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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, October 2, 2014
We can never hate a fellow Christian!People who tell
you what you want to hear are perhaps  the most dangerous, yet to hate them is to hate oneself ~ Ken Briggs
Jesus walked around from town to town and enduring
the heat, dust and thirst. With him was his
motley gang, fishermen, a tax collector and a few others. A younger guy was with them and his name was John. He watched and observed.
Later this guy was there when
Jesus hung until he died on the cross, and he was around when the risen Jesus went up to heaven. He was around
as the people who loved Jesus grew through the pain of persecution and blossomed into a community of people who loved each
other.
Yet
it could not have been easy, because he writes a letter to some where he says...
7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command
but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet
I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is
already shining.
9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister[b] is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister[c] lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother
or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness
has blinded them. 1
John 2 NIV
Truth is in Jesus and his life shines through us, the people who love and follow him.
Yet John also says this, lack of love for others means we
do not have the light of Jesus!
This is significant folk!
Hating a fellow Christian means we have not got Jesus in our life. Fact backed by the bible verse above.
We are
lovers and cannot hate.
Now combine this with that commandment to love others as we love ourselves and we find the other
person we need to love and not hate is ourselves as well.
It’s good to remember this. Not hating is not easy sometimes but it is not
optional. It is a decision.
We don't have to agree with others, but we do have to love them.
Think about it.
Have a blessed loving day!
Thu, October 2, 2014 | link
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Can we be pure and blameless?Can we be pure
and blameless?
 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth
of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,~ Paul, Philippians
1:9-10 NIV
Obviously
Paul, that guy who lived around the time of Jesus and was a leader in the initial Christian group thought we could
be blameless and pure !
We need to be free of contamination.
What would contaminate a Christian?
Probably that selfish, nasty and ignorant activity we call “sin”.
We need to reject that
in our life to be pure. Yet purity comes at a price. Pure gold has to be refined many times to get it pure and this means
heating it to high temperature and subjecting it to corrosive chemicals (I know as I am a metallurgist and trained to do these
activities).
Purity
costs.
Sin is pervasive and we all stumble into it at times. How can we possibly get rid of it?
It’s something that in the older days, and in some societies today that causes the death of many
animals. People sacrifice them believing their sin is cleared away by the innocent death of teh animal onto which the sin
is projected.
In
our modern world it sounds barbaric to say that there is no forgiveness of sin without blood flowing.
Yet, it is so!
It is also barbaric!
That’s why God
put a stop to the practice by giving us a once for all times sacrifice.
Himself!
Jesus!
He died and his blood flowed so that we have continual availability of forgiveness (even though we don’t
deserve it).
Christians
call this grace...God’s gift to us at Jesus expense.
We can be pure if we acknowledge and accept Jesus and try and keep from sin.
How about blameless?
We sin don’t we?
So how can we be blameless?
Jesus again! Jesus takes the blame for our actions.
Why? Because
he is an incredible God, unlike anyone or anything else in this universe. He is the supreme example of love.
That’s why that quote above was incomplete.
Here is the full version...
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so
that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled
with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Our love grows because we are loved with the greatest love. As we understand this our ability to know
what is right and wrong is refined. That enables us to see what we do wrong more clearly and reject these wrong actions and
thoughts. We become more and more right as we try to follow Jesus example. Not out of duty or law, but out of love!
Let’s go love God today!
Tue, September 30, 2014 | link
Monday, September 29, 2014
Who do we pray to, God, Jesus or Holy Spirit? Who do we pray to, God, Jesus or Holy Spirit?The definition of success can be very different for many people. How do you define success
in your life? For me, this quote reveals my heart. "No man is greater than his prayer life." - Leonard Ravenhill.
I get
confused with this three in one God stuff!
Which do I pray to,... when?
This is a common problem isn’t it?
Who do we pray to?
Well there is simple solution. We know God is one, so pray to God in unity.
That can be difficult to comprehend and I think that’s whey Jesus taught
is to pray like this...
“This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name, Matthew 6:9
We should pray to the Father but it is through Jesus
that we direct that prayer.
esus said...
13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. John 14
He said this just after he said “I
am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Jesus is the one through which we come to
Father God.
Yet, Holy Spirit must be empowering our prayer.
“18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind,
be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” Ephesians 6.
In summary, our prayers involve all three aspects of God. Our
words need to be empowered from human inadequacies into Godly power forces by Holy Spirit, our hearts must have acceptance
of Jesus as God and love of God for the prayer to make it through, and father God is the recipient of the prayer.
Our prayers are collected
and provided as special incense to God in heaven.
Revelations 5 says...
And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down
before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s
people.
Revelations
8 says...
3 Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers
of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, together
with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand.
Our prayers come before the throne of God where he experiences
them continually.
We
are not without immediate spiritual access to the throne of God. Prayer is the way we get that access.
Remember Holy Spirit takes our weak words
and moves them into the communication God accepts.
Romans 8 says...
26 In
the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes
for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the
Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
Prayer, is a privilege, a work and a miracle wrapped
into one.
How about we go before our great God with power words that release his will on this Earth 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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