MEM

We have been writing about our bondage to sin and death (MEM 118) and our freedom in Messiah (MEM 119). But how do we remain free from sin’s bondage? We are faced with the flesh which is still bound to sin. But the inner man has been set free from this bondage if we have repented, accepted Yeshua (Jesus) as our Savior, our Deliver and Redeemer then His Spirit indwells us and He becomes our Master. Yet daily we are faced with the lust of our flesh, the pulls of this world, the bombardment of desires that oppose the work of YHVH (The LORD) in our lives. So how do we maintain a strong relationship with our Creator? How do we resist that which would divide and destroy our new life in Yeshua?

This is how we - the children of God - can stand in the freedom wherein we have been called.

Note! This is supernatural Armor - it is of God

Be girded with truth (Satan attacks the truth - he is a liar)

Yeshua is our righteousness:

Three things - 1) preparation might be better rendered readiness [as a horse properly shod] - 2) the good news, our peace with the Father because of Yeshua, gives us the freedom to be agile, moving about confidently without hindrance - 3) we are bringing that good news to others.

Our thoughts, our head needs to be protected by Messiah’s salvation.

To stand in the power of YHVH’s Spirit we need the Wisdom of Yeshua and the understanding to walk in that wisdom.

"People who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives...and when the bubble has burst, they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted." - Nate Saint, missionary martyr

In our seeking the Kingdom of God and YHVH’s righteousness we should find where He wants us to be, His plan for calling us, what talents He has given us to show forth His glory, His power, His grace. Do not waste your calling.

"Even the most secret breath of pride, in self-seeking, self-will, self-confidence, or self-exaltation, is only the strengthening of that self that cannot enter the kingdom or possess the things of the kingdom because it refuses to allow God to be who He is." Andrew Murray

It is interesting that this man was praying to him-self.

How does God feel about issues we face today?

If you were a Levite in ancient Israel, in charge of caring for God’s temple, how important would it be to you?  Do you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?  So in effect you are in charge of temple care and maintenance.  How well are you maintaining your temple?  Not just physically but also spiritually.   Do not neglect to examine what goes in and comes out of your temple, through your eyes, ears, and mouth.  Your body is his.  How you treat it tells volumes about how you think of His creation.  Take some time and examine where your temple needs maintenance.

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If you ever doubted that God exists, meet the very technical, highly engineered dromedary camel.

When I'm hungry, I'll eat almost anything - a leather bridle, a piece of rope, my master's tent or a pair of shoes. My mouth is so tough a thorny cactus doesn't bother it. I love to chow down grass and other plants that grow here on the Arabian desert.

I'm a dromedary camel, the one-hump kind that lives on hot deserts in the Middle East.

My hump, all 80 pounds of it, is filled with fat -- my body fuel -- not water as some people believe. My Mighty Maker gave it to me because He knew I wouldn't always be able to find food as I travel across the hot sands. When I don't find any chow, my body automatically takes fat from the hump, feeds my system, and keeps me going strong. This is my emergency food supply.

If I can't find any plants to munch, my body uses up my hump. When the hump gets smaller, it starts to tip to one side. But when I get to a nice oasis and begin to eat again, my hump soon builds back to normal.

I've been known to drink 27 gallons of water in 10 minutes. My Master Designer made me in such a fantastic way that in a matter of minutes all the water I've swallowed travels to the billions of microscopic cells that make up my flesh. Naturally, the water I swallow first goes into my stomach. There thirsty blood vessels absorb and carry it to every part of my body. Scientists have tested my stomach and found it empty 10 minutes after I've drunk 20 gallons.

In an eight-hour day I can carry a 400-pound load 100 miles across a hot, dry desert and not stop once for a drink or something to eat. In fact, I've been known to go eight days without a drink, but then I look a wreck. I lose 227 pounds, my ribs show through my skin and I look terribly skinny. But I feel great! I look thin because the billions of cells lose their water. They're no longer fat. They're flat. Scientists have found that my blood can lose up to 40 percent of its water, and I'm still healthy.

Doctors say human blood has to stay very close to 94 percent water. If you lose five percent of it, you can't see anymore; 10 percent, you can't hear and you go insane; 12 percent, your blood is as thick as molasses and your heart can't pump the thick stuff. It stops, and you're dead.

But that's not true with me. Why? Scientists say my blood is different. My red cells are elongated. Yours are round. Maybe that's what makes the difference. This proves I'm designed for the desert, or the desert is designed for me. Did you ever hear of a design without a Designer?

After I find a water hole, I'll drink for about 10 minutes and my skinny body starts to change almost immediately. In that short time my body fills out nicely, I don't look skinny anymore, and I gain back the 227 pounds I lost.

Even though I lose a lot of water on the desert, my body conserves it, too. Way in the beginning when my intelligent Engineer made me, He gave me a specially designed nose that saves water. When I exhale, I don't lose much. My nose traps that warm, moist air from my lungs and absorbs it in my nasal membranes.

Tiny blood vessels in those membranes take that back into my blood. How's that for a recycling system? Pretty cool, isn't it? It works because my nose is cool. My cool nose changes that warm moisture in the air from my lungs into water.

But how does my nose get cool? I breathe in hot dry desert air, and it goes through my wet nasal passages. This produces a cooling effect, and my nose stays as much as 18 degrees cooler than the rest of my body.

I love to travel the beautiful sand dunes. It's really quite easy, because my Creator gave me specially engineered sand shoes for feet. My hooves are wide, and they get even wider when I step on them. Each foot has two long, bony toes with tough, leathery skin between my soles, which are a little like webbed feet.

They won't let me sink into the soft, drifting sand. This is good, because often my master wants me to carry him 100 miles across the desert in just one day. (I troop about 10 miles per hour.)

Sometimes a big windstorm comes out of nowhere, bringing flying sand with it. My Master Designer put special muscles in my nostrils that close the openings, keeping sand out of my nose but still allowing me enough air to breathe.

My eyelashes arch down over my eyes like screens, keeping the sand and sun out but still letting me see clearly. If a grain of sand slips through and gets in my eye, the Creator took care of that, too. He gave me an inner eyelid that automatically wipes the sand off my eyeball just like a windshield wiper.

Some people think I'm conceited because I always walk around with my head held high and my nose in the air. But that's just because of the way I'm made. My eyebrows are so thick and bushy I have to hold my head high to peek out from underneath them. I'm glad I have them though. They shade my eyes from the bright sun.

Desert people depend on me for many things.

Not only am I their best form of transportation, but I'm also their grocery store. Mrs. Camel gives very rich milk that people make into butter and cheese. I shed my thick fur coat once a year, and that can be woven into cloth.

For a long time we camels have been called the "ships of the desert" because of the way we sway from side to side when we trot. Some of our riders get seasick. I sway from side to side because of the way my legs work. Both legs on one side move forward at the same time,
elevating that side. My "left, right left, right" motion makes my rider feel like he's in a rocking chair going sideways.

When I was 6 months old, special knee pads started to grow on my front legs. The intelligent Creator knew I had to have them. They help me lower my 1,000 pounds to the ground. If I didn't have them, my knees would soon become sore and infected, and I could never lie down. I'd die of exhaustion.

By the way, I don't get thick knee pads because I fall on my knees. I fall on my knees because I already have these tough pads. Someone very great thought of me and knew I needed them. He designed them into my genes.

It's real difficult for me to understand how some people say I evolved into what I now am. I'm a very technical, highly engineered dromedary camel. Things like me don't just happen.

They're planned on a drawing board by Someone very brilliant, Someone very logical.

By Bob Devine, reprinted by permission from Moody/September 1981.

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RED MARBLES

I was at the corner grocery store buying some early potatoes.  I noticed a small boy, delicate of bone and feature, ragged but clean, hungrily appraising a basket of freshly picked green peas.

I paid for my potatoes but was also drawn to the display of fresh green peas. I am a pushover for creamed peas and new potatoes. Pondering the peas, I couldn't help overhearing the conversation between Mr. Miller (the store owner) and the ragged boy next to me.

'Hello Barry, how are you today?'

'H'lo , Mr. Miller. Fine, thank ya. Jus' admirin' them peas. They sure look good.'

'They are good, Barry. How's your Ma?'

'Fine. Gittin' stronger alla' time.'

'Good . Anything I can help you with?'

'No, Sir. Jus' admirin' them peas.'

'Would you like to take some home?' asked Mr. Miller.

'No, Sir. Got nuthin' to pay for 'em with.'

'Well, what have you to trade me for some of those peas?'

'All I got's my prize marble here.'

'Is that right? Let me see it' said Miller.

'Here 'tis. She's a dandy.'

'I can see that. Hmmmmm, only thing is this one is blue and I sort of go for red. Do you have a red one like this at home?' the store owner asked.
'Not zackley but almost.’

'Tell you what. Take this sack of peas home with you and next trip this way let me look at that red marble'… Mr. Miller told the boy.

'Sure will. Thanks Mr. Miller.'

Mrs. Miller, who had been standing nearby, came over to help me… With a smile she said, 'There are two other boys like him in our community, all three are in very poor circumstances. Jim just loves to bargain with them for peas, apples, tomatoes, or whatever. When they come back with their red marbles, and they always do, he decides he doesn't like red after all and he sends them home with a bag of produce for a green marble or an orange one, when they come on their next trip to the store.'

I left the store smiling to myself, impressed with this man. A short time later I moved to Colorado, but I never forgot the story of this man, the boys, and their bartering for marbles.

Several years went by, each more rapid than the previous one. Just recently I had occasion to visit some old friends in that Idaho community and while I was there learned that Mr. Miller had died.

They were having his visitation that evening and knowing my friends wanted to go, I agreed to accompany them. Upon arrival at the mortuary we fell into line to meet the relatives of the deceased and to offer whatever words of comfort we could.

Ahead of us in line were three young men. One was in an army uniform and the other two wore nice haircuts, dark suits and white shirts...all very professional looking. They approached Mrs. Miller, standing composed and smiling by her husband's casket. Each of the young men hugged her, kissed her on the cheek, spoke briefly with her, and moved on to the casket.

Her misty light blue eyes followed them as, one by one; each young man stopped briefly and placed his own warm hand over the cold pale hand in the casket. Each left the mortuary awkwardly, wiping his eyes.

Our turn came to meet Mrs. Miller. I told her who I was and reminded her of the story from those many years ago and what she had told me about her husband's bartering for marbles. With her eyes glistening, she took my hand and led me to the casket.

'Those three young men who just left were the boys I told you about. They just told me how they appreciated the things Jim 'traded' them. Now, at last, when Jim could not change his mind about color or size...they came to pay their debt.'

'We've never had a great deal of the wealth of this world,' she confided, 'but right now, Jim would consider himself the richest man in Idaho.'

With loving gentleness she lifted the lifeless fingers of her deceased husband. Resting underneath were three exquisitely shined red marbles.

The Moral: We will not be remembered by our words, but by our kind deeds. Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath...

Today I wish you a day of ordinary miracles ~ A fresh pot of coffee you didn't make yourself...An unexpected phone call from an old friend...Green stoplights on your way to work...The fastest line at the grocery store…A good sing-along song on the radio...Your keys found right where you left them.

IT'S NOT WHAT YOU GATHER, BUT WHAT YOU SCATTER THAT TELLS WHAT KIND OF LIFE YOU HAVE LIVED

Why Men Don't Live As Long As Women -

It starts at a young age and just gets worse.

The tool of man’s choosing - Straight Screwdriver:

A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws and butchering your palms.

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81. A serious, sober, self-controlled Christianity is very seldom found or preached. (2Pt 3:11; 1Pt 4:7; Jude 3)

82. The "church" at large has forgotten how to pray. (1Jn 3:22; Acts 6:4; 1Ths 5:17)

83. Many "churches" are more dependent on tradition than the leading of the Holy Spirit. (Mk 7:13; Acts 16:6; Acts 13:2)

 
The second cause of carelessness stems from an outright denial of God's Truth. These are leaders who remain part of traditions that at one time carefully guarded the things of God, but now have turned their backs on the Truth, purposely redefining it due to their denial of Scripture.
 
The third cause comes from a desire to make God's reality accessible to as many people as possible. These leaders tend to think of the notion of guarding God's Truth as harmfully restrictive. They fail to see that preserving an accurate revelation of God is necessary for people to truly know the God they are anxious to make known. By not insisting that the God they claim to offer people is in strict accordance to the truth of Scripture, they are actually doing people far more harm than good.
 
When leaders are careful to stand guard for God's Truth, insisting that he is accurately represented to the world around us, then people will have the opportunity to really know him and be effectively equipped to live life the way God designed us to.

Stand - look around - it is YHVH that gives us a safe, secure hiding place - Therefore rejoice.

1. A.D. 30 - According to historical calculations

2 The Lord’s grace - 1 Corinthians 12:7-9

3. A white horse - Revelation 19:11

4. Foolish controversies, genealogies, arguments and quarrels about the law - Titus 3:9

5. 40 years - 1 Kings 11:42

6. Balaam - Numbers 22:28-30