Question for my spiritually minded friends: David was the greatest king in Israel (the new monarchy). He was followed by a succession of mostly unrighteous kings, and God eventually judged Israel for her sin and sent her into exhile. Do you think that God would do the same for any country who does not follow wholeheatedly after him today? Or do you think that the grace of “The New Covenant” will spare us from judgment. Or do you think that God will judge us the same way He has judged faithlessness in the past ?
Reflections: Murdering Righteousness
The more things change, the more things stay the same. Today I was reading in II Chronicles 23-24. Those chapters cover a lot of history and years of drama, but the most striking to me was how Zechariah (the son of the godly Priest Jehoiada) was slain in the courtyard of the Temple in Jerusalem. Let’s look at this drama through modern day eyes. Would we, today, drag a fellow believer into our church lobby and begin to murder him? Well this is exactly what happened in II Chron. 24. Zechariah was simply telling the people what God wanted them to hear. We remember, of course, how unpopular prophets were and still are ; So much so that even Jesus refers to the stoning of prophets.
I am reminded today of how few people really stand up for righteousness. When (if) they do, many of us immediately want to silence them. Jesus said that when we are angry with our brother it is the same as murder. And, therefore, in my opinion, it is not a stretch to say that if someone is standing up for what is right in God’s eyes and we become angry at them, we have done the same to our brother as these people did to Zechariah. We have (in God’s eyes) murdered them. That’s pretty intense isn’t it?
We are reminded continually in scripture how necessary it is that, as our Savior speaks, we have salt in ourselves, that we walk in integrity, led by God’s Holy Spirit. This will save us from the flattering, lying self serving tongues and ways of those who merely want to have the praise of men and (like the men in flowing robes referred to in Mark 12:38) and ”be seen”.
Food for thought:
Have you murdered anyone lately?
Reflections – Who really rules our country and the world ?
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This is such a good reminder for Christians today.The following verse is taken from the Old Testament, but it is always relevant. 2 Chronicles 20: 6 – “O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you.
Further on in the text we are reminded what to do when we are about to suffer an attack from anyone who is an enemy of God. II Chronicles 20: 12b – 14:a – For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.” 13 All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the LORD. 14 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel …
I wonder what that looked like when The Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel. I think it was probably like something that happens when a lion rises up to attack its prey as in the video below.
As Christians we are to emulate Jesus’s meek and quiet spirit, but I wonder if non-believers think that means we are wimpy. Jesus, named in the scriptures as the Lamb of God is also called the Lion of Judah. What a picture we have here. A lamb being led to the slaughter and a Lion doing the slaughtering. How deep our God is. How awesome. How mysterious are His way.
If you have a chance .. read that portion of scripture. It is full of imagery and instructions as to what to do when you face a battle. I especially like the fact that the singers were appointed to go out before and after the battle. Imagine…the singers and musicians marching in front of the army singing and giving thanks even BEFORE the battle begins and and then of course after the battle the went into the temple and once again gave praise.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm…..wonder how many worship teams today would be willing to march in front of an army. Would I? Food for thought isn’t it?
In any case, take heart Christian … it matters little who is on the “throne” in America or anywhere for that matter in the world. Our God….the Lion of Judah still rules.
Blessings today.
Angela (John 3:3)
Waiting in Line – Part I
Something happened in my life recently that gave me an amazing picture of what it will be like to someday stand before the Lord on judgment day. It was an earthly event that had messages from heaven stamped all over it. For you to understand the end, I must start from the beginning.
About 6 weeks ago my husband handed me an envelope. As he handed me the envelope I “heard” him say something about my automobile’s vanity plates, and that if I wanted to keep those same plates I had to mail in a form (or something). I have to admit now that although I thought I was paying attention to what he was saying; in hindsight, I wasn’t really focusing. At the time, I was working on my computer, and I often say that that is the one time I can’t multi-task. I took the envelope my husband handed me and summarily threw it in my “C” pile, other wise known as do this when you have time, LOL* (yeah right) and essentially thought I had more than enough time to take care of whatever that envelope contained.
And so it was that yesterday (6 weeks later) I finally went into that “C” pile and opened that envelope. I didn’t fully remove the papers inside because my eyes immediately went to the spot that had to do with my personalized (vanity) plates. I remember my husband said (what was it he said?) something about talking with my sister who happens to be in management at motor vehicle, and that maybe she could help me expedite things. So, being the
obedient, submissive wife that I am, I happily picked up the phone and called my sister. While we were chatting about the vanity plates my sister asks me if I am aware that my registration has expired. What! Immediately I finish ripping open the swine envelope that was now my enemy and promised to ruin my afternoon, steal my time and rob my wonderful mood of feeling so in control of the endless administrative (and what I call “c-time”, hence the name of the pile) things one has to do in this life. But … yep, there it was …. My registration had expired about 5 weeks ago. I felt sick. Now you know, dear reader, what this meant. It meant my window of opportunity was gone to be able to handle what could have been a little matter. What could have taken me minutes online was now going to take me hours. It meant I had to get in my car and drive to one of the most congested areas of our county, stand in a swine line for heaven knows how long, get a swine number, and sit like a slug with the rest of the poor slugs who were either in my same situation, in a worse situation, or just maybe they loved hanging out the at the DMV. In any case … although I am usually a quite happy go lucky, la la la kind of gal, the song went out of me like the air in a balloon.
Wait…it gets worse! Remember I said I was on the phone with my sister who works at DMV? Well . . . she had advised me to call her in the a.m. BEFORE I headed out to the DMV. She probably told me why she wanted me to call her, but if she did (once again) I didn’t hear her because I was too busy being upset with the DMV for something that was in truth, MY FAULT. My fault (mea culpa … mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!) Good grief.
So……………………today, I resolved that I was going to “get this off my plate” asap, and I ran up to the DMV, with those swine papers in the envelope in my hot little hands, determined to get this thing done. By now, I’m sure you get the picture that I, like so many of us, truly detest going to DMV and for that matter any office that has anything to do with governmental issues. It always takes them so long to do everything, (not their fault, I know, they are only following the millions of regulations they are given) and there is seemingly endless red tape. But, okay, here I go, I was off.
And so it was that about 35 minutes later my little feet confidently walked into that DMV office. Yep, I was going to get this done, efficiently. I’d show myself who was boss. I’d make a quick work of this unsavory task. Why, I might even have time to go back home and grab some lunch before my next appointment. But . . . my heart 
sank as I walked into that crowded motor vehicle Office. There were about 20 people in line in front of me, and many more sitting in the multitudes of pews waiting to be served. I was really trying to overcome my disgust at seeing only one person waiting on all the people in front of me. Some people had to have their photos taken, others needed help filling out forms. And … there was only one person to do all of this???? Good grief! I knew I was going to be there for a while. So I hunkered down for the wait. PLUS I left my cell phone/pda in my car, so I couldn’t even surf the web while I waited. I didn’t dare leave the line to get my phone, or when I returned there would be 20 more people ahead of me. They were coming in like hungry ants to honey. I turned to the lady behind me and asked if she would save my place in line while I ran to the car, but she said she didn’t speak English. UGH! Stuck. Bored. Impatient. Grumble, grumble, grumble. Finally I resolved to just “be in the moment”, and I made peace with my lot in life (brought on by my own self … double ugh).
Okay, so I’m waiting, waiting, inching my way forward, watching the clock. In due time I’m one person away from being waited on. There. …. that’s better, I’m starting to feel calm again and my confident self is returning.
Just then he calls me to the counter. Will I go onto the next step and be given my golden ticket to sit on those golden benches, or will I be turned away as so many before me. I hand him my envelope. When suddenly he looks at me and asks me if I am the person who carries the title to this automobile. Well, I say, it is my automobile, I make the payments but (for reasons that are none of his business) the title is held by my husband. Then he responds back, “well, your husband has to sign the back of this card, and you must have a copy of his driver’s license to accompany the renewal”. What! What! What!
I’m telling you I think that those people at those jobs get a kick out of telling poor ignorant pedestrians that we have to come back and do it all over again. My immediate impulse was to say a few very unlady-like words to this DMV dweeb who seemed to grow 6 inches when he delivered the death blow to my sudden confident efficiency. I could feel the blood rush to my face and my pulse start to race. I could feel what seemed to be hundreds of eyes studying my face and my reaction to his happy news that I would have to return. For a split second I considered trying to reason with him, or even argue with him, but he would probably grow so much taller that I’d have to be looking up his haughty nose, and that was not a pretty thought. Well, by now you get the idea. I was raging mad. But, thankfully, I had a moment of sanity in an insane situation and decided to just thank him and quickly leave.
So….out the door I went, with my tail between my legs and skulked back to my car. Where’s my stupid car. Where is that stupid car that is causing me all this trouble. Why can’t we just go back to horses. Life used to be so simple. I’m getting stressed!
* LOL means lots of laughs
To be Continued
Ignoring Joy
Well, the holidays are upon us now. Today is Dec.8, 2008 and as the ancients have said, “the year of the Lord”. But, oh my, sadly there are many in this country who have neither the JOY of the Lord nor the Fear of the Lord.
Last week America was informed that an Athiest had posted a sign in an Olympia, Washington government building. While it is true that we live in the greatest country in the world which allows Freedom of Speech, I am confident that our founding fathers would weep at such a twisting of what their view of Freedom of Speech truly meant.
Down through the years, there has been no shortage of godless men and women. To name a few: Sigmond Frued, A.J. Ayer, John Dewey, Emma Goldman, David Hume, Thomas Henry Huxley, Karl Marx, Thomas Paine, Ayn Rand, Carl Sagan, Margaret Sanger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Clarence Darrow, Madelyn Murray-O-Hair, Isaac Asimov, Ron Reagan, George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, Woody Allen, George Carlin, Katherine Hepburn, George Meyer, Gene Roddenberry, Robert Smith.
Wonder what athiests like Baron d’Holbach are thinking now. Could it be that the Baron is crying out in torment much the same as the unsaved soul in hell …the scripture reads in Luke 16:24 … So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire. Wonder if d’Holbach would cry out … you know not what you do! Fear God. There is a God and he was trying to get my attention while on walked on the earth, but here I am in these flames. Would he also cry to today’s atheists, “please throw that poster in the flames where it belongs before it throws you there”!
YouTube Video of Atheists last words.
These are all men and women who IGNORED GOD. By now, if dead they know without a shadow of a doubt that God does exist and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Every single one will cry out in torment and wish that they had embraced Christ, learned of Him and sought Him at every opportunity.
How sad this day is for the Atheists, for our country and for Olympia, Washington that they have allowed such a act, especially at one of the most sacred times of year for Christians.
Does God Take Pleasure In Me?
By Angela C.
Hebrews 11:6 – Without Faith it is impossible to please God.
This morning I was reading the account of Enoch. Enoch was the man who was so pleasing to God that scripture says “God took him”. Enoch Gen.5:24
Yes, God took him. Took him where? God actually took Enoch out of this life without Enoch tasting death. God took Enoch straight to Heaven. Can you even imagine that? Imagine one day being here, and the next day NOT being here. Imagine God being so pleased with you that he decided you didn’t have to go through death? Not even Noah, Abraham or Moses was blessed in that way. I wonder what it was that God was so pleased with. We may never know (until eternity) the whole story, but we can learn from scripture what is pleasing to God, or put another way, what it is that gives God pleasure.
From my study this morning I am reminded that we can all know without a shadow of a doubt what gives God pleasure. That thing is Faith. But Faith in what? For our time, of course, it is faith in his son, Jesus the Christ, and believing and fully trusting in not our own works, but his “finished” work on the cross. So for the time when Enoch walked the earth, it was also Faith. It seems to me that during his lifetime, Enoch simply loved God and obviously adored him, worshiped him and obeyed whatever light God gave him. It must have been that Enoch’s singular desire was to seek God. Hebrews 11:6 says that … without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
I believe that the reason Enoch was so pleasing to God is that he gave his whole heart to God. We know from scripture that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God“, and therefore we know that Enoch had no less temptations or struggles in the flesh than we do. Something must have taken place in Enoch’s heart that caused a moral change in his life (1). Somehow, even before the law was given Enoch fell in love with God, wanted to please God and placed his whole heart in God’s hands.
Patrick Henry Reardon (2) (touchstone ministries) writes: Living before both Noah and Moses, Enoch was participant in neither of the covenants associated with these men. Not a single line of Holy Scripture was yet written for him to read. Much less did Enoch ever hear the message of salvation preached by the apostles. Yet, he was so pleasing to God by his faith as to be snatched away before his time, not suffering that common lot of death from which the Almighty spared not even his own Son.
What, exactly, did Enoch believe, then, that he should be such a champion of faith for the Church until the end of time? The Epistle to the Hebrews explains: “But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him” (11:6). This was the sum total of all that Enoch’s faith told him—God’s existence and his own duty to seek God to obtain the singular blessing that Holy Scripture ascribes to him.
And so today, once again I am reminded of the warning we find in Hebrews . . . warnings about ignoring salvation, warnings to believe in the TRUE God. (3) Bruce writes that it is not belief in the existence of a God that is meant, but belief in the existence of the God who once declared his will to the fathers through the prophets and in these last days has spoken by his Son. (Heb.1:1,2).
Therefore, in these last days the “way” to be pleasing to God is to give evidence that we believe God’s word is true. To give evidence and testimony about his son, Jesus. To “consider our ways” as Haggai the prophet has written. (Haggai 1:5) God indubitably wants our obedience as an outward evidence of our inward faith.
Today, I believe I have my answer as to why God was so pleased with Enoch. Enoch believed that God existed, he was a lover of God and a seeker of God. Enoch’s faith was rewarded with his translation from this earth to Heaven. As far as I know, God has never repeated for any other person what he did for Enoch. I don’t know, but perhaps it was God’s way to showcase an unforgettable lesson for us about true faith.
So . . . I have to ask myself:
- How am I pleasing to God?
- What proof could I give as evidence to that end?
- What is my faith based on?
- Do I think I can be pleasing to God and go to heaven apart from a faith in Jesus?
- Is my faith based on what I “do” or rather a sound and firm conviction that Jesus paid it all?
Enoch’s life is a powerful reminder to us of what truly pleases God, and a wonderful way to usher in the Holiday Season . . .
… For “wise men still seek him”.
(1) (pg.285) Bruce.
(2) Web. Reardon
(3) (pg.286) Bruce.
Title Deed To Heaven
Hebrews 11 – It’s always amazing to me how absolutely central and relevant the Bible continues to be even in our so called “modern” age.
I am a Real Estate Broker and as such the legal instrument referred to as the “Title Deed” is a regular part of
my life. When I negotiate and/or facilitate the purchase or sale of a property, the new owner receives a Title Deed from the original owner. The dictionary defines title deed (noun) as: a deed or document containing or constituting evidence of ownership. In my reading from the commentary accompanying our study of Hebrews the author writes (1) ‘Faith is the title-deed of things hoped for.’ Naturally, given what I do to earn income, those two little words got my attention.
Faith = my title deed. Hmmmmmmmmmm . . . how fitting, how appropriate for a realtor to grab onto the reality that faith is our title deed.
Lucifer
In these days all of us are viewing the near collapse (and some say it’s already collapsed) of our financial markets. We see people running here and there after every manner of material goods. As a realtor, I continually hear virtually everyone around me talking about the housing market. I see people (as Bruce states) (2) ‘regulating the whole course of their lives in their light’. But in this case the light they are following is NOT God’s light, it is a counterfeit light produced by the angel of light.
All around us we see people everywhere “running” after the things of this world. I see people running after houses, others see people running after stocks/bonds, some run after status”y” clothing, and on and on it goes. Like the Romans who went before us we miss and ignore the most important thing. God said that we would be saved by grace, through faith, and that is would be a gift from God. How can so many people be missing this? How can so many who during their lives, at one point or another, heard this good news ignore such a great salvation as this? Simple, they know about it, but sadly choose to ignore it.
Keeping Up With the Joneses
Well then I’m sure I would reply . . . you did nothing to earn it, it’s yours to do with as you please. You owe me nothing! I would hope, however, that they would cherish the gift, that they would take care of the property, that they would maintain it in an orderly fashion, that they would not “ignore it” and let it go into disrepair. I certainly would hope that they would be thankful for the gift and show it by taking care of the gift freely given to them. Nevertheless, the title-deed would be theirs. Of course this analogy pales with faith as our title deed, but you get the idea don’t you?
Heavenly Mansion
How can we ignore such a great salvation where our title deed is not merely to an earthly treasure which will inevitably one day depreciate into worthlessness. Rather we’ve have the opportunity to extend our hand to receive a free (by faith) title-deed to a mansion in heaven that Jesus himself said is being prepared for us.
My prayer: Oh Father, let us continue to encourage one another with the reminder that you have gone before us, and you have given all of us a title deed called Faith, if we would only believe and receive it. Lord we believe, help our unbelief. In Jesus name.
Amen.
_______________________________________________ 1. The Epistle to the Hebrews (Bruce pg. 277) 2. 'they regulated the whole course of their lives in their light' (Bruce pg. 276)
Death angels?
Hebrews 1:7
In speaking of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.”
Wind gusts had peaked at more than 70 mph at the height of the fires over the weekend, but on Sunday
they had weakened to about 20 mph, the National Weather Service said.
Click to view photos from the California firestorm.
Signs and wonders ………… ?????????????????????
What Say Ye? I’m not saying that the Lord brought this about. I think I may have heard or read that
a careless disposal of a cigarette started at least some of this disaster. But one day, all across this land we will see images like this, and there won’t be enough water on earth to douse the flames that are scattered abroad by the command of the Lord.
How can we ignore such a great salvation. How can we not pay attention.
Obsolete, Aging and Disappearing
Hebrews 8:13 – By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear. Well, there’s an encouraging thought for you eh? Actually, it IS an encouraging thought. Because those words are not what they seem at first.
When I first read those words, I thought, of course, of my own self. How that I am aging, many of the things I leaned in the past are obsolete and in fact on day I will totally disappear from this earth. An elderly pastor we know has even shared with us that many times he feels “invisible” to the younger generation. But while these realties exist about our own obsolescence there is another reality that is in fact good news.
My study of Hebrews reveals that God’s “people” had great difficulting obeying the commandments of God and a covenant (The old covenant) was established where the priests from the tribe of Levi (Levitical Priesthood) had to make atonement for the people. Only blood could atone for the sins of the people, and this blood came from a sacrificial system. And so, when we read in Hebrews 8 that God established a “better covenant”, we see that this old sacrificial system has been done away with.
Now this is a very short summary* on what happened over a long period of time, but in the case of being obsolete, aging, and dissappearing, I am so glad that God has taken that old covenant and made it dissappear. That’s one aspect of aging that does not have to worry me.
Hebrews 8 teaches that God’s new covenant, the covenant of grace allows a sacrifice once for all through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. That God has written his law on my heart and put his law in my mind. l have come to understand and believe that because of the “finished” work of Jesus on the cross having made atonement for my sins, I am fully accepted by God. I know that there is nothing I can “do” to be pleasing enough to merit God’s favor, especially the favor of eternal salvation. But I do want to live my life as a thank you to God, and God’s Holy Spirit will remind me and/or prompt me of what to do or what not do to do to live a life pleasing to God while I am still on this earth.
The only authoritiy I am under is to love God, and love people. Those directives will never grow old. Thanks be to God for his indescrible gift.
Click here for a deeper understanding of the covenant of grace.
Faith with no value
Hebrews 4:2
For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.
Well, the election and all the accompanying media coverage is over, thanks be to God! America has made their choice including many professing Christians I know. Along the campaign trail and over the last few months we have seen Americas “divided reality”. We used to be a nation under one God and it is obvious that is not the state of our country now. Sadly, even in my own church I sense that people were not voting values, but rather voting issues. In short, voting for the man they thought would best help their wallets. In a word Obama. Obama is now our president and we are commanded to pray for our leaders, and so this I will do and I will pray that he is successful. But in the interim, I can not help but feel sad, that what so many of my fellow Christian brothers and sisters professed seem to be of no value to them now. Look at the definitions of value. (more…)
