"You have not, because you ask not." - Including Wisdom!

"The Plans I Have For You..."

2010-02-15T13:45:00.004-06:00

Every where we turn, there are those that want us to plan for our future. They all want us to decide where we will be in 2 years, five years, 10 years. How will we plan our finances to take us there- there where WE want to be in the future? It is easy, even as children of God, to get pulled into making decisions and commitments that take us far beyond the good stewardship God has called us to.

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but the counsel (plan or purpose in the Hebrew) of the Lord will stand." Proverbs 19:21

It isn't that God doesn't expect us to plan for our lives, that he doesn't want us to look forward in our considerations. He does, however, expect His will and plans for our life to be the center of those considerations. Think of how many times in the New Testament that the disciples planned on going to a certain place, but God prevented them and sent them elsewhere.

That is the way God wants us to operate. We should be in constant contact with Him (1Thess. 5:17), praying without ceasing, constantly communicating with our God, hungry for his direction and eager to do his bidding.

When God called Abram, He didn't give him a playbook, an outline of the plan He had for him. God said Abram, pack up all your possessions, your family and your servants and head in this direction to a land that I will (after you get moving) show you. Now, let's look at this. Abram was 75 years old and I imagine he had amassed a few things. I think, just to get everything and everybody ready to go, it must have taken some planning. There must have been planning for transport of people and possessions, etc.

Before he left, Abram built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. When he arrived at the next place he was to travel to, the Word says (Gen. 12:8) "..he....pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord."

He followed God's directions to the letter and then, after planning for camping and probably food for the evening, etc., he prayed to God for further instructions. This is to be our relationship with God. We have all heard in church of our daily walk and that is what we should have. But it's not just doing what we think God would want us to do, sacrificing what we think God wants; it's praying to God at every fork of our daily lives and asking what His will is for our day.

If we follow the story of Abram just a few verses farther, we find that Abram decided to plan a few things without God. He decided he would protect himself by lying about his wife, by claiming her as his sister. If you don't remember what a mess that caused, read Genesis, Chapter 12. It's a perfect example of why God does not want us planning anything without consulting Him.

In Jeremiah 19:11-13 it spells it out for us.

"For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart."

The key here is that God says "I know the plans I have for you." He didn't say that we knew or that He would ever give it all to us in one lump. Like Abram (Abraham) we need to take it as He gives it to us, acknowledging that He knows when we are ready. He has promised us peace and welfare and a future that He already has mapped out. And most of all, we are in possession of the Hope, the knowledge that this is not our home and that God has the best route to our eternal home planned out. All we have to do is plug in on a regular basis and update our GPS!

Soul Conditioning

2009-08-30T20:30:00.002-05:00

"When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord." Jonah 2:7

I was contemplating Jonah's situation the last few days. He was a called man of God, a prophet commissioned with a word. Why was it that he had to come to the point where his "soul fainted" within his very being before he remembered the Lord?

How many times have I waited until the very same point before I remembered from "whence cometh my strength?" Jesus commanded us in Matthew, the 22nd Chapter, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind...." If we were following this great commandment to the fullest, we would not be in that situation; we would always remember and know the leadings and desires of our God.

Of the three elements of the "love commandment", I think we humans want to concentrate on loving God with our mind. We want to be able to wrap our heads around Him, as we are prone to say. In John, Chapter 20, verse 29, Jesus was talking to Thomas. Thomas had refused to believe that Jesus was resurrected without certain physical evidence. Jesus, as you remember, provided the evidence, but followed with this: "...You believe because you can see me. Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe."

I think we need to concentrate more on loving God with our hearts and, especially, our very soul. So, I started researching exactly how you could explain your soul. Some equate it with spirit, but I tend to believe, with certain scholars, that the spirit and the soul are different. I read that the spirit is from God and is totally spiritual, whereas the soul is not.

The best I could discern is that our soul is best described as the non-material essence of our being. The part that's not flesh and blood, but not necessarily all spirit. It's the part of us that meshes our spiritual and worldly experiences into what drives us as human beings.

I think that soul can be focused, like in the great love commandment. It can be who we are in God or Christ - the loving, caring, compassionate and righteous. It can be prophetic, evangelical and bring God glory as it was designed to be in the beginning. Or, it can be who we are within ourselves, which is where Jonah found himself and I find myself at times; those times when I have tried everything I know, the way I think it should be done, etc. At that point, when our soul is finally "fainted within" ourselves, we can remember the Lord.

I think lastly and most disastrously, our soul can be who we are in sin. Jesus warned us in Matthew with another ponderous question. "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul." Matt. 16:26

We can condemn our soul to hell or we can let Jesus save our souls and begin some conditioning of our soul's disposition. The formula for tenderizing and conditioning is simple. "Love the Lord your God with ALL your HEART, with ALL your SOUL, and with ALL your MIND. This," He says, "is the first and great commandment. The second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

Feeling Alienated & Hostile? That Could Be A Good Thing!

2009-07-12T14:29:00.009-05:00

I was struck by a verse in the Sunday School lesson this morning. We were reading in Collosians, the first chapter. Verse 21 says: "And you were once alienated and hostile in mind because of your evil actions."

I thought to myself, "once?" I still feel alienated and hostile at times - sometimes with others; sometimes even with God. So how does this mesh with my christianity? I thought I was a "new creature"?

Verse 22 went on to say: "But now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him."

Thanks to Jesus, the sin that we repent of is seen through Jesus; is paid for and no longer exists. Those areas of sin in our lives that we refuse to let go of, however, alienate us from God and cause us to be hostile with everyone, including God, in the midst of our guilt.

We all have different weaknesses of the flesh and, at times, those weak spots will lead us to "evil actions" in the sight of God and, on our part, will lead to alienation and hostility.

I'm trying to look on this as a good thing. I want to be more aware of my feelings of alienation and hostility because I have come to see those feelings as attached to a part of my life that God wants to make better! Does that mean that my weakness will automatically go away? No, but, with God's help, I will get stronger.

Read the last part of the first verse again. "....because of your evil actions."

Even if the weekness remains, we can make a conscious decision not to committ the "evil actions" that alienate us from God and stir up the hostility in our minds. I see my walk with God improving as I suffer through less and less periods of Him not talking to me. He must be eliminating many of my rough spots and giving me added strength for the weak spots.

The more and more that I study and spend time with God, the dearer and dearer His revelations to me are and the more careful I am to avoid those things that separate me from Him.

The Power & Grace of Jesus' Final Prayer For Us

2009-04-12T15:05:00.003-05:00

"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." Luke 23:34

In all my years as a Christian, I've always marveled at the grace and forgiveness in this prayer of the crucified Jesus. A couple of Sundays ago, however, a question from one of my fellow Sunday Schoolers caused me to pause and wonder at the power in that prayer. And, the layers have continued to unfold.

Brother Wayne asked, after we had read this passage, "Did God honor this prayer of Jesus?"

The immediate "church" answer, of course, is "Yes. It was a prayer from Jesus, who was dying on the cross for our sins. Of course He honored Jesus request."

I also say yes, but I propose it was a conditional yes. And, my brothers and sisters, contemplating the results had He refused Jesus request helps you understand the power of the prayer.

Jesus, being of the legitimate lineage of Abraham, was in full possession of God's promises to the Patriarch of God's chosen people. We might also say that Jesus, with this prayer, was moving towards his fulfillment of those same promises.

First, let's look at the promise of retribution against Abraham's enemies and the enemies of his people. God said to Abraham, "I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you....." Genesis 12:3 If we can picture Jesus hanging on that cross, it's hard to imagine Him being any more cursed. Without this prayer of our Savior, the culmination of His sacrifice for our sins, one can only guess at the curse we had coming!

Now, the last of the third verse in chapter 12 of Genesis: "....And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Thank you, Jesus! As we celebrate Easter Sunday, we celebrate the grace, forgiveness and power of Jesus prayer as His resurrection was the fulfillment of the faithful promises of God. Easter Sunday celebrates our adoption into God's family, God's chosen people.

Given what we have just seen in these last few paragraphs, doesn't it also make you more understanding of God's stand on forgiveness? If you cannot forgive those who mistreat you, then I cannot forgive you, God explains in His word and I hear in my ears, 'after all, look what I have forgiven for my Son.'

This brings me to the conditional part of God's honoring of Jesus' prayer. I say, yes, God has forgiven as Jesus asked, but on the condition that those seeking the forgiveness accept His Son as Who He is and not what He appeared to be to some. If we take Jesus, fully, as our Lord and Savior, Christ's prayer for us is answered and we are forgiven. If we reject Jesus, we are not forgiven and are cursed by God as promised to Abraham in the beginning. I don't know about you, but I'm happy to spend eternity in forgiveness and Bless the name of Jesus for the opportunity.

One final confirmation of God's honoring Jesus prayer came today, on Easter Sunday. A very young man in our congregation came to the altar and gave his life to Christ. Do you need any more than that?

"If not truth, then it is a worthless lie."

2009-03-23T21:57:00.002-05:00

Tumbling around inside my head today were fragments of thought from my Bible study this morning that included Jesus conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, conversations with a friend of mine about waiting on the Lord and then the final straw, a quote from a book by Nicholas Evans called The Smoke Jumper.

In the book, Evans' character, an African warlord, says, "If truth is a loaf of bread and you pick up a crumb, do you have the truth? If not truth, then it is a worthless lie..... The truth is that there is no truth, only crumbs. You have yours and I have mine. But I have more of them and mine are gathered with knowledge and experience, not under a false banner of piety and prejudice."

It took me back to the morning reading in the Book of John. The Jews and the Samaritans fought over where God should be worshiped. Supposedly worshiping the same God, they fought with each other over their own "truth" when both only possessed a crumb. Jesus said to the woman at the well, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." John 4:21-24

There's that "truth" issue again. We who claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ want to worship God as He wants; we want our worship to be a pleasant aroma. Jesus says, here's the way, in spirit and in truth. So, from where do we obtain truth? Are we to gather our truth from human experts, from our friends, from the Oprah book club, from our President or even the pastor of our church?

I would propose that God says no, with conditions. If the human experts, our friends, the president, our pastor and, yes, even Oprah, speak the word of God, then this is the truth. If any of our contemporaries choose to mix and match the philosophers, great teachers and scholars of our day into a melting pot of theology, then my God has been blasphemed.

I am sorry, we'll, no, I'm not sorry, I am one of the remaining remnant that believe the scriptures contained in the Holy Bible are God breathed, given through divine inspiration to those who penned them to paper. That same book of Living Scripture tells me that, if I study, if I seek God and His direction in my life, the Holy Spirit promised by my saviour that now lives within me will take those words, inspired by God, and teach, instruct me in the ways that I should go.

I truly believe that through this relationship between me, Gods everlasting and faithful word and the work of His most Holy Spirit, God will reveal Himself to me one layer at a time. As I am ready, through fire-tested perseverance, my relationship and closeness to God will grow ever deeper as the river of life shown to Ezekiel in his vision of the New Jerusalem. (Ezekiel 47: 3-5)

All in all, the mortal question is from what source we have decided to gather our truth and in what state of completeness we gather it. For, I'm afraid, taken in crumbs, we can all justify our own truth, but taken as a whole from God Himself, we can find the truth Jesus called us to add to the spirit of our worship!

No Sign of Exemption or Removal!

2009-03-12T13:56:00.004-05:00

I think our human nature is to hope that God will hold us exempt from trials and tribulations or, maybe, remove us from certain situations, but that's not the way that I read it. I don't find any place where God's word says He'll just take us out of the situations life hands us.

There are many places, however, that remind us that He will bring us through. There is the old saying we've all heard in church that proclaims God will never "bring us to something that He won't bring us through" and that admonition of my elders was brought back to my mind the other day as I read in Lamentations, chapter 3, verses 22 and 23....

"Through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness."

Amen and Amen! I don't know about you, my friends, but I need His compassion and mercy on a daily basis. All we have to do is ask. As Jesus has shown us in the model of how we should pray, "Give us, this day, our daily bread......Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one...Forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us...", it is a daily battle.

He tells us in His word that all we have to do is ask in His name and it will be granted. In other words, whatever we ask in prayer, if it is according to God's will, will be granted us. The Apostle Paul reinforced the idea by reminding us to "pray without ceasing" If we do not have joy and peace in our lives, our relationship with our Creator, Savior and Sustainer is not as it was designed.

It seems obvious, then, that God's will is that, through everything in our lives, we depend on Him; that we look to Him for guidance and strength. His word goes on to say that we have to ask and petition our God in faith and without doubt. It follows, then, that how we react to life after we have involved our God through prayers, supplications and thanksgiving will reflect the truth and strength of our faith to those who are watching our journey.

So, let us praise God for His compassions, for His daily provisions of strength and thank Him that He feels us worthy of trials. Let us thank God that He is preparing us, through the "fire" for a new revelation of Himself, for a new level of spiritual growth!

We Are Called...No...Expected....To Live Beyond Our Circumstances!

2008-12-04T16:51:00.004-06:00

Jesus walked among His disciples and He taught them. I would think that one of the toughest things for His disciples to grasp was that they must live outside and beyond their circumstances. His disciples were men who had been taught from childhood that the Messiah would come and set up a Kingdom. Among themselves they had visions of overcoming all their enemies and even discussed, at times, how they would rank in the new Kingdom.

Then.....Jesus explained about that Kingdom thing.... It was to be a Spiritual Kingdom and the new King (Jesus) would be given up, tortured and crucified. Also, in this Kingdom, those who would be first will be last and those who would be last shall be first. Jesus explained that the world was not their home, that His Father's mansion has many rooms and that when He left them, He was going to prepare a place.

He called them to look beyond the hard times and persecution and beyond their circumstances to the reality of a new and eternal Kingdom of God. Jesus told them they were called to be in the world, but not of the world. What a concept for us now and, wow, what a concept for those steeped in the Law of Moses. Judaism and the Law had become a weight that held them in a world of ceremony and physical, fleshly atonement for their sin. Now they were shown a spiritual Kingdom they would be welcomed into through the great and final atonement of One.

About 50 years after Christ's death and resurrection, Paul continued to admonish followers of Christ to avoid the perceptions of the world. In the 12th Chapter of Romans, he writes: "And, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

We cannot live in and be shaped by our circumstances and hope to fall within the will of God.

When's The Last Time We Fed 5000?

2008-12-04T15:51:00.010-06:00

I was reading in Matthew the other day and came to the account of Jesus' feeding of the 5000. My first thought was, "What a miracle." Those "what a miracle" observations are, at times, I think a way of getting around seeing any responsibility for ourselves or acknowledging that a particular account is in anyway commissioning us for a task.

The closer I read the account, the more I saw that Jesus was telling me to do the same!

"......He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained." Matthew 14:19,20

If we are to look to the Word of God for instruction, for guidance and as an example of how we are to be, then we must study this verse as carefully as all and avoid the "what a miracle" approach.

First, let us consider what Jesus has said about Himself. He has called Himself the "Bread of Life". He has said that He only did what He saw the Father do and has commanded us to follow His example, to allow His Holy Spirit to live in and work through us. He has told us that "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God" We see from the accounts of His life, the importance of breaking bread and sharing with others.

Remembering all these things and then recalling Jesus' discussion with Peter in John 21:15-18, God began to reveal His instructions to me.

"So, when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?' He said to Him, 'Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.' He said to him, 'Feed my lambs.' He said to him again a second time, 'Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?' He said to Him, 'Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.' He said to him, 'Tend My Sheep.' He said to him the third, 'Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?' Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, 'Do you love Me?' And he said to Him, 'Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed My sheep.'

Jesus also told us in His Word that if we had Faith in Him and acted in His abiding power we would do the things that He had done and even greater things.

Let's look at the original text we began with. Jesus took the bread and fishes, blessed them, gave them to the disciples and they, in turn gave them to the people who were filled to overflowing.

Every time that we sit down with the Word of God in prayer and meditation, we are breaking bread with Jesus. These are inspired words (blessed of God) which He gives to us. Not only are we to eat and be filled to overflowing, but I propose that this scripture calls us to then pass what has been given to us on to all that from each of us, thousands will be filled.

We are commissioned, at the end of Matthew, to go and make disciples and here we find the source of our power to do so. If we are given a blessed word from God, as is confirmed in many texts, the word then given to others will accomplish its purpose far beyond our capabilities.

"Feeding His Sheep" was a great priority of our Saviour and throughout scripture, we find that it should be the same with us. We cannot accomplish such an undertaking unless we are spending our time in prayer and meditation "breaking bread" with our Creator, our Saviour and our Sustainor, Jesus Christ.

Speaking The Truth In Love

2008-02-09T21:09:00.000-06:00

Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to take criticism from someone that you know loves you. The same comment is looked upon as agressive and agitating if it comes from someone that you consider an enemy or not on your side.

Spiritual service for the Kingdom of God is the same. How we are perceived by those with whom we come in contact with will be directly related to the love that is in our heart.

I was reading in Ephesians the other day, the fourth chapter, verses 11 - 15, they read, "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head - Christ."

It caught my attention, but I was a little puzzled at what I thought it was trying to say to me. So, I cheated a little and looked to see what John MacArthur had to say.

"Evangelism is most effective when the truth is spoken in love. This is possible only with a spiritually mature believer who is thoroughly equipped in sound doctrine. Without maturity, the truth can be cold and love little more than sentimentality." John MacArthur

I remember when I was a new Christian. I was enthusiastic, I wanted to share with everyone and I couldn't understand why everyone I talked to didn't respond as I had. Now I see that most of what I shared was not out of love for the person I was talking to or even pure love of God. I think I had an attitude of accomplishment, a pride of knowledge attained and salvation gained. So, my revelations of man's sinful nature and total dependence on God came off as cold and my love fairly unbelieveable.

As I grew in the knowledge of God, I learned that the things that needed to be shared were best shared in the light of a relationship. I matured into the revelations of Ephesians and I'm continually learning and striving to give reign to the love inside me which is Christ, the love that will speak truth through my life.

How Many Plagues?

2008-01-23T21:00:00.000-06:00

How many plagues must we endure before, like Pharaoh, our sinful nature agrees to let God’s people go?

I was reading the account of God’s deliverance of Israel from the Land of Egypt in Exodus 4-12 and it struck me that we keep ourselves captive in sin and suffer the plagues that call for the release of God’s children. We experience illness, depression, poverty, neglect – all those things that sin has brought into our lives because we refuse to put aside those things and let the new creature inside of us go free!

Like Moses preaching to the Pharaoh, the prophet Isaiah speaks of our deliverer in the 61st chapter and we find Jesus, In Luke 4:18,19, leaving no doubt that He, The Christ, has come to bring us out of our bondage.

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn…” Isaiah 61:1,2
When we accept our deliverer, as with the people of Israel in Egypt, there is always a testing of the faith (no straw for our bricks), but we are called to keep the faith as God strengthens His people and equips us to throw off our captor and live free from the “sin that so easily ensnares us.” (Hebrews 12:1).

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside very weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…”

There are sins that most all of us find easy to avoid, no problem to refuse, but within each of us is imperfection, a chink in our armor. We all have places in our life where Pharaoh says, “I will not let your people go.” In each of us, our sinful nature will try to harden our hearts and hold us in sin although our desire and our profession has been a death to sin.

In these recesses of our soul, there will be consequences, plagues to soften those hard hearts and, many times, as our hearts respond and look to God, the plagues may be removed. Hebrews 12 tells us to look to Jesus, the giver, the sustainer and the finisher of our faith, for our endurance. Paul also tells us in Hebrews that we have a responsibility to one another.

“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end…” Hebrews 3:12,13

Pharaoh, after several plagues, began to try and deal with Moses. He wanted to let part of the people go, then all the people, but no livestock, always trying to withhold something from God. God said no to Pharaoh and was unwilling to deal. It was to be God’s way or no way. God does not desire to “deal” with us either. We are not allowed to hold on to the things that we desire, but that sin against God. God says the gift of Jesus is free, but we must give up the sin that He died for; we must repent of those things that bring sorrow to God and turn away from them. Refusing to do so separates us from Him and sets us in a position to reap what we sow.

It is a choice that we must make.

“This day I call heaven and earth as witness against you that I have set before you life and death; blessings and curses. Now, chose life so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life.” Deut. 30:17-20

God is our life. All else brings the worst plague of all, death. The good news comes from and in the gift of Jesus. We read in John 10:10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and they may have it more abundantly.”

Jesus came as the fulfillment of God’s promise to save us from our sinful nature, the nature that plagues our flesh during our days here in the wilderness and we see in Jeremiah 29:11-13 that our salvation and our abundant life here on earth was not an afterthought, but always held in trust for the children of God.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seed me and find me when you seek me with all your heart…..”and I will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

Will you soften your hard heart or will you live in your plagues and wonder at those who live in the “land of Goshen”? (Exodus 8:22) “And in that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the land. I will make a difference between My people and your people.”

"Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord; So what wisdom do they have?"

2007-11-14T17:51:00.000-06:00

It is time that God's remnant of true believers in this country stand up as the Jeremiahs of this generation. In the Eighth chapter of Jeremiah, we here the prophet lament that wisdom (the fear of the Lord brings it) is gone. People (in general) have rejected the word of the Lord. We complain that things are getting worse by the day, killers are getting younger, the morals of this country are in decay and we wonder why!

The Bible tells us that there is "nothing new under the sun" and the answers to our questions about our current conditions are as old as the tales told of Israel's rejection of God's Word and direction in the Old Testament and the solution to our present calamity is the same. We must repent and return to God with a humbleness and genuineness that will bring mercy from our creator.

In a daily devotional I am doing, I was taken by a reprint of Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation Appointing a National Fast Day on March 30, 1863. See the entire speech at the following link: http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/fast.htm In this proclamation, the wording (passed by the senate) claims recognition of "the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations."

Lincoln's proclamation goes on to claim "it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is Lord."

It goes on to acknowledge that we are subject to punishment and chastisement. Lincoln puts forth that "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But, we have forgotten God."

How much clearer can it be stated!

I was bowled over and proud that my country had once been willing to admit it's sins, to publicly, and supported by its government, repent and ask God for forgiveness. I was proud to live in a country where a President would try to lead his country back to God, back from the brink of judgement.

As I shared this proclamation with a Sister in Christ, she stated: "We have a national day of prayer." I thought that I had remembered such, but I couldn't remember exactly what had been proclaimed and I was curious how much our society had changed in its willingness to stand, so I looked up this years proclamation signed by the Governor of Tennessee. See the full proclamation at the link: http://media1.ssiwt.com/ndptf/state_pdfs/2007/2007%20TN%20Proclamation.pdf

Believe me, if you linked to the one from 1863 and read it, this one's a breeze. There is no repentance mentioned. We admit no transgressions or miss direction of our loyalty to our creator, but we do ask for wisdom, knowledge and understanding. We do not acknowledge the possibility of punishment or chastisement, but we do emphasize being united with everyone.

I was appalled at the political correctness of the document and the comparison of the two should give anyone interested a perfect outline of what is wrong with our society today. In truth, I think our penchant for acceptance has allowed our relationship with God (as a nation) to not only lapse into neglect, but move into blasphemy that will, without repentance, bring judgement and correction from a merciful, but just God.

CIRCUMSTANCES

2007-11-14T17:08:00.000-06:00

Circumstances are never so bad that they are beyond God's help. We need never to despair because we belong to a loving God. We never know what good He will bring out of a seemingly hopeless situation.

Commentary from the LIFE APPLICATION STUDY BIBLE

Joyce Campbell

November 14,2007

This Ain't My Final Destination

2007-11-05T20:33:00.000-06:00

I thank the Lord that this place is not my final resting place, but only my journey through the desert to the Promised Land.
With Paul, I say: "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Phil 1:21 It's not that I am striving to go, but the peace I keep comes from the knowledge that neither my destination nor my rewards are here on earth.
There has been an old song haunting my memory for a year or so, now, and I found it, performed wonderfully, tonight. The lyrics are as follows:

Wayfaring Stranger

I am a poor wayfaring stranger
Travelling through this world of woe
There's no sickness, toil or danger
In that bright land to which I go

(Chorus)
Yes I'm going over Jordan
Just going, no more to roam
Only going over Jordan
Just a-going to my home

I know dark clouds will gather round me
I know my way is rough and steep
But golden fields lie out before me
Where all the saints their vigils keep

(Chorus)
I'm going there to meet my [father/mother/brother sister etc]
I'm going there no more to roam
I'm just a-going over Jordan
I'm only going over home

I want to wear a crown of glory
When I get home to that bright land
I want to shout Salvation's story
In concert with that blood-washed band

(Chorus)
I'm going there to see my Saviour
To sing His praise for evermore
I'm just-a going over Jordan
I'm only going over home

I'll soon be free from earthly trials
This body rests in the orchard's yard
I'll drop this cross of self-denial
And go singing home to God

I've attached a YouTube video of the song from Selah. Pretty Awsome stuff!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0edb9O9wPOY

Cling Even Closer In Prosperity and Blessing

2007-10-29T20:18:00.000-05:00

As much as I hate to admit it and as much as I am determined, with God's help, to change it, I have found over the years that it's easier to be close to God during the bad times. Health problems (personally or with family and friends), money problems, relationship problems...you name the problem, but they all eventually bring us closer to the God we claim as Lord and Savior.

"Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your god, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is mulitiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God." (Deut. 8:11-14)

Does He know His creation or what?

For the last four or five years, the Holy Spirit has been speaking to me on this issue. I was raised to believe in God and had my own conversion experience at 13. For a time, I studied hard and, to go with my new faith, I developed new head knowledge. A lot like Peter in the Bible, however, Satan asked for me, "to sift me like wheat" and the world easily distracted me from God's plan for my life.

When things got rough, I would return to God. I would repent, ask God to forgive me and, for a time, be back on the path God set for me. After the storms passed, though, I always seemed to tell God I had a handle on things and would let Him know when I needed Him again.

As I was very hard headed, it took years of doing the same thing and expecting different results for the Lord to reach me, for much of the head knowledge I had acquired in previous years to become heart knowledge and part of my faith.

I try, more and more each day, to listen to God. I say "try" to listen because I know that He speaks to me even when I choose not to listen. But, more than ever, I want to hear from God and more importantly, I want to be immediately obedient. "Here I am, Lord!" God has been good to me. I've seen Him work through me and I hunger for that relationship more each day.

God said in Genesis that He would not strive with man forever. My prayer for me and for you and especially for the lost among my friends, family and enemies is that He'll strive with us just a little longer and that my life will be so adjusted to His will that it will make a difference in someone elses life. I vow not to forget the Lord my God and, with His help, observe the things He has commanded.

It's amazing how many conversations are created just in a day of meeting new customers when I give God credit for the business I have when I am asked: "So, how's business?"

Do Our Actions Say We Want Revival?

2007-10-14T18:17:00.000-05:00

The Lord moved me a year or so ago to pray for a spiritual revival, both personally and within our church and community. And, that is what I have done. After a time of praying, God asked me if I knew what was required for a spiritual revival and, at first thought, I wasn't sure.

A devotional I was using led me to Psalms 85 and I began to see and understand some things. The first of these is that God has not moved away from us; He has not created the deadness that requires revival. We have turned away from God and into ourselves, causing a chasm between creation and creator. In my life, I have seen it happen by degrees. My grandmother used to say that once you tell one lie, it becomes easier to tell the next and so on. That is the principal of sin and separation from God.

What, then, is the first step towards revival?

Verse 9 of the 85th Psalm says, "Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him." At first this took me back to the fire and brimstone preachers that tried to scare the hell out of me, but as I thought about it, the fear is different than that of horrible uncertainty. Our "fear" of God is simply an acknowledgement that He is our creator and sustainer of life. We admit that it is He who gives and He who takes away.

The sin that we allow to dull our spiritual self convinces us that we have some power over our well being; some ability of our own to determine our future. Not only does this opinion of our abilities cause God to turn His face from us, but, I think, it gives us a spirit of defeat, a spirit that lacks hope and direction and is in dire need of revival. As we fail, time and time again, what light can we see in our future.

So, the first step to revival is fear of a just and almighty God. We must turn from ourselves and back to God. This return involves repentance and a return to obedience, both applied with more than a pinch of humility! We must return to the Word of God for our direction and guidance. Our revival depends on righteousness and our righteousness is in Jesus Christ.

Psalm 85:13 reads, "Righteousness will go before Him, and shall make His footsteps our pathway." How many times have we read and been taught of Jesus as the way, the truth and the light. No one, we are told, will come to the Father without the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Jesus' life on earth showed the path that we should follow and His power that is within us will allow us to walk that path.

Revival starts within each of us and will spread to those whom we love. We are called to love not only those who love us, but especially those who don't. Let's us change our lives, our spirituality, and see what God can do with that!

Walk It, Don't Just Talk It!

2007-09-16T17:32:00.000-05:00

In the third chapter of Revelations, verses 1 thru three, the Word says in His letter to the Church at Sardis: " I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you."
We need to have more than the "reputation of being alive." People need to see in our everyday lives that we are alive. It's easy for us to go to church and act as if the Spirit of God is alive within us, but what do we show when the check out line is a little slow or the wait at the doctor's office is a little long.
I think God expects more than lip service from His children. We shouldn't have to wear crosses around our necks and in our ears or fish on our cars for people to know we are different from the world. Be careful, though, as God expects us to be prepared to give an answer for why we are different!
Lord, Help us to BE ALIVE!

Welcome Brothers and Sisters

2007-09-12T20:23:00.000-05:00

Welcome Brothers and Sisters to our new blog. Psalm 111:10 says: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." That fear comes from our understanding that He is our creator and is responsible for our living and dieing. Along with that understanding is the knowledge that He loves us and wants the best for us.

James 1:5 proclaims: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him."

So, let us take this space and time to share what we are given by our Lord - blessings, knowlege, guidance, confirmation, whatever it might be. And, feel free to ask questions of our group and to list those prayer requests that we are burdened with. There is power in prayer and added power in the corporate prayer of a group.

Time of day is no excuse! This thing will take your posts any time, day or night.