QUITETED WITH HIS LOVE.

As I worked my way through some devotional readings, I came across this passage: "The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." (Zephaniah 3:17)

 I thought of my life. I thought of what the passage says about God and how He feels about me. He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in me. He will quiet me with his love. He will rejoice over me. I confess that although I do not know if I fully understand what it means to be quieted by His love, I do know that there is something inside me that says, "I need that, Lord!" As I pondered more, I prayed, "Lord, please quiet me with Your love."

 "Lord, please quiet me with Your love."

 "Lord, please quiet me with Your love."

 "Lord, I get loud sometimes. Not so much verbally loud, but my spirit gets loud. My heart gets loud. My mind gets loud. The world around me gets loud and the loudness overwhelms me to the point that everything within me and around me seems to be loud. So, Lord, please quiet me with Your love.

 

In these times of unrest and confusion in our nation and world, I need to be quieted by your love, dear Lord. Decisions are being made that may well change the way we live and function as a people. Lord, please quiet me with Your love.

 As the years pass more rapidly than my mind can comprehend, I need to be quieted with Your love.

 I cannot keep up. I try, but I seem to fall farther and farther behind. Lord, please quiet me with Your love.

 In times of discouragement when I have failed to live like You have asked me to live, I need to be quieted by Your love.  In times of disappointment over dreams that have faded and when other people have failed to live up to my expectations, I need to be quieted by Your love.  Lord, please quiet me with Your love.

 In times of loss and my heart has been broken, I need to be quieted by your love. In times of sadness when a joyful spirit seems too much to consider, I need to be quieted by Your love. Lord, please quiet me with Your love.

 In times of suffering and pain as the result of another's actions or my own, I need to be quieted by Your love. In times when others are suffering because of my actions and I am helpless to undo what I have done, I need to be quieted by Your love. And they need to be quieted by Your love. Lord,

please quiet me with Your love.

 In times of distress and anxiety over all that I must do, or feel that I must do, I need to be quieted by Your love. In times when life is so loud that I cannot hear my own thoughts, I need to be quieted by Your love. Lord, please quiet me with Your love.

 Unless You quiet me with Your love, dear Lord, my life will surely be filled with noises that may drown Your voice from my ears. Lord, I need to be quieted by Your love.

When I remind myself that You are with me, when I contemplate Your power, when I consider that You take great delight in me and when I think of You rejoicing over me with singing because of Your love for me, I am quieted. My heart is quieted. My spirit rests. "Lord, You have quieted me with Your love."

 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)

QUITETED WITH HIS LOVE.

As I worked my way through some devotional readings, I came across this passage: "The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." (Zephaniah 3:17)

 I thought of my life. I thought of what the passage says about God and how He feels about me. He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in me. He will quiet me with his love. He will rejoice over me. I confess that although I do not know if I fully understand what it means to be quieted by His love, I do know that there is something inside me that says, "I need that, Lord!" As I pondered more, I prayed, "Lord, please quiet me with Your love."

 "Lord, please quiet me with Your love."

 "Lord, please quiet me with Your love."

 "Lord, I get loud sometimes. Not so much verbally loud, but my spirit gets loud. My heart gets loud. My mind gets loud. The world around me gets loud and the loudness overwhelms me to the point that everything within me and around me seems to be loud. So, Lord, please quiet me with Your love.

 

In these times of unrest and confusion in our nation and world, I need to be quieted by your love, dear Lord. Decisions are being made that may well change the way we live and function as a people. Lord, please quiet me with Your love.

 As the years pass more rapidly than my mind can comprehend, I need to be quieted with Your love.

 I cannot keep up. I try, but I seem to fall farther and farther behind. Lord, please quiet me with Your love.

 In times of discouragement when I have failed to live like You have asked me to live, I need to be quieted by Your love.  In times of disappointment over dreams that have faded and when other people have failed to live up to my expectations, I need to be quieted by Your love.  Lord, please quiet me with Your love.

 In times of loss and my heart has been broken, I need to be quieted by your love. In times of sadness when a joyful spirit seems too much to consider, I need to be quieted by Your love. Lord, please quiet me with Your love.

 In times of suffering and pain as the result of another's actions or my own, I need to be quieted by Your love. In times when others are suffering because of my actions and I am helpless to undo what I have done, I need to be quieted by Your love. And they need to be quieted by Your love. Lord,

please quiet me with Your love.

 In times of distress and anxiety over all that I must do, or feel that I must do, I need to be quieted by Your love. In times when life is so loud that I cannot hear my own thoughts, I need to be quieted by Your love. Lord, please quiet me with Your love.

 Unless You quiet me with Your love, dear Lord, my life will surely be filled with noises that may drown Your voice from my ears. Lord, I need to be quieted by Your love.

When I remind myself that You are with me, when I contemplate Your power, when I consider that You take great delight in me and when I think of You rejoicing over me with singing because of Your love for me, I am quieted. My heart is quieted. My spirit rests. "Lord, You have quieted me with Your love."

 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)

IS SMOKING A HELL DESERVING SIN?

1Co 3:16-17 say, “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you. If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple”. Some Christians say that these verses mean that people who smoke tobacco will end up in hell because they are destroying God's temple. If that was true then we would have to tell a person who is fat from overeating that they are heading for hell too because being overweight is also bad for our health. When 1 Cor. 3 is examined closely it will be found that these verses are not saying that God will destroy people who destroy their bodies but rather that He will destroy people who destroy His church.
1 Cor. 1:11-13 and 1 Cor. 3:1-8 tell us that the Corinthians were fighting about which man they should follow. Paul said that they should follow Jesus rather than follow men like himself or Apollos. He goes on to say that they were just servants with God-given tasks; one man plants, another waters but God makes things grow and each man will be rewarded according to his own labor. Then in 1 Cor. 3:9-11 he says that we Christians are God's building and that he has laid a foundation as an expert builder and each of us must be careful how we build on that foundation, which is Jesus Christ.
Then 1 Cor. 3:12-15 talk about how we build the church and warn that fire will test the quality of each man's work. The verses say that we can -
a) Build with gold, silver or costly stones and receive our reward or
b) Build with wood, hay or straw and, although we will still be saved, our work will be burned up.
Building with gold, silver or costly stones represent good leadership and sound doctrine while wood, hay and straw represent poor leadership and unsound doctrine.
So far, the chapter has spoken about building the church with good or poor leadership but there can also be bad leadership which destroys a church. Back in 1 Cor. 3:9, we Christians were referred to as God's building and 1 Cor. 3:16-17 continue with that picture, calling us God's Temple - “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you [plural] are that temple”. The term “God's temple” is referring to the church, not individuals. When these verses are taken in the context of building the church, we see that they are saying that God will destroy bad leaders who destroy His church rather than build it up.
From this we can see that 1 Cor. 3:16-17 is not referring to destroying our body but to destroying the church. 1 Cor. 3:18 to 1 Cor. 4:6 continue on to further warn us not to follow the wisdom of men and in 1 Cor. 4:6 we are told, “Do not go beyond what is written. Then you will not take pride in one man over against another”. So, if we follow what is written, and not follow men, then we will build well and not be corrupted by false teaching which will destroy a church.
So, we can see that this chapter is telling us to be careful how we build and to build on the foundation of Jesus because our rewards will be according to the way we build.
If we build well then we will be rewarded.
If we build poorly then we will still be saved but lose our rewards.
If anyone destroys the church then they will be destroyed.
If we take 1 Cor. 3:16-17 out of context and tell a smoker that he is going to hell then we ourselves will be guilty of poor doctrine. Also, the smoker may have little faith and poor self-control and what we say may destroy the little faith he has. Feeling hopelessly lost, he may turn to wine, women and song … which will certainly lead him to hell.
There is no doubt that smoking is bad for our health and people are in bondage to it but nowhere does the Bible say that smokers will go to hell. When the Bible is silent on something then we should be also but of course smokers should be encouraged to quit the habit.

IS SMOKING A HELL DESERVING SIN?

1Co 3:16-17 say, “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you. If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple”. Some Christians say that these verses mean that people who smoke tobacco will end up in hell because they are destroying God's temple. If that was true then we would have to tell a person who is fat from overeating that they are heading for hell too because being overweight is also bad for our health. When 1 Cor. 3 is examined closely it will be found that these verses are not saying that God will destroy people who destroy their bodies but rather that He will destroy people who destroy His church.
1 Cor. 1:11-13 and 1 Cor. 3:1-8 tell us that the Corinthians were fighting about which man they should follow. Paul said that they should follow Jesus rather than follow men like himself or Apollos. He goes on to say that they were just servants with God-given tasks; one man plants, another waters but God makes things grow and each man will be rewarded according to his own labor. Then in 1 Cor. 3:9-11 he says that we Christians are God's building and that he has laid a foundation as an expert builder and each of us must be careful how we build on that foundation, which is Jesus Christ.
Then 1 Cor. 3:12-15 talk about how we build the church and warn that fire will test the quality of each man's work. The verses say that we can -
a) Build with gold, silver or costly stones and receive our reward or
b) Build with wood, hay or straw and, although we will still be saved, our work will be burned up.
Building with gold, silver or costly stones represent good leadership and sound doctrine while wood, hay and straw represent poor leadership and unsound doctrine.
So far, the chapter has spoken about building the church with good or poor leadership but there can also be bad leadership which destroys a church. Back in 1 Cor. 3:9, we Christians were referred to as God's building and 1 Cor. 3:16-17 continue with that picture, calling us God's Temple - “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you [plural] are that temple”. The term “God's temple” is referring to the church, not individuals. When these verses are taken in the context of building the church, we see that they are saying that God will destroy bad leaders who destroy His church rather than build it up.
From this we can see that 1 Cor. 3:16-17 is not referring to destroying our body but to destroying the church. 1 Cor. 3:18 to 1 Cor. 4:6 continue on to further warn us not to follow the wisdom of men and in 1 Cor. 4:6 we are told, “Do not go beyond what is written. Then you will not take pride in one man over against another”. So, if we follow what is written, and not follow men, then we will build well and not be corrupted by false teaching which will destroy a church.
So, we can see that this chapter is telling us to be careful how we build and to build on the foundation of Jesus because our rewards will be according to the way we build.
If we build well then we will be rewarded.
If we build poorly then we will still be saved but lose our rewards.
If anyone destroys the church then they will be destroyed.
If we take 1 Cor. 3:16-17 out of context and tell a smoker that he is going to hell then we ourselves will be guilty of poor doctrine. Also, the smoker may have little faith and poor self-control and what we say may destroy the little faith he has. Feeling hopelessly lost, he may turn to wine, women and song … which will certainly lead him to hell.
There is no doubt that smoking is bad for our health and people are in bondage to it but nowhere does the Bible say that smokers will go to hell. When the Bible is silent on something then we should be also but of course smokers should be encouraged to quit the habit.