Life Lessons from the Basketball Championship Series

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The pro basketball championship series has ended and with it, another season.  Two main lessons/takeaways for me from this season-ending, summer-summoning series (one of the many great benefits of Bible memory especially on a regular, systematic basis is that literally EVERYTHING in life reminds one of something in the Bible, EVERY event big or small or in between brings back a Bible verse or lesson or principle or sermon previously ingested).

The first takeaway is that the Celtics had the #1 defense in the entire league for the season… and the Warriors #2.

It wouldn’t be prudent, um, wouldn’t be worth the time (Ephesians 5:16) to research the actual statistics but let’s just say it’s very, very common, in ANY sport, for the team with the #1 defense during the season to end up in the championship series.  And they’re often joined by the team with the #2 defense.

And that reminds me of something I alluded to in a recent post, that the Christian life on OUR end is ALL ABOUT de-fense, de-fense, de-fense!

  • “But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.” (1 Peter 5:9)

Note that it doesn’t say “Attack him (the devil, Satan, per verse 8)” or “Hunt him” or “Destroy him”.  But rather, to just “RESIST him.”  Clearly DE-FENSE.  Why?  Why are we to relegate ourselves to DEFENSE in the Christian life?  Because the Lord Jesus has already taken care of the offense, He has already secured VICTORY!

  • “… that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.” (Hebrews 2:14b-15)
  • “When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.” (Colossians 2:15)
  • “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.” (1 John 5:4)

And just as we have ALREADY been adopted by God as sons and daughters and therefore siblings of our Lord Jesus Christ…

  • “… you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba!  Father!’  The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [our sibling, our brother as clearly stated in Hebrews 2:11]…” (Romans 8:15b-17a)

… but haven’t yet experienced the final and complete consummation of such…

  • “… even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.” (Romans 8:23b)

… so also Christ has ALREADY secured the victory per the verses above but the final and complete consummation of that will be delivered by God.

  • “And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” (Romans 16:20a)

To borrow another sports illustration, we’re currently like an Olympian has won the race but the medal ceremony hasn’t yet taken place.  The victory is a DONE DEAL, has ALREADY OCCURRED, but the final consummation of that will take place shortly (relatively speaking, in terms of eternity, as clearly explained in 2 Peter 3:8).  That’s why we needn’t “go on the offensive” at all, ever, in the Christian life but rather are commanded to simply “resist” the devil and evil and sin and temptation.  And further proving this to be true is what I mentioned in a recent post, that the “sword” of the Spirit in Ephesians 6:17 could rightly be interpreted as “knife” or “dirk” or “dagger”, a weapon not intended for offense but defense due to its short length.

Through the years I’ve heard of many people who have “gone on the offense” against the devil and that deeper dive into the demonic realm destroyed them, destroyed their minds and lives.  Because our role as Christians is NOT to “go on offense” but rather to leave THAT to our “Field Commander”, the Lord Jesus Christ, and instead to be humble, peaceful, loving, and kind when it comes to others and to just “resist” and “stand firm” when it comes to the devil and his minions and schemes.

The second takeaway from the just-ended pro basketball championship series is that, as stated a number of times in past posts but always well-worth repeating, it’s not how one STARTS the really counts but rather how one FINISHES.

That’s true of individuals and also of teams.

In this case, in this series, the Celtics had a great START, winning Game 1 on the Warriors’ home court (thus taking away from them home-court advantage in the series) and then winning Game 3 at home to go up 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.  But they didn’t have a great FINISH, losing the next three games straight and thus the series.

And that reminded me of a fellow in the Bible named Demas.

He too had a GREAT, fantastic, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious START, making it all the way to the innermost circle of the Apostle Paul himself, and Mark and Luke…

  • “as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers.” (Philemon 24)
  • “Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also Demas.” (Colossians 4:14)

… but a horrific FINISH.

  • “for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me [i.e., and the faith]” (2 Timothy 4:10a)

Like Daniel in the Old Testament, let’s trust God and “purpose in our hearts” not to end up, not to follow the path and model and example of Demas but rather that of Paul, who had a horrific START…

  • “… I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure, and TRIED TO DESTROY IT” (Galatians 1:13b, nuff said)

… but, humanly-speaking, no doubt the GREATEST-EVER FINISH outside of our Lord Himself.

Because what truly counts is not how you or I started but how we finish.

And that is one of my main daily motivations in life.  One day may it be said of you and me that we too “fought the good fight… finished the course… kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7), knowing that “in the future there is laid up for [us] the crown of righteousness” (verse 8).

Medal ceremony!!!

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Picking Out

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Packets of taco sauce are a terrible thing to waste.

Before I sold my only vehicle in order to finish building this website, I used to visit the Taco Bell drive-thru every week or two and they’d usually give me a few packets of sauce too many so I just got into the habit of sticking them in a big plastic shopping bag in one of my kitchen cupboards.  And after I sold my car I haven’t been to Taco Bell even a single time so that bag drifted its way out of my mind for that entire time… until last week when I had occasion to delve into that cupboard for something else and, wa-la, there was the big bag of taco sauce packets right beside it… bingo!  Because I had since bought a lot of frozen burritos and chimichangas and the time had come to start working my way through those but I prefer not to eat those plain, definitely need some sauce so the timing was perfect and the bonus was warmly welcomed.

But I immediately noticed an issue:  over the several years I had accumulated those taco sauce packets, some had gone bad at least on the outside of the packet, at least in terms of appearance but that was plenty sufficient for me to toss those questionable ones into the trash and start putting the good ones to good use. 🙂

So I took that big bag from the cupboard and dumped all of those packets onto the (newly-swept) kitchen floor and starting “picking out” the good packets and pushing the bad ones out of the way to form their own pile which I proceeded to toss in the trash can when I was done with this timely task… and while I was doing this it immediately directed my mind to the passage in the Bible which says that this is exactly what the Lord is going to do when He returns:  He’ll “pick out” the “wheat” and later toss the “chaff” into the trash bin of hell.

  • “And His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather [separate, pick out!] His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17)

I can’t think of anything which is at once so sad and so blissful a thought!  Sad for all those who will have rejected the gospel, the “love of the truth”, God’s plan of salvation…

  • “… when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power… for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved… in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; 2:10,12)

… but beyond blissful for all those who WILL have put their faith in Christ and Christ alone for the payment of their sins, paving the path for God’s full forgiveness so we can have a relationship no longer of enmity and strife but of peace and love with Him now and spend all eternity in heaven when this mortal, finite, temporal life is over, be that through physical death or the Rapture.

  • “Therefore having been justified by faith, we have PEACE WITH GOD through our Lord Jesus Christ… because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us… But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” (Romans 5:1,5,8,9)

It’s a simple yet excellent illustration of the most important matter in this life:  where one will spend the life to come, eternity.

So next time you find yourself “picking out” a certain flavor of Starbursts or color of M&M’s or your preferred type of snacking nut (cashews and almonds for me, though I like them all) think about the “picking out” of believers from unbelievers, sheep from wolves, wheat from chaff which the Lord will do some day (and sooner rather than later methinks, me feels it in me bones… the sky is getting pretty red and “threatening”, my friends, the sky is getting pret-ty red and “threatening” – Matthew 16:3).

And if you see someone else doing this with candy or nuts or anything else, that might be a great “doorway” for the gospel, just to mention to them that after reading this post, watching them reminds you of that coming day and perhaps simply and lovingly ask them if they KNOW which group THEY’LL be in at that time… who knows where the Holy Spirit might take that notion inside of that person’s mind and heart and soul.  May each of us do our part (the Lord through us) to share the gospel with as many  people as possible so the following lyrics can be said of as few  people as possible.


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If you sense that the Lord might be leading YOU to support the historic event unfolding in real-time here at BibleMemory.ORG and thus become my fellow worker and thus share in all of the fruit and blessings (3 John 8) and literally MAKE HISTORY together, here are the best ways to do so:

1. Become a one-time or monthly partner by making a donation via PayPal’s fully-secure Bible Memory page!

2. Encourage as many people as you can to support this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/support (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches to the green box and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!

3. Add your name to my Prayer List!

4. Encourage as many of our fellow Christians as you can to pray for this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/pray (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!

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SERIES:  These are a few of my favorite…  5-word Phrases

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This is the first post of a new series called “These are a few of my favorite…”

While life and society and culture couldn’t possibly be deemed to have been perfect when that phrase was musically made famous, it was clearly a LOT CLOSER to perfect than today in many, many a way (stronger morals among the masses, God was welcomed into every facet of life and the Ten Commandments boldly and beneficially hung in every school, sin was widely and roundly frowned upon, etc.) – just watch some of the TV shows from then and now and you’ll see exactly what I mean, starkly.

In this inaugural post of this new series, I’m sharing “a few of my favorite” 5-word phrases from the Bible.

  • “we shall be like Him” (1 John 3:2 – great inspiration, motivation, and expectation)
  • “no temptation has overtaken you” (1 Corinthians 10:13 – great promise)
  • “because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19 – great enabling)
  • “in all we overwhelmingly conquer / through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37 – great TWOFER!)
  • “I can do all things / through Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13 – another great TWOFER!)
  • “For My yoke is easy / and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30)
  • “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20 – great comfort amid the great commission)

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SERIES:  Big BUTs:  Temptation

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  • “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, BUT with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)
  • “Do not be overcome with evil, BUT overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21)
  • “Be of sober spirit.  Be on the alert.  Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  BUT resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering [temptations, trials, tribulations] are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.” (1 Peter 5:8-9)

[In that first verse we have a small but followed by a BIG BUT!  It’s good that the temptations we all face aren’t unique to us but rather are experienced by all of us (per this third verse) but I’m even more  thankful for the second  ”but” in that verse, i.e., not just that the temptations which confront us are common to all but even more that temptation itself can  be conquered, that God ALWAYS provides the (not “a”) way of escape for us!]

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SERIES:  Big BUTs:  Salvation

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This is the first post of a new series.  I remember the very first time I attended a certain megachurch, one of the most famous in the nation and indeed world.  And I LOVED LOVED LOVED E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G about it.  About that service.  About that church.  The wonderful, accordant singing by the congregation, and the opera-caliber, Broadway-worthy music rendered by the orchestra and choir and especially when the offering was being taken.  I loved the prayer from the pulpit.  And the second prayer.  And the third.  And the fourth.  I had never and have never seen so much prayer in a single service!  Wonderful.  I loved the friendly, family-like fellowship before and after.  But what I loved most of all was the preaching.  Pure Bible.  100% Word.  Solely Scripture.  While I had been blessed by Bible teaching literally my entire life (literally… my father felt called to be a pastor and quit his Fortune 500 management position to attend seminary soon after I was born, a total toddler) I had never heard preaching like THAT!  Wow.  Double-wow.  The pastor of that megachurch preached from Philippians 2 and the ENTIRE 90-minute (but seemed more like nine) message didn’t deal with a single verse, no no no, it dealt with a single WORD in a single verse.  It was something else and while the pre-sermon singing and praise and worship were wonderful indeed, it was after hearing that sermon on ONE WORD that I KNEW I had found and was going to LOVE my new church for the year or two I would be living in that area.

So I dedicate this particular series of posts to that profound, pure-hearted, prince of a pastor.  Because if, as noted in a recent post, my old friend Haddon Robinson was “the prince of preachers” then my new friend at the time was definitely “the prince of pastors”, bar none.  Here’s to you, old friend… you’re still going strong even after all these years and I pray we’ll meet again.  In person as in your kind, thoughtful note not too long ago.

Okay, on to the inaugural post of this new series, which I’m (cheekily, er, tongue-in-cheek) calling “Big BUTs” because I’ll be sharing verses where that TINY word makes a WORLD of difference, as you’re about to see with these first three… there will be many more I’m sure which is why I’m making it a series.

  • “Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.  And such were some of you; BUT you were washed, BUT your were sanctified, BUT you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
  • “For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.  BUT now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.” (Romans 7:5-6)
  • “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.  BUT when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us…” (Titus 3:3-5a)

Now THAT’S what I call some big BUTs!

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ALL that He deserves?

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This thought just hit me:  while our worship in this life can be acceptable and indeed pleasing in God’s sight…

  • “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.  And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Hebrews 13:15-16)
  • “But Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of” Thy people. (Psalm 22:3, KJV)

… it’s clear to me that it’s not fully SUFFICIENT in terms of what He DESERVES.

There’s zero contradiction in those two realities since He knows and has known in advance, before the beginning of creation, that even just our humanity, our finite, flesh-enveloped status, would make if impossible to give Him ALL of the worship and praise and thanks to which He is truly and fully due.

I think the principle is the same as the fact that He NEVER condones yet ALWAYS forgives our sins when we confess and repent.  Zero contradiction.

  • “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

I think it’s also the same principle as the equal and concurrent realities of His perfect will and His permissive will.

His perfect will was that ancient Israel wouldn’t prefer and choose to have a human king (that passage of Scripture should definitely appear in the dictionary under “bonehead choice/decision” or “d’oh!”) but His permissive will allowed that and He continued to intimately walk and work with them (e.g., David, Solomon, and others).

Likewise, His perfect will is that NONE of us EVER sins.  Yet His permissive will forgives those very sins when we confess and repent and indeed, it was for that VERY PURPOSE that Christ lived and died.

  • “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.  ” (1 Peter 2:21-24) (Perhaps the longest, probably the greatest single sentence  ever!)
  • “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8b)

Therefore, it fully follows that our worship and thanks and praise can be ENOUGH to please Him and yet NOT all that He deserves.

But here’s the main part of the thought that hit me just a few minutes ago, before beginning this post:  what about our worship when we’re in HEAVEN, will THAT be everything  He deserves?

Interesting question.  I’m not even trying to answer this, not pursuing a takeaway because what I do  know for sure  is that we can’t know things like this while on earth, on this side of the eternal divide, given our finite faith and minds…

  • “The secret things belong to the LORD our God…” (Deuteronomy 29:29)

… but it’s great food for thought.

How great Thou art, Lord God, how great Thou art indeed.  Thank You for patiently putting up with our inherent inability to give You ALL of the worship and praise and thanks and affection and attention and focus that You deserve.  Indeed, thank You for giving us even the ability to give you a sufficient level of those things so as to garner and produce Your pleasure like we just read in Hebrews 13:15-16.

May we be diligent and determined to AT LEAST give Him that.  Each and every day.

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Quick Thought:  Dirty Feet

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I’m certainly not a “neat freak” but do  enjoy cleanliness but only spend as little time cleaning as needed (Ephesians 5:16).

One such occurrence was the other day, and I noticed that while on one of my marathon, hours-long jog-n-walks (okay, mostly walk) that morning, despite my careful efforts I must’ve stepped in some of the dried tar the road construction workers were laying.  That’s right, after vacuuming every inch of my home barefooted, I looked down and noticed that the bottom of both feet were black from stepping in that roadside soot.

It reminded me of a Bible verse (everything does 🙂 ).  You see, just as I had no need whatsoever to take another shower just because my feet got dirty, so also we Christians don’t need to be saved over and over but rather only need to confess and repent of our subsequent sins since spiritually our entire body doesn’t become dirty post-salvation, only our feet from time to time.

  • “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean” (John 13:10)

It’s downright amazing, absolutely stunning that things written THOUSANDS of YEARS ago are so relevant and spot-on and wise and practical TODAY!

What a tremendous TREASURE the Bible truly is.

May we never, ever, ever take it for granted.
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If you sense that the Lord might be leading YOU to support the historic event unfolding in real-time here at BibleMemory.ORG and thus become my fellow worker and thus share in all of the fruit and blessings (3 John 8) and literally MAKE HISTORY together, here are the best ways to do so:

1. Become a one-time or monthly partner by making a donation via PayPal’s fully-secure Bible Memory page!

2. Encourage as many people as you can to support this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/support (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches to the green box and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!

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Running a Red Light

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As noted in a prior post, three years ago I sold my only car mainly so I could finish building this website but buttressed by the fact that I was sure I wouldn’t mind the extra exercise that “biking it” would bring, that this would be wonderful and a welcome change.  (Warning:  going carless isn’t for everyone.)

Ergo, I didn’t run a red light yesterday but while out walking I saw a car that did, with a second car a nanosecond ahead of it and that made me remember the time in high school that I did run a red light since it was clear that the car two inches behind me in the next lane over wasn’t going to stop either.  So as the yellow light was just turning red, whoosh, there our two cars went right through.

I remember my exact thought and feeling at that very instant:  how comforting it was that someone else was going through that just-turned-red light, too.

That returned to me like a bolt of lightning yesterday, but this time a second sensation hit me right after that memory:  that’s very similar to how it is spiritually!

I didn’t have to suffer in sin all alone because Jesus was right beside me, having gone through the exact same situations and temptations and sufferings which I and every other person will ever experience (and then some, in His case).

What a comfort!

But it’s not just that He experienced those same things we do (EVERYTHING BUT the sinning) …

  • “Therefore, He [Jesus] had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2:17)

… but that He went so much further and B-E-C-A-M-E sin on our behalf, so that we could stop being dead and rather be born / become alive spiritually…

  • “And you were dead in your transgressions and sins” (Ephesians 2:1)
  • “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

… and become the righteousness of God in Him.

  • “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

What a Savior.  What a friend.

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SERIES:  Frequent Prayers:  Liberated

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[Usual disclaimer for this Series:  when it comes to prayer, it’s not about the words, not about one’s mouth but rather one’s heart.  I.e., God’s not interested in verbal regurgitations… but if one truly believes and lives by the words uttered, having several quick prayers I can say to the Lord in a matter of seconds throughout the day is VERY VALUABLE for us and pleasing to Him since (a) it’s genuine, from the heart (“man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart” 1 Samuel 16:7) and (b) it keeps one’s mind, one’s eyes, one’s focus on the Lord all day (“fixing our eyes on Jesus” Hebrews 12:2]

 

Thank You for liberating me, Lord.  From the penalty of sin (past), the power of sin (present), and one day even the very presence of sin (future).  Thank You, thank You, thank You for Christian liberty – the freedom not to sin but to submit and obey.  The freedom not for the practice of rebellion but of righteousness.  The freedom not to first focus on my own interests but Yours and then other people’s.  Thank You, Lord, for liberty.

  • “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2 Corinthians 3:17)

 

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SERIES:  Frequent Prayers:  All-sufficient

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[Usual disclaimer for this Series:  when it comes to prayer, it’s not about the words, not about one’s mouth but rather one’s heart.  I.e., God’s not interested in verbal regurgitations… but if one truly believes and lives by the words uttered, having several quick prayers I can say to the Lord in a matter of seconds throughout the day is VERY VALUABLE for us and pleasing to Him since (a) it’s genuine, from the heart (“man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart” 1 Samuel 16:7) and (b) it keeps one’s mind, one’s eyes, one’s focus on the Lord all day (“fixing our eyes on Jesus” Hebrews 12:2]

 

Lord, I look at everything around me, all that You have done and continue to graciously and perpetually provide, all the things and stuff for which I give You thanks yet again but BY FAR, what I’m MOST thankful for is You.  Yes, Your provisions, but primarily Your Person.  Possessions come and go but You never will, You are with me forever.  YOU are all I need.  YOU are enough for me.

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