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Archive for the ‘Motivation’ Category

Don’t Return Back To Your Vomit; It Smells

17 Jan

Proverbs 26:11 – 11 As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.

As Christians we are to give our lives over to Christ and die to our own.  This means we choose now to live as Jesus and God would want us to live.

Does the Lord want you to use foul language?  Are we supposed to live our lives in a rage?  Are we supposed lie or be of the truth?

Colossians 3:8 – 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

Are we supposed to forgive?

Colossians 3:13 – 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Mark 11:25 – 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

As Christians we are asked to serve the Lord and step away from our sinful worldly lives.  When we don’t do that, we are returning to our vomit.  It says just like a dog returns back to its vomit, so fools will return back to their old sinful habits.

When we’re sitting and watching something on TV or a movie and your spirit begins to make you squirm a bit, it’s because you’re being given a warning from the Lord.  It’s a warning of, “Hey, I’m in here and I hate that stuff and you need to also.”

You have seen the old Hollywood version of the angel and devil popping up on each side of a person’s head.  It might look silly, but it does give a good depiction of our spirit and the decisions we have to make every day.  Ignore one of them long enough and they don’t pop up to say anything to your spirit.  If you’re suppressing the sinful side, that’s a good thing.  If you’re suppressing the good side, you’re on your way back to the puke pile.

There’s a battle going on around you, for you, that you are a part of rather you like it or not.  You don’t have to accept it to be a part of it.  It’s been going on for about six thousand years on this earth.

Choose to be on the right side of the King of Kings.  Since your decisions in life matter to Him, make them based on Him.

Almost all of us have seen an animal return back to their vomit and it’s gross.  When we continue to return back to our sinful lives, God has let us know that it’s viewed the same way.  Make a conscience effort that if it bothers God, it must be important that I don’t do it.

 
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If You Accept Jesus As Lord; Live For Him

14 Jan

Colossians 2:6-7 – 6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Do we live for Him, or do we live for us?

It’s a question that we really need to ask ourselves.  Because when we live for ourselves we have a tendency to completely choke out our relationship with God.  It’s a spiritual issue.  Test it and see.  The more you listen to Christian music, read Christian books, watch Christian TV, attend church a couple of times a week, you’ll constantly be praising the Lord in between.  You’ll be thinking of the things you have been filling your spirit with.

3Ephesians 5:8-10 – 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord.

On the flip side if all you’re thinking about is worldly things which pass away.  Jesus isn’t in that.  If you’re doing things like this:

Galatians 5:19-21 –  19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

You might be in more trouble when you take your last breath than you wanted to believe or anticipated.

The scripture right before it tells us to live by the Spirit.

Galatians 5:16 – 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Habits.  Habits, Habits, Habits.  What we fail to sometimes realize is that habits are formed by the conditioning of the flesh, or the conditioning of the Spirit.  We can also put in there the lack of conditioning the Spirit.  Having a drink almost every night is a habit.  Smoking or having a chew on a regular basis is a habit.  Thinking thoughts of worldly or fleshly things all the time is a habit.  Reading the Word everyday is a habit.  Turning that radio to a good Christian station instead of one that’s not is a habit.

We need to live for Jesus, because without Him we are not living a life with purpose of which our Creator had in mind.

I leave you concerning this post today with this:

John 15:1-8 – 1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

   5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

 
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Stingy and Tight

12 Jan

I usually write on the concentration of living for the world and the warnings of chasing after wealth, materialism, and not being a good steward with one’s resources that have been entrusted to them.

That brings us to the other end of the spectrum.  One I have to watch more closely as I am a frugal person.

2  Corinthians 9:7 – 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Tithing is an obedient act that we are told to do by the Lord.  This has never been a problem for my family and we have been blessed and our needs have always been met.  I only bring that up, because I just mentioned being frugal.  However, giving goes beyond tithing.

I have known people to have died and they were misers with everything they had.  The type which would stop the engine in their automobile on a big hill, just to save gas back when it was 25 cents a gallon.  The type to sit in a cold house to save on electricity.  The result of these people many a time is they end up leaving a nest egg to someone else after they die.  For these people it becomes an obsession.

What does that type of living do for the Lord? 

It is a selfish lifestyle still, even though it’s different from other lifestyles that focus on self.  Here is a proverb written by Solomon.

Proverbs 23:6- 8 – 6 Do not eat the food of a begrudging host,
   do not crave his delicacies;
7 for he is the kind of person
   who is always thinking about the cost.
“Eat and drink,” he says to you,
   but his heart is not with you.
8 You will vomit up the little you have eaten
   and will have wasted your compliments.

I underlined the part that jumps out when I read it.  Our hearts is where the whole issue is.  Our heart is where we either grow closer to God and what He wants, or not at all. 

Here is a parable of someone who is stingy and unproductive.

Matthew 25:24:30 – 24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

   26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

   28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

The Lord loves a cheerful giver.  We need to give our time and our resources toward the Kingdom of God.  This takes faith.  It also takes going against the flesh and trusting God.  One is supposed to be responsible, but when responsibly done one is more obedient to the Lord.

 
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Earth now; Heaven later?

11 Jan

If I had to guess the thoughts of many Christians based upon their actions; it would be this.

Heaven is wonderful and I’m looking forward to it someday.  Hopefully it’s a long time from now.  I want to live my life to the fullest on this earth.  Then when I got my foot on a banana peel and can’t get around and do everything exactly the way I want, then I want to go.

Is this what the Lord wants us to be like?

Colossians 3:1-3 – 1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

God wants us to put our FAITH into Him.  He wants us to live for Him.  This takes a change of our normal human outlook of putting self first.

Romans 12:2 – 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Ephesians 4:22-24 – 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

We don’t automatically think the way we’re supposed to and that’s because we are fallen sinners.  All of us are sinners.  We need to seek God and get our spirit and head back on straight.  This starts with a change of the heart.  It’s man’s heart that decides rather he wants to seek God.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 – 9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?
 10 “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”

You see the idea isn’t to play to win in the worldly game.  We should be setting our eyes on the Lord and worshipping Him.  We need to figure out what it is that He wants from our lives.  If we do that He’ll take care of our needs and more importantly than that He is looking forward to rewarding those who live by faith for Him.  He warns us not to build our empire on earth, but obey Him and store that treasure up later.

Matthew 6:19-21 – 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

God wants our hearts.  He knows if you’re chasing after success and money that your heart is there instead.

Proverbs 23:4-5 –4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness.  5 Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.

 The old adage you’re not taking any of it with you is true.

So the question is, where is your heart and your home? 

Philippians 3:20 – 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

If your heart is in loving the Lord and your home is Heaven then we need to take heed of what the Master’s manual says.  What I read is beware of living for the world and lets live by faith that we really believe the Lord wants us to seek Him, work for Him, and to reward us for that in Heaven.

Earth now, Heaven later, doesn’t match up with what God’s Word has to say.  It matches up with what the sinful human heart wants.

 
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More Than Conquerors – Part 2

10 Jan

I am doing a nine part mini-series on the following scripture passage.  I will start out with the full passage each time, because we really need to get it in our hearts.

Romans 8:31-39 – 31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

   “For your sake we face death all day long;
   we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Today I want to hit on the second verse of the passage.

Romans 8:32 – 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

What a great reminder of how much God loves us.  God didn’t have to come back and make a way for mankind to get back into His presence, He chose to do so.  He could have looked at the whole situation and been done with it.  Just a simple “poof” and life doesn’t exist on this planet no more. 

However, we know that’s not God.  Why?  Because while we were still sinners He sent His Son,  part of Himself, to pay the price for our transgressions.

Romans 5:8 –  8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Also in verse 32 it reads along with Him.  Along with who?  Along with Jesus, God the Son.  God is three persons, but God is one. 

The verse ends with how will He not graciously give us all things? 

What things?  Everything thing you need and everything He wants to share!  If He is willing to die for us, you can bet that He wants to share with us, who want to worship Him as our awesome God. 

We don’t have it under control.  God has it under control.  That’s why we need to listen to His voice, die to our own selfish ambitions, and follow His way.

We are more than conquerors.  Why?  Because of Him and no other reason!

 
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The Tribulation Is Coming

07 Jan

The tribulation is coming and it’s not like the world as a whole hasn’t brought it on.  Daniel in his prayer reminded the Israelites what was to happen if they turned their back on God.

Daniel 9:13-14 – 13 Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. 14 The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.

Well, not everyone in the world has turned their back on God, but the world as a whole has turned its back on God.

The Israelites fell from favor because they turned from God.  The world was completely flooded back in Noah’s day and all but 8 humans perished because of their evil and turning away from God.  Yet in the last days there will be even more turmoil than that.  Here is what Jesus had to say about it.

Matthew 24:21-22  – 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.
 22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.

The further away man gets from God the more wicked he becomes.  That’s what is happening today.  Mainstream is getting further away from God.  The doors are starting to shut all over the world on getting the Gospel out.  The resources are starting to slowly dry up here in America, because we’re starting to go broke.

Once the rapture hits, you have those who don’t know God left on earth.  They will be two groups.  The ones who will be willing to accept Him and those who won’t accept Him, ever.  Those who do, most of them will be put to death in the Tribulation, but they will be saved.  Those who won’t accept Jesus will continue to get more and more evil.  God’s wrath, which really hits hard in the second half of the Tribulation, is reserved for these who really have distaste for God.

Revelation 9:20-21 – 20 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Revelation 16:  – 8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. 9 They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.  
10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony 11 and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.

You see man chooses God or he doesn’t.  To curse God and not repent even though they know they are being punished for choosing to be against Him, reveals how hard a man’s heart can become.

The Tribulation is coming, but his God’s wrath is not for those who love Him.

1 Thessalonians 5:9 – 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Make Jesus your Lord and Savior if you have not already.  I have put a page on how to do so if you have not in the upper right hand side of this page.

 
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More Than Conquerors – Part 1

06 Jan

Romans 8:31-39 – 31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

   “For your sake we face death all day long;
   we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I am going to do a series starting with those verses towards the top every time. 

Why, because they are verses that need to be in our hearts at all times. 

Let’s start with the first verse and talk about each one.

Romans 8:31 – 31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Nothing, nobody, or anything can stand against God and have victory.

Someone might say, well, Satan and others are running around free and doing as they please.  That’s not victory.  Satan apparently was the most beautiful angel created and his pride made him fall.  That’s not victory.  He managed to trick Adam and Eve and took temporary possession of the earth.  However, that’s not victory anymore than someone out long jumping someone else and ends up jumping off a cliff. 

Victory comes at the end of the war.  No one can stand against the Creator’s God and Jesus.

Genesis 1:26 –   26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

John 1:1-3 –   1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

Don’t stand on the losing side regarding this one.  It’s a choice that most people are making without even thinking about it.

With God in your corner, not only are you completely in the only Hands that matter, you will have the ultimate victory.

 
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Some Wealth Verses In The Last Days

05 Jan

James 5:1-5 – 1 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.

There are some verses that speak about how men will be in the last days.  James here in his last chapter speaks on how men will be rich.  They will be self indulgent and greedy.  Look around.  Do you see that right now?  I sure do.  In fact for the last 30 years books have been written on how to become this very type of person.  These books dare you to be rich, control your own destiny, make it happen yourself, wealth beyond your imagination, and all other kinds of success manuals.  Almost all have to do with wealth, although many are trying to teach a new age message of positive thinking.

It’s normal to like nice things.  It’s normal to want nice things.  Like in all sin, man always takes it to the extreme.  Greed.

Greed is a sickness that is the love of money.  God doesn’t want you to love money.  God wants you to love Him.  The New Testament is full of this warning.

When we get to Heaven, God wants us to live in a paradise.  He is going to provide a paradise for those He loves and that have sought Him.  He doesn’t want us to live in trash piles, but he would rather see us help others out rather than seeing one person live in a castle and others living in a cardboard box.  It’s our choice on how we go about this.  It is this very thing I speak of that fits up in the James 5 verses.

Would you rather stand in front of God after owning 5 homes at once, all a half a million dollars or more apiece, along with many other worldly possessions?  Or would you rather stand in front of Him after living in a modest home and have given the rest of your wealth to missionaries, starving people, with no water, and supply the gospel to others?

Eternity is a long time compared to about 50 years of selfish living on ourselves.  The second scenario also reveals a lot more trust and faith into our King, which He also enjoys.

God Bless each one us and may we also do our best to put God first.  Today is a new day.

 
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A Son And An Heir

04 Jan

Galatians 4:7 – 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

I’m not going to lie to you.  I am so grateful that the Lord loved me enough to have His Son die for my sins, that being an heir is mind blowing. 

You’ve probably seen movies in which someone is saved by someone else or spared death.  That individual then lives for that person, because if it weren’t for them there would be no life to live anyway.  The Count of Monte Cristo was one of those movies.  I understand the concept and I am now (took me awhile) wanting to live for the One that died for me.

He’s God and could take His giant thumb and press down on us at any time.  Yet He is so loving He doesn’t want anyone to perish.

2 Peter 3:9 – 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Unfortunately since we were born into sin many choose to remain in darkness.

John 3:19 – 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

Now He didn’t have to save us.  This was a choice that our loving God and Father made.  He didn’t have to do a lot of things.  He certainly doesn’t have to make us heirs, but according to scripture, He has reserved that right for those who are children of His.

Romans 8:17 –  17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

So how should an heir act?  Well a good start would be for one to live for God instead of the short term desires concerning this world.

We may sinners, but we have a choice of rather to live for ourselves or to live for God and Jesus right now.  Does that matter?  If you’re saved by the Lord, inside your heart you know it does.

We are co-heirs with Jesus and an heir of God, because we are His children.  Jesus is my King.  Just the idea to be able to serve under Him and with Him is exciting.

We need to live our lives as servants for God and Jesus.

 
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When Do We Find God?

03 Jan

Jeremiah 29:13 – 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

 That statement doesn’t say when you halfway seek Me.  It doesn’t say seek the parts you wish to find.

Both of those things happen in this world and the result is someone making God out to be something other than what He is according to His word.

Proverbs 15:4 – 14 The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.

Today those who don’t know God tune into those who are teaching evolution and accepting it as scientific fact.  They also look to others that want nothing to do with God.  Yet they don’t seek God and the Word themselves.

God wants us to know Him!  We do however; have to put some effort into it.

2 Timothy 2:15 – 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

Matthew 7:7-8 – 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

We are to seek the God of truth.  We will diligently find God if we seek Him.

Too many people want God to be their own thing.  They have an idea of what they want him to be and then they try to support that.  Someone might say, “My God eats chocolate all day and wants me to also eat at least 3 pounds a week.  Also He is a lover of bulldogs.”  When someone else comes along and says, “Why do you believe that?”  They just fire back that it’s what they believe and they are allowed to have an opinion like everyone else.  In America today we are just supposed to respect others opinions, not to correct or seek truth.

God is real!  There are laws to physics.  There are absolutes.  Positive thinking isn’t going to get you in the good graces of God.  Why?  Because God made the rules on what it takes to get back into His good graces.  That would be Him sending His Son to die in our place.   Accept Jesus as Lord and His sacrifice and know that He is God’s Son and that He and the Father are One and you will live.

Seek God!

Look if you want to be good at tennis, what do you do?  You first seek on what it takes to be good and then practice, participate, and get good coaching.
If you want to be good at poker, what do you do?  Start reading books by winners.  Learn the odds.  Practice and play and play.
If you want to be good manager at work, which is respected by his workers below him and the upper management, what does he do?  He reads books.  He finds role models of those who were successful before him.  Treats others the way he would want to be treated.

If you want to have a great relationship with your Creator and God, seek Him!  Read the Bible and books that are by those who read the Bible.  We’re very fortunate to have that free ability, at least for the time being.

Seek God!  David sought God.  David was considered a man after God’s heart.  Seek God!

 
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