Romans 5
Faith Triumphs in Trouble
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Christ in Our Place
6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
Death in Adam, Life in Christ
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. 20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
James 2:13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
“Standing On The Promises Of God”
“Are You Washed In The Blood”
“To God Be The Glory”
“Blessed Assurance”
jcsouthwest 
Faith in tribulation. Yes we need that, but i would say that everyday life is tribulation in itself. Active persecution for ones christian faith shows that im doing it right. Of course who wants to be persecuted? Hands up no one. But those who were killed for their faith gave some amazing testimonies before they died.
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“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the (true/remnant) church.”
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Wicked — Aug 10, 2016 05:30 am | Glynda Linkous
“My children, this time of so much change is to ready you for the end, which is approaching you quickly and will come with no warning. The negative changes you see are fulfillments of My Word, and judgments on the wicked, those who refuse to repent. So repent now if you are in sin, for My judgments are hard and unyielding.
I have given you everything that pertains to life and godliness, yet so many of My people still long for the things of the world – fame, success, and wealth. They seek after the idols of their hearts and know not what awaits them there.
The idols you worship have no hearts and will have no mercy on you, My children. When the end comes and disaster is all around you, who will you cry to then?
You have chosen idols who cannot save you. Only I can save.”
1 Peter 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
Psalm 119:160 Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.
Mark 13:32-36
32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. 33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. 34 For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. 35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: 36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
2 Peter 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
Jonah 2:8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
Colossians 3:5-8
5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. 8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Proverbs 1:23-27
23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. 24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
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Amen
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Welcome to the blog Elnora. Feel free to stop by any time and chat with a bunch of true believing brothers and sisters in Christ.
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Thank you Shalom
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Thankyou for loving our Yeshua Messiah. Shalom
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Thank you for the post James and the references on faith!
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The Scripture Below Reminds Us To Stay Humble In All Things. We don’t need to announce to everyone what we are doing, so we can be seen by others and get praises! We must be led by the Holy Spirit in all things.
Matthew 6:1-4
How to Give
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 So whenever you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward! 3 But when you give to the poor, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Matthew 6:5-8
How to Pray
5 “Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward! 6 But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7 When you pray, don’t babble like the idolaters, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. 8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him.
Matthew 6:16-18
How to Fast
16 “Whenever you fast, don’t be sad-faced like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive so their fasting is obvious to people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward! 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head, and wash your face, 18 so that you don’t show your fasting to people but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
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Peggy asked about smart dusts the other day i think it was, here is a little more flesh on the subject. Linda gave a good basis, here are some possible practical applications!
http://gizadeathstar.com/2016/08/latest-mind-manipulation-technology-neural-smart-dust/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GizaDeathStar+%28Giza+Death+Star%29
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Thanks for sharing that disturbing article. Past Science Fiction is so rapidly becoming today’s reality, it’s going to be difficult for most to see the difference between what they think are “harmless games, and pranks” vs what the Luciferian, Elite groups are doing. Another reason to pray for protection over all areas in our lives.
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Stig,
Thanks for the follow-up articles. Yes, the “smart dust” reference was in one of Linda’s blog comments by Linda. I had never heard of it before.
I didn’t look at your articles yet, but I definitely will- soon.
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See this (just out from Lisa Haven):
https://lisahavennews.net/2016/08/12/terrifying-activation-of-a-real-life-transcendence-avatar-now-for-sale-prolonged-life-ai-body-and/
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Thanks for sharing Peggy.
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And space exploitation has started in earnest. Obadiah said even though you make your home amongst the stars i will bring thee down!
http://gizadeathstar.com/2016/08/first-private-company-authorized-land-moon/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GizaDeathStar+%28Giza+Death+Star%29
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Thanks for that scriptural reference. I’ve not done any studies on Obadiah.
Obadiah 1:4
Though you seem to soar like an eagle and make your nest among the stars,
even from there I will bring you down. This is the Lord’s declaration.
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Daily Devotional — 08/11/16
SOLUTION TO PERSECUTION
“I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” Esther 4:16b
Today we have the second in the series from a house church pastor’s sermon in China:
How is suffering overcome? Or if you like, what is the solution to persecution? A church father answered this way; “Pray as if everything depends on God. Work as if God were going to do his work through you.” So when resisting persecution, we do everything humanly possible to lessen it. But then we also beseech God to put a stop to it. In the two comes deliverance.
You can see both sides involved here. On the human level, we see two characteristics coming to the fore especially—courage and cunning. Esther is the one who displays courage, by taking her life in her hands to enter the king’s presence without an appointment. She says, “If I perish, I perish.” What a brave woman! She’s also the one who displays cunning, hatching a plan to entrap Haman. She throws a banquet, reveals her racial identity, and then exposes Haman as the man who wants to kill her.
Would it have worked? Who knows? Perhaps not. Haman did have great clout with the king as a trusted advisor, and Esther was merely a queen, and queens—as made clear here—are easily replaceable.
But it did work out, thanks to God. And this is the other side. We pray and pray that God will intervene. There is so much that is beyond our control. Our planning, our cunning, our bravery, is never enough. We need God’s help. So the Jews have a time of weeping and repentance (Esther 4:1-3), and then God intervenes in an astonishing way.
An old pastor used to say to me, “I find that coincidences stop happening when I stop praying.” The resolution of the book of Esther hinges on a massive coincidence, namely, that at the precise moment Haman expects to kill Mordecai, the king decides to honor Mordecai. Both men reach each situation independently. Take the king, for instance.
· The king just happens to have a sleepless night before Haman will pitch his plan.
· He just happens to read the annals to get to sleep, and just happens to find the part that tells of a good deed of Mordecai.
· He just happens to decide to honor Mordecai the following morning at the very moment Haman comes into the room.
· He just happens to select the first person who walks into his room at that time to carry out his plan.
· That person is Haman, who just happens to be ready to ask for the head of Mordecai.
And through a misunderstanding, the king decides to put Haman to death, as he thinks Haman is molesting Esther when in fact he’s only pleading. The point is, all this is outside human control. It’s God’s doing. But He worked within Esther’s plan. And so the plan to persecute the Jews is foiled.
RESPONSE: Today I acknowledge that there are no coincidences, just God-incidences!
PRAYER: Help me, Lord, to be faithful and see evidences of Your control over my circumstances.
Standing Strong Through The Storm (SSTS), a daily devotional message by SSTS author Paul Estabrooks. © 2011 Open Doors International. Used by permission.
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Note ** I used a different version of the Bible, then what was on her original post, for better understanding**
A Watchman on the Wall Posted: 10 Aug 2016 06:19 AM PDT
“Learn to wait. Learn to trust.
Do not race ahead of My Holy Spirit. Times of refreshing await those who will put their lives into My hand.
As darkness covers your nation, rest in My amazing grace. Trust, lean and learn.”
Isaiah 40:28-31
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the whole earth. He never grows faint or weary;
there is no limit to His understanding.
29 He gives strength to the weary and strengthens the powerless.
30 Youths may faint and grow weary, and young men stumble and fall,
31 but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength;
they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary;
they will walk and not faint.
Isaiah 55:6-11
6 Seek the Lord while He may be found; call to Him while He is near.
7 Let the wicked one abandon his way and the sinful one his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, so He may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for He will freely forgive.
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways.”
This is the Lord’s declaration.
9 “For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways,
and My thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return there
without saturating the earth and making it germinate and sprout,
and providing seed to sow and food to eat,
11 so My word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty,
but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.”
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Very Dangerous Times: “Word On The Street: Putin Moving Columns Of Tanks Into Crimea”
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Israeli News Live “Crimea The Fuse For World War III”
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Can I Bless You Aug 11, 2016 05:30 am | Glynda Linkous
“As these changes come into your lives, My people, I desire you would seek Me more and more. I have spoken this thing to you before, but you did not obey Me.
You have continued to walk in your own way, and where will that lead you? For you know not the way I will take you by now.
You know not the dangers that surround you even now, and will you still rebel against Me? Will you still refuse to seek Me in My Word? Do you think I can bless you when you do thus?
I will not. ”
1 Peter 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
Mark 13:32-36
32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.
34 For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.
35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:
36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
Proverbs 16:9 A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.
Proverbs 1:23-27
23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
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A Watchman on the Wall Posted: 12 Aug 2016 12:13 AM PDT
“The goodness of God has been overshadowed by the greed of man.
The lives of the lost continue down the path of destruction as millions play church. You were called to be My witnesses to your lost and dying world but your witness is not pleasing to Me. Fault finding, grumbling, bitterness, resentment… the world is filled with it. Sadly the witness of the world differs little to the witness of My people. You grow weary. Where is the promise of His coming says many. Your desires are worldly, your hearts grown cold and indifferent and My Holy Spirit is not welcomed in My house.
Donald Trump is a man lost in sin, just as millions of Americans, yet you look anxiously to him to repair the brokenness of this nation.
Your eyes seem dimly; many see not at all.”
“The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness.” Luke 11:34
“You shall not bear a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. “You shall not follow the masses in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice…” Exodus 23:1-2
“Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” 1 Timothy 6:12
“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…” Hebrews 12:1
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Daily Devotional — 08/12/16:
THE STRENGTH OF PERSECUTION
Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. 2 Corinthians 1:9-11
The conclusion of the message on the book of Esther from a house church pastor in China:
I wish the book of Esther ended before chapter nine, but it does not. The book ends with the Jews taking revenge on all their enemies everywhere. They arranged a kind of amnesty for terrorism. For a day, they were allowed to kill anyone who had oppressed them and not be prosecuted for it. Thousands probably died. It was a kind of rough justice, but what does rough justice solve? It just makes the relatives of those slain burn with hatred, and they train their children to seek more revenge, and the weary cycle of bloodletting is accelerated.
I would apply this to the suffering church this way. Surviving a persecution situation involves desperation, but that desperation can turn into harshness and heresy if one is not careful. The terrible superstitions that came into the church in venerating the bones of martyrs were a response to persecution. Persecution brings martyrs. To revere martyrs is one thing. But to worship their relics as if they are a special lever to move the hand of God with—that is terrible.
Why is the book of Esther in the Bible? Because it tells us that God helps His people. If this decree had gone through, then a holocaust would have taken place and the will of God for the world would have been lost. We would have had no Bible otherwise. God was not going to let that happen, and He stretched forth His mighty arm to prevent it. The good news of His gospel must be spread. So reading about how God intervened must have given great increase to a Jew’s faith, as it increases ours too. God intervenes to save and get His will done. And His will is that all come to know Him and love Him.
So persecution can strengthen our faith, as we see God delivering His people powerfully and getting His will done.
I stand before you now, a living witness to the strength of suffering. We come out stronger, not because of our faith, but because we see God deliver us in mighty ways. We have to; otherwise we would be dead and gone. Praise God for persecution, for building His church no matter what the opposition.
Let us have the courage of Esther, and say, “If I perish, I perish.” But let us remember that our courage is decisive only because God is mighty, and stretches out His arm to deliver us when we cry.
RESPONSE: Today I will focus on God’s deliverance and stand strong trusting Him for the future.
PRAYER: Pray today for the persecuted church. Pray they will find their strength only in the Lord.
Standing Strong Through The Storm (SSTS), a daily devotional message by SSTS author Paul Estabrooks. © 2011 Open Doors International. Used by permission.
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Scripture — 08/12/16 — This reminds us that NO SIN will inherit the Kingdom, but all of us can be washed clean.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9-10 Don’t you know that those doing such things have no share in the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who live immoral lives, who are idol worshipers, adulterers or homosexuals—will have no share in his Kingdom. Neither will thieves or greedy people, drunkards, slanderers, or robbers. 11 There was a time when some of you were just like that but now your sins are washed away, and you are set apart for God; and he has accepted you because of what the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God have done for you.
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Jesus Christ is the only way to Salvation. Shalom
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