Getting Out Of God's Way

James 4: 1-8   

Personalization:   

My precious daughter Bonnie, what do you think that you have arguments and quarrels? Don't they come from the desires in your heart to fix others and tell them what you think they ought to believe? And they push you away and cut you off. But if you would only trust Me to convict their hearts, and you display My love for them, I will do the hard part, that's My job. When you pray for them, then turn around and take things into your own hands, they can push you away, but you've blocked My working. They can't resist Me, so, Bonnie, get out of My way so that I can work on their hearts.

Bonnie, I know that you care for your family members, but don't you realize that I love them even more than you do, and when you try to be My Spirit to convict their hearts, you're actually acting as My enemy, because I am God, you're not. Don't rely on your own words, your own understanding, your own logic. Don't rely on the world's ways or your cultural mores. Get out of my way; step aside and let Me work. Continue to pray for them and love them just as they are, and I will do the rest.   

Folly and Shame

Proverbs 18:1,2,13    

An unfriendly man pursues selfish ends; he defies all sound judgment. 

A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions.

He who answers before listening--that is his folly and his shame.   

O my Father, please help me to love my own family members as You love them; open my ears to hear what they are saying to me, and close my mouth from airing my own opinions. Please teach me how to listen actively, attentively and undistracted by my own thoughts.   

Practical Rules To Live By

Proverbs 3:1-8   

My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity.  

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and men. 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. 

Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.

My Prayer:

O my dear Father, please help me to never forget Your teachings; help me keep Your commands in my heart, so that they can prolong my life many years and bring me health and prosperity.

Let me always to live in Your love and faithfulness; let me wear them on my shirt, help me to know them by heart. Then my life will win the approval of both You and those among whom I live.

Teach me to trust only in You and Your ways, and not depend on my own understanding: let everything I do reveal You and Your ways; and Father, I know You will direct my steps into Your straight paths.   

Who Do I Depend On?

Jeremiah 17:5-8   

Personalization:

Bonnie, don't trust in politics, or business, or those who make decisions that affect your life and society. Those who trust in Politicians will have a scarcity mentality, always feeling deprived and isolated, and won't even notice when prosperity comes.  

But depend on Me, Bonnie, realize that I will provide everything you need, and more than you need. You will always have an abundance, Bonnie; there will always be plenty of whatever you need, even in times of political and financial falling-off-the-cliff; you will not suffer loss of anything you really need in this world. You can depend on Me, Bonnie, beause I will always take care of you according to My glory, My magnificence and My generosity--you are My Princess, My precious daughter, and I will always see to it that you're not deprived of any good thing, in Me you will have it all.   

End Times in Isaiah?

Isaiah 64:1-2   

Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your Name known among your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you!

Rend the heavens--The Sixth Seal in Revelation 6: "There was a great earthquake, ... and all of the mountains and islands were moved from their places." The Seventh Trumpet in Rev. 11: "A mighty earthquake." And the Seventh Bowl in Rev. 16: "A great earthquake struck--the worst since people were placed on the earth. . . . And every island disappeared and all the mountains were leveled."  

Come down to make your Name known . . . cause the nations to quake--Zechariah 14: "On that Day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a wide valley running from east to west. Half the mountain will move toward the north and half toward the south. . . . The Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. . . . The Lord will be King over the whole earth. On that Day there will be one Lord and His Name the only name. . . . Plague will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem . . . survivors from all the nations . . . will go up to Jerusalem each year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles."   

Our Brief Life

Psalm 90:5-6   


You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning--
Though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.

We are all subject to death. However long we will live our lives, however many years, days, hours, it is certain that we will face death, our enemy. And we will not win--we will enter the sleep of Death. Our life we experience in our body does not originate in our physical body, but in our spirit; when our spiritual parts leave our body, then we call it death, for there is no life in our flesh. Without the spirit, the flesh is lifeless.

We start out in life like the new grass that comes up in the morning fresh with dew. But as the day fades into evening, the grass withers and wilts. And like the grass, in the evening of our years, we also can become dry and withered. Then our bodies will sleep in death, as our spirits depart and go into Eternity.   

Jesus' Prayer for Our Purpose

John 17:20-21   

My prayer is not for them alone.

Not only for His disciples and followers at that time.

I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message,  

Jesus looked down that hallway of Time and saw the rest of us; all the way to me! Jesus prayed for me!

That all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You.  

Jesus and God the Father are unified in thought and purpose, one God.

May they also be in us  

We as His church need to be one in thought and purpose, God's thoughts and purposes.

So that the world may believe that You have sent Me.  

This is our primary purpose in our unity, that the world will see the Truth of His message. Whether they choose to trust in Christ for salvation, or refuse to, they will have no excuse. But the onus is on us. We need to stop quarreling among ourselves and focus on the basics.