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.”\n\nI hope this is your prayer as well.\n\nTrust Jesus.",
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"content": "This is my part 2 post on prayer<br /><br /><a href=\"https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/lord-teach-us-to-pray\" target=\"_blank\">https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/lord-teach-us-to-pray</a><br /><br />I recommend you read Part 1 first.<br /><br />Jesus’s disciples saw Jesus pray continually. He prayed for them. He prayed for the crowds. He went off by Himself to pray. One day, they asked Him to teach them to pray because who could be better to ask?<br /><br />Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”<br /><br />So He said to them, “When you pray, say:<br /><br />Our Father in heaven,<br />Hallowed be Your name.<br />Your kingdom come.<br />Your will be done<br />On earth as it is in heaven.<br />Give us day by day our daily bread.<br />And forgive us our sins,<br />For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.<br />And do not lead us into temptation,<br />But deliver us from the evil one.” (Luke 1:1-4)<br /><br />I like the version in Matthew:<br /><br />In this manner, therefore, pray:<br /><br />Our Father in heaven,<br />Hallowed be Your name.<br />Your kingdom come.<br />Your will be done<br />On earth as it is in heaven.<br />Give us this day our daily bread.<br />And forgive us our debts,<br />As we forgive our debtors.<br />And do not lead us into temptation,<br />But deliver us from the evil one.<br />For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.<br />Amen. (Matthew 6:9-13)<br /><br />“Our Father in heaven,” A father is someone who has authority over you, but loves you dearly. By addressing God as Father, we are submitting to His authority while showing love. This is a good way to start our prayers. (I’ll admit, with the trinity, I always fret over the best way to address God: God, Father, Jesus, Spirit. I have the tendency to address my prayers to Jesus, but probably should address them according to Jesus’s recommendations in His model prayer.)<br /><br />“Hallowed be Your name.” Hallowed means holy. God is holy. His name is holy. His word is holy. (I’m currently reading a book “The Holiness of God” by RC Sproul and may need to write a post on God’s holiness.) God’s holiness is amazing and is important to understand if we want to have any idea of who God truly is. I’d say this line of the model prayer is how we should praise for who God is. There are many things to praise Him for. We can praise Him for His holiness, for His mercy, for His sacrifice, for His creation, etc. Worshipping Him for who He is and not just what He has done for us should be a part of our prayer to Him.<br /><br />“Your kingdom come.” We should be excited about the return of Jesus and the establishment of His kingdom. We should be so excited that we call for His kingdom where righteousness and justice reigns, where His mercy is fulfilled and evil is judged. We should say as the second to last verse of the Bible states, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”<br /><br />“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” In everything we should ask that God’s will be done. Praying for God’s will is always an appropriate prayer, but I especially like this prayer as a start to my day. I found a nice little prayer in a book on prayers that I read. I got it printed up on my sunflower picture and hung it in my toilet room, so I would see it first thing every morning and encourage my prayer.<br /><br />O God, all my life is thine. Help me so to plan and arrange the hours of this day that I may serve thee in them all, for they are thine. — M.L. Playfoot<br /><br />I am praying that I will live my life according to His will in all that I think, say, and do. I am praying for help submitting to His will in all things and acknowledging His authority. This is a hard prayer to do, but everything in life gets better when we fully submit to His will.<br /><br />“Give us this day our daily bread.” This is our request for help with our needs. It is also the area that is most misused. So many people try to use God as their magic genie who will give them everything they ever desired (whether it is actually good for them or not). Notice that this prayer is primarily a prayer for needs. It isn’t a prayer for a big house, a high paying job, a fancy car, etc. This doesn’t mean we can’t pray for something really want, but just like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, prayers for wants should be followed with “not My will, but Yours be done.” We should center our prayer on requests that our needs will be met and for the needs of others. Jesus says,<br /><br />“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. (Matthew 6:7-8)<br /><br />We don’t necessarily need to go through every detail of our needs because God knows what we need better than we know ourselves. He does want us to ask for His help. He wants us to acknowledge His love, His strength, and His wisdom. Wisdom is one of those needs that we all have and should ask for daily.<br /><br />When it comes to requests, I have learned to pray problems rather than solutions because God knows what we really need. One perfect example is this story from Jesus’s life.<br /><br />And some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” (Luke 5:18-20)<br /><br />Notice this was a man who was paralyzed. We would consider that a major NEED. We would pray for Jesus to heal this man’s paralysis, but Jesus saw his greatest need and said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” More than physical healing, this man needed forgiveness. Of course, Jesus being the loving God that He is, also healed the man and made him able to walk. We need to make sure our prayer requests aren’t too narrow. God can give us better than we can imagine and can give us, and the people we care for, more than we can ever dream. Sometimes He gives us what we don’t want, but what we need. We need to be open to God’s best.<br /><br />“And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.” We all need to repent and ask for forgiveness. This isn’t just a once at salvation kind of thing. We always need to repent. The key point here is that we need to forgive as we are forgiven. We can’t expect to be forgiven when we are being unforgiving. Sometimes we may need to make a prayer request for the ability to forgive someone who has hurt us deeply. Forgiveness definitely doesn’t come to us as easily as it does to God.<br /><br />“And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.” Our goal in life should be to live our lives in obedience to God and according to His will. We cannot do this on our own. We need to pray for protection from temptation and from the evil one. We need to pray for the wisdom to know what is right and what is wrong. We need to pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit, who indwells all true believers.<br /><br />I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.<br /><br />“These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. (John 14:16-17,25-26)<br /><br />“For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.” Bookending your prayer with more praise and worship is a great idea because our God, creator, and savior deserves non-stop praise: praise for what He has done and praise for who He is.<br /><br />“Amen.” Many of us robotically say “Amen” at the end of our prayers, but do we really think about what we are saying or is it just a religious form we do without thinking? Amen means “so be it.” We are effectively saying “Your will be done.” We are accepting His will, His result. If we truly trust His goodness, His holiness, His love, His wisdom, His strength, we should be happy to submit to His will because “… we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)<br /><br />When it comes to praying continually, there isn’t just one formula you have to follow for every prayer. There are many kinds of prayers that are all appropriate at the right time. Don’t let this formula make you avoid prayer because you don’t think you can do it right or because you don’t think you have time. It is better to fit a few short, casual prayers into your day than to have just one prayer that fits a formula. That being said, this was an example given by Jesus, so there is a lot to learn about a deep, God-honoring prayer.<br /><br />When my youngest gets frustrated during homeschooling because I correct him on something, I remind him that we are all learning. We practice because we need to get better. We wouldn’t be doing school if he knew everything perfectly. In the same way, nobody starts praying in what anyone would consider a perfect manner. Everyone needs practice. As you pray more, your prayers will grow deeper, more meaningful, and more frequent. Unlike schooling, getting better at prayer will lead to more prayer and not less practice. My prayer is that your prayer life will grow and draw you closer to the savior and creator God.<br /><br />Trust Jesus.",
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"content": "This is my part 2 post on prayer\n\nhttps://trustjesus.substack.com/p/lord-teach-us-to-pray\n\nI recommend you read Part 1 first.\n\nJesus’s disciples saw Jesus pray continually. He prayed for them. He prayed for the crowds. He went off by Himself to pray. One day, they asked Him to teach them to pray because who could be better to ask?\n\nNow it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”\n\nSo He said to them, “When you pray, say:\n\nOur Father in heaven,\nHallowed be Your name.\nYour kingdom come.\nYour will be done\nOn earth as it is in heaven.\nGive us day by day our daily bread.\nAnd forgive us our sins,\nFor we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.\nAnd do not lead us into temptation,\nBut deliver us from the evil one.” (Luke 1:1-4)\n\nI like the version in Matthew:\n\nIn this manner, therefore, pray:\n\nOur Father in heaven,\nHallowed be Your name.\nYour kingdom come.\nYour will be done\nOn earth as it is in heaven.\nGive us this day our daily bread.\nAnd forgive us our debts,\nAs we forgive our debtors.\nAnd do not lead us into temptation,\nBut deliver us from the evil one.\nFor Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.\nAmen. (Matthew 6:9-13)\n\n“Our Father in heaven,” A father is someone who has authority over you, but loves you dearly. By addressing God as Father, we are submitting to His authority while showing love. This is a good way to start our prayers. (I’ll admit, with the trinity, I always fret over the best way to address God: God, Father, Jesus, Spirit. I have the tendency to address my prayers to Jesus, but probably should address them according to Jesus’s recommendations in His model prayer.)\n\n“Hallowed be Your name.” Hallowed means holy. God is holy. His name is holy. His word is holy. (I’m currently reading a book “The Holiness of God” by RC Sproul and may need to write a post on God’s holiness.) God’s holiness is amazing and is important to understand if we want to have any idea of who God truly is. I’d say this line of the model prayer is how we should praise for who God is. There are many things to praise Him for. We can praise Him for His holiness, for His mercy, for His sacrifice, for His creation, etc. Worshipping Him for who He is and not just what He has done for us should be a part of our prayer to Him.\n\n“Your kingdom come.” We should be excited about the return of Jesus and the establishment of His kingdom. We should be so excited that we call for His kingdom where righteousness and justice reigns, where His mercy is fulfilled and evil is judged. We should say as the second to last verse of the Bible states, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”\n\n“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” In everything we should ask that God’s will be done. Praying for God’s will is always an appropriate prayer, but I especially like this prayer as a start to my day. I found a nice little prayer in a book on prayers that I read. I got it printed up on my sunflower picture and hung it in my toilet room, so I would see it first thing every morning and encourage my prayer.\n\nO God, all my life is thine. Help me so to plan and arrange the hours of this day that I may serve thee in them all, for they are thine. — M.L. Playfoot\n\nI am praying that I will live my life according to His will in all that I think, say, and do. I am praying for help submitting to His will in all things and acknowledging His authority. This is a hard prayer to do, but everything in life gets better when we fully submit to His will.\n\n“Give us this day our daily bread.” This is our request for help with our needs. It is also the area that is most misused. So many people try to use God as their magic genie who will give them everything they ever desired (whether it is actually good for them or not). Notice that this prayer is primarily a prayer for needs. It isn’t a prayer for a big house, a high paying job, a fancy car, etc. This doesn’t mean we can’t pray for something really want, but just like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, prayers for wants should be followed with “not My will, but Yours be done.” We should center our prayer on requests that our needs will be met and for the needs of others. Jesus says,\n\n“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. (Matthew 6:7-8)\n\nWe don’t necessarily need to go through every detail of our needs because God knows what we need better than we know ourselves. He does want us to ask for His help. He wants us to acknowledge His love, His strength, and His wisdom. Wisdom is one of those needs that we all have and should ask for daily.\n\nWhen it comes to requests, I have learned to pray problems rather than solutions because God knows what we really need. One perfect example is this story from Jesus’s life.\n\nAnd some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” (Luke 5:18-20)\n\nNotice this was a man who was paralyzed. We would consider that a major NEED. We would pray for Jesus to heal this man’s paralysis, but Jesus saw his greatest need and said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” More than physical healing, this man needed forgiveness. Of course, Jesus being the loving God that He is, also healed the man and made him able to walk. We need to make sure our prayer requests aren’t too narrow. God can give us better than we can imagine and can give us, and the people we care for, more than we can ever dream. Sometimes He gives us what we don’t want, but what we need. We need to be open to God’s best.\n\n“And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.” We all need to repent and ask for forgiveness. This isn’t just a once at salvation kind of thing. We always need to repent. The key point here is that we need to forgive as we are forgiven. We can’t expect to be forgiven when we are being unforgiving. Sometimes we may need to make a prayer request for the ability to forgive someone who has hurt us deeply. Forgiveness definitely doesn’t come to us as easily as it does to God.\n\n“And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.” Our goal in life should be to live our lives in obedience to God and according to His will. We cannot do this on our own. We need to pray for protection from temptation and from the evil one. We need to pray for the wisdom to know what is right and what is wrong. We need to pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit, who indwells all true believers.\n\nI will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.\n\n“These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. (John 14:16-17,25-26)\n\n“For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.” Bookending your prayer with more praise and worship is a great idea because our God, creator, and savior deserves non-stop praise: praise for what He has done and praise for who He is.\n\n“Amen.” Many of us robotically say “Amen” at the end of our prayers, but do we really think about what we are saying or is it just a religious form we do without thinking? Amen means “so be it.” We are effectively saying “Your will be done.” We are accepting His will, His result. If we truly trust His goodness, His holiness, His love, His wisdom, His strength, we should be happy to submit to His will because “… we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)\n\nWhen it comes to praying continually, there isn’t just one formula you have to follow for every prayer. There are many kinds of prayers that are all appropriate at the right time. Don’t let this formula make you avoid prayer because you don’t think you can do it right or because you don’t think you have time. It is better to fit a few short, casual prayers into your day than to have just one prayer that fits a formula. That being said, this was an example given by Jesus, so there is a lot to learn about a deep, God-honoring prayer.\n\nWhen my youngest gets frustrated during homeschooling because I correct him on something, I remind him that we are all learning. We practice because we need to get better. We wouldn’t be doing school if he knew everything perfectly. In the same way, nobody starts praying in what anyone would consider a perfect manner. Everyone needs practice. As you pray more, your prayers will grow deeper, more meaningful, and more frequent. Unlike schooling, getting better at prayer will lead to more prayer and not less practice. My prayer is that your prayer life will grow and draw you closer to the savior and creator God.\n\nTrust Jesus.",
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"content": "This is my part 1 post on prayer. Part 2 is already written (I'm trying to make my posts a bit shorter) I've started Part 3, but gotten distracted by another series, so we'll see.<br /><br /><a href=\"https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/conversation-with-god\" target=\"_blank\">https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/conversation-with-god</a><br /><br />My youngest son has Down Syndrome. Communication isn’t his strong point. He is very sociable, but he isn’t good at having deep conversations. As a little kid, he knew no strangers. He talked to anyone and everyone. He was goofy. He did cute baby talk to flirt with older girls. As he grew farther into his teen years, he came to the realization that this baby talk and foolish talk wasn’t appropriate, but he hadn’t mastered a proper conversation. It made him shy. When we would have people over, he would frequently hide just outside the room, listening, but not being seen or heard, because he wanted to be part of the conversation, but didn’t know how to join in.<br /><br />I think many of us feel this way with God. We are told “pray without ceasing;” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), but we don’t know what to say. We feel that we shouldn’t pester God with our little cares because He has more important things to do, but this isn’t true.<br /><br />Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6-7)<br /><br />The NKJV says “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” God doesn’t want to just hear about your death defying emergencies. He wants to hear from you about how your day is going, good or bad. He wants to hear about everything you care about, just like good parents do. Parents don’t tell their kids, “I don’t care what is going on at school.” Instead they do everything they can to drag out of their kids how their day went (even when they heard some details from another source), what they did, and what problems they are having. It isn’t that God doesn’t know. He wants to hear it from us because “He cares for you.”<br /><br />When I was a young Christian, I only brought my really big cares to God. I didn’t want to bother Him with my minor cares. They seemed too insignificant for His awesomeness. We need to remember that not only does God love us more than our parents, He also can listen to and solve every problem of every person in the world over all of history at the same time. We aren’t interrupting something more important. He isn’t like me who gets frazzled if pulled in too many directions at once. Intently listening to and answering all of the prayers in the world is easy for Him. It is what He loves to do.<br /><br />When 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “pray without ceasing,” it doesn’t mean that God expects us to spend every second of every days on our knees praying. It means we should have a way about life of including Him in everything. Our relationship should be a little like an old married couple who go about their business, but interject a comment about what is going on, what they found interesting, what concerns them, plans, etc. It isn’t that the couple never stops talking to each other, but they do include each other in their thoughts and in everything that matters to them.<br /><br />With prayer we can have lots of different kinds of prayer. Sometimes we have a deep heart to heart that might be the traditional fervent prayer on our knees, but more often it includes a quick comment to God, a quick request when something comes to mind, a quick “help me” that might not be more specific than that. God knows what we need without a detailed description. In reality, I’ve learned that the best way to ask for help is to share your need and let God solve it in His way. He does a much better job than we do. We don’t get His best when we always pray for the solution we want. He knows better than us what we need.<br /><br />We may get intimidated when we hear someone stand up and give a big eloquent prayer in front of everyone, but we don’t have to be eloquent. We just have to be honest with God. Although there is a place for the eloquent public prayer, we also need to master the personal, private prayer with God.<br /><br />We want to fit prayer into our daily lives. One thing I’ve found that helped me get started with including prayer throughout my day was associating prayer with various things I do every day. Say a quick good morning prayer first thing when you get up and ask for God’s help focusing your day on what is truly important. Pray before meals. Pray before bed. Pray with your family before the kids go to bed. There may be other things you do every day that you can link to prayer. My eldest son prays when he gets into his car before he drives off. (I probably should add that to my list).<br /><br />When someone mentions a personal concern, whether it is mentioned as a prayer request or not, use this as an opportunity to pray for them immediately. Ask them, “can I pray for you now?” If the time isn’t appropriate for a public prayer, you can still throw up a quick “please help them, God.”<br /><br />The more you incorporate these little prayers into your life, the more natural it will become. The more these little prayers, comments, requests, thanks, and praises will become a natural part of your relationship with God.<br /><br />Hopefully you can start fitting more prayer into your life.<br /><br />Trust Jesus.",
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"content": "This is my part 1 post on prayer. Part 2 is already written (I'm trying to make my posts a bit shorter) I've started Part 3, but gotten distracted by another series, so we'll see.\n\nhttps://trustjesus.substack.com/p/conversation-with-god\n\nMy youngest son has Down Syndrome. Communication isn’t his strong point. He is very sociable, but he isn’t good at having deep conversations. As a little kid, he knew no strangers. He talked to anyone and everyone. He was goofy. He did cute baby talk to flirt with older girls. As he grew farther into his teen years, he came to the realization that this baby talk and foolish talk wasn’t appropriate, but he hadn’t mastered a proper conversation. It made him shy. When we would have people over, he would frequently hide just outside the room, listening, but not being seen or heard, because he wanted to be part of the conversation, but didn’t know how to join in.\n\nI think many of us feel this way with God. We are told “pray without ceasing;” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), but we don’t know what to say. We feel that we shouldn’t pester God with our little cares because He has more important things to do, but this isn’t true.\n\nTherefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6-7)\n\nThe NKJV says “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” God doesn’t want to just hear about your death defying emergencies. He wants to hear from you about how your day is going, good or bad. He wants to hear about everything you care about, just like good parents do. Parents don’t tell their kids, “I don’t care what is going on at school.” Instead they do everything they can to drag out of their kids how their day went (even when they heard some details from another source), what they did, and what problems they are having. It isn’t that God doesn’t know. He wants to hear it from us because “He cares for you.”\n\nWhen I was a young Christian, I only brought my really big cares to God. I didn’t want to bother Him with my minor cares. They seemed too insignificant for His awesomeness. We need to remember that not only does God love us more than our parents, He also can listen to and solve every problem of every person in the world over all of history at the same time. We aren’t interrupting something more important. He isn’t like me who gets frazzled if pulled in too many directions at once. Intently listening to and answering all of the prayers in the world is easy for Him. It is what He loves to do.\n\nWhen 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “pray without ceasing,” it doesn’t mean that God expects us to spend every second of every days on our knees praying. It means we should have a way about life of including Him in everything. Our relationship should be a little like an old married couple who go about their business, but interject a comment about what is going on, what they found interesting, what concerns them, plans, etc. It isn’t that the couple never stops talking to each other, but they do include each other in their thoughts and in everything that matters to them.\n\nWith prayer we can have lots of different kinds of prayer. Sometimes we have a deep heart to heart that might be the traditional fervent prayer on our knees, but more often it includes a quick comment to God, a quick request when something comes to mind, a quick “help me” that might not be more specific than that. God knows what we need without a detailed description. In reality, I’ve learned that the best way to ask for help is to share your need and let God solve it in His way. He does a much better job than we do. We don’t get His best when we always pray for the solution we want. He knows better than us what we need.\n\nWe may get intimidated when we hear someone stand up and give a big eloquent prayer in front of everyone, but we don’t have to be eloquent. We just have to be honest with God. Although there is a place for the eloquent public prayer, we also need to master the personal, private prayer with God.\n\nWe want to fit prayer into our daily lives. One thing I’ve found that helped me get started with including prayer throughout my day was associating prayer with various things I do every day. Say a quick good morning prayer first thing when you get up and ask for God’s help focusing your day on what is truly important. Pray before meals. Pray before bed. Pray with your family before the kids go to bed. There may be other things you do every day that you can link to prayer. My eldest son prays when he gets into his car before he drives off. (I probably should add that to my list).\n\nWhen someone mentions a personal concern, whether it is mentioned as a prayer request or not, use this as an opportunity to pray for them immediately. Ask them, “can I pray for you now?” If the time isn’t appropriate for a public prayer, you can still throw up a quick “please help them, God.”\n\nThe more you incorporate these little prayers into your life, the more natural it will become. The more these little prayers, comments, requests, thanks, and praises will become a natural part of your relationship with God.\n\nHopefully you can start fitting more prayer into your life.\n\nTrust Jesus.",
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"content": "When I first read this quote, my gut denied its truth, but once I thought about it, I discovered it speaks a deep Biblical truth. We all inherited a sin nature and can therefore be easily led astray. At the same time, we were all created in the image of God. Although that original perfect creation has been tainted, we still see glimpses of it even in the lost.",
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"content": "When I first read this quote, my gut denied its truth, but once I thought about it, I discovered it speaks a deep Biblical truth. We all inherited a sin nature and can therefore be easily led astray. At the same time, we were all created in the image of God. Although that original perfect creation has been tainted, we still see glimpses of it even in the lost.",
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"content": "A new biblical post in response to \"pride\" month.<br /><br /><a href=\"https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/two-rainbows\" target=\"_blank\">https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/two-rainbows</a><br /><br />Two Rainbows<br />Hope and Defiance<br />JUN 02, 2024<br />One of the great signs of God’s promises to mankind is the rainbow, but man has made it a sign of defiance against God’s great design, His will, and His plan for humanity.<br /><br />(Please read my whole post. Many on either side of this issue might mistake what I am saying without reading the whole post. It also starts with some background verses that are necessary, but may not be fully meaningful without the context below them.)<br /><br />Background data and verses:<br />Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, “Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.” (Genesis 9:8-17) {Emphasis mine}<br /><br />Some may question, why did God destroy the Earth. Genesis states:<br /><br />Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. (Genesis 6:5-8)<br /><br />The Bible says of mankind that “every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” This evil was every kind of evil, but it also included sexual sins as implied in Genesis 6:1-5. Later in the Bible God causes the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah due to sexual sins.<br /><br />Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; and they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men {angels} who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.” But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. (Genesis 19:4-7) {bracketed comment is my clarification}<br /><br />A holy God cannot allow great evil to continue. He can’t be in the presence of evil. Luckily for us, we do serve a patient and loving God who gives us many chances to turn back to Him and to obey His commands which always leads to our good.<br /><br />Sometimes we wonder why evil is allowed to continue unabated, but we are all blessed that He is patient and doesn’t punish evil the moment it is committed. If He did, we would all be destroyed. Sometimes He delays punishment to allow us time to repent. Sometimes He delays punishment to avoid punishing His followers among those who defy Him with their evil actions.<br /><br />And the Lord said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”<br /><br />Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the Lord. Abraham came near and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account.” And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes. Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” He spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.” Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” And he said, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.” Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.” (Genesis 18:20-32)<br /><br />Don’t mistake this discussion as Abraham convincing God that He shouldn’t destroy Sodom because it might harm innocent civilians. God knows that there are not 10 righteous people. In fact there are none, but He does save Lot and His daughters out of His mercy. God allows Abraham to “convince” Him so that Abraham can see God’s mercy and righteousness.<br /><br />Defiance:<br />A few years ago, when the whole rainbow brigade was pushing homosexuality and transgenderism on everyone and calling anyone who disagreed a hater, it suddenly hit me how evil the use of the rainbow was. God shows the rainbow to promise He will never again destroy the earth with a flood due to evil. These people use God’s promise as a taunt to God. “We can defy your creation of man and woman by saying people are born into the wrong body.” “We can defy your command to be fruitful and multiply by same sex relationships and/or chemically or physically castrating kids.” “We can call your creation of man and woman a mistake (born in the wrong body).” “We can destroy the definition of marriage and the family that you created from the beginning.” They can do all of this evil, and they display the rainbow to taunt God and say, “You can’t do anything about our evil because You promised to not destroy the earth again with a flood.” Using the rainbow as their symbol was not accidental. It was an intentional slap in God’s face. They aren’t just saying, “this is the way I want to live my life.” They are saying, “I’m going to live contrary to your will and there is nothing you can do about it.”<br /><br />Christian Response:<br />As the church, the body of Christ, we need to uphold God’s good design. “He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created.” (Genesis 5:2) We also need to value people because they are all made in the image of God.<br /><br />One error I’ve seen from lots of Christians is how they will personally attack someone guilty of homosexual sin, but excuse someone guilty of heterosexual sin (sex outside of marriage) as if one is acceptable and the other is not. They are both sins. They are both disobeying God. They are both unacceptable, especially for those who claim to be Christians. Neither error should be allowed in the church.<br /><br />Today, kids have been told that they are born into the wrong body and need to claim to be the opposite gender or one of the hundred or so made up genders. Too frequently Christians attack the kids for their claims. Yes, claiming that God made a mistake and put them in the wrong body is a sin, but they need to be led to the truth rather than browbeat. Those who claim to be “gender affirming” need to be pointed out for the sinful, haters they are. Telling an impressionable kid that they are born into the wrong body and need to take drugs for the rest of their lives or cut off body parts to have value are not gender affirming. They are the opposite. They are physically, emotionally, and spiritually destroying these kids. They are denying the true identity of these kids.<br /><br />We need to tell these kids that God does not make mistakes, that they are exactly the person they should be, and that they are valuable because they are made in the image of God. These kids need to be shown the truth as well as shown how the truth will set them free and protect them from being destroyed. These kids need to be told how they can be used by God for His glory by affirming God’s perfect creation.<br /><br />Too often we are so appalled by the lies and sin that we can’t see the person who has been misled. Even among the adults, many need to hear the truth in a loving manner instead of being attacked. Of course, don’t let my push for a loving response make you think that I am in any way condoning this behavior or suggesting a compromise to God’s word. We need to speak the truth and the truth is that these people have been lied to. The truth is that they are not a mistake (although they are mistaken). The truth is that God doesn’t make a mistake and that we are always best off when we obey and follow God. He created us and He knows what is best for us even when we don’t have a clue.<br /><br />By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)<br /><br />Instead of being mad at these people or just trying to beat them in an argument, we need to have pity on these sinners remembering:<br /><br />Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11)<br /><br />Trust Jesus.",
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"content": "A new biblical post in response to \"pride\" month.\n\nhttps://trustjesus.substack.com/p/two-rainbows\n\nTwo Rainbows\nHope and Defiance\nJUN 02, 2024\nOne of the great signs of God’s promises to mankind is the rainbow, but man has made it a sign of defiance against God’s great design, His will, and His plan for humanity.\n\n(Please read my whole post. Many on either side of this issue might mistake what I am saying without reading the whole post. It also starts with some background verses that are necessary, but may not be fully meaningful without the context below them.)\n\nBackground data and verses:\nThen God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, “Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.” (Genesis 9:8-17) {Emphasis mine}\n\nSome may question, why did God destroy the Earth. Genesis states:\n\nThen the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. (Genesis 6:5-8)\n\nThe Bible says of mankind that “every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” This evil was every kind of evil, but it also included sexual sins as implied in Genesis 6:1-5. Later in the Bible God causes the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah due to sexual sins.\n\nBefore they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; and they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men {angels} who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.” But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. (Genesis 19:4-7) {bracketed comment is my clarification}\n\nA holy God cannot allow great evil to continue. He can’t be in the presence of evil. Luckily for us, we do serve a patient and loving God who gives us many chances to turn back to Him and to obey His commands which always leads to our good.\n\nSometimes we wonder why evil is allowed to continue unabated, but we are all blessed that He is patient and doesn’t punish evil the moment it is committed. If He did, we would all be destroyed. Sometimes He delays punishment to allow us time to repent. Sometimes He delays punishment to avoid punishing His followers among those who defy Him with their evil actions.\n\nAnd the Lord said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”\n\nThen the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the Lord. Abraham came near and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account.” And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes. Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” He spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.” Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” And he said, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.” Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.” (Genesis 18:20-32)\n\nDon’t mistake this discussion as Abraham convincing God that He shouldn’t destroy Sodom because it might harm innocent civilians. God knows that there are not 10 righteous people. In fact there are none, but He does save Lot and His daughters out of His mercy. God allows Abraham to “convince” Him so that Abraham can see God’s mercy and righteousness.\n\nDefiance:\nA few years ago, when the whole rainbow brigade was pushing homosexuality and transgenderism on everyone and calling anyone who disagreed a hater, it suddenly hit me how evil the use of the rainbow was. God shows the rainbow to promise He will never again destroy the earth with a flood due to evil. These people use God’s promise as a taunt to God. “We can defy your creation of man and woman by saying people are born into the wrong body.” “We can defy your command to be fruitful and multiply by same sex relationships and/or chemically or physically castrating kids.” “We can call your creation of man and woman a mistake (born in the wrong body).” “We can destroy the definition of marriage and the family that you created from the beginning.” They can do all of this evil, and they display the rainbow to taunt God and say, “You can’t do anything about our evil because You promised to not destroy the earth again with a flood.” Using the rainbow as their symbol was not accidental. It was an intentional slap in God’s face. They aren’t just saying, “this is the way I want to live my life.” They are saying, “I’m going to live contrary to your will and there is nothing you can do about it.”\n\nChristian Response:\nAs the church, the body of Christ, we need to uphold God’s good design. “He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created.” (Genesis 5:2) We also need to value people because they are all made in the image of God.\n\nOne error I’ve seen from lots of Christians is how they will personally attack someone guilty of homosexual sin, but excuse someone guilty of heterosexual sin (sex outside of marriage) as if one is acceptable and the other is not. They are both sins. They are both disobeying God. They are both unacceptable, especially for those who claim to be Christians. Neither error should be allowed in the church.\n\nToday, kids have been told that they are born into the wrong body and need to claim to be the opposite gender or one of the hundred or so made up genders. Too frequently Christians attack the kids for their claims. Yes, claiming that God made a mistake and put them in the wrong body is a sin, but they need to be led to the truth rather than browbeat. Those who claim to be “gender affirming” need to be pointed out for the sinful, haters they are. Telling an impressionable kid that they are born into the wrong body and need to take drugs for the rest of their lives or cut off body parts to have value are not gender affirming. They are the opposite. They are physically, emotionally, and spiritually destroying these kids. They are denying the true identity of these kids.\n\nWe need to tell these kids that God does not make mistakes, that they are exactly the person they should be, and that they are valuable because they are made in the image of God. These kids need to be shown the truth as well as shown how the truth will set them free and protect them from being destroyed. These kids need to be told how they can be used by God for His glory by affirming God’s perfect creation.\n\nToo often we are so appalled by the lies and sin that we can’t see the person who has been misled. Even among the adults, many need to hear the truth in a loving manner instead of being attacked. Of course, don’t let my push for a loving response make you think that I am in any way condoning this behavior or suggesting a compromise to God’s word. We need to speak the truth and the truth is that these people have been lied to. The truth is that they are not a mistake (although they are mistaken). The truth is that God doesn’t make a mistake and that we are always best off when we obey and follow God. He created us and He knows what is best for us even when we don’t have a clue.\n\nBy this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)\n\nInstead of being mad at these people or just trying to beat them in an argument, we need to have pity on these sinners remembering:\n\nSuch were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11)\n\nTrust Jesus.",
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