All Sons and Daughters

There are a great many scriptures I can post concerning the happenings of the past few days within our country.  But I will not do that.  

I am sure that we can have a great conversation concerning "things to come".  But I will not do that. 

What I will do is this....pray for you.

Father God in heaven, I come to You in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.   LORD, You told us in Your word these things would happen.  We are not surprised.  Saddened yes, but not surprised.  

Father, I pray that You, by Your strong right hand, uphold us in this present hour.  Strengthen us by Your Holy Spirit.  Though the outward manifestation of the things going on are physical, the battle is spiritual.  The eternal home of everyone on this planet is at stake.  Help us to endure until the end.  We cannot fight the good fight of faith without You.   

As Jude says in his book, so say I to my brothers and sisters in the faith. (Last portion of verse 3)

I found it necessary to write to you, encouraging you to contend earnestly for the faith

which was once for all delivered to the saints.

God bless you all.

One=Arise, and Go Forth

I knew what it meant as soon as the scriptures entered into my mind.  Immediately I opened the bible app on my ipad to read the story and to try to staunch the fear that made me bolt upright in my bed at 0100 in the morning.  This was not going to end well.

Exodus 11:4-6  Then Moses said, "Thus says the LORD: about midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; 'and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first born of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals.  Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again."

This judgment, of the firstborn, will cripple the land of Egypt.  What is spoken/given as a judgment for a person, group or nation is, rest assured, a  promise of deliverance for another person, group or nation.

God's warnings to the Egyptians had fallen on deaf ears.  The Words that were directly placed in the hearing of their king had become a punchline to him and therefore a nail in his coffin.

A holy nation was about to come forth out of bondage after 430 years.  Israel was on the door step of its salvation, or deliverance.  A mass exodus of 2 million+ people.  Egypt will never be the same.

God's warnings to United States has fallen on deaf ears.  The Words that were directly placed in the 

hearing of its president have become a punchline and therefore a nail in his coffin.

A holy people are about to come forth, after 2,000+ years of waiting.  The Church is on the door step 

its salvation, or rapture.  A mass exodus of 30 million+ people.  This world will never be the same.

Despite the hand of God being upon them, these two nations, once great in the eyes of the world, had a multitude of chances to turn from their evil and sinful ways.  Both refused to acknowledge and yield to the Sovereignty of God.   Pharaoh, time and time again hardened his heart and refused to let Moses and the Israelites leave the land.  America, time and time again has hardened their hearts to the sin within and around them and refused to repent.

The bible says God will protect His people in the day of judgment.  How?

Exodus 12:13 'Now the blood shall be a sign for you in the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you ; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.'

The blood spoken of here is not the blood of Jesus, however it is a foreshadow of things to come.

Today those individuals who are covered by the blood of Jesus, judgment to come will in no ways fall upon them.  

     

                                  

                                              THE WONDERFUL CROSS

That wonderful cross is the ONLY WAY to escape the darkness that will descend upon our country and other nations as well.  Sin and evil will be more rampant than ever before.  The restraining hand of the Holy Spirit will be removed and all hell will break loose.  

Exodus 12:30 So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

Remember, God told Moses (11:4) that this would happen about midnight.

Matthew 25:6 And at midnight there was a cry made, behold the Bridegroom comes, go ye and meet Him.

 

What say you?  Will your cry at the midnight hour represent the judgment of God upon your life for having hardened your heart to His voice? 

Or, will your cry at the midnight hour represent the promise of God upon you life having received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour?

On that day the Father will tell the Son, "Arise and go forth.  Call my children home, bring them out of their bondage." 

  

 

Famous Quotes

'O Prince of Glory, who dost bring

Thy sons to glory through the Cross,

Let us not shrink from suffering,

Reporoach or loss.'"

Amy Carmichael

The Almighty

While reading from "Shadow of the Almighty" by Elisabeth Elliot, I came across this poem

written by Jim Elliot on October 09, 1948. 

What is this, Lord Jesus, that Thou shouldst make an end

Of all that I possess, and give Thyself to me?

So that there is nothing now to call my own

Save Thee; Thyself alone my Treasure.

Taking all, Thou givest full measure of Thyslef

With all things else eternal--

Things unlike the mouldy pelf by earth possessed.

But as to Life and godliness, all things are mine,

And in God's garments dressed I am;

With thee, an heir to riches in the spheres divine.

Strange, I say, that suffering loss,

I have so gained everything in getting

Me a friend who bore a Cross.

God bless

Two Books

My friend Marlon loves social media.  He can literally spend hours upon hours on social media.  Well, Facebook and all associated with it.

As I was doing my bible reading this morning an(n) incident came to mind from some time ago. Marlon posted a picture on his page and he was not to happy with the response or should i say lack of responses.

At this present moment i cannot recall what the picture was specifically, but it had something to with his profile.

(Marlon's comments will be bold type, mine regular.)

"What the hell!  I put this picture on my page this morning and only 8 people liked it?"

"What do you expect?  It is only a picture of you."

"Still.  I have over 2,000 friends and only 8 people liked it? "

In a sarcastic tone i replied "Oh the humanity."

For the next several minutes i was lectured about his supposed importance to the people of facebook and how their lives will fall into disarray without him.

Let me add, that it is about 3:00 in the afternoon and most people are at work or school or wherever.

Expecting his friends to be sitting by a computer on a social media, waiting with bated breath, for him to post something is quite....asinine.  (Forgive my language.)

Needless to say Marlon was very unhappy and threatened to boycott Facebook and his friends for three days.  (Which by the way only lasted until he got home.  A ten minute ride from work.)

Psalm 139:17-18 says of us in regards to our heavenly Father, "How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!  How great is the sum of them!  If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You."

If only my friend Marlon would realize that the only like that matters is the one he gets from God.  

How great is the sum of that one vote than all the number of likes or shares he would get on facebook from his friends.  Besides, his friends can at any time unfriend him and continue on in life.  God, his Eternal Father, will always be by his side.  Never will Facebook hold more sway in my life than the Bible, the good book.

God bless

The Robe -- I

He stood on the platform a free man.

Within two minutes and 3,000 gold coins later,

he had become a slave.  

A chance meeting that would come to 

have eternal implications.

"Did you see Him?"

"No I did not.  I was too far away."

"He looked me right in the eyes.  I thought He wanted to say something but He kept walking."

Another chance meeting that would come to

have eternal implications.

"Where is He?  I must find Him!" He asked a street merchant.

His heart raced with fear as he ran from house to house looking for Jesus.

Searching for most of the night, he had not found the prophet from Galilee. 

Exhaustion got the better of him and he laid down to rest before starting his search again.

Three hours later he was awakened by the noise of the crowd.  

From outside his window he heard someone say "They've arrested the prophet from Galilee. They have arrested Jesus."

A fresh batch of fear almost overwhelms him.  Staggering out of bed he rushed to the sound of the voice proclaiming the arrest of Jesus.

"Where have they taken Him?"

"Before the chief priests and elders."

O Thou, In Whose Presence

O Thou, in whose presence my soul takes delight

on whom in affliction I call,

my comfort by day, and my song in the night

my hope, my salvation, my all

Where dost thou Dear Shepherd, resort with thy sheep

to feed them in the pastures of love?

Say, why in the valley of death should I weep

or alone in the wilderness rove?

Oh why should I wander, an alien from thee,

or cry in the desert for bread?  

Thy foes will rejoice when my sorrows they see,

and smile at the tears that I shed.

He looks, and ten thousands of angels rejoice,

and myriads wait for His word;  He speaks, and eternity,

filled with His voice, re-echoes the praise of the LORD.

Dear Shepherd, I hear, and will follow thy call.

I know the sweet sound of thy voice.

Restore and defend me, for thou art my all,

and in thee I will ever rejoice.

Two=Valley of Decision

John 6:68-69  Then Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  Also, we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Right now I am sitting inside the Regal Cinema 10 movie theatre waiting for some friends of mine.

They went to see "San Andreas", (not a plug for the movie.)

                    

As i wait for them, words from the Prophet Joel come rushing to the forefront of my mind, the depthsof its meaning filling my head.  3 days have passed since I read those fateful words, concerning the nation of Israel then, but now maybe a prophecy on the United States today.

Joel 3:13-14  (v13) "Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come get you down; for the press is full, the vats overflow for their wickedness is great.  

(v14) Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision."  

From those words alone, I nearly fainted with fear.  Looking out at my city and, seeing daily, the direction this country is going in, we as a people have come to the very threshold of  "the Valley of Decision".

The Word of God is no longer seen as an absolute.  Sadly enough, not even within some churches.

After teaching in a Capernaum synagogue, many of those who had been following walking with Jesus, decided to go back to their old lifestyles.  The teachings of Christ had become to hard for them.  For those who turned away, life was becoming too complicated and the committment too great.  At some point in between the first step it took to follow Him and the first step it took to leave Him, all the information they needed as to: A. Who he was, B. What He was here to do, and C.  The cost associated with his mission, had been provided.  This was the literal fork-in-the road.  A choice needed to be made.

Some have proposed that hundreds if not thousands of people chose that day to leave Jesus, leaving only the twelve.  

Even then Jesus asked the twelve who remained, "Do you also want to go away?"

Peter's response to His question opened this post.  The men picked by Jesus cannot fully understand why these people chose to walk away from so great a salvation.  Their eyes had seen the miracles and their ears had heard the teachings.  Yet, within the hearts of the great multitude there was unbelief.

John 6:63-64 (Jesus talking) "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."

Many pulpits across this country have altered their views of the bible and the inerriancy of the bible.  Doctrines that have stood for thousands of years are said to be outdated and revised to suit the needs of a more modern generation.  False teachers and false prophets spout off from their easy chairs and leather couches "Jesus is not the only way to heaven".  Scores of people follow after the celebrity vote and say they believe in the false doctrine of salvation.  

Israel was in the throws of idolatry when Joel gave his message of warning.  God called for His people to return to Him with all their hearts with fasting, weeping and mourning.  For God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness.  

God is also calling His other people, the church, to return to Him with fasting, weeping and mourning.  Rending their hearts and not the garments they wear.  

God is also calling for the nations of the earth to turn from their wicked ways.  Will they?

I pray that they do.  His judgments are coming now as they were with Israel then.  

Will we, while in the "Valley of Decision" choose to follow after God or continue to invite His judgments upon our lands?  The decision is yours and yours alone.  It is literally life or death.

Famous Quotes

"What has cost God much cannot be cheap for us."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer