Human Guinea Pigs

Scientists conduct experiments on guinea pigs to find out if a certain treatment works and if it will have any adverse side effects. Some guinea pigs grow tumors, get sick, or even die from the experiment. If the test harms the guinea pigs, it will probably harm humans in a similar way.

The world is filled with human guinea pigs. We can avoid a lot of heartache by learning from others’ mistakes. Humans have experimented with risky behaviors thousands of times, so there’s no need for you to experiment with them too. Don’t say, “It happened to them, but it won’t happen to me.” Just open your eyes and carefully observe everything that happened to them. The side effects won’t be obvious at first, but given time the results are guaranteed to show up.

Human guinea pigs have experimented with drugs and alcohol to get a brief thrill, but the side effects will show up later—addictions, ruined families, poverty, and sometimes death. Humans have caught incurable diseases by experimenting with immoral lifestyles. You don’t need to perform the experiment yourself because the consequences will happen to you too. Don’t kid yourself into thinking you’re the lone exception in the entire world.

King Solomon, who was the wisest man on earth, learned lessons from human guinea pigs. He observed a naïve young man who visited a harlot, which ended in a tragic result (Prov. 7:6-27). He observed a lazy man who didn’t take care of his property, which led to financial ruin (Prov. 24:30-34). He also observed how wise people lived, which resulted in a life of peace and happiness (Prov. 3:13-18).

Everyone gets to choose how they will spend their life on earth. In making your decision, you would be wise to closely examine the human guinea pigs. They will show you exactly what will happen to you if you choose to follow their path. www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com 

Making Life Count Ministries

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Life is a Jigsaw Puzzle

If you are going to be a God-follower, you must learn to see the big picture of what He wants to accomplish in your life and not get upset by what you’re going through right now. Life can be compared to a jigsaw puzzle. 

The puzzle has a picture on the box of what it will look like after all the pieces are in place. But when you open the box, all you can see is a bunch of funny-shaped pieces that seem impossible to connect. As you get started, some pieces will make you puzzled. They look unnecessary, but they are all essential to form the final picture. It takes patience to trust God to make the pieces fit correctly, but once they are all in place, you will understand why they were necessary. It’s not obvious when you’re going through difficult situations, but later you’ll see how God used them as a part of His plan. 

God gave Joseph in the Old Testament a couple of dreams of the future to show him what the final jigsaw picture would look like (Gen. 37:5-11). He would one day be a world ruler and save Israel during a severe famine. Joseph had to keep the completed picture in mind as he experienced some terrible trials. One piece of the puzzle was being thrown into a pit in the wilderness. Another piece was being sold into slavery. Another piece was being falsely accused and thrown into prison. But if you left out any of those pieces of the puzzle, the final good outcome would not have occurred.

When someone throws you in a pit, sells you into slavery, or falsely accuses you, remember that God didn’t cause those things, but He will overrule them and use them for His purposes (read about the Chess Game in my February 1 Devotional). This is why you must not become bitter at the people who mistreat you, but by faith keep a good attitude, knowing that God has the final say on everything. He will make the final picture of your life look amazing, just like He did with Joseph. www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com 

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Making Life Count Ministries

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God & Satan's Chess Game

The sovereignty of God over the events here on earth can be compared to a chess game between the Lord and the devil. People are the pawns. A clear example of this chess game between good and evil is demonstrated by what happened to Joseph (Gen. 37-41).

Satan made the first move. Joseph’s brothers hated him, so they threw him into a pit in the wilderness (37:18-24).

Then God moved His chess piece. Although Joseph didn’t know it at the time, God wanted him in Egypt, so He sent a taxi to pick him up. Midianite traders passed by on their way to Egypt and his brothers sold him to them. God directed their steps on the right path at the right time (37:28). 

The devil made another move. After arriving in Egypt, the Midianites and sold him as a slave to Potiphar, who was Pharaoh’s officer (37:36).

God moved again. The Lord caused all that Joseph did to prosper (39:2-3).

Satan made a temptation move. Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph (39:7). 

God moved on Joseph’s heart. Joseph ran away from the temptation (39:12).

The devil made a false accusation move. Potiphar’s wife twisted the facts and lied about Joseph, which landed him in prison (39:14-20).

God moved again. The Lord again caused him to prosper (Gen. 39:21-23). He interpreted the dream of Pharaoh’s cupbearer, who was also in prison, that he would be restored to his office in three days. Joseph asked that he mention him to Pharaoh and get him out of prison (40:9-14).

Satan made his move. The cupbearer forgot about Joseph for two more years (40:23).

God moved again by crowning him. The Pharaoh has a couple of dreams that couldn’t be interpreted. The cupbearer finally mentions Joseph to him, who interprets the dreams. As a reward, Pharaoh promoted him to ruler over Egypt (41:1-43). God wins!

You see, if you live to please God, it doesn’t really matter what others do to you. They are just pawns in His hand, and He will make sure you win. www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com  www.makinglifecount.net Twitter:  @Kent Crockett

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Making Life Count Ministries

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Satan Can Plant and Remove Seeds

Jesus told a parable, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. . . The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’” (Matthew 13:24-28)

In this parable, the enemy came at night and sowed weeds in their field while the slaves were sleeping. They didn’t realize what the enemy had done because it wasn’t obvious at first. But after the wheat and tares sprang up together, the slaves couldn’t understand how tares got in the field when the landowner had only sown good seed. The landowner explained to the slaves that his enemy had done it. Even though he hadn’t seen the enemy do it, he figured out the tares came from bad seed that was sown by someone who hated him. Here are 2 tactics that Satan uses:

1. Satan can remove good seed planted in people’s hearts. In the Parable of the Sower (Matt. 13:3-23), Jesus said the evil one has the ability to snatch away good seed sown in a person’s heart (v.19). The good seed is God’s Word (Mark 4:14) which will produce good fruit (13:8), so the devil’s first tactic is to attack the Bible. When someone hears God’s Word, he or she must decide to receive and act upon it. If someone doesn’t do this, the evil one can actually take it away, presumably through making the person forget about it before it can take root.

2. Satan can plant immoral seeds in people’s hearts. His second tactic is to plant immoral seeds in people’s hearts while they are “sleeping.” This means they aren’t aware of what’s happening to them in the spiritual realm. The enemy isn’t noticeable when he tempts people. He plants his tares in people’s hearts and it is not until later that the harmful consequences become obvious.

He’s busy sowing seeds of hate and discord, seeds of unfaithfulness in marriages, and discontentment in people’s hearts. The world is in such a mess today because the immoral seeds sown by the devil have taken over the field. Yet some people have never figured out their troubles began as tiny seeds sown by a spiritual enemy while they were sleeping.

How can you prevent tares from being sown in your heart? By staying spiritually aware and refusing to let him trespass on your property. “Let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober” (1 Thess. 5:6). Let the good seed produce its good fruit, and keep the corrupt seed from entering your heart. If it’s already in there, you can pull the weeds out (repentance) and let the Holy Spirit germinate God’s Word in your heart. It will change your life. www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com  www.makinglifecount.net Twitter:  @Kent Crockett

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Reaping What We Sow

Reader's Digest told a story about a company that glued a tiny seed to a brochure that was advertising their product. The brochure said, "If you have the faith as a mustard seed in our product, it will produce profound results for you." Several months later, a customer wrote back saying, "You will be very interested to know that I planted your mustard seed and now I have a beautiful plant covered with tomatoes!"  It was a tomato seed, not a mustard seed. Keep two principles in mind:

1. We reap what we sow.  Galatians 6:7 says, "Don't be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap." If a farmer plants corn, he’s not going to reap okra. If you plant watermelon seeds, you will reap watermelons, not asparagus. I can look at a field of wheat and tell you exactly what kind of seed was sown, even though I wasn't there to watch the farmer plant it. We always reap the kind of seed we plant.

The Scripture warns, "Don't be deceived" because many people think they can sow evil seeds and not suffer any harmful consequences. But they will. On the other hand, wise people sow good seeds because they want to reap a good harvest.  And they will.

2. We reap later than we sow.  What we are planting doesn’t become obvious until much later. The consequences, whether positive or negative, will be delayed—sometimes for years. People who do evil will not get away with it. And people who do good will be thrilled when the harvest comes. Galatians 6:9 says, "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary." 

So keep planting good seeds. And don’t lose heart if nothing seems to be happening. The harvest is coming! www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com  www.makinglifecount.net  @Kent Crockett

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Making Life Count Ministries

P.O. Box 680174

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Keeping Your New Year's Resolutions

One man said, "Here it is February and I've kept every one of my New Year's resolutions. Yep, I've kept every one of them in an envelope in my desk." Why do so many resolutions fail? Three things are required to make a lasting change in your life: 

1) A decision to make a change

2) A point in time when it begins 

3) The power to make it happen.

New Year's brings the first two. We make lists of the things we've decided to change and then mark January 1st on the calendar as the starting point. We soon find out they don’t stick because we don't have the will-power to follow them through.

The reason is we're trying to conquer the desires of the flesh by using the strength of the flesh. The "flesh" in the Bible means our natural desires and impulses, which causes the problems we're trying to resolve. When we try to change using our own strength, we fail because "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" (Matt. 26:41). The flesh isn’t strong enough, nor is it willing enough, to make the change.

Quit depending on your own strength and yield yourself completely to the Lord for His power. Then you will "be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man" (Eph. 3:16). God promises to give you the power through the Holy Spirit to make the changes in your life that He desires, which is a whole lot better than making more resolutions that you can’t keep.

www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com  www.makinglifecount.net  @Kent Crockett

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Making Life Count Ministries

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670 Trillion Hairs and Counting

Do you ever wonder if God really knows what’s going on in your life? Jesus revealed an amazing fact when He said, “Indeed, the very hairs on your head are numbered” (Luke 12:7). The average number of hairs on a person’s head is 100,000. Most people shed about 100 hairs a day, and since the world’s population increases by 200,000 people each day, the total number of hairs on the planet is in constant fluctuation.

The world’s population is approximately 6.7 billion. If we multiply that number by 100,000, we find that God is keeping track of 670 trillion hairs on people’s heads. And that’s not counting the beards! We would not have known this incredible fact about God’s knowledge if Jesus hadn’t told us. (The Sure Cure for Worry, Kent Crockett, Chosen Books 2013, p.72).

So why did Jesus tell us this? To assure us that God does know what’s going on in our lives. Our faith will grow as we grasp how great and powerful our Lord is. If God knows the smallest details about everyone in the world, can you see how it would be wise for us to completely surrender our lives to Him?

www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com  www.makinglifecount.net  @Kent Crockett

Making Life Count Ministries

P.O. Box 680174

Prattville, Alabama 36068-0174

www.makinglifecount.net