CHOICES
CHOICES, “WORTH CONSIDERING” 10/26/20 From Ken Smith
Today’s Scripture (Across my desk this morning from a church in Texas.)
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.” (Genesis 50:20, NLT)
God Will Connect the Dots
God gave Joseph a dream that he was destined for greatness, but before that dream came true, he went through some very dark places. However, today’s Scripture shows how God connected the dots. Being thrown into the pit by his brothers led to being sold to Potiphar in Egypt, which led to being falsely accused and put in prison. In prison, he interpreted the dreams of the butler and the baker, which led to interpreting Pharaoh’s dream and being put in charge of the nation. Every step was divinely orchestrated and moving Joseph toward his destiny. As was true in Joseph’s life, you have to believe that a disappointment, a betrayal, or a setback is part of God’s plan. It’s moving you little by little into your destiny. God knows what He’s doing. What looks like trouble is really the hand of God. Keep doing the right thing despite the trouble, and one day, God is going to connect the dots for you.
A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You that what so often looks like trouble is really Your hand moving me toward Your purpose. Thank You that it’s going to push me into a level of my destiny I could never experience without it. Help me to be patient while You connect the dots. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
Ken’s Comments:
A BIG AMEN, to these thoughts today. The pain and suffering in my life was brought on by my own fear, unbelief, pride and by quitting in the middle of a battle that I could have won. A definition of the word insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over and over again but expecting a different result. Pride, Anger and Rebellion always end in some form of bondage, seem to me. The example of Joseph is “Well Worth Considering,” If anyone ever had a reason to get really hateful and bitter it was Joseph. He brings his brothers food and they nearly kill him and end up throwing him in a hole and selling him as a slave for 20 pieces of silver. Then he does his very best for his slave owner and gets tossed into the worst place possible, the dungeon of Pharaoh. But due to his attitude got to run the place and has the freedom to help some guys. And God was with him from the very beginning and could use him due to his healthy attitude. Personally I would not have done so well. As I look over my life at how many time I have jumped the tracks due to rage or lust or for just being stupid , I can not count. Except that when I came to myself the Holy Spirit was always there to give me a hand up in Christ Jesus. But like a broken bone, a good healing only makes it stronger. I am not advocating sinning so you can get stronger, but to allow your healing to become complete in Christ Jesus in the areas of your weaknesses. It is not fate that get’s us into trouble and pain, it is our freewill making bad choices. We all have an Adamic nature that enjoys forbidden fruit. And when we make Jesus our LORD we go into a process of leaning how to not feed our old Adamic nature. Reminds me of a joke that I hear long ago. In Alaska, in the back country they had dog fights and betting. And the guy that had the fights in one village would put on fights each week and the locals would bet on the dogs and so would he. Thing was, he always would win a bundle when it even looked like all was up and up. Finally his assistant ask him one day how he knew which dog was going to win? He whimpered in his ear, “The one that I feed.”
So we have a Carnal Adamic flesh nature that want’s to rule over us. And when we become a Christian and give our life to Jesus as LORD we are given a new nature that is in the image of God. And then the battle begins for real as to which nature is going to win and the victory goes to the one that we feed. If we continue to stuff ourselves with the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life, we will die to God’s light just as Jesus taught. But if we through the Holy Spirit replace the things of this world we will have life with our Creator for eternity in light. Rom.8. We know our own weaknesses and also the Bible teaches us to avoid youthful lusts. So what do I feed on, it is my choice. God gave me a free will, it is up to me as to what I decided to eat. And it is up to you as we all have a freewill to live for Good or Evil. In Rev. 3:14-22 Jesus tell us the Truth as usual, if we want it , about neither being hot nor cold and belonging to the land of mediocracy.
( Add /Delete: ken@trinity-aloha.org “Worth Considering” library, find link on Homepage.)
Worthy Brief <worthybrief@worthynetwork.com> A Christian ministry leader involved in combating the scourge of human trafficking has reported that some traffickers specifically target Christian girls, CBN News reports. As 430,000 children go missing in the US every year, Jeff Tiegs of All Things Possible Ministries said: “We as believers have to do a better job of protecting our young women.” A Colorado federal district judge has issued an injunction preventing the state from enforcing Gov. Jared Polis’ COVID-19 orders on limiting numbers at indoor church services and requiring congregants to wear masks, CBN News reported Wednesday. Liberal billionaire George Soros is pumping last-minute cash into efforts to boost black and Latino turnout in battleground states. In another move towards a new era, Is-rael and Su-dan agreed Friday to nor-mal-ize ties in a U.S.-bro-kered deal. European governments are battling to contain a massive wave of new coronavirus infections. In the most dramatic move so far this season, the French government is imposing a curfew on two-thirds of the country, after strict measures in other nations, including Eastern Europe. Despite the raging coronavirus pandemic, polls opened Sunday for elections that could impact government leaders’ future in the East European nations Lithuania and Ukraine.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3 “I no longer listen to what people say, I just watch what they do. Behavior never lies.” WINSTON CHURCHILL To this day, there are numerous Westerners who harbor romantic fantasies about communism, yet they’ve never lived in a communist country and borne the suffering there, and thus have no understanding of what communism actually is in practice.
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