God has the answer

• "Once more...": two short words that imply much! Do you sometimes feel as though you are fighting the same battles over and over?
  
  David asked God for direction--even when he faced a enemy he had faced before. He did not assume that the same solution would apply.
  
  I believe that God always has a solution. I also believe that our greatest challenges are understanding it and being obedient to it.

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Once more the Philistines came up and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim; so David inquired of the LORD, and he answered, "Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the balsam trees. As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move quickly, because that will mean the LORD has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army." So David did as the LORD commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer. (2 Sam 5:22-25 NIV)

Let God do what he does

Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat--for he grants sleep to those he loves. (Psa 127:1-2 NIV)

Try the Spirit By The Spirit

• I have learned that many people who claim to speak for God or about Him are not speaking by Him or on His authority. Sometimes they are speaking only of themselves. And other times... worse.
  
  God does speak through people, and He uses people to impart wisdom, information, and other things we need to hear. Such "words" have been a lifeline for me in many trying times in my life.
  
  But in everything, use wisdom and discernment, and do not accept something just because someone associates God's name with it--and that includes what I am saying here.

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One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a demon- possessed slave girl. She was a fortune-teller who earned a lot of money for her masters. She followed along behind us shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved." This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and spoke to the demon within her. "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her," he said. And instantly it left her. (Acts 16:16-18NLT)

Normal to Grow

• "Growth is the only evidence of life." - John Henry Newman

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He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. (Isa 53:2-4 NIV)

Do Good

• Do you know that how we treat people really matters to God?
  
  In Matthew 25:40, Jesus said essentially that what we do for them, we do for Him. Think about the implication of that!
  
  Do not let an opportunity slip by to do something good for someone. One of those opportunities could manifest any moment now...

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God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. (Heb 6:10-12 NIV)

Some Things Are a Necessity

• I have talked to people who turned away from God because of a corrupt minister, false teacher, or a hypocrite in church.
  
  What if they said to you: "I am not going to drink water because it is not perfectly clean; there may be contaminates in it."? You would (rightfully) think they were "off".
  
  But isn't it the same principle? I think so. You cannot physically survive without water. You cannot spiritually survive without God.
  
  Do spiritually what you would do physically: filter out the trash and drink deeply--of the pure living water that God gives.

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If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. (1 Tim 6:3-6 NIV)

Making the right connection

• When an electrical connection is made, power is transferred.
  
  When a people-connection is made, something is transferred too.
  
  Use wisdom in the connections you make so the right stuff will be transferred. Who you choose as a friend is important to you. It is also important to God because it affects you--and He cares about you.

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Don't be friends with people who become angry easily. Don't stay around quick-tempered people. If you do, you may learn to be like them. Then you will have the same problems they do. (Pro 22:24-25 ERV)