Are You Ready?

 If Jesus came back tomorrow would you be ready? If you looked up in the sky and saw a sign from heaven would you be ready to go?

The truth is Jesus is coming back soon and our time is getting shorter. God's getting ready to do a big thing. That will bring a big change.

Get ready.

Be at peace. He is your comfort and hope. He loves you and can't wait to celebrate with you.

Lessons from the wilderness

In a recent lesson about Moses and the parting of the Red Sea, I saw the nation of Israel from a different perspective. They were called by God to leave Egypt. Whether the Israelites wanted to go or not, the Egyptians were glad to see them leave. So much so, that riches were bestowed to them. What a wonderful thing to happen. And things looked great, until after they arrived at the coast.

 

From their perspective, something had snapped at their old place and the Egyptians came after them. What was an enjoyable moment of seeing a vast body of water soon evaporated. They found themselves trapped between the sea and people who wanted to kill them.

Have you ever found yourself in a bind similar to that? Maybe no one wants to kill you, ... but perhaps... things are sailing along, looking great, when all of a sudden, things look dreadful. You lean on your past to find a way to solve the issue. You see no way out. And, it looks like nothing will work. Despair can set in quickly.

When the Israelites saw the army coming after them, and they couldn't figure a way out of their predicament, they got mad at Moses. From the scriptures we see that there was a mixture of emotions, separating the nation into divisions that supported the statements recorded in Exodus 14. Picture the people probably yelling the statements and questions. Why did you make us leave? Did you bring us out to die in the wilderness because there were no graves left in Egypt? Didn't we tell you to leave us alone? We wanted to stay and continue serving the Egyptians. After all, it's better to be a slave than to die in this place.

But here's where the lesson shows up. Moses leads them in trusting God once again. And, by following what God instructs, they are saved. God made a way where there seemed to be no way.

As for Egypt, we learn from their actions as well. Even when we are on God's path, the enemy of God's people will continue to pursue us... attempting to destroy our efforts and actions. If we focus on the threats and impending doom, we can find ourselves stressed out to the max and unable to focus. But, and this is a big but,... if we turn to God, follow His guidance, then He will make a way.

This is something I need to remember. After all, there is always hope.

 

What An Example We Have in Noah

 Recently in reading the account of Noah in Genesis 6, I was struck by the words "only blameless" and "blameless in his generation". Those words had never sparked my mind before. 

It was like a light bulb going on when I realized that Noah was considered blameless. There's only one other person I think of as blameless and that's Jesus.

As I dwelt on that concept, I remembered Noah's sons. Yes, they supported their father by helping him build the ark. Which at the time, probably appeared to be a useless, senseless thing. No one else is recorded building such a large vessel. According to the Bible, there is no record of rain happening. After all, at that time, the atmosphere and earth worked together in perfect harmony. While there were rivers, they didn’t live near a coastline where a large ship would have made sense. So, when you look at this, these men were good sons, good men. 

But they weren't blameless. If they had been, the Bible would have said that Noah and his sons were blameless men. Yet, it didn't. In fact, from the verses that follow the flood account (Genesis 9:18-27), we see that Noah's youngest son disrespectfully looked on his father's naked body.

That's when I realized that even with their fallen state the sons were still invited to join Noah on the ark. And, they followed their father to safety by entering that ark. They didn’t know what was coming. They were told, but they truly didn’t understand until they experienced it. That ark became a place of refuge and safety as the rain fell and water consumed the ground and ended the earthly life of extended family members, some they considered friends. I’m sure there had to be disbelief as they saw their father's words unfold before their eyes.

They were saved from the wrath of God upon the whole earth. So in a sense, the ark was their salvation.

Just as Noah directed his family to join him on the ark, Jesus presents salvation from God’s approaching wrath. Noah’s sons were not blameless. Neither are we. We each have our failures and tendencies to do the things that do not bless God. Yet, like Noah, Jesus calls us to join Him. Each of us, in our shortcomings is being asked to accept the sacrifice Jesus made for us. Everyone has this offer. 

My hope is that all eyes will be opened to the need of entering the safety of Jesus’s gift to the world. In reading the Bible, we see there is another upcoming moment of God’s wrath. What side of the unfolding realization do you want to be on?



The Truth and Nothing But the Truth

Years ago, after my grandmother passed away my siblings and I found a love letter buried deep in a chest of stored treasures. The man apologized and told her he would never hurt her again. His name was not my grandfather's name. My heart broke for her. She had known love and lost it. And, it meant enough to her that she kept the letter all those years. My dad had been right.

"The truth always comes out," he shared with me somewhere along the line.

Do you have a truth you're hiding? Do you think someone else is hiding a truth?

To hide a truth is to be part of a lie. The word "lie" sounds so wrong, but it can look good. Lies can even look right, while being completely wrong. Lies can look like the better way to go. They are by nature deceptive, so of course they can be hard to recognize. And, in today's culture, hiding the truth has become easier. It can be smothered beneath the weight of lies, thus making it to hard to find.

So where and how do we find truth? What is the truth? How do we know when we've found it? Or, maybe, you think there are no lies in your life.

The first thing to do is ask God to show if there are any lies in us. God is truth. He is the light that shines out on the darkness and exposes the truth. (1 John 1:5-7) He will show the truth. He will expose lies.

While waiting for an answer, an open mind is key. Try not to explain it away. Sometimes the truth is hard to receive and accept. (John 1:5; 8:12) But you can do it.

The next thing is to focus beyond us. So much deception has been published and placed on the airways, it makes it difficult to know the truth. Each side believes they know the truth, but only God Almighty knows what is true. Let us all pray and ask God to show the truth sooner than later. Let's ask that He expose the lies that have deceived so many. Let us thank Him for the truth He is going to show.

After all, the truth always comes out.

What? I'm Wrong?

Have you ever been so certain that you were right that you put everything you have into some action or some way of thinking? Then you see it fall apart in front of you? What do you do with that? For years I took pleasure in being right. If I was told I did something wrong, I'd reasoned and gave excuses for my actions. I don't remember ever saying I was wrong. It was extremely hard to admit I was wrong.

Then one day I witnessed someone admit a wrong. She immediately went her way without any embarrassment or shame on her face. It baffled me.

So, I decided to try it. The next time I was accused of a wrong then I would admit it. That is, if that time ever came. Sure enough...it did. My nerves were on fire and my stomach was doing flips. Taking a deep breath I said those tough words quickly, almost spitting them out.

To my surprise, an amazing thing happened.

A weight was lifted from my shoulders. I felt a freedom I did not know was missing. 

It had been so hard to say those words because I felt it would show I was weak. I thought it would lower how others looked at me. Sometimes there was a disbelief that I could be wrong. No way. Sometimes I've even thought I had heard the Lord direct in one way, but I was wrong. Like so many others, I wanted to be right, but it turned out to be my own thoughts. Scripture tells us about this. Proverbs 21:2 says that man sees his own way as right. To admit wrong, feels like it will break something inside of us. That's why we still act and think that anything we do is the right thing. (See Judges 21:25)

But, I'm here to say that is a lie from the enemy of God.

There is freedom and hope in admitting a wrong.

To this date I admit wrongs done. Sometimes to myself, sometimes to a person, sometimes only to Jesus. Each time I express guilt, the freedom grows.

I know it's not easy. Sometimes the best things in life are not easy to do. Sometimes we have to take a deep breath and dive in. Saying you're wrong can be one of those. I can't make you do it, but I can tell you, you'll be glad when you do. There's nothing like the freedom you get when you admit being wrong.

How Much Would You Pay?

In the past, I have mistakenly believed that if I do what God wants of me then things will go well. That if God is in it, there will be no confrontations, no resistance, no battles to fight. That things will fall into place without any problems. But I was wrong.

The more I study and read the Bible, the more I see that sometimes God puts us right in the middle of problems. 

Take King David, for instance. Samuel anointed him as king, but before he could officially take his place David found himself running for his life and hiding from the king's army. Basically, his own people. Even still, he behaved in ways he felt honored God. He had to fight to gain the respect of the people as he conquered lands for his nation. In the end, he is known as a great man of God and a great king.

How about the apostle Paul? After finally being accepted by the apostles and fellow believers, he was then called to reach the Gentiles. Oh, my. Talk about working between two sides. His years were filled with beatings, prison, shipwreck, and finally living under house arrest in Rome. To the human eye, this looks like failure. But, in the end, his letters written to the churches he visited make up most of the New Testament. His ministry is what many of us lean on in our daily walk.

Lastly, I want to talk about Israel. As was prophesied in the Old Testament, God called His people to return to the land once known as Israel. He told them He would make the land theirs again. But it wasn't handed to them on a silver platter and was far from pristine condition. It took lots of hard work to renew and refresh the ground. And, they had to battle for the old city of Jerusalem where the temple once stood. They knew God wanted them there, but they still had to fight for the final product God promised. This fight continues to wax and wane with time.

Have you ever been put in the middle of a mess? A place where you had to fight for God?

It's something to think about. These days are wild and crazy. What if God is putting us in the middle of a mess? What if we have to fight some battles? How much would you pay or fight for if God places you where the battle is long and hard? With each of the situations above, they had God to direct them. So do we. He is our guide and hope in whatever mess we find ourselves.

Hope in the COVID Storm of 2020

This has been quite a year. Last year I would not have guessed that a plague-like disease would attack and affect the entire world. 

I really don't want to focus on the negative here. But let's just say there has been plenty that has happened that greatly saddens me. I know each of us could give a laundry list of issues. It's definitely been a storm of epic proportions.

Last Christmas season, I attended a meeting in which the leader instructed us to ask the Holy Spirit for a word to help us in the coming year. He gave me the word, "HOPE".

I have leaned on and claimed this word so many times in the last year, it isn't funny. I needed it to get me back on track. I needed the peace it gave me. I needed it when it was clear that truth was being pushed aside for deception. I needed it when I wondered why God was allowing this plague to go on so long.

What a storm!

Normally, when the church talks about being prepared for storms, I think of those that affect us personally. And in the midst of those disruptions of my normal life, it is difficult to look beyond my personal woes or needs. But there are times when storms, especially physical ones, affect many others. Think of hurricanes and tornadoes. Was there such a storm in the Bible?

Yes.

In Mark 4, the disciples and the boats that followed them were all affected by the same storm. It came on them suddenly. Some of them were experienced navigators in that sea...they knew the way the lake waters could act in a storm...they knew their boat. Yet, this storm was different from others. From the passage, we know that it brought fear of death to those in the boat with Jesus. Can you imagine the fear the people in the other boats experienced? They didn't have Jesus with them.

And those with Jesus? They knew Jesus had power to heal. And He spoke with an authority about God in a way they had never heard before. But this storm pushed all that aside and brought on a fear of destruction. All they knew of Jesus, all they had experienced with Him was thrown overboard. 

They didn't understand that God was watching after them and would protect them. They didn't get that Jesus had more ministry ahead of Him. They didn't trust that no matter what happened God would be there with them because they had Jesus on board. In the end, these men got through that storm with Jesus, and faced many other encounters.

Just like these men, we will get through our current global storm. I know I speak for many when I say that I don't wish this storm to ever happen again. The questions we have to think about right now are...Is Jesus in my boat of life? Have I kept everything I know about Jesus with me or thrown it overboard? Do I trust Him in this storm? Do I trust Almighty God to do what is right (no matter what that is)? 

Hope is for all who believe in Jesus. Where are you placing your hope?