Trying to Appease Critics? ~ A Devotion from Proverbs 5
I originally posted this on Saturday, April 5th, 2008 after I read and listened to Proverbs 5. I could not stop thinking about it. It was an unusually experience. I read it in eight versions of the Bible. I was in my car listening to the audio in the NET version of the Bible. My spirit was stirred and the Lord gave me the following for me personally, but also for anyone who reads this, especially for those entangled with debating those in opposition to the Gospel. (Read Proverbs 5 first).
______________________________________________________________________
Read Proverbs 5
My dear friends, you are like my child to me. I have the Father’s heart in speaking with you. I am gravely concern about you. Please listen to me very closely, make your ears to hear what I have to say. I have a warning from God. This warning comes from ancient wisdom, God’s Spirit; therefore this wisdom is from the mind of God. If you will heed my warning then you will operate in discretion and you will have God’s wisdom. Beware of the soothing words of the immoral person. The deceived person’s words can feel so good, just like soothing oil. The immoral man or woman speaks with words that are kindly seductive. They will manipulate you, trying to draw you into sexual immorality. They are corrupt. They secretly hope for your down fall. However, when they fail at drawing you into sexual immorality, they will draw you further into controversy. Their deceptive goal is to snare you into sin; the core sin of unbelief. They are deceived by their own trickery. They are so deceived they have no understanding. If you remain in the counsel of the immoral, before you know it; you will compromise the wisdom of God. The immorally deceived person says, “bitter is sweet, and sweet is bitter.” Beware my child! The end thereof in listening is worse than wormwood. It is poison. Their words are like a two-edged sword, it will destroy you. The path of the immoral will actually lead you to the door of hell; they are ever drawing you to violate your relationship with King Jesus. They sow discord between you and your other brothers and sisters. I beg you my child, meditate on the wisdom from above, on the very word of God. Do not be enticed by worldly debates and human intellect; those soothing words of the immoral. It is very harmful. It will steal your life away. It will take your strength and your wealth. Your wealth will be taken from you and given to another. Beware of these immoral people and their false teachings. It will alienate you from God. You cannot be a friend of God and a friend of the world. Friendship with the world and immoral people is spiritual adultery. Do not let human compassion and the soothing words of the immoral deceive you. They will accuse you falsely. They will say all manner of evil against you. They will betray you. They will ironically accuse you of the very thing they are doing. They will say, love is hate and hate is love. Beware! If you listen and are attached to the immoral you will have your life strength removed. You will be the one mourning in the presence of the King. You will have rejected the King’s reproof. This poison of compromise can ruin you life. I passionately want to spare you my child, because I love you.
______________________________________________________________________
I am blessed and sobered by this warning. What about you? I realize that I can only try to please the Lord. When I am trying to please Him, I will please some people, some of the time, but I will never please everyone. Jesus is enough, to Him be all the glory!
Who’s Tracking Proposition 8 Contributors? Why and to What End?
Watching Bill O’Reilly on the Factor tonight this story broke on his policing the Internet segment. Who is tracking Proposition 8 contributors with an interactive GoogleMap online database? This is very disturbing!
—
Financial contributors to campaigns are a part of public records and are there for accountability, as they should be. But, what is the purpose of the anonymous person and/or group who developed the Prop 8 Maps site, with Google’s help to post this information with contributors names, the location of the contributors addresses and the dollar amounts given? What could possibly be the motive?
Isn’t this intimidation? Bullying? Where’s the tolerance?
What will be the end result of this information being accessed so quickly online? What could be the possible outcome of an enraged gay person or a sympathizer having this information at their finger tips? What might a person do in a fit of rage? What might a person do if they feel their neighbor caused the Proposition 8 victory and in their mind they believe that a “right” had been taken from them?
Could it be that this Prop 8 Maps site is about putting fear and intimidation into the Prop 8 contributors of California? There are also other contributors who gave large sums tagged in other states on this map. What happens to the large donor in the Washington, DC area where there is a very active and angry gay political community? What happens if one person is critically beaten, or a lot of property destroyed, or worse, what if someone is killed? (God forbid!) Who all might be held responsible? What about a group of these contributors realizing that this Prop 8 Map web site has actually put their lives and families at risk –what might this group do legally to protect themselves? Could this become a class action lawsuit? If I were the site owners and organizers, GoDaddy, Inc. who is providing the server, and Google, Inc. who has obviously prepared the interactive map; I would be calculating the real possibilities, culpablity and the liability.
We are living in new days, and CHANGE is here.
I Will Not Be Intimidated! I Belong To God!
—
OH HAPPY DAY!
Eternal Pleasures from God’s Hand
“The world is fading away. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever.” 1 John 2:17 NLT
Everything that is worthy of your time, attention, devotion, and affection comes to you from God. His voice will bring you healing words, His hand will give you good things, and His presence will give you eternal pleasures.
The world has nothing new to say to you that your heart needs to hear, nothing new to give to you that your heart needs to receive, and nothing new to demonstrate to you that your heart needs to long after.
For you, as you daily choose to follow His will, God’s light shines brighter, His plan becomes more glorious, His love becomes more precious, His face becomes more beautiful, His treasures become more valued, His grace becomes more amazing, and His return becomes more anticipated.
from His Footsteps, My Pathway, by Roy Lessin – January 11.
Jesus is coming soon and those who love the ways of the world do not love God. 1 John 2:15-17.
—
I really enjoyed reading this little devotion this morning, and thought about the challenge of daily being in His presence to do His will and follow Jesus fully. It always brings a blessing back to us. Therefore God’s ways and commandments are not burdensome, but are for blessing our lives always. I am so grateful to God for revealing His divine intention to me concerning my sexuality and the entire direction of my life. I believe the Word of God — the Holy Scriptures. We need to prepare for His coming. There has never been a time in our history with so many Biblical prophetic fulfillments.
So beloved, what kind of people should we be in preparing for the day of His coming?
“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation (deception) and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:34-36
“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles (not members of this world) to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” 1 Peter 2:11-12
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous that is, an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words (or empty theology, or false believing through praying prayers without repentance), for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” Eph. 5:1-8
“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” 2 Tim. 4:6-8
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:23-25 (This chapter should be read in its entirety).
“Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these (the day of the Lord), be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 3:14-18
Who Goes To Hell? – Biblical truth
