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Faith in Tribulation

Tribulations shall come; and we are told to glory in them (Romans 5:1-5 NKJV). 

1Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4and perseverance, character, and character, hope. 5Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t say that I glory in times of testing.  At times I have been so gripped by fear that I was virtually stuck – powerlessly overwhelmed by worry, doubt, and loss.  My nights were sleepless and when I called out to God in prayer for peace of mind, it did not come.

What is wrong with me?

I was not earnestly contending for the faith (Jude 1:3).  I lacked boldness and confidence in my Lord that He not only provides for all my needs, but He is more powerful than any circumstance.  I was not living by faith in Jesus, but faith in myself. 

I can’t fix anything!  Once I turned everything over to Him, my burdens were lifted as He carried me through one difficulty after another.  The more I trusted Jesus to take control of my life, my prayers were heard and answered according to His will.  I can now see how giving God the glory fits with tribulation, as his solutions to problems are perfect compared to mine. Where was the evidence of my faith? Sadly – gone. But praise God, once I repented and began to live according to His Spirit guiding me, I learned:

16For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”  ~ Romans 1:16-17 NKJV

3Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 4Delight yourself in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. 5Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass… 7Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him;

8Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret – it only causes harm.  ~ Psalm 37:3-5,7a, 8 NKJV

Jesus keep me from stumbling!  Keep me from taking back any burdens You have freed me from so I can rest in You always.  Thank You LORD!

28Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, as I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, 30For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.  ~ Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV

And also:

20But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.  ~ Jude 1:20-21 NKJV

Victory in Jesus

51Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55  “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”

56The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.  ~ I Corinthians 15:51-58 NKJV (emphasis added)

13Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. 14Let all that you do be done with love.  ~ I Corinthians 16:13-14 NKJV

Today’s Nugget | Speak God’s Word

Hi everybody! Happy Friday already … again … it sure comes around fast, doesn’t it? Has this week slipped by with you wondering where your blessing went?

You may hear this blogpost as a podcast by clicking here – https://anchor.fm/importantstuff/episodes/Todays-Nugget–Speak-Gods-Word-e13di9d

Gee, I know how you feel! But what would happen if we speak God’s Word aloud all week?

Take Isaiah 41:10, for example:

“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”

Okay, so what happens if we declare what God just said to us and accept it as truth? Let’s try speaking it back to Him!

“I am not afraid, for You are with me. I am not discouraged, for You are my God. You strengthen me and help me. You hold me up with Your victorious right hand. Selah!”

See how we can clothe ourselves in glory by speaking God’s Word for us back to Him? It’s affirmation. It’s receiving through speaking scriptures into the atmosphere that changes our circumstances. It builds us up, just as God intended. It shifts things that are against us into things working for our good.

Many times we hear that prayer changes things – and it does. I would add that boldly speaking God’s Word in our prayers delights God. Making confident declarations of God’s wisdom through His Word makes a lot of sense to me. How about you?

Try with me Matthew 5:44-45a (declared):

“I declare, that I love my enemies, and bless those who curse me, just as You commanded, LORD. I do my best to do good to those who hate me, and pray for those who mistreat me and persecute me. This way, I behave as a true child of my Father in Heaven.”

Let’s open ourselves up to the possibilities of God’s greatness toward us. Speak God’s Word!

“but we who hope in the LORD will renew our strength. We will soar on wings like eagles; we will run and not grow weary, we will walk and not faint.” ~ Isaiah 40:31 (declared)

“The LORD keeps me from all harm – He watches over my life; the LORD watches over my coming and going both now and forevermore.” ~ Psalm 121:7-8 (declared)

Are we getting the hang of it now? Look at how effective prayer is when we speak the Word of God:

“Jesus, You said that I’m to keep on asking, and I will receive what I ask for; to keep on seeking, and I will find. to keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to me. That is what I’m doing, LORD, for everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” ~ Matthew 7:7-8 (declared)

While we’re at it, let’s thank God for His great GREAT love for us with one of my favorite worship songs. Let me know in the comments if you have tried this “declare and receive” prayer method and whether it has helped achieve breakthroughs for you or not. As always, I sincerely thank you for following Importantstuff.Live and should we stray may the LORD leave the ninety-nine and keep comin’ after me and you!

Video

NDE | I was Electrocuted and Visited a Dimension of Hell

Please take the time to watch this NDE (Near Death Experience) video.  It is a powerful example of how to find redemption when you have no idea where to look.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the LORD. ~ Jeremiah 29:11-14a NLT

For the written testimony of how to share “Jesus Did It”, click the link.

Has “Jesus Done It” for you?

God bless and thank you for following

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Photo of the Month | July 2018

KENAI CABIN
Historical Cabin, Old Town, Kenai, Alaska

Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep His commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in His ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy. ~ Deuteronomy 30:15-16 NLT

Follow the words of Jehovah God for blessings individually and nationally.  Those who have gone before us knew that freedom is not free.  They founded this nation based upon God’s Biblical laws; erected monuments to the Ten Commandments; raised up Christian churches with crosses on their steeples; and sent missionaries worldwide to spread the gospel.  Tomorrow is more than just a day to have a cookout with family and friends.

TURN!  Bow the knee.  Pray, repent and believe in Jesus Christ as Savior!

Praise the Lord for the USA!  Happy Independence Day!  Be blessed.

Last Thing

There’s one last thing I need to do with Dad’s New Testament Bible.  It’s time to put it away.  Dad’s testimony is posted in several articles on this blog and will hopefully be read by many people in the coming years.  It hurts my heart, but the binding is pretty much shot.

Dad's Soul Winner's Bible

If I do this now, perhaps Dad’s great-grand kids will be able to investigate the message Dad left inside before the pages disintegrate.  It sure surprised me when I found it.

 

Dad's Bible Portrait

Sorting out the loose pages, I decided the last thing for me to do is the old-fashioned remedy – no, not duct tape!  A hair band will do fine –

 

Dad's Bible Banded

at least for now.  God’s Word lives on inside its covers and it is up to my Father in Heaven whether to use this relic as a witnessing tool in the future – or not.

The last thing left now is what some call closure.  I just chalk it up to another crying day in a tough but victorious year in our Lord Jesus:

“Thank you again, Dad.  The last thing you accomplished posthumously with your little Bible was this quote from page 381”:

For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before Him no creature is hidden, but all are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. ~ Hebrews 4:12-13

Hollis10
Dad’s New Testament Page 381

So hey!  It looks like God is still using Dad’s Bible to send His message out; and it’s not the last thing.

It’s a heart thing.

 

 

Start Over

Start over; and this time, make the priority obedience to God’s will.

Remember this?

Hollis10
Dad’s New Testament Page 381

Two years ago I was at this very spot.  I was at the end of Dad’s message he wrote in his little pocket New Testament.  There are two verses circled, Hebrews 4:12&13, that speak of the Word of God being sharper than any two-edged sword and that before Him no creature is hidden.  But that is not why I need to start over.

Today I realize that I am right back where I started.  I must learn how to be obedient to God’s will.  Just as Jesus walked out His life in a fleshly body here on earth in accordance with God the Father’s will, so I must follow.

The reason I need to start over is not found in chapter 4 of Hebrews, but chapter 5:

In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him (Father God) who was able to save Him (Jesus) from death, and He (Jesus) was heard for His godly fear. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered; and being made perfect He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, being designated by God a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. ~ Hebrews 5:7-10

So, beginning with persistent, loud, tearful and fearful prayers, Jesus was heard by the Father who allowed His Son Jesus to suffer so that He could learn obedience to God the Father’s will and to perform God’s will perfectly.

Got it.  I am just having the hardest time ever walking it out.  Oh, I have prayed, hollered and cried; I have complained about all kinds of suffering, but the Apostle Paul has me tagged:

About this we have much to say which is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need some one to teach you again the first principles of God’s Word. You need milk, not solid food; for every one who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil. ~ Hebrews 5:11-14

Prayer:  Lord, forgive me for being dull of hearing.  Help me to practice distinguishing good from evil in this complicated and dark world.  Help me to learn to be obedient to You by becoming skilled in Your Word.  Help me to start over with enthusiasm, resolve, and godly fear. May I boldly occupy until you come, and glorify the Holy Name of Yeshua, the Messiah, Amen.

Hollis2Dad’s New Testament – pg 194
I made known to them thy Name, and I will make it known, that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. ~ John 17:26

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Unity|The Great Mystery

PC: Can Stock Photo Inc/SeanPavonePhoto
Skyline of downtown New York, New York, USA

Today much of humanity is praying, hoping, and working for peace and unity.  There are many proposed solutions to global unrest; but unity continues to remain a great mystery to most of our world’s leadership.

Unity comes in many forms and shapes.  It is often tagged with titles including peace, freedom, or social reform – just words.  If anyone could solve the Middle East Crisis, avoid a dreadful WWIII, or somehow conquer pestilence and famine; that person would be worshiped as a god by many.  This will actually happen at the end of days during The Great Tribulation, according to Bible prophecy, but what does God’s Word say about our global divisions now?

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands) – remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ~ Ephesians 2:11-13 NIV

Yes, it is God’s miraculous gift to man who is the answer to all forms of unrest and human division – His name is Jesus Christ (Yeshua in the Hebrew), our Messiah:

For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in His flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of His household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the Chief Cornerstone. In Him the whole building is joined together to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit. ~ Ephesians 2: 14-22 NIV

I love the fact that Paul makes it clear that we, too, are mortised right into the walls and foundations of God’s temple.  We will never be separated or divided again, as long as Jesus is our Lord.  That is true unity.  No peace treaty; no two state solution; no “barrier, the dividing wall of hostility”.  In Christ’s kingdom, we will have not only one global government but also a global economy that function perfectly in unity; because we will finally have Jesus, our King of Kings to rule with an iron hand against the current chaotic world view of divisive power and greed.

Paul goes on the say in Chapter Three:

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles … Surely you have heard … that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation …This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. ~ Ephesians 3: 1-6 NIV

I can’t make this up, people.  God’s Word is infallible and tells us His almighty solution to man’s sin problem without all the complexity of political deception.  The answer is simply Jesus.  Christ is God’s gift to redeem both the Jews and the Gentiles.  What a crying shame that the world is still unbelieving and nation is still against nation when Jesus already settled this over two thousand years ago at the cross!

I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love may have power together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ~ Ephesians 3: 16-19 NIV

So how does being “rooted and established” in the power of God’s love for us bring about unity?

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. ~ Ephesians 4:1-5

So it is the unity of the Spirit that holds us together like mortar glues together the stone walls of God’s temple building.  Then why do divisions persist with the church?

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ. From Him, the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. ~ Ephesians 4: 14-16 NIV

If we stop chasing after the world but speak the truth in love, we will grow spiritually and experience God’s gift of unity.  God’s solution to global crisis is Jesus. The love of Jesus makes all people fit together perfectly into God’s plan for reconciliation.  Through faith in Jesus, we become one family and no one is excluded if he or she simply believes that Jesus is the true Son of God who gave Himself up to be crucified for man’s sin.  There is no other Name under heaven whereby we shall be redeemed or have eternal peace.

1Cor13-1

Please don’t fall for the talk-talk-talk which produces no unifying solutions to world or national problems.  God has already provided the true solution in His Son, Jesus.

Do you feel lost and alone?  Or perhaps confused over world events and how they relate to you?  Does fear, guilt or shame rule over your life?  Are you tired of “looking for love in all the wrong places”?

If so, ask Jesus to forgive your sins and come into your life.  The Holy Spirit will enter your heart and live there forever.  He will guide you in all ways of holiness and righteousness in the eyes of God, the Father.  You will once and for all be reconciled to a right relationship to God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

For he says, “In the time of My favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. ~ 2 Corinthians 6:2 NIV
This is why it is said: “Wake up sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”              ~ Ephesians 5:14

Unity does not have to remain the great mystery to you.  Be saved by the grace of God by faith in Jesus.  It is so simple and requires only a sincere act of confession.

If you are a Christ believer, you can have victory over church divisions by growing in grace the way God intended.  His Spirit power lives within you – just tap into it with prayer and daily study of God’s Word.

May your walk with Christ be guided by His Living Spirit and thank you for following Importantstuff.live!

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