Friday, April 30, 2021
Telling God About Hurts
It should be obvious to everyone God knows all. For this reason, we may sometimes forget to talk to God and tell God where it hurts. God does not need us to tell Him where we hurt because He already knows. God needs us to tell Him where we hurt because our talking to God helps us. Telling God where we hurt does not need to be a time of whining and complaining to God. Instead, telling God where we hurt can be a time when we are honest with God about how things are going in our life. God is with us and He always wants us to talk with Him in total and complete honesty, especially when we hurt. Amazingly, when we are honest with God about where we hurt, He will respond to us as He gives us comfort and hope for the future.
Thursday, April 29, 2021
God's Partnership
No one is helpless. No one is hopeless. However, there are times in our life when we may feel helpless and hopeless. At the other extreme in our life, there are those times when we are so full of power and enthusiasm we can run over any obstacle with ease. In either case, we need to let God get a grip on our life at either extreme. We mistakenly try to live our life on our own. When we try to live our life on our own we lose. In our complex world of dependency upon one another, we do not have the capability or the wherewithal to manage every situation on our own. When we are faced with what seems to be a situation of total hopelessness, we need to let God grasp us. We need to let God grasp the situation in which we are enmeshed. By letting God come into a circumstance, we gain new power and new perspective. Letting God grasp a situation does not mean we give up control. We are commissioned to do God's will, but we are not commissioned to sit back as we try to convince God to do His will for us while we do little or nothing.
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
The Size of God
The size of God in your life depends upon how honest and truthful you can be with Him and with yourself. When you know there are things within you needing attention yet you ignore these things, then God is diminished within you because you have not permitted Him to work fully and fruitfully within you. The size of God within you is also determined by how much you trust Him. To trust God is a supremely mature act. Most of us want a written statement or a written guarantee things will be alright. We are willing to trust God only if God proves to us we do not need to trust Him. We are willing to trust God if we do not need to run any risk. To trust our unseen God who speaks to us only in whispers requires us to put our whole person or whole being into His hands. This is hard to do. Yet we know we can trust Him for we instinctively know He loves us and He would not fail us.
Tuesday, April 27, 2021
The Best Rewards Of Life
If you look at the lives of the people in your life who have money, power, fame, and worldly success, look deep and you may see something lacking. Look deep. Look deep and you may see the worldly reward of others often comes with spiritual emptiness. Look deep within yourself and you will see it is better to have inner peace, even in your pain, than to have only your worldly rewards and live in spiritual emptiness. Many of the people you know only live for worldly rewards. Their inner life, if you could see it, would be a life full of emptiness, torment, meaninglessness, depression, and loneliness. It is because people live for worldly rewards and receive emptiness, torment, meaninglessness, depression, and loneliness that so many people drink, use drugs, become addicted, as well as living a life full of anger and hate. Think long and hard about this issue. Do you want the world or do you want Christ alive in you? Satan will offer you the rewards of the world, but do you want the rewards of the world and all the pain in the world? God will not offer you the world. God will offer you His only begotten Son dying on the cross for you…hoping above all hope you accept Christ and receive His reward of eternal life. What reward will you choose today?
Monday, April 26, 2021
When You Can't Fix It
If we are traveling along a road using a map to find our way and we make a wrong turn, we can blame the person who made the map, even if the map is correct in its making. The map may indeed be wrong, but the fact remains we must fix our mistakes and get back on the right path. If we spend all our time blaming the mapmaker for our wrong turn and we spend no time getting back on the right path, we never reach our destination. We cannot change what we did yesterday. We cannot change the history each of us creates every day. All of us make mistakes. Not one of us who walks the earth is a perfect person. It is when we begin to understand we all make mistakes we can begin to address what we have done in the past and also address what others have done to us. When we begin to understand we all make mistakes, we can then begin to forgive others and forgive ourselves. Too often and in too many ways we let ourselves make excuses about why we have made the mistakes we have made. Too often and in too many ways we tell ourselves or others our mistakes are caused by others or caused by circumstances beyond our control. However, if we make excuses then we have not fixed or tried to fix our mistakes. Although we cannot change the events we create every day after the day is over, we can always change what we will do tomorrow. Although we cannot change history, we can apologize to all the people we have hurt in the past. We can all try to make amends with others without making any excuses. Although we cannot change our history, we can change the effects of the history we create by never repeating the mistakes we have made in the past.
Sunday, April 25, 2021
Staying Focused
Staying
Focused
There will
come a time when life erupts into chaos. Each of us has a time when life seems
to come apart at the seams. Some of us may live to see a time when all of life
on earth is plunged into chaos. However, we need not fear. In times of chaos,
when things seem to come unraveled, we need to keep our focus. In times of
chaotic happenings, we are to keep our heads and our wits about us. Our ability
to control our life is of critical importance. We must, when things turn dark
in life, maintain our focus and preserve our self-control. We cannot witness or
help others in Christ's name if we have turned helpless and have lost control
over our life. When tough times come, we are to endure. We are not to wilt
under pressure. When difficulty rages in our life, we are to humbly pray for
each hour, humbly go where Christ leads us as we show His love. Chaos comes
into a person's life and ends up being a test of faith. Whether we pass or fail
a test of faith depends upon how much we are willing to endure. We pass or fail
according to how much effort we put into living a life of faith.
Saturday, April 24, 2021
You Can Have Victory
In Christ, there is victory. God's love knows no end in the battle leading to victory in your heart and life. God's love in victory seeks to banish your every weakness. At those times when your limbs and spirit begin to fail, Christ Jesus will push you on. When your knees begin to weaken and your hands begin to tremble, your Lord God will steady you. When your eyes begin to dim, Christ will show you His Light. When your soul grows tired and you have lost all energy, Christ will supply you with new energy and new power. When your heart begins to falter, He will inspire you anew with His mercy. When you shrink back as you think about giving up, Christ will keep you keeping on. God will give you a most powerful vision of a world needing your touch through Him, all you have to do is ask. When it seems you are whipped and beaten by the foe, Christ will pour His spirit into your heart. If you are willing, the Holy Spirit will conquer every foe and defeat every evil in your life. In your hour of tribulation, Christ will show you His Cross…then He will show you His empty tomb…the empty tomb where victory was won.
Friday, April 23, 2021
Hope And Emotion
Hope is directly related to emotion and spirit. Going into a life circumstance or dealing with the adversity and darkness of life with no emotion and no spirit puts us at a loss. We do not overpower the darkness in our life by becoming a non-feeling robot. We do not overpower the pain and suffering of our life by turning off the emotions and feelings giving life substance. Hope is recognized in us by the powerful feeling hope generates in us. We say we feel hopeful as we describe what life is like in our moments of looking forward with positive expectations. To find and keep hope we need to keep our hearts intact and alive. When we shut off what our heart tells us we shut off the messages of hope we store within our heart.
Thursday, April 22, 2021
Truth Heals Hurts
Nothing hurts and nothing heals like the truth. Facing the truth is sometimes like getting a shot from the doctor. Facing the truth sometimes brings a sting, but eventually, healing will come and we will feel better. The truth heals us and restores us when we place our life in the hands of God. Without placing our life in Christ's love and grace, the truth can only hurt us and there are even times when the truth can maim and traumatize us. However, God has organized things in such a way as to bless us and heal us when we are with Him and when we rejoice in knowing the truth. The truth heals and restores our soul because when we live and immerse ourselves in the truth, eventually the truth will lead us to God. We are healed and restored by the truth because the truth always leads us to a place where we find comfort and love in His presence. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth are this…God loves us beyond our ability to fully comprehend. All the hurt, trauma, and tragedy of this life can be washed away in the truth of God's love and grace if we are willing to be His child. This washing away of our darkness is how the truth heals and restores us. After we are washed clean by Christ's love, we find ourselves being wrapped up in His arms. In the washing away of our lies and deceptions, we begin to see our Savior who stands by us every second of our life. We also see He wants us to join Him in Heaven after our mission on earth has been completed.
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Courage
Matthew 14:25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
Sometimes the supernatural nature of God brings fear to
the heart of mere mortals like us. If you saw a human being walking on the
water of a lake at night, you could be gripped with fear. In everyday life, we
do not encounter ghosts or a walking Jesus on the lake. However, we do
encounter many frightening circumstances in doing and being all God wants us to
do and be. Perhaps in your home, work, or school life, you know you need to
bring the knowledge of Christ to someone, but you are afraid to act. Perhaps in
your relationships with friends, you need to take a stand on a moral issue, but
you are afraid to speak the Lord's truth. In these situations and at many other
times, you need to take courage and not be afraid.
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Endless Hope
When you have Christ in the center of your heart, you always have another day. Even on the last day of your life, there is still one more day ahead of you. In the pain of losing someone to the Lord, you know the person called home to be with Him has another day without end. You have in Christ such endless hope you never want to quit, to retire, or to lay down the work of His call upon your life. You never want to quit, retire, or lay down His work because there is always another day. His hope unleashed within you gives you every reason to look forward to tomorrow. Even when the darkness of evil lurks about you and the darkness may even swoop down and attack you tomorrow, His unfailing love comes into the darkness and He gives you hope upon hope. God did not promise you eternal glory for no reason. God promised you eternal glory because He knew you needed His hope to fuel your life and faith. God promised you eternal glory because He loves you and He shall keep His promise to you forever and ever.
Monday, April 19, 2021
Striving For Success
A Christian must strive for success in matters both large and small. You should not accept anything from yourself that is not successful. We all fail, but you must never accept failure as if failure were acceptable. When you fail, glorify God by coming back with renewed spirit and new determination to be successful. You must never falter in striving to be successful in your walk of faith. If you accept failure as normal, you will fail at being Christ-like. You must not shrug off failed attempts. You must work hard to be successful in your relationship with Christ, with others, and in your daily endeavors. Christ expects you to achieve great things for Him. One of His expectations of you is that you give 110% of all you are and all you have in working towards His destination in your life.
Sunday, April 18, 2021
Believing And BELIEVING!
Christ's victory over death helps us hold on to our faith. By Jesus coming back from death, He gave our faith substance. Words fail us in so many situations. The ideas of faith and substance do not go together. For example, you can say you believe in angels, yet you may have never seen one. When you have the substance of faith you can believe angels exist and believe they are real even when you have never seen them. However, when you see an angel lift a car off a trapped child then you have substance to your faith. The difference is believing and BELIEVING!
Saturday, April 17, 2021
Everyday Faith
We hope and trust in many things. We use faith and we trust in common everyday things, and we do not realize we use faith and trust every minute of every day. Every bite of food we eat, we eat by faith, hoping we do not get poisoned. Every pill we take, we take by faith hoping we do not have some kind of reaction to the medication and trusting the pills are made to stringent scientific standards. There isn't anything we do during the day when we don't use faith. When we walk outside, we have faith some weather phenomenon will not sweep us away and kill us. When we drive our car we have faith we will not be in an accident. When we turn on our TV or an appliance, we have faith the TV or appliance will not start a fire. When we get out of bed in the morning we have faith the floor beneath us will hold us up. When we turn on our computer we have faith all the systems in the computer will work as expected. When we read a newspaper we have faith the ink in the newspaper is not laden with some kind of poison. The fact is, for people who think they doubt or who think they are skeptical, they have faith just like the rest of us. The fact is, we all have faith and we all use our faith. We could not easily survive or get along in the world without faith. The most important question is, will you just put your faith in material things that break or at some point cease to exist, or will you put your faith in God who is everlasting?
Friday, April 16, 2021
Let God Lead
Always let God lead in your life. Surrender to let Him lead. Do not be stubborn and demand to do our own thing. It is righteous and humble to let God lead in your life. Unfortunately, we want to do what we want to do. However, our way is not God’s way. Our way is flawed and works only temporarily. You must give up wanting what you want. Not giving up wanting what you want results in failure. Give up your wants and needs in favor of God’s wants and needs and you will succeed in life. You can try not following God (called going your way) but when your way does not work, let God lead. Let God lead while you are strong rather than weak. Let God lead while you have things already going in your direction rather than wanting God to rescue you when you are deep in trouble. Let God lead when you do not know what to do. Let God lead when you are certain you know what to do.
Thursday, April 15, 2021
What You Give To God
If believing or having faith in God was all benefit and no cost, everyone would believe and have faith. However, believing or having faith in God has a cost and because there is a cost to believing and having faith, the wheat is separated from the chaff. Afflictions and how you bear up under your afflictions tell God how much you love Him and how much you are willing to sacrifice for Him. We want a faith where there are no afflictions and all blessings. We want blessings but we must understand our faith also brings afflictions. Our faith brings afflictions because God will not feed our greed and ego by structuring our faith system so there is no hardship. As lowly sinners all, we all want the big payoff from God without paying in anything. However, your belief and faith in God will require you to pay a price. Get used to it. Get over it. Glory in it!!! Your belief may require you to suffer greatly. However, if you expect your faith to not come with afflictions, your faith will not last very long. Strong faith weathers every storm of afflictions. Weak faith falters under afflictions. To be long-lasting your belief must rest upon a foundation of quiet power and inner strength, both of which can dominate every affliction. Most of all, your faith or your belief in God must be grounded in what you can give to God, not grounded in what you can receive from God.
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
We Have A God
What we have in common with persons who lived two thousand years ago is a God who still loves us and who still walks with us and talks with us if we are willing to walk with Him and talk with Him. We still have a God, a being of infinite wisdom and grace, who will still reach down and touch our hearts when we need Him most. What is so often difficult for us to understand is why God does not always do what we want or deliver to us what we think we need. What we must understand about God is that God knows more than we do. What we must understand about God is that God can see all that is, all that can be, and all that ever will be. In our understanding of God, we must also learn to trust God. We must learn to trust God with our life, our future, and all that exists in our world that is within His will and His love. If God does not communicate to you in a dream as He did with Joseph, perhaps it is because God knows you do not need a dream. If God does not communicate to you in a dream, perhaps God knows you can handle your life just fine the way it is…with you and our Lord Jesus walking side by side down His path.
Tuesday, April 13, 2021
God’s Unfailing Touch
Many influences of life separate you from God. When you are worried and full of doubt, life can seem to have defeated you. However, you are defeated by life only if you have let yourself be separated from God and His love. When you do not live with God's peace in your heart, you do not see God or feel His presence within you. When are caught up in waging a war of revenge against persons who hurt you, God is far away from you. For when you are next to God, your heart is at peace and you do not want war. When your heart is filled with anger, God is far away. When you seek God, you cannot find Him if you have anger in your heart and mind. To have Christ living and alive in your heart, you must seek His touch to heal you from the wounds and hurts you suffer. The touch of God helps you resolve conflicts and difficulties. The touch of God helps you persevere in peace when the path of your life gets difficult to walk. Your earnestness in prayer in the face of hardships helps you to stay strong. When you are persecuted, wronged, or slighted, remain holy and next to God. When you remain holy and devout despite all the attacks of the darkness against you, Christ wins and you win.
Monday, April 12, 2021
New Direction
Human beings are creatures of habit. We can get fixated and we can be immobilized by our fixation on things, events, ideas, or conditions. Being creatures of habit, we don't want to change. We want to keep going in our present direction so much, even if our present direction is headed over a cliff, we still want to keep on going regardless of the consequences. As creatures of habit, we want to keep on doing what we have been doing even if what we have been doing is destructive. There are times when our fixations, our immobilizations, and our heading over a cliff must stop. Our destructive behavior must stop. Each of us must learn to turn in a new direction in our life. For many reasons, we may have to turn in new directions at any age. As we move through the stages of our life at any age, we have a choice between turning in God's direction or Satan's direction. Every waking moment at any age, in any circumstance, we make this choice between Satan and God. Although we are not always aware we are making this kind of choice, our choice is still there. At every instant, in every stage of life, listen to God. Listen to God's voice in your heart. Listen to God's tender voice calling you to be His child. Listen to God's tender voice calling you to love others. Listen to God's tender voice calling you to forgive others. Listen to God's tender voice calling you to serve Him. God is calling you this minute to go in His direction. Won't you listen? Won't you follow?
Sunday, April 11, 2021
Access To God
Genesis people wanted access to God. They were protesting the idea of being scattered over the whole earth. They refused to do what God asked of them and at the same time actively sought God out as a power source. They would be very comfortable in today’s Christian worship world where we take such pride in building our mega-worship machines, take pride in what we are doing, praise ourselves for what we will do, and enthrall ourselves with ourselves. These Genesis people would be especially captivated by our claims of getting great power from God. They would be comfortable in our worship services where we talk about all our great achievements.
Saturday, April 10, 2021
Needing God And Others
We all need others. We all have times when we feel forsaken. We all have times in our lives when we feel weak in loneliness. We all have times in our lives when being alone is the worst time of all. What we fail to see during these times is how really strong we are. What we fail to see in times of hurt and loneliness is how God is with us no matter what our circumstances might be. God is in every moment of our hurt. God is in every moment of our trauma. God is every moment of our tragedy. Inevitably, we all ask why God does not stop or fix the lonely times. What we must remember is the lonely times are not brought on us by God but by Satan. For with God and with His love, all the lonely times, all the trauma, all the tragedy, all the hurt, all the tears, and all the grief will be washed away and be made as if they never were. We indeed need others in the dark and lonely times, but we need God even more.
Friday, April 9, 2021
"MASK"
Don't be fooled by the face I wear, for I wear a thousand masks, and none of them are me. Don't be fooled, for goodness sake, don't be fooled. I give you the impression that I'm secure, that confidence is my name and coolness is my game, and that I need no one. But don't believe me. Beneath dwells the real me in confusion, in aloneness, in fear. That's why I create a mask to hide behind, to shield me from the glance that knows, but such a glance is precisely my salvation. That is if it's followed by acceptance if it's followed by love. It's the only thing that can liberate me from my self-built prison walls. I'm afraid that deep down I'm nothing and that I'm just no good, And that you will reject me. And so begins the parade of masks. I idly chatter to you. I tell you everything that's nothing and nothing of what's everything, of what's crying within me. Please listen carefully and try to hear what I'm not saying. I'd like to be genuine and spontaneous, and me. But you've got to help me. You've got to hold out your hand. Each time you're kind and gentle, and encouraging, each time you try to understand because you care, my heart begins to grow wings, feeble wings, but wings. With your sensitivity and sympathy, and your power of understanding, you alone can release me from my shallow world of uncertainty. It will not be easy for you. The nearer you approach me, the blinder I may strike back. But I'm told that Love is stronger than strong walls, and in this lies my only hope. Please try to beat down these walls with firm hands, but gentle hands, for a child is very sensitive. Who I am, you wonder. I am every man you meet, and also every woman that you meet, and I am you, also.
Author
Unknown
Thursday, April 8, 2021
Staying Focused On Christ
Each of us can think and focus our thinking on given subjects or ideas. As a Christian, one of your obligations to Christ is to hold Him as the centerpiece of your life. Every minute of every day for the rest of your life should be devoted to holding Him as your reason and purpose for living. Christ should be your focus when you wage the many battles of life. He should be your focus when trying to make decisions about your family, your job or career, your friends, your church, or any other matter. Yet, we know that in reality, we are distracted from holding Christ as the center of our life. Millions of thoughts, ideas, images, cares, worries, concerns, fears, anxieties, phobias, and doubts can assail you each day. Despite this attack upon you from outside your will, you can counter the distractions by willfully and purposely spending time in prayer and mediation each day. You can, every hour, pause for just a second to refocus your heart on Him.
Wednesday, April 7, 2021
Following Christ
Does the will of God, or your will, drive you during the day? Most likely, it is your will. Each of us has a will. Our will has a power we naturally call "will power." Jesus also had a will. His will also had power. Just before Jesus went to the cross, His will wanted to run away from the terrible suffering He was about to endure for you. In the final hours before the cross, Jesus wanted to avoid the unfathomable pain and agony of dying for you. Yet, He did not run away. Jesus followed the will of His Father in Heaven. Jesus followed God's will to the cross so you could one day be born anew. Jesus followed God's will so you could become a new person in His kingdom. Jesus died on the cross for you so in the war between your will and His will, you would follow His will rather than your own.
Tuesday, April 6, 2021
Not Blaming
God has never hurt you. Likely, you have mistakenly hurt yourself numerous times. It is a certainty Satan has hurt you. In Satan's clutches, so much of our pain and suffering comes upon us because we are blinded by Satan. In Satan's clutches, so much of our pain comes upon us because of our own sinful doing. However, God has never hurt you. It is a certainty you have defied the laws of God in all their forms and in your defiance you have felt the pain of the wrath of God. If the wrath of God hurts us, doesn't God then hurt us? No, although the wrath of God hurts us, the wrath of God is the absence of God caused by our defiance or by our turning away from Him. If you defy the laws of God, there will be a price to pay…the price called "wrath." If you obey the laws of God, instead of a price to pay, you receive God's free "coupons" of joy, peace, happiness, and love.
Monday, April 5, 2021
Dedication In Life
In Christ's love, always make the choice to dedicate your life to a mission rather than hoping a mission will draft you into something you like to do. No matter what you do in your life, always be willing to fully dedicate your life to the pursuit of what Christ wants you to do and to be. When the Lord has a goal for you, do all you can to always be successful for Him and complete His mission. Every day you are alive, let a fire burn in your heart to never relent in achieving His mission for you. It is God's will, because of your prayers and dedication to Him, all things remain possible in the lives of those you pray for each day.
Sunday, April 4, 2021
Die to Yourself By Dr. Billy Graham
Psalm 34:18---The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
In God’s economy, you must go down into the valley of grief
before you can scale the heights of spiritual glory. You must become tired and
weary of living alone before you seek and find the fellowship of Christ. You
must come to the end of self before you begin to live. The mourning of
inadequacy is a weeping that catches the attention of God. The Bible says, “The
Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a
contrite spirit.” The happiest day of my life was when I realized that my own
ability, my own goodness, and my own morality was insufficient in the sight of
God; and I publicly and openly acknowledged my need of Christ. I am not
exaggerating when I say that my mourning was turned to joy, and my sighing into
singing.
Saturday, April 3, 2021
God’s Rule For Living
Imagine what your world would be like if everyone decided to follow their own rules and ignore the rules of society. There would be chaos. The order of the world would be gone. In contrast, the underpinning of every human achievement is self-disciple and self-control. Self-discipline and self-control are required to follow the rules of life. God has rules. Unfortunately, we too often do not follow God's rules as we are disobedient and go our own way. However, the consequences of disobedience can be severe. To follow God's rules requires we be self-disciplined and self-controlled. When you disobey God's rules and go your direction, the consequences of disobedience are what we call, the wrath of God. The more you follow God's rules, the more peace, love, caring, and compassion you will receive from God.
Friday, April 2, 2021
Experiencing The Love Of God
How can we experience the love of God? To experience the love of God we must believe God knows us and loves us even when we are very imperfect. To experience the love of God we must recognize there are no strings attached to His love. There are no conditions attached to His love. God's love being unconditional means we do not have to do or be anything in any way to experience His love. This truth about His love being unconditional devastates the darkness. This truth about God's unconditional love heals the body, restores sight to the blind, and makes the lame walk. God's unconditional love is a transforming love. His love transforms you and transforms your world. We cannot will ourselves to experience God's, unconditional love. We cannot will His unconditional love into our lives. We cannot make it, generate it, mold it, or shape His love. We cannot earn His love. All we can do to experience His love is turn away from the sinfulness of our humanity and then open ourselves to His presence. To experience God's unconditional love we cannot want to get it or want to get something out of it. To experience God's unconditional love we cannot want His love to cure us or fix us. To experience God's unconditional love we must nurture His love within our heart without any strings attached whatsoever. If you do not choose to nurture God's unconditional love, your life will not be much of a life. To experience God's unconditional love, you have to trust Him and remember God is for you and not against you.
Thursday, April 1, 2021
Praising God Despite Darkness
Praising God is a wonderful part of spiritual life. However, praising God sometimes takes special effort on our part because the satanic darkness of the world tries to drag us down. When Satan attacks us, we have little heart left to praise God. When we are attacked by the darkness of the world, we must carry these burdens to Christ by kneeling at the foot of the Cross. When we carry our burdens to the Cross, we begin to see our burdens are not so heavy. At the Cross, the love of Christ flows down to us and we begin to see everything in His Light and Love. When we experience His Light and Love, then the temptations and attacks by the darkness dwindle. At the Cross, we find the strength to resist Satan and his dark ways.
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