CARES

INSTRUMENT RATED (7) :

'Lead me, O Lord...make straight Your way before me.' Psalm 5:8 NIV
Instrument rated for direction. The compass has always been the pilot's best friend. Most planes are equipped with two.

How can you know the will of God? '...A man named Agabus, who also had the gift of prophecy, arrived from Judea. He came over, took Paul's belt, and bound his own feet and hands with it. Then he said, "The Holy Spirit declares, 'So shall the owner of this belt be bound by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem and turned over to the Gentiles.'" When we heard this, we and the local believers all begged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. But he said, "Why all this weeping? You are breaking my heart! I am ready not only to be jailed at Jerusalem but even to die for the sake of the Lord Jesus." When it was clear that we couldn't persuade him, we gave up and said, "The Lord's will be done."' (Acts 21:10-14 NLT) Notice, the confusion here was not over God's will; that was clear. It was over fear concerning Paul's life. Here we have a perfect example of letting our emotions get in the way of our spirit. It is by our spirit, not our mind, and certainly not our emotions, that we understand the ways and directions of the Lord. 'For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.' (Romans 8:14 KJV)

You must not be led by voices, dreams, and fleeces (see Judges 6:37-40).
Sometimes these things support and confirm what you sense in your spirit to be God's will, but they are never to be the sole deciding factor. Your compass is God's Word!

Remember Beloved, God is not angry at you. He does not condemn you but loves you perfectly because of Jesus' perfect sacrifice for you.

DETERMINATION

Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. —Ruth 1:16

During a television news report on the plight of refugees displaced from a war-torn country, I was struck by the words of a 10-year-old girl. Despite there being little possibility of returning to their home, she showed a resilient spirit: “When we go back, I’m going to visit my neighbors; I’m going to play with my friends,” she said with quiet determination. “My father says we don’t have a house. And I said we are going to fix it.”

There is a place for tenacity in life, especially when it is rooted in our faith in God and love for others. The book of Ruth begins with three women bound together by tragedy. After Naomi’s husband and two sons died, she decided to return to her home in Bethlehem and urged her widowed daughters-in-law to stay in their country of Moab. Orpah remained but Ruth vowed to go with Naomi, saying, “Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God” (Ruth 1:16). When Naomi saw that Ruth “was determined to go with her” (v.18), they began their journey together.

Stubbornness is sometimes rooted in pride, but commitment grows from love. When Jesus went to the cross, “He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). From His determination to die for us, we find the resolve to live for Him.

My life, my love, I give to Thee,
Thou Lamb of God who died for me;
Oh, may I ever faithful be,
My Savior and my God!

Love calls for commitment.

LEAVING THE PAIN BEHIND :

Love...is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it pays no attention to a suffered wrong. – 1 Corinthians 13:5

Have you ever tried to forgive someone and found you simply couldn't do it? You've cried about it and prayed about it and asked God to help you, but those old feelings of resentment just failed to go away.

Put an end to those kinds of failures in the future by basing your forgiveness on faith rather than feelings. True forgiveness doesn't have anything at all to do with how you feel. It's an act of the will. It is based on obedience to God and on faith in Him.
That means once you've forgiven a person, you need to consider him permanently forgiven! When old feelings rise up within you and Satan tries to convince you that you haven't really forgiven, resist him. Say, "No, I've already forgiven that person by faith. I refuse to dwell on those old feelings."

Then, according to 1 John 1:9, believe that you receive forgiveness and cleansing from the sin of unforgiveness and from all unrighteousness associated with it including any remembrance of having been wronged!

Have you ever heard anyone say, "I may forgive, but I'll never forget!" That's a second-rate kind of forgiveness that you, as a believer, are never supposed to settle for. You're to forgive supernaturally "even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you" (Eph. 4:32).

You're to forgive as God forgives. To release that person from guilt permanently and unconditionally and to operate as if nothing bad ever happened between you. You're to purposely forget as well as forgive.

As you do that, something supernatural will happen within you. The pain once caused by that incident will disappear. The power of God will wash away the effects of it and you'll be able to leave it behind you once and for all.

Don't become an emotional bookkeeper, keeping careful accounts of the wrongs you have suffered. Learn to forgive and forget. It will open a whole new world of blessing for you.

CHOOSE LIFE TODAY!

DEUTERONOMY 30:19 Today I have given you the choice between life and death…Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!

You can choose life today when you realize that life and death are in the power of your tongue (Proverbs 18:21).

This is how you choose life practically and reign in it every day: Instead of complaining about your symptoms, simply thank God for His gift of righteousness and declare your righteousness in Christ.

Say this prayer with me:

Jesus, thank You for not just loving me and removing my sins, but for also giving me Your everlasting righteousness. You ARE my righteousness—today, tomorrow and forevermore. And because I am righteous, I will REIGN IN LIFE through You. I will reign over sin and sickness, and live a life that glorifies You! Amen!

TRUST

WE TRUST IN GOD AND USE THE MIND OF CHRIST
WE DON'T TRUST IN OURSELVES OR USE OUR OWN MIND
HENCE WE AVOID BECOMING CARNAL

1 CORINTHIANS 2:1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.
4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,
8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But as it is written: " Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
16 For "who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.