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Getting somewhere requires effort, it takes
faith to push on, it's easy to screw up,
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Thursday, September 18, 2014
Can you humbly be tough on someone, even to the point they resent it, yet be righteous? Can you humblybe tough on someone, even to the point they resent it, yet be righteous?
"Shelving hard decisions
is the least ethical course." ~Adrian Cadbury
Ever had to tell someone something they really didn’t want to
hear for their own good?
It’s
tough to do isn’t it?
What is worse is when the person hates us for it!
Here is one example…
I work as a project manager and a few years ago I got called into
a project that was in trouble having spent $600 000 and had failed to achieve anything. The project manager was supposedly
totally inadequate to the challenge, but they had known that when they put him into the position.
Now, I had to rescue the project
and the company doing the work was to pay for it as the client was not going to.
I specifically asked for the project manager
to stay on as he had knowledge I needed. I pointed out that I could build his knowledge so that he would not do this again.
This was agreed to.
We worked had, I rescued the project and I did build the project managers skills hugely. Yet, my superiors told me that
they were going to let him go at the end of the project and that I was not to tell him.
Integrity meant I had to comply and those last
days were difficult with much prayer as I never lied but had to redirect questions to comply with their request.
The project
ended and we had to let him go.
He hates me!
Yet, all I did was attempt to assist him.
Sometime when we do the best we can for someone, they just don’t appreciate
it. Yet I know that being subject to his verbal abuse is worth it because he has skill to go forward in his life successfully.
Skills he would not have had if I hadn’t bought the time to help him by requesting he stay until the end of the project.
I think the company was admirable in giving him that time and not firing him immediately as well.
This is a case described by the bibles words…
Do nothing
out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests
but each of you to the interests of the others. Philippians 2:3-4 NIV
We all have times when we interact with others.
We need to be sure we are not manipulating them to achieve our own desired goals,
but rather caring for them and respecting them as we move towards the goals God has placed in our lives. If we are looking to do the best for others,
and they don’t respect it, then we are doing right.
Even if they hate us for doing right!
Every parent with a teenager knows something of this. Folk, when we do things for the good of others after prayer
and consideration of God’s direction we are doing good.
Think about that today!
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
What is this “living sacrifice”? I thought sacrificing was over in today’s world! What is this “living sacrifice”? I thought sacrificing was over in today’s world!
“When you love you wish
to do things for. You wish to sacrifice for. You wish to serve.” ~ Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms
Okay so “living Sacrifice” is
a Christian band…but they didn’t invent the term.
Paul, a guy who lived around the time of Jesus the Christ coined the phrase “living sacrifice”
Around
that time, sacrifices were made to gods to take the place, and be the receptacle, of the wrong things done by the person offering it.
It was believed that
unless blood flowed and something died, the wrongs a person had done would accumulate on them and drag them down in life and later after death, destroying
the ability to live well and happy.
Poor people used smaller animals and the richer more expensive, but they all had the same effects.
Paul explains that this is not necessary since Jesus died in Hebrews 9 (NIV)
Now the first covenant had
regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. 2 A tabernacle was set up. … 11 But
when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect
tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not
enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining
eternal redemption. … 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living
God!
Then Paul writes
the following in Romans 12 as well …
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your
bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not
conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve
what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
He is referring to the fact that we as Christians have given over control of our life to God
to use as he pleases.
We use our bodies as an offering to God for
his good purpose. He
completes us and directs us on eternal paths that right and true. That way we respond to God daily each moment with joy and
love. Wanting to be the sacrifice to Him that is pleasing and right. God blesses us as we do this and we are given a joy that
is different to happiness that seems to be the utopia in the modern world. We find deep meaning and true purpose that fulfills
and completes us. Jesus takes away the pain of our failures and grows us towards eternity. When we die we go to be with him
where we will do amazing things with God.
Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t
it wonderful to be dead to sin but alive as a sacrifice to God’s amazing challenges daily?
Let’s go enjoy today knowing we walk with the creator
of the Universe! He's our protector as we walk the path he has planned for us, no matter how difficult it appears to be. He
is near!
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
The trustworthy oneThe  worthy one
“People that have trust issues only need to look in the mirror. There they will meet the one person
that will betray them the most.” ~ Shannon L. Alder
Trusting ourselves is probably the most certain way to be confident
of an outcome, and we often fail ourselves, don’t we? We deny truth about
ourselves sometimes as well. "I'm completely trustworthy" we can sometimes say while knowing there are times we
have failed. Our statement rings about as about as true as a pregnant women denying she is having a baby. We all
fail ourselves sometimes!
If we cannot be certain when trusting ourselves, we have less certainty
when trusting others, don’t we?
This means we can be afloat in a sea of uncertainty very quickly in life. Obviously we learn we have to
trust, even where there is no guarantee the trust will not be abused. We learn some people are more trustworthy than others
and we learn to make ourselves more trustworthy to others.
Yet, there is one person who is completely trustworthy!
Psalm 25 in our sacred writings put it this way:
In you, Lord my God,
I
put my trust.
2 I trust in you;
do not let me be put to shame,
nor let my
enemies triumph over me.
3 No one who hopes in you
will ever be put
to shame,
but shame will come on those
who are treacherous without cause.
4 Show me your ways, Lord,
teach me your paths.
5 Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for
you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.
Jesus is trustworthy and died to prove it. He rose to prove he is the ultimate hero.
These days we are so impressed by these Marvel comic hero’s
that they bring to life on the big screen. These fake paper born characters enthuse and delight us.
Yet they are vapour, not real
and have no truth or integrity other than that which some person wrote into them.
Jesus was a living flesh and blood guy. He lived, slept with, ate with and walked hundreds of kilometers
with others who thought him so important they wrote down what he did. He is God come as man.
Can we trust him?
Absolutely!
Let’s trust him today.
Tue, September 16, 2014 | link
Monday, September 15, 2014
Forgiveness and trust are not the same There’s a world of difference – a night and day kind of difference between forgiveness and trust. Forgiveness
is about the past – what has happened. Trust is about the future; what the relationship will be like from here on out.”
JConrad
Forgiveness is instant, trust takes time!
Christians are forgiving people, but
that does not mean they need to be trusting people.
Ask anyone who has had to deal with an alcoholic and you will get a clear distinction between forgiveness and
trust. The Christian dealing with the alcoholic will forgive them, but trust them around alcohol or money and access to buy
alcohol. No! That will not occur for many years.
Why?
The alcoholic has a drive to do evil to themselves that overcomes their good intentions and self-controls.
God wants us to forgive others.
God does
not want us taking revenge.
“Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for
it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19 NIV)
Paul advises the Christian Colossians in chapter
3(NIV) Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone.
Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
That’s significant forgiveness. It is total and complete.
Yet he advises the church at Corinth, “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God
will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”
The person is forgiven, but not trusted and must in fact be expelled from the church.
In fact Paul advises
Timothy (1 Ti 5), “As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all,
so that the rest may stand in fear. “
We as Christians are not push overs. We are not to be manipulated by those who would use underhand techniques to get their ways. Jesus is truth,
sincerity and honesty in person. We being like him should be the same. Jesus loves all and forgives all. Yet sin is not accepted.
He says…Matthew
23:27-28(NIV) “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like
whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything
unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and
wickedness.
Jesus called it like it was. He didn’t trust these people. He knew their hearts. Yet he died so that could be saved. He forgave them!
Trusting them would be dependent on how they changed and earned
that trust.
That’s
the difference. That’s what we as Christians are meant to do as well.
We can forgive but be careful in trusting.
How about let’s do it today?
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If you want to see a short blog describing a perspective on what I believe click here
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Rift in Evil
By Ken
X Briggs - Published: September, 2010
- Format: Perfect Bound Softcover(B/W)
- Pages: 208
Size:
6x9 - ISBN: 9781450250894
Available from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, iUniverse. |
Credit cards are acceptable on sites having Ken's books: 
:)
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on XML Click here =>  to be told of new blogs
| Ken's book covers are displayed below. . . | |  This
suspense thriller centers on Kiara, a beautiful young woman pursued by a murderous group of people, who relentlessly and ruthlessly
hunt her and her sisters. Kiara has no idea why she is being targeted! When Kiara and her family turn to the law for help,
this fails. Her pursuers’ powers reach deeply into the political and law enforcement world. Family support for her dwindles
when they too have to flee her pursuers. Can Kiara escape the clutches of both the law and dishonest big business? With the
media broadcasting that Kiara and friends are dangerous and subversive, can Kiara clear her name and bring her pursuers to
justice?
| | | | | To purchase Kiara's Pursuer ebook
@ $1.99 kindle version click here, To contact the author contact Author@KenXBriggs.com | | | | | | | | The town of Zinaville is dropped into a spiral of evil causing a young man and a beautiful but abused woman
to launch into an investigation that unveils an evil conspiracy. A horrific mining accident results in Joshua
Robyn's father being killed. Joshua struggles both with himself and his townsfolk as he tries to make sense of an incomprehensible
situation. Is it an accident or a murder? Why is there a seeming link to evil? Why is his work environment suddenly threatening?
What is the conspiracy about and what are they trying to do? As action moves dramatically from exotic African grasslands to
the heart of North America's cities, the plot unfolds and the pace quickens. Will there be time? Why is a beautiful abused
young woman in the center of this plot? Evil tendrils tighten on their lives and the interplay between the visible
and invisible world shows opposing forces at work. Will there be a rift in evil? Will they be able to stop the
evil in time? | | - Published: September, 2010
- Format: Perfect
Bound Softcover(B/W)
- Pages: 208
Size: 6x9 - ISBN: 9781450250894
Available
from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, iUniverse. Chapters | | | | |
| Frugal Eating Advice |
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| Good advice for students living on limited $'s. Click on the image! |
May you be blessed today!
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