Could you use a little good news today? If you're living in this world and aware of what is going on economically, socially, morally...in other words, if you watch the news, or listen to news via the radio, you can see things aren't well worldwide. Enough of that garbage. Turn off the TV, the radio, burn the paper! Garbage in, garbage out. I've got great news!

                 "And YOU has He made alive, who were dead in your trespasses
                 and sin!" Eph.2:1 (NKJV)
Here's more:
                 "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in
                 you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your
                 mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you!" Rom.8:11 (NKJV)
If you follow Christ, you know what this is all about. We have been quickened! We are alive in Him! Now that's the news I'm interested in. I'm not full of death, I'm full of LIFE! I don't have to sneak off to the garage and get lit up on dope or drugs. I don't have to worry where my car is tomorrow morning, or if I made a fool of myself, or if my wife and children are fed up and want me out of the house. No sir, I'm full of life! That Spirit that raised Jesus, raised me from the dead too. I wasn't physically dead, I was spiritually dead, separated from God. But God, rich in mercy showed me grace. Today I understand real life. If you are in Him, that same Spirit is in you! We ought to never walk around complaining about anything. We ought to be singing and dancing and leaping for joy.

If you go down to watch the Bengals, watch the fans. If the Bengals make a great play, the people are jumping up and down, throwing their arms into the air, and yelling "who dey," to the top of their lungs, over and over. They'll let out a war cry, gyrate, and dance throughout the stadium. Outside of Paul Brown Stadium, and for blocks around, you can hear the screams of joy. I know that the bengals didn't redeem my soul from death, give me eternal life in heaven with God if I buy season's tickets. Jesus did. He paid for my sins with His own blood. All I had to do was accept it, believe it by faith, and confess my faith in Him. I didn't have to pay a dime.

Many of those you see at the game are regular church attenders, that took the afternoon to go and watch the game after Sunday services. At church, their wife had to nudge them to keep them awake during the sermon, where they should have been on the edge of their seat, begging for more. (that's not condemning from me, I've done the same thing) But isn't that true? We act like we are bored during singing of praise and worship, aimed to give God His due, instead of showing any emotion for eternal life, we look at our watches and say, "I'll miss the kick-off!"

         "O CLAP your hands all ye people, SHOUT unto God with the voice
          of TRIUMPH!" Ps.47:1 (KJV)
This reality: 
        " O shout for joy unto the Bengal, whodey, whodey"...

Good news is what Christ has done. Give Him the credit before you think bowing to any idol on this Earth. Surprise your pastor Sunday, stay awake. Tell someone this week, about your new life, quickened, alive in Him! If you haven't experienced this quickening, ask Christ in right now where you are, He will! Thanks for reading, god bless and keep you all, Keith.

Never, do I want to forget the misery I inflicted on my life, and the lives of others, from my living so self-indulgently when drinking and using drugs. I know that living in such a self-gratifying manner was hard on my dear mother and father, and my children, especially, my neglect and lack of participation in their lives. I love mom and dad, I adore my kids and grandchildren, but my addiction contolled my every thought and action. Most importantly, I had turned from God, and began to worship another...myself. All of His goodness, mercy, and grace, that no other could show me was forsaken to live in a dark place. I was self-deceived, self-diluted, self-driven, to follow the deceiver that caused me to see the glitter and flash of sin and it's phoney happiness, in living as I pleased. No rules, no constraint, no humility...only me and what I wanted.

                "Be careful that you don't forget the Lord, who brought you out 
                of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." Deut.6:12 (NIV)

I forgot God, I forgot how He had heard my prayer for a good job, for healthy children, and for guidance, and all of the many little areas He had given me favor with others, and caused me to have success. When I had enough of myself, and saw I was deceived, He loved me so much, and led me to help. I don't ever want to forget again. Many who come into AA/NA, Celebrate Recovery, and all of the other programs of help, forget how God helped them to help others. They remain sober by following the steps to sobriety, but they forget by not seeking out meetings where help is truly needed. They find their "comfort meetings," where it's convenient to attend, where their friends hang. They will still help others, but don't place themselves in a position to help others who are really needing them... I have been guilty of that.

This is true of the followers of Christ as well. We find a church to get involved in, or a place of comfort, good music, great preaching...and stop. We forget our brokeness, was to teach us to mature in a relationship to God, and share Him with others. We only concern we have is that our children believe, our siblings, our parents, our, our, our. We then become "Christians" but not followers of Christ. Why does the secular world detest God? Why does the media portray mainstream Christianity as backwoods Bible thumpers? Part of the reason is that we live no different than they do, we don't seem to care. We point at their sins, we say, "hate the sin, love the sinner," but hate the prostitute, that don't know how to get free, the homosexual, the thief, etc. We honor God with our lips, but our hearts are far from Him. We forgot where He brought us from.

To the AA/NA and others in recovery programs; don't forget to remember your low estate when you came into freedom. Find meetings to help others. To the believers; stop telling how sorrowful you are over lost humanity, don't say you feel sorry about the poor family down the street whose child just died of an overdose, show it. Sincerely ask God to help you to help the dying. This is not a game, we are going to face what we accuse others of. Be broken for the brokeness of others, and never forget. Thanks for reading, God bless and keep you all, Keith.

A passage of scripture in the New Testament that is heard often at funerals to give comfort to grieving loved ones is:
                "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart
                 of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him."
                 1 Cor.2:9 (NKJV)
This verse is also heard in church as well, when the sermon text is about heaven. But in context, the passage goes on to say:
               "But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes the deep things of God. " 1Cor.2:10 (NKJV)

The passage is not telling us about heaven, but rather what God is doing here and now through those who love Him. I had no idea that God would ever use me, and use my experiences, to help other alcoholis and addicts. My eyes wouldn't see into the future, how I may ever be free of my problem drinking. My ears wouldn't hear talk of living to serve someone other than mysef. But when I came to the end of myself, when I hit the bottom, and I surrendered, His Spirit lead me to this point. I began to see things with the eyes of the Spirit, as my love for God grew. My ears became receptive to His Word, and my understanding changed because the Spirit resides on the inside of my innermost self. I told God that I had lived my life for myself long enough, and asked Him to use me for others until my time here is over. He has revealed slowly what He has prepared for me. And it's deep.

Now I realize that everyone that reads my blog are not believers yet. Many things I talk about probably sound strange. When I lived outside of the grace of God, I didn't want anything to do with religious talk, or hear about liberty in Christ. If I accepted truth when living for myself, I would have to alter my ways. I knew the scripture, I would, even in a drunken stupor, hear passages in my head. If a passage from the Bible was quoted on a TV show or a movie, I would get teary-eyed. But many in our society have never heard anything about God's love, the Bible, or the sacrifice Jesus made to cover their sins, and put them in right standing with God. It's foolish to them.
                  "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of
                   God, they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, they
                   are spiritually discerned." 1Cor.2:14 (NKJV)

God couldn't reveal the deep things to me, even though I knew the Word, until I surrendered to Him. It has taken time, but little by little, He has given a little more, then a little more. I do not regret one moment of what I lost by giving up. How about you? If you're bouncing off of walls in life, and have no idea what to do with yourself, try surrender to Him. You may lose some friends who aren't ready to give up. You may be called a fanatic. But you'll gain direction in life. You'll gain a friend like none you have ever known. And you'll gain a place of eternal beauty and adventure, where eyes and ears have never heard the sounds we'll hear, nor seen the incredible beauty of. Thanks for reading, God bless and keep you all, Keith.

Thanksgiving Day is my favorite of all holidays. Christmas is a wonderful holiday too, but too commercialized. But all holidays are, even Thanksgiving. On the fourth thursday of November, the entire country stops to give thanks for our many blessings. Some people are grateful only for the family dinner and the football games. some are grateful for having the day off from work. Some unfortunates are thankful for those churches and organizations for a warm meal, and a place to get warm. A host of reasons are mentioned. The addicts and alcoholics in AA/NA, and other recovery programs have learned to live a life of gratitude and thankfulness, coming from a living hell, into a life of serenity and joy. If you really understand true thankfulness and express your gratitude with action, like the recovering with addictions, you'll never be the same.

I realize not everyone is thankful. Some choose to live life as a victim. "I never had loving parents," or "if I had their money," are statements you hear from people with a victim mentality. They tend to be critical and scornful toward others they feel are above them in the food chain. And their is nearly no generosity unless they are seen by others, when they help out in a cause or a financial gift. What an unhappy existence! I notice that they are talked about with regularity when they aren't present. They tend to be friendless, and don't even realize the darkness they dwell in.
You don't have to live this way, no matter what your past may be.

               ..."in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ
               concerning you." 1 Thes. 5:18 (NKJV)
               "Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving."
               (NKJV)
              
We have so much to be thankful for. Temporary setbacks can darken our minds to seeing the good in life, and the great things we have. Having a place to live, clothing, food, transportation, a job, and the list can be endless, with a proper perspective. If from where you stand you can't see a reason to be thankful...change where your standing. Don't forget to be thankful daily, and in a short time, that will become a part of you. You will be contageousl around others, your children and loved ones will want to have that same enthusiastic approach to life.

Who are you thankful to? The pilgrims? The forefathers which laid the foundation of freedoms? Those who are unbelievers say they're thankful...but to whom? I am grateful to the originator of all things. I am thankful that He is mindful of me and all I do. I am thankful for His love and grace, and that He pais the ultimate price for me to have eternal life through Christ. All else is secondary, but nonetheless, I'm thankful!

One last thing. I'm very thankful for your taking the time to read what I'm writing about. When I see you out at the store, or at work, etc, your comments are so kind. And you who give me a like on FB, or on this page below, I appreciate it too. I have wanted to chill it and maybe work on some ebook ideas, and that I will do. But your comments keep me encouraged to continue. If you do like what you read, please give me a like below, or on FB. May the Lord bless and keep you all, Keith.

You all may have heard the story of Job from the Bible. Job lost everything in one day. Family, property, everything gone, just like that. I won't tell you the whole story here, nor would I tell anyone to read it if they're not aquainted with scripture. What I want to look at is, Job's reaction to his personal loss, and grief that he experienced in a day's time. Losing all of your property is a terrible thought. Losing all of your children in one day, is grief beyond my imaginings. The thought of losing a child is enough to bring you to tears, and if you've experienced this, you know the hurt and the brokeness. Shortly after this, during his time of grief, he was afflicted head to toe with oozing boils, incredible pain!

Think if this was you. How would you react? Upon receiving the news, here's what Job did:  Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head: and he fell to the ground...and WORSHIPPED! And he said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD." In all of this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. Job 1:20-22 (NKJV)
Now folks, I don't know that I could have done that. I can say, I want to aspire to having that attitude, reacting to trouble full of confidence in God. And to worship, to give God glory in affliction...how powerful! His wife's reaction was to tell Job to curse God and die. Her reaction is the reaction of our world today. Give up on your foolish religion, God, if he exists, certainly don't care for us. Get rid of every thought of God, is the plan of God's enemy, and all of those who hate Him in our world today. They will fail, God will subdue all of His enemies. Job said to his wife....even if God kills me, I will trust Him!

This is Thanksgiving Eve. Are you thankful, really thankful? Half of the world's population don't have electricity, and live off of less than $2.00 per day. If their children are born with sickness or deformities, that's how they live and die. Be thankful, live in gratitude, show it by your life of giving, and in service. Take time on your knees, in surrender and in deep appreciation for all you have. Another thing you can be grateful for is; you have someone to be grateful to. Many people in our nation think tomorrow is just a holiday for football and food. Many think we're to be grateful to the spirits of the natives and the pilgrims for our freedoms. Not so, this is a day to look at our freedoms because of God's grace that shines on us in this land.

All is well. In 1871, Horatio Spafford lost a fortune from the great fire in Chicago. His only son had died from scarlett fever. Later on he was in New York waiting on the arrival of his wife and 4 daughters. He received a telegram from his wife that read, "saved alone." His 4 daughters, along with 222 others had perished while en route to New York, drowned when their ferry boat sank. Imagine, all gone. He was steadfast in his love for God. He later wrote these words.
                   When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrow like sea
                   billows roll. Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
                   it is well! It is well! With my soul.
This is one of the great hymns of all time. I don't know about you, for me, it is well!
God bless and keep you all, God make His face to shine on you. God lift his countenance upon you, and give you peace. Happy Thankgiving! Keith

The gospel of Jesus is either the truth or a lie. It is to be either totally accepted, or utterly rejected by mankind. It is black and white, no gray area. Here is what you don't want to hear, the gospel is exclusive. Jesus said he was the way...the only way to God.

       "I AM the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the 
        Father but by Me." John 14:6 (NIV)

I know that I may lose readers on this statement. But you should know that Islam is exclusive, Hinduism is exclusive, and all religions have their exclusivity based on what you do determining your level of future existence,they are based on works What makes Christianity unique is, Christianity is based on faith and faith alone. You are saved from eternal death by God's grace given to us as we accept the sacricial blood Jesus shed on the cross, and His resurrection from death. He paid the price for the sin of all men. We only accept it, believing our sins are covered, past, present, and future sins, by the blood. Good works are the result of faith in Christ. You will desire to do good for the less fortunate, and care for the hurting, and want all to know this way of truth. All other religions are based on what you do, atoning for your own sin, through works. No grace will be given if you don't follow the requirements...you get damnation. Following Jesus is your choice. You go to eternal bliss, or eternal torment by your choosing. God don't send you to hell without your approval.

           "Then He (theKing) will say to those on his left, "depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepare for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you didn't invite me in, I needed clothes and you didn't clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me." Matt.25:41-43 (NIV)

Of course, the response of the damned is similar to the response they have while on this planet. I didn't know you were hungry, or in prison, or in the hospital, IT'S NOT MY FAULT! Here's an answer for a question as old as the Bible; you are your brothers keeper. You won't know everyone's problems, naturally. But don't ignore those at hand. When you have the power to help but are too busy, too tight-fisted, or uncaring, you may go to the left. "But I believe, I am a Christian! You said I'm saved by grace through faith!" True. But faith will result in good works, a desire to know who is suffering around you so you can be a help to them. Even if you are just petitioning God on their behalf, quietly without anyone knowing...faith in Christ produces works. Examine yourself, test your faith, whether you believe in Christ, or show up at church just in case there is a God. 

And those who reject the Gospel through unbelief, those who look at God as an evil ogre that sends calamity and death in the world, as though He is a child playing with toys, beware. Those who deny His existence, being too intelligent, full of selfish ambition, only desirous of fulfillment through materialism and sexual pleasure, beware! Those who refuse any restraint from pleasure to help others, beware. Letting the government do your giving for you, being judgmental toward the prisoners, not thinking of the elderly's needs, the orphans, saying the homeless are homeless by choice so you don't have to do anything, beware! Those who deny Jesus' shed blood, who say, "there are many ways to God," beware. 

Look into these claims of Jesus. If you don't believe in God's existence, Christ's atonement, or salvation through faith, and you turn out to be right, then this is of no consequence. But if you're wrong, it's of eternal consequence. Just think about if you're wrong, you're trading eons of joyful bliss, of endless discovery, for 70 years of pleasure here...pretty intelligent, huh. I'm not trying to be sarcastic, but to allow myself, my children, and my dear friends to die without Christ, and suffer eternal separation from anything that's good, is foolish. Just do this, ask God to show Himself to be real to you. Say, "God if You really exist, make Yourself known to me." He will show up, and you can go to the right. Thanks for reading, God bless and keep you all, Keith.

           

Yesterday, I blogged a little about getting our focus off of our doctrinal differences, and placing our emphasis on what we will be judged on when we stand at the judgement seat of Christ. Those words coming from the lips of Christ, "well done," are words we look forward to hearing. Yet, as we look over our life, we don't see the good works we "think" we shoulda, coulda, or woulda performed, "if only" we weren't in our current situation, filled with obligations. This is true, we all must work and provide, see after our own families, and pay for our 3 cars, motorcycle, mobilehome, and the massive credit card debts we've accrued over the years. Seriously, we do have many obligations, and we cannot do many things we would love to do for God and others.

God knows that. He isn't mad at us for not winning the world. However, the cares of life blind us to the needs of those around us that we can do something about. Did you know that 20,000 young men and women are turned out the foster care system, with nowhere to go, no family, no home. They have to make it on their own when they hit the legal age of 18. That's the year most of us celebrate, moving into adulthood, having a family sharing the joy. They have to be prepared, or the families that have housed them have to let them stay without the government support money. Did you know that prisoners leave the prison system weekly....free at last! Only they have nowhere to go, but back to the streets, or find a way to make it with no money, no place to sleep, or no food...so what do they do? There is a whole community of families that live in the largest trash dump in the world outside of Mexico City. Generations have lived there, not because they want to, but that's the only way of getting a meal. Their little babies live with disease and filth, seemingly hopeless.

Here's a scenario: It's you being turned out to fend for yourself. You've been with 5 families in 3 years. Never have been taught how to live on your own. You don't have the job, food, or place to live. Or, it's you leaving prison. Your only way to live is to return to the life of crime, but with all your heart, you don't want to. Nobody wants you, no employer wants a felon, even if they are sincere and living for Christ. Now imagine your children, or your grandchildren are eating out of trashcans to survive.

You say, "the government can help, they have programs." The government won't stand in judgement, you will. You say, "They committed the crime, they have to suffer the consequences." Did you pay for your crimes, judge? There are criminals all around us, maybe one of your own family members..do you have any compassion? You say, "that's whats wrong with our country, worried about the poor in other nations and not taking care of our own." True, we should see after our poor. But when we forget the poor everywhere, God will shut the windows of heaven on this nation. The question is, What have you done for the needy this week? this month, this year, or ever? You will be judged.

There are answers, but I'm not going to give them out. There are programs and charities galore, that address these and other dire needs of humanity. I can't give them out and steal your reward. Search a little, Wikipedia list 92 pages of charities. Don't give to just anyone. Because they have a well known name, doesn't mean they have a noble cause. Some CEO's of charities, are making huge incomes, up to seven figures, don't waste your money. But there are some like, The Salvation Army, Matthew 25 ministries, the Samaritan's Purse, Catholic Relief, etc., that are always there in disasters, and in times of trouble...these help. Volunteer, donate, help where your needed, or don't. But remember Jesus' words, doing for the sick, needy, imprisoned, strangers, hungry, and the thirsty, is doing for Him. Thanks for reading, God bless and keep you all, Keith.

The arguments of whose right and whose wrong in regard to belief systems are not new to the world. People normally stick to the tenets of their family upbringing; Catholics remain Catholic, Protestants remain Protestants, etc. We believers agree to disagree. Only one thing can change these doctrinal differences to the insignificant. When our focus, as the body of Christ, is placed on Him, and Him alone, all of those foolish small ideologies and major blunders of theology will be put aside...for good. The unbelieving world may come out of the etheric coma that man's wisdom has placed them in, and see the true, living Christ in us.

Jesus Himself, in the gospel of Matthew, prophesies of the day this will occur. Not that throughout history there hasn't been awakenings and revivals that shook the world, and caused widespread unity in the body of Christ, there has been. Not that before the event Christ fortells there will not be another. Jesus said that this unifying event will take place when He, the Judge of all the living, will separate the goats from the sheep. This is the day of days, the Day of Judgement.
                 "Then the King will say to those on His right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, i was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." Matt.25:34-36 (NIV)
Those on the right said, "when did we do this?" Jesus says that when we have done this to the least of His brothers, we've done this for Him. Selah, again Selah.

I do notice that He didn't say that I gave you this system of beliefs, and you kept them. He didn't say, I gave you wealth, and you were prudent. He didn't say that since I believed in the pre-tribulation rapture, or no rapture, or the 1000 yr reign of Christ....no, none of these will matter on that day. Those of you who are in the AA program and follow Christ, you won't tell him how you kept the AA program free of dope addicts, or NA folks kept the drunks out of the program. We won't tell Him how we didn't curse around the guys at work and lived "true" Christianity in front of them. The fact is, we won't be able to say anything...He'll do the talking.

I'm looking hard at myself. Have I really done anything that he mentioned? If I have, do I have any reason to say, "that's good enough?" No, I must be giving myself to His words, not worrying about living in my doctrines and having self-assurance. We all need to pull our heads out of our rear-ends, and give the dying unbelieving world a reason to believe. Walk it, don't talk it, then when we do walk it, we can talk it. And one other thing, if we have children, what are we teaching them? Are we telling them to never stop trying to help others, to be a friend to the friendless, a defender to the defenseless? Or are we giving them those same old doctrines of doom and forgetting this passage? Think, pause and think. That's what Selah means.
Thanks for reading, God bless and keep you all, Keith.

Something that annoys me is men who use foul language in front of women. I get even more perturbed when they use the excuse, "she talks worse than I do." I realize that the younger generation may have never been told that cursing in mixed company is wrong. The ability to speak without swearing left town on the bus with manners and chivalry, unable to tolerate this "all about me generation." As I work with men in recovery, that is one of the first things I address. Be a man, show that you have the ability to speak using proper language in the company of women and children.

We all think it's cute to hear a toddler say nearly anything as their learning the language, they get words wrong so easily as their mouth and tongue muscles develop to say the words. "Me want, Ma ma me pooh-pooh," etc. These little ones listen intently to mommy and daddy when they say something, and try to mimic what they hear. When a child hears foul words from their parents, they want to repeat that too. If you think it's funny when they peal off foul words, think seriously about a self-exam regarding your personal values. I have watched parents reactions when that occurs. Years ago, they were red-faced and felt like vanishing. Today, parents laugh and try to get the baby to repeat it. How sad. Laugh today, but that sweet little angel is going to use that talk the rest of their lives, and they will use it on you.

You say, "yeah, maybe you have a point. But they will learn it on the street, or at school, they're gonna talk the language of their peers." So, you're telling me you'll ignore the problem, there's too much trouble in teaching the right way to talk. One thing is evident in life...little foxes spoil the vine. Lack of doing little things right lead to not doing big things right. Poor discipline, lack of self-control, and unwillingness to follow directions, bring the young to a life of suffering addictions, striving for the attention the parents didn't give them. And not all children take that path. Some want a life better than they were raised in, and change what needs changed to accomplish it. Others, unfortunately, don't feel they deserve better because nobody helped them see their worth, just their worthlessness.

The Bible has many times more verses about how we talk than about drunkeness. That may not matter to you. The Bible may be foolish to you, just an old book. When this "old book" is believed in, lives change, and then lifestyles change, worldviews change...all for better, I know because the "old book," has changed me. Talking like a drunken sailor in normal conversation may make you think your grown up and can talk like a mature adult. In reality, you're dumbed down, and those around you know it. Think about it. Try not to use foul words for a day, or a week. People may begin to enjoy talking to you. Thanks for reading, God bless and keep you all, Keith.

 It is becoming hard to become expert on anything in our world today. We are pulled from one interest to another, mainly due to mass media via the internet. Attractions are everywhere, there is an advertisement on nearly every page of the newspapers. Think about it, we have a zoo, football, baseball, hockey-these are the pros, then we have college sports that draw national attention at Cinci, Miami U, Dayton, N.Ky. Kings Island, Ceasar's creek, and several other lakes within 30 miles. Museums, hiking trails, Ymca's and a dozen other places to get physically fit. Libraries, bookstores, restaurants on every corner so we can blow the progress we made at the gym. There are proms, homecomings, churches have activities weekly to try and keep the youth involved....no end to entertainment. How do we zone in on anything and become expert with all of this activity?

These thoughts came to my mind a few days ago when my step-son John said to me, "I wish I was born back in the old days. I would have loved to been born back in the 70's." The 70's, are you kidding? There is so much to do nowadays....wait a second, I see what he means. That's the problem, there is too much to do, resulting in confusion as to what one should do. You have heard the saying, "an idle mind is the devil's workshop." There is an encyclopedia of truth in that statement.

It's okay for us to enjoy pleasure. It's okay to make sure our children know pleasure, more importantly, to see that life isn't all pleasure. Giving our free minutes to ensuring fun for the children, leaves us worn out and we lose our desire to take the time for instructing them in purpose and meaning. That is what they really want. I believe if you don't instruct them in life, the wrong influence will instruct them in their ways of thinking. Pleasure is okay, but learning how to live is of extreme importance. Proverbs can teach you to teach them. There is wisdom for living, knowledge and understanding of God and his way. Here's a few examples.

In Proverbs 10, here are some ideas for teaching : vs. 4 be diligent, vs. 9 have integrity, vs.14 gather knowledge, vs. 17 take instruction, vs. 19 talk little..listen much, and these are in chapter 10 alone. There are 31 chapters of godly wisdom to discover and to instruct your children, and you as well. Wouldn't you love to see your young ones have an understanding to know immediately to say no when confronted with opportunities that are wrong for them? Or, just to be able to make decisions about buying and selling, choosing the right friends, or even the mate for life? I'm sure you would. These abilities come as we look for God's wisdom as though it were real treasure. Blessings follow those searching to follow God's way of living. "The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow to it." Prov.10:22 (NKJV)  Riches in wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, are far above material wealth, though having wisdom can lead to success in finances too. Become an expert teaching and instructing your children the importance of these things. You will never be sorry.

Thanks for reading, God bless and keep you all, Keith.