Worthy Quote

In preparation this week for a bit of R&R and travel – today’s Worthy Thought is a great Worthy Quote.

Manipulation Masquerades

Manipulation – It’s ugly – it’s rampant and many use it to abuse others. It’s in our homes, churches, workplace, communities….

And sometimes it’s hard to recognize it – it masquerades as love or flattery – not just control and guilt.

Be wise and recognize-Be who God made you to be!

~ XXOO Michelle Bollom

Image borrowed from Pinterest – creator info at bottom of image

Wisdom Over Wealth

It is wise to seek wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. It is written that “He who gets wisdom loves his own soul”, that “by knowledge, God divided the deep and lets drop the dew“, and that “knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

“Christ has become our wisdom from God.” 

 We are wise to have yielded our life to Christ, to have accepted him as our Lord and Savior. We are wiser yet to make Christ and his Gospel the overarching purpose of our lives. We are told to seek wisdom instead of worldly riches. Wisdom will endure and reign supreme in heaven. Worldly riches will perish and will not translate into eternal wealth. Solomon wrote that the advantage of wisdom over wealth is that it will deliver us from death. This prophecy is fulfilled in Christ.

It is said of wisdom that with it we will rest secure and be at ease from fear of harm. Also, that if we are wise, we will make glad the heart of God. These are great promises and would be enough in and of themselves. However, it is also written that wisdom has long life in one hand and riches and honor in the other.  

So, let’s tally the results: peace, pleasing God, living long with riches and honor – not a bad harvest from simply obeying Our Father and seeking wisdom.

Isaiah wrote of the Spirit of Christ that he is the spirit of wisdom and understanding, counsel and power, knowledge and the fear of the Lord, that he will delight in the fear of the Lord. Solomon wrote that wisdom was with God in the beginning before anything was created. Wisdom is eternal as Christ is eternal. Solomon concludes that the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook. A bubbling brook – life giving, pleasant, and free flowing. James writes that the wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Luke wrote of Christ that he grew and became strong in spirit, that he was filled with wisdom, and that the grace of God was upon him. A few verses later he wrote that he increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. Paul wrote that one of the gifts of the Spirit is wisdom. 

 Let us seek wisdom and seek to become like Christ. As we do, we will have all the mighty forces of heaven behind, beside, and before us.

           ~ Brad Heilhecker 

True Wisdom

WORTHY THOUGHT: True wisdom is found in God.

King Solomon said: “I thought to myself, “Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.”-Ecclesiastes 1:16-18 (NIV)

The more you know about the real world the more imperfection you see around you. 

The more you observe the more evil becomes evident. 

Solomon highlights two types of wisdom

 1) human knowledge, reasoning, or philosophy and 

2) the wisdom that comes from God.

King Solomon is talking about human knowledge that ignores God and highlights the problems we have without God’s eternal perspective and solutions. 

Without God, deception exposes humankind and reveals this world as it truly is. 

My prayer is that the Holy Spirit would shine the light of Jesus into the hearts of men and women so that they might see the difference between wisdom of futility, living for lesser, petty treasures and instead see the true wisdom, beauty, splendor and glory of Christ.
~ Angela Lipe-Pattengill 

Listen

             Talk less and listen more today! 

Have a wonderful Wednesday. XXOO Michelle 

Fervently

WORTHY THOUGHT: God’s people should continue to pray fervently in times of conflict and destruction. 

Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your prayers were heard, and I have come in because of your prayers. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come. ”-Daniel 10:12-14

The Book of Daniel in chapter 10 teaches us that God immediately sent his angelic messenger to Daniel because He had heard Daniels prayers, But, the messenger was detained in battle for 21 days by satan’s emissaries to prevent the angelic messenger going to Daniel until Micheal the chief angelic prince came and helped in the battle. Finally, the messenger reached Daniel to answer his prayer.

When you pray you become part of a spiritual warfare, so don’t take lightly your times of prayer. Our prayers may be challenged by evil forces, so we must pray fervently and pray earnestly and expect God to answer in his good timing.

~ Angela Lipe-Pattengill 

Purpose

WORTHY THOUGHT: What is God’s purpose for you in this world? 

And He himself gave some to be prophets, some evangelist, and some pastors and teachers.-Ephesians 4:11

God made each of us with a unique purpose. 

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them-Ephesians 2:10. 

The purpose for His mission is necessary because humanity today is not right with God. People are perishing and the gospel is their only hope. 

 How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news.

Walk worthy of your calling with which you were called to do good works for His glory. Amen. 

~ Angela Lipe-Pattengill 

Our New Promised Land

Leave Babylon; flee from the Chaldeons! 

  We are called out of this world’s system. 

We are subjects in a new kingdom, with vastly different laws and family traditions than citizens of this present age. We are not to be short sighted or consumed with the earthly ambitions of pleasure seeking, the accumulation of wealth, or the attainment of status. Rather, we are to find our pleasure, possessions, and status in our relationship with the King and with the princes and princesses of our new heavenly kingdom.

Wisdom delights in creation and in its creatures, especially in mankind. We delight in the saints – the glorious children of God. We are taught to be forbearing, patient, and long suffering with one another, just like Our Father. We share our possessions, our time, our affection, and our encouragement. Gone is the scarcity mentality; now there is abundance, provision, and all sufficiency in Christ.

We leave behind fear, anger, and hate. We leave behind vain glory, selfishness, and meanness. Love, acceptance, nurturance and discipleship are our new watch words. We are not competing; we are cooperating in the creation of a glorious future where righteousness rules, where peace and harmony are the order of the day.

We can now come to Our Heavenly Father for loving approval, inspiration, and soul restoration. Generous approbation Our Father is ready to lavish on us when we seek his face; he longs to praise us as we put our faith in him and in his loving care. He will praise us and bless us with blessings suited to our new promised land. He will lavish his love upon us as we reciprocate and love him with our whole heart.

~ Brad Heilhecker 

Chill Ax

Chill ax!!

Don’t get caught up too much in the things of this world. Don’t stress over tomorrow or what happened yesterday. 

  Basically, there is nothing new under the sun. 

Everything is created with cycles in minds. The seasons, flowers, moon phases, animal kingdom and even us!!

Read the rest of this great archive post “Nothing New Under The Sun” by Kelley Allison Here

Storms

Worthy Thought: The secret to faith is going through a storm.

Faith is a mindset that expects God to act. 

When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat and started across sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they rowed about three to four miles they saw Jesus walking on sea and coming near the boat. And they were frightened. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they were glad to take him to the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.  

-John 6:16-20

Jesus was teaching that such storms are part of life and can be frightening. We often face spiritual and emotional storms and feel tossed about like a small boat on a big lake. In spite of the terrifying circumstances if we allow Christ Jesus to take control in our lives, he can give us peace in the midst of any storm.   

The disciples were frightened when they saw Jesus walking on water because they were not expecting Jesus to come to them like that or prepared for his help. 

However, the disciples welcomed Jesus into their boat then immediately the storm was over and they were at the shore. 

If we allow Christ to take control in our lives, he can give us peace in the midst of storms.

~ Angela Lipe-Pattengill