Spiritual Authori

 Monday, March 31, 2014

"The Lord said to him, what is that in your hand?"  "A staff”, he replied".  (Exodus 4:2)

 Hey Gang:  Many years ago, our Board President felt we needed a little rest and relaxation, so he provided a scholarship for us to spend a week at the Christian Retreat Center in Bradenton, Florida. (The first of many) While there we were privileged to sit under the teachings of such people as Gerald Derstine, Iverna Thompkins, Judson Cornwell and many other anointed teachers.

 But one that I would place at the top of the list was a pastor by the name of Jamie Buckingham.  Jamie had spent many weeks in the Sinai learning what God would teach him the desert. He wrote a book, that graces my library, titled A way Through the Wilderness. 

 When I find myself in the midst of a wilderness experience, more times than not, I return to the pages of this book for encouragement and perhaps a better understanding of what I am going through.  He, like Paul and James, is a very practical teacher. He uses the simple things of the desert to teach us profound truths.

 For example, he points out that when God is looking for something for His service, He usually looks for something common to us.  An old country preacher once said, "When God needs something done, He looks for a broken vessel and smashes it and then places it on the potter’s wheel for molding into the image of His Son and preparation for what lies ahead.  

 In Exodus 4:2 we find such an example.  Moses was not red hot on the idea of going back to the land of Pharaoh who had placed a price on his head for bumping off one of their citizens.  He, like most of us, opened his bag of excuses as to why he did not want to do this.  ‘I mean Lord, I don't talk so good, I mean Lord I am a minimally educated hillbilly from the sticks, I mean Lord there are mega people more qualified than I.’

  I wonder if Saul might have come up with similar excuses as to why he did not want to become Paul the missionary to the Gentiles.  But God gave him no opportunity to open his excuse bag - He (God) looked down and said, "I'll take that one” and knocked him off his donkey".

 I wonder if God was not becoming a wee bit impatient with Moses when He said to him "Hey, Moses, what do you have in your hand?”  "A rod".  "Throw it on the ground".  We know the story, the rod turned into a serpent. God said pick it up by the tail.  The serpent turned back to a rod but without the serpent in it. 

 Soooo, my young friends, We know, from seeing all the movies about Moses, that he was never without that rod. Why?  Because the rod represents authority!  Moses was now a man under authority.  Does that mean we should all go and get a rod?  No!, I do not think that is the focus of the story; but rather that God can use anything that is given to Him. Keep in mind God honors simple things!

 Blessings,

 Gramps

A Warning For Our Day!

 

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Sunday is my day to go through the nearly 12oo blogs Gramps wrote over 11 Years of this calling by the Lord.  There is some method to my madness, I try to at least pick one from the month we are in. This blog was written nearly 10 years ago. Know as Christ-followers God IS our Father, Living God, provider, protector, strength, fortress, ……..Gma

GENESIS 47:13-27  (Read carefully before proceeding)
          
Hey Gang:  The following message came across my computer from a friend. I confess when I read it, I sat up and took heed of the wisdom of the Virginia Pastor’s words.  I have not taken the liberty of trying to interpret what he is saying but have given it to you as I received it.

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 “So, we see that economic hard times fell upon Egypt, and the people turned to the government of Pharaoh to deal with this for them.  And Pharaoh nationalized the grain harvest, and placed the grain in great storehouses that he had built. The people brought their money to Pharaoh, like a great tax increase, and gave it all to him willingly in return for grain. And this went on until their money ran out, and they were hungry again.

So when they went to Pharaoh after that, they brought their livestock - their cattle, their horses, their sheep, and their donkey - to barter for grain, and verse 17 says that only took them through the end of that year. But the famine wasn't over, was it?  So, the next year, the people came before Pharaoh and admitted they had nothing left, except their land and their own lives. "There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land.  “Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land?  Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh." So they surrendered their homes, their land, and their real estate to Pharaoh's government, and then sold themselves into slavery to him, in return for grain.

What can we learn from this, brothers and sisters?

That turning to the government instead of to God to be our provider in hard times only leads to slavery? Yes... That the only reason government wants to be our provider is to also become our master?

Yes. After Jacob and Joseph passed on, and the Jews began to drift away from their GOD, even they too became slaves in the land of Egypt.  .

I also tell you a great truth today, and an ominous one:

We see the same thing happening today - the government today wants to "share the wealth" once again, to take it from us and redistribute it back to us.

Government wants to take control of healthcare, just as it has taken control of education, and ration it back to us, and when government rations it, then government decides who gets it, and how much, and what kind.!

And if we go along with it, and do it willingly, then we will wind up no differently than the people in Egypt did four thousand years ago - as slaves to the government, and as slaves to their leaders.

What Mr. Obama's government (and today’s as well) is doing now is no different from what Pharaoh's government did then, and it will end the same. And a lot of people like to call Mr. Obama a "Messiah," don't they?

Is he a Messiah? A savior?

Didn't the Egyptians say, after Pharaoh made them his slaves, "You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh"?”  Well, I tell you this - I know the Messiah; the Messiah is a friend of mine; and Mr. OBAMA IS NO MESSIAH!

No, brothers and sisters, if Mr. Obama is a character from the Bible, then he is Pharaoh. Bow with me in prayer, if you will...

Lord, You alone are worthy to be served, and we rely on You, and You alone. We confess that the government is not our deliverer, and never rightly will be. We read in the eighth chapter of 1 Samuel, when Samuel warned the people of what a ruler would do, where it says "And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day..."

Lord, we acknowledge that day has come. We cry out to you because of the ruler that we have chosen for ourselves as a nation. Lord, we pray for this nation. We pray for revival, (Thank you Lord we see Revival  happening and pray fires of Holy Spirit will spread). We pray for deliverance from those who would be our masters. Give us hearts to seek You and hands to serve You, and protect Your people from the atrocities of a new Pharaoh's government. In God We Trust...

And all of Gods people said amen!
  

Soooo, my young friends, what say ye?  We know the rest of the story.  God reached down to a shepherd through a burning bush and called him (Moses) to go and declare to Pharaoh, it is time to “Let my people go”. Have you prayed 2 Chronicles 7:14 lately?  Have you humbled yourself before the Lord and prayed from the depths of your heart that He would heal our land?  And notice who is to pray this prayer, “My people”.

Blessings,

Gramps

I Wonder What My Life Would Have Been Like?

 Wednesday, March 27, 2013

      

I pray this morning, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by your name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth, (in America, in my heart), as it is in heaven". (Matthew 6:9a-10).

 Hey Gang:  Note, Christ began His message with a statement that we can all identify with. There are times when we need His graciousness to carry us through tough times.  Wow, that is certainly a statement that carries many recollections with it. As Matthew said, it is not whether we will encounter issues, but when. 

 As I think of that a sense of deep compassion rises in my heart for those who do not have your Holy Spirit as a companion.  What does one do, to whom do they turn when the alligators are up to their arm pits and rising?  Your word says that none can come to the Father unless he is invited (John 6:44, 65).  But Peter also said Your heart's desire is "that none should perish but for all to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).   

 John tells us You created all that we survey, the universe and all it contains.  You created the wondrous miracle called man - what a mighty act of awesomeness - for we are wondrously made.  You removed all but eight at the flood and then totally restored your creation.  I know it grieves Your heart that You gave man a second chance to choose the better road but they soon returned to their vomit. 

 You parted the Red Sea. You raised your Son from the dead. You are so very mighty and powerful, far beyond my limited human understanding.  I pray Lord you will fire a dart into the heart of those who say "Yes, Lord, I want to be a child of the King and break the bondage that Satan holds me” but just do not have the will to do so. 

 I wonder, Lord, what my life would have been like if I would have always given you the glory for what you did through me and in me.  Now, I know I did nothing in my own strength.  I thought I did - and oft took credit for those successes.  How sad, Lord, I apologize, forgive me.  I want so badly to correct them, but your Word says I can't - I can only be forgiven for them.   

 And so, I come to you as David did and plead, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit From Me" (Psalm. 51:10-11).   

 Soooo.  my young friends and brothers and sisters in Christ, now hear me this morning for my heart is heavy. We may not understand why we must go through the valleys and shadows of trials and tribulations, and when the yoke becomes almost too heavy to bear, we need to go back to the roots of our faith: "For God so loved You and me that He sent His only Son to die on a hideous cross that we might be freed from the sin burden that we have accumulated (John 3:16, Hainley rendition). Keep it firmly tucked into the recesses of your heart. One day we will understand - when we are freed to "Run and leap and praise God in His presence".

 Blessings,

Gramps

This Is Eternal Life That They May Know Y

 

Monday, March 19, 2012

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life” (John 5:39-40). Hey Gang:  in a recent ‘Grampsmorningthoughts’ I shared the deep desire of my heart is to sit at the feet of Jesus just as Mary did.  I asked the question of each of you “Have you ever had a yearning so deep that it filled your every thought.  I pray you have given that question your undivided attention. But those who know me also know that I am not one that leaves unanswered questions lying dormant in my dome of intellect.  I do not believe God would have me seek such an experience while here on earth without making provision for me to have the desire of my heart fulfilled.  How many know that God does indeed work in mysterious ways.  I ‘just happened’ to open a book, I have been wading through, to the chapter titled “The Undivided Life.” I believe I have found God’s formula for ‘sitting at the feet of Jesus’ even now’ while I am an earthbound homo sapien. He begins by saying you can be a 'Bible Attacker', where the challenge is to read through the Bible from cover to cover.  He warns, “To be filled with the knowledge about the Bible but to be unwashed by it” is worse than not knowing it at all.  It can give us a false sense of security.  Have you ever come face to face with a Bible thumper who could quote Scriptures that fit every subject but when one looked at the fruits of his live – there is a melt down between what he is saying and  the fruits being  produced? Now hear me, he was not putting down reading the Bible through or even reading large portions of Scripture in rapid fire motion, but- it is meditating on the Word, (internalizing) that will lead to growing in the Lord. His suggestion: take a passage, first, seek the Lord’s guidance and wisdom to understand it, then grow in the Lord through that passage.   Ask Him, “Lord what do you want to say to me in this moment?”  Keep in mind the Bible is God’s love letter to His children. To get the depth out of what He is saying, we must consume it like a love letter. We had first-hand experience with Love Letter while Gramps was in Korea –1955-56!) Keep in mind, the goal is not to get through the Scriptures, but to get the Scriptures into you. The Psalmist says that sitting at the feet of Jesus comes to the person who meditates on the law ‘day and night’ (Psa. 1:2).  Keep in mind meditation is a slow process that requires allowing God’s thoughts and words to seep deep into our souls. Soooooo friends and neighbors, do you want to sit at the feet of Jesus?   Then “Be still and know that He is God” (Psa. 46:10).  Remember, the word that God speaks to us can renew our mind, but we must listen and receive it.   Blessing, Gramps