Morning Sermon Notes
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. ~ Isaiah 26:3
If we can't be happy in Jesus where we are, we will not be happy with Him anywhere else.
The nine fruits of the Spirit aren't based on where you are, they are based on Whose you are.
The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and they are safe. ~ Proverbs 18:10
Plants
As I walked, I enjoyed looking at these pretty flowers and trees this morning. It was a beautiful morning for a walk.
I also so this strange stuff and had to take a picture to come home and look it up to see what on earth it is. According to Wikipedia it is Fuligo Septica better known as Scrambled Egg Slime. It grows on rotten wood and plant debris as well as on the leaves and stems of living plants. It is usually seen after heavy rain.
It has some interesting characteristics. It has been shown to have antibiotic properties as well as being toxic to some cancer cells. The yellow pigment has been shown to have the ability to chelate some metals and convert them to inactive forms. It has also been shown to trigger asthma in some people.
Some other interesting common names for this interesting yellow slime are dog vomit slime mold, Jasmine mold, flowers of tan, vomit of troll cats, and witches spit.
Animals
Chris and I were sitting by the fire last night when this Katydid flew by, and he caught it. I let it sit on my fingers and eventually it flew away. I thought it was pretty cool!
I am Reading
Don't let your FEELINGS drive your Behaviors. Start with your IDENTITIES and let those drive your Behaviors. ~ pg. 313
Evening Sermon Notes
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. ~ 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
"no weapon formed against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me," declares the Lord. ~ Isaiah 54:17
"Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them. " Matthew 18:18-20
Do not fret because of those who are evil
or be envious of those who do wrong;
for like the grass they will soon wither,
like green plants they will soon die away.
Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Take delight in the Lord,
and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in Him and He will do this:
He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.
~ Psalm 37
We need to know the Word because it is our weapon in spiritual warfare. Like a soldier would not have to want to run to the blacksmith in the middle of a battle to have weapons made, we do not want to be caught in spiritual warfare without the weapons needed to fight and win. And what are these weapons we need? Ephesians 6 has the answer.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the word of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ~ Ephesians 6:10-17
Now faith is the confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. ~ Hebrews11:1
Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. ~ James 2:17
Faith is important but that faith must lead to action. It is time for the church to stand up, pick up their spiritual weapons, and fight against the spiritual forces of evil.
Goals
So, on this first day of working toward the goals I mentioned in this post, I did pretty well. I was up by 5:36, walked for 55 minutes, and spent an hour and a half on online work. I'll take it for the first day.
To learn more about why I write, and why I share my life here, please read this post - Uniquely You, For a Purpose.
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