Mbostrom2's Blog

I Timothy 2:1 (AMPC) First of all, then, I admonish and urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be offered on behalf of all men, (2) For kings and all who are in positions of authority or high responsibility, that [outwardly] we may pass a quiet and undisturbed life [and inwardly] a peaceable one in all godliness and reverence and seriousness in every way. (3) For such [praying] is good and right, and [it is] pleasing and acceptable to God our Savior, (4) Who wishes all men to be saved and [increasingly] to perceive and recognize and discern and know precisely and correctly the [divine] Truth.

Do you want to please God with your prayers? This is how you do it. FIRST OF ALL, before praying for yourself, pray for those in authority over our nation, state, city. I have found that most people do not know who their State Representative is because they just vote for Republican or Democrat, and then think their work is done. God wants us to pray for them. Once they come into that position, they come into a whole new realm of spiritual warfare that most of them have never prepared for. That is where our responsibility in the Army of God comes in – praying for our leaders!

The 72nd Assembly of the United Nations convened September 12, 2017. Tuesday, September 19, both US President Donald Trump and Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu will both speak at the General Assembly. They both need our prayers. There is such a clashing of swords as the year 5777, which represents the clashing of swords, comes to a close.

In these 40 days of Teshuvah, we have a prime opportunity to right the wrongs we have done by repenting. I have been repenting because I could have prayed more. Some of you will need to repent to God because you have been negligent in praying for our leaders at all, while some of us may have been using our words of life or death the wrong way in speaking about our current president.

Daniel 2:20, Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are His: (21) And He changes the times and the seasons: He removes kings, and sets up kings: He gives wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

Whoever is president, it is because God put them there for a purpose.

Three weeks ago today Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas. This was a devastating experience for all those in the Corpus Christi area who suffered great loss and would forever change their lives. But it then turned into a Tropical Storm and made landfall 2 more times over the next week to flood the greater Houston area and the Golden Triangle area of Port Arthur, Beaumont and Orange.

But what I see three weeks later is more deadly –  the fault finding, the name calling, the blaming, the accusations, the greed, the fraud. All these things come from the kingdom of darkness and we must not have a place in this division.

Matthew 5:9 in the Amplified version reads, “Blessed [spiritually calm with life-joy in God’s favor] are the makers and maintainers of peace, for they will [express His character and] be called the sons of God.”

Choose life and peace with every action today and you will be blessed. There will always be those who complain, find fault, play the victim. But we can choose life, the abundant life that Jesus has so richly provided for us and have peace and joy in the midst of every storm of life. Relationship storms are the worst, but Jesus can fix every hurt.

What we say reveal our heart.

What we say and how we say it is who we are. Angry, hurtful words define an angry, hurtful person. Kind, compassionate words define a kind, considerate person (Chofetz Chaim, page xxi) But more than anything, words are the sole medium through which the Jew fulfills the purpose for which he was created – to communicate Hashem’s greatness and presence in this world. (page xxii)

Today on the Hebraic calendar is Elul 23. Elul 25th is understood to be the first  day of Creation that God said “Light Be!”.  This brought the creating Spirit  presence back into the earth. We also are created to create with our words.

The Artscroll Series, Stone Edition of the Chumash comments on Genesis 2:7, “God made another ‘speaking spirit’ just like Himself.” We were created with God’s dominion and authority possessing the same ability to speak words of faith and life. Proverbs 18:21 instructs us that ‘death and life are in the power of the tongue’.

This 40 days of Turning Back to God (Teshuvah), the most important thing we can do is judge everything we say according to the royal law of love. I Cor 13:4-7, everything.  But don’t walk around not saying anything, speak praises unto God where ever you are, bringing light into this dark world.

Better yet, SING PRAISES!!!! He alone is worthy of all praise and honor and glory! If Paul and Silas would have spent their time in jail complaining and anxious they would never have had the miraculous encountered prison release, and they would not have been a testimony to the jailer and other prisoners.

Have you been doing things these past 23 days that cause you to “turn to” (shuv) God or to “turn away” from God?

I have been watching my mouth and love walk very carefully, getting rid of bad and doing good. One of the things that has really helped me is a book I bought on our 40th Wedding Anniversary. It is a daily devotional called “Choftez Chaim” which means ‘desirer of life’. It is  a compilation of  daily Hebraic lessons, translated into English, dealing with your tongue and speech.

It deal much with Loshon Hora, evil talk. In its general sense, the term referst to various forms of speech which is derogatory or harmful in nature. As God is dealing with me, I am amazed at how my ears pick up the negative people are speaking and it is hard to be silent, but since God is dealing with me for me I will trust Him to deal with those who need to clean their mouth.

Here is a statement in the book I have marked: “The speaker of loshon hora is motivated by this very powerful human need to feel important. So, he sets himself up as the other person’s superior by standing in judgment. “The other person is bad. Therefore, I am better. Her children are rude, therefore mine are polite. His business is mismanaged, therefore mine is run well.” Instead of striving honestly to lift himself, the speaker of loshon hora attains his height by looking down upon those he has cast to the ground.”

Selah, pause and think about this. This is a time to judge ourselves.

Psalm 27:10 (NLT) “Even if my father and mother abandon me, the LORD will hold me close.”

When I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior July 4, 1982, this is the first scripture that He gave me and I have loved it ever since. Those who have been rejected understand the hurt and shame that is associated.

Our Father God, our Lord Jesus Christ and our Helper, Holy Spirit will never leave us or forsake us! This thing I have in full assurance. He loves us, no matter what, unconditionally.

Charles Frederick Weigle was born November 20, 1871 in LaFayette, Indiana, into the family of a God-fearing, German-Lutheran baker and his wife. One of twelve children, five boys and seven girls, young Charles was accustomed to hearing his father pray and every morning after breakfast, Bible reading was observed at the family worship time.

When Charles was twelve, the Methodist Church of LaFayette, where his parents attended, was having a series of revival meetings. A great number of his friends and playmates came under conviction and were going forward during the progress of the meeting. This made an quite an impression on young Charles. Even though he resisted longer than most of the others, one night a strong, overpowering realization that he was lost came over him and Charles was converted.

Charles Weigle’s most famous song, “No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus”, was the product of one of the darkest periods of his life. He spent most of his life as an itinerant evangelist and gospel songwriter. One day after returning home from an evangelistic crusade, he found a note left by his wife of many years. The note simply said she had had enough of an evangelist’s life and was leaving him.

He later said that he became so despondent during the next several years that there were times when he contemplated suicide. He even wondered if anyone really cared for him, but after a time, his faith was again restored and he became active for the Lord again. Soon he felt compelled to write a song that would be a summary of his past tragic experience.

From a heart that had been broken came these words that God gave to comfort him. (I have included the first verse and chorus)

CHORUS
No one ever cared for me like Jesus;
There’s no other friend so kind as He;
No one else could take the sin and darkness from me.
O how much He cared for me!
I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus
Since I found in Him a friend so strong and true;
I would tell you how He changed my life completely,
He did something that no other friend could do.

CHORUS
No one ever cared for me like Jesus;
There’s no other friend so kind as He;
No one else could take the sin and darkness from me.
O how much He cared for me!

Psalm 27:11 (AMP)  Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain and even path because of my enemies [those who lie in wait for me]. (12)  Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen up against me; they breathe out cruelty and violence.

These are very challenging times and we face very cruel enemies, such as North Korea leader Kim Jong-un. It seems that there is tension on every front, whether it be from the solar flares that are partly causing earthquakes and extreme temperatures, or hurricanes and violent weather patterns. If you constantly sit in front of the news you will lose hope. But if you sit in front of God and say as David, “Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain and even path because of my enemies…” you will gain hope, knowing within yourself that with God, nothing is impossible.

Let us be like David in I Samuel 3:6 and strengthen ourselves in the Lord our God! “Muster the Troops! Is there not a cause?” After David strengthened himself in the Lord, they recovered all!!!!

Psalm 27:13,  [What, what would have become of me] had I not believed that I would see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living!

“You had better make sure that your End Times doctrine has God winning!” Don’t lose heart, God is not dead and He does not sleep. We will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!