With each passing year, witchcraft has grown more acceptable in the eyes of man, yet God has not wavered concerning His thoughts on these matters.
Christ was no thief, but He allowed Himself to be crucified with and for thieves. Why did He allow this? Love compelled Him to bear the sins of many.
Sin has consequences and brings responsibility. A man who gets right with the Lord should naturally look for ways to restore that which he has stolen.
God knows everything, but this does not eliminate man’s responsibility to confess his sins. Failure to do so forfeits God’s practical forgiveness.
When an individual gets things right with God, he should likewise look for opportunities to make things right with others he might have done wrong.
Everything in the Christian life is dependent upon prayer. Thankfully, we serve a God who hears, answers, and has respect unto prayer.
Nations have only been great so long as they resembled a nation submitted to God. When a nation forsakes the Lord, He will forsake that nation.
There are times when we attempt to do the right thing only to have our motive judged as impure. In such times, we can learn much from David's example.
The apostle Paul was a man who believed his actions were simply the wishes and desires of God. This was until the Lord met him on the road to Damascus. Paul’s warfare with the Lord was likened to Paul kicking against pricks. Though Paul thought he was doing the right thing, he was, in reality, hurting himself by putting himself at odds with the Lord. Some men in Paul’s position would testify to the Lord concerning their own good when directly confronted by the Lord. Paul, however, responded by submitting himself to the Lord’s conviction and seeking out the necessary means for proper restitution. He did not accuse the Lord or justify himself. Instead, the apostle asked the question, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”
Man’s conviction is a work of God that begins within a man, hidden from the view of others. Yet, that work ultimately manifests itself on the outside. As the apostle Paul reasoned with Felix concerning righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, the Spirit of God took the sword of the Spirit (the word of God) and worked within Felix. Though Felix’s conviction did not lead to his immediate conversion, it visibly affected him by causing him to outwardly tremble. The book of Daniel tells us that the Lord interrupted king Belshazzar’s party and caused his knees to smite against each other (Daniel 5:1-6). The Second Book of the Kings tells of Josiah’s conviction that was manifested through his weeping and the rending of his clothes (2 Kings 22:19).
