VIDEO Being Real with God – God Cares

Being Real with God

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

I bow my head, close my eyes, lace my fingers together and begin to pray. “Dear Lord, I’m coming to you today as your child. I recognize your power and goodness. . .”Suddenly, my eyes snap open. I remember that my son hasn’t finished his history project, which is due the next day. I recall that he has an after-school basketball game, and I imagine him awake until midnight finishing his schoolwork. This leads me to worry that his fatigue will put him at risk for the flu!

C. S. Lewis wrote about distractions during prayer in his book The Screwtape Letters.He noted that when our minds wander, we tend to use willpower to steer ourselves back to our original prayer. Lewis concluded, though, that it was better to accept “the distraction as [our] present problem and [lay] that before [God] and make it the main theme of [our] prayers.”

A persistent worry or even a sinful thought that disrupts a prayer may become the centerpiece of our discussion with God. God wants us to be real as we talk with Him and open up about our deepest concerns, fears, and struggles. He is not surprised by anything we mention. His interest in us is like the attention we would receive from a close friend. That’s why we’re encouraged to give all of our worries and cares to God—because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).

Dear God, You know what’s on my mind today. Help me to experience the peace that comes from sharing my concerns with You.

Distractions don’t have to derail our prayers.

By Jennifer Benson Schuldt 

INSIGHT

Because God cares so deeply for us, we can pray about everything (Philippians 4:6–7). Nothing is too small to bring to Him. And nothing is too big for God either, for nothing is impossible with Him (Matthew 19:26). Prayer acknowledges that we are weak and totally dependent on God. We may not fully understand the circumstances of our life, but we can rest in the knowledge that God is in control. He gives us His peace: “[God] will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in [Him]” (Isaiah 26:3).

For further study on prayer, see Talking with My Father at discoveryseries.org/hp171.

K. T. Sim

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God Cares (1 Peter 5:7)

Evil Spirits in High Places

 

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:13)

Some of you will get this and some of you will not. You laugh it off at your own peril.

So much of what we see going on around us borders on the unexplainable. The absolute madness that the Trump haters display is one of those things. Many of us had a strong dislike for the Obama administration but we didn’t take it to the streets in order to undermine what we viewed as an anti-American administration.

We simply swallowed hard and complied. The day Obama left office was a time of great joy for many of us. As things begin to unfold in all of the investigations surrounding President Trump it is becoming obvious that for the previous eight years the American government has bordered on lawlessness. There is so much to be revealed I am not sure we will be able to handle it once it is fully exposed.

How could government of, by, and for the people become so diabolical? Where did America go wrong? Why do so many Americans look the other way at wrong doing simply because their “party” is in power? How have Americans become so divided?

Evil spirits in “high” places is the answer. (Here is where I am going to lose some of you.) The Bible teaches that the natural (non-born again) man does not understand the things of the spirit. Without an understanding of the spiritual world you CANNOT decipher what is happening in the natural world. Let me dig into this a bit.

A human is a spiritual being that happens to live in a natural world. In fact, although you have a body you are not a body. You are a spirit that LIVES in a body … much as a car transports us around town…your body carries your spirit around in this “material” world.

Every human being enters the world the same way which is through the womb of a woman. The Bible teaches that at the moment of conception a new creation is formed complete with his/her own DNA which science calls the “blueprint of life’. Everything that makes you, you, is present at the moment conception occurs.

The Bible teaches that at that same moment a living SOUL is present. The soul is made up of the mind, will, and emotions. The soul is actually YOU. When people communicate with another human it is the soul to which they speak…not the body. The body is merely the encasement in which the soul is housed.

Hence, you are first and foremost a soul (mind, will and emotions) that is given life by the spirit,(Breathe of God) and you operate in this natural world with a body of flesh. You are a soul…not a body. When you die, the spirit/life leaves the body (natural world) and the soul leaves this natural world for a place we have been taught to call “heaven.” But heaven is not necessarily the place where “God” lives but represents a non-material world where human flesh cannot operate. This non-material world is what we commonly call the “spiritual” world.

This is where the “spirits in high places” live and operate. I don’t have the time to go into it now so do your own research, but suffice it to say that the “spiritual” world is made up of different dimensions. This “spiritual” world, although not a material one like this earthly realm, is very real. There is a gulf (area of separation) between the natural and spiritual dimensions. The only way you can enter the earth realm is by occupying a physical body.

That is what God did. He was born in human form, Jesus, through the womb of a natural woman, Mary. Possessing a body is the only way to enter this earth (natural) realm. The human soul is currently trapped in this natural world but is able to communicate with the spiritual realm. That is the realm where the “evil spirits in high places” operate. The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is the only way that a “natural man” (human) can ever get victory of “evil” spirits that bombard the natural world continually.

The evil spirits attack humans through the mind. Every evil action begins as a thought. That is why we are taught to “take captive every thought”, because bad thoughts lead to bad behavior. It is the MIND that the evil spirits try to influence. This influence of the spirit realm comes through our natural senses…taste, touch, sight…and the desire to fulfill the “natural desires” of the flesh are what causes calamity in the natural world. The Bible calls it sin.

The Bible teaches that when Satan was vamoosed from heaven he took one third of the angels with him. It is from that fall from God’s presence that all of the evil has entered into the natural realm. From the time Satan entered the garden he and his minions have been trying to oppose everything that is good. Everything that is good comes from God and Satan and his offspring have worked tirelessly to destroy everything that is good.

That is what we wrestle with…all of us…every human…principality and powers…evil spirits…determined to destroy all that is Godly. What occurs in this natural world is a direct result of what has been occurring in the spiritual (high) realm. The Devil and his children fight humanity through thoughts…planting lies that seem true…“did God really say”…?

God sent His son into this natural realm by the same method we all got here…through the womb of a woman…so that we might gain access to a Spirit greater than the spirits operating in this world. That is the “wrestling” that we all do. Without the Holy Spirit we are powerless against the forces of darkness IN THIS NATURAL realm. The root cause of ALL of America’s problems is SPIRITUAL. Sadly, there is no political answer to a spiritual problem.

The “high places” (positions of authority) in America are occupied by natural (non born-again) men. Natural men are prisoners to flesh, natural influences and desires. Money, fame, sex, and power are what drive America’s leaders and without the Holy Spirit they are incapable of doing what is right.
That is it in a nut-shell. You can ignore it, or pick at my examples, but we are in the mess we are in because our leaders, and (sadly) our churches have no understanding of what is really going on around them.

The spirits that influence natural men are driving the nation over a cliff. Evil flourishes when good men give yield authority to wickedness. Read Genesis 6 and you will see that the battle has never changed…good versus evil…one will win.

Evil spirits in high places are ruling the world and the average Christian has no idea why. How can we hope to win if we don’t understand the fight?

By  Dave Daubenmire

 

https://barbwire.com/evil-spirits-in-high-places/

God Speaks Through a Friend

1 Samuel 3:1-10

When we’re not listening for the Lord’s voice, He may send a message through someone else. In today’s passage, for example, young Samuel is confused about what is happening. He hears a person speaking but doesn’t recognize it as the voice of God. However, his mentor—Eli, the priest—discerns that the Father was calling, so he tells the boy what to do when the Lord speaks again (1 Samuel 3:9).

In taking his advice, Samuel begins a lifelong career of relaying to others what the voice of God says. This might not have happened, though, if Eli hadn’t given his young helper a word of instruction.

I myself had a similar experience several years ago. A friend called me unexpectedly and said, “While I was praying, God told me to tell you to spend tomorrow in prayer and fasting before you make that decision.” This struck me in a mighty way, because I was indeed facing a big decision, but there was no way that my friend could have known about it.

I did what he advised, and through this process, God led me to the answer I needed. In fact, I discovered that I had been moving in the wrong direction and would have made a terrible mistake if my friend hadn’t called. However, God stepped in and got my attention in a remarkable way.

When we’re going off course, the heavenly Father will sometimes speak through other believers to reach us. Therefore, it is vital to maintain a close network of men and women who love and seek Jesus in their lives. Thank the Lord for the Christ-centered people in your life, and pray for wisdom in discerning their counsel.

Leadership Anticipation

“Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.” (Joshua 1:6)

Those called to leadership in the Lord need to carefully ready themselves for that work.

Make sure that you ask for and are following the Lord’s leading. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:5-8).

Make sure that you are asking in the right spirit. “I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting” (1 Timothy 2:8). “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you” (Philippians 4:8-9).

Make sure your motives are above reproach. “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (2 Corinthians 4:1-2). “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3). HMM III

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thine house

Acts 16:25-40

The battle of Philippi was not over yet, the enemy were yet to be vanquished by those whom they had taken prisoner.

Acts 16:25

They turned, as one has well said, even a porch of death and a gate of hell into a sanctuary and a gate of heaven. With bleeding backs and in a comfortless posture they sang like angels, and made the grim walls ring again. No groans and moans were heard, but a nocturnal jubilate such as that dungeon never echoed with before.

Acts 16:26

Such an earthquake was evidently supernatural, and was a great wonder; but greater wonders were yet to come, for hearts were to be opened also.

Acts 16:27

Death, coupled with dishonour, would have been his doom. Desperate and frenzied, he was on the borders of hell; but grace plucked him as a brand from the burning.

Acts 16:28

Stricken with awe at the miracle, no prisoner left his cell. God can hold men in their places without bonds or bolts.

Acts 16:29-31

The answer was quickly given, and in a few words. Is salvation then so simple? Indeed it is! Have we believed, and have we obtained mercy for our house? If not, let us pray in faith.

Acts 16:32, 33

All his house believed and all were baptized. Here the apostles saw who it was that had said “Come over and help us.”

Acts 16:34

His faith brought forth fruit, which evidenced his change of heart, else this rough jailor would not so courteously have entertained his prisoners.

Acts 16:39

Paul sets us an example of claiming our civil rights when to do so will further justice and teach oppressors that they cannot violate laws as they like; yet this example must be followed cautiously, or else, like the apostle, we may appeal unto Cæsar, and lose more than we gain.

Acts 16:40

They did not leave the city at once, but called upon Lydia and relieved her mind with the recital of the work of God in the prison, and then, to prevent further tumult, they went on their way.

 

Just as I am—without one plea

But that thy blood was shed for me,

And that thou bidd’st me come to thee,

O Lamb of God, I come.

 

Just as I am—and waiting not

To rid my soul of one dark blot,

To thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot,

O Lamb of God, I come.

 

What Do We Really Love?

But we all… are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

God wants us to recognize that human nature is in a formative state and that it is being changed into the image of the thing it loves.

Men and women are being molded by their affinities, shaped by their affections and powerfully transformed by the artistry of their loves. In the unregenerate world of Adam this produces day by day tragedies of cosmic proportions!

For His own children, our heavenly Father has provided right moral objects for admiration and love. They are not God but they are nearest to God; we cannot love Him without loving them.

I speak of His righteousness; and the heart drawn to righteousness will be repulsed in the same degree by iniquity. I speak of wisdom, and we admire the Hebrew prophets, who refused to divorce wisdom from righteousness.

I speak also of truth as another object of our Christian love. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, “I am the truth” and in so saying He joined truth to the Deity in inseparable union. Thus, to love God is to love the truth!

 

Broken And Smoking

“A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench.” Isa. 42:3

Then I may reckon upon tender treatment from my Lord. Indeed, I feel myself to be at best as weak, as pliant, as worthless as a reed. Someone said, “I don’t care a rush for you”; and the speech, though unkind, was not untrue. Alas! I am worse than a reed when it grows by the river, for that at least can hold up its head. I am bruised, sorely, sadly bruised. There is no music in me now; there is a rift which lets out all the melody. Ah, me! Yet Jesus will not break me; and if he will not, then I mind little what others try to do. O sweet and compassionate Lord, I nestle down beneath thy protection, and forget my bruises!

Truly I am also fit to be likened to “the smoking flax,” whose light is gone, and only its smoke remains. I fear I am rather a nuisance than a benefit. My fears tell me that the devil has blown out my light, and left me an obnoxious smoke, and that my Lord will soon put an extinguisher upon me. Yet 1Perceive that though there were snuffers under the law, there were no extinguishers; and Jesus will not quench me; therefore, I am hopeful. Lord, kindle me anew, and cause me to shine forth to thy glory, and to the extolling of thy tenderness.