Awake At 30

" Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. ” ~Matthew 12:34-37  The words which flow forth from our mouths begin, as this verse says, in our hearts. Let's all be careful what we allow to enter our minds, take root in our hearts, and spill forth from our mouths ( Jms.3 ). What kind of words are you and I storing up in our hearts? Consider the following: To what sort of talk do we give audience? What is contained in our music, movies, tv programs, our leisure/entertainment, on our social media? Furthermore, what do we allow to be stirred up within our minds/hea...

"He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming quickly.' Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" ~Rev.22:20 Can you and I, with confidence, say these same words? Do we want our Lord to return, right now, in the state we are in at this very moment in time?  Are we ready to meet our Lord and be judged for eternity? Think over your actions today, think hard.  Was your life today a reflection of your Lord and Savior?  How did you act?  What did you say?  What did you allow your eyes to see and ears to hear? What did you think about today?  How was the quality of your prayer life, study time, and meditation upon God's word?  How is the state of your soul right now, stronger for today or weaker? Where would you go for eternity if you were to be judged by God, right now? "And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." ~Heb.4:13   What effect does thi...

We typically hear complaints from children about doing any number of things such as, “Do I have to mow the lawn?" or "Do I have to  do my chores?" or "Do I have to  go to bed now?" and so on. This will continue to go on, often transferring into other more serious matters, until the parents put their foot down. The good news is, if the child is promptly and consistently corrected, they usually shape up and with time may even grow out of this (given the proper motivation). That’s the beauty of children, they can be shaped and formed, bent as a young sapling to grow and continue in the right direction, until their training takes root and becomes a part of who they are. And hopefully, as they grow older, they stand firm upon the foundation and good training given to them by their loving parents and they learn to appreciate the wonderful raising that they had. This is as it should be and it is quite a responsibility to undertake as parents; to those who are raising...

Social media. Where do I start? As with most things in this life, there are pros & cons for this avenue of communication. This list can seem to be a mile long depending on your source. Much good can be done for the cause of Christ by spreading His word using these mediums; and to those doing so, I say a heart-felt thank you. I gain much good from reading a great many of my friends' posts that have a Biblical focus and you're a great encouragement to me daily. Aside from this obviously good use of social media, here's one pro and one con from a social standpoint for Facebook: Pro: It's amusing to me how in person an individual can be ever so shy, but give them a Facebook account & suddenly they come alive & fill the world with goodness & insights that others never knew they had. This can be good depending upon what they choose to say and it's a good outlet for those who are socially uncomfortable in other settings. Con: On the other h...

Psalms 145:1-3 NKJV " I will extol You, my God, O King; And I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord , and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable." How many of us had a warm night's sleep?  How many of us had food to eat this morning? How many are able to read this because: 1) you were allowed to awake to see another day, 2) you were blessed with another day of sight, and 3) you have the blessing of being able to read & comprehend? We can go on & on with this list, but the point is this: how many blessings has the Lord given us & continues to bless us with & do we praise Him as we should, or do we forget? If you're like me you find the answer to that last question both sobering & shameful at times. The thoughts in my mind, as I reflect on the goodness of God, go like this: "God gives me life; provisions to live;...