Eagle couples are pairs for life.

This Week's Memory Verse: Deuteronomy 11:27 KJV

A blessing, if ye obey...

Dan's Dumb & Dumber

Once I was reading the book of Jeremiah in the King James Version rather fast and I came across a verse that so excited me. The verse contained the phrase, "degenerate planet." It said, "How then art thou turned into the degenerate planet." Wow, I thought, that'll preach! Immediately I quit reading and began thinking of a five point sermon called "THE DEGENERATE PLANET." But when I looked back at the verse I was so disappointed when it merely read, "degenerate plant" instead of "planet." There went my sermon down the drain, I thought. (Jeremiah 2:21)

This Week's Maxims & Mini-Teachings
Always begins with fresh content. Previous years' content from the same week follows.

Obedience IS Success!

If I am obeying the Lord concerning any matter, I am a smashing success in the sight of the Lord!

All that really matters is obeying God. Period! Plain and simple. End of story. That's the bottom line!

There is nothing more satisfying than knowing you have obeyed the Lord in the matter set before you.

How God defines success and how man defines success are often totally different.

God is not impressed with how successful you appear on the outside. He's more concerned with matters of the heart.

God wants my obedience; nothing more, nothing less, nothing else! Everything else fails to impress Him.

Obedience secures the promised blessing. Disobedience forfeits the promised blessing.

Obedience frees the human heart to soar!

Every step of obedience is a step towards more and more satisfaction, creativity, and prosperity.

Obedience makes living so much easier than trying to figure out things on my own. Instead of exhausting myself trying decide whether something is right or wrong, I am free to simply obey the Lord.

IN RETROSPECT... I am so glad I obeyed the Lord and didn't do certain things I had been contemplating. And I'm not talking about sin here. I'm talking about things that for all practical purposes would have been good. But there's a difference between a GOOD-THING and a GOD-THING!

Stay put! At least until the Lord makes things clear to you.

Don't leave a city, don't leave a church, don't leave a job, don't leave a relationship... unless and until God has made things crystal clear to you. And you cannot force or fake clarity out of your own wishes. You can only WAIT for clarity! Don't deify your own emotions and intellect. Wait for God's clarity on the matter. Pray, pray, pray, and then pray some more.

1 Corinthians 7:20 KJV - Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.

Most mistakes are made when we get in a hurry.

Don't get ahead of God.

Never make a major decision during a period of discouragement, disappointment, or anger. Wait!

Someone has wisely noted, when it comes to making decisions, it's easier to play "catch-up" than "clean-up!" So slow down!

God requires nothing more of me than simple obedience.

Anytime we are led by offense we have automatically made the wrong decision.

"Because you have offended me I am going to make this major decision about my life!" How stupid is that? But Christians do this all the time. "In the name of the Lord," of course!

Proverbs 4:7 - Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

Wisdom is the main thing - so get it at any cost!

Wisdom is preventative.
Miracles are curative.

No Wisdom - No Freedom.

A single nugget of wisdom can reverse a lifetime of heartache and mistakes!

Wisdom brings prosperity as much as faith brings prosperity.

The application of wisdom is the Master-Key that opens doors previously closed.

Wisdom opens doors. Foolishness closes them.

Wisdom is needed vertically in our relationship with God, but equally needed horizontally in our relationships with others.

Nehemiah 8:10d,e KJV - ...neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

No joy - no strength.

A little joy - a little strength.

Lots of joy - lots of strength.

The joy of the Lord is the strength of my marriage.

The joy of the Lord is the strength of my testimony.

The joy of the Lord is the strength of my ministry.

The joy of the Lord is the strength of my relationships.

The joy of the Lord is the strength of my prayer life.

Words are the most powerful things on earth and in heaven.

Words should be chosen thoughtfully before spoken.

Words spoken out of temporary emotions are usually regretted.

Words are weighty things.

Some words are hard to take back.

Words are transmitters.

Words are containers.

Words are couriers.

Our words locate us.

Whatever words pop out under pressure, that is what is really in our hearts.

Luke 6:45 KJV - A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

Words make men to stand on their feet.

Job 4:4 MSG - Your words have put stumbling people on their feet, put fresh hope in people about to collapse.

Words change things... and people!

Words start things. Words end things.

A preacher is a Wordsmith.

Believers should be Wordsmiths in prayer and in battle.

“When the pastor’s away, the people will play.” In the absence of the shepherd of a flock, even the best of people can be tempted to cast off restraint. This sometimes occurs because the presence of (and absence of) pastoral covering is a FELT phenomena.

Casting off restraint is a major temptation to the flesh of mankind.

Note how the rebellious in the following Bible verse wish to cast off any cords of restraint to their behavior: Psalm 2:2-4 KJV - The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.

When we are in submission to the Father, it is like gentle cords of protection embracing our hearts. However, if our position is one of rebellion, those same gentle cords can feel like iron bands and heavy chains.

Note also in the above verse, that people’s rebellion is not only against the Lord Himself, but also His anointed – Christ and anyone else anointed by Christ.

Gays already have every right any other citizen in the United States possesses. All their rhetoric and political leverage is aimed at giving them SPECIAL PRIVILEGES. When a sane person has enough guts to stand up against all their “politically correct” pressure, then that person, according to them, is engaged in “HATE SPEECH.”

The single ethnic group of American citizens that should be the most outraged against the Gay Agenda should be Black Americans. How dare the gays crusade in the name of DIVERSITY & DISCRIMINATION! For them to equate those concepts to the Civil Rights movement is abusive and outrageous!

It’s not a sin to be black or yellow or red in skin color. But it is a sin to commit the abomination of homosexuality. The Bible, of course, confronts all sin. However the Bible does not call all sins an abomination. There are different levels of sin and some sins have greater consequences than others to the sinner and everyone else affected by their sin. In the Bible, homosexuality is listed as an abomination. So it is indeed a “greater sin” than many others.

Leviticus 18:22 KJV - 22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

I do not hate homosexuals and lesbians (far from it), but I hate their lifestyle that is destroying them (and our society) and I also hate: 1) Their agenda to normalize their sin and desensitize the public’s hatred for immorality. 2) Their adamancy to project their filthy lifestyle as normal in our schools, colleges, homes, entertainment, and government. 3) Their political agenda to change the definition of marriage which is resulting in cultural chaos.

As the family unit goes, so goes our society!

Opposing sin has never been HATE SPEECH. If that is the case, God is not love, but hate!

Romans 8:26-27 KJV - For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.

I don't know, but the above scripture makes me ask the question: "Is AIDS the just reward, due penalty for sexual promiscuity, particularly that of homosexuality?"

Why did the AIDS epidemic not hit the world much earlier in history? Could it be that only as immorality and perversion reached epidemic proportions in recent decades it became necessary? I don't claim to have all the answers, but it is certainly fair to ask.

Romans 8:26-27 MSG - Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn't know how to be human either — women didn't know how to be women, men didn't know how to be men. Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men — all lust, no love. And then they paid for it, oh, how they paid for it—emptied of God and love, godless and loveless wretches.

The LAW OF SOWING AND REAPING is both God's reward and God's judgment.

We can get the LAW OF SOWING AND REAPING working for us or we can get it working against us. The choice is ours alone, not God's.

Actually no one is getting away with anything! In eternity everyone's works wil be sorted out, rewarded and penalized.

For any politician or person to say that George W. Bush has killed more Americans (soldiers in Iraq & Afghanistan) than the 9/11 terrorists did our own citizens, is completely illogical and immature in one’s critical thinking ability. I do realize that whether the USA should have invaded Afghanistan or Iraq can reasonably be debated. Only history will tell whether they were good decisions. But to say that George Bush is murdering Americans is to accuse Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill of murdering their own citizens by sending them to fight in WWII. Indeed it is a true statement that George W. Bush chose to place our soldiers in harm’s way, like many other of our president’s have felt forced to do. If this line of logic were to be followed, even our beloved Abraham Lincoln viciously sent soldiers to their deaths, not to protect our way of life, but because of his selfish and flawed political ambitions. To think that any responsible President of the USA, whether Democrat or Republican, would flippantly deploy our troops without serious reflection and consultation, and for his own political agenda, is pretty far-fetched and smacks of emotional frenzy, inability to think logically for oneself, and blame-shifting upon a single man for all the ills of the world we live in. It's amazing how quick we are to criticize and malign those over us in authority. We have no idea what it would be like to walk in a President's shoes, but we so quickly judge, and we don't even consider that Christians are praying for their leaders. Not to mention that we may have zero confidence that God has the ability to guide a leader. I have disagreed with George Bush on quite a few issues, but I would be playing the fool to accuse him of being a murderer of our citizens without any heart or head whatsoever.

Proverbs 21:1 KJV - The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

Ever felt like you could really serve the Lord without distraction if you could just get out of your body? Ever felt like your body was in the way? I guess that is why Paul called it "vile" in one verse.

Philippians 3:20-21 KJV - For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

One day your body will never again give you fits. Your body will at last cooperate with you fully in serving God! Hallelujah! There is yet hope for this fallen bucket of water and dust!

Mercy is a fresh start today.

Mercy is a new beginning each day.

Mercy is my slate wiped clean by God ready to rewritten and engraved by heaven.

Mercy is like an ocean beach made white and smooth again by the evening tide after trash, footprints, and holes had been dug there all the day before.

Mercy is another chance.

Someone has aptly noted: Justice is getting what I deserve. Mercy is not getting what I deserve. And Grace is getting what I don't deserve.

When I come to the end of myself I have come to the beginning of Him!

God will not give up on me!

God will not give up on you!

God wants you!

Father desires you!

Jesus is passionate about you!

Go ahead, God, get Your way with me!

Live on the Word of God. Live in the Presence of God. Live for the glory of God.

Calm your emotions and stay your mind by memorizing large portions of scripture. Build word upon word, phrase upon phrase, repeating them over and over aloud, until you have mastered a psalm or a portion of scripture.

Pump God's Word into your brain!

Word in - Energy out!

Word in - Wisdom out!

Scripture memorization is like stocking an arsenal with weaponry which guarantees you will win the battle in the future.

Scripture memorization will mature you quickly in the Lord.

Scripture memorization gives the Holy Spirit something to work with.

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The best surgeon is worthless unless He has something to work with.

All trades require tools in order for the craftsman to be an artisan elite.

Ephesians 6:17b,c KJV - ...the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God...

Your emotions sometimes scream out, telling you to "QUIT & GIVE UP", but your spirit-man keeps whispering, "DON'T YOU DARE!"

If we base our walk with Christ on our fickle emotions, we will not walk in divine victory. Emotions are a poor thermometer to measure God. But if we base our walk with Christ on what God's Word says, we will experience one victory after another! Victory does not depend on "HOW I FEEL." Victory depends on "WHAT GOD HAS SAID."

I stand on God's Word and God's Word causes me to stand!

Worship the way God wants it and the way you need it... Book of Revelation style!

If you want to get into God's glory, worship Him like the saints in glory do.

In the book of Revelation, when worshippers are declaring God's Worthiness, the word "Worthy" is usually only uttered once.

In the book of Revelation, when worshippers are declaring God's Holiness, the word "Holy" is usually spoken three times.

In the book of Revelation, whenever worshippers are worshipping God for His WORTHINESS, it is always connected to SOMETHING HE HAS DONE.

In the book of Revelation, whenever worshippers are worshipping God for His HOLINESS, it is never connected to something He has done, but stands alone as THE SPECIAL SOMEONE HE IS.

God's WORTHINESS is the EXCELLENCE OF WHAT HE HAS DONE.

God's HOLINESS, on the other hand, is THE ESSENCE OF WHO HE IS.

As we get closer and closer to Jesus' return, we will be drawn into worship that more closely resembles the worship recorded in the book of Revelation.

The Father's heart skips at the sound of the name of Jesus on the believer's lips. Simultaneously the devil shutters and panics at the same.

Blast away at your problem by making faith commands aloud in the name of Jesus!

Philippians 2:10-11 AMP - That in (at) the name of Jesus every knee should (must) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, And every tongue [frankly and openly] confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Stomp all over the devil's head as you pace the floor in warfare prayer, using the name of Jesus like a choice weapon. Slash him over and over again by quoting scripture until your enemey is completely demoralized!

Everything and everyone in Heaven, on Earth, and Under the earth stands at attention when the name of Jesus is spoken in faith.

The name of Jesus is the believer's password onto HeavenNet.

The name of Jesus is the believer's hack into HellNet, that injects a deadly virus into the devil's network.

Your prosperity can only be found in the center of God's Will for your life.

Dr. Mike Murdock: The atmosphere you permit determines the product you produce.

The ONLY THING that authorizes God to give me the HARVEST of a happy marriage, is my SEEDS of love and affection that I sow into my wife.

The ONLY THINGS that authorize God to give me financial HARVESTS, are my financial SEEDS sown into His work.

The ONLY THING that authorizes God to give me the HARVEST of a job promotion, is my SEEDS of loyalty and obedience that I have sown into my boss and company.

The ONLY THING that authorizes God to give me a HARVEST of parental fulfillment, is my SEEDS of time and attention that I sow into my children.

The only influence I have over my future are the SEEDS I sow. (Mike Murdock)

According to Jesus, everything, He means EVERYTHING, functions by the law of seedtime and harvest. (Read Mark Chapter 4)

I cannot control the HARVEST, but I can control the SEED.

The HARVEST is up to God, but what I do with my SEED is up to me.

God gave me all I need to create any future I want... SEEDS! Seeds of time. Seeds of money. Seeds of love. Seeds of service. Seeds of loyalty. In that sense, my future is not really up to God, but up to me, and is dependent on what I do with the SEEDS that He has supplied me.

Whatever I sow, I will reap... negative or positive. This is a spiritual law that cannot be broken any more than the law of gravity cannot be broken.

Martin Luther: "Next to Theology, I accord to Music the highest degree!"

Music may just be God's most powerful tool. Music also may be Satan's most powerful tool. It all depends on WHO is making the music and TO WHOM it is played and/or sung, and WHAT is communicated by that music.

My Music has molded me into who I am. My Music either makes me or breaks me. Since My Music defines who I become, I will define what music I listen to.

Holy Spirit, CARESS ME this morning and CARRY ME throughout this day!

I categorically refuse to give in to the spirit of fear. I decide not to fear. I stand against the temptation to become intimidated and cowardly! I will not succumb to rushing emotions of fear. Fear is the voice of the enemy lying to me. But faith is the voice of God telling me the truth!

Prayerfully set some concrete goals towards which to gravitate, or else you'll float around in life like deep space weightlessness.

Because I take care of the Man of God, the Father takes care of me. Because I take care of the house of God, the Father takes care of my house. Because the family of God is my first priority, my family is His first priority. Because I am busy about the Father's business, the Father is taking care of my business. Because I finance World Missions, the Father finances my own ministry.

Marks Of Maturity: 1) The attribute of Cherishing Correction, 2) The ability to Delay Self-Gratification, 3) A Willingness to Accept Responsibility, and 4) Quickness to ask God's Forgiveness and/or Another's Forgiveness.

This is Creation calling Creator, "Thank You for creating me!"

If you are a Christian, consider ridding yourself of the term, "MOTHER NATURE!" There is no such thing or person as Mother Nature. His name is FATHER CREATOR! Rather than saying, "O how I enjoy getting out into Mother Nature," instead consider saying, "O how I enjoy getting out into the Father's Creation!" Mother Nature is a term that has its roots in Greek and Roman mythology and a belief in a pluralism of gods. The Great Outdoors is only the Great Outdoors because we have a Great Creator!

Procrastination is the Paymaster of Poverty.

Without a Daily To-Do List one becomes Listless.

Someone has said that there are only two things with a perfect memory: God and a Piece of Paper! (or a computer disk)

There is an Expense for not setting a Suspense.

To keeping your heart tender before God and men is true success. To stay tender requires some quality prayer time in the Father's presence. Tenderness is found in the secret place!

Let yourself fall in love over and over again with each person in your local church!

Concentrate on your strengths and talents to overcome your weaknesses. Constant attention trying to fix your weaknesses is an exercise in futility and frustration. Give yourself wholly to your dominant strengths and skills and your weaknesses will be eclipsed.

Feed your spirit; starve your flesh!

The definition of insanity is the fact that our politicians have outlawed child pornography, outlawed rape, outlawed child molestation, made prevention of sexual harassment mandatory in the workplace, YET they foolishly PROTECT adult bookstores, pornography publishing, strip clubs, internet porn sites, and the like. This is hypocrisy if ever I saw it. First they condone the things that make sexual predators and monsters out of men, then they say one is not allowed to carry out what they read and see! Pornography MUST BE outlawed with stiff penalties if the family unit is to survive. I WRITE EMAILS TO MY REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS REGULARLY CONCERNING THESE ISSUES. I recommend every Christian do the same from time to time. There are numerous Christian petition websites on the internet these days and emailing your representatives has become a cinch. When you write, BE RESPECTFUL. Be FACTUAL. Be NON-EMOTIONAL. Never call names. Appeal to these leaders' sense of dignity. THANK them for their time and their willingness to serve the nation. I always receive courteous replies and detailed explanations from these politicians, sometimes quickly, sometimes several months later due to their high mail volume. Jesus calls believers "SALT" and "LIGHT". Salt INFLUENCES the flavor of something. We are called to be INFLUENCERS! Light exposes the true nature of an object. We are called to "speak the truth in love."