Tag Archives: God

Hungry For God

Proverbs 27:2 Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.

The Bible has a lot of prohibitions against bragging. The person who loves to brag on their own accomplishments, their great feats, is in a very dangerous position. Goliath mocked David, and boasted:

1 Samuel 17:44 Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.

Goliath filled himself with himself, with his own power, with his own prowess. David on the other hand emptied himself. Rather than boast back to Goliath, he bragged on the power of God in him:

1 Samuel 17:45-47 (LSB) David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I COME TO YOU IN THE NAME OF YAHWEH of hosts, the God of the battle lines of Israel, whom you have reproached. [46] This day YAHWEH WILL DELIVER YOU INTO MY HANDS, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the camp of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, [47] and that all this assembly may know that Yahweh does not save by sword or by spear; for THE BATTLE IS YAHWEH’S, and He will give you into our hands.”

Goliath’s power and size were given to him by God. That which we have, be it beauty, or wit, or charisma, or power, the station we occupy in life, these all come from the hands of God. “Pride goes before destruction” we are told in Proverbs 16:18. “When pride comes, then comes disgrace” notes Proverbs 11:2. If you have been given great gifts, give God the praise, not yourself. … Continue reading

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The Deceiver, The Lāhâ (Pronounced law-hah’)

Proverbs 26:18-19 As a MAD MAN {Lāhâ} who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, 19 So is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport?

Word Study: Last week we learned about the meddler, who sticks his nose in where it doesn’t belong. The meddler “meddles with strife that doesn’t belong to him”. The Bible warns that this is like “taking a passing dog by the ears”. He brings his own punishment on himself. But this week we look at the “MAD MAN” or the Lāhâ, “the arsonist or person who loves to see things burn, or to make others weary or faint”. The Lāhâ is not self destructive, but loves to start trouble. The Lāhâ is described only one other time in the Scripture, in the Book of Genesis during the time of Joseph. The Scripture says:

Genesis 47:13 (KJV) And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan FAINTED {Lāhâ} by reason of the famine. Continue reading

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Respect Is Right

As Paul comes to the end of his letter to the Church at Ephesus, he addresses the children first. There are only TWO TIMES in the New Testament that children are DIRECTLY ADDRESSED. It is here,

Ephesians 6:1 CHILDREN, OBEY {hypakouō} your parents in the Lord: for this is right.

And in …

Colossians 3:20 CHILDREN, OBEY {hypakouō} your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.

In the ancient world children were seen as incomplete persons, and in many cases were regarded as not fully human. In the Roman world, the father had the right to EXPOSE children to the elements, often unto death. Children were often sold as slaves. Disobedient children were executed.

The early Church would often rescue children that were cast out of their Roman homes because they were illegitimate or disabled. An early Christian teaching called the Didache stated:

“You shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill what is begotten.”

God’s people are to value children. Though children had no rights while in the home, God commanded His people:… Continue reading

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Steps To Peace With God

It’s all about mind control. Social Media is big business. In 2025 Social Media brought in $307-341 billion in annual revenue. The Facebook and Instagram platforms made $160 billion. The YouTube platform generated $36 billion. Those “free” services that you use are not free. They sell advertising – but they also sell your information. Do you know why you get scammers calling you, trying to get you to get the “New” Medicare Card, or telling you “This is Transunion Credit, and you owe $$$$ for tolls on the New Jersey turnpike”? It’s because these Social Media platforms have sold your information (name, address, likes, dislikes, etc) to bad actors who will rob you if they can.

I recently enlisted the aid of a company called Cloaked because I was being covered up by scammers and salespeople. Cloaked found 1340 records with my information on the Internet – and removed them. They’re still looking, and still finding data breaches.

If the fallen world can control your mind, they can control your wealth, your health, your political sympathies, even your religious persuasion.

The devil is into mind control – and he’s found a great tool in media. The devil blinds our minds the the Gospel of Christ:

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (NKJV) But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. Continue reading

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What NOT To Find In A Christian

In the King James text, the word SLOTHFUL or SLUGGARD (Hebrew ʿāṣēl, “a sluggard, one who is lazy) is found 14 times in the Book of Proverbs – and never in a good way. The word ʿāṣēl refers to the person who idles away the gift of life that God has given them. We aren’t talking about those who occasionally take a rest, for God established a Biblical Sabbath where we are to rest ourselves, and focus upon our Savior and Lord. Life is a gift from God: “GOD GIVES TO ALL LIFE, and BREATH, and ALL THINGS” (Acts 17:25). The soul of man is made by God. The Prophet Job wrote:

Job 33:4 The SPIRIT OF GOD HATH MADE ME, and the BREATH OF THE ALMIGHTY HATH GIVEN ME LIFE.

Our God is the One Who kills, and makes alive (Deuteronomy 32:39). He is “the FOUNTAIN OF LIFE” (Psalm 36:9). God does not give us life so that we can squander it. The man on his deathbed knows how precious every minute is. No man dies wanting one more dollar, one more acre, one more thing, one more social media follower, one more truck or car. The one on his deathbed wants one more minute of quality life, one more breath without pain and suffering, one more good day.

We realize how precious life is when we reach the end of our race. When we leave HERE, we go to Him Who made us. We will be judged for damnation, or be judged for what we did for Him before continuing His Presence forever (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

God never made us immune to work. When God put Adam in the perfect Garden of Eden, He gave him the command “Tend My garden, and guard it” (Genesis 2:15). Had Adam spent more time DOING what God said rather than JUDGING what God said, we would all still be in Paradise this very day. Continue reading

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Stand Fast In The Lord

Satan is a master at mind control.

As the Apostle Paul writes this letter we are studying, he is in prison. Not a prison like we think of today, but a miserable, rat infested, dark, with the smell of death in the air prison. Paul was imprisoned, and there wasn’t one single thing he could do to get out of that prison.

Christianity does not guarantee we will have sunny days every day, and steak dinners every night. In fact, Christians are more challenged than unbelievers in this fallen world. Satan our enemy will do two things over and over, because he has discovered these two things work. The Bible says that, number 1, … Continue reading

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Don’t Play The Fool

Psalm 14:1 (KJV) The FOOL {nāḇāl} hath said in his heart, [There is] no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, [there is] none that doeth good.

Psalm 53:1 (KJV) The FOOL {nāḇāl} hath said in his heart, [There is] no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: [there is] none that doeth good.

Word Study: The Hebrew nāḇāl or “fool” refers to a godless person, a person who has rejected Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and who lives their lives totally apart from their Creator. In Proverbs 26:1-12 we aren’t necessarily talking about lost people. There are five Hebrew words for “fool”:

nāḇāl – the godless person
baʿar – the person who acts brutish, like an animal
lets – the arrogant, mocking fool
pethi – the simple minded fool in the making

It is the fifth type of “fool” Proverbs 26 addresses: kesil, the morally stubborn person who knows better, but refuses wisdom or Bible truth.

It was this type of “fool” that Jesus spoke of when He said:… Continue reading

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Only A Fool Would Cancel Christmas

We live in a “feelings” day. I heard someone say something the other day that made so much sense. I never thought of it this way until I heard Tyler Zed, who has a program called Zeducation on Youtube, say this:

“Liberals and Progressives attack people, because they rely not on facts but on feelings. Conservatives attack ideologies or thoughts, not people, because they focus on what they believe are facts”.

You may not agree with that statement, but if you’ll honestly watch those who are Liberal and Progressive protest you’ll realize this is a true statement. People marching at a “No Kings” protest rally makes no sense. You can do it – this is America – but if there was a king over this country you wouldn’t be able to protest. Historically those who protested a monarch were executed, imprisoned, exiled, tortured, and lost their property. DID YOU EVER SEE BRAVEHEART? Then there are those who claim that our government is fascist. Those who protested fascist regimes like Nazi Germany were arrested and imprisoned, tortured and interrogated, executed or just “disappeared”, were placed in forced labor or concentration camps, and whole families were brutally disciplined. There is no way in which our country is like Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Francoist Spain (under Francisco Franco), or Imperial Japan.

Fascist regimes were much harsher in retaliation
than monarchs. Religious Fascist regimes were horrible.

When the national Church was Catholic, those who rejected Catholic teachings were considered threats to the state. This was indeed fascism. Those who were “Protestants” were considered heretics, and were executed, imprisoned, exiled, lost their property, and their worship attacked. Queen Mary I of England (called Bloody Mary) had around 300 Protestants burned at the stake just because they were Protestants. The Muslim Timur (Tamerlane) [14th Century] ruled Central Asia and the Middle East. He was responsible for killing hundreds of thousands during his reign.

Illustrate: You cannot live your life based on “feelings”. I got in my shower the other day, and nearly fell down. I had cleaned the shower with some “scrubbing bubbles” stuff, and the floor of the shower was slick. But I’ve learned to hold on to the hand rail when I get in the tub. I have hand rails all around my tub. My feelings tell me that I’m a man, and I don’t need handrails! But the facts are that gravity is real, and a real enemy if it has control or your body. That’s a fact. Period. If I fall in the shower at my age, there may be broken bones. Gravity real. Feelings poo!… Continue reading

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Redeeming The Time

Ephesians 5:15 See then that ye WALK CIRCUMSPECTLY, not as FOOLS, but as WISE,

The Bible uses the word “WALK” as a picture of living. This is the seventh time that the Apostle uses “WALK” in this book. How you walk is how you live out your life. How you walk will effect your eternity.

Word Study: We are commanded to “WALK CIRCUMSPECTLY”. The word “CIRCUMSPECTLY” is the Greek akribōs, which means “in an accurate and diligent manner, in a way that avoids flaws”. When we encountered the word “WALK” in the earlier passages of this book, we read:

Ephesians 2:2 (LSB) ….. you FORMERLY WALKED according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience,

When you were lost, you walked carelessly. You walked as “fools” do. When the Bible uses the word “fool”, it is a reference to those who are godless. “The FOOL has said in his heart, ‘there is no God’. They are corrupt, and do abominable works” (Psalm 14:1). But once you met Jesus, you were saved by Grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). At that moment, your “walk” changed. We were told:

Ephesians 2:10 (LSB) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that WE WOULD WALK IN THEM.

To walk “circumspectly” is to walk not in sin, but in good works, in works that glorify the Lord our God. Continue reading

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Winning Christ

Philippians 3:1-3 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. 2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. 3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

Rejoicing In The Lord, Our Safe Place

Word Study: When Paul begins this section with the word “FINALLY” (Gk. Loipon), it makes us think that this will be the last chapter of this book. It’s not. The word loipon means “now, furthermore, or from this point onward”. Paul has spent the last two chapters telling us the glorious riches we who are Christians have received from Jesus Christ. What do we who are Christians have?

1. We are all “saints of God”, set apart in God the Father’s eyes because of our faith in Jesus (Philippians 1:1).

2. We did not earn this sainthood. We have “grace and peace with God” as a free gift from our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:2)…. Continue reading

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