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God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)

Genuine repentance will make itself evident by its deeds and attitudes (Lk. 3:8; Ac. 26:20). The repentant person will: 1. Freely acknowledge his sin (1 Jn. 1:9; Pro. 28:13a). 2. Cease the activity for which he was disciplined or at least seek help if it’s a case of life dominating patterns (Pro. 28:13b; Gal. 6:1f; Jam. 5:19-20). 3. Make restitution and/or ask for forgiveness from those hurt as it is applicable (Phil. 18-19; Matt. 5:23-24). 4. He/she will demonstrate a genuine change of heart, a real concern and godly sorrow over his actions, not in order to be forgiven, but because of the harm caused to the glory of God and the hurt caused others (2 Cor. 7:8-11; Ps. 51:17). 5. He/she will begin to manifest the fruit of the Spirit and a concern for the things of Christ (Gal. 5:22f).
J. Hampton Keathley

Some advice… about first dates. For the man, be polite, well dressed, and on time. All of these things show respect and consideration. Don’t be so intent on impressing her with worldly things, such as your car and the money you can spend, at least if you are hoping for the kind of woman commended in the Bible. Take her to a place that will make her feel comfortable and safe. Take an interest in her, and don’t talk all the time. Ask her questions and listen to what she says in reply. You should be interested in getting to know her heart and the character of her relationship to Christ. Above all, our Lord commands you: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 19:19). Your guiding rule should be to ensure that a woman who spends time with you is spiritually encouraged by the experience. You must take responsibility to ensure that conversation is wholesome and godly. Remember that you are out either with your future wife or with the future wife of some other Christian man. Start honoring marriage now (Heb. 13:4), and thus honor God. If this is not the woman whom God has for you to marry, then assume that her future husband may be on a first date with your future wife. Do unto him as you would have him do unto you (Richard and Sharon Phillips).
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    • How to use your mind for God tx

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    How to use your mind for God tx

    Be sure to read the article first, omitting the Scriptures. Then look up the Scriptures and mark them in your Bible. Feel free to pass copies of this article to others who want to know God’s truth. You will be doing God’s Will when you show and tell others how to live this special Way.

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    How to do God’s Will with your mind

    The word of God says, ‘This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice’ and enjoy it. Now, if you’re going to have a good day and enjoy it, you must stop complaining about the weather. The weather is God’s business and none of yours.

    Some other ingredients for having a good day include: Go to work to cheer up people. Help people. Console people. Be friendly and understand people. That’s serving your brother and sister and that’s being like Jesus Christ.

    Practice being positive. Unrestrained human nature practices being negative. It’s counterproductive and degenerative. When your life is lived positively, then positive things begin to happen to you. If you are living negativelyÑwhich is normal, but evilÑsometimes you won’t even recognize good things happening to you. Negativism, inwardness, selfishness, indifference, hate and murder are all brothers of destruction. This is why Christ said if you hate your brother, you are the same as a murderer (1 John 3:15).

    By practicing attitudes that are destructive, you cannot expect to live a constructive life. But when you’re practicing attitudes that are constructiveÑsuch as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self controlÑyou are, in fact, practicing godliness, or imitating God (Gal. 5:24-25; Col. 1:10; Eph. 5:1).

    If we practice things that are not good in our daily lives, we will become increasingly evil, by nature. By continually practicing evil behavior, we become more like Satan, our earthly father (John 8:41, 44). But if we practice daily what is right, good, honorable, uplifting and pleasing in the sight of our heavenly Father, we will become more like our Father in heaven (1 John 3: 7-10). We will be living holy lives instead of unholy lives. We become what we are practicing to becomeÑperfect (Matt. 5:48; 1 Peter 5:10).

    We are, by nature, sinners. God wants us to allow Him to change our nature to one of a saint. In order to do that, we must practice living saintly lives by changing our thoughts to godly thoughts.

    How many of us would want to see violence done to our children? Yet, we watch violence being done to other people’s children on television and vicariously enjoy it. If we didn’t enjoy it, we wouldn’t continue to watch it day after day. Don’t be fooled. What you see with your eyes and hear with your ears affects how you think with your mind (Prov. 24:12, 29; 12:14). We are not to look at what is evilÑviolence, murder, rape, etc. (Psalm 34:13-14; 1 Peter 3:10-11). That includes any sport that is violent or anticipates violence. Anyone who loves violence is hated by God (Psalm 11:5).

    So let’s clean up what goes into our minds and guard those doors carefully, for what is in our minds has a lot to do with the condition of our hearts and what comes out of our mouths. ‘Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, think on these things’ (Phil. 4:8).

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