Forty Seven today...

God's word on this first of December 2014...

Whom have I in heaven but you?  I desire you more than anything on earth.

My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.

But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign LORD my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.

-  Psalms 73:25, 26, 28

Selah Acappella - When I Am Afraid

Mary Did You Know by Pentatonix

Water baptism and the Christian faith

Water baptism for a person (whether as a child or an adult) is a principle rite in Christianity. Some denominations baptize infants and young children, and other denominations will only allow adult baptism or when one is able to make an independent decision to follow Christ. Either way it seems to be a rite of passage for one as a Christian.  I have heard Christian sermons where water baptism was preached as one of the necessary actions for one to enter heaven aside from the acceptance of Jesus Christ as one's personal savior. I am yet to hear a convincing argument for this line of thought as I am constantly reminded of the thief hanging on the cross besides Jesus who was pardoned upon his acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah and plea for remembrance upon Jesus' return to his kingdom. Jesus said to him that he would be with him that day in paradise - Luke 23:40-43. The thief was not baptized in water. Though Jesus himself had taken John the Baptist's water baptism, he gave the thief on the cross the assurance of paradise for his public acknowledgement (within earshot of the other thief) of Jesus.

The argument for water baptism as a necessity to enter heaven, aside from one's belief in who Jesus was, is based on Jesus' answer to Nicodemus' on how one had to be "born again" to see the Kingdom of God. Jesus answered Nicodemus, "The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit (or born from above)." - John 3:5. Jesus and his disciples are said to have baptized those who accepted him and his teachings, though apostle John makes it clear that Jesus himself did not baptize anyone, rather his disciples did. - John 3:22 & 4:2.  After Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, the "Great Commission" that he gave his eleven disciples (minus Judas Iscariot) included baptizing new believers from all nations with water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Jesus said, "I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age." - Matthew 28:18-20.  Finally, supporters for water baptism point to the baptism of Jesus himself, that he set the example for his followers.

John the Baptist's water baptism was to prepare the people of Israel for the coming of the Lord and bear witness to the person of Jesus, the Messiah. Apostle Paul said "John's baptism was to demonstrate a desire to turn from sin and turn to God." - Acts 19:4.  Then there was a prophecy in the Old Testament by Isaiah as we read in Isaiah 40:3-5.  The Baptist himself said, "I didn't know he (Jesus) was the one, but when God sent me to baptize with water, he told me, 'When you see the Holy Spirit descending and resting upon someone, he is the one you are looking for. He is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' I saw this happen to Jesus, so I testify that he is the Son of God (or the chosen one of God)." - John 1:31-34. Jesus took the water baptism of  John the Baptist to fulfill Isaiah's prophecy that I mentioned earlier. It could have served no other purpose in the case of Jesus, for he was the sinless "Son of God," "the Lamb of God" who takes away the sin of the world! - John 1:29.

John said that while he (John) baptized with water, one greater than him was coming who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. - Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:8, John 1:33.  When Jesus answered Nicodemus that one had to be born of the water and the Spirit, he elaborated more on the rebirth occurring in a person resulting from the Holy Spirit. "Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven.  So don't be surprised at my statement that you must be born again.  Just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit." - John 3:6-8.  One could argue that the "Great Commission" was for the apostles to go into the world and make new disciples of Jesus Christ who were then to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Paul himself upon his conversion from a Pharisee persecuting Christians to a believer of Jesus Christ was baptized, giving credence to the "Great Commission." - Acts 9:18. We don't read of any of the first apostles as having taken the water baptism.

Does a Christian need water baptism? If so, does it matter whether the person was baptized as an infant or as an adult? To answer these questions I think it's important to define who is a Christian. Being born into a Christian family does not make one a Christian, anymore than a democrat or a republican is one born into such a family. Apostle Paul when addressing the Jews in Rome says, "For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the Jewish ceremony of circumcision.  No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God.  And true circumcision is not a cutting of the body but a change of heart produced by God's Spirit.  Whoever has that kind of change seeks praise from God, not from people." - Romans 2:28-29.

To be a Christian is a conscious personal decision one makes to accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior, believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that he died for one's sins and rose up on the third day and ascended to heaven to be seated on the right hand of the Father as the intermediary for mankind. Taking water baptism is a first step towards a life long public testimony of one's decision to be a follower of Christ and his teachings. Can an infant make that conscious decision? No, so I would rule out the significance of infant baptism as nothing more than a religious ritual.

Would a follower of Christ not be able to enter heaven having not taken water baptism, the answer to which seems to be in the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, "And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so I, the Son of Man, must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in me will have eternal life.  For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.  God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.  There is no judgment awaiting those who trust him. But those who do not trust him have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God." - John 3:14-18. More than a physical action, faith in the redemptive power of Jesus seems to be the key. This is seen in Jesus' pardon of the penitent thief on the cross.

But then why not be as the Ethiopian royal official on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza to whom when apostle Philip preached the Good News about Jesus, upon coming to some water on the road side said to Philip, "Look! There's some water! Why can't I be baptized?" He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him." - Acts 9:26-36.  On a personal note, I was born and raised in a Christian family belonging to a denomination that practices child baptism. My family and I  made personal conscious decisions and took water baptism as a first step of our public testimony to follow Christ.

The wise King Solomon concluded, "But, my child, be warned: There is no end of opinions ready to be expressed.  Studying them can go on forever and become very exhausting! Here is my conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is the duty of every person." - Ecclesiastes 12:12-13.

Hillsong United - I surrender

Patience (Faith)

Just wanted to put down a few verses that have been tugging at me...

For since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him! -Isaiah 64:4

But these things I plan won't happen right away.  Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled.  If it seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place.  It will not be delayed.  -Habakkuk 2:3

Do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord, no matter what happens.  Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so you will continue to do God's will.  Then you will receive all that he has promised. -Hebrews 10:35-36

And a righteous person will live by faith.  But I will have no pleasure in anyone who turns away. -Hebrews 10:38

Oceans - Hillsong United 

Forgive us our trespasses...

The Lord's prayer teaches us,

"...and forgive us our trespasses (sins), as we have forgiven those who trespass (sin) against us."

and then Christ states, "If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you." (Matthew 6:8-14)

Christ elaborates this point with a parable -

Parable of the Unforgiving Debtor

“Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.

But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.

But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.

When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt."

The parable ends with this statement from Lord Jesus Christ, "That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart." -  (Matthew 18:23-35)

Lord I need your grace!

TobyMac - Forgiveness



The All Sufficient One

There were these unanswered questions I've had for a while - Why a manger, why a carpenter, why the womb of a barren woman, why the nation of Israel were chosen by a Sovereign God for Christ to be born into?

Why did Christ's birth have such humble surroundings? He was born into a poor family (though it had it's royal roots, yet even that began from a shepherd boy). His birth took place in a manger and not within the comforts of the palace walls.  His first visitors were poor shepherds and not royal ministers.  His upbringing was that of a carpenter's son, far removed from that of a royal prince who would one day assume the royal throne. There was no royal pomp nor splendor of any royalty as we know existed on earth or exists today.

Secondly, why did God choose Israel, the tiniest of nations and not another for Christ to be born into? There was Rome in all it's glory.  There was Greece with its warriors, art and pursuit of knowledge.  Previously, there had been the Babylonian empire, and then there were Egyptian empires. The evidence to their past glory is still visible today.  If you were to visit these historic sites, one could literally imagine how splendid these empires must have been.  Why did God chose a group of slaves to be born into? Bible points to a 400 years history of slavery that the Israelites endured.

Few Sundays ago, as we were worshipping in church, my mind was flooded with thoughts of visions prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Apostle John saw...

Prophet Isaiah's vision of the Son of God we read in Isaiah 6 - "In the year King Uzziah died, I (Isaiah) saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple.  Hovering around him were mighty seraphim, each with six wings. With two wings, they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with the remaining two they flew.  In a great chorus they sang, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty! The whole earth is filled with his glory!  The glorious singing shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire sanctuary was filled with smoke... !"

Can any earthly king's appearance be compared to the one in the vision of Apostle John from Revelations, chapter 1, "And standing in the middle of the lampstands was the Son of Man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest.  His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow.  And his eyes were bright like flames of fire.  His feet were as bright as bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves.  He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth.  And his face was as bright as the sun in all its brilliance."

Did ever any earthly king's court compare to what John wrote in Revelations, chapter 4? "Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before spoke to me with the sound of a mighty trumpet blast.  The voice said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after these things."  And instantly I was in the Spirit and I saw a throne in heaven and someone sitting on it!  The one sitting on the throne was as brilliant as gemstones - jasper and carnelian.  And the glow of an emerald circled his throne like a rainbow.  Twenty-four thrones surrounded him, and twenty-four elders sat on them.  They were all clothed in white and had gold crown on their heads.  And from the throne came flashes of lighting and the rumble of thunder.  And in front of the throne were seven lampstands with burning flames.  They are the seven spirits of God.  In front of the throne was a shiny sea of glass, sparkling like crystal.  In the center and around the throne were four living beings, each covered with eyes, front and back.  The first of these living beings had the form of a lion; the second looked like an ox; the third had a human face; and the fourth had a form of an eagle with wings spread out as though in flight.  Each of these living beings had six wings and their wings were covered with eyes, inside and out. Day after day and night after night they keep on saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty - the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come."  Whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down and worship the one who lives forever and ever.  And they lay their crown before the throne and say, " You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created."

Would any earthly king's grandeur compare to even the throne chariot of God in Ezekiel's vision.  " "As I looked, I saw a great storm coming toward me from the north, driving before it a huge cloud that flashed with lightning and shone with brilliant light.  The fire inside the cloud glowed like gleaming amber.  From the center of the cloud came four living beings that looked human, except that each had four faces and two pairs of wings.  Their legs were straight like human legs, but their feet were split like calves' feet and shone like burnished bronze.  Beneath each of their wings I could see human hands.  The wings of each living being touched the wings of the two beings beside it. The living beings were able to fly in any direction without turning around.  Each had a human face in the front, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle at the back.  Each had two pairs of outstretched wings - one pair stretched out to touch the wings of the living beings on either side of it, and the other pair covered its body.  They went in whatever direction the spirit chose, and they moved straight forward in all directions without having to turn around.  The living beings looked like bright coals of fire or brilliant torches, and it looked as though lightning was flashing back and forth among them.  And the living beings darted to and fro like flashes of lightning.  As I looked at these beings, I saw four wheels on the ground beneath them, one wheel belonging to each.  The wheels sparkled as if made of chrysolite. All four wheels looked the same; each wheel had a second wheel turning crosswise within it.  The beings could move forward in any of the four directions they faced, without turning as they moved.  The rims of the four wheels were awesomely tall, and they were covered with eyes all around the edges.  When the four living beings moved, the wheels moved with them.  When they flew upward, the wheels went up, too.  The spirit of the four living beings was in the wheels.  So wherever the sprit went, the wheels and the living beings went, too.  When the living beings moved, the wheels moved. When the living beings stopped, the wheels stopped.  When the living beings flew into the air, the wheels rose up.  For the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.  There was a surface spread out above them like the sky.  It sparkled like crystal.  Beneath this surface the wings of each living being stretched out to touch the others' wings, and each had two wings covering its body.  As they flew their wings roared like waves crashing against the shore, or like the voice of the Almighty, or like the shouting of a mighty army.  When they stopped, they let down their wings.  As they stood with their wings lowered, a voice spoke from beyond the crystal surface above them.   Above the surface over their heads was what looked like a throne made of blue sapphire.  And high above this throne was a figure whose appearance was like that of a man.  From his waist up, he looked like gleaming amber, flickering like a fire.  And from his waist down, he looked like a burning flame, shining with splendor.  All around him was a glowing halo, like a rainbow shining through the clouds.  This was the way the glory of the LORD appeared to me..."

Could an earthly prince ever receive the worship, adoration, authority and power that we read in the Book of Daniel. Prophet Daniel's vision in Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14 -  "I watched as thrones were put in place and the Ancient One sat down to judge.  His clothing was as white as snow, his hair like whitest wool.  He sat on a fiery throne with wheels of blazing fire, and a river of fire flowed from his presence.  Millions of angels ministered to him, and a hundred million stood to attend him.  Then the court began its session, and the books were opened. Verses 13-14 reads, "As my vision continued that night,  I saw someone who looked like a man coming with the clouds of heaven.   He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence.  He was given authority, honor, and royal power over all the nations of the world,  so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him.  His rule is eternal - it will never end.  His kingdom will never be destroyed."

There is nothing that could be offered on earth that would compare to what was sacrificed for you and I. There is nothing on earth that you and I could take credit for and discredit that which was sacrificed for us by the birth, life and death of Jesus Christ. So he chose a nation that was born out of the barren womb of Sarah, so he chose a nation that had been under the yoke of slavery for 400 years, so he chose a group of people who continue to experience the hatred of many, so he chose a carpenter's family, and so he chose a manger to prove to you and I that he is the All Sufficient One!

There is nothing he will not give to have your heart! Will you accept him into your life?

Hillsongs - Here I am to worship

Psalms 103, the character of my God

He revealed his character to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel. (Psalms 103:7)

                                                      He is a Provider
                                                         a Healer,
                                                                      a Redeemer,
                                                             a Savior,
                                          a Sustainer,
                       Righteous,
                   Just,
        Merciful,
                 Gracious,
                         Patient (slow to anger),
                                 full of unfailing love,
                                          the depth of His love cannot be measured,
He is a Restorer who removed our Rebellious acts as far as the East is from the West,
                He is Understanding,
                                not constantly accusing,
                                            does not remain angry forever,
                                                                                  not punishing us for all our sin,
                                               does not deal with us as we deserve,
                                a Father,
               a Protector - his salvation extends to generations,
                                       Tender,
                                                     Compassionate.


In this God I trust.  Read Psalms 103 here...

Hillsongs - Oceans

 



Bad company corrupts good character...

Every time I have heard Lot mentioned, I don't ever recall his name mentioned in a positive context. I'd read of Lot's men fighting against Abraham's men and the two separating to live apart.  I thought this was a result of Lot's selfish ways against the man who had adopted him as his own son and given him all the benefits of a very wealthy father, Abraham. I had read Lot chose to live in Sodom, one of the two wicked and sinful cities of ancient times that God destroyed.  We read of Lot's wife's disobedience that resulted in her turning into a pillar of salt. Then there was Lot who got drunk on wine and had an incestuous relationship with his daughters. Though it may not have been of his making, the decisions he made in his life led to unfortunate results.

Today, for the first time, I saw Lot in a very different light. As I was reading through the book of 2Peter, chapter 2, I came across the following passage. Verses 6-8 said, "Later, he [God] turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into heaps of ashes and swept them off the face of the earth.  He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people.  But at the same time, God rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a good man who was sick of all the immorality and wickedness he saw and heard day after day.  Yes, he was a righteous man who was distressed by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day." A clear distinction of the ungodly and godly was made here, and Lot was named as the godly.

These scripture portions led me back to the book of Genesis to reread the portions about Lot, Abraham, their separation, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. In chapter 13, we read the following,

• vs. 5.  Now Lot, who was travelling with Abraham, was also very wealthy with sheep, cattle, and many tents. [So Lot was wealthy enough that he didn't have to be jealous of Abraham's possessions.]

• vs. 6.  The land could not support both Abraham's and Lot's flocks of sheep and herds of cattle living so close together.  There were too many animals for the available pastureland. [So it was only right thing to do, to part company and search out new pastureland]

• vs. 7.  So an argument broke out between the herdsmen of Abraham and Lot. [Gave renewed impetus to go their separate ways.]

We read that Abraham was the one who suggested the separation to Lot and gave him the pick of the Land. Abraham told Lot whatever he chose, Abraham would pick the opposite direction, so the two men and their households could go their separate ways. (Genesis 13:8-10).

Lot picked the lush fertile Jordan valley for his large flocks of sheep and herds of cattle and his large household. He moved his tents to a place near Sodom, among the cities of the plain, we read.  The people of this area were unusually wicked and sinned greatly against the LORD.  Does this decision make Lot a bad person?  If so, we would all be guilty for the many decisions that have been made in the best interests of our families.

Even in this wicked surrounding, Lot stood apart and kept a righteous life as we see in chapter 19 of the book of Genesis. In his care, his children were kept away from the city's influence. Though Lot was surrounded by a sinful society, we read about his daughters that the two were virgins who had kept themselves pure and untouched for their fiancés (vs. 8 & 14).

Chapter 19 reveals Lot's character as a person,

• who is respectful to others (vs. 1),
• of friendly and welcoming nature (vs. 2),
• a gracious and generous host (vs. 3),
• a man who put himself in harm's way for the benefit of others (vs. 6),
• a man willing to sacrifice his sacred possessions, his two beautiful daughters, for the safety of his guests (vs. 8).

We see that Lot was a good, honest, and caring person, yet time and time again made decisions that put himself and his family in less than a good situation. He moved away from Abraham because of his workers.  By choosing the lush valleys of the Jordan River, he placed his family close to the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. As a result, he lost all the possessions he had accumulated as he fled with his family.  He lost his wife for her disobedience to the angels' warning to not turn back and look at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Once out of harms way, there in the mountains with his two daughters, Lot let himself get drunk at the hands of his daughters.  Not knowing their intentions, his inebriated state led to incest. His story seemed to be a tragedy of epic proportions until I stumbled this morning upon that passage I quoted earlier from 2Peter. The moral here seemed to be... Godly people should not place themselves in a position of weakness that can be exploited by Satan. For bad company corrupts good character... (1 Corinthians 15:23)

Hillsongs - Beneath the waters

Why Jesus Christ?

I came to Him because I did not know which way to turn.  I have remained with Him because there is no other way I wish to turn. I came to Him longing for something I did not have.  I remain with Him because I have something I will not trade.  I came to Him as a stranger.  I remain with Him in the most intimate of friendships.  I came to Him unsure about the future.  I remain with Him certain about my destiny.  I came amid the thunderous cries of a culture that has three hundred and thirty million deities.  I remain with Him knowing that truth cannot be all-inclusive. Truth by definition excludes. -  Ravi Zacharias, a quote from his book titled Jesus Among Other Gods

Hillsong - Lead me to the cross



Jerry

Recently my father was admitted to the hospital for a health issue and was there for a week. During the time he was there we were introduced to a young man, who was admitted to the same floor, who was expected to die the same day within hours of his admittance. Hearing the commotion in his room and the crowd of family around the doorway to his room, my sister who was by my dad asked the nurse what was going on. The nurse explained the reason for the commotion few rooms down where the young man was admitted.  The nurse, who was a Christian, when she found out that our family was also Christians, asked my sister if she would want to go over and talk to the young man. My sister took the opportunity and visited him and his family who was gathered there. The Lord used her to speak with him; she shared Christ with the young man, Jerry, and prayed for him. We came to find out that my sister's visit had a calming effect on the young man.

She brought the young man's condition to the Church as a prayer request and the Church prayed for his deliverance. Following evening three of us from our church visited Jerry in the hospital room to pray with him. He was very open with us about his health condition. He seemed to be in his early thirties and had many dreams for his life. He told us that through high school and early college he was an exceptional student, for whom, his family had great expectations. But he fell into the wrong group of friends and became an alcoholic. Now, on that hospital bed he was facing death to come any time as his liver was failing due to his alcoholism and shutting down.  When he was first brought in, the doctors had only given him hours to live, but now his prognosis was that he may live for another ten days. He shared his fear of death, his desire to have another shot at life so that he could marry his girlfriend of many years, give his parents a grand child and live a normal life devoid of alcohol. Though he was born in a Hindu family, he said he had grown up without any staunch beliefs.

We shared Christ again with him and shared our testimonies of Christ's healing power. He accepted Christ as a savior, we prayed with him that night and pointed him to an on-line bible to read. My friend suggested that he start with the book of John in the New Testament.  He thanked us and we left. Few days later my cousin, who was there that night we visited, visited the young man again with another friend to pray. Jerry's condition had gotten much worse and one of his brother politely told my cousin and the friend to not come anymore as they wished for Jerry to pass peacefully and wanted to cremate him according to their religious traditions.  Respecting his wishes they prayed and left.

As a family we, my wife and children, had been praying for Jerry. For me it had become personal following the visit to his hospital room that night and the conversation we had with him. During family prayer we counted each day that the doctors had given Jerry to live and prayed for God to do his miracle, to cure the young man and bring salvation to his extended family. Few days after that last visit to Jerry's room, my cousin called me one late evening, as I was waiting at the bus stop coming home from work, that Jerry had passed away the day after his last visit with the friend from church. I felt empty inside.

At our nightly family prayer, I informed my family that Jerry had passed away few days ago and his family had cremated him. We'd been praying for a dead man! That night I did not feel like reading my bible nor did I have the heart to pray. The scripture that we read that night during the family prayer gave us a ray of hope...

Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life.  Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again.  They are given eternal life for believing in me and will never perish.  Do you believe this, Martha?... (John 11:25-26)

The last sentence echoed with my name at the end... "Do you believe this, .....?" I look forward to seeing this young man in heaven one day!

Israel & the New Breed - It's not Over



God wants your obedience more than your sacrifices.

Recently in a conversation with my son, I came to know that one of his favorite Psalm was Psalm 40.  He told me that this was a Psalm that gave him strength when he needed it.  It made me happy that my 11 year old had a favorite Psalm. It has been and continues to be my prayer that my grandparents'  God, my parents' God, my God, will also be my children's God and a God to generations to come. My grandfather made this God real for me. I'd hoped my children would develop a personal relationship with this God, have their own experiences of God's glory, and those experiences to anchor them for a journey of faith in Christ for as long as they lived.

This conversation with my son came about one recent night during our family prayer as I had asked my son to pick Psalms 37 to read.  Being that it was a departure from our regular scripture reading, he asked me why.  I told him that Psalms 37 has been a Psalm that I have turned to from my childhood when I felt the need for God to carry me through tough times, times of doubt. More specifically there is this one verse, vs. 5 (the New Living Translation or NLT version), "Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you."

Psalms 37 is full of God's assurances to his children, the godly! The NLT Bible makes mention of the "godly" 12 times through out this Psalm. I suppose the Psalmist is emphasizing for whom God's assurances are for. The KJV Bible refers to the "godly" as the "righteous."  As a child it was okay to blindly trust in the verse and pray. God answered the prayers of that teenage boy time and again. Today, as an adult, there is more required of me by God.

Who are the righteous or the godly? Deuteronomy 6:25 says, "For we are righteous when we obey all the commands the LORD our God has given us." To such, the Psalmist encourages in Psalms 37:4, "Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart's desires." Psalms 1:1-2 says, "Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners or join in with scoffers.  But they delight in doing everything the LORD wants; day and night they think about his law." Such people, we read in verse 3 of the same Psalm, "They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season without fail.  Their leaves never wither, and in all they do, they prosper."

God's instructions to Joshua, chosen to lead the Israelites following Moses' death, was "Be strong and very courageous [in the face of great challenges, opposition, grave danger, and dark periods of self doubt ].  Obey all the laws Moses gave you.  Do not turn away from them and you will be successful in everything you do.  Study this Book of the Law continually. Meditate on it day and night so that you may be sure to obey all that is written in it.  Only then will you succeed." (Joshua 1:7-8) When you (the Joshua 's of the world) do this, God's promise is, "Everywhere you go, you will be on land I have given you... No one will be able to stand their ground against you as long as you live.  For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you."  (Joshua 1:3-5)

Going back to my son's favorite Psalm, I read, "You (God) take no delight in sacrifices or offerings.  Now that you have made me listen, I finally understand--you don't require burnt offerings or sin offerings.  Then I said, "Look, I have come.  And this has been written about me in your scroll: I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your law is written on my heart." (Psalms 40:6-8).  If we had a chance to peek into God's scroll, what would we find about us?

God wants our obedience more than the sacrifices of burnt offerings and sin offerings!

Jesus Culture - Holy Spirit