For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I added a “Ministry Links” tab to my blog. On it I am going to link to the websites of various Christian Ministries which I support to one degree or another. Currently, it has a link to the congregation I attend and of which I am a member and a link to a ministry which does wonderful work in Honduras and elsewhere: MAMA Project
Seek the truth and when you find it, do not let it go, no matter what you are offered to accept something else, or to say something else. Do the same with wisdom, discipline, and sound judgement. No matter what someone may promise you, it is not worth giving up what you know to be the truth. The same can be said for wisdom, discipline, and sound judgement. Nothing anyone can promise you, let alone actually deliver, is worth going against what those tell you to do.
Let us cry out to God when wicked people plot against us. The wicked may think that their plots will go unnoticed, that they have come up with the perfect plan to defeat the righteous. but God will not overlook their plotting. No matter how carefully they hide their planning and their acts, God will see what they are up to. The wicked are sure that no one will connect them with the evil they do. Yet, their plots will be revealed by their own words. God will make it clear that this world belongs to Him so that no one can mistake. When the wicked are struck down, it will cause the godly to rejoice and the righteous to praise God.
We have been called to live in freedom. As Paul says elsewhere, we are free to do anything. However, he exhorts us not to use our freedom to satisfy our sinful desires. Instead we should let the Holy Spirit guide our lives. The Spirit wants us to do the opposite of what our sinful nature wants. It is important to recognize the battle going on within us between the desires of our sinful nature and the desires given to us by the Holy Spirit.
We must make a choice which kind of fruit we want our lives to bear. If we follow our sinful desires the fruit are clear…and undesirable. I will not repeat Paui’s list here, but no one holds up someone for honour for doing these things. On the other hand if we allow ourselves to be dominated by the desires the Holy Spirit gives us the fruit are also clear: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Whenever someone meets a bad end because of allowing their sinful desires to bear fruit there seems to be someone talking about how they exhibited one or more these latter fruits. Let us give control over our lives to the Holy Spirit so that we may bear all of these fruit and bring glory to God.
The day of God’s judgement is coming. It will be a day when scorching fire will come over the earth. People will see it coming and ask, “Who can survive this all-consuming fire?” thinking that the answer is “No one.” But they will be wrong. The prophet tells us who will survive this coming fire and destruction of God’s wrath:
who refuse to profit by fraud,
who stay far away from bribes,
who refuse to listen to those who plot murder,
who shut their eyes to all enticement to do wrong
Will we be among that number?