KEYS TO A GODLY LIFE PART 12/12 - JUDGMENT DAY COMING

THE DAWN OF GLORY SERIES:

PLEASE READ THE PASSAGE, THEN - WATCH THE BRIEF EXPOSITION FROM THE PLUMBLINE VIDEO:

2 Peter 3:1-16

This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.

The Coming Day of the Lord

3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” 5 For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, 6 through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. 7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

A New Heaven and Earth

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 

17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away bythe error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

ALL SCRIPTURE FOR PARTS 1-12 OF THIS SERIES FROM BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

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.

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!

DAY 2 - PRAY WITH MY SPIRIT....AND MIND

TOMORROW IS AMERICA'S ANNUAL NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER. HERE IN SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, WE HAVE CHOSEN THE FOLLOW AS OUR KEY SCRIPTURE VERSE TO SHOW HOW WE, THE ACTUAL PEOPLE OF GOD, SHOULD APPROACH THIS DAY AND EVERYDAY AS A PERSON OF PRAYER AND PRAISE:
TODAY, DAY 2 OF OUR THREE DAY FOCUS, WE SEE WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT THE MECHANISM OF PRAYER.
"What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also".(1 Corinthians 14:15 ESV)


What does the Lord mean, when He had the Apostle Paul teach that he (Paul) should not just pray with his spirit, but "mind also"? This statement alone shows that Christianity is THE Thinking Man's religion! While thinking about how to explain this briefly, yet accurately, the Spirit within me led me to the book of Job and chapters 38-42! 


For almost 36 chapters, Job is afflicted with the worst possible diseases and health problems. He and his friends spend long periods of time making speeches and saying things about God which are totally WRONG and in fact, insulting to God! Finally in those final four chapters, God has had enough and speaks! From Chapters 38-41, He asks Job 77 questions about Creation and how it came about. Of course, Job (as do we) does not have a clue or an answer for the Creator!

Yet even after Job has exhibited that he is completely out of his league in debating God....and does not have an answer for ANY of those 77 questions....God still gives his Grace and Mercy. Even more, God told Job's three friends, whom He had every right to destroy for their heresy, that if they make the appropriate offering, then "Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” (Job 42:8 ESV)


So here is the deal...and the process. God engages us with our minds first. He shows us how weak and small we are, and most of all, how much we are in need of a Savior. But He does it with love and gentleness and the rest is up to us. Do you know any other god who will say "“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool (Isaiah 1:18)


He says "Come let us REASON"!!! God wants to REASON with us! That means HE IS A REASONABLE GOD, Who is capable to answering our questions, thereby engaging our minds in the True Worship of the type of saint God is looking for! Jesus Himself said ""But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers (John 4:23).


NOW, after He has reasoned with us and engaged our minds with His Righteousness and Holiness and Power, the proper response is to PRAY! Under the New Covenant, which Jesus instituted with this Death, Burial and Resurrection in 33 AD, we are to be like Job's three friends in Job 42:8 above and sacrifice. The difference is that OUR sacrifice is one of Praise, Surrender, Submission and Obedience to God. We will choose to do this willingly because of Who He is and What He has revealed of Himself. After we have offered up that Sacrifice on His Altar, we pray!


Yes! We pray! AND, prayers, which are offered up with this sacrificial attitude of gratitude for the New Covenant, as I have mentioned, will then be deemed acceptable to the LORD. Then, He Himself, will indeed then listen and respond, according to His Will.


This is how we pray with our minds and then respond in our spirit to the King of the Universe. Only those who HAVE the Spirit, can respond in kind....and that means, only those who are saved and rescued from "the dominion of darkness" by the Savior can approach Him with reason and worship. Is that you? Are you saved? Do you KNOW that you're saved? Are you washed in the Blood and has God shown Himself to you as the Lord of your life? If so, ask and you shall receive, believe and then pray.


In the Name of Jesus, amen.

SATURDAY GUEST WRITER: LYNN MOSHER

THE HAMMER THAT DRIPPED BLOOD....

Standing over the blistering heat of the fire, as sweat trails down his dirty face, the smith fans the blazing flames with his bellows. As he finishes the hammer he is working on, he gives it a thorough check, making sure it will meet the critical eye of the centurion. As a smith for the Roman army, all his work goes into the hands of the soldiers.

LYNN MOSHER (WEBSITE HERE)

After the centurion picks up the ready tools from the smith and approves them, he sets out to deliver them to his soldiers. On his way, he gives the hammer to one of the best soldiers under his command. The soldier’s use of the hammer this day? Crucifixion duty. 


The soldier has endured the burden of this duty before. He hates this gruesome task. 


Under the strain of this assignment, he ambles his way to skull hill, better known as Golgotha, where he joins the centurion and the other three soldiers already there. Standing there chatting with them, he hears that three prisoners are coming to be crucified. One of the prisoners is his charge. 


He waits.


Standing there, he realizes that what he is about to do is the antithesis of the weather: it is one of those breathtaking, spring days that warms and rejuvenates the soul. Rivulets of white stream across the azure sky. A gentle breeze distills the fragrance of the flowering blossoms into the air.


Yet, impending gloom hangs in the air. 


A large, jeering crowd, intermingled with a great many mourners, moves toward the hill on the Via Dolorosa. Three men bent under the weight of their own crossbeam trudge their way up the hill. A short distance behind them is another man, whipped beyond recognition, stumbling with agonized effort every step of the way. So disfigured and injured that another man carries his crossbeam for him.


This bloodied mess of a man now stands before the soldier. He wonders: Who is this man? What could he possibly have done to deserve this horrible beating? Surely, he wasn’t a soldier for he wears no hobnailed boots; he’s merely an ordinary sandaled man. 


Sweat beads up on the soldier’s forehead. His heart races. His tongue sticks to the roof of his mouth.


The other soldiers, now finished crucifying their two prisoners, help tie the soldier’s prisoner to the crossbeam while the soldier readies his nail-spikes and his hammer. He bends down, steadies the nail in one hand and draws back his hammer in the other hand. 


But before he can bring it down on the nail, he glances over at the prisoner. Peering at him, through the streaks of blood covering his face from the thorny crown twisted onto his head, are eyes of piercing kindness he has never seen before. 


The centurion yells the soldier’s name, startling him. “Get on with it!” 


The soldier turns his head away to focus on the nail. He forces himself to do the job he was ordered to do. His stomach churns and he feels like retching. 


Completing the nailing of this man to the crossbeam, he looks down to see that he is splattered with blood and his hammer drips with the red life of the man.


The other soldiers fasten the man to the upright beam and the crucifixion is finished. The soldier looks up as he hears the man say, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”


The soldier realizes now who this man is. Jesus. This is Jesus, the one everyone is talking about. Forgive? How can He forgive me for this horrid act?


He spins around as he hears the religious teachers and priests mocking this man on the cross. “He saved others, but he can’t even save himself! The King of Israel, is he? If he comes down from the cross right now, we will believe him! Let God rescue him now if he wants him, if he is the Son of God.”


One of the other criminals hanging next to this man Jesus says, “If You are the Christ, then save Yourself and us.”


But the other criminal rebukes him, “Don’t you even fear God as you’re dying? We surely deserve to die for what we’ve done, but this man? He hasn’t done anything wrong.” Turning to Jesus, he says, “Remember me when you enter your Kingdom.”


“Today, you will be with Me in Paradise.” Bowing His head, Jesus says, “It is finished! Father, I commit My Spirit to You.” And He breathes out His last breath.


“Surely, this was a righteous man,” says the centurion, shaking his head, and then solemnly orders the soldier to stand guard. 


Stand guard? I just want to get out of here. What have I done? So distraught that he cannot bear to look up at the naked body of this man on the cross, he lowers his eyes to the ground. He notices the bloody hammer still in his hand. He throws it down and backs away in horror. 


Shame overwhelms him. He falls to his knees in regret. 


Another soldier picks up the hammer and tries to give it to him. “Here’s your hammer” is met only with silence and a stare. He won’t touch it.


The next morning, the centurion finds the soldier dead.


~The hammer that dripped blood? Had my name engraved on it. 


“Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;
Buried, He carried my sins far away;
Rising, He justified freely forever;
One day He’s coming – O glorious day!”


PRAYER: Thank You, Lord, for without Your suffering and death on the cross, I would have no resurrection joy! In my joy, I agonized over this post. I know you understand why. AMEN 

Lynn

DOES GOD CARE?

YES HE DOES CARE!

“But what about the following….?”

 (READ ON---------------

CASE IN POINT:

Over three dozen people have been killed and many more injured, across five US states in the some extremely devastating tornadoes over the past week (March 2012).

From Indiana and Ohio, to Alabama again and Tennessee, homes are being wiped out and lives seemingly destroyed. The worst of the damage, along the Appalachian way seems to be in Kentucky. To make things even more unbearable, more snow is starting to fall in the Midwest and upper southern states than in the winter month of February.

A seeming miracle of the fifteen-month-old Angel Babcock of New Pekin, Indiana, found after her family's mobile home was destroyed in Friday's storms ended tragically. Angel was thrown 100 yards into a field after her entire family was picked up by the tornado there and flung across Creation. Her father, mother and two siblings were killed.

The stories are coming fast and furious over this and more as each week brings more heartache to another group of our fellow citizens.

CASE IN POINT:

Twelve year old Megan goes to a friend’s house for the night here in town. On the way to the Pancake House next morning, a drunk driver comes flying down Dirksen Parkway, runs the red light and plows into the minivan driven by the sleep-over friend’s mom. Megan, though wearing a seat belt, is killed instantly.

CASE IN POINT:

Last April 2011, the worst tornados ever, drove through central Alabama. It was a mile wide and sure death in its wake. Over 5000 buildings in the town, which is home to the University of Alabama Crimson Tide, were destroyed. Over 300 persons lost their lives. Some of them lived in poverty in apartments.  Rosedale Court, a public housing complex, was destroyed, and thousands of apartments and homes in Alberta and Holt and in Forest Lake, Cedar Crest and other neighborhoods were heavily damaged and/or destroyed.

Of course, over in Joplin, Missouri, folks are yet to recover any semblance of normalcy, after the town was destroyed ten months ago…by yet another tornado. To make things worse, tornado season is right around the corner!

IS THIS GOD?

What do all of this have in common with each other? – Extreme Personal and Corporate Tragedy!

It is unimaginable to lose a young child forever…to a drunk driver or fatal disease.

It is unthinkable to watch a mile wide fast moving shroud of death, carrying the sound of 15 loud freight train engines at full roar…and there is no way to escape, hide or run from it.

It is unnerving to watch a wall of water, from all sides, heading for your home and livelihood, as you evacuate minutes before it happens.

It is stomach churning to approach your church in Joplin, find some of your congregants, whom you had seen hours before, dead in the tornado’s wake, while you yourself are suddenly trapped by debris in follow up winds.

Is this God?

America and the world watches these videos and photos from all these different tragic sites and are unable to process their thoughts accurately…and according to scripture.

From the Tsunami we watched LIVE in Japan a few months ago to this horrible and extended Tornado season, everyone from national network news anchor to the surviving victim themselves ask – “where was God?....How could He let this happen?....

I once heard ABC News Diane Sawyer, who is representative of most,  ask on ABC’s World News Tonight: “How can a loving God allow this”

THE ANSWER:

The answer is:  God is still loving, kind, compassionate and merciful. He is Holy God by Whose full Grace and mercy we are able to breathe in and out, for more than today. However, we have to go beyond just saying those words, to understanding its foundational truths…..and it all comes back to the Person of God. To do that, we look at the Attributes of God.

The Dictionary describes an “Attribute” is a special quality or characteristic of a person.

The Attributes of God are timely to attempt to comprehend, in these perilous times, where one could never know who will be next. I have always taught and promoted this – in order to claim, believe and fully appreciate the God Who offers these things, we have to know how credible He is!

This is not blasphemy! This is actually using the Word of God, guided by the Spirit of God to explain to a lost evolution-believing world, a process they would rather ignore.

The great Illinois preacher A.W. Tozer’s most famous book was “The Attributes of God”. He listed the following as God’s Attributes:
God is Infinite.  

God is Good.

God is Just.

God is Merciful.

God is Grace.

God is Omnipresent (everywhere at all times).

God is Immanent.

God is Holy.

God is Perfect.

While Tozer’s accurate description are tremendous and powerful, Judaism, from whence comes Christianity has such an elevated view of YahWeh or Holy God that I must share it here! It is completely Biblically based and in fact, since it is based on the Torah or the First Five books of the Bible, I believe it comes directly from the Lord as He imparted it to Moses!

Here are the 13 Attributes of Yahweh:

He is:

1.      God of mercy (before a man commits a sin);

2.      God of mercy (after a man commits a sin);

3.      Almighty Lord of the universe, Ruler of Nature, and Mankind;

4.      Full of affectionate sympathy for the suffering and miseries of human frailty;

5.      Assisting, helping and consoling the afflicted and raising up the oppressed;

6.      Long suffering and slow to anger;

7.      Abundant in goodness i.e. granting His gifts beyond the deserts of man;

8.      True to Himself and speaking the Truth in love;

9.      Remembering the good deeds of the ancestors for a thousand generations;

10.  Bearing with indulgence the failings of Man; and also

11.  Man’s evil deeds springing from malice and rebellion against God; and also

12.  Man’s shortcomings due to heedlessness and error;

13.  He will not allow the guilty to pass unpunished but visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Him.

These are more in tune with what comes next – ORIGINAL SIN.

ORIGINAL SIN:

It is obvious Satan fell from grace and heaven BEFORE God created the Heavens and earth in Genesis 1.  When sin entered the world, the serpent was already at work to destroy perfection created by Holy God.

As a result of Original sin in Genesis 3 by Eve, all Creation move from peace and perfect joy to being cursed.  Because of the Attribute of God of the Old Testament (and New) He has to judge sin.  Therefore Adam’s physical environment had to change to suit his new fallen status where he would have to struggle to even make a meal or survive!

Since then, mankind has not only gotten more evil and rebellious but has followed the gods of this world in all its demonic activity, leading billions into the fiery pit of hell!

Creation has to continue to reflect this vile reality…and it does.  The Flood (Noah and the Ark); earthquakes, tsunamis, more floods, extreme climate and yes, tornados!

Jesus Himself warned in Matthew 24: 6-8 of these things! He said “⁶ And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. ⁷ Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. ⁸ But all this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come”.

This is the biblical background and the underlying reason we have, what we have as far as natural disasters! It had its roots in Original Sin!

Now many can choose not to believe this reasoning, but it is in the Word and I can defend it. However a better day is coming!

Just as we – those who have Jesus Christ as our own personal Savior and Lord – look forward to His Glorious Appearing, so does ALL CREATION!!! Yes, indeed!

The Apostle Paul was commissioned to bring Gentiles into the Kingdom of Heaven. He was PERSONALLY sent by the Lord Jesus after the Road to Damascus and three years in Arabia, learning directly from Christ.

Paul wrote the following prophesy in Romans 8:18-21” ¹⁸ Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. ¹⁹ For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. ²⁰ Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, ²¹ the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay!!!!”

There is coming a day with NO Tornados, Tsunamis, Floods earthquake and death! And the same created universe itself, which the world worships (instead of the CREATOR), literally can’t wait!!

THE FINAL ANALYSIS:

We mortals will never understand any or much of this until we get to Heaven. Remember God says in Isaiah 55:8 “"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the LORD.”And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine”.

We can never understand all those “CASE IN POINTS” at the beginning of this essay, but we have to Trust HIM….unless you have another way!

When you are wondering why God does not answer your prayers – Trust Him.

When you are asking “did I do something wrong” - Trust Him.

When you are thinking that God hates you – Trust Him.

When you are wondering if you really have any Faith at all – Trust Him.

When you pray and pray and beg and petition and cry out and you or a loved one is not healed or delivered ….

When you pour out everything you’ve got and there is total silence from Heaven……

When your spouse runs out on you and has an affair or decides they “don’t love you anymore”…….and THEY are the ones who seem to prosper……

When your ungodly conduct of a live-in boy- or girl- friend leads this person to refuse to commit and want only a civil union……

When you try to quit smoking or drinking beer…and only end up drinking and smoking more….

When your life appears to be going to a place you never planned for, but circumstances or the economy or…..

When all this adversity happens…..When the entire world seems to fall down on you…..Look in the mirror first.

Search your own heart to see what sin you have committed to keep God from blessing you. Seek counsel for those things you may not be able to understand from Scripture.

God will not hear the prayer of a sinner who wants Him to bless unbiblical conduct, or at least say it is okay. The Bible says in John 9:31: We know that God doesn't listen to sinners, but He is ready to hear those who worship Him and do His will.

Life is not a box of chocolates, as Forrest Gump says….the old 1970’s song said “I beg your pardon…I never promise you a rose garden”…and on and on. Many Christians – real or professing – think that because they are doing X or Y “for God”, everything will always turn out right. It will in Heaven. But while we are here on earth, when bad things happen, we may get hit by them too!

The Bible says that the rain falls equally on the Righteous (the Saved) and the Unrighteous (the majority) of the world (Matthew 5:45).

None of us love to see people hurting or killed and their lives and property completely destroyed, LIVE ON TV, by these tornados or massive waves coming off the ocean. But we can seek comfort in knowing that our Heavenly Father has prepared a place for us, if we are READY to meet Him.

Tomorrow is promised to nobody. The rest of today is NOT either. If a person is not right with God, has not made peace with Him and therefore, does not have her/his sins forgiven….and if an earthquake destroys us right now, there is NO second chance or “oops…give me a mulligan, Jesus”.

Be ready to be called home at any time.

Be right with God.

Be reasonable when trying to figure out all this devastation in the natural world.  Mourn with those who mourn and rejoice when miracles happen.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” says the Lord Jesus in Matthew 5:4…let us, who know Truth, then do the same when the rest of us believe “God does not care”.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

(Images courtesy Google Images from recent tornado damage in Indiana)