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 – you owe it to yourself)

7.      Announcements

1.  Tips for Kingdom Living – Destiny

How are you doing in your life?  Are things going OK for you?  Or is there something missing?  Do you need a course correction?

Like it or not God created each and every one of us with a very specific destiny.  At this time in your life, how are you doing at fulfilling your God given destiny?  Does God’s destiny and purpose for your life line up with your own?

I’ll tell you how you can know.

If you base your life on seeking happiness, you are going to miss the boat.  Happiness comes from something that happens, usually it is “Out There” somewhere and you seek after it.  When the right thing happens, you are happy.

The problem is, when it stops happening, your own happiness fades and you have to search out there somewhere again and this just becomes a perpetual cycle of seeking and never being fulfilled.

On the other hand, when you are living God’s destiny for your life, you are filled with true joy and peace.  Life may be tough and hard and perplexing but you are able to face it with joy and peace in your heart.

Do you need a course correction?

Let me give you an example from my own life.

God had a destiny and purpose for my life, but I had a destiny and a purpose for my life also, and it was different from God’s.  My focus was on my own destiny and I wanted nothing to do with anything dealing with God.  I had seen to much hypocrisy, all talk and no walk or results.  God’s way made absolutely no sense to me.  What I saw was not attractive, it was definitely not what I wanted – to me, what I saw was ugly.

If you have yearnings inside,

if you sense there must be something more or better,

if you have the sense that something is just not right,

if you lack real joy and if happiness is constantly allusive for you,

if there is something nagging at you telling you that you are missing something,

if you have this unsettledness and lack real peace in your life ….

If any of these things fit then get ready, because the Holy Spirit is wooing you and nudging you and in His own way calling you to your real destiny without violating your will.  The more you exert your own will to resist, the more pressure He will put on you – I Know from experience!

At a time in my life when I had most everything I had worked for I was miserable inside. There was a big hole in me; a hole that could not be filled by all the things I had worked for to fulfill my own destiny.

I thought I was going to die because there was so much pressure on me and it all came from inside me, not outside. 

By my own free will, I made a course correction in my life.  I gave up my own destiny and accepted God’s destiny for my life.  I submitted to following Him rather than myself.

That old man, Dr. Ford, is dead.  He just no longer exists.  That man was following his own destiny. 

The man writing you today has peace and joy that no one can take or steal – there is just no way anyone can take it from me.  The man writing you today made a course correction and today is following God’s destiny.  When that course correction was made, my life became a literal whirlwind! AND IT HAS NOT STOPPED!

So how are you doing?  Are you OK or do you need a course correction OF SOME KIND?

I do not believe that “how we are doing” can be measured in bank accounts, material possessions or large homes.  After many years, I’ve found, as have many of you, that these things leave an empty hole on the inside; the happiness from them just does not last – I KNOW!

How have you done in “human terms”, in “relationships”?  God loves people, not gold and silver.  If you are anything like me, you probably didn’t realize that about relationships because you were busy “building”, building careers, businesses, position in society, status, our own lives or just having fun or running after happiness..

You still have time to make a course correction – but not to much time.  It’s a WAKE UP CALL to get on God’s agenda, get on it now and stay on it!

Bud Ford

2.  Strategic Advice for the Remnant - Change

With all the change in my life, how can the Bible help me keep it all together?

We can trust the character of God to be unchanging and reliable.

We can place our faith in Jesus Christ, whose love and grace are eternal.

We can build our lives on God’s Word because its truth is unchanging.

God can work His will even through traumatic, unpredictable, and unfair change.

I know there are things in my life I should change, but how?

God calls not only for a change in behavior but also for a change in heart.

We do not change in order to receive God’s approval; we change as a response to God’s love.

The truth of God’s Word produces change only when it is allowed to penetrate deep into our hearts.

Change begins with honest repentance.

I Corinthians 5:17 – What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone.  A new life has begun!

3.  Scripture Guidance

In order to realize the worth of the anchor, we need to feel the stress of the storm.

 Unknown 

 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.  Look to yourself, lest you too be tempted. 

 Galatians 6:1 

 The Revised Standard Version 

4. Thoughts for Meditation

LIVING BY FAITH – REJOICE AND PRAY WITHOUT CEASING

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

This next step in learning to live by faith incorporates several things – all of which can be pretty tough to do.  Like the first one… the same thing we talked about yesterday… Be joyful always.  This is a tough one, isn't it?  Be joyful when you get a ticket?  Be joyful when you bounce a check?  Be joyful when you lose your mate?  Be joyful when you are diagnosed with cancer?  Be joyful when your child is in a car wreck and crippled for life?

Yes.  Be joyful.  Always.  In all areas of our lives, we must learn to be joyful.

And we must learn to pray continually.  This doesn't mean close your eyes on the freeway!  This doesn't mean walk around with your head bowed all day in prayer.  This doesn't mean you can't enjoy a movie or a good book or 18 holes of golf.  This means that you must have a prayerful attitude all day every day.  How do you do that?  By talking to Him all day, every day.  You’re at your doctor’s office for your regular checkup.  Ask Him where you should sit in the waiting room.  Silly?  Nope.  There might just be someone sitting next to you who needs a word of encouragement, and if you pick the wrong seat, you'll miss talking to that person.  You're having trouble with a difficult co-worker, and need to take care of the situation.  With no time for "formal" prayer, talk to Jesus on the way to the person's office, asking for the right words to say - a whole lot better than rehearsing how you are going to chew the person out, isn't it?

A prayerful attitude means that you are so close to Jesus that He continually influences everything you say and do and think.  His Spirit is there with you, all day, every day, continually throughout your life.  When you commit yourself to a continual prayerful attitude, you seek His wisdom, His guidance, His touch in everything you do.  You will hear His voice; you will know He is influencing your thoughts and actions.  By opening up to Him through a prayerful attitude, you allow Him to work in you.  You stay in constant communion with Him.

And give thanks for everything – good, bad or indifferent – give thanks for everything in your life – because everything that happens in your life is God's will for you – hard as it might be to understand… as much as you'd like a situation to just go away… as much pain as you're in.  God has a reason and a purpose for everything.  So give thanks that He loves you enough to allow you to suffer with Him, to allow you to grow in faith, to allow you to become more like Him, to allow you to be His child.

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 52 - Be in Your Element! Discover Your Purpose and Destiny

Kim Clement - Prophetic Image Expressions
 

Element is used to describe the place where things we love to do and things we are good at come together. Each one of us must find our element. Have you ever heard the saying, "He is in his element"? It's that place where everything you do well and beautifully is enhanced and expressed without hindrance because of the perfect environment you're in. Water is the element of fish for instance. You've also possibly heard the saying, "He's like a fish out of water." Well, that simply means you are "out of your element." Many people suffer unnecessarily because they are forced to operate out of their element, and when this happens there is a pressure on them to be something that they're not.

Click to Read Rest of Article

End Times Watch 53 - Mohamed ElBaradei warns of new nuclear age - Julian Borger - www.guardian.co.uk

End times watch 53 - The number of potential nuclear weapons states could more than double in a few years unless the major powers take radical steps towards disarmament, the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog has warned.

In a Guardian interview, Mohamed ElBaradei said the threat of proliferation was particularly grave in the Middle East, a region he described as a "ticking bomb".

Click to Read Rest of Article

End times watch 54 - THE LAST CALL TO PEOPLE OF BABYLON

Ron McGatlin - www.openheaven.com
 

The most significant message of modern time is coming forth from God unto His people today. There has never been a more crucial moment for the people on Planet Earth than now. God is speaking to those to whom He has given a voice to speak out to make a final plea, a last call to all peoples now.  A few days ago while in prayer, I received a strong word from the Lord that caused a great burden with underlying streams of precious hope.

Click to Read Rest of Article

6. Site Build It (SBI)

Don’t take my word for it, check this out yourself Free.  This is a way to either SUPPLEMENT YOUR INCOME OR REPLACE IT While Following Your Passion at the same time!

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 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.