chenchen 𓆩♡𓆪

Hope in God! For I shall again praise Him, my Salvation and my God.

[chenchen 𓆩♡𓆪 @flourmelon]

@DadManG @iamrjknight Good movie!

[chenchen 𓆩♡𓆪 @flourmelon]

@lsanger 😂😂

[Jeremiah Knight @iamrjknight]

Before I ever took my first breath, the Lord saw the whole story of my life with perfect clarity.

He saw every failure, every sinful thought, every season of wandering, every hidden weakness, every foolish choice, and every moment where I would grieve Him. Nothing about me surprised Him. Nothing appeared later that He had not already known from eternity.

“Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O LORD, You know it all” (Psalm 139:4).

And yet, in mercy beyond all understanding, He set His love upon me in Christ. Not because He saw strength in me. Not because He saw future worthiness in me. Not because I would prove myself faithful. He loved because He chose to love, and His grace was rooted in His own eternal purpose.

“Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4).

This is what breaks pride. God did not wait until I became clean before He showed mercy. He knew the depth of my sin before I knew it myself, and still Christ came for me, bled for me, bore wrath for me, and brought me to Himself.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

How can the soul remain proud before such mercy? He knew me fully, and still did not cast me away. He saw the worst in me, and still gave the best of heaven for me.

That kind of love does not make a man casual. It brings him low. It makes him worship. It makes him tremble with gratitude before the God whose mercy was never blind, never weak, and never uncertain.

“We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

[chenchen 𓆩♡𓆪 @flourmelon]

This is so helpful! I had no idea Mormons baptized the dead… some of the other things like multiple gods, lack of trinity, etc I have seen through videos of Jeff Durbin. I have a nice mormon neighbor that I say hi to infrequently but I have not had more conversation besides knowing they go to church most Sundays and saying that we believe in different things/Jesus. Idk how to get into a deeper conversation (it’s an older man) and am anxious to bc I don’t understand their theology, but should pray more about more opportunities

[Jeremiah Knight @iamrjknight]

https://t.co/Y9FHR1o7lZ

[chenchen 𓆩♡𓆪 @flourmelon]

@2ndHomie @Nikthenord Haha 😅 I better learn more about mormonism then

[Jeremiah Knight @iamrjknight]

The argument that Paul may have been previously married comes from a few observations. He was a Pharisee of high standing, and Jewish tradition in his day strongly expected Pharisees to be married, often viewing celibacy as a violation of the command to be fruitful and multiply. He also voted in formal proceedings, possibly as a member of the Sanhedrin or a similar body, which traditionally required marriage as a qualification. Acts 26:10. And when he writes in 1 Corinthians 7:8 to the unmarried and to widows, the Greek word he uses for himself, agamos, can mean either never married or no longer married, leaving the question genuinely open from the text itself.

So the position that Paul may have been a widower is not a fringe view. It is held by careful interpreters across centuries based on the cultural and contextual evidence. The position that he was never married is also defensible. The text itself does not settle the question one way or the other, and the silence of Scripture on his marital history before his conversion means we are working from inference rather than direct statement.

What I would say practically is this. Whether Paul was previously married or had always been single, the position he held when he wrote 1 Corinthians 7 was the position of an unmarried man, and the inspired counsel he gave from that position carries the full weight of apostolic authority regardless of how he arrived at it. The lessons he draws about undivided devotion, the freedom of the unmarried life, and the goodness of singleness apply equally whether he had always lived as a single man or had returned to singleness after the death of a wife. The text we have is what we are responsible to live by, and the text supports the calling of singleness as honoured by God whether or not Paul had walked through marriage before he wrote it.

Your instinct about your own singleness being given by God for now is biblically sound. Matthew 19:11 and 12 indicates that this calling is given by God to those He has determined to give it to, and the receiving of it as gift rather than as deficiency is the posture that allows the calling to bear the fruit it was designed to bear. Walk in it faithfully. The Lord knows what He has assigned and for what duration, and the same God who has given it for now is the God who will give whatever follows in His perfect timing. Grace and peace to you.

[chenchen 𓆩♡𓆪 @flourmelon]

@iamrjknight Thank you, that is very good to know!

[chenchen 𓆩♡𓆪 @flourmelon]

@Nikthenord Thank you, God is amazing!

[chenchen 𓆩♡𓆪 @flourmelon]

A Great Awakening is a superb watch! Awake, O sleeper!

[chenchen 𓆩♡𓆪 @flourmelon]

@EkoLovesYou Just watched it today - so good!

[chenchen 𓆩♡𓆪 @flourmelon]

@iamrjknight My God is so good

[Jeremiah Knight @iamrjknight]

Do not rush simply because you feel pressure to move.

There are seasons when the wisest obedience is to wait before the Lord, pray, search His Word, and refuse to act from fear, panic, pride, or impatience. Confusion is a dangerous place from which to make decisions.

“Wait for the LORD; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the LORD” (Psalm 27:14).

Waiting on God is not laziness. It is faith refusing to run ahead of His providence. It is the soul saying, “I will not force a door open just because silence makes me uncomfortable.”

“The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:9).

When the Lord requires action, He is able to make the path plain. He may do it through His Word, wise counsel, providence, conviction, or necessary duty. But He will not honour decisions made in rebellion, haste, or unbelief.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

So do not confuse waiting with weakness. Sometimes standing still before God requires more faith than moving quickly. Better to wait under His hand than to run ahead and ask Him to bless what He never commanded.

“He who believes in it will not be disturbed” (Isaiah 28:16).

[chenchen 𓆩♡𓆪 @flourmelon]

@GovPritzker It has been loss after loss since you came into office :( there seems to be no earthly hope for Illinois.
I am feeling very irked, but I pray for your salvation.

[chenchen 𓆩♡𓆪 @flourmelon]

Wow, if this really happens, that’s a generational change. So sad for future Illinois children. Democrat leadership ran my beloved state to the ground.

[Yogi @Houseofyogi]

Chicago lost the Bears this week. A team that's been in the city since 1921.

They didn't lose them to a bigger market or a better deal. The Bears decided they'd rather be a tenant in Indiana than deal with Illinois for one more year.

Think about how badly you have to run a place for that to be the smart move.

They lost them for two reasons.

The people running Illinois would rather villainize a builder than keep one. And they're bad at their jobs.

In 2021 the Bears spent $197M on the old Arlington Park racetrack.

Before they could break ground, Cook County valued the empty lot at $192M (Bears said $60M). They were salivating at the chance to extort a building that didn't even exist yet.

That fight dragged on for years.

The Bears were ready to put $2B into the stadium. All they wanted was a promise the county wouldn't reassess them into oblivion, plus $855M for infrastructure everyone uses. Roads, transit, utilities. A $3B project, two thirds of it private money pouring into Illinois.

Springfield had since 2021 to get this done. They dragged it to the final night of session, passed it through the Senate at 3:39AM, and the House went home without voting.

So now it's all gone.

The funniest part? This started because Cook County tried to grab the tax early. They knew a built stadium would pay $53M a year. Now they get under $4M on a vacant lot. No jobs, no buildout, no new anything.

Congrats on fighting for scraps and losing the whole prize.

Pritzker: they're "an $8.5B valued business" that doesn't need propping up.

But be smart for a second. Almost every NFL city throws in public money for a stadium. Not charity. The return is real. Tourism, hotels, restaurants, jobs, game days, property tax on a huge development. The math works.

Indiana did the math. While Illinois sat on it for years, Indiana passed a bill in months, put up $1B, and took the team.

And the Bears took a worse deal to get there. In Illinois they were going to own their stadium. In Indiana they rent it from the state. A team that wanted to build its own home gave up ownership just to escape Chicago.

Nobody won but Indiana. The Bears lost their stadium. Illinois lost the team, the $2B, and $53M a year in taxes.

Pritzker after they left: "I wasn't willing to give up billions of dollars of taxpayer money to give it to a billionaire-owned family or team."

There it is. "Billionaire-owned."

That's how Democrats talk about any business right before they run it out of town. Call them a billionaire, act like you're saving working families, take a victory lap while the tax base drives across the state line.

Meanwhile they're running the whole state into the ground. And you already know how this ends. You're living in it.

Pensions are $143B in the hole, worst in the country and not close. You pay $6,285 a year in property taxes, double the $2,969 national average, for a city that's $1.15B in the red. The mayor called its finances "the point of no return."

When you run things this badly, you sell what's left.

They leased the parking meters for 75 years to Morgan Stanley and a sovereign wealth fund in Abu Dhabi. Took $1.15B and burned through it in two years. The investors already made it all back, with 58 years left to collect.

Sold the Skyway. Sold the downtown garages. Every asset that made money, gone for one check.

But a fixed property tax rate for a team that's been here 106 years? That's "propping up billionaires."

Companies are leaving. Boeing for Virginia. Caterpillar for Texas. Citadel for Miami. In 2023 alone Illinois lost 56,000 people and $6B in income to other states. The ones who left earned a third more than the ones who moved in.

Indiana didn't outbid anyone. AAA credit, 16 years straight. A $676M surplus. Fourth-lowest debt per person in the country. They just weren't a disaster.

Illinois could have collected $53M a year. It chose zero. Ignore all the bad management but make sure to stick it to those evil, pesky billionaires.

[Jeremiah Knight @iamrjknight]

Them - "Love is love."

NO, IT'S NOT.

No matter how hard the culture tries to twist and pervert it, love and truth are inseparable.

"Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;" 1 Cor 13:6

All attempts to redefine love fail miserably and miss Christ.

[chenchen 𓆩♡𓆪 @flourmelon]

@iamrjknight I am too often that shallow person. Lord, please make me quieter.