Leave your idols

"And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish." (Isaiah 2:17-18)

We shall see Him as He is and with that, we will see ourselves for what we really are!  We will see what things we have set up as Idols.  We sometimes have no idea what things have become idols in our hearts.  They slip in very insidiously and we are little aware of how distracted we have become. 


"Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee." (Deuteronomy 4:23)

Where are your thoughts?

Philippians 4:4-8
4.  Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
5.  Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.  (We are commanded to be moderate in ALL things!)
6.  Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  (Tell God everything on your mind!  Even the things that you THINK will make Him unhappy.  He will never be unhappy with an honest relationship with you.  When you admit the things on your mind, He can begin to teach you.  When you hide from Him, remember that He already knows all the thoughts and intents of your heart.  When you tell him all your concerns, He can help you.)
7.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
8.  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.  (This is the key to a peaceful spirit.  What is in YOUR mind?  The thoughts of your mind will affect your whole body and spirit.  Whenever you find yourself worrying, or fearing, or focused on the ugliness of the world, think of this verse and meditate on the things you already know of God.  You will find your peace restored.)

Our life

Romans 12:1-5
1.  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2.  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (to be "transformed by the renewing of your mind" requires that we apply our minds to something new.  We must actively engage in study of the Word of God to "renew" our minds according to holiness.  If we continue to vegetate in front of unholy movies our mind will be filled with THAT.)  
3.  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. (Note that our faith came from God.  Of ourselves we have nothing.)
4.  For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
5.  So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. (We cannot think of ourselves as being all sufficient, or even self sufficient.  We are members of  one another.  We are not to be loners.  Every saved soul is of the body of Christ, we are not individual loners.  If we use our gifts for the building up of the Body of Christ we shall do well.)

Meditations from Ezekeil

Eze 6:9 And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
The Lord says He is “broken with their whorish heart.” The Lord suffers grief! I am not sure that I ever knew that about the Lord. I knew He was grieved with Jesus’ treatment at the crucifixion, but did I know the Lord could be grieved by my thoughts and actions? I thought He was too self sufficient to be hurt by me.
Also He says they shall loath themselves because of their sin. This is true. When we begin to see our sin, we do loathe ourselves. Trouble is, we immediately begin to make excuses for ourselves, such as, “I did not know”, or “it wasn’t that bad” and so on.
Eze 7:19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
In the day of the Lord’s wrath, money will NOT help us! We cannot buy our way out of this trouble. Our money is our stumblingblock. We tend to depend on our paychecks rather than God.

Eze 11:19-20 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: 20. That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
On this basis we pray for unsaved people, knowing that the Lord can change their hearts.

Plowing

I have been reading Jeremiah from “The Living Bible” study bible. interesting turn of words.


New Living Translation:
Jer 4:3-4
3. This is what the LORD says to the people of Judah and Jerusalem: "Plow up the hard ground of your hearts! Do not waste your good seed among thorns.
4. O people of Judah and Jerusalem, surrender your pride and power. Change your hearts before the LORD, or My anger will burn like an unquenchable fire because of all your sins.

The Living Bible, (which is a paraphrase of the American Standard Version by Ken Taylor for his family devotions with his children)
Jer 4:3-4
3. The LORD is saying to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: "Plow up the hardness of your hearts; otherwise the good seed will be wasted among the thorns. 4. Cleanse your hearts and minds and not just your bodies, or else my anger will burn you to a crisp because of all your sins. And no one will be able to put the fire out.

“the good seed will be wasted among the thorns” takes our minds directly to Jesus’ story about the four soils and the seed.

Lord of the Vineyard

Mark 12:1-12
1. And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. (Think of the “certain man” as the Lord and the “husbandman” as human beings. The Lord created the earth and all that is therein, that is the vineyard. He gave man dominion over the earth, therefore WE are the husbandman.)
2. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. (What fruit do you suppose the Lord is requesting from us? I believe He is asking for our praise, our love and most of all our faith. He is asking us to acknowledge Him as the owner of the vineyard and He wants a portion of our labor.)
3. And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty.
4. And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled.
5. And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some.
6. Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son.
7. But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. (And here is our world. They do not want to acknowledge the Lord of the vineyard. They want to squash every notion that there IS a Lord of the vineyard. And if they could kill the Lord, then they can finally become the Lord themselves. This has not changed one whit since Jesus came and even before that. If man can succeed in killing God, then they can rule. That is the focus of today’s politics. God must die so man can rule.)
8. And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.
9. What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others.
10. And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner:
11. This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
12. And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way.

As you can see for yourself, they fear the people less and less every day. And every day they draw closer and closer to the final killing of God. However, they cannot kill God, just as the Romans could not kill Jesus. Jesus lives! And God will live also. They live and they will destroy all that is against them. They will even destroy this earth that men are trying so hard to have the rule over. It will all go away in the fire. It is marvelous in our eyes because we are going to be spared in the great destruction. We are going to be kept over for the new creation. And in the new creation we will all acknowledge that the Lord is supreme and we will not have to struggle with anyone at all when we desire to worship and adore God and live by His will.

Born again

1 Peter 1:22-23
22. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
23. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

An exerpt from Jon Courson's commentary on the New Testament:
"The words which I speak are spirit and life," Jesus declared (see Joh_6:63).
"Master, we know that You must be from God, for no man can do the works You do unless God be with him," Nicodemus said to Jesus one night.
"Verily, I say unto you, you must be born again," Jesus said.
Perhaps scratching his head, Nicodemus said, "How can this be? How can a man enter into his mother's womb a second time? What do You mean?"
"That which is born of flesh is flesh," Jesus said, "but that which is born of spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say you must be born again. The wind bloweth where it wants, and you hear the sound, but no man knows from whence it comes and no man knows where it goes" (see Joh_3:1-8).
A teacher of Israel, Nicodemus should have understood the reference. Born again, wind blowing? His mind should have raced immediately to Ezekiel 37, a passage familiar to every rabbi and teacher in Israel…
One day, the spirit of the Lord took Ezekiel to a valley full of dry, dead bones and told him to preach to the bones. As Ezekiel began to preach the Word, something amazing began to happen. The bones started to move. Before long, they had joined together like a great army, yet zombielike because they were without life.
"Prophesy to the wind," the Lord said to Ezekiel.
So Ezekiel prophesied unto the wind even as he had done to the bones, and the wind—the ruwach—the spirit moved into them and the bones came to life.
If Nicodemus had made the connection between this story and what Jesus was telling him that night, he would have understood that to be born again means to be made alive by the Spirit and the Word, just as the bones became alive when Ezekiel preached the Spirit and the Word.

1 Peter 1:24-25
24. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
25. But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

Psalms 41:4
4. I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.

Does your family believe your witness?

Mark 6:1-6
1. And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him.
2. And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?
3. Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.
4. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
5. And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.
6. And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.

Aren't we amazed, astonished and dismayed when our family members do not believe our testimony of the gospel? and why should we be amazed, even Jesus' family did not believe Him. If they did not believe the Lord, why would they believe us? But if our family will not believe us, others will. Just keep going. If the Lord wills, someone else will be able to reach the ones that we cannot reach. Pray that He will send someone to those that will not listen to us.

Psalms 43:1-5

Psalms 43:1-5
1. Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.
2. For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? How often do you feel as though you are alone in the world? How often does it seem as though you are trying to follow Jesus alone? But we are NOT alone. we do not walk by "feelings", we walk by faith and He said He would never leave us, nor forsake us.

(Deu 31:6 Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.) Back to the Psalm...

3. O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.
4. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.
5. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

Time flies

I cannot believe it has been exactly one year since i have posted on this page. i am going to revive it and do better.

Magnify Christ

Philipians Chapter 1:20-21
20. According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.
21. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

I often think I would prefer to die and go on to be with the Lord. But I am not dead. So I have to ask myself…is Christ being magnified in my body? As long as we ARE alive, Christ should be magnified in our bodies.

Preaching Christ

Philipians Chapter 1:15-18
15. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will:
16. The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds:
17. But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel.
18. What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.

It seems like we have talked lately about the sincerity of preachers, about their dedication to prayer and whether or not they were making merchandise of us. Paul reminds us here that whether for profit or for Jesus, either way Christ is preached…Praise God.

Remember also the the Lord said in Isaiah:
Isaiah 55:11
11. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

After Life

Hell is real.

Do not be deceived. Hell is real. After death comes the judgement and we will either go to heaven or hell. It is real.

Judgment

Amos 7:1-8
1 Thus hath the Lord GOD showed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings.
2 And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? For he is small.
3 The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD.
4 Thus hath the Lord GOD showed unto me: and, behold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part.
5 Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.
6 The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord GOD.

Amos prayed and God forgave…twice. How many judgments can we avert by prayer? And are we praying? God gave Amos visions, Amos “beseeched” Him and the Lord repented and turned away the punishment. This is powerful.

7 Thus he showed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.
8 And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumb line. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more:

This is the part I really want to bring out. The plumb line is still here, in the midst of His people. We will be measured against the plumb line. Look at it hanging beside you. Does it show you to be straight? The plumb line doesn’t lie.

Trinity

1st John Chapter 5
6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

In this format the trinity is easy to accept. We all have a self, a word and a spirit. And by His Word the heavens and earth were created. The Father obviously has a Word and He obviously has a Spirit. And it is self evident that these are one and the same person. But who can give flesh to his word? Our words are as nothing. They have no physical presence. However, they can do great and terrible things. They can lift people up and they can destroy people. God was able to give His Word a body of flesh that we could see and touch. And that body of flesh spoke the Word, that we might know God. Praise God!

I will in no wise cast out...

John 6:35-37
35. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
36. But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.
37. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

This promise is huge. Jesus says that the Father chooses us, but even if we are not aware of or sure of the Father choosing us, we can trust that “him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out”. He knew we would struggle with trying to know if we were chosen or not. So, he assures us that He will cast no one out that comes to Him. I am sure none CAN come to Him without the calling of God. But I haven’t ALWAYS been sure that I was called to salvation. I can only be sure Jesus will not turn me away.

Led astray?

Psalms 3:1-8
1 LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! Many are they that rise up against me. (Lots of people are going to be quick to lead you away from the Lord, and encourage you to be lost in sin.)
2. Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. (These same people will deny God and try to persuade you that He is NOT your helper.)
3. But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
4. I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill.
5. I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me. (It is the Lord, Himself that provides the air that you breathe and causes your lungs to continue. When He ceases to breath life into you, you will die. We wake up in the morning because He sustains us.)
6. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.
7. Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.
8. Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people.

Wells of salvation

Isaiah 12:1-6
1. And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.
2. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
3. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
4. And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.
5. Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.
6. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

The Lord is my strength, I will not be afraid. We shall draw water from the wells of salvation. Isn’t that beautiful? It isn’t just one drink and we are done, left to wait for death to enter in. We get to draw water from the wells of salvation. We get to go back over and over again. We get to enjoy our salvation and the presence of the Lord as oft as we care to draw the water.

Cultivation

Luke 13:6-9
6. He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.
7. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?
8. And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it:
9. And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.

I like this story cause it gives me some sense of security that the Lord will not cut me off immediately if I don’t bear enough fruit. But He will dig around me, cultivate my soil, fertilize me with His Spirit and His witnesses and He will keep me as long as there is a glimmer of hope that I will improve.

Not to forget however, in the end if the tree does not bear fruit it WILL be cut down.

train your brain

Proverbs 12:11
11. He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.

To till his land also means to train his brain.
He that fills his brain with the Word shall be satisfied with bread, but he that follows after foolishness is void of understanding.”