A little Practical Application of Biblical Truth will change your life!

Proverbs 24: 1-12

Do not be envious of evil men,
Nor desire to be with them;

Sometimes what is evil actually looks like fun, like they are having such a good time, and who are they hurting?  They are having sex with whoever they want, they drink and laugh and joke.  They are even “there” for each other when there is trouble – my Christian buddies aren’t always there for me! They don’t make such demands on my, like those in the church do.  They don’t judge me or expect more of me.  What can it hurt to be friends with the unbeliever?  That isn’t really being yolked to them, we’re not married or anything!  And I don’t get drunk, in fact, usually I’m the designated driver, so aren’t I doing a “good thing” hanging out with them?  Being there to protect them and others from harm?  They know I’m Christian, I don’t have to shove it down their throats or anything. 

But the Lord clearly advises us:
² For their heart devises violence,
And their lips talk of troublemaking.

In fact, the Lord wants the best for us, so He reveals that we need wisdom and knowledge to live a good life, to “build a house”, a life, that is “worthy of the calling with which we have been called” Ephesians 4:1

³ Through wisdom a house is built,
And by understanding it is established;
⁴ By knowledge the rooms are filled
With all precious and pleasant riches.

⁵ A wise man is strong,
Yes, a man of knowledge increases strength;
⁶ For by wise counsel you will wage your own war,
And in a multitude of counselors there is safety.

In fact, it is wisdom that will give us the strength to withstand evil, and to recognize the need to avoid those who chose evil over God and His truth.  Because we are engaged in a spiritual battle every minute of every day, even when we fail to recognize that truth.  To fight a winning WAR you need strength and not physical strength but spiritual strength which only comes from the Lord Himself!  So don’t be FOOLISH….

⁷ Wisdom is too lofty for a fool;
He does not open his mouth in the gate.

Don’t let evil people inch you into evil.  That’s how it happens, it’s just one tiny step in the “wrong” direction, then another tiny step, and soon you are in full blown evil!

⁸ He who plots to do evil
Will be called a schemer.
⁹ The devising of foolishness is sin,
And the scoffer is an abomination to men.

¹⁰ If you faint in the day of adversity,
Your strength is small.

You WILL faint in the day of adversity, because your strength in your flesh is very small and very weak.  Only in the power of the Holy Spirit will you find the strength you need to do the work the Lord has called you to do.  And that work is important!

¹¹ Deliver those who are drawn toward death,
And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.

This is the purpose, the plan of God, the command Jesus left His disciples with!  Be witnesses of Him, that people would receive salvation-LIFE, because they are stumbling along toward eternal death otherwise!
¹² If you say, “Surely we did not know this,”
Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it?
He who keeps your soul, does He not know it?

God knows our hearts.  He gives us the desire of our hearts, it is His Holy Spirit that works in us to will (want to) and do (action) His good and perfect will.
And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?

Talk about your treasure in Heaven!  We obey, reap the Harvest to His Glory and we receive RICH REWARD for our obedience to Him!

Queen Ann's Beheading

Back in the 1530's when the petulant King Henry ruled in what was then one of the three major powers in the known world, there lived a young lady named Anne Boleyn. Whatever the origin of her relationship with the King and the reasons for it's abrupt end, we will probably never know anymore than what has been conjectured already.

But there was a thought that gripped my heart the other night as we watched a historical re-enactment of that particular story.

It is supposed that Anne, while not necessarily the one who introduced "reformation" to the King of England, certainly spurred him on to embracing it and rejecting the power of the catholic church over every aspect of civilian life, as had been the tradition.

As I watched scenes of Anne praying fervently, and reading her Bible,exhorting her ladies-in-waiting to exude virtue and spurn lewd behavior I started to think.  How was Anne any different than any of us who trust in Christ?

• She believed she had the privilege of a personal relationship with Christ Jesus that wasn't dependent on intercession of another human being such as the clergy. (In her day this made her a "reformer" which was itself punishable by death.)
• She committed "sins of the flesh" in spite of her confession of faith.  Dare any of us raise our hands as innocent of that transgression?  I know I wouldn't!  We fully believe and expect that when we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and forgives our sins.
• She asked God to deliver her from the unrighteous  accusations against her which were about to cost her her head!  No self respecting God-fearing woman would have failed to do so, so I'm certain she did ask for Gods favor in her unfavorable circumstances.

Having spent a great many years traveling around the United States and taking part in church services in many different regions, we have been exposed to a variety of prayer styles.  Yet one thing all have in common is the assumptive prayer of Gods favor.  Trusting we are forgiven, we also trust that forgiveness comes with deliverance from hurtful, painful circumstances.  The reality is that this is not the case.  

We ask the question often because although there have been numerous attempts made to answer it, none have ever been truly satisfactory.

WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE?

Why was Anne Boleyn's life cut so short?  Historical records indicate she wasn't at all guilty of the charges brought against her.  Was she worthy of death simply because her body was unable to carry additional children to term?  Was she worthy of death because the King had simply tired of her?

Or was she, like so many others, just the unhappy victim of the sinful nature and behaviors of others?

The very answers to those questions may be the glimpse we need into the answer for each one of us.  For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.  The very words we speak and the actions we take intertwine with the words and actions of others and then affect every one of our lives for ill or otherwise.

  

It isn't that we are simply the victims of circumstance, but we are subject to the fallen sinful actions of ourselves and others around us.  Our prayers certainly fall on the loving ears of our Heavenly Father and in His Eternal Wisdom His intervention will be based on the outcome most necessary to His will being accomplished for ourselves and for others.

Right now, this remains an unsatisfactory answer.  But one day, we will know even as we are known and then it will all make perfect sense.  Our viewpoint is so limited.  We cannot see past our wants, needs and desires.  We have a very hard time looking past what is best for us and seeing what is best for others, especially when it is going to cost us something.

This is why trusting in the Lord is such a big deal.  Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.

Our understanding is finite; His is infinite and has no selfish agenda whatsoever.  Our question shouldn't be so much "Why" as it should be "How"?  How do we trust God with all our hearts when the circumstances are so difficult?  The answer to that question will give us greater peace as we allow His grace to guide us in our times of trial and tribulation.  We all must choose for ourselves to ask that question instead of the more selfishly motivated "Why, God, Why?"

Meanwhile, as you need prayer, it would be our privilege and joy to pray for you!  Just fill out the prayer request form found at the top left of this website.  Without doubt, prayer is a powerful and life altering action that benefits every one us!

Expectations

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth...

Have you ever wondered what God wants of you? 

God asks us to:
walk humbly before Him;
recognizing that we are not able to be holy, perfect, clean, righteous on our own, God provided a way for us to humbly receive ability to be clothed in Christ the Redeemers Righteousness

God asks us to:
love mercy;
thinking about all the mercy that has been poured into us should make it very simple to give away as much as possible, but God didn't even say "give mercy" or "be merciful".  He just said Love Mercy, for yourself and for others.  He knows that what you love will be manifest in your life

God asks us to:
do justly;
and since we are not capable of complete objectivity and balanced justice, we are NOT to judge, but do justly - according to what is morally right or fair - and that is ONLY Gods department, so we have the added understanding that vengeance is the Lords!

In essence, God has given us a framework to work within, in order to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.  He made each of us individual, unique and special.  He isn't looking for cloned Christians, all looking, speaking and acting the same.  He is looking for His particular, peculiar children to be witnesses OF Jesus His Son, each in our own unique way.

This isn't a comprehensive, all inclusive or exhaustive study.
I've read Oswald.
I've devoured Tozer.
C.S. Lewis
Jonathan Edwards
and many, many, many other authors who know a lot more than I ever will.

and I've read the Bible.  Over and over and over again for the last 49 of my 55 years.  My understanding has grown with each reading.  My life has changed dramatically over time as I've gained new understanding, insight and wisdom.

One of the main things I've discovered is that God is sovereign.  We, the created beings, cannot put Him in a neat package of our making without losing all that He is!

• He is INFINITELY CREATIVE
• He is BEYOND OUR COMPREHENSION
• He is THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY

Until the day we see Him face to face, the best we can hope for is to imitate Him in some manner so others will see how great HE IS.  Everyone relates differently, so He created many different ways for His greatness to be seen, heard, experienced and understood.  He set a frame.  Boundaries if you will.  

Within those boundaries, there are no limitations except those we set up ourselves, denying ourselves the fullness of all HE IS.

Scripture to consider: (New King James Version)

Micah 6:8

Psalm 139

Ephesians 1 and 2

Philippians 2:12

Acts 1

I Corinthians 13:12

Reputation vs TRUTH

Amazingly enough and although I’ve read the book of Acts numerous times, the other day while my husband read chapter 5 to me something I’d never noticed before captured my attention and demanded further investigation.

Read with me a little bit, and see if you catch it:

Acts 5: 17-29

¹⁷ Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with indignation, ¹⁸ and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison. ¹⁹ But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, ²⁰ “Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.”

²¹ And when they heard that, they entered the temple early in the morning and taught. But the high priest and those with him came and called the council together, with all the elders of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.

²² But when the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported, ²³ saying, “Indeed we found the prison shut securely, and the guards standing outside^[a] before the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside!” ²⁴ Now when the high priest,^[b] the captain of the temple, and the chief priests heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be. ²⁵ So one came and told them, saying,^[c] “Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!”

²⁶ Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. ²⁷ And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, ²⁸ saying, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!”

²⁹ But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men. ³⁰ The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. ³¹ Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. ³² And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

Take another look, specifically at verse 28.

Now if I may ask you a question. 

IfRo you put men in prison and the next morning they weren’t in there despite the locked doors and guards, wouldn’t your first question be HOW DID YOU GET OUT OF PRISON?

The very fact they didn’t ask the question indicates to me they already knew the answer.  So they were asking the only question that mattered to them – WHY DID YOU THWART OUR AUTHORITY?

Their only true concern was what they saw as the diminishing of:

Their POWER: because they liked ruling it over others

Their POSITION: in the community which afforded them “special” treatment

Their PRESTIGE: recognized and respected by everyone as being ‘above’ and more important

When we go about our lives, what are our major concerns?  Are we focused on the integrity and purity of God’s word and our adherence to it?  In our churches, are our concerns about teaching and demonstrating Truth or have we been swayed into false concern over protecting our own “reputations”?

Asking the tough questions will help us not only to examine our own hearts, but to keep them right and in alignment with the will and purposes of the Lord.

It's far too easy to slip and fall into "worldly" thinking and actions, especially when so many actions of our churches are difficult to differentiate from actions in the world.

To experience transformation that pleases the Lord, we are NOT to conform to this world!

(Romans 12:2)

Complete a Prayer Request - upper left corner - and receive HELP from the Holy Spirit of the living God in your circumstances.

One Trick and a thought about Vampires

Every good and perfect gift comes from God above. (James 1:17) And for every one of them, the devil tries to counterfeit or twist it in order to deceive as many as possible from the TRUTH.

A powerful TRUTH that acts as anchor for a Christian is the covering, the cleansing, the forgiving power of the BLOOD of Jesus.  Sin was a problem that required constant sacrifice and shedding of blood before Christ came.  The blood of animals was not sufficient to cleanse sin FOR GOOD!  We aren't any less sinful than the Israelites or anyone else.  However, the shed blood of Jesus cleanses us of sin once and for all time, because He was a Lamb without spot or blemish, the perfect sacrifice, holy, and therefore acceptable to meet the requirement of a Holy God in a way no other sacrifice ever could.

So is it all that surprising, that unable to do anything about the cleansing blood of Jesus, the devil would try to make "blood" itself into something else, something evil and not to be trusted?  You see, Satan has no real "power", not against a blood bought believer, but he does have ONE TRICK.  Just the one, but he has it perfected to the nth degree.  That trick is deception.  He deceived Eve and he deceived Cain and he deceived Judas and he is still deceiving people today into thinking things that are not true and therefore acting in ways that are contrary to truth.  When we act contrary to truth, guess what?  We reap consequences that are contrary to truth and we begin to feel defeated, and Satan heaps on more deception and before we know it, we are so far from the truth that we are no longer certain there even is truth!

Enter "Dracula", that blood sucking vampire who frightened me into sleeping with my covers firmly tucked around my chin every night of my childhood.  Suddenly blood is about death rather than life, which is the truth of God.  LIFE is in the blood, and Satan deceives millions into seeing it as DEATH.  Deceit doesn't have to be elaborate to be effective.  It just has to make you miss the narrow way.  It just has to get you one degree off course, and guess what? YOU ARE OFF COURSE!  You aren't a little bit going the right way, you are completely going the wrong way.  You've missed blessings, and joy and peace and all the wonderful things God intends for you.

So how do we stay on course?  How do we make certain we are entering the narrow way, and living according to Gods truth?  So we can be sure we are reaping all the benefits and perks God really wants to bless us with?  By reading the Bible.  It is our map, charting our course to the Truth.  Check out the Daily Bible Reading page.  This two year schedule will take you through the entire Bible at a pace that allows time for reflection and consideration of what you are reading.  (Plus, you'll be reading in tandem with hundreds of others who follow along with The Unity Project!)  Let's read together, and then we can grow together - seeking answers from Gods word about our world today and our role in it as Ambassadors for Christ.

See ya in the funny papers......

Bible "hero's"?

As we read about "hero's" in the Bible, those giants of FAITH, do you - like me, think about how wonderful it would be if we could only figure out how to live like that?  Actually putting FAITH into action seemingly without any effort on our part,totally trusting God for our daily sustenance, for everything we need from the least to the greatest?  Imagine speaking out with great boldness about the wonders of God and then BABAM! they come to pass?  Who wouldn't want to follow your God if they were seeing in your life the miracles and signs and wonders happening, right?

What I'm learning as I continue to study Gods Word and seek wisdom through prayer, is that the men and women of the Bible were regular folks like you and me.  They had no more faith, no more insight, no more ability than any of the rest of us.  They wrestled with their feelings, they had failures as deep and wide as we experience.  In researching their lives, however, I've discovered one thing they all had in common.  In spite of it all - in spite of every failure, every shortcoming, every sin, every mistake, every fear - they had a WILLING HEART.

faith + a willing heart = a life balanced by wonder and joy!


Romans 12:3 tells us we all have a measure of faith.  So our lack isn't in faith.  God has given each of us faith.  So we've got it, even during those times we aren't trusting, or operating in faith.  Over and over in the New Testament letters believers are encouraged to "LET" certain things occur, let them happen or be in their hearts, their minds or their actions.

Romans 6:12

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body

Romans 13:12

The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

Ephesians 4:31

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.

Philippians 2:5

[ The Humbled and Exalted Christ ] Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

Colossians 3:15

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts

Colossians 3:16

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, 

1 Thessalonians 5:8

But let us who are of the day be sober,

This "letting" comes out of our free will.  It comes about through a heart WILLING to be obedient, willing to be submissive, willing to yield itself to the work and leading of the Holy Spirit.  It is glorious when it all comes together and that is when we see God do the most amazing things! A willing heart is patient and holds steadfast.  It steadily remains true to the truth God has spoken when things are not so great.  When bad things are all that seem to be happening.  When sad or hurtful or confusing things occur.

With a willing heart, though, even when we are standing on the thin wire of our faith, waiting to see what God will do, there is such a sense of excitement and anticipation.  Like Abram, packing up his family and simply heading out, going where God would send him, without knowing before hand what he would encounter or even what his destination was.  Like Joseph, holding fast to the vision of his life God had given as he sat in prison for all those years, holding on and trusting that God would do what He said He would do.  Like Samuel, so young when he answered Gods call!! It is exciting being in constant contact through prayer with the Father, for even the simplest decision!  When we put it in His hands and walk by faith, amazing wonders occur!

Read about Abram, who would be renamed Abraham.  Read the story of Joseph, of Samuel, and you will discover that every moment of their lives were not just about signs and miracles and wonders.  They had struggles in life, trials to overcome, tough situations to deal with.  There were plenty of opportunities for them to turn away from the Lord, to "let" sadness or depression or despair to rule their lives.  But you will find that their faith, faith like the faith you have in your life, was accompanied by a willing heart, willing to obey, to surrender to the Lord, and the results were miraculous.

Let faith mix with a willing heart in your life, and watch and see what wonders God will work!