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Need a friend? Be a friend.

Sometimes it concerns me that I may share too much. Especially when it comes to some of my daily lessons when the resulting journals are hard for me to swallow and step on my toes.

Proverbs 18:20-24 NLT
Wise words satisfy like a good meal; the right words bring satisfaction. The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences. The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the Lord . The poor plead for mercy; the rich answer with insults. There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.

You see, I don’t know that my words are very wise at all. It spends me at times whether my words are bringing life or death, because I sure do speak a lot.

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Don’t follow your heart, follow Christ

Proverbs 3:5-8 NLT
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take. Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones.

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We need to eat if we are going to have strength for the day

Proverbs 18:5 NLT
It is not right to acquit the guilty or deny justice to the innocent.

Yes, some are guilty and some are innocent,  and there is a distinct difference between the two. We should expect judgement for the guilty and expect acquittal for the innocent. Mercy and forgiveness does not do away with the need for justice and truth. It is our path to finding truth while we are yet lost.

So one might ask, how do we know if we are lost?

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I need to work on my resume

Okay I know that envy isn’t good,  but I have to tell you that if there is a job opening for one of these guys’ positions, I want my application to be on the top of the stack:

Revelation 4:8 NLT
Each of these living beings had six wings, and their wings were covered all over with eyes, inside and out. Day after day and night after night they keep on saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty— the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.”

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Where are we headed today?

Life done well takes focus and purpose.

Proverbs 17:24 NLT
Sensible people keep their eyes glued on wisdom, but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth.

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The man didn’t know who healed him

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John 5:9-13 NLT
Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!” But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” “Who said such a thing as that?” they demanded. The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd.

Years pass by quickly to the happy and healthy,  but thrifty eight years of disease must have worn a slow and weary path for this helpless man. When Jesus healed him simply by speaking a word to him while he lay beside the pool at Bethesda,  he was delightfully aware of a change.

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What are we waiting for?

John 5:8 ESV
Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”

Like many others,  the helpless and powerless man had been waiting for a miracle to be worked before his very eyes, he waited for a sign, for proof. He wearily sat by the pool waiting and watching,  but no angel came, or at least did not come for him in the way he expected. He still waited, not knowing that there was One near him who could heal him in a moment with a word.

Many are in the same dilemma; waiting for some singular emotion, amazing impression,  or spiritual vision – waiting in vain and watching for things unseen. Even if we agree that in a few cases,  miracles or signs are seen,  we know these to be rare, and we should also know that no man has a right to look for them or demand them for his own proof – especially not the type of man that wouldn’t believe it and climb into the water even when he saw the miraculous occurring before his very own eyes.

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So which Jesus do you worship?

There are times when I see criticism from one set of “organized believers” aimed at another set. It wearies me deep within my soul.

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When this comes up (and unfortunately it comes up way too often), I usually first address the situation with two sets of verses:

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Can I have some water?

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Mark 9:41 ESV
For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.

I read this and part of it makes me want to go door to door asking, “I belong to Christ, can I have a cup of water?”

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Rebellious Generation

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For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed. (2 Thessalonians 2:3 NLT)

rebellious – defying or resisting some established authority, government, or tradition; insubordinate; mutinous; seditious; inclined to rebel.

I never realized how rebellious of a generation we are living in until I watched an interview last week. The program kept on warning how provocative the interview was before it began. What it turned out to be was totally opposite of what I thought it would be. It was mostly a traditional family approach to what marriage between a man and a woman should be as God laid it out in the Bible.

I am not naive by any sense, but I never thought rebellion was that prevalent in our society. As I looked closer around me, I saw how it is not just in the world…

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