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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Captive or Captivated

Captive or Captivated
Ryan Marks

   Are you captive to something (stronghold, chain) or are you captivated (in l-o-v-e) with Jesus Christ? The answer to that question will reveal the state of your life. At any given time a Christian is either walking around in defeat in submission to the enemy or he (or she) is walking around in the authority of Jesus Christ rejoicing in his (or her) sufferings and or blessings.
Asking myself that question probes pretty deep, what about you?
   Now the way that you apply being captivated with Jesus is to follow what God tells you, as you are prompted, as HE speaks to your heart.  Listen and do what HE says! Get into God’s book on a regular basis and just talk to Him about anything and everything: doubts, hesitations, fears, pride, whatever. God is big enough to handle anything you tell Him and He is listening and HE wants to be the biggest priority in your life. The final question to becoming Captivated with Christ is this: Are you willing to listen to God?
….Would everyone please bow their heads and close their eyes.
Read Scriptures and offer salvation—Christ will accept you now, just the way you are if you will accept Him and then He will do the thing that we so often are trying to do to ourselves: He will transform us into someone else, someone better and more like Him (more…perfect, so to speak). All we have to do is accept Him and let Him have the control. . . .will you accept Him as your Savior, as Your lover, as the one that captivates you with His awesomeness, gentleness, love and truth? I pray and hope that you will.

Wanting God to do Everything

Wanting God to do Everything
By Ryan Marks

     "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." Matthew 26:41 NIV
      How often do we want God to do everything for us and yet He continues to say “just watch and pray so that you won’t fall”?
      I don’t know about you, but I fall all the time when I’m idle to the Lord’s Word, or in other words, disobedient. That little old saying, “idle hands are the devil’s workshop” is true! When we just sit there and do nothing, when the Lord has spoken to us a deep sleep comes upon us. When we do nothing Satan has us! We have already given him an opening because we aren’t ready to resist him or watching for him to approach with his demons. Now, when I say sitting by and doing nothing, I’m not referring to the times of rest and refreshing that come from the Lord, but rather about doing nothing during the spiritual battle or the night watch. The urge to watch and pray—to be ready and listening—from Christ is so that we will not partake of the bread of idleness and fall into temptation.
When we’re idle and our guards are down--watch out!--                                                                 An evil spirit is probably lurking around.
      Proverbs 19:15 says that “Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger (ESV).” or in other words, “Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless man goes hungry (NIV).” Laziness, idleness, shiftlessness are all the same thing. They’re disobedience to what our God created us for: to have dominion over the earth and rule it for the glory of God. Yes, we should rest one day every seven, but the other six we are to be watching and praying—standing!—ready for the Lord to come and move. But being ready does not just take place in the natural, though. In the spiritual realm there are times that we must stand. Daniel did this when he prayed for the help of the Lord and kept praying for twenty-one days (Daniel 10).
Thought of Reflection:
V  Are you sitting by wanting God to do everything, instead of obediently standing and waiting for Him?

“‘And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’” Matthew 6:13 NIV
“On reaching the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you will not fall into temptation.’” Luke 22:40 NIV

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Distractions

Distractions
By Ryan Marks
(Appearing in Devo Blast vol. 2, issue 2)
    Distractions. We all have been distracted at one time or another. Spiritually, distractions will eventually starve you. You see, Satan’s mission is to STEAL, KILL, and DESTROY. One of the ways that he goes about doing this is by offering us a distraction and once we take a bite, he goes for another, then another until we are so distracted that with his “goodies” that we don’t stay seated to be feed the milk of the Word, meat of the Word, or the Bread (Jesus) of the Word.
      Without these vital forms of spiritual sustenance entering your spirit you will starve. No wonder we feel cut off from God, confused, directionless, meaningless and hopeless when we have been distracted for a while by the Devil’s treats.  ….let’s pray:
  Dear Lord, forgive us for giving the Enemy a foothold by being distracted. Lord, give me the strength not to go down that path again—I know it isn’t the path You want for me. Holy Spirit, help me to stir up the fire of my relationship with You and to move forward despite the spiritual weakening I have experienced. Thank You for Your forgiveness Lord, Amen.

Great resource if your struggling with distractions: The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Courage by Roy Mullen

Courage
By Roy Mullen (taken from Devo Blast vol. 2, issue 1 Jan. 2012)

“But I have trusted in Your mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.”

“But I have trusted in Your mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.”          
Psalm 13:5 NKJV
By Ryan Marks
        Have you trusted in the Lord’s mercy? All believers must. It is by His merciful loving grace that we can believe in Jesus Christ, accept His sacrifice, receive forgiveness for our sins and possess eternal life. Jesus Christ is the Lord’s gift of mercy. Jesus gave it all so that you and I might live! Isn’t that mercy, isn’t that love, isn’t that compassion, isn’t that grace, isn’t that caring and kindness?
         Because I have received the mercy of the Lord by trusting in Christ, I will rejoice in His salvation! My God, Creator-King, has humbled Himself to the point of taking on the form of a human! He stepped out of heaven’s eternity to step into earth’s humanity and live a life of 33 years in which He would minister for only three and would then pay the ultimate price for us: death on the cross! At that cross Immanuel’s veins did not run dry and run out of covering for you or me—instead, His blood covered and covers all wrongs that we simply ask and believe Him to cover. Jesus! Jesus!! Jesus!!! O Lord, You gave it all for me, so that I might live, so that I could spend eternity with You. You paid the price: the debt that I could not pay! You freed me from death and have given me life and that to the full! O Lord, how compassionate and gracious You are. Without Your mercy, none would ever enter Your Holy Kingdom, for we could never live up to Your righteous law, Your perfect standards. Even now, as a follower of You, I sin; yet Your blood graciously covers it. And Your Spirit gently convicts me of my wrong. O Lord, thank You for the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of Christ!—who communes with me and indwells me. O Lord, thank You for making a way that I can be with You and can be forgiven of my wrong so that I can enter Your presence boldly, confidently and lovingly as I desire. O thank You Lord, my salvation!

“How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?..." Psalm 19:12-14 NLT

“How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?
Cleanse me from these hidden faults.
Keep your servant from deliberate sins!
Don’t let them control me.
Then I will be free of guilt
and innocent of great sin.
May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing to you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:12-14 NLT

By Ryan Marks
January 24th, 2012
     I struggle with sin so often. I have this problem and that and I just don’t know how to correct all my wrong behaviors, responses and actions. Sometimes it is so tough that I have extreme difficulty just making it through a few minutes of not doing wrong. Do you have the same struggle? If you do let me first say that I don’t have all the answers and haven’t found an easy solution; but I think that an honest shout, a cry from our heart to God can open the door to His aid when we don’t know what to do.
Read with me the Words of the Psalmist, David:
“How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?
Cleanse me from these hidden faults.
Keep your servant from deliberate sins!
Don’t let them control me.
Then I will be free of guilt
and innocent of great sin.
May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing to you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:12-14 NLT

“After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.” Hosea 6:2 NIV

“After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.” Hosea 6:2 NIV
By Ryan Marks
January 24th, 2012
     “After two days….” How long do we wait sometimes to see the Lord revive us! And sometimes I wonder “am I waiting because of my own spiritual infirmity or the Lord’s sovereign timing?” However whatever the reason for the wait, there is hope if you are waiting on the Lord on the “third day” He will restore us! We can then bask in His presence!
      I remember a time a year or two ago when I was waiting on God, asking for an answer. I prayed, worked, and read and prayed, worked, and read for two days seeking the Lord and then in the stillness of a late evening of seeking the Lord spoke one word. A word that I wasn’t expecting: wait. One word, one command; yet it was so difficult to follow. I had to wait for the Lord to act. I had to wait until His presence came. I had to wait until the answer was revealed.
      Are you there today, are you struggling—are you waiting—for the two days to be over and the third to come? Take courage that the third will come in due time, in God’s time.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Quote

"But Thee I long for, O Righteousness and Innocency, beautiful and comely to all pure eyes, and of a satisfaction unsating. With Thee is rest entire, and life imperturbable. Whoso enters into Thee, enters into the joy of his Lord: and shall not fear, and shall do excellently in the All-Excellent. I sank away from Thee, and I wandered, O my God, too much astray from Thee my stay, int these days of my youth, and I became myself a barren land."
 --taken from Great Christian Classics: Five Remarkable Narratives of the Faith. Published by Generatoins with Vision. p.32, Book II of The Confessions of St. Augustine

A Scripture selection by Ryan Marks

January 19, 2012
Scripture selection with added boldness, capitalization, italics, and underlining.
God Bless!

Hebrews 10 and 12

New International Version 1984

Hebrews 10

 1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, 4 because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
 5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
   “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
   but a body you prepared for me;
6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings
   you were not pleased.
7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
   I have come to do your will, O God.’”

 8 First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” (although the law required them to be made). 9 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 AND BY THAT WILL, WE HAVE BEEN MADE HOLY THROUGH THE SACRIFICE OF THE BODY OF JESUS CHRIST ONCE FOR ALL.
 11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13 Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, 14 because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made HOLY.
 15 THE HOLY SPIRIT ALSO TESTIFIES TO US ABOUT THIS. First he says:
 16This is the covenant I will make with them
   after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
   and I will write them on their minds.”

 17 Then he adds:
   “Their sins and lawless acts
   I will remember no more.”

 18 And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.

 19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
 26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
 32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.
 35 SO DO NOT THROW AWAY YOUR CONFIDENCE; it will be richly rewarded. 36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For in just a very little while,
   “He who is coming will come and will not delay.
 38 But my righteous one will live by faith.
And if he shrinks back,
   I will not be pleased with him.”

 39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those WHO BELIEVE AND ARE SAVED.

Hebrews 12

 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 LET US FIX OUR EYES ON JESUS, THE AUTHOR AND PERFECTER OF OUR FAITH, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, SO THAT you will not grow weary and lose heart.
 4 In your STRUGGLE against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
   “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
   and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
   and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”

 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
 12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
 14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.
 18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.” 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”
 22 BUT YOU HAVE COME TO MOUNT ZION, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
 25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
 28 Therefore, since WE ARE RECEIVING A KINGDOM THAT CANNOT BE SHAKEN, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Jeremiah 31:27-34 MSG

Jeremiah 31:27-34

The Message (MSG)

 27-28"Be ready. The time's coming"—God's Decree—"when I will plant people and animals in Israel and Judah, just as a farmer plants seed. And in the same way that earlier I relentlessly pulled up and tore down, took apart and demolished, so now I am sticking with them as they start over, building and planting.
 29"When that time comes you won't hear the old proverb anymore,
         Parents ate the green apples, their children got the stomachache.
30"No, each person will pay for his own sin. You eat green apples, you're the one who gets sick.
 31-32"That's right. The time is coming when I will make a brand-new covenant with Israel and Judah. It won't be a repeat of the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant even though I did my part as their Master." God's Decree.
 33-34"This is the brand-new covenant that I will make with Israel when the time comes. I will put my law within them—write it on their hearts!—and be their God. And they will be my people. They will no longer go around setting up schools to teach each other about God. They'll know me firsthand, the dull and the bright, the smart and the slow. I'll wipe the slate clean for each of them. I'll forget they ever sinned!" God's Decree.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Lyrics: Courage Men and You are a Son

Courage Men
A song by Ryan Marks
Take Courage, Men. God is real, God is true and Jesus truly loves you. Take a stand and be a man. Trust in Him & stand true.
For those who stand till the end will be saved. Broad is the path and wide is the gate that leads to destruction and narrow the path and gate that leads to life. Few find that way to life. . . .
Hard is the fight and strong and numerous are our enemies, but the weapons of our warfare are Divine—strong enough to demolish strongholds and stand against every demonic power. So stand as a warrior. Take Courage, men. Take courage, men. Take courage, men.
He is the Lord, He is our strength, and in Him we must remain; for we cannot survive cut off from that vine.
 We will fight in JESUS Name! Shout HALLELUJAH! & let the joy of the Lord be your strength! Let a passion and a zeal for God and a love for all drive you on! Be relentless, be uncompromising—take your stand! Stir up the gift, don’t let it go dormant; don’t lose your saltiness! Instead march forward fighting with prayer and taking a STAND. Rightly divide the Word of Truth—know your weapons well. Pray & be humble, repent for yourself, for the Church, and for your nation; love like God and take your stand!
You cannot be passive, lazy or passé—now is the time to stand up and remain! Our churches our filled with false teachers, denominations, and false doctrines of men. Somewhere there are those who say what your itching ears want to hear, but they are liars, not rightly dividing the Word of Truth. Listen to this truth: stand! God will make you mighty; the Holy Spirit your guide. Just ask Him to teach your hands to make war & watch Jesus shine! Our Lord is astounding, faithful & true. He loves extravagantly and judges Justly to. One day we will stand before Him and be judged by all our words and deeds and our eternal residence will be judged by the presence or absence of Jesus blood; but hear this, O Church, & see: the Church is being judged now, our testing first will be. If it is hard for a righteous man to be saved, how much worse the judgment of the wicked! We have God’s grace: all we deserve is death; yet He offers us life. Take courage, men. Take courage, men. Take courage, men. Don’t take His grace in vain. Amen! Stand and do. Don’t love the world or you’ll be an enemy of God. Stand till the end, so that He can say well done good and faithful servant.
You are a Son
By Ryan Marks
You are a son or daughter: you are a child of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
By this you will know that you love Me—if you keep My commands and peace will be the assurance of your salvation. So examine yourselves to see where you stand with God; don’t be fooled by men. Examine yourself and see if you are in the faith & truly believe. If you are and do, you are a child of the King! Take courage that He is with you. Rejoice that you share in His sufferings! Live for Him, and not for men. Stand true, remain; love & fear the King.
Let the peace of God guard your hearts and be an umpire. Lay your burdens down and take upon you the yoke of Jesus, for it is easy & His burden is light. He will fill you up with His light. Just remain in Him and in His arms and you’ll be brighter, child, yes; you’ll shine!
You are a city on a Hill & the Lord is your strength—stand with your brothers, reflecting His light. Stand up amidst the fight. God is called & will give you the strength to stand—so run to Him for you are a son or a daughter.

Lyrics: America—You Cannot Save Yourself

America—You Cannot Save Yourself
By Ryan Marks
   America, you cannot save yourself. Your TV shows, your toys and your knowledge cannot save you from destruction. Your possessions only give you a momentary hype when you first see them; and after that your “love” for them fades. Your large pocket book isn’t the answer, nor your gambles with debt. Prizes and sweepstakes will not save you: there is but one answer. There is but one person who can save you and there are two things you must have to receive His aid and transforming power—His name is Jesus and you must possess repentance and humility—if you come to Him—crying out for mercy and forgiveness He will not refuse you. However, as you trust Him, follow Him, serve Him, and love Him you will be tested with persecution—Satan will try to destroy you and make you leave the Truth. You; however, must stand firm in Christ. As Satan’s instruments of radical Islam, communism, socialism, feminism, environmentalism, and human rights attack and seek your fortune, honor, and very life you must stand strong, you must endure, you must rejoice because of your steadfastness, because your names are written in Heaven’s Book. Turn to God, His eternal plan is the only way you’ll escape your present miseries.

Discouragement, despair and Christ's easy yoke

Audio Message:
Discouragement, despiar and Christ's easy yoke

Lyrics: Of The Few that Came, only a Few Saw the Narrow Way

Of The Few that Came, only a Few Saw the Narrow Way
By Ryan Marks
  Of the few that came to Jesus, only a few saw the narrow way. Others saw Him as a means of power or selfish display. Only a few of those that came, saw Him for who He was: the Messiah & the King—Lord of all! When Jesus died, even fewer saw the narrow way, for the cross is the way of self-denial and suffering, not glory and splendor. But the few that saw changed the world. Others, blind like Judas, ran away from the faith & took the broad and easy road that led to their eternal dismay (destruction).
  Even today, there are few who see You, Jesus, for what You are and stay on the narrow road. Of those that start down the narrow road are multitudes of ignorant hypocrites and scribes: they know the Word, but do not understand and live, and thus when they get to the narrow gate of the cross, they cannot pass through because of the plank stemming from their eye.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Daily Writings: Rembrances of my Childhood

Remembrances of my Childhood
By Ryan Marks
       As a child I played some of the things that I now do. I would pretend to lead, that is, lead armies, organize assaults against imaginary castles, fight evil creatures, be the “Daniel Boone” of a group of frontiersmen, be an Indian warring against the evil tribe(s). All of these things were preparation for my future calling from the Lord. As a man, I would need the leadership skills I played about. And now, as a young man of seventeen, I am learning all the more how important leadership is in the things God has called me to do: I must lead myself to follow Christ (personal discipline), I must make the choices to accomplish the goals that I have set and or the Lord has called me to do, I must teach and disciple others faithfully setting the best example that I can so as not to be a hypocrite.
     As a child, I enjoyed drawing a picture and now I do the same with my computer: graphic design, cutting out pictures from pictures, and newsletter design. I enjoyed writing songs of praise to God then, now I enjoy getting written material out to others which will help them to grow closer to the Lord. I started pretend companies and some small entrepreneurial endeavors back then, but now I am forming companies, well business ideas on a larger scale. I would sit and build with legos for hours on end, and in the process give names to many of them, and homes, families, careers, churches, pastors, and kings. I would form armies and experiment with different economic systems. By doing these things, I set the basis of my interest in basic economics and politics. As I refused to have heathen systems in my cities (unless, of course, they were my enemies), I learned how God’s Word really applies to my life.
    I could say much more of my childhood and how I loved to read, battled with laziness and responsibility until something just clicked in my twelfth year, how I chased girls because of ungodly desire, how I did not have many video games, but played war, city and economy building for hours on end, how I loved listening to my mother read me great books aloud and how my imagination would soar, how I would spend much of my time running around the yard engaging in strenuous sword fights, archery attacks, Indian raids, and musket fights with my imaginary foes which would number in the hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands and millions: yet my faithful band of a few thousand, or more often 10 to 400, would manage to kill them all and win the day; and how the Lord was important and murdering forbidden in those imaginary raids. I could farther talk about my experiences as a young man coming out of childhood and my new convictions and relationship with the Holy Spirit: and how I lusted, addicted myself to video games and television, how I gossiped frequently and struggled in friendships, how I pursued young women and how God prevented my quest, how I yelled at my siblings, and how I struggled with changing into who God wanted me to be, but again, God just clicked something inside of me one day, a motivation to accomplish something: a GMA, and then to write a book, and then . . . there is too much to say.
   My childhood was a time of fun and preparation as I look back. No, I’m not married or leading my own family at this time, or engaging in political battles, but I believe that those are to come, the signs are evident that times are going to require great change. Will the changes to come be Biblical? Will godly men change the course of the impending doom? Or will society yield to Satan’s destruction and collapse, hopeless and confused? I don’t know, but this I do: God prepares us when we least expect it.

A Call for Courage in the Body of Christ

Click this link to see the video that goes with this month's Devo Blast issue Courage, Men:
Courage video by Ryan Marks

Daily Writings: “Blows and wounds cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being.” ~ Proverbs 20:30 NIV

“Blows and wounds cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being.” ~ Proverbs 20:30 NIV
By Ryan Marks
      The blows and wounds referred to in this verse are accurate metaphors of the discipline that we must go through to be cleansed from strongholds and bad habits. In Christ Jesus we are forgiven from all sin, but we often have ungodly habits and strongholds of sin which must be beaten and wounded until they die.
      Our strongholds and bad habits are like cancers that tap into our soul’s “blood supply.” They drain the resources that are meant for our nourishment, peace, and joy. We can never break free from these strongholds without the Lord. Yes, we may break away from some bad habits, but we cannot eradicate the cancerous evil at its very root—only the strength of Christ can do that.
      Likewise as you pursue the wisdom of God, your natural, fleshly man must be beaten and wounded. Your natural inclinations of selfishness must be purged. The process will be painful for you are being separated from the aspects of your old nature which made up you. This process will span the entire length of your life: there will always be another stronghold to deal with, BUT IN CHRIST YOU CAN CONQUER and OBTAIN THE PRIZE!
        As you walk through your life this week remember, dear friends of the Lord, that the blows and wounds—yea the purging of your spirit—is necessary for your new life in Christ to continue to grow. Just as a plant must die some day, it will be replaced by another or perhaps many more plants; and the dead plant becomes fertilizer for the new plant. As you abide in Christ, the Lord must discipline you to make room for more of His Spirit and love: to plant new plants, new groves of vegetation that produce fruits of gentleness, love, joy, peace, kindness, self-control and more where old ones of greed, hate, and condemnation once stood.
     Stand firm and embrace the Lord’s discipline for He is purging your inmost being!  Take Courage brothers and sisters, the Lord is your strength!

Daily Writings: “The wicked desire the plunder of evil men, but the root of the righteous flourishes.” ~ Proverbs 12:12 NIV

 “The wicked desire the plunder of evil men, but the root of the righteous flourishes.” ~ Proverbs 12:12 NIV
By Ryan Marks
          Wicked men will desire the wealth that others have and they are even willing to steal to get it. Their stealing may take the form of hidden fees, heavy taxation, class-discriminated taxation, murder, fraud, pick pocketing, lawsuits, and more because history has recorded that they do. Evil men have a record of ranting and raving for wealth inside themselves—indeed it consumes many of them completely. Because the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil (1 Tim. 6:10) no wonder the thieves, the murders, and the false witnesses that are among us started out greedy for plunder.
            On the other hand, there are the righteous. God keeps these people from having to beg by providing for them from His own immeasurable riches, but this is not so for the wicked. The righteous are righteous to their very roots. The roots of their lives bring forth the fruit of their faithfulness over time: a loving, caring marriage; kindness and compassion for the poor and hurting; personal wisdom, purity, fruitfulness from the Lord; and a close, intimate relationship with the Lord. The righteous even effect others at their very roots! It is here, at the roots, that the righteous man plants his seed and fertilizes it by the divine grace contained in the spiritual gift(s) that have been given to him by the Holy Spirit into the heart of another. The righteous man waters the wicked roots with the life-giving water of Jesus’ Spirit, the Holy Spirit. It is here that the righteous man rebukes, exhorts and teaches the wicked, he fertilizes the wicked root with transforming nutrients from God’s Word. And it is here that the righteous brings the Messiah, who is contained in himself, and shines the SONLIGHT needed for the growth of the wicked’s tree, for the process of spiritual photosynthesis. It is here at the roots that the righteous’ overflows his own reservoirs of sap, the sap of the Holy Spirit that is in his veins, the water of the living Word of God and the light which is the Son of God living in Him! And what to say of the Salt that he is to the wicked? Perhaps it will taste bitter to the wicked man at first, but with instruction and faithful administration it can become the flavoring of his life! That is, if the wicked will accept it.
  The righteous man stands firm when storms arise because of his deep roots, but the wicked topples over: plundering whatever he can from others and being destroyed, left hopeless and stranded in the process of trying to obtain his greed’s fulfillment.
 Remember Proverbs 12:12 and be righteous by abiding in the vine of Christ (Jn. 15:5)!

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