Tuesday... This is imperative for us to understand.

Tuesday... This is imperative for us to understand. It really is.

We each one were created as free-moral-agents. In other words we are free to choose what we want to do. But this is imperative for us to understand. We are not free from the consequences of our choices.

Proverbs 20:17 (AMP) says this, "Food gained by deceit is sweet to man, but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel [just as sin may be sweet at first, but later its consequences bring despair]."

I also read this morning in Luke 4 of Jesus' time with the devil. Verses 1-2 says, "Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River, He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became hungry." And that is where the devil started.

Verse 3 says, "Then the devil said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.'" Yes, Jesus was the Son of God and he had the freedom to choose and he was hungry but he also knew the consequences of his giving into the temptation of the devil. And verse 4 says, "But Jesus told him, 'No! The Scriptures say, '"People do not live by bread alone."'" Yes, he was hungry, yes he was the Son of God but he knew the consequences so he said, "No!"

The devil came at him two more times tempting him in his humanity but Jesus knew what he was doing and he quoted scripture each time and said no. Jesus knew he was free to choose but he also knew the consequences. The Spirit led him into the wilderness to show us how to handle the temptations that will come our way.

Back to Proverbs 20. Verse 4 (MSG) says, "A farmer too lazy to plant in the spring has nothing to harvest in the fall."

Verse 25 (NLT), "Don't trap yourself by making a rash promise to God and only later counting the cost." In other words, knowing the consequences.

There are also positive consequences.

Back to verse 7 (MSG). This is a good one, "God-loyal people, living honest lives, make it much easier for their children."

Verse 13 says, "Don't be too fond of sleep, you'll end up in the poorhouse. Wake up and get up; then there'll be food on the table."

Yes, we are free to choose but we are not free of the consequences of our choices.

Now the writer of Psalm 50 tells the consequences of making wrong choice but then in verses 14-15 (NLT) he says, "Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High. Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory." Now we don't really call that consequences we call them blessings. But they do come about because of right choices. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

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Friday... Yes, we need them. We really do

Psalm 8:3-4 (NLT), "When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers - the moon and the stars you set in place - what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?" Friday... Yes, we need them. We really do. No, not the fact that I can go out my front door and look out at night at the marvels of the sky. I can do that and it is amazing and it takes my breath away each time I see it. Yes, that is a fact but the reality of who did that and the wisdom and the faith that I have to believe that and to marvel that the one who did that cares about me makes such a difference in how I live my life. Yes, God really does. That is so wonderful for us to believe. And that is why faith and wisdom are so important. Now whatever belief you have at how that marvel happened must also be believed through faith. And the sad thing to me is that more and more people have been taught that there is no God and therefore he did not have a h...

Tuesday... Each one of us see and describe what we are going through differently but...

Tuesday... Each one of us see and describe what we are going through differently but... We each one have our own way of explaining what we are going through, don't we? Some of us are maximisers, other are minimizers and neither one is better. We each one are different and we see what we are facing differently but no matter what it is and how you see it and describe it, God can handle it! Now the writer of Psalm 46 shows the extremes. In verse 1 he states the basic reality and then he moves on into our fears and he maximizes them to make sure we really understand. Here is what Psalm 46:1-3 (NLT) says, "God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!" So what do you fear? The Amplified Bible says verse 1 this way, "God is our refuge and strength [mighty and impenetrable], a very presen...

Wednesday... It didn't just happen.

Psalm 16;10 (NLT), "For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave." Wednesday... It didn't just happen. We are headed into a weekend of deep emotion. One that we really really love was killed and it didn't just happen. David in Psalm 16:10 (NLT) writes of this happening. He says about God, "For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave." We read over in the Gospels at the beginning of the New Testament in the Bible of the life of God's Son who came to earth to be our sacrifice so that our soul would not be left among the dead. Jesus came so that we wouldn't have to be buried at death and just left there. But he also shares that Jesus who was going to be killed as a sacrifice for our sins would not have to rot in a grave. David many generations before foretold this and that is what happened. Now that had to be a God thing. We can guess a lot about our future and we d...

Todays Beginning

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