CHAPTER 7: ACCEPTANCE 2025
When I ask God for His help, I had to accept the fact that I needed it. And after that I need to accept the fact that I will need Him on a go forward basis. Basically, acceptance is not a one time thing, it’s an all the time thing. In order to stay in order, I have to everyday accept His help in everything I do, or I have to accept the reality that nothing I do will work right without Him in it. It might work for a time, but not the way things could work. His way is always better, I didn’t know that for a long time. I didn’t really know what His way meant. Quite a mouthful, quite an understanding, quite the “Acceptance.”
In Chapter 7, Acceptance 2025 I investigate accepting God. As He is, as He pertains to the world, to me, to the future and the past. That’s a lot, so I narrowed it down. I accept God in my life. If I do, He’s bigger than me, smarter than me, and loves me more than I love myself. He watches over me and is with me all the time. I don’t get it. Well, that’s the point. I accept that I don’t get it, entirely.
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher
than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Acceptance is to accept that I can’t accept God without God agreeing to my request and then helping me accept an Almighty, sovereign, Divine God into my life. And then it begins. Little by little I realize that I cannot accept God into parts of my life. It’s all or nothing.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
Armed with this information, life is changed and adjusted every single day, in every minute and second that I am alive He is working with me, making me better, better than I could ever make myself.
Romans 12:2 emphasizes transformation through the renewal of your mind, enabling you to discern God’s will and become the person He desires. Romans 12:2 says, “Don’t change yourselves to be like the people of this world, but let God change you inside with a new way of thinking”. 2 Corinthians 5:17 declares that when someone is in Christ, they become a new creation, with the old passing away and the new arriving. Ezekiel 36:26 promises a new heart and spirit, replacing the heart of stone with a heart of flesh. If I can accept all of that now I’m ready for the big stuff. God left me instructions and those instructions tell me the future, so I am at peace that God knows what’s happening now and what’s going to happen in the now, near and distant future. If I accept that, I’m living in bible prophecy right now.
Matthew 24:6-7: Jesus speaks of “wars and rumors of wars” and that “nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,” along with famines, pestilences (diseases), and earthquakes in various places. Sounds like prophecy to me.
Ezekiel 38 & 39: These chapters describe a future attack on Israel by a coalition of nations from the north. While the full fulfillment of this prophecy may be in the future, some see current geopolitical alignments and conflicts, such as the increased hostility toward Israel and the potential involvement of Russia and Iran, as foreshadowing this event.
This was written over 3000 years ago. Is it pertinent today. Well, to make my point, that I must accept the Bible as truth, let me tell you what is happening right now, that was foretold in scripture, that lines up with what I’m talking about. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has described Israel as a “malignant cancerous tumor” and stated there would be “no Zionist regime in 25 years” in 2015. Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be “erased from the face of the earth”.
Can it happen? We are watching the book of Revelation unfold in front of us. Written so long ago, thousands of years and yet here we are, and the words in the book come to life.
Psalm 83 Prayer to Frustrate Conspiracy Against Israel
A Song. A Psalm of Asaph. Do not keep silent, O God!
Do not hold Your peace, And do not be still, O God!
For behold, Your enemies make a [a]tumult;
And those who hate You have [b]lifted up their head.
They have taken crafty counsel against Your people,
And consulted together against Your sheltered ones.
They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,
That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”
For they have consulted together with one [c]consent;
They [d]form a confederacy against You:
The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagrites;
Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
Assyria also has joined with them;
How long ago was that written? Psalm 83 is written approximately 3,000 years ago. Authored by Asaph, a Levite musician in King David’s court, sometime during David’s reign around the 10th century BC. So why is this important today. Because what it is talking about is modern day Islamic Confederacy, oh yea. Ishmaelites is Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula, Edom/Moab is the Palestinians and Central Jordanians, Hagarenes is the Egyptians, Gebal is modern day Hezbollah and Northern Lebanon, Ammon is Palestinians and Northern Jordanians, Amalek is the Arabs of the Sinai Area, Philistia is Hamas of the Gaza Strip and Tyre is today Hezbollah and Southern Lebanon all surrounding Israel as it was written three thousand years ago. So, now that you know that, what does that have to do with me and you? First off, if I accept God in my life, I will learn this stuff and because I learn it, God helps me understand the importance of information. And without information, what am I? Think about it. satan has thousands of years experience, and knows the scripture better than me and will twist it and use it against me. Basically I’m out gunned. I can’t know the scripture that well, the book is huge. Wait a minute. What do I have that the devil does not? I have the wisdom of God, the Holy Spirit in me. When I read five lines of scripture, God gives me 500 years of understanding, or 5000, or whatever I need to prevail over the enemy. If I accept that, I’ll study the book and use it like the machine it is meant to be. I remind myself everyday that if I don’t read the book, I cannot hear God and whatever I was going to read today that would help me, I’ve missed it.
But you know what I also had a thought. The devil knows what I was going to read today, I mean it’s just the next chapter sitting on my desk. Now the devil knows what I missed and that is where I am vulnerable to an attack.
So back to acceptance. The Bible says that God reveals His will to those who seek Him with a sincere heart. By studying His word and praying for understanding, believers can gain insight into His plans for their lives and make wise decisions.
Proverbs 2:6: “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.”
James 1:5: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”
Romans 12:2: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will..”
One day, I heard a pastor say, the Bible is either absolute or obsolete. It can’t be both, or a portion of either. Now, what must I accept? Well, I asked Google. “Is the Bible accurate?” The answer is as follows. I’ve given two entries.
(1st entry)“ … the historical books of the Old Testament are as accurate historical documents as any that we have from antiquity and are in fact more accurate than many of the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, or Greek histories. These Biblical records can be and are used as are other ancient documents in archaeological work.”
(Second entry) Virtually unchanged (99.5% accuracy rate) over the centuries, the New Testament can be deemed reliable and accurate.
Atheist does not believe in God, agnostic isn’t sure there is a god, and a believer believes in the God that is outlined in the King James Bible, a true believer trusts God and works with God.
However, forget about atheist and agnostic for a minute. I mean I accept that. Some people just aren’t going to believe in God. Was I ever one of those people? No. What was I then? I believed in Jesus, I knew there is God, however, what I didn’t know, is the God in the Bible. I had a concept of God in my head. Based on what I’d heard, what I thought and my experience in life. Definitely not from reading the Bible. I had to accept, my version of God, my version of Jesus Christ, was definitely incomplete. What did I learn? Who is Jesus? First, there is that little ditty that let’s me know why I need Jesus. I never really thought about it before “I did” think about it.
Romans 3:23-26 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
Now if I accept the facts, I start realizing this Truth is not popular among my piers. Real quick, before I’m discouraged, I need to know He is with me. I need that and want to accept that. The scripture that speaks to the idea of nothing separating believers from God’s love or protection is found in John 10:28-29, where Jesus says, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” Now, what do I accept? Here comes a big one. “The Narrow Gate.”
Matthew 7:13-14 Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
2 Peter 3:3-7 Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.
You see there are two roads. Few find the narrow gate. For me, I best accept that. Whether it be in my daily life or my spiritual walk, the best way is generally challenging, the easy way is generally a trap. For sure the shortest way is the correct path, whether it be difficult, strict, challenging, or confounding. Whatever, it is, He is with me on the correct path. Each day I am not preparing for the day, I’m in the day, doing it, and preparing for tomorrow, today. That is a good plan.
The verse “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” is found in Matthew 6:34. It’s part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, where he advises against excessive worry about the future. The verse encourages focusing on the present and trusting that each day’s challenges are enough to handle, rather than anticipating and worrying about future problems.
Finally, what is the real deal? And do I buy it? God is coming, be ready.
Mark 13:32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
John 9:4, “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work,”
This verse commands the importance of fulfilling God’s purposes during their lifetime, which includes active service and engagement with the world. In short do your job, and live correctly until the time of His return.
When I accepted that, was not in a moment, it was over a time. Changing what was a concept into a hard facts that I can and do lean on every day. Accepting that God brought me on a path of learning, so that I could handle the very next day, and that was hard enough, much less worry about the future in 5 min or 5 years! And guess what? While I’m here, I can share and tell people what God has done in my life!
Jesus frequently encouraged people to share their experiences of God’s work in their lives. Specifically, in Luke 8:39, Jesus tells a man who had been freed from demons to “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you,” according to Luke’s Gospel. This highlights the importance of sharing personal testimonies of God’s grace and power.
James 5:20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
Are you a thermostat or a thermometer? Do you change the temperature in the room, or simply note the temperature in the room? That should be a question everyday.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
C.S. Lewis quotes: “It is not your business to succeed, but to do right. When you have done so the rest lies with God.” Rest, eat and prepare, fight the good fight everyday, pray for strength…
Matthew 25:23-24 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
That is the goal, isn’t it? Well, it should be, I fall short of it everyday, but in the blood of Christ, I can get up and try again and again and again, and He will help me again and again and yet again!
In closing I say, do you accept Truth as it stands or are you constantly adjusting your beliefs?” In the name of God, which one do you want to be, a thermostat or a thermometer? Consider a gathering, an evening of professionals and their wives.
If you are a thermostat, you will change the temperature of the room. If you are a thermometer, you will note the temperature of the room but have no control over it. You pick. The difference of the two? If you are a thermostat the responsibility of the temperature of the room is on you, how will you fare, will the guests be too cold, too hot, and in the hot and cold, will you make rash judgement to accommodate all those in the room or will you know what is best and set the temperature correctly in way that saves the oil correctly, allowing the guests to be comfortable and the help to be efficient. If you are a thermometer you will be a follower of the temperature and the guests will simply look at you and shiver from the temperature or wipe their foreheads from the sweat, and then never giving you a second thought. Why, as a thermometer, you can judge the thermostat all day. But as a thermostat you and God, can make good decisions, if you choose to use Him.
—1 Corinthians 2:9 “That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.’”
Chapter 7 Acceptance 2025, there is a God and I’m not it. The Word is Truth and without it, how effective, can I truly be? For those who do not believe in the God of the bible, I pray for them, as someone must have prayed for me. I accept that, well“now,” I accept that, ..a little late, but maybe right on time. God is God and only by Grace and Mercy, do I stand on His Covenant. Amen…
