I lost track of time...

I did. I try to post once a month, but in all the business of business, I overlooked our lesson or thoughts in the Lord for the month of October. First I want to confess to the Lord my thoughtlessness and neglect to Him for not keeping up this blog.. There are so many things I do on a daily basis that excludes God from my mind. While I set aside time to pray, talk, and share with the Lord on a daily basis, sometimes the jobs I should be doing for the Lord get overlooked. Anne Graham Lotz puts it clearly of how we should repent to our Father, Creator, and Messiah: (I repent of) "Robbing God: Exercising my gifts or spending time, money or energy on things that have a selfish goal, without asking God first." And, I would like to add, without thinking of God first. Too often I get caught up in what I want to do rather than looking to God first and at least inquiring if it is in his will. Sometimes that is a difficult task. After all, it seems like a good idea at the time and so I go blithely ahead with my plans...neglecting my God. And that is what I did in the month of September. I got caught up in my own world of work. I am sorry. I am sorry to neglect you Father. You, who have taken such great care of me, my family, my animals, my interests. You, who are always with me...I am so sorry I have not always been with you. I know that you will never let go of my hand even though I let go of yours. I am grateful you love me and forgive me. I humbly thank you in Jesus' name.

Fill in the Blanks...

Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of Rev. Billy Graham, has has been asking thousands of people across the nation to answer her call to prayer warning the end times are near. This prayer in particular is provoking. AN URGENT CALL TO PRAYER: DAY ONE Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive all POWER "I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice He judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on His head are many crowns…on His robe and on His thigh He has this name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords." -- Revelation 19:11-12, 16 We worship You, Lord Jesus Christ, as the Lamb who was slain, but who is now enthroned at the center of the Universe as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, soon to return in power and glory. You are Jesus, who calmed the stormy seas with just a word. You turned water into wine. You created sight in a man born blind. You raised the dead. You are the same One who set the boundaries for the oceans. The same One who hung the stars in space and calls them all by name. The same One who strides the winds of the earth so that the clouds are the dust of Your feet. I worship You as ___________ We repent of complaining as we wring our hands in despair, thinking our nation and our world are falling apart when they are really falling into place—right at Your feet. We repent of striving to control our own destiny, or our church’s ministry, or our nation’s priorities so that they conform to our standards and agenda. We repent of caring more about what our neighbor says, than what You say; of being more afraid of what our employer or government official thinks, than what You think; of grasping earthly position to gain earthly power. We repent of being so intimidated by the opinions of others that we are silent and do not boldly proclaim who You are. I repent of ___________ We choose to surrender our lives to Your power and authority, in utter moment-by-moment dependence on your moment-by-moment control. I choose now to ____________ We ask that You would manifest Your power in such a way that we, Your people, would stop pointing our finger at others, and instead fall on our faces in repentance of our own sin; that the church would wake up in its relationship with You and wake up to the urgency of the times in which we live; and that our nation’s attention would once again be so fixed on You that it would return to the faith of our founding fathers. We ask that Your power would permeate our lives, our churches and our nation; that in the light of Your presence, evil spirits would flee; that Your strong arm would protect us from the encroaching evil and deliver us. I humbly ask that _____________ FOR YOUR GLORY, AMENAnn

Why Jesus?

Let’s start with the assumption that there is a God. (Whether you believe in God or not, for the sake of my argument, let’s just say there is a God.) God is without sin because he is perfect, holy, and pure. Because he is perfect in righteousness and goodness he can’t be involved with any kind of sin—whether a white lie, or murder. So, how could he have a relationship with his people if they were sinful? Well, in the Old Testament he set up a way for people to be forgiven their sins on a temporary basis—through animal, grain, and drink sacrifices. These sacrifices had to be the best animals without imperfections, the finest grains and drinks. Nothing less would be accepted. After all, these were sacrifices from the people of things that were very important to them. This was their way of repenting their sins to God. (God hated the pagan practice of human sacrifice.) But God being all knowing had a better plan for mankind. They couldn’t go on sacrificing forever. It was only a temporary fix. So the only way forgiveness of sins would work is that he had to make it work—not the people through sacrifices. And here is the beauty of his logic. He needed the perfect sacrifice, one that would take care of sins on a forever, not temporary basis. So God , who is perfect and without sin, became human through Jesus, calling him his Son. Jesus, was man and God, but had the same attributes of man. He could be tempted, be hungry, sad, angry, thirsty, tired and feel pain. Jesus could empathize with man’s state. So what did God do? He sacrificed Son—Jesus-- the perfect unblemished “sacrificial lamb”. Here is the second part of his logic that is so compelling. Jesus would only die once. Thus, that one act would cover the sins of those people who believed in Jesus’ sacrifice of himself for their sins. This one act would cover their sins—forever. It was not a temporary fix. God knows, as we know, we will always be sinning one way or another, but if we recognize these sins, confess and ask for forgiveness, they are covered through Jesus. Jesus, being God rose from the dead to show his divinity. It’s brilliant. There’s so much more to say, but I’ll just talk about one last thing. The Bible—because that’s where our information comes from. The Old Testament: Content grew and was gathered from ancient prophets. Much was aligned with historicity of those times. The Jews historically have collected writings, traditions from OT writers and it reflects their history. The Ten Commandments were some of the earliest writings of the OT. Archeological findings like the Dead Sea Scrolls (i.e. the Book of Isaiah) have been unearthed. Jesus as well as writers of the New Testament often referred to OT Scripture. After about 435 BC there were no more additions to the OT. It originally was translated into Greek. New Testament: Five principals were used to evaluate the writings: Is it authoritative, is it prophetic, is it authentic, is it dynamic? Do the writings portray the integral part of the history of redemption? NT historicity aligns with those ancient times. The writers of the books often had personal testimony of authenticity from the writers of other books in the NT. In some cases, when an author is not known, such as the book of Hebrews, the words are self-attesting.

How can we relate to Job?

Job God allows not only bad things to happen in our lives, but terrible things. Why? The difficult truth is that God is glorified through the suffering of his children and through that suffering, we develop an unwavering trust in God, because no matter what happens, we can focus on God’s love and eternity: heaven. Let's take a quick look at the book of Job. Jobs prosperity: (Job:1-3)There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. God’s Odd Bet with Satan: (vs.1:9) Does Job fear God for no reason? (Job 1:11-12) 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. Job’s response to catastrophe: (vs. 1:22) 22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong He still believes in God’s sovereignty amidst adversity.(Job 2:10) Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”[a] In all this Job did not sin with his lips But Job doesn't understand his trouble.(Vs.3:1-26) Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, 21 who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures, 22 who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave? 23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? 24 For my sighing comes instead of[a] my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. 25 For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. 26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.” Job’s friends think it was because he sinned against God. a. (vs. 4:1 Eliphaz speaks—only the innocent prosper) “Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off? 8 As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.” b. (Vs.8: Bildad thinks Job should repent) “If you will seek God and plead with the Almighty for mercy, 6 if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore your rightful habitation.” c. (vs.11:20:Zopher thinks Job deserves worse) “But the eyes of the wicked will fail; all way of escape will be lost to them, and their hope is to breathe their last.” d. (vs. 33:12-13: Elihu rebukes Job) Behold, in this you are not right. I will answer you, for God is greater than man. 13 Why do you contend against him, saying, ‘He will answer none of man's words’? Through all this, Job maintains his innocence, but questions the Lord. The Lord answers Job: (Job 38-41) 38:1“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Dress for action[a] like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. 4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Job confesses and repents: (Job 42:1-3) 1. Then Job answered the LORD and said: 2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Herein lies our dilemma with bad things happening to good people. We don't always know why, but it happens and it is beyond our understanding. We don't know God's reasons, but he has them. As Job, did, we must trust in the Lord.

The Holy Spirit

We often overlook the power of the Holy Spirit that God has personally placed within us. The Holy Spirit can do great work within us if we only recognize His presence. We actually have God’s spirit in us. It is an astounding concept. His spirit is infused in our being and can only work when we yield to His control and direction. You often hear a Christian say that they want “less of me and more of God” in their being. The Holy Spirit is there. He’s waiting for us to recognize Him as the third person of the Trinity, turn to His help, talk directly to Him, and yield to His guidance. We pray to God the Father, and always focus on Jesus, but too often we overlook calling on the Holy Spirit who is the third person of the Trinity who is IN us as our helper (And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—John 14:16).

WHY WE HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT.

GALATIANS 3:22-29

²² But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. ²³ But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. ²⁴ Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

Sons and Heirs

²⁶ For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Romans 7:21-25

²¹ I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. ²² For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. ²³ But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

To the unbeliever or agnostic: "Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?" (Job 40:8)

These words were directed to Job by God. Although he believed in God, he questioned God's ways. For the unbeliever or agnostic who questions God's existence, these words also have resonance:

38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Dress for action[a] like a man;
    I will question you, and you make it known to me.

4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
    Tell me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
    Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 On what were its bases sunk,
    or who laid its cornerstone,
7 when the morning stars sang together
    and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors
    when it burst out from the womb,
9 when I made clouds its garment
    and thick darkness its swaddling band,
10 and prescribed limits for it
    and set bars and doors,
11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
    and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

For those who doubt, Read Job in the Old Testament particularly Chapter 38 through 41.   

"I am the resurrection and the life."

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live," (John 11:25). 

Easter is soon upon us and this is a time for reflection of Jesus' great work for us on the Cross. For Christians, it is a time for humble thanksgiving. Jesus' took on our sins so that we would be right with God. It is only by faith in believing the work of Jesus do we find eternal life. Jesus was raised from the grave, so, too will we. We will either go to heaven or to hell. Which direction will you take?

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

Take the time to read Matthew chapters 26 through 28. If you are a non-believer, read it anyway. It might touch your heart.