Flee from the Darkness

Hunger for God's Presence

• Sin invites separation from God and separation from God should terrify us.
• If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and we do not practice the truth.
• The presence of the Living God must be something you can't live without. Nearness to Him should be the most desperate cry of our hearts.
• If you develop an appetite for righteousness, God Himself will satisfy you. His presence and love will overwhelm you.

Why were you made?

The Good News of Christianity
We cannot live meaningful lives if we don't know why we were created.

Six Foundational Truths for Understanding the Good News of Christianity

1. God created us for His glory.
2. Therefore, it is our joyful duty to live for His glory.
3. All of us have failed to glorify God as we should.
4. Therefore, we are all dead in our sins and under God's just condemnation.
5. God sent His Son to save sinners and bring them into His eternal joy.
6. All the benefits purchased through Christ's death and resurrection are given to those united to Him through faith.

Glory

• Greatness
• Beauty
• Value

Isaiah 43:5-7
Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by My Name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made.

Implications

• That My glory may be known as the greatest treasure
• That My glory be enjoyed as the greatest pleasure
• That My glory be shown as the greatest treasure 
• by being enjoyed as the greatest pleasure and by attitudes and actions that flow from that pleasure in God.

Psalm 115:1 (NIV)
Not to us, LORD, not to us but to Your Name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.

Psalm 115:1 (NLT)
Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your Name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness.

A Word for Backsliders

How eager Jesus was to restore broken fellowship with his apostles after the resurrection! Surely this is a sign of how eager he is to restore us when we have drifted (or bolted) away.

All the apostles had forsaken him. In the garden, at his most sorrowful hour, "They all left him and fled." (Mark 14:50).

Now he was raised. What would he say to those who had abandoned him? Three healing things:

1. To Mary at the tomb: "Go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" (John 20:17)...
2. He finds the apostles, stands among them, and says, "Peace be with you." He showed them his hands and his side - horrible reminders of what it cost him when they forsook him. And he says again. "Peace be with you." (John 20:19-21)...
3. To Peter, three times: "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?"... [then]... "Feed my lambs." "Tend my sheep." Feed my sheep." (John 21:15-17). I have not given up on you, Peter. You are a shepherd of my sheep. Do you recall that I prayed for you? I told you what was coming. I never let you go. My command was a promise. "When you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." (Luke 22:32)

Jesus was eager to repair the damage that had been done. Eager to forgive, restore, recommission. If you  have forsaken him, let him down, offended him, take heart. He is not less eager to repair things with you. Seek his face. Ask him. Receive his grace...

View on Bible.com

Secret to Invincible Joy

Jesus revealed a secret that protects our happiness from the threat of suffering and the threat of success. The secret is this: Great is your reward in heaven. And the sum of that reward is enjoying the fullness of the glory of Jesus Christ. (John 17:24). Christ is my reward

He protects our happiness from suffering when he says,

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.
(Matthew 5:11-12)

Our great reward in heaven rescues our joy from the threat of persecution and reviling.

He also protects our joy from success when he says,

Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in ehaven.
(Luke 10:20)

The disciples were tempted to put their joy in ministry success. "Even the demons are subject to us in Your name." (Luke 10:17). But that would have severed their joy from its only sure anchor.
So Jesus protects their joy from the threat of success by promising the great reward of heaven.
Rejoice in this: that your names are written in heaven. Your inheritance is infinite, eternal, sure.

Our joy is safe. Neither suffering nor success can destroy its anchor. Great is your reward in heaven. Your name is written there. It is secure.

Jesus anchored the happiness of suffering saints in the reward of heaven. And he anchored the happiness of successful saints in the same.

And thus he freed us from the tyranny of worldly pain and pleasure.

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By Their Fruits

(15) "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. (16) You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? (17) Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. (18) A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. (19) Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (20) Therefore by their fruits you will know them.  New King James Version

The description here is very apt—wolves in sheep's clothing. They appear on the outside to be something they are not. When Jesus uttered this, He was probably thinking of false ministers who would insinuate themselves into the church by appearing to be sheep within the sheepfold.
Jesus uses this terminology in regard to His relationship with the church. He was the Shepherd, and we are His sheep. Here we have wolves (false ministers) who look like sheep, but it is hypocrisy. They only look that way on the outside. He tells us we will know them by their fruits. The fruit that is produced will not necessarily appear quickly. But Christ guarantees that over a period of time the church will be stripped of its true spiritual vitality in terms of the character that will be produced within the flock, making the rise of wolves in sheep's clothing more likely.
What is He saying? The implication is that Jesus is connecting belief with practice. If we believe a certain set of doctrines, we will practice something because of the teaching. A religious creed or the dogma that a group is following will produce a certain kind of conduct by the people. Belief and practice, creed and conduct—Jesus is saying they are vitality connected. In other words, the teacher cannot hide what he is going to produce. Eventually it will come out. Their false philosophies, no matter how attractive they may appear at first sight, will in the long run be exposed for what they really are.

— John W. Ritenbaugh

http://www.theberean.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Home.showBerean/BereanID/4624/bblver/NKJV/Matthew-7-15-20.htm

The Fear of the Lord

Proverbs 31:30

	(30) Charm is deceitful and beauty ispassing, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised. New King James Version

When God describes the ideal woman, she is portrayed as one who fears God. In order to be deserving of this praise, she must possess this particular characteristic—and a lot of it! We must also assume that "what is good for the goose is good for the gander"! God is no respecter of persons, and if God praises a woman because she has the fear of God, then He will also praise a man because he, too, fears God.
I John 3:4 defines sin as "the transgression of the law," and John 17:3 defines eternal life as "to know God." Here is a Bible definition of the fear of the Lord:

The fear of the LORD is to hate evil, pride, arrogance, and the evil way. (Proverbs 8:13)

This is why the woman pleases God and receives His praise. The knowledge of God, which is instilled as a gift, compels or constrains one to depart from evil. In other words, it leads one to keep the commandments of God.
The person makes the choice to do what is right and good and thereby evidences his inward disposition, his inward attitude, proving what is in his heart by what others see on the outside—his conduct. He departs from evil. God is taken into account in his life in every circumstance, in every aspect, and in every situation, and he makes the choice to do it God's way. The person learns to hate evil and tolove to do what is right, good, and pleasing to God! Godly living is the fear of the Lord!
The obverse of the coin is true too. If the fear of God is to hate evil, then the fear of God is also to love a godly way of life. The fear of the Lord is filled with moral content.

— John W. Ritenbaugh

http://www.theberean.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Home.showBerean/BereanID/7257/bblver/NKJV/Proverbs-31-30.htm

Psychiatrist and the Corpse

"When we think of ourselves as fixed, unchanging entities, we then seek to act in alignment with that self-concept and are troubled when we don't."
Michael Neill

A man goes to a psychiatrist and the psychiatrist asks him what's wrong.

The man says, "Isn't it obvious? I'm dead -- I'm a corpse."

The psychiatrist says, "But you walked in here -- can corpses walk?"

The man says, "Haven't you ever seen a zombie movie? Of course corpses can walk."

So the psychiatrist says, "But we're talking -- do corpses talk?"

The man says, "What kind of a question is that? Of course corpses can talk!"

Finally, the psychiatrist gets an idea. With a crafty look in his eye, he asks the man, "Do corpses bleed?"

The man thinks for a moment, and then says "No, no, corpses don't bleed. After all, we're dead, so we can't bleed."

Before the man can react, the psychiatrist reaches over and pricks him on the hand with a needle and a small drop of blood emerges from under his skin. The man stares at the blood in amazement.

"Well I'll be damned," the man says. "Corpses do bleed!"

When we see that our  character... is made up of the true constants of Mind, Consciousness and Thought, we are free to think anything, feel anything, and do anything in any situation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-neill/the-fourth-principle_b_8219216.html

Principles of an Eagle

PRINCIPLE 1

Eagles fly alone at high altitude and not with sparrows or other small birds. No other bird can got to the height of the eagle. Stay away from sparrows and ravens. Eagles fly with Eagles

PRINCIPLE 2

Eagles have strong vision. They have the ability to focus on something up to five kilometers away.

When an eagle sites his prey, he narrows his focus on it and set out to get it. No matter the obstacles, the eagle will not move his focus from the prey until he grabs it.

Have a vision and remain focused no matter what the obstacle and you will succeed.

PRINCIPLE 3

Eagles do not eat dead things. They feed only on fresh prey. Vultures eat dead animals, but eagles will not.

Be careful with what you feed your eyes and ears with, especially in movies and on TV. Steer clear of outdated and old information. Always do your research well.

PRINCIPLE 4

Eagles love the storm. When clouds gather, the eagles get excited. The eagle uses the storm’s wind to lift it higher. Once it finds the wind of the storm, the eagles uses the raging storm to lift him above the clouds. This gives the eagle an opportunity to glide and rest its wings. In the meantime, all the other birds hide in the leaves and branches of the trees.

We can use the storms of life to rise to greater heights. Achievers relish challenges and use them profitably.

PRINCIPLE 5

The Eagle tests before it trusts. When a female eagle meets a male and they want to mate, she flies down to earth with the male pursuing her and she picks a twig. She flies back into the air with the male pursuing her. Once she has reached a height high enough for her, she lets the twig fall to the ground and watches it as it falls. The male chases after the twig. The faster it falls, the faster he chases it. He has to catch it before it falls to the ground. He then brings it back to the female eagle.

The female eagle grabs the twig and flies to a higher altitude and then drops the twig for the male to chase. This goes on for hours, with the height increasing until the female eagle is assured that the male eagle has mastered the art of catching the twig which shows commitment. Then and only then, will she allow him to mate with her.

Whether in private life or in business, one should test commitment of people intended for partnership.

PRINCIPLE 6

When ready to lay eggs, the female and male eagle identify a place very high on a cliff where no predators can reach. The male flies to earth and picks thorns and lays them on the crevice of the cliff, then flies to earth again to collect twigs which he lays in the intended nest. He flies back to earth and picks thorns laying them on top of the twigs. He flies back to earth and picks soft grass to cover the thorns. When this first layering is complete the male eagle runs back to earth and picks more thorns, lays them on the nest; runs back to get grass it on top of the thorns, then plucks his feathers to complete the nest. The thorns on the outside of the nest protect it from possible intruders. Both male and female eagles participate in raising the eagle family. She lays the eggs and protects them; he builds the nest and hunts. During the time of training the young ones to fly, the mother eagle throws the eaglets out of the nest. Because they are scared, they jump into the nest again.

Next, she throws them out and then takes off the soft layers of the nest, leaving the thorns bare When the scared eaglets again jump into the nest, they are pricked by thorns. Shrieking and bleeding they jump out again this time wondering why the mother and father who love them so much are torturing them. Next, mother eagle pushes them off the cliff into the air. As they shriek in fear, father eagle flies out and catches them up on his back before they fall and brings them back to the cliff. This goes on for sometime until they start flapping their wings. They get excited at this new-found knowledge that they can fly.

The preparation of the nest teaches us to prepare for changes; The preparation for the family teaches us that active participation of both partners leads to success; The being pricked by the thorns tells us that sometimes being too comfortable where we are may result into our not experiencing life, not progressing and not learning at all. The thorns of life come to teach us that we need to grow, get out of the nest and live on. We may not know it but the seemingly comfortable and safe haven may have thorns.

The people who love us do not let us languish in sloth but push us hard to grow and prosper. Even in their seemingly bad actions they have good intentions for us.

PRINCIPLE 7

When an Eagle grows old, his feathers become weak and cannot take him as fast as he should. When he feels weak and about to die, he retires to a place far away in the rocks. While there, he plucks out every feather on his body until he is completely bare. He stays in this hiding place until he has grown new feathers, then he can come out.

We occasionally need to shed off old habits & items that burden us without adding to our lives.

The Storm

Some people are made better by adversity while others are destroyed. When the storm came, the house built on sand was destroyed while that build on a rock stayed. The storms came to the two of them so the one that fell did not fall because of the storm. The storm only came to reveal the foundation. Storms of life come to everyone and some are swept away and some stand. The difference is our foundation. Your foundation will determine what happens when things don't go as planned.

Foundation
The interesting thing about foundation is that it is not visible. Hence, anyone can appear to be strong when things are okay but depth is revealed in adversity. Depth is more than accumulating academic knowledge. It is a knowing of the heart.

Belief
Until what you believe is challenged you will not really know if you believe it. The test of a relationship is in the tough times. The best relationships are not characterized by the absence of conflict but rather in the ability to come back after each conflict - better and stronger.

Building Foundations

• Discourage cracks. Cracks are adjustable standards. If when the going gets tough you take short cuts and compromise you are creating cracks in your foundation. If you compromise on the small things, you are setting yourself up for compromising in the big things. 
• The creation of a facade that presents who you are not is a dangerous place to be. "I would rather you hate me for who I am than love me for who I am not."
• To build your foundation you must consolidate your confidence in your person and not in your position or title. True power does not need titles to reign. 
• Confidence in who God made you is key to staying focused in times of adversity. There is more to you than you are experiencing. The vision of my future is greater than the pain of my experience. Hard times come and go but the strong get stronger.

Words become deeds and deeds become destinies.