Published by Practical Spiritual Warfare web site, a division of Mission Miami Valley and authored by Dr.  D. Vincent (Bud) Ford.  This e-zine is dedicated to providing valuable, practical information for dealing with the chaotic and confusing times in which we live.

Contents

1.      Tips for Kingdom Living

2.      Strategic Advice for the Remnant

3.      Scripture Guidance

4.      Thoughts to meditate on

5.      Articles Pointing to the End Times

6.      Site Build It (Don’t take my word for it - Check out the links below FREE – you owe it to yourself)

7.      Announcements

1.  Tips for Kingdom Living – Boredom

Doesn’t being a Christian sound boring to unbelievers?

Focusing on the eternal rewards God promises to believers should make life continually exciting.  If we become bored in our Christian life it is because we are not walking with God and experiencing the daily blessings He is ready to give us.

How do I keep faithfulness in marriage from being boring?

God does not intend faithfulness in marriage to be boring.  Real happiness comes when we commit ourselves to finding pleasure in  the relationship God has given us.

Isn’t a sinful way of life more exciting?

With God it is hard to get bored, for His reach isd as broad as the universe and as far as eternity.  Chasing other gods is a tiring business, with one pursuit after another ending with disappointment and dissatisfaction.

Sin has a debilitating sameness at its core and it is only the outer look or clothing that changes. The core sameness of sin will never bring inner satisfaction and peace; God alone truly brings satisfaction and peace.

2.  Strategic Advice for the Remnant

Don’t use Prayer as a substitute for Obedience.

Here is wisdom for the times in which we live. 

We all need prayer at times; prayer for patience, for healing, for wisdom, for guidance, for deliverance from bondages, etc.

We also need to learn and be obedient to the Lord.  Being obedient to the Lord means we are obedient to His written Word, the Bible.

Certainly prayer is a good thing.  The Bible is in favor of prayer.  So am I.  We all would do well to pray more. 

However, there are some things that are not a matter for prayer.”  For example, The Bible commands us to love our wives. This is not something we should pray about.  We just need to obey God and love our wives.  No rationalizations, no excuses, no nothing, just be obedient to God’s Word and love your wife.

Also, loving God is not a matter of prayer.  It is a matter of obedience.

Following the Ten Commandments is not a matter of prayer; it is a matter of obedience.  Just simply obey - no excuses.

 Prayer is a wonderful thing.  What a delight to come into the presence of our loving heavenly Father and spend time just being with Him.  These times can become quite intimate and are a source of fellowship, comfort, and revelation. 

When we are in trouble or in need, we can come to God and ask for His provision and deliverance.  Answered prayer in a time of crisis is a blessing from God that we’ve all experienced.

But prayer is not a substitute for obedience.

Joshua is a biblical example of someone who was rebuked for praying when obedience was the issue.  In Joshua 7:6-9, he is on his face in prayer because Israel had been defeated at Ai.  God appears on the scene, rebukes Joshua, and commands him to get up (Joshua 7:10).  The cause of Israel’s defeat was disobedience (Joshua 7:1, 11, 12).

No amount of prayer will compensate for disobedience.

Many times we are too quick to minister prayer to people who ask for it.  The Bible forbids this (1 Timothy 5:22).  This may be one cause for ineffective prayer. 

Ineffective prayer can be worse than no prayer at all. 

Ineffective prayer places an additional obstacle in the way of someone who needs something from God.  Now they not only have to approach God in faith, they also must overcome having a prayer fail.

We need to be discerning when ministering prayer to people.  It is not unspiritual to ask questions.

Prayer is not called for when we know the will of God. 

If the scriptures command us to do something, we should do it.  If the scriptures command us not to do something, we should not do it (or stop doing it!). 

When God speaks to us, we simply need to obey. 

It may be hard for us to obey, but it is simple to obey.

Simple should never be confused with easy.  We must devote ourselves to learning the Word of God so we will learn His will as well as what He commands.

Without knowing what God commands of us we are destined to pray for God to take care of those things he has commanded us to be obedient and do ourselves.

Bud Ford

3.  Scripture Guidance

 You are my lamp, O Lord; the Lord turns my darkness into light. 

 2 Samuel 22:29 

We do not exist for ourselves.

Thomas Merton 

4. Thoughts for Meditation

LIVING BY FAITH – KNOW THAT YOUR REQUESTS WILL BE GRANTED

Mark 11:24 NIV

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

When you pray for something, do you believe you will receive it?  Do you really, really believe it?  If we’re truthful, most of the time when we pray, we don’t really believe God will do what we’re asking Him to do.  Why?  In most instances, it’s because we rarely receive what we ask for. 

But wait a minute!  Didn’t Jesus say in this verse to believe that we have received what we ask for, and it will be ours?  Yes, He did.  But the truth is that most of our prayers aren’t within His will.  And the reason is, we haven’t engraved all the earlier steps in the process of living by faith in our hearts.  More specifically, we haven’t opened ourselves up to the Holy Spirit and asked Him to change us – to change our wants to conform to His will. 

Over the years, God has taught me again and again that if I’m asking for something that’s within His will, not only will He do what I ask, but He’ll do it specifically the way that I ask.  He’s also taught me that when He responds specifically, it’s because what I asked for was what HE laid on my heart.  So, in reality, my specific prayers are me repeating back to Him what HE told me to say!  I’ve also found that the requests He’s laid on my heart are often quite creative, and His responses to those requests – the ones HE told me to pray for – are sometimes so outrageous that they have a great big sign on them that says, “God did it!”

I am NOT saying that God is a giant spiritual vending machine, which I can drop my prayer “coins” into and out will pop anything I want!  Far from it!  God is not a puppet.  He is not controlled by anything, our prayers included.  God does not HAVE to do anything He does not want to do.  However, when HE lays a prayer on your heart, then He will grant your prayer. 

Does this mean that we will receive His answer instantly?  No, it doesn’t.  Quite often, He says “Yes”, but He also says, “In my good time.”  Remember, God has the entire “script”.  He sees the past, present and future all at the same time.  His timing is perfect, even though His timing can be quite frustrating for us!  On Monday, we might pray for something that we need by 5:00 on Friday, and God says, “Okay, I’ll see you at 4:55 Friday afternoon!”  So we must not only learn to believe that we have already received what we pray for, but also that we will receive it in God’s time, not ours. 

Take this step in learning to live by faith and believe… really believe in your heart… that you have already received what you’re praying for.

Dogwood Ministries

5.  Articles Pointing to the End Times Watch

[Note: The number following End Times Watch is the sequence number for the End Times article and is inserted to assist the reader in locating the article as well as assisting the search engines.]

End Times Watch 43 - U.S. To Help Rebuild City Of Babylon In Iraq –

Largely overlooked by the Western news media has been an enormously significant story. The government of Iraq is moving forward with plans to protect the archaeological remains of the ancient City of Babylon, in preparation for building a modern city of Babylon. The project, originally started by the late Saddam Hussein, is aimed eventually at attracting scores of "cultural tourists" from all over the world to see the glories of Mesopotamia's most famous city. What's more, the Obama Administration is contributing $700,000 towards "The Future of Babylon Project," through the State Department's budget.

Click to Read Rest of Article

End times watch 44 - 'Turkey's Place is Alongside Iran' -

Iranian leaders and the Iranian media have lately been stressing the need for tighter relations with Islamic Turkey, and even for forming a strategic alliance with it.

Click to Read Rest of Article

End times watch 45 - China's liberation arsenal: Missiles, strategic deception and now — global media -

The Annual Report to Congress of the Office of the Secretary of Defense is entitled "Military Power of the People's Republic of China, 2008."

Click to Read Rest of Article

6. Site Build It (SBI)

This is the 21^st century and the day of the internet. Like it or not it is here to stay.

I needed a web site but had no idea how to build it.

It was all greek, mysterious and intimidating to me.

I paid to have a web site built – cost me a lot of money. But the good thing (I thought) was I could maintain it and add to it myself through a control panel.

This was supposed to save me money – but guess what – I could never get it to work properly. Way to difficult and complicated to understand.

The site looked good but no traffic came and it was a waste of time and money!  After four years I had to get rid of the site and find another way.

I found the solution! It is Site Build it.

This is absolutely fantastic and I can not say enough good about it! 

Don't take my word for it, check it out yourself FREE.  This is a way to either supplement your income OR REPLACE IT!

It does not cost as much as I paid for MY old site – that is a very good thing. The step-by-step teaching and the unique and phenomenal large amount of tools is unsurpassed.

This is a TRULY USER FRIENDLY, and just as much "do it yourself" as you want, web site builder.

Take a look at some of the information – you’ll be glad you did.

1. Quick Tour Slide Show:

2. Site Build It Home page:

3. Find Your Business:

4. I Love SBI:

5. What’s your passion?:

6. Web Hosting:

The networking available with the internet is mind boggling, and the use of the internet seems to be limited only by our imagination.

It is rapidly becoming the source of commerce. Don’t get left behind in communication, commerce, networking, information and you name it.

I have found a way to benefit greatly with the Site Build It approach and I want to share it with you.

Check out the above links by clicking on the picture. You owe it to your self to see this wonderful user-friendly tool.

7.  Announcements

(1)  Thank you for all your wonderful comments about this e-zine, The REMNANT

(2)  This e-zine, The Remnant, continues to be a part of the www.PracticalSpiritualWarfare.com  web site for the time being.

At some point in the near future, the Remnant will be transferred to the new web site www.EndTimesPreparation.com.  You will be informed at that time because you will need to re-confirm your desire to continue receiving the e-zine; this will help to eliminate spam, which I am sure you will appreciate – I know I do.