We're taking a trip chronologically through the Bible this year.
I will talk about the greatness of the Lord all of the time.
I won’t stop praising him!
I am awed by God!
Let those who don’t know him hear this and be glad.
Let us praise God together!
God always answers when I call.
My fears and my shame disappear in his presence.
God saves us all whenever there is trouble.
If you want to live a good, long life, be very careful about what you say.
Do good and seek peace.
A man of extremes. That’s what I think of as I read the story of Samson.
Killing lions with his bare hands, betting big on riddles no one can answer without using deceit, killing to settle his bet, dramatically burning other’s crops in revenge only to have his family burned to death…..the center of attention over and over and over again.
Yet God used him. God’s spirit came upon him several times and God used him against the enemy of the day – the Philistines.
This is a great example of how can and does use anyone who makes themself available to him.
Dear God, we praise your name today. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty! We ask that you will help us to always be available to you. We are here to complete your purpose – the things you have prepared in advance for us to do. We pray in the precious name of Jesus, Amen.
Not accepted. Not included. Born in the wrong place.
All of these describe Ruth, the widowed daughter in law of Naomi. She was a Moabite. The Israelites hated the Moabites. She was a Gentile. She was a young widow – a relatively worthless person in the community.
And she chose to go back to Bethlehem with Naomi. She chose to become part of Naomi’s people. She chose to love and serve Naomi’s God.
As we read on in the story, we see how God blesses her through these choices by giving her a new husband, a new family and a new son.
A Moabite, a Gentile, becomes part of the lineage of King David. Which becomes the lineage of the Savior of the World, Jesus.
Jesus told us that there is just one way to heaven, one way to the Father, and its through him. There is only one way but it is available to everyone. Everyone is accepted. Everyone is included. And we were all born in the right place – here on earth.
Because God so loved the world that he sent his only son to die for us so that anyone and everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
He loves us all so very much!
Thank you, dear Father!
God promises to use Gideon to save Israel and Gideon still has to test God by throwing out a fleece – not once but twice?
Why? God always keeps his promises. Did Gideon just not have enough faith to take God at his word? He had to see God jump through some extra hoops before he would obey?
Yes, God responded BOTH times but I’ll bet he wasn’t smiling. This an another example of just how much patience God has with us.
I believe in asking God for guidance when the next step isn’t clear. I believe in asking him to give me the opportunity if I’m supposed to speak to someone about something God has revealed to me.
But, when he has clearly told me what he was going to do, he’s looking for obedience, not tests. There doesn’t need to be any fleece throwing in those situations.
The more we know about God, the easier it is to hear him. As we grow closer we get to God, his whispers are enough to get our attenion. I’m so glad you’re on this journey with me because that is where we’re going – closer to the source of all Truth, closer to God.
Draw us nearer, dear Father.
Wow! Wow!
That’s the best word I can find that describes my experience in the Holy Land last week.
Wow!
I was trying to think of how to describe what has happened to me and I realized that I have experienced this before in my life. I grew up in northwest Iowa where we had snow 6-7 months a year and only about 6 weeks of summer. I had heard of places that didn’t get snow and I believed they existed, but it wasn’t until I moved to South Carolina that I actually ‘experienced’ a winter with no snow. It totally changed my perspective. I had believed that there were places that didn’t get snow but now I felt it, I lived in it and I loved it! That’s the reason I live in Phoenix today:)
This is exactly how I feel about the Holy Land now. I always believed it was there but now I have felt it, I have lived in it, and I have experienced it. And I have a totally different perspective.
One of our praise songs in worship this morning was asking God to grow our faith so we would ‘walk upon the water.”
I was there – at the beautiful Sea of Galilee (pictured). I cooled my feet in its waters, I took a boat ride on it and felt the wind pick up as a small storm moved in….
as it often does on the sea of Galilee….
as it did the day that Jesus calmed storm.
I was actually there – the same sea that Jesus and then Peter walked on.
Wow!
I also walked down a steep path on the Mount of Olives. I saw the Garden of Gethsemane and the Kidron valley. I floated in the Dead Sea and visited Jericho.
Some of the sites actually had excavations of buildings dating back to Jesus’ time – where he lived and where he walked.
We visited the Upper Room. We walked down the Via Dolorosa, the way of suffering…. the path Jesus took as he dragged his own cross to his crucifixion.
We spent the afternoon at the Garden Tomb. Descriptions in the Bible all point to it being Jesus’ tomb. Of course, he’s not there because he is alive! And he lives inside of us! Hallelujah!
We visited Bethlehem which has a cave and a manger which, by descriptions in the Bible, is like the one Jesus was born in.
We went to the Nazareth Village in Nazareth. It’s an area the size of a small park that is set up like it would have been in Jesus’ time with people dressed like they would have been dressed and doing the things they would have been doing – shepherding sheep, carpentry and spinning wool. The lunch we had there was food that was close to the things Jesus would have eaten at a feast. Wow!
I dipped my feet in the Jordan River and climbed to the top of the Mount of Beatitudes.
We visited beautiful Caesarea on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
And much, much more.
I have felt it and experienced it and it has changed me.
Just like God planned.
Thank you, dear Father!
My pilgrimage to the land of my Savior is about to begin.
God has called me to this journey. He has told me that this trip will forever change how I read and understand his Word. So I am very excited as I anticipate what that means.
Those of you who have been on this journey with me for a while know that God gave me a check to cover the cost of this trip. He has made it very clear that he wants me to scratch this off of my ‘bucket list’.
I can’t wait!
So you won’t be hearing from me for about 2 weeks.
But when I get back, you can expect some new insights from me as God continue to take us on this journey towards the truth.
Please include me and my friend, Angela, who is going with me in your prayers.
Here I come, dear God!
We all go through a lot of tests in our life. God sometimes tests our faith just like he tested Israel’s faith in Judges 2. I think Satan also tests us in some of our weakest moments to see if we’ll sin and make his smile.
Sometimes we test ourselves to see if we’re up for a challenge. And we all have people in our lives who test our patience every time we’re with them.
Lots of tests. There are times that we pass the test and others where we fail. We read about how the Israelites failed some of their tests over and over and over again. They would fall into sin but, fortunately, they would also repent.
Repenting is the key to keeping our relationship right with God. God knows what we’ve done, we’re just agreeing with him that it’s a sin when we repent. True repentance includes a genuine attempt at turning away from the sin – trying not to do it again. If we don’t intend to try to stop the sin, we are not repenting no matter what words come out of our mouths.
And God is not pleased with empty promises to change.
The Eastern tribes of Israel had left to go back over the Jordan after completing their promise to help conquer the
Promised Land for the rest of the tribes. They left with Joshua’s blessing and with large herds of livestock, great quantities of clothing along with silver, gold, bronze and iron.
They built a replica of the altar of the Lord near the Jordan before going over to the other side to their land.
The Western tribes were angered by this and gathered to go to war against their brothers. They sent a priest along with the chief man of each tribe to go talk to the Eastern tribes.
They accused the Eastern tribe of breaking their faith with God of Israel and building an altar in their rebellion.
The Eastern tribes explained that this altar had a very different purpose. They were worried that the Western tribes would someday forget that they all worshipped the same God so they built this altar as a witness to everyone that they shared the same God.
The Western tribes went home and happily reported to everyone the good news.
What could have been a deadly war between brothers turned into a celebration of unity.
Because they talked about it. Everyone listened to the other side before taking action.
True wisdom.
Moses ran the race well all the way to the end. He was obedient and strong in the faith to his last day.
I want that to be my story and my legacy. One of my other goals as I grow older is to become more and more Christ-like. Not more and more crabby 🙂
Moses was a great man of faith. We have a great man of faith living today – Billy Graham who recently celebrated his 95th birthday. He is getting frail like all 95 year-olds and he was quoted as saying:
“One day you will hear that I have died. It won’t be true. Because I will be more alive after I leave this earth than I ever was when I lived on it.”
Amen! Hallelujah!
If you obey me, I will grow much fruit in your life. Your work will produce harvest after harvest after harvest.
I will bring peace to you and you will not be afraid. I will remove the things that scare you and I will keep you safe.
When you face your enemies, I will be with you and you will have victory.
I will look on you with favor and I will keep all of my promises to you. I will abundantly provide for all of your needs and I will always be with you.
I will be your God and you will be my people.
I am the Lord your God who has conquered death for you so you are no longer slaves to sin. I have removed the burden of your sin and have adopted you as my sons and daughters. You are now Prince and Princesses of a King.
These are the blessings of Obedience. Amen! Hallelujah!
Come with me on a Journey through the Bible 