What You See Is Not What You Get!
Mar 29
by Victoria Robinson
If we live our lives based on what we see with our natural eyes we will never live up to the expectations our heavenly Father has for us. Bad spiritual eyesight causes us to make wrong decisions. David was a young boy without military experience when he boldly went up against the over nine foot tall champion Goliath and won. Had David looked at the situation with his natural eyes, he would have rightly ran away in fear, as all the others before him. Elisha’s servant looked at the siege of horses and chariots surrounding him. His natural eyesight was clear, yet his spiritual eyesight could not have been more blurry. When the Lord opened the servant’s spiritual eyes, he saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around. The Lord was with them in full force!
Girlfriends, what you see is not always what you get! Beware of not seeing your circumstances as the Lord does. The Word of God says we are to live by faith and not by sight. The greek word for faith is pistis which means conviction of the truth. When you are confused by what your natural eyes see, live your life by the conviction of the only truth there is—His unchanging Word! This is how we strengthen our spiritual eyesight.
Dearest girlfriends, I pray we would open our spiritual eyes and see the “hills full of horses and chariots of fire”.
When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” the servant asked. “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. ~ 2 Kings 6:15-17 NIV
David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth.” … Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you.” Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine. Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him. He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!” David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. ~ 1 Samuel 17:32-33,37- 50 NIV
Tags: chariots of fire, elisha, greek word, heavenly father, man of god, military experience, natural eyes, natural eyesight, niv, o lord, pistis, servant, spiritual eyes, spiritual eyesight, unchanging word, Victoria Robinson, Word of God, wrong decisions 
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R ♥ E ♥ S ♥ P ♥ E ♥ C ♥ T
Feb 28
by Victoria Robinson
One of our dear friends always likes to tell us, “I get no respect.” Of course this is a classic comedy line and is so untrue of this fine man. In reality he is an extremely well-respected and successful professor at a university. Yet beyond our friend’s joking lies a basic need we all have. We all desire to be respected. Herein lies a scriptural truth—that we should show proper respect to everyone.
First and foremost we need to show respect to our heavenly Father. Then to our leaders and those in authority, our spouses—really to everyone. The Greek word for respect is timao which means to estimate; fix the value of something belonging to one’s self; to honor; revere; venerate.
The way in which I show God that I neither love nor respect Him is by the obtuseness of my heart and mind towards what He says. – Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
Maybe unlike my friend who is joking when he says, “I get no respect.”, you really believe you are not respected. If so, you should examine your life and actions. Because not only are we to show respect to others, we are also to live a life that earns their respect.
Dearest girlfriends, let us show proper respect for everyone as well as live a life that earns respect from them.
Show proper respect to everyone … ~ 1 Peter 2:17 NIV
There are many who don’t respect authority, and they fool others by talking nonsense. ~ Titus 1:10 CEV
Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:12 NIV
However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. ~ Ephesians 5:33 NIV
Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders … ~ 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 NIV
In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything. ~ 1 Timothy 3:11 NIV
Tags: 1 peter, 1 thessalonians 5, classic comedy, comedy line, dear friends, ephesians 5, greek word, heart and mind, heavenly father, obtuseness, oswald chambers, oswald chambers my utmost, own business, proper respect, quiet life, respect authority, revere, scriptural truth, talking nonsense, Victoria Robinson
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Showing Contempt for the Riches of His Kindness
Jan 22
by Victoria Robinson
One of the attributes of your heavenly Father is kindness. Kindness is such a beautiful word. The Greek word for kindness is chrestotes which means: gentleness, moral goodness, integrity, and benignity. The Word of God describes kindness as one of the riches of God. So how is it we can show contempt for one of the great attributes of our heavenly Father? In the book of Romans it states, “… do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?” We do this by passing judgement on others, thus condemning ourselves. This judgement harkens to the words written by Luke, the physician, “You can see the speck in your friend’s eye. But you don’t notice the log in your own eye.”
Dearest girlfriends, let us not show contempt for the rich kindness of our heavenly father by judging others instead of examining our own hearts.
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance? ~ Romans 2:1-4 NIV
You can see the speck in your friend’s eye. But you don’t notice the log in your own eye. How can you say, “My friend, let me take the speck out of your eye,” when you don’t see the log in your own eye? You show-offs! First, get the log out of your own eye. Then you can see how to take the speck out of your friend’s eye. ~ Luke 6:41-42 CEV
So why do you condemn another Christian? Why do you look down on another Christian? Remember, each of us will stand personally before the judgment seat of God. For the Scriptures say, “ ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow to me and every tongue will confess allegiance to God.’ ”Yes, each of us will have to give a personal account to God. So don’t condemn each other anymore. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not put an obstacle in another Christian’s path. ~ Romans 14:10-13 NLT
Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. ~ Romans 11:22 NIV
Tags: attributes, book of romans, contempt, excuse, gentleness, greek word, harkens, heavenly father, judging others, judgment against, kindness, moral goodness, own eye, passing judgement, patience, repentance, speck, tolerance, Victoria Robinson, Word of God
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