160621 Needing a Break From Worldly Cares
I don't rate my friends by what they believe nor by what appears on the surface. Others have different standards, and by speaking my mind, I have lost friends and followers. (Some of THOSE were relatives.) Today, cares of the World are trying to overwhelm me, so I counter with this:
Matthew 6:25-34
25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Also, this:
2 Corinthians 9:7-8
7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? Because the Prince of Lies is THE expert at lying. Humans who lie are merely a reflection. I disagree with those who hammer the person, when the problem is larger than that. Unlike many Christians, I do not believe that America is God's Chosen Land. God chose the ancient land of Israel. (I'm not convinced that the modern State is the same.) If the Lord tarries, I would expect central Africa, or parts of China to rise and replace the U.S. as the center of freedom and prosperity, but this would be in my children's middle age.
Why? Because true properity goes to those who believe God. People who believe God do not carry signs and expend all their energies fighting political battles. They quietly expect miracles. Chinese believers a very quiet, but they exist. African believers, I've met. They don't gush about God; God is their bedrock. They stand against terrible forces, and live in prosperity and victory. Why do certain American Blacks fear Christian Africans? The Christian Africans prove them wrong. Why do many Africans distrust American Blacks? They prove them right.
I stand with my friends, my sisters, and my brothers -- no matter where they come from.