Facebook Lamentation

This morning as I was perusing my facebook page I was struck by all the prayer requests from hurting people from my 1,500+ friends list. Reading all the sorrowful reports, I took them to the LORD in prayer with tears caused from the empathy they aroused in me.

There's so much hurt going around in this Valley of Tears. Social media has given us a glimpse of the many prayers God receives every day. We've all read them. People asking for prayer for various reasons:

* Painful cancer treatment;
* Loss of house trying to pay for wife's medical needs;
* Emotional struggles facing first Christmas after loss of loved one;
* Living in fear over rising crime rates in neighborhood;
* Pictures of decapitated children murdered in Islamic countries:
* Persecuted believers being imprisoned for their faith.

And on and on. Reading all of these can be overwhelming. We understand what the Bible means when it says, "When one member suffers, we all suffer; and when one member rejoices, we all rejoice." (loose paraphrase). Yet with all the information coming our way on facebook, the sounds of sorrow can drown out the sounds of joy.

A scene from the film 'Bruce Almighty' came to mind. In this farce the Jim Carrey character was granted the ability to be God for a day. He became inundated with voices of prayers coming at him. He started writing the requests down on post-it notes, and then filled file cabinets. Finally he sent out a huge group email saying 'Yes' to them all.

I wish I could do the same for all those suffering. But I'm not God and neither is Bruce. God does have His purposes for suffering. He can even turn "all things for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes." (Rom 8:28) And Jesus identifies with our infirmities. He was a 'man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.'

It is comforting to know that we can cast all our cares upon Jesus today, even as we bear one another's burdens. We do have the joy set before us of our redemption and can look beyond this life's troubles to our coming reward. On that note, I hope this song is an encouragement.

Merry Christmas!

"looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Heb 12:2

Proclaim Him at the Party

With Christmas and New Year's coming up many of us will find ourselves at parties where baby Jesus is welcome but the risen, ruling Christ the King is not. Many a holiday party, especially on New Year's eve, will have alcohol and other temptations designed to inhibit self-control and stumble the believer.

How can we let our hair down while keeping our guard up? Some might be tempted to just stay home alone, but is that what Jesus would do? He ate and drank with sinners and gave them the good news of the gospel. We should follow His example and not hide our light at the same time.

It is difficult in these dark days to heed the Apostle Paul's example to become all things to all men that we might save some. That's a fine line we must walk, to fit in with unbelievers yet not indulge the flesh. Jude put it well - "And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh." (v. 23)

We are not Amish, separating ourselves from the world and living in our own little closed communities, fearing outsiders. We're to be in the world, but not of it -- another difficult thing to balance.

We can look at those invitations as opportunities to be used by the LORD to draw men to Him. Pray before you go asking the LORD to give you an open door in conversations to speak the truth in love to those who are open to the truth. Put a gospel tract or two in your purse or pocket. If anyone is flying on a plane to go home for the holidays, that is another place we can pray the LORD sit us next to one who is being drawn by God and is looking for answers.

Time is short for getting the gospel into the highways and biways. It's all up to us. God gives us divine appointments as His ambassadors to light the way for others. That is our assignment, the Great Commission; let's fulfill it until He comes for us.

"No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light." - Luke 8:16

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear" - 1Pet 3:15

"Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will." - 2 Tim 2:21-26

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nPFUh4j2OM  

Life Extension

My sister Karen and I were talking yesterday and both of us were marveling at how good the LORD has been to us. She said she knows that without the LORD she wouldn't be alive today and before I could get a word out of my mouth she said, 'you too.'

Yes, we each had a life-threatening condition from which the LORD miraculously rescued our lives. I was at death's door in 1983 and again in 1997. Without the LORD neither of us would be here today.

We agreed that that the time we have left on this planet is not our own. Time is a gift from God. Many of you reading this have also received an extension of your life. That extended time is not yours. My extended time is not mine. Karen's time extension is not hers either.

Those added years belong to the LORD. Although all born-again believers know from God's Word that they are new creatures in Christ and the old man is dead, those of us who have experienced divine intervention to extend life (and you all know who you are) have a more tangible revelation of that fact that is true for all God's children.

God has a reason for keeping us here. Let's pray that for all us He would direct and guide our steps to fulfill the work He wants us to do. We will only know His will in our lives when we put Him first and set aside any self-centered pursuits. We belong to Him. May He live in us and through us until He brings us home.

Maranatha!

"Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead." 1 Peter 4:1-5

The Living Word of God

Our God IS an awesome God!! And His Word is awesome and powerful and alive! It lays out the beginning to the end - a very complete Word. There's no need to add to it, and God help anyone who tries to remove any part of it or distort it.

I've read thousands of books by the best authors this world has ever produced - and no human writings can hold a candle to the Bible. All other books are just dead words on paper - one-dimensional. But God's Word strikes at the heart and is as relevant today as it was when it was written thousands of years ago.

Yet who can read something by Shakespeare without struggling to understand the flowery dialogue and outmoded ideas. Even the 1611 King James Version reads smoother in its grammar and usage than Macbeth or Hamlet.

The Bible never gets outdated - the truths in it are eternal and prophetic. This little Psalm might be even more meaningful today than it was when King David wrote it under the anointing of the Holy Spirit four millennia ago. Ponder it for true meditation.

Psalm 12:

Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.

They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.

The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:

Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?

For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.

The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

The Time for Gleaners

The LORD Jesus when He walked this earth told those who believed on Him to, "Follow Me." They were to forsake all and follow Him wherever He led.

How many today are so attached to a home town, a farm, a job, a house, a business, that if Jesus impresses upon them to go to a certain place, they will say to Him, 'sorry I just can't get away'? Could that attitude and attachment to this world come back to hurt us in these perilous times?

I'm sure there are those whom the LORD calls to stay where they are planted. And they follow Him by bearing fruit where they are. But we need to learn to hold onto the things of this world loosely if we are to be ready to get up and go when God says go.

It seems as the time gets closer to His coming for His bride, the need to get out into the highways and biways is greater than ever before. If the harvest was ripe and the workers were few back in the first century, the need is even greater today. The harvest is almost over - the invited guests are busy with the world's affairs - and the gleaners need to be sent out to gather what's left.

We all need to pray that the LORD would give us our assignments for what could be the last call before He comes for His church. We need to loosen our grip on the things of this world if we are going to be vessels God can use while it is still day - before the night comes and no man can work.

This is where the scattered sheep need to come together, each bringing his/her gifts and abilities for the task. When the LORD says go, will we be ready?

LORD Jesus, please guide our steps and direct our paths to our assignments so we can be wise servants busy about our Father's business in this needful hour. May we be found so doing when You come to catch us up in the clouds to be with You forever and ever!

Amen!

“But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” - Luke 12: 31-40

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdRKPO9BZ_g

No Doom-And-Gloom

We who are looking for the coming of our LORD and Messiah Jesus Christ are often mischaracterized as negative doom-and-gloomers.

You and I know that is far from the truth. We have the joy set before us anticipating our reunion with loved ones and excitement that we will soon see Jesus face-to-face and come back with Him to rule and reign on earth with Him.

That does bring joy to my heart, along with love for the One who washed me from my sins that were many. I can relate to the woman who wept tears over Jesus' feet and dried them with her hair -

“Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” - Luke 7:47

Our gratitude for what He did for us and our eagerness to see Him and bow before Him and cast our crowns at His feet is what really characterizes the watchful saints. Even though Jesus had to endure the cross for the joy set before Him, we too must endure the birth pangs and many of us are affected by them. But we endure those things knowing that the joy of the LORD returning and setting up His Kingdom is the end result.

So with that in mind - today is a day to be happy knowing His return is so near. So I've posted a happy song that we can sing with true joy, unlike those who mis-sing it at the Mardis Gras.

Maranatha!

"Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory" - 1 Pet. 1:5-8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf61Vk-Q2mo

Weep With Those Who Weep

As we see the birth pangs - earthquakes, weather disasters, pestilence - taking place, like the typhoon that just hit the Philippines, you will hear many say this is God's judgment. They will say God is getting back at the Philippines for their Catholic idolatry or their tolerance of sin. No matter where the disaster hits, many will sit in judgment over that location with a self-righteous voice of condemnation thinking no storm will befall them for they are so good.

The book of Revelation reveals the coming wrath of God and this ain't it. For now, disaster befalls saints and sinners alike. We are in no position to look down upon people who are suffering as if we're up on some holy pedestal. When I see professing Christians make such pronouncements against victims of natural disasters, I can sense the Holy Spirit being grieved. Now is not the time to point fingers, but to lend a helping hand. These sorts of proclamations of condemnation against hurting people give all Christians a black eye before an onlooking world.

Jesus had to straighten out His followers when they made similar assumptions. 

"There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.'” - Luke 13:1-5

We are all worthy of judgment and only pass out of judgment when we are redeemed by the LORD. But we all are still possible victims of coming tornadoes, hurricanes, illness, and towers falling.

It is an insensitive and ungodly response to those in pain to tell them God is judging them. Those who do that better look out for falling rocks or even towers.

From an aging regenerate hippie - We could all use a little bit more peace and love in a world filled with hate. 

"Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law." - Rom 13:8

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God." - 1 Jn 4:7

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMnHutmo7OM