PLUMBLINE DEVOTIONAL: COLOSSIANS 1:15-20

TEXT:

COLOSSIANS 1:15-20

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation[g] under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

PART 1: HIS INSTRUCTION, HIS TESTIMONY, HIS MERCY

One particular passage from the oh-so powerful praiseworthy Psalm 19, is worthy of further deep diving and study, rather than reading it and going on to the next thing. In fact, it is so inspiring as to be transformational in the best way possible!

Verse 7 (CSB) reads as follows:

The instruction of the Lord is perfect, renewing one’s life; the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy, making the inexperienced wise.

The instruction of the Lord, as found in the Scriptures!  In 2 Timothy 3:16 we know that The Word of the Lord is/was “breathed” into the authors of the Bible by God and is profitable for teaching (instruction); reproof (discipline); for correction (righting the path we were on) and for training in righteousness (just a closer walk with Thee, Oh Lord).  It is perfect. There is nothing that should be added or taken away.

Because of its divine origins, we know there is no error in it.

Because it is from the Mind and great big Heart of the Ancient of Days, we can trust it.

Because it is from the Creator of the Universe, Whose intricate designs  are flawless, seamless and nothing less than perfection, we can trust His Mighty Hand.

All of this revives the Soul! It refreshes us as we awake to a new day. It fuels us to make it through not just that particular day, but for the rest of our days. There is so much to be grateful here in that our Heavenly Father loves us so much that He poured out His Spirit into the most magnificent document ever written. It stands for all peoples of any age, until the End of the Age, when all will be revealed.

In light of all of this, and the Purity, Perfection and all-powerful Presence of the Lord, His testimony can be depended on. If He says it, it settles the matter. If He speaks it, we believe it. If He promises it, it will happens.

When His prophets speak, their warnings materialize at the appointed time. When His Spirit moves, He saves and rescues.

Therefore, He takes coal like us, and makes diamonds. He takes simpletons like us, and makes His complex creation simple. He rescues us from the folly of our disastrous ways, and bring us to the Knowledge of the uminaginable – the Knowledge of the Holy. He guides us out from the domain of darkness, into the Kingdom of His Marvelous Light!

Oh, what love is this?!

Oh, what incredible mercy and compassion!

Oh, what a mighty God He is.

Hallelujah, what a Savior, His mercies endureth forever.

 Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved. 

TIME TO REBOOT..... TO HOPE

Senior citizens in the west are treated as almost a disposable group. I have seen in first hand, in over a decade of ministering to and at Senior; Retirement and nursing homes. To be fair, many residents in these homes do need professional medical and other care which they may not be able to receive at home by themsel
ves. However the Lord has a great message for those feel lost, lonely and neglected.  If I had a dollar for every person who told me that our service to them, on a regular monthly basis, makes it easier for them to get through the week, I would be a rich man (in worldly terms).

There is a way for those who are aging, as we all are, to turn to the Lord, get out of the funk they're in..... and just reboot. The great inventor Thomas Edison, founder and creator of the functional light bulb and the record player, once lost over $1 million in property and equipment when his place burned down in West Orange, New Jersey. Think of all the things this genius inventor lost in that fire. One million dollars in 1914 was a huge fortune. Yet Edison said the following “there is value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Now we can start anew!”

Imagine how different things can be for folks in their later years….and even the modern depressed younger generations, if they just turned to the Author and Perfecter of our Faith – the Lord Jesus Christ? His Words, the Words of the Father, inspired by the Holy Spirit are the Trinity of Excellence – timeless and true for all ages of all time. Yet, only even 9-11% of Christians even have the Biblical worldview necessary to live in that peace, joy and contentment. Look at the powerful teaching and encouragement from even a small portion from the Prayer Book of the Bible – the Psalms. Psalm 71:9-14 is the plea of a person who is older. Yet, the Scriptures applies to everyone and a young single mom, or a soldier away from home can place his or her name in there and have the same power from Above as the plea reaches heaven.

Psalm 71.

9    Do not cast me off in the time of old age;

Do not forsake me when my strength fails.

10  For my enemies speak against me;

And those who lie in wait for my life take counsel together,

11  Saying, “God has forsaken him;

Pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver him.”

12  O God, do not be far from me;

O my God, make haste to help me!

13  Let them be confounded and consumed

Who are adversaries of my life;

Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor

Who seek my hurt.

14  But I will hope continually,

And will praise You yet more and more.

The inspired author is asking for the Lord not to cast him in Psalm 71:9 (Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength fails). Sometimes the combat vet with extreme PTSD returning home, or the abandoned teenage girl under peer pressure or the young father struggling to pay medical bills for both his autistic son and an indigent parent DO feel unwanted, unloved and without a lifeline.  Sometimes it feels as if the silence from Heaven is even more overbearing when you’ve spent most of your Christian life talking about the goodness and trustworthiness of the Father. Yet, no help is around the corner.

In times like these, we do not just stop there in verse 9. We do not jump in with the crowd, who sound eerily like Job’s friends and the unbelievers who mock Christians and tell us “God has forsaken him….there is none to deliver him” (Verse 11). We press on. We pray on. We persevere on. We never give up.

We keep reading on and praying ahead and looking up and forward saying, as in Verse 12 in an even MORE intense plea “Oh God do not be far from me….make haste to help me!”  There is nothing wrong with desperate prayers, because if we stick with it. If we stay faithful. If we never ever give up, give in or throw in the towel. If we lift our eyes up unto the hills from where cometh our help...from where our help cometh from the Lord, the victory will come. Though weeping may endure for a night, joy cometh in the morning.

We may be in pain - young, old, middle-aged. We may feel forsaken. We may see the mocking and the scoffers making fun of our faith. We may even question our faith but HOLD ON! But look at what's coming! HOPE! Hope never dies! Faith is substance AND evidence so we do have a hope.

Look at verse 14 "But I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more"! That's powerful. Sometimes the thing we are praying for never gets answered or is answered in the negative. We never turn back because the Eternal City lies beyond Jordan! The Eternal City where the King lives across the cold running river with its unknown currents and turns. But we have Hope based on the substance of our Faith. This will never leave us stranded.

The bottom line is this - when the rubber meets the road and when trouble comes, reboot! Yes - start anew! It matters not if we are 75 years old, retired on a park bench feeding pigeons at 9 am or a 25 year old in the drive up line for a morning Java - start anew. Hope is around the corner. Reach out and grab it! Start anew by grasping for the Ancient Words from the Ancient of Days - Holy God. By doing so, a new God-ordained paradigm, which will immediately come into alignment with the Plans and Purposes of God to confirm our Hopeful Future! Glory to His Name. 

PRAY FOR.....GREATER FAITH

21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe;help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:21-24)
Can a believer NOT believe? Sure we can. It’s the frail human nature, which though replaced as a perishing soul at regeneration (or born-again) still continues to live in a mortal body, in a corrupt and evil world. But it is more than just our present temporary environment in this life.  We don’t believe completely sometimes because we just don’t know! We do not know because we do not read His Word and we are not led to read His Words because of a stunning lack of discipleship. We have a lack of the latter because we don’t know His Power and His Presence completely in our lives.

We do the same thing to Jesus and our Heavenly Father, which this father of the demon-possessed boy did in the verses above.  To wit, he actually said to Jesus (as translated into modern English in the New Living Translation) “have mercy on us  and help us IF YOU CAN”! Should we then be surprised when Jesus’ immediate response is “What do you mean, ‘IF I CAN’?” (verse 23a,  Mark chapter 9).

And we do the same thing: we approach God in prayer with our most serious needs, lay them before Him, then pick them right back up and go back to our corners with them. Then we call up all friends and family asking them to pray for us.  All along, Jesus stands with His Arms wide open waiting for His children to come to Him.  Is the Arm of the Lord too short?  Not it is not. He is our Prophet – He orders and ordains our past, present and future. He is our High Priest Who prays and intercedes for this who are His, and lifts us up in prayer to the Father when we ask in Faith!

Look at what Jesus said to the boy’s father here again in Mark 9:23b “anything is possible for he who believes” (NLT)! The response from the father is just so great. He has enough faith to believe Jesus can heal his son, but it appears to be the kind of faith which was just enough to look at the Lord as a “drive-up clinic”….without knowing Who Jesus really is! Thus when the boy’s father said “Lord, I believe, help my  unbelief”, he is asking for such a bump up in the measure of Faith he currently possessed that we, in this century 2000 years later, need to sit up and take notice.  

No matter how spiritually mature we think we are, we must always be pressing into and on to our higher calling in Christ. We can never know even 10% of what we should know. In fact,  after we’ve been in heaven there for 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we will not know half of Who the Lord is. This is why we have Eternity. But for this current life, it behooves us to be humble enough to realize we are still not as strong in our Faith as we should be, could be or would be. So why not ask  as this man did of Jesus: “Lord I believe, help my unbelief!” There is no simpler expression of Faith in God than this – simple, to the point, with full clarity in recognition of the paucity of our frailty before the Almighty!

Father in the Mighty and strong Name of Jesus, I believe, I trust, I have faith….but not enough.  Help me to understand the breadth and width and depth of the great mystery of our Faith, so that I may begin to comprehend just how great a God You are, Lord. Assist us in acquiring a modicum of supernatural Faith which is way beyond what is common.  Father, many have accepted You as Lord and Master of our lives, yet we do now know, nor do some even venture to grow in the wisdom and knowledge of just Who You really are beyond the baseline of the Christian Faith. Lord, we want more. 

We want to know more of You, see more of You, be more in Your Presence. We want to desire to walk fully in the knowledge of the Holy and travel in the paths of Your Righteousness, but first oh God, give us the capacity to dispatch with our incorrect notions. 

These wrong assertions about You, have come from a lifetime of traveling in the wisdom of the world or in the works of Christian authors and teachers who do not fully grasp the Power and Position You have always occupied at the Throne Room of all Time in the Universe. Lord as we get rid of our error, replace with Truth and Revelation, as much as we can handle, process and then walk out in our daily lives, helping as many as we can to come to that same place of knowing the Real God and Your amazing wonderful self.  Lord, we believe….take away any unbelief and replace it with more of You, in Jesus all Wise and Power Name, amen

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PRAYERS OF THE BIBLE SERIES: THE BOOK OF NUMBERS #6

PRECUSOR TO THE CROSS

6 The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you; intercede with the Lord, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. 8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “[j]Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” 9 And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. (Numbers 21:6-9)
This passage is no small matter. We are never told what Moses prayed when he interceded for the people one more time. Before this last episode recorded above in Numbers 21-6-9 , we are told that the Israelites rejected God ten (10)times! This time, God ran through the latest rebels like a knife through butter. He unleashed poisonous serpents which bit countless Israelites who paid the ultimate price for their sin.  Realizing their sin, the people came and begged Moses to intercede on their behalf with Almighty God. Moses was then given instructions to fashion a snake and put it on a pole, high and lifted up. God then ordained that whosever look upon that snake, was healed. And they were healed.

The significance of this can be found in the greatest passage in Bible history – John chapter 3, where Jesus Himself recalled the instructions He gave Moses then, during His nighttime meeting with Nicodemus.  Jesus said "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but[a] have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:14-16).

The serpent in Scripture is synonymous with sin, Satan and self. It was the serpent in the Garden of Eden who introduces sin into the world and brought the downfall of mankind, leading to death, destruction accompanied with all the pain and suffering we see today.  The reason Christ recalls this incident with Moses in John 3 is its dynamic parallel to the Cross. The equation is as follows: just like Adam and Eve in the garden, the Israelites sinned immensely against Holy God and died. They deserved to die, just as we do. However, Yahweh (Jesus in the Old Testament) had Moses place a snake on a wooden pole and lifted it up high. Then, when those same Israelites in the desert looked up to that pole with sin wrapped around it, they lived, in spite of their deadly snake-bitten bodies full of sin.

Jesus was predicting His own Sacrifice to Nicodemus when He said to the teacher of Israel that just as Moses lifted up that bronze serpent on pole in the desert, so must He (the Christ) be lifted up. Later on, at Golgotha, Nicodemus would realize what that meant when he and Joseph of Arimathea took the deceased body of Jesus off the Cross – the same Jesus Who became sin, lifted high on a piece of wood. This ultimate sacrifice of the Ancient of Days on behalf of sinful man was done in order that we may look up to the payment on the Cross, believe in His finished work and confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord. 

Yes, this is much more than an instance when Moses once again prayed for God to spare a rebellious and evil generation. This is the foreshadow of our coming salvation.

THIRTY ONE DAYS OF BIBLE TRUTHS - DAY 21 (RECONCILED)

BIBLE VERSE: Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18).

TRUTH: We all believe in reconciliation on a horizontal level. We love to see warring members of families come together, break bread, hug and patch up differences. We have "peace-makers" reaching out across color, class and community lines to bring people of different walks of life together for the common good. For Christians bringing people together to resolve differences is a good thing, whether it be strained relationships in marriages, churches or even the work place. But what about reconciliation with God?

The same people who would fuss and fume if their steak is under-cooked at a restaurant are the same ones who treat their eternity with absolute disregard! But this does NOT change the fact that God has made a way, when there seemed to be no way back from the precipice. The Fall of Man in the Garden (Genesis 3) where sin came into the world, created this one huge chasm between the Creator God and His creation. But Philippians 2 explains that the Almighty had already purposed in His Mind, to send the Ancient of Days - one like the Son of Man - to get off His Throne with a plan to bring wayward mankind back into the fold. Thus began the Most Important Intervention in History - God proactively offering His own Life to bring lowly humans back to Himself. There IS a qualifier - repentance, faith and complete commitment. Once that is accomplished, we hit the road with the "ministry of reconciliation" which is the call of each born-again believer to tell of what God has done for us, through His Life, His offer of Forgiveness and His Salvation. 
Be ye reconciled today!

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AUTHENTIC CHRISTIANITY STARTS WITH THE CROSS

The modern world's greatest evangelist is of course, William Franklin (Billy) Graham. He once said that "This Gospel of Christ and Him crucified is still foolishness to millions who are perishing all over the world today. How few people recognize that the answer to all the world’s problems can be found at the foot of the Cross?" That is a great question.

The Cross is an enigma, in fact it is the greatest mystery of all time! It is the best piece of jewelry out there, even used by those who do not believe in what the Cross on which the Son of God was crucified, truly signifies. In this teaching video below, I explore this Truth in more depth. However, this should never be the end of our search understand the meaning of the Cross. The great Ray Stedman explained it very well when he said: "The Cross is significant in Christianity because it exposes the fundamental conflict of life. That is what these verses declare to us. The Cross gets down below all our surface attempts at compromise and cuts down to the basic difference behind all human disagreement. Once you confront the Cross and its meaning, you find yourself unable to escape that final, basic judgment of life as to whether you are committed to error or committed to truth."

The message of the following video is based on the following passage out of 1 Corinthians Chapter 18:18-19: "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE." 

PLEASE NOTE: THE EMAIL ADDRESS MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO FROM 2008, NO LONGER EXISTS.

THIRTY ONE DAYS OF PRAYER AND THE WORD:JANUARY 1-31, 2015 THEME: "ABIDE"

DAY TWENTY FOUR:
VERSES:

"For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."....2 Timothy 1:7

PRAYER:(Against Anxiety, Day 6)

Father God we are so grateful that You have removed all obstacles that stand in the way of our reconciling with You, to remove the guilt and stand from the Fall of Adam, in the Garden. We are so grateful that through the Precious Shed Blood of the Ancient of Days, the ONLY perfect and acceptable Sacrifice for sin, that we are able to even stand in Your Holy Presence and not be cast aside into outer darkness, where doth lieth weeping and gnashing of teeth. All You ask in return for this Mighty Grace and Favor is our obedience to You, oh Most High, and surrender to All Your have in store for us. And Lord what You have and plan for those who love You, is so much better if the rest of us would just stop, listen and learn!

Who is like You, and who can out-give, out-love, out-grace You, oh Sovereign One? No one! You take away our fear and anxious moments by the strong whisper of Your Voice, as You direct us back to Your Written Word where You said "fear not" so many times, it is the most powerful exhortation in the Scripture! In our troubles and weakness, we overlook these things and subjugate our faith into second place, choosing to be like the lost of humanity and operate in the paradigm of fear. While, oh God, this may a natural human reaction, You did not call us or expect Your elect to do this sort of thing, but to trust and believe.

For that reason, You emphasized again that You did NOT give us a spirit, bent, inclination, heart and the ability to focus just so we would cower in spiritual and natural fear, when You - the Lord of Heaven's Armies Who can destroy every evil thing with one Word, one Command, is for us! We know this, we know You have us covered by the Blood and by the Angels, so help us to have the triple portion of Faith necessary to operate in this way every single moment of every day of every week and forever more, until You call us home.

You called us 'sons of God' and gave us Power (John 1:12) and thus, we already are embedded with Your dynamic, fluid Kingdom authority to beat back the enemy with the same word - Prayer! We must take authority over our situation, in Jesus' Name and then that authority will be thus be our connection to the Source, so You can then execute the result You desired in any particular situation. And we do this in Love oh God, the same love, agape, unconditional and forgiving love You showed us as we wallowed in our sin before Christ rescued us. None of this is possible - operating out of AND under the Authority of Christ in love, power and boldness if we are not under control, in sound mind and full conscious, aware, obedient and knowledgeable to the Who You are and what You are accomplishing in our lives.  Father God, give us the soundness and clarity of mind, that we, Your people, keep our collective heads on in cool calmness, being vigilant and alert so that when everything starts falling down around us, we can be under the unction of the Holy Spirit, in full control to lead others to You Way - the Perfect Way. We ask this through the Mighty Undefeated Name of our Lord and Commander of the Universe - Jesus, our Soon Coming King. AMEN

THIRTY ONE DAYS OF PRAYER AND THE WORD:JANUARY 1-31, 2015 THEME: "ABIDE"

DAY FOUR:
VERSE: 
"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me....(Galatians 2:20)
PRAYER:

Oh Most Heavenly and Gracious Father, in my weak estate I look up to You with hope for understanding of what this positional condition of really means! Lord, that the Ancient of Days would step down from Eternity to live as a man for 33 years among the heathen, and even His Half-brothers and sisters who did not believe in Him while He was alive (*until the Resurrection) ....that this King of Creation would be crucified by You for my sake is beyond comprehension. Even more so, oh Ever-loving, Ever-merciful God, is that sinners like we who follow Christ, can have our old sinful nature crucified on that instrument of death, call the Cross, with the Savior and be in a permanent condition of rest, because of it!

Such knowledge is too high, I cannot attain  unto it, Father. But I do willingly, wonderfully and wisely accept my condition of being in the Eternal Kingdom NOW, as one abiding in eternity with the God of Eternity - Three persons, One in Essence! Because of that positional salvation which You have given all who name Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, it is no longer me calling the shots, but the Holy Spirit - God and Counselor - with Whom You have sealed me until that Day! But as the Gentleman and freedom-loving God You are, You have also given me the free will to mess that relationship up and even grieve Your Spirit, which too many of Your people do, and which I have personally done in the past. Lord, take my will. Not my will, but Thy will be done. Christ lives in me, may I be so completely His in the natural as well as the Inner Man, that the world may know and see Him through my thoughts, words, actions and prayers.

May the Christ who abideth in me, through the Power of the Paraclete, the Source called the Spirit and the Oracles of all Knowledge strengthen my faith and wonder and awe of You, that my dying flesh and earthly man will live the life, the life of abundance in Christ, because You have done exceedingly and above abundantly more than I can ever imagine. But help me to stay in this zone 24/7 when the distractions of the natural and the flesh threaten to take me away, that I may not sin by commission or omission but keep my eyes on my position in Christ, the Crucified Whose love for me kept Him there until Your propitiation was accomplished. Lord this truth, this fact that the Savior, that YOU loved ME and the whole world, that You gave up God the Son emboldens, encourages, enlightens, energizes and brings me to knees....nay, by face before Your Throne in gratitude as I contemplate and think on these things, act on these things and live daily for You, who gave us Christ as Lord, and it is in His Powerful and Almighty Name, I pray, amen.

REVIEW: MOST PRACTICAL BOOK ON GOD'S RULES!

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS:

 ANCIENT WORDS - TIMELESS TRUTHS

Dr. J. Rodman Williams was the Chaplain to the First US Marine Corps on Okinawa and in China during the heat of the battle in World War II, yet this man of God was also an anointed prolific author/pastor and theologian who touched many lives. When he died at age 90, in 2008, Dr. J. Rodman had completed a full life, kept the faith and finished the race. During his life, he authored many books which were well-circulated, but just a few months ago, his widow Johanna released a brand new masterpiece which is required reading for any serious Christian.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS: Ancient Words - Timeless Truths is a rugged, plain yet gentle reminder of  every human's relationship with the Holiness of God and healthy daily interaction with our fellow man. More than just a recitation of the "Do's and Don'ts" of the Decalogue, it is a loving exposition of every one of the Ten Commandments' meaning and application to daily life.

DR. J. RODMAN WILLIAMS

The book has the loving feel from an under-shepherd of Christ, who cares about every detail of his flock and less than that of a theRULEologian - which Dr. Williams was! (Dr. Williams was also a professor of Renewal Theology at Pat Robertson's Regent University in Virginia).  

The first four commandments define our relationship with God and what He requires for us to even have such a relationship. The Fifth Commandment defines the transition from God the Father to our parents and then leads us to Commandments Number Six through Ten, which are life rules EVERY single human should live by! I had just completed a series of 10 television programs on the same Ten Commandments in detail when I came across this wonderful book!
Even so, I found his treatment of each commandment's application and definition to be absolutely fascinating and fabulous. The Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit - the Author of Scripture - jumps out off the words of the book! My most favorite chapter, since I loved the entire book, was the Second Commandment - "You shall not make unto yourself any graven image..." or basically - you shall not make idols and worship them! What the author did here was not just give the obvious examples of people praying to statues of the saints etc...but how evangelicals - protestants like you and I - fall for cultural creep into our consciousness and end up with graven images (or worse) in our own lives; in our own churches; in our own worship. This was his strongest and fullest chapter and worth the price of the book, by itself!

This book is so needed in light of not just the idolatry of even people inside of the church, but an entire society that it should required reading in every Sunday School class and small group. The chapter on the Eight Commandment (You shall not steal) should convict not just everyone in society, but any christian who thinks he is getting away with some of the most "innocent: (by world standards) of actions! I recommend this book as a companion to your study. I guarantee if you read this book - Ten Commandments: Ancient Words- Timeless Truths, and talk about it, you have the ability to lead many others to seek a deeper understanding of not just the "rules and laws" listed therein, but the Law- giver - Jesus Christ, Who IS the Fulfillment of the Law!

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE THE BOOK

CLICK HERE TO WATCH MY PLUMBLINE TV SERIES ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

ARE YOU SITTING IN VICTORY THIS EASTER?

One of my favorite things about the Resurrection Account of Jesus' Victory of Death and the Grave is  a much overlooked verse from Matthew 28:2! It both delights and fires me up to what Heaven's response was, and continues to be, about the Savior's pending return to Heaven.


It says "And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it" Now at first glance, this is a run of the mill verse....or a set-up, if you will. This is just another introductory verse to the real story. But, wait!


This is the sound and emphatic entrance of Victory! Everything had changed since evil religious men and their pagan Roman cohorts killed the Son of God just 48 hours before! Here is what happened:


- Christ assumed the mantel of Sin for all mankind, for all kind.
- His condition on the Cross was so repugnant to Holy God, that Abba Father could not stand to look at Him. Jesus was virtually on His own out there on Golgotha's mountain, dying for all of us, for all time! 

- The Ancient of Days  and His Son, Who reigned eternally since the Beginning of Time, was away from the Throne of Heaven for the very first and last time ever!

- Everyone in Heaven missed Him!

All creation worships the Lord! Jesus said even the rocks would cry out, if people are shut out by others, from proclaiming Him! Heaven was waiting for 33 years before the Son could complete His ministry or Earth and did all asked of Him, on behalf of you and I!

The level of worship in Heaven is formidable and continuing right now as we speak! Read Isaiah 6: 1-7 and then Revelation 4. The angelic beings LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Lord! They love His Holiness and His Presence! Most of all, they missed their King for those 33 long years He was away from the Throne Room of Heaven!

The Gospel writer - Matthew - gave and I got, the impression that this was one of the Top Messengers of God and he just could not wait to bust of Heaven! Father God shook things up for one of Jesus' own ministering angels and then he rolled away the stone!  Here is the part I love - the Angel "sat upon it"!

First of all, when angels appear in all the Bible, they are always standing! This verse tells us the Angel was so pumped up, due to this mission over the fact of the Resurrection that he pushed that huge rock away. Then to underline the Message from Heaven, by sitting down and proclaiming Christ, the Angel confirms that Jesus accomplished on earth. The earth was now the Footstool as well as the Throne Room of the Eternal King. Now things will be different. 

THEREFORE, MEDITATE UPON THESE ACTION POINTS:

- What  can be applied to our own lives, when we read the most exciting news? 

- This morning, as you read this verse and realize what it really means, are you missing the Presence of Jesus? Did you walk away from Him or maybe you never knew Him as Lord, and Savior?

- Do you have triumphant attitude about your own resurrection one day, when you look at the true meaning of Easter? Does this attitude lead you to a lifestyle of worship which this wonderful ministering Angel, who descended from eternal Heaven, lived?

Please, do think on these things as tomorrow, we will go a little deeper into the Resurrection of this mortal body - or what Paul calls and the western wall calls - The Rapture! Shalom!

(Image courtesy google)

THIRTY DAY PRAYER CHALLENGE - DAY 8

PRAYING THE NAMES OF GOD

DAY 8:


GOD IS LOVE


Love is the most miscontrued, misused and misapplied word in the world!  Our focus today is not to dwell on and dissect all the different types of love in humanity, but to zero in on this characteristic of our Holy and Loving God!


As I mentioned yesterday, we cannot separate the Attribute from the Name of God. Many throw around the statement "GOD IS LOVE" very loosely to cover a wide variety of behaviors and philosophies - mostly non-Christian!


But we, who are called by His Name, are required to get it  correctly, right off the bat. Therefore,  let us key into the selected passage for today"

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

(1 John 4:7-10 ESV)



As you see, the Apostle John uses the word "LOVE" many times in these few verses!  All of these words are from the same root word for Divine Love - Agape!


Agape is the HIGHEST form of Love a human being can have for another human being. 


It is a selfless, unconditional and sacrificial love for another. 
It is the kind of love which forgives another when they have wronged us. 
It is the kind of love which so fills our hearts that we wish everyone to have a close walk with Jesus too, so that they too can go to Heaven. 
It is the kind of love we have for our children that we want to raise them up in the way that they should go, so that when they are older, they will not depart from it.
It is the kind of love which could cause us to give up this mortal life to our persecutors, who will soon be at our doors in the coming Tribulation.


It is also the following verse from the Lord Jesus Himself when He said in John 14:21 "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”


Father, in the Name of Jesus, I thank You so loved fallen and evil mankind, even though our sin has risen up as a foul odor to Your Holy Throne, God YOU loved us so much that You sent the Ancient of Days - the Lord Jesus Christ - to be our Atonement.


Lord Your love for us was so strong that You sacrificed Your own Son Jesus, watched Him persecuted and killed by evil men, watched Him die willingly on that Cross and then You were satisfied that Payment was made, once and for all, so that all men and women who believed and accepted that Payment was THE covering for their own sins, would be restored to Covenant relationship with You!


Because of that great sacrifice - done once and for all - Your Name became Love, Father. Lord we know that if we walk in Your ways, You will make Yourself known to us. Lord we long to do that. 
We long to see You. 
We long to love You more each day. 
We live to grow in You. 
We live to see others come to a saving knowledge of Eternal life as found in Christ Jesus the King. 
We listen to that strong soft voice of Love. 
We look forward to that Day when the Trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend...because Father, it is ONLY because of You and Your Son, that it is well with my soul.


Let me meditate on Your Words here day and night, that I may have Your Name so that when others see our anointed works, they will see the Agape Love in us and Glorify You in Heaven.


In the Name of Jesus I pray, amen.

TOMORROW: DAY 9 - GOD IS JEHOVAH - JIREH

(image by google images)