Spirit listener

 DAVID "...David's two wives had also been taken captive..." 1 Samuel 30:5 In this scenario, the wives and children of David's men and David's two wives had been taken, along with possessions.  David strengthened himself in the Lord and did indeed inquire of the Lord.  Yet what I see again in this situation is that wives, children, relatives, and possessions had been taken.  Abram had "trained men," and David also had a significant number of trained men or seasoned warriors with him.  Five kings were responsible for the captivity of Abram's relatives, while a band of raiders was responsible for the captivity of David's wives and the wives and children of his men.  In other words, these scenarios with Abram and David didn't directly involve wartime scenarios for Abram and David but instead involved scenarios where family members and possessions were taken captive.  This is even more explicit in my final example with Nehemiah. NEHEMIAH ".....

I've written on this before, yet I'm thinking about it again as it relates to me being a Black Christian in this country specifically, but also for Christians in general.  I'm thinking about when believers can and should defend themselves according to our faith, versus when we should not defend ourselves because of our faith.  I believe Abram, David, and Nehemiah (and C.S. Lewis) give me a biblical defense for Christian self-defense, while Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego show me when Christians should yield their lives for their faith (and how this relates to Isis and the Police.) ABRAM "When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan.  ...He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people."  Gen. 14:14,16, NIV In reading this I notice that Abram did not stop and pray about this situation ...

I write to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, those who confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in their hearts that God raised Him from the dead.  I write to those who have received and accepted Jesus for who He is:  the Son of God.  I write to those who believe in Him as their Savior from sin and from sinning.  I write to those who believe that Jesus died for their sins according to the scriptures, that He was buried, and that He rose from the dead after three days, according to the scriptures.  If you believe all that I just wrote, I'm talking directly to you.  If you don't believe what I just wrote, believe it now and you will become a child of God, indwelt by the Spirit of God.  (You can say these words:  "I believe in the name of the Son Jesus Christ, I believe that He is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead."  If you say that and mean it, you are saved from a life without God, and thus without purpose.) To those who believe, we...

I knelt in my room in the dark, wanting to die.  I didn't or couldn't or wouldn't kill myself.  But I wanted to die.  To go to sleep and not wake up.  Or something like that.  But worse than that.  I felt condemned to death because of what I had done.  Most wouldn't think it was that bad, nowhere near bad enough to be condemned to death.  But to me, it was the worst thing I could do.  The one thing I never wanted to do.  And the thing is, I didn't know if I had even really done it at all.  I didn't know what it was, or how it was supposed to feel.  I think I had gotten close, but how close is close enough to be it?  That doesn't matter.  Even being close made me feel like dying. But for some reason, I said what I think I'd hear in Sunday school without realizing I remembered it. "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that He died for my sins."  I felt peace cover me like a blanket, and I no longe...

Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of God. ~The Apostle Paul Abraham believed God, and God considered his faith righteousness. ~Moses, the man of God The woman listened to Satan.  The man listened to the woman.  Neither listened to God.  This is sin:  when we listen to creation instead of the Creator. In other words, Eve became a sinner by faith.  And Abraham became sinless by faith.  Who they (and we) listen to do determines sin or life without sin. So how can we become and remain sinless? Better yet, how can we be as sinless as Christ? I ask this because I noticed that Jesus not only "never sinned," but he even said Satan "had no hold on him."  Meaning Satan could not get Jesus to sin because nothing in Jesus agreed with anything in Satan.  How can we be like this? Think about it (if you want to, or if you're even interested in this kind of life...) until the next blog...

"Everything is possible for one who believes."  Mark 9:23 "Nothing will be impossible for you."  Matthew 17:20c Jesus consistently responded to faith.   He rewarded belief and rebuked disbelief.   Belief amazed Jesus.  Disbelief angered Jesus. There didn't seem to be an in-between for him.  He seemed to see no reason to doubt or disbelieve him, or God the Father.  No reason at all.  Of course, he's right.  RA Torrey said, "Every act of sin is an act of distrust in God.  Trusting God deprives sin and temptation of all their power.  He who trusts God will do right though the heavens fall." Trusting God is the source of sinless perfection and power.  And why shouldn't we trust God?  He is perfectly good, perfectly powerful, and perfectly wise. It should be the easiest thing in the world for us to do.  And it is something to do, as it is also written, "Faith without works is dead. As the body w...