Tag Archives: Inspiration

Nathan Dooley

DON’T CURSE THE CURSOR

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This blinking text cursor *|* is a curse that has been the death of my writing, my heart torn between topics to write about all because each *blink* is another idea born into the existence of my mind. Thank you to my wife for encouraging and supporting me! Thank you to my counsel for putting up with me as I play “chess” with you in learning more and more the power of the Sword and how to wield it! Thank you Draoun for breaking the “ice”!

1 Thessalonians 5:12-13
12 But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, 13 and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another.

Lets go!

DON’T BLAME THE CURSOR

It’s not the text cursor that’s the curse although easy to cast blame on it rather than your own creativity issues. Don’t blame the cursor, instead, ask a question like, “How do I manage my desire and these thoughts for this project?“ Then act on the question by verbalizing your desire and thoughts to someone saying, “hey, I’m wanting to write about _________, but also ________, and I am stuck.” By doing this without expectation but hope will come the reward of inspiration. Also, be patient.

COMPARTMENTALIZATION

This post is a result of compartmentalization, turning the “curse of the cursor” into something constructive. As I write this post I’m preparing another post for accomplishing a personal goal. While I might be more excited to write about the topic of my other projects it’s necessary to keep order, which does not seem to come naturally to someone such as myself who enjoys spontaneity, adventure, pushing boundaries and breaking rules—those traits must be managed by practice that rewards discipline. Jordan Peterson’s Essay_Writing_Guide is an effective practice that will produce the discipline you’re desiring, especially: “PART THREE: THE TOPIC AND THE READING LIST“.

ESTABLISH CONNECTION

Before Jesus Christ began His ministry, God called His people through the prophet “Elijah” or John the Baptist by first, the preaching read in Matthew 2: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The people of Israel heard God (prophetic Word of God recorded in the old testament) through the mouth of the Prophet and responded; the connection was made by the hearing of their ears the call to salvation, but for the connection to be established was in the action associated with the words, which was baptism in the waters of the Jordan professing their faith in the preaching. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who was to take away the sin of the world is the evidence to the power of salvation and eternal life. The Son of God came as tangible evidence of Israel’s faith to be baptized as God incarnate (the likeness of man innocent of sin) for fulfilling the prophetic curse upon the serpent since the beginning, establishing a new connection designed to save unto eternal life.

God gave us an example to a healthy connection for cultivating life eternal, the Spirit of the living God within the believing soul. If what you write, say and do into the world does not affect these components: Creativity, Cultivation, and Connection. You’ll be cursed with a blinking cursor.

I die devotionals, Nathan Dooley

To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things | P2-V12

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The Pursuit of Wisdom Brings Security

Proverbs 2; I die daily devotional.

12 To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things;

WAY OF EVIL

Wisdom assures that disciples of the cross will be delivered from the way of evil, and people who speak perverse things.

What does this mean, that we’ll be delivered?

What is the way of evil to be delivered from?

I hope that I’m revealing the evidence of this in my own life (especially through my writing as the literature reflects the condition of my heart); I continue to practice preaching the gospel to fellow disciples that can discipline me with the Word of our God, and it’s only a matter of time before the iron is sharpened so sharp it will be time for battle, and then the process of sharpening starts over again for the next battle… before the war. I want to be ready if our Lord returns in the next moment, hour, day, year, but always at the ready.

Until then, there are souls lost out in the seas of this world that need saving, and what does it profit me if I’m physically fit for the storms of evil but not spiritually equipped with the gift of good news?

2Ti 3:5 — holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

Jesus equips His disciples with power … even and especially today! So don’t fear the mention of the cross of Jesus Christ; because He’s the way, truth, and life!

Jhn 14:6 — Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

The power of the cross is evident by how we conduct ourselves in a world that wants to kill, just as it was in the days of God in the flesh and blood of Jesus. When converting to Christian, we become aliens in this world … it’s obvious by how we’re treated, but God knows those who are being drawn to Jesus by the work of His Word in His Church yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Are we trusting the wisdom of this verse when we preach, confident that we’re delivered from the way of evil (those who’ve denied the power of godliness)?

PERVERSE THINGS

I think the apostle Paul informs us well about the man who speaks perverse things:

2Ti 3:1 — But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3  unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,  4  treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. 6 For among them are those who enter into households and captivate  weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,  7 always learning and never able to come to the  knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. 9 But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.

Paul also testifies to the glorious work of this verse in his letter to Timothy:

10 Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, 11  persecutions,  and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! 12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

What say you?

  • Are you delivered from the way of evil?
  • From the man who speaks perverse things?
  • How do you experience this verse?
  • Are you preaching the gospel for the lost?

RECOURCE

[BP]

Proverbs 2 (NASB)—blueletterbible.org
1 My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, 2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; 3 For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; 4 If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God. 6 For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come  knowledge and understanding. 7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, 8 Guarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His godly ones. 9 Then you will discern righteousness and justice And equity and every good course. 10 For wisdom will enter your heart And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 11 Discretion will guard you, Understanding will watch over you, 12 To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things; 13 From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness; 14 Who delight in doing evil And rejoice in the perversity of evil; 15 Whose paths are crooked, And who are devious in their ways; 16 To deliver you from the strange woman, From the adulteress who flatters with her words; 17 That leaves the companion of her youth And forgets the covenant of her God; 18 For her house sinks down to death And her tracks lead to the dead; 19 None who go to her return again, Nor do they reach the paths of life. 20 So you will walk in the way of good men And keep to the paths of the righteous. 21 For the upright will live in the land And the blameless will remain in it; 22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land And the treacherous will be uprooted from it.

COMMENTARY

Matthew Henry (P2-V12) Commentary
2. More particularly, wisdom will preserve us,

  • (1.) From men of corrupt principles, atheistical profane men, who make it their business to debauch young men’s judgments, and instil into their minds prejudices against religion and arguments for vice: “It will deliver thee from the way of the evil man (v. 12), and a blessed deliverance it will be, as from the very jaws of death, from the way in which he walks, and in which he would persuade thee to walk.’ The enemy is spoken of as one (v. 12), an evil man, but afterwards as many (v. 13); there is a club, a gang of them, that are in confederacy against religion, and join hand in hand for the support of the devil’s kingdom and the interests of it.
    • [1.] They have a spirit of contradiction to that which is good: They speak froward things; they say all they can against religion, both to show their own enmity to it and to dissuade others from it. They are advocates for Satan; they plead for Baal, and pervert the right ways of the Lord. How peevishly will profane wits argue for sin, and with what frowardness will they carp at the word of God! Wisdom will keep us either from conversing with such men or at least from being ensnared by them.
I die devotionals, Nathan Dooley

For if you cry for discernment | P2-V3

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The Pursuit of Wisdom Brings Security

Proverbs 2; I die daily devotional.

3 For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding;

DISCERNMENT

For if you cry for discernment… how amazing it is that our bodies can cry for something as though there is Someone else on the other side?

Well, and because … God is!

When these bodies, our human bodies—no more than vessels that consist of flesh and blood, innocent in and of themselves—are tested and tried by the forces of good and evil, principalities and powers that mean to destroy our lives, react to the spirits of those who possess them, will one day testify and reveal the true nature of the person he or she once was … on that great and terrible day of the Lord come (Joel 2:11,31).

So the eyes fill with tears, legs give way, knees crash to the ground, the human body … defeated.

But what is the language of our cry?

Is it a cry for discernment or a cry in hatred against God?

LIFT YOUR VOICE

Lift your voice for understanding… how amazing it is that our bodies are designed to speak. We have voices to inquire the knowledge of God, but how do we inquire? With respect—the fear of the Lord?

Our bodies are defeated in sin, the innocence of blood cries out! But the spirit says to God… “Am I my body’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:6-13) Yes! Or do we not know that our bodies are the temples of the living God (2 Corinthians 6:16, 1 Corinthians 6:19)?

So we need to lift up our voices for understanding:

“Help me, God, a sinner, have mercy on me; please Father, help me understand!”

Discipline is not meant to be soft, but to give understanding in righteousness. And to be righteous requires much discipline, even to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Are we carrying our crosses?

Our death was defeated at the cross of Christ, and the sin of the world was taken away by the blood of Christ.

Our soul and spirit are redeemed in Jesus Christ, so wipe your tears, strengthen your legs, and rise; praise God…

lets go!

No enemy has power over you, so don’t fear, don’t be afraid, and practice righteousness! God keeps His promises in the name of His Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Lift up your voice in faith and believe, then move on, we have souls to save!

Lets go Church!

Amen.

  • Why do you think its important we cry for discernment?
  • What do you learn as you talk to God about discernment (write down your inspirations).
  • When you lift up your voice for understanding, what is the condition of your heart when you do?
  • Where are you when you pray and ask for understanding (track the layers of understanding you mature upon by journaling)?

RECOURCE

[BP]

Proverbs 2 (NASB)—blueletterbible.org
1 My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, 2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; 3 For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; 4 If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God. 6 For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. 7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, 8 Guarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His godly ones. 9 Then you will discern righteousness and justice And equity and every good course. 10 For wisdom will enter your heart And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 11 Discretion will guard you, Understanding will watch over you, 12 To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things; 13 From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness; 14 Who delight in doing evil And rejoice in the perversity of evil; 15 Whose paths are crooked, And who are devious in their ways; 16 To deliver you from the strange woman, From the adulteress who flatters with her words; 17 That leaves the companion of her youth And forgets the covenant of her God; 18 For her house sinks down to death And her tracks lead to the dead; 19 None who go to her return again, Nor do they reach the paths of life. 20 So you will walk in the way of good men And keep to the paths of the righteous. 21 For the upright will live in the land And the blameless will remain in it; 22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land And the treacherous will be uprooted from it.

COMMENTARY

Matthew Henry (P2-V3) Commentary
2. We must be much in prayer, v. 3. We must cry after knowledge, as one that is ready to perish for hunger begs hard for bread. Faint desires will not prevail; we must be importunate, as those that know the worth of knowledge and our own want of it. We must cry, as new-born babes, after the sincere milk of the word. 1 Pt. 2:2. We must lift our voice for understanding lift it up to heaven; thence these good and perfect gifts must be expected, Jam. 1:17; Job 38:34. We must give our voice to understanding (so the word is), speak for it, vote for it, submit the tongue to the command of wisdom. We must consecrate our voice to it; having applied our heart to it, we must employ our voice in seeking for it. Solomon could write probatum est-a tried remedy, upon this method; he prayed for wisdom and so obtained it.