Let me Count the Ways...

The LORD'S sixth Commandment

Exodus

20:13 Thou shalt not kill.

This could easily be the point in which I end this piece of writing.

There is no question, no confusion and no grey area with His request with this one.

We are to never willingly take the life of another or our own for that matter.

Leviticus 

24:17 And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death. 

God, our beautiful Father, who surely did give us life, calls us to value life, all life. His Word tells us we have no place playing judge and jury with the life of our brothers and sisters.

To add to this seemingly straightforward and simple request I will ask you to ponder this…

We are spiritual beings living temporarily in these physical bodies.

We are held accountable by God, to share of His goodness with our brothers and sisters and to be positive influences on each other.

With these things in mind, what if there is more than one way to kill a man?

…

James

5:19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;

5:20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. 

THIS is the gift AND the responsibility that the LORD calls upon us to fulfill with our brethren. Be the example, lead others away from sin by living Godly lives and sharing His Word with each other.

1 John

3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. 

So, with this being our gift, to be able to have a place in helping to save a soul...what do you think it would be called if we were the ones, purposefully or not, leading a soul to death?

Romans

5:17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 

Mark

9:42 And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. 

You see, by being spiritual AND physical beings, we are able to have an affect on each other in multiple ways. We can physically kill another and end their physical life AND we can have our hand in spiritually killing another, this in many ways.

If we are calling ourselves followers of Christ and we think or speak or constantly behave as the ungodly does and our brothers and sisters not only see our hypocrisy but they turn away from the LORD in their own walk due to our example… this could lead to spiritual death.

If we, as said Christians, pick and choose when we shall be godly and ungodly in our lives based on our specific circumstance at that time, leading another to stumble in their walk by following us… this could also lead to spiritual death.

AND if we, as children of God, partake with heathen and behave as heathen WHILE professing to be His children with our mouths, leading a NON believer further astray from their Father...This, I imagine, would and could lead to spiritual death.

Realizing that spiritual death is basically eliminating one's ability to live eternally in the glory of our Father and His will… how many times have we been guilty of these sins?

Proverbs

18:14 The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear? 

Oh how we must be careful to not be the cause of that wounded spirit but to be the brother or sister in Christ who lifts them up and helps lead that spirit by example to healing!

1 John

3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 

To take a man's physical life is killing him yes, but IF he is of and for the LORD, he lives still.

Having a hand in making spiritual death an eternal reality for another man due to OUR choices? That could literally be at the cost of both souls.

If we love God we keep His Commandments. We read His Holy Word and we live it. We love our brothers and sisters as He loves us and we repent. We repent for all of those times we didn't serve Him in our walk, those times we put our flesh before our spirit and we pray, that no man has been or will be spiritually killed because of our choices. Amen.

Proverbs

18:19 A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle. 

God bless and be well in Him xo

Watch Your Weight!

The LORD'S fifth Commandment

Exodus 
20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 

To honour is to give weight to, to respect and to adore; that is according to God. 

In this day and age most of society has all but forgotten the commandment our loving Father has given us to honour our parents; most of those that still think on it, likely tend to pick and choose in which times and contexts this commandment applies.

If we stop for a moment and reflect on scripture, we see the LORD giving us His desire of giving our elders, namely our parents, honour. 
Honour in respect, obedience, servitude and adoration, this of course is under the pretense that parent and child are living in the will of God.

Proverbs
1:8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
1:9 For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck. 

Respecting and loving our parents means much more than listening to and not arguing with them. I believe God calls us to look up to them, follow their example and direction and to revere their importance to God as well as to ourselves.

In hebrew, honour means to make heavy, to be burdensome. God calls us to take the gift of our parents with great weight and consideration and to honour the heritage of our families with the lives we choose to live.

Proverbs 
30:17 The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it. 

By the grace of God alone we are brought up in God fearing, loving families. We need to value the place our parents and elders hold not only in our own lives but in the importance they hold to God.

Remember, God is our eternal parent. He will love us, keep us and treasure us forever because we are His; if and only if, we choose to honour Him.

Be heavy in honour and your troubles will be lite! 

God bless xo

THIS rest is Holy!

The seventh day and His fourth Commandment. 

Exodus
20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 

This day as it were, is much more than meets the eye. This day is specifically named, spoken for by our LORD and deemed as Holy. 
As believers, God calls of us to do many things for His will, this Holy day, this time, He has given for us, not for Himself.

Mark 
2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: 

This day is His gift. His knowledge and understanding of His creation, our best intentions and purpose He knows and that is rest. We need rest.

Matthew
11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 

We need rest in Him. Time to silence the world around us and just be in His presence. God has given us everything that is good. He has given us our very lives. He also gives us the commandment to stop, slow down and separate from our flesh and focus on our spirit, His Spirit.

We are spirit first and God is and should be the forefront of all our lives but this time is special. His Holy day, where we do not labor or want for anything but His goodness, His Word and His Spirit. 
We also do not participate in things that require others to labor, to separate their time, that should be given to resting in the LORD, to serve our needs.

Isaiah
58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
58:14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. 

He knows what we need, we need Him. God alone provides everything we need to thrive in His goodness through His Ten Commandments.
We give Him all of ourselves if we truly believe on Him, this includes following His command to rest. 

So on that Holy day, above all else, take rest. Take rest in His Word and His Spirit and fulfill His desire for us by showing Him that respect. 

Genesis
2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. 

God bless my friends xo

What is in a Name?

God's third Commandment. 

Exodus
20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 

The name of the LORD is TRULY everything to a man who does love his God. 
The name of God is His promise, His honor, His holiness and His peace. Everything God is and does, is fulfilled in His name.

God gives us numerous examples of how man does take His name in vain. To use His name as profanity is disrespectful and blasphemy will not be tolerated by God. Those who tell lies or even misguide  others in the name of God shall be held accountable. 

Leviticus
24:16 And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death. 

We are expected and should desire, as children of our LORD, to hold the utmost respect for the name of our Father and to know the power of the great I AM. 

We are to pray in His name, we receive in His name and we sing praises in His name! 

John
14:13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14:14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. 

Psalm
69:30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. 

In His glorious name are all good things done in those who believe. Those who vainly use the name of God or do deeds that are self serving in His name will certainly be as the shadow.

Ecclesiastes
6:12 For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun? 

God's promise to those who follow is given on His very name. The Name that shall be forever more. 

1 Samuel
12:21 And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.
12:22 For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name's sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people.
12:23 Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way:
12:24 Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you. 

As His children, His creation, who loves Him with every breath, we shall have Him first in our lives. Our thoughts, our words and our actions belong to Him. 
In His image are we created, in His love are we given life, in His power are we healed, in His mercy are we forgiven and in His NAME are we saved.

Vanity is emptiness. It is Satan's favorite sin. Those who choose to live in emptiness, for emptiness and by emptiness of self will surely reside in that hollow and dark place forever. 
Love our Father with your entire walk, honor His name and follow His commandments. He does then promise your soul will forever belong in Him.

John
17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be as one, as we are. 

17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

God bless xo