Romans 1 is very ‘in your face’ about the spiral of sin.

The first step is darkness and confusion in our minds.  When we don’t do a good job of filtering the things we expose ourselves to, our minds become dark even though we’re claiming to be wise.

The next step is that we put these dark and confused thoughts into action.  We begin to live like this, trading the truth about God for a lie.

The final step is that we are living like this and we are encouraging others to do these things as well.

It’s a spiral that starts with our minds.  So its secret and private at first.  Until it grabs ahold of us and our thoughts turn into attitudes which become our behaviors.  And gradually we drift farther and farther away from God until we’re living a lie.

I recently had a great conversation with some friends about the 50 Shades of Gray book series.  I was unaware of the real content of the first book when I downloaded it on my kindle.  I read the first 3 chapters and then deleted it off of my kindle.  My opinion – its soft porn.  If it had pictures, you could put a Playboy or Playgirl cover on it.

Forget the plot – it’s all the other stuff that is also going into our minds along with it that Paul is talking about in Romans.  The first step – it’s private……but it’s in there.  It’s the first step….. or have we moved onto the 2nd step of saying that it’s ok for us?  Or are we already on the 3rd step where we’ve decided it’s ok for us AND we’re telling other people they should do it, too?

We all have this problem in a variety of areas of our lives – it’s called sin.  Paul goes on to tell us that God’s kindness is intended to turn us from our sin.  God is wonderfully kind, tolerant and patient with us.  We don’t deserve it, we can’t earn it – it’s call grace.

Thank you, dear Father, for your abundant grace and love.  Please help us turn our minds towards you as we struggle with sin.

When we look up into the sky, what do we see?
Proof that there is a Creator God.
His design is so intricate……
and so magnificent!

He set the moon and the stars in place.
He created the sun and the planets.
This universe and everything else out there is his.

We are his. We each reflect a different piece of who he is. Our different colors, shapes, sizes, personalities, gifts and talents all come from Him. We are made in His image.
We’re living proof that there is a God. Our Father. Our Creator. Our Savior.

Thank you, dear Father!

Paul does an incredible job of sharing the Good News with everyone throughout the book of Acts. In Acts 26 he is talking with King Agrippa who is an expert on all Jewish customs and controversies.

Imagine, the Bible tells us that they are in an auditorium filled with military officers and prominent men of the city when King Agrippa asks Paul to tell his story.
And tell it he does – all of it, starting with his persecution of Christians, including his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus and explaining that now he was just being obedient to the visions that had been given to him from heaven.

Paul took this opportunity to share his testimony with everyone there that day. He ended it by saying that all he was teaching was what Moses said would happen. Moses told them that the Messiah would suffer and would be raised again announcing God’s light to everyone. Other prophets like Isaiah also described the Messiah’s life and death in detail.  Paul was testifying to his personal knowledge that what they said would happen had just happened.
Festus said that Paul was insane but King Agrippa, who knew what the prophets had foretold, said that Paul was not guilty of anything.
The truth was that Jesus had fulfilled all of the prophecies.
They just needed to believe.

Dear Father, we pray for all of those who still need to believe in you. Please open their eyes and hearts to your truth.

A huge Assyrian army is camped by Jerusalem’s water source.   Their king is telling everyone the Lord has told him to attack Jerusalem and destroy it.

King Hezekiah consults with the prophet Isaiah to get the truth about what the Lord was doing.  The Lord told Isaiah that King Hezekiah should not be disturbed by what the Assyrians were saying –  God was going to move against them himself.

Next, the Assyrians send a message warning King Hezekiah that he should not be deceived by God’s promises to protect him.  Hezekiah knows that the Assyrians have always completely destroyed everyone in their path and that’s exactly what was going to happen to Jerusalem.

The fact is that King Hezekiah did know how the Assyrians were completing destroying everyone – their army was enormous and no one could stop them.

So he took the Assyrian’s letter to the temple and spread it out before the Lord.  He laid out his concerns before the Lord and asked him to rescue them so that all the nations of the world would know that he was God.

I visualize Hezekiah on his knees spreading out this scroll full of confusing and deadly threats.  Then he totally lays himself down on the floor in front of the scroll as he asks God to save his people.

How interesting – he doesn’t summon the commander of his army.  He doesn’t consult with anyone.  He and his people are facing annihilation and he prostrates himself before God.

I’ve been there.  Faced with enormous threats that were extremely beyond my control, I laid it all out before God and asked him to take care of it.  I didn’t know how he would do it and I told him I didn’t care – I was just placing it all in his hands and trusting in his promise that his purpose is not to harm me but to prosper me.

It worked for me just like it worked for Hezekiah thousands of years ago.  God heard both of our prayers and took care of the situation for both of us.

Thank you, dear Father, for loving us and rescuing us in times of trouble.