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First of all, I saw it coming. I had no grandiose ideas that Mccain was going to pull this off, and anyone who knows me knows I was never a Mccain supporter anyway. Granted, Obama has a laundry list of solid reasons to be tearing your hair out at the prospect of him being president of the United States, but there is just one minor detail, I happen to be a Christian woman.
No Christian across this nation should be disappointed with the result of this election because the fact of the matter is, Obama is Gods choice. The Bible says that all the powers that be are ordained by God. Romans 13:1
Now, for those of you out there unversed in the ways of God, this is not a glowing endorsement of the mans character. If God ordains all leaders, then throughout history He has chosen many down right evil men. He has his reasons. I have grown in my relationship with Him enough to not need an explanation but I know there are many people who like to throw out the “If there’s a God why does He let ____ happen” question so I’ll give my small amount of insight on the situation.
At this point, the people reading who are so sure that this life is all you’ve got, are going to have to imagine there is more. For just a moment imagine that an eternity does exist, and that the Bible is true. Every person that ever lived still exists today in one of two places and will continue to forever. Now answer this, what would be more important, your contentment during the minuscule amount of time you have on this earth, or where you will be for an eternity?
Sure some people praise God when they're comfortable and are what they perceive as blessed, but more often they call upon God only when they have nothing else to lean on. I have spent years frustrated at the spiritual state of the people of this nation. The greatest obstacle I face when trying to share the saving grace of Christ with a fellow American is pride. We, the civilized and educated, have watched in wonder as the mysteries of creation; the vastness of the universe, the delicate balance sustaining life on this planet, down to the amazing complexity of a cell have been realized, but have lifted ourselves up for discovering it and ignored, sometimes even blasphemed, the one who created it. Then I watch films and listen to testimonies of missionaries who have come back from “savage” and “uneducated” lands. I see people with seemingly no earthly blessings praising their creator with a humble adoration rare here and I wonder, Just who are the blessed ones?
Logically, this country’s economy cannot survive the policies Obama has said he will put in place. Even so, God has decided that he is just what America needs. All I can say is, amen.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Psalm 43:3-8
For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead. Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate. I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands. I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah. Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.
O Lord how my soul cries out the words of these verses and pleads for the day I may never relate to them again. Earth, flesh, how I grow weary of struggling to keep them at bay. The ebb and flow of my spiritual life is like a noose around my neck and I have come to see free will as a curse. I am too prone to wander. How easily the business of day to day life can drain the soul of life giving water and leave it searching in a dry and thirsty land. How grateful am I for a God who answers my plea and will always pull me back out of the desert.
How well I can relate to Israel who often went whoring after other Gods. No, my idols are not in the form of a golden calf, but they have a form, TV, computer, couch, food. Nehemiah 9 brings tears at the account of all the times Israel turned their back on you and yet you forsook them not. How many more times have I neglected you, gone days, maybe even weeks without coming to the foot of your throne.
Here am I Lord, Psalm 43 is my cry.
"Oh to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be
Let they goodness like a fetter
Bind my wondering heart to Thee
Prone to wander Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Take my heart Lord
Take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above"
O Lord how my soul cries out the words of these verses and pleads for the day I may never relate to them again. Earth, flesh, how I grow weary of struggling to keep them at bay. The ebb and flow of my spiritual life is like a noose around my neck and I have come to see free will as a curse. I am too prone to wander. How easily the business of day to day life can drain the soul of life giving water and leave it searching in a dry and thirsty land. How grateful am I for a God who answers my plea and will always pull me back out of the desert.
How well I can relate to Israel who often went whoring after other Gods. No, my idols are not in the form of a golden calf, but they have a form, TV, computer, couch, food. Nehemiah 9 brings tears at the account of all the times Israel turned their back on you and yet you forsook them not. How many more times have I neglected you, gone days, maybe even weeks without coming to the foot of your throne.
Here am I Lord, Psalm 43 is my cry.
"Oh to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be
Let they goodness like a fetter
Bind my wondering heart to Thee
Prone to wander Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Take my heart Lord
Take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above"
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Psalm 31:18
“Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.”
Let lying lips be put to silence. There is somethingI see in the world around me that goes right along with its growing contempt for God, and that is contempt for fellow human beings. There is no such thing as forgiveness in the heart of man. Each of us is so sure of our “rights” and heaven help the person who treads on them.
Our rights have become our God. When someone treats us in a way we feel is unjust, we all hear those lying lips say, “How dare they do that to me??!!” What does this statement really say? First of all it says, “I don’t deserve this”. Is this statement true? According to the Bible, aside from the grace of God, we all deserve much worse than anyone could ever do to us here on earth. Next time we hear lying lips ask, “What did I do to deserve this?” we might put them to silence by asking another question, “What did Jesus do to deserve the cross?”
“How dare they do that to me?” What else does this statement say? How about, “I would never do something like that!” We might silence lying lips in this instance by calling to remembrance what we have done. All of which took our Lord to the cross. Nothing anyone could do to us compares to what we have already done to Christ.
The last statement I have found to come from lying lips is far worse than the previous two. When we say, “How dare they” what we are really saying is, “How dare God”. Don’t we have a sovereign God? Haven’t we read in the scriptures “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things” (Rom 11:36)?
“Lord, please help me to apply these concepts to my life. I struggle with anger and a “how dare they” attitude. Please put to silence lying lips that attempt to separate me from others. Help me to hold in my heart the words “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him”
Let lying lips be put to silence. There is somethingI see in the world around me that goes right along with its growing contempt for God, and that is contempt for fellow human beings. There is no such thing as forgiveness in the heart of man. Each of us is so sure of our “rights” and heaven help the person who treads on them.
Our rights have become our God. When someone treats us in a way we feel is unjust, we all hear those lying lips say, “How dare they do that to me??!!” What does this statement really say? First of all it says, “I don’t deserve this”. Is this statement true? According to the Bible, aside from the grace of God, we all deserve much worse than anyone could ever do to us here on earth. Next time we hear lying lips ask, “What did I do to deserve this?” we might put them to silence by asking another question, “What did Jesus do to deserve the cross?”
“How dare they do that to me?” What else does this statement say? How about, “I would never do something like that!” We might silence lying lips in this instance by calling to remembrance what we have done. All of which took our Lord to the cross. Nothing anyone could do to us compares to what we have already done to Christ.
The last statement I have found to come from lying lips is far worse than the previous two. When we say, “How dare they” what we are really saying is, “How dare God”. Don’t we have a sovereign God? Haven’t we read in the scriptures “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things” (Rom 11:36)?
“Lord, please help me to apply these concepts to my life. I struggle with anger and a “how dare they” attitude. Please put to silence lying lips that attempt to separate me from others. Help me to hold in my heart the words “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him”
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Tender Mercies
There are joys in the life of a Christian that cannot be measured. The world finds happiness, for a time, in earthly things like wealth and the praise of men. How unbelievably lucky am I to have been given a joy that moth and rust cannot corrupt.
Sunday morning our pastor preached on forgiveness. It didn't really strike me as a monumental moment to hear that sermon. I knew inside there was hidden resentment but I figured I had already attempted to deal with it the best I knew how and there wasn't much else I could do. God allowed satan to try me after that sermon, and try me hard he did. (Oh the fury that must burn through that vile being, when he watches God use every wicked scheme for His great purpose.)
I read the children's version of "Hinds Feet on High Places" twice last week. I didn't expect a book I read to my children to have such an impact on me. Now I know the Lord used those characters, Sorrow and Suffering, to prepare me for the last few days.
One of the metaphors used in the book I have also read time and time again in my Bible. It was the purifying of gold in a furnace. I felt that very process today. I've never really broken it down step by step before but when I do I see the amazing grace of God.
When the trial begins and the mixture is first put to the flame, for a time it is still bonded together. The fire at this point is an intruder, imposing itself on this bond of gold and other metals. It is disruptive. It is sorrow and suffering that aren't welcome. But the longer the heat is applied the more the dynamic changes. As the heat bonds with the gold, the other metals separate.
I saw myself tonight as that gold. Heat fully bonded to my soul, pushing all that bitterness to the surface. That is the most painful part. The fire no longer hurts, it's the weight of that unwanted metal sitting on top. That is the continuing grace of God right there. To make me the kind of woman that would plead more to be rid of the weight of that bitterness than she ever wanted rid of the fire.
Those are the tender mercies of God. No, it doesn't seem tender, and I've sat here and contemplated long and hard about how to explain it, but the love of my Father defies all explanation.
I don't think the metal He skims off the top is thrown out. I think once the impurities are separated from me, He fashions them into tools and hands them back. These are my treasures. They are far beyond anything of worth this world could offer me.
My heart aches for those of you who will never hold these gifts from your creator, and never be the gold He would have you to be.
Thy gentleness hath made me great. Psalm 18:35
Sunday morning our pastor preached on forgiveness. It didn't really strike me as a monumental moment to hear that sermon. I knew inside there was hidden resentment but I figured I had already attempted to deal with it the best I knew how and there wasn't much else I could do. God allowed satan to try me after that sermon, and try me hard he did. (Oh the fury that must burn through that vile being, when he watches God use every wicked scheme for His great purpose.)
I read the children's version of "Hinds Feet on High Places" twice last week. I didn't expect a book I read to my children to have such an impact on me. Now I know the Lord used those characters, Sorrow and Suffering, to prepare me for the last few days.
One of the metaphors used in the book I have also read time and time again in my Bible. It was the purifying of gold in a furnace. I felt that very process today. I've never really broken it down step by step before but when I do I see the amazing grace of God.
When the trial begins and the mixture is first put to the flame, for a time it is still bonded together. The fire at this point is an intruder, imposing itself on this bond of gold and other metals. It is disruptive. It is sorrow and suffering that aren't welcome. But the longer the heat is applied the more the dynamic changes. As the heat bonds with the gold, the other metals separate.
I saw myself tonight as that gold. Heat fully bonded to my soul, pushing all that bitterness to the surface. That is the most painful part. The fire no longer hurts, it's the weight of that unwanted metal sitting on top. That is the continuing grace of God right there. To make me the kind of woman that would plead more to be rid of the weight of that bitterness than she ever wanted rid of the fire.
Those are the tender mercies of God. No, it doesn't seem tender, and I've sat here and contemplated long and hard about how to explain it, but the love of my Father defies all explanation.
I don't think the metal He skims off the top is thrown out. I think once the impurities are separated from me, He fashions them into tools and hands them back. These are my treasures. They are far beyond anything of worth this world could offer me.
My heart aches for those of you who will never hold these gifts from your creator, and never be the gold He would have you to be.
Thy gentleness hath made me great. Psalm 18:35
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Bridge to Terabithia
I saw "Bridge to Terabithia" the other day. There is a scene where the three kids are in the back of a truck on their way home from church and they have a conversation about God damning people to hell. I thought it was important that you get the Christian perspective on that subject.
I want you to imagine a world where all crime went unpunished. How do you think things would go in a world like that? A world without judges would be a horrible place to live. The fact is, the Bible describes God as a judge many times and there will come a day when He will judge this world. God would not create a law just to disregard it by not demanding punishment when that law is broken.
When May Belle said "You have to believe in the Bible Leslie, or you'll get damned to hell when you die." Those were not just words coming from the mouth of a child, there were adults who wrote that line for her, adults who wish to put the blame for their damnation on the back of God. They refuse to admit that they are condemned because of their own filthy sin. They say things like that to make it seem like God is unfair to punish them just because they don't believe in the Bible. In doing this they think they can avert the focus off of themselves and maybe try to play the ignorance card later and say they just didn't know. But God is not mocked.
When Leslie said that she didn't really think God went around damning people to hell, she was breaking the second commandment, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image" Exodus 20:4. Do you know why so many people in the Bible continually rejected the one true God for some lump of rock shaped like an animal? They loved their man made idols because they didn't do anything. They didn't make laws and they certainly didn't punish anyone for breaking them. There is no fear of judgment coming from a lump of rock. They loved their sin, so they made gods who would allow them to enjoy themselves. That is exactly what many people are doing today, what Leslie did when she said what her idea of God was.
A lot of people even claim to be Christians but reject the notion that God will ever judge. They reject the clear words of scripture. They either take the words of God that speak of His coming wrath and twist them to mean something entirely different, or will even flat out deny that the Bible is inspired.
They also deny their own logic. As I asked you before, imagine a world without judges, all criminals being given a pardon and never punished for their crimes. What about the man who rapes and kills a little girl, the teenager to beats and old lady to death in the park for the few dollars she has in her purse, or the mother who's children struggle for air under the water of a bathtub, looking up in horror at the very woman who they thought they could trust to protect them. Who knows how many countless murders get away free and clear every year in this country. What if it were someone you loved? Doesn't our human heart, as fallen as it has become, cry out for justice? What kind of god would wave his hand at all the evil man can do as if it meant nothing?
And what of Jesus? How can you believe in Jesus and not believe in punishment for sin? If there were no damnation to fall upon this wicked world, why the cross? Why would God have become flesh and dwelt among us? Why would He have walked this earth, and loved this people who would ultimately reject, humiliate, torture, and crucify Him? Why would He take that punishment, if there were no punishment?
Yes Leslie, people will be damned to hell. But it will not be God who puts them there. It will be their own sin, and their love of it.
John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
I want you to imagine a world where all crime went unpunished. How do you think things would go in a world like that? A world without judges would be a horrible place to live. The fact is, the Bible describes God as a judge many times and there will come a day when He will judge this world. God would not create a law just to disregard it by not demanding punishment when that law is broken.
When May Belle said "You have to believe in the Bible Leslie, or you'll get damned to hell when you die." Those were not just words coming from the mouth of a child, there were adults who wrote that line for her, adults who wish to put the blame for their damnation on the back of God. They refuse to admit that they are condemned because of their own filthy sin. They say things like that to make it seem like God is unfair to punish them just because they don't believe in the Bible. In doing this they think they can avert the focus off of themselves and maybe try to play the ignorance card later and say they just didn't know. But God is not mocked.
When Leslie said that she didn't really think God went around damning people to hell, she was breaking the second commandment, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image" Exodus 20:4. Do you know why so many people in the Bible continually rejected the one true God for some lump of rock shaped like an animal? They loved their man made idols because they didn't do anything. They didn't make laws and they certainly didn't punish anyone for breaking them. There is no fear of judgment coming from a lump of rock. They loved their sin, so they made gods who would allow them to enjoy themselves. That is exactly what many people are doing today, what Leslie did when she said what her idea of God was.
A lot of people even claim to be Christians but reject the notion that God will ever judge. They reject the clear words of scripture. They either take the words of God that speak of His coming wrath and twist them to mean something entirely different, or will even flat out deny that the Bible is inspired.
They also deny their own logic. As I asked you before, imagine a world without judges, all criminals being given a pardon and never punished for their crimes. What about the man who rapes and kills a little girl, the teenager to beats and old lady to death in the park for the few dollars she has in her purse, or the mother who's children struggle for air under the water of a bathtub, looking up in horror at the very woman who they thought they could trust to protect them. Who knows how many countless murders get away free and clear every year in this country. What if it were someone you loved? Doesn't our human heart, as fallen as it has become, cry out for justice? What kind of god would wave his hand at all the evil man can do as if it meant nothing?
And what of Jesus? How can you believe in Jesus and not believe in punishment for sin? If there were no damnation to fall upon this wicked world, why the cross? Why would God have become flesh and dwelt among us? Why would He have walked this earth, and loved this people who would ultimately reject, humiliate, torture, and crucify Him? Why would He take that punishment, if there were no punishment?
Yes Leslie, people will be damned to hell. But it will not be God who puts them there. It will be their own sin, and their love of it.
John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
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