#Counsel the Bitter Person with a Warning from Jesus

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

by Paul Tautges | Bitterness is a prison. It is self-destructive; it is spiritual suicide. That’s why it’s often been said, “The bitter person drinks a vial of poison and waits for their enemy to die.” Therefore, when counseling the bitter person, the warning of Jesus should not be neglected. Use it to direct the eyes of the bitter...

[pastorkevinc]

Counsel the Bitter Person with a Warning from Jesus by Paul Tautges

Counsel the Bitter Person with a Warning from Jesus by Paul Tautges Editor’s Note: Bitterness. It ruins you. I pray regularly that God would never let me grow bitter as a child of God, husband, father, grandfather, pastor, professor, counselor, or friend. See, bitterness often sneaks into one’s life unaware. It is a sleuth. One day everything is fine; a few days later and bitterness resides. In…

[quinnhayden]

I wish you would write a fic where Person A feels jealous because Person B and Person C are spending a lot of time together

You will definitely not be wishing that after you read this! Of course it's the chance at angst that has me writing again.

Without a beat, as soon as the two of them sit down on the couch, Steve points out, “I have my own therapist.” He doesn’t want to be here and looks for an out. Bucky doesn’t, either, but…it’s this or prison. Bucky didn’t think he had a choice when, near the end of his last therapy session, Raynor casually mentioned that she’d like to meet Steve. And Steve doesn’t care about much these days, but he doesn’t want to see Bucky locked away ever again, so he followed Bucky in the office when Raynor told Steve that he’d be joining them today.

Raynor, the second she’s in her own seat, picks up her notebook and immediately takes note—probably of Steve’s immediate hostility. When it’s not a situation he can punch his way out of and he’s pissed, Steve is always polite in his fury. It’s always been like that and not many people immediately pinpoint it, but Raynor must. When Bucky’s snippy with her, she always breaks out that stupid notebook. “You’ve both been pardoned. One of the conditions is that you attend individual therapy. And, yes, I think that’s necessary, but the government should’ve taken into account that you’re in a relationship with each other and experienced an extremely traumatic even together.”

Steve barks out a dark, bitter laugh before he sneers, “That’s what you’re going with, huh? The death of my soulmate was a traumatic event?”

All Bucky can think is, Jesus Christ, not more therapy. “This your way of telling me you’ve signed us up for couples counseling, doc?”

“Well, I’ve certainly recommended it. Multiple times, actually. But nothing’s come of it.” Raynor pauses, warily eyeing Steve a moment before she turns her attention back to Bucky. “Does Steve do that a lot, James? Refer to her as his soulmate?” How can someone smart enough to see that Steve’s on a hair trigger and still ask that kind of a question? Christ, she’s a fucking idiot, out here, poking at the goddamn bear.

Steve bristles at whatever Raynor’s insinuation is. Personally, Bucky can’t quite figure it out yet. “She is my soulmate,” Steve grits out with cheeks flushed in chagrin.

“I’m aware,” Raynor replies calmly. “Whenever James talks about her, it’s always our soulmate. I wanted to know if you do the same. Is what you just said is something you only do here and there?”

“Why does it matter?”

Raynor closes her notebook and levels Steve with the same unimpressed look she shoots Bucky before she’s about to call him out on some perceived bullshit. “I want to know if you’re trying to monopolize the grief over her death,” she states bluntly. Bucky doesn’t look at Steve, holds in the sigh of relief he so desperately wants to breathe out, and then grapples with the guilt he feels for thinking that way about Steve.

“Excuse me?” Steve stops, processes, and immediately jumps to conclusions. “Seriously, Bucky? This is what you talk about with her?” He doesn’t let Bucky have the chance to answer and explain that, no, he doesn’t actually know where Raynor’s question came from. This is typical Steve behavior, though. Along with spitting venom at the apparent betrayal. “Well, I’m happy you’re talking to someone these days since you’ve got fuck-all to say to me. That’s whenever you’re home, anyway.”

Bucky can’t help but scoff at the hypocrisy. “So, what? You’re allowed to take a trip around the world, soul searching and fucking around with Thor, gone for months when her corpse was practically still warm, but I have to stick around when you’re finally back home?”

“Don’t talk about her like that,” Steve warns.

“Quinn is fucking dead!” Bucky shouts. “You wanna know why I haven’t talked to you? Because I’ve given up on trying to open up to you. I’m not good like she was and I won’t coddle you. You’re not the only person who loved her. You’re not her one and only soulmate.” It all spills out through those cracks inside him, getting torn open wider by rotting, maggot-covered hands. “You think I don’t know why you ran away with Thor? He’s exactly like you! He can’t stand to hear her name, either! You tried to run away from the truth and you left me! That’s all you ever do! You left me and you left Quinn.”

There’s no expression on Steve’s face. For some reason, it pisses Bucky off even more. It must be so goddamn nice to live with his head stuck in the sand while Bucky is here, shattered yet somehow still falling apart. “You’re so selfish. You’ve never known how to hold on to a good thing. You tried to pull away from me after your ma died, you tried to kill yourself after I died—” he scrubs a hand over his face, bitter laughs quickly turning to choked cries. “You got to marry her. You were living the dream with her. It should’ve been me. I wanted it to be me.”

And Steve…does what Steve does best. He leaves.

[xxisxxisxxis]

Gateway Drug | Part Twenty-Six

Table of Content or Part Twenty-Five

Pairing: Douglas Booth!Nikki Sixx X OC

Word Count: 3.2k

A/N: Thank you, everyone, who have been patient over this update with me over the past couple weeks. I hope you like this chapter and I'm getting back into my regular posting schedule now. I love y'all, have a good night!

Warning(s): Language, Drug Abuse, Sexual Situations

Tag List: @unknownoblivion @sinningsixx @edwardtriggerhandzz @lemmyjelly @haileynicoleseavey17 @cierrasixx19 @oskea93 @mgkobsessed @vamprlestat @sharon6713 @itsametaphorbriansblog @miriampraez @allie-mcginn @rebeccaphillips14 @nicholeh7 @fandomshit6000 @lilmou5ie @tamedhearts @divaanya @kingbouji3 @evrsncnewyork @6ixx6ixx @ratedrkohardychick91 @floregrohlssard @oldschoolimagineblog @thanks2pete @abaldboi @swoopygorl @justjodeye @liith-ium @caos18blog @ytwahsog @shamlessobsessions @scarecrowmax @toadspleen @random-internet-user-4471 @solohqrry @loveofmyloif @sparxx27 @kaitieskidmore1

LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT TO BE TAGGED

-------------------------------------------------------

He gets up off the floor, leaving me with cum on my stomach as he pulls his clothes back on in complete silence.

"Are we still not talking?" I ask him, sitting up.

He doesn't reply, stepping to the bathroom, coming back with a rag and dropping it beside me on the floor.

I let out a breath, taking the cloth and wiping myself clean with it.

"We just had sex, Nikki." I scoff, my eyes beginning to water. "We've screwed a lot, actually. And it's been you to initiate it every time, which made me think we're okay. But after the second time of being randomly screwed and still living in silence with my husband, I've realized you're still mad at me." I explain, pulling my shirt back on as he ties the laces of his pants. "If you're waiting for me to apologize for how I acted, I'm not going to. What I did and why, was completely justified." I continue. "And it happened nearly two weeks ago."

He brushes me off, sliding back in to his jacket after getting his boots back on.

"You're seriously not speaking to me? For two weeks?" I ask, crossing my arms and he grabs his keys off the counter and walks to the door. "Yeah just ignore me and run from our marital issues to get fucked up because that's one of the few things you can actually do right." I shoot, the vile words fleeing my mouth before I can stop them and he pauses, his hand on the door knob. "Alongside shooting up, writing music and fucking me when you feel like it."

He doesn't even acknowledge I said anything, opening the door and shutting it behind him, leaving me to wipe a few tears away bitterly.

He was shitty to me sometimes, yes, but I never helped matters.

I'd push him just enough to get the reaction I wanted, and he'd do the same to me.

That's how we started off, hating each other, and that's all a small part of us knew how to act towards each other.

We didn't realize we were slowly poisoning each other because the apparent healing, although temporary, was potent.

He collapses on top of me, our sweat slickened bodies sticking together, my fingers laced through his teased hair while my legs are wrapped around his hips.

His face is in my neck while he catches his breath, and I hug him to me, my eyes closed as I wait for him to roll off of me.

"I hate fighting with you, but fuck...making up is..." He mumbles out, smirking as he gets off of me.

I take a few deep breaths and sit up, dabbing the thin sheen of sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand, feeling his fingers trail up and down my spine.

I reach behind me and grasp his hand in mine, pressing a kiss to his knuckles before getting up to go shower.

By the time I get to the bathroom, his cum is spilling out of me and down my legs, and I glance down and roll my eyes at myself.

"You're gonna get knocked up again." I mumble to myself, scoldingly, before reaching to turn the water in the shower on.

Once I'm out, I air dry due to lack of clean towels, and ring my hair out over the sink.

Stepping out once I'm finished, I collide with Robbin, who just got back in for the night, and he looks down at me before raising his brows and looking upward to the ceiling.

"Jesus, Viv." He complains, laughing nervously.

"Don't cream your pants like you've never seen a naked woman before." I impatiently push past him.

"Well, I try to avoid seeing my best friend's wife naked."

"I'm his girlfriend, remember?"

I'm shutting the door of the bedroom before he can answer, a sharp, bitter smell infiltrating my senses.

Nikki's asleep with a tourniquet on his bicep, and a needle discarded on to the floor next to a spoon.

A strong need to put my hands on him and pray for him is almost compelling enough to make me do it, but I dig my heels into the carpet to keep myself in place.

"He's got it handled." I tell God, defiantly. "Nikki's got it handled."

I put the cap back on his needle, setting it on the bedside table alongside his spoon and lighter, pulling the turnequet off of him as well.

Pulling the covers over him, I kiss his forehead and get clothes on, crawling into the bed beside him.

I should've prayed for him more, but he already thought I was a lunatic for believing in God, which is why I found it hilarious when I found out Vanity constantly badgered him about Jesus and church, and they fought as much as Nikki and I did over pointless things.

Apparently he had realized rather quickly that Vanity and I were the same person. Only difference was she was on crack—which made her crazier than Rabid Bitch Vivian could ever be.

I sat in the rehab center's provided marriage counseling session with him laughing so hard I was doubled over my pregnant stomach, crying.

"What the hell was the point of having a girlfriend on the side, if she wasn't an escape from our hellhole marriage? At least when I cheated it was with someone that brought me peace and a sense of healing." Is what I had told him once I calmed down.

He was so fucked up on drugs that he didn't even know how to cheat right.

"I could go with you, you know." I say to Nikki as he sloppily tosses a few T-shirt's and a pair of leather pants onto the bed along with a couple other things he's packing.

He ignores me, and I cross my arms and lean against the open door frame, in a shirt of his, my hair messy from previous sex and my mind exhausted from the day.

But I won't sleep tonight.

"I want to go with you." I re-word my words and he exhales heavily, but doesn't even give me a glance.

"Viv, I'll be gone a couple days. Not two years."

"It's not even about being away from you, Nikki." I argue softly. "It's your mom. The last time you saw her you'd just gotten her arrested. I just think it'd be better if you had someone there to support you or—"

"I don't need to be babied or coddled."

"This is a big deal, though."

"Okay, listen." He tells me, stepping to me, his hands on either side of my face, looking me in the eye. "I know this seems like a big deal to you. But it's not. This isn't gonna be a heart-felt reunion where I cry and she cries and we say 'sorry' and have a healthy relationship after this. I'm not gonna have some big revelation and realize being mad at her isn't healthy and just forgive and forget." He explains to me and I breathe out as his thumb rubs back and forth on my cheek. "I'm checking her out, taking her home, and never fucking seeing her again. I don't need support, I don't need a shoulder to cry on, I don't need you to come with me."

My hands rest over the tops of his, my eyes studying his.

"Okay, Nikki." I nod. "But I'm worried, too." I let out and he pushes himself away from me and sounds out a noise of frustration.

"It's not that serious, Viv." He groans, rolling his eyes.

"I just don't want you having a mental breakdown while you're gone." I admit and he looks at me, holding back a laugh, grasping my hand to pull me to him and hug me tightly.

"I'll be gone for three days at the most. I won't have time to have a mental breakdown." He promises, his lips pressing to my hair as I get tears on his shirt from where my face is laid against his chest.

"That's a long time." I argue hoarsely, letting out another round of tears and he rubs his hand up and down my back soothingly.

"You're not knocked up are you?" He randomly asks, his thumbs wiping under my eyes to discard any tears.

"No." I lightly hit his chest, cracking a small smile. "I just miss you."

"Viv, I'm here." He laughs loudly, seeming to be getting a kick out of me wanting to be around him this much.

He goes to pull away from me but I cement my arms around him and he lets out a "hmph" at my tight hold.

"Just give me, like, five more minutes." I say lowly and he obliges with a light sigh, holding me as tightly as I am him.

An unhealthy, co-dependent coping mechanism I struggled with was anchoring my feelings, expectations and mood to Nikki

If Nikki was angry, I was angry. If Nikki was hurting, I was hurting. If he was happy, I was happy. And if he wanted to fight, I wanted to fight.

Towards the end of 1984, I had begun to feel unfulfilled and just not myself anytime he wasn't around for days on end.

It was like I didn't know how to be happy without seeing him at least a few times a day, even if we were being mean to each other when he was around.

That terrified me once his drug use went up through the next couple of years and he was either crying like a lost child or barking and pointing his finger in my face but I was just grateful to be around him, regardless.

Nona had called him in October of '84 to inform him his mother was checked in to a mental health facility and his plan was to check her out, take her to his half-sister and then come back home and continue preparing for the new album, whose title was then deemed, "Entertainment Death."

I thought it was pretty fitting.

"I'll call as soon as I get to Cici's house, alright?" He promises, grabbing his bag and stepping to the front door.

"Alright." I nod, following behind him.

He turns to face me, his hand grasping at my jaw lightly, making me look directly at him.

"Be good. Stay out of trouble. Don't kill Vince." He tells me.

"Be good. Stay out of trouble. Don't kill your mom." I reply in the same tone and he smirks.

"I hear ya." He scoffs, kissing me one last time before pulling away.

I wanted to say: "don't kill yourself." But we'd just made up and he started talking to me again the week before and I didn't want to start back up again.

I'm in bed later that night when a knock at the front door draws my attention.

It's only eight o'clock, which means Robbin certainly isn't back home yet, and I assume Tommy and Vince are already up to their stupid antics on the strip, so I pull the covers back and step to the door, pleasantly surprised to see the guest at my doorstep.

"Hi." Sharise greats me sheepishly, dressed to the nines in a light pink, short dress that hugs the right places, with her blonde hair looking like a perfectly groomed lion's mane.

"Um, hey." I reply, not use to seeing her without Vince.

We've never had girl to girl time before.

Tansy's the only girl friend I've got.

"I was gonna head out with Vince and Tommy but Vince said something about Nikki leaving town for a little bit and I decided we could spend some time together without the boys." She suggests. "If that's okay with you."

It's evident she needs a break from her fiancé, and Tommy.

"What did you have in mind?" I ask.

"Well..."

One thing about Sharise: she was an all-time pick-me-up, and solid as a rock, no matter what.

I don't know if it's because she wasn't constantly high on something or buzzed on strong liquor, or because she was just a nice girl, but anytime I needed a slice of gravity, she'd want to hang out and she never disappointed.

We step out of the car, our heels clicking against pavement of the parking lot as we make our way to the building.

Black Angus steak house is pretty busy tonight, the Friday night buzz of people filling the restaurant.

"It'll be a twenty minute wait." The hostess tells us. "What's a good name?" She asks, about to write it on her paper pad.

"Sixx." I tell her and she raises her brows.

"Uh, you know what, give us a couple minutes and we'll have you a table." She tells me, leaving us for a moment.

"Is she...?" Sharise asks, nudging me with her elbow and I think a moment.

"No, a table probably came up last minute." I tell her, not believing I'm getting special treatment simply based off Nikki's name.

She's back in a moment, grabbing a couple menus from the hostess stand.

"Right this way, Mrs. Sixx." She motions for the two of us to follow her.

She sits us at a table.

"Your waiter will be with you momentarily. Enjoy your evening with us." She tells us before walking away.

"'Table came up last minute' my ass, Mrs. Sixx." Sharise mimics. "Hell, I'm gonna start calling myself a Neil if they're already getting special treatment."

"Might as well. He's already marrying you." I reply, looking over the menu. "How did you manage to get him to settle down so quickly, by the way?"

"Because I'm pregnant."

I choke on air, looking at her with wide eyes.

"What?"

"Found out last week." She explains. "We're having a small ceremony and then when I have the baby and we have more money we'll have a big dream wedding."

"As long as I don't look like a cupcake in bridesmaid form, I'm fine." I comment and she waves her hand dismissively.

"You won't." She assures me.

But she did.

She had all of her bridesmaids in hot, neon pink dresses that were so tight around our thighs we could barely walk, and had pouffy light pink tulle fluffed out around our knees with hot pink fabric flowers sewed to it.

All the groomsmen found it funny, especially Nikki and Tommy, until she pulled out the matching hot pink sashes they had to wear to compliment our dresses.

To make matters worse, I couldn't even get out the damn thing and Nikki had to cut me out of it with his pocket knife in the bathroom.

"You ladies decided what you want to drink?" The waitress asks.

"Pepsi." I state without hesitation.

"Water with lemon." Sharise tells her.

"Alright, any appetizers?"

"Cheese fries." Sharise puts in, and I agree with a small nod.

"Okay, I'll get that in for you and be right back with your drinks." She walks away.

"Can I ask you about something?" Sharise says next and I raise my brows. "I know they dated a little while in high school, but what happened with Vince and Tansy?"

"Why?"

"Well, I just...I like her, she's really nice but I feel like I shouldn't be friends with his ex...right?"

I just blink and shake my head a little.

"They dated a couple years when we were fourteen and just...mutually decided it had run it's course."

It wasn't a complete lie. They had decided it had run it's course when Tansy was informed Vince got another girl in our grade pregnant and she didn't feel the need to play stepmom at the age of sixteen.

"Oh." She replies as the waitress hands us our drinks, assuring us our appetizer would be out in a second. "So, you would say he's a good guy?" She asks and I exhale.

"I think your intuition already answered that for you. You just ignored it." I play it off with a chuckle to sugar coat the reality, and she just smiles it off.

"Alright, cheese fries?" A familiar voice says and I look up to see the guy that knocked me on my ass in the street over a month ago.

He recognizes me and nearly drops the plate, becoming a little clumsy.

"Sorry." He chuckles, setting the plate between us. "How's your knee?"

"Scarred a little bit." I inform him and he scrunches his face a little.

"Sorry." He says again, sincerely.

"Have you found your band yet?"

"No, not yet. Some people have come and gone but nothing's really stuck."

"How quick do you get off?" I ask.

"Depends on if I'm by myself or with a chick." He replies without hesitation, an obvious joke that has my face burning bright red underneath my makeup.

"I meant work. How soon do you get off from work?" I correct myself.

"I know, and an hour."

"Okay, I'll wait up for you and we can talk about it some more." I reply. "I might be able to help you out."

"Alright." He smiles. "See you later."

When he walks away, I get a fry off the plate and take a bite out of it, noticing Sharise is staring at me.

"What?" I ask, grinning awkwardly because she's looking at me weirdly.

"Who was that?"

"Duff."

"Who?"

I already know what she's thinking and I shake my head.

"It's not like that." I defend myself.

"Are you sure?"

"Sharise, we're barely acquaintances."

"You're helping him."

"Through my husband's connections. Remember my husband, Nikki? I have one of those, you know."

"I'm just picking at you." She tells me softly. "Really though what does he do. Sing, drums, triangle..?"

"Bass." I tell her and she widens her eyes at me. "I will hit you."

"I'm not saying a thing." She shrugs, trying not to laugh.

Once we're done ordering our meals, eating until we're full, and paying the ticket, we grab our purses and step into the parkinglot to her car.

Just as we get out the door, Duff's waiting for me, smoking a cigarette.

"Have you found anyone...at all?" I ask him, trying not to sound doubtful of his ability to find his dream team.

"One, kinda." He replies. "A guitar player."

"Okay, well, I can check with Nikki and the guys and see if they know anybody that would be any good." I suggest.

"Well, actually, I was gonna see if I could do it on my own, you know?"

"Okay. Good luck." I shrug, about to walk away until he catches my wrist.

"W-Wait." He stops me and I raise my brows at him, glancing at his hand that has yet to let go of me.

He quickly catches on and drops my wrist, opening his mouth and closing it again before stumbling to find the words.

He's unsuccessful, nonsense leaving his lips and a pained expression on his face before he sighs and chuckles, rubbing his forehead.

"I don't know what the hell I'm trying to say." He admits, groaning a little.

I take a pen from my purse and scribble our phone number on to his hand.

"Call me when you figure it out and we'll talk then." I offer, innocently, not giving it a second thought.

"Thanks." He examines the fresh ink on the back of his hand.

"Have a good night, Duff." I tell him, giving him one last smile before grabbing Sharise's hand, walking across the parking lot to her car.

[distant-rose]

I just read the last chapter of Once and a Future Thing and it was amazing! I was wondering if you could maybe tell us or write about Beth's adjustment to the world and the rest of her family's reactions? Thanks so much for your awesome writing! I always love when you update Little Pirates and I always enjoy your other stories!

Notes: Okay, I owe you the biggest apology. This has literally been in my inbox for half a year? I honestly don’t remember when this entered my inbox but I know it was a long time, so long that whoever sent this probably forgot all about it. I wouldn’t be surprised. Anyway, I hope you can forgive me for how long this fucking took. I was inspired to work on the Jim and Beth reunion by @clockadile and I knew that I couldn’t work on it or post something new OAFT-related without doing this. Now, I don’t really have Beth adjusting to life in Storybrooke, so much as her family’s reactions to her return, namely Harrison’s because he is legitimately the sanest and most well-adjusted member of the Jones family, and I say that objectively. He is. So, I felt his POV might be best for this chapter or coda or whatever. Anyway, a special thanks to @shireness-says and @optomisticgirl for allowing me to spam them with this nonsense. I hope you enjoy it. There’s a bit of Arabic in it, but it’s translated at the bottom.Summary: Beth’s quest for vengeance against her boyfriend’s killer goes a bit haywire when she and her former best friend Jim Hawkins are sent into thirty years into the past. Now, they must figure out how to find a way back to the future without wrecking the first meeting between Beth’s parents, Emma Swan and Killian Jones. Rating: T+Chapters:  One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Epilogue | Coda IWord Count: 4,300+

–

The large clock on the wall said 6:30am and years ago that would have meant that it was way too early for him to be up, but Harrison Jones didn’t sleep anymore. Time had simply muddled together and all that mattered was that he got at least one cup of coffee on the hour or his brain was going to ooze out of his ears. He wasn’t quite what he was going to die from first – his heart exploding or exhaustion.

His fingers tap impatiently against the kitchen counter as he stared down the ancient machine gurgling to life. He never liked coffee, in fact he hated the very taste of it, but it become so integral to his daily functions that he no longer gagged at the bitter taste.

Feeling agitated, he began rummaging sluggishly through the cabinets in search of the sugar. When he found the container in the back of the spice shelf completely empty, he threw it against the wall while muttering dark curses under his breath. He knew exactly who was behind this crime against humanity. No one had a bigger sweet tooth than Wes and he had a tendency of finishing off products without replacing them.

He hoped his younger brother’s wifi wasn’t working this morning. The asshole deserved it.

Bitter and disappointed, he put as much cream into his coffee as he could. Taking a seat at the breakfast table, he picked up his kindle and began reading the last few chapters of his Ken Follet novel. The house was quiet at the moment and he was going to enjoy it while it lasted. As long as he had been alive, the Swan-Jones house had been one prone to chaos and any lull of silence was worth its weight in gold.

“Holy Christ, Harrison, you still live here? At twenty-seven? Jesus.”

The coffee mug slipped from his fingers, missing the table by a fraction of a hair and falling to the floor with a loud crash. Pieces of ceramic glass shattered as they made contact with the hard tile, scattering everywhere.

Harrison barely registered it.

He was too busy staring at a ghost.

She looked so much older and impossibly thinner than the last time he saw her, but there was no mistaking the green of those eyes and that riot mess of untamed dark hair. His sister, whom he hadn’t seen in three years, was standing in the doorway in a probably the most dramatic pirate gear that he had ever seen.

“خرة,” he breathed out in disbelief.

“What did you just swear at me?”

“In Arabic, yes,” he responded faintly.

“I’ve never been prouder of you,” she laughed merrily, tossing her hair over her shoulder. He continued to gape at her, unable to process what exactly was happening.

“I swear. Always have. I’m not a saint, despite what you all think.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his father move past his sister as if everything was normal and ordinary. Without even commenting on the broken mug at Harrison’s feet, Killian Jones made a beeline for the coffee machine and made himself a cup. He offered no comment on the fact his long-lost daughter was standing in his kitchen.

“Are you going to just gawk at me like an idiot or are you going to say something?” His sister asked somewhat impatiently, crossing her arms in front of her chest and arching her eyebrow at him mockingly.

“You’re alive?”

“Did you think I was dead?” She snorted in amusement at the question, but Harrison didn’t find anything about this to be funny.

“Well, yes.”

“Well, considering I’m standing right in front of you. I can assure you, I’m alive.”

“Considering how sleep deprived I am, I was convinced you were a hallucination.”

She scoffed at him, stepping forward. She rose up on the tips of her toes and poked him between the eyebrows like she used to do back when they were kids; back when she was trying to get his attention away from his guitar. It was annoying then and Harrison found it even more annoying now.

“I can’t believe you thought I was dead. I’m insulted.”

“Well, I haven’t heard from you in three fucking years, Beth. What the hell was I supposed to think?”

“That’s…fair…I guess,” she replied. She took a step backwards, shifting on her feet uncomfortably. The move reminded him of when they were younger. She always did that whenever she was caught doing something she shouldn’t.

Simpler times.

Her eyes shifted back towards their father who was still leaning across the cabinets, watching them both with tired eyes. She seemed to be silently pleading with him.

“Don’t look at me,” he said to her as he took a sip of his coffee. “This is your hole to dig out of, not mine.”

“Thanks Dad,” she replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

“No problem, minnow. I told you this wasn’t going to be easy.”

“Yeah, you got that right.”

“Well, honestly, Beth, what did you expect?” Harrison replied, raising to his height and crossing his arms in front of his chest, anger fueling him faster than caffeine could ever have. “I hate to be repetitive, but it can’t be ignored. It’s been three years. Three fucking years. No phone call. No note. No nothing. You just vanished. As if it was nothing. As if we were nothing.”

“I understand why you’re mad. Look, I get it —"

“No, Beth. You don’t get it,” he interrupted, nostrils flaring in anger.

She flinched at his words, but he having a hard time feeling sympathetic. Her disappearance had nearly torn them all apart. He still remembered the sound of their mother crying in the back room of the police station, the amount of times he had to walk their father back to the house because he had drunk himself into a stupor on the docks waiting for her to come back and how they had put Ned through counseling because he thought it was all his fault. He could see Wes in his mind’s eye running himself ragged trying to find the right locator spell and how he had torn through her room trying to find a single strand of hair to use.  He could still recall the nights of he stared blankly at sheets of paper, unable to write music because his mind kept drifting back to her and the maelstrom of emotion she had left inside of him. His knuckles were still scarred for the times he had tried to beat his self-loathing and anger into a punching bag until it broke, and sand spilt onto the floor of his basement. She owed him at least seven bags.

“You don’t get it,” he repeated. “And you don’t get to say that because you weren’t here and that isn’t okay. This entire family almost crumbled when you left. Ned almost failed out his senior year and almost didn’t get into college.”

“Ned’s in college?” She whispered in disbelief.

“Yeah. He’s in his second year and if you were here, you would have known that!”

“That’s not fair, Har.”

“No. What’s not fair is that we’re still picking up the pieces that you left behind and now you think that can be just swept under the rug.”

“Harrison.” Their father straightened himself up, giving him a warning look. “Enough.”

“Are you kidding me right now? I know she’s your favorite but this is ridiculous! She broke our hearts! She broke your heart, Dad!  You drank yourself into the bottom of a bottle waiting for her to come back! You’re just going to let bygones be bygones?”

“I don’t have favorites, Har.”

“Bullshit. Look me in the eye and tell me if I pulled the fucking nonsense she did that you wouldn’t punch me in the face if I dare showed my face afterwards.”

A muscle in Killian’s jaw ticked and there was a dangerous look in his eyes, but Harrison stopped being scared of his father the minute he was taller than him.

“Don’t go putting words into my mouth, lad. I never said any of that. There is a time to address things. And that time isn’t now. Right now, let’s focus on the fact that your sister is home.”

Harrison worried at his jaw, glaring at him. He took three steps forward, away from his sister and crowded into his father’s personal space. Any other man would have shrunken away from a fight with a man of Harrison’s stature, but not Killian Jones. He met his son’s gaze with his own furious blue eyes, straightening his shoulders and refusing to backdown. For a brief moment, Harrison thought his father might actually punch him.

“Good morning everyone.”

The tension in the room was immediately cut by the appearance of Nasira. She gave them all a tired smile as she walked into the kitchen, their three-month old son cradled in her arms. Harrison immediately turned his back on his father and ignored the choked noises Beth was making in the background. His focus was on the love of his life and his infant son.

“هلتتصرفبنفسك?” She asked him, raising her eyebrows at him as she rose up on her toes to kiss his chin. He was making an effort not to be insulted by her insinuations about his behavior.

“دائما.”

She gave him a look like she didn’t quite believe his reassurances but didn’t say anything to him as she adjusted her hold on their son and turning to address his sister.

“Hey Beth. It’s been awhile. When did you get in?”

All three Joneses jolted at Nas’s nonchalance. Her tone held no underlaying sarcasm or anger. It was a friendly, casual remark, as if she were talking to someone that she had seen almost every day of her life. Killian nearly spat out his coffee while Beth stared at her, clearly shaken by the question.

“She got in this morning,” Harrison answered tersely, scowling still.

“توقف,” Nas responded, striking Harrison across the abdomen in reproach. She then turned her attention back to Beth and smiled at her. “Your brother can be an ass.”

“I’m well aware,” Beth managed to croak out, still looking a bit uneasy. “You’re too good for him.”

“Absolutely not. I can be an ass too. We’re just the perfect amount of ass for each other,” Nas responded with a laugh. “But how have you been?”

“Busy. But you seem to have been busy as well…” She gestured to the child in Nas’s arms.

“Yeah, yeah, I definitely have,” Nas beamed. “Between him and his brother, I’ve been very busy.”

“B-brother?” Beth’s eyes went wide. “You have more than one?”

“Yep! I had Sam nearly three years ago. He was a bit of a surprise, but we loved him so much that we decided to have another. We’ve had Kam for three months now and he seems pretty good, so I think we’re gonna keep him.”

“You have babies.” Beth looked like she was one second away from having a panic attack.

“Yep!” Nas responded brightly, deliberately ignoring his sister’s obvious discomfort. “They’re great. I would ten out of ten recommend.”

“I don’t think that’s in the cards for me.”

“Nas, my love, my jewel,” Harrison spoke up, giving Nas a tight smile. “I’m so glad you’re happy and proud of our children, but I feel the need to point out to everyone, because clearly seems you’ve all forgotten, but Beth has been out of our lives for three years. She left us. For three years. Without a word.”

“Harrison, my love, my sweet, gentle, understanding man,” she responded, giving him the same time smile and now speaking a sugary tone that belayed a message that was more steely than sweet. “I’m so glad that you’re happy for my happiness, but I feel the need to remind you that this is Storybrooke. We deal with all sorts of things from time-traveling witches, cursed gems, megalomaniacs and not to mention brothers who try to pull political coups to try and steal your kingdom. This family drama? It’s honestly just a blimp on the radar. We’re getting married. Your sister is going to be in the wedding party. I’m not having the groom feuding with his sister.”

“You guys seriously aren’t married yet?” Beth asked in disbelief.

“No,” they answered at the same time, Harrison sounding angry while Nas was wistful.

Beth immediately turned to their father. Killian merely shrugged his shoulders at her and sipped his coffee.

“I don’t know why you keep looking at me for answers. You’re all adults. I have no control over your decisions.“

“We just haven’t found the right time,” Nas replied, giving a placating smile.

It was then that Kam started crying and Nas began making shushing noises, bouncing him up and down in hopes of calming him. Harrison envied his infant son’s ability to be so free with how he felt. He wanted to scream too.

Harrison opened his mouth to make a comment but was stopped when the front door opened loudly, and a very familiar voice called out.

“Good morning Vietnam!” Wes shouted merrily, making his way towards the kitchen. Harrison winced at the volume, afraid that his brother was going to wake his still sleeping three-year old and their mother.

Wes seemed to be in good cheer, chuckling to himself as he swaggered in. He was dressed in a black leather jacket and the tightest pair of pants that Harrison had ever seen. The smell of cigarettes immediately filled the kitchen and it was quite clear that he had come to the house straight from closing up the bar.

The smirk died the second Wes’s eyes land on their sister. For a brief moment, the entire room was silent, save for the tail end of Kam’s whimpering. No one spoke as Wes stared at Beth. Their eyes met for exactly five seconds. Harrison counted them.

“Nope,” Wes said quietly, shaking his head and turning on his heel.

“Wes!” Beth shouted, stepping forward to run after him.

He stopped at the sound of her voice. He turned again to face them, his face pinched with concern. He tilted his head and took a tentative step towards her.

“Guys,” he said slowly, still staring at their sister. “Don’t get mad at me, but I think I might be a little high from getting hotboxed all night at the Hole…because I’m legit seeing Beth right now and there’s no way that could possibly be happening right now.”

Beth scoffed, rolling her eyes at him.

“Good to see you haven’t changed a bit.”

“She’s snarking me right now. Fake Beth is snarking me, guys.”

“Fake Beth is Real Beth and she’s five seconds from punching you in the face.”

“And now, she’s threatening me!”

“We know,” Nas snorted. “She’s real and we can hear her and so help me, Westley Jones, if you’re high around my children, I will castrate you with a rusty spoon.”

“Oh,” Wes blinked dumbly before turning to look at their father. “Dad, I’m going to need your flask, because…damn.”

“Sorry, it’s empty,” Killian responded, not looking up from his coffee. It was very clear to everyone in the room that he was lying.

“Okay,” Wes responded, drawing a shaky breath before heading towards the sink. "This calls for drastic measures.”

He bent down and took out the emergency bottle of rum that they kept behind the dog treats. He uncorked it and placed it down on the counter before grabbing a clean glass from the drying rack. He contemplated it for about three seconds before placing the glass back down and deciding to drink straight from the bottle. He took a long drag from it before turning to address them.

“Okay, good,” he said, smacking his lips. “Good. Now I can deal with this.”

“Are you going to share that?” Beth asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Absolutely not. You owe me at least ten years of alcohol.”

“I was gone for only three!”

“Yeah, three years plus the seven extra years I’m going to spend talking about this in therapy. Welcome home, sis.”

“You’re an ass.”

“So are you,” he replied, taking another sip. “It runs in the family.”

“Why am I not surprised that you’re taking this so casually?” Harrison snapped, feeling irritated.

“Well, to be honest, I’m still not convinced I’m not hallucinating right now and it seems kinda silly to argue with a hallucination.”

“Trust me, I thought she was a hallucination too, but I got past that pretty quickly.”

“Yeah, well, you’re more well adjusted than me. I’m a little mad at my subconscious right. I mean, seriously? My sister? Why couldn’t my hallucinations be more hot? Kate Hudson? Sienna Miller? Giselle? Something I could actually enjoy seeing?”

Beth moved forward and hit Wes across the shoulder. He let out a yelp of pain, massaging his shoulder and glaring at her.

“See? Not a hallucination.”

“God, I forgot how vicious you are.”

“You’ve gotten soft without me.”

“Well, it’s not like I have any good sparing partners. The last time Harrison and I fought, he picked me up and tossed me over the fence like I was Benny Booth.”

“Benny Booth?” Nas asked, frowning in confusion.

“The asshole who nearly knocked up our sister. Harrison threw him over a fence, except he didn’t quite clear it and Moe French had a fence with an ass shaped cut out for like three weeks,” Wes explained with a quirk of his lips.

“He didn’t nearly knock me up,” Beth scowled.

“Henry bought you a pregnancy test. He nearly knocked you up,” Wes volleyed back at her.

At that comment, their father spat out his coffee and began to cough profusely. Harrison gave him a healthy whack on the back.

“He did not!”

“He did!”

“He. Did. Not.”

“Yes. He. Did. Your eggo was almost preggo.”

“Ugh! Stop talking! To think I actually missed you!”

“You actually missed us? Wow, maybe you’re the one whose gone soft.”

“Beth?”

Their mother was standing halfway down the stairs, staring at her daughter the same way Harrison and Wes had previously – like she was looking at a ghost. Beth returned her gaze with one of her. This time she didn’t look self-assured, however. She looked on the verge of tears.

“M-mo-mom?”

“Beth? Is that you? Is that my daughter?”

Emma didn’t wait for an answer. She raced down the stairs, nearly tripping over the final step. The stumble seemed to wake something inside of Beth because she finally regained her senses and was scrambling past Wes to meet her. Their mother grabbed onto their sister’s arms and yanked her almost violently forward. Beth fell into her arms and a loud, almost inhuman sob sounded through the entire kitchen as the two embraced each other, rocking side-to-side in a forceful but erratic sway.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Beth’s voice was muffled by Emma’s shoulder, but Harrison could still hear her words as she kept repeating them like a broken record.

“You’re home” was their mother’s mantra. He could tell by the waver in her voice that Emma was also crying.

Harrison couldn’t stand it.

It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. He couldn’t handle this any longer. If he stayed, he was going to break something. His father and Wes’s easy acceptance of Beth had been hard enough to swallow but seeing their mother tearful and happy to see the daughter that had abandoned them was just too much.

Nas seemed to sense this.

“هلانتبخير?” she asked, looking at him in concern.

“Can you give me the baby?” he asked in a barely measured tone. “I’m thinking he could use some air.”

Nas studied his face for a moment, frowning. He briefly thought she might not comply with his request, but she gave him a curt nod and handed over their son without a word. Kam was whimpered loudly, clearly unhappy with being given over to his father.

“Thank you,” he murmured, bending down to kiss her cheek before making his escape.

While everyone was focused on the reunion between mother and daughter, Harrison made his escape with his son in his arms. He went out the back door and leaned against the deck railing, staring out into the backyard at the old rusted swing set. It had been a long time since anyone had used those swings and he tried to think of the last time Lucy had used them.

It was equally surreal and frightening to think that his own children would soon be old enough to use them.

“Do me a favor, bud, and don’t grow up too fast,” he murmured to the infant.

Kam stared up at him crankily but waving his arm in displeasure and hitting him across the nose. Harrison jolted at the unexpected contact, rearing his head back away from his son. He adjusted his hold so he could massage his injured nose. He felt equal parts proud and embarrassed about getting whacked in the face by a mere infant. It was almost comical.

“You might have more Jones in you than we realized,“ he mused aloud, trying to appease his unhappy son.

“Which is a bit shocking considering he’s your kid and you’re a helluva lot more Charming than you are Jones,” a voice called out.

Beth.

She was standing in the doorway, her arms crossed in front of her chest and looking at him with pensive expression.

“Aren’t you supposed to be chatting with Mom?” he asked, lifting an eyebrow at her.

“You know when you do that, you look disturbingly like Dad. Like really disturbingly like Dad. I didn’t really see it when we were kids, but I can see what everyone was saying now. You look a lot like him.”

“So I’ve been told,” he responded, eyebrow lifting even higher on his forehead. “And you’re avoiding the question.”

“I am,” she nodded.

“You know, when people ask questions, they kinda expect a response.”

“Those people should get used to disappointment.”

“They already have.”

Beth flinched, staring down at her feet and biting her lip.

“Look, I know you hate me, but —”

“Beth, I don’t hate you,” he cut her off. “I honestly wish I did. Things would be easier then. If I hated you, I wouldn’t care. I wouldn’t have lost sleep worrying about you for the last three years. I wouldn’t have cried. I wouldn’t have let Nas stall the wedding for you.”

“Nas stalled the wedding? What!” She looked horrified.

“She accepted my proposal and refused to plan the wedding without you,” Harrison responded, trying to keep his voice even. “She said if you weren’t there, I would regret it for the rest of my life.”

“I’m sorry…”

“You can be sorry. I’m glad to hear it in fact, but that doesn’t mean I have to forgive you…”

“I know,” she sighed. “I know. And I don’t blame you.”

“I love you. You’re my sister and you’re always going to be my sister, and someday I’ll probably forgive you, but I can’t today. Not today. There’s been too much pain, Beth. I can’t just forget that. I can’t look at you without thinking about how Dad destroyed his liver over you, how Mom threatened the Dark One to find you and how they tracked to track you for years despite the fact you obviously bought protection spells against that. I can’t just forget that Ned went to actually depression and almost stopped playing baseball, which he loves more than life itself. Henry worried himself sick enough he had ulcers. And Wes? Wes was so focused on finding you, he forgot to shower and Gideon begged me to come over and literally force him away from his research. I can’t just get past that. I’m not like that them, I can’t forgive and forget like that. I know you guys like to call me perfect and if I was, I could forgive you, but I can’t.”

“Oh, Harrison, they haven’t forgiven me,” she laughed bitterly. “No one is letting me off the hook. They’re just in shock right now. Like you said, I’ve been gone for three years. Once that shock fades away, the anger will be there. Just you wait.”

“That anger is justified.”

“I know that,” she snapped, hot angry tears spilled down her cheeks. “Lord knows, I know that. I know I deserve it. I half expected to be disowned upon arrival.”

“We don’t do that.”

“There’s a first time for everything,” she replied, wiping her cheeks and turning away from him. “I’ve come to except the worst.”

“Expect the worst but hope for the best.”

“Hope is a very dangerous thing. Nothing worse than false hope.”

“Dangerous, but powerful. A little hope can go a long way, Beth. You’ve proved that, yourself.“

"You really are a Charming. You legit sound like Grandma.”

“I know you’re trying to mock me but I’m being serious,” Harrison replied, slightly frustrated. “The thing about hope is that…it can drive you, but it can’t take you all the way there. You have to put the work in too…No one is going to forgive you unless you actually try. Don’t just say you’re sorry. Show us you’re sorry. Until you put your money where your mouth is, nothing is going to get accomplished. I can’t forgive you until I see it.”

“That’s what Dad said…That the path to forgiveness…I need to put the work in.”

“He would know better than anyone else,” Harrison said gently. “And I’ve never known you to back down from a challenge.”

“Never,” she responded fiercely, eyes flashing with determined. And for the first time since he saw her, Harrison felt a flash of warmth. He had missed her fire.

“Good.”

He pushed himself away from the railing, tightening his hold on Kam as he did so. He made his way towards the doorway, his sister watching him warily. He bent forward and placed a brief kiss on her cheek.

“Nice to see you, Beth.”

“Nice to see you too, Har.”

–

خرة - shitهلتتصرفبنفسك - are you behaving yourself?دائما - alwaysتوقف - stopهلانتبخير - Are you okay?

[wisdomrays]

HOW TO BE EFFECTIVE WHILE "ENJOINING THE GOOD"

Question: What points should we consider to avoid doing more harm than good while carrying out the duty of “enjoining the good and forbidding the evil”?

Answer: The Qur’an outlines that “enjoining the good and forbidding the evil” is a distinctive characteristic of being the best community (Al Imran 3:110). The Qur’an addresses believers that they are a community brought forth for the good of all mankind. You are responsible for teaching human values to humanity. Actually, this feeling in you does not arise from your own will. God, may His glory be exalted, has opened your hearts to the rest of humanity, put you on the stage, and assigned you a role in the scene He set.

The Good and Evil

The good, or ma’ruf, is what the religion commands, what sound reason gladly accepts, what sound feelings approve of, and what the conscience opens its doors to and welcomes. Therefore, the syntactic priority given to “enjoining the good” bears significance. Accordingly, a believer must first of all speak of goodness, rather than referring to what is evil or ugly; he must give priority to what is good and beautiful. However, while doing this, it is necessary to consider both whom to address and the manner of address very well.

As for the evil, or munkar, it is what the religion forbids, what sound reason accepts as harmful, what sound feelings dislike, and what the conscience closes its doors to and rejects. As well as enjoining the good, by forbidding the evil believers must try to save others from being condemned to a mistake, swept away by some current, and from drowning in deep waters. They must dissuade oppressors from oppression by exposing its ugly face, transgressors from transgression by exposing its hideous face, and unbelievers from unbelief by exposing its horrible face. Naturally, this should not be accomplished merely through words but, first of all, through the language of their state and attitudes they should evoke disgust against evil, indecency and ugliness in the hearts of those they address and try to deter them from such errors and sins.

Immature minds

On the other hand, it is necessary to avoid giving an alluring account of what is sinful while trying to expose the ugly face of evil. Unintentionally, we might evoke an inclination toward and interest in the sinful in the minds of those we address. Although the purpose is to present the ugliness of the sins to consciences, we can unintentionally cause those with weak willpower to feel tempted toward sins.

Nobody has the right to break others’ hopes

On the other hand, if you depict negative things and reflect evil and ugliness in a way that demoralizes people and breaks their spirit, you will similarly have acted contrary to the command of forbidding the evil.

For example, on the one hand, you might say in a sorrowful mood: “Humane tears have disappeared in our time. Such hardheartedness is unparalleled in history. The Islamic world is being incinerated. Its dignity, honor and pride is trampled underfoot. It has become an object of derision. However, believers are still not sorrowful in the face of such a bitter picture. They are so miserly, even with regards to sparing a few minutes and shedding a few tears.” On the other hand, you are concerned about whether you are making a mistake by voicing these ideas. This bears the risk of creating a gloomy atmosphere that will unintentionally break the spirits of those addressed.

Every word a person speaks must be true. But it is not right to express every truth at any time. Sometimes you voice a certain truth you believe. However, if those addressed lack the level of cognition and expansive heart required for bearing this truth, your words and statements might push them toward hopelessness and to form the wrong opinion that those good things can never happen again.

Words spoken without taking into consideration what those addressed will welcome or react against are likely to result in the opposite of what is intended. In summary, enjoining the good and forbidding the evil requires much caution. There should neither be exaggeration in depicting the wrong, nor miserliness in expressing the truth.

Speaking righteously

While trying to convey good and positive things, sometimes we might step out of the frame of enjoining the good. For example, we might exaggerate about the good works carried out. In fact, exaggeration is an implicit lie. It is not possible to serve faith even with an atom of a lie. In addition, exaggeration is an important reason for grace and abundance to cease.

Sometimes, while talking about good things, we assume a role in them as if we were their real source. Actually, 99.9% of the matter we talk about belongs to God Almighty. The share that belongs to human willpower is just one thousandth. We should acknowledge this much.

Do not tell others what you cannot make yourself accept!

For the sake of its significance, I would like to state an oft-repeated fact as the final point: If we wish our words to have a positive influence on those we address, we must personally live in accordance with our words. Some Islamic sources relate that God made the following address to Jesus: “O Jesus! You first give counsel to your own soul; after it has followed the counsel, then try to guide others to goodness, otherwise feel ashamed of Me.” This teaches that it is disrespectful to God for a person to tell others what he has not been able to make his own soul accept. Given that God warns even such a blessed personage like the Messiah, whose personal example is ten times ahead of what he counsels, then it is understood how scrupulous other people must be about this issue.

[dfroza]

“Embrace the power of salvation’s full deliverance, like a helmet to protect your thoughts from lies.”

Today’s reading of the Scriptures from the New Testament is the 6th chapter of the Letter of Ephesians:

Children, if you want to be wise, listen to your parents and do what they tell you, and the Lord will help you.

For the commandment, “Honor your father and your mother,” was the first of the Ten Commandments with a promise attached: “You will prosper and live a long, full life if you honor your parents.”

Fathers, don’t exasperate your children, but raise them up with loving discipline and counsel that brings the revelation of our Lord.

Those who are employed should listen to their employers and obey their instructions with great respect and honor. Serve them with humility in your hearts as though you were working for the Master.

Always do what is right and not only when others are watching, so that you may please Christ as his servants by doing his will. Serve your employers wholeheartedly and with love, as though you were serving Christ and not men. Be assured that anything you do that is beautiful and excellent will be repaid by our Lord, whether you are an employee or an employer.

And to the caretakers of the flock I say, do what is right with your people by forgiving them when they offend you, for you know there is a Master in heaven that shows no favoritism.

Now my beloved ones, I have saved these most important truths for last: Be supernaturally infused with strength through your life-union with the Lord Jesus. Stand victorious with the force of his explosive power flowing in and through you.

Put on God’s complete set of armor provided for us, so that you will be protected as you fight against the evil strategies of the accuser! Your hand-to-hand combat is not with human beings, but with the highest principalities and authorities operating in rebellion under the heavenly realms. For they are a powerful class of demon-gods and evil spirits that hold this dark world in bondage. Because of this, you must wear all the armor that God provides so you’re protected as you confront the slanderer, for you are destined for all things and will rise victorious.

Put on truth as a belt to strengthen you to stand in triumph. Put on holiness as the protective armor that covers your heart. Stand on your feet alert, then you’ll always be ready to share the blessings of peace.

In every battle, take faith as your wrap-around shield, for it is able to extinguish the blazing arrows coming at you from the evil one! Embrace the power of salvation’s full deliverance, like a helmet to protect your thoughts from lies. And take the mighty razor-sharp Spirit-sword of the spoken word of God.

Pray passionately in the Spirit, as you constantly intercede with every form of prayer at all times. Pray the blessings of God upon all his believers. And pray also that God’s revelation would be released through me every time I preach the wonderful mystery of the hope-filled gospel. Yes, pray that I may preach the wonderful news of God’s kingdom with bold freedom at every opportunity. Even though I am chained as a prisoner, I am his ambassador.

I am sending you a dear friend, Tychicus. He is a beloved brother and trustworthy minister in our Lord Jesus. He will share with you all the concerns that I have for your welfare and will inform you of how I am getting along. And he will also prophesy over you to encourage your hearts. So may God shower his peace upon you, my beloved friends. And may the blessings of faith and love fill your hearts from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus, the Messiah. Abundant grace will be with you all as each of you love our Lord Jesus Christ without corruption. Amen!

Love in Christ,

Paul

The Letter of Ephesians, Chapter 6 (The Passion Translation)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 10th chapter of the book of Jeremiah that warns against the worship of other gods:

This message is for all of Israel. Listen to what the Eternal is saying to you.

Eternal One: Don’t learn the strange practices and beliefs of other nations.

Don’t be terrified by signs in the sky

just because the other nations are.

For their traditions and customs are useless; there is nothing to them.

A tree is cut down in the forest;

then an artisan takes out a tool and carves it into an image.

They dress it up with gold and silver to make it more impressive.

Then they nail it down so it won’t fall over!

This is what they worship? The idol just stands there—

lifeless, powerless like a scarecrow in a cucumber patch.

It cannot speak. It cannot move. They must pick the thing up and bring it along.

Do you see why there’s nothing to fear from these dead pieces of wood?

They cannot harm you, and they cannot help you either.

O Eternal One, there is no comparison.

You are great; even Your name is powerful.

Who wouldn’t worship You? It is only right;

You are the King of all kingdoms.

The wise and powerful men of all nations in their realms

are still nothing compared to You.

They are stupid fools for taking their cues from blocks of wood,

as if that idol could lead them anywhere.

Beaten silver from Tarshish, and hammered gold from Uphaz—

materials made by artisans and goldsmiths—

Draped with royal blue and purple,

even with the work of craftsmen—still a lifeless object!

Just look at the contrast! The Eternal is the True God:

He is the living God and eternal King, not some lifeless idol.

The whole earth trembles when He is angry; nations crumble beneath His wrath.

Say this to anyone still worshiping idols: The so-called gods you worship did not make the earth and starry sky above it. And one day, they will all be blotted from the earth beneath those stars.

Know whom you’re dealing with!

God alone is powerful enough to create the earth.

He alone is wise enough to put the world together.

He alone understands enough to stretch out the heavens.

His voice thunders through the heavens, and the waters gush from the sky;

He summons the clouds to build up over the earth.

As the rain falls, the lightning flashes at His command;

the wind rushes in from where He alone can store it.

All of humanity is stupid and bankrupt of knowledge.

Those who make idols are shamed by their creations.

What they fashion out of gold are imposters—

breathless, lifeless frauds.

Their idols are worthless, the work of their hands an embarrassing mockery.

They are doomed to perish under God’s judgment.

The portion of Jacob, the Eternal One, is not like any of these.

He was not fashioned out of human hands.

Instead, it is He who made all things and appointed Israel to inherit it all.

His name is the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies.

Pack up what you have; take what you can from the land.

You’ll soon be under siege!

The word I have from the Eternal is clear:

Eternal One: Look, I will pitch out these people who live in the land of promise.

Now is the time for Me to bring hardship on them, so they may be found.

When I think of what is about to happen,

I can’t begin to express my hurt; the wound is so deep, so painful.

But I keep telling myself,

“This sickness is mine to bear.”

Like a tent, my nation has collapsed, all the ropes cut apart.

My sons are gone,

And there is no one left to help me put things back together.

So I am exposed, with no tent and no shelter.

The shepherds of my people have lost their senses;

they never thought to ask what the Eternal would have them do.

So now they are in trouble,

and all their flocks are scattered.

Listen! The news we’ve dreaded is finally here:

Rumblings are being heard in the north; an army is moving into our land.

The villages of Judah will be laid to waste;

their rubble will be the haunt of jackals.

Jeremiah: O Eternal One, I know our lives are in Your hands.

It is not in us to direct our own steps—we need You.

Discipline me, Eternal One, but do so fairly.

Hold back Your wrath, or I’ll be destroyed completely.

O God, pour out Your wrath on those nations that do not acknowledge You,

on those peoples who never call on Your name.

For they have ravaged the land of Jacob and devoured it completely.

They have made sure nothing is left of our land.

The Book of Jeremiah, Chapter 10 (The Voice)

A link to my personal reading of the Scriptures for monday, August 23 of 2021 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible along with Today’s Proverbs and Psalms

A post by John Parsons about the Torah reading this week:

Shalom friends. Our Torah portion this week (Ki Tavo) includes instructions for the people to ratify the Sinai covenant in the promised land by means of a special ceremony performed in the valley between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerazim (that was later fulfilled by Israel, see Josh. 8:30-35). During this ceremony the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience would be declared, and Moses warned the people by providing a seemingly endless description of terrible consequences that would befall the Jewish people if they disobeyed the terms of the Sinai covenant (Deut. 28:15-68). In Jewish tradition this litany of woe is called the “tochachah” (תּוֹכָחָה), a word that means "rebuke" or "reprimand."

Reading the tochachah is difficult and painful, though it serves as a bitter medicine to wake us up and prevent us from falling into a lethal coma. In that sense the tochechah may be regarded as a great blessing, since it shocks us into experiencing the gravity of God’s grace. This is similar to Yeshua’s grave warnings about the dangers of hell. If we refuse to listen or rush past his words, we are missing the substance of God’s lament given through the Hebrew prophets. Sin is a lethal problem, and we must turn to God for healing or we will die. As Blaise Pascal once wrote, “Between heaven and hell is only this life, which is the most fragile thing in the world.” Therefore shuvah! -- turn to God and receive the blessing of life! [Hebrew for Christians]

and another about opening up to see Light:

Shalom dear friends. The great holiday of Rosh Hashanah (i.e., “Yom Teruah”) will begin in about two weeks (i.e., Monday, Sept. 6th at sundown). During the time leading up to the High Holidays, it is customary to engage in cheshbon ha-nefesh (“soul searching”) and to derive comfort that God is forgiving and loving to those who sincerely turn to Him. Because of this, the Jewish sages chose seven “Haftarot of comfort” to encourage us to make our hearts ready for the upcoming High Holiday Season.

The haftarah for Ki Tavo (i.e., Isa. 60:1-22) is the sixth of the seven readings from the prophets that are consecutively read before Rosh Hashanah. These “haftarot of comfort” foretell of the restoration of the Jewish people and of the coming of the Messianic Era. In this week’s reading, the haftarah portion describes the long-awaited future salvation of the nation of Israel. The LORD promises to shine His glorious light upon the Jewish people and to reveal His glory, despite the hour of darkness and tribulation that comes upon the earth: "Arise and shine (קוּמִי אוֹרִי) for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD (כְּבוֹד יהוה) has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will shine upon you (וְעָלַיִךְ יִזְרַח יהוה), and his glory will be seen upon you (וּכְבוֹדוֹ עָלַיִךְ יֵרָאֶה). And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip" (Isa. 60:1-4).

Sometime during the “plague of darkness” that represents the time of the Great Tribulation (i.e., the Day of the LORD and the judgment of the world, or Yom Adonai), Israel will finally turn to the LORD and receive Yeshua as their long-lost Messiah (Zech. 12:10). The veil will finally be taken away, and all Israel will be saved (Rom. 11:26; Isa. 59:20). The Light of Salvation (אור הישועה) will be revealed and the glory of the LORD (כְּבוֹד יהוה) will radiantly shine (זָרָח) upon the Jewish people. The land of Israel will be like Goshen during the times of the plagues of Egypt as the world powers are all judged and destroyed. Then the survivors of the nations will understand that the LORD is indeed with Israel and will turn to Him in surrender as well. "And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken" (Isa. 40:5). Yeshua will return to Zion to establish the Kingdom of God upon the earth (Zech. 2:10-13).

The LORD said to Moses from the midst of the shining flame: 'Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy' (Exod. 3:5). The Chofetz Chaim comments: We all need to rise higher... Never say, I will be able to lift myself up at another time or different place. By faith see that this place, right now, is holy ground, and awaits your response. May God open the “eyes of your heart” to help you see (Eph. 1:18-19). [Hebrew for Christians]

8.22.21 • Facebook

Today’s message (Days of Praise) from the Institute for Creation Research

August 23, 2021

Offering Willingly

“Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the LORD: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy.” (1 Chronicles 29:9)

As the people brought gifts for the construction of the temple in Jerusalem, it is mentioned no less than six times in this chapter that their offerings were willing offerings (once in verses 6 and 14, twice each in verses 9 and 17). In fact, they were not only willing but also joyful in their giving.

Joyful giving is not the usual response to a fundraising effort for a religious cause. The great proliferation of causes today—not only for churches but for multi-church or para-church projects, usually associated with high-pressure solicitations by professional money-raisers—has developed a growing cynicism in Christians toward all such appeals.

That is not the way it should be, “for God loveth a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). The churches of Macedonia, though going through “a great trial of affliction” and in “deep poverty,” nevertheless “abounded unto the riches of their liberality,” and they did so in “the abundance of their joy” (2 Corinthians 8:2). What made the difference was that they “first gave their own selves to the Lord” (2 Corinthians 8:5).

No doubt another vital factor leading to the joyful offerings of the people for the building of the temple was the example set by David’s great personal joyful generosity, followed by that of all the other leaders of Israel (1 Chronicles 29:3-8). This encouraged the people also to give “with perfect heart” (today’s verse). They had evidently, like the Philippians of Macedonia, also first given themselves to the Lord. David had led them by example, not coercion, reminding himself and his people as he prayed a prayer of thanksgiving that “all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee” (1 Chronicles 29:14). HMM

[jamaalw]

Generational Curses – Inheriting Demons From Ancestors

5thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;6and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20:5-6)

I once prayed for deliverance over a young child who was staying with his aunt. The aunt, who herself as demonic issues, contacted me to ask if I think her nephew has demons. The aunt suspected there must be something wrong with the boy (about between the age of 5-10) on a spiritual level when he asked his cousin, who is her daughter, to kiss him. That’s strange, what would compel a boy to ask his own cousin to kiss him? So I prayed for deliverance for him and sure enough, an evil spirit manifested.

Children can have demons as a result of the parents (or grandparents or great-grandparents) sins. We suspected one of his forefathers may have brought this perverse spirit into his family line. The aunt and I discussed what could have open the door to the enemy and she told me that her forefather was involved in incest.

Generational curses or intergenerational (or “familial) spirits were something I was a tad bit skeptical about as I thought it is not explicitly clear in scriptures (although conversely, scriptures do not contradict the idea of generational curses). But how else can one explain how a young child can have an evil spirit? It couldn’t be by his own sins because he was just a child. In Jesus’ ministry of a severely demonized boy, Jesus finds out from the father that his son had been in such a horrible condition “from childhood” (Mark 9:21). The demonization was therefore not the result of the boy’s own sin or his choice to worship false gods. The spirits were passed onto him from some other source, which most likely is his family. I have expelled evil spirits from many other people that confirms to me that people can indeed inherit evil spirits from their ancestors. So it’s not always by the person’s own sins a person is demonized. We are not guilty because of our ancestors’ sins but they can surely affect us.

Studies in non-Christian religions and occultism reveal transference from ancestors to be a fact. But what about what the Bible reads? Jewish heads of households knew whatever they did would affect their families for generations. God told them so multiple times (Exodus 20:5-6; Exodus 34:7; Deuteronomy 5:9b-10; Deuteronomy 23:2; Deuteronomy 28:15-18; Numbers 14:18; Jeremiah 16:10-11; Jeremiah 32:18). In times of trouble, they stood before God and confessed the sins of their family, even of their countryman. Cases of this are found in Nehemiah 1:4-9; Jeremiah 14:20; and Daniel 9:1-19. The Jews knew that the grievous sins of the fathers could affect future generations. The principle is that family sin or judgment for that sin flows through the family line, affecting the succeeding generations who had nothing to do with the sins in question. We can see examples of this by observing the sons of the priest Eli (1 Samuel 2:12-36), the consequence of Ahab’s sins passed on to his son’s house (1 Kings 21:29), the descendants of Shemaiah punished because their father taught rebellion against the Lord (Jeremiah 29:32), and the trouble David had with his sons (part of the punishment from God for David’s sin was the death of his child as written in 2 Samuel 12:14-18) – that the consequence of a father’s sin falls into the lap of future generations (Jeremiah 32:18). It is God’s prerogative how He deals with punishment for unresolved sin. One means of this may be to allow the enemy to affect the descendants of unrepentant sinners.

One Christian author gives this insight:

Anyone who works long enough with people will notice that certain family behaviors, both desirable and undesirable, are repetitive. Thus, a father who models discipline and faithfulness may inculcate these traits in his son. On the other hand, a man who is given to indulgence in pornography, or a man who cannot control his temper, may pass on these weaknesses to his children. Such traits vary from physical indulgences to criticism, bitterness and anger. Of course, these are mostly behaviors learned by a child in a family-of-origin context. But what if distinct traits of a grandfather show up in a grandson even though the two have had very little contact? Are these transmitted genetically? Perhaps. Very likely both genetic predisposition and learned behavior are interrelated. One reinforces the other.

There is a third possibility: the activity of “familial” spirits that operate in connection with family lineage. Here’s the given: The devil attacks and exploits unconfessed sin. If sin occurs and remains unresolved, especially sin related to idolatry or witchcraft, the enemy has a legal right of accusation. Combining the biblical principle of the visitation of the sins of the fathers on the children with clinical data from deliverance sessions, we observe a connection between genealogical sin and oppression in current generations. Satan’s goal is to perpetuate his strongholds. But let me make one point very clear: Even if I have a heritage saturated with sin and iniquity and have to deal with the harassment of familiar spirits, I am not personally responsible and accountable for those ancestral sins. I am held responsible for my own moral compromises.

Here’s a hypothetical illustration: Let’s say that my great-grandmother practiced occultism. She would have consorted with spirits and received certain powers of divination. She went to ger grave unrepentant and unredeemed, her sin unresolved before God. What happens to those divining and deceiving spirits when she dies? Where do they go? They will probably try to stay within the family. The typical scenario is that these spirits will transfer to the daughter or granddaughter, or cross over to the male line. The spirits claim a right to remain in the family based on the unrepentant or unresolved sin. A generation or two later, I enter the picture and come into the kingdom of God. If, at the time of conversion, I do not sufficiently separate and break from these spiritual connections, I may experience some significant oppression and resistance to my growth in grace. Typically, this is evidenced by significant struggles to read the Bible, to pray or to experience the joy of the Lord.

(Tom White, The Believer’s Guide to Spiritual Warfare, 92-93)

Christian authors, Ankerberg and Weldon wrote:

“We know that certain sins committed by the parents in the physical realm can seriously affect-even deform or kill- an unborn child. This would include alcohol or drug addiction and many sexually transmitted diseases like herpes, syphilis, and AIDS. We also know that the physical and emotional sins of parents can also leave lasting scars on their children as in incest, emotional withdrawal, and physical abuse. Can we be sure, then, that the spiritual area is exempt from visiting the sins of the parents on the children? Why are some children “born” psychic?… ” (The Coming Darkness, 208).

Dr. Kurt E Koch, theologian and author, lists scores of examples where children of occult practitioners have suffered emotionally even though they were not directly involved in such practices themselves, wrote “It is actually quite usual for such a marriage [of occultists] to produce children who are severely oppressed” (Occult ABC, 275).

He also noted:

“It is indeed a fact established by some 600 examples from pastoral experience with those involved in the occult, that prolonged occult practice creates a corresponding psychological constitution, a susceptibility, an inclination, a breeding-ground for various psychological disorders. In a long series of cases it has been possible to establish that occult subjection is an especially marked psychological constitution lasting through four succeeding generations of the same family” (Christian Counseling and Occultism, 117-118).

Moreover, he wrote:

“It is clear in a number of cases that charmers, spiritists, and sorcerers bring oppression on their descendants to the third and fourth generations. This accords with the second of the Ten Commandments, which speaks of “visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate God” (Occult ABC, 276).

He gives many examples, found in his book Christian Counseling and Occultism, which are indicative of the impact one person can have on his own family and even succeeding generations:

“(Case 60) Although she had a [magical] charm for every disease of man and beast, she was unable to control the psychological sufferings of her own posterity. From her own children down to her grand-children, an enormous variety of psychological disorders are to be observed….”

“(Case 61) Her grandmother was a charmer for many years. Her oldest son, the father of the girl who came to me, was harassed by suicidal thoughts. The second son hanged himself. This first granddaughter had fits of mania….”

“(Case 62) After years of successful [demonic] healing practice, his own mind became disturbed. He was taken to a mental institution. Two of his children the same fate. The whole family had psychological disturbances for several generations.”

“(Case 63) Her grandfather worked with magic books and conducted occult experiments. Finally he became blind. He burned his magic books and warned his children that they must not continue his occult practices because he had become blind as a result of them. In the following generation as astounding picture of psychological abnormalities presented itself. The son was an alcoholic. The granddaughter is a clairvoyant…. Five of his grandchildren are mentally abnormal… some with psychoses.”

The Following are examples found in Occult ABC:

“Ex 304 While I was on a speaking tour in the province of Santa Catarina, Brazil, a woman Salvation Army officer came to me for counseling. She was of psychic disposition and encountered severe attacks during the night and when praying or reading her Bible. In my addresses, I mentioned some examples similar to events in her own family, and she therefore had confidence in me. As she told the story of her life, the following facts came out. Her grandmother and her mother were active spiritists. Her mother’s brother had committed suicide. Her father had been killed in an explosion. Her own husband had been killed in a road accident. Her eldest son also had a fatal accident.”

These are not uncommon occurrences found in a spiritist’s family: accidents, suicides, mental disorders, etc. which are severe attacks from satan’s kingdom. Frequent accidents and suicides seem to be a familiar phenomenon in the world of the occult.

Again, I quote Ankerberg and Weldon:

“Many secular researchers have also noted there is a hereditary factor for psychic predisposition: Dr. Fodor, the psychoanalyst/ psychic researcher referred to earlier, observes: “In most cases mediumship can be traced as a hereditary gift. If the heredity is not direct it is to be found in ancestors or collaterals.”

The compilation by the editors of Psychic magazine- Psychics: In Depth Interviews- reveals a consistent pattern. Most psychics interviewed admitted familial involvement. Famous mediums Arthur Ford, Eileen Garrett, and Douglas Johnson all had aunts who were mediums or psychics; Irene Hughes and Peter Hurkos both had psychic mothers; and virtually all 19 members of witch Sybil Leek’s nuclear and extended family were sympathetic to psychicism.

As with Edgar Cayce, Olga Worrall, and other well-known occultists, the predisposition often surfaces during childhood, especially in experiences with spirits. In the book cited above, Jeane Dixon, Eileen Garrett, Irene Hughes, Douglas Johnson, and “Kreskin” (who denies he is a psychic even though he practices automatic writing) also encountered psychic events at a young age” (The Coming Darkness, 211-212).

Dr. Fodor confirms that even babies and small children of occultists can incur a curse of because of their parents’ sins:

“Inherited mediumship usually appears spontaneously and early in life, like artistic gifts. The five-month-old son of Mrs. Kate Fox-Jenken wrote automatically. Raps occurred on his pillow and on the iron railing of his bedstead almost everyday. The seven month-old infant of Mrs. Margaret Cooper gave communications through raps. Aksakof in Animisme et Eperitisme records many instances of infantile mediumship. The child Alward moved tables that were too heavy for her normal strength. The nephew of Seymour wrote automatically when nine days old.

In Bonnemere’s Les Canisards and in Figuier’s Histoire du Merveilleux many cases are quoted of Canisard babies of 14-15 months of age and of infants who preached in French in the purest diction” (Fodor, Encyclopedia of Psychic Science, 234).

The following is an example of a Christian demonized because of what his ancestors were involved in:

“Ex. 47. A Bible student in the Philippines had been a Christian for about one year. As I prayed with him, a rough voice called out of him, ‘He belongs to us. His whole family has belonged to us for more than 200 years.’ ‘No,’ I retorted, ‘he belongs to the Lord Jesus to whom he’s surrendered his life.’ The voices spoke again, ‘That’s not true. His ancestors have subscribed themselves to us. He is ours by right.’ The conversation revealed that the ancestors of this unhappy student had not only practised sorcery, but some of them had even subscribed themselves to the devil with their own blood. This was the reason why, in spite of his conversion, the student had become possessed” (Occult Bondage and Deliverance, 70-71).

In Demon Possession and the Christian, theologian Dr. C. Fred Dickason details many examples of what occult practices can do to Christians:

“I have found this avenue of ancestral involvement to be the chief cause of demonization. Well over 95 percent of more than 400 persons I have contacted in my counseling ministry have been demonized because of their ancestors’ involvement in occult and demonic activities” (Demon Possession and the Christian, 221).

Not all times do demons go down the bloodline because of the occult. Demonization may occur apart from it:

“...a Salvation Army officer who had been born blind and who was brought to a meeting at which Jean Darnall was ministering. A charismatic word of knowledge declared that the man’s blindness was due to an evil spirit which had entered him at birth. He had been born in prison. His father was a criminal and his mother had conspired with him. Criminal or immoral activity can become a vehicle for demonic intrusion, and this was the case for this officer. Following a deliverance prayer by which a spirit was cast out of him, the man saw perfectly for the first time in his life” (Parker, Battling the Occult, 82).

https://jesustruthdeliverance.com/generational-curses-inheriting-demons-from-ancestors/

[deyensee]

Soul: Searching...

So, I’ve just come back from a weekend road trip. 908 miles, 3 days, 1 night camping. Up the (beautiful) Oregon Coast and down through central Oregon. In short order, here is what I learned: - The world is a big place. It is much bigger than our life and all of its problems. It is easy to get tunnel-visioned on all of these seemingly large things in life that dominate our view. Traveling literally helped me to get a new perspective on my life and my problems and the bigger picture of it all. - There is tremendous value in going or doing something alone, especially if you need the time to process and mull and consider, especially especially if your daily life allows little of that precious time. Make more time to pray and remember and consider and think, especially if big problems in your life need a lot of consideration to grasp the whole of. - Gas is cheapest in Oregon in Crescent, Oregon. 2.59 per gallon! Dang! Sadly, the things I really gained from this trip can’t exactly be bullet-pointed, so here is my trip in long-order. (Warning: VERY LONG -  but filled with spiritual insight)      I have (had) been feeling stuck between a rock and a hard place. The Rock was continual suffering and the Hard Place was being selfish and unloving and running away from it all. Neither of them felt like the right solution, or at least not in the way I was handling either of them.      The last weekend before my trip, I decided I just needed a lot of time on my own, in companionship and communication with God throughout it. Letting my thoughts wander to my stresses and concerns and hurts and bringing them to God, heart-brokenly asking for help and guidance. He was there, and he did provide the help I needed.       On the last day of my trip, I figured I needed to take a big picture view of the past 10 months and try to make sense of it from a Heavenly Perspective. Considering what God was doing and how He was working and what He was trying to achieve. Writing is typically the best way for me to bring a lot of ideas into focus at once, so here Is what I wrote, with some additions for clarity      “I was in a good, growing spot with God. My idol of relationships that I have built throughout my life was in full view of God, and he decided to have a go at it. I was chasing God and saw another who seemed to be doing the same, and so started pursuing her alongside God. As my pursuit of her grew, my pursuit of Him lessened as I was being whispered to that the longing in my heart would be better fulfilled by her. With no hint of ill-intent or any desire to leave God’s side, I slowly grew more and more enraptured by this relationship, with ample encouragement from friends and family, and less and less in love with God. it was a relationship of selfish-enjoyment. She was and is great, and I was becoming close with her family, with some struggles here and there. I was chasing my desire for acceptance and love in Humans, which, if granted, would have contented me for this life.      I was then wholesale rejected by her family; I was cut-out. My closeness with her was destroyed and I am now distant from their family, by their desire. I hurt from that. I had huge dreams of love and relationship and family and beauty that had been subtly planted in my head by the relationship and her family and those close to me and my own longings. Images of the man I could be and the life I could have. None of those images or dreams excluded God, but God was not the focus, My life was. I wanted my reward in this life.      As the reality of their rejection slowly and continually settled in; first as rejection as a boyfriend, then rejection as an adopted member of their family, then rejection as a close friend, then rejection even to the point of simply being good friends, all while not understanding why I was being rejected, I struggled. Each one of those dreams or hopes that was ripped away was like a stab in my heart. I struggled with deep frustration because of the seemingly contradictory actions from others who claimed love as their highest pursuit. I struggled with confusion over whether their actions gave me the right to be spiteful and run away from them outright - and whether that would be the loving and Godly response (hint: it’s not).      When your deepest desire is to be Loved and Accepted and you face rejection mixed with obfuscation and hypocrisy and selfishness (I am in no way claiming to be above those things myself), alongside loneliness, with no human whom you can reach out to for support while also truly understanding the situation and being wise enough to counsel you in it, what do you do?      Do you continue trying to fulfill your desires to love and be loved and be close with them even though every rejection is ripping you apart? Do you love them in an impersonal way somehow, without being bitter? Run away from them entirely because it just hurts so much? Be depressed and mope and give up on life because you have been affirmed yet again that you aren’t good enough to be loved by someone without obligation? Be so furious and hateful that you see red and proclaim their injustices to them and the world, though they wouldn’t listen anyways, then cut all ties with them because You have been Hurt by Them? Do you seek to be loving and be Godly even though it is actually like dipping your heart in acid every time you are around them? What does love even look like in that situation? Are you even strong enough to love like that? Or, do you just give in to the never-ending, ever-present, anxious whispers of hurt and pain and injustice at the cost of everything you have tried to stand for and everything you believe?      Or, do you instead seek to try to understand what God is purposing with all of this, in order to comply with his direction and move with his command and learn from his discipline?      I went through many of these questions in some form. I tried to be loving in the face of rejection and found only deep hurt. I was depressed and gave up on life for a while because I was affirmed, yet again, that I am not enough. The thought of cutting all ties out of hurt and abandoning everyone there crossed my mind so many times that I’d lost count. Most of the time, I tried understanding what God was doing in all of this but received scarcely a reply. I couldn’t tell what I needed to do or how to move forward without it just being wrong. All the while, those never ending whispers of pain and hurt and bitterness whispered to me in my quiet moments, when I wasn’t forcing myself to distraction; when I lie down to sleep but instead only stayed awake for hours in anxious tension until falling into troubled dreams.      So, here seemed to be the root of all of this:      My heart wants love and acceptance and seeks it from people because I have a hard time accepting it from God.      But, here is the reality of all of this:      God brought me to all of this pain intentionally. It wasn’t like he was completely surprised by this turn of events. No, he orchestrated and planned every bit of it. Then did he do it out of malice and evil glee? No. Read the Bible if you want to understand God’s heart.      He showed me that the more I seek and hope for satisfaction in humans and come to expect it from them, the more I hurt from disappointment and pain and the worse I make the situation, as sin is wont to do. No Man (or woman) Can Satisfy Me. It is a lie to believe that I will be completely and finally fulfilled and happy if I find the right person. Maybe I will be happy for a while, maybe even for a lifetime, but likely not for long and certainly not at the end of this life.     Here is the reality. God loves me so much that he will hurt me in the deepest, most excruciating way that I know to be hurt, for my own good. He will bring me to the very precipice of my deepest desires then violently rip them from me, with tears in His eyes as I weep in agony, because I have a health condition that will kill me called Misplaced Desires and he has graciously set himself to healing me at any cost to himself or me. He will lovingly rip me apart and suffer the heartbreak of a Father having to amputate His child’s legs from the boulder that crushed them so He can save his child’s life and so they can spend eternity together in joy. He is loving enough to see me through every step of my painful treatment as both my Father and my Doctor. That is his role. He loves me enough not to stop, even though it breaks his heart to see his child in agony.      “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, How will he not also, along with Jesus, graciously give us all things?”      “All things” is not defined as “All Materially Beneficial Things”. It is defined as “Anything that ensures that my human son, David, will live with me for eternity, because that is the best thing I can give.” This graciously includes my own suffering and heartbreak and hurt, because it all leads to healing.      So, I am not healed of my heart problem, yet, I think. I may not ever be till my death. But, God loves me enough to see me through it, at any cost. He has already paid the highest cost, that of his own Son’s life, what else wouldn’t he give to keep me? And because he has set me as his son and patient, I will undeservedly reap the reward at the end of this life. (John 17:3). And the one thing that will offset, and completely overshadow, the excruciating pain of the treatment is knowing that I am so Loved now, and that my Reward is coming. I will dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of my life, I will gaze upon the beauty of the one who truly loves me, and I will inquire in his temple.      God Himself is the point of Heaven. Having and Knowing God Himself is the point of Jesus on the Cross and of every ounce of suffering, both to unbelievers, being subjected in hope of their hearts opening to him, and in believers, being transformed into the same image of Jesus, from one degree of glory to another. Knowing of his love empowers me to embrace the suffering and even share the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ to others who are in dire need of hope for treatment from their terminal illness. Delighting in the beautiful person of God is the purpose of every created human, and is what He is offering.       So, this is all more or less what I learned on my journey.      God loves me enough to hurt me. I love him for that, and desire to grow in knowledge of his goodness even more.      I can love the Rock and avoid the Hard Place by finding forgiveness to replace my bitterness and acknowledging that God has set me on a treatment plan and has plotted a course for my life that does not have me in certain relationships at this time. My Guide and Lover and the One I trust has direction for me, and I accept that and can embrace the state of relationships that He has set.      There is one more thing I realized. It is how to forgive. God uses everything for the good of his children, both the “good” things in life and the “bad” things in life (such as others acting in ways that hurt you, physically or emotionally). Those people might have had ill intent in their heart, or maybe they didn’t. However, what they set out to hurt you with, or what you have been hurt by, God is using for good. My landlord who strangled me and forced a drastic change in my life, God used to reunite me with Himself and bring about good change. Can I in good conscience hold that against my landlord?? Sure, my body was injured but God used even that for Good. This rejection by the ones I sought acceptance from, how can I hold it against them when I know that God is using it for my good, as an act of love? (Gen: 50:20, Rom 8:28) Forgiveness isn’t only only in knowing that “they will get what they’ve got coming to them”, in fact, I don’t truly think that is forgiveness at all. It also isn’t only in knowing that any harm done here should be forgiven because this flesh is temporary and that better is coming, or in light of what we have been graciously forgiven for (Eph. 4:32). Those can be motivating reasons to forgive - but truly, how can you be mad at someone who did something with evil intent (at the worst) that turned out, by God’s hand, for your good?      Perhaps I will think differently in the future regarding this, but it makes a lasting sort of sense. Forgiveness is easy when you have benefited from the wrong (or perceived wrong), which, for an adopted son or daughter of the King and Creator of the Universe, is every wrong. And every right or good thing is only given to reveal more of the goodness of God’s person within that gift. God is the gift.

[live4thelord-blog1]

“No one wins a victory without fighting,

nor finds rest without working.”

— Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ III.19

The virtues that preserve our freedom as agents are twins: temperance and fortitude. By the former, we are unchained from cruel shackles; by the latter, we are armed for battle.

We have been born into a life of struggle and cannot find peace unless we first admit that we have been summoned to toil and to labor, to fight and to protect. Long before the earth took shape from the remains of exploded stars, the Evil One set himself up against God and was thrown down from heaven with multitudes of rebel angels. When Adam later fell, bitten as Eve had been by the desire to rule himself without regard to God’s law, the earth fell with him, and so, beautiful and orderly though it is, it bears its roses among thorns and offers us sustenance grudgingly. Our pursuit of the good, then, takes place in a context well beyond our choosing or our likes and dislikes. We must strive to preserve life and to pursue holiness in the face of countless and daunting obstacles, both material and spiritual.

“Fear is nothing but surrender of the helps that come from reason” (Wisd. 17:12).

Fear is a terrible passion. Desire always has in it some promise of pleasure; it beckons, entices, beguiles. Fear appalls, unsettles, and puts us in a state of confusion. Great fears repel us. Without tremendous force of character, we simply run from them. Lesser fears shake us. If our firmness does not suffice, we lash out at them, often bringing more injury upon ourselves and others by our irrational self-defense than we would have suffered had we simply endured the pain, discomfort, inconvenience, or insult. Fortitude is reason’s armor and the bulwark of interior peace. If our souls are steadfast, the many fears that must and will assault us every day will not conquer us but will stir us to effective service.

When Aristotle examined the virtue of fortitude, he took special pains to warn his students against dispositions that may look courageous but are not so in truth. One of these is the tendency to act impulsively that we see in the young or high-spirited person. Another is the willingness to fight or to labor under compulsion, as with the mercenary or the slave. By these facsimiles and substitutes for courage, we begin to appreciate the authentic virtue. Our fortitude must be interior, free, and rational. It is a firm disposition to overcome our fears for the sake of a noble end, for the sake of the goods that constitute the communities of which we are the parts, for the good of the family, the neighborhood, the parish, the business, the city. If fortitude is to be a virtue, it must be the result of our choices, our actions.

Yet if we are not ourselves soldiers, how shall we be trained in this virtue?

In the first place, it is by the consistent performance of our daily duties. Our Savior, the carpenter’s son, taught us by his example not to disdain ordinary work, and the witness of the first Christians is unequivocally the same. Whether it is St. Paul stitching tents, St. Timothy attending to the reading and prayers, or Priscilla and Aquila, by their hospitality, making it possible for the Gospel to be shared, the early followers of Christ took up the task at hand forthrightly and with generous hearts. Scripture casts the exhortation to labor courageously in simple terms: “In all your work be industrious, and no sickness will overtake you” (Sir. 31:22). It is true that work is for the sake of leisure, and the highest use of leisure is contemplation and worship. We must indeed keep the right order of goods always in mind. Yet in doing so we must not forget that there are many people to whom we owe our productive work — of whatever kind it may be –and that if we embrace this work as service, it will strengthen our hearts.

The other universal path to fortitude is the daily exercise of ruling our own emotions and keeping them reined in by reason and grace. This life of self-command is no trivial task. What foes are more bitter, more constant, and more difficult to vanquish than our fears and the irrational anger that can well up from our daily converse with others? “He who is slow to anger,” said Solomon, “is better than the mighty” (Prov. 16:32). How very true, yet how difficult to attain the serenity that comes from fortitude. How are we to do it? By taking little steps of patience, perseverance, and constancy.

We can find valuable advice about how to live these aspects of fortitude in the letters of St. Francis de Sales. He wrote thousands of letters during his two decades as bishop of Geneva, some to religious sisters such as St. Jane de Chantal, others to priests and to men and women in the world. No matter his correspondent, he always spoke in the same voice: direct, unpretentious, and above all, warm. Again and again he counseled his friends to find their joy in spiritual things, to look to the saints for inspiration, to strive to maintain a loving attentiveness to God, and to keep in their minds concrete images of the Lord: Jesus kneeling in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus displaying his wounds, Jesus stretching out a helping hand, and, above all, Jesus hanging on the Cross. Throughout these letters, the virtues he most frequently turned to are perseverance, constancy, and patience. All three are dispositions to carry burdens well. Perseverance and constancy regard lengthy works, with perseverance being the disposition to endure the pain of the work itself, and constancy the determination to stick to the task in the face of temptations to abandon it in favor of other, more attractive ends. Patience is a more general virtue of suffering well, but it does have as its special task the bearing of pains caused by other persons. Patience, in particular, is a foundation for the life of virtue and devotion because it is a firm strength of mind in the face of annoyance and suffering. As St. Thomas Aquinas explained, patience “removes by the root the passions that are evoked by hardships and disturb the soul.”

As he taught his correspondents how to live these virtues, de Sales was always practical and encouraging. To a correspondent frustrated because her daily duties kept interrupting her intended scheme of devotions, de Sales wrote with gentle but firm words that adjusted her perspective: “God wants you to serve him as you are, and by the exercises and virtuous deeds that accord with your state in life. And in addition to persuading yourself of this truth, you must also make yourself to love your state in life and its duties, and to love them tenderly, for the sake of the One who has willed it thus.” To other friends, he sent similar counsel. Constancy requires “that our hearts [be] where our treasure is and that we should live in heaven.” And while on this pilgrim journey, we must “walk firmly in the way in which the providence of God has placed [us], without looking either to the right or to the left.” To walk in friendship with God is not the work of a day, but of a lifetime, which is why we must “begin again every day,” remembering that “there is no better path to success in the spiritual life than always to begin again and never to think that you have done enough.” The great obstacle in this attempt is, of course, our own weakness. Yet perseverance itself requires that we have a certain disregard for our shortcomings and maintain our confidence in the Lord: “God will hold you in his hand,” the saint wrote, “and if he lets you stumble, it will be only so that you realize that you would collapse entirely if he did not hold you, and thus to make you tighten your grip upon his hand.”

The appeal to the imagination was characteristic of de Sales’s spirituality, and when attempting to shore up the patience of his friends, he typically asked them to bring to mind some moment in the life of Jesus. To a friend suffering from fear, he wrote: “Be firm in your resolutions. Stay in the boat. Let the storm come. While Jesus lives, you will not die.” To one suffering from depression, he employed stronger medicine: “Continue to embrace our crucified Lord, and give him your heart and consecrate your mind to him with your affections just as they are.” And to one who had complained of bitter suffering, he used the very strongest: “Every day you should bring to mind the sufferings our Lord endured for our redemption . . . and consider how good it is for you to participate in them.” The image of the crucified Savior is the right medicine for our souls: “The whole life of Christ was a Cross and martyrdom, yet you seek rest and joy?” We may be tempted to soothe psychological pain with the false relief of digital distraction, but this is cowardice, not courage, and cannot possibly heal us. When self-pity or stress, suffering, or boredom knocks at the door, we must turn to the Cross and look upon the Lord. He can cast away the darkness of our sorrows and fears and renew our minds for the labors of the Christian life.

Soldiers of Christ

2 Timothy 2:1–7

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus,

and what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust

to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Take your

share of suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier on

service gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to satisfy

the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless

he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer

who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what

I say, for the Lord will grant you understanding in everything.

Questions for Reflection

– Do I keep in mind the duties of my state in life, so that I

may recognize the obstacles and suffering that confront me

as opportunities to serve God’s kingdom?

– Is there sufficient order in my daily life — my waking, sleeping,

exercise, and fruitful use of time — so that I am ready

to labor cheerfully and effectively in the service of others?

– Am I allowing myself to be susceptible to anxiety, fear, and

irrational anger by failing to think about God’s goodness and

his providential care for me?

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Counsel the Bitter Person with a Warning from Jesus

by Paul Tautges

Bitterness is a prison. It is self-destructive; it is spiritual suicide. That’s why it’s often been said, “The bitter person drinks a vial of poison and waits for their enemy to die.” Therefore, when counseling the bitter person, the warning of Jesus should not be neglected. Use it to direct the eyes of the bitter person away from himself to God and help him to unlock his self-made prison by walking in the obedience of forgiveness.

The heart that has been forgiven much loves much (Luke 7:47). This should mean that as we ponder the depth of our own sinfulness (like the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears) and consider the greater depth of God’s forgiveness, we will grow in our love for Him. One result of this growth should…

continue this article at Biblical Counseling Coalition

[ahopkins1965]

Toggle navigation

Search

Browse

The Bible Toggle Dropdown

Search The Bible

Find it!

What Does Jesus Teach about Stumbling – and Forgiveness?

Bible / Bible Study / Topical Studies

Debbie W. Wilson | Writer

Friday, August 28, 2020

Share Tweet Save

Not wanting to wake my husband, I tiptoed in the dark to bed. Unbeknownst to me, our 84-pound standard poodle had wadded up the rug beside my bed. I stumbled and hit the floor — hard. I don’t think Max set out to make me fall when he attacked the rug. But his fun left me with an aching back and twisted knee.

Have you ever considered that our careless behavior can cause people to trip in their faith? Jesus said, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble” (Luke 17:1-2 NASB).

What Is a Stumbling Block?

Blue Letter Bible defines a stumbling block as “any person or thing by which one is (entrapped) drawn into error or sin.” We may not intend to cause someone to stumble in their faith, but our actions, or lack of, can lead others into error or sin.

In Galatians, Paul confronted the Apostle Peter for causing believers to stumble. His hypocrisy led even faithful Barnabas astray.

“When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray” (Gal. 2:11-13).

Like Peter, the pressure to conform or not call attention to ourselves may cause us to compromise our faith values. We may think our actions don’t matter. But our actions impact others as well as ourselves.

In this day and age, we are constantly bombarded with different opinions and agendas, many that are in direct contrast to the teachings of the Bible. The pressure to conform to a world culture that is against Christ is intense.

Sometimes when I see someone publicly stand up for what’s right, rather than conforming to the popular opinion, I think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the three young men who stood when everyone else knelt before a golden idol (Daniel 3). Their stand caused them to be thrown into a fiery furnace.

It costs us to resist the culture and stand for our faith. But Jesus warned that going with the flow and being a stumbling block that leads young believers into error costs more. Jesus said, “It would be better … to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble” (Luke 17:2).

In the furnace, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego met the pre-incarnate Christ. Their miraculous protection gained the attention of the pagan ruler. Not even a hair was singed! And their courage still inspires us today. Jesus rewards those who stand with Him, whether in this life or throughout eternity.

Don’t Stumble Over an Offense

After telling the disciples to watch themselves, Jesus talked about dealing with those who wrong us. Was He changing the topic? I don’t think so. 

“So watch yourselves. If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them” (Luke 17:3).

When a fellow believer sins against us, Jesus doesn’t say to overlook it. He says to rebuke them. Why would He say that? I believe He wants to protect us from resentment and from passively becoming an accomplice to their sin. This also gives that brother or sister the opportunity to repent. If they are wronging us, they’re probably wronging others too. Rebuking sin protects both of us. We don’t want to enable sinful behavior.

Photo credit: ©Sparrowstock

Forgive Them — Over and Over 

“And if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them” (Luke 17:3-4).

The number seven often represents completeness. It means we keep forgiving, no matter how many times they repeat their wrong (Matt. 18:21-22). 

If someone came to me seven times in one day saying, “I repent,” I wouldn’t trust them. The good news is, Jesus doesn’t say to trust them. He says to forgive them. 

To forgive means “to let go, let be.” It also means “to cancel a debt.” In Matthew 18:23-35, Jesus told the parable of a king who forgave a servant’s huge debt against him. The forgiven servant then went out to collect lesser debts from a fellow servant. When the man couldn’t pay, the forgiven debtor threw his fellow servant into prison. 

After having been forgiven so much by his king, you’d expect this man to be eager to forgive those who owed him far less. His unforgiveness shocked all who saw it. 

Of course, the king represents Jesus, the King of kings. We are the servant who was forgiven much. To not forgive a lesser sin after receiving so much grace — after all, our sin crucified the Son of God — is wicked and appalling.

When the king heard of this man’s unforgiveness, he turned him over to be tortured. Anyone who has harbored bitterness in their hearts knows those torturers. Every time you think of that person or how they wronged you, you suffer.

When we refuse to forgive those who wrong us, we trip over their offense and others topple over us. Forgiveness protects our hearts from bitterness. Hebrews 12:15 says bitterness can defile many. When young believers see us holding a grudge after God has forgiven us, we become a stumbling block that can lead them into sin.

Increase Our Faith

The disciples responded much like you and I would, “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5). 

How much faith does it take to forgive a repeat offender? Not as much as you might think. Jesus tells a story to illustrate that forgiveness doesn’t depend on the size of our faith, but the object of our faith. 

“He replied, ‘If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you” (Luke 17:6).

Perhaps He’s saying that a mustard seed of faith can uproot a tree of bitterness. He goes on to point out the difference between doing something because we feel like it and doing it because Jesus tells us to.

“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty’” (Luke 17:6-10).

A servant carries out his responsibilities, not because he feels like it, but because it’s his duty. Even when a servant returns tired and hungry from working in the field, he prepares his master’s dinner before his own.

When Jesus tells us to forgive, we forgive, not because it’s convenient or because we feel like it. We forgive because He is our master and we are His servants. We do it to please our Master.

Forgiveness is a matter of duty. We don’t wait until we have more faith to obey. We choose to obey, and He supplies the strength to let go of the wrongs we’ve suffered.

When we’re tempted to compromise, may we remember Jesus’ warning and watch ourselves. Jesus said stumbling blocks will come into the world. May we be careful not to be one.

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/ArisSu 4

Drawing from her walk with Christ, and decades as a Christian counselor, coach, and Bible teacher, Debbie W. Wilson helps women give themselves a break so they can enjoy the fruitful and satisfying lives found only in God’s grace. She is the author of Little Women, Big God and Give Yourself a Break. Her latest book, Little Faith, Big God, releases February 2020. She and her husband Larry founded and run Lighthouse Ministries, a nonprofit counseling, coaching, and Bible study ministry. She is an AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) certified speaking and writing coach. Debbie enjoys a good mystery, dark chocolate, and the antics of her two standard poodles. Refresh your faith with free resources at debbieWwilson.com.

Around The Web

Ads by Revcontent

Lung Cancer Symptoms People Might Miss Too Often

Cancer | Sponsored Links

What are the Characteristics of a Wise Woman? - Topical Studies

Md: Do This Immediately if You Have Diabetes (Watch)

Patriot Health Zone

Most Popular Bible Verses from Isaiah - Scripture & Meaning

60 Second Ritual Rebuilds Your Teeth and Gums (Watch)

Patriot Health Zone

Load More

Popular Articles

Navigating Painful Seasons with Help from Hannah

Carley Marcouillier

How Do We "Do It All for the Glory of God"?

Meg Bucher

What Does Jesus Teach about Stumbling – and Forgiveness?

Debbie W. Wilson

Who Is Theophilus and Why Are Two Books of the Bible Addressed to Him?

Hope Bolinger

Why Should We Pray for "Our Daily Bread"?

Meg Bucher

Top 5 Bible Verses to Read When You’re Feeling Lonely

Elizabeth Laing Thompson

Featured Verse Topics

Healing Bible Verses

Worry and Anxiety Bible Verses

Prayer Bible Verses

Bible Verses for Overcoming Grief

Comforting Bible Verses

Bible Verses About Protection

God's Promises - Verses in the Bible

Bible Verses For Faith in Hard Times

Encouraging Bible Verses

Hope Bible Verses

Friendship Bible Verses

Forgiveness Bible Verses

Strength Bible Verses

Love Bible Verses

Inspirational Bible Verses

About Online Bible Sitemap Link to Us Advertise with Us Feedback

Proud member of Salem Media Group.

Copyright © 2020, Bible Study Tools. All rights reserved. Article Images Copyright © 2020 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated.

Do Not Sell My Info (CA only)

[preachbvne]

Airing in Less then an Hour.. Join in

“(Prophetic Word)  Pass Before Your Brethren Armed & Help Them Until The Lord has Given Your Brethren Rest as He has Given you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVw10UVx0cU CLICK THE BELL AND SET a REMINDER.... You don't want to Miss this Message!

Joshua 1:12-15 (KJV) 12 And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, Spake Joshua, Saying, Remember The Word Of The Lord and His PROMISES 13 Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, The Lord your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land. Help Your Brethren into Their Rest Too 14 Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valour, and help them; Until They Enter Into Their Possession Too 15 Until the Lord have given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the Lord your God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which Moses the Lord's servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sunrising.

Galatians 6:1  (KJV) 6 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

Help Them By: • Prayer;  Supplication &Warfare • Stand in the Gap in Their Weakness • Cover Them in Their Correction • Wisdom & Instruction • Correct Them – Teach Them What Devours • Giving to Them • Encouragement • Truth when they are in Error • Rebuke when Needed • Correct When Need • OBEDIENCE IS THE FUEL FOR GRACE TO FLOW TO THEM • Make Know Open Doors • Make Known Things they Do that Block and Hinder Them • WAR A GOOD WARFARE –PUT THEM IN REMEMBRANCE

Put Them In Remembrance of the SURE WORD OF PROPHESY That -War A Good Warfare 1 Timothy 1:18 (KJV) 18 This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;

SO THAT NO ONE IS LEFT BEHIND 1 Thessalonians 5:11-15  (MSG) 9-11 God didn’t set us up for an angry rejection but for salvation by our Master, Jesus Christ. He died for us, a death that triggered life. Whether we’re awake with the living or asleep with the dead, we’re alive with him! So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you’ll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. I know you’re already doing this; just keep on doing it.

The Way He Wants You to Live 12-13 And now, friends, we ask you to honor those leaders who work so hard for you, who have been given the responsibility of urging and guiding you along in your obedience. Overwhelm them with appreciation and love! OBEDIENCE IS FUEL TO PROGRESSION 13-15 Get along among yourselves, each of you doing your part. Our counsel is that you warn the freeloaders to get a move on. Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs. And be careful that when you get on each other’s nerves you don’t snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out.

1 Thessalonians 5:11-15  (KJV) 11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. 12 And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; 13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves. 14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. 15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. WOE TO THOSE ALONE- STOP CHOOSING TO BE ALONE Ecclesiastes 4:10  (KJV) 10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Your Warfare Is Accomplished ENTER IN Isaiah 40:1-2(KJV) 40 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

Definitions of accomplished: • settled securely and unconditionally • highly skilled • successfully completed or brought to an end Definitions of accomplish: • to gain with effort • put in effect

YOUR WAY IS MADE Isaiah 40:3-5(KJV) 3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: 5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Evil Communication Corrupting & Contaminating 1 Corinthians 15:32-34(KJV) 32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die. 33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. 34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame. Guard Your Heart that It ISSUES Good Things Proverbs 4:23 (KJV) 23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. SWEET and Bitter Water James 3:11 (KJV) 11 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?

HOW CONTAMINATION AND DROUGHT COMES Proverbs 25:26(KJV) 26 A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring.

Grace Nugget: • Anything you Compromise the Word of God to Keep You will surely Loose • TV-RADIO-MUSIC-LISTENING-READING-FACIAL Express is ALL Communication

Progressive FALL --Walk- Stand Sit  Sinners/Scornful Psalm 1:1-4 (KJV) 1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Delight in the Law of the Lord - Meditate 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. That You will Be Planted -bringing Forth Fruit 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

Grace Nuggets: • PROGRESSION –Walking- Standing –Then Sitting(Comfortable in it) • Leaves Wither for Lack of Water • What is Water- NOW WORD and Wells • The Contaminated get Dry Making them as Chaff • The Wind of the Holy Spirit will Blow them Away

Grace Nuggets • There is a Trade - There is a Cost • There is Word and there is Light • Light Illuminates a Choice - Many will choose Darkness • Light Exposes the Darkness. • Many Love you for Your Darkness- Not Your Light as it Exposes Them

Grace Nuggets • The World was Formed(Out of Alignment) VOID(Chaos) • God Goes from Dark to Light(The Evening and the Morning) When The Lord Comes Will He Find Faith Luke 18:8(KJV) 8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth

"I Prophesy to the Perplexities and Give the Practicalities!"

The "GOD-With" Ministry

"Not Inspirational Speaking, But Word-Based Preaching!"

TRUTHALITY! Facts are Temporal Truth is Eternal! What is real? The TRUTH that, Nothing is too hard for God!

Preach Be a Voice Not an Echo www.preachbvne.webs.com www.preachbvne.blogspot.com Twitter@Preach_BA_Voice Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/preach_bvne/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/PREACHbeaVoicenotanEcho Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/PreachBVNE/ Youtube Channel:www.youtube.com/c/PREACHbeaVoicenotanEchoMinistry

To Sow into this Ministry Mail to: Shawntrell Davis               P.O. BOX 30392               Clarksville, TN 37040 CashApp: $KingdomStewardDavis PayPal:  www.paypal.me/SHAWNTRELLDAVIS or Email:PreachBVNE@yahoo.com

Thomas Emmanuel Davis III Shawntrell Davis Ambassadors of the Word of Reconciliation Followers of "The Way"

Distributors of the Revelation! Distributors of the Truth! Distributors of the Release!

S.H.I.F.T Suddenly Heaven Invades Forcing Transformation!!

#YesLordIWill #CryLoudAndSpareNot #TheLordMyGodIsWithMe #PartakersofHisGlory #FortifiedBrazenWall #Repent #TheKingdomOfGodIsAtHand

Let the Lord be Magnified! Announcing the Coming of the Glorious Kingdom of God!

2 Corinthians 5:20(KJV) 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

Matthew 24:14 (KJV) 14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

Obadiah 1:1 (KJV) 1 The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.(They will Fall)

[rjhamster]

The Berean - Matthew 5:9 NKJV (9) Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. New King James Version   Change your email Bible version Most of us are not at all adept at reconciling warring parties, but that is not the kind of peacemaking Jesus is concerned about for us now. His idea of peacemaking revolves around the way we live. It was Adam and Eve's conduct that shattered the peace between man and God. Cain's conduct broke the peace between him and Abel and him and God. As it is with all of us, conduct makes or breaks the peace! As mentioned earlier, Paul commands us, "As much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men" (Romans 12:18), an arduous task at times, considering human personalities. The thrust of Paul's exhortation implies that, far from being a simple task, complying with it will call upon our constant vigilance, self-control, and earnest prayer. Though human nature guarantees that peace-breaking "offenses must come," it is part of Christian duty to ensure that our conduct produces no just cause of complaint against us (Matthew 18:7). It is first for our own peace that we do so, for it is impossible to be happy while involved in arguments and warfare. Some Christians are more competitive and contentious than others, and they need to beg God doubly for the spiritual strength to restrain their pride and anger and to calm them. Paul warns, "'Be angry, and do not sin': do not let the sun go down on your wrath" (Ephesians 4:26). Though pride may be at the base of contention, rising anger within one or the other person in a dispute is frequently the first sign that the peace is about to be broken. Paul's warning is necessary because anger is so difficult to check and equally difficult to let go completely before the peace is broken, and bitter and persistent hatred soon replaces the anger. Paul quotes the first phrase of this verse from Psalm 4:4, then modifies the second phrase to give it a more immediate and practical application. "Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord" (Psalm 4:4-5). This is exactly the course Jesus follows when taunted and vilified by those whose ire He had aroused. Notice Peter's testimony: For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: "Who committed no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth"; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. (I Peter 2:21-23) If we follow Christ's example, the one reviling or threatening soon finds himself without an opponent. God, then, advises us to be passive in the face of contention. In the Kingdom, however, we will likely be a great deal more proactive, just as Christ is now as our High Priest. He will be even more active when He comes as King of kings to fight against the nations and establish His peace. Since it is true that "blessed are the peacemakers," it logically follows that God curses peace-breakers, a fact all who desire to be peacemakers must keep in mind. Contention produces the curse of disunity. When Adam and Eve sinned, both unity and peace were shattered, and God sentenced them to death. Regardless of the justification, it is impossible for sin to produce either godly peace or unity. It is therefore urgent that we be diligent not merely to guard against the more obvious forms of sin but also bigotry, intemperate zeal, judging, impatience, and a quarrelsome spirit, which provide a basis for Paul's counsel in Romans 14:19. — John W. Ritenbaugh

[dailychapel]

Father, sometimes it does feel that you have left us in the battle. We know that you are with us, but so are our feelings of aloneness. The Enemy seems to be taking ground. Our crying out to you seems to go unanswered. We know you are at work, but help us trust you in the midst of our questions. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Psalm 73:14-26 NLT - 14 I get nothing but trouble all day long; every morning brings me pain. 15 If I had really spoken this way to others, I would have been a traitor to your people. 16 So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper. But what a difficult task it is! 17 Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked. 18 Truly, you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction. 19 In an instant they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors. 20 When you arise, O Lord, you will laugh at their silly ideas as a person laughs at dreams in the morning. 21 Then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside. 22 I was so foolish and ignorant--I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you. 23 Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand. 24 You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. 25 Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. 26 My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.

Isaiah 8:1-15 NLT - 1 Then the LORD said to me, "Make a large signboard and clearly write this name on it: Maher-shalal-hash-baz." 2 I asked Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah, both known as honest men, to witness my doing this. 3 Then I slept with my wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said, "Call him Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 4 For before this child is old enough to say 'Papa' or 'Mama,' the king of Assyria will carry away both the abundance of Damascus and the riches of Samaria." 5 Then the LORD spoke to me again and said, 6 "My care for the people of Judah is like the gently flowing waters of Shiloah, but they have rejected it. They are rejoicing over what will happen to King Rezin and King Pekah. 7 Therefore, the Lord will overwhelm them with a mighty flood from the Euphrates River--the king of Assyria and all his glory. This flood will overflow all its channels 8 and sweep into Judah until it is chin deep. It will spread its wings, submerging your land from one end to the other, O Immanuel. 9 "Huddle together, you nations, and be terrified. Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, but you will be crushed! Yes, prepare for battle, but you will be crushed! 10 Call your councils of war, but they will be worthless. Develop your strategies, but they will not succeed. For God is with us!" 11 The LORD has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said, 12 "Don't call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don't live in dread of what frightens them. 13 Make the LORD of Heaven's Armies holy in your life. He is the one you should fear. He is the one who should make you tremble. 14 He will keep you safe. But to Israel and Judah he will be a stone that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare. 15 Many will stumble and fall, never to rise again. They will be snared and captured."

Luke 22:54-69 NLT - 54 So they arrested him and led him to the high priest's home. And Peter followed at a distance. 55 The guards lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it, and Peter joined them there. 56 A servant girl noticed him in the firelight and began staring at him. Finally she said, "This man was one of Jesus' followers!" 57 But Peter denied it. "Woman," he said, "I don't even know him!" 58 After a while someone else looked at him and said, "You must be one of them!" "No, man, I'm not!" Peter retorted. 59 About an hour later someone else insisted, "This must be one of them, because he is a Galilean, too." 60 But Peter said, "Man, I don't know what you are talking about." And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 At that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Suddenly, the Lord's words flashed through Peter's mind: "Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me." 62 And Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly. 63 The guards in charge of Jesus began mocking and beating him. 64 They blindfolded him and said, "Prophesy to us! Who hit you that time?" 65 And they hurled all sorts of terrible insults at him. 66 At daybreak all the elders of the people assembled, including the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. Jesus was led before this high council, 67 and they said, "Tell us, are you the Messiah?" But he replied, "If I tell you, you won't believe me. 68 And if I ask you a question, you won't answer. 69 But from now on the Son of Man will be seated in the place of power at God's right hand."

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, send us out with confidence in your word, to tell the world of your saving acts, and bring glory to your name. Amen.

[wisdomrays]

The Middle Way of Guidance and Influence of Speech

QUESTION: What points should we consider to avoid doing more harm than good while carrying out ourduty of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil?

ANSWER: The Qur’an outlines that “enjoining the good and forbidding the evil” is a distinctive characteristic of being the best community. The following verse both conveys glad tidings to us, and reminds us of our lofty and holy responsibility: “(O Community of Muhammad!) You are the best community ever brought forth for (the good of) mankind, enjoining and promoting what is right and good and forbidding and trying to prevent evil...” (Al Imran 3:110).

As it is seen, the Qur’an, the Miraculous Exposition, addresses believers and states that you are a community brought forth not only for Muslims, but for the good of all mankind. You are responsible for teaching human values to humanity. Actually, this feeling in you does not arise from your own will. God, may His glory be exalted, has opened your hearts to the rest of humanity, put you on the stage, and assigned you a rolein the scene He set.

In order to uphold theheritage that God has entrusted to them, and to crown the fulfillment of this responsibility, believers must enjoin the good and forbid the evil. Actually, their delineatingtheir difference from followers of other religions depends on this issue.

The good and evil

The good, or ma’ruf, is what the religion commands, what sound reason gladly accepts, what sound feelings approve of, and what the conscience opens its doors toand welcomes. Therefore, the syntactic prioritygiven to“enjoining the good” bears significance. Accordingly, a believer must first of all speak of goodness, rather than referring to what is evil or ugly; he must give priority to what is good and beautiful.However, while doing this, it is necessary to consider both whom to address and the manner of address very well.

As for the evil, or munkar, it is what the religion forbids, what sound reason accepts as harmful, what sound feelings dislike, and what the conscience closesits doors toand rejects. As well as enjoining the good, by forbidding the evil believers must try to save others from being condemned to a mistake, sweptaway by some current, and from drowning in deep waters. They must dissuade oppressors from oppression by exposingits ugly face, transgressors from transgression by exposingits hideous face, and unbelievers from unbelief by exposingits horrible face. Naturally, this should not be accomplished merely through words but, first of all, through the language of their state and attitudes they should evoke disgust against evil, indecencyand ugliness in the hearts of those they address and try to deter them from such errors and sins.

“A fanciful, elaborate account of something bad can cause immature minds to stray”

On the other hand, it is necessary to avoid giving an alluring account of what is sinful while trying to exposethe ugly face of evil. Unintentionally, we might evoke an inclination toward and interest inthe sinful in the minds of those we address. Sometimes, a speaker who means to guide others to truth depicts the wrong in such a way that it evokes a feeling of curiosity or temptation in the addressees. This mistake is not limited to words and speech. As the words of a preacher or a speaker at a conference might adulterate pure minds, the scenes filmed by someone making a movie or series with a good intention might also repeat the same mistake. Although their purpose is to present the ugliness of the sins to consciences, they can unintentionally cause those with weak willpower to feel tempted toward sins. Namely, those who seek to build walls of fortification around the good might unintentionally enticeothers toward the wrong path.

Nobody has the right to break others’ hopes

On the other hand, if you depict negative things and reflect evil and ugliness in a way thatdemoralizes people and breaks their spirit, you will similarly have acted contrary to the command of forbidding the evil.

For example, on the one hand, you might say in a sorrowful mood: “Humane tears have disappeared in our time.Such hardheartedness is unparalleledinhistory. The Islamic world is being incinerated. Itsdignity, honor and pride is trampled underfoot. It has become an object of derision. However, believersare still not sorrowful in the face of such a bitter picture. They are so miserly, even with regards to sparing a few minutes and shedding a few tears.” On the other hand, you are concerned about whether you are making a mistake by voicing these ideas. This bears the risk of creatinga gloomy atmosphere that willunintentionally break the spirits of those addressed.

One might experience similar concerns when comparing the negative atmosphere of the present time with the past.

True, all of this does express a certain reality. However, sometimes I hesitate as to whether it is right to voice this reality or not. Every word a person speaks must be true. But it is not right to express every truth at any time. Sometimes you voice a certain truth you believe. However, if those addressed lack the level of cognition and expansive heart requiredfor bearing this truth, your words and statements might push them toward hopelessness and to form thewrong opinion thatthose good things can neverhappen again. Thus, those who try to dissuade people from negative things with their TV series, plays, newspaper columns, or sermons cause such cracks that people feel seized by disappointment. This feeling cripples their willpower and they succumb to hopelessness.

In this regard, it is very important for a given speaker to read the feelings of the addressees correctly, to present the particular subject in a proper manner, and to take into consideration the addressees’ possible reactions. Words spoken without taking into consideration what those addressed will welcome or react against are likely to result in the opposite of what is intended.In summary, enjoining the good and forbidding the evil requires much caution. There should neither be exaggeration indepicting the wrong, nor miserliness in expressing the truth.

Speaking righteously

While trying to convey good and positive things, sometimes we might step out of the frame of enjoining the good. For example, wemight exaggerate about the good works carried out. In fact, exaggeration is an implicit lie. It is not possible to serve faith even with an atom of a lie. In addition, exaggeration is an important reasonfor grace and abundance to cease.

Sometimes, while talking about good things, we assume a role in them as if we were their real source. Actually, 99.9% of the matter we talk about belongs to God Almighty. The share that belongsto human willpower isjust one thousandth. We shouldacknowledge this much. Otherwise, we unintentionally commit the same mistake asfatalists and adopt an understanding of absolute determinism. If a person depicting good things and presenting them to others behaves as if he were a champion of that issue and in doing soassumes even an imaginary role for himself as a real cause, he will have contaminated his dreams with tints of associating partners with God. This contaminated image will one day collide with his conscience and cause a crack there as well. Afterwards, it will affect his reasoning and cause some cracks to appear in his reason. Consequently, such a person will begin to say “We! we!” which is the most innocent seeming form of associating partners with God, and then gradually shift to its most blatant form,when hebegins to say “I! I!”

Do not tell others what you cannot make yourself accept!

For the sake of its significance, I would like to state an oft-repeated fact as the final point: If we wish our words to have a positive influence on those we address, we must personally live in accordance with our words. Some Islamic sources relate that God made the following address to Jesus: “O Jesus! You first give counsel to your own soul; after it has followed the counsel, then try to guide others to goodness, otherwise feel ashamed of Me.” This teaches that it is disrespectful to God for a person to tell others what he has not been able to make his own soul accept. Given that God warns even such a blessed personage like the Messiah, whose personal example is ten times ahead of what he counsels, then it is understood how scrupulous other people must be about this issue.

Our inability to shake off formality and to realize the meaning by reaching beyond forms also causes our words to be ineffective in terms of those we address. If just ten million of the Muslims in the world, whose number nearly reaches 1.5 billion, had lived asthose in the time of the blessed Prophet did, the face of humanity would be very different today. In spite of everything, praise be to God for what is presently in hand. Let us not be deprived of the blessings God Almighty promised as, “If you are thankful (for My favors), I will most certainly give you more” (Ibrahim 14:7).

“O Lord! Please do not deprive us of Your blessings because of disregard on our part! Grant our hearts relief and let us be human in the true sense! Please grant us hearts that always overflow with thankfulness, fill in awe of You, and implore You with a consciousness of our impotence and poverty before You!”