Pointed Ponder: New Ruler’s Agenda

A new ruler’s agenda must consider when and how to make amends for prior rulers willfully poor decisions and inadvertent mistakes, or risk the Lord sending them instabilities and crisis’.

2 Samuel 21

21:1 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. 3 And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?”

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Pointed Ponder: Rooted in the Lord

As in the Parable of the Sower, those trusting the Lord are like deeply rooted plants in good soil, able to withstand scorching heated opposition, producing good fruit despite life’s droughts that cause worries and anxieties in others, because they are rooted deeply in streams of God’s Word.

Jeremiah 17:7-8

7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.
8 He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

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Pointed Ponder: Destination Rest

While every year people seek rest for their souls materially with vacations, entertainment, and pampering, the only lasting rest comes from the Lord, so pamper, entertain, and relax in the Lord, the premiere destination for your soul.

Jeremiah 6:16

16 Thus says the Lord:
“Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.

But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

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Pointed Ponder: Be Wise. F.A.L.L in with God

Be wise. Keep the eternal time horizon in sight, following what the Lord requires in Faith, Action, Law, and Love, so you will not fall into destruction, but instead will F.A.L.L. in with God.

Deuteronomy 32:29

29 If they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern their latter end!

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Pointed Ponder: Obey the Lord, Love the Lord

When you purpose to obey the Lord completely, the Lord will circumcise your heart to love him fully. So choosing to obey the Lord is “in essence” a choice to love the Lord.

Deuteronomy 30:1,2,6

1 “And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, 2 and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, …

6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

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Pointed Ponder: Banishing Satan

Jesus told Satan to be gone after the third major temptation. When do we tell Satan to be gone?

Matthew 4:10-11

10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’”

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Pointed Ponder: The Lord, True Friend

Find the Lord, and you’ve found the one true friend who is there for you, and everyone else who seeks him while he may be found.

Psalms 34:17-18

17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. 18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

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