Kingdom Ready

I was reading through the Psalms and saw my heart in this one in particular.

I hope you enjoy it also!

Psalm 85
Prayer for God’s Mercy upon the Nation.

In old testament scriptures God speaks to His people’s leaders calling them to serve Him by way of caring for the people called for His purpose.  Time and time again references made to leaders the old testament  calls servants.  Also in the new testament those leading the church of Christ are referred to as servants, but for those who are not leaders, those who follow the leaders, what shall we call them?  The bible calls them servants also although perhaps without quite the ordinal responsibility:

As we walk through our daily life we are always thinking about something, or perhaps many things.  Consider this:Prov 4:26  Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
Prov 4:27  Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil. 
In an article about “The Fixation of Belief” by Charles Sanders Pierce much consideration is given to “logical thought” to bring man to “one true conclusion”.  However, as is brought forth in this article review by Brett Clippingdale, mans own ability to perceive is in question. 

 

Here in revelation a verse of scripture has captured my attention:

Rev 13:7a And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them:

Now based on what is written in this whole passage does it look like God has given the power to the beast or is it the devil?

 

Rev 13:3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

Rev 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

A campaign promise ought to contain some benefit for the voter, shouldn’t it? Well, here are a few promises our Father has made and I think we can call it good considering the source:

Psa 2:10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

Psa 2:11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

Psa 2:12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when

his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

and

Isa 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your

Heb 10:32 But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;

Heb 10:33 Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used.

Heb 10:34 For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.

As we read the passage in Galatians 5 and come to these verses:

 

Gal 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

 

The context is in admonishing those who are trying to use law to control the passions of the flesh in life’s relationships, but to no true profit. In verse 15 this remarkable opportunity of life is brought forth:

I read an article recently detailing the benefit of using self control to gain mental strength.  You can read the article in the Albany Times union archives entitled, “Grant funds study of self control” from a gentleman named Mark Muraven.  In it an amazing comparison is made to practicing mental restraint in order to gain overall mental strength.  Here is a quote from the article,

“Mark Muraven, a social psychologist, theorizes that self-will is a muscle. Exercise it, and it gets stronger.” 

and 

“From my perspective, you can never have too much self-control,” Muraven said. “I think it’s the most important part of people’s lives. Without self-control, people and society would have a lot of problems: debts, crime, failure to work, obesity and health problems.”