Monday, October 2, 2017

Why Is Faith So Hard? - DARREN WILSON CHARISMA NEWS




Why Is Faith So Hard?


In episode 20 of my new series, Questions With God, I ask the question, "Why is faith so hard?"  In this final entry of these Questions With God articles, I think it's appropriate that the last thing I look at is probably the very thing that drives all of these questions we have about God in the first place. We so badly want to be certain of the things we believe. Many of us just want God to make things clear to us so we no longer have to doubt anything. But God continuously pushes us out of the nest and asks us to have faith in something we cannot see. There is a hiddenness to God that is both genius and infuriating. His hiddenness can either leave us in crippling doubt or cause us to seek harder after Him.
One of my pet peeves with God has always been that He is invisible. Yes we can "experience" Him at times, feel Him around or inside us, our spirit mingling with His, but let's be honest—most of us would just love for Jesus to suddenly appear before us the way He did at His resurrection with the disciples. We're sitting there eating some fish, minding our own business, and suddenly Jesus walks into our kitchen and asks for a bite. That's pretty much all we need, we tell ourselves, and we're in 100 percent. Because then we'll know that we know.
The problem with this thinking, I've realized, is that we are way better at doubting than we are believing. Want the perfect example? Matthew 28:16-17. Jesus has just resurrected from the dead, and He appears to the 11 remaining disciples. Amid all the worshipping and glory, God throws this little nugget in there, I'm convinced, to remind us where our constant battle will be: "Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted." Seriously? We're not talking about some random people on the streets here; we're talking the 11 guys who did life with Jesus for three years, knew Him better than anyone ever would and were like His best friends. Jesus has literally just risen from the dead and is standing with you in the flesh, and some of these guys still doubted. I guess that makes me feel a little better.
The point here is obvious. The battle will always be in our minds. The disciples had way less reason to doubt than we do. Our society has trained us to mistrust things. Whether it's fake YouTube videos, photoshopped memes or ministers being outed as frauds, it's become our overriding ethos to question things that seem too good to be true. But the disciples didn't have social media to contend with, and they were staring at Jesus in the flesh. They watched Him eat food. They touched Him, for goodness' sake. Yet still some doubted.
Why is faith so hard? There are obviously a million reasons, but I think a major reason we so often struggle with trusting God (which is what faith really is) is because trusting Him requires us to stop trusting ourselves. Trusting God means we are required to relinquish control of others. And in a world that sometimes feels like it's spinning out of control, we want nothing more than to take hold of something and bend it to our will so that at least we can be lord over something in our life. But God continues to ask us to let go completely. We are to have no gods before Him, and that includes ourselves. There is only one thing He has ever wanted us to grab hold of, and that is His son, Jesus. He is the the rock on which we stand, the firm foundation in the storm.
"But," you say, "if only I could just know for sure that He is real, or that He will do what I want Him to do..." I'm here to tell you, and Scripture backs it up, that even if Jesus Himself came to you in the flesh and sat down to eat those salmon fillets with you, as soon as He was gone, the doubts would begin again. Jesus told his disciples that blessed are those who haven't seen Him yet still believe. Why are we blessed when we put our full faith in Him?  Because it is the ultimate act of trust, and as such, it is the ultimate way we can show Him love. It's why God puts such a high premium on faith in the first place. As hard as it may be, if you don't trust Him, then you don't truly love Him.
Darren Wilson is the Founder and CEO of WP Films and the creator of various films, including Finger of God, Father of Lights, and Holy Ghost. His newest TV series, Adventures With God, can be seen on various Christian networks around the world and purchased at his website: wpfilm.com, as well as his newest book, God Adventures.
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Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog - BREAKING NEWS: “Deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.” 50+ dead, 200+ wounded.

New post on Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

BREAKING NEWS: “Deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.” 50+ dead, 200+ wounded. Here’s what we know so far from Las Vegas.

by joelcrosenberg
LasVegas-headline
Americans are waking up to horrific news of sheer evil in Las Vegas.
At least 50 people have been murdered, and more than 200 have been wounded.
Here's what we know so far....
  • "Deadliest shooting in U.S. history." (CNN) (ABC News)
  • Warning 45 minutes before the attack: "You're all going to die." (UK Express)
  • "Las Vegas gunman suspect is Stephen Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, Nevada." (CNBC)
  • "[T]he Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said the suspect was shot dead by officers and that authorities were confident there was no longer a threat....police found numerous firearms in the room he occupied and that officers were also at his residence." (Wall Street Journal)
  • "Authorities said law enforcement swarmed the hotel and killed the gunman in a room on the 32nd floor. Responding officers used an explosive device to force the door open into the room to shoot Paddock dead, law enforcement officials told Fox News." (Fox News)
  • "Police don't believe there are any more shooters. 'Right now, we believe it's a sole actor, a lone-wolf-type actor,' the sheriff said." (CNN)
  • "A gunman killed at least 50 people and wounded more than 200 at a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip on Sunday, raining down rapid fire from the 32nd floor of a hotel for several minutes before he was shot dead by police." (Reuters)
  • "The death toll, which police emphasized was preliminary and tentative, would make the attack the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, eclipsing last year’s massacre of 49 people at an Orlando night club." (Reuters)
  • "Pray for Las Vegas," the city's mayor, Carolyn Goodman, tweeted. "Thank you to all our first responders out there now." (CNN)
Developing....
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joelcrosenberg | October 2, 2017 at 11:56 am | Categories: Epicenter | URL: http://wp.me/piWZ7-8w2

Jim CLINT FAMILY UPDATE - Supporting the Aliyah of the Jewish people - October 2017 Northern Ireland


Jim CLINT FAMILY UPDATE
Supporting the Aliyah of the Jewish people
October 2017
Northern Ireland

Shalom friends.

Firstly I’d like to thank all those who’ve been praying for us over this last month. The LORD has been keeping us busy here in Northern Ireland as we endeavour to support Jewish Aliyah. In mid-September we were blessed to have “D” an Ezra field representative visit us for a series of talks about her ministry. “D” is helping Jews to make Aliyah from countries where they face increasing hatred, please keep “D” in prayer.  

The Aid to Israel program is most certainly gathering pace. We’ve been in contact with many people who want to donate second-hand clothing to help needy Jewish immigrants arriving in Israel. I’ve been traveling to various locations to pick up aid, please pray for traveling mercies. 

(Photo: Jim loading boxes of aid for later shipment.)


This month I represented Ezra UK at the Bangor-Israel convention in the town of Bangor County Down. I had many conversations with Christians from all over Ireland about the need to support Aliyah in these crucial times.

Jim Clint - "My Ezra table at the Bangor-Israel convention" 

I’ve been sharing at different Christian church groups this month. I traveled to the town of Garvagh in County Londonderry to speak at the “Garvagh Gospel Extravaganza” I was encouraged to see how many dear folks are praying for the return of the Jewish people to their ancient homeland of Israel.

Garvagh in County Londonderry gathering

Please continue to pray for us.

Blessings in Yeshua Messiah.
The Jim Clint family


In the UK PLEASE CONTACT

Ezra UK Website - www.ezrauk.org

Ezra UK Facebook -  https://www.facebook.com/EzraUk/

Email - kobi-clint@hotmail.com

Mobile  07561397224


LOVE FOR HIS PEOPLE sends regular monthly financial support to the Jim Clint family, as they are assisting Jews in making aliyah (immigrating to Israel.) Those in the USA can send funds to them through our website contribution. Please use the DONATE button on this blog's side columns or the tab at the top.

Love For His People, Inc. Give your online contribution here.

Checks from the USA can be sent to:

Love For His People, Inc.
P.O. Box 414
Pineville, NC 28134

50 Killed in Las Vegas Attack, Dramatic Footage of Crowds Fleeing Gunfire, Hundreds Wounded - World Israel News

The Globalists Are Systematically Destroying America’s Middle Class - Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG


Posted: 01 Oct 2017  Michael Snyder  THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG

When people are dependent on the government they are much easier to control.  We are often told that we are not “compassionate” when we object to the endless expansion of government social programs, but that is not how the debate should be framed. 

In America today, well over 100 million people receive money from the federal government each month, and the number of Americans that are truly financially independent is continually shrinking.  In fact, only 25 percent of all Americans have more than $10,000 in savings right now according to one survey.  If we eventually get to the point where virtually all of us are dependent on the government for our continued existence, that would give the globalists a very powerful tool of control.  In the end, they want as many of us dependent on the government as possible, because those that are dependent on the government are a lot less likely to fight against their agenda.

Back in 1992, the bottom 90 percent of American income earners brought in more than 60 percent of the country’s income.  But last year that figure slipped to just 49.7 percent.  The wealth of our society is increasingly being concentrated at the very top, and the middle class is steadily being eroded.  Surveys have found that somewhere around two-thirds of the country is living paycheck to paycheck at least part of the time, and so living on the edge has become a way of life for most Americans.

Earlier today, I came across a Business Insider article that was bemoaning the fact that the U.S. economy seems to be rather directionless at this point…
  • We do not have a real plan for health care, and costs continue to gobble up American wages.
  • We do not have a plan for dealing with globalization and economic change, but that change continues to shape our economy.
  • We don’t have a plan to update our decrepit infrastructure.
  • The one plan we did have — the Federal Reserve’s post-financial crisis program — is about to be unwound, marking the end of the last clear, executable plan to bolster America’s economy.
Ultimately, the truth is that we don’t actually need some sort of “central plan” for our economy.  We are supposed to be a free market system that is not guided and directed by central planners, but many Americans don’t even understand the benefits of free market capitalism anymore.

However, that Business Insider article did make a great point about globalization.   Most people don’t realize that our economy is slowly but surely being integrated into a global economic system.   This is really bad for American workers, because now they are being merged into a global labor pool in which they must compete directly for jobs with workers in other countries where it is legal to pay slave labor wages.

Even down in Mexico, many autoworkers are only making $2.25 an hour
Most of the workers at the new Audi factory in the state of Puebla, inaugurated in 2016 and assembling the Audi Q4 SUV, which carries a sticker price in the US of over $40,000 for base versions, make $2.25 an hour, according to the Union.
Volkswagen, which owns Audi, started building Beetles in Puebla in 1967 and has since created a vast manufacturing empire in Mexico, with vehicles built for consumers in Mexico, the US, Canada, and Latin American markets.
Volkswagen, Ford, GM, or any of the global automakers, which can manufacture just about anywhere in the world, always search for cheap labor to maximize the bottom line.
Would you want to work for $2.25 an hour?

Over time, millions of good paying jobs have been leaving high wage countries and have been going to low wage countries.  The United States has lost more than 70,000 manufacturing facilities since China joined the WTO, and this is one of the biggest factors that has eroded the middle class.

In a desperate attempt to maintain our standard of living, we have gone into increasing amounts of debt.  Of course our federal government is now 20 trillion dollars in debt, but on an individual level we are doing the same thing.  Today, American consumers are over 12 trillion dollars in debt, and it gets worse with each passing day.

The borrower is the servant of the lender, and most Americans have become debt slaves at this point.  This is something that Paul Craig Roberts commented on recently
Americans carry on by accumulating debt and becoming debt slaves. Many can only make the minimum payment on their credit card and thus accumulate debt. The Federal Reserve’s policy has exploded the prices of financial assets. The result is that the bulk of the population lacks discretionary income, and those with financial assets are wealthy until values adjust to reality.
As an economist I cannot identify in history any economy whose affairs have been so badly managed and prospects so severely damaged as the economy of the United States of America. In the short/intermediate run policies that damage the prospects for the American work force benefit what is called the One Percent as jobs offshoring reduces corporate costs and financialization transfers remaining discretionary income in interest and fees to the financial sector. But as consumer discretionary incomes disappear and debt burdens rise, aggregate demand falters, and there is nothing left to drive the economy.
This debt-based system continuously funnels wealth toward the very top of the pyramid, because it is the people at the very top that hold all of the debts.

Each year it gets worse, and most Americans would be absolutely stunned to hear that the top one percent now control 38.6 percent of all wealth in the United States…
The richest 1% of families controlled a record-high 38.6% of the country’s wealth in 2016, according to a Federal Reserve report published on Wednesday.
That’s nearly twice as much as the bottom 90%, which has seen its slice of the pie continue to shrink.
The bottom 90% of families now hold just 22.8% of the wealth, down from about one-third in 1989 when the Fed started tracking this measure.
So how do we fix this?

Well, the truth is that we need to go back to a non-debt based system that does not funnel all of the wealth to the very top of the pyramid.  Unfortunately, most Americans don’t even realize that our current debt-based system is fundamentally flawed, and it will probably take an unprecedented crisis in order to wake people up enough to take action.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

Beware: Wicked Witchcraft Season Now Raging Against Believers - JENNIFER LECLAIRE CHARISMA NEWS

Every single October for as far back as I can remember, I see an onslaught of spiritual attacks from every direction. It's like clockwork. (Pixabay/geralt)

Beware: Wicked Witchcraft Season Now Raging Against Believers

JENNIFER LECLAIRE  CHARISMA NEWS
To everything there is a season—and this is the season where witchcraft gets heavy, demonic imaginations target minds and infirmities inflict bodies.
Of course, Jezebel and her witchcrafts can creep onto the scene any time of the year. But every single October for as far back as I can remember, I see an onslaught of spiritual attacks from every direction. It's like clockwork.
What is witchcraft? Merriam-Webster defines witchcraft as the use of magical powers obtained especially from evil spirits; the use of sorcery or magic; communication with the devil or the familiar. You might think of the Voodoo priests or the witch doctors, but as I've said before even Christians can release witchcraft at you with their thoughts and words.
Witchcraft can be in the spiritual atmosphere due to demonic activity from those practicing its various expressions—but witchcraft can also be released directly at you as a spiritual attack. During this time of year, we see a celebration of darkness and evil. You can't walk into a retail store without seeing vampires, witches, ghouls and goblins.
All of this fascination and agreement with rulers of the darkness of this age impacts the spiritual climate in our cities and over our lives. You may wind up feeling sick and tired for no reason. You may have raging imaginations against your soul. You may feel like giving up. You may be touchy or find that people are easily offended at you.
Check out Jennifer's School of Spiritual Warfare. Visit warfareschool.com.
Please, pay close attention and remember that we aren't warring against flesh and blood, and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. This is a spiritual battle against a spiritual foe that must bow to our spiritual weapons.
  1. Gird the loins of your mind. The first step in any battle is to gird up the loins of your mind. 1 Peter 1:13 says, "Therefore guard your minds, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
The battle really is in the mind—or at least it starts there. Last week, a friend of mine who had a stroke many years ago began manifesting with post-stroke symptoms out of the blue. The enemy was working on his mind, trying to convince him that what he had been delivered from was returning. Meanwhile, a lump manifested on the back of my neck that itched and burned like fire, followed a few days later by ear pain so bad that I could hardly think, the feeling of knives in my throat when I swallowed and rocks in my stomach all at once. I finally broke down and went to the doctor. My vitals were normal. No sign of infection. I am convinced every bit of it was witchcraft.
  1. Guard your heart. The Amplified version (Classic Edition) of 1 Peter 1:13 says, "brace up your minds; be sober (circumspect, morally alert)." Jezebel and her witchcrafts work to draw you into sin. When you are under heavy attack, your soul gets weary. Jesus can offer rest to your soul, but Jezebel wants to provide you a different way of escape through sin. Jezebel works to seduce you into idolatry or immorality (see Rev. 2:20). When you feel like you are getting hit from every side, guard your heart.
The Preacher said, "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. Put away from you a deceitful mouth, and put perverse lips far from you. Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet, and let your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the left; remove your foot from evil" (Prov. 4:23-27, NKJV). Don't run into temptation when you are under attack; run for cover—run to Jesus.
  1. Cast down imaginations. Imaginations don't always work to push sickness on you or tempt you to sin. Sometimes the devil just wants to overwhelm you with witchcraft imaginations so you'll give up and go hide in a cave with a bag of potato chips, a bowl of ice cream, a big pillow and the TV remote control. If the Holy Spirit dwells in you, then so does the fruit of self-control. You can choose by your will to "cast down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5, MEV).
But it's up to you. Nobody can cast down those scary, hurtful or otherwise wrong thoughts for you—and nobody can replace them with "whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report" (Phil. 4:8b).
  1. Cast your cares on the Lord. I'm not saying you don't have legitimate problems or concerns. I know all about legitimate problems and concerns. But mature spiritual warriors understand the balance between taking responsibility and casting your cares on the Lord (see 1 Pet. 5:7; Ps. 55:22).
Witchcraft imaginations totally skew your perspective—making monumental issues out of something God could fix with a wink. Cast your care on the Lord. Keep your eyes on Him. Pray for what you think you need—then believe He's got your back. When you do, He promises to care for you and give you perfect peace (see Isa. 26:3).
  1. Speak the Word, use the name and invoke the blood. You have three powerful weapons at your disposal—spiritual weapons that are mighty through God to pull down strongholds. It's hard to effectively wield those weapons when you are wallowing in condemnation, self-pity, fear or some other harmful emotion.
Snap out of it! Get the Word of God in your mouth because it's your spiritual sword (Heb. 4:12). Speak the Word to your problems because the Word of God always accomplishes its purpose (Isa. 55:11). Bind the enemy's operations in the name of Jesus, and loose the opposite of what's manifesting in your life with the power of life that's in your tongue. And plead the blood of Jesus over your mind (Rev. 12:11). You've been bought with a price—spirit, soul and body. Your soul includes your mind.
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