quiet time

Warning Against Adultery

2007-06-05T20:08:00.001-07:00

Proverbs 5

Warning Against Adultery

1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom,
listen well to my words of insight,

2 that you may maintain discretion
and your lips may preserve knowledge.

3 For the lips of an adulteress drip honey,
and her speech is smoother than oil;

4 but in the end she is bitter as gall,
sharp as a double-edged sword.

5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead straight to the grave. ^[a]

6 She gives no thought to the way of life;
her paths are crooked, but she knows it not.

7 Now then, my sons, listen to me;
do not turn aside from what I say.

8 Keep to a path far from her,
do not go near the door of her house,

9 lest you give your best strength to others
and your years to one who is cruel,

10 lest strangers feast on your wealth
and your toil enrich another man's house.

11 At the end of your life you will groan,
when your flesh and body are spent.

12 You will say, "How I hated discipline!
How my heart spurned correction!

13 I would not obey my teachers
or listen to my instructors.

14 I have come to the brink of utter ruin
in the midst of the whole assembly."

15 Drink water from your own cistern,
running water from your own well.

16 Should your springs overflow in the streets,
your streams of water in the public squares?

17 Let them be yours alone,
never to be shared with strangers.

18 May your fountain be blessed,
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.

19 A loving doe, a graceful deer—
may her breasts satisfy you always,
may you ever be captivated by her love.

20 Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress?
Why embrace the bosom of another man's wife?

21 For a man's ways are in full view of the LORD,
and he examines all his paths.

22 The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him;
the cords of his sin hold him fast.

23 He will die for lack of discipline,
led astray by his own great folly.

1 cor 12:4-5

2005-10-05T13:43:00.000-07:00

4There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.

prayer

2005-02-13T18:04:00.000-08:00

James 5:13-18 (New American Standard Bible)

13Is anyone among you suffering?
Then he must pray
Is anyone cheerful?
He is to sing praises.

14Is anyone among you sick?
Then he must call for
the elders of the church and they are to pray over him,
anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;

15and the prayer offered in faith will
restore the one who is sick,
and the Lord will raise him up,
and if he has committed sins,
they will be forgiven him.

16Therefore, confess your sins to one another,
and pray for one another so that you may be healed
The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

17Elijah was a man with a nature like ours,
and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain,
and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.

18Then he prayed again,
and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.

Scripture says that "the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man
avails much" (James 5:16 NKJV). Effective—that is exactly what we want
our prayers to be, especially in a crisis. When we meet God's
requirements, we can be confident that He will release divine energy
into the situation and our prayers will produce results.

Requirement #1—Fervent prayer. Motivated by a deeply burdened heart,
fervent prayers are filled with passion and a strong sense of personal
helplessness. They also have a narrow focus on some specific
difficulty about which we care deeply. Scripture calls this type of
prayer "laboring earnestly" (Colossians 4:12).

Requirement #2—Righteousness. At salvation, we become rightly related
to God as His children. We are permanently sealed with the Holy
Spirit, and we are declared righteous forever because of our position
in Jesus Christ. But the word "righteous" is also used to describe a
believer's conduct. This means that to be called a "righteous person,"
we must be found in Christ (Philippians 3:9) and have an obedient
lifestyle before God. If we willingly and knowingly engage in sin,
then we are not living righteously and our prayers will not be
effective.

When the Lord hears an impassioned prayer, He knows who is praying. If
it is a righteous person whose life reflects God's ways, Scripture
promises the Holy Spirit will begin His divine work.

God responds with great power to the prayers of even one righteous
person. That person can be you!

James 4:13-17

2005-01-30T19:57:00.000-08:00

Boasting About Tomorrow
13Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.” 16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

fish

2005-01-19T19:16:00.000-08:00

January 18, 2005

Tight Lines
Read: Matthew 4:18-20

Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear. —1 Peter 3:15

Fishermen sometimes bestow this blessing on one another: "May you keep a tight line," by which we mean, "May you always have a trout on your line."

As I've gotten older, however, I must confess that a tight line means less to me now than it once did. I get as much enjoyment from fishing as I do from catching.

When I'm fishing, I have more time to walk streamside and enjoy the solitude and silence, and to look for places where fish might be lurking. When I try too hard to catch, I lose too many fish and the enjoyment of the day.

Jesus calls us to be fishers of men, not catchers (Matthew 4:19). My job is to go where the fish are, walk among them, study their habitat, and learn their ways. And then to toss out a line and see if one rises to the surface. There's more enjoyment in that easy effort, and I have better results.

So I want to fish for people, looking for opportunities to speak a word about Jesus, casting here and there, and leaving the results with God. It's more calming for me and for the fish—the folks who might get spooked by my clumsiness.

Thus I now bless my fellow fishers with: "May you keep your line in the water." Or, as another fisherman once put it, "Always be ready" (1 Peter 3:15). —David Roper

search me

2005-01-17T14:29:00.000-08:00

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalms 139:23-24

abram

2005-01-17T13:06:00.000-08:00

Genesis 12
The Call of Abram
1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

2 "I will make you into a great nation

and I will bless you;

I will make your name great,

and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you,

and whoever curses you I will curse;

and all peoples on earth

will be blessed through you."

4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring [a] I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD , who had appeared to him.

8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD . 9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

Abram in Egypt
10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. 11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you."
14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman. 15 And when Pharaoh's officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. 16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.

17 But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. "What have you done to me?" he said. "Why didn't you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!" 20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.

the tower of babel

2005-01-04T19:36:00.000-08:00

Genesis 10
The Table of Nations
1 This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah's sons, who themselves had sons after the flood. The Japhethites
2 The sons [a] of Japheth:

Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras.

3 The sons of Gomer:

Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.

4 The sons of Javan:

Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim and the Rodanim. [b] 5 (From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.) The Hamites

6 The sons of Ham:

Cush, Mizraim, [c] Put and Canaan.

7 The sons of Cush:

Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteca.

The sons of Raamah:

Sheba and Dedan.

8 Cush was the father [d] of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD ; that is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD ." 10 The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in [e] Shinar. [f] 11 From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, [g] Calah 12 and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.

13 Mizraim was the father of

the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 14 Pathrusites, Casluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites.

15 Canaan was the father of

Sidon his firstborn, [h] and of the Hittites, 16 Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 17 Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 18 Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.

Later the Canaanite clans scattered 19 and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

20 These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations. The Semites

21 Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was [i] Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.

22 The sons of Shem:

Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram.

23 The sons of Aram:

Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshech. [j]

24 Arphaxad was the father of [k] Shelah,

and Shelah the father of Eber.

25 Two sons were born to Eber:

One was named Peleg, [l] because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan.

26 Joktan was the father of

Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.

30 The region where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, in the eastern hill country.

31 These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

32 These are the clans of Noah's sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.

Genesis 11
The Tower of Babel
1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As men moved eastward, [m] they found a plain in Shinar [n] and settled there.
3 They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."

5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."

8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel [o] -because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

From Shem to Abram
10 This is the account of Shem.

Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father [p] of Arphaxad. 11 And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. 13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters. [q]

14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. 15 And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. 17 And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. 19 And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. 21 And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. 23 And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. 25 And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

26 After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.

27 This is the account of Terah.

Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 28 While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. 29 Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no children.

31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.

32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.

convenant

2005-01-03T15:47:00.000-08:00

Genesis 9
God's Covenant With Noah
1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
4 "But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.

6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed;
for in the image of God
has God made man.

7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it."

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you-the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you-every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."

12 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

17 So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."

The Sons of Noah
18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth.
20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded [k] to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness.

24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,

"Cursed be Canaan!
The lowest of slaves
will he be to his brothers."

26 He also said,
"Blessed be the LORD , the God of Shem!
May Canaan be the slave of Shem. [l]
27 May God extend the territory of Japheth [m] ;
may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,
and may Canaan be his [n] slave."

28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Altogether, Noah lived 950 years, and then he died.

/**********************************************/

what is the significance of noahs nakedness?....it seems pretty random...

a philosophy professor once taught that God was seemingly regretful of what he had done....but i dont believe so....i think he gives us the rainbow to remind us of his covenent...not him....

new year

2005-01-01T18:18:00.000-08:00

8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

"Father, we surrender this past year and give it up to You. We give You our failures, our regrets, and our disappointments, for we have no more use for them. Make us now a new people, forgetting what lies behind and pressing on toward that which lies ahead of us.
"We give You all our hopes and dreams for the future. Purify them by Your Spirit so that our wills shall truly reflect Your will for us.

"As we stand on the threshold of another year, encourage us by our successes of the past, challenge us by the power of Your Word, and guide us by the presence of Your Holy Spirit."

patience

2004-11-16T16:32:00.000-08:00

Genesis 8
1 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. 2 Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. 3 The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, 4 and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5 The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.
6 After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 9 But the dove could find no place to set its feet because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. 10 He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. 11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. 12 He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.
13 By the first day of the first month of Noah's six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. 14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.
15 Then God said to Noah, 16 "Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you-the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground-so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it."
18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds-everything that moves on the earth-came out of the ark, one kind after another.
20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though [1] every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

22 "As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease."

/************************************************/

9 months!....9 freakin months before the world completely dried up....

i cant even sit still for an hour...muchless 9 whole months...

i am patiently waiting for more patience...although the confinement may do me good....i feel as if i am trapped by my freedoms sometimes...

After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' " - matt 4:2-4

it all boils down to faith

clueless

2004-11-15T20:01:00.000-08:00

Genesis 7
1 The LORD then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven [1] of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made."
5 And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.
6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month-on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.
17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. 20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. [2] , [3] 21 Every living thing that moved on the earth perished-birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.
24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

/**************************************************/

our feeble minds...and meager logic can not even begin to fathom an inkling of His wisdom...

it kind of makes u wonder how extremely much the Bible must be dumbed down...for us to even grasp a slight clue of truth...

no cookies

2004-11-13T18:00:00.000-08:00

Genesis 6

The Flood

1 When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with [1] man forever, for he is mortal [2] ; his days will be a hundred and twenty years."
4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days-and also afterward-when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
5 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth-men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air-for I am grieved that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD .

9 This is the account of Noah.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress [3] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. [4] 16 Make a roof for it and finish [5] the ark to within 18 inches [6] of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark-you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them."
22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

/************************************************/

"Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.......
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth."

if you look at mankind, from the creation till now, it is as if...we as human beings have been growing up....

we started as an infant...and so, God gave us all these rules to abide by....(no cookies before dinner)...if we broke a rule, then God would give us a whoopin....Jesus said himself that these laws were made b/c our hearts were hard.....Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning." (matt 19:8)

so as an adolescent you begin to understand the meaning behind these rules and further understanding of our intentions behind those actions...

i took a soci class that said....u have to give children boundaries...b/c w/o them they will just immitate everything they see, (w/o the appropriate discernment)...

thats how mankind has aged as a civilization...

i feel as if we are in our rebellious teenager stage...

God took him away

2004-11-13T17:58:00.000-08:00

Genesis 5

From Adam to Noah

1 This is the written account of Adam's line.

When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them "man. [1] "
3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. 4 After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 5 Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died.
6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father [2] of Enosh. 7 And after he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8 Altogether, Seth lived 912 years, and then he died.
9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. 10 And after he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. 11 Altogether, Enosh lived 905 years, and then he died.
12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel. 13 And after he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. 14 Altogether, Kenan lived 910 years, and then he died.
15 When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared. 16 And after he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. 17 Altogether, Mahalalel lived 895 years, and then he died.
18 When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. 19 And after he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 Altogether, Jared lived 962 years, and then he died.
21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. 22 And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
25 When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. 26 And after he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. 27 Altogether, Methuselah lived 969 years, and then he died.
28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. 29 He named him Noah [3] and said, "He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed." 30 After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. 31 Altogether, Lamech lived 777 years, and then he died.
32 After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.

/***************************************************/

"Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away."
(hmmm...)

LOVE SEEKS YOU

2004-11-10T19:02:00.000-08:00

LOVE SEEKS YOU

One of the most common cries of the human heart is: "No one understands me." All of us, at one time or another, have expressed the frustration of the inner man with these solemn words. It is not merely a statement of self-pity, as we are often told, but the honest realization that we live lives of quiet desperation. We sense that there is so much more to us than others comprehend, and we yearn for someone to reach and hear us. We see ourselves like actors playing our appointed roles in society and the home, projecting the image our part demands, while the real person we know ourselves to be remains unknown. The example of the clown who weeps behind his mask is familiar to all of us. The desire to "be ourselves" overwhelms us often, but just as often is stifled in the realization that only further misunderstanding and rejection will follow.

This concept of our personalities is not new to modern man. Those who peopled Japan in ancient times had this concept of the soul: "the little man inside." The pygmies of Africa, almost the lowest in the human scale, have a word in their language for soul that means "man on the inside." We often glimpse this undeniable fact and see ourselves imprisoned and isolated while surrounded by those who claim to know and love us. Many have reconciled themselves to a lifetime of loneliness after reaching out without success to others.
Exiled and alone, they sit in silence watching others while they search. Some have accepted without question the role they must play. Deceived by the thought that the role and the man are one and the same, they comfort themselves with the philosophy, "That's the way life is."

This book is written to you. Not the "you" everyone knows, but the "little man inside" that for years you have supposed no one knew or ever would. God knows that man, understands him and loves him. At this point, I am not so interested in telling you what kind of person you are, as I am in helping you to discover why you are what you are. The effects I speak about must have a cause, and the greatest book known to man on the subject of human behavior records it. That book is the Bible, God's precious Word. We know it is His Word because it tells the truth about us, and knows us as we are.

In the Bible, the first book, Genesis, is the book of beginnings. In it the origin of all things is found, and the peculiarities of the human personality are explained. You, as a person, are not merely the product of fate, nor the natural result of environment and training, but of nature. In Adam, your father, you will find the reason back of much of your behavior. Each of us, his children, are really living in our own way his experiences in the Garden of Eden.

When God created Adam, He placed him in perfect surroundings -- a beautiful garden, abundant food supply, pleasant circumstances and unlimited possibilities of life.
The whole earth was subject to him, and every living thing awaited his command. Blessed by God with a helpmeet (exact counterpart) named Eve to share his life, he enjoyed unbroken communion with her and with God. As he walked and talked with the Creator in the cool of the day, it was, indeed, paradise. Adam was himself with Eve and with God. Naked and not ashamed, he walked in quiet self-acceptance, resting in the undisputed fact that he was what he was by the grace of God. Resting in the wisdom and love of God, he saw himself as the expression of God's creation, hence known, understood and loved by both God and Eve.

All of this changed when Satan, through the serpent, cast the shadow of doubt upon the integrity of God; changed His truth into a lie; and accused Him of withholding good from Adam and Eve, hence causing them to doubt His love. The unbelief of their hearts was expressed in their act of disobedience, and so sin entered the human family; and spiritual death was the direct result. Death means separation - separation from God, and from each other - and the evidences of this death are plain to see in the events that followed.

The openness Adam and Eve had once enjoyed between themselves was gone. Their eyes were opened and they saw themselves as they were - naked - and they were ashamed of that nakedness. Self-acceptance turned into mutual rejection, and they busied themselves sewing fig leaves
together to hide their shame in each other's presence. The blessed liberty of "being themselves" with each other was gone, and they began to hide, revealing only that part of themselves they deemed worthy of acceptance. Judging what was good and evil in each other, they became actors wearing a mask; and the "little man inside" began his long, dreary exile.

In the cool of the day they heard God's voice; but instead of walking confidently and talking openly with Him, fear filled their hearts and they hid from His presence behind the trees in the garden. God's first word to Adam in his lost estate was in the form of a question: "Where art thou?"

Adam's children to this very day follow their father's practice of blaming others for their condition, hiding from God and one another, and never coming to grips with life's most important question. Ashamed of what and where we are, we go through life playing the hiding game, hiding from God and from one another. Wearing our self-made mask, we build walls about ourselves that keep others from the real person, and keep him inside. We cannot believe God loves us as we are; and so we begin a lifetime of performing in His presence, hoping to earn His acceptance. We cannot believe that man can accept and love us as we are, so in our shame we wear whatever leaves will please him, in hopes of earning his love and acceptance.

Our behavior betrays the fact that the fall of our father Adam left each of us with the basic emotional and spiritual problems that plagued him: fear, inferiority complex, and a haunting sense of guilt that seeks and finds relief only in hiding from man and God. Many and varied are the devices the human personality creates to cope with these basic needs, as any student of psychology will tell you. We ascribe technical terms and names to our problems in hopes of isolating them, thus helping us to cope with them. But when all our devices fail, we resort to Adam's way of escape - hiding.

The hiding game begins early in life. As children we are open and honest with all we meet, just being ourselves without concern over self-acceptance. This is the sweet innocence that endears children to us. Without guile or deceit, they fully expose themselves to all, naked and unashamed in the presence of man. But soon they experience the first pains of rejection from others, and little by little begin to build their own world of unreality. Pressed into the demands of a society that forces unreal roles upon them in school, job and home, they retreat further and further into the silent world of nowhere. Adulthood arrives, and too often they find the outer man not true to the little man inside.

It is safe and secure in that prison. No one can hurt the real self, for he is never revealed to others. No one can reject him, for he is never offered to anyone. Only the image man, the masked actor playing his part, is ever seen and known.
All of this is fine, but sooner or later we make the discovery that we have taken into our hiding place a companion that none of us can live with forever. That companion is loneliness.

Loneliness was one of the effects of Adam's fall. He was alone in the beginning and God said it was not good for him to be alone, so He gave him as a precious gift, an helpmeet, Eve. Adam never knew loneliness in his perfect estate, but he and his children have lived with this destroyer ever since his fall. Adam knew loneliness the day he hid from Eve; for, doubting his acceptance as he was, he revealed only that part of himself he judged her willing to receive. Haunted by the realization that the image he projected was not true to the real man, the little man inside learned to live alone and lonely.

Another once wrote, "The whole conviction of my life now rests upon the belief that loneliness, far from being a rare and curious phenomenon, peculiar to myself and to a few other solitary men, is the central and inevitable fact of human existence." Loneliness creates an unbearable stalemate in most of us. Desperate to be known, accepted, understood and loved, we peer through the iron bars of our hiding places, daring at times to risk an exposure of our real selves, only to be greeted with hostility and rejection; and so we are driven deeper into ourselves.

We are like a timid flower who longs to unfold its beauty to the world, but is beset by frost and insects, develops a blight, clasps its petals firmly
to itself and hides its face from all. We search for someone who can be trusted with the revelation of ourselves without rejection, and listen with hope to the talk of love among mortals, only to find in experience that too often the only communication we are ever offered is mask to mask, not face to face.

So, shut up within, we live our quietly desperate lives. Our only companions are our fears, guilt, sense of inadequacy, and loneliness. Many times we are driven so deep within ourselves that we lose all hope of reality and all sense of personal identity. We search for medical, psychiatric, and spiritual answers and help, clinging only to the hope of survival for life. We say with sorrow, "There is no one I can talk to, for no one understands me."

Oh, timid soul, there is Someone Who knows you, understands you, and to whom you can tell all your heart and still He will love you! Please read on to the happy revelation of a God Who loves you as you are, and where you are; a God Who will be your Saviour and Friend in Jesus Christ, His Son!

The way of self-acceptance is to find acceptance with God. We need desperately to see ourselves -- our true selves -- through His eyes, accepted and loved as we are, if we are to be free. We will languish in our prisons forever if we wait for some human who will love us when we are unlovely, accept us when we are unacceptable, understand us when we are beyond human
understanding. Only God, in Jesus Christ, can meet the needs of your heart. In His presence we can be what we are without fear . . . take off our mask; be freed from the need of man's acceptance; learn the glory of being alone without being lonely; and blossom in the sunshine of His love. In Him and His love we will discover our origin and destiny. Created to receive the revelation of His eternal love, we can find in Him the principle of our existence and its only end. To know the true power of His love in Jesus is to see earth metamorphosed; to live in the assurance of His love is to experience no winter or night -- a life where all tragedies, dreary duties and fears vanish.

My immediate purpose is to assure you that there is Someone Who knows you as you are, and where you are. Never mind for now about your sins and failures. Please read on as He seeks to bring you under the banner of His love at Calvary's cross, where His forgiveness and provision for you were revealed. Let him fold you in His eternal love and acceptance, and set you free to walk with Him in the cool of the day in precious and real fellowship. Read in faith that God has found you and will speak to your deepest heart needs.

do what is right

2004-11-10T18:51:00.000-08:00

Cain and Abel

1 Adam [1] lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. [2] She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth [3] a man." 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD . 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."
8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." [4] And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"
"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"
10 The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth."
13 Cain said to the LORD , "My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."
15 But the LORD said to him, "Not so [5] ; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the LORD's presence and lived in the land of Nod, [6] east of Eden.
17 Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.
19 Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. 21 His brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute. 22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of [7] bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain's sister was Naamah.
23 Lamech said to his wives,

"Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed [8] a man for wounding me,
a young man for injuring me.
24 If Cain is avenged seven times,
then Lamech seventy-seven times."

25 Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, [9] saying, "God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him." 26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.
At that time men began to call on [10] the name of the LORD .

//===================================================

"If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

hmm....sin desires to have me

simply enough, do what is right...

the fall of man

2004-09-27T22:01:00.000-07:00

Genesis 3

The Fall of Man

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "
4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"
10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."
11 And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"
12 The man said, "The woman you put here with me-she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."
13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?"
The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,

"Cursed are you above all the livestock
and all the wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring [1] and hers;
he will crush [2] your head,
and you will strike his heel."

16 To the woman he said,

"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing;
with pain you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you."

17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,'

"Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return."

20 Adam [3] named his wife Eve, [4] because she would become the mother of all the living.
21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side [5] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

observing the sabbath

2004-09-26T20:05:00.000-07:00

Genesis 2
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested [1] from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Adam and Eve
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens- 5 and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth [2] and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth [3] and there was no man to work the ground, 6 but streams [4] came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground- 7 the LORD God formed the man [5] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground-trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin [6] and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. [7] 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."
19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
But for Adam [8] no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs [9] and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib [10] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said,

"This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called 'woman, [11] '
for she was taken out of man."

24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

/******************************************/

ive just started this whole observing the sabbath deal...although im not really sure what im really doing.....sundown saturday till sundown sunday...

i also think it is interesting that the creation of the world is recounted twice...i wonder if this is something that should matter to me more than it does...

in the begining

2004-09-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

Genesis 1

The Beginning

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was [1] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning-the first day.
6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning-the second day.
9 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning-the third day.
14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 God made two great lights-the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning-the fourth day.
20 And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." 23 And there was evening, and there was morning-the fifth day.
24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [2] and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground-everything that has the breath of life in it-I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning-the sixth day.

/********************************************/

sometimes i wonder whether or not creation is even worth thinking or even arguing about....all of our meager minds put together could not even concieve of our creation, much less our creator..

but with every inch of my being...i know that i was created...and that there is a relationship that i have cultivated with my creator...