Grier Ministries' Thoughts

Dr Charles Stanley has delivered an awesome sermon, and a clear stand based upon the Bible, true History, and his faith in Christ Jesus as Lord! We are behind him in his efforts to rally the Christians in our nation, and hopefully around the world, to pray for the next 140 days! Please check out his website on this subject at http://www.intouch.org/prayerteam/ and join us in this tremendous effort!

God bless you!

³ My defense to those who
examine me is this: ⁴ Do
we have no right to eat and drink? ⁵ Do we have no right to take along a believing
wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord,
and Cephas? ⁶ Or is it
only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working? ⁷ Who ever goes to war at his
own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or
who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock? 1 Corinthians 9:3-7 NKJV

I realize that there are deep, ponderable theological issues that can be discovered in this passage. However, that is not my thought today. I was simply struck with the realization (again!) of just how many struggles Paul went through for the sake of the Gospel. We seem to forget – at least I know that I do – that nothing was easy for Paul. Nothing was easy for any of the Apostles. In fact, nothing was easy for our Lord! Everything that He did for us, He did through the power of the Holy Spirit. That is, He used the same source that we have access to in order to accomplish His mission. We have access – as born-again Christians – to that same source!

I know that life is not easy, and for the active Christian it is even more difficult since we are facing an enemy. Those that are not saved do not have to face their enemy. He is still the enemy, but he doesn’t care about them, so life is easier. A bit. Sorta. The long-term result is MAJOR AWFUL, however. I would MUCH RATHER go through the trials associated with doing the work of God and battling the enemy. The end result is AWESOME!

So. Keep your eyes on the goal, my friends. Do not lose heart. We all have struggles. Paul had struggles. He won. We can win. Go win!!

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 3:3

This is the reason that we use the term “born again.” It was stated by Jesus Himself! HE is the One that made that commandment. The explanation of that term is found in the famous 3:16 verse that nearly everyone in the country, at one time, could quote:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

The joy found as a “Born-again” Christian is unparalleled! The steps are simple:

1. Recognize your sin, you are a sinner!
2. Believe in your heart that Jesus died to pay the penalty for that sin, and rose again from the dead,
3. Repent to God for is, that is ask His forgiveness and help to never sin that way again, and
4. Surrender the control of your life over to Jesus! He is so much wiser that you are, that all His decisions for your life are perfect! He knows what is best for you, and wants that best for your life!

Surrender to Jesus today!

For more, read these scriptures: Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Romans 10:9-10, Ephesians 2:8-10

¹¹ … At that moment, the LORD passed by. A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was a voice, a soft whisper. ¹³ When Elijah heard [it], he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. 1 Kings 19:11-13 HCSB

Much has been said on this passage about listening to God. We love to equate God’s voice to us as huge, loud, monumental, etc. when in fact He usually speaks to us in a still, small voice. We have to learn to hear God’s voice. A new Christian stuggles with this, because it is not something he or she is familiar with – listening to God. So we have to learn to do so.

Elijah had just fasted for 40 days, during which time he made a very arduous journey. He went into the cave and waited for God’s voice. The great and mighty wind blew, but God was not in the wind. Elijah knew this. The earthquake shook, but God was not in the earthquake. Elijah knew this also. The fire raged, but God was not in the fire. Elijah also knew this. When the soft whisper came, Elijah recognized God’s Voice, and we out of the cave to listen to Him.

The lesson here is that there are many voices coming our way, through our life. Our job is to get to know the Lord so well that we cannot mistake any one of these voices for His Voice! We must learn to listen and be able to discern our Master’s Voice, so that we follow the correct path and not get led astray.

³⁴ “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. ³⁵ For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”  Luke 21:34-36 NKJV

Jesus had been prophesying about the end times and what to expect. Then He gives this warning to us. One of the dangers is carousing – similar to partying. This is a lifestyle choice that is more prevalent today than at any other time in history, except maybe just before the flood when God wiped out all of mankind except for Noah and his family. This is a very serious problem, and Jesus said that it was so bad it would make us unworthy of the escape, and we would not be ready for His return! We would be left behind!

Another problem he stated was drunkenness. I think alcohol is very dangerous and should obviously be avoided. However, I also believe that Jesus was, again, talking about a state of mind that affects a person’s lifestyle. Over-indulgence in the things of life that change your thinking. Drugs, alcohol, etc., there is many ways that we can lose our minds. When we do, we also loose our hearts, and we are again unprepared for Jesus’ return!

The third thing Jesus warned us against was the ‘cares of this life.’ This is probably the most dangerous of all – especially to those that are Christians! We tend to ignore the fact that being too busy, and too caught-up with our lives is bad! In fact, we will put aside church events for our life schedules in a heart-beat without a second thought. If we make it to church once a month, we feel we are doing well! My friends, going to church is a mandate from God! But it is only one part of how we should live our lives. Our schedules should revolve around Jesus, and His Great Commission to us all – to go into all the world and preach the gospel, teach the people, and bring them into saving relationship with Him! If we are not doing this, we are ALSO in danger of missing His return! OUR relationship may be a sham!

GO to GOD TODAY! Make SURE you are ready for Jesus’ return!

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout, O daughter of
Jerusalem!  Behold, your King is coming to you;  He is
just and having salvation,  Lowly and riding on a donkey,  A
colt, the foal of a donkey.  Zechariah 9:9 NKJV

About 500 years before Christ was born, when the Israelites returned to Israel from the captivity of Persia, Zechariah was the Lord’s prophet to His people Israel. This prophecy was fullfilled when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey. We call it the “triumphal entry.” However, Jesus was not fooled at all. He was fully aware that this was not a triumph, but a precursor to agony.

The ride into Jerusalem gave the Israelites the opportunity to proclaim Jesus as their king and messiah! God does this sort of thing all the time. He allows us the opportunity to do right. When we do not, as He knows our nature and what we will choose, He then makes provision for the fallout of our actions. Even so, as He rode into Jerusalem on the donkey and all the people were shouting hosanna, Jesus knew that they would shortly raise their voices in opposition to Him calling for His death by crucifixion.

Jesus knew this ahead of time. He went anyway. He knew they would crucify Him. He went anyway. He knew that He was going to suffer untold agony for our sins on the cross instead of being installed as the Messiah and King. He went anyway.

Why? Because He loves you and me! If you have not received Him as your Savior and Lord, do so TODAY!

¹ He then told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not become discouraged: ² “There was a judge in one town who didn’t fear God or respect man.  ³ And a widow in that town kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴ “For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or respect man, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice, so she doesn’t wear me out by her persistent coming.’ ” ⁶ Then the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ Will not God grant justice to His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He delay [to help] them? ⁸ I tell you that He will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find that [kind of] faith on earth?” Luke 18:1-8 HCSB

Have you ever prayed to God, asking Him for something? Did you get the answer you expected? Often we do not. Also, when we do not get the answer we expect, we usually say something like: “Well, God must have said no!” Then, we go our way thinking to ourselves that we are expressing faith in God through that kind of attitude.

Jesus told us, in this passage, that persistent prayer is the model we should emulate. We should determine exactly what we want from God (through other passages in the Bible we know that we MUST ask in accordance with God’s Will) and then set down to ask Him for it. Every day. Every week. Every month. Year after year. Without ceasing. Never stopping.

Get the picture? 

My dad prayed for the salvation of his family all of his saved life – which was about 80+ years of living as a Christian. He died not knowing for sure how God answered his prayer, but was convinced that God did. He never stopped praying. He never stopped asking God for the salvation of his family.

Get the picture?

BE PERSISTENT!!  If you are going to go to the trouble of asking God for something, at least do so until He answers! After all, that was His clear direction for us!

³⁴ I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. ³⁵ Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. ³⁶ Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left.” Luke 17:34-36 NKJV

Not enough can be said of the importance of remember our Savior’s return. The apathy that exists in our nation feeds the the blindness to the reality of the prophecy that Jesus said of Himself – one Day He will return! His return will be “like a thief in the night” and will be selective. Only those people that are ready, looking, anxious about, remembering, and living for Him the way HE wants us to will be taken by Him into Glory! Only those that have surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord AND are living in a way that expects His imminent return will actually go with Him!

Those of us that meet that criteria know that the time approaches quickly. There was an old song years ago: “It Won’t Be Long” that I used to love. I haven’t heard it in a long time, and I suspect that it has been forgotten just like the truth about Jesus has been forgotten. But it is alive in my heart, and I am ready for my Lord’s return.

Are you?

So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. Luke 15:20

Every one of us, at one time or another, have failed our parents. We all had rules to live by – the rules were different (sometimes drastically different) from household to household, but they were rules nonetheless. We have all been disobedient to those rules and had to face the consequences. I remember being in that very situation. My siblings had it much harder than I did, but I still had my consequences to deal with. I remember being afraid of getting dad angry, for fear of what he would do. Facing that situation is not desirable, and tends to guide our actions to avoid getting in those situations. Sometimes, we choose the wrong means to do just that.

The young man in this parable did exactly that – he went against all of his country’s customs, his family’s honor, and his dad’s heart to waste a bunch of money in a distant land. When he was broke, working at the worst job possible, and starving he decided to go home and face his dad. He did not have great expectations from the encounter. He was hoping to get hired on as a worker, figuring that he was already disowned.

His dad’s reaction was shocking! He showed unmistakable love, compassion, mercy, and joy at his son’s return. His son did not deserve any of that, but got it anyways! That is true compassion! That is exactly what God wants to do for us, if we only let Him!

“Or what king, going to war against another king, will not first sit down and decide if he is able with 10,000 to oppose the one who comes against him with 20,000? If not, while the other is still far off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not say good-bye to all his possessions [Or does not renounce or leave] cannot be My disciple.” Luke 14:31-33 HCSB

We all read this portion of Scripture and immediately discount the severity of its content, and “tone it down” in our minds – and as a result our lives are not what they should be before the Lord. I cannot count the number of times that I’ve heard preachers say from the pulpit that we are not expected to actually give up everything that we own for the Lord. That, my friends, is a direct contradiction to the Bible.

I am not saying that I like this, nor that I have been able to actually do this. But God expects it of us. We should count this as a cost, and weigh it against the ramifications of serving God! What is the rate of return? Heaven! No contest, then.

⁸ I tell you, even though he won’t get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs. ⁹ “So I say to you, keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. Luke 11:8-9

When we go to our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ in prayer asking Him for something, often we wait a few days and assume that His answer is “no.” Well Jesus, in this passage, spells out clearly the method He setup for a successful answered prayer. My suggestion is for you to read the entire passage to get the whole story. The point Jesus is making is all about persistence in prayer. If we petition Him for something once and stop, then we are not serious about needing the answer. You may want to argue with me about that statement, but the Word is clear! God answers persistent prayer! Yes, our hearts need to be right with God for answered prayer! Yes, we need to already be born-again for answered prayer! Yes, we need to have a mind that is in accord with God’s way of thinking for answered prayer. BUT — if we REALLY want to move heaven, we must never give up in our prayer life!

Don’t stop praying! Pray THROUGH!

⁴⁶ Then an argument started among them about who would be the greatest of them. ⁴⁷ But Jesus, knowing the thoughts of their hearts, took a little child and had him stand next to Him. ⁴⁸ He told them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in My name welcomes Me. And whoever welcomes Me welcomes Him who sent Me. For whoever is least among you—this one is great.” Luke 9:46-48 HCSB

Isn’t it just like us to argue over who is the best? Don’t we always push our own rights in a situation? Isn’t it easy to blame the other guy for the mistake? Don’t we rail on the other drivers for being so wrong? Isn’t our ideas of how to do things better than everyone else’s? This entire notion of just who is the best, the greatest, the most correct, etc. etc. is rampant human nature – i.e. SIN! It is nothing less than selfishness. It is the exact same sin that brought Lucifer’s downfall and Satan emerged! When we behave that way, we are emulating satan’s notions of appropriate behavior!

We should listen to our Lord when He tells us to be the least! We should embrace the priorities of others ahead of ourselves! We should acknowledge their rights over our own! Let the other person win! Take the lowest, most humble seat without display. Strive to be anonymous and forgotten in our pursuits of obedience to God’s Will and commands for our lives! Then, we can enjoy God’s true favor!

²³ Then He said to [them] all, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will save it. ²⁵ What is a man benefited if he gains the whole world, yet loses or forfeits himself?  Luke 9:23-25 HCSB

Jesus is talking here to His disciples. They had just answered His question about His identity, confirming that they knew He is the Messiah of Israel foretold in the Scriptures.  He then proceeded to explain His death, burial, and resurrection.  Since He was going through all the necessary pain and anguish to save the souls of all who call upon Him, He was explaining His expectations upon them subsequent to that surrender to Him as Savior and Lord (or Master).

The problem is that He expects us to “take up his cross daily” and then to also “follow Me.” We seldom do either one of these. First of all, if we are not born-again, then we cannot do either one. If we are born-again, then we are expected to do both and are given the power to do so through the Holy Spirit of God that abides within those that are saved. This involves two things:

1. To take up his cross daily means to embrace your death. That is, you are no longer in charge – you are ‘dead’ to your own will, desires, etc. – and you embrace God’s leading. No matter what God asks of you, that is what you do. Hard? Actually, it is impossible. But God gives each of us the power and strength to do that, if we are truly surrendered to Him. This embracing must be complete, however. That is, an absolute willingness to go as far as He did for us – physical, emotional, and spiritual torture to the point of physical death. Few are asked to go through that these days, but the willingness must be there.
2. To follow Me means that once we have denied ourselves, then we must actively participate in His plan for us. Not only must we study, pray, read, etc. to find out what His plan is – we must then organize our life in such a way as to actually do the things He asks. Not just understand the need for evangelism (for instance), but actually go out and evangelize. Not just understand the need for worship (for another instance), but actually spend time daily worshipping Him. Not just knowing that we must read the Bible and pray daily (for instance, again), but to change our schedule so as to actually read a few chapters every day in the Bible, and actually spend time (1/2 hour, for example) daily in direct communication with Him.

It sounds like a lot – and it is! But remember what He gave for us! This is our “reasonable service’ that Paul wrote of in Romans 12:1.

Those who oppose the LORD will be shattered; He will thunder in the heavens against them. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth.  He will give power to His king;He will lift up the horn of His anointed. (1 Samuel 2:10 HCSB)

I would not want to be on the receiving end of the LORD’s judgment! Earlier verses in the passage clearly spell out the Sovereignty of God! God humbles or exalts, raises or lowers, brings poverty or wealth – depending upon HIS Will. I love the Lord Jesus, and serve Him. He is my Savior, my Friend, my Helper .. but He also is Almighty! He is Sovereign! The Bible clearly states that God “.. is not a man that He should lie..” meaning that whatever HE states WILL happen and be! So, if there are stated consequences to opposing Him, I know that those consequences are real! I want no part of them! So a certain amount of respect is demanded! I will fear the Lord, in that my respect for Him and Who He is dictates concern on my part to be obedient.

It is possible that many of you have no clue how to do this. Well, my advice is to talk to God and ask Him to show you. HE will! Believe me.

³⁴ And at three Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ” Eloi, Eloi, lemá sabachtháni?” which is translated, ” My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? “ Mark 15: 34

It breaks my heart.

To realize that the Lord of the Universe – God Almighty – deliberately put Himself through the agony described here is sometime more than I can handle. Wow.

It just breaks my heart. Does it break yours?

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming–in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning– lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!”
(Mark 13:32-37 NKJV)

Such a comforting passage of scripture this is! We KNOW that sometime (soon, I believe) Jesus our Savior, Lord, Master, and Best Friend will come back here to this old earth and bring us up bodily into the air. He will be there to meet us, and He will take us to our new home – bodily and alive! Our bodies will become just like His, and we will not hurt anymore! What a glorious promise this is! The best thing is: it will actually happen, and soon!

This parable tells us that we do not know when this will happen. We must, however, be expectant of it’s imminent occurrence and live our lives in such a way as to reflect that truth! Our lives must show others as well as Jesus Himself that we expect His return and live that way! Do we behave in a holy manner? Do we put Jesus first before all other aspects of our lives? Do we spend our free time doing something that brings Jesus Christ glory? Do we ask Him for the privilege of sharing this truth with others that may not know Him yet?

Let’s live for Jesus the way HE wants us to! And then we can say with all honesty “even so come, Lord Jesus!”

²⁰ “When the LORD your God enlarges your territory as He has promised you, ^(J) and you say, ‘I want to eat meat’ because you have a strong desire to eat meat, you may eat it whenever you want. ²¹ If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, you may slaughter any of your herd or flock He has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it within your gates whenever you want. ²² Indeed, you may eat it as the gazelle and deer are eaten; both the clean and the unclean may eat it. ²³ But don’t eat the blood, since the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. Deuteronomy 12:20-23

There are two things about this passage that hit home with me. One is (obviously) that the Bible clearly teaches that you can eat meat. Not the blood that is in the meat, but the meat anytime you want meat. Since the Bible also says that God is “the same yesterday, today, and forever” then God obviously never changes. So if meat was good for them then, meat is good for us now.

The other thing is the deal of the blood. We are not to eat blood. This is no problem for me since I have practiced this from childhood. However, some folks do not properly prepare their meat. Especially venison! I have found that sometimes I need to soak venison for a day or so in iced-water (thanks Shaun for that tip!) to get all the blood out. When I do that, it makes a distinct difference in the meat – SO much better! Isn’t it wonderful how the Bible is ALWAYS right about stuff?

Praise the Lord, and pass the meat!

⁴⁷ And if your eye causes your downfall, gouge it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, ⁴⁸ where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. Mark 9:47-48

It is well known that whenever the Bible wants to emphasize something important, it is repeated. Well, this phrase is repeated 3 times! So, I realize that God deems it VERY important! The phrase “their worm does not die” refers to a fact that the individual continues to exist. The phrase “the fire is not quenched” means that the individual is continually on fire. So the message here is that those individuals that go to hell experience all the misery of being on fire, but it never ends! They never burn up, they just continually burn! The experience has every indication of complete sensory awareness – that is, those individuals in hell will FEEL EVERYTHING, and do so forever!

Make sure of your salvation today!

¹⁹ When I broke the five loaves for the 5,000, how many baskets full of pieces of bread did you collect?” “Twelve,” they told Him. ²⁰ “When I broke the seven loaves for the 4,000, how many large baskets full of pieces of bread did you collect?” “Seven,” they said. Mark 8:19-20

So many times preachers use this passage, but remind us that God’s blessings are often spiritual and His provision is for the soul. Well, those are true statements alright, but they do not encompass the entirety of the matter. In fact, these people that Jesus provided the miracles of fish and bread for were blessed physically! They had their “social” needs (if you will) met quite satisfactorily!

When we pray for needs that we have, do we not expect an answer? If the need is for money, do we not desire a monetary solution? Is God no longer capable of multiplying the physical, like the bread or fish that he multiplied on these occasions? Must we continue to weary God by not have faith that He can answer the physical need through miraculous means?

I realize that God often answers the monetary (for example) by providing work. I know that He will sometimes provide food through churches or food pantries, etc. However, I do not believe that God has somehow become incapable of answering through the miraculous! Jesus could have thought ahead, formed a coalition, purchased food and drink, acquired transportation, and provided for all the people at this meeting without using the miraculous. He chose not to do that. He chose to use the miraculous.

We need to consider if we are failing God by our disbelief in this area. If so, we should repent. For “whatever is not of faith, is sin.”

¹⁸ Balaam proclaimed his poem: Balak, get up and listen; son of Zippor, pay attention to what I say! ¹⁹ God is not a man who lies, or a son of man who changes His mind. Does He speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill? Numbers 23:18-19

Balaam was hired by Balak (who was king of the Moabites, an enemy of Israel) to put a curse on Israel. King Balak was afraid of Israel, since they had just conquered King Arad of the Canaanites and took his land, King Sihon of the Amorites and took his land, and King Og of Bashan and took his land! So the Israelites were numerous and defeating all their enemies that they ran across. It is no wonder that King Balak was afraid!

It is interesting to me that Balaam was a prophet known to be accurate. This means that he actually did speak to God! His actions proved that he had the tendency to obey God most of the time, since he insisted on going to God for answers first before he did any actions. It is also interesting that Balaam was not an Israelite. This tells me that God has always had His people – people that served Him, even if we are not aware of it. There have evidently always been gentile believers somewhere in this world.

Finally, Balaam was told to explain to King Balak that God does not change His mind! When God proclaims a thing, it is set! God told Balaam NOT to curse Israel, and even when King Balak changed locations that command from God was still in effect.  God was not about to change His Mind about His People. That gives me MUCH consolation, MUCH peace, and MUCH comfort! I am just a human as the next guy, and I make as many mistakes as you – possibly more! However, God has promised to love me through it all! This passage comforts me, because it reminds me that God is never going to have His Mind changed by anyone or anything else – He said He loves me and will take care of me, and that IS what will happen! Praise the Lord for that!

¹¹ The LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people despise Me? How long will they not trust in Me despite all the signs I have performed among them? ¹² I will strike them with a plague and destroy them. Then I will make you into a greater and mightier nation than they are.”  ¹³ But Moses replied to the LORD, … ¹⁹ Please pardon the wrongdoing of this people in keeping with the greatness of Your faithful love, just as You have forgiven them from Egypt until now.” Numbers 14:11-13, 19

Moses was just threatened by the entire Israelite camp – they were about to stone him and Aaron! The spies had gone through the land of Canaan and discovered the fruitfulness of it as well as size and fierceness of the inhabitants. They came back and told the people that they would surely be destroyed if they tried to go into the land. Of course, Caleb and Joshua disagreed due to their faith in God. Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the Israelite assembly to plead with them not to lose faith in God. However, the Israelites responded by threatening to stone them to death!

The amazing part is what happens next. God tells Moses that He is angry with the Israelites, and is going to destroy them all and raise up a new nation from Moses’ descendants. Now stop and think, for a moment. The Israelites tried to kill him, and God wants to kill them and make him like Abraham is to the Israelites – the father of the nation! What do you think you would do if God told you that? Something like “Thank you Lord!” or “Praise God” or “What an answer to prayer, my enemies will be defeated” or some such like response? When we are in the midst of a life-storm and ask God for solutions, do we turn them down when they come? NO! Of COURSE not! How ridiculous!

Well, Moses interceded with God on the Israelites’ behalf. Moses pleaded with God NOT to destroy them! God listened, and that is why they wandered for 40 years in the wilderness until all the men 20 years old and upward died (except for Caleb and Joshua). Their wanderings was a reprieve from God – a blessing, if you will! If Moses had NOT interceded with God, but instead had accepted God’s decision, he would have lost the test! If God had set any one of us up with a choice like that, would WE have PASSED the test? Honestly, how would YOU respond to such a scenario?

The only reason Moses passed was due to the length of time he spent with God. The only way we will pass our tests is if we spend MORE time with God! Our challenge today: Figure out when we can spend more time daily with God, and start doing so!

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Romans 8:16-18 NKJV)

The Holy Spirit becomes a part of our lives as soon as we surrender to Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord! At that moment we are also adopted into the Family of God! We are no longer the people we were, we are now someone new! “old things are passed away, and behold all things become new” the Bible says. So what’s with the suffering? One of the main goals of God for all of His adopted children is fashion them so as to reflect His Son in our lives (see Romans 8:29).

The task of changing this old sinful worthless man into something that reflects the glory of God is an impossible task! However, God is the God of the impossible, and has promised that He WILL accomplish it! Therefore, it is fully understandable that we will experience some pain and suffering in the process. There is an entire transformation necessary, and will experience every bit of it!

However, the Apostle Paul explains to us that the glory that is going to be revealed in us surpasses our sufferings to such as extent that the attempt to compare them is of no worth! I remember when I was a “short-timer” in the military. We had a saying “I can do 2 weeks standing on my head!” Meaning, of course, that the reward of what I will receive after 2 weeks (the last 2 weeks of my enlistment) was so great that I was willing to put up with any duty – good or bad – happily! In the same way, Paul is saying that our sufferings during this life are SSSOOOOOOO insignificant compared to the glory that we WILL have, that we can endure anything with joy to receive that reward!

Therefore the title of this little thought: “The incomprehensible glory of suffering” becomes clear! It is not the suffering itself that is glorious, but the end result makes it worthwhile! Our challenge today: Praise audibly the Lord Jesus Christ for something He allows us to experience that is unpleasant, until we actually mean it!

Also He said to them, “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand? For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Mark 4:21-23 NKJV)

We that are Christians (that is, having accepted the payment Jesus Christ made for our sins and surrendered to Him and His subsequent Lordship over our lives) are expected to “shine our lights” to those that are lost (i.e. have not accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord). We have been told this truth many times, and sometimes even obey! We all have many excuses as to why we only “shine” at certain times, why our “witnessing” is sporadic and inconsistent, and why we seem to be reluctant to tell the wonderful news of Jesus’ Salvation to others. However, most of those excuses are simply lame.

Sometimes we run into serious opposition to the truth of Jesus Christ. There are those that seem to be better at arguing than we are. We might be afraid of losing, and so we back off. Well, we are not to “win” arguments – we are to expose the truth! The “winning” is the job of the Holy Spirit! WE NEVER SAVE anyone! WE NEVER WIN an argument, or convince a person’s mind. It is ALWAYS the Holy Spirit that accomplishes that task. So, all we EVER have to do is to witness — tell the truth, share our story, know the Bible and share that!

Remember, the truth, the hidden, the secret — all will be revelated someday to all! There will come a time in which all will be understood. The truth, eventually, will be shinning forth in all of God’s Glory to all persons everywhere! What will happen to those that reject the gospel? They will ultimately find out that they were wrong, and pay that price themselves eternally in the punishment of hell! What a sad case for them! Our hearts should break on their behalf!

Our challenge for today: witness to someone about Jesus!

⁴ “The service of the Kohathites at the tent of meeting concerns the most holy objects. … ¹⁷ Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron: ¹⁸ “Do not allow the Kohathite tribal clans to be wiped out from the Levites. ¹⁹ Do this for them so that they may live and not die when they come near the most holy objects: Aaron and his sons are to go in and assign each man his task and transportation duty. ²⁰ The Kohathites are not to go in and look at the holy objects, even for a moment, or they will die. Leviticus 4

The Kohathites were a clan of Levites assigned by God  to carry the items in the Tabernacle, and in the “Most Holy Place” of the Tabernacle, whenever they were required to move. God was concerned enough to detail to Aaron just how they were to do it. God even placed a burden on Aaron and his sons to make sure that the Kohathites were not killed in the process. You see, they were not allowed to go into the Most Holy Place. There were not even allowed to see the items in the Most Holy Place that they were to carry! God assigned the task of carrying the objects to them, but Aaron and his sons were to go into the Most Holy Place and prepare all the objects, and deliver them – ready to carry – to the assigned member of the Kohathiite clan for that particular task. If they disobeyed in any way, God will kill that individual.

Wow. Talk about serious! Obeying God’s commands was serious business for the Israelites. They did not have a lot of latitude in their service. How about us? How about today? How about those of us who consider ourselves Christians, serving Jesus in His Church? Do we obey Him to the letter? Do we place His instructions first in our lives? Do we take the time to find out how He wants us to do things? I think we often feel good about ourselves if we can just figure out what He wants us to do. I think we often neglect to find out how He wants us to do things – or when!

God is into details. He is in charge, and likes to be obeyed fully. HE wants us to do His Will His Way and in His Time! Our challenge today is to start finding out how and when He wants us to serve HIm!

³ “If you follow My statutes and faithfully observe My commands, ⁴ I will give you rain at the right time, and the land will yield its produce, and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. ⁵ Your threshing will continue until grape harvest, and the grape harvest will continue until sowing time; you will have plenty of food to eat and live securely in your land.  ⁶ I will give peace to the land, and you will lie down with nothing to frighten [you]. I will remove dangerous animals from the land, and no sword will pass through your land.  ⁷ You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall before you by the sword. ⁸ Five of you will pursue 100, and 100 of you will pursue 10,000; your enemies will fall before you by the sword.  Leviticus 26

It is, as usual, exceedingly simple. For some reason we go to great lengths to make things difficult for ourselves. We either choose to ignore the reality that we are in a battle on a constant basis, or we convince ourselves that the answer to personal victory lies in some “hidden secret truth” that we have not yet discovered. Many “cults” have formed over this idea of a “hidden secret truth” – and all of them will die and go to hell if they do not accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord!

There is NO “hidden secret truth,” the Bible makes the answers to our questions very simple. So simple, in fact, that all we have to do is read and obey the Word of God and we will find the answers to our life-questions! In this passage the secret to a victorious Christian life is spelled out very simply. If we, as born-again followers of Jesus Christ, will 1) follow HIS statutes and 2) faithfully observe HIS commands — the result is astounding victory! HE is the ONE that brings this victory about! And that victory is amazing! The blessings that He will bring will absolutely astound you – as well as undoubtedly perplex those around you that are not saved! His blessings run on a very different value system than the devil’s does (i.e. the world’s standards – same thing.) But they are astounding, VERY real, and tangible!

BUT, the qualification is stated at the first. HE is first, not us. HE decides our path, not us. HE sets the standard, not us. HE plans our life, not us. Having problems with this? Then I suggest you surrender your life to Him today! HE IS, after all, the ONLY way!

⁴⁶ At about three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elí, Elí, lemá sabachtháni? “ that is, ” My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? ” Matthew 27:46 HCSB

At this point Jesus was separated from the Father. At this moment, the Father abandoned the Son. It was the first and only time this happened. It was, however, extremely necessary. 

However, I do not believe that Jesus only felt the judgment of one man – He felt the judgment of multiple billions of people! This is because He was paying the price for our sins! Our actions, thoughts, deeds, etc. of rebellion to God’s standard of perfection results in our being worthy of eternal judgment. Jesus paid the price of that judgment for us – all we need to do is to accept that price and the consequences. That is, realize that

1. Jesus actually paid our debt that we owe,
   
2. Ask Jesus to forgive us of our sins,
3. Ask Jesus to come into our hearts and lives as our Savior, and
   
4. Ask Jesus to be our Lord and Master of our life, directing our steps in righteous living!

I am thankful for Jesus’ gift to me of salvation! I am thankful for His gift to me of suffering in my place. I deserve eternal horror, but through the gift of Jesus I am spared that misery. I praise Him for that!

I am so unworthy.

⁶ And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! ⁷ Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” ⁸ And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.  ⁹ Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.” Revelation 19:6-9

Valentine’s Day is tomorrow! Everyone is gearing up to express his or her love to their special someone! Red flowers, red balloons, red hearts filled with candy, red clothes — everything to express the heart felt sentiments to a special person! Many will enjoy a special dinner, a special outing, or a special function at a church in honor of Valentine’s Day.

Actually, it is a shame that we only do this once a year! We really should express our love to our loved ones all year long! If we really love someone, we want them to know it! I love my wife, and have no problem expressing that to her! I enjoy doing so! If I didn’t, then there would be something wrong with our relationship!

In the same way, if we are born-again then we have a love-relationship with Jesus Christ! The Bible says that we are ‘espoused’ to Him — that is, He is our ‘husband’ – or our ’special someone’ that we have declared our love for! One day we will have a special dinner that the Bible calls the “marriage supper of the Lamb” and we will actually sit down and eat with our beloved Jesus Christ! What a wonderful dinner that will be! But, we only get to go by special invitation! That invitation is the same one that He gives to all – “please accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord of your life!”

Have you accepted that invitation? Are you born-again? If so, we will enjoy the Marriage Supper of the Lamb together! If not, you must do so TODAY!

² For six days work is to be done, but on the seventh day you are to have a holy day, a Sabbath ^(B) of complete rest to the LORD. Anyone who does work on it must be executed.  Exodus 35:2 HCSB

Wow. God was serious about His Sabbath Day of Rest! If you did NOT observe the Sabbath properly, you were to be EXECUTED! Imagine today in the USA if we were to enforce that law! We’d lose most of our people on the first weekend! We explain it away saying things like “that’s the Old Testament” and we don’t need to heed it, or “we are not under law, but under grace” as an excuse.

Think about it, for a moment. Do you think that God has changed His mind? Has God become someone else? When Jesus died and rose again presenting the ultimate sacrifice for our sins to the Father in heaven, do you think that God said, “Ok! Now, I am going to change the way I think! I will be a different God. I don’t care about the Sabbath anymore! I don’t care about the 10 commandments anymore! Holiness and obedience are not longer my WAY of doing things!”

I don’t think so.

God is the “same, yesterday, today, and forever” the Bible says. I suspect that His Grace is keeping us alive, not His preferences. I suspect that we should be a LOT DIFFERENT in the way that we behave towards His laws and commands for us. I suspect that we should reconsider our doctrine and subsequent actions about the Sabbath, as Christians! You better believe that Jesus observed the Sabbath when HE was on the earth!  Maybe we should too!

²² You may eat these: the various kinds of locust,  the various kinds of katydid, the various kinds of cricket, and the various kinds of grasshopper. Leviticus 11:22

Ok, this may not be a very “spiritual” comment, but THAT’S DISGUSTING! God is giving His blessing on eating locust, katydid, crickets and grasshoppers. Yuk! I suppose that it’s a cultural thing, but I would much rather have a burger, thank you! I think that it is awesome that God has enabled me to live in a culture that allows me not to have to eat bugs! I suspect that He knew ahead of time that I just would not be able to deal with that well.

Don’t get me wrong, with all the experiences (most of which I would just as soon forget) that i’ve gone through in my life, I doubt that eatings bugs would cause me to lose my cookies. However, I don’t like the idea, and will gladly forfeit the experience as long as is possible. I know that I have an “iron stomach” and would be able to deal with it. I just don’t want to. Ever. Yuk.

If God ever asks me to, however, I will. Period. He is God, after all.

Would you?

²⁸ The LORD spoke to Moses: ²⁹ “Tell the Israelites: The one who presents a fellowship sacrifice to the LORD must bring an offering to the LORD from his sacrifice. ³⁰ His own hands will bring the fire offerings to the LORD. He will bring the fat together with the breast. The breast is to be waved as a presentation offering before the LORD. ³¹ The priest is to burn the fat on the altar, but the breast belongs to Aaron and his sons. ³² You are to give the right thigh to the priest as a contribution from your fellowship sacrifices. ³³ The son of Aaron who presents the blood of the fellowship offering and the fat will have the right thigh as a portion. ³⁴ I have taken from the Israelites the breast of the presentation offering and the thigh of the contribution from their fellowship sacrifices, and have assigned them to Aaron the priest and his sons as a permanent portion from the Israelites.”  Leviticus 7:28-34 HCSB

Some years ago I had the opportunity to speak before a convention of pastors. I present the point that God is involved with every detailed aspect of our lives. Everything that we do, eat, wear, watch, spend our time on, etc. was important to God and should be under His direction. I was appalled at the response from these preachers: they laughed, they joked, and they made fun of the issue! Was I wrong?

Here in Leviticus God is telling Moses how to present a particular sacrifice: the fellowship offering. There were many sacrifices, offerings, and laws for the children of Israel to follow. In fact, if you study the book of Leviticus, you will find that God directed every aspect of how the tabernacle was designed, built, who built it, what the priests would wear, how their clothes were designed, when they would change clothes, etc. etc. Their every action was detailed.

So, that was Old Testament stuff – not important, huh? Well, I could argue against that all day, but that would take too much time and you would not read it anyways. However, consider this: the Old Testament was (among other things) a revelation of the nature of God. Just because we are under the era of Grace doesn’t mean that God changes – He is the same “yesterday, today, and forever” the Bible says. So if He was that interested in the details of their lives during the days of Moses, I suspect that He is just as interested in the details of our lives today!

I think it would be wise to consider how we should dress today, what we should eat today, what we should do to pass our time today, how we should spend our efforts at work, at home, or in entertainment today – all in the light of what God’s opinion is of each of those activities. We need to be much more involved in present Jesus Christ in every aspect of our lives than we ever have been!

²⁷ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every impurity. ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.“   Matthew 23:27-28

Our Lord was railing against the religious leaders of the day about their lives. These leaders were very religious – but they were far from God. They were the same ones that knowingly rejected our Savior and Lord as their Messiah. They recognized Him, but they didn’t want their lives to change. They were slaves to Rome, but they had gotten used to their situation and even got to like it. In fact their entire livelihood was because of Rome and the relationship that they had. So they didn’t want to become free – they would lose all they had worked for!

Our challenge for today: Quite being just “good looking” and start “looking good” on the inside for Jesus Christ!

²¹ “If you want to be perfect,” Jesus said to him, “go, sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”  ²² When the young man heard that command, he went away grieving, because he had many possessions. Matthew 19:21-22

A lady went to a special evening service at church one Sunday. There was an evangelist/musician featured who performed a number of songs in which the congregation was truly blessed. After the service, the lady spoke to him expressing her appreciation for the service. She said “I really enjoyed that music of yours! I wish I could play like that!“

“No you don’t!” he said with conviction.

“Yes, I do!” she responded with slight irritation in her voice.

“No, you really don’t,” he continued, “for if you really did you would have spent the time to learn!“

That lady was just like the young man in Matthew that spoke with Jesus! That young man who spoke to Jesus wanted to have eternal life, but he didn’t want it bad enough to change his own life for it. You see, he was a rich young man. All that wealth was important to him – so much so that he was unwilling to give it up. The real sad thing is that he is right now in hell, writhing in misery and abject horror due to his decision to spend a couple more years with the wealth that he had. Now the wealth is gone forever – and he will pay for eternity his rejection of Jesus Christ as his messiah.

We still have time! We can choose Jesus today! Please, surrender to Jesus Christ today!

⁴⁴ Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. ⁴⁵ You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. ⁴⁶ You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. ⁴⁷ Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” Luke 7:44-47

It is not a formula, it is not a list of rules, it is not a specified set of steps to follow – it is all about the heart. The woman in this story loved much, Jesus said. I think one of the problems with the “so-called christians” of today (that is, those that claim the Name of Jesus as Savior, but live for the devil) is that there is no love for the Savior in their hearts. You cannot be truly a born-again Christian without love. God IS love, and without God true love CANNOT be found or expressed. Therefore, if there is no love in your heart, there is probably no Savior in your heart either.

Concerned about eternity? Go to Jesus! Having issues with your marriage? Go to Jesus! Struggling with your attitudes? Go to Jesus! Having relationship problems? Go to Jesus! HE is the only one that can put love back into your life, and save – not only your soul, but your marriage, your relational issues, and your attitude problems! HE is the Way!

Today’s challenge: Go to Jesus and ask Him for love in your heart!

 ⁷ “Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”  Matthew 7:7-8

The power of persistence is clearly spelled out to us in the Bible. Here Jesus clearly underscores the effectiveness of persistent prayer.  This particular translation (The Holman Christian Standard Bible) brings out the meaning of the words as they appear in the original text. We are to ask, and keep asking. We are to search and keep searching! We are to knock and keep knocking! The persistent prayer warrior will receive the blessing, whereas those that give up will not receive any blessing. The answer comes to those that are persistent.

Our challenge today: Know God’s Will, then pray for it without ceasing till He clearly answers prayer!

⁹ Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 of Israel’s elders, ¹⁰ and they saw the God of Israel. Beneath His feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire stone, as clear as the sky itself. ¹¹ God did not harm the Israelite nobles; they saw Him, and they ate and drank.  Exodus 24:9-11

I find it amazing that the Israelite nobels saw the God of Israel right along with Moses, and yet built an idol a few days later and forsook Him! They were not harmed by God, in fact they ate and drank with Him (vers 11)! How soon they forgot God! How quickly they fell away! They literally had a mountain-top experience with God, and then they fell deep into sin.

It is a warning to us all. We can experience the truth of God for a moment, and then ignore Him and go right into sin! He reveals Himself to us in various ways – ways that each of us will understand – and then we are responsible before Him to follow His ways! He meets us where we are so that we can truly comprehend the truth. He is the best teacher! He is able to reach each of us in our understanding wherever we are. But we must be careful not to forget, not to fall away, not to let down our guard!

Our challenge today: Remember God, the Lord Jesus Christ, to follow Him!

²⁹ So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, ³⁰ who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.” Mark 10:29-30

I find this passage very fascinating. I also think that our response to it is fascinating. Most of us that are born-again Christians probably wonder why we do not see the hundredfold blessing promised here. We look around at out lives and the lives of our friends and neighbors and realize that nobody is getting wealthy who is living for the Lord. So where is the promised wealth?

We also know that God’s idea of wealth and blessings is quite different from ours. So we reason that we miss the blessings because that are spiritual blessings, not physical ones. He is drawing us closer to Him and making our relationship with Him more real. Our time in heaven will be that much more glorious due to these blessings He is providing for us.

And we leave it at that.

How sad. The problem is that we completely ignore the qualifications for the blessings: “no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s” — that is the qualification. Who has done that? We strive to keep hold of our family, our reputation, our houses and lands, our bank account, our children’s future education, etc. We are not giving up our things for the gospel’s sake! We seldom leave everything, travel to a foreign land, and spend all our waking moments trying to reach people for Jesus! There are a few that do, and believe me they will certainly be blessed for it! They will receive sufficient for their temporal needs, as well as abundant friendships and joys abounding through their lives! These blessings actually do happen to people that meet these qualifications! The problem is, most of us do not begin to match that recipe for God’s hundredfold blessing.

God’s challenge today: consider HIM! He is worth ACTUALLY leaving everything for!

³² “Then, after he had summoned him, his master said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. ³³ Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ ³⁴ And his master got angry and handed him over to the jailers until he could pay everything that was owed. ³⁵ So My heavenly Father will also do to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from his heart.”  Matthew 18:32-35

I wonder how often we remember the importance that Jesus placed on forgiveness? He obviously has forgiven those that have accepted Him as Savior and Lord of their lives – and His forgiveness encompasses much more fault than we will ever experience at the hand of all other people against us, combined! Yet, we harbor resentment, irritation, anger, hurt, negative attitudes against our brothers and sisters in Christ as well as those that do not know Jesus as Savior and Lord of their lives!

People, we need to wake up! We need to start implementing the Fruit of the Spirit of Christ in our lives! We need to start acting like Jesus for a change! We MUST start forgiving one another! Start today!

⁵ Then Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. ⁶ He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: ⁷ There we were, binding sheaves of grain in the field. Suddenly my sheaf stood up, and your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.”  Genesis 37:5-7

When Joseph dreamed about becoming the ruler over his brothers, sisters, and parents – they all were offended. They all disliked what Joseph dreamed, and evidently didn’t believe him. I know that most of us have never experienced anything quite like that – God generally doesn’t tell us in a dream what is going to happen. Usually, God speaks to us through the “still small voice” of the Holy Spirit, or through the Bible – God’s Holy Word. However, I am sure that many of us have become convicted of a truth, and shared it with others – only to be rejected by those that we are trying to share it with.

Maybe some of you reading this are among those that choose not to agree with the Bible, or the plan of salvation, or some aspect of Jesus Christ. Well friend, I am sorry that you feel that way, but it will not make any difference in the plan that God implements. You cannot change God’s mind simply by “believing” something else. In our current society it is generally accepted that as long as we believe something we are ok. Well, God says, it doesn’t matter if you don’t like it, HIS TRUTH is the ONLY WAY. Don’t like it? Tough. He is not going to change it.

Christian, you are in the same boat. You cannot pick and choose your doctrine. You cannot pick and choose your gifts from God. You cannot pick and choose what service you are going to do for Him. You cannot pick and choose how God wants to use you. You are “not your own. You are bought with a price” – so it doesn’t matter if you don’t like it. God is in charge, not you or me.

It is high time we humbled ourselves before God Almighty, and recognized that HE IS THE LORD! Ask HIM what to do, then DO IT!

¹¹ Besides this, knowing the time, it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. ¹²The night is nearly over, and the daylight is near, so let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Romans 13:11-12

God is telling us to “wake up” and “get ready to fight” because HE is COMING VERY SOON! I love this passage of scripture! It is so encouraging in this world of pain, sorrow, frustration, dispair, agony, worry, uncertainty, illness, etc. to know that even though we must brush off our battle armor and prepare for war, HE IS COMING SOON! And even sooner than when we first believed!

It is almost over, folks! Soon the entire world will be very different! Our lives will be entirely changed! We are living in the end-times, my friends, and it is exciting! I trust you are all ready for the battle, because it is coming – like it or not! Praise the LORD!!!!

²⁴ Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. ²⁵ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will find it.”  Matthew 16:24-25

Deny myself. Hmmmm. Doesn’t that go absolutely against the very fabric of the paradigm of our current culture? We are taught by the media, the schools, our families and friends, even some of our churches that we need to provide for ourselves! It is a “me” generation! The thought of denying ourselves is VERY foreign to us! If we want a particular food – we go get it! If we want to see a movie – off we go! When we look for work, we try to pick and choose what we’ll do based upon our preferences. We spend our money on our current living expenses first, then save up for our retirement! If there is money left over (which there almost NEVER is) then we use some of THAT for our tithes and offerings!

I know that many of you, if not all, will violently disagree with me and provide a plethera of disagreements on this. It is possible, also, that I am overstating this for effect. This is because we never seriously considering making this a practical part of our lives! We are all about ourselves, not about Jesus! We need to consider – for a change – denying ourselves for Him!

²⁹ Moving on from there, Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee. He went up on a mountain and sat there, ³⁰ and large crowds came to Him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, those unable to speak, and many others. They put them at His feet, and He healed them. ³¹ So the crowd was amazed when they saw those unable to speak talking, the deformed restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they gave glory to the God of Israel.  Matthew 15:29-31

Jesus healed the physical deformities, the physical sicknesses, as well as the heart of those around Him. Why? Because HE wanted to! And He still does today! HE LOVE US ALL! Go to HIM today for you needs! One way or another, HE will take care of you if you only put your trust and life in Him!

² “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat!”  ³ He answered them, “And why do you break God’s commandment because of your tradition?  Matthew 15:2-3

I find this passage very fascinating. The Pharisees and scribes were the religious leaders of the day. The tradition of the elders that the disciples were ‘breaking’ were not from the scriptures, but from the religious leaders over the years that had been passed down through the generations. This is similar to our church situations today. We each are comfortable with a church service-style, a church worship-style, and various church practices that we have participated in through the years. In and of themselves, these ‘traditions’ of ours are not wrong. In fact, most of them grew through necessity of the times we were in.

In the same way, we must be very careful not to be so content with our traditions that we become ineffective and – even worse – sinful in our habits and practices! Beloved, we must not hold to traditions – we must hold to Jesus! Let JESUS guide and direct our services, our worship time, and our various church practices. Then, we will ALWAYS be effective in our evangelism and discipleship programs!

¹¹ Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. ¹² His eyes were like a fiery flame, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knows except Himself. ¹³ He wore a robe stained with blood, and His name is called the Word of God. ¹⁴ The armies that were in heaven followed Him on white horses, wearing pure white linen. ¹⁵ From His mouth came a sharp sword, so that with it He might strike the nations. He will shepherd them with an iron scepter. He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Almighty. ¹⁶ And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS – Revelation 19:11-16

Anyone who has surrendered to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord truly reads this passage with hope, expectation, and longing! How wonderful it will be to be sitting on that white horse with our Savior at the head charging forth to victory over evil! He is truly magnificent! He is awesome and wonderful! The time is coming quickly, and (for all those ‘nay-sayers’ out there:) IT WILL COME! It will actually happen! Life as we know it will change drastically. The separation between ‘life on earth’ and ‘life after death’ will be blurred for all those that are truly saved! The lost will spend eternity in the lake of fire continually and forever being tormented for their rejection of Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. But WE will be in His Presence, and will reign with Him in real time and space over people, places and things!

One of the most awesome thoughts I have, as I sit and contemplate these things, is that I will be there. I am aware of my many faults. I am cognizant of my failures. I know how weak and ineffectual I am. I am a sinner saved by grace, and only held and kept through His power and His grace! This passage comforts me to no end, knowing that I WILL BE THERE! GOD has PROMISED that I will ride the horse! Praise His Name!

⁴ Where were you when I established the earth? Tell [Me], if you have understanding. ⁵ Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? ⁶ What supports its foundations? Or who laid its cornerstone ⁷ while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Job 38:4-7

In spite of the many things in Job that we can differ about, there is certainly one thing that is very clear from this passage. This is God talking to Job. God is asking Job questions to make him realize just how puny he is in comparison to God. I think that we all need that, on a regular basis. We that have surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord often forget that HE is in charge, not us! HE is the Master of our lives, not us! We need to let HIM be in charge, and quit running our lives. After all, before we surrendered to HIM, we were all making a mess of things!

Do you look around your life and see a mess? Often, whether you are saved or not, it is because of sin in your life and mine. Our rebellion takes many forms, but always leads to the same place: disaster! If you have not surrendered to Jesus Christ today, do so now! If you have, but you have been living for your self and disgracing HIS glorious Name, then surrender afresh today and start walking in obedience to HIM again!

⁴⁰ “The one who welcomes you welcomes Me, and the one who welcomes Me welcomes Him who sent Me.  ⁴¹ Anyone who welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. And anyone who welcomes a righteous person because he’s righteous will receive a righteous person’s reward.  ⁴² And whoever gives just a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple — I assure you: He will never lose his reward!” Matthew 10:40-42

What a stark contrast between these two ideas: giving a cup of cold water to someone who follows Jesus Christ versus calling us ’satan’ (see vs 25) because we are part of the Lord Jesus’ family! He explained earlier in this passage that the time will come when people will think we are of the devil because of our beliefs. Well, the ‘popular’ notion in today’s society is that Christians are hateful, unloving, and deserving of death. We seem to be in a society that considers Christianity as the enemy of truth.

It is in this culture that a person gets so blessed simply by showing kindness to a follow of Jesus Christ! Jesus knew that these days would come, and that they would be terribly difficult. However, in the midst of His discourse here, He gives us the promise that should life up our spirits! He says:

²⁶ “Therefore, don’t be afraid of them, since there is nothing covered that won’t be uncovered, and nothing hidden that won’t be made known. ²⁷ What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light. What you hear in a whisper, proclaim on the housetops. ²⁸ Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹ Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. ³⁰ But even the hairs of your head have all been counted. ³¹ Don’t be afraid therefore; you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10:26-31

What a tremendous promise! In the midst of such darkness and misery, He has promised that He sees all! He has promised that our enemies will NOT go unpunished! He is aware of every part of us, and considers us to be of great worth! However, He expects us to value Him the same way! We must put HIM FIRST!

³⁷ The person who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; the person who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁸ And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁹ Anyone finding his life will lose it, and anyone losing his life because of Me will find it. Matthew 10:37-39

Tell me, are you putting JESUS CHRIST FIRST in your life? Do so TODAY!

² Everything you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you. ³ Yet I prefer to speak to the Almighty and argue my case before God.  ⁴ But you coat [the truth] with lies; you are all worthless doctors.  ⁵ If only you would shut up and let that be your wisdom! Job 13:2-5 HCSB

I had to chuckle at the way this was translated. Not that it was wrong, but that it is written in a way that speaks clearly to my heart and life. I did not expect that type of language from Job. I have always considered him to be the perfect gentleman in his speech. I never expected him to tell his friends: “If only you would shut up and let that be your wisdom!” LOL! He has just gone through great detail in explaining to them that he is just as aware of their knowledge as they are.  He has also just told them that they are all “worthless doctors.” One thing about Job, you didn’t have to work at trying to figure out what he thought.

I wonder if people have that issue with any of us? Do we hide behind decorum and society being too polite to tell the truth? What did Jesus call the Scribes and Pharisees? Painted tombs, and snakes! Don’t get me wrong, I think that being polite is also a lost art on our current society, and should be practiced more by all of us. However, being polite and being truthful seems to sometimes be two different things. Beloved, this should not be.

A white lie is just as much a sin as an outrageous lie. How can we expect the unsaved to want salvation when we exhibit evidences of lies and half-truths? We should not only be people of the book, we need to also be people of our word!

²⁵ For the thing I feared has overtaken me, and what I dreaded has happened to me. Job 3:25 HCSB

For all of Job’s righteousness and faith, he had harbored a fear. Job was a very wealthy man, he had much livestock and land. Job was also a family man, with many sons and daughters. He was the picture of prosperity, and regaled by his community and peers. Job was also a righteous man, and showed this with his daily sacrifices to the Lord God. His trust in God was evident and unmistakable.  Through the book of Job his friends give him advice which the Lord requires Job’s prayer for them to forgive. So their advice was wrong! Job WAS a righteous man, and this was NOT proof of sin in his life!

However, this verse tells us that Job had harbored a fear. This was admitted by Job after he lost his wealth, his family, his status, and his health. Before that, he was on top of the world. After his losses, he was at the bottom of his world. That is the point in which he admitted his fear. This fear is a sign of a lack of faith in God. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but we have recently discussed how God expects us to serve God by putting Him first, and not to serve money. Well, this is the same thing. Job was harboring a fear of the loss of his wealth, family, and health. This showed that he had not put God first and foremost in his life.

When God is most important, then the loss of anything else becomes minor. When our trust in God is true, then our fears are unfounded and subsequently disappear. If we truly trust God, then we have no reason to fear (or worry, if that word hits you better. Same idea.). We need to place our fears (worries, concerns, etc.) at the foot of the cross, laying them at Jesus’ feet, and start trusting Him today!

When Christ is in our life, we have no place for fear!

³¹ “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:31-34

This passage actually starts with verse 24 where Jesus is telling us that we cannot serve both God and money. In verse 25 He says “therefore” to bridge the concept from the issue of who or what we serve, and our worry. We are not to worry about 3 specific things: food, drink, and clothing. He is aware of our needs, and has promised to supply them. The point here that is often missed is that we should not be focusing on financial issues, but on faith issues. We should not spend our life striving with all our might for financial prosperity, but instead should trust in God Who will supply all our needs in Christ Jesus. We are to seek the Kingdom of God, and the righteousness that is associated with Him before anything else – especially financial prosperity! God has promised that if we ’sell out’ to Him, then He will insure that we receive all that we need (not want, but need).

Then, at the last, He adds a summation: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow” – that is, live in the day. We are expected to plan for the future, but live for the day. I prefer the way the old King James Bible says it: “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” There is plenty enough problems for today – we do not need to spend the time of today worrying about what is coming up. Besides, God will often change the circumstances of tomorrow, so that our worries become unjustified.  And, even if our concerns come true, there is nothing we can do to change them by worrying about them. All that worrying does is take us away from dealing with the issues of today! How many times have we spent the day worrying about something, and then realize that at the end of the day we have accomplished absolutely nothing?  What a waste! If we had spent the day trusting God instead of worrying, then we would have had the time and energy to be productive! What a difference it makes to sit down in the evening with the satisfaction of a good productive day, and the presence of God in our lives telling us that HE WILL take care of us!

Worrying is expressing a lack of faith in God. Serving money is doing the same thing. Striving for financial gain is just plain sin. God seems to equate the two here. Beloved, we need to change our focus from our wants to our Lord!

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. ¹² But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. ¹³ The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. (John 10:11-14 NKJV)

Pastor Jeff Paul made a poignant remark: “We are His (God’s) flock … God expects a return on His investment.” He was referring to a fact that we often forget: a flock of sheep has one main purpose, and that is to provide a return on the investment made in them. God’s investment in us through the precious blood of Jesus demands a return. We are expected to provide an investment stream back to God. No, not monetary, but in terms that He appreciates and values.  Many seem to think that living a Christian life is all about ourselves. No, it is SUPPOSED to be all about JESUS! We are SUPPOSED to be living FOR GOD! We SHOULD be conforming to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ! We OUGHT to be GLORIFYING to the SAVIOR! We are EXPECTED to be obedient children, doing the WILL of the FATHER!

Beloved, we need to start returning some of God’s Investment back to HIM! TODAY!

¹⁴ Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. ¹⁵ He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. ¹⁶ So he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people. (Genesis 14:14-15 NKJV)

The hebrew for ‘brother’ is undoubtedly better translated ‘relative’ since this is referring to Lot, who was Abram’s nephew. Lot had previously chosen the entire plain of Jordan for his herd, and left the hills and valleys to Abram. Granted, Abram had given Lot the choice, so Abram really couldn’t complain. But, how many times do we give someone else a choice, but expect them to make the choice that serves us best instead of themselves? When they choose to better themselves in the choice, do we not usually get upset with them? I know that it is not rational, but that is usually the way we react!

Abram found out that Lot was taken captive by the four kings that had just defeated the five kings. So Abram went to war against the four kings. Now, does that sound reasonable? Abram is taking on 4 kings that had just proven to the world of that time that they were stronger than five kings! So how does Abram think that he is going to defeat them by himself? Now, I realize that Abram was rich and had 318 trained men in his house – so it wasn’t just Abram alone against five armies! Still, that is quite a jump of faith.

It is also an expression of mercy. Abram was ‘dumped’ on by his nephew, but still he put all on the line to rescue him! Abram’s mercy-war was all about faith in God! Abram’s faith expressed his mercy that he obviously received from his relationship with God! Doesn’t this look just like what Jesus said in Matthew:

⁷ Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. (Matthew 5:7)

God is the same “yesterday, today, and forever” so His plan for us to be merciful was always His intention! He expects us to put aside our own sinful attitudes and exemplify His instead! Let us follow Abram’s example and make sure that all our wars are mercy-wars for someone else’s benefit, and not our own! Let’s exemplify the beatitudes that Jesus taught!

¹ Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country,  From your family  And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. ² I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  ⁴ So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.  (Genesis 12:1-4 NKJV)

I am not yet as old as Abram was when God asked him to move to an unknown destination, but I know that i would find it difficult (at best) to be as evidently obedient as Abram was. I remember the summer of 1970 clearly since that was the year in which God asked a similar thing of my dad. Dad decided to pick up stakes, and move west. So dad, mom, me, and my brother John all packed up and headed west. Problem was, we had no clue as the destination.

Dad turned 64 in October of 1970, and was moving his family with no financial support, no prospect of a job, no real notion of where to go, and thus there was no destination. We didn’t have a lot of money – we never did! – so the entire trip was on faith. This is a picture of what God asked of Abram. Abram also had to move to an unknown place with only limited resources. He didn’t have an international mission board behind him, or a large well-funded church to support him. In fact, he probably didn’t have the full support of his family. The idolotry of his family and his culture undoubtedly didn’t promote much belief in what Abram was doing. I’m sure that dad faced the same issue.

The fun part of the story is the ending. Dad stopped for gas in central Nebraska at a little town called Maxwell. He asked the attendant there about a preached that dad had met many years ago. It turned out that this preacher had gone on to become the pastor of a large church in the area that also owned a large Bible Camp just 2 miles from Maxwell where we got gas. This man had been praying for a caretaker for the camp for that fall. Short version: we moved to the camp and spent the winter there! Talk about an answer to prayer!

Talk about a step of faith! Do we have that kind of faith today?

²⁰ He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:20 NKJV)

The aged Apostle John yearned for the Man, the best Friend, the One that he walked and talked with for years, the One that he served for years – the Lord Jesus Christ.  John’s relationship with Jesus was certainly unique – shared in some ways, but not entirely, by the other apostles. Pondering their relationship brings my thoughts around to my own relationship with Jesus. Do I yearn for His return? Do I groan in my spirit, impatient for that time when Jesus returns for me? Is my life centered around Jesus, or around something or someone else?

This last year is over, the new year is about to start, and I must change some of my ways. I must endeavor to behave differently. I must alter my schedules, and change my habits. If I am going to progress in my relationship with Jesus and be ready and yearning for His return, I must DO things!

My friends, we MUST GET BUSY!

¹¹ Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. ¹² His eyes were like a fiery flame, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knows except Himself. ¹³ He wore a robe stained with blood, and His name is called the Word of God. ¹⁴ The armies that were in heaven followed Him on white horses, wearing pure white linen. ¹⁵ From His mouth came a sharp sword, so that with it He might strike the nations. He will shepherd them with an iron scepter. He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Almighty. ¹⁶ And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written:

    KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS  (Revelation 19:11-16 HCSB, emphasis mine)

I never get tired of reading this passage, or considering this scene. The rider on the white horse is obviously our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ! How awesome to KNOW that one of these days, this WILL HAPPEN! How GLORIOUS it is going to be! He will return in power, defeat the enemy, and setup His earthly physical reign – an eternal kingdom! Praise the Lord!

We, of course, will be with Him! We are those on white horses wearing pure white linen! How glorious a moment that will be! I will be there! My parents will be there! My wife’s parents will be there! I will meet and know my grandparents, for they will be there! It will be a glorious reunion, and wonderful battle, and a precious time with our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ!

The question is: “Will YOU be there?” also: “Will your family/friends be there?” We that know Jesus as Savior and Lord have this to look forward to. It helps us through the times of adversity that we all experience. However, if you do not know Jesus then you will not be there with Him, on His side, riding His white horses, and wearing His robes of righteousness! If you do not know Jesus – today is the day to accept Him! If you DO know Jesus – today is the day to witness about Him!

The time is short! We must GET BUSY!

³ God came from Teman,
      The Holy One from Mount Paran.  Selah  

      His glory covered the heavens,
      And the earth was full of His praise.
       ⁴ His brightness was like the light;
      He had rays flashing from His hand,
      And there His power was hidden. (Habakkuk 3:3-4 NKJV)   More…

It is an awesome description of the Lord God of the heavens! The passage continues on with an account of His judgment, as well as the authority over celestial bodies that He has! The entire passage uplifted me, realizing that God is so mighty! He is such an awesome God – and yet He came to die for my sins!

We celebrate His birthday tomorrow with festivities, presents, food, family, etc.  We should remember just Who He IS!!! I trust that He is YOUR SAVIOR and LORD!

Today’s “Our Daily Bread” from RBC Ministries (found here) is right on target! Many today are way too young to have even heard of the Great Depression, but things today are approaching the difficulty of those times. Our responsibility as Christians is even greater today to help those that are needy – and that group is growing rapidly!

⁶ But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. ⁷ So let each one  give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.  More …

Our greatest need, as a society, is salvation! However, we must not forget the temporal needs of the people around us. The church should be a bastion of hope, a center for care, as well as the spiritual light to our lives!

¹⁷ These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. (2 Peter 2:17 NKJV)

It is a shame when so-called Bible scholars treat the Word of God as untrue just because they do not understand it. This passage refers to the penalty of unrepentant sin to include the “blackness of darkness forever.” The so-called scholars point out that the eternal punishment will be in the Lake of Fire – which cannot possibly be darkness due to the light of fire. Well, I understand physics sufficiently to know that in my mind and experience this is probably true.

God is above us. His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. I am not God – I am just a man. These so-called Bible scholars are also just men, with only men’s puny minds. Fortunately, God is Omniscient! If God says the punishment will include both the lake of fire and eternal darkness forever – I must believe Him over these men!

I say, the Bible is true – always!

⁴ Now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them.” (Revelation 10:4 NKJV)

Why did God show John something that was going to take place, and then tell him not to write it down? The curiosity of man is intentionally built into man by God Himself! God knows that we want to know! He is fully aware of it! Also, this revelation of the seven thunders was not done by accident! God did not suddenly realize that John saw too much, and had to improvise! No. God intended for us to know that there was something that we CANNOT know! It is NOT revealed to us – intentionally! We will NOT know the truth of the seven thunders until after it happens!

There are many applications to this that are possible. What struck me today, however, is simply the realization that with all my ‘getting of understanding’ I’ll never come close to fully knowing the truth. This can be humbling to all of us, if we let it! Each of us want to think that we know the truth! Each of us likes to believe that our understanding is better than our neighbor’s is. However, God wants us to know that we only know what HE REVEALS to us! There are things we WILL NOT KNOW until we get to heaven! And THEN, we will probably not know it all!

I praise the Lord that He reminds us: HE IS GOD! Man is NOT god, we will NEVER be god, and we are dependent upon GOD for all things – including our knowledge of the truth. I’m GLAD that I serve a God that is far above me in every conceivable way! Praise His Name!

⁹ Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:  ¹¹ “ You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power;  For You created all things,  And by Your will they exist and were created.” (Revelation 4:9-11 NKJV)

How breathtaking is this scene! The description of God on the throne, the emerald reainbow, all the noise of the light show, the sea of glass, the flying creatures with all the eyes and wings … what a wonderful description! What an awesome scene! Whether or not you believe this is actual or allegorical, you must admit that it is a glorious picture! It would certainly be easy for me to get into my ideas of what all this means.

But much more importantly is verses 9-11: “… give glory .. to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever .. You are worthy, O Lord …” There have been times in my life when I experienced worship services that were truly tremendous! Some of them were so wonderful — the Spirit of God was so strong — that I was filled with emotion and praise for God, and I didn’t want to stop! I remember those times. I cherish those memories, and long for similar moments with God! I believe that this scene in Heaven, especially verse 9-11, describes such a moment.  How glorious for John to have experienced it – even for a moment! How wonderful it will be for us to be there for eternity!

In the midst of all the craziness of life, all of life’s sorrows and headaches, all of life’s turmoils and trials – it is wonderful to know how the story ends! It WILL BE GLORIOUS!!! Praise the LORD!  For HIM, I can do some time of trouble!!!

⁸ “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. (Revelation 3:8)

This church was rewarded and not rebuked. What was their shining accolade? They had a ‘little strength!” Being faithful doesn’t mean that you necessarily have much strength, or much power, or much effectiveness. You can be faithful in little things, as our Lord Jesus mentioned in His parable of the talents.  I praise the Lord that it is not necessary for me to become “all that” for the Lord. All I have to do is be faithful to whatever He asks of me. If it is very small and insignificant, so be it. That is unimportant. What is critical is being faithful to His Calling.

Praise the Lord for your faithfulness!

¹⁰ Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Revelation 2:10 NKJV)

I wonder sometimes if we forget just who our enemy is. In this passage to the Persecuted Church at Smyrna we find the prophecy that some of them will be thrown into prison for testing and tribulation. Their charge from God is to be faithful in this, not to expect release from it. However, God is not the one throwing them into prison. It is the Devil! We sometimes get mad at God, or at least question Him, concerning our circumstances – especially when they are bad. Some of us get all bent our of shape, our attitudes suffer, our testimony withers, and God is ashamed of us. Some of us tend to think “oh, well, God is testing me and I should just endure it.” Well, yes and no. God may be allowing it, and expecting us to be faithful to Him through it all, even to the point of death. But we should realize that we also have an enemy that is a part of the equation. We are told by our Lord how to deal with our enemy. We are, at times, to flee him. We are also told to resist him. We are told to bind him.

So, when the going gets tough, we need to get busy! Our faith should not waver, our emotions should not rule, our endurance should shine, but we should also remember to fight! This is war! We need to go to battle!

Note: if you have not accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, then you need to do that First! Go here and read this!

¹³ and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. ¹⁴ His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; ¹⁵ His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; ¹⁶ He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. (Revelation 1:13-16 NKJV)

I get excited every time I read this part of the book. I get even MORE excited when I read this description of Jesus Christ! I know that there are many theological treasures in this passage that we need to glean from. I know that the times written about in prophecy are extraordinarily close to being fulfilled. I know that there is much curiosity over the meaning of this prophecy. I understand all that.

But I want to SEE JESUS! It is such an awesome description of my Lord. I will one day stand in His Presence and see Him with my own eyes! What an awesome moment that will be! I can not hardly wait! All the trials, struggles, painful learning experiences, etc. that I go through – that we all go through – are going to melt away as a snowflake on a raging fire when I stand in His presence in person and see HIM! Wow!

Too much emotion. I can’t hardly handle it. I can’t wait. Even so come, Lord Jesus!

He is truly ABLE!!! How wonderful to know that God is able!

 ²⁴ Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, ²⁵ To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24-25 NKJV)

These times we all live in – no matter what country it is we live in – are dangerous! We are faced with a great evil that is more intense than ever, and more determined to destroy us! Whether the attack is clear and open, or it is disguised and insidious – our enemy is raging against us stronger than ever. It appears that he is gaining in strength! He is apparently being increasingly victorious! It is no wonder that God says “Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” (Revelation 12:12 NKJV)

In the midst of all of this trouble, God is still able! He is ABLE to keep us! He is ABLE to present us faultless! He is ABLE to glorify Himself through our lives! That tells me that we WILL be victorious, no matter what the circumstances look like! No matter how dark or dismal things appear at the moment, the Lord God Almighty is ABLE! We WILL be brought through to victory into the very presence of the Almighty! And, we will have exceeding joy! How awesome is that! Praise the Lord!

This passage (this prayer) is lengthy. I will quote it in it’s entirety, due to the fact that many of you will not take the time to look it up anywhere. So, for your convenience I will quote the entire thing. My point in presenting this prayer to you is for you to read just how Daniel prayed. What was the content? Where did Daniel live at this time? What had happened to the Israelites to bring them to this place in their history?

The thing is, our nation is on the brink of repeating this same historical situation, provided we do nothing. If we are to pray for our nation, our states, our local governments, and (most importantly) our friends and neighbors – we would do well to emulate Daniel’s prayer, his attitude, and his heart.

Read this please, putting our nation in place of Israel, and our states and cities in place of their tribes and cities:

⁴ And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, ⁵ we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. ⁶ Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. ⁷ O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.

⁸ “O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.¹⁰ We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. ¹¹ Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. ¹² And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.

¹³ “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. ¹⁴ Therefore the LORD has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. ¹⁵ And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly!

¹⁶ “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. ¹⁷ Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. ¹⁸ O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. ¹⁹ O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”  (Daniel 9:4-19 NKJV)

⁷ All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators and satraps, the counselors and advisors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree, that whoever petitions any god or man for thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. ⁸ Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter.” ⁹Therefore King Darius signed the written decree. ¹⁰ Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. (Daniel 6:7-10 NKJV)

Aside from the part in which the King (Darius) felt bad about the consequences of his decree (see vs 14), this sound much like the typical political climate that currently exists in the USA and has existed for several decades now. In fact, it would not surprise me if our country escalated the degradation of law in the very near future to reflect this very decree, in an unsettling mirror image. If that happens, how many of us will do what Daniel did? Daniel, if you notice, did not change his routine. That is, even though his worship of Almighty God suddenly became illegal, Daniel refused to alter his habits in that respect. He still went home three times a day. He still kept his windows open towards Jerusalem. He still prayed to God as he always had before.

Do we even have habits that could become illegal? If such a decree – or something similar – became law today, would we even be in danger of breaking it? Is our habitual lifestyle so reflective of Jesus Christ that someone would be offended by it? Do people that know us even know that we call ourselves Christians? When is the last time God spoke to you in such a way as to impact your lifestyle – that is, make you want to change your actions?

We need more Daniels in our world.

Thanks for sending us that poem. Remember …

Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:10-14 NKJV)

… Jesus Christ is the reason for Christmas!

¹ Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. ²Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  (1 John 3:1-2 NKJV)

For those of us that truly know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of our lives, and therefore know the Father (Jesus said: “Because you have known me, you will also know my Father; from now on, you do know him — in fact, you have seen him” (John 14:7 CJB)) we have the priviledge of being called the children of God! This is truly an act of love by God the Father! To be brought into HIS family is an astounding concept, especially since what we are REALLY deserving of us eternal death in the lake of fire being punished forever and forever! However, since we have accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord, we are spared that horror, and instead are brought into HIS family! Wow.

For those that do NOT know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of your lives, the exact opposite is true: you are NOT a part of God’s family, you are NOT one of His children, you are NOT spared the horror of eternal punishment by God the Father for refusing to accept His Son Jesus Christ and the payment HE provided for your sins! Also, you probably do NOT understand any of this, since “Now the natural man does not receive the things from the Spirit of God – to him they are nonsense! Moreover, he is unable to grasp them, because they are evaluated through the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:14 CJB).

Praise the Lord, I KNOW and UNDERSTAND this gift of Love from God! If you do NOT, please accept Jesus as Savior and Lord today!

³ Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. ⁴ He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵ But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. ⁶ He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. (1 John 2:3-6 NKJV)

We are all familiar with the fact that our salvation is not something that we can earn. The faith we have to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior when we are initially saved is a gift from God. The understanding that we are all lost sinners on our way to hell, and we each need to surrender our lives to Jesus as Savior AND as Lord of our lives is a gift from God also. The payment for our sins – which should be eternal punishment and horror in hell for each of us, which is only what we deserve! – is a gift from God, freely provided by the agonizing payment of Jesus Christ on the cross, and His subsequent literal resurrection!

However. The aged apostle here tells us that if we are truly born-again, our actions will reflect that truth. It is an inescapable reality, that those of us who have accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord of our lives have received His Eternal Indwelling Holy Spirit to live within us, empower us, guide us, and slowly change us into the image of Jesus Christ. How that happens exactly is a mystery. But God said it, and I believe it! Here, John reminds us of that truth when he tells us that if we claim to be born-again and do not walk like Jesus then we are liars! IF we are born again, we WILL walk like Jesus! Not perfectly, of course, but the presence of God will be unmistakable in our lives! If the stamp of God is not evident in our actions, then there is a good chance that we were never truly surrendered to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord!

Friends, we need to examine ourselves! Is our actions proclaiming Jesus’ presence in our lives? If not, we need to go to Him and ask Him to change us so that HE IS displayed by what we do – NOT just what we say!

⁷ And He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. No more shall the house of Israel defile My holy name, they nor their kings, by their harlotry or with the carcasses of their kings on their high places. (Ezekiel 43:7 NKJV)

Even so come Lord Jesus! I can hardly wait until this comes to pass! Until then, we need to PRAY for the peace of Jerusalem (as the Bible commands us to)! For those that desire further study, you might want to check this website out: http://www.sonstoglory.com/ThirdTempleEzekielsMillennialTemple.htm

God bless you!

¹¹ Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. ¹⁴ I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it,” says the LORD.’” (Ezekiel 40:11-14 NKJV)

I find it an interesting parallel to our country, and our churches. The people of Israel were dead and didn’t know it. They were idolaters, haters of God, rebellious, wicked, self-centered people that were dead to God and His righteousness!  Sounds like much of America, doesn’t it! Sad to say, I believe that our churches are closer to that reality than they would like to believe. Oh most of the churches that claim to be Christian don’t go around sacrificing their children in fire to satan, but their do sacrifice their families to materialism, to entertainment, to education for the sake of education, to money … the list is almost endless, and it boils down to one thing: spiritually dead.

Ezekiel heard from God that He was going to put His Spirit into dead Israel, and cause them to live! It is only through His power that life can be created! And it is only through His power that our nation can be saved through new life from God! We have no one to blame but ourselves for this mess we are in. However, we cannot look to ourselves for the answer. We must look to God! He is the One that has the ability to save our nation and our culture. He is the One that has the power to save our families, our churches, our schools, our courts, our states … our souls!

Let’s put our faith in God, once again!

 ¹ Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, ³ when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, ⁴ then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. ⁵ He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. ⁶ But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’
⁷ “So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. (Ezekiel 33:1-7)

I know that this is a lengthy passage. I figured that some of you might not go look it up, so I copied the entire thought. The Lord GOD is charging Ezekiel with the responsibility of the Watchman of Israel. God explains in detail the full ramifications of this responsibility. In a nutshell, Ezekiel becomes responsible for the lives of the people unless he tells them the Word from the Lord GOD. So, having received a message from the Lord, Ezekiel then must tell the people so as to deliver his own soul.

Most of the time this passage is laid on the backs of the preachers called by God to proclaim the Word of God in the churches. This is true and right. Those that are called to preach by God are held to this standard. If they do not preach the truth to the people, the people will suffer their own recourses but the preacher will be held accountable for their blood by the Hand of God.  It is a huge responsibility to accept this position. Those people that are not called by God but try to be a preacher anyways have no clue the condemnation that they are bringing down upon their own head. I shudder to think of what some of them will pay throughout eternity for their proclamation of lies to vast numbers of unsuspecting people.

However, I believe that all of us need to pay attention to this passage. I think that anyone that receives truth from God is responsible to Him for that truth being proclaimed. I think that every Christian receives new light, new understanding, and new truth whenever that person accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. This truth is then new to them, and freshly understood. This truth – while in reality being old as time itself – is freshly revealed and exciting to the newly saved! As that person grows in the Lord, new revelations of truth are constantly being provided by God to this soul. That soul is, in my humble opinion, responsible to the Lord for the sharing of that truth to others (see Matthew 28:18-20)! I believe that every one of us that refuses to share the gospel is not just being lazy, but rebellious! I believe that we will each be held accountable for the light that we have but don’t share!

Go tell the world about Jesus today!

⁷ But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. ⁸ And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” ⁹ Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. ¹⁰ As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. ¹¹ If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4: 7-10 NKJV)

Our minds often shut down at the phrase “.. at hand” since we define that as to be minutes or hours, not decades or centuries. Therefore, we discount (not in our theological mind, but in our practical mind or actions) the urgency and proceed out of complacency. This has much to do with the situation that Christians find themselves that are currently living  here in the U.S.A. However, a study of the lives of the Christians currently living in “closed” countries will reveal a very different reality. They approach the “end of all things” with the seriousness and watchfullness that shame us all.

A succinct list of attitudes and actions that we should be practicing now (since the “end of all things” has become much closer and more revealed than ever before) is: seriousness, watchfullness, prayers, fervent love (that is, not the level of luke-warm pseudo-love we currently practice), hospitality (without grumbling about it), practicing our God-given gifts (not decrying their presence, out of laziness), and most of all give GOD THE GLORY – do NOT take it ourselves!

We need to change, my friends.

¹⁸ Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. ¹⁹ For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. ²⁰ For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. ²¹ For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
       ²² “ Who committed no sin,
      Nor was deceit found in His mouth”;
 ²³ who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; ²⁴ who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. (1 Peter 2:18-24 NKJV)

Do not let the word “servants” throw you off. This IS for you and me, NOT just for someone else! God is clearly reminding us through the Apostle Peter that we need to endure grief with submission and patience. When (not if) someone in authority over us treats us wrongly while we are being good (that is, while we are acting like God-fearing, born-again, Spirit-led & filled sons and daughters of the Lord Jesus Christ) we cannot with all good conscience get upset, get angry, complain, speak harshly, etc. to anyone and expect God to reward us. The example is what Jesus did when He surrendered to the enormous injustice of the illegal trial, lies, and unjust hanging on the cross death that He endured for our salvation! When we look at the enormity of the wrong that He endured, and how He endured it, then we realize that we have no less of a mandate from God the Father in how we are to respond to situations that He allows to enter our own lives!

Remember today to “turn the other cheek” and do so with joy! Let us actually BE a Christian today!

¹³ If he has exacted usury  Or taken increase—  Shall he then live?  He shall not live!  If he has done any of these abominations,  He shall surely die;  His blood shall be upon him.  ¹⁴ “ If, however, he begets a son  Who sees all the sins which his father has done,  And considers but does not do likewise; … ¹⁷ Who has withdrawn his hand from the poor  And not received usury or increase,  But has executed My judgments  And walked in My statutes—  He shall not die for the iniquity of his father;  He shall surely live!  ¹⁸ “ As for his father,  Because he cruelly oppressed,  Robbed his brother by violence,  And did what is not good among his people,  Behold, he shall die for his iniquity. (Ezekiel 18:13-14, 17-18 NKJV)

How many times in our lives have we heard of people that claim their actions were caused by their upbringing? We are told by so-called ‘experts’ that our family life and the training we receive are the culprits in our moral demise, therefore we are not to blame. The courts, and the jails subsequently, are filled with people that have broken the laws, committed heinous crimes against people, and are convinced that they are not to blame!

God says differently. In the book of Ezekiel, in the 18th chapter, God goes through an elaborate discourse to explain to the people of Israel that each person is responsible for their own actions. If a man is a sinner by habit, he pays for it. If a man is brought up by a sinful man, but chooses to change his ways, then he is not responsible for his dad’s sins. If a man is brought up by a righteous man, but chooses sin then the habitual sinner pays for his own sin.

In the study of people’s backgrounds, home-life, and subsequently living patterns we find that most often the actions of the sons & daughters are a reflection of the training of their parents. So, there is credence to the notion that the family life bears a significant responsibility toward the actions of the children when they grow up and are on their own. However, God stills holds each person responsible for their own actions. Nobody has the right to claim that they had no choice. Every sin is a personal choice, and hold eternal personal consequences.

The only right choice is to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of your life. He will then make you into a new person in Christ! If you haven’t done that, you need to surrender to Him today!

Notice (ASV: Ezekiel Chapter 31:8) “The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it; the fir-trees were not like its boughs, and the plane-trees were not as its branches; nor was any tree in the garden of God like unto it in its beauty.” And (ASV: Isaiah Chapter 62:3) “Thou shalt also be a crown of beauty in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.” also (ASV: Psalms Chapter 50:2) “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined forth.” (emphasis mine)

It struck me this morning that God loves beauty. I know, that is no amazing revelation. But it appears that many folks live as if God doesn’t care about beauty. God obviously loves order – you can see that in the amazing design of this planet! The eco-system that He set up is far beyond genius, it is nothing less than astounding!

But God also loves beauty – not JUST order, but order WITH beauty! Everything that He created was not only orderly, but completely beautiful as well! The beauty of God’s creation is unparalleled, and cannot ever be copied – let alone surpassed!

So, why do we sometimes live (talking to born-again Christians here) as slobs? Why do we not take care to insure that our homes, our bodies, our churches, our workplaces – all are the most orderly and beautiful that we can do (in God’s strength and wisdom)?  God obviously prefers it to disorderly chaotic ugliness, so why not do our best to please Him in this area also?

Let us start today glorifying God by taking the best care of all that He gives us!

⁴ … ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Everyone of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him who comes, according to the multitude of his idols, ⁵ that I may seize the house of Israel by their heart, because they are all estranged from Me by their idols.”’ ⁶ “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Repent, turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations.  (Ezekiel 14:4-6 NKJV)

God was upset at Israel, because they would deliberately setup idols (definition of idol: anything that we put before God, that is becomes a point of worship instead of God, or takes our hearts, minds, and time away from God) in their hearts instead of worshipping the True God! God called upon them to repent (that is, feel remorse, acknowledge the error, and actively change their actions) and turn away from the idols (that is, to quit having all their idols in their lives, in any capacity), and then turn their faces (that is, the focus of their lives – what they look at or toward, what they desire and concentrate on) away from their sin. God wanted them to turn to Him!

God wants the same thing for us today! No, we are not all Israelites. However, God is the “same, yesterday, today and forever” and He wants the same things from us as He did from the israelites. He wants us to be free from idols in our lives, and to live for Him. If we are born-again, we realize this. But we often do not live like we should. We are truly hurting ourselves in this case. We are, shooting ourselves in the foot! We cause our own pain because of our own sin.

Do we have idols in our lives? Anything we put before God, or more importance than God, is an idol. For some, there are ‘gross sins’ that many can easily see: drunkeness, pornography, violence, greed, power-hungry, etc. Other idols are less apparent, but just as devastating: envy, anger, irritation, lack of mercy (i.e. judgmental attitude), lack of love (i.e. ‘they deserve it’), etc.

There are even some things that are good, wholesome, necessary things that can become idols when they are given greater priorities in our lives than God has: ministry, family, money (i.e. the necessary provisioning of our families, not the lustful greed of monetary excesses), etc.

God is calling on us to repent of these idols in our lives, put them away from ourselves and our actions, and quit focusing on them. So (for instance) if our issue is a judgmental attitude, then we need to recognize that it is wrong, decide to not be judgmental, quit dwelling on the item or items that we feel is wrong, and instead start focusing that time on Jesus Christ (our Savior and Lord – this will not work for anyone that is not born-again!) and asking Him to give us the strength to really put aside that idol and quit it forever!

Whatever our idol is, let’s turn from it today! If God’s people would just turn from their wicked ways, He could still bless our lives and our land!

On October 21st, 2006, at 2pm in a church in northern Minnesota, the late Rev. Dr. Charles P. Grier preached his last sermon at 100 years old. It was the celebration of his 100th birthday, attended by a large gathering of family & friends. For those that desire to read it, you can find it on the website that memorializes Charlie Grier & his life. This website is charliegrier.com, and the page that has this message is found here.

Enjoy perusing his site, as it holds many of his writings, poetry, and songs. His heart was given to the Lord Jesus 80 years prior to his passing on to glory. This site reflects that, as best as I can make it.

Thanks for looking.

¹⁵ I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. (John 17:15 NKJV)

Jesus prayed for us, that God would keep us from satan. He did not request that we be removed from the world. He told us that we should expect tribulation, trouble, opposition, hatred, etc. from the world. He warned us that life here would be hard. However, He also told us that He had overcome the world. Why is that so comforting? Because, He also gives us His power to do the same thing. He did it, now we can also!

But He is not removing us from the problem, just enabling us to get through it. The process brings us closer to Him, and He becomes so very precious to us as a result. Praise His Name!

“So we may boldly say:  The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6 NKJV)

It is a wonderful promise that we can depend upon God. There is nothing that man can do to us without the express permission of God. When we accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of our lives, then we are adopted into the Family of God. We become one of His children! As such, we are afforded the priviledge of His protection in our lives! There is nothing that man can do to us against the Will of God.

However, this verse is preceeded by a series of requirements. It is sad to say that we usually forget them. We like to claim the promises without recognizing the responsibilities that are associated with them. We don’t like to remember that we are expected to live holy, righteous lives that are examples before men of the power of God to transform us! We seldom like to admit that God is not held responsible for our lives when we are disobedient to His express commands!

We have difficult times coming up. We need to realize that in order for us to get through these times victoriously – that is, experiencing the promises coming alive in our lives – then we must make sure we live circumspectly!

⁵ And Jesus, answering them, began to say: “Take heed that no one deceives you. ⁶ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and will deceive many. ⁷ But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for such things must happen, but the end is not yet. ⁸ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows.  (Mark 13 NKJV)

The times we live in are increasingly frightening. We see major undesirable changes rapidly approaching our culture, and feel helpless about it. I believe that times will get very hard for True Believers in the USA soon. However, I take comfort from what our Lord has told us. He has told us “… do not be troubled; for such things must happen, but the end is not yet.” That tells me that He is aware of what is going on, and has planned for it! He knows all about it, and has a path all figured out for us to follow! These things are not going to take Him by surprise, instead He will work through us to take the enemy by surprise!

Praise the Lord that God is Awesome!

¹ Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, ² to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. (Titus 3:1-2)

I wonder how often I am guilty of this command: “speak evil of no one!” I know that when I drive down the street, I invariably run across people that are irritating to me. I sometimes rail at them, explaining to them how wrong they are. Of course no one hears it but me and the Lord (and any passengers that might be with me), but I am still speaking evil of that person. I know that I sometime go to the store, and find people in my way – causing me frustration. In my heart, I condemn them for their actions. They might not hear me, but the Lord knows and I know that it is wrong! Sometimes at church I get irritated at people that behave in ways that I do not approve. I sometimes explain these irritations to my dear wife, spouting off (in the privacy of our car, or home) about how wrong they are. This is disobedience to the clear Word of God!

Wrong or not, other people are not mine to judge, condemn, or discipline. That is up to the Lord. I remember one time many years ago praying for a certain individual to change their ways. The Lord clearly told me “that is my child. You mind your own business. Leave that child to me!” Wow, was i ashamed! Now, it seems, I have to learn that same thing over again.

When will we learn to act, think, and behave in love and not in judgement? If someone is wrong, that is not for me to speak to someone else about! If I have cause to go to that person and talk with him or her about it, that is another thing. But it is wrong for me to speak evil of that person to someone else – even if it is only myself! This only poisons my own heart.

I must learn to think, talk, and act only in love.

“I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in a way that is not good, According to their own thoughts; A people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face; Who sacrifice in gardens, And burn incense on altars of brick; Who sit among the graves, And spend the night in the tombs; Who eat swine’s flesh, And the broth of abominable things is in their vessels; Who say, ‘Keep to yourself, Do not come near me, For I am holier than you!’ ” (Isaiah 65:2-5 NKJV)

Also:

“ ‘Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves, To go to the gardens After an idol in the midst, Eating swine’s flesh and the abomination and the mouse, Shall be consumed together,’ says the LORD.” (Isaiah 66:17 NKJV)

It strikes me that the Lord is equating the eating of pig with abominations. What do you think?

²⁴ Who gave Jacob for plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the LORD, He against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in His ways, nor were they obedient to His law. ²⁵ Therefore He has poured on him the fury of His anger and the strength of battle; it has set him on fire all around, yet he did not know; and it burned him, yet he did not take it to heart. (Isaiah 41:24-25 NKJV)

The nation of Israel were rebellious against the Lord God many times. He subsequently judged them many times. Eventually, He had them carried away captive as slaves. Even though they returned, they eventually got the full brunt of His wrath for their sin. He eventually had their country decimated. Now, centuries later, they are reborn as a nation – not because of their surrender, but because of His Plan!

The United States was never the chosen people of God. However, we WERE originally established as a Christian nation for the purpose of obedience to and worship of Jesus Christ, Savior and Lord God Almighty! Now, after many years of continuous disobedience and rebellion, it appears to me that we are on the receiving end of God’s wrath and judgment – and rightly so! If God would not spare His chosen people due to their rebellion, how much more will He be willing to judge us who are so much more evil as a nation?

Where are the praying Christians?

But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31 NKJV)

Anyone who ever knew my mother has heard of this verse. She quoted it often – more so as the years weighed on her. It has become a favorite among many in our families. The culmination of this passage is perfectly highlighted in this promise. The promise, however, is often displayed without noticing the rest of the passage that it is built upon. This passage is describing God Almighty! The Creator of the Universe, the everlasting God, He sits above the circle of the earth – HE gives power, HE has understanding that is unsearchable, HE is the basis for this promise.

It is wonderful to know that we can run and not be weary, we can walk and not faint. This promise is dear to many, especially those that have more difficulty in those areas. But it is dependent upon waiting on the Lord! It is dependent upon God! It is up to Him when and how this verse is fulfilled. We must never lose sight the of fact that God is Soverign Lord! We don’t demand health, strength, wisdom, etc. from God. It is up to Him! And our wait is the right thing to do! It is always best for us to wait! When we are hurting, waiting is so hard. We sometimes think that God is wrong, that He has forgotten, or that we have been unrighteously abused by the delay. Not SO! The wait is ALWAYS THE BEST THING FOR US!

We wait up on the Lord! HE determines when and how this promise is fulfilled!

¹⁴ The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the jackals, and the wild goat shall bleat to its companion; also the night creature shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. ¹⁵ There the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay eggs and hatch, and gather them under her shadow; there also shall the hawks be gathered, every one with her mate. ¹⁶ “ Search from the book of the LORD, and read: not one of these shall fail; not one shall lack her mate. For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them.  (Isaiah 34:14-16 NKJV) 

Sometimes when I pray about my problems, I become aware of the seemingly large disparity between them and eternity. I usually deal with things like my bills, my health, the repairs around the house, etc. However, in the grand scheme of things, they do not seem very important and I tend to feel somewhat ashamed (sometimes) when I talk to the Lord about them. Hebrews tells us of those heroes of the faith that endured such hardship that they were praised by God, and I complain about my little issues. The book “The Foxes Book of Martyrs” tells of story after story of people who died for Jesus, and I struggle with heating bills!

Then I ran across this passage in Isaiah 34 where God is giving us a prophecy of an event. During this discourse, I realized that God was also mentioning all the various creatures that He has created, and His plans for them. He insures each creature has sufficient food, shelter, warmth, prodigy, etc. for their life! He knows the path they should take, and causes them to go the right way. He leads each one of them. If He is that concerned about them, how much more He is concerned about me!

So, I will feel bad no more. I will confidently go to God for ALL my needs! Praise the Lord!

⁸ Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. ⁹ The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9 NKJV)  Scientific research has proven that when parents are evil around their children, generally their children grow up to behave the same way as their parents did. It reminds me of that scripture in Exodus 20:5 “..For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me..”  I believe that one of the major contributing factors to this problem is that the children dwell on their parents’ sins! They focus their attention on the evil done to them and around them, and subsequently develop habits and behaviorisms that reflect the misery they were brought up in.

The Lord has told us clearly in Philippians that we should be focusing our minds, our attention, our thoughts – on things that are noble, just, pure, lovely, good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy (all by God’s standards, by the way). This will cause us to grow up with habits and behaviorisms that reflect these attributes. In the next breath (so to speak) Paul tells us to emulate those Godly men and women that are in our lives. We need to model ourselves after people that best reflect Jesus and His character. Doing this is accomplished the same way: we focus our attention on them and their behaviorisms, their reactions, their attitudes – and we meditate on them to the extent that we begin to behave the same way.

The result is a life of peace. What a blessing! People, we need to change what we dwell on. We need to start dwelling on Jesus! We need to start dwelling on Love! We need to start dwelling on Righteousness! We need to start reflecting that to others, for them to dwell on!

³ You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. ⁴ Trust in the LORD forever, for in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength. (Isaiah 26:3-4 NKJV)  Stress appears to be a way of life, at least in my culture. Whether it’s the job, the house, or even church related activities, apparently stress comes along for the ride every time. I have become aware of the fact that stress is not something anyone or anything can force on me, it is only something that I choose to pick up. If I have a deadline to meet, and i am concerned that i will not be able to meet it, then focusing on that issue and choosing to worry and fret is my decision to accept stress for that situation.

However, that is not the way God intended for us to live. He did not ever promise to remove from us the situations that are stressful in our lives. However, He DID provide a means to effectively replace stress! His peace is placed in our lives instead of stress, IF our mind is stayed on Him! That, of course, is the key. We seldom keep our minds on the Lord on any kind of regular basis. Our minds on usually on our problems. If we meditated on the Lord instead of our problems, we would have peace and the problems would still be resolved!

For example, there was a time (years ago) when I was single, out of work, broke, and in debt. A creditor sent me an official notice that they were going to sue me for the money I owed them. I prayed and told the Lord that I wanted Him to open some way for me to pay this bill. I recognized my debt, and desired to pay it. However, there was no income source. Then, I left it in God’s Hands and went on with my life. I never heard from that creditor again until I got a job over a year later! Then, I was able to make negotiations and pay off the bill over time. What a wonderful God we serve! He provided an answer His way! And, it did NOT include stress!

Meditate on the Lord today! All day!

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Eph 6:12 NKJV)  We know that God is called the “Lord of Hosts” – meaning the Master of Armies. However, here we find that we wrestle against “spiritual hosts of wickedness” – or spiritual armies of evil! We have armies of evil wrestling against us! One reason we struggle in our spiritual lives is that we ignore the mandate of God to “take up the whole armor of God” due to our own disbelief, ignorance, and/or spiritual laziness! We are fat in our lives, and headed straight for slaughter!

Taking up the armor of God is a multi-session study, not appropriate for here. Succinctly it requires effort, study, and consistency. It means embracing truth, righteousness, peace, faith, the helmet of salvation (particularly important), and the Word of God (maybe the most important, and requires study). But it also requires that we pray without ceasing – for what? We should pray for the brothers and sisters in Christ – those we know personally, and those we know of. All the time. Consistently. Without fail.

We are in a battle. Start waging war, people!

“¹⁷ … that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height — ¹⁹ to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. ” (Ephesians 3:17-19 NKJV) What do we usually want to be filled with? I usually think of culinary appetites, some with financial pursuits, and others with dreams of power and grandeur. For Christians it should simply be God! However, I think that we sometimes confuse our ministry or church or pastor or church activity for God. I think sometimes we are filled with all kinds of things, rather than being filled with God! Generally speaking, whatever is most on our minds is what we are filled with. So if we are constantly thinking of our jobs, our money, our financial future – than that is what we are filled with! If, however, we cannot escape from dwelling on God, then we are filled with Him!

So having come to the personal conclusion that I am not filled with God like I should be, what is the direction that I should take to correct this? How do I get “filled with all the fullness of God?” Well, Paul was praying for several things to come true in the lives of those at the Ephesian church. He asked that God give them “comprehension” of His Love! The prerequisite for this was that they already were “rooted and grounded in love.” The purpose of this was to “know the love of Christ.”  There is obviously an inescapable connection between God’s Love and God’s Fullness!

So what to do? Pray! Ask God for His Love to be active in you! Then behave in a loving fashion instead of how you want to behave. The more you do this, the more of God you will be filled with!

“ Come now, and let us reason together,” says the LORD,“ Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword”; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken. (Isaiah 1:18-30 NKJV)  Growing up in my parents house, we all heard many verses quoted throughout the day, every day of our lives it seems. I have found, my to my dismay, that this is not a normal practice. Our parents flooded our little minds with scripture all the time. In almost every situation, they found a way to insert a verse from the Bible. What a heritage that is! I wish more families did this!

This passage is one of those that I have heard literally all my life. However, verses 19 and 20 was never quoted much with it. I have heard many sermons preached on this passage, but they never included verses 19 and 20. God is talking to Israel, and explaining to them His Heart! He is tired of all the hollow empty sacrifices they offer Him! He wants to GIVE them (which is HIS PART) forgiveness and cleansing from sin! This is a gift! This has always been a gift. Mankind has never been able to earn this gift. Entrance into heaven has NEVER been by rituals, but ALWAYS by grace!

However there is verses 19 and 20 (which is OUR PART!). We are going to reap the results of our lives that we live – after forgiveness, after salvation, after HIS PART – here on earth. If we are obedient, we will be blessed! If we are disobedient, we will not be blessed! We are expected to do our part! There IS responsibility given to us! We CANNOT just do whatever we want! We MUST do whatever HE wants!

One of our problems, however, in all of this is our demented notions on the definitions of obedience and blessing! I seriously doubt that we truly understand (most of the time) just what God considers a blessing, and just what God considers obedience. We usually couch those terms in the paradigm of our societal experiences and not in the clear revelation of the Word of God. This must change, my friends!

What is the answer? “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth!“

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, Prosperity within your palaces.” (Psa 122:6-7 NKJV) So does this mean we should do anything to bring peace to Jerusalem, including forcing the dissolution of Israel? .

Hardly. Remember what God said: “Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 12:1-3) God is AGAINST those that are against Israel.

Remember that, Mr President.

²I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; for You have magnified Your word above all Your name. (Psalms 138:2 NKJV) There is much in this Psalms to encourage us to Praise God: His Name, His Lovingkindness, His Truth, His Answers, His Strength, His Glory, and His Mercy! The psalmist is praising God from his heart with song! I have been there, where my heart is so full of the Lord that i cannot help but sing His praises! What a glorious time that is! The only reason we do not experience that more often is due to our own sin. In one fashion or another, we tend to put things before God. The Psalmist in says ¹“I will praise You with my whole heart; before the gods I will sing praises to You.”  Our praises should always be first toward God! Our heart should always be first toward God!

I noticed, however, an unusual statement. ^2b“You have magnified Your word above all Your name.” Now, God chose to put His Name in Jerusalem where the Jews were to worship. That is where His Presence dwelt between the cherubim. God’s Name is much more important than ours. However, He placed His Word above His own Name! I find that astounding. We have the Word of God available to us, and we neglect it. Yet, it is magnified above the very Name of God! How faithful are we to absorb His Word? How faithful are we to memorize His Word? How faithful are we to meditate on His Word? Do we put His Word deliberately into our schedule ahead of everything else?

We should.

“… Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice. ” (Jonah 2:2b NKJV) Please go with me, for a moment, into the fish with Jonah. Obviously, inside a fish is not going to smell good, and it will be dark – that is, pitch black! In verse 3 he mentions the “floods surrounded me” – indicating that he was immersed, at least most of the time. In verse 5 he amplifies this with “The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; the deep closed around me; weeds were wrapped around my head.” He was absolutely miserable. The question is, how close to death did he get before surrendering to the Lord? If you take this story literally (which I do, by the way – I believe that it actually happened to a man named Jonah) then you must question how much of his story here is fact and how much (if any) is delirium. If you are inside a living fish, then you are intended as food to the fish! This means digestive juices and all the accompanying pain, acids, smells, etc. would be working on your body. This would, over a period of days, affect your mind soul and spirit in a very negative fashion!

His next phrase “I went down to the moorings of the mountains; the earth with its bars closed behind me forever; ” (verse 6) is a clear description of hell – at least in my own humble opinion! Did he go there, or did he almost go there, or did he see and feel that place, or was it a vision?  I think that he at least felt and experienced the horror of the place. I think that Jonah was going through an experience overall that was horrific, miserable, terrifying, and most of all life-changing! Can you imagine experiencing this? Makes me shudder!

However, there are a few things this passage tells me: 1) Hell is under the mountains,  2) it is permanent, 3) it actually exists, and 4) Nobody wants to be there! Remember the parable of the rich man and Lazarus? So, whatever your stance is on Jonah’s experience, I believe that God is using this to tell us that hell is real!  I think that Jonah got a wake-up call here, and discovered the reality of God’s anger toward sin. I think that he found out the extent of the Wrath of God upon disobedience!

I think that we need this message too.

²⁴ From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; ²⁶ in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; ²⁷ in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness … (2 Corinthians 11:24-27 NKJV)   What Paul went through was more than most any 10 of us will ever experience. I am humbled by his trials and subsequent attitudes. But Jesus even went through worse! How can I ever complain about what little bit of trial I endure for Him! I am ashamed.

Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name, If you know? (Proverbs 30:4 NKJV).  It is interesting to me that Agur uttered these words several thousand years ago (long enough ago to get them included in the book of Proverbs, which was written by Solomon). He clearly lived long before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and yet he knew that God had a Son! When Jesus was explaining that He was the Son of God, this passage had to be among those that supported that truth! It is wonderful how God works!

But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. (James 1:4 NKJV)  So much has been written and said about the need for patience, I suppose another comment is not exciting. However, I find it needful to remind myself (and others, perhaps?) that our current state of imperfection is going to be changed to perfection upon completion of the work of patience! That is, I know we are currently experiencing the normal day-to-day issues that Paul explained so eloquently in Romans chapters 7 & 8. We are at constant war against ourselves and our old nature. Those of us that are truly born-again have the benefit of possible victory through the power and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I know that I wait impatiently for the day in which I will be in heaven with our Lord for all of eternity! Sometimes I get frustrated at myself for succumbing to the weakness of the flesh and not walking continuously in the power of the Lord! I wonder often “When will I ever learn?” in exasperation and frustration. The problem is patience has not yet had its perfect work. When that time comes, and patience has its perfect work completed, my problems will literally be over!

THAT DAY WILL BE JOY! I can hardly wait (pardon the bad pun!)!

²² He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the LORD – Proverbs 18:22  I have a wife that is wonderful, kind, loving, gentle – a blessing to me! I found her! Well, actually, that is not entirely true since I really didn’t find her – it was kinda the other way around! But I received the blessing nonetheless. I feel that I have obtained favor from the Lord as a result of Debbie coming into my life! What a difference in my life she has made! How I have grown in the Lord since that time! Praise the Lord for His blessing!

By the way, if you haven’t heard the story of how we got together, you should ask her sometime. It is truly a revelation of how God works His perfect Will in lives that are His!

Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a fatted calf with hatred. — Proverbs 15:17  In the typical fashion of the author, here is a contrast between two different concepts: least desired food contrasted with most desired food, and love contrasted with hatred. Both are extremes, and both are contrasted opposite of what would normally be considered correct. This proves a point: It is better to have nothing to eat and be filled with love, than to have the most desirable food (namely beef) and be filled with hatred. Obviously, our relationships are much more important than our food! Is it best to express, experience, and enjoy love no matter the cost!

However, it is nice to know that the Bible realizes the most desirable food involves meat! I’m all for that!

¹⁹ In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise. – Proverbs 10:19 NKJV  Don’t you wish sometimes that this verse was required memorization for all of society?  How many times have you run across someone who desperately needed to hear and heed this verse! If people would only keep their mouths shut sometimes, it would be a much better place to live.

Oh wait … that couldn’t be talking about me, could it? Isn’t that the way we ALL are? The problem is always someone else, not ourselves! Hmmm….  So I suppose that I should search my heart and try to discover if i have problems with my speech. The previous verse talks about lying lips, slander, etc. So the warning is to all of US that have a tendency to talk ‘out of turn’ or (dare I say it?) GOSSIP!  So, if I have to check my heart, then I think it is only fair that you do so also! Let us ALL ask Jesus if we are guilty! Then, with His Grace, we can change our sinful ways!

¹⁰ Receive my instruction, and not silver, And knowledge rather than choice gold; ¹¹ For wisdom is better than rubies, And all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her.  How many times have we heard a message on this subject, and discarded it as good information but not practical? We all know that it is important to gain wisdom, but MORE important to get money to eat and pay bills! Right? But God is telling us something quite contrary to that. So, do we then believe that God is out of touch? Does He NOT understand our situation? Is He blind to reality and all that it means to the average person trying to survive?

Some would possibly say that if we gain knowledge, understanding and wisdom, then we can be more effective in gaining silver, gold, and rubies. However, that is not what this scripture is saying! The Bible clearly is saying that we are to choose wisdom INSTEAD of money! It all boils down to ‘who is in charge.’ The LORD is in charge – or should be, in any case. HE is the One that directs our steps. For us to gain wisdom, we must grow in our personal experiential knowledge of Jesus Christ! It is through HIM and HIM alone that we gain wisdom! It is the Fear of the LORD that enables us to become wise! The financial aspect of our lives is in His hands when we are letting Him be the LORD that He is! True wisdom will recognize that God will provide as He sees fit, and we should simply learn to increase in our understanding of the mind of Christ! Gain Wisdom, let Him worry about the rest!

⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; ⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. — Proverbs 3:5-6  Learning to know God’s Will (i.e. His path) for your life is not so difficult as it sometimes seems. Inevitably, when we struggle with knowing God’s Will for our lives, it is due to a lack of priorities or focus in our own lives. When we follow the Word of God and it’s directions for Godly living, then we discover that knowing God’s Will or path for us is not so mysterious. All we need to do is put God first!

Now, i realize that putting God first is a life-long endeavor that wars against one aspect of our very nature! It is a battle that we must fight continually if we are to win! However, God has promised that we WILL win! Therefore, as we learn to experience victory in our efforts to put God first we find that we know God’s path for us more intuitively and instinctively. The more we know Jesus personally and put into our actions His mind, the easier it is for us to realize what path He wants us to take. Look at our scripture: “trust”, “Lean” on His understanding, and “acknowledge Him” in all our ways (that is our paths or steps, our very actions). These actions are not so mysterious to us. We can do that! The end result, however, is that our paths WILL be directed by Him! How awesome! How easy is that! Just put Him first, and everything else will take care of itself!

Praise The Lord!

In a time where so much is being made about our  first black president, Ann Coulter made the following observation in her column of 2/25/2009:

” But as long as the nation is obsessed with historic milestones, is no one going to remark on what a great country it is where a mentally retarded woman can become speaker of the house?”

BibleGateway.com – Passage Lookup: Mark 15:1-25;

¹ Immediately, in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council; and they bound Jesus, led Him away, and delivered Him to Pilate. ² Then Pilate asked Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” He answered and said to him, “It is as you say.” ³ And the chief priests accused Him of many things, but He answered nothing. ⁴ Then Pilate asked Him again, saying, “Do You answer nothing? See how many things they testify against You!” ⁵ But Jesus still answered nothing, so that Pilate marveled.

Jesus is the King of the Jews. Here we find Him admitting in court of that fact. However, He is not only the King of the Jews … He is the Almighty! He is God, equal to the Father, Creator of the Universe! And we wonder why He chose not to speak in response to their accusations? He is their Creator! They had no right to accuse Him! They had no authority to put Him to death. Their penalty was based upon the notion that He had committed sacrilegious treason by claiming to the God Almighty! But, in fact, He was and still is!!

Even today, we have people that desire to ‘downgrade’ Jesus, by making Him less then God! Yes, He had to be fully human in order to pay the penalty! But He also was self-admittedly fully God! I praise the Lord for His Mercy and Grace to be not only willing, but desireous of making a way for us to be saved from our sin! None of us are worthy of His sacrifice! But all of us are capable of availing ourselves of His marvelous salvation plan!

Praise His Name!

¹⁹ You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, ²⁰ but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have despised the LORD who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?”’”
²¹ And Moses said, “The people whom I am among are six hundred thousand men on foot; yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month.’ ²² Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?”
²³ And the LORD said to Moses, “Has the LORD’s arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not.” Numbers 11:19-23

Over 1/2 Million men, plus their wives, children, etc. are on the move in ancient Israel in this passage. God has just promised Moses that He will deliver to complaining Israel enough meat to feed them daily for a month! Can you image the amount of meat that would require? And, to top it all off, it was not for a people that were the most righteous and holy of citizens, but for those complaining hurting and bitter-sounding folks that Moses was required to lead! Man! What does that tell you about our Wonderful Lord God! He is SO amazing, SO full of grace, SO filled with mercy, SO loving to us all!

Not only that, but God was showing us that he can fulfill practical problems in our lives in astounding ways! He can provided our needs when there is ABSOLUTELY NO POSSIBLE ANSWER on the horizon! He IS capable to take care of our problems! Praise His Holy Name! Jesus is LORD! Praise Him!

“We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” Gal 2:15-16

Actually, I firmly believe that the Law given in the Old Testament is not only entirely good, but is a reflection of the personality of God Almighty. As such, it is imperative that born-again believers in Jesus need to study the Law and ascribe it’s nature to our actions. If we truly know the Lord as Savior and Lord, then we will desire to conform our actions to be more like Him! Since  the Law reflects Him, then that is a wonderful source for learning more about Him.

Justification, however, is an entirely different matter. It has never been through the law. Even the Israelites, when they got the law and were responsible to follow it entirely, were supposed to realize that they couldn’t (hence the sacrificial system) and have trust in the Lord (bolstered by the many miracles He performed for them). So, here in Galatians, we are reminded that justification is by faith alone, and not by the deeds of the law.

BibleGateway.com – Passage Lookup: Galatians 6:6-10;

¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

As we have opportunity, the Bible says, we are to do good to all! Well, opportunities abound, my friends. Every time that we are accosted with an unpleasant experience we have the opportunity to do the good deed — which is to react with the “fruit of the Spirit” mentioned in Galatians 5.

Why do you think that it says ‘especially?’ Well, I think that it might have something to do with the unfortunate fact of life that Christians (at least those that claim to be ‘Christians’) tend to be nicer to unbelievers than to fellow believers. This is wrong, my friends. Jesus said that the unbelievers would know that we have a relationship with Jesus by our loving reactions to one another! How can we promote the Love of Christ if we are not behaving in a loving fashion to each other? How can we say we are obedient to Him when we do not good things to one another, let alone doing good things to strangers?

My friends, we need to learn to grow up! We need to start behaving right! We need to start being followers of Jesus, not just in word but in deed! Let’s do good to all, today!

Well, we have a new president. We have all kinds of new ideas floating about from Washington. Like “Lets spend all kinds of money, but not let anyone see any for years,” and “Lets free all the bad guys, because their rights have been violated, but we must go after all the good guys and punish them for living!”

Sigh. I guess I might be stretching it a bit, but it doesn’t make much sense to me. The US Government is buying up all the banks causing us to go back to a National Banking System – wait, isn’t that communistic in nature?

The only thing I’m optimistic about is the soon return of Jesus Christ to take His Own back with Him! Praise the Lord for that!

I trust all of you had a Merry Christmas, and a safe New Year holiday season that blessed and glorified God Almighty! We had just that, and I say it was the best I’ve experienced! Many good ones were in the past, but this year was special, and I praise God for that blessing.

Many people have problems with holiday seasons, due to various reasons. Usually, they stemm from some experience(s) they had in the past that caused them pain. This event or events reminds them during this time of year of that pain in a much stronger fashion than during the rest of the year. Therefore, they have difficulty in enjoying the holiday celebrations.

Sometimes people have theological issues with the celebrations, often due to much study concerning the holiday. I must agree that if I were to be true to the various holiday celebrations’ historical beginnings, I would often be unable to join in also.

However, the point is to glorify Jesus. I choose to take opportunity of the holiday period to renew family and friends relationships, and to worship the Lord God Almighty for His Love and Providence in my life. I trust that all of you can do that, or grow into that in your own lives!

Sad note: Things are not going to be better this year, I believe, than last year – that is, from a political point of view. As we start a new year in the U.S.A., it is with a heavy heart. Fortunately, God is bigger than our problems, and we will strive to let HIS grace heal us and guide us!

Praise you the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is fitting.

I feel sorry for all of you folks “out there” that do not enjoy praising God (that is, the true God – the God of the Holy Bible!). You are truly missing out on joy! The Bible correctly states that singing praises to our God is pleasant! When we gather together at our little Friday night service to sing the old hymns of praise to God, we have a wonderful time!

It is also fitting! It is the right thing to do! God deserves praise – not only for all that he has done, but for Who He is!! God’s Way gives us joy, happiness, peace, contentment, power, love – all beyond anything that can be approached from any other source! You have not experienced the fullness of life till you have learned to experience the power of God to enable you to be obedient to Him in a difficult area, while subsequently being filled with praise to Him for what He is doing through you! It is truly awesome! It is the Way of God!

To those of you that do not understand: know that you are missing out on the best life has! You want to experience the best? Surrender to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord RIGHT NOW!

Yes, I know that this time of year is almost antagonistic to the current political climate that we are ‘enjoying.’ So do we ignore the purpose of the holiday, and just gorge on food? No, that is not wisdom in practice. The truth of the political situation cannot truly dampen the joy that should exist in each of our hearts when we look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith! The reality of life will never look good on its own! Only when we see Jesus for Who He is, and Who He should be in our lives, can we truly experience joy in the first place.

We must be thankful for our lives! After all, if it wasn’t for the love of God and His grace, none of us would experience life – we would only experience God’s Justice through His Wrath by spending eternity in Hell. So maybe life isn’t what we want it to be. However, when we realize what it could be (without God), then we have MUCH to be thankful for!

So. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

If you do not know Jesus as Savior and Lord, then you cannot experience any of this. Please go to this page, and surrender your life to Jesus today!

Ok. I am aware of the many good Christian folks that are reminding me of 1 Timothy 2:1 and God’s admonition to us to pray for our leaders. I agree! We SHOULD pray for Obama, his presidency, and his soul! We should pray for his salvation! We should pray for his decisions while in office, that they are in accordance with God’s Perfect Will!

However, I am not going to put on rose colored glasses, turn a blind eye to reality, nor ignore the facts staring me in the face. The upcoming years are not going to be good. We are facing difficult times ahead, as born-again Christians!

Instead of fighting our enemies – the Muslim extremists – we have (as a country) decided to join their moderate ‘brothers’ – so to speak. I think it is wrong, dangerous, and a plunge down the steep slippery slide toward the black hole of political suicide.

Yes. We certainly need to PRAY FOR AMERICA!!!

This guy has some good points. I simply recommend that you read this article of his: American Crisis Part 1 – Please think, America!

The United States of America have clearly spoken: “We want change! And we want it at any cost! Just give us blind change!!” It is a sad day for America. We were founded upon the concept of freedom to worship Jesus Christ as Savior. Now, we are headed for a time of persecution of that very foundational truth. And we asked for it.

So. When it comes, don’t complain. When the freedoms that we held so dear disappear – don’t get loud and obnoxious. After all, you asked for it. Loudly, clearly, and arrogantly. So when you’ve had enough … I don’t want to hear it. It is a good thing that Jesus Christ is a God of Mercy! I don’t know how he puts up with us, to be quite frank. 

My sister reminded me that Jeremiah – in the book Lamentations – is weeping for his country that also turned from God and had to suffer the consequences. What a parallel to our USA of today! You want to know how God feels about us? Read Lamentations. Then read it again. Read it every day for a month. Maybe you will start to get the idea.

Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?

Do “they”

(that is the rich – the very people that you are emulating in your own actions, contrary to Jesus’ commands)

not blaspheme

(to speak evil of, to revile, to utter abuse — against God Almighty!!)

that noble name…

The noble name is, of course, Jesus! HE is the only noble One! James is driving home the point with an additional nail of reality. The people that were being emulated by his readers are the very people that consistently offer sinful, hateful, disgusting, repulsive epitaphs against our Loving Savior! That alone should shame us all! That should tear our hearts apart! Why does is NOT!!! What is wrong?

We are called by His Name!! If we have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord (read: master, ruler, authority, guide) of our lives, then we are literally “little Christs” – especially in our interaction with other people! James here is hurting because of his sorrow and pain over the actions, attitudes, and lives of his readers. We are no better than they were! We need to wake up to the sin in our lives, and put it aside! We need to stop behaving like the unsaved, ungodly, malicious people of the world and start acting like the Christians that we claim to be!

We are called by His Name!! We must honor His Name, and not continue to bring dishonor to Him!

But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?

This first sentence gives indication of an action that has already happened. Undoubtedly this was an often repeated action of their part, a fact of their custom. This was the accepted paradigm of their culture.

The next phrase further defined their cultural norms, and the obvious dichotomy between their habits and Jesus’ commands on behavior. The rich were in the custom of approaching anyone in debt to them at any time, grabbing them by the neck, and literally dragging them into the courts. They were not concerned over the condition of the poor, or the consequences of the poor – they were only concerned with getting the ‘last farthing’ that was owed them.

So James is bringing home a specific point: You are acting like the rich man that oppresses you, why do you therefore oppress those that are poorer than yourself? Why do you act like those oppressive individuals that make your own life miserable? You are no better than the hated oppressive rulers of the day! You are not showing the Love of Jesus Christ in your lives!

Do you behave as the world behaves? Do you have the value system that the world has? Can people analyze your life and the unsaved person’s life and see any difference? If you know Jesus Christ as Savior AND Lord, then they will see a huge difference! If not, then you need to get on your knees and ask God to open your eyes! You need to bare your soul before God, ask forgiveness, and surrender entirely to God!

Please don’t wait. Time is short!

Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

James now reminds us of a couple of things. First, that we are beloved. He doesn’t chastise us without afterwards telling us that we are loved! He is showing by his writings, the very grace and mercy that he is promoting in his writings!

Secondly, we are his brethren! He has been talking to the Body of Christ! The people that have been exhibiting these sinful ways are the redeemed of the Lord! How shameful is that!

Thirdly, he points out that the value system that God employs is diametrically opposed to the value system of the world! We, of course, have come from the world and have brought the value system that we have learned and embraced with us into our new position in Christ as a member of the Family of God! Therefore, we are to learn the new value system that God has and imprint our heart, mind, soul, and actions with it so as to reflect that value system instead of the worlds throughout our day!

Our idea of rich deals with money, power, material possessions, college degrees for us and our families, etc. etc.  God’s idea of rich deals with faith in Him, position in the Kingdom of God, etc. This is why so many of us have so many difficulties in getting answers to prayer. We have the wrong value system operating in our lives! We desire the wrong things! We hold as important things that God holds as un-important!

People, we need to fall on our faces before God (maybe literally would be good!) and ask His forgiveness and mercy, and then His Word to us as to what to change, when to change, and how to change. For we KNOW that we NEED to CHANGE!

have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

That is, have you not manifested and exhibited favor of one party with an undue bias of mind – which warps the judgment – among, through, and pervading the Body of Christ, therefore transforming yourselves from examples of Jesus Christ by the behavior of the Church members into self-appointed judges who base their ungodly actions and pronouncements upon sinful, wicked, evil, ungodly, and rebellious mind-set.

This is antagonistic to God in so many ways! We are told to  NOT show partiality! We are to NOT judge, lest the standard of judgment fall upon ourselves. Contrariwise, we are to give place to others, take the fall ourselves, provided grace and mercy in place of judgment. We are to have the “mind of Christ” not the “mind of evil.” We are saved from that mind-set, unto a better way of thinking!

We need to pray heartily that we turn around our thoughts, actions, and words to reflect the commands of Jesus instead of our own sinful heart desires!

and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,”

Isn’t that the natural thing to do, though? Do we all not normally give preference to the one that is better dressed? How many times have I heard that “cleanliness is next to godliness” with the intent on proving that if I really was a “good Christian” I would always be showered, shaved, dressed in a 3-piece suit, and have expensive cologne on!

James is hitting us home with an example of how we all behave. It hasn’t changed in 2000 years, and won’t change till Jesus comes back to reign! This is human behavior, normal style. However, God has a different plan for us! He has a new idea on how to behave! This may be normality for the human race, but we are called to a higher standard – which we will find out as we go along!

James 2:2  For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes,

Initially, I am struck with the vision that the word “assembly” brings up to me. My notion of an assembly consists of a church building, generally somewhat ostentatious.  So the idea of some man coming into that place with gold rings and fine apparel is not so unusual. What is unusual, however, is the idea of someone coming into the church house dressing in filthy clothes.

This reminds me of a story my dad used to tell about A.B. Simpson. Rev Simpson was a pastor of a large, affluent church somewhere out east, many years ago.  He started a personal witnessing campaign to the street people of his city. The result was a large number of them came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. He subsequently, and quite naturally in my opinion, invited them to his church.

His church people basically forbade him from allowing him to bring these “dirty” people into their church! “Their Church!” The gall of them! First of all, if Jesus Christ was present, it was HIS church, not THEIRS!!!!  Anyway, Rev Simpson left the pastorate then and there. He started up a church with the folks that he had led to the Lord as Savior.

That is the picture I get here, from this verse. The question is: are you the snob that looks down on the ‘dirty’ person, or are you one that is willing to identify with the ‘dirty’ person to the forsaking of all your acquaintances? Just WHO is Lord of you life? I ask myself that same question regularly. I would like to think that I would not play that kind of losing game of favorites. How about you?

According to the ACLJ, today the UN’s Human Rights Council kicked off a new session in Geneva. There is the controversial resolution by the OIC (Organization of the Islamic Conference) on the table, and it is being highly debated for possible ratification. However, this resolution is a way for

the Islamic states to oppose a range of “social phenomena” that it objects to. These include “stereotyping and negative portrayal of religions, in particular Islam, [and] the association of Islam with violence and terrorism” after 9/11,as well as “ridicule,” “insults” and “Islamophobia.” – read this online here.

In an earlier report, we discover that the most recent version of the anti-defamation resolution (passed in December)

“cites the erroneous connection of Islam to terrorism and “stresses
the need to effectively combat defamation of all religions and
incitement to religious hatred, against Islam and Muslims in
particular.”

“The text also takes aim at the USA Patriot Act, expressing alarm at
unnamed laws that “specifically discriminate against and target Muslims … following the events of 11 September 2001.” – read this online here.

We need to stop these people from taking away from us, through International Courts, the very rights that this Nation was founded upon. We better stop sleeping at the wheel, or we might just crash & burn as a nation!!

A small quote from her speech:

“… let me be specific: The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, and raise payroll taxes, and raise investment income taxes, and raise the death tax, and raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars.

My sister, Heather, and her husband, they just built a service station that’s now open for business, like millions of others who run small businesses. How are they … How are they going to be better off if taxes go up? Or maybe you are trying to keep your job at a plant in Michigan or in Ohio or you’re trying … you’re trying to create jobs from clean coal, from Pennsylvania or West Virginia.

You’re trying to keep a small farm in the family right here in Minnesota.

How are you … how are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a massive tax burden to the American economy?”

Read her speech in it’s entirety. It’s a classic!

James 2:1 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.

James is talking to Christians, still. He is make a singular point, in which he is pleading with the Body of Christ to alter the direction in which ‘they’ are going. Obviously, the problems of today that are so pertinent to this verse are not unique in Christian human experience. This is something that all of us do, on an almost-continuous basis.

Whether you want to re-term this problem as snobbery, as selfishness, or as prejudice (i.e. preferring one person, another being put aside, by unfavorable judgment due to partiality) — the fact remains that we perform actions based upon human thought, reasoning, and emotions that are not Christlike. We favor one person, situation, or establishment over another without regard to Christ’s point of view on the subject.

The solution, while simple, is not easy. We are to “put on the helmet of Salvation” which is (among other things) the “mind of Christ.” Due to the “helmet of Salvation” we are able (if we obey the scriptures in this regard) to ‘put on the mind of Christ’ and learn to see things from God’s point of view. This changes our entire outlook on life, on relationships, on our judgments, and on our actions. This change will glorify God!

We need to do this, TODAY!

See Romans 15:6; 1 Corinthians 1:10; and 1 Corinthians 2:16; and compare with 1 Peter 1:13.

A roadside bomb killed two American soldiers Thursday in eastern Baghdad, the US military said. They were the first combat deaths in the capital in a week.

A US statement said the soldiers were on patrol in the mostly Shiite area of the city when the blast occurred shortly after noon. The victims’ names with withheld until their families could be notified.

The casualties were the first suffered by the American military in the capital since Aug. 28 when a soldier was killed in a roadside bombing. Another soldier died Tuesday in Baghdad of non-hostile causes, the military said.

I think that all the fighting in political circles today has little merit compared to the sacrifice our people have given overseas. For some small-minded person to ignorantly shout that we are going to immediately withdraw and ignore all the consequences, and then to expect the American people to agree to that is the height of outrage! People that cannot see the benefit of freedom for other people, need to live elsewhere.

Come on people: GROW UP!

Even when Obama actually tries to work with someone, he fails miserably! I cannot imagine anyone seriously looking at this man’s (?) track record and true viewpoints, and voting FOR him!

Obama’s great bipartisan moment (OneNewsNow.com)

Dear Senator Obama: I would like to apologize to you for assuming that your private assurances to me regarding your desire to cooperate in our efforts to negotiate bipartisan lobbying reform legislation were sincere. When you approached me and insisted that despite your leadership’s preference to use the issue to gain a political advantage in the 2006 elections, you were personally committed to achieving a result that would reflect credit on the entire Senate and offer the country a better example of political leadership, I concluded your professed concern for the institution and the public interest was genuine and admirable. Thank you for disabusing me of such notions with your…decision to withdraw from our bipartisan discussion. I’m embarrassed to admit that after all these years in politics I failed to interpret your previous assurances as typical rhetorical gloss routinely used in politics to make self-interested partisan posturing appear more noble. Again, sorry for the confusion, but please be assured I won’t make the same mistake again…. Sincerely, John McCain.

I think that this is NOT over-the-edge! I am aware of the fact that most people in America are more concerned about their fat belly’s then about promoting truth! Therefore, I suppose most people will boycott the boycott. Also, many people probably misunderstand it. Well, if you want to know what it is about, then read their site (link found below)!

Boycott McDonald’s – A Project of American Family Association

What the boycott of McDonald’s IS NOT about

* This boycott is not about hiring homosexuals.
* It is not about homosexuals eating at McDonald’s.
* It is not about how homosexual employees are treated.

What the boycott of McDonald’s IS about

It is about McDonald’s, as a corporation, refusing to remain neutral in the culture wars. McDonald’s has chosen not to remain neutral but to give the full weight of their corporation to promoting the homosexual agenda, including homosexual marriage.

‘Socially responsible’ investor blacklists McDonald’s (OneNewsNow.com)

The president of a pro-family values mutual fund company says the extreme actions of McDonald’s has forced the investment firm to publicly clarify that its portfolios won’t include any stock in the worldwide hamburger retailer.

Timothy Plan’s socially responsible investing includes screening of companies whose revenues or actions support pornography, abortion, anti-family entertainment, or promotion of non-married lifestyles. But Art Ally, president of the investment company, says his group normally does not spotlight or publish notices on businesses they screen out. In this case, however, he says the Timothy Plan could not stay silent when McDonald’s went “over the edge.”

More…

Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Pure, Pureness, Purity (VINE)

<A-1,Adjective,53,hagnos> “pure from defilement, not contaminated” (from the same root as hagios, “holy”), is rendered “pure” in Phi_4:8; 1Ti_5:22; Jam_3:17; 1Jo_3:3; see CHASTE.

Religion (ISBE)

rḗ-lij´un: “Religion” and “religious” in Elizabethan English were used frequently to denote the outward expression of worship. This is the force of φρησκεία, thrēskeia, translated “religion” in Act_26:5; Jam_1:26, Jam_1:27 (with adjective thrḗskos, “religious”), while the same noun in Col_2:18 is rendered “worshipping” (“cult” would give the exact meaning).

Pure (holy, or uncontaminated) religion and undefiled would be the sort of worship and lifestyle that would please the Lord Jesus Christ in all aspects. So therefore, in order to please God, we must care for the fatherless and widows. Also, we are to keep ourselves unspotted (i.e. free from moral stain; untainted with guilt; unblemished; immaculate; as unspotted reputation) from the world (the sin-laden system in which the enemy of our souls works to promote his own sinful scheme, and the unsaved people that are in it).

We are NOT to refrain from interaction with the lost souls of mankind, since that would counter-act the Great Commission that our Lord Jesus gave us. However, we must be VERY CAREFUL to prevent their ideals from contaminating us! Meanwhile, we must give of ourselves to care for those less fortunate than ourselves! THIS is God’s idea of religion!

²⁶If any man among you seems to be religious, and bridles not his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.

The word “man” is better translated “whosoever” indicating complete disregard of gender issues. The word ‘religious’ indicates someone that is demonstrative, ceremonious in worship. So we get a statement that refers to all people, regardless of gender, that appears to be ceremoniously demonstrative in their worship. These people may not actually be that way, but do appear to be that way. These are people that make a show of what they do, and do so publicly.

The vanity of the situation (that is, the uselessness, and sinfulness of the actions of these people) lies in their failing to bridle ( or curb, that is to control by stopping, halting, or filtering) their speech. This failure actually causes them more harm than others, for the verse states that it cause them to deceive, delude, and cheat their own core being!

The danger is a show of religion that is marked by a loose tongue. This tendency to talk a lot, but say very little, tells everyone watching and listening that this individual is not really very religious. It also has the effect of digging that person’s own cellar, so that they have no idea how shallow and weak that they really are! This should cause us all to shudder and fall on our knees in prayer, asking God to save us from just such a situation!

²⁵But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

It is important to note that the word translated “looks” in this verse means to “examine closely” as if to study or to investigate something. So here is the real contrast between this verse and verses 23-24. Previously, the individual described simply glances at the word, does not contemplate it, but instead proceeds unchanged down his or her road of life. However, in this verse the individual studies, investigates, contemplates, and maybe even memorizes the word. There is no way that someone can spend that kind of effort and time on a subject without it impacting his or her life. Therefore, this is the solution to the question “how do I become a doer and not a hearer only?”

Psalm 19:7 says that the “law of the Lord is perfect …” – indicating the blemish-free aspect of the law (i.e. the Word of God). It brings with it’s perfection a perfect set of standards, and therefore freedom from sin. Psalm 119:45 says “And I will walk at liberty: for I seek your precepts.” This freedom comes from an ingestion of God’s Word, translated into actions on a continuing basis.

Note that James says “.. and continues in it…” – indicating preserverance in our walk. That is, we must continue – day by day, week by week, year by year – to yield to the law of God in our activities, attitudes, etc. Which indicates that we also must continue to study, investigate, etc. the law every day in order to maintain this relationship with God and the freedom from sin that is provided through the Word of God.

Remember also, that this freedom is only available to those that are surrendered, blood-bought, and adopted (through salvation) children of God (see verse 19, where James is addressing his “brethren” – a title referring to fellow believers, not natural family members). Therefore, if you are not a Christian (that is, you have never personally surrendered your life to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and asked His forgiveness for your sins and sinful life), then you need to ask Jesus into your heart before you will ever be able to live according to the Word of God, and according to God’s precepts! There is NO freedom from sin without the blood-bought salvation provided you by Jesus Christ!

²³For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: ²⁴For he beholds himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what manner of man he was.

I suppose that I identify with this verse more than I should. I have noticed, through my life, that I seldom have an accurate picture of what others see when they encounter me. I still think of myself as the young, strong, slender youth that I might have been many years ago. This enables me to understand, in the depths of my heart, just how futile and worthless is the effort of hearing the Word of God and not doing something about it. However, it is a failing of mine that I have fought all of my Christian Life.

I do not believe that I am alone in this, nor is this restricted to a particular time, people, or paradigm. We all have this problem, and it is important that we accept that as a fact of our lives. Then, we need to go on to the next verse, and start our travel down the road to a healthy walk with Jesus Christ!

“But be you doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”

Instead of continuing in sin, we are to lay aside all the sinful actions that we have been doing. This was in the previous verse. Here, God continues by explaining what to replace those sinful actions with. In any bad habit that we try to break, there is time set aside for the sinful or bad habit. When that habit is forsaken, then the time is left empty. This leads to increased failure and sin if we do not fill that time with something positive, something better, something Godly.

God is telling us to fill our time with actions. We are to be doing things – singing worship songs, visiting the shut-ins, sharing our salvation testimony, volunteering at the church, etc. etc. The basis for our actions, however, must be the Word of God! In order for us to base all of our actions on the Word of God, we must be first reading, memorizing, and meditating upon it. If we do not do these things, then we will fail miserably every time. If you are failing in your personal fight against sin, then take heed: “you are not reading, studying, and/or memorizing the Bible sufficiently!”

If we deliberately do NOT follow God’s command to act according to the Word of God, then we are lying to ourselves. We are deceivers of ourselves! We certainly can NOT deceive God! We are then only the most foolish of people.

Take heed to God’s voice, and ACT today based upon His Word!

“Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”

Wherefore (because of the previous thoughts in which we learned about how to emulate the righteousness of God, mostly due to what He did in making us part of His Family) Lay apart (conciously make a determination, and then actively put away, or cast off) filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness (moral dirtyness, and the superabundance of evil, wicked depravity – which obviously abounds in all of us due to the inherant depravity we all exist in) and receive (an active choice of ours) with meekness (humility – which only comes from a reflection of the Spirit of Christ) the engrafted word (the implanted Divine Message, a revelation of Jesus Christ – usually a function of the Bible being placed in your heart and mind), which is able to save your souls (salvation of the inner, or ‘true’ you).

Or, in a simple way, be holy! Stop doing the evil things. Stop thinking the wicked thoughts. Stop responding to situations like the unsaved, ungodly persons. Stop being like the world in thought, word, and deed. Take the conscious thought, directed choice, and subsequent action to be like Jesus instead! The source of the power for this change that Christians can make is the Word of God! As we study the Bible, as we fill an increasing amount of our minds with the Word of God, as we meditate on IT instead of the sinful situations, actions, deeds, etc. of this world and specifically of our little world – we will find increasing victory in our lives as Christians!

God tells us here, to DO IT!

For the anger of man works not the righteousness of God.

The word ‘anger’ used here, in the Greek indicates a ‘violent passion or desire, indicating punishment – such as wrath or vengeance.’ The word ‘works’ is used to indicate something ‘accomplished fully’ or ‘finished.’ Righteousness indicates the ‘equity of character’.

So we have a completion of the thought started in the earlier verse. We should have our temper under control, and not ‘fly off the handle’ with any cause. The reason is stated in this verse: that the violent passionate desire of mankind for punishment or vengeance does not ever accomplish the full character of God Almighty as regarding equity.

When we get mad, we are usually filled with wrath and directing that passion at someone else. This does not ever reflect the justice, equity, fairness, or righteousness that resides as an integral part of God’s Character. Therefore, as citizens of God’s Family reflecting His Name in our actions, thoughts, verbalizations, and any other demonstrations we can conceive of, we must be careful with our emotions and not allow anger to ruin what God has given to us!

Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger:

Therefore: due to what we have learned so far – that is God’s Loving Will, His desire to impart wisdom to us, the fact of God’s grace that is shown to us when we go through trials and do so victoriously, etc. – because of all of that, because of God and His attributes we must be careful to behave like God wants us to behave. That behavior is now listed for us to learn and emulate.

We should be swift to hear – that is to hear God, to hear the word of truth! We should eagerly embrace the truth in the Word of God no matter the consequences! We know, of course, that the consequences of following the Bible is always going to be for our best!

We should be slow to speak – that is careful with out tongues. Too often we run off the mouth only to find ourselves in a pickle of a mess, and that all of our own making. We should, instead, wait on the Lord to fill our mouths with the Word He wants us to speak!

We should be slow to anger – our temper should always be under control, and not flying off the handle at every opportunity. Erratic drivers, mouthy co-workers, arrogant people at the store, etc. etc, – all of these people tend to bring out the worst in us, and that too quickly! We must slow down, and respond with God’s love and patience

Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Whose will was used? God’s Will! Nobody else did this for us, it was all God! Therefore we can trust that it is absolutely for our good, the best thing for us, and we can rest completely in that knowledge! Praise God!

The Word of Truth – the Bible – He used in this process. So we know, then, that our answers for problems or direction will come from the word of truth – the Holy Bible!

Firstfruits? We are the ’showcase’ for all that He has done, is doing, or will do in the future. What are His future plans? Only He knows, praise the Lord. That knowledge would be dangerous in human hands!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Here James is contrasting the deception of sin with the perfection of God. The benevolent action, and the completed bestowing is a reflection of, and is delivered by God the Father. He is called, here, the “Father of Lights.” This is further emphasized by James contrasting the Light from God to the partial light that the sun gives. Our sun is a wonderful, warm source for joy, life, summer vacation, etc. But it is flawed in that it can be blocked – sometimes completely, sometimes partially – by different objects. With God the Father, there is nothing that can block His Light! Praise His Name!

So the gifts from God are gifts that are generous and complete, and cannot be blocked! Praise His Name!

Do not err, my beloved brethren.

Actually, it is more accurate to say “stop being deceived” my beloved brethren. This is said with great love! James is not trying to put the hammer to us. Rather, he is describing a situation that is all too often the reality in our lives as Christians. Christians are notoriously complainers, are typically weak in our faith, and are often walking in the midst of deception. Oh yes, there are a few that we despise because they walk in such closeness to Jesus that we are always uncomfortable around them. But most of us struggle continuously with this issue.

James is trying to get us to see that we need to STOP being deceived in this area. Sin happens when we entertain the notion of the temptation – not when we are first tempted. So, we can start resisting the devil (that is, the temptation when it arises), and it will flee from us! Therefore, we gain victory! This happens, largely, because of God’s power for us to utilize. However, there is also a certain amount of understanding that is needed for us to realize just how we can be victorious. This occurs when we stop being deceived!

Praise the Lord for understanding! Praise the Lord for His power to deliver us!

Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.

Lust is defined as a longing desire, and eagerness to possess or enjoy, concupiscence; unlawful desire of carnal pleasure, evil propensity, depraved affections and desires, etc. Usually we associate lust with sexual depravity of some sort. This is not inaccurate, but can keep us from the entire picture. Lust is inordinate desire, not just inordinate sexual desire. It is entirely possible for a man to lust for power, or for money as it is for a man to lust for sexual depravity.

At the core of lust is selfishness. We lust because we are selfish people by nature. As a born-again Christian, we have also acquired Jesus’ nature. Therefore, as the Apostle Paul explain so well in his letter to Romans chapter 7, we end up with a continuous battle over which ‘nature’ will rule the day, and which ‘nature’ will rue the day!

Note that here James points out that lust is not sin till it has conceived. The word picture taken directly from nature – the birth process – clearly points out that conception is the beginning of life, and thus conception – in the area of the battle against sin – is also the beginning of the life of the sin that we entertain. The end result is death – always!

Also, I feel that it is necessary to point out what death is. Death is usually considered the end of life. This is not true of human beings. Death (in the strictest Biblical sense) is always the translation from this life to eternity – of which there are two destinations. The meaning here of death is that of the translation from this life to eternity lost. This is generally the meaning that the phrase takes in the New Testament.

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man:

Tempted is not tested, and the difference is vital! A ‘trial’ from the Lord will be a ‘test’ – not a ‘tempt.’ To tempt someone is to attempt to lure that person into sin of some sort – big or small, obvious or secret, known or unknown. A temptation is a point of being tempted specifically to some individual sin. Jesus was tempted by Satan with sin! Satan tried to get Jesus to succumb to some sin, but Jesus was victorious! He was the ultimate victor! Praise His Name!

God NEVER (see that? NEVER!!!) attempts to get us into any sort of sin! So, any test we are going through has God’s ultimate purpose of providing us with victory! We can count on God wanting us to be victorious in every test we go through! Therefore, every prayer or request we make of God to get us through our various trials and tests victoriously will be within the perfect Will of God! Praise the Lord! The Bible says that when we ask anything of God that is in His Will, we KNOW that we HAVE that petition! Is that not AWESOME! PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Blessed is the man that endures trial: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him.

Blessed: Made Happy, extolled, enjoying spiritual happiness and favor of God – not (in my opinion) necessarily prosperous in worldly affairs. Money is not sinful, nor is it the root of all evil. It is the love of money that is the root of all evil. However, this blessing is not about money, possessions, or any type of worldly gain. Such gain is mostly a waste of effort, since it passes away.

This blessing is the crown of life! There are many opinions as to what the Crown of Life is, and most of them disagree with one another. The Bible is not clear on the subject. That tells me that it is not necessary for us to know. It is enough to know that we are to be blessed! It is not Eternal Life, since that comes as a gift from God when we are saved. Also, the brother that endures trials is – by definition – saved and in possession of Eternal Life! So there will be another crown of some sort, that deals with Life as God defines it! That has got to be awesome! I can’t hardly wait! Praise the Lord!

For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and its flower falls, and the beauty of the appearance of it perishes: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

The brevity of life escapes most of us most of the time. Our schedules inflict upon us the illusion that our lives are rich, full, long, satisfying – or could possibly be if we are only able to acquire one more thing! We are not satisfied with our situation ever – we are always striving to alter our life.

However, in the midst of all of that, we fail to realize that this “life” that we are in is only the incubation period! We are here to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord, learn to live for Him, and spend our short lives growing to be like our Blessed Savior! The eternal aspect of our lives should always be in our focus, because the brevity of this life tends to blur that eternal focus and alter the way we prioritize things.

As we learn to keep God’s future in our mind and thus lower the importance of our immediate situation, then we will learn to rejoice in whatever state we are in at the moment and be able to alter our “ways” to be more stable, and full of faith! This will result in our prayers being answered! Praise the Lord for His Wisdom!

But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.

The implication is of the “brother” that is rich – that is, the saved person that has material wealth. This individual would have a tendency to develop traits that are peculiar to the wealthy and that is opposed to the Spirit of Christ that we should exhibit (see Gal 5:22-26). This person’s greatest trial could possibly be the loss of the possessions that he was accustomed to. This tremendous blow could be devastating (see Job’s travail in Job 1:1-19; and Job 2:1-7), but has been responded to with a Christ-like spirit (see Job 1:20-22; and Job 2:8-10).

They key to our Christ-like responses is to keep an appropriate perspective on reality: “because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.” When we begin to see that truth from God’s perspective is more real than the passing life we currently experience, then we are better equipped to respond to devastating situations with the rejoicing that God expects of us! The appropriate adage should have been written: “We should be more heavenly minded so that we can be more earthly good!“

Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:

The previous 7 verses speak in general of a godly man’s proper approach to trials. That is, trials in general should be embraced but tempered with wisdom from God through steadfast and earnest requests. This verse brings a change in the topic from general to specific.The brother is obviously referring to someone who has already been saved (that is, accepted the payment that Jesus made for our sins – when He died, was buried, and resurrected the third day from the dead – and has surrendered our life to His Lordship – that is direction and master control).

The brother of low degree is someone that is poor financially, politically, socially, and possibly emotionally. This is someone who has nothing, is nothing, and is aware of that fact. When God exalts someone of this nature and status, it is because God knows that he can handle the exaltation and glorify God in it. Therefore, the rejoicing of that brother brings honor to God!

Let the brother (literally ‘from the womb’) of low degree (literally ‘depressed’, that is of estate or situation) rejoice (that is, ‘vaunt oneself’ or ‘boast’) in that he is exalted (that is, ‘elevated’ – possibly with dignity).

Wow! We are considered brothers from the womb with Jesus! What a wonderful situation to be placed in! If our earthly estate is depressed, we can boast that we are in truth elevated to the dignity of the family that Jesus placed us in! With that truth firmly planted in our minds and in our hearts, we can get over anything!

Praise the Lord!

A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.

DOUBLE-MINDED, a. Having different minds at different times; unsettled; wavering; unstable; undetermined. (Webster) So a double-minded man is described in verse 6 “.. he that wavers” and is the man that will not receive ANYTHING of the Lord! However, this verse brings up an important point: that man is not only without God’s answers to his prayers, but everything about the man is unstable (i.e. Not steady; inconstant; irresolute; wavering).

So, is your life a mess? Do you have a terrible track record? Can you look back on your life and see one problem after another? Do you change your mind, your location, your job, your family, your values, etc. on a regular basis? It might be that your problem is that you are a double-minded man (person)!

What is the solution? You need to surrender completely to Jesus, and resolutely ask Him for wisdom – and to not waver in that request! Ask daily for wisdom. Never stop asking Jesus for Wisdom. He will bring your life 180 degrees around to victory! He promised, and He ALWAYS delivers on His promises!

For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.

“That man” refers to “he that wavers” not to “.. him ask in faith” since the subject of this verse is the denial of the answer to prayer that he seeks – namely wisdom. The wavering man is one who starts to ask of God and stops after a little while. Or, he is the one that starts believing God for something, and then changes him mind and does NOT believe that God will give that to him. Persistence is the key here for answered prayer. This applies to all prayer, not just to asking God for faith. The persistent person will prevail in prayer! The wavering person will not!

Let us be persistent in our prayers! If we are burdened to ask God for something, we need to continue to ask (believing) until we receive the answer!

But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

What are we asking for? Wisdom! Not riches, health, property, etc. etc., but read the context of the passage: we are asking God for wisdom! Wisdom is one of the most vital resources from God that we can receive! Note what Solomon (the wisest man, aside from Jesus) said:

Proverbs 4:5 Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither turn away from the words of my mouth.

Proverbs 4:7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all your getting get understanding.

Proverbs 16:16 How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!

Proverbs 17:16 Why is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he has no heart for it? (compare: Psa_14:1 The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that does good.)

Not only is wisdom the “principal thing” and better than gold or silver, but the fool despises wisdom. David said that the fool doesn’t believe in God. There is an obvious correlation there. Wisdom comes from God, and requires faith in God. So those that do not believe in God are not going to obtain wisdom!

Our getting of wisdom requires steadfast faith. We cannot waver, that is hesitate or falter in our trust that God will answer this question. To waver is to doubt God and His ability or desire to answer the request for wisdom! If we doubt, then we are not soldiers of Christ, but storm-tossed water!

Remember, keep steadfast in your faith toward Jesus, and He WILL answer your prayers!

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men liberally, and reproaches not; and it shall be given him.

Wisdom is not the same as knowledge, contrary to popular belief. To gain knowledge seems to be the absorbing pastime of many of our culture today. However, gaining knowledge without wisdom is much like teaching a 3 year old to shoot a machine gun. The knowledge is accurate, but the results will undoubtedly be dangerous. Wisdom, then, is of utmost importance to gain.

Fortunately for us, the epitome of wisdom is God Himself! And He wants to give it to us freely – all we need to do is ask Him for it! He will not even reproach us for asking! (reproach: To censure in terms of opprobrium or contempt)

This brings up a small point that is not clearly spelled out in the verse, but becomes obvious with thought. That is, faith in Jesus Christ becomes involved in this transaction. We must (obviously) trust in God in order to ask him for something with the expectation of return. Therefore, in order for us to receive wisdom, we must believe in God and His willingness to impart it to us! This becomes more clear in the verses to come.

Our job today, then, is simple and clear: we must start asking Jesus for wisdom!

But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.

Patience: “The suffering of afflictions, pain, toil, calamity, provocation or other evil, with a calm, unruffled temper; endurance without murmuring or fretfulness” (Webster). When I was younger, I used to get real irritated with my dad for exhibiting these qualities instead of getting angry, or trying to get ‘even’ with someone or some situation. Now I realize that he was simply exhibiting the qualities of Jesus that we are all supposed to try to learn and incorporate into our lifestyles.

Perfect: “Finished; complete; consummate; not defective; having all that is requisite to its nature and kind” (Webster). This is a tall order for anything that we would apply it to. To consider the possibility that we would ever obtain all that is requisite to enduring without murmuring any suffering of pain, toil, calamity, or provocation is to fantasize about unreality. Really? No, in fact God has to us to “let” this happen in us!

Let: “To permit; to allow; to suffer; to give leave or power by a positive act, or negatively, to withhold restraint; not to prevent” (Webster). We have a choice in the matter! If you or I do not exhibit the qualities of patience during times of stress or affliction then we can only blame ourselves! If we allow God to fashion patience in us, the end result is that we will be “lacking in nothing.” This, of course, is not a promise for carnal riches, but a glorious promise of heavenly riches – which are INFINITELY of greater value!

Let’s LET God teach us patience by allowing His Spirit to empower us moment by moment to react in a God-like manner to whatever comes our way today!

Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience.

Having a clear, certain, skilled and well informed understanding that the examining with a test, proving, using, and even severely trying of your persuaded belief of the mind and heart of the reality of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (having already put your trust and reliance upon the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord – that is Master – of your life), brings to you or manufactures within you the suffering of afflictions, pain, toil, calamity, provocation or other evil with a calm, unruffled temper enduring all without murmuring or fretfulness.

Wow. Are you there? Can you say with certainty that you qualify to that standard? I’m sure I do not! However, through the Grace of God I WILL – one day! Until then, please be patient with me and I will attempt to be patient with you! God bless you!

It is wonderful to know that there is some people that call themselves Christians that also try to proclaim the TRUTH about Jesus Christ and HIS LOVE!!!

It is a terrible thing to see all the wrong, all the filth, all the disgusting things that are proclaimed in the name of Christ. People that do not know Jesus only see Him through the actions, words, and proclamations of those that claim to know Him.

These people are at least trying to show the Love of Christ to an unsaved world! You GO DFCHURCH!!

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials;”

Trials come in many forms. In each and every form there are inherently unpleasant aspects – including negative emotions, physical emotional and/or psychological pain, stress, financial concerns, relational issues to resolve, etc. etc. The list could go on forever, effectively. However, James encourages us to consider each and every aspect of this plethora of consequences with JOY!

Webster says Joy is “The passion or emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good…” – making it extraordinarily similar to happiness (which is even stated later in the definition). However, the ISBE states “The idea of joy is expressed in the Old Testament by a wealth of synonymous terms that cannot easily be differentiated.”

First of all (for clarification purposes) this statement is concerning trials that ostensibly come from God and not from sin. We are not expected to rejoice over sin in any fashion.

Secondly, I believe that joy must be tied to faith. The measure that we trust in God for His provisions and concerns in our lives will mirror the measure of joy that we can experience. The more that we trust in God, the more that we will rejoice over situations that are inherently difficult. Emotions that we experience should not be delegated to a basement corner of our life! We need to embrace our emotions (after all, they are God-created), and treat them with the growing maturity that God provides us all if we will allow Him to work through us toward that end. Faith (i.e. trust, reliance, etc.) in God will allow us to experience the rejoicing He expects of us when we are facing difficult situations, and we can subsequently express positive emotions in non-positive situations.

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

James was, of course, the Lord’s half-brother. He was not a believe through most of Jesus’ life. This is consistent with Jesus’ own teaching that a prophet is not without honor except in his own town.

(Matthew 13:57) And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and in his own house.

(Mark 6:4) But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.

(John 4:44) For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

However, eventually James realized the truth and was utilized by the Lord Jesus to pen this inspired book. James considered himself a servant of Jesus and considered Jesus to be God. Obviously, for someone that grew up with Jesus to take this position is significant. We need to heed the words in this book closely!

James wrote this book to the Diaspora, using a colloquialism ( i.e. the twelve tribes) that would let the readers know that the intended audience was (initially) the Jewish people in general. The phrase “the twelve tribes” eventually became used to denote the people of God – the church. Therefore, we all need to heed this valuable book.

“And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; ·And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casts its unripe figs, when it is shaken by a mighty wind. ·And the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.”

Many people have many ideas as to what this passage means, obviously. I find it interesting to look at this passage literally, with my imagination vitally alive! When the heavens depart as a scroll – can you imagine the atmosphere literally disappearing as well as the milky way? – obviously something major is going on with the earth! Then, every bit of earth is gone, moved, altered – something! This is better than a science fiction novel, since it is literally going to happen! The sun becoming black is either a super nova (in which the sun dies out completely) or the earth is physically moved elsewhere in the universe (no, it is NOT impossible for God to do that! He is God, for heaven’s sake!). This is a fascinating scripture to ponder!

I suggest that you watch the movie “The Privileged Planet” – and THEN read this again! Awesome!

2008 has started! What an opportunity for Jesus! It will be a great year for the Lord, yes? Well, it COULD be! All we need to do is resolve to obey the Lord this year, and put Him above all our own petty selfish desires! My New Year’s Resolution is to be more faithful in following Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of my life! Won’t you do the same?

This famous song/story is a prime example of how we often miss (or almost miss!) the Lord in our lives! Read it here: The Christmas Guest!

God Bless You All This Christmas!

A poem that is very poignant, which has a very valuable message, but is somewhat lengthy, this document is well worth taking the time to read and digest! The true meaning of Christmas is found in it’s message! Find it here: The Great Church Robbery!

God Bless You This Season!

² “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ³ You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:2-3 NKJV

God is God! HE is the One God – no one else! When we worship anyone or anything else but GOD, we are disobeying this commandment! However, some of you might suggest that “New Testament Christians” are no longer under the bondage of the “Old Testament!” This may be true, but the character of God Almighty never changes. Jesus is “.. the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb 13:8) – so His character doesn’t change. {And yes, Jesus and God the Father are – in Jesus’ own words – ONE!} Therefore, all the commandments – which are a representation of His character – should be considered actions we should incorporate if we want to reflect His character!

So. Love God? Love Him as God, alone! Love and Worship Jesus Christ? Do not allow anyone or anything to come into competition with Him!

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³
gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

The “fruit” simply means the produced evidence of something. The “Spirit” refers to the 3rd person of the Triune Godhead (Elohim). Therefore, the “fruit of the Spirit” is simply the produced evidence of the Holy Spirit in the life wherein He lives and works. The Holy Spirit indwells the person that has confessed his/her sins to God, asked Jesus to come into their life, and surrendered their life to the control (leading and guidance) of Jesus Christ for eternity. This is salvation, simply put. The Holy Spirit then comes inside that individual to reside. The evidence of this subsequent relationship will be visible in the person’s actions when those actions (and attitudes) start to resemble the nature of the Holy Spirit who is within.

These various aspects of the fruit of the Spirit cannot be conjured up, faked, or produced by any effort aside from God Himself. However, it is a barometer of our relationship with Jesus! Therefore, if we do NOT have the fruit of the Spirit of God pouring out of our lives, we need to get down on our knees and rekindle our relationship with Jesus! Get that fire BURNING again!

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

The Beatitudes. If we have grown up in the church, then we probably have heard of these all of our lives. They are in the beginning of Jesus’ discourse on the famed sermon of His: “The Sermon on the Mount.” I suspect that most of us consider them to be methods for Christians to use, if we want to be especially blessed. That is, we believe that they are not of paramount importance – in the grand scheme of things.

Oh? Is that true? I don’t think so! I believe that these are the Lord’s “marching orders” to us! We are, after all, a part of His military organization. We have His Will to obey as our primary duty. These eight conditions for blessings are – or should be – evident in our lives as Christians to all people, in all situations, at all times! They are of paramount importance!

So. Do you know the Beatitudes? Can you quote them? How can you expect to live up to them, if you do not know what they are? LEARN THEM! MEDIDTATE on them, ALL DAY as you are going about your life. That’s Jesus’ plan for us, anyways. Don’t you think we should obey Him?

⁽²⁾But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law does he meditate day and night. ⁽³⁾And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper.

First of all, to be a tree, you must delight in the LORD’s Law! It is wonderful to be like a tree that the LORD plants! The water is actually a reference to an irrigation ditch – which means that the LORD waters us carefully, continually, and insures that we are cared for sufficiently to produce fruit in the season – no matter what the weather has been!

BUT FIRST we must delight in the LORD’s LAW! We do NOT do that, as a rule! How many of us can truly say (with ALL honesty) that the Word of God (The Holy BIble – not the Koran or anything else) is our DELIGHT! Do we have it memorized? Is it the subject of our discussions? Is it more important than the topics that are favored by the “politically correct” of our day? Do we read it instead of having a meal? Do we really depend, rely on, stand firm on, and proclaim loudly the message inside of it?

If we expect to be one of the LORD’s trees, we better start loving what HE wrote!

Have you an arm like God? or can you thunder with a voice like him? Deck yourself now with majesty and splendor; and array yourself with glory and beauty. Put forth the rage of your wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him. Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret. Then will I also confess unto you that your own right hand can save you.

I find it absolutely amazing the multitudes of individuals that embrace the fatal idea that they can choose their own religion, choose their own “path to God” or choose their own definition of God. Many simply choose not to “believe in God” thinking that enables them to do as they please. The problem with that, is simply whenever someone does not believe in God they are – in effect – becoming their OWN god! They are saying “I do not have to believe in a higher being, since I am the highest that is!”

What a ridiculous notion! What a fatal notion – since it leads straight to Eternal Hell Fire! God, here in Job, demands of man (through His interrogation of Job) any evidence that Job can compete with God! Of course, there is none, nor can there ever be!

How wonderful it is to serve the Living God, Who is Almighty, Majestic, and All Wise! He CAN clothe Himself with Majesty! He CAN display His Wrath (although I, for one, certainly do NOT ever want to experience it)! He truly IS farther above me than I could ever comprehend! Praise His Name!

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conduct and godliness

Holiness! Ugh! Don’t people realize that holiness is not an acceptable word anymore? Enlightened people know that responsibility is gone, we are only held accountable to ourselves for whatever we want to do?

Oh yes! That’s right! That’s what the people before the flood thought, also! Furthermore, somebody forgot to INFORM GOD ALMIGHTY to change His ideas!

WHERE DO PEOPLE GET OFF, anyway, thinking that they can ignore God’s Truth! The fact is, one of these days the world will end! The fact is, one of these days God’s “day of grace” will end, also! When that happens, and God’s “day of wrath” is initiated, people will STILL IGNORE GOD!

The only hope people have is Jesus! The only book that people will read is Christians! So, WE MUST become a HOLY PEOPLE if we ever want God’s Work to get done, and people to get saved!

For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

“Willingly ignorant” has been said to mean “dumb on purpose” — which definition I ascribe to! Of course, this particular passage is referring to those “scoffers” that choose to not believe in the Word of God.

However, I believe that the reality is that all of those that do not believe could accurately be described as “dumb on purpose!” After all, there is no way that any individual who honestly looks at the evidence provided them can conscientiously declare an unbelief in the truth that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord, the Lamb of God slain for our sins!

In the beginning God … Yes, I know that much has been written about this verse. However, I believe that too many of us ignore the import of it in our daily lives. We have forgotten the fact that God was first! He was before anything! He was the initial existence, the first and eternal life, and the source of all – things, thoughts, power, love, capabilities, etc. etc.

So. Why would be not want to get to know Him better? Why would we not incorporate Him in our daily activities? Why is He not the most important part of our lives? Unbelief, is why. We are a generation of self-centered unbelievers. If we truly believed in Him, all fear would be gone from our lives. If we truly believed in Him, then our lives would radically change!

Why? Because His was/is first! He WAS the beginning! He WAS the first! He created ALL things! Therefore, there is nothing that is, that He did not create! He is therefore CAPABLE! He CAN do whatever is necessary to take care of us! So. Trust HIM today. Ok?

And he that takes not his cross, and follows after me, is not worthy of me.

The word “cross” images in our minds the romantic sacrifice Jesus made in order to provide the possibility of salvation to any who would receive it. However, the idea back then was anything but romantic. It would be similar to telling someone today “If you do not embrace the electric chair and follow Jesus, you are unworthy.”

We are celebrating the season in which we remember Jesus’ birthday! However, we must realize that He was born to die a horrible death! He lived His life in the throes of embracing His execution-stake for all of mankind! Most people respond with hatred, violence, and maliciousness! They turn His birthday celebration into a farce filled with selfishness and greed!

The most honorable way to remember Christ Jesus’ birthday would be to worship Him in ‘Spirit and in Truth’ as He suggested! We all need to surrender anew to Him today! Merry Christmas!

²¹And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

The impact of this message is lost to those of us that do not read Hebrew. In Hebrew the name for Jesus (Yeshua) is spelled very similar to and sounds almost exactly like the word for “save” in this verse. So the meaning of the verse has an added dimension, then, when we understand that the messenger was saying that His Name shall be “Salvation.”

This fits like a glove with the culture of the Hebrew people that this message was originally given to. They were very big on holding importance to the meaning of their names. This impacted them greatly, since their expectation would subsequently be to His being their messiah – which He is!

Ultimately, then, we must realize that this verse was not just a command, or just a fact, but was truly a prophecy sent from God and delivered to Joseph. No wonder, then, that he so easily defied all the culture of the day, all the laws, all the reputation – and took Mary as his wife while not being with her till after the baby was born. I suspect that he had a good idea just who they were chosen to raise! Wow! What a responsibility! What a priviledge they enjoyed! What unusual circumstances they were put in! What a different life they lived!

Isn’t God good! Praise His Name!

¹⁵For thus says the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

God inhabits eternity. Contemplate THAT for a while! For one thing, it means HE does NOT inhabit TIME! He inhabits eternity! Mind boggling for me, let me tell you!

His NAME is “Holy” – a strong message that our cultures that are spread across this planet ignore regularly. Holiness is almost become a bad word! To tell someone that they are responsible to affect their behavior to follow the established guidelines set down by God Almighty is to invite ridicule, arguments, negative retaliations of various kinds, persecutions, and even (in some places) incarceration or even death! Just because we dare to tell people the TRUTH – which is that God demands that our behavior be inline with His!

I feel sad for those that rebel against God’s commands. In this same chapter, vs 21, we read “There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked.” He has promised misery and judgment to all who disobey Him! Makes me want to follow Him more closely!

How about you?

⁶Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall grow old like a garment, and they that dwell in it shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.

First of all, obviously this earth will go away at some point in the future. I realize that for some, this concept is frightening — especially to those that are living their entire lives for the sole purpose of protecting “mother earth.” Of course, earth is not our mother. We did NOT crawl out of some primorial soup billions of years ago. We did not come from a rock. We were created by God our Father! HE created the earth, and will one day destroy it! Then, He will create another in which sin will not exist! That one will be perfect, and will stay that way! Praise His Name forever!

Secondly, our salvation is eternal – it will not be taken from us like a thief steals a painting! Contrary to the earth losing it’s ‘life,’ we will NOT lose ours! Now, there are expectations of us, and various other scriptures to take into consideration. This is not meant to be a thesis on eternal security and it’s pros or cons. However, it is comforting to know that God’s Salvation plan and His Righteousness will not ever fade away nor be destroyed! Those that are partakers of it have confidence in this! Praise His Name!

Ok, this is not MY thoughts, but I sure AGREE with it. Also, it’s a great piece of poetry! Anyway, you can read it here.

Isaiah 49:25-26 But thus says the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contends with you, and I will save your children. And I will feed them that oppress you with their own flesh; and they shall be drunk with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am your Savior and your Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

Israel surely did much to anger our God through the centuries. They were so rebellious that they were taken captive and made slaves, just like God said that He would do to them if they sinned. As Christians, we are no better and are in the same ‘boat.’ If we expect to be able to continue our lazy Christianity and still be blessed by God, then we are even more foolish than the Israelites were!

However, as this passage indicates, those that are God’s are under His protection! He will fight our enemies, He will contend with our captors, He will rescue us from our sins and their ramifications! This is because of Him and His love, not due to us in any way. This should encourage all of us, knowing that He will take care of us no matter what! All we need to be sure of is that we have accepted His plan of salvation! If we are obedient to His plan (accept Jesus as Savior AND as Lord of our lives, and follow Him the rest of our lives), then He will save us AND protect us!

Hallelujah!

John 10:27-28 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Do you have problems knowing the Voice of God? Do you wonder sometimes what His Will is for you, or what He is wanting you to do? If you are His child, then you KNOW His voice! His Spirit already lives inside of you! He expects you, as His child, to have conversation with Him all the time — you know, read His Word, talk to Him in Prayer, that sort of thing. If you do these things, you will KNOW His voice!

However, if your problems are acute, maybe you have never truly surrendered your heart and life to Jesus Christ as Savior AND Lord! Not only accept His payment for your sins, but accept the FACT that He IS Lord of your life. That means, that He calls ALL the shots in your life. Always. Haven’t done that? Do it TODAY!

Hello! I am switching to this blog software simply because it works, is easy to install, and is supported by ScribeFire plugin for Firefox browser (both of which I HIGHLY recommend, by the way). I will proceed to update this with the previous offerings by my old system. Then I will remove the old system.

Enjoy!