WORD OF GOD

Today’s Scripture  (From a ministry in Texas.)
Give to everyone what you owe them…if honor, then honor. Romans 13:7, NIV
    
Give Honor,  in the Old Testament, God commanded His people to put down “memorial stones” as reminders of past national victories. Every time they or future generations passed by a memorial, they would remember the mighty things God had done and honor the people who gave their lives for others. All throughout the Scripture, we see that God blesses an attitude of honor. To show honor simply means that you give respect and recognition to others with your attitude, actions, and words.

Today, we recognize Memorial Day as a time when we honor all the brave men and women who have given their lives in service for this country. As we remember them, let’s honor the gift of freedom they have given us by saying thank you with our actions and choosing to love and honor others. Let’s also honor all those who are serving in our armed forces and their families who are sacrificing so much today. Let’s pray for God’s peace, protection, and provision over every area of their lives.
    
A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You for this special day to honor the men and women who have given their lives to secure and keep our freedom as a nation. Thank You that You are with our soldiers and their families wherever they go. Protect and provide for them, and help them to know Your peace that passes understanding. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

Often, the Truth of God, comes to us in many ways.    We watched the old film “Legend” again last night with a very young Tom Cruse and I was amazed at how much Biblical doctrine I found this time woven into the story line.   And how very dark the film was in exposing the deceits of this world.

Many times the Truth of God comes through God’s Creation, our friends, a message in Church,   or even the very quiet voice of the Holy Spirit or the Word of God and is worth much Honor.  What we have difficulty in learning is the path of God may be “straight” but it does have hills and valleys in it.   What we know to do may take time to become part of us so that we really begin to do what we know to do.   Apostle Paul wrote about this in Rom. 7: 24-25,” For I joyfully delight in the law of God in my inner self [with my new nature], 23 but I see a different law and rule of action in the members of my body [in its appetites and desires], waging war against the law of my mind and subduing me and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is within my members.”   But then Paul shares the Victory in Rom. 8:12-13.  “So then, [a]brothers and sisters, we have an obligation, but not to our flesh [our human nature, our worldliness, our sinful capacity], to live according to the [impulses of the] flesh [our nature without the Holy Spirit]— 13 for if you are living according to the [impulses of the] flesh, you are going to die. But if [you are living] by the [power of the Holy] Spirit you are habitually putting to death the sinful deeds of the body, you will [really] live.”   So here we see we are responsible to find the Great and Precious Promises of God and infuse our life with them and thus enjoy the victory.  Rom.8:28-39.  So the walk in the Holy Spirit requires for us to get 100% serious about finding and learning to Keep the commandments of God through Christ Jesus the LORD.   And it takes time for what we know in our heads to settle into our heart of hearts to really become a part of us.   We know this to be true in our lives when our little sponge gets squeezed and out comes Jesus.  When I got out of the Army, half of my communication skills were profanity.  Even at dinner with my mother it would sometimes spill over.  And it was always a issue just near the top.  But after being baptized in the Holy Spirit in 1968 things started to change in my life.   One day I was running full bore around my dozer and ran into the tread with my right knee cap and it spattered me on the cement floor in my shop.  And out came the words, “Praise The LORD” & “”Thank you Jesus and needless to say, I was shocked.  The pain left immediately and I became aware of the work of the Holy Spirit in my heart in the process of sanctification or to make holy.  I went away in the joy of the Lord for many days over that.  My heart had been changed by God’s Grace in something that it seemed that I would never be able to change in myself.  So as we generate faith by digesting the Word of God and in faith believe in HIS Precious Promises we become like HIM through HIS power.   1 John 4:17, “ In this [union and fellowship with Him], love is completed and perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him]; because as He is, so are we in this world.”

And this is what this temporary dimension of time is all about.   It is a gift from God for us to find HIM and to become like HIM so that we could enjoy living with HIM if we want to.  But it means that we need to become spiritually minded as HE is as per HIS vision in Gen. 1:26.

More INSPIRING QUOTES:    “Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity has.” – B. Graham     “Adversity is the diamond dust heaven polishes its jewels with.”- Robert Leighton     “If we cannot believe God when circumstances seem be against us, we do not believe Him at all.” Charles Spurgeon     “Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of.” – Charles Spurgeon     “Adversity is not simply a tool. It is God’s most effective tool for the advancement of our spiritual lives. The circumstances and events that we see as setbacks are oftentimes the very things that launch us into periods of intense spiritual growth. Once we begin to understand this, and accept it as a spiritual fact of life, adversity becomes easier to bear.”- Charles Stanley     “You will never find Jesus so precious as when the world is one vast howling wilderness. Then he is like a rose blooming in the midst of the desolation, a rock rising above the storm.”- Robert Murray McCheyne     “If we are intended for great ends, we are called to great hazards.”- John Henry Newman     “Circumstances which we have resented, situations which we have found desperately difficult, have all been the means in the hands of God of driving the nails into the self-life which so easily complains.”- Alan Redpath.