The Other Way Around- Exodus 13:17

And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:(KJV)

 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” (NIV)

As I was reading in Exodus earlier, this passage really hit at the brain waves hard. It was another Thank You Holy Spirit moment. (TYHS) I’ve been getting so many messages from the Holy Spirit in this study of reading through the bible in a year calendar. It amazes me that messages received are messages that I need to heed.

When we are going through life we more oft than not get caught up and lost in many of its issues (wars).  We experience so many emotions that hinder our health, our thinking, and our ability to do what the Lord has intended for us to do. We even see things differently through the mirror of fear. Stress can cause quite a few of us to have a mental breakdown over some of life’s issues, and in some cases it even causes death.  Most people never get to go the other way around an issue either because of a spiritual or physical death. I repeat Stress Kills.

The message I received is that therein exist The Other Way Around, when God plans a move(change) for you. God, who knows your heart, your fears, your thoughts and how you will react, will redirect your steps to be in line with His plan. Majority of the time we are a hard-headed people and try to choose our own route. This passage showed me that the Lord our God desires for us to avoid certain wars in life because He knows us well. Sometimes He will take you away from the war that lies ahead, as He did the Israelites leading them not through the way of the land of the Philistines. After this morning’s epiphany I have to believe that He will do the same for us today.

Our life issues may differ; some will get around wars and some may go through wars to get to where God has intended for them to be.  It is often preached that you have to go through something to get where God wants you to be. There are many other stories in the bible that alludes to that statement. Well, I agree because for generations, to be exact for “four hundred and thirty years” (Read Exodus 12:40-42), the Israelites were in bondage to the Egyptians before Moses was chosen to lead them out of Egypt. For many years they went through some heavy oppression before becoming desert wanderers.

Even today some are living in an oppressive state. Peradventure, time comes along to move us out of oppression; we become glad until we hit a bump or fork in the road. We become confused about where we are to go. I have realized that through faults of our own, we try to move ahead of God only to find out that we went about dealing with the move in a wrong way (the bump or fork in the road).  

 

 

 

Sometimes we as Christians don’t realize that there was the other way around (God’s Plan) until after the fact.  But, here’s the grace… God will still lead you the other way around when you submit to and trust in His ways. Quite often we take a short cut or a short route to accomplish or change something. Often times that cut leads to a war within our very being that affects our mental and physical health.  It affects our relationships with others. It affects our trust and belief in God. It even makes us want to return to whatever our Egypt was.

My prayer is that we all come to realize that there is the other way around. It is the way that God has planned for us when we find ourselves oppressed and in bondage by many of life’s issues. The word says “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and by night: He took not away the pillar…..”(Exodus 13:21-22) What does this say to you?  It tells me that as He was with the Israelites, so shall He be with us to take us the other way around too. Amen.

Enemy Tactics…Remove Yourself and Be Not Afraid

Matthew 12:9-14

 And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue: And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.  And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?  How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.  Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.

Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.

 They say that there will always be someone around that we do not get along with, i.e.. someone we do not see eye to eye, nor heart to heart with on things.  Ok…It’s Life.  But, why must an indifference turn into one starting a war, one wishing ill will upon another, and/or one plotting  evil against another to destroy them?  If you think deeply about it, at the heart of many indifferences lies fear; not hatred for others.  Sooooo…why is fear such a strong natural practice for the human race?  I don’t know for sure, but I do know that we can better prepare spiritually if we become more aware of who the real enemy is.

Off Beat Moment– I have noticed one thing about this next presidential election…It is a fear based election. That’s enough politics from me. The Pharisees…were they not a type of political group?  🙂

I don’t believe there is any bible verse stating that Jesus was fearful of any plots against Him.  I did love His action plan which took place in Matt.12:15 –But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all; 

There is a possibility that some are not aware of the two things Jesus set forth as an example to us in that passage when dealing with enemies:

 (1) He removed Himself from their presence.

(2) He did not let the enemy keep Him from doing God’s will. (That deserves a Praise the Lord shout out!)

Enemies know how to work as a close knit group and they communicate very effectively amongst themselves to set a motion into action. As I was reading in Matthew 12 earlier, I was led to focus on enemy tactics. I’m so happy to be sharing them with you beloved readers. (TYHS!!!!) 

1. They will watch you.
2. They will call a meeting(council) to order.
3. They will speak against you.
4. They will proceed in acts against you such as avoidance, gossip, look over their eyelids past you, try a sneak attack on you in a sermon, and walk a crooked mile behind you.
   
5. They are behind the pulpit and in the pews aka body of Christ. Be watchful of their actions towards you and pray for them. Be like Jesus, remove yourself from them and carry on with whatever gift God has given you to minister to others in Jesus name.
6. They will try to limit the use of your spiritual gifts.
7. They are prone to err.

The ignorance that goes on in the body of Christ is a truth that hurts not only the Believers in His house but, It Hurts God.

Wisdom Moment– During my study, I believe I’ve found the best advice on how to deal with an enemy and a great quote. (TYHS) It is found in Deuteronomy 20:1:

When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies , and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.        

  Quotes

I Love You

Love Covers A Multitude Of Sins             

The Gift of In the Fear of the Lord from the Spirit of the Lord

“…shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of…” (Isaiah 11:3)

I wrestled with this for a moment until the Holy Spirit placed my focus on the words “IN THE FEAR OF.” The previous post about piety was fear OF. I’m straight now. Let us have an English moment:

In – is the preposition used when stating a location or a position within something; used to indicate that someone or something belongs to or is included as part of something

Of- is the preposition used when there is a belonging to, relating to, or connected with (someone or something)

Fear- : to be afraid of (something or someone); to have a reverential awe of <fear God>

Now let’s back it up to some key words that glorify the word fear- “quick understanding”. (TYHS) How often is that overlooked? The word fear is the cause of overlooking many things said and done. When this gift is resting upon us from the Spirit of the Lord, I shall be bold to say that we will know things without a doubt, without lagging in thought, and with no afterthoughts or forethoughts; we will have a belonging to “quick understanding in the fear of the Lord.” (poof on the spot!) How cool is that?

Simply put, I believe Acts 9:31 explains what it is to be n fear of the Lord: Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied. Do you understand the spiritual aspect of that verse?

 

Let me break it down as to what happens when one has a QUICK UNDERSTANDING:

1. You have rest(relaxation) in the Lord
2. You will be edified(educated) in the Lord
3. You will be in comfort (well-being) of the Holy Ghost
4. Your branches will multiply (grow) in Christ, the root of Jesse
5. You will have complete intimacy with the Lord (Ding! Ding! Knock Out!)

And to mention-with a quick understanding you can be considered a jack of all trades. You are positioned right where God is, connected to and within Him. You are able to do many works that are of His will. You are as the Temptations would sing “Standing on the top”. You will know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) To love God is to be in the fear of God-H.O.L.I.N.E.S.S.

Moses said it best: “…Do not fear, for God has come to test you that the fear of him may be before you that you may not sin.”(Exodus 20:20)

Think deeply about this. Who would you rather live in fear of? When we live in fear of others, what happens? Let me tell ya!

The Happens:

• We are always stressed and depressed
• We are always looking over our shoulders(deficiency in trusting others)
• We have no peace/rest within
• We don’t understand the fear
• We are repetitively sinning
• We have car and house alarm systems just waiting for someone to steal or break into
• We have security guards and alarm systems in place at churches
• We don’t love others unconditionally (1 John 4:18-There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.)
• Hatred runs amuck

I bet you didn’t think of those things as being related to living in fear of others and not fear in the Lord? (TYHS) Let us be reminded my loves, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”(2 Timothy 1:7) I believe that the fear of others comes from that bad spiritual realm. If we are doing wrong, fear automatically comes through that realm. “Know what I mean Vern?”

The bottom line is this:

“In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.” (Proverbs 14:26) “And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.” (Luke 1:50)

My beloved, understand, when a place of refuge/protection can’t be found anywhere else; this verse clearly teaches us that in living in the fear of the Lord, we are guaranteed a place of refuge/protection by our Heavenly Father. We are connected with(of) God. (TYHS) Only the Spirit of the Lord can give us that peace BY RESTING THIS GIFT UPON US. Father, we all pray to receive a quick understanding from the Spirit of the Lord, teach us to stop fearing one another. Prepare our hearts and minds to receive this gift in Jesus name. Amen.

I Love You

Love Covers A Multitude of Sins

The Gift of Piety from the Spirit of the Lord

*Piety- n- reverence for God or devout fulfillment of religious obligations: the quality or state of being pious: dutiful respect or regard for parents, homeland, etc.:

*Syn.- 1. respect, veneration, awe. 2. godliness, devotion, devoutness, sanctity, holiness, faithfulness

* Hebrew- Yir’ah – fear (of God), respect, reverence, piety

“To sum up, remember that unless piety and your interest be in the same thing, piety cannot be maintained in any man.”-Epictetus

My Key Belief-  Piety in its full manifestation comes directly from the Holy Spirit. Piety at this stage is something we cannot produce on our own. Let us think about what took place on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2.

Using the KJV, Isaiah 11:2 states- And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord;-(i.e. Piety)

In this world, fear can be classified as alarming respect. For example, a lot of us have earthly levels of fear, i.e. a fear of flying, animals, truth, and what others do or say to us. The idiom works well here “Once bitten, twice shy” (If somebody is said to be once bitten twice shy, it means that someone who has been hurt or who has had something go wrong will be far more careful the next time.) Experiences of fear are great lessons, yea?

We unconsciously have respect of that fear by staying far away from it as possible and consciously have respect of by remembering the bite. Simply put- Fear of puts us in a position of being controlled by whatever the fear is. With that being said, it leads me to ask what a lot of us ponder in our hearts and mind. Why should we have fear /Yir’ah of the Lord? Specifically, why should we, when He says that He loves us? The reasons will come directly from the Word of God as shared below from Genesis 20 and other chapters about Abraham. I feel the Spirit working in my heart, as I write, so let me pray.

Prayer- Abba Father, Holy Spirit, let the focus and the truth manifest itself from Genesis 20 about piety. Out of all the other verses that speak of piety, you have led me here for a reason. Lord, thank you for the death of things and people you are removing and replacing in my life, even those things I fear letting go of. Lo, Father, I don’t understand why you need me to lose, but I know you will provide and renew in another area away from those and places that hinder my growth in you. All I ask is not to be moved too far away from my children and grandchildren. In Psalm 37, David said “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” You have called me out Lord to walk upon your many oceans without the fear of drowning as I trust in and give you all reverence due you. In Jesus name, let your Spirit lead others who read this to understand where this message fits in their life because your truth is deeper than we can even imagine. Amen. I’ve been led to share this song of worship with you. (TYHS)

This has been put in the order given to me, be not confused. Tis, the season of migration til we get to God’s POINT. (TYHS)

Genesis 20:11 – And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake. (What one thinks when one has a reverence of God and others do not) As the story goes, God came to Abimelech in a dream and put fear in which turned to fear of, so that Abimelech does right by a man who already has fear of God. In short, piety was produced by the Holy Spirit of God.

In Genesis 20:6 And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. Can we agree that this example shows that piety keeps us from sinning against God?

Verse 17 -So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. Can we agree that piety allows one to be healed? Did God show Abimelech love?

Verses 7-8– Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine. Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid. Can we agree that piety allows us to be obedient to the word of God without giving it a second thought? Can we agree that piety allows us to tell others about God’s power?

Verse 13-15 And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother. And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee. Can we agree that even piety of God exists within those that lie out of fear of what others may say or do to them?(Read the full story about Abraham) Can we agree that piety leads us to wander to get to the place God has set before us through other venues? (Oh Lord! TYHS!)

In closing I believe that upon receiving the gift of Piety from the Spirit of the Lord we can understand migrating to where God wants and needs us to be, forever in His presence.(TYHS):

Genesis 20:1– And Abraham journeyed from thence toward…..

Genesis 18:33 -And the Lord went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.

Genesis 12:1– Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

Genesis 15:1– After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. (God’s POINT)

A Key for you– Having Piety of God and a true interest in Him brings forth His love and shield of protection which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior. For He alone is God.

Many thanks to you beloved readers for stopping by and spending time with my thoughts! I pray that you received a blessing and that you never be led astray by me nor others, from the Word of God.  May the gift of Piety rest upon you. One more gift to go!

I Love You

Love Covers a Multitude of Sins

🙂 Sorry! The Holy Spirit wouldn’t let me end this…have to sneak in some Job

Job 4:6- Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?

At One’s Wits’ End? “Seek the Lord and Live.” Amos 5-6

A Dictionary Moment
At one’s wits’ end- to be very worried or upset because you have tried every possible way to solve a problem but cannot do it; at the end of one’s ideas or mental resources; perplexed; utterly confused

Most are familiar with the idiom. Dare I say that most of us have been at our wits’ end? With God as your RESOURCE, you will never be at wits’ end. Let’s take a journey.

Continuing on this Lent journey through the book of Amos I was a bit confused of the message received. I prayed before the study and was ready to hear what words the Lord had for ME. This is MY journey, my heart rending time. But the Spirit of God put someone else on my heart and mind. I asked not why. I was reminded once again that I am not God; I cannot do everything for everyone and that the choices and mistakes that others make are not my boundaries. I hear you Lord. I finally HEAR you I shouted out. I’m not sure if this can be labeled as a lesson learned for me, therefore I’ll just pass on the message received.
The reason most of humanity end up at one’s wits’ end is due in part to a lack of individual preparation and complacency. Yep! C-o-m-p-l-a-c-e-n-c-y!
As you may recall, in Amos 4:12, God warns the house of Israel to “prepare to meet thy God.”
I’ve noticed that when one is at one’s wits’ end, it happens when one is NOT hearing the advice of others that are very close to them. One is stuck in the moment(s) of their doings and fails to recognize crouching sin. Remember what God said to Cain (Genesis 4:6-7) “…sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”  How many times has God said “Hear” in the Holy Bible? How many times has God said to you “Hear”?  Catch these my sweethearts!!!!!  Did you hear (syn. – perceive, receive, get) or did you listen (syn.-eavesdrop, snoop, attend)? ((((((TYHS))))))
So then I ask God, while reading Amos 5 and 6, what do you do when you know someone very dear to you is at their wits’ end? What do you do when you are so spiritually bonded to them, feeling and knowing their every ache without them saying a word? What do you do Lord, please tell me, when they are so broken, words and deeds of others go unnoticed by them? What do you do when that person feels like they have been a burden on those who help them? ((((((JESUS)))))) I looked up from writing my questions down and in the right hand corner of my closet, Tigger was staring at me.  I burst out with laughter.  

In the Winnie the Pooh stories, you know Tigger just bounces everywhere on his tail. Occasionally, you would see him walking through the 100 acre woods. Bouncing on his tail was his signature move. Bounce~~~ bounce~~~bounce!  In bounces the message from the Holy Spirit.

(Read Amos 6)

Yep! C-o-m-p-l-a-c-e-n-c-y! Tigger … a great messaging tool! (TYHS)
Dear readers, whatever situation you have fallen into or when you are at one’s wits’ end, hear this!

You

• Must Prepare yourself to meet thy God
• Must Seek Him and Live
• Must Rend your heart and Repent
• Must Reform self
• Must Put ALL Faith in God for His will to be done in your life

One cannot “HEAR this word” when the Lord is speaking, when one is always bouncing around like Tigger, or never standing still long enough on one’s own two feet to prepare one’s self to live as God intended. I tell ya! Lifesight (my new word) is nothing like hindsight.

 Here’s one of my favorite Tigger quotes.

“Excuse me a moment, but there’s something climbing up your table,” and with one loud Worraworraworraworraworra he jumped at the end of the tablecloth, pulled it to the ground, wrapped himself up in it three times, rolled to the other end of the room, and, after a terrible struggle, got his head into the daylight again, and said cheerfully: “Have I won?”

(With God, you can win, just say YES to Him)

Let this song minister to you- (parts 1 & 2) I love singing this song, very powerful.

Fleeing To Your Destiny – Jonah 3:1-8 To Chance or To Choose?

Jonah 3:1-8

And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.  So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.  So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.  For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.  And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:  But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.

Vocabulary Enrichment

Chance- n- something that happens unpredictably without discernible human intentions or observable cause; the assumed purposeless determiner of unaccountable happenings

Choose- vb- to select freely and after consideration; to have a preference for

In this chapter, Jonah made a fleeing to his destiny choice instead of taking to chance a fleeing from his destiny. Enjoy!

Lesson- Much to his chagrin inside the belly of a great fish for three days and three nights Jonah learned it is a better choice to flee to God instead of fleeing from God. It is better to make choices, wise ones at best using the Holy Spirit as your guide when the Lord makes a request of you. We have all taken chances on something or someone. We have thrown our own selves overboard into a belly of a great fish far longer than 3 days and 3 nights. We have all ran and some still run in the opposite direction of God. During this journey, I was shown that I’ve made a few bad choices in my lifetime because of leaving things to chance, or doing what I thought was best even as a Christian. Praise the Lord for GRACE and God’s Protective Shield (GPS).

Remember Jonah’s escape happened due to Divine Intervention in Chapter 2? The Holy Spirit also showed me that the perfect example of a person making a wise choice is that of Abraham. Most of you that are reading here are familiar with the events of Abraham (Genesis 11-25). He could have taken a chance to run away and hide his son from God, something that most of us would do if God asked us to sacrifice one of our children. To chance anything is out of alignment for us to achieve God’s Will. What did Jonah achieve once he made the choice to serve God? He achieved his freedom from the seaweed wrap (you folks be careful of those seaweed wraps in Spa’s) and he delivered the message to Nineveh per God’s original request.

The Boom!!!… Insight given to me from the Holy Spirit! Let’s pen them as Abraham’s Choices. There are three (3) choices we must make in order to discern that we can’t hide anywhere nor hide anything from God. (TYHS) If you make these three choices, i.e., go out on the limb (mho) then as they say…“you know that you know that you know that if it had not been for the Lord on my side” is a good adage to evoke after failed attempts to flee God.

1. You have to know God.
2. You have to have faith in God.
3. You have to be obedient to God.

Think about this… Aside from Jonah, how many people in the bible thought that hiding or fleeing from God was possible? In my heart rending lesson learned, Abraham made good choices. He knew God, had faith in God, and was obedient to God. It is NOT impossible for us to be as Abraham was.

I have also learned through research that Jonah was the only prophet chosen not to deliver a message to Israel and Judah. The other books are full of prophecies as compared to Jonah’s one prophecy to deliver. Now isn’t that interesting? Nineveh was full of wickedness, comparative to the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah. Folks, I’m here to tell you…Leave to chance to God and choose to serve Him using His GPS, aka The Holy Spirit. Romans 11:33(KJV) O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!  This verse is why I believe you should leave to chance with God. Was not Jonah’s encountering a purposeless unaccountable happening? If you are going to flee from something, you might as well make the choice to flee to your destiny. Let your Ebenezer stones of your past remembrances be your stepping stone onto dry land to make the right choices. Nobody likes to be wet all the time, unless you are a fish. 😛  Amen.

Enlightening Quotes / Relative Bible Verses

William Jennings Bryan (2) 

“If the Bible had said that Jonah swallowed the whale, I would believe it.”

2 Timothy 3:16 – All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

“The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear and get a record of successful experiences behind you. Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice: It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”

Isaiah 55:11 – So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it.

Hebrews 11:7 – By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

Frank Scully

“Why not go out on a limb? Isn’t it where the fruit is?”

Luke 19:1-10 – And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature. And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Zacchaeus made a choice to go out on the limb, mho)

Unknown

“Liberty is the right to choose. Freedom is the result of the right choice.”

Galatians 5:1 -Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

You too can learn a lot from the book of Jonah. I was and still am in awe of the lessons I’ve learned during Lent 2014. It really does take rending your heart to God to learn what His destiny is for you to give you an “expected end.” It is definitely not to harm you. Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Next Journey Shareware- Jonah 3:9-10