Joan Boney
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Exercise Yourself Unto Godliness
The apostle Paul told Timothy ...
I Tim. 4:7-8 ... But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
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We exercise ourselves unto godliness as we read the Bible and godly exhortations from Bible. And apply them in an appropriate way.
It can be a battle to do this daily.
Sometimes I don't want to read Bible or writings. But I force myself to read, one line at a time ... in a few minutes I find I am focusing again ... I keep reading, trying to apply what I am reading to my life .. examining myself by the exhortation and scripture ... When I do that, I find I don't want to stop thinking of godly things.
Heb. 10:23-25 ... Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for HE is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
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This instruction tells me we are going to need "even more" exhortations daily ... for I believe we are in a time where we see the day of the Lord approaching. The world is so much worse now than even a decade ago.
And the "restraint" that held antichrist back from the churches has, for the most part been removed.
The "restraint", that which kept antichrist back, was the scripture. When the churches changed scripture and stopped talking about certain scriptures (omitting scripture), the restraint was removed and antichrist (a spirit of lawlessness toward God) moved into the church groups.
This has happened in mass in today's churches.
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Paul said the apostasy in the churches had to come before Jesus could return.
II Thess. 2 ... (NASB) ...Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed
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I find in my own life, I am doing more reading of Bible and reading of godly exhortations.
I used to watch TV in evenings but I'm finding it so difficult to find any program I want to watch on TV. I have begun turning TV off and reading chapters from the ministry books which we have published with Amazon. I find the chapters of those books to be edifying, building me up in the faith, strengthening me spiritually, reminding me of the way God says to go.
I do not find TV programs to strengthen me spiritually. Usually TV shows trouble me.
We need to add more godly exercise to our lives and this we do by making spiritual reading a habit in our daily lives.
Godliness is not only profitable for us today on this present earth but Paul tells us it is profitable "in the life which is to come." I Tim. 4:8
We are making a solid investment in the future also as we read godly writings and as we apply what we read to our daily lives, washing the thinking of this world off our souls by the Word of God.
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