Abstaining from Harmful Indulgences

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. 1 Peter 2:11.
The Word of God plainly warns us that unless we abstain from fleshly lusts, the physical nature will be brought into conflict with the spiritual nature. Lustful eating wars against health and peace. Thus a warfare is instituted between the higher and the lower attributes of the man. The lower propensities, strong and active, oppress the soul. The highest interests of the being are imperiled by the indulgence of appetites unsanctioned by Heaven.
Health, character, and even life, are endangered by the use of stimulants, which excite the exhausted energies to unnatural, spasmodic effort.
Condiments are injurious in their nature. Mustard, pepper, spices, pickles, and other things of a like character, irritate the stomach and make the blood feverish and impure…
Tea and coffee do not nourish the system…. The continued use of these nerve irritants is followed by headache, wakefulness, palpitation of the heart, indigestion, trembling, and many other evils; for they wear away the life forces….
Tobacco is a slow, insidious, but most malignant poison. In whatever form it is used, it tells upon the constitution; it is all the more dangerous because its effects are slow and at first hardly perceptible…. Its use excites a thirst for strong drink and in many cases lays the foundations for the liquor habit.
In relation to tea, coffee, tobacco, and alcoholic drinks, the only safe course is to touch not, taste not, handle not.
True temperance teaches us to dispense entirely with everything hurtful, and to use judiciously that which is healthful.
The Spirit of God cannot come to our help, and assist us in perfecting Christian characters, while we are indulging our appetites to the injury of health.
The Faith I Live By p. 231
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray that God will bring me a good, reliable worker to help me with the increasing business I have at work. Ron
—-my neighbor Linda has a prayer request. one of her cats is really sick she is asking prayer for it. ,she has thee cats and a chow. she is an elderly lady never married. no children, lives alone with her animals. who are her family… she is so attached to her animals. thanks. M.
—-Tomorrow we begin the training program for ____ and surrounding areas. It will probably be the most impactful workshops of the six, since this is the administrative hub of the church. Prayers appreciated! David
—-R G needs our prayers. SM
—-Please pray for my father , he has prostate cancer , stage 2. Please pray for healing and that he comes to know the Lord . Carla
—-Please pray for my dear little 9 year old granddaughter Emily. She is getting bullied and tormented terribly at the public school that she goes to. She is the sweetest most loving little girl you could ever meet and she doesn’t have a mean bone in her body and she loves God very much! Yesterday she was having pain in her chest after being treated terribly and had to leave school early. Please pray that this terrible treatment stops immediately. She may have to stay with me and go to the nice little country school that she went to last year which is fine with me! She is a beautiful little girl and I am afraid this treatment will scar her for life. Please pray for her. Connie
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Dear Friends,
Before I retired, I would often see a look of sadness on the defendant’s mother’s or father’s face because of the wrong choices their son or daughter had made. They dreamed that their child would grow up to live a happy, productive life, but now they are a convicted felon facing years of probation or prison.
How often they must blame themselves for not correcting their child the first time the disobedience first appeared. Perhaps it was overlooking the stolen candy bar that started their child on the wrong path. Perhaps it was allowing temper to bear sway in the life until violence was the result. It seemed like such a little thing at first, but it started their little one down the wrong path.
Sometimes parents do all they can to raise their child right, yet their hopes and dreams for them have been dashed in pieces because of the wrong choices their child has made as they get older. Such was the case with David although he did not live to see it. How full of hope David was for his son. How full of gratitude to God that Solomon had a heart that sought a closer walk with the Rightful King of Israel. Unlike the others, this son’s heart was pure and tender and trained in the ways of God. The Bible says of him, “And Solomon loved the Lord.” 1 Kings 3:3
Solomon started his reign so well and the Great King of the Universe honored him for it. One night, early in his reign, God spoke to him in a dream, “Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said, Thou hast showed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?
“And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.” 1 Kings 3:5-14
What a blessing was his! Sadly, this young king did not use rightly these great blessings. He was the wisest man who ever lived, yet has became foolish. He was the richest king, yet he became spiritually poor. He lived a long life, but his life gave him no pleasure. Over and over again he exclaimed, “Vanity of vanities. . .all is vanity.” Ecc 12:8
The Bible gives the reason for this change: “But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.” 1 Kings 11:1 This was against the express commandment of God, Who had said, “Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away.” Deut 17:17
Because of the choices he made, Solomon changed from a follower of God to an idolater. “For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father. Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods.” 1 Kings 11:1-8
There were grave consequences because of his unwise decisions. “Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father’s sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.” vs 11-13 From that time peace left the kingdom and God’s word was fulfilled. The kingdom was rent from his son, who was a spoiled and foolish monarch. The sad history of the kings of Judah shows the end of those who turn from our Loving Creator.
May we be careful to make wise choices obeying from the heart all of God’s commands. May we make sure that we do not allow circumstances in our life that will cause us to become unequally yoked. May we heed the advice of Solomon, who at the end of his life, declared “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Ecc 12:13,14
Rose