Thursday, November 17, 2011

The Israelites And Us

If you have ever studied the Bible, especially the Old Testament, you have probably wondered why the Israelites appeared to be so stubborn. I used to wonder that before I really got into studying the Old Testament.


As long as everything seemed to be okay the Israelites were fine; they continued living their lives, praying to other Gods and praising them and continued in their evil ways. But when God finally got angry with them and words were given to the prophets by God for the people to turn from their evil ways and turn back to Him they wouldn't listen. Eventually what the Lord had told the prophets to prophesy came true. A lot of this is found in the Book of Jeremiah.

The Israelites would finally turn back to God when all the things came to pass. They would pray to God and give Him praise. But then they would always turn back to their old and evil ways. Then the same thing would happen all over again. When they would call upon the Lord He would forgive them and be with them again and again.

If you look at our world today the very same thing is happening to us. We are acting just like the Israelites did. We have taken the Bible and prayer out of schools and they have been replaced with guns and hostility. They want the Ten Commandments taken from the courthouses, anything to do with God. What are we Christians doing about this? Yes, we get angry and there are some Christians fighting this but what would happen if every Christian would get down on their knees and pray, I mean pray with their entire strength.

When we have a catastrophe happen all of us start praying to God and asking for His protection and guidance. We continue doing this for sometime. When the bombing happened in Oklahoma what was the first thing we did, PRAY. When the Columbine killings happened, what was the first thing we did, PRAY. Then when the planes hit the Twin Towers, what did we do, PRAY. When Katrina hit and the flooding in the Midwest hit, what did we do, PRAY. Do you see where I am going with all of this?

Aren't we acting just like the Israelites? After all of the catastrophes had happened we prayed. But then we, like the Israelites just went back to our old ways. We forgot to keep on praying and praising the Lord. We forgot to ask the Lord to guide us in everything we do in our life. Are we going to do the same thing when another catastrophe happens or have we learned our lesson? I am sure we will do the same things as we have done before. Every one of us should be ashamed.

No, everything doesn't always go the way we want it to but we do have the Lord and we can certainly talk, pray, and praise Him. The Lord wants us to have a relationship with Him and to do so we must love Him, obey Him, talk to Him, praise Him, and make sure He is number one in our life. We need to want to do His will not ours. Life is so much better for us when we have the Lord walking with us. He loves us so very much and has before any of us were ever born. He gave us His Son so that we could have eternal life. Jesus bore our sins, illnesses, hurts, cares, and iniquities if we would just believe in Him. We have a home in heaven because of Him. Whatever we endure here on earth will be worth it when we are home at last.

All we have to do is to remember to pray and keep our relationship with God.

Matthew 19:26; "But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible but with God all things are possible".

Mark 10:27; "And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible".

We have been told by Jesus there is nothing that God can't do. But we cannot continue in our evil ways and expect God to do what we want Him to do if we are not willing to do what He wants us to do. Are we willing to get down on our knees and pray fervently for God to guide, protect us, and be willing to keep our relationship with the Lord? If we can't do this, why should we expect a Holy and Righteous God to do what He wants to do?

Have a great day and may you always know the love, joy, and peace of the Lord.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Why Is It?

As I was sitting and thinking about several different things I began to think "why is it?" people seem to think things are easier to not do the works of God? I came up with a few different answers, of course it may not seem right to you but it does make sense to me.


Why is it easier to say bad things about others? Could it be because we think if we say something nice about others that others will think that person is better than us?

Why is it easier to be nasty to others? Are we having a bad day and we just want everyone to have a bad day?

Why is it easier to say God's name in vain? Is it because we are at loss for words?

Why is it easier to tell a lie than to tell the truth? Could it be that we are afraid of getting in trouble or that someone will not like us if we tell the truth?

Why is it easier not to read our Bible? Perhaps it is because we think the Bible is boring and we won't understand it?

Why is it easier not to help someone in need? Is it because we feel we have helped enough people and it is time for someone else to help instead of us?

There are so many "why is it's" that I could go on and on. When in truth it just may be because we are not seeking to do the will of God. On the other hand perhaps we are letting Satan get his foot in the door, sort of speaking. John 8:44; "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." Lying is specifically mentioned in the Bible as being the character of the devil, Satan is the foundation of all falsehood and is opposite of what God is, who is truth.

Matthew 12:50; "For whosoever shall do the of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." Is it not better for us to seek and do the will of the Father? Jesus considers all believers to be His and takes care of us.

Colossians 3:17; "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and Father by him." If we do things that are not good we can not do them in the name of the Lord Jesus. Have you ever stopped to think about the things you do that is not pleasing to Him? If they are not pleasing to Him then we can not say we have done them for the Lord. We need to always ask ourselves if what we say or do, will this bring glory to Him? If not then we should not do it.

In our lifetime we will constantly have to fight against the forces that push us to do the things of the world, the flesh, and Satan but always know all we have to do is call on the Lord to help us through this. Jesus is always there, just call on Him. Just be sure to say and do things that will bring ONLY glory to do the Lord.

I John 4:4; "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that in you, than he that is in the world." Remember, Jesus is in us and that is all we need.

May you always know the love, joy, and peace of the Lord!