Woe

Woe to the nations whose people are rebellious and morally polluted and oppresses those who seek to know God.  Woe to the places that will not obey the word of God, whose people do not want to receive correction nor put their trust in the LORD God and will not try to get close to God.  Woe to the nation whose leaders are as devouring lions and judges as hungry wolves, they rule for personal gain and pervert justice. Woe to the nation whose spiritual leaders and priest are insolent, treacherous people who profane the places of worship and twist the truth of God. The just Lord God is in the midst of the nations every day He sees the iniquity and that the unjust have no shame. God is removing His protection from those nations and their streets are full of violence, their financial structures have become desolate and the people spoiled and devoid of understanding. The nations continue to follow the same destructive path and will not acknowledge that it is God who provides true blessings for a nations people. God has removed His protection and allowed the natural course of events to unfold. Even so the people will not receive instruction and turn to God with repentance for rejecting His truth and living self-centered conceited lives. Great nations have risen and fallen based on the moral character of her people and still even with history filled with examples their is no repentance just the false hope that maybe this time will be different and judgement will pass. There are none so blind as those who will not learn from that which has already occurred. How blind is your nation? The answer will guide you in preparing for the hard times to come and reveal the urgency of your personal need to surrender to the will of God in your life. God loves you and His son Jesus the Christ died that you could have forgiveness of sin and a personal relationship with God.  Take action before the light has been withdrawn and darkness allowed to engulf your nation.

Preparing for Worship

I received an email containing the following regarding worship, may it challenge your thoughts.
Preparing for Worship!

Whether it is private or corporate worship, one’s heart needs to be prepared. Worship is the communication, or the response, of our spirit with the Spirit of God. It is when, for our heart of hearts, we rejoice in who He is.

The preparation of our heart is to open ourselves to Him, so that we are in position to receive a spiritual examination. The Psalmist spoke for all who truly wish to worship, when he said, “Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me…and see if there is any wicked way in me.” We position ourselves to receive this examination by praying for God to show us our heart. We don’t always know our heart, as well as we would like to think. It is easy to be self-deceived. As we honestly pray for this, we will soon see what things need to be dealt with in our life. There may be things for which we need to repent, and there may be other areas where we need to make a commitment to action.

For public worship preparation, we must determine to aggressively seek after the Lord through all the aspects of the worship service, from the prayers, to the singing, to the offering, to the sermon, and whatever else that transpires. Worship is connecting with God. We must plan to give Him our best, which includes our best attention, our best surrender, and our best commitment.

Looking for shared poverty

The news is full as of late with groups of people in several USA cities as well as other nations where they are demonstrating for various things. The interesting thing is that about the only thing they have in common is a failure to prepare themselves for success. They appear envious of those who have worked to prepare for the future rather than sit around feeling sorry for themselves waiting for government handouts. They are now upset that the government is not taking from those who have worked to get ahead and giving it to them fast enough. They crave violence,drugs and depravity while creating what could pass for a pig plantation wherever they gather.
The sad thing is that society has created so many lazy degenerates and continues to tolerate those who would destroy the economic structure that has permitted so many to succeed. It seems to be the goal of the protesters to kill the structure that allows success and hope so we can all decline into mutually shared poverty. It is written that those who will not work should not be assisted. Not following that wisdom will bring any culture down. Failure to acknowledge God will always reveal the foolishness of a society just before its collapse. There is a way of escape but it will take large scale repentance and people willing to confront the darkness of our day. Are you willing!

Do you?

Do you have a song of praise to God for his love, kindness and mercy?
Do you desire to live a blameless life before God at home and in public?
Do you refuse to be a part of low and vulgar things?
Do you abhor that which is dishonest and avoid those that desire to cheat or lie to get ahead?
Do you reject selfishness in yourself and in others?
Do you tolerate those who would gossip about others and slander them?
Do you permit yourself or those around you to put down others because they hold a different opinion?
Do you allow conceit or pride to engulf you?
Do you hold those who desire to serve God in high regard.
Do your close friends truly seek to please God with their life?
Do you work to protect yourself and home from the influence of those who want to do what is right in their own eyes?
Do you seek to be light even in dark times?
The answer to these questions will reflect whether you have a personal relationship with God through Jesus His son.