#Acts 16:14

[soaringeaglesingingjoy]

How to pray for unbelievers

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. (Romans 10:1)

Paul prays that God would convert Israel. He prays for her salvation! He does not pray for ineffectual influences, but for effectual influences. And that is how we should pray too.

We should take the new covenant promises of God and plead with God to bring them to pass in our children and our neighbors and on all the mission fields of the world.

God, take out of their flesh the heart of stone and give them a new heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 11:19)

Circumcise their heart so that they love you! (Deuteronomy 30:6)

Father, put your Spirit within them and cause them to walk in your statutes. (Ezekiel 36:27)

Grant them repentance and a knowledge of the truth that they may escape from the snare of the devil. (2 Timothy 2:25–26)

Open their hearts so that they believe the gospel! (Acts 16:14)

When we believe in the sovereignty of God — in the right and power of God to elect and then bring hardened sinners to faith and salvation — then we will be able to pray with no inconsistency, and with the confidence of great biblical promises for the conversion of the lost.

Thus, God has pleasure in this kind of praying because it ascribes to him the right and honor to be the free and sovereign God that he is in election and salvation.

#faith #christian #bibleverses #verse image #visual verse #daily devotions #daily devotion #desiring god #solid joys #Romans 10:1 #Ezekiel 11:19 #Deuteronomy 30:6 #Ezekiel 36:27 #2 Timothy 2:25–26 #Acts 16:14

[visenyaism]

george rr martin’s understanding of child maturity and development is consistently at least 2 years too fast which leads to a lot of problems and weird bad things in all of asoiaf. however three year old joffrey velaryon, a literal illiterate infant, instigating the jumping and subsequent de-eying of aemond targaryen is not one of those problems that baby simply craved violence and conflict

#asoiaf #the 16s act like they’re 18 14s like 16 etc etc #who gave five year old luke a knife sharp enough to de eye someone. #most 3 yr olds don’t even have the motor control or attention span to go sword training?

[invinciblerodent]

guess how many times i had to reload for this boy^ (8 CHA, absolutely no proficiency) to successfully fail a DC 15 persuasion roll

(it was 4. I reloaded 4 times until he finally failed it.)

#squirrel plays bg3 #oc: petyr wildbrook #just.... 16. 20. 19. 18. #finally rolled a 14 (with his -1 so technically that was a pass too) and i was like........ yeah i'll take that #who needs the lucky feat if you roll so goddamn well that it DEFIES PLOT #entered act 2 tonight and we still have yet to *non-purposefully* fail a roll of any importance #(tho i do admit to cheesing the zaith'isk positively because i didn't want lae'zel to have perma-debuffs)

[quirkle2]

i wish i wouldn't do this to myself. why do i buy games on steam and then not play them for a while and then hate them and request a refund way outside of the refund time window

#qktalks #this is about sonic frontiers . imso fucking sorry #the game LOOKED awesome it looked fun. the beginning is terrible i feel pained to even say it #feels clunky. won't stop FUCKING bothering you with tutorials #killed the first boss and the game literally said ''hey it dropped something. that's important btw. pick it up. don't forget to pick it up' #i am playing a video game. what else am i going to do. #it definitely feels like breath of the wild if it constantly bothered u like every ten feet with reminders #imso sorry sonic frontiers. u had sm potential. u Have so much. i am simply a whiny bitch #also the game looks . surprisingly bad ? #i thought it would look a lot better. it doesn't look shitty by any means but it also doesn't .....look good #the voice acting at the beginning too leaves ...smth to be desired #i have a mutual (hi parker) who loves sonic parker if ur reading this im on my hands and knees begging for forgiveness /silly #this is my first sonic game so maybe it was just not the best first choice ? idk #still love u sonic ur a silly little guy #actually the refund window is 14 days and i've had the game for 16 days ......... so maybe i can still make it #maybe . idk #steam please . i got it on sale i got it half off please just give me my $30 back.im hungry steam #<- lives with her parents and does not buy the food

[dreamsy990]

fuck akuroku as a ship btw not only because its pedophilic because thats obviously a huge issue. but also i think we should be able to have platonic relationships with the same amount of devotion as any romance. not everyone who loves each other is in love DEREK.

#not trying to downplay the issues with it being pedophilic because thats actually a huge issue #context for my non kh moots #as of kh3 lea/axel is roughly late 20s #maybe early 30s depending on how old he was in bbs #and roxas is (physically) 14-16 (hes only been alive for a bit over a year #but also what i want to say #axel and roxas have an amazingly written relationship #theyre two of the strongest characters in the series in terms of writing honestly #their dynamic in canon is two best friends who at the end of the day just want to stay together #but due to circumstances and also a bit of axel keeping secrets shit falls apart #when you get to kh2 roxas is gone and axel will do literally ANYTHINNG to bring him back #he doesnt care about his own life or soras or anyone else who stands in his way because he is going to get his friend back #axels role as an antagonist later in kh2 comes from his devotion #he wants roxas back. he says himself he wanted to see roxas again because he made him feel as though he had a heart #in the end he gives up and dies to protect sora #and i think a lot of people take 'he made me feel like i had a heart' out of context to say its romantic #at face value its easy to interpret it that way but in context he goes on to say 'its funny... you make me feel the same' to sora #the way i interpreted it at least wasnt that he was in love but that both roxas and sora's love for others radiated onto him #if we look at days (i know. sacrelige for a kh2 discussion. fuck you) axel is constantly questioning why roxas acts like he has a heart #he straight up asks him why he does that and roxas is confused. thats just how he is #<- context for that conversation is that roxas is upset on xions behalf because saïx called her a mistake #what he means by 'having a heart' is feeling things and caring about things and there is no inherent romantic connotation #he means in the most literal sense that roxas made him care about things. we dont know what exactly that was referencing in kh2 #but we can take a pretty good fucking guess #but lets look at com for a second because theres a scene talking about the other half of that line #axel goes behind everyones back to do something to help sora and naminé and after he does he is SHOCKED to realize hes enjoying it #and then he says 'you really ARE something!' about sora #at least as of kh2 what they meant was feeling emotions. roxas made axel feel as though he had emotions. he made him feel like he could feel #anyways. what im saying is axels line could be taken as something romantic but i think its more interesting than that #i dont have enough tags left to continue word vomiting sorry </3

[tyrannuspitch]

another very interesting thing - we mostly see the clones from the perspective of the originals, so we see them as aligned with grief/stellenbosch/etc and their whole abusive institution. but that definitely isn't the whole story.

the original mystery of point blanc is how they're making the pupils to act so eerily, inhumanly perfect. what kind of nightmarish and/or horrendously invasive treatment they're putting them through to make them act precisely how they want. and the answer we're given is "they're being replaced with clones". but once you remember that clones are, in fact, also people... that's not an answer at all. it's just deferring the question. how did they make the clones to act like that?

and then there's the whole military, institutional feeling of point blanc - the uniforms, the locked doors, the armed guards, the fact of being trapped in the wilderness and cut of from the outside world... all this applies to clones even more strongly than the originals. they haven't always been at point blanc, but they have always been hidden away somewhere. their whole existence is a secret. very early on, right after stellenbosch hits alex, either she or greif tells alex something like, "the sooner you realise that here we can do exactly what we like to you, the better" - and that's been the clones' whole lives.

aaand there's also the surgery. yes, of course it's disturbing and awful for the originals to be drugged and photographed and studied and to have copies made of them. but how much worse is it to have your own face and body taken away from you and replaced with someone else's? the clones are all different heights -- some of them will have had limbs broken and reset to achieve that. they have different eye colours, different hand sizes, different teeth. and the recovery time expected of them is insane. no matter how many drugs you give someone, doesn't any major injury/surgery cause, like, a state of shock? i don't think you can medicate away a bruised survival instinct. and i think trying, and expecting them to just immediately be fine, will probably be pretty damaging.

and of course. there's also the fact that greif is fully prepared to just murder all of his own children and start again. and stellenbosch is clearly upset by the idea but doesn't even try to argue. so it's not only the originals who were in danger of replacement - the clones were in danger of exactly that too.

and like... idk. they're greif's clones and personal army, so they're not allowed to be distinct from him; they all act uncannily similar, so it doesn't seem like they're allowed identities distinct from one another; and their life purpose is to replace these other children, so they're supposed to entirely replace their name, appearance, and identity with them. AND apparently another batch of clones would mean much the same to greif as this one. they're nothing and no-one; they're empty vessels for his masterplan; they're subsumed into being part of him and each other and potential future siblings to the point that in his mind they can't even really die. what the fuck.

i'm just rambling now but like. god. nightmarish in so many different ways.

#teenage superspy tag #alex rider #evil clone apologism hours. yes i know they kill for fun but in their defence look at this shit #also theyre 14 which in and of itself should be consider cruel and unusual punishment. #*unclear if they're ALL 14. clone!parker acts like a 16y/o. idk. #i originally assumed they were octuplets but there might be an age range of two or three years. #but still. being 16 also sucks very much.

[thebeautyofscripture]

One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

Acts 16:14-15

#bible #scripture #beauty #nature #outdoors #sunset #sky #clouds #flowers #purple #lydia #bible verse #acts #acts 16:14-15

[quick-drawn]

one reason jesse got away with some of the shit that he did in his deadlock days is because he fully passed as a grown ass adult at 15 years old —

#✯ — [ ʰᵒʳˢᵉˢ ᶤᶰ ᵗʰᵉ ᵇᵃᶜᵏ ] ⨯ ooc #growing up he was always taller than all the other kids — lanky as hell. he was 5'11" at age 14. #hit 6' by 15 — #16 he had a decent beard...not anything like what he's got in later days but only patchy under his chin. #farm work treated the rest of him pretty well — don't need a gym when you've got a trailer of bales to unload by yourself #by noon. #people didn't have a problem making deals with a CHILD because they never knew he was one. #young ? yes. #but looking at him and having conversations & negotiations with him — he was never challenged about his age. #that plus his track record and general reputation — nobody had a problem handing over money or trusting him & the gang with their property. #and tbh it's a little sad actually — and then there's also #smth smth about emotionally never getting the chance to be a CHILD and thats the reason why you will occasionally find him acting like one #anyway what was i talking about #tbd

[rotomartsblog]

Four of my five current interests can be described as “cartoon about mostly prepubescent kids doing wacky stuff” and yet all four of them are so drastically different in tone

#camp camp #codename: kids next door #strawberry shortcake #south park #the four cartoons in question #the fifth interest is eddsworld #which is ‘cartoon about adult men who act like kids doing wacky stuff’ #the ‘mostly’ is because camp camp and south park also have adults do ‘wacky’ shit as well #knd has adults and teens trying to stop said ‘wacky stuff’ #and 2/4 of the ssc cartoons have her be prepubescent #she’s 6 in the 80s and about 10 I think in the 03 version #until 07 where’s she aged up to be about 16 cause she can drive now #bba is hard cause the wiki says she’s 12-14 but I actually think she’s around 18 years old she has a full time job and is kinda a caretaker? #bitbc she can drive and has a job but she’s visibly younger than the adults and older teens in that series so she’s probably about 13 #and big apple city just has some weird laws about this stuff #rotomtalks

[phosphorescent-naidheachd]

Saturday Snippet

Some days she wonders what her life would have been like if Mal had survived. 

She would have stayed with him, of course—there never was any question of that. But would they have been like the pieces of the dish she had Irina repair, melded into something beautiful and new? Or would they have been like the shards of that broken blue cup—unintentionally cutting each other with jagged edges that no longer fit together?

She’ll never know. 

(That’s the hardest part, the not-knowing. The aching, empty permanence of it.)

—I’ll tell you how the sun rose (a ribbon at a time)

Premise: Mal and the Darkling die on the Fold. Alina doesn’t.

#who me? making progress on a fic? it's more likely than you think! #now i just need this energy to return to me for wtwway #have i mentioned how much i hate transitioning between acts in a multi-arc story? b/c i do!!! #that's where i got stuck with TNOF and i *refuse* to let that happen here #things done by phos #i'll tell you how the sun rose #alina starkov #7~~ #8~~ #9~~ #10~~ #11~~ #12~~ #13~ #14~ #15~ #16~~ #17~~ #18~~ #19~ #20~ #grishaverse #malyen oretsev #malina #albeit primarily in the past #grishaverse spoilers #well sort of? #it's a canon divergence au #wip

[judgementkazukun]

good afternoon i am thinking about kiryu—who fully believes he can solve his problems by just completely erasing himself from the narrative—being told by his own adoptive daughter that his presence is holding her back 🥲

#kiryu: guess ill go into hiding 🤷 #we stan haruka but also the writers making her act like an adult from ages 9-14 and then having her do that at 16 #Tatianna voice: Choices™️ #ooc

[officialyourdailyinspiration]

Discovering Christ Day by Day

by Donald S. Fortner

Devotional for November 14th

Today’s Reading: Acts 15-16

Whatever comes to pass must come to pass; because God has ordained it for good. We must not judge things by their outward appearance. It may seem tragic that Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown in prison; but it was not. The best thing that could happen did happen. Paul and Silas must go to that prison in Philippi, because there was an elect sinner there whom God determined must hear the Gospel and be saved. “And it came to pass!” Here is another example of the soul cheering truth of God’s sovereign providence (Psalms 76:10). In the midst of evil, God accomplishes good (Romans 8:28). Our Father sovereignly employed the angry rage of a wicked mob, the illegal actions of a corrupt judge, and the tormenting hiss of the old serpent to accomplish the salvation of His elect. What a wonderful, comforting thing this is to contemplate!

#Discovering Christ Day by Day #Donald S. Fortner #devotional #Acts 15-16 #November 14 #2022

[cavewolf]

it's hard being an older sister lillie truther in a world of older brother gladion believers

#i dont care whats canon she's older to me #i always saw lillie as like 16 and gladion as 14 #like 16 is a sort of appropriate age to independently take your sick mother to another country and care for her #and i know she acts a little less mature at times but we need to remember here she is traumatised #plus she's taller than the player character and hau by quite a bit #as a recently ex-16 year old i can vouch for it. they're not as mature as you think #its why mc/lillie and hau/gladion have always really grossed me out

[my-apollo-gies]

i think a lot of people turn a blind eye to frazels age gap on the basis of consistency errors. like, hazels canonically 12 and franks canonically 16, which, on its own is obviously too big an age gap, but if you take into consideration when hazel was born and first died (which, like nico, is a bit hard to place, but this is going off of the most accepted fanon) hazel should be 15, and not 12, which would- in the vast majority of peoples eyes- be an acceptable age gap. however, a lot of people aren't willing to accept hazel as 15 because a) shes very clearly 12 in the books and b) this affects nicos arc, which more people care about, as, if hazels 15, nico no longer goes from being a younger brother to an older brother

#i personally read hazel as 12 #but then again she does act mature for a 12 yo #which goes into a while misogynoir issue that im really not equiped to talk about #but yeah the age just sticks so theres that whole issue #although i think its funny to take notice to other ships that get cancelled for age gaps #the obvious one being percico where again we have consistency errors #the age gap is anywhere between 2 years (14 and 16 in hoo) #and 4 years (10 and 14 in ttc then 15 and 19 in toa) #and like theres obviously other things wrong w percico #but its interesting that that one would get someone cancelled instantly whereas a lot of people turn blind eyes to frazel #side note i dont ship either this is all just speculation

[patronsaint-ofthedenial]

I can't get over the fact that when I went to get a package because my dad wasn't home the postwoman asked if I was over 14. I get that she had to make sure but still 🧍‍♂️

#even if i don't look 18 there's no way i look like i'm under 14. i look at least 16 #but tbh 14 year olds do try to look and act more mature these days so i get it

[prettyboysmlm]

love how anytime i’m around my mom she ends up yelling at me

#i’m ready to gtfo already #stop fucking assuming how i feel #you don’t know shit about me #you don’t know that i’m a boy who likes boys and who’s done drugs and who hates you and who’s gonna leave you high and dry as soon as i can #you don’t know my thoughts or my fears or my likes #you don’t know shit. #go fuck yourself. #you make me feel like a fucking failure when i’m 13 14 15 16 17 and i don’t know shit about the world yet #you expect me to act like an adult and then when i do you beat the shit out of me and tell me that i’m not grown that i don’t have any power #god you make me want to kms #ugh #sorry for ruining the vibe for tonight i’m just pissed off #living in the woods more like dying in the woods /hj #k.txt #vent tw