LeFors Tribe

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Hi, I was reading the Scriptures and I would like to talk about 2nd Chronicles, chapter 13. This book is in the Old Testament of the Bible.

You know, in Israel’s history, King Saul was the first king of Israel. After King Saul came King David and then after King David, his son, Solomon became the king of Israel. After Solomon, the country Israel became divided into two kingdoms. One kingdom was called Judah and the other kingdom was called Israel.

Kingdom of Judah had many kings after Solomon and some of their kings served God and some didn’t. Kingdom of Israel also had many kings but none of them served God. They became very lost and all of their kings totally rejected God.

OK, so we see that after Solomon, the country of Israel split into two kingdoms. Kingdom of Judah had a king named Rehoboam. Kingdom of Israel had a king named Jeroboam. I am not sure how you spell their names. (text correctly spells the kings’ names.)

King Rehoboam is a young king of Israel and Jeroboam took advantage of that. Jeroboam created strifes with King Rehoboam and that’s how the country of Israel split into two kingdoms. Jeroboam became the king of Israel.

Years later, King Rehoboam’s son, Abijah, became the succeeder. Abijah became the king of Judah. King Abijah was a good king and he followed God. He kept the people of Judah focused on God. King Jeroboam, on the other hand, had no regard for God. He and his kingdom totally rejected God.

Now, I’m gonna sign a short summary of 2nd Chronicles, chapter 13.

Abijah, the good king of Judah, stood before King Jeroboam and his people saying, “Listen to me! Don’t you know you can’t go against God’s plans! God has promised King David that out of him a son would rule the country of Israel. You have rejected God and split Israel and established a king. You are ‘crazy’ to do that. Do you actually think that your kingdom can stand if you go against God? You have rejected God’s priests, his righteous people, and established your own leaders, and created your own ridiclious gods–a golden calf. Everyday you make sacrifices to your ridiclious calf. As for me and my people, we follow God everyday and we obey his Commandments. Let me tell you the truth, God is with us, not you. I tell you that it is not worth fighting with us.  Surrender yourselves.”

King Jeroboam continued to rebel and he created a stragety and decided to go ahead and attack kingdom of Judah. King Jeroboam did not just go to the front lines, he sent his soliders to both sides, front and rear.

Judah was shocked that there was an ambush from the kingdom of Israel. Kingdom of Judah’s war stragety was to shout very loud to God and begin singing praises. They ran and began to fight against King Jeroboam’s soliders. As a result, King Abijah and his soliders destroyed King Jeroboam and his soliders really bad. Also, God has given Israel to Judah as a war victory. Israel lost 500,000 soliders.

Judah gained control of Israel because they trusted in God. King Jeroboam died.

This is a very short summary of what happened in that chapter. OK, now, what can we learn from this chapter?

See, King Abijah was not afraid to stand before King Jeroboam and his people and speak boldly for God telling them that if they continue to go against God, they’re really foolish.

This is the same as how we should react when we see situations or things that happen in our lives that are going against God’s plans for us. We must not be afraid to tell the situation that this situation is not God’s will and that we don’t have to partake it. I will stand strong against it.

After King Abjah boldly told King Jeroboam the things he said, King Jeroboam did not become sensitive to what King Abjah shared and recognize that he is really telling the truth. King Jeroboam did not surrender and repent. He continued to fight against King Abijah. This can be the same way for us. When we walk right in God’s eyes and a situation comes up in our lives, we SHOULD NOT be surprised that satan would try to fight against God by perscuting and attacking us. We should expect that to happen and when that does happen, how should we respond to it?

We should respond the same way King Abijah’s armies did.

Stand strong, shout to God and trust in Him by singing praises. Doing this will lead us to winning battles very easily.

This is also why I really enjoy the Old Testament of the Bible. A lot of people may think that the Old Testament is just full of “stories” and that’s it. Oh no, it’s not “stories”. There are many principalities and concepts that we can learn from and apply to our lives every single day.

Let me encourage you to read the Old Testament. Go ahead and read 2nd Chronicles, chapter 13 for yourself. There are many good stories in that book that has touched my heart and inspired me to live my life everyday.

Be blessed.

http://www.leforstribe.com/

http://www.fivecentnickel.com/2006/06/01/ethanol-blended-gas-lower-mileage/

Hello! I was wondering about something. You know, sometimes when you drink a cup of tea or a soda, the ice in it melts when you leave it to sit for a while. When you take a drink of that same cup, it taste watery because the ice has melted. It becomes a diluted drink. Watered down.

I would like to make an analogy of this with the Bible and gas.

You know, gas prices are on the rise and there are people who are worried about it. Let me share with you, there is NO need to worry for those who are Believers because our Father, God, will take care of us.  Not worrying at all does not mean we should go on about our lives acting like an idiot. No! We need to be alert, be in the know of information and facts.

Recently, I just learned something new about gas. Ethanol. Ethanol is another kind of fuel energy that can make vehciles operate. Ethanol are mostly made from corn. It is cheaper to make and can give us an opportunity to rely on things made in America than from other countries for oil and so on. But, unfortunately, there is a negative side to ethanol. Ethanol in cars causes it to have less fuel effienciency. The MPG will become lower than normal. That’s the negative side to using ethanol in your vehicles.

Many gas stations out there are mixing ethanol to the gas. Up to 10% of ethanol can be used in all kinds of cars. It will not cause any problems. Some vehicles can use up to 85% of ethanol but there are not many vehicles that have that kind of flexibility, which is called flex-fuel.

Anyway, when regular cars fill up their tank with gas that has 10% of ethanol mixed in it, your car’s MPG will reduce, no doubt about that. Now, the question is, how much of MPG is reduced? There are people who are complaining about this on the internet and it is a personal experience of mine too. I’ve noticed that the MPG in my vehicles have lowered from about 5% to 10%. Some of us might think this is not a big deal at the moment but if we think about the long run, it all adds up and it is a large amount of gas wasted.

http://www.fivecentnickel.com/2006/06/01/ethanol-blended-gas-lower-mileage/Ethanol is indeed a lot cheaper to make and to have it mixed with gas should bring the prices of gas to a lower rate but that’s not happening. The gas prices are the same, maybe some will have 1 or 2 cents off. Don’t think that because it is 1 or 2 cents cheaper, it is a great deal and you run off to fill up your gas tank with gas that is mixed with ethanol. The real result of this is that you LOSE money. You are spending money on gas and your car is using more gas and losing MPG.This is what I call watered down gas.

This is what I would suggest you to do. Some areas require that all gas stations mix their gas with 10% ethanol. Some areas have a choice of mixing ethanol or not. If the area that you live in does not require gas stations to mix 10% ethanol in their gas, you need to find out which gas station does NOT have 10% ethanol in their gas. When you find out the gas stations that use 100% gas, buy gas from that company. You will really save money by doing it that way than buying gas that has 10% ethanol mixed in it. The area that I live in has two gas stations that does not mix ethanol in their gas. I buy gas from these two gas stations. Unfortunately many of the gas stations in my area have mixed 10% ethanol in their gas.

Now, the watering down things makes a difference. The drink that you have with melted ice doesn’t taste as good as before the ice was melted. The gas with ethanol does not work as good as gas without ethanol. This is the same with God’s Word. It is being watered down.

God’s Word has been watered down because of man-made traditions and ideas. Jesus has warned us in Matthew 15:3. Jesus says, “Why have you forsaken God’s commandments for the sake of man traditions?”

“And He answered to them, “Why do you yourselves trangress the Commandments of God for the sake of your traditions?” -Matthew 15:3

I realize that some man-made traditions that are being passed down sounds good. They seem right but in reality, they are probably not right. Here are some examples of man-made traditions that men have invented that may sound good but in reality, they aren’t. It’s messed up.

Men have said, “God is full of love and full of grace. God forgives all, no matter what you do, God knows and he forgives you.” Is this true? Let’s see what the scriptures say.

“What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” -Romans 6:15

In Romans 6:15, Paul wrote saying that God is graceful but that does NOT mean we can continue to sin. He uses a real strong word, “God forbid!” This scritpure contradicts with the saying that men have created, “God is love and full of grace. We can go ahead and do what we want to do. It’s OK. God will forgive us. It’s not a big deal.” Yikes.

Another example here, people like to say that their eyes have freedom. They can look anywhere. The ”Look but don’t touch” saying. If I see a pretty woman, I’m just looking at her but I’m not touching her. It’s no big deal. It’s OK. Now, this does sound good. God made women so it’s ok for me to look at them lustfully. But what does Jesus say about this? He says in Matthew chapter 5 that if anyone looks at a woman lustfully, ‘my my, she’s a pretty lady’, he has already committed adultery in his heart.

“But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” -Matthew 5:28

Whoa! I’m sure many of us don’t want to commit adultery with our wives but even looking at a woman lustfully causes us to do so. Is the man made tradition “Look but don’t touch” correct? No, it isn’t.

 Another example that people tend to say, “I’m sick, everyone gets sick and die. That’s normal and part of life. That’s the way it is.” Hmm… in fact God says “No”. We are healed by Jesus’s stripes and suffering. That is for us so that we can be healed.

“…And by His stripes, we are healed.” -Isaiah 53:5

Now, it does sound good that “everybody gets sick and die” but God says the opposite of it. Weight the two; man made traditions and God’s Word. God’s Words are the TRUTH. We ARE healed.

It is very often that we hear different sayings, opinions, thoughts, and so on. What can we do about it? We can believe and take value of men’s tradition or we can take responsibility and stand up. We begin to seek the Truth and make sure it lines with the Word by checking to see if it matches God’s Words, God’s Truth, and God’s Will.

God’s Word is very powerful and valuable. We must cherish it and not allow it to become watered down. Cherish that valuable Thing that has been given to us.

Have a blessed day and, hey, be a blessing to God.