Ask and Receive

My daughter's six year old, Carley, came in saying that some bug bit her on the shoulder. Her two year old sister watches everything her older sisters do.  So, when I asked  Carley to come with me to put some ointment on the bite, her sister marched right behind her. After I rubbed a little… Continue reading Ask and Receive

The 5:17 to Paris

We watched an outstanding movie entitled "The 5:17 to Paris."  You might recall the three young Americans who thwarted a terrorist massacre on a train in France.  This is their story and even includes the actual men portraying themselves.  Movies based on true events seem to be those we enjoy most - the saying, "truth… Continue reading The 5:17 to Paris

Whom God Regards

We Americans are independent and big thinkers.  The concept of equality inspires the individual to believe anyone can be great.  We tell our children that they can grow up to be President.  We encourage them to think big and become all they can be.  We may admonish them to work and study hard. However, do… Continue reading Whom God Regards

The Unseen World

What if there were things around us that we cannot see, yet bear heavily upon our lives? What if we were not the masters of our own fate, as it so often seems?  Is there a spiritual realm that consists of more than mythology, ghost stories, and fantasy?  Are we aware of the spiritual warfare… Continue reading The Unseen World

The Miraculous Hinderance

I listened to a famous profligate denouncing Christianity to a Believer.  His audience eagerly urged him on as he ridiculed religion, but most specifically Christianity.  His accusations were made as unquestionable fact and his condescending air portrayed a pride for reason and contempt for faith.  He stated that all evil was rooted in religion, offering… Continue reading The Miraculous Hinderance

Why Join a Church

Many believers ask this question.  They do so because they see no benefit or reason in it. There are reasons for work and for play, for attending weddings and funerals, even for going to church on certain religious holidays, but joining a church seems to make very little sense to many in our day.  Does… Continue reading Why Join a Church

Perspective

A bird has a sense of equilibrium in their head that enables the bird to maintain its head in a fixed position irrespective of the bird's body, wings, tail and feet.  This is necessary as the bird flies by moving and positioning it's wings and tail separately. We are made to travel with feet fixed… Continue reading Perspective

Liberty

Liberty is that state of freedom in which a person may harness his destiny in God's providence or wreck himself upon the rocks of self-centerness.  It was Yeshua who bought freedom for Mankind by His shed blood on the cross.  "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do… Continue reading Liberty

Your God

One after another young women scream, "Oh my God," when they see their redesigned house on the various house "fixer up" TV shows.  It's likely just an expression without any real meaning, but it points to a portrayal of God that is becoming more common place on TV, an Idol god.  Pagans in Bible times… Continue reading Your God

A View of the Heart

But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.  The Lord does not look at the things we do.  People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16: 7).  People consider what they can see on the outside,… Continue reading A View of the Heart

Awe and Fear

They were leaders in the church and community, from respected families, married to prominent people, doctors and leaders themselves in the church, but they were committed to fraud.  They found a place secluded, hidden and were having adulterous homosexual sex.  Months later after everything had been settled, resignations accepted, families wrecked in divorce, reputations ruined,… Continue reading Awe and Fear

Spiritual Exercise

I was waiting on the waffle iron to get hot, as I was waiting on my wife to get up, while waiting one hour before eating, after taking my medication.  It was a perfect time to meditate on the Lord, so I began with His attributes: love, abundance, faithfulness, mercy, justice, wisdom and knowledge.  My… Continue reading Spiritual Exercise

The Value of Instruction

Someone in the crowd called out, "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you." Yeshua replied, 'Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.' "    (Luke 11: 27-28). The Angel told Mary, Yeshua's mother, she was blessed, but hearing and obeying the word of God is… Continue reading The Value of Instruction

Not So Sweet Dreams

I woke up exhausted this morning, not because I didn't get enough sleep or was awakened during the night, but by the dream I had.  It was a very detailed story of business and investment in a flower growing venture.  Everyone I knew was in this business and had gathered considerable wealth as a consequence.… Continue reading Not So Sweet Dreams

Yeshua Before Creation

God was complete and in union with His one and only Son before creation.  The Holy Spirit as well, Genesis records "The Spirit moved over the waters".  But let's consider the Messiah now, particularly given the incarnation, meaning God becoming man in the flesh.  This inquiry started as I read, "in the hope of eternal… Continue reading Yeshua Before Creation

Searching For Love

There in the dark, late at night, it was  midsummer and I was running for exercise, but really for much more.  I was lonely in this small town in the middle of no where.  I reached a small sign marking the city limits, exhausted, I paused and walked in a circle before returning.  There I… Continue reading Searching For Love

Light and Sovereignty

Two things have been on my mind, 1) the presence of the Lord, and 2) God's Sovereignty over all, all things, all events, all creatures and all people, in heaven and on earth.  These are related most definitely, the first assures us of the second.  When Moses met with God in the tent of meeting,… Continue reading Light and Sovereignty

What God Desires

This is the thinking that fuels all religion, that personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices for a greater power to whom service and worship is made.  With the knowledge of Creator God so obvious and instinctively known in every human heart, it evokes a response.  Pagan religions were ancient practices… Continue reading What God Desires

Remembered By God

We were talking about vacations and someone remarked, "You weren't on that trip." They had forgotten that I was there.  I made no reply, but it hurt to be forgotten, ignored or overlooked.  All of us forget things, even important matters occasionally.  It is a cliché for men who forget their wedding anniversary, to be… Continue reading Remembered By God

Sustained Forgiveness

There is much written on forgiveness, including my own references to the blessings that flow to us as we forgive those who mistreated us.  One of the most astounding statements ever uttered and lived out by Yeshua was, "But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything… Continue reading Sustained Forgiveness

The Defense of Marriage

Congress passed a law with this title and purpose.  The Supreme Court set it aside, concluding Marriage between a man and a woman was not protected by the constitution. In the beginning God established marriage.  "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one… Continue reading The Defense of Marriage

A Free Flowing Fountain

God the Lord is an unending source and flow of goodness to the righteous.  We may go to the fountain of life and drink deeply to our hearts content.  Every true believer is a child of God and has been reckoned righteous, granted righteousness as the direct result of Yeshua's substitutionary death on a Roman… Continue reading A Free Flowing Fountain

Maturity In Yeshua

The Apostle Paul went to Ephesus and started talking about Yeshua and the one true God. Ephesus was predominately pagan and their idol was called, Artemis.  Paul found a few disciples of Yeshua and asked them, " 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?'  They answered, 'No, we have not even heard that… Continue reading Maturity In Yeshua

Be Ready

Time tricks us and confuses what is really  important.  We think our time is very valuable, but it is what we do that gives it worth.  We consider God a subject of time as are we, but He moves with infinite speed, in the future and the past, a thousand years is as a blink… Continue reading Be Ready

Incomprehensible

It was asserted that Sigmund Freud didn't attempt to cure his neurotic patients through psychoanalysis, but merely help them to accept the world as it is.  He was not a believer - an agnostic, but he properly assessed the capability of man.  To heal is the work of God, which He accomplishes through doctors, right… Continue reading Incomprehensible