The inspiration for this post comes at a point in time when most college students are dealing with finals week. It is my first time with this experience. All of a sudden, when I look at what I have to do for the week, it seems like it has doubled. I thought I was busy before, but this, this is crazy! And since I have twice as much school work to do, that means that I will be twice as busy. This also means, that I will have to work harder to make time for God.
What is it in your life that seems to be distracting you? Because not everyone is a college student, not only that, but there are a whole ton of other distractions that we have other than homework. I struggle to get my homework done because of these, which makes it twice as hard to make time for Devos.
But, believe it or not, there is a remedy, but I have to warn you, it won't be easy.
Mark 9:43a: "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off." If you read a little bit more it says the same thing about your foot and your eye, saying it is better to have life and one hand, leg, and eye, rather than to go to hell with both.
The answer is to get rid of whatever it is that is holding you back. To "kill it".
The hard truth about this is that it is through these types of things that the Devil holds you back, keeps you from the true prize. And believe me, you do not want him to get the upper hand.
Another thing that you need to do is Pray. Now a warning, don't think that all you have to do is say"God, please don't let me fall into the traps" it is a two way street. You will be able to find a lot of help through God, but you, you personally also have a HUGE part in it.
Here is an excerpt from a book I really enjoy. "Wrestling Prayer", by Eric and Leslie Ludy.
"Evaluate your sleep habits. Can they be changed to create more opportunity for prayer? Evaluate your leisure activities. Can they be changed, or altogether abandoned, to create more room for intimate time with your Lord? Evaluate your work schedule. Can it be altered to make prayer a great priority? If not, can you find a different job, a new career? Are there moments in your day that currently are being wasted on trivialities that could be transformed into something more sacred and eternal?
Most of us constantly battle with the fact that God seems distant, intimacy with Christ seems difficult to obtain, and our prayers don't seem to be heard. But God says, "You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13 NKJV)
We aren't finding Him because we aren't searching for Him with all our hearts. We are too preoccupied with watching reality shows, too busy downloading the latest songs on iTunes, and too enamored with Hollywood's newest production to let our whole being be poured forth in constant and unreserved devotion in the service of the Lord who died to save us.
Most of us feel we don't have enough time for prayer and seeking God. But we don't even consider giving up our nightly TV time, our weekend movie fests, or our YouTube fetish in exchange for spending time in His presence.
First Timothy 5:6 says that those who live in pleasure are dead while they live. Are we living for pleasure, or living for Him?" (pp 121-122.)
Now if you know me, you know that I don't have Facebook, and I don't like the fact that people have one, because I think they waste too much time on it. Well, I have a confession to make: The thing I spend the most time on is either playing games on my computer, or watching TV. And that is no different from spending time on Facebook. Over the past few years I have been trying to to tell people that they are wasting their time on something, even though what I do/have been doing is no different. And even when people would try to point this out to me, I would ignore it, act like it didn't matter because it's not Facebook. In a way, I was hiding behind Facebook. "Well, it's not Facebook, so it's actually not that bad." That's what I would tell others and myself. I'm a hypocrite. I am guilty of trying to remove the speck out of my Christian brothers and sisters eyes, without taking the plank out of my own (Matthew 7:4-5)
We all have some work to do, myself, I have the most, even though I have been "preaching" to people for so long. Things are going to change for me, and I encourage you to change as well.
In closing, I have another quote from the same as above, and two bible verses.
"If you want an earth-shattering prayer life, be willing to do whatever it takes. No matter how much your flesh may scream in protest, seek Jesus Christ with all your heart. when you do, I can guarantee you will not be disappointed." (P 124.)
1 John 2:15-17: "Do not love the world, or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever."
1 Thessalonians 5:22 "Abstain from all appearance of evil."
Right now! Now is when you go, you go pray, you go worship Him! Shut off your computer right now, and go do it. Spend time with Him. The One True God. Your all in all. We would all be nowhere without Him. How can we give Him anything less, then our everything! Our all! ... Our whole life.
Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me."
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
Friday, 12 November 2010
FROG
Who/what are we relying on these days? Well, no matter what it is, whether it be a job, or a girl/boy friend, or even your parents. Unfortunately, I have some bad news for you. Everyone and everything sometime in your life is going to fail you, except for one, it's the sad truth. However, you and I both know that the one on whom we can rely will never fail us. Psalm 59:17 "You are my strength, I sing praise to you; you, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely." My only questions, why don't we rely on God?
Isaiah 31:1 "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,who rely on horses,who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD." How many times in our life do we start relying on the things of earth to satisfy us, or for our dependability? How many times in life do we encounter a problem and we keep telling ourselves we can do it. Kind of reminds me of the little engine that could. "I think I can, I think I can." My advice to you today is take it to God. It's His problem, and He will get you through, Him and ONLY Him. We were never meant to go through hard times on our own, in fact we can't. But if we can't then how come we try? In the Isaiah verse mentioned above, it says woe to them who stop relying on God, and yet we still try to do it ourselves.
Now, about the title of this post. I don't know if anyone has ever heard this acronym, but it's a great reminder. Fully Rely On God. So today, I encourage you to FROG, I know it sounds kind of funny, however, we all need to do it, no matter how hard life gets.
1 John 4:16 "And so we know, and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in them."
Don't forget, FROG!
Isaiah 31:1 "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,who rely on horses,who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD." How many times in our life do we start relying on the things of earth to satisfy us, or for our dependability? How many times in life do we encounter a problem and we keep telling ourselves we can do it. Kind of reminds me of the little engine that could. "I think I can, I think I can." My advice to you today is take it to God. It's His problem, and He will get you through, Him and ONLY Him. We were never meant to go through hard times on our own, in fact we can't. But if we can't then how come we try? In the Isaiah verse mentioned above, it says woe to them who stop relying on God, and yet we still try to do it ourselves.
Now, about the title of this post. I don't know if anyone has ever heard this acronym, but it's a great reminder. Fully Rely On God. So today, I encourage you to FROG, I know it sounds kind of funny, however, we all need to do it, no matter how hard life gets.
1 John 4:16 "And so we know, and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in them."
Don't forget, FROG!
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
The Holy Name of God
Back in bible times, the name of God was often referred to as Elohim, or in the old testament Yahweh. However, if we look in the bible today, neither of those names appear. But if you have ever read the book of psalms, you might have noticed that, sometimes when the name LORD, or GOD appears, it is in all capital letters, as it is now. Whenever you are reading the bible, and God's name appears in all caps, it is referring to Yahweh. I had never known this before, and I found it quite interesting.
Allow me to stop here and paint a picture for you: back in bible times, no one really even uttered the name Yahweh, it was just that HOLY.
Now, if that was how it was back then, what happened? What changed? Now people just throw it out there whenever they feel like it. And I am sure that some Christians do to, or maybe people who call themselves Christians but really aren't, I don't know.
When I look at this comparison, I get kind of angry. And perhaps we should. Back then, they adored and feared their God, Lord and King, so much, that they wouldn't even dare utter His name, and now we take it in vain all the time. Shouldn't that make us angry, or at the very least very disappointed? I can't quite figure this out, what changed us so much that we could go from fearing the Lord so much, to not even caring about his Holy and Awesome name. I don't know about you, but every time I hear the Lord's name in vain, it makes me cringe. I'm not gonna lie, I really want to go ...explain to them that it is wrong. I guess you could say it really gets my goat.
So, to some this up, what happened that we went from fearing and respecting our God so much, that we dare even utter His name, to just throwing it out there whenever we feel like it? This is a great mystery that I cannot figure out. But for now, let's just work at not using the Lord's name in vain, and just maybe even consider working on our respect. God's name is HOLY, and not supposed to be used with such disrespect. So let us not do it, and learn to honour his Holy name all the more.
Allow me to stop here and paint a picture for you: back in bible times, no one really even uttered the name Yahweh, it was just that HOLY.
Now, if that was how it was back then, what happened? What changed? Now people just throw it out there whenever they feel like it. And I am sure that some Christians do to, or maybe people who call themselves Christians but really aren't, I don't know.
When I look at this comparison, I get kind of angry. And perhaps we should. Back then, they adored and feared their God, Lord and King, so much, that they wouldn't even dare utter His name, and now we take it in vain all the time. Shouldn't that make us angry, or at the very least very disappointed? I can't quite figure this out, what changed us so much that we could go from fearing the Lord so much, to not even caring about his Holy and Awesome name. I don't know about you, but every time I hear the Lord's name in vain, it makes me cringe. I'm not gonna lie, I really want to go ...explain to them that it is wrong. I guess you could say it really gets my goat.
So, to some this up, what happened that we went from fearing and respecting our God so much, that we dare even utter His name, to just throwing it out there whenever we feel like it? This is a great mystery that I cannot figure out. But for now, let's just work at not using the Lord's name in vain, and just maybe even consider working on our respect. God's name is HOLY, and not supposed to be used with such disrespect. So let us not do it, and learn to honour his Holy name all the more.
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
"Gabriel has the Trumpet to his Lips"
Just in the past few weeks here, I received an e-mail from my Grandma. Enclosed in this e-mail was the story about a woman who is a strong christian, and goes to church over in Wisconsin. This is how the story goes: She was driving down the freeway, and saw a hitch hiker up ahead. She didn't know why, but all of a sudden she just felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to pick him up. So she does, and they begin to chit-chat back and forth. After a couple minutes, the man out of the blue says "Gabriel has the trumpet to his lips." And then he disappeared into thin air. Well, of course like you and I would be I'm sure, this woman was really creeped out by such a thing, and she begins speeding and swerving. And of course a cop pulls her over. She tells him what happened and the cop responds to this by telling her that he should give her a ticket, but he would not because in the last hour 5 others had given him the exact same story.
Now, it says in the bible that no one, besides the Father in Heaven knows the day or the hour of His return, but somehow I get the feeling that it is getting very close. So please, brothers and sisters; do not get tired of doing good; and never stop preaching the word. We just may have the eternal future of people's souls in our hands, and that's not something to be messing around with. We have been given a very serious mission, and one that it seems we are failing at. Please, don't be caught sleeping.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-6 :But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober."
Now, it says in the bible that no one, besides the Father in Heaven knows the day or the hour of His return, but somehow I get the feeling that it is getting very close. So please, brothers and sisters; do not get tired of doing good; and never stop preaching the word. We just may have the eternal future of people's souls in our hands, and that's not something to be messing around with. We have been given a very serious mission, and one that it seems we are failing at. Please, don't be caught sleeping.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-6 :But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober."
Saturday, 29 May 2010
Meditate on These Things
Today I would like to take a look at Philippians 4:8-9. "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy==meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these and the God of peace will be with you.
Have you ever taken the things you like to do, or the music that is on your ipod, etc; and ran it by this sort of, well, check-list so to speak? Is it True? Noble? Pure? Lovely? Of good report? Is there any virtue in these things? How often do we ask ourselves this question? Well, I don't know about you, but for me, not very often. What do we meditate on? Let me back up a step, what does the word meditate really mean? I like the first definition on dictionary.com - To engage in thought or contemplation; to reflect - So, what are our thoughts engaged in? What do we reflect on? Colossians 3:1-2 "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." OK, so what if these things on our minds aren't the best, what do we do with them. Let's skip ahead to verse 5 "Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." We are told to put them to death. Now, this doesn't mean, try our absolute hardest not to do them, and then just give in when we don't feel like working at it. This verse tells us to put them to death. Let me put it this way, it is like when there is an old worn out dangerous path. On the trail there are signs saying Do not Enter. Instead of just putting up signs saying don't do it, we are supposed to, just get rid of the trial, so there is no possible way to get back on it. Now, I'm not saying that it's going to happen just like that, in the blink of an eye, it is something to work at. Right now I am reading the book: A Sinners Guide to Holiness, by John Chapman, here are two quotes from it that really touched my heart - "If at any time or in any circumstance the thing or activity gets in the way of growing like Christ, it is , at that time, or in that circumstance. to be discarded." "Make sure that the good is not robbing you of the best." Even if we are doing something that is fun, or even "good", it can still be robbing of us of our holiness. Have we ever thought about that before?
Let me end with another verse and another quote, the quote being from the same book as above. Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is not longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
"The more I grow like Jesus, the more successful I am. The less like Jesus i am the more I have failed in life. It has little to do with how much money I make, what my career is, how the family is. In the end, the real thing in life is "Are we holy as God is holy?""
Please, brothers and sisters in Christ, start meditating on THESE THINGS; today.
Have you ever taken the things you like to do, or the music that is on your ipod, etc; and ran it by this sort of, well, check-list so to speak? Is it True? Noble? Pure? Lovely? Of good report? Is there any virtue in these things? How often do we ask ourselves this question? Well, I don't know about you, but for me, not very often. What do we meditate on? Let me back up a step, what does the word meditate really mean? I like the first definition on dictionary.com - To engage in thought or contemplation; to reflect - So, what are our thoughts engaged in? What do we reflect on? Colossians 3:1-2 "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." OK, so what if these things on our minds aren't the best, what do we do with them. Let's skip ahead to verse 5 "Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." We are told to put them to death. Now, this doesn't mean, try our absolute hardest not to do them, and then just give in when we don't feel like working at it. This verse tells us to put them to death. Let me put it this way, it is like when there is an old worn out dangerous path. On the trail there are signs saying Do not Enter. Instead of just putting up signs saying don't do it, we are supposed to, just get rid of the trial, so there is no possible way to get back on it. Now, I'm not saying that it's going to happen just like that, in the blink of an eye, it is something to work at. Right now I am reading the book: A Sinners Guide to Holiness, by John Chapman, here are two quotes from it that really touched my heart - "If at any time or in any circumstance the thing or activity gets in the way of growing like Christ, it is , at that time, or in that circumstance. to be discarded." "Make sure that the good is not robbing you of the best." Even if we are doing something that is fun, or even "good", it can still be robbing of us of our holiness. Have we ever thought about that before?
Let me end with another verse and another quote, the quote being from the same book as above. Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is not longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
"The more I grow like Jesus, the more successful I am. The less like Jesus i am the more I have failed in life. It has little to do with how much money I make, what my career is, how the family is. In the end, the real thing in life is "Are we holy as God is holy?""
Please, brothers and sisters in Christ, start meditating on THESE THINGS; today.
Monday, 10 May 2010
Noah and his BIG Boat
Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to be Noah? I certainly have. Now, before I really start going, I would just like to put this into perspective. First off, starting in Genesis 6:5 and going through verse 7, we see that Man was continually wicked. "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The Lord said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them." Ouch! God was SORRY that He had made them. That does not present a very good situation.
Now, Here we go. Verses 8 and 9 "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God." So, at least here we find some good news, that there is one man who is blameless before God.
Now, we might be starting to think, "well, it can't be too hard to have faith like that, all we need to do is walk with God, even if others go astray." But, here is where the unbelievable stuff starts happening. Picture this. You are in Noah's position, and you have been alive for 500 years, and the Lord tells you to go build this big, not not big, HUGE boat. Now the bible says that the Ark is supposed to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. Now, back in Noah's time there was only one form of a cubit; that was the same when he got off the ark, however, no one knows exactly how long this was. After Noah, a cubit was typically the distance from your elbow, to your fingertips. Anyways, we will approximate and say around 18 inches. Now if you do the math, here is the size in feet. 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. What do you suppose Noah would have been thinking? OH, one more thing, IT HAD NEVER RAINED BEFORE!!!!! So, the Lord tells Noah to build an ark 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high because he was going to send a flood. It has never rained before, and you haven't seen water on the land before. Put yourself in Noah's position, what would you be thinking? Ah, now I bet that would be a little bit difficult to believe, don't you think? But, if we read verse 22"Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did." And yet Noah still did it. Now this only half of it. It took Noah approximately 100 years to build the ark. Wouldn't you and I get tired of building an ark that big, for 100 years, and we still haven't seen any water on the land yet? Now, 7 days away from the rain to start falling, and God tells Noah in chapter 7 verse 4 "for after seven more days, I will send RAIN on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made." Now he hears from God that it's going to rain in seven days. May I remind you that IT HAS NEVER RAINED BEFORE!!!!! But still, verse 5 " Noah did according to all that the Lord had commanded him." Noah does it anyway. Now that is what I call an awesome faith. But this isn't the end, not yet.
While Noah is building this huge boat, what do you think his neighbor's are thinking? I mean, they haven't ever seen water on the land either. They haven't seen it rain. I bet they were giving Noah a VERY hard time about his big boat. But still, he did everything that the Lord commanded him.
Now picture this, where do you suppose all those animals would come from? Suppose God had told you 7 more days and I will bring rain, and you still don't have any animals. What would you be thinking? You are supposed to have two of every kind of animal, and you look around you, and maybe, just maybe you see a couple birds. I bet by this time you and I are getting pretty worried, and are maybe starting to consider giving up on the whole thing. Verse 6 on through 9 "Now Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth. Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him entered the ark because of the water of the flood. Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that creeps on the ground, there went into the ark to Noah by twos, male and female, as God had commanded Noah." AH, there went into the ark TO NOAH... They came to him. Doesn't that just blow your mind away. Let us remember that always God has a plan.
Now the rain starts falling(that must have been an incredible sight to see it for the first time after being around for a LONG time), the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened, that would be a lot of rain. WE read in verse 12 "The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights." Now, you are in this huge boat, with all the animals, how much work do you suppose it would have been to feed and take care of all of the animals. for forty days, with nothing to look outside to but rain falling, falling, falling. Now, if you skip ahead to verse 24 - "The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days." Now instead of looking outside and watching the rain fall, the rain may, or may not be gone, or might be gone from time to time, but there is water everywhere, no matter how far you look, or where you look, all you see is water. 150 days, nothing but water. It would seem like a pretty hopeless situation. But, 8:1 "But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided." But God remembered Noah. Isn't that great, it may seem hopeless for you, you stuck on this huge boat, with a whole ton of animals, there may even have been plenty of quarreling between family members. But, God remembers you. verse 3 - "and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased." Now you know how the rest of it goes, the ark lands on top of Mount Ararat, Noah sends out a raven, who you never see again, then a dove, who comes back with nothing, I don't know about you, but I would be pretty disappointed, then the dove again (after seven days), who comes back with an olive branch. Can you imagine the celebration that they must have had, there is actually land somewhere out there. But, it only gets better from here. After another 7 days you send out the dove again, but she finds a place to hunker down. We read in verse 13 "Now it came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up." That must have been felt so great to look out and after 150 days of nothing but water, you see dry ground. verses 15-20 Then God spoke to Noah, saying "Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth." So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar." what a great response from Noah, he doesn't just decide to neglect worshiping his creator, he offers sacrifices on an altar that he built. Verse 21 - The Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground on account o f man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done." skipping ahead to chapter 9 verses 11-16 - "I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth." God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." Now if I were in Noah's place, that would be wonderful "music to my ears". After I had seen all that, I didn't have to worry, it would never happen again. Not that Noah would have had to worry about what would happen to him, simply because the Lord takes care of his people. 1 Peter 5:7 "cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you."
Wow, no wonder Noah is counted among the faithful in Hebrews 11. Isn't that an amazing story, not only of Noah's amazing faith, but of God's amazing power, and the knowledge that no matter how hopeless things may seem, God is always there for us; no matter what.
"But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with exceeding joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." Jude 1:20-25
Now, Here we go. Verses 8 and 9 "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God." So, at least here we find some good news, that there is one man who is blameless before God.
Now, we might be starting to think, "well, it can't be too hard to have faith like that, all we need to do is walk with God, even if others go astray." But, here is where the unbelievable stuff starts happening. Picture this. You are in Noah's position, and you have been alive for 500 years, and the Lord tells you to go build this big, not not big, HUGE boat. Now the bible says that the Ark is supposed to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. Now, back in Noah's time there was only one form of a cubit; that was the same when he got off the ark, however, no one knows exactly how long this was. After Noah, a cubit was typically the distance from your elbow, to your fingertips. Anyways, we will approximate and say around 18 inches. Now if you do the math, here is the size in feet. 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. What do you suppose Noah would have been thinking? OH, one more thing, IT HAD NEVER RAINED BEFORE!!!!! So, the Lord tells Noah to build an ark 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high because he was going to send a flood. It has never rained before, and you haven't seen water on the land before. Put yourself in Noah's position, what would you be thinking? Ah, now I bet that would be a little bit difficult to believe, don't you think? But, if we read verse 22"Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did." And yet Noah still did it. Now this only half of it. It took Noah approximately 100 years to build the ark. Wouldn't you and I get tired of building an ark that big, for 100 years, and we still haven't seen any water on the land yet? Now, 7 days away from the rain to start falling, and God tells Noah in chapter 7 verse 4 "for after seven more days, I will send RAIN on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made." Now he hears from God that it's going to rain in seven days. May I remind you that IT HAS NEVER RAINED BEFORE!!!!! But still, verse 5 " Noah did according to all that the Lord had commanded him." Noah does it anyway. Now that is what I call an awesome faith. But this isn't the end, not yet.
While Noah is building this huge boat, what do you think his neighbor's are thinking? I mean, they haven't ever seen water on the land either. They haven't seen it rain. I bet they were giving Noah a VERY hard time about his big boat. But still, he did everything that the Lord commanded him.
Now picture this, where do you suppose all those animals would come from? Suppose God had told you 7 more days and I will bring rain, and you still don't have any animals. What would you be thinking? You are supposed to have two of every kind of animal, and you look around you, and maybe, just maybe you see a couple birds. I bet by this time you and I are getting pretty worried, and are maybe starting to consider giving up on the whole thing. Verse 6 on through 9 "Now Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth. Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him entered the ark because of the water of the flood. Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that creeps on the ground, there went into the ark to Noah by twos, male and female, as God had commanded Noah." AH, there went into the ark TO NOAH... They came to him. Doesn't that just blow your mind away. Let us remember that always God has a plan.
Now the rain starts falling(that must have been an incredible sight to see it for the first time after being around for a LONG time), the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened, that would be a lot of rain. WE read in verse 12 "The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights." Now, you are in this huge boat, with all the animals, how much work do you suppose it would have been to feed and take care of all of the animals. for forty days, with nothing to look outside to but rain falling, falling, falling. Now, if you skip ahead to verse 24 - "The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days." Now instead of looking outside and watching the rain fall, the rain may, or may not be gone, or might be gone from time to time, but there is water everywhere, no matter how far you look, or where you look, all you see is water. 150 days, nothing but water. It would seem like a pretty hopeless situation. But, 8:1 "But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided." But God remembered Noah. Isn't that great, it may seem hopeless for you, you stuck on this huge boat, with a whole ton of animals, there may even have been plenty of quarreling between family members. But, God remembers you. verse 3 - "and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased." Now you know how the rest of it goes, the ark lands on top of Mount Ararat, Noah sends out a raven, who you never see again, then a dove, who comes back with nothing, I don't know about you, but I would be pretty disappointed, then the dove again (after seven days), who comes back with an olive branch. Can you imagine the celebration that they must have had, there is actually land somewhere out there. But, it only gets better from here. After another 7 days you send out the dove again, but she finds a place to hunker down. We read in verse 13 "Now it came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up." That must have been felt so great to look out and after 150 days of nothing but water, you see dry ground. verses 15-20 Then God spoke to Noah, saying "Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth." So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar." what a great response from Noah, he doesn't just decide to neglect worshiping his creator, he offers sacrifices on an altar that he built. Verse 21 - The Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground on account o f man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done." skipping ahead to chapter 9 verses 11-16 - "I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth." God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." Now if I were in Noah's place, that would be wonderful "music to my ears". After I had seen all that, I didn't have to worry, it would never happen again. Not that Noah would have had to worry about what would happen to him, simply because the Lord takes care of his people. 1 Peter 5:7 "cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you."
Wow, no wonder Noah is counted among the faithful in Hebrews 11. Isn't that an amazing story, not only of Noah's amazing faith, but of God's amazing power, and the knowledge that no matter how hopeless things may seem, God is always there for us; no matter what.
"But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with exceeding joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." Jude 1:20-25
Saturday, 3 April 2010
Remember How Short Your Time Is
What are we doing with our time these days? It seems like we don't have any time for anything anymore. But, if we don't have any time, then how can we spend an hour on facebook, checking up on our friends or changing our status, and not have time to go spend an hour prayer walking, or evanelizing in a mall? How is it that we can spend half an hour on video games, but not even spend five minutes with God? In youth group my youth pastor made a very true statement. "We make time for what we treasure and what we think is important." But, what do we think is important? Colossians 4:8 says "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." Maybe we should consider thinking about more holesome things. Philipians 4:8 "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue an if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on these things." Now, what if we had a record of what we have used our time on over the years, would we happy to see it? Or would we terribally disturbed? What do you suppose your reaction would be?
As I was cleaning up from breakfast this morning I was listening to the radio, and this song came on, this is what the chorus said "Lord though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'm not scared 'cause your holding my breath, I only fear that I don't have enough time left; to tell the world that there's no time left." what if that could be us all the time? Do we ever think about how really short our time is? Or how about other peoples time, do we ever wonder how much time they have left to be saved? To be saved from eternal damnation? To be spared from Hell? Do we ever consider this? I don't know about you, but when I start to think about it tears start in my eyes, we can sit here doing almost nothing of any importance while people are dying and going to Hell all the time. And what are we dong about it?
Now, mind you, I am not saying I'm perfect. I'm not trying to judge anyone either. I am just trying to open people's eyes no more, no less.
Let me close with a couple of verses. Psalm 89:47-48 "Remember how short my time is; For what futility have You created all the children of men? What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his life from the power of the grave?" Ecclesiastes 9:12 "For man also does not know his time: Like fish taken in a cruel net, Like birds caught in a snare, so the sons of men are snared in an evil time when it falls suddenly upon them." We have no idea when we will take our last breath, or live or last day, or have our last heartbeat, so what if we lived everyday to the glory of Christ as if it were our last day? What do you suppose would happen? One more verse I want to leave you with, keep this in mind as you live each day. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.
As I was cleaning up from breakfast this morning I was listening to the radio, and this song came on, this is what the chorus said "Lord though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'm not scared 'cause your holding my breath, I only fear that I don't have enough time left; to tell the world that there's no time left." what if that could be us all the time? Do we ever think about how really short our time is? Or how about other peoples time, do we ever wonder how much time they have left to be saved? To be saved from eternal damnation? To be spared from Hell? Do we ever consider this? I don't know about you, but when I start to think about it tears start in my eyes, we can sit here doing almost nothing of any importance while people are dying and going to Hell all the time. And what are we dong about it?
Now, mind you, I am not saying I'm perfect. I'm not trying to judge anyone either. I am just trying to open people's eyes no more, no less.
Let me close with a couple of verses. Psalm 89:47-48 "Remember how short my time is; For what futility have You created all the children of men? What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his life from the power of the grave?" Ecclesiastes 9:12 "For man also does not know his time: Like fish taken in a cruel net, Like birds caught in a snare, so the sons of men are snared in an evil time when it falls suddenly upon them." We have no idea when we will take our last breath, or live or last day, or have our last heartbeat, so what if we lived everyday to the glory of Christ as if it were our last day? What do you suppose would happen? One more verse I want to leave you with, keep this in mind as you live each day. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.
Saturday, 27 March 2010
The Importance of Reading Your Bible
How much time are you spending in the word? do you not have enough time, or feel like you just are too tired? Well, right now, I am here to tell you of how important it is for you to be daily reading your bible, I cannot stress the importance of this enough. My theme verse for this post is 2 Timothy 3:15-17 ...the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Now, above, the last part of verse 16, how much other stuff that we spend our time on would have these kind of benefits. All that time that you spend on video games, or all that time you spend on Facebook, or TV, or whatever it is, I bet it doesn't have those types of benefits. One of my favorite verses is 1 John 2:17 take a look at the first 11 words- "And the world is wasting away, and the lust of it;" all of the things that we spend our time on, like the ones mentioned above, they are wasting away, I don't know about you, but it doesn't put a pretty picture in my mind to see all of the time that we have been given going in to the things that are wasting away. Now, all of us, including myself, need to embrace the fact that that in the end the only thing that will matter is God, who will last forever. Now, one more thing I want to just point out, there is someone out there trying to destroy us, trying to tempt us, let us not give in, or give up, are chances of beating this foe, are much greater if we stop giving into the lusts of the flesh, so, let's start delving into the word today. Let me leave you with this scripture passage, a great hymn that we still sing in my church, and some questions to ponder. Psalm 19:7-11 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them Your servant is warned and in keeping them there is great reward.( Greater than we could ever imagine) Since all scripture comes from God, what should our attitude be towards it? How can me and you use the bible? (try to list more than one) How often do you read the bible?
Standing on the promises
Standing on the promises
of Christ my King,
Throughout eternal ages
let his praises ring!
Glory in the highest,
I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.
(Refrain)
Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises
Of Christ my Saviour
Standing, standing
I'm standing on the
Promises of God
Standing on the promises
that cannot fail,
Though the howling storms
Of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God
I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises
of Christ my Lord,
Bound to Him eternally
By Love's strong cord,
Overcoming daily
With the Spirit's sword
Standing on the promises of God.
"If you want to know what the Bible says, read it, then read it again, then read it some more".
Now, above, the last part of verse 16, how much other stuff that we spend our time on would have these kind of benefits. All that time that you spend on video games, or all that time you spend on Facebook, or TV, or whatever it is, I bet it doesn't have those types of benefits. One of my favorite verses is 1 John 2:17 take a look at the first 11 words- "And the world is wasting away, and the lust of it;" all of the things that we spend our time on, like the ones mentioned above, they are wasting away, I don't know about you, but it doesn't put a pretty picture in my mind to see all of the time that we have been given going in to the things that are wasting away. Now, all of us, including myself, need to embrace the fact that that in the end the only thing that will matter is God, who will last forever. Now, one more thing I want to just point out, there is someone out there trying to destroy us, trying to tempt us, let us not give in, or give up, are chances of beating this foe, are much greater if we stop giving into the lusts of the flesh, so, let's start delving into the word today. Let me leave you with this scripture passage, a great hymn that we still sing in my church, and some questions to ponder. Psalm 19:7-11 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them Your servant is warned and in keeping them there is great reward.( Greater than we could ever imagine) Since all scripture comes from God, what should our attitude be towards it? How can me and you use the bible? (try to list more than one) How often do you read the bible?
Standing on the promises
Standing on the promises
of Christ my King,
Throughout eternal ages
let his praises ring!
Glory in the highest,
I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.
(Refrain)
Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises
Of Christ my Saviour
Standing, standing
I'm standing on the
Promises of God
Standing on the promises
that cannot fail,
Though the howling storms
Of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God
I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises
of Christ my Lord,
Bound to Him eternally
By Love's strong cord,
Overcoming daily
With the Spirit's sword
Standing on the promises of God.
"If you want to know what the Bible says, read it, then read it again, then read it some more".
Monday, 22 February 2010
Very Strange Prayer Request
Someone from my church has gotten a letter in the mail, it does not have a return address and the handwriting is hardly readable, and it was sent from Kearney, New Jersey. Inside is a note on a half sheet of notebook paper with writing on it that we had a hard time reading, well we managed to decipher it and it says "pray for Ethel Thomas Gordon C Gladden". Well, I decided to google it, and as it would turn out, numerous small churches around the country have been getting these letters for a fairly long time, most addresses are wrong, but since it was sent to a city, they were able to get it sent to the right location. So, even if it may be a little tough, please start praying for these two people, and I will let you know if there are any updates.
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