Wisdom Not Just For Wednesday

Where do YOU run, when trials of life come?

As you can see is the basis of many of our posts and podcasts, no matter what trials we are up against, we are NOT gonna let the little devil distract us from the HUGE and LIVING GOD, Who can resolve whatever we go through and even redeem it to our advantage. But, we had to first learn that we must run to Him when those trials of life come.

Our rejecting the lies of the devil and running INto God enables God to do miracles in our lives that are tremendous!  “For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life. But I trusted in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God. My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies' sake. ” (Psalm 31:13-16)

One of the greatest truths we have learned through our pursuit of walking in oneness with God is, as God's written Word says it best, “Blessed is the man that trusts in The Lord, and whose hope The Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

Thank you for checking out, recommending, and sharing this post.  Click and read one of the exciting ways God showed Himself BIG in the eyes of many witnesses of this faith-building message... 

..."HE RAN TO GOD WHEN ALL WAS LOST"

We can turn the tide of destruction in the lives of those around us who are listening!  We need to truly understand this!  We must choose to NEVER quit or give up, and decide that the devil can NEVER win in our life's painful and devastating trials, believing the TRUTH is God's Word that is our go-to that ALWAYS trumps the devil's lies! “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) Selah!

 Follow "Keith Shealy & Toward The Mark" on FB and meet wonder-full friends like...

 

  

  

Find out how to get your personal copy of more messages like this one, in our book The CRISIS of ERODING INTEGRITY.  We pray, and believe, that God will use it to help you, and everyone you know and share it with, to ...

Keep PRESSIN' IN!

Your friends and co-laborers in Christ,

    

HEAR this message ... 

 

Take me back to the top of this Pressin'IN Blog 

READ blog post, "THE POWER OF THE TONGUE" 

Help fan the flame in the hearts of those who are looking to increase in their faith, courage, and strength through Christ Jesus!  Give your tax-deductible gift today and help make more messages and resources like this possible!  Become a crucial part of The Family of Toward The Mark, Inc. Sponsors, whose every gift is appreciated and helps!

Toward the Mark, Inc. © 2005 - 2016 | Privacy Policy and Terms of Use apply | (757)251-2440 TowardTheMark Website | Resources@TowardTheMark.com

Day 7, Paragraph 7 of Weekday Blog #1

*Starting our morning and day off great with the 10-minute Weekday Blog*

Our first DAILY blog, every Weekday in JUNE!

Thank you for joining us for this
ground-breaking JOURNEY...
through the 1st CHAPTER of Keith's book,
“Keep the FAITH…Keep Your VISION”!

If you will read this book in its entirety, then you will be equipped
to begin walking with the confidence and authority that Jesus Christ
came and died to provide for us, in order that we may work *with*
Him, be *fulfilled* in our work, lead a *successful life*, and...
      

Day SEVEN,
Paragraph SEVEN:

    
We are spirit, soul, and body, in that order. Consequently, our true selves are not based on our physical bodies, but on the inward man of the heart. In other words, there is much more to natural birth than a cuddly little baby being brought into the world. For even as a jeweler places a valuable diamond ring into a comparatively inexpensive little box, God places us in physical bodies. Therefore, while the suffering a baby experiences being murdered in the womb is a great tragedy, the greatest tragedy of abortion is that the baby's spirit and soul are never given the opportunity to develop as God intended.

Question to ponder:

Why is the value of the diamond ring, that a jeweler places inside the inexpensive little box, a good comparison to the value of the baby's spirit, that God puts inside the simple physical body?  _________________________________________

Keith's "Comments from the Author":

"Just as Jesus, before He gave up His Spirit on the cross, said 'It is finished', it has been God's purpose all along that each one of us fulfill, hence finish, our purpose for which He has intricately designed us to fulfill.  As we mentioned yesterday, He intended our life and His purpose for our life to be fulfilled *with Him*.  This is what we often refer to as 'the Great Partnership' between us and our Father.  It is our ability to have an intimate working relationship with God that enrages satan with jealousy.  Fueled by this insane, jealous rage, satan continually works to hinder that Great Partnership between us and God, which Jesus paid for, with His own Blood.  One way that satan does this is by working to distract us, people in the general public, from realizing the Truth that each one of us are made of the three parts: spirit, soul and body - in that order.  By blinding people to this Truth, satan can more easily convince the proponents of abortion that a person in the womb is no more than 'a piece of tissue', a physical body.  The way the body came to be, whether by way of rape, by 'mistake', or by way of marriage union, when a sperm meets the egg inside the womb of the woman, God instantly becomes aware of the union between the two, a body, and joyfully inserts a spirit into that body.  So, you see, upon the union of that sperm and egg, you don't have 'a piece of tissue'; you have a human being, complete with spirit and soul and body, ready to fulfill the specific purpose that God designed within the spirit of that person, from the foundation of the earth.  The Scripture says that 'My People are destroyed for lack of knowledge' of God and His Word. Those people are destroyed individually, and also destroy others who fall under their area of responsibility.  So, the destruction works in two ways:   (1) an individual is destroyed, themselves, because of their not having the knowledge of God and His Word; and (2) that individual, such as a lawmaker, who does not know God and His Word, is responsible for permitting the destruction of others, the killing of the unborn, the babies in the mothers' wombs, by the laws of abortion that they are deceived into writing, approving, and passing.  It all comes around to the fact that it is satan's deceptive ploy that we get involved with in taking part in the killing of babies, those children in the womb.  It's important to point out that the word 'kill' means 'to terminate before completion'.

PS.  Please know this IMPORTANT POINT:  If you, or someone you know, were born out of rape, incest, or any other form of procreation that does not line up with God's Word, your spirit and soul, what is on the inside of your physical body, placed by God, is truly who you are.  Your physical body is the 'vehicle' that contains 'you', your spirit and soul.  YOU are specifically designed by God, before the foundation of the earth, to fulfill a very unique purpose.  Just like we know the diamond inside the inexpensive box is very valuable, the spirit that God created and placed inside your body is valuable beyond your comprehension.  Your body is NOT who you are, so your body being conceived outside of God's design of 'Holy Matrimony' does not, in any way, change the immense value of your spirit that is contained inside your body!  In the eyes of God, YOU are valuable beyond compare, no matter how your physical body looks or how it came to be!”

"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.  Brethren, pray for us.  Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss.  I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren.  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.  Amen."  (1 Thessalonians 5:23-28)

_____________________________

This book is based on real-life matters that are crucial for each one of us to embrace in our life. To ask questions, make a special donation for a large quantity of books, or if you would like to share a testimony or prayer request with us, please click for e-mail, or write a letter and mail it to the address shown on our website, and as provided below.

We pray God bless you greatly as you have greatly blessed us and the entire Toward The Mark, Inc. Family!

Your friends & servants in Christ,

Take me back to the top of this page.

Take me to the top of yesterday's post *DAY 6*, June 8th.

Take me to the beginning *DAY 1* posted June 1st.

To Show GOD BIG in a World that Sees Him small… 
sums up the reason Keith stepped out in faith to focus on reaching the lost and strengthening believers everywhere, through Toward The Mark, Inc.  Keith and Brenda's prayer is that you will be encouraged and edified by the Secrets from God's Word that Keith recounts in our written and recorded products.  The complete collection of original podcasts, music, blogs, books, CDs, and other resources of Toward The Mark, Inc. are made possible by the prayer and financial contributions of the TTM Support Family.  We'd like to welcome you onboard TODAY!

We INVITE You ... to follow and share these resources that are available as well, for helping build your faith in God, His Will, and His Ways:

~  "Keith Shealy & Toward The Mark" on Facebook
~  "TTM Singing Sergeant" on Twitter
~  "Sharing Messages God Whispers" on the website
~  "Between The Lines TTM Podcast" by Keith Shealy 

      

This blog message, along with the rest of our inventory of Bible-based resources, is made possible by the support of our faithful monthly partners. Would you consider helping us expand our outreach capabilities by becoming a monthly financial partner? Your support will go toward fulfilling our God-given calling to help provide effective, contemporary outreach tools, available to everyone, the churched and un-churched alike, for getting to know the love, truth, and salvation of Jesus Christ. We invite you to partner with us as we "press Toward The Mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:14)

CLICK HERE to make a tax-deductible contribution securely by PayPal.

Every gift is tax-deductible and helps, and we thank you for it!

Mail tax-deductible contributions by check to the order of:
Toward The Mark, Inc., P.O. Box 1152, Yorktown, VA 23692-1152. 

Thank you in advance for sowing your financial seed into the fertile soil of this ministry! We pray God bless you with a 100-fold return for your generosity!

Don't Say You'll Pray If You WON'T!

Perhaps one of the most subtle things satan does to deceive us away from God, and from serving others with Godly integrity, is working to keep us from realizing the cost of NOT doing what we say we are going to do.  Let's take, for instance, the popular phrase, or commonly-used "sign-off", "I'll pray for you."  How many times do we hear that statement, in a "see-ya-later" kind of voice, and from someone closing a conversation with a fellow Christian brother or sister?  How many times do we make that statement ourselves, then go on about our day, week, and month, and not think about the commitment we had made, or even remember it, again?

Not long ago, Brenda and I attended a special ceremony to observe a change of leadership for a local organization we work with in ministry on occasion.  At the end of the ceremony, as we went through the receiving line, we waited to shake hands with one of the primary national directors over the local organization.  As the person ahead of us finished talking and prepared to move on down the line, he reached out his hand and closed by saying, "Sir, I'll be praying for you."  Brenda reached out, shook his hand next, and shared how grateful we were to see that he was able to be here for this special leadership transition, and added that we pray God bless him for his support.  Being that Brenda and I had been discussing the subject of what the gentleman had said ahead of us, the subject of this blog, I took the opportunity to have a little bit of fun with him, saying, "Brother, I won't say, 'I'll be praying for you' because I probably won't."  He looked at me and, I could see by the look on his face, he was briefly puzzled by my making that comment.  Within just seconds, I could see that a light went on, when, with a big smile on his face, he replied, "I'm glad, because I probably won't be praying for you either."  We both agreed that, when we hear someone telling someone else that they are going to be praying for them, the first thing we think is, "Lord, I hope with all of my heart that that person truly understands the crucial importance of not breaking a commitment or vow."

Jesus blessed us with wisdom concerning this in Luke 14:28-30, "For which of you, intending to build a tower, stitch not down first, and counts the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?  Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish."  Though we are not talking about the construction of a tower, we are discussing the crucial importance of making sure, before we ever commit to praying for someone, that we have taken the time to learn about the needs of that particular person so we are able to pray for them effectively.  Remember, good intentions will never make up for failure to follow through with our verbal commitment to others.

When we tell God or anyone else that we are going to do something, and then turn around and not fulfill that commitment, we not only inflict pain on the one we committed to, but we reveal the lack of integrity operating in our lives.  To any of the people who heard you commit, and then observe your subsequent failure to honor that commitment, it does not matter what your intentions were.  The result is the same as if you had deliberately misled them.

It is easy to say to someone that we are going to pray for them.  That person doesn't know one way or the other if we actually do what we promised them, or not.  On the other hand, however, God does know, ... every vow we make.

When Jesus teaches us of the crucial importance of counting the cost of whatever we commit to doing, He teaches us that it is vital that we calculate whether or not we can keep the vow, and do so before we have made the vow.  Why?  It is because, in the eyes of Jesus Christ, whatever we have done "even to the least of His brethren," whether we have kept our word or not, we have done it to Him, personally!  This is what we must be aware of, and ask The Lord to help us remember always, as Jesus says in Matthew 25:40, "And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."  A person who says one thing and does another is a detriment to God and to everyone around them!

It boils down to this: If you are going to tell someone that you will do something, you had better think it through very carefully before you make the commitment.  A broken vow is an offense that carries a very stiff sentence in the eyes of God.  Do not be deceived by the use of the word “vow".  This can be something as simple as our telling someone that we are going to pray for them, but we do not—or our telling someone that we will call, stop by, or do something else for them, then we do not.  This especially includes honoring our words concerning punctuality.  When we say we are going to be at a certain place at a certain time, we need to keep the commitment to the T (as in Time).  If we find we will not make it at the time we committed to, at the very least, we should let the others know as soon as we can.  Even our worship depends upon this.  “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.  God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24)

There is no way around it.  Integrity must be the hallmark of our lives, in order for us to effectively model ourselves after God, and to verbally represent the Word of God to people!  We must speak the truth and live the truth.  Do not say you are going to do something, and then not follow through.  Whenever a person says one thing but does another, it is lying and will be judged as such.  Listen to the warning Jesus gives us concerning vows that are made in passing, “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.  For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36-37)  We must make sure our yea means yea and our nay means nay.

We pray that this message encourages you, and reminds you to S-T-O-P and COUNT THE COST of what you say and how you follow through.  Make sure to ask yourself daily, "Have I made an account of prayers I've committed to today, and am I making sure I really mean whatever it is that I say?

THANK YOU for connecting with us today!  Also, we appreciate you downloading copies of this blog to share with others, and a copy to keep handy for yourself!   

 

Find many more messages based on real-life matters, like this one, in our published book called, "THE CRISIS OF ERODING INTEGRITY."  For more information or to place large-quantity orders, visit us online at the Toward The Mark website today.

We pray God bless you greatly as you have greatly blessed us and the entire Toward The Mark Family!

In Christ Jesus,

PS.  THANK YOU for following the Blog of TTM, Inc. and we INVITE YOU to...  follow and share these Scripture-based tools also as we “Press Toward the Mark…”:

~ "Keith Shealy & Toward The Mark" on Facebook

~ "Keith Shealy's "Between TheLines" Podcast on Libsyn

~ "Sharing the Secrets God Whispers to me" teaching messages on our website

CLICK HERE to make a tax-deductible contribution securely by PayPal.
Every gift you send helps, and we thank you for it!

Mail tax-deductible contributions by check to the order of:

Toward The Mark, Inc., P.O. Box 1152, Yorktown, VA 23692-1152.

Thank you in advance for contributing to the fulfillment of the vision and mission of this ministry!  We pray God bless you, and return to you a 100-fold harvest for your generosity!