Daily Devotional, Year 3 – May 23 (A Suffering Church is a Strong Church! Part 2: “Our Favorite Party: The ‘Pity-Party’!”)
By admin On February 14th, 2021.
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Daily Devotional, Year 3 – May 23
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A Suffering Church is a Strong Church!
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Part 2:
“Our Favorite Party: The ‘Pity-Party’!”
To read Part 1, go here…May 24th (A Suffering Church is a Strong Church!)
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The world loves to party.
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They even have an expression, “Party on dude!” or “Party hardy!”
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Of course, there are varied types of parties in the world. From the birthday parties of little children, to holiday get-togethers, to tail-gate parties, to the out-and-out drunken fests, the world loves to party! “Party-on dude!”
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Hands Toasting Drinks – Cheers! cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
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THE PITY-PARTY!
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Well, just as the world loves to party, there is one type of party which many of us who call ourselves “Christian”, love to throw for ourselves.
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It is of course the ever-popular “Pity Party”.
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But unlike the parties of the world, that depend on a good turnout, the less people who show up at our own little pity-party, the better!
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After all, uninvited guests can spoil our miserable enjoyment, by attempting to encourage us in some way, thus putting a huge damper on our self-pity!
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Girl – cropped image – Depression by Danielzanetti for Wikimedia – C.C. Share-alike License 3.0
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OLD TESTAMENT PITY-PARTIES
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But these pity-parties are nothing new!
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No, the Old Testament records some incredibly large pity-parties!
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You see, the Old Testament was, “written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 1st Corinthians 10:11
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Yes, all those supposed “musty and crusty” Old Testament stories are actually as fresh and sparkling as the night-gallery of stars when passing overhead each and every evening!
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Murmuring against Moses – www.freebibleimages.org – Creative Commons License
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SO-CALLED, “DISPENSATIONALISM”
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It’s too bad that Satan (working through false teachers) has convinced so many church-goers that those stories don’t concern us.
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But in truth, those stories of faith can and must be translated into our individual lives, and applied to our own personal trials and tribulations.
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Cyrus Scofield – 1920 – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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OLD TESTAMENT BATTLES
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For instance, when the children of Israel were overwhelmed by their enemies, the Lord 
encouraged them by saying…“When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee…let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; For the LORD your God is He that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.” Deuteronomy 20:1-4 (condensed for brevity)
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Now such precious promises as this can be a great comfort and encouragement to those of us who are fighting our own battles, whatever they may be.
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Oh no, there are not literal horses or chariots in our battles. But there indeed are literal armies coming against us: Satan and his angels! And the “horses and chariots” today come in the form of false gospels and secular organizations.
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Gideon and His Three Hundred (Bible Card) www.thebiblerevival.org – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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ON THE BED OF SICKNESS
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Yes, the Bible has many “exceeding great and precious promises” which can be a great comfort and encouragement to those of us who are fighting our own battles, whatever they may be.
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For instance, there are many of us who are suffering from some illness. And day-
after-day we pray for God’s help and mercy and even for His healing touch. And as the Wise-Man says in Ecclesiastes 3:4…“A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;”
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Yes, there is a time for genuine sorrow, especially in this sad old world!
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Nevertheless, the Devil would love nothing more than to get us to become dismayed and discouraged.
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And so, if only the Enemy of Souls can get us to take our eyes off Jesus, and begin to feel sorry for ourselves, we are then likely to fall into one of those infamous pity-parties, bringing us to where he wants us; distraught and discouraged, falling back into sin and maybe even apostasy!
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ABOVE PICTURE: Battle for the heart – www.signsofheaven.org
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EVERYONE’S A VICTIM!
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One of the Devil’s favorite tactics is to whisper into some church-attendee’s ear…“Just think how you were oppressed by your Christian parents, and by church-members! You have the right to walk away from God! You were denied many things that the world was enjoying! You deserve to walk away!”
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And so, Satan really knows how to whisper such accusations, which are designed to give excuse for the supposed offended-one to walk away from salvation!
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One of the popular trendy waves in today’s society is that of “victimhood”. And let’s face it! Today’s society has really got on-board this current victimhood wave! Everyone’s a victim! And victimhood is actually celebrated in today’s culture!
Eve & The Whispering Serpent – wwwsignsofheaven – Share-Alike License
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THE VERY FIRST PITY-PARTY
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Even way back in Paradise, Satan discouraged Eve by the lie, that God was holding her back from achieving her potential greatness! And in her self-pity, she decided to disobey God’s one little command…“Of all the trees…ye may freely eat; but of the tree in the midst of the Garden, ye shall not eat of it!” Genesis 2:15, 16
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So you see, Satan knows extremely well just how powerful a pity-party can be! How do you think he caused a third of the heavenly host to rebel!? By convincing them that God was unfairly holding them back from “living merely to please their own selves”!
Eve – Tizian – Wikipedia – pub-dom
Paradise Lost – G Dore – Wikipedia – Public-domain
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PITY-PARTIES ARE VERY DANGEROUS!
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Yes, there is nothing like a pity-party to cause us to sin against God by our own selfish denial/rejection of God’s precious promises!
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This faithlessness is what God’s Old Testament people so often fell into, causing them to repeatedly murmur and complain against the Lord.
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Christian and Apollyon – Pilgrim’s Progress – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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GOD’S ENCOURAGEMENTS
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But God patiently encouraged them to go forward by faith, saying such things as this…“With him (our enemy) is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles.” 2nd Chronicles 32:8
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Gideon and His Three Hundred (Bible Card) www.thebiblerevival.org – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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CLAIMING GOD’S PROMISES
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And so, dear darling soul of mine, whether we are on the bed of suffering, 
or have suffered some great loss, or fear for some looming future threat, do not begin to throw one of those giant pity-parties.
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But rather, begin to claim those Old (or, New) Testament, “exceeding great and precious promises”, and rise up against the Enemy of Souls, treading upon those fiery serpents which he mercilessly casts before God’s people! (See 2nd Peter 1:4)
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For the Lord will go before us and fight for us and deliver us from every form of evil which comes against us! He will absolutely not fail us, even though our present circumstances may seem hopeless!
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But they are not hopeless! For, “…with God all things are possible!” Matthew 19:26
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Munch – Det Syke Barn – 1896 – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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“REMEMBER THEM!”
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“Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.” Hebrews 13:3
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But as this above verse reminds us, we must be ever cognizant that there are many Christians who are crushed beneath a weight of doubts and discouragement!
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And so, for goodness sake, let’s be praying for one another that none of us will continue to revel in our selfish and faithless self-pity, but begin to claim all the many “exceeding great and precious promises” found throughout the Old and New Testaments!
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Prayer – Anna Blunden – For Only One Short Hour – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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A WORD OF CAUTION
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But instead of scolding the one who is in one of those pity-parties, let’s instead remember what God admonishes us to do…“comfort the feebleminded, SUPPORT THE WEAK, be patient toward all [men].” 1st Thessalonians 5:14
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Yes, to support and comfort anyone who is experiencing a weakness in faith, by lending a sympathetic ear, and a non-censuring demeanor, might go much further than any scolding or unsympathetic, “pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps” remark!
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John George Brown – “Sympathy” – 1885 – Wikimedia – US Public-Domain
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TO READ PART 3, CLICK HERE…
March 7 (A Suffering Church is a Strong Church! Part 3: “John the Baptist”)
John the Baptist by Harold Copping www.wikigallery.com US public domain
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, Help me to joyfully accept the trials which come upon me, knowing that they keep me looking up to Thee…
Prayer – USMC – Wikimedia – US Govt. Public Domain
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read…(Paul’s Godly Example, Part 3: “Like Paul In Suffering!”), or you can also read… MARCH 4 (Babylon = Baby-Land, Part 4: Why Does God Allow Suffering?)or you can also read…May 26 (In Every Thing Give Thanks!?! Part 8: “Nick Vujicic: A Pity-Party’s Worst Guest!”)
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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THE END
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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN
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“THE SCORNER (THE PHARISEE)”
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Listen to the following revelation concerning the evil which exists within the hearts of men…“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, AN EVIL EYE, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” Mark 7:18-23
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Please tilt your head to the left. Do you see a man with a very long pointed nose. 
(Obviously, the sketch to the right is just an exaggeration in order to help you find the face in the photo to the left.)
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Do you see an angry look? His right eye-brow is raised as if he is judging.
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This second face in the Moon appears to be that of a combination of a man as well as a fox. Or maybe a wolf. Doesn’t he have a long narrow nose like a wolf or fox? Maybe even a dog. Nevertheless, the expression on his face, as he appears to look down upon the Earth, is that of scorn. Unlike the first Moon-man’s sad shock and awe; this ‘man/fox/wolf/dog’ appears to be that of anger and scorn. As if he is disgusted at the sinful planet below.
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He is very moral, you see…
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “Moon Into Blood Trilogy: 2nd Face: The Evil-Eyed Pharisee Scorner“
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TOMORROW:
May 24 (The Deal of All Deals! Part 3: “Free Tickets To Paradise!”)
Belize – Wikipedia – Share-alike License11
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