Looking around for nature’s best,
God’s best.
It lifts my spirit
when I see His masterworks,
a great delight to my soul.
Nature Browsing
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7 Things to Practice for Holiness
1. Practice consecration with prayer. Consecration is the act of giving ourselves completely to God through prayer for His will and service, recognizing that our life and all that we have is His. E.M. Bounds has said: “Prayer enters into every phase of a consecrated life…Consecration is really the setting apart of one’s self to a life of prayer.”
And how does all this affect holiness? If affects it directly and in every aspect. We cannot be holy without it. Why? Because consecration is that which prepares the heart for holiness. It is the act of giving ourselves to God by bringing our desires in line with His, thus by making our attitude right before him. Moreover, by consecration we both prepare ourselves for holiness and we enter into that holy life. A holy life in every phase is a life of consecration with prayer.
2. Practice…
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When Good and Bad Clash
It seems that, with this new abortion ruling, we are seeing new extremes for good and for bad. The abortionists are venting their anger and the pro-lifers are venting their joy. I just hope we pro-lifers will not feel sorry for the sad abortionists. They have been guilty of sin too long. Their time has come. Let them meet God.
Similarly, let all Christians see sin and evil for what it is. If there are evil spirits and demons, let them be called out in Jesus’ name. If there is ongoing sin, let it be quickly rejected. It is time now to stand strong for Jesus.
There will soon be coming on the earth the ultimate stand-off between good and evil. It will happen after the Rapture—so we might see it from heaven. It will be the battle between the two witnesses who will preach the truth, and the Antichrist who is full of lies and deceit. This battle will go on for three and a half years until God’s restraints are lifted off of the Antichrist, and he will kill the witnesses. Then we will see how evil the world is. They will rejoice over their death. And will let them lie dead for three and a half days. Then when God raises them to life and takes them to heaven, we will see the good and godly ones rejoice. (Revelation 11)
So, make no mistake, there is now good and evil, and we all live and work together. We very often smile at each other and try to be at peace. But at other times, we see the differences and we clash. Sometimes it is hard to see who people are. But Jesus has said, one lives for God, the other for the devil. I think it is best that the truth be known. It is never good to live in deception. Let the truth set you free.
Now let me be clear, those who speak against the six Supreme Court justices that ruled against abortion and against all pro-life people, those are on the side of evil! Their father is the devil! Jesus said in Luke 17:1-2,
It is inevitable that stumbling blocks should come, but woe to him through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.
Hence, let the battle continue, good against evil, until finally God overcomes all evil and Jesus reigns over all.
13 States to Quickly Enact Abortion Bans
I am so happy that 13 states are now quickly enacting bans on abortion. The thirteen states are Arkansas, Kentucky, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. Most of these states are immediately enacting bans with punishments and prison terms for those who disobey the states’ laws. A few states will wait for 30 days for the ban to go into effect. And most of the states will have some exceptions like rape and incest.
It is my hope and prayer that other states will follow the example of these thirteen. They are saying that thirteen more will likely ban abortion too. That’s great news!
Abortion is not supported anywhere in the constitution. And it is not a woman’s right to choose an abortion. Abortion is murder!
Let us be glad for these thirteen states and thirteen more to follow; and let us pray for them, because they will be attacked. They need our prayers and support.
Why I Must Flee from Immorality – 1 Corinthians 6:18-20
I have been reminded recently of this truth—that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And because of this fact, we ought to flee from all that defiles this temple, mainly sexual immorality.
Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
I Corinthians 6:18-20
If any man is serious about his own purity, this passage is one of the best to memorize and take it to heart. I found that it helps in my studying of it to go over it backwards. Let me show you.
From verse 20. God bought me with the price of His own blood. So, He owns me. I am His property. Hence, He has given me access to this body, and I am its steward. And when I am found to be a good steward, I am honoring Him.
From verse 19. Here is more about this body: I can call it my body because God has purchased it for me and given it to me. The purpose of this body is to house God’s Spirit. My body is called a temple, the temple where His Holy Spirit dwells. He lives in me.
From verse 18. Now in light of this truth, I must do all I can to take care of this body. But there is a grave danger to it that I must be aware of and guard against. It is sexual sin. All other sins are outside of the body, but immorality is a sin against the body (and who knows how many ways it goes against my body). Therefore, I must flee from this sin. It is the only way to fight against it. I cannot try to fight with it and overcome it. If I try that, it will always deceive me and trap me. No, nothing I do will work to destroy this sin. I must run from it. That is the only way of escape. It is the only way to keep my body (the body that God gave me) clean and pure and honoring to Him.
How to Be Holy: The Process of Holiness
Holiness is a process, which means that it takes time and continual effort. It doesn’t happen all at once. It is a process of transformation by renewal (Rom. 12:2). Renewal starts with the mind and then works into the character. The objective of renewal is always to renew the whole person: spirit, mind and body (complete renewal, however, will come after this life on earth; read 1 Cor. 15:51).
Have you ever seen an old building being renovated? All the old rotten material is removed and new material is put in its place. Sometimes it is found that the entire building must come down and be replaced. And so it would be a process of starting over. That is the picture of what renewal is. It is a renovation process. The old comes out and the new is put in its place. Hence, with us, all uncleanness and…
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Wildflowers on the Trail
God Has Gifted Every Christian for Holiness
Sinceit is God’s will for every Christian to be holy, He has given us the following gifts as necessary resources for holiness.
Jesus Christ
When you were saved you received Jesus as a gift (Jn. 1:12). In Him you were justified and made righteous—absolutely holy. “For He [God] made Him [Christ] who knew not sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Hence, His righteousness is credited to us. That means that positionally, we are eternally righteous and holy before God; we were made holy forever in Christ.
Now, though we are holy and sinless in our position or standing before God, practically we are not sinless and holy. In fact, though we have a new nature and desire not to sin, we still have our old sinful flesh; and so we find that…
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Update: Divine Encounters
This morning I’m hanging out in one of my favorite places for breakfast: Panera Bread. It’s cool in here but hot outside. It will be 100 degrees today, the hottest day yet.
I’ve been reading Killing the Killers, by Bill O’Reilly. So far in the reading it’s just been a lot of killing by terrorists. I’m waiting for the good guys to show up.
I’m taking some time off from work—my painting. I know I will have some jobs coming up soon. I always do. People will call. Actually, some have called but I said no. I like my days off too much.
Divine Encounters
I’ve been thinking some on “divine encounters.” What I mean is the encounters I would have with people as an ambassador for Christ—when I am walking in the Spirit. Thus, when he or she meets and engages with someone, since we as Christians have the Holy Spirit in us, we normally have a divine encounter with them. And so, everything we say to them is as if God is talking to them through us. We are the instrument of God bringing His message to them. This is a concept that we don’t always think about, but it is true. And we realize it most when we are walking in the Spirit—walking close to God in obedience.
I want to remind myself constantly of this idea—that I am always His ambassador and that normally every encounter I have with people is divine. I must not waste my time. I must make the most of it. If I am walking in the spirt, everything I say to people will be from His (God’s) mouth—from His heart. But if I say what is trivial and not of the Spirit, I am blocking the flow of His Spirit through me. That is a tragedy, and unfortunately, it happens too often in too many Christians. Too many of us are walking around as zombies (dead to the Spirit), and what we say is contrary to what the Spirit is trying to say in and through us. We must open our heart to Him; we must clean out our mouth and let the Spirt flow through us and out to others—so that we have those natural “divine encounters.”
Six Reasons to Be Holy
Not everyone desires holiness. But just in case you do, just in case God has put it on your heart to be like Him, I think you will find these point helpful. Here are six reasons to be holy.
1. To be like God. God created man and woman in His own image, according to His likeness (Gen. 1:26). This of course included His holiness. God wanted all mankind to be holy like Himself.
After the fall of man sin marred that image. But God’s purpose for us did not change. He has always wanted us to be holy like Him, even in a sinful world (Gen. 2:14, 15). In fact, throughout the Old Testament He commanded His people to be holy, saying to them, “Be holy because I, The Lord Your God, am holy” (Lev. 19:2, NIV).
And we can be holy! God has provided a way for us…
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Stephen Nielsen 