The best news always has been, is, and will be, is that of THE LORD *GOD* ALMIGHTY, and HIS unchanging, undying LOVE for us, plus, this good news IS everlasting!!!
When we cling TO HIM, and HIS LOVE, no bad news can overtake us, at least not for long; for HE LEADS us through, and past what ails us...
This day finds most people news starving; it's like we can't get enough, even if it is mostly negative, and this OUGHT to be a red flag, but alas, is considered 'norm' for the times! One of the most effective weapons of the enemy is DISTRACTION, in which, he is well-versed, as well as efficient in sidetracking humanity TO the point of being overly consumed with this, or with that, which then, sets us afar from our ONLY HOPE, and GIVER OF LIFE, JOY, and PEACE; THE LORD...
IF we KEEP our thoughts on HIM ABOVE, and resist matters of the world, we are more enabled, empowered, and encouraged to endure, persevere, and withstand what comes of the day! The world is as a vacuum, like a vortex, like a black hole, seeking to suck in as many souls as are willing to defy or deny THE LORD, LOVE, and TRUTH! Thus, we AIM to remember, and act according TO the FACT that we are NO LONGER OF THE FLESH, thus, we should not be yoked to such...
DUE TO the underhanded workings of the wickedness of evil, we ARE subject to enticements, distractions, and other ploys to disengage us from our RELIANCE ON THE LORD, thus, we STRIVE hourly TO REMAIN IN HIM, that HE REMAINS in us, and that we are EVER strengthened, through knowledge, and understanding, so as to diminish the EFFECTS of what works against us...
FOR SURE, the days are confusing; filled with illusion, and delusion, lies and every kind of falsehood, but the KNOWING, and the FAITHFUL, ARE, THROUGH THE LORD, our SAVIOUR, ABLE to shake off the mumbo jumbo of this realm, and it's corrupt, oppressive forces! ONWARD IN THE LORD *GOD*!!!
2 TIMOTHY 2: 3-7...
3+++Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
4+++No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
5+++Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.
6+++The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.
7+++Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
As our trials increase, we need to grow stronger in that which is good; our faith stronger, our resolution stronger, our love to God and Christ stronger. This is opposed to our being strong in our own strength. All Christians, but especially ministers, must be faithful to their Captain, and resolute in his cause.
The great care of a Christian must be to please Christ. We are to strive to get the mastery of our lusts and corruptions, but we cannot expect the prize unless we observe the laws. We must take care that we do good in a right manner, that our good may not be spoken evil of. Some who are active, spend their zeal about outward forms and doubtful disputations. But those who strive lawfully shall be crowned at last. If we would partake the fruits, we must labour; if we would gain the prize, we must run the race. We must do the will of God, before we receive the promises, for which reason we have need of patience. Together with our prayers for others, that the Lord would give them understanding in all things, we must exhort and stir them up to consider what they hear or read.
2 PETER 2: 19-22...
19+++They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”
20+++If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.
21+++It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
22+++Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”
The word of truth is the water of life, which refreshes the souls that receive it; but deceivers spread and promote error, and are set forth as empty, because there is no truth in them. As clouds hinder the light of the sun, so do these darken counsel by words wherein there is no truth. Seeing that these men increase darkness in this world, it is very just that the mist of darkness should be their portion in the next. In the midst of their talk of liberty, these men are the vilest slaves; their own lusts gain a complete victory over them, and they are actually in bondage.
When men are entangled, they are easily overcome; therefore Christians should keep close to the word of God, and watch against all who seek to bewilder them. A state of apostacy is worse than a state of ignorance. To bring an evil report upon the good way of God, and a false charge against the way of truth, must expose to the heaviest condemnation. How dreadful is the state here described! Yet though such a case is deplorable, it is not utterly hopeless; the leper may be made clean, and even the dead may be raised. Is thy backsliding a grief to thee? Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved.
GALATIANS 5: 1...
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Christ will not be the Saviour of any who will not own and rely upon him as their only Saviour. Let us take heed to the warnings and persuasions of the apostle to steadfastness in the doctrine and liberty of the gospel. All true Christians, being taught by the Holy Spirit, wait for eternal life, the reward of righteousness, and the object of their hope, as the gift of God by faith in Christ; and not for the sake of their own works. The Jewish convert might observe the ceremonies or assert his liberty, the Gentile might disregard them or might attend to them, provided he did not depend upon them. No outward privileges or profession will avail to acceptance with God, without sincere faith in our Lord Jesus.
True faith is a working grace; it works by love to God, and to our brethren. May we be of the number of those who, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. The danger of old was not in things of no consequence in themselves, as many forms and observances now are. But without faith working by love, all else is worthless, and compared with it other things are of small value.
ROMANS 8: 9-17...
9+++You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
10+++But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.
11+++And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
12+++Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.
13+++For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14+++For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
15+++The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
16+++The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
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.
If the Spirit be in us, Christ is in us. He dwells in the heart by faith. Grace in the soul is its new nature; the soul is alive to God, and has begun its holy happiness which shall endure for ever. The righteousness of Christ imputed, secures the soul, the better part, from death.
From hence we see how much it is our duty to walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. If any habitually live according to corrupt lustings, they will certainly perish in their sins, whatever they profess. And what can a worldly life present, worthy for a moment to be put against this noble prize of our high calling?
Let us then, by the Spirit, endeavour more and more to mortify the flesh. Regeneration by the Holy Spirit brings a new and Divine life to the soul, though in a feeble state. And the sons of God have the Spirit to work in them the disposition of children; they have not the spirit of bondage, which the Old Testament church was under, through the darkness of that dispensation. The Spirit of adoption was not then plentifully poured out. Also it refers to that spirit of bondage, under which many saints were at their conversion.
Many speak peace to themselves, to whom God does not speak peace. But those who are sanctified, have God's Spirit witnessing with their spirits, in and by his speaking peace to the soul. Though we may now seem to be losers for Christ, we shall not, we cannot, be losers by him in the end.
LWINSOR © 2018
BIBLICAL, and/or other references marked BOLDLY IN COLOURS
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