- I believe God's plan for most of is to be healthy.
- If we live the the kind of life God has laid out for us, we increase the odds we will be healthy and remain healthy.
- If we fall sick, we have our church family to pray for us.
- Joshua 14:11 I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. My strength for battle and for daily tasks[a] is now as it was then.
- Exodus 15:26 And He said, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer.”
- James 5:15 The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
- "What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals!"Hamlet, Shakespeare. We human beings are remarkable creatures.
- Particularly in the Narnia series, but also in some of his other writings, C. S. Lewis focused on God's infinite imagination as part of His being The Creator. Lewis and his colleague, J. R. R. Tolkien, both saw human imagination as a significant element in our being made in the image of God.
- Human reason is reliable and almost miraculous in its abilities in many, but not all, areas of human life.
- Human reason can perceive God the Creator, but reason cannot perceive Christ the Savior.
- However, reason can also be so clouded by sin that it cannot perceive God the Creator.
- Self-justification and self-righteousesness can cloud the moral reasoning of a man who reason his way through the mysteries of DNA.
- Dozens of factors can cloud our political reasoning.
- I admit to being Pharisaical in that I sometimes indulge in fantasies where people admire or look up to me for this reason or that.
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- Ezekiel 3:9 I have made your forehead like a diamond, harder than flint. Don’t be afraid of them or discouraged by the look on their faces, though they are a rebellious house.
- Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.
- 1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
- I am counting things I read as things I hear.
- John 18: 38 Λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Πειλᾶτος· τί ἐστιν ἀλήθεια; (Pilate said to him, 'What is Truth?')
- 2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear.
- 2 Peter 1:16 For we did not follow cleverly contrived myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; instead, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
- There are obviously things we SHOULD NOT DO with our eyes.
- The 'Lady in the Cast' story
- We SHOULD LOOK for God's Waldo, the things He wants us to notice in the world around us.
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- I view the nose as the physical equivalent of discernment: e.g., 'There`s something rotten in Denmark.'; 'That doesn't pass the sniff test'; 'The nose knows!'
- Let our nose guide us in who to trust and guard us against those we shouldn't trust.
- II Corinthians 2:15 For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
- For James, the tongue was the principal agent of our self-destruction.
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- Disobedient actions frequently begin with a disobedient attitude.
- Exodus 34:9 Then he said, “My Lord, if I have indeed found favor with you, my Lord, please go with us (even though this is a stiff-necked people), forgive our iniquity and our sin, and accept us as your own possession.”
- I Sam 15:23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and defiance is like wickedness and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.
- We have the choice of using our strength to serve ourselves or to serve God and others.
- Galatians 6:2 Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
- I Thessalonians 4: 11 To seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you,
- This body part is out of sequence in my praying: I actually finish up with my heart as the last item on my list. I spring from the heart into my intercessory prayers.
- My actual prayer order: Brain, Forehead, Ears, Eyes, Nose, Mouth, Neck, Shoulders/Arms/Hands, Feet, Knees, Genitals, Stomach, Heart
- Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
- Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.
- I Corinthians 13:13 Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—but the greatest of these is love.
- Monastic writings are full of warnings that gluttony is the gateway sin for a host of other sins.
- Philippians 3:19 Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame; and they are focused on earthly things.
- Ezekiel 16:49 Now this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had pride, plenty of food, and comfortable security, but didn’t support the poor and needy
- Matthew 6:16 Whenever you fast, don’t be gloomy like the hypocrites. For they disfigure their faces so that their fasting is obvious to people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward.
- I have spent my whole life looking at sexual temptation from a male sexuality point of view. Only recently have I become aware of how often and how strongly the biological drive to bear children leads women who have a Biblical morality to commit sexual sin. I had previously thought of it as loneliness as the driving force.
- 1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.
- Matthew 19:12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.
- Metaphorical - Nehemiah stood; Jesus lay on his face; David lay in bed.
- Psalms 5:3 In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I plead my case to you and watch expectantly.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:17 pray constantly,
- When we're young, we ask, "What does God want me to do with my life?" When we're old, we ask, "What does God want me to do today?"
- Proverbs 3:5-6 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.