Guidelines for Living
June 17th, 2026

7 Guidelines to Deal with Frustration.

But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 1 Timothy 6:8



How do you combat frustration? Or must you just learn to live with it, like dandelions in your grass, dandruff in your hair, and wrinkles in your face? No! There are some things you can do to eliminate frustration and make your life less complicated. Jot them down on paper. Go to our website and download these guidelines. You can fight back.

Guideline #1: Consult with God before you make your plan. It’s here we often fail. Ignoring Him, we formulate our plan, then we ask Him to bless it, or call on Him to bail us out when we’re in trouble–instead of saying, “Lord, what do you want? Is what I have in mind in sync with your will and purpose for my life?” During the conquest of Canaan, the Gibeonites deceived Joshua, taking moldy bread and wearing old thread-bare clothes, saying they had come a long way, and wanted to make a treaty with Israel. They lied. They were deceivers, but Joshua fell for it. Their failure, says Joshua 9:14, came because Joshua and his associates “did not inquire of the LORD.” In other words, they didn’t ask God for wisdom or pray about making a treaty.

The moral: There are plenty of people and situations which will deceive you unless God opens your eyes and gives you discernment. So let your strategy be born from times of quiet prayer and meditation.

Guideline #2: Realize Murphy’s Law is as exacting as the laws of thermodynamics. Remember, simply put, Murphy’s Law is that if something can go wrong, it will. That’s a given. So, to eliminate the frustration of Murphy’s Law, you need to learn to plan ahead. Have a contingency plan so that if Plan A doesn’t work, you have Plan B which will get you where you want to go a different way. Arctic expeditions, space exploration, or getting to grandmother’s on a day when traffic is bad will succeed only if you have Plan B, and perhaps, Plan C or D as well. Avoid the frustration of getting caught in traffic by leaving early enough to cope with unavoidable traffic. Time for a cup of coffee at your destination is better than having to call and say, “Hey, I’m really sorry, but I can’t get there. I’m stuck in traffic.”

Guideline #3: Don’t expect to walk on water. Some of our frustrations are the result of attempting the impossible. Be realistic. It is better to have goals that you can achieve than to have them so lofty they are unrealistic—then you’re always frustrated, never achieving your expectations.

Guideline #4: To avoid frustration, act without reacting. OK, you get a negative response. Do you fight? Do you walk away? Or do you come back with a new approach? OK, you can’t climb the mountain. But you can tunnel through or go around, but don’t quit.

Guideline #5: Fix it or forget it. If your car is a source of frustration, at some point, it is better to park it and walk, get a new one, or buy a bicycle rather than just frustrate. Unfortunately, this doesn’t apply to people. You can’t trade in your brother-in-law for a new model. If you can’t fix it, ask God for the grace to love it like it is.

Guideline #6: Simplify, simplify, simplify. When I was struggling with a computer, my dad said, “Wouldn’t it be better to just get a good electric typewriter?” You see, simplifying can solve some frustrations.

Guideline #7: Refuse to let it get to you. You can put up a barrier that says, “This far and no further!”

Resource reading: 1 Peter 5:6-11

Many of you ask where I'm from. A 'mini- bio' is at the head of my page - It's quite lengthy !!
A shorter answer is 'from the Great Lakes area of Canada '
Canada is vast; second only to Russia in size, but with a small population of 42 million
Specifically, we live in the city of Barrie in the Province of Ontario.
We overlook a bay of Lake Simcoe - a relatively small lake.
It's the 'very tiny' piece of freshwater lake in the bottom right corner, in this Space overview of the Province of Ontario.
Stretching from the shores of the Great Lakes to the edge of the Arctic tundra, Ontario’s vast wilderness, forests, and waterways make it one of the most geographically diverse regions on Earth. From orbit, thousands of lakes shimmer like scattered mirrors across the landscape, while massive freshwater systems carve through the province like veins across the continent.
Home to more than 250,000 lakes containing roughly one-fifth of the world’s fresh water, Ontario looks less like a province from space… and more like a living ocean woven into the land itself.

BIBLE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS # 165
Section 15- Admonitions and Warnings.

CHAPTER 165, Covetousness.

1. What warning did Christ give concerning covetousness?

"And He said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." Luke 12:15.

2. What commandment forbids this sin?

"Thou shalt not covet." Ex. 20:17. Covetous: "Inordinately desirous; excessively eager to obtain and possess (especially money); avaricious."- Webster.

3. What showed this principle to have been strong in the rich man who already had abundance?

"And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." Luke 12:18,19.

4. What did God say to him?

"But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?" Verse 20.

5. What application of this parable did the Saviour make?

"So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." Verse 21.

6. What does Paul call covetousness?

"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry." Col. 3:5.

NOTE.- "Do not wade far out into the dangerous sea of this world's comfort. Take the good that God provides you, but say of it, 'It passeth away;' for indeed it is but a temporary supply for a temporary need. Never suffer your goods to become your god."- Spurgeon.

7. What do these sins bring upon mankind?

"For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience." Verse 6.

8. What double service did Christ say is impossible?

"Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Luke 16:13.

9. Of what sin were the Pharisees guilty?

"And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided Him." Verse 14.

10. What reply did Christ make?

"And He said unto them, Ye, are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." Verse 15.

11. How does the Lord regard the covetous?

"For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth." Ps. 10:3.

12. What did this sin lead Achan to do?

"When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold, . . . I coveted them, and took them." Joshua 7:21.

13. What did covetousness lead Judas to do?

"And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray Him unto them. And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray Him." Mark 14:10,11.

14. Why are the last days to be perilous?

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers." 2 Tim. 3:1,2.

15. What parable did Christ give to correct the false idea of the Pharisees that wealth was a sign of special favor with God?

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Luke 16: 19-31.

16. What did He point out as one of the dangers of the possession of wealth?

"And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto His disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! . . . Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!" Mark 10:23,24.

NOTE.- And how hard it is for those who have riches not to trust in them!

17. As a rule, what class generally accept the gospel?

"Harken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him?" James 2:5.

18. How difficult did Christ say it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God?

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." Mark 10:25.

NOTE.- If Christ here referred to a small, low gate in the walls of Jerusalem, called "The Needle's Eye," as is thought by some, the force of the statement still remains; for, before a camel could pass through this gate, it was necessary that he should be relieved of his burden, and get down on his knees and creep through.

19. Why was the rich young man desiring salvation, unwilling to sell what he had and give alms, as Christ told him to do?

"But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions." Matt. 19:16.

20. What is the love of money declared to be?

"For the love of money is the root of all evil." 1 Tim. 6:10.

21. What evils befall those who are determined to be rich?

"But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." Verse 9.

22. Who gives man the power to get wealth?

"But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth." Deut. 8:18.

23. How may all, rich and poor, honor God?

"Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase." Prov. 3:9.

24. What caution is given concerning riches?

"If riches increase, set not your heart upon them." Ps. 62:10.

25. Can riches be retained to men's hurt?

"There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt." Eccl. 5:13.

26. What charge is given to the rich?

"Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." 1 Tim. 6:17-19.

27. What makes rich without adding sorrow?

"The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it." Prov. 10:22.

28. How are true riches obtained?

"By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honor, and life." Prov. 22:4

29. How did Moses esteem the reproach of Christ?

"Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward." Heb. 11:26.

30. What two classes of rich men are mentioned in the Bible?

"There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches." Prov. 13:7.

NOTE.- In Luke 12:16-20 is an example of the first class; in Acts 4:34-37 are examples of the second.

31. What solemn warning is addressed to the rich who, in the last days, have heaped up treasure, and oppressed the poor?

"Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter." James 5:1-5.

32. Will silver or gold be able to deliver in the day of wrath?

"Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath." Zeph. 1:18. See also Prov. 11:4.

33. What will the rich men do with their money then?

"They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumbling-block of their iniquity." Eze. 7:19.

NOTES.- When the steamer "Central America," with nearly six hundred passengers aboard, was wrecked off Cape Hatteras, Sept. 12, 1857, in a fearful storm, many of the passengers who were returning miners from the gold-mines of California, divested themselves of their treasure belts and scattered the gold upon the cabin floors, telling those to take it who would, lest its weight about their persons should carry them to their death. "Full purses, containing in some instances thousands of dollars, lay around untouched. Carpetbags were opened, and the shining metal was poured out on the floor with the prodigality of death's despair. One of the passengers opened a bag and dashed about the cabin twenty thousand dollars in gold-dust, and told him who wanted to gratify his greed for gold to take it. But it was passed by untouched, as the veriest dross."- "Our first Century," pages 642,643.

When the steamship "Arctic" was lost from a collision in mid-ocean, Sept. 20, 1854, one passenger offered thirty thousand pounds sterling, or one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, if the life-boats would put back to save him. They turned to do so, but he sank before they reached him.- Id., page 614.

34. As stewards of God's gifts, what are we told to do?

"And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations." Luke 16:9. "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." 1 Peter 4:10.IS NOT the way to heavenly gain

Through earthly grief and loss? Rest must be won by toil and pain;

The crown repays the cross.

HENRY F. LYTE.

I would like to thank God for using the Bible Reading for the Home Circle to bless millions of souls. To the author and original producer, (though in truth and reality it's God's).

AMAZING FACTS
Daily Devotionals

Icebergs.

January 30th, 2026

On March 21, 2000, one of the largest icebergs ever seen broke free from the Antarctic’s Ross Ice Shelf. An image, taken from a polar satellite 435 miles up, alerted scientists and mariners to the iceberg’s birth. It is one of the largest ever seen at 183 miles long and 23 miles wide, with a surface area of 4,250 square miles. The biggest iceberg ever recorded was 208 miles long and 60 miles wide, a total of 12,000 square miles. That’s larger than the country of Belgium. Even more amazing, it was spotted floating in the South Pacific.

It’s astounding how far from the Polar regions icebergs can wander. Icebergs from the Arctic north have reached as far south as the island of Bermuda, a journey of 2,500 miles. One iceberg from the Antarctic has reached almost as far north as Rio de Janeiro, a journey of 3,440 miles. The tallest iceberg ever recorded was 550 feet high. That’s as tall as a 50-story building! But remember that only 10 percent of an iceberg’s mass is above water, meaning the bulk of this titan could have reached 4,000 feet deep.

I have also read there is so much ice stored on the continent of Antarctica, that if you could cut it into huge ice cubes one mile thick you would end up with 6 million cubes. Should all of that ice melt, it would raise the sea level over the entire world by 260 feet. Ice on Antarctica is so heavy that over the years it has pushed the continent itself down several hundred feet.

Jesus warned us in the last days, because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. How can we have our hearts warmed and our first loved rekindled in a spiritually cold world? Perhaps it is found in the words of John the Baptist: “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Luke 3:16).

When we invite Christ into our hearts and are filled with the Holy Spirit, there is a warming of our lives from within that will melt away the cold clutches of sin on our hearts. Then we will have purpose and not float aimlessly like a drifting iceberg.

Key Bible Texts

And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. (Matthew 24:12 KJV)

GUIDELINES FOR LIVING
January 23rd, 2026
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How Do I Seek an Invisible Kingdom?

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

​

When Jesus told the disciples that they were to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness, He used a strong word, one which means to earnestly seek something, something worthy of the time and effort it takes to reach that goal. Jesus rightfully was saying, “You can seek and find God’s kingdom, and when you do, all of the things that you spend your time pursuing will be yours along with spiritual resources you will never have when earning a living is your only goal.”

Now, stop for a minute. How do you spend most of your time? In reflecting on what drives people from more than 110 countries of the world, I believe the thirst for three things drives most of us: first, money, then, fame or notoriety, and third, power and influence. But strangely, these are the very things which Jesus said should not occupy first place in our list of goals and priorities.

Standing at the entrance to God’s kingdom, money or gold will be of no use whatsoever. True, money opens plenty of doors in the kingdoms of the twenty-first century, but sometimes all the money in the world won’t open that door.

Sir Ernest Shackleton discovered that in 1914 when his ship, Endurance, was crushed by the Arctic icepack. The ship’s designer intended that the freezing ice would simply push the ship up so it would rest gently on the ice pack. But it didn’t work that way. When the ice crushed the ship, Shackleton called his men and said that survival was paramount. A thousand miles of cold Arctic ice stood between them and Elephant Island. He told his men that they could take with them only two pounds of personal gear, only what was absolutely essential to survival. And to prove his point, he took his gold cigarette lighter and several gold coins, and threw them on the ground, grinding them into the ice with his foot. You see, gold coins are worthless on arctic ice, just as they are at the entrance to God’s kingdom.

Jesus is saying that spending your life’s energy in the pursuit of success is a waste of time. It will buy neither happiness nor entrance to life. But what of the second goal that many pursue—that of fame or notoriety? It’s nice to be recognized for your achievements, but God takes little note of the Doves, the Oscars, or the Angel awards.

I’m thinking of a successful businessman who got bumped on a flight. Angry, he pushed his way to the front of the line and shoved his ticket into the face of an agent who explained that there were no flights available. “Do you know who I am?” he demanded. The weary agent looked at the man, then reached for the microphone and announced over the P.A., “There a gentleman here who doesn’t know who he is. If anyone can identify him, please step forward.”

Power and influence may open doors to exclusive clubs where you live, but only God’s grace opens the door to the kingdom of God. Paul explained, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and that not of yourselves, it is God’s gift—not by works, so nobody can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Those who enter God’s kingdom become brothers and sisters where no titles apply, where all are equal, where all are there not because of their own merit or achievements, but because Jesus Christ, God’s Son, came to earth and adopted us into His family, and showed us the way back to heaven.

“The Invisible Kingdom.” While it’s that, it is a real kingdom where men and women, teens and children all over the world who have bowed their knee to God’s Son, are joined together in an invisible fellowship we call the Church. It’s a very real kingdom.

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Resource reading: 1 Corinthians 15:20-28

AMAZING FACTS
Daily Devotionals

No More Night.

January 2nd, 2026

The “midnigh
t sun,” when the sun is visible at midnight, is a natural phenomenon that takes place in the summer months north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle. Near summer solstice, around June 21 in the Northern Hemisphere and December 23 in the Southern Hemisphere, the sun never dips below the horizon during a 24-hour span.

But this isn’t what our text today is talking about. What does it mean that no night will be there? While it suggests that there will be no need for manmade light, such as a lamp, or even God-made light, such as the sun, this speaks beyond the physical phenomenon of brightness and darkness.

Throughout Scripture, the terms light and darkness represent a spiritual realm of knowing truth and walking in the knowledge of God. Jesus didn’t say that He gives light to the world; rather, He said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12, emphasis added). This contrasts with “the throne of the beast,” whose “kingdom became full of darkness” (Revelation 16:10).

John wrote, “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Sin is associated with darkness; light is associated with holiness. As God’s people are sealed with His character, they fully live by and abide in the presence of the eternal light that emanates from God.

It is as if we will forever live in the land of the midnight Son! Never will the darkness of sin blot out the perfect and radiant beams of Christ’s love and truth that shine on the pathways of His people, for “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).

Heavenly Father, I will walk in the light of truth today that I may forever live in the light of Your eternal love on the new earth.

For Further Study: Genesis 1:3; Malachi 4:2; John 1:6–8

Key Bible Texts

And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:5 KJV)

November 28th, 2025
KUNG OF ISRAEL.

“How lovely are your tents, O Jacob! Your dwellings, O Israel! Like valleys that stretch out, Like gardens by the riverside, Like aloes planted by the LORD, Like cedars beside the waters.” —Numbers 24:5, 6

The prosperity of God’s people is here represented by some of the most beautiful figures to be found in nature. The prophet likens Israel to fertile valleys covered with abundant harvests; to flourishing gardens watered by never-failing springs; to the fragrant sandal tree and the stately cedar. The figure last mentioned is one of the most strikingly beautiful and appropriate to be found in the inspired word.

The cedar of Lebanon was honored by all the people of the East. The class of trees to which it belongs is found wherever human beings have gone throughout the earth. From the arctic regions to the tropic zone they flourish, rejoicing in the heat, yet braving the cold; springing in rich luxuriance by the riverside, yet towering aloft upon the parched and thirsty waste. They plant their roots deep among the rocks of the mountains and boldly stand in defiance of the tempest. Their leaves are fresh and green when all else has perished at the breath of winter. Above all other trees the cedar of Lebanon is distinguished for its strength, its firmness, its undecaying vigor; and this is used as a symbol of those whose life is “hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). Says the Scripture, “The righteous ... shall grow like a cedar” (Psalm 92:12). The divine hand has exalted the cedar as king over the forest. “The fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches” (Ezekiel 31:8); nor any tree in the garden of God. The cedar is repeatedly employed as an emblem of royalty, and its use in Scripture to represent the righteous shows how heaven regards those who do the will of God.

Balaam prophesied that Israel’s King would be greater and more powerful than Agag. This was the name given to the kings of the Amalekites, who were at this time a very powerful nation; but Israel, if true to God, would subdue all her enemies. The King of Israel was the Son of God; and His throne was one day to be established in the earth, and His power to be exalted above all earthly kingdoms.—Patriarchs and Prophets, 450.

Further Reflection: Have you ever thought of how sin prevented Jesus from establishing His throne as earth’s rightful ruler? When will Christ’s rulership be reestablished?

It is winter-time with you, dear friend, may that winter do you good. “It is very painful,” say you, “and very dangerous.” Yes, and God means to make you see what a poor thing you are, and to make you know what a wretched sinner you are, and how lost you are.
Do you not know that He will strip you before He will clothe you? It is always His way to kill before He makes alive. He will not begin filming over proud flesh. He will take the knife and cut it out, and with many a cruel gash, too, as it may seem,
for He means to have a lasting cure.

Therefore you must pass through these winters.

But let me remind you that your only hope of anything better than what you are passing through lies in Christ. You cannot save yourself. As long as you have any lingering idea that you can do so, you
never will be saved. You can no more save yourself than the arctic regions can turn themselves into the
torrid zone.

Charles H. Spurgeon

How's this for a mind-blowing, treeless Arctic landscape? https://wp.me/p2ccTX-2WN #nature #photography #canada #NotAI
(Click/tap the link or picture to see the entire scene.)