A New Beginning New. What a beautiful word. Fresh. Something never discovered before. A beginning. Is this what you are looking for? To be made new? Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV) says: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” The prophet Isaiah wrote the book of Isaiah about 700 years before the coming of Jesus. This passage was written to the Hebrews held in captivity in Babylon, desperate to be set free. They were in physical captivity. They were also in spiritual captivity. Sin—the mistakes and wrongs that are the source of separation between man and God—was reigning over the hearts of man with no one to conquer it. But a way out was coming. The last part of the passage says: “I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” For a people lost in sin and separated from God, there was no way out on their own. But God made a way by sending His Son, Jesus, as the perfect sacrifice and victorious conqueror of the sin man could not overcome alone. New. He came to make all things new. Jesus is the way in the wilderness. He is the stream in the wasteland. He is the way when there is no way. When you feel broken over your sin, trapped in addictions you can’t escape, overwhelmed by temptation, or frustrated by failure, you don’t need to try harder. You need to be made new. You need a way out. You need Him. Today, you can be made new by Jesus. You don’t have to wait. You don’t have to try to cleanse yourself of your sin. Your transformation can begin today—and it begins with Jesus.

Yesterday’s hits won’t win today’s game. Unknown

Ok y'all I read a few chapters cause many of these chapters fairly short. I read chapters 4-6. Chapter 4 is Blitzkrieg, The Devil's playbook for sexual temptations. The book goes back to the big 3 from earlier. The first is Discontent: Satanic Whispers. I will type in the paragraph of what Satan whispers, it's really good. Here's the paragraph "How unfair it is of God to give you a sex drive and not allow you to fulfill it. You're so young and far off from being married; how does God expect you to stay celibate for such a long time? You've been single for so many years, and who knows how long it will be before you marry? Why would God create you to be attracted to women and then not to permit you to have satisfying thoughts about them in you mind or to enjoy the exhilarating thrill that comes from seeing them naked photos or videos? Why would God allow your body to build such intense sexual tension and then not allow you to release it through masturbation? Why would God give you a wife, allow you to still feel attraction for other women, and then tell you that you can't have sex with them too? Yes, you have a wife, but in light of her having such low sex drive, why are still forbidden to find sexual release through other means? It is fair that God gave you a wife but then took her from away through death and now tells you that you can't have sex again unless you remarry?" page 38-39. I do apologize for this being long, but there's awesome stuff in this book. The next thing is Disbelief: Irrational Rationalizations and I'll share this paragraph of what Satan would whisper in everyone's ear. Here's the paragraph "Come on, you know that God isn't going to do anything just because you go with what's natural. After all, God gave you a desire for sexual intimacy with a woman, and it's completely normal for you to get some release and satisfaction. you won't be harming your mind or your body; you'll actually be helping them reach a much-needed state of calm and relaxation, which is very good for you. you'll be doing the same for your partner, and this will draw you even closer to each other and strengthen your relational bonds. There won't be any negative consequences for this-only good ones." Then the author goes to Deification. The God Delusion, in short deals with pride. Then goes into dropping like dominoes, how with these 3 things we tend to fall fast.

Today I started Part 1 The Devil, chapter 2 and 3. Chapter Two is Public Enemy Number One. The chapter starts with what would it be like if? It goes into what if everything was perfect, then goes into the characteristics of Satan. The book goes in detail about that his a liar and the father thereof, then the book explains that we don't have to fall for it again, even though we do sadly. I then read chapter 3 cause that 2nd chapter was short. The third chapter is titled The Devil's "Same Old, Same Old", this chapter explains the three methods on how the Devil tempts mankind, by going to the beginning with Adam and Eve. The first method Satan uses is discontent. The Devil wants us to look at what we don't have, but we should look at what we do have, if we do this it will be easier to stay on the path that we on and do the right thing. The 2nd attack once the seed of discontent is planted Satan attacks with disbelief. The book didn't use this example, I'll use it because this was the first thing popped into my head while reading this chapter. In the Old Testament the Jews was about to enter the Promise Land but had to travel in circles in the wilderness for 40 years because of their unbelief. If only they had paid more attention on how much bigger God is, they would have entered the Promise Land sooner. The last attack Satan used with Eve and the rest of mankind is deification. I'm all for taking care of ourselves and all, but it's bad when we make it all about ourselves and start asking the question, what's in it for me? So much so that pride enters into the heart. Discontent, Disbelief, and Deification caused Eve and the rest of mankind to fall, so we should keep a close eye to our own hearts, or we will fall the same way.

I read the back of the book, the summary, and about the author (Emeal "E. Z". Zwayne). I then read the reviews by some big-name Christian men, which I know of some of these and enjoy hearing (Dr. John MacArthur, Kirk Cameron, Jack Hibbs, Ray Comfort, Dr. Mike, Fabarez, Dr. Tony Wood, Todd Friel, Dr. Owen Strachan, Phil Johnson, Justin Peters, and Philip De Courcy). The Foreword was a great summary of the book and one last review, the foreword was by Ken Ham. The Preface was awesome, getting me warmed up to the book. Then I read chapter one, which was great. Chapter One, The Theater of War, Setting The Stage. The chapter starts with "A Man Forged In Fire", which tells the story of John Basilone, who fought in the Pacific Campaign of World War Two. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor and died in Iwo Jima, I encourage everyone to look up his story. "E. Z." then gives a man-to-man talk about real manhood, then asks what type of warrior are you? He then gives hope for the weary and a battle plan for the battle. Then he ends with preventative preparedness and knowing your enemies. This is also a Gospel center and Bible center book. It's been awesome so far and get better.