God Said To Habakkuk, "Look Around and See What I Am Doing."

 Tuesday, April 28, 2015

 

"Yet once more I will shake not only shake the earth, but also the heavens.  This expression, "Yet once more", denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.  Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe: For our God is a fire" (Hebrew 12:26-29).  Is your God a consuming fire?

 Hey Gang:  I came across this 'Quote of the month’ that rang my bell.  "With hurricanes, record snow falls and freezing temperatures, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms  tearing up the country from one end to the other, and with the threat of bird flu, Ebola, and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance".   Now ain't that the truth?

 As I was seeking a word from the Lord this morning on what He would have me share, He whispered in my ear, "Lighten Up"; many of your friends and neighbors, including you, are wound to tight.   Now ain't that the truth?

 We spend far too much of our lives tied in huge knots worrying about things that we cannot control.  As one elderly pastor declared, "There are two days I do not worry about, yesterday, because it is too late to do anything about the creeping alligators, and tomorrow, who has not yet shown its colors - so confine your concerns to today.  There are certainly enough things to get our dander up within any twenty-four hour period.

 

As exulted ruler of Eagle Village I never, never, never completed a day as dictated by my daily planner.  With a barn full of highly-wired teen-agers that were under my care, because they had demonstrated their need for someone to teach them what boundaries were, I did not have  a clue what challenges I would face, even before the day had a good start.

 If I did not get up early, before the troops were getting out of the rack and beginning their day, and refill my batteries by spending time alone with the Lord and filling my batteries with the Word - I soon found  that I was firing from the hip with an underpowered  gun.  

 I learned very early, in my tenure of working with young people that God sent across my path, that they had hurting chest-cavities just the size of God.  I needed to out-gun the powers of Satan that had a grasp on many of the kid’s lives.  I learned that, if I beat him to the punch by finding that one positive thing that I could build a relationship on, , I could cut him (Satan) off at the pass, when the alligators began nipping at their heels.

When a new youngster came into my life, I did not look at the case file to find out what he or she did wrong.  As a matter of fact I did not break the seal on the case file until I had found that one thing on which I could build a relationship. Why? Because I also learned early ,that we spend far too much time dealing with the clinkers in our lives and not enough smelling the posies that God provides for us each day.

 Soooo, my young friends if the rubber-hits-the-road today, which, in all probability it will, take a minute or two and do as God told Habakkuk to do, “Look around you and see what I am doing” (1:2-5).  If you are fortunate to have a clinker-free day, thank Him, the one who made that possible, and share the good news with someone who is going through deep waters.

Blessings, Gramps

Where Are You? Who Put You There?

 Tuesday, April 7, 2015

 "But if (notice the if) the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His spirit who dwells in you" (Romans 8:11).

Hey Gang:   Right this minute...where are you?  Who put you there?  Do you think God had anything to do with where you are and what you are doing? Do you think that God had a plan for you even before you were a gleam in your father's eye? What say ye?  Are you something special in God's eye?

Peter said, "As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God" (I Peter 4:10).  Luke also had something to say about the subject in Acts 1:8: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth".

Paul gives us a warning about thinking too lowly of ourselves.  After all we are a creation of God, or did you come from the amoeba from a mud puddle?  In 2 Timothy 3:5 Paul tells us to turn away from the toxic- you may catch the disease.  "He wrote, "…holding a form of godliness, although they have denied its power.  Avoid such as these".  Down two verses, he continued with his warning, "They will always be in a learning mode but never come to the knowledge of the truth"

 I just completed re-reading Jeremiah. God had a heap to say about false prophets and teachers, but if you are not into the word, you do not have a clue when you come face to face with a "slicky-boy", as we called them in Korea.   Keep in mind you may have been victorious in sending Satan a kicking yesterday, but he is a pro at sticking around and watching your every move, waiting for a more opportune time, so he can move in with his seven cousins.

And how can I be so smart and make such a statement?  "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work" (11 Tim 3:16) In very simple language that even a hillbilly kid can understand, "If you do not put Scripture in your heart and mind, The Holy Spirit cannot pull it out when the alligators are snapping at our heels.

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the Lord of Hosts,  "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it over flows".   I have found the power phrase in that verse is "test me".   (Malachi 3:10).

Soooo, really, test God! Are you kidding?  When you dig a little deeper you find why He said that.  In Leviticus 27:30 Moses wrote this clarifying statement: "Thus all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land, or the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's. It is holy to the Lord".  You mean what I have and give to Him is holy to the Lord?   So, what am I giving?  Only what He has blessed me with?  He does own all the cattle on a thousand hills.  (Psalm 50:10).
  

Blessings,

Wait!  Before you put your Bible away and start the day, you must read the promise that is attached to Malachi 3:10 "Then I will rebuke he devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,"  says the Lord of Hosts".    When I read those two verses I have a mental image of me in a standoff gun fight at the Old Woodward Avenue Corral with Satan; the enemy with his bag of tricks, his holster ready to draw, and me with Malachi 3:10-11 strapped to my hip ready for action.   There is NO contest!

Gramps

 

Have You Been To The Cross Lately?

 Friday, April 3, 2015

 "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside  every encumbrance and the sin which so easily enables us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, setting our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1-2).

 Hey Gang: I sense I need to rephrase that question and ask, "Have you been to the Cross in the last thirty seconds?"  I have always had the feeling that repetition is effective for about a week, and then I tend to be negligent to follow through.  I am plagued with several ailments that require medication every day and if I do not take the correct dosage prescribed, I pay the piper; but yet I still tend to forget. 

 Now, I realize we might have five people in a circle and ask them to define repetitious, and we would get six to eight definitions.  My simple mind tends to define it as ‘disciplining oneself to do a certain thing in an on-going basis for my own good.’ 

 We have been commanded by the Lord to go to the cross daily.  Why?  We each may have our own reason why this trip is suggested by the Lord.  I suspect He knows our attention span may be only day-long, but after that even the most focused tend to lose focus.  I tend to feel the Muslim’s and Jews are more disciplined in their prayers then we Christians.  Note, I said disciplined to pray, I did not include who they pray to, or for what. 

 The Jews pray three times a day and point their prayers towards Jerusalem; the Muslims pray five times a day and point their prayers toward Mecca.  But as has been pointed out by many writers, the prayers are repetitious and have lost their meaning.

 I would be remiss if I did not tell you that repetition can also be good, if you are a disciplined person and stay the course.  It is very obvious that, if we are diligent in our repetitio, if our repetition is anchored on the Word and a personal relationship with Yeshua, it is then that we can grow in the Lord and in the Word. 

 Soooo, as you ponder this question, you might ask yourself, “Is my relationship with the Father is based on vain repetitions or is there salad, and soup, and meat and potatoes and even desert in your prayer life?”   There are many, even believers, who say, look around you, prayer does not do any good; but ask yourself what this world would look like if there were no prayers sent to the heavenlies by God's people.   The world is going to find out, when Christ comes and takes His children home to be with him throughout Eternity.  Make sure you are firmly implanted in Lord's hands and your name is recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life.  You do not want to be here after Jesus comes and collects His sheep and takes them to His exceedingly greener pastures.

 Blessings,  

Gramps

Be A Power-Broker for God

Monday, December 7, 2015

  “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory”. (Isaiah 6:3,  Read 6:1-8) "And blessed by His glorious name forever; and may the whole earth be filled with His glory.  Amen and Amen" (Psalms 72:19). 

 In this day when everything that can be shaken is being shaken, It may not seem like the earth is filled with His Glory, be assured it is: For the Bible tells me so (Heb. 12:26b-28).

 Hey Gang' Can you say, Wow!  Is it not neat to know that “the whole earth is full of His glory”?  True, the news would seem to indicate that the earth is not filled with His glory.  But keep in mind, we are not to judge by what man thinks or sees, but by what God has given us in His Word.  He did say, “I will be with you always!” 

 In recent months I have gained a new appreciation for the book of Habakkuk.  It begins with a cry to God: "How long, O Lord, will I call for help, and You will not hear?  (Hab. 1:2).  God's response is found in verse five when He said, "Look among the nations!  Observe! Be Astonished!  Wonder!  Because I am doing something in your days - You would not believe if you were told." 

 Now skip over to Chapter 2, verses 13-14: tucked in the midst of four "woes" we find these words, "Is it not indeed from the Lord of hosts that peoples toil for fire, and nations  grow weary for nothing?  For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”  

 Would it not be awesome to see God's glory covering Michigan and all the world as the waters cover the sea?  Is it not awesome to know that is exactly what is going to happen one day, in the not too distant future for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose?

Tony Evans wrote in his book: Our God is An Awesome God, that holiness is the center piece of God’s attributes. In other words, at the center of what God is, is His holiness, and, to understand His holiness is to unlock the door to understand Him better and better.

 I like Peter’s words when he asked the question: “Do you want to learn to know God better?”  His answer, “Then work hard”.  To get things handed to us on a silver platter is to forget as quickly as we close the Word.  Turn to the words of James who said that it is the trials and wilderness experiences that opens the door to a deep understanding of God.

 Soooo,  my challenge to you today;  Do something sacrificially to honor Father God.  Plant a seed in someone’s heart, one who needs to feel the Lord’s touch.  Paul said, "Be an imitator of me – a bond servant for Jesus."  Do you think it would be fan-tab-u-lous to be like Paul?  Call someone – tell them you are thinking about them and praying for them.  What joy that will bring to their heart!

 Blessings, Gramps