New

I was in 2 Chronicles 24 today. Once again I read the account of Joash, one of the kings of Judah. He was 7 years old when he became king and reigned for 40 years. As long as Jehoiada the priest was alive to give this young king wise and godly counsel, Joash "did what was pleasing in the LORD's sight." (verse 2) But once Jehoiada died, King Joash was able to be led astray by some unnamed leaders. Despite prophetic warnings, King Joash not only continued to worship other gods, but by his order, he also had Zechariah, the Spirit filled prophet, put to death!

This Sunday, my husband will be preaching on John 3:16-17, a scripture many of us know well. "Nothing new" we say. "Heard it before."  So how can we look at it in a new way? How can we prevent ourselves from falling into the trap that Joash fell into? First, we cannot look to our priest (or pastor) to make us do what is pleasing in the LORD's sight. Second, we need to believe that God's mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23) and His Word is living and active (Hebrews 4:12). Let's approach the Book of John like it's new. Read it and mediate on it. Decide not to be led astray by anyone. What is God telling us about Himself? What is He instructing us to do?

"Behold I make all things new." Revelation 21:5

A foretaste of glory

I know that everyone experiences times like these, when you feel like you have had too many deaths around you. In the past few weeks I've grieved the untimely death of a pastor's wife at age 53, the death of a second cousin who was only 41 and the death of a friend who was 62. The world says these women were all too young to die. Do I believe that?

I was reading Romans 8 this morning. Paul clearly says that all creation is subject to God's curse (of sin, suffering and death) (verse 20). He also says (verse 21) that "with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay." But verse 23 makes a distinction between all creation and we who are true believers and that is that "we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of the future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as His adopted children including the new bodies He promised us."

Continuing in the New Living Translation, verse 24: "We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don't need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don't yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)"

Wow! So having hope as an anchor for our souls (Hebrews 6:19) makes so much sense! It's like my soul is anchored in heaven while my body is here on earth being battered by the wind and waves. I will not fear death, but rather wait patiently and confidently for it. I already have a foretaste of the glory that awaits me. Praise God!

How much do you know about July Fourth?

We recently visited Independence Hall in Philadelphia. I've been there before, but was impressed once again with the knowledge of the Park Rangers and depressed by my horrible memory at all the important facts surrounding the founding of our country.

Did you know that on July 4, 1776 only 2 individuals signed the Declaration of Independence? Do you know who? It wasn't until July 8th that it was proclaimed to the city of Philadelphia by members of congress.

After the proclamation was read, the Liberty Bell was rung. Do you know what the inscription around the top the Liberty Bell says?

Read the following article from the National Day of Prayer website to find the answer to these questions. The final paragraph of the article says:

"Preserving American liberty depends first upon our understanding the foundations on which this great country was built and then preserving the principles on which it was founded. Let’s not let the purpose for which we were established be forgotten. The Founding Fathers have passed us a torch; let’s not let it go out."

http://nationaldayofprayer.org/independence-day-a-religious-holiday/

One message

It seems like God gives each prophet one message to preach. I don't think those of us "average laymen" can truly understand the burden these prophets carry in communicating this one truth.

As I have sat under my husband's teaching all these years, I hear one recurring message. This is it:

1. We were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), but the sin of Adam and Eve caused separation between us and God. (Genesis 3:23)
2. From that point on, man was born in the image of his sinful parents. (Genesis 5:3)
3. The Good News is that Jesus Christ came to show us what the original image looks like and He provided a way back to that image. Restoration. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

As the one person closest to this man of God, this is what I have observed and want others to know:

1. The prophet fights a daily battle to fully understand this truth. His battle is "against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Ephesians 6:12)
2. The prophet is not released from his call, despite the resistance he faces from those he is called to preach to.
3. The prophet is called to obey the Truth, even when he doesn't see the final outcome of the promise - in himself - or those around him.
4. A prophet gives his life to this call.

The blame game

This Sunday the sermon will be based on Genesis 3:12-13 where first Adam, and then Eve took turns playing the blame game. My first thought was to look up the dictionary definition of the word blame. From there I looked at both synonyms and antonyms for the word. Not too surprising that the opposite of blame includes words like harmony, health and peace. Wow! Isn't that amazing? Somehow we think (and I guess Adam and Eve did also) that if we blame someone else, we'll feel better, but it appears that the opposite is true. Take responsibility and find peace.

In my search, I also came across an interesting series of four radio messages on Family Life Today. The guests on the program are biblical counselors Ed Welch and David Powlison. They focus on the popular chemical imbalance theory that many use to explain things like depression and ADD. Did you know that there is no test that can show a chemical imbalance? It is just a theory! You can hear these talks by clicking this link:
http://familylifetoday.com/program/i-have-a-chemical-imbalance/

I am in a desperate situation!

"I am in a desperate situation!" That's what King David said when he sinned against God by taking a census of his fighting men and his conscience began to bother him (2 Samuel 24). He asked for God's forgiveness and God forgave him, however, David still had consequences for his actions. Not only would David suffer the consequences for what he did, so would his people. When faced with a choice of punishment, David said "But let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for His mercy is great. Do not let me fall into human hands." (verse 14) 70,000 people died as a result of David's sin! Yikes! Was that too severe?

Or how about Moses? Yes, he struck the rock instead of speaking to it as God had told him too (Numbers 20), but wasn't the punishment a bit severe? I mean not entering the Promised Land after 40 years in the desert with those grumbling Israelites would drive any sane person to hit the rock, right?

And what about us? We all sin and fall short of the glory of God and we all suffer consequences for our sins. Not only that, but other people sin against us too and we suffer consequences from their sin as well. Is any of it fair? We have a choice. Knowing that God is both loving and just, we can be angry at our situation or we can humble ourselves before our merciful God and let Him use what happened as a teaching time. That's what David and Moses did.

I love the song by Point of Grace, Heal the Wound. Here are some of the words:

"I used to wish that I could rewrite history / I used to dream that each mistake could be erased / Then I could just pretend I never knew me back then / I used to pray that You would take this shame away / Hide all the evidence of who I've been / But it's the memory of / The place You brought me from / That keeps me on my knees / And even though I'm free / Heal the wound but leave the scar / A reminder of how merciful You are /"

Yes, that's it...not only can God forgive...and heal...but in His mercy He can use our sin and the consequences to remind us how merciful He is!

Where we all go wrong

This Sunday my husband will be preaching on Genesis 3:1-6. I think it is the saddest chapter in the Bible because it is titled The Fall of Man. How did this happen? How did Adam and Eve go from walking with God in the garden, being united as one flesh with each other and feeling no shame - to being deceived into sin? Verse 1 says that the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made, but he wasn't smarter than man. I believe that what the serpent knew, was that we humans have one major weakness and that is to TRUST God.

I've seen it in my own life and in countless others around me. I don't really believe that God loves me and has a perfect plan for my life. After all, if God loved me, He wouldn't deny me what I want. If he loved me, He wouldn't allow suffering in my life. Lies! All lies! The Bible does not say those things at all. Rather, it says:

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will direct your paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Back to Genesis 3. My husband always says that the worst thing Eve did (and where we all go wrong) was to start a conversation with the serpent. Once he slithered up to her and asked her the question "Did God really say...," she should have not only not listened, but walked away. It never does us any good to "answer a fool in his folly." (Proverbs 26:4) This type of intentional, focused living is not easy. It means discipline. It means training our minds to hear TRUTH. If we hear anything else, we do not listen. We walk away.