“For at that time they came to David day by day to help him, Until it was a great army, like the army of God.” ~1st Chronicles 12:22

I love taking my truck to the car wash, especially when I can splurge for the full service. It just seems like my truck runs better after passing thru that magical tunnel. What was once dirty and abused is now squeaky clean and a pleasure to step into because normally by the time I get to a car wash it’s long overdue.

Unfortunately living the Christian life is not like a car wash, most times this sanctification process is a long hard fought journey that takes us thru valleys and over mountains. Although it always seems like time is running out, it’s really on our side. It’s only to the unbeliever that needs to “hurry” and make things right with the Lord.

It was actually a very frustrating lesson for me to learn how to “wait on the Lord”. I thought it was just a Christian’s way of avoiding a decision but now I realize that my hastiness is foolishness.

This is also important to remember when we see people come to Christ and think they should be further along than they are, wanting them to step up to the plate and prove their worth.

I like to think of our walk with the Lord as one of a patient Father allowing His children to come to Him slow and steady, too often I see new believers playing the role of “having arrived” before their time. They quickly figure out how to speak “christianeze” but when adversity comes they tend to crumble. Give me a guy who is struggling to escape his old way of life and is learning with every bump and bruise he gets as he sheds off the old man and desires to walk anew.

I love the story of King David, how it looked as if it was over for him after his sinful act with Bathsheba but his response to Samuels rebuke and with “time on his side” David rebounds and in 1st Chronicles 12 we see God sending him an army “like the army of God” and God provided all their needs and restored David.

Of course we need to be walking in the right direction for time to be on our side. Paul tells us in the 5th chapter of Ephesians “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil”. So if you feel like you’re running out of time of that time is against you, remember in God’s economy “Time is on Your Side”.

Written by Rob Russomano, Colony of Mercy Graduate and Full-time Staff Member at America’s Keswick. His slogan is “I’m just a beggar telling other beggars where to find Bread”

The Daily Bible Reading: Haggai, Luke 14:1-23

Think About This: Our greatest moral regrets are always preceded by a series of unwise choices.” ~Andy Stanley

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. ~Proverbs 29:25

“At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.” ~Luke 10:21

We have become lazy in our quest for truth and became addicted to the professional truth handlers. We google most things as if everything on the internet is infallible. We trust the degrees and the experts on their lofty intellect. We are notorious for allowing teachers, preachers, professors, theologians, etc… be are bottom-line as if they were modern day apostles.

We are surrounded by many decisions that will have various consequences. And if individuals don’t open their eyes and see the potential danger; our culture or church will blindly walk into uncertainties without diligently count up the cost. We need to personally develop strategy to learn when or to trust the professionals.

Jesus was clear and rejoiced in the fact the Father gave Him the ones that were not leaned and wise in their own eyes, but babes. Our academics are ok; our pastors’ wisdom is encouraged, but we laymen can count on the Holy Spirit and diligence for eternal truth. The Bereans were known for being noble in the way they challenged and search for truth. Let us be Bereans, God Bless you.

Written by Juan Mendez, Colony of Mercy Graduate and Full-time staff member at America’s Keswick

The Daily Bible Reading: Esther 9-10, Luke 13:23-35

Think About This: So Jesus confronts us with himself, sets before us a radical choice between obedience and disobedience, and calls us to an unconditional commitment of mind, will and life to his teaching. ~John R.W. Stott

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. ~Proverbs 29:25

Everybody has a vocation to some form of life work. But behind that and deeper than that, everybody has a vocation to be a person, to be fully and deeply a human being, to be Christlike. And the second thing is more important than the first. It is more important to be a great person than a great teacher, butcher or candlestick maker. And if the only chance of succeeding in the second is to fail in the first, the failure, from God’s point of view, is fruitful. ~Brennan Manning, The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the universe, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me. ~ paul, The Least of The Apostles, in Philippians 2

Oh beloved, it is true. We know the things He would have us to do, but we are so afraid. We shrink from the grand plans, and even try to avoid the mundane of our call to simply step through life in humility and obedience. We are, to put it bluntly, cowards.

His Word is clear about the things we are to do. All of them are only possible in His strength, but the callings themselves are not hard to understand. We are to Love those who need to be Loved. We are to abide in a profound concern for the wellbeing of another, without regard as to whether the people we Love return the same.

However, this is where the problem comes in. Sometimes, the things we are to do to actually Love others, or to share His good news – are not going to make other people happy with us. In fact, many might think we are a bit crazy in our attempts.

So, sometimes through prayer and letting His Word minister to us, we become convinced of a certain course of action, or words that He would have us share. We ache, “Oh Father, please. This one is hard. People are not going to understand me.”

His answer, though, is unbending. For, He is G_d and we are not.

Hopefully (and now, thankfully, usually for this fool of a writer), we have learned to simply obey and let the consequences fall where they may. We have become His warriors and we joyfully follow the orders of our Captain. Dying is of no concern, for our old man is already dead. The only thing before us is a peaceful falling asleep.

Still… we feel the nerves. We feel the impulses to be afraid as we obey. However, if we ignore the lies of the fear, and simply follow His lead, there usually comes the privilege of witnessing fruit in places that we would have never expected.

People are touched
Relationships are made
Friends get set free
Colleagues are encouraged
Students grow in ways we never imagined.

Can we see it? Fear of doing the right thing is a pretty solid indicator that what we are about to do is pretty important in the Kingdom. If it feels ‘easy’ we might not be going on the adventure He would have us to pursue.

So, are you just knowing that there is someone you are supposed to go and Love a certain way? Ignore the lies (and that old Liar). Let Him push you through the fear. Then, let Him show you the unexpected fruit on the other side. Tonight is your night beloved, time to go where He sends you.

Written by Makala Doulos, Colony of Mercy Graduate and teacher at Tianjin International School

The Daily Bible Reading: Esther 6-8, Luke 13:1-22

Think About This: If I were fruitless, it mattered not who commended me; but if I were fruitful, I cared not who did condemn. ~John Bunyan (1628-1688)

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. ~Proverbs 29:25

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order than you may live, you and all your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.” Deuteronomy 30:19-20

Last week I shared with you that I HATE ADDICTION and gave you the reasons why. If you didn’t read that post, I want to encourage you to go back and read it.

Today’s post is a follow-up and I wanted to share what God has been showing me in my studies.

Flip Wilson coined the phrase “the devil made me do it,” and sometimes we are real quick to give the enemy more credit for our sin than he deserves.

Yes, the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10) but I want you to see something very important. YOU NEED TO GIVE HIM PERMISSION TO DO THAT IN YOUR LIFE! The enemy is cunning, crafty and will throw temptation at you daily. BUT we make the choice to yield to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

I have been struggling with my weight for 45 years. Jan and I finally got serious about making this a life style change so that we can be better fit to serve the Lord in this last half of the game.

The plan we are using is MyNetDairy, which is a free app. Basically is it counting calories and the plan is working well for us. But it has been more than just losing weight to get fit. God has been showing me that I make the choice to either eat healthy and right, or to eat food that is going to be harmful to me and cause me to be “obese.” I don’t like that label, but every book and article that I read tells me that were I started a month ago – that is how the medical profession labels me.

Looking at calories has given me the freedom to make right choices in order for me to reach my goal and then to maintain the weight I need to be. We have wanted to eat a Bahamas’ Breeze ever since it opened several years ago, but every time we go it is too crowded to get in. We finally got there for lunch and when the menu came, we both looked for what we could eat to stay within our calories for the meal.

Skimming the menu we discovered that there were tons of choices but everything was 900+ calories. For me, that one meal would have been more than half of my calories for the day.

We could have said, let’s blow it – but we decided to thank the waitress, explained what was happening with our get healthy plan, and left. We ended up at Applebee’s and had a meal that was in the right range.

Choosing to do the right thing is very freeing, isn’t it? How many times do we make BAD/SINFUL choices only to try and blame it on the devil? In the addiction world, we blame it on our genes, our predisposition, or we make a bad choice because of something someone did to me which justifies my wrong behavior.

Go back and read the verses at the beginning of my post. Moses set before the children of Israel a choice – choice life – or choose death. My question for you and me is this – which do we want to choose? I want to choose life! I want to live life God’s way. I’ll share more about this next week.

Thanks for taking a few minutes to read our daily Freedom Fighter blogs.

Written by Dr. Bill Welte is President/CEO of America’s Keswick. He has been married to his child sweet heart for 40+ years, and has three married kids, one that is engaged, and 10 amazing grandkids. He loves music and is an avid reader.

The Daily Bible Reading: Esther 3-5, Luke 12:32-59

Think About This:You were designed for it. You have missed the point without it. What is it? Living every day for the glory of the Father! ~Paul David Tripp

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. ~Proverbs 29:25

You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; ~2 Corinthians 3:2

I love a story with a great ending. Each time I watch a movie or read a book the ending is usually the result of the climax of the story which determines whether a movie is just good or great. As we journey through life it should be on the forefront of our minds that a story is being told. The beginning has already been written but the ending is yet to come.

Paul is writing his second letter to the Church in Corinth and is appealing to them that the conversion to Christ is being played out in their lives. He is staking his reputation of being an Apostle on the outcome of what is seen in their actions. He writes in chapter 3, “You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart”.

Unfortunately too many stories of the Saints who were made alive thru Christ allow their story to be a tragedy instead of a story of a great rescue or triumphant feat undertaken by the Savior of the world. Imagine watching a John Wayne movie where there’s a damsel in distress and John Wayne rides in to save the day only to hear the damsel say “no thanks, I’ll just stay here in captivity”. NO, we want to see him shoot all the bad guys, scoop her up and deliver her to happily ever after.

Now I’m not saying that after coming to Christ we live happily ever after, but we should live a life that no matter what comes our way we can quote Nehemiah’s proclamation in Chapter 8, “the joy of the Lord will be our strength”.

If we can only step aside and see that the rest of our lives are not our story but His,” clearly you are an epistle of Christ”, that means He gets to finish the ending. We can either try and write our own autobiography or let our life be a biography of Christ. The problem with a lot of us is we are too caught up in the beginning of the book that we don’t see how anything good can come out of this biography.

So if you’re being held back by the circumstances that surround you or a past that haunts you, let today be the climax that leads to a victorious ending, lets mimic the words of the Apostle Paul from Philippians 3, ”Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”.

Our Hero will be riding in on a horse to save us, until then my brothers, lets live as if we see Him coming in the distance, Amen!

Written by Rob Russomano, Colony of Mercy Graduate and Full-time staff member of America’s Keswick. If you would like to contact Rob, you can email him at rrussomano@americaskeswick.org

The Daily Bible Reading: 2 Chron. 32-33, Luke 11:1-28

Think About This:“All attempts, then, for mortification of any lust, without an interest in Christ, are vain.” ~John Owen

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: You must not fear them, for the Lord your God Himself fights for you. ~Deuteronomy 3:22

“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value.” ~1 Corinthians 3:11-13 (NLT)

Jan Hus—Never heard of him until now. He was considered to be the first Church reformer and was heavily involved in serving the Church at an early age in Prague. He was influenced by the writings of John Wycliffe and despite the fact that the Church banned his writings Jan Hus translated Wycliffe’s “Trialogus” into Czech and distribute it among the Kingdom of Bohemia. When Gregory XII and Benedict XIII declared that they were The Pope in 1408 (kinda like a “Push-Me Pull-You” papacy), Jan Hus vowed a position of neutrality on behalf of the Bohemian nation even though he was known for outlining the moral failings of clergy, bishops and yes, of course, the papacy.

Eventually this dude gets excommunicated, arrested and imprisoned like was the practice in his time period for those that were accused of heresy on multiple levels. The usual kangaroo court was convened (most likely had the same kinda guys Hus had been speaking out against) and an opportunity to recant what he has said against the antipope/antichurch. When he wouldn’t he was taken to the stake on which he was to be burned upon, publicly forgave everyone and then made this statement, “God is my witness that the things charged against me I never preached. In the same truth of the Gospel which I have written, taught, and preached, drawing upon the sayings and positions of the holy doctors, I am ready to die today.” Then the fire was lite…..

As three men traveled to Worms, France along with this most wanted theologian one of them pondered out loud, “But Brother Martin, what if you end up like Jan Hus?” “Though Hus was burned the truth was not burned, and Christ still lives.” Martin Luther was a man that stated The Bible should be so that it could be read by everyone. (maybe without James…different Freedom Fighter for a different day) A man named Johann Eck became a nemesis, the papal nuncio tried to bargain with him then Pope Leo X excommunicated him but Luther remained steadfast with 95 reasons to tell the Church that what was going on within it was anti-papal.

Emperor Charles V declared Luther an outlaw and issues this decree, “We want him to be apprehended as a notorious heretic.” It was crime for any Germen to give Luther food or shelter and it was permitted to kill Luther without legal consequence. Wow…this dude got people mad!!

I like the story of these two rocks that made their stand. In a time where the Gospel was watered downed for the sake of sinful men Jan Hus and Martin Luther said enough is enough. When I look at things today, especially in social media, my heart kinda sinks each time I see that Christianity has become some kind of exclusive club where only the appointed get to live a better life and everyone else gets criticized for being filthy sinners. We weren’t instructed to play it safe, we’ve been instructed to share Jesus.

Today we are also being surrounded by way too many theologies and not enough true Gospel teaching. Thanksgiving has past us and Christmas is just ahead (if you don’t count that Santa Clause was in the Walmarts before Halloween). While we are out and about it is to us to let people know that Jesus is the reason for any season and beyond. When a “Merry Christmas” is offered, give it back and if you get a “Happy Holidays” instead don’t go thumpin’ the Walmart greeter with your King James edition, just give the Gospel and if necessary use words. If we want the heresies to stop then it is to us to stop them. Just remember that it is all done for the cause of The Cross and not for the cause of getting people to feel further outta place in a cold and desperate world, Amen?

Written by Chris Hughes, Colony grad of 11-2003, serves on the deacon board at Trinity Alliance Church in Cologne NJ.

The Daily Bible Reading: 2 Chro. 30-31; Luke 10:25-42

Think About This: “If the devil were wise enough and would stand by in silence and let the Gospel be preached, he would suffer less harm. For when there is no battle for the Gospel it rusts and it finds no cause and no occasion to show its vigor and power. Therefore, nothing better can befall the Gospel than that the world should fight it with force and cunning.” ~Martin Luther

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: You must not fear them, for the Lord your God Himself fights for you. ~Deuteronomy 3:22

“The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”  ~John10:12

Some consider it strange or alarming because of all the chaos that ISIS is generating. Our comfort zones are being challenged and we do not like it. Wake up! There are individuals on this planet to disrupt, to steal, to murder and the like… A part of terroristic plots is to pump fear and doubt into the hearts of their victims.

Association of Christian Counselors has done homework on trauma, terror, and terrorism. They expose the importance of understanding the effects of trauma, terror, and terrorism. Based on a variety of research and assessments, it is clear that many have encountered these issues on some level. Counseling towards the cross is encouraged as the first phase to victory for individuals who have encountered these realties, because lack of hope can lead to psychological disorders.

However, the real peace and comfort comes from the saving grace of Jesus Christ and His Word. Repeatedly, the Word and Christ encourage us to fear not and to trust in. This truth guides our feelings, consistency, faithfulness, and integrity. The true test of our relationship with God is when these sort trials come; how do we respond or do we react harshly? With fear, mistrust, anxiety etc.…

Jesus Christ is the one who provides life. We shouldn’t anticipate anything good from an evil, depraved world. The non-believer is doing what they know to do. Our standards of Christian behavior matters more than doing what you feel like at the time. Loving and forgiving your neighbor as yourself, and loving and forgiving your enemy as well. Some believe good deeds are all that matters, while others believe that faith is all that matters. Both are true! In this interesting point of history, we will need to implement both to stand firm in a very trying world.

Written by Juan Mendez, Colony of Mercy Graduate and Full-time staff member of America’s Keswick

The Daily Bible Reading: 2 Chron. 28-29, Luke 10:1-24

Think About This: “The road that leads to heaven is risky, lonely, and costly in this world, and few are willing to pay the price. Following Jesus involves losing your life-and finding new life in him. Follow Me, pg. 11”
~David Platt

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: You must not fear them, for the Lord your God Himself fights for you. ~Deuteronomy 3:22

Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion. ~Brennan Manning

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. ~ paul, The Least of The Apostles, in Romans 8

Oh beloved, it is true. We are not (yet) completely Home. There will be a Day that will never end where anything that is missing in this life will be filled. And lots of things we thought we could never do without, will simply fade from memory in the Light of His Presence. To see Him will be more than enough, and there is so much more!

Still, we are here, and seemingly stuck in quite a mess. However, there is a spark that is real. For, it will never grow old, nor wear out. Read the passage. We are not orphans in waiting. We are already His sons and daughters. Oh yes, there is still the matter of ceremony and inheritance beyond our wildest imaginations – but neither are those future things in doubt.

For, beloved, we have the witness of a G_d who does not change and cannot lie. We are, to put it bluntly: members of the very House of The King of The Universe… We have only to be crowned in a very real (read: more real than now) ceremony, as The Son presents us to The Father with great Joy (cf. Jude 24, 25).

Why is this important? The path home is not in doubt, so what is the issue?

Can we see it? Every prince is to be prepared for his office and every princess is to be groomed for her reign. And the most effective strategy that our Father uses is to chisel those parts of us away, that are not Him – and that, is just about everything.

It hurts. It hurts a lot.

We groan under the weight of it, we are sickened by the masses of evil that He pulls out of us and casts away. We moan under the tests and circumstances He uses to wax strength in our new spiritual limbs and exercise the new heart of flesh that He has transplanted into us.

What was that? Can you hear the other groan?

No. Its anticipation. Like a crowd of millions of millions watching a masterful play being executed by the very Best of athletes. Everything in His universe is looking in on the mystery. We (you and me) are being made into the very likeness of Jesus.

We will not be a facsimile, or a bootleg copy of the real thing. We will be so much like Him that He will willingly and smilingly put His own name on our foreheads one Day. He will sign the infinitely alive and immortal masterpieces that He has created and then crafted into His sons and daughters.

And it already begun.

So, are you groaning under the weight of His glory? Good. You are already home in more ways than you know. You are just being prepared for a celebration. And OH, this will be an ENORMOUS PARTY! Tonight is your night beloved. Time to know you are already Home, the remaining is simply the final preparation and anticipation for Life beyond anything you have ever imagined.

See you there. I will be one of the ones casting any of the awards i get at His feet, simply thanking Him for the Great Love with which He Loves me!

Written by Makala Doulos, Colony of Mercy Graduate and teacher at Tianjin International School

The Daily Bible Reading: 2 Chron. 25-27, Luke 9:37-62

Think About This: As we come to grips with our own selfishness and stupidity, we make friends with the impostor and accept that we are impoverished and broken and realize that, if we were not, we would be God. The art of gentleness toward ourselves leads to being gentle with others — and is a natural prerequisite for our presence to God in prayer. ~Brennan Manning

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: You must not fear them, for the Lord your God Himself fights for you. ~Deuteronomy 3:22

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it more abundantly.” ~John 10:10

For weeks I have been making this statement – I HATE ADDICTION. I know that you probably think that I am saying this just because I am the President/CEO of the oldest residential addiction recovery program in the country, The Colony of Mercy, and now a residential program for women, Barbara’s Place.

But the reality is that I really, really, really HATE ADDICTION. I hate what it does to the man, women, teen or child who is in bondage to it. I hate how it impacts families by tearing them apart. I hate the more and more of us dabble in things that we call “grace,” only to discover that we have allowed our freedoms to become the gateway into bondage.

Last year in the State of New Jersey, 786 people died from heroin overdoses. That is an increase of 155% since 2010. That’s just deaths related to heroin. 2 people a day die of overdoses to heroin in this state.

Last week one of our grads took his life because of the utter despair related to his addiction issues. My COO, Jim Kennedy, shared with me that so far this year 18 grads have died and only two or three were because of physical issues related to disease like cancer. The rest died because they allowed addiction to take them out.

As I was working through the grief and despair of this man’s untimely death, it dawned on me that we often blame the enemy of our souls for this stuff. We all remember comedian, Flip Wilson’s famous line: “The devil made me do it!”

Please hear me – the enemy of your soul has a plan for your life and mine: “steal – kill – destroy.” He is in it for keeps! He wants to take you and me out. Nothing would thrill him more than to have us be another statistic.

BUT JESUS comes to give us life – abundant life – eternal life. Eternal life that can be lived right now as we allow Christ to live HIS live in and through us (Galatians 2:20).

But I want you to hear me – while the enemy of your soul wants to take you out – YOU and I are the ones who give him permission to do that! He puts

the temptations in our path – WE ARE THE ONES that take the next step to yield to the temptation. GOD ALWAYS PROVIDES A WAY OF ESCAPE because HE IS FAITHFUL. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

We cannot live our lives in isolation which is why we need to:

1. Make our daily quiet time a non-negotiable in our lives.

2. Get connected to a local church and be part of a church family.

3. Find a prayer/accountability partner that will get in our faces to ask the tough questions and hold our feet to the fire.

4. Learn the words “flee,” “no,” “I can’t go there,”.

I am thankful that JESUS comes to give us life – abundant, joyful, victorious and eternal life.

If you don’t have a clue what I am talking about and want to know more about this life, I have a phamplet I’d love to get into your hands by email or I will mail you a hard copy. Email me at bwelte@americaskeswick.org or call 800-453-7942 ext. 1022.

Have a great week, brothers.

Written by Dr. Bill Welte, President/CEO of America’s Keswick. He has been married to his child sweet heart for 40+ years, and has three married kids, one that is engaged, and 10 amazing grandkids. He loves music and is an avid reader.

The Daily Bible Reading: 2 Chron. 23-24, Luke 9:18-36

Think About This:“If your hope disappoints you, it is the wrong kind of hope. You see, hope in God never disappoints, precisely because it is hope *in God.* This means that hope placed in any other thing will always end up disappointing.” ~Paul David Tripp

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: You must not fear them, for the Lord your God Himself fights for you. ~Deuteronomy 3:22

Phillipians 3:17–4:1; Hebrews 11:13–16; 1 Peter 2:13– 17

We have dual citizenship. God has placed us in this country for the specific purpose of making Him known. This is the reason we need to obey it’s just laws, be loyal to our country, and yes even patriotic. No government official is in power without the consent of God (Romans 13:1-7). In this country we have the right to vote, to speak out against evil and to even resist if we are asked to do something contrary to our citizenship in heaven (Acts 4:13-31).

I hear Christians complaining our country is declining and people are rejecting Christianity along with its values, if truth be told, I find myself complaining about it too. But the struggle is between what is going on around us and our mission given to us by Christ. Individual Christians and the church get involved in the trivialities and frivolities of our culture. We get sidetracked from our mission, which as I mentioned, is to make Christ known by living a righteous life and by speaking the gospel to the lost. When we fail to obey Christ’s command (Matthew 28:18-20) judgment begins with the household of God and spills into our Society (1 Peter 4:17). The result is the lawlessness and increasing sinfulness we see around us. We vex our own souls by disobedience.

How can God reverse this trend? First we must be clear-headed and disciplined in prayer (1 Peter 4:7). Second, we must reveal Christ by word and deed (1 Peter 4:8; 1 John 3:18). This means in our work life, our play life, and in the course of our every day life with our family, our friends and neighbors we must speak and act righteously (1Peter 5:5-9; Galatians 6:10: Acts 10:38). Will you join me in revealing the life of Christ today in word and deed?

Today’s Affirmation:

I am a citizen of heaven, I am here to make The Lord Jesus Christ known; I will abstain from fleshly lusts which war against my soul so I can reveal Him to others.

Written by Pastor Robert Wood, Pastoral Counselor and friend of America’s Keswick

The Daily Bible Reading: 2 Chro. 17-18; Luke 8:1-25

Think About This:“The greatest joy of a Christian is to give joy to Christ.” ~Charles Haddon Spurgeon

This Week’s Verse to Memorize:

But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint ~Isaiah 40:31