PSALM 103 VERSE 4: - "CHOOSE LIFE"

Who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion (Psalm 103:4)

Verse 4 gives us YET another reason to “bless the Lord”. As mentioned in the part of the series on Psalm 103, there are more than 10,000 reasons. Another reason is given to us in Verse 5, which we look at next. But we need to address and really tough subject here, and it is the subject of hell.

Most Christians wince at the thought of discussing it, but hell is a real place prepared for the devil and his angels….and unfortunately, all who reject Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in THIS life. Mankind was not created for Hell. Life was perfect before the serpent walked into the Garden of Eden standing up, tempted Eve and the rest is history. (God condemned the serpent to crawl on his belly after he caused Adam and Eve to sin).

It says a lot that in the events leading up to the Flood of Noah’s time, only the direct lineage of Methuselah survived, as God destroyed the earth. Noah and Methuselah, his grandfather lived at the same time. The name Methuselah means “with his death, it shall be sent”.  The rains started as soon as Methuselah went home to the Lord at age 969. Only eight people – Noah, his wife and three sons with their wives, survived the Flood.

But God in His compassion, love, and mercy, decided to repopulate the earth. Just as before, the descendants of Noah’s sons quickly went sideways and did the same thing which brought on the Flood in the first place. This time, God did not put up with men and women sinning for decades and decades. He cut short life and the changing atmosphere, brought on by so much H2O (water) on the planet, rearranged the ecology which supported life for humans to live 3-4-6 hundred years previously. Moses wrote in Psalm 90 that if a man is fortunate, he will live 70 years. Today, we can live a lot longer due to medical science and healthy living. 

The chief end of mankind without God, whether he or she lives  70-80, or 25 years, is the pit. I will never forget my teenage years where I would have nightmares of falling into a bottomless pit and screaming, except no sound came out of my mouth….and no one heard. This went on for years.  Salvation through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ has completely altered that. The pit is a real place. It is where the unsaved go. There is no purgatory, no mulligan, no praying for the dead….no nothing.

Because I know the truth of that feeling, where Jesus says is worse because the fire never goes out and the “worm never dies”,  I am so grateful for the Grace of God to pull me out of that mire and muck and rescue me. God gave me a choice when I came to the point in my life to choose Him or what is known as the “shachath” – the pit of death and destruction.  It is only a loving and compassionate Father and the Lord Jesus Christ Who would do something like this.

The Bible mentions “the pit” more than heaven or paradise. All the Authors of Scripture were inspired and moved by God to write in their scrolls the words they heard from the Holy Spirit. Everything written is true. No one has to go there. It is choice. Choose Life is not just a pro-life message on a placard, it is a wish and a hope for everyone to choose Christ and Heaven before times runs out.

The Lord is good and wishes all to come to repentance, to turn from their wicked ways and turn to Him. He is so full of love He sent the Lord Jesus to live as a Man on the earth and then give His perfect life so that  His – Jesus’ – Righteousness could be imputed, embedded and stamped on our very souls. Then His Holy Spirit seals us up until “the Day of Redemption”. That is, those who are saved remain saved and in Christ until we leave this earth. Once saved, always saved.

The choice for our fellow human beings is black and white. The same God Who will not countenance our sins, will anoint your head with His Holy Oil and crown you with the same crown He put on the Head of Christ so that we can be joint heirs of the kingdom with Jesus! What a wonderful Savior!

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

DAY TWENTY EIGHT:

VERSES:

"how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?"....Hebrews 2:3a

PRAYER:

Heavenly Father, oh Most High God, I thank You for the offer of reconciling with You, my Creator which the Savior made when He died for all sins for all time at the Cross of Calvary. He, who did not consider equality with You, a thing to be grasped, held on to  and more, came off the Throne of Eternity to be borne in a cold dirty cave among the lowly to become like every person He created, in order that He could feel like we feel, walk like we walk and live among us.

What manner of God is our great Lord, Jesus Christ, the Ancient of Days? History records His ministry, His Love, His Words, His teachings and all that He did - fully man yet fully God. When the pharisees grabbed Him to throw Him off a cliff, He supernaturally walked through them in amazement. When they created false doctrine out of Moses' law, He healed the sick and comforted the broken- hearted. When the evil one tempted Him using things He created, Yeshua showed us the way to defeated this evil accuser of the brethren - with the Word of God.

We once were lost in sin, in the Egypt of our own making. We were slaves to such filth and degradation, a dungeon of death walking around in the open air, of our own making by following that same accuser and devil. We bought his distractions, lies, and sugar-coated temptations and lusts of the flesh dressed up as things we "could not do without"....the same kind of lies he used against Eve in the Garden of Eve. We lived like Adam and bought the pig in a poke even when we saw through the lies like Adam did. Yet the King loved us anyway. He methodically revealed the road we were on, how wide and beautiful it looked and how it led straight to a fiery hell for all eternity, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth after all of that.

How then can we ignore and turn our backs on our Great God when He did something He did not have not to? How can we ignore the Price He Paid for filthy sinners like every man who ever lived and paid with His life at age 33 after being persecuted by evil religious men in Jerusalem and brutal soldiers from Rome? How can we spurn His offer of Rescue from the Ruins of hell by coming to the end of ourselves, stopping, turning around in repentance and accepting His offer of Sacrifice, of Salvation and of Sanctification....how can we reject that offer, Father? 

Yet, the entire world - from the mystic and violent religions of the east and from those who call themselves by Your Name and no more know You than those same followers of false religion, refuse to bow the knee in this life, while there is still breath. There remains no sacrifice for sin for those who refuse total surrender to the Will and Ways and Wonder of Christ, no matter whether they are priest, parent, "prophet" prime minister, president, professor, some of the poor, the pupil or business professional. There will be no escape for them on that Great Day of the Lord, if they neglect, ignore and turn from that free gift of eternal life, through Repentance and Faith, oh God. We pray for them that they do so, before life shall pass. Father, give us, Your elect, the strongest faith and will to endure and persevere to the end, even as You have shown us Your Grace, Mercy, Love and Favor by bringing us to the Foot of the Cross, where we shall abide with thee, until the end of time, in the Presence and Power of the One Who died for me and everyone else, in the Mighty Name of Christ Jesus, the Lord, amen.

LESSONS LEARNED IN A SNOWY DITCH

OKAY...MY FORD DOESN'T EXACTLY LOOK LIKE THIS BUT.....(lol)

I learned a couple lessons from being stuck at the bottom of a seven foot ditch, nose down in the snow. It happened while driving home two nights ago, in a blinding blizzard, with the road disappearing all of a sudden in the white-out. After getting over the initial shock, and wondering (while not blaming anyone for not stopping) when I was going to get out of this mess, I came to terms with a few things.

First, I wish to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for not just pulling me out of the ditch (via the tow truck guys) but for sending Law Enforcement guys from the County Sheriff's department to check on me regularly. He woke me up the morning after, with Psalm 27 (SEE BELOW) in my heart and wish to surrender it and pray it back to Him right now:

Secondly, however, I think the most important thing I could share with anyone, who has gone through similar circumstances with either vehicles or illness or even sudden trauma with a family member/loved one is this - never lose sight of the source of your Strength! It is easy to freak out in the midst of a catastrophic event. But when God gives you His peace, He never takes it away! I am not trying to prolong this event as many have experienced a lot worse in their lives. But I have to share what God gave me there!

What is so amazingly beautiful is His Presence! While staring out at a blinding blizzard and the nose of my unharmed Ford Taurus face down in a snow bank (seven feet down from the road), Holy Spirit kept leading me back to the book of Jonah! I did not fully understand why....since I did NOT think I was sinning like Jonah and disobeying God! Then the next day (Friday December 21...or as the Mayan calendar calls it- "the end of the world"), I read the Prayer of Jonah and found out what God wanted to remind me of and learn WHILE PRAISING HIM - EVEN IN THE STORM! Here is the portion of Scripture which He used to guide me. I got quite a few lessons and directions for ministry out of this from Jonah 2:

Those who pay regard to vain idols
forsake their hope of steadfast love.
But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the LORD!”  (Jonah 2:8-9 ESV)

FROM verse 8, I am to preach even more fervently against idolatry, paganism and false doctrines in today's Laodecian  so-called evangelical church! I am to teach of the coming judgment and wrath for all unbelievers and those who reject the Son of God!
FROM verse 9, I am to praise Him...constantly! I am to praise and trust and obey even when I am in a ditch or on the mountaintop singing with the angels! Recalling the famous song by Casting Crowns "Praise You in The Storm"..you and I should lift our hands in praise - at ALL TIMES
FROM verse 9 again, I am to promise both to fulfill and then perform to His expectation, the fulfillment of those vows and promises I made before Him, ever since I began making them! 
FROM verse 9 again, I am to proclaim HIS WAY HIS SALVATION HIS TRUTH always (which I am already doing, but I know, this was His way of comforting me while I waited for the tow trucks to rescue me out of that predicament!).  

God provides, my friends! He wants us to remember and reaffirm WHY He has saved us...why He has saved us forever (so we will never lose our salvation)...WHAT He has saved us from...and why He expects us to live for, with and IN Him, while fulfilling the Great Commission!
Amen!
Psalm 27

New King James Version (NKJV)

An Exuberant Declaration of Faith 

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
² When the wicked came against me
To eat up my flesh,
My enemies and foes,
They stumbled and fell.
³ Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.

⁴ One thing I have desired of the Lord,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.
⁵ For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.

THEY IGNORED HIM!! LET'S NOT DO THE SAME!

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS IN THE CITY OF JERUSALEM!

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
“‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’” (Matthew 2:1-6 ESV)

The above passage is familiar to all who know the full Christmas story! As we look at this amazing event - the Birth of the Savior (and He was actually born closer to the Feast of Tabernacles around September 30 rather than December 25), we are discovering different nuggets and jewels from the Kingdom of God! 
We found out that the Shepherds were the First Pastors (READ THAT STORY BY CLICKING HERE).  That would be the Shepherds of Bethlehem who watched their flocks by night.
We found out that the prophesy of the PLACE of His birth (which is quoted above) was specifically spoken of by the Old Testament prophet Micah, many hundreds of years ago! In fact that same prophesy is quoted above in Matthew 2 (in red)!

But what I wish us to take a look at is the following verse which has been troubling me for three days now: ".....When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
“‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”....(Matthew 2:3-6 ESV)

To be more specific, let us look at this part here "....the chief priests and scribes of the people....told him (Herod)....for so it was written by the prophet"!!! 
These priests - scribes and pharisees - KNEW THE MESSIAH WAS GOING TO BE BORN IN BETHELEM.
These priests - scribes and pharisees - KNEW THE ENTIRE SCRIPTURES (BECAUSE THEY STUDIED BOTH THE HEBREW SCROLLS AND THE SEPTUAGINT) SPOKE OF THE COMING MESSIAH, YESHUA THE KING, ALL THROUGH THE HAFTARAH OR THE BOOKS OF THE PROPHETS.
These priests - scribes and pharisees - KNEW THE WORD OF GOD, BECAUSE THEY LONGED FOR THE MESSIAH TO RESCUE THEM FROM ROME.
These priests - scribes and pharisees - KNEW ALL OF THIS.....AND DID NOTHING WHEN THE LORD SENT THE MEN FROM THE EAST TO INQUIRE!

THEY DID NOTHING!! NOTHING!! This is the church today! God could send the wisest prophets, missionaries, prayer warriors...and more. He could, would and does send warning after warning after warning to us to take heed, repent and get things right with Him as a country and personally. He even takes His Hands off and lets certain catastrophic events happen - yet we do NOTHING...ABSOLUTELY NOTHING....just like this religious people who could rattle off the written word....then go back to their comfortable surroundings! They went back to sleep....we are sleeping today! We are no different than those people!

You know the old story about the flood and the man who waited at the top of the house for God to rescue him, from the waters rising all around him. You remember that a boat came...and the man refused help. He said "I'm waiting for God to rescue me!" Then a helicopter dropped a ladder down and the man refused to go up into the safety of the chopper. He said "I'm waiting for God to rescue'" Well, the man drowned and stood before God where he complained to God "where were you while I was waiting on the roof and the flood was rising all around me. Why didn't You rescue me, God"
Finally God had enough and said "I sent you a boat and a helicopter and you refused them!!!"

Things happen to us because we refuse to recognize, read and react to the signs all around us. As America and its church sink further into the morass of its own making, we have only ourselves to blame.
We have ignored the news and whereabouts of the Messiah, when He was and IS always within reach. 
We have ignored and refused the prompting of the Holy Spirit daily in the church and in most, even in their own lives.
We have ignored and refused to bend the knee to the Lord and Savior and instead turned to sinful and morally bankrupt world systems to rescue us from all kinds of stupid cliffs....when we should be more concerned about rescuing as many as possible from the coming judgment!

This Christmas season, let us resolve to NOT be like these priests - scribes and pharisees - who not just knew where the Savior is, and refused to go to Him for ALL America's problems! Let us go to Him NOW and seek forgiveness; hope; compassion and His Eternal Love, Peace and Joy - the true message of Christmas! 

SEPTEMBER IS NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH

GET A KIT, MAKE A PLAN, BE INFORMED GET INVOLVED 

Get a Kit Put Together (Bug-Out Bag or 72-Hr. Bag)

Make a kit including the most important items, food, water, and first aid. To help you prepare a family kit, here's a listing of additional items most of us would not want to live without:  Crisis Supplies and Family Disaster Preparedness

Make a Plan for the Entire Family (Pets Included)

Make a plan easy enough for every member of your family, and then practice it regularly!

Try these 5 Great Sustainable Projects Your Family Can Implement Over the Weekend and please make family Emergency Bracelets for Disaster Preparation(per these simple instructions).

Stay informed and listen for EMS (Emergency Broadcast Systems) online and over the radio, as televised news sources may or may not include your area, but should also be used if power is still available.

Talk to neighbors, and make calls to out-of-state family, for news reports you might not be getting.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE!

EXCLUSIVE FROM CHERI'S & ANA'S TWINAS LATINAS MAGAZINE!

THINK ON THESE THINGS - SUNDAY

GENELLE GUZMAN-MCMILLAN
AT THE BROOKLYN TABERNACLE CHURCH

TWO TRUE MIRACLES:

GENELLE AND SIMEON

Consider this: You are the last person rescued from a collapsed building after you have been trapped for 27 hours, under concrete and steel under a stairwell. Then a hand reaches out and holds you for several minutes until three men show up to pull you out. This hand belongs to a man who was never at the scene of the rescue or a member of any staff!

Genelle Guzman-Mcmillan was coming down the stairs from the 64th floor of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 when the building collapsed around the 13th floor and 90 floors of concrete and steel fell on her, trapping her under that stairwell. Miraculously she was still breathing.


For 27 hours, no one knew she was there. Raised in a large family which went to mass on Sunday, yet a child of the clubs and party scene, she had put God on the top shelf - out of reach. Yet now, facing eternal loss and despair, Genelle knew enough of Where God was and His Power to save, to cry out to Him!


Rendered immobile and in unbelievable pain, Genelle prayed the following in order:
   Lord, let my body be found
   Lord, HELP ME
   Lord, send me a Miracle
   Lord, if you save me, I will get baptized and marry my boyfriend (with whom she was living in sin)!


At 12:30pm or so, on September 12, 2001, 27 hours after one of the Twin Towers of the World Trade center collapsed, Genelle felt this warm Hand grab her through the rubble and say "Genelle, I won't leave you"!!!!


Then the Voice told her to hold, because she will be alright as the rescuers were almost there to get her out! Not just that, but as the Hand held her, all the fear and pain from her body was gone...as she lay trapped under the dust, steel and concrete. The Voice said his name was Paul!


Minutes later, two New York firefighters with Canadian canine rescue specialist removed Genelle and rushed her through a gauntlet of applauding first responders to the ambulance. It was the most incredible scene as no one could believe there was a survivor in this unholy eerie scene!


All the firefighters and rescuers could be easily identifiable, but one person was foremost in Genelle's mind - PAUL! In this control rescue operation, not one person could be found with the Name of Paul! Years, later - the same story.


Genelle gave her life over to the Lord Jesus as Savior and then got baptized at the Brooklyn Tabernacle church (where the famous choir comes from). She has been telling the story of rescue and redemption, through the pain and surgeries and months of rehad ....and the annual pain on each successive 11th of September. Her story is not just of the Angel called "Paul" whom God sent to rescue her from the pit, but  of the God and His Christ, who is always there to never "Leave or Forsake you"!!!

That's His promise, my friends!


Consider this now: You are a very old man, faithful and true to the One Whose very Name is Faithful and True. Then one day, something happens which both stuns and confirms your faith, prayers and devotion to the One True God of Heaven.


This is the story we read every Christmas season of a wonderful old man named Simeon. He appears in the Bible for less than one chapter, but his prophetic words carry the impact and power of God and WHY He sent His Only Son - the Ancient of Days - as a baby to be born to this world.


Luke 2: 22-35 has the full account of this prayerful and faithful man of God, whom the Holy Spirit literally translated into the presence of Joseph and Mary as they brought the baby Jesus into the Temple in Jerusalem from Bethlehem. Joseph and Mary had walked the six miles from outside Bethlehem, just 8 days after Jesus was born so that the Law could be fulfilled and Jesus could be circumcized.

Simeon not only knew the Scriptures, but God knew His servant and wanted to both bless this man AND reveal the purpose of Christ, so that the Promise of Christ could be known to all generations and nations!


In essence, you will see in this amazing prophetic passage, God made the same promise to Simeon that the angel Paul made to Genelle, in the account above! Except this time, it was God the Father making the promise to Simeon that he (Simeon) would see the One Who will make that famous promise to all who believe in Him! This promise "I will never leave you nor forsake you" can be found throughout the bible. 


I recommend, as a bible study exercise, you start in Joshua 1:5 and see how many times...and where...God made this promise to His People.


As you read the following passage, which will be without comment, would you then search your own soul to see if YOU are really one of His people!


Search yourself to see if 'ye be in the faith'.  
Have you cried out to Him in the despair of your lost estate and confess and repent of your lifestyle so far, and then ask Him to save, help and rescue you? 
Are you prepared to follow through on any promises you make once He has sent Salvation to confirm your conversion, as Genelle did....(and she is now proclaiming Christ in books and on Christian TV).
Are you then prepared for an encounter with the Living God, if you life reflects this Conversion to Christ and to live and die as Simeon did?


If you are, you TRULY ARE walking in the Light of the Miracle of what occurred 2000 years ago, when a little Baby was born to a young girl, who has changed the world ever since!


Here is what Simeon said:

“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation
that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.”
And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

(Luke 2:29-35 ESV)

Bible used: English Standard Version, CROSSWAY Books (2001-2011)

Photo courtesy: www.whatreallyhappened.com