NCarolinian

                    When many of us visit a peaceful place, we hopefully appreciate and enjoy it. Likewise, whenever we see a peaceful picture, listen to peaceful music and find a peaceful moment in a busy day - hopefully we treasure it and look for more ways to encounter peace.           These instances and others are nice examples of a breath of fresh air in a chaotic world. However, the peace of God goes beyond what we could think or imagine peace could be.            We are strongly encouraged and possibly commanded by God through Paul to not worry or be anxious about anything, but in every situation, seek first God and His kingdom by prayer and petition with an offering of thanksgiving as you come before Him ( Philippians 4:6-7 ).  The result of living this way is that the peace of God will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.     ...

                    Just as a soldier of old pulls his sword from his sheath or scabbard, so does the Christian pull the revealed or quickened Word of God from the Written Word of God.            This imagery of the Armor of God on the Christian soldier is fully described in Ephesians 6:11-17 . However, the specific verses of fourteen and the end of seventeen are the point of emphasis here.           Jesus is the way, truth and life. He is the Word of God who created all things and holds all things together. This "holding all things together" image can be easily seen as the Belt of Truth in the Christian's armor. The Belt of truth is the Logos or written Word of God.           The  Sword of the Spirit noted as the word of God at the end of verse seventeen is translated in the original Greek as the Rhema Word of ...

  James 1:13-14 "When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed."          Humans are very fast to place blame. We shift our responsibility off on something or someone else easily. Long before pointing any fingers are due, a mirror should be consulted. God, the devil and others are always on the top of the list as possible scape goats for failing to rebuke our temptations.            While temptation certainly has a source with the devil and others, this verse makes clear who not to blame for temptations of evil and who is responsible - God is not and cannot be blamed for evil temptations, while humanity and their nature is the culprit.           Temptation is the courting or dating mechanism used by whatever is the source of the tempti...

                    When Christ Jesus returns with His bride, The Church, and all the angelic host of Heaven, there will be woven into His robe and tattooed on His thigh this truth, "King of kings and Lord of lords." (Revelation 19:16)           I think of a king as a ruler of a grand swath of territory and population of many people. The king is responsible for the set up and smooth running of his administration that cares for all the different aspects of his kingdom or nation.            I think of a lord as a governor of people, laws, culture and society within a smaller community, such as a state, province, district, county and so forth. The lords ultimately report to the king or president of a kingdom or nation and deal with the local issues, elevating them to the king's attention when necessary.            The sobering thoug...

          You have heard the saying, “Garbage in, garbage out.” However, the converse to that can be applied just as easily. Purity or Cleanliness in, Purity and Cleanliness out. I would venture to say that many times whether the input is garbage or pure content, the choice is ours. All of us need to make better decisions, however I encourage my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to really focus on their total engagement with Jesus and His Holy Spirit.           As mentioned, we have inputs – the eyes and ears. These we use for our sight and hearing. We have a processor called the mind. This we use to grow or evolve our thought and emotional life. Then we have our output – the mouth. Here we have the tongue that forms words which holds the power of life and death (Proverbs 18:21) . So, in order to show the importance of the whole Christian needing to be captivated by Christ, every moment of every day, let’s break down these ...

  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on you own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5-6)           Straight paths are preferred by many but some like to take the scenic route in life. Whether or not we choose to have crooked roads that lead to meandering, indecision and procrastination in our lives - God can make our paths straight.            However, there is a price for all this Road Construction (Pathway) . The Christian must: Trust in the Lord with all their heart Lean not on your own understanding In all your ways submit to Him then the Lord will do His part -  He will make your paths straight.           Why is the work ratio heavy on our part? Because our will, our nature, this side of Heaven is always battling God's will.            Straight paths lead to clear dir...

                    There are many uses of the word "sight" in Scripture. There is the biological sense of vision. The phrase "in God's sight" is loaded with concepts such as God's view, God's perspective, God's knowledge-of or God's presence. Then there is living by faith not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7) yet if we keep our sight set on God, life tends to go as it should.           However, do we live as though God's gaze or sight is everywhere? There is nothing that shocks or surprises God. There is not anywhere God does not want believers to be holy and blameless before Him. Paul speaks to the omnipresence of God, especially with Christians and uses the word "sight" to convey that idea when he says, "For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight." (Ephesians 1:4)           If God can see you and God is everywhere, esp...

                    In a world that is filled with more unreliability and deceptiveness everyday, I am so glad I have as my friend someone known as Faithful and True -  Christ Jesus -  Revelation 3:14 and 19:11 .           There are so many times when I fail myself, I fail others, I fail God and others disappoint me.  The Lord knows I have taken His presence through some bad decisions. But even through all this He has not left me. He was, is and will always be Faithful. T he times when I feel neglected by God is when I'm basing my judgment on feelings not God's Word, Spirit or testimony of what He has done in my life and others around me.           Did you know that The Trinity has two of its members that minister as interceders for believers? In Romans 8, Paul encouraged the believers in Rome and all through the ages that Christ and the Holy Spirit are ...

Ecclesiastes 11:9 "You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment."           When anything is judged, the result is either approval, needs improvement or failed. King Solomon, perhaps by experience, but certainly by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, encouraged young people to be happy, to follow their heart and their eyes but know this - it had better line up with what God wants for your life.            Ever heard the expression - Sow Your Wild Oats Early? This simply means an individual got their experimentation with touching the hot stoves of life out of the way. Though many of us go through this stage, there is no need for it. We can be happy while we are young and not receive the failed judgment rendering. A good start ...

                    The idea of the Sovereignty of God must be accepted for life to have meaning. Any option welcomed in place of this doom existence to oblivion. The vehicle for accepting the Planner God, the Creator God and Master of it All or Sovereign God is faith. There is no way around faith. About faith, Scripture says, "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1)           However, now that we know what faith is, God's Word goes a few steps further in accepting His existence. The Bible speaks to the power of faith and the lack thereof through the writer of Hebrews and Paul. The writer of Hebrews says, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6)           Then Paul adds, "For ...

          Back in the times of kings, queens, counts, ladies and knights there was an expectation by these individuals and the rest of royalty to attend the Royal Court activities. Their attendance and contribution to the events of the day in court was their way of due diligence to the King and kingdom.           Today, two of the ways Americans show their due diligence is to vote and answer the summons to appear in court as a member of a jury. The dictionary defines diligent or diligence as constant in effort to accomplish something; attentive and persistent in doing anything .            When I researched the words diligent or diligence in Scripture, the references were to the consistent work on The Temple, not giving-up in your own personal faith journey ( Heb. 6:10-12 ), being persistent with your gift from God ( 1 Tim. 4:14-16 ) and if you consider yourself a leader, then being  s...

          There are many depictions and declarations of God as Faithful in Scripture - 1 Corinthians 1:9, 10:13; 2 Corinthians 1:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:24; 2 Thessalonians 3:3; Hebrews 2:17, 3:2, 3:6, 10:23; 1 Peter 4:19; 1 John 1:9; and Revelation 1:5, 3:14 and 19:11 .           Even with all the testimonies, proclamations and my own observations of God's hand in my life, sometimes I doubt God's faithfulness. Not that He is incapable of being faithful anymore, but that He is fed up with my antics and chooses to withdraw His faithfulness.           However,  His faithfulness does not depend upon our belief or trust in His variety of consistent provisions in our lives. This kind of thinking borders on viewing God as a genie, appearing to take our wish for a more pleasant life experience anytime we have need of him.           God's faithfulness is to His Word concern...

                 Where do you call home ? Now-a-days, I witness many individuals and families that are very nomadic. For a variety of reasons - financial, family, weather or other - they move often enough to make you wonder - where do they really call home?                Then there are those who seldom to never move from the area they were born in and end up living to their dying day there. We can name without a shadow of a doubt the home of these individuals and families.          However, there is a home that is spoken of that I have never known, visited or even seen from a distance. One might interject that I speak of Heaven here and while the location is correct, that is not what 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 declares as our forever Home with the Lord. Here is what the passage states -             "For we know that if the earthly te...

                    Why can't we all just get along? That has been a question asked throughout the ages. But this question goes beyond just mere difference of opinion. All of us, from the first human beings, have varying opinions on things, but the choice of how we act on those opinions is what matters. Throughout most of our history we think and/or allow emotions to drive violence to the forefront of our responses.           The nature of this beast can be detected in a toddler as selfish behavior. The "I" statements are plentiful at this age. And unfortunately, sometimes, some individuals do not outgrow this stage. However, the beginning of this nature or programming can be found all the way back in The Garden of Eden.           The root of it all is three-fold - (1) a deceiver, (2) the deception and (3) the deceived. The Deceiver being Satan, deceived the parents of...