My Dad loved the movie “King Solomon’s Mine” and longed to see it again, the 30’s version or 50’s I don’t remember, but back in the 80’s I remember him talking about it… Movies glamorized the storylines of intrigue, romance, power and wealth…. (the movie makers were interested in the wealth too)… The myth makers are still interested in the wealth of forgotten mines and captivating story lines… and yet what does the Bible say about King David and his son future King Solomon? That even God is not interested in the palaces and the gold and the drippings of earthly wealth. God, in HIS LOVE, IS INTERESTED ABOVE ALL IN OUR LOVE!
God told David to NOT build a house for the ark of the covenant, which was carried for years, and dwelled under a tent. David thought of the reverence required for this precious cargo but God did not have David build anything more than what He already had. (God can take whatever we are too and provide our future). God promised David that He would LOVE his/His son Solomon, the one whom He would direct to build a temple, God would direct this and keep him safe and always love him even when he turned away. Love is a beautiful temple that never crumbles. Even Solomon’s temple was temporary and eventually crumbled.
God was and is already on the go, not just cargo in an ark. Obviously God is everywhere and the ark that God maintained became a reminder keeper for Manna and the tablets etc. God’s presence was felt and He did show favor in those times when He was consulted. He DID want the people to know Him and especially to KNOW how He rescued them. He still wants us to know that.
What was and IS the Lord’s treasure IS still the Lord’s – US. And the Lord would continue to build the house of David which means the bloodline for Jesus coming as a baby into the world. Jesus being King brought His Kingdom here. Jesus ruling the Kingdom of Heaven came not simply as a king of Earth, as some thought He would direct in earthly power, Jesus came to secure our sin sacrifice for our souls.
Jesus mines SOULS.
Jesus also knew He would become broken and rise up. Jesus is the ultimate LOVE we are under. He came and already existed.
King Solomon’s Mines are nothing like Jesus saying: Your Mine, Your Mine, Your Mine. Jesus mines SOULS.
Make mine Yours, Lord.
Amen
God’s Promise to David
2nd Samuel 7:1-17
After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”
Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you.” But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying: “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’
“Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.
“‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”
Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.
I was reading a blog that covers the book of Revelation and the great awakening that will come before the reckoning and last days… I find that so many people have not ventured into these pages of Revelation – I feel it is like the goldmine of knowledge – like what IS behind that giant locked door on the Price is Right game show – well – Jesus gave us the combination to open it – so don’t delay in turning the wheel and driving into the book…
The book of Revelation reminds me of how it pains me to say to people, when the conversation goes there, that things are only going to get worse before they get better. Yeah – that is a realist who is an optimist too. Optimist for the Great Awakening and doing what I can to help make that happen – and Realist for what I see and experience and because I do watch the news and I also watch the ignoring of news too… How easily we forget of tragedies not in our daily views. We have the greatest expanse into media but we have no time to watch it anyway – nor do we know what to see and filter.
The Bible is the ONE place that tells it as it is. AND we can go there because it IS in front of us.
We need Awakening before Reckoning – and they both are close around the corner.
We need to be a part of that Great Awakening… both by believing ourselves, showing our faith, and teaching about the Jesus we know and how others could dig into their own faith and see if they can talk with Jesus… How will anyone know their faith unless they think about their faith… Now is not the time to reach to just those we already know who have faith but to reach to others to strengthen their faith and learn of faith…
If we don’t show reverence then we won’t ever show relevance to our situations. We got to show the world’s people that we know where to find support when times get tough. Like sheltering in the strongest part of the house when a tornado comes by. How best to speak of faith than show it!
This blog (link below) that I read speaks of the judgements and trials as described in Revelation and we have 2 responses from them – to draw closer to God OR to rebel… Trust me, in these times, I think there is no time like the present to be present with listening to and for God. Draw closer.
Jesus speaking to the church at Sardis: which was not perfect: “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee”. Revelation 3:2-3
This is the quote that sums up that blog: “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” Romans 13:11
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!
This link was the blog I was reading (it is 10 years old but still relevant because it is based on the bible and that never changes) – i know nothing about this preacher or church or background or anything – but the blog is a good read of reaching into the book of Revelation and learning about the Lord’s plans: https:// ministry127.com/christian-living/the-last-great-awakening
If there’s one thing so unique to each of us, it’s PERSONALITY! Yes, my cat has a level of personality too, and LOTS of attitude, but it is NOT like humans, not classifiable as humors, aptitudes, energies, drives. I can say I have a smart kitty, but there is no drive like that of a person to “just be me!”
We each have God-given personality, and our world is more interesting and blessed because of it. How boring it would be otherwise! Personality is gifted as freedom within boundaries. That’s what God does for us: let us create us, with our free will. But when we realize He wants us to leave room in our tanks for Him to fill us, we will flow thru life much more powered by Him. Let us GROW in our GRATITUDE of ATTITUDE.
It is with JOY that I joined into a new OLD church as a NEW member. It’s not simply that I like to go there (and I really do), but because I gave careful consideration that I felt the Lord Himself has placed me there, to worship, work, wait, wonder. “There are no coincidences in life”, my friend always says… This is the same friend who had invited me to visit outdoor worship one fall day in the Firefighters park, where I walked in, knew 6 people, including the pastor from our deep connection 20 years prior raising and nursing our baby girls those crucial early months, and walking in that day I felt it was a SET-UP by God Himself, I have no doubt!. New season, sprinkled by God into my scene. (I then bought a new old chair for the park to watch the Lord walk me into this!).
So yesterday (IN the church now for winter), the little boy next to me, joining officially with his parents, was as CUTE as he could be, as CUTE as he is rambunctious, always enlivening our congregation in his presence. He settled next to me at the altar and playfully participated in answering the Pastor’s questions. I did feel he spoke with real power from his soul in saying: “I DO” to the pastor’s questions of joining and confessing our need for Christ. I know we are to learn FAITH from the little children UNHINDERED.
Sure, it was “whirlwind witness”, the quick ceremony, but we DID get the questions ahead of time to ponder. I PONDERED. I double checked myself, did I believe? Yes! (questions are posted below)… Yes, Lord I am a sinner even if I hate to admit it. I realize sin in retrospect and rescuing in flashbacks. I sin forward in commission and omission. Lord, I know I am working on my walking. Thanks for carrying me.
By the third question this little boy had increased his powerful “I DO” answers that made me CHUCKLE. The third or fourth time I answered a little late and he blurted out to me “DON’T COPY ME!!!” I smiled at my conviction just as much as his cuteness, because he IS right (my small friend) and He IS Right (the big H of Him Almighty “I AM”). We are NOT to be copycats or crowd followers, EVERYONE should answer on their own. EVERYONE must answer for themselves. (Not just answer the pastor but also answer the Lord’s Call on their lives.) Each person, according to His Will, powered by the Holy Spirit within us, should answer Truthfully of the Truth of worship while in worship, answer Spiritually while within the Spirit of worship. Witness your walk (and those days He has carried you too).
The Holy Spirit moves us, sometimes more rapidly than we could imagine, for multitudes of purposes we really can’t wrap out heads around. The Holy Spirit can CHANGE THE SEASON, that we are in, just as commonly fast as obtaining 70 degrees 2 days after snow.
I do feel blessed that I could serve at this church. I do feel blessed that it can be a home base to bounce into the week. And yet it is MOST important in the binding of me onto their membership roles that we live with a SPIRITUAL STICK-TO-IT-NESS, especially and really say “I DO” to the Holy Spirit. Isn’t this like our whole life IS a build up wedding, the Bride of Christ (us) to our Bridegroom (Jesus) when He returns. (Got oil in your lamp? Fire in your heart?)
Let’s say I DO now in HOPE to His banquet feast, eternal peace, unity in knowing Him as Lord and Savior.
These are the questions I pondered and will ponder. I underlined words enforcing of my need for Him and my LOVE of His Word:
Do you acknowledge yourself to be a SINNER in God’s sight, justly deserving His displeasure, and without HOPE, except through His sovereign MERCY? (“I do”)
Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior of sinners, and do you receive and depend upon Him alone for SALVATION? (“I do”)
Do you now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the GRACE of the Holy Spirit, to endeavor to LIVE as becomes a follower of Christ? (“I do”)
To the best of your ability, do you promise to serve Christ in His Church through it worship and work? (“I do”)
Do you submit to the government and discipline of the Church, and do you promise to further its unity and peace? (“I do”)
I know it is important to NOT flippantly answer these questions, but speak with Spirit and Truth of the need for Jesus. PEACE and UNITY come IN HIS NAME and POWER.
Worshiping thru the Holy Spirit allows and MOVES ME AND EACH OF US to become FOLLOWERS. This is why we HUNGER for SCRIPTURE, HUNGER for HOPE, kneel in His Mercy, BE HIS.
I’ve let my Temple stretch a little, Christmas carbs, January junk, February foodies, March madness and of course a total lack of exercise. Not too bad but can’t fit my fancy pants, need to reduce a layer of winter insulation. Spring means springing out into the world. Yes, our bodies are our Temples, actually our bodies are to be Temples for God, made by God for WORSHIP. Temples however that MOVE. I need to get moving.
Temples in us should MOVE in motion. Moses moved the Tabernacle (many times), it was portable and contained no less interactions with God than Solomon’s Temple, built solid in the ground. Solomon was allowed to build this amazing temple for God, David, before son Solomon, was not called to build it, and before them the wandering Israelites were not called to build a building that stayed “stationary”. Yes, the Israelites even had to pick up and CARRY the tabernacle. What they did build to STAY on the ground were mementos of items to remind them of God’s rescue (like stones from the middle of the Jordan River). That way they remembered everytime they walked by. (Do we remember times God sustained us when we had none? Money woes? Illness? How about rescue from injuries? God helps us.)
Our Temples of our bodies should MOVE. Our Temples of our bodies should walk by these memories of God’s rescue. Our Temples of sharing should open. Our worship of God should be our praise.
Yes, our worship of God should be our praise, and our faith and sanity should not simply rely upon a drawbridge to raise. If I wonder of my walk of faith, should I build my personal Temple into a fortified castle? with a moat? Is my Temple all about defense? Block out the world? (Try not to gloat at the size of our protective moats.) Or is it best to bring our Temple out into the wilderness in a tent, camping away from everyone? Or should our Temple, trusting the process of putting on God’s Armor, be out in the open and walking among God’s people. Probably a bit of each of these things. Mainly our Temple should be made like a clay pot, by God’s Hand, tough walls but open for Holy Spirit filling. And if it falls down? It can roll with the punches.
Let us take a moment to spruce up the Temple grounds and place ourselves in a nourishing area of encouraging folks. Let us embrace this new springtime, warmer weather, flowers blooming, let us make best use of our Temples.
Remember, our Temples ARE like Solomon’s Temple in one way, they will eventually CRUMBLE. So, try not to grumble at the crumble.
Consecrate our Temples Lord for WORSHIP, let us pick it up and follow You!
They called upon me to go to the audit today – not just any audit but the BIG audit – BIGGEST one in 3 years of course and one that has the whole building all abuzz… whew… I knew it was a possibility to go speak, even kinda wanted the opportunity.
I didn’t have to prep, we’ve been preparing for weeks, years. I had 30 minutes warning, I knew the ins and outs and loose ends and such, did not know however what they wanted but I really COULD talk for hours on the subject at hand, but the best advice for me and everyone was/is: just answer what they ask. SHORT, SWEET and SAIL OUT of there.
I felt the nerves but not the fear. I KNEW I KNEW WHAT I KNEW. Funny I felt the urge to brush my teeth! YEAH, and be calm and presentable and joyous and smiling, decked out in St Pattie’s green, and of course be SMART, the SME, Subject Matter Expert.
The St Patrick’s prayer populated my palm, it really did land in my hand, in the form of a sticker. Yes in handing out a pack of stickers with shamrocks and secular St Pats sayings, whoda thunk there WAS one for me. God did, you see. A sticker to stick to me. I needed that prayer JUST THEN… Let’s say there’s no luck like blesses luck when the Holy Spirit hits like a mack truck.
Jesus says No Fear, Only Faith.
You don’t get to know stuff so well unless you have lived it, walked it, which I have, for my time with this project was started so years ago!!! I’m old schooled…
Jesus walking with us? From the beginning of time? He’s old school schooled in handling US.
I had a sticker that I got that day – it was the prayer to calm and HUMBLE me, a St Patrick’s Prayer. I walked toward the audit, read it over again and my step slowed as it calmed me. I walked out of my ego, while reading it, the first lines, the middle lines, the last 2 lines are what really humbled me, a chance to be whatever God needed me to be at that moment. Sometimes we ARE placed for OK moments, shining times, just assurances for others. It was NOT me to praise, this is God’s walk that allows me to NOT trip up when I take a trip WITH Him..
The sticker:
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.
I walked in humbly jumbled prayer of excitement and knowing what to do, namely not let people down. I wanted to show well for the group, not for me. Obviously this sounds like a boast, but well, there’s no better time to hide under His Wing to show anything than Christ Himself, by walking in to SERVE. It’s better to NOT stand out as unknowing then be a standout for knowing.
I walked out pumped up, short and sweet, answers answered in 15 minutes max, wee bit of St Patrick’s jocularity broke the ice first then the questions were laid out… done.
I walked out and reread THIS GIFT. It’s now a sticker stuck on my lanyard and now in my heart.
God saved me today in the God way. By taking my way out of His way. Let Him BE the Way. Christ KNOWS the Way.
Yay.
Amen
Amen and here’s the whole prayer:
St Patrick’s Prayer, 5th century
I arise today
Through a mighty strength,
the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.
I arise today
Through the strength of Christ’s birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.
I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.
I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.
I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me;
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s hosts to save me
From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who desires me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a multitude.
I summon today all these powers between me and evil,
Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul.
Christ shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that reward may come to me in abundance.
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness Of the Creator of creation
When the Lord says: “Wait until Heaven to even the score”, He means it. He means both: ‘Wait!’ and ‘LET ME DO IT, not you.’
Know that evil has always existed in the world and just live the best you can anyway.
Jesus tells many parables about the Kingdom of Heaven, including how we must WAIT until God’s judgement and know that evil will be taken care of. Therefore, even if bereft by evil, taken down by evil, devoted people will be taken care of. Jesus SPECIFICALLY says “At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn”.
If Heaven waits, then surely we can also wait for the harvest. Jesus HIMSELF will sort it all out. Jesus HIMSELF will divide the goats and sheep.
It is always good advice to DO THE BEST YOU CAN, even in trying times. You can still BEAR FRUIT even if weeds and wackiness wrestle with you for water.
Bloom well.
Amen
—
Jesus told them a parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ – “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. – “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
“‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’” Matthew 13:24-30
(And KNOWthe harvest of heaven might be soon, right around the corner!)
Worth a re-post – a reminder that outside we are always wasting away while the Lord works on the inside of us most – leaving the outside up to us to show His Polish in our attitude and our lives and our love.
Worth remembering that we have a lot of sand in our midst – it could feel like polishing sand, or irritating sand like in our bathing suit or cars after a beach trip, or could be “good” but corrective sand on sandpaper to smooth things over on us – and it IS worth remembering that in the WHOLENESS of time in God’s Hand, we ARE sitting in HIS Oyster – if we get more polishing on His pearl it is because He is molding us into His Image, helping us become better….
Polishing HIS Pearl, REPRISE writing:
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of LIGHT.” Matthew 6:21
Putting on my pearl necklace this morning, dressed up for the big boss coming to work today, I looked in the mirror and I smile at how God has changed me – first and most crucially inside – by growing Jesus in my heart and focusing my gaze inward to growing Him and shining Him, then later changed me outwardly by my weight loss and increased fitness… God plucked up the pearl inside me and started polishing.
I love to sing the praise band lyric based on Psalm 105: “Make known among the nation’s, what the Lord has done! Sing to HIM! Sing praises to HIM… Tell all HIS wonderful acts!”…
I know it’s God’s timing but sometimes I wonder to marvel why Jesus was cultivated in me for SO long until God cracked open my oyster. I wondered why it wasn’t until the age of 45 that I awakened to the knowledge that God had claimed me for HIS own, drove me directly into Jesus’s arms to wake me up. I know HE waited until I was ready to open my eyes. I marvel at the intensity of my love for Him and how rapid it developed… I know and appreciate it was HIS specific timed window of opportunity – not too early, not too late… And I know He STILL has work to do in me and now I must help Him help me – by asking Jesus to shine on dark areas of my ever human sinfulness.
Because of HIM and HIS LOVE. I was caught in the net where I previously had struggled with being caught. When I stopped struggling (and stopped scratching God’s polish on His pearl) and I became STILL, that’s when I let Jesus scoop me up WHOLE HEARTEDLY. He knew I needed HIM before I was even born. He knew I needed Him ever more, now and forever…
Jesus’s net is cast from the inside. His shining pearl is lovingly kept inside of us for all to see. When we open our eyes and our pearly smile we shine HIM thru us. The “key” – like those attached to my “I love Jesus” keychain – is that Jesus cracks us open from the INSIDE. Jesus is the pearl in our oyster. God waits until it is harvest time – then God polishes. We become the beneficiaries of HIS shining… His Grace… His LOVE…
Amen
John 6:37-39, 45 (NIV) All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. … It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.”
Awkward my dreams can seem at first, mixed and jumbled, yet they must have a purpose for me to process. After the strange shopping/cleaning dreams, there was one in which I was putting together a wire storage unit, not unusual as I love IKEA. The top of the unit had to stretch and that pulled the loose wobbly pillars of legs together and voila it was strong, workable, together, in use. I said mentally “the top had to be stretched to strengthen” – SNAP, I woke up and said THAT’S WHAT GOD IS DOING.
STRETCH Lord, STRETCH.
I realized that this loose wobbling world was like this furniture – undone – it needs the STRETCH of the Lord over it. God does not change, but He can reach into areas like stretching a big net – strong enough that it can support walking across. Like a rope being pulled, it becomes tight. Yes Lord, like You reaching by our reaching, we can (with You) make the stretch strong.
We all have to stretch don’t we?? There are times we need to stretch the budget to pay the bills. There’s ALWAYS times to stretch our time to get everything done. We stretch until we latch onto the next rock ledge when climbing. We stretch to reach what’s dropped on the floor. Because we reach and God reaches, we are restored to peace.
It is because of brokenness we share life stories, it is because of His repair that we rise from them.
I thought of the war between Russia and Ukraine and what’s been cut off from communication and fuel and food. BUT, there, especially there (and everywhere) GOD STILL STRETCHES into and thru those regions. God grows the faith of those who seek Him more. They are strengthened and His Reach STRETCHES. He can NOT break. He CAN connect. Our Lord IS working a revival, one strand, one person at a time. Just because the phones stop working doesn’t mean the Holy Spirit stops. The thousands of years of life have had God-sustained, fiber-optic-faith, meaning the Fibers of His Net are optically seen in the heart, more and more. Faith reaches, not by sight but felt. Walk by Faith always.
Pray for revival. Lord God, You are stretching out. Let us pray for the people, all people, to reach back to Him. Their stretch, like those wobbly furniture spokes, is a moment for them to get under God’s Plan, to find Him, to BE HELD CLOSE.
Under His Wing or out walking across and in His supporting stretch, WE PRAY REVIVAL. Our stretch is out from our comfort zones to REACH His people. He’s got us positioned to produce a powerful PRAISE. We must be part of the REVVING UP for Reaching Revival…
God’s got this, LIFE in this broken world IS fraught with pain and unknown, but KNOW the KNOWN- that God’s Stretch is our saving capture.
STRETCH LORD, STRETCH.
Amen
AMEN!!!
—
Excerpts from prophet Zechariah about the Lord coming and coming again (I don’t know how it all will connect here, but I know it does because God Almighty, Lord of All, has been and WILL connect with His people. STRETCH LORD STRETCH!)
“…the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo: “The Lord was very angry with your ancestors. Therefore tell the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty. Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices.’ But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares the Lord. Where are your ancestors now? And the prophets, do they live forever? But did not my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, overtake your ancestors?
“Then they repented and said, ‘The Lord Almighty has done to us what our ways and practices deserve, just as he determined to do.’”
…
When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth. And he said, “Go throughout the earth!” So they went throughout the earth.
…
Do not be afraid. These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the Lord.
…
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.
I was re-reading a blog that covers the book of Revelation and the great awakening that will come before the reckoning and last days… I find that so many people have not ventured into these pages of Revelation – I feel it is like the goldmine of knowledge – like what IS behind that giant locked door on the Price is Right game show – well – Jesus gave us the combination to open it – so don’t delay in turning the wheel and driving into the book…
The book of Revelation reminds me of how it pains me to say to people, when the conversation goes there, that things are only going to get worse before they get better. Yeah – that is a realist who is an optimist too. Optimist for the Great Awakening and doing what I can to help make that happen – and Realist for what I see and experience and because I do watch the news and I also watch the ignoring of news too… How easily we forget of tragedies not in our daily views. We have the greatest expanse into media but we have no time to watch it anyway – nor do we know what to see and filter.
The bible is the ONE place that tells it as it is. AND we can go there because it IS in front of us.
We need Awakening before Reckoning – and they both are close around the corner.
We need to be a part of that Great Awakening… both by believing ourselves, showing our faith, and teaching about the Jesus we know and how others could dig into their own faith and see if they can talk with Jesus… How will anyone know their faith unless they think about their faith… Now is not the time to reach to just those we already know who have faith but to reach to others to strengthen their faith and learn of faith… One of my favorite things about Easter is the families that do come back together for the services and grandkids can see what their grandparents are devoted to – and understand the relevance of faith. If we don’t show reverence then we wont ever show relevance to our situations. We got to show the world’s people that we know where to find support when times get tough. Like sheltering in the strongest part of the house when a tornado comes by.
This blog I read speaks of the judgements and trials as described in Revelation and we have 2 responses from them – to draw closer to God OR to rebel… Trust me, in these times, I think there is no time like the present to be present with listening to and for God. Draw closer.
Jesus speaking to the church at Sardis: which was not perfect: “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee”. Revelation 3:2-3
This is the quote that sums up that blog: “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” Romans 13:11
This link was the blog I was reading (it is 10 years old but still relevant because it is based on the bible and that never changes) – i know nothing about this preacher or church or background or anything – but the blog is a good read of reaching into our readings in the book of Revelation and learning about the Lord:
“Morning Star, Keep my heart.” I sing that every morning when I see the star…
It’s a blessing to be up to see the “morning star”, planet Venus, shining brighter than all. It’s like someone poked a hole in the sky of black. The dark helps us see the LIGHT. The Morning Star of the Word is JESUS, He lights the day and our Way.
Now, at 5 am, it is not pure enjoyable to have been woken by the cat to start the day so early, nevertheless it does remind me of the blessings of quiet time, to have a quiet home, a sanctuary of living. HOPE. In life and strife, we are blessed to taste of His Hope, sing of it. Especially when we know from the news that so many are displaced right now, we must not complain about quiet mornings. Always we need to count our blessings because there are many previously ALREADY displaced, hassled, homeless, living in danger, most whom we don’t ever hear about. Some afraid to leave home, some afraid to stay home. Sad…
The blessings we have include that we find Peace in our pursuit of Peace. Searching for our faith is faith in itself. The GIFT of HOPE in the Lord is the GIFT itself.
Morning also does bring me back to my reading of the Old Testament, that’s where the Lord wants my heart right now, in LEARNING… He wants all our hearts in learning more about Him, in learning the stories that dwell within His Heart. I pray that we are all in appreciation for His Broken Heart spills from these stories.
The broken heart stories of the Lord become fortress stones around our faith, they remind us of His LONG journey – and especially knowing that Alpha to Omega, He never ends, it means He always knew this pain. Yes, within this fortress of learning, Jesus pours out His brokenhearted memories of wars, famines, evil fights, hearts turned away… He knew them before they started. Oh, Jesus, Morning Star, Keep my Heart – I want to share it with You for helping You piece together Yours… I want to keep faith as cement to Your desired Stronghold in me. I want to help build a Fortress around the collective broken heart of Your people. I pray HOPE.
If you look to the news today, AND if you look to even the smallest of sections of the Old Testament, as I have been reading in 2nd Samuel about Saul’s death and David’s troubles, there is such unbelievable bloodshed, war, strife, innocents in trouble, souls searching, pain, and yet small palatable victories. Oh for us to understand that God IS in control, but He’s planning and using the good AND the bad for His Victory. Even the wicked… The Lord works out everything to its proper end— even the wicked for a day of disaster.
It is for us to remember that the Lord rules, restores, remembers the hearts of good and of the wicked. We are to despise evil, but know that the Lord IS keeping score on what people do from brokenness and from their proudness. We should not turn wicked in response to wickedness. The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.
David, the Lord’s anointed, is a story of returning to the Lord again and again, even after mistakes. He does become King over Israel, and establishes the House and City of David and grows in strength of being King. Remember that in his early days he only needed a sling and a few stones as a token to hurl God’s Strength. But now he must be in a retreat of a fortress. We build bigger and bigger war machines, strongholds, existences, fortresses, buffer zones, don’t we?. . But where will we find the Lord most close? To our broken hearts. If we quiet down to listen to past the war sounds, we should also try to hear and remember the Lord’s Word that was working inside the people who pulled thru or died in perseverance. His fortress is building blocks of our faith.
Our faith builds when looking Light in darkness. Build a fortress around God’s Word inside your heart, protect your heart. Truly keep moving in learning and looking for the light. See the Morning Star and know Jesus, He starts you on your day.
Today, Lord Almighty, be with those aching in war. Today, Lord Almighty, be also with us. Give us all HOPE.
Amen
—-
I’m often singing these lyrics by Paul Balouche: “Keep my heart tender before you, Lord. Able to hear your voice and follow. Keep my heart yearning to know you more. Eager to hear your word and obey. Keep my heart, flowing in your direction Lord. Keep my heart, holy light, so innocent and undefiled. King of love, Lord most high, so beautiful and bright. Morning star, keep my heart.”
Proverbs 16:1-5
To humans belong the plans of the heart but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue. All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord. Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. The Lord works out everything to its proper end— even the wicked for a day of disaster. The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.
2nd Samuel 5:7, 9-10
David captured the fortress of Zion—which is the City of David…. David then took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built up the area around it, from the terraces inward. And he became more and more powerful, because the Lord God Almighty was with him.
At the 3 minute mark of this video clip, after Father Mulcahy stayed up all night with a patient who just learned he had leukemia, made him late in an opportunity to impress the visiting cardinal, which of course is NOT what the Lord needs us to do… This IS the best MASH sermon… God got on TV… Father Mulcahy said: “…God put us here so He could be here Himself, so He could exist in the lives of those He created in His image.” (really a great episode to watch in it’s entirety).
Yes God put us here to love us and to be here WITH US, to show sacrifice, love over loss, devotion to the depth of death…
Yes He did… I saw it on TV, but my tears knew it as truth… He IS here to be with us.
“…so He could exist in the lives of those He created…”
What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?
That’s the question Jesus asks to those looking to living in this worldly life. Why?
There are no big small stories in the Bible that we can’t learn from. Our souls need sole-sourced sustaining. We are taught when to fight, when to fold, when to walk away. Plundering and perseverance teach us to Forever Rely On God (FROG as my dear friend says).
The last chapters of 1 Samuel finds David hiding out in enemy territory to escape a former friend now enemy, his previous boss in King Saul. They spar on occasion and yet David seemingly respects Saul being appointed and anointed as special to the Lord. And from early on, David also loved him and acted as a servant. But now (and repeatedly), David was in danger for Saul had gone mad and stopped looking to the Lord. Saul went to kill David many times. David had opportunity at least twice to kill Saul but instead showed his superior skill as a soldier all while sparing Saul’s life. David even infiltrated the camp and stole Saul’s dagger and water jug while that encampment slept. But he did not kill him. Later, David taunted Abner, the warrior who was supposed to be protecting Saul. David showed that he spared Saul because HE COULD. David COULD take the high road, even in war. Perseverance. They made “peace” in pausing their pursuit, but more likely they went their own ways. Did David already sense the Lord will reward each person according to what they have done or not done? Here is where David (and we) have to admit, What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?
David then went into the real enemy territory to get away completely, but actually he had to join up with the real enemy, Philistines. He had battled in a manner that destroyed everything and everyone, a sport of sparing, it was a plundering party… trouble for all… and even later the enemy Philistines, who had heard of David’s strengths, and perhaps heard about the power of David’s God, our God, turned back against him fighting alongside, they could not trust their enemy in their midst, they asked him to leave.
David’s whole army went back to base camp, but found it was taken, all was gone, carried off as plunder. He inquired of the Lord, a familiar retreat for David, and God said go fight for rescung your people. Only some of his men could go fight, what an exhausting battle to wage for men who lost their families and hope… “David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep”.
Perseverance comes thru God’s power.
Strengthened by the Lord, and given a messenger of information in an Egyptian slave left for dead, but revived by David, the fighters won all the families back and took plunder plus. There are many big little stories here, including the saving of one man who in return helped them all, this sounds familiar – feed the One who gives you the source of information to win (sounds like Jesus), and the story of the men who followed David and won the day and got the unbelievable experience to regain their loved ones (sounds like us following Jesus), and the story of the plundering winners who did not want to share the winning plunder with those who stopped exhausted on the journey. However David commanded them to share. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? (Yes, sounds like Jesus sacraficing to share).
We too encounter people who are exhausted on their journey and in desperate times. May we have mercy on them as God has mercy on us.
Plunder is the taking of war trophies triumphs tokens in TOTAL. To destroy your enemies and then take their stuff too. There were opportunities to take much in the battles that David fought, back and forth war spoils went, but war is often waged at the cost of losing everything. How we fight is every much as important as who we are fighting. We too will encounter madmen like Saul, best to take the high road and even step away so one is not pulled into evil.
What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?
War to rescue everyone, even those not of your seemingly immediate family, is the war we witness between evil and the power in God, gifted in Jesus’s commitment to save us over the separating powers of sin and death. Jesus came for all who would believe, Gentiles and Jews, all peoples who have opening ears to hear Him as Lord. The battles continue. Help where you can.
Our war is won, but we can not plunder what was not ours, what God gave as spoils WILL spoil if not shared. Don’t stumble. If we could keep listening to the Lord and divide our knowledge of Him to others, we will share of His Goodness to combat madness of the world.
We also need to remember not to get pulled into the madness of madness, especially seeing Saul at the end of his life suffer because he lost his way. (He even got a medium to conjure up Samuel as a spirit, Samuel was not pleased.) We must draw the line and not partake in getting mired in what has already gone overboard.
Be content.
What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?
Help where you can, but under the Lord’s direction only. Sometimes step away. If only for one day. Take another look at the situation, as if you were taking a step back from a painting and can see an image, like seeing a frog blending into the scene, but ready to jump out of the mud. So should we be ready. Take a look at the world from God’s perspective and rise above.
Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
I wonder what the next phase of my (your, our) life will be in serving the Lord.
I know that the Lord has many plans for us (for me) and I humbly accept what I can handle, when I can handle it. There’s always a learning curve to navigate, and seems in life, that is everyday.
I took a first hour out with my son doing practice driving. We stayed only on the brake and did not apply the gas, and we just stayed in a parking lot. We have to build confidence and live safely with common sense. He did very well. Maybe next time, in a big open field, I will let him hit the gas, maybe.
We all have to learn how to let the Lord direct our way. We apply knowledge before we apply power. There are times when we DO need to let off the brake, but we do NOT need to put in any gas power into our path. The Lord knows EXACTLY how and when He wants to move us. Other times we do know the plan and are commanded to run with it – and making His clarity our reality, we then apply the gas and GO.
I know enough about the Lord that He has already planned what’s around the bend. I know enough about myself that whether I am on the brake or the gas, I best let Him drive me there. I also know that the Lord made the road itself over any terrain we will encounter together. And you know life will have many roads to take. Hands on the wheel, foot on the brake, eyes on the road. Thanks to the God who puts gas in our tanks.
Many times we forget that God does not want us to view Him as a mystery.
His power IS mysterious and miraculous, yes, and because we cannot wrap our heads around how great He is, on how He does everything, we shy away from asking more about Him.
We fail to ask for help to follow His path.
And yet, He wants to be clear to us.
He does not always reveal everything to us all at once, He knows that we could not absorb all that information anyway.
Day by day, moment by moment, we are to live on His Word.
Let us not get lost in the mystery that we don’t know that HIS Majesty is our ALL in ALL.
It is painful and unbelievable the tragedies of the Ukrainian people, including those displaced from their homes and those who are dividing their families to get them to safety in Poland or elsewhere. Families divided by war – we watch it firsthand on the internet, thru TV. This is a traditional war that maybe we never thought we would see – with hand to hand combat – inch by inch. My 80 year old aunt remembers WW2, the Korean War, how eerie that we have not advanced in our diplomacy since then, and that war is seen as the means to the ends that never ends.
These families are divided by war and the ones left on the other side become family to each other. We heard of a ministry program that would have left town in the Ukraine but they instead picked up 7 orphaned children and now all huddle together while the bombs are loud and close.
War can be a curtain that divides – it is a block. There were many physical walls that went up in a blockade war – dividing families in Germany – in Korea. This separation by choice is unbearable necessity in families.
Now, imagine how God feels. We have been separated from Him by a war of evil. Imagine Him fighting His war ever since Adam. His tactic took many years to bring to fruition, His whole plan of living on this planet involved the tearing of the biggest curtain between us and Him. He brought Jesus to earth to CROSS the barrier. Lord, teach us to worship in Spirit and in Truth, and now thru this torn curtain we must venture within. We ARE His children and He is calling us back by walking us forward. He does not blockade the opening – no, the enemy does that. He does not close the curtain – no, we tend to do that. God OPENED the curtain so we can approach HIM. See HIM rise even thru the battle smoke. If there is terrible smoke in your life, keep looking for the light, crawl on the floor if you must – but know that the door is OPEN.
Many times we forget that God does not want us to view Him as a mystery. His power IS mysterious and miraculous, yes, and because we cannot wrap our heads around how great He is, on how He does everything, we shy away from asking more about Him. And yet He wants to be clear to us. He does not always reveal everything all at once – He knows that we could not absorb all that info anyway. Day by Day, moment by moment, we live on His Word.
He is the One Who tore the curtain. He DOES want us to share in his Goodness and Majesty. God places all the mysteries of the universe in our heart. We can not fathom if we do not look.
How will this Ukrainian war resolve? We don’t know. We do know that if one aggressive power takes power, it won’t stop there. We must know that the world in unravelling, that is predicted and dare I say predictable. We ask world peace yet know we live in worldliness. Pray awakening, pulling close to God, knowing Jeses
How will this war of the separation of God and us resolve? We know. He has set eternity in our hearts. We must know that we walk in this world but belong to HIM in HIS. He will come again. Jesus WILL come again and take us up with Him. This will be the second coming that we SHOULD see coming.
God will not stay away from His people. He tore the curtain once – and He is again coming for us all.
Amen
——–
And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. Matthew 27:50-53
And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Mark 15:37
…because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. Luke 23:45 ——–
Worship in the Earthly Tabernacle Hebrews 9 :1-15, 23-28 (NIV)
Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand and the table with its consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning. This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.
The Blood of Christ But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant….
It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Worth a re-post – but it is a reminder that outside we are always wasting away while the Lord works on the inside of us most – leaving the outside up to us to show His Polish in our attitude and our lives and our love.
It is worth remembering that even though we have a lot of sand in our midst – like sometimes irritating sand in your bathing suit – that in the WHOLENESS of time in God’s Hand, we ARE sitting in HIS Oyster – just need more polishing on His pearl….
Polishing HIS Pearl, AUG2016
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of LIGHT.” Matthew 6:21
Putting on my pearl necklace this morning, dressed up for the big boss coming to work today, I looked in the mirror and I smile at how God has changed me – first and most crucially inside – by growing Jesus in my heart and focusing my gaze inward to growing Him and shining Him, then later changed me outwardly… God plucked up the pearl inside me and started polishing.
I love to sing the praise band lyric based on Psalm 105: “Make known among the nation’s, what the Lord has done! Sing to HIM! Sing praises to HIM… Tell all HIS wonderful acts!”…
I know it’s God’s timing but sometimes I wonder to marvel why Jesus was cultivated in me for SO long until God cracked open my oyster. I wondered why it wasn’t until the age of 45 that I awakened to the knowledge that God had claimed me for HIS own, drove me directly into Jesus’s arms to wake me up. I know HE waited until I was ready to open my eyes. I marvel at the intensity of my love for Him and how rapid it developed… I know and appreciate it was HIS specific timed window of opportunity – not too early, not too late… And I know He STILL has work to do in me and now I must help Him help me – by asking Jesus to shine on dark areas of my ever human sinfulness.
Because of HIM and HIS LOVE. I was caught in the net where I previously had struggled with being caught. When I stopped struggling (and stopped scratching God’s polish on His pearl) and I became STILL, that’s when I let Jesus scoop me up WHOLE HEARTEDLY. He knew I needed HIM before I was even born. He knew I needed Him ever more, now and forever…
Jesus’s net is cast from the inside. His shining pearl is lovingly kept inside of us for all to see. When we open our eyes and our pearly smile we shine HIM thru us. The “key” – like those attached to my “I love Jesus” keychain – is that Jesus cracks us open from the INSIDE. Jesus is the pearl in our oyster. God waits until it is harvest time – then God polishes. We become the beneficiaries of HIS shining… His Grace… His LOVE…
Amen
John 6:37-39, 45 (NIV) All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. … It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.”
This Graham Nash concert became OUR HOUSE for the evening. I bought these tickets last year and finally we were able to sit and relax and enjoy amazing live music
I knew I was blessed when I combed my Joni Mitchell hair, grabbed my singing sister concert fanatic like me, and off we went… I KNEW this was a BLESSING of being able to actually go to a concert, a blessing anytime and especially in an easing pandemic/endemic “return to normal”, which you know life was and never is “normal”… don’t be fooled, and don’t be complacent: Jesus IS coming any cloud now!!!
Also knowing while there is war, we sat in peace, we are blessed and need to remember this. Immigration Man was a great song, as well as Cathedral, Bus Stop (a Hollies song), wow so many more, even covered Beatles songs for fun in the encore….
We did have one “thorn in the side” reminder of regular old issues: the tall guy in front of one of our seats was a chatterbox and constantly sliding his chair. We traded seats so each of us had one set in “peace”… I did kindly shush him just before the last great songs. It was all good… there will always be at least one thorn in life to keep us humble…
I only went with ONE song hope expectation – to hear “Our House”, the love song Graham wrote for Joni Mitchell… oh blessed to see a legend, now at 80 years old and hear him sing his love songs.
I sang in my heart and just lip-synced and didn’t sing out loud in many songs, because it was worth LISTENING to his harmonies with incredible guitar player Shane Fontayne (Michael Barakin) and their keyboard/organ player. Graham was so appreciative of the people singing along, especially to the last song: “Teach Your Children Well”…
We are always best in life to teach our children well. This scripture of Moses: “Love the Lord, talk about God’s commandments to your children” showed up this morning on Biblegateway. Of course it did. To NOT forget the Lord who brings you out of slavery, who brings you good things, that you did nothing to deserve.
Yes…
Teach your children well, especially that you count your blessings. Teach your parents well: that you LOVE them, and appreciate all they have gone thru.
God wants us to remember Love and teachings… Remember to teach as well.
God wants us to know His Love.
Amen
—–
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up…
…
When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
Must have a code- that you can live by. And so become yourself, Because the past is just a good-bye.
Teach your children well, Their father’s hell did slowly go by, And feed them on your dreams The one they picks, the one you’ll know by. Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry, So just look at them and sigh, And know they love you.
And you, of tender years, Can’t know the fears that your elders grew by. And so please help them with your youth, They seek the truth before they can die.
Teach your parents well, Their children’s hell will slowly go by. And feed them on your dreams The one they picks, the one you’ll know by. Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry, So just look at them and sigh, and know they love you.
But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.
It was 3 to 4 months of Physical Therapy, after rotator cuff shoulder surgery, that my frozen shoulder continued to be frozen. All efforts dealt with every aspect around it, but I had no external rotation. I was stuck. I don’t mind now, that was long ago and I am better. The next couple months of PT (before the actual second surgery) became my strengthening time. If I had to go back into surgery, I was going to be as strong as possible, PT made sure of that. My doctor knew I had worked so hard and that PT worked me too, three times each week. Then, after all was done as best as it could have benn, I jumped on that operating table for the second surgery. I was ready to be released from the stuck-ness. I was ready to do the operation and recovery ins and outs. I was knowledgeable and I knew the drill. I was already planning my recovery. (I was late in traffic too, but I gripped the wheel and delivered myself to my next moment)
My surgery and my PT was mechanical and emotional healing in so many ways. And I had to work at it. Therapy of thousand-fold thoughts. I felt blessed to have had that 6 months solid of 76 PT visits, June to December, I even threw them a pizza party on my last day. I barely remember my issues now, but I know they were great to overcome. It was no cake walk, especially as I walked around carrying a kettlebell high in the air as long as I could stand it. I did the spider crawl with my fingers. I used the pully and helped myself get better. I encountered encouragers along the journey. I was reminded to be an encourager too. God had me there not JUST for me. God even sent a theme song, Eye of the Tiger, the day I was giving up. He would not fail me, why should I fail myself.
Today I know that every paper that clutters the floor is a blazing landmine. I clear my house. I clear supermarket floors. I try to prevent the traps I lay for myself. That’s how we should pray to live thru life. There ARE issues, there ARE roadblocks, there are dead ends. We need to declutter what will take us down. And know there IS always a Way to wiggle through. And sometimes even take a clean surgical slice to separate the situation from itself. The shoulder did not need cutting off, only the bands of scar tissue holding it back.
I feel that way in life, we let the scar tissue hold us back. We need the saving slice. We need others to help slice it. We, like my surgeon, need take a stand that we WILL get better and keep reminding. My surgeon said not being 100% was NOT an option. The Lord says not being 100% is NOT an option.
So, if you are struggling, hitting brick walls, roadblocks, unknown paths, you need to do what you can in the meantime: STRENGTHEN, STRENGTHEN, STRENGTHEN. You can strengthen what you can, keep working all while praying resolution.
Don’t get drawn offsides, like Abigail reminding David it would be foolish to go after a fool (in 1 Samuel 25), that there were bigger fish to fry, bigger future successes to partake in. Don’t let the little stuff catch you up into slicing off your whole future. Do what you can and let God do the rest.
God knew and knows the plan. He has precise cuts in store. He will take care of the score. Don’t let the evil in the world hold you back, He takes care of all in His time. He will render the end in His Way.
Meanwhile, STRENGTHEN, STRENGTHEN, STRENGTHEN.
Amen
—-
Psalm 73
Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.
For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.
Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High? Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.
Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning. If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.
When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.
Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.
Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.
So many themes and symbols recurring in scripture: bread, stars, donkeys, blood, water, sheep, and FOOLS. Yes, fools… Bread I understand, Jesus is the Bread of Life, Jesus as Bread was broken and shared, Bethlehem as a city called the House of Bread, bread at the last supper, that dreamy rolling loaf of bread that allowed a victory for Gideon, and bread that Abigail shared to make peace… bread bread bread…
But FOOLS? No Foolin’… Fools show up everywhere. Being a fool for Christ, foolishness in serving others, foolishness in believing and following the understanding of the cross, these are appearances of being a fool in the word’s eyes, the view of devotion to others vs one’s self. The world does not “get” Jesus, only fools tread the road with Him and yet it is the fools who “get” Jesus meaning both they understand as they “get” Him AND He is a gift they “get”. We get Jesus if we accept His gift. He’s the gift of giving oneself.
A fool play by David, trying to avoid an enemy, was a ploy, a tactic. He was escaping Saul but also all of his enemies. He wondered what God had planned next. In Gath, he did not like the ruler Achish, so David acted the fool, acted insane and escaped because he was NOT ready for measuring up to the rumors of his greatness. Isn’t that like us, not wanting to trust how God made us, not wanting to venture out as us, but rather pull back.
Do we need to act the fool? Our escape from our enemies is and was calculated by God BEFORE we were born. So we DON’T need to act the fool, but we do need to be TRUE to the ONE WHO SAVES. And we need to trust if He brought us this far, He will keep guiding us too.
Surely He has a plan for today, each step He will lead. We may look like a fool to those who don’t understand our commitments, our walk, our drive, but we are to know that we ARE delivered from evil. We do have worldliness in our human ways, but our save is from His Save, we are being delivered into His Hands. Keep walking there. Keep sharing the love He brought into the world for His purpose.
No Foolin’.
Amen
David at Gath (1Samuel 21:10-22:5)
That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. But the servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances: “‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?”
David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.
Achish said to his servants, “Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?”
David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there. All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their commander. About four hundred men were with him.
From there David went to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, “Would you let my father and mother come and stay with you until I learn what God will do for me?” So he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him as long as David was in the stronghold.
But the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah.” So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.
It’s like falling into a trap that you know that you should NOT fall into, but because of your anger blinding you, YOU FALL.
It is AMAZING when God intervenes to save you from yourself – not amazing for God but entering a moment that would make your heart skip a beat! What an example we have in the future King David (a man after God’s Heart), picked by God to keep marching for Him. David encountered a fool, the guy’s name even stood for “FOOL” !!! He was Nabal and his wife was smart AND beautiful, her name was Abigail.
David asked for favor but the fool’s ignoramus was irritated and David became indignant and irate! He grabbed the swords! And David went now in peeved pursuit rather than peace. (Interesting that David needed only the Lord and some small stones against bears, lions, and Goliath – but now God had to STOP him from this fight).
Offsides – that’s like when in football you are in an illegal position and it causes a whole play to be drawn astray. Offsides sometimes happens when some players try to cause you to falter, they cause trouble, TRICK YOU… You must NOT fall for it. You must keep focused. The evil one also tries to pull you offsides in life. Just try not to go there.
David was very lucky – yes BLESSED – because God sent an intervention, a hero in Abigail, a smart and beautiful woman. She ran interference for God AND FOR DAVID’S SAKE, not just for her folly-faltering fool of a husband. SHE DID THIS SIMPLY BY BEING GOD’S SERVANT. She first brought more than a gift, she called out David to do the right thing, TO TAKE THE HIGH ROAD, to not get pulled offsides to his bigger mission in life.
Abigail brought a peace offering, a MIGHTY BIG gift, and delivered it herself (don’t the best servant gifts arrive on a donkey? Yes). Remember, SMART and beautiful. It WAS food, lots of it but also FOOD FOR THOUGHT. Abigail told him what he could see was true, his swords were too ready for a fool. She praised God for getting him back on the road to KINGSHIP instead of grinding gears in disgruntledness.
As for the fool, God took care of him too. Nabal pretty much died from shock. David did not fumble that day, on THAT fool’s folly, thanks to God’s intervention. Abigail prevented him from going offsides.
Don’t we all need to take the “s” off our fighting sWords and bring it back to trusting God’s Word? Cool our hot heads and warm our hearts instead?
“my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself.”
Let us serve like Abigail and slow down like David.
No fool is worth us faltering. None.
Amen
—–
1 Samuel 26
A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel. His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings—he was a Calebite.
While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!
“‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.’”
When David’s men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David’s name. Then they waited. Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”
David’s men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word. David said to his men, “Each of you strap on your sword!” So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.
One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.”
Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys. Then she told her servants, “Go on ahead; I’ll follow you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
As she came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her, and she met them. David had just said, “It’s been useless—all my watching over this fellow’s property in the wilderness so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good. May God deal with David, be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!”
When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. She fell at his feet and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord, and let me speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool, and folly goes with him. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent. And now, my lord, as surely as the Lord your God lives and as you live, since the Lord has kept you from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal. And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my lord, be given to the men who follow you.
“Please forgive your servant’s presumption. The Lord your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the Lord’s battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live. Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord your God, but the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling.
When the Lord has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel, my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the Lord your God has brought my lord success, remember your servant.”
David said to Abigail, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak.”
Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said, “Go home in peace. I have heard your words and granted your request.”
When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until daybreak. Then in the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him all these things, and his heart failed him and he became like a stone. About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal and he died.
When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise be to the Lord, who has upheld my cause against Nabal for treating me with contempt. He has kept his servant from doing wrong and has brought Nabal’s wrongdoing down on his own head.”
There are earthquakes and storms, what does it mean?
Jesus is coming.
There are people of false pride, leaders with ego pursuing power, followers chosing blinders. What does it mean?
Jesus is coming.
There are haters, betrayers, deceivers. What does it mean?
Jesus is coming.
There is ignorance, incineration, intensification. What does it mean?
Jesus is coming.
There are shortened days, people elect, pre-warnings. What does it mean?
Jesus is coming.
There are normal days, ordinary moments, people pursuing life. What does it mean?
Jesus is coming.
There are good times, seasonal praises, new births. What does it mean?
Jesus is coming.
There are gospel preachers, great teachers, hungry listeners. What does it mean?
Jesus is coming.
There are pockets of peace, people coming and going, normal stuff. What does it mean?
Jesus is coming.
There are never-endings, Words, Hope. What does it mean?
Jesus is coming.
Jesus IS coming
JESUS is coming
Jesus is COMING.
Is Jesus coming?
He never wasn’t coming. He’s just been waiting. Just like us.
JESUS IS WAITING.
WAIT LIKE JESUS.
JESUS IS PREPARING.
PREPARE LIKE JESUS.
JESUS IS INVESTING.
INVEST LIKE JESUS.
JESUS IS WORKING.
WORK LIKE JESUS.
Amen
—–
From Matthew 24
Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.
“If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you ahead of time.
“So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
“Immediately after the distress of those days ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Honey. The Promised Land was flowing with milk and honey. Lots of Honey. Honey is such a powerful sweetener, made naturally by bees from the countless hours and seasons of work collecting from flowers. Wax too. Wax for candles to give light and sweet honey to nourish and delight. What a perfect gift of God: LIGHT and sweetness. Nourishment provided by His worker bees. Honey from flowers that live temporarily and wilt, even though they are dressed far more beautifully than kings… God provides. All life on earth is temporary, may it be sweet.
I saw a license plate cover that said: “Eat Local Honey”. True, local honey is good, and you KNOW where it came from. (Don’t buy unknown tainted honey). Light and goodness from God, you know where it came from. (Don’t look for tainted love or false hope). God’s LOVE is sweeter than sweet.
Honey makes many appearances in scripture, a gift from God but got Jonathan into a sticky situation. Jonathan was King Saul’s son, and all were at battle against the Philistines. At a certain battle moment, God’s Hand confused the Philistines, allowing the Israelites to win over the Philistines. Later Jonathan (who started this latest battle) and his army walked thru the woods which flowed with honey, but there was an edict by his father King Saul not to eat anything during the day. Jonathan did not know this and yum, he scooped up some honey. He later learned of that forbidding edict during the day of battle.
Isn’t that one of those warning messages that Samuel (prophet and judge) gave the people who begged for a king, that a king could make crazy rules over them. God said – they have Me but they rejected me. Kings will take over and rule unjustly if they themselves don’t listen to God. It’s like the good gift of food was withheld by King Saul, even if for his own good reason. The honey gift from God was now trying to be withheld from the people whom were promised the honey in the first place. But earthly kings, especially Saul, were and are fallible. So are we.
There are very good health reasons why I shouldn’t and can’t eat the WHOLE jar of honey in my cabinet but really only a little is needed to sweeten my tea or plain yogurt. And adding honey myself, I can regulate the sugar. Unlike a sleeve of cookies, of empty calories, it seems I only need a little honey to satisfy. God’s gift to us is DISCERNMENT of proper things and if we pray, we ask for answers, hopefully He gives us common sense and will power. Honey lasts like forever, almost like wisdom.
Wisdom and discernment of God’s will, they never go bad… However there was a stretch of time that the Israelites used “drawing of lots” for determining what God’s answers were. If He didn’t speak advice, they “rolled the dice” assuming that He would answer. Urim and Thummim. Black and white rocks. Arrows up and down. Saul had to figure out WHY God was NOT answering his basic question, whether to go to battle or not, so he conjectured that someone had sinned or drawn them into more sin. They drew lots of Urim and Thummim. It was his son Jonathan. OH THAT HONEY.
Then Saul prayed to the Lord, the God of Israel, “Why have you not answered your servant today? If the fault is in me or my son Jonathan, respond with Urim, but if the men of Israel are at fault, respond with Thummim.” Jonathan and Saul were taken by lot, and the men were cleared. Saul said, “Cast the lot between me and Jonathan my son.” And Jonathan was taken.
A sticky situation. Saul even said: may God deal with you harshly… no forgiveness… But the army men knew that Jonathan was a good warrior and they rescued him, protected him from his own father’s edict. Protected him from his own failings. Who protects us from our own failings? Ah, the sweet Lord.
The Israelites continued in war, Saul had bitter days the rest of his life. God passed the Kingship to David who was a man after God’s heart. May we be like that too. May we look to our sweet Lord.
What’s the moral of this short long story?? The same lesson we’ve always known: listen to God, to the SWEET voice of God, the nourishing advice… the sweetness of Salvation comes from God keeping His Promise. Light comes from the glory of God, from the work of Jesus obeying his Father. We have been rescued. He WANTS us to taste HIS Promise.
Production of honey is not provided without cost or hard work, neither is Salvation. Yet God has flowed it to us for OUR PROMISED KINGDOM, HIS!!!
Then Saul and all his men assembled and went to the battle. They found the Philistines in total confusion, striking each other with their swords. Those Hebrews who had previously been with the Philistines and had gone up with them to their camp went over to the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. When all the Israelites who had hidden in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were on the run, they joined the battle in hot pursuit. So on that day the Lord saved Israel, and the battle moved on beyond Beth Aven.
Jonathan Eats Honey
Now the Israelites were in distress that day, because Saul had bound the people under an oath, saying, “Cursed be anyone who eats food before evening comes, before I have avenged myself on my enemies!” So none of the troops tasted food.
The entire army entered the woods, and there was honey on the ground. When they went into the woods, they saw the honey oozing out; yet no one put his hand to his mouth, because they feared the oath. But Jonathan had not heard that his father had bound the people with the oath, so he reached out the end of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it into the honeycomb. He raised his hand to his mouth, and his eyes brightened. Then one of the soldiers told him, “Your father bound the army under a strict oath, saying, ‘Cursed be anyone who eats food today!’ That is why the men are faint.”
Jonathan said, “My father has made trouble for the country. See how my eyes brightened when I tasted a little of this honey. How much better it would have been if the men had eaten today some of the plunder they took from their enemies. Would not the slaughter of the Philistines have been even greater?”
That day, after the Israelites had struck down the Philistines from Mikmash to Aijalon, they were exhausted. They pounced on the plunder and, taking sheep, cattle and calves, they butchered them on the ground and ate them, together with the blood. Then someone said to Saul, “Look, the men are sinning against the Lord by eating meat that has blood in it.”
“You have broken faith,” he said. “Roll a large stone over here at once.” Then he said, “Go out among the men and tell them, ‘Each of you bring me your cattle and sheep, and slaughter them here and eat them. Do not sin against the Lord by eating meat with blood still in it.’” So everyone brought his ox that night and slaughtered it there. Then Saul built an altar to the Lord; it was the first time he had done this.
Saul said, “Let us go down and pursue the Philistines by night and plunder them till dawn, and let us not leave one of them alive.”
“Do whatever seems best to you,” they replied.
But the priest said, “Let us inquire of God here.”
So Saul asked God, “Shall I go down and pursue the Philistines? Will you give them into Israel’s hand?” But God did not answer him that day. Saul therefore said, “Come here, all you who are leaders of the army, and let us find out what sin has been committed today. As surely as the Lord who rescues Israel lives, even if the guilt lies with my son Jonathan, he must die.” But not one of them said a word.
Saul then said to all the Israelites, “You stand over there; I and Jonathan my son will stand over here.”
“Do what seems best to you,” they replied.
Then Saul prayed to the Lord, the God of Israel, “Why have you not answered your servant today? If the fault is in me or my son Jonathan, respond with Urim, but if the men of Israel are at fault, respond with Thummim.” Jonathan and Saul were taken by lot, and the men were cleared. Saul said, “Cast the lot between me and Jonathan my son.” And Jonathan was taken.
Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” So Jonathan told him, “I tasted a little honey with the end of my staff. And now I must die!”
Saul said, “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if you do not die, Jonathan.”
But the men said to Saul, “Should Jonathan die—he who has brought about this great deliverance in Israel? Never! As surely as the Lord lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, for he did this today with God’s help.” So the men rescued Jonathan, and he was not put to death.
Then Saul stopped pursuing the Philistines, and they withdrew to their own land. After Saul had assumed rule over Israel, he fought against their enemies on every side: Moab, the Ammonites, Edom, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines. Wherever he turned, he inflicted punishment on them. He fought valiantly and defeated the Amalekites, delivering Israel from the hands of those who had plundered them.
Saul’s Family
Saul’s sons were Jonathan, Ishvi and Malki-Shua. The name of his older daughter was Merab, and that of the younger was Michal. His wife’s name was Ahinoam daughter of Ahimaaz. The name of the commander of Saul’s army was Abner son of Ner, and Ner was Saul’s uncle. Saul’s father Kish and Abner’s father Ner were sons of Abiel.
All the days of Saul there was bitter war with the Philistines, and whenever Saul saw a mighty or brave man, he took him into his service.
I hit the TV buttons by accident, I could not get back to the buttons in time and I was on a conference call for work from home. Ugh, but it was the news, ok.
But then later, the dreadful sound, ugh, the hourglass of time was pouring dreadful (to my ears). Oh that music and that distinctive sound of drama, too much drama. I knew from childhood that I had tipped past the noon hour – no more Price is Right or Card Sharks, now is the time the TV got switched off. TV drama that never changes but seems the room furniture is updated, the actors switched out, but the storyline seems to be the same… OLD… DRAMA. My apologies to those viewers who might be reading this, but I just have no time for extra drama. I fnd my life has it’s own enough drama… and you can’t switch it off at noon.
I found a different dramatic storyline, compelling to me, but this one IS biblical, it is my ongoing study of David, in the book of Samuel. There’s much to view of jealousy in Saul’s distrusting of David, yes, but also what makes it compelling and sad because David loved Saul (and God loved Saul too).
There is also a great understanding of a companionship LOVE between Jonathan, Saul’s son, and David. Brothers in arms, brothers in the Lord. The compelling storyline is of a bond of KINDNESS and sacrifice between Jonathan and David, that’s the kind of LOVE that wins hearts but doesn’t sell movies, doesn’t run out like the sands of time… This is LOVE that remains the same today tomorrow and everyday. The DIFFERENCE here is this is not soap opera selling of soap or any product by keeping you glued to a guilty pleasure TV watch, this IS riveting and filled with human folly but also of LISTENING TO GOD. David returns again and again to listening to truth, seeking truth. The resolution always comes from seeking God.
Jonathan and David have to come to discuss a difficult subject, Saul, a father and father-figure, trying to kill David. He disobeyed the Lord and now drawn into paranoia, he is angry and jealous at someone who should be loved as a son.
We sometimes find ourselves in DRAMA, yet can WE take a step backstage and pray for the people in the scene. Can WE take a step outside the theater and get some fresh air. Can WE take a look at the script and see that we don’t have to be in that scene. David a few times had to restrain himself, take his pride out of the scene, as Saul was delivered into his hands – once in a cave and totally vulnerable, but David saw that the plan (felt that the plan by God’s conviction) that Saul was NOT to be easily killed, but to be loved and even prayerfully rekindled to God’s love. David ws understanding that his own life was spared, selected and spared. David had the sense to sense the Lord’s desires.
Here also, we see the love was so deep between David and Johnathan, they encouraged each other in worshiping God, following God. Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God. “Don’t be afraid,”…. The two of them made a covenant before the Lord.
Perhaps we can cut thru our drama in life by finding that our worship of God helps us find strength, peace, forgiveness. And our actions are not from animosity, not from bitter jealousy, but to show mercy (sometimes pity) and to act upon our knowledge of God’s command to LOVE – even love until it hurts…
The plan of God includes the use of our human hearts, however fallible, to accomplish His Will. If you find your humanness made you a softie, apply His Wisdom. If you find your humanness made you a rule follower, apply His Golden Rule first. Jesus said: “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
David understood God’s power and provisions and protection. He witnessed His Love. David was not a perfect man, but He did return again and again to the One whose love was perfect. God. Our love is made perfect in HIM.
“Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth! We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped! Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.”
Amen (and please read about Jonathan and David).
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Ch 18
After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.
Whatever mission Saul sent him on, David was so successful that Saul gave him a high rank in the army. This pleased all the troops, and Saul’s officers as well.
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Ch 19
Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan had taken a great liking to David and warned him, “My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding and stay there. I will go out and stand with my father in the field where you are. I’ll speak to him about you and will tell you what I find out.”
Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king do wrong to his servant David; he has not wronged you, and what he has done has benefited you greatly. He took his life in his hands when he killed the Philistine. The Lord won a great victory for all Israel, and you saw it and were glad. Why then would you do wrong to an innocent man like David by killing him for no reason?”
Saul listened to Jonathan and took this oath: “As surely as the Lord lives, David will not be put to death.” So Jonathan called David and told him the whole conversation. He brought him to Saul, and David was with Saul as before.
Once more war broke out, and David went out and fought the Philistines. He struck them with such force that they fled before him. But an evil spirit from the Lord came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the lyre, Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape.
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Ch 20
Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father, that he is trying to kill me?”
“Never!” Jonathan replied. “You are not going to die! Look, my father doesn’t do anything, great or small, without letting me know. Why would he hide this from me? It isn’t so!” But David took an oath and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know this or he will be grieved.’ Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.”
Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you.” So David said, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon feast, and I am supposed to dine with the king; but let me go and hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow. If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David earnestly asked my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because an annual sacrifice is being made there for his whole clan.’ If he says, ‘Very well,’ then your servant is safe. But if he loses his temper, you can be sure that he is determined to harm me. As for you, show kindness to your servant, for you have brought him into a covenant with you before the Lord. If I am guilty, then kill me yourself! Why hand me over to your father?”
“Never!” Jonathan said. “If I had the least inkling that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn’t I tell you?” David asked, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”
“Come,” Jonathan said, “let’s go out into the field.” So they went there together. Then Jonathan said to David, “I swear by the Lord, the God of Israel, that I will surely sound out my father by this time the day after tomorrow! If he is favorably disposed toward you, will I not send you word and let you know? But if my father intends to harm you, may the Lord deal with Jonathan, be it ever so severely, if I do not let you know and send you away in peace. May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. But show me unfailing kindness like the Lord’s kindness as long as I live, so that I may not be killed, and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family—not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.” So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the Lord call David’s enemies to account.” And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself.
Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon feast. You will be missed, because your seat will be empty. The day after tomorrow, toward evening, go to the place where you hid when this trouble began, and wait by the stone Ezel. I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I were shooting at a target. Then I will send a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them here,’ then come, because, as surely as the Lord lives, you are safe; there is no danger. But if I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then you must go, because the Lord has sent you away. And about the matter you and I discussed—remember, the Lord is witness between you and me forever.”
So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon feast came, the king sat down to eat. He sat in his customary place by the wall, opposite Jonathan, and Abner sat next to Saul, but David’s place was empty.
Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, “Something must have happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.” But the next day, the second day of the month, David’s place was empty again. Then Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?”
Jonathan answered, “David earnestly asked me for permission to go to Bethlehem. He said, ‘Let me go, because our family is observing a sacrifice in the town and my brother has ordered me to be there. If I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away to see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”
Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you? As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send someone to bring him to me, for he must die!”
“Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” Jonathan asked his father. But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David.
Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the feast he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David. In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for his meeting with David. He had a small boy with him, and he said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. When the boy came to the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called out after him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?” Then he shouted, “Hurry! Go quickly! Don’t stop!” The boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master. (The boy knew nothing about all this; only Jonathan and David knew.) Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and said, “Go, carry them back to town.”
After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together—but David wept the most.
Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.
Ch23
While David was at Horesh in the Desert of Ziph, he learned that Saul had come out to take his life. And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.” The two of them made a covenant before the Lord. Then Jonathan went home, but David remained at Horesh.
Ch 31
Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa. The Philistines were in hot pursuit of Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically. Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me.” But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it.
2 Sam Ch 1
After the death of Saul, David returned from striking down the Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag two days. On the third day a man arrived from Saul’s camp with his clothes torn and dust on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the ground to pay him honor.
“Where have you come from?” David asked him. He answered, “I have escaped from the Israelite camp.” – “What happened?” David asked. “Tell me.” – “The men fled from the battle,” he replied. “Many of them fell and died. And Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.”
…
They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the Lord and for the nation of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
…
David took up this lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan, and he ordered that the people of Judah be taught this lament of the bow (it is written in the Book of Jashar): “A gazelle lies slain on your heights, Israel. How the mighty have fallen! Tell it not in Gath, proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines be glad, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice. “Mountains of Gilboa, may you have neither dew nor rain, may no showers fall on your terraced fields. For there the shield of the mighty was despised, the shield of Saul—no longer rubbed with oil. From the blood of the slain, from the flesh of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan did not turn back, the sword of Saul did not return unsatisfied. Saul and Jonathan— in life they were loved and admired, and in death they were not parted. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. Daughters of Israel, weep for Saul, who clothed you in scarlet and finery, who adorned your garments with ornaments of gold.
“How the mighty have fallen in battle! Jonathan lies slain on your heights. I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother; you were very dear to me. Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women. How the mighty have fallen! The weapons of war have perished!”
Payday with a shared bonus at work, JOY JOY!!! God rescues my wayward ways, credit card creepingness, my backroom of bills, oops-es of overspending. This one is for recovery, the taxes will be for repairs, but a small slice of this is for sillyness and sweetening my step.
Blessed are we to earn wages. I am blessed to work, to get to feel productive, and especially get in to see people socially. And although work is daily drudgery to some, it is all in your attitude. This past 2 pandemic years will eventually become yet another of the shortest memories from the longest trudgery years of stress, safety, and especially unknown. And yet our WORK was a known. Our work AT HOME also the HUGEST of hills to climb. I grabbed onto it all and dug in. Work as escape-ness as well as productive busy busi-ness. I’m seeing lights at the ends of tunneling thru projects, but don’t stop digging now. I’m praising for when I actually get time to work and like today, I’m PRAISING WHEN I GET TIME OFF (it’s POLAR PLUNGING DAY). God granting opportunity to BREATHE, be BEAUTIFUL BEAMING JOY, but we need to take our JOY seriously. Witnessing is worthy work too.
A bonus… Please don’t take this as a boast… just want to remember that I am BLESSED… so, now, what amount for me to praise financially back to God? A certain % as tithe? Special ear-marked anything? nothing? something? I had already loaded my IKEA cart. I had already booked my Amazon boat. I have backlogged bills ready to unjam. I awoke early and excitedly clicked into banking app and IT WASN’T THERE… ahh… hmmm… One bank had the normal deposit, good to pay the mortgage, but the second bank must have been held up… waiting for SOMETHING to release. A log jam of the logs in my eyes likely… So true of God to make me WAIT until I RE-focused. FOCUSED on HIS PLAN for my pay. Focused on HIS PLAN for my day. Yeah, God, I get it. I will tithe in tilling the soil. How I want to help Your Garden Grow.
It’s easy to lose our salt. Put it in the wrong piles. Over season the soup. Kill the plants by overdoing it. Look at a rainstorm that washes road salt away. Look at us getting flooded with busyness and failing to find, let alone share, the SPARK of SALTINESS. We have to reapply. However look at how just a little salt makes a BIG impact. Salt made all the difference yesterday, the trees were iced but the roads fine. The salt melts ice IF the temperature is right.
Salt is pretty much FREE, and deposited under our lakes. Salt is plentiful FREE in the ocean. It recrystalizes readily. However it takes time and money and commitment to harvest it, to bring it forth to where it is usable. Same with our commitment to use it. A pile inside does nothing to help the path. You have to go out to spread it.
Salt living for the Lord is witnessing to His Goodness. And He IS Good. I looked up from my bank app, with no bonus, and the first two words I saw were “SALT” “SUPPORT”. Yes Lord, YES. I am to live, spend WISELY, be the supportive spender that will help You. (MONEY IS A TOOL, a favorite saying is: money is a good servant but a cruel master)…. Being SALT SUPPORT means that our tithe fraction AND the whole kit and caboodle of our spending CAN HAVE REAL IMPACT on the roads of rescuing, resuscitation, reworking, restoration and recovery. REALLY. Go out and spread it.
“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
I readjusted my attitude and clicked again, this time I just waited until AFTER banking hours opened, someone physically probably had to click a button. And, there was the bonus. Whew. My head adjusted. THANK YOU. God gives good things, especially PAUSE. I needed God to sprinkle Holy Spirit on me. SALT SUPPORT means helping others spread the Word as well as spreading it yourself. Don’t let your bucket go dry. Be the spark to a ministry, a meal to a missionary, a Hand to Helping.
We are called to be SALT and LIGHT. We are to SHINE hope and spice up life. God knows that the world needs us to be God’s Givers of Hope. Spreaders of Joy. Jumping Joybeans for Jesus. Just make a salt-water SPLASH.
As a cat sits with you while you rest, your salt supports stack up while you work, waiting for you, and then you can use them for the Lord’s work. As you know, the salt on food preserves it and makes it palatable. We are to be THAT salt. “Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.” Leviticus 2:13
My salting today will be where the Lord says: “Sprinkle some salt here!”…
We are SALT SERVANTS.
We are SALT SUPPORT.
We are SALT SPREADERS.
Unjam your JOY.
Amen
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Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
BLESSED IS THE ONE THAT TRUSTETH IN THE LORD, AND WHOSE HOPE THE LORD IS. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. Jeremiah14
How much we think of ourselves, how much we have pride. I do. We do need to put that pride aside. The proudness of thinking about ourselves, that’s the cross we bear for conviction of having too much self-preservation of self-pride. Pick up the crucifying, walk in His abiding.
I have been thinking of Lent. I did plan to go to church, but had not yet put on that attitude of giving up anything. The Lenten focus of what God gave up, in His Son ransomed for the rest of us, how we are to remember this was on Jesus’s mind every day in time. Sacrifice.
Job (ch 23) was tested, prayed to follow deeper and treasure more. He had a speech as if it was an aside between Him and God: “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.”
I also need to treasure more. I thought what about the “giving up” of tangible things in lent, it seemed silly for me to do one of the traditional food things, but maybe… I was not focused on anything for lent, I know I need focus. What if it was giving up cookies or sugar, yet that would be for health reasons and pride of weightloss, that’s earthly pride of how I look, whereas I should focus on healthy walking. Exercise what I have. Maybe I should give up cookies, so I had a couple cookies to think about it, cookies, and LOTS of cookies at church itself. Nah… not cookies, sugar would seep in otherways. Well, maybe I should give up cookies.
So, what if there was one of those VERY DEEP LENTEN MESSAGES for me to tap into, etc… Then I thought EASILY of one thing that would be HARD, this Lent how about I make it time to GIVE UP MY PRIDE, my fear of being awkward, give up ourselfish self-consciousness for promoting HIS plan. This is not a noble cause but a humble pause.
I thought, holding a spiritual sticker that said Christ’s name in its scripture, was I willing to at least stick that on my water bottle? Prayer stickers yes, but WHAT IF I GAVE UP BEING SCARED TO DISPLAY THE NAME OF JESUS PUBLICLY. What if I tried saying His name more, using it out loud in conversation, and just swallowing my prideful tendency to hide.
What if we became less fearful of offending and be more abiding in sharing HOPE.
Who gives us the HOPE? Jesus. If Jesus was walking, He would want to introduce Himself to others. We should be willing to do that too.
I’m not saying this is going to be easy, but I know that the Holy Spirit is here to help. Jesus’s command always was and is for us to WAIT FOR and ACCEPT the Holy Spirit gift of the Father to be the wind in our sails.
If we drop our pride, we can be in for the best Spirit Ride. Not going to be easy, but worth it. Follow Job’s prayerful aside: treasure His Words more than our daily bread… (or cookies).
Today is Ash Wednesday – we are blessed to know that Christ is with us Everyday. And we look to THAT DAY when Jesus will return again. That Day begins the end of the earth and heavens – making them roll away (blow away like ashes) – and the New Heavens ROLL in. Let us Roll His Way.
When the author of Hebrews (likely Paul) speaks of sacrifices, he reminds us of the ultimate sacrifice in Jesus. That Jesus came from Heaven and knew of the sacrifice before coming to earth. The sacrifices that the old testament priests made came about by human hands, made in their sanctuary by human hands. In Jesus, God provided the sacrifice once and for all.
Our Ash Wednesday reminds us of us being made of dust and to dust we return – and it could also remind us of those burnt sacrifices to bring forgiveness. How better for us to have eternal life than to be delivered by the One Sacrifice in Jesus. This is NOT made by human hands – this is a Sacrifice for Salvation that was and IS known – IS of the Lord Himself, the Perfect Lamb. Now we offer not a sacrifice of items but a sacrifice of our hearts to His service.
The ashes are but a shadow of the Good things yet to come – and we MUST be made back to ashes to lose ourselves and take on Christ-selves. We must return to ashes to accept the full glory of forever – and since we have Jesus, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Yes, He IS faithful – and as we are in our “in between ashes” stages, we must also be willing to go where He rolls us – may we always be willing to roll with Him.
Roll His Way.
AMEN
from Hebrews 9-10 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. ……. Christ has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am – it is written about me in the scroll – I have come to do your will, my God.’”
First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
David had God-confidence in fighting the giant Goliath, because he had previously battled bears and lions to regain stolen sheep. He KNEW that the Lord had saved him those times. David also could not endure the taunting of the Philistines against the Israelites. He took on his whole tribes and God’s people’s cause with a couple stones. David, as small as he was, chose a path of GREAT BATTLE. IN ALL, David KNEW that THE LORD WAS WITH HIM.
What is your Goliath? And will you approach the fight? Do you sit entrenched against the enemy in a long winter? Are you weary or worn down from the taunting without even getting onto the battlefield? Apparently, Goliath showed up every day. SO, David had a chance to gather his weapons and his plan. His 5 smooth stones, his sling, his wits, HIS LORD… OUR LORD. There’s nothing more important to this battle or your battle that the Lord battling for you, with you, THRU YOU. David came WITH God, came ready for a WIN, not just ready for a fight.
That’s how we should approach our Goliaths, ready WITH the Lord, ready for a win. We should NEVER assume defeat before our feet approach the field. We SHOULD gather our 5 stones, smooth and worked on by God’s forces to be perfect for the job, handpicked with prayer, and extra stones for extra measure. Actually, our best stone is holding on to our ROCK, our Lord.
Then we can walk onto our battlefield.
Most important of the story of David attacking the lion and the bear is to remind us that the LORD HIMSELF has come gathered us, RESCUED as sheep out of the jaws of the battles in our lives. He has won us the win over sin, let’s trust Him with our life-goliath’s too. Very importantly, let’s be a part of the battle by gathering our stones and tools. Trust in the armies of the living God.
He IS the POSSIBLE in our impossible.
He IS.
Amen
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“Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
Debbie Upper 