What we're capable of

 

As we wrap up this week of prayer, I wanted to briefly talk about, without getting political or upsetting anyone, what we as humans are capable of.
     My husband and I have been watching several Holocaust movies and documentaries lately. One thing that never occurred to me before was that people did an about-face and turned on their Jewish friends, neighbors, and co-workers. For some reason, I thought the Nazis just knew who was Jewish. I never even considered that people were turning them in. Maybe I didn't want to believe it. Anyway, you know what happened from there.
     In our own country, there have been other atrocities. There were the Indians. We had slavery in our country. We've turned on the mentally disabled, Asian-Americans (at least twice in our history), Mexicans, and others. We've demonstrated that we're capable of hatred toward anyone different. It doesn't even have to be skin color or religion. Look at the division between political parties.
     We allow ourselves to get stirred up against whoever is the newest target of choice. We blame them for our troubles. It has to be their fault we're experiencing this, that, or the other because it's certainly not me.
     Look at how often and how easily we're influenced by the views of others. How great would it be if we were more influenced by the views of God our Father?
     I've seen several Tweets lately about Jesus wouldn't do this or that if He were here. If it was an act of love, He most certainly would.
     Look within your own heart and pray to our Father for direction. If you're playing the blame game or having feelings of anger, resentment, bitterness, or hatred against anyone else, pray without ceasing. You can be a significant part of the solution.

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 22:36-40 ESV

The blame game
The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Genesis 3:12-13 ESV

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 3:23 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
John 3:16-21 ESV

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Please join me this week in praying for guidance. Let's ask our Father to show us our sin, to show us where we're at fault and how we can make things better in our everyday interactions with others. Let's also pray for softened hearts, discernment, and wisdom in all situations. Pray that God helps us become more Christlike so that nonbelievers will see us and respond by seeking Him.

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @7DegreesOfMe
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Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

#7thHourPrayerPower #bibleverse #bible #sin #blame #Christlike #wisdom #guidance #prayer #forgiveness #confess #love #hatred #racism #division #grace

Step One

Last night I was watching yet another show about mass murders and what we can do, what we should do, and what our lawmakers need to do to prevent this from happening again ("America Under Assault: The Gun Crisis"). The host/moderator (Chris Cuomo) said something I hadn't thought about...There's no one thing that can be done to stop this. It will take several different measures, but since we can't implement all of the measures at once, no one (in government) wants to do just the one or two things that they can do right now because it will be ineffective. I'm greatly paraphrasing what he said, but I believe that's the gist of it. Why can't we phase in all of these measures one by one, or two by two? At least if we take that first step, then someday, maybe, we'll be like other countries and not have mass murders be a common occurrence anymore.

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, 

adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

Matthew 15:19 ESV

Submit yourselves therefore to God. 

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you

James 4:7 ESV

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Please join me this week in praying to stop the killing.
I'll post daily reminders on:
twitter @7DegreesOfMe
Instagram @archadia27
Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Weapons of mass destruction

Police photos of weapon used in Dayton shooting

Why are these types of weapons available to civilians? The common excuse is that if they weren't, people would just modify other weapons to do the same thing. That tells me that they're only needed for mass shootings.

During the Assaults Weapon Ban (1994 - 2004) the number of mass shootings was an average of 1.5 per year according to several online news sources. "There have been 2,128 mass shootings since 2013, roughly one per day."

Nine states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, and the District of Columbia have banned large-capacity ammunition magazines. We'll see if it makes a difference, although, without it being a federal ban, a determined person would just go to a neighboring state.

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Proverbs 15:1 ESV

Now, who do we know who uses "harsh word(s)" and "stirs up anger"? Who do we know who is in the news every single day calling people names, spreading lies, promoting racism? This has got to stop!

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Please join me this week in praying to stop the killing.
I'll post daily reminders on:
twitter @7DegreesOfMe
Instagram @archadia27
Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power