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Hope – The First Week of Christmas

Hope. The first candle of advent represents hope. It points us to the birth of Jesus and his promised return. He was the longing of Israel, their Messiah. He lived as a man and died for our sins, for our redemption. He promised to come again. There are many verses in the Old Testament referencing Jesus’s first advent. There are even more concerning his second advent, his return. So, we light this royal purple candle with hope in his second coming.  

Hope is not to be confused with faith. It seems many try to use the words interchangeably. While they are closely related, they are not the same. Faith is present. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith this way: 

Now faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen. 

Faith is the here and now belief of the future. The future is the area of hope. Hope is not wishful thinking. “I hope it doesn’t rain this weekend.” “I hope we have a white Christmas.” Hope is the certainty that what we have put our faith in will come to pass. The writer of Hebrews expresses it this way, 

Let’s hold firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering,  

for He who promised is faithful; 

Hebrews 10:23 

We can proclaim our hope in the promises of Christ and the Bible because we have faith that what he says is true. He does not lie. When he promises salvation to those who call on his name, we can take him at his word and hope in his salvation. Our faith presently is in Him. Our hope is in Him that when we pass from this life, he will take us to be with him.  

So, as the first candle is lit this week, what are you hoping for? What are you expecting? Is your faith in the One who makes your hope certain? Are you treating hope as wishful thinking? Take time this advent season to refocus on the One who makes our hope secure. He came once and promised to come again. Light a candle and hope.  

All for One  

Angela 

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Third Verse Devotion: Savior, Like A Shepherd Lead Us

 Thou hast promised to receive us, 
Poor and sinful though we be; 
Thou hast mercy to relieve us, 
Grace to cleanse, and pow’r to free: 
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus, 
Early let us turn to Thee; 
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus, 
Early let us turn to Thee 

 hymnary.org 

My husband and I moved to North Carolina for a while following college. I had never driven in big cities. I had a little experience with Shreveport, Louisianna, but that was it. On our way to North Carolina, I had managed somehow to drive through Atlanta, Georgia, but that’s another story for another time. After we arrived, we needed to return our U-haul to Raleigh. So, he drives the truck, and I drive our car. We get separated at a traffic light. I am driving around an unfamiliar town trying to find a U-haul truck. End of story, we are re-united by God’s grace, and everything is fine. The point is that one wrong turn, one traffic direction was all it took for us to become separated.  

How easy it is in our lives for us to become separated from our loving God because of one wrong turn. One wrong step. One bad choice. This is why this third stanza of this hymn is so beautiful. He has promised to receive us even though we are poor and sinful. Even though we have made a mess of our lives, he will still embrace the one sheep who wanders away.  Isaiah 53:6 says 

All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all To fall on Him. 

I don’t know what you are going through today or where you have been. I just know that he stands ready to bring you back into the fold. He is ready to receive you and wash you clean. Don’t wait until you think you can clean yourself up; it never works. We can’t clean ourselves enough. If you made that wrong turn and lost your way, the shepherd is searching for you. Just stop. Stop running from him. Run to the shepherd who loves you and gave himself for you. He has grace to cleanse and power to free.  

All for One 

Angela 

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Third Verse Devotion: Onward Christian Soldiers

I remember this hymn from when I was a kid in Vacation Bible School, back before the big production it is today. The song following the pledge to the Christian flag was almost always this hymn, Onward Christian Soldiers. We sang it from a small booklet that had all the pledges and the songs and a little about each of the missionaries for all five days. After, we marched out by classes, youngest to oldest for four hours of fun and crafts and lemon cookies and weak Kool-Aid. 

The first verse was all that was sung at that time. If you have ever tried to keep 75 to 100 or more kids contained during Onward Christian Soldiers played on an upright piano, then you understand why. So, I am the most familiar with the first verse. There have been times as an adult when we have sung the other verses but not often. I don’t know if it falls on many people’s list of favorite hymns. However, it is a good anthem to get the blood pumping and remind us that we are in a spiritual battle.   

Paul reminds us time and again that we are in a spiritual conflict. He tells Timothy to “fight the good fight.” I have been in churches where the fight became very verbal and very painful. It is easy to forget that our fight is not against flesh and blood. What we see is tangible. What we are fighting against is not. We cannot see it or touch it. We only see the effect of where it lingers or where it has been. We must remember that we are unified in the blood of Christ. Unity is the theme of the third stanza of our hymn.  

Like a might army moves the church of God 

Brothers we are treading where the saints have trod; 

We are not divided; all one body are we; 

One in hope and doctrine, one in charity. 

This verse reminds us that we are one body in Christ.  

There are examples of churches coming together for the good of the community. Working together for the needs of the people they serve. This is the church united. We are separated by denomination and doctrine and practice, so sometimes it is difficult to see what brings us together.  

Psalm 133:1 says, 

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity! 

My husband and I had the privilege many years ago to be part of some prayer walks. I was the prayer coordinator at our church at the time and thought it would be a good idea to go to the other churches in our area and just stand in the parking lot and pray for the church. I wanted to be unobtrusive and not draw attention to what we were doing. So, we began to gather on Saturday mornings. Soon though a Methodist minister close to us caught wind of what we were doing and joined us every time we gathered. Our unobtrusive gatherings  culminated in a community wide prayer walk from the local convenience store to the school, about a two-and-a-half-mile walk praying for our community, our churches, our school, our state and our nation. It was a wonderful time of a community of churches. 

Let me encourage you today not to let anything distract you from the common faith we have. The apostles and writers of the New Testament faced this as much as we do today. Two thousand years have not solved the things that divide us. Believers still squabble over doctrine and Jesus’s words. Yet unity for believers is the very thing Jesus prayed for in John 17. 

I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and You loved them, just as You loved Me. John 17:23 

Jesus prayed for us to be unified not divided. It is Christ that unifies us and in heaven we are all one in Him. We are reminded by Paul that we are one in Christ when he writes in Ephesians, 

Ephesians 4:4-6 

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. 

Brothers and sisters, we are one in Christ. So let us pray for our world, our individual nation, our community, our church, our family. We are soldiers in battle. If you have opportunity in the coming weeks to join with other Bible believing, Christ redeemed churches take advantage of the opportunity. Let us fight the good fight as soldiers and remain united to the end.  

Onward Christian Soldiers! 

Angela 

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3 Ways to begin the Holidays with Psalm 118:1

We are officially in the holiday season. Maybe not the holiday spirit but the season. I love this time of year from September through December. The temperatures start to cool, and the leaves start to turn, and a renewal takes place within me. Maybe it has something to do with my birth having taken place in November. I think each of us has a time for renewal. This thinking about renewal and cooler temperatures and the like brought me to the first real holiday of the season.

My thoughts turned to Thanksgiving. It is an American holiday and kicks off the Christmas rush.   While the Thanksgiving holiday is unique to America; thanksgiving is not. As we enter the holidays, I want to look at ways we can enter the end of the year with a spirit of thankfulness. There are three ways we can approach the holidays with thankfulness based on Psalm 118: 1

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His Mercy is everlasting.

The first of these is simply “give thanks to the Lord.” The world today has so many distracting views. I want to be clear that our worship and thanks are to the Lord Creator of Heaven and Earth. There is no other. He is the God who created the Garden of Eden, who made man in His image, who made them male and female, who told Noah to build the Ark, who called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees and changed his name to Abraham. He is the God who promised to build Abraham into a great nation, who called a man Moses to lead his people out of Egypt with signs and wonders.  He is God and He alone is God. He sent his only Son to be born of a virgin to live among men as a man to die on a cross for our sins and rise from the grave three days later that we might have eternal life. We have much to give thanks for if this is all we have. Yet it is not.

Look into your life and the life of your family to see where you are and where he brought you from. Life is not perfect. There are trials and hard times. You may be in a trial or hard place now. Give thanks to the Lord. Yes, even in the middle of that trial. It will not make the trial or hardship disappear but might make it easier to bear. Maybe it is time to surrender yourself to the Lord. Maybe he has been calling you and you have been resistant. Now is the time to surrender to Him. He is good. Give thanks to the Lord.

The second part we can meditate on this holiday season is: “For he is good.”  Last week in “He Leadeth Me” I referenced Paul and how he learned contentment. We may not always have the best of everything. Our clothes may not have designer tags; we don’t dine in 5-star restaurants or live in a mansion. Yet most of us have food to eat, clothes to wear and some sort of roof over our heads. We can say he is good. We have breath in our lungs. We can see where he has brought us from and where we are now, and we know he is good. We can see the times he has spared our lives. We know the times he kept us from danger. We are aware of the ways he has led us. We know he has called us from darkness to light. We know he is good. His deeds proclaim his goodness. His acts throughout history declare that he is a good God. He does not treat us as our sins deserve.

Consider the planet. It spins at just the correct speed to keep us alive and flourishing. Any faster or slower and we would be dead. The earth and moon are in gravity pull. The moon’s pull affects the tide of the ocean. God holds all these things in balance and reveals his goodness.

Our body is another example of his goodness. Our body is an amazing organism. We have a responsibility to take care of the body we have. This means trying to eat right and getting some exercise. We need to take a hard look at the things we put into our bodies. We give thanks to the Lord by the way we treat what He has given us; this includes our body. When we put good food and water in our bodies, we are nourished and healthy.  We could not exist without God who created us in His image and gave us our body and life and food to sustain us and keep us healthy. He is good indeed. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

The last of the three for us to meditate on as we enter the holidays is to remember that his mercy is everlasting. Praise be to the Lord that his mercy is everlasting. Were it not for his mercy, we would be consumed in our guilt. Because of his mercy, he does not treat us as our sins deserve. He has redeemed us and given us a hope and a future. He is patient with us, not wanting us to perish. He has delayed the return of Jesus these 2000 years to give us a chance to know him as God and to accept him as Savior. He is merciful when we do not deserve mercy.  And his mercy is not just for today or tomorrow or for those who lived in the past. His mercy is everlasting. His mercy is forever. It is eternal. This thought gives us reason to rejoice and abound with thankfulness.  Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his mercy is everlasting,

As we get further into the holiday season and the busyness grows, may we take a few moments here at the beginning to remember and reflect on these three ways to be thankful this year. After all, the reason we even have Thanksgiving and Christmas is because of Him. It is more than Pilgrims and Indians; it is more than turkey and all the trimmings. It is about him and his goodness, and his mercy. Let’s be sure to celebrate our Savior this season. When we do, we will find many reasons to…

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His Mercy is everlasting.

Angela

I would love to hear from you. Be sure to leave a comment below and let me know what you are thankful for this season. Also be sure to like and subscribe so you won’t miss new content when it drops.

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Third Verse Devotion: He Leadeth Me

This song was written by a Baptist minister on the back of his sermon notes following an evening service. You can find the story on www.hymnary.org as usual, but he had been speaking on Psalm 23 and got caught on the phrase “he leads me.” This was the genesis of the hymn.

The third stanza is one of contentment. Contentment is something that is lacking in society. We are always looking for the next big thing. We have a hard time separating need from want. I think we can take away three ways to be content from this stanza of “He Leadeth Me”: put our trust in Him, be content with what we have, and starting with the basics.

Lord, I would clasp thy hand in mine,
nor ever murmur nor repine;
content, whatever lot I see,
since ’tis my God that leadeth me.

First, the best way to find contentment is to put our hand in the hand of the Lord. This means to put our trust in Him. It is not focusing on our circumstances but focusing on God. We can do this in three ways: regular bible reading, prayer, and church attendance. There may be other ways to help focus our attention on God, but I believe these are the three biggest things we can do to keep our attention on him and not on our circumstances.

We need to be daily engaged with the Word of God. There are plenty of systematic readings you can choose from and several bible apps that can assist. Bible Gateway, Bible, Blue Letter Bible, Bible Hub, are a few online apps that you may find useful. Following daily bible reading is prayer and is a natural flow from reading the bible. Keep your focus on God through prayer and adoration. Be sure to carve time alone with God. These two, bible reading and prayer lead naturally to church attendance. We need the fellowship of other believers. We have the opportunity each week to celebrate and worship with other Christians.

The second way to find contentment is to be content with what we have. I must confess I was not familiar with the word repine, so I looked it up. The online Mirriam-Webster dictionary defined it this way:” to feel or express dejection or discontent – complain.” Websters 1928 had three explanations:

“1. To fret one’s self; to be discontented; to feel inward discontent which preys on the spirits; with at or against. It is our duty never to repine at the allotments of Providence.

2. To complain discontentedly; to murmur.

Multitudes repine at the want of that which nothing, but idleness hinders them from enjoying.

3. To envy.”

There is a line from a song I heard years ago. I am not sure of the artist or the song title, but the line has stayed with me since. It was something like “have what you want but want what you have.” Can you look at your life and your things and say honestly that you have what you want and want what you have?  Paul found this place. If anyone had reason to complain, it would have been Paul. He had been jailed, beaten, shipwrecked, bitten by a snake, stoned, left for dead, abandoned by those he called friends, unjustly accused and on it goes. Yet in Philippians 4: 11-13 he says this,

“Not that I speak from need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with little, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

It is only by holding to the hand of Christ we find our contentment and we find our strength. When we are holding on to him and better yet, when he is holding on to us, our complaints and murmurs just seem to fade away. Our envies, discontentment, and complaining have no place when we are looking at him.

The third way to find contentment is to start with the basics. All we really need is food, clothing and shelter.  What that looks like and anything beyond that is where discontentment come into play. A bigger house, better clothes, a well-stocked pantry, these are what we look for as basics. They are nice, I will not lie. It is nice to not have to wonder where your next meal is coming from or worry about the holes in your shoes or the holes in your clothes, or if your roof leaks. However, for many people in the world this is their lot in life. Remember what Paul said earlier? He found himself in both situations. Neither gave him reason to complain. He could find contentment in both. He writes to Timothy:

1 Timothy 6:8

If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.

You may argue that this is easier said that done. We need money to get by in this world even if we are content with our situation. We still have bills to pay, you argue. Yes, we do. I agree. We have a responsibility to take care of ourselves to the fullest of our ability. We were not made to be idle. We were made to work. So certainly, find a job and work at it with all your heart as to the Lord. We all have something to contribute to humanity through our job. It may be serving food in a restaurant, gathering trash at a the end of a driveway, digging a ditch for a roadcrew, assisting a doctor in an office, preparing for surgery, filing in an office, teaching children to read and write, the list goes on. There are millions of jobs available. If you need one, you can find one to help provide for your basic needs. Beyond that the writer of Hebrews said,

Hebrews 13:5

Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, I will never desert you, nor will I ever abandon you,”

We don’t have to be wealthy to be content. Neither do we have to be poor to be content. We just need to find contentment in whatever situation we find ourselves. I think that is the point the writer of our song today is trying to make. Whatever lot we are in we find contentment knowing “‘tis God’s hand that leadeth me.”

I encourage you to search your life and see where you are most discontent. Is there an area God has been calling you to give to him and you have been reluctant? Will you give it over to him today? Put your hand in his and be content with what you have and be content with the basics of food, clothing and shelter. He will not leave you or forsake you. Have you found your contentment in Him? Today is a good day to begin.  

Angela

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The Witch of Endor

King Saul was desperate. The Philistine army had gathered for war against him. Samuel was dead. Now he was on his own. He went to the LORD once more and inquired what he should do. He needed answers. He had expelled all the mediums and those who practiced dark arts. He asked the prophets and the priests. God did not answer the prophets or the priests on his behalf. There were no dreams. There was only silence. The LORD had turned away from him.

King Saul started out with promise and potential. Samuel was led by the Lord to him when Israel demanded a king so they would be like nations around them. Saul had a kingly bearing and stood taller than those around him. At first everything went well, and he and Samuel had a good relationship and Saul sought the Lord. Soon, however, Saul began to change. He took matters into his own hands and did not consult the Lord as he once did. He did not wait for Samuel to come and give God’s wisdom. His actions were brash and hurried. He offered the offerings that should have been offered by Samuel or the priests. These things led up to God rejecting him as king and leading Samuel to his replacement.

Saul now performs his last act of defiance. Saul is feeling abandoned, alone and frightened. He needs answers now. He decides to consult a medium. He disguised himself and took two of his men and went by night to Endor where a woman was who was a practicing medium and asked her to bring up someone.

Saul assured her she would be safe and asked her to bring up Samuel. It is here that Bible scholars believe she did not summon anything, but that God stepped in. God himself sent Samuel at this moment to deliver this message to Saul. This was no ghostly visit. This was no demonic encounter. God sent Samuel with a message that only he could deliver. This is believed largely by the woman’s response when she sees Samuel. She cries out with a loud voice and knew Saul was her visitor. The truth of her situation had been revealed to her and now she feared for her life. Saul encouraged her to continue. Apparently, only she could see the vision, since Saul asked her what she could see. She described what she saw, and Samuel delivered his final message to Saul from beyond the grave.

This action in Saul is a flaw in his character. Instead of trusting the Lord to provide answers and help, he rushed to the opposite extreme and sought occultic help in the form of a medium. Saul knew that God was against any form of witchcraft, divination or occult practices. Whatever name we try to put on it to make it acceptable it is still abominable to him. He had done the right thing in expelling them from the land, yet when he had nowhere else to look, he turned to the very thing God had forbidden. Here are some things God says about mediums and the like.

Exodus 22:18

You shall not allow a sorceress to live.

Leviticus 19:31

Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 20:6

As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the prostitute with them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.

Isaiah 8:19

When they say to you, “Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should a people not consult their God? Should they consult the dead in behalf of the living?

Galatians 5:19-21

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, indecent behavior, idolatry, witchcraft, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Revelation 21:8

But for the cowardly, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and sexually immoral persons, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

They can all be summed up with the simple instruction: Do not consult them.

We are not to have anything to do with those who practice such things. They are the tools of Satan and those who think they are dabbling innocently into these mysteries are opening doors that are better left shut.

Our society makes it easy to become involved with the occult without even realizing it. We can listen to paranormal experiences on podcasts. Watch the latest “technology” hunt for ghosts on television. Get the life scared out of us at the movies. Each time we allow ourselves one of these things we suspend our belief just a little more in the name of entertainment and open a door we should never know existed. We call it entertainment all the while saying we don’t believe the nonsense spouted at us. Yet, we listen with eagerness to tales of hauntings curious about the “other side.”

There is a verse I remind myself of when I come across these things. You should consider marking it in your bible and committing it to memory. Deuteronomy 29:29


“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, so that we may follow all the words of this Law.”

There are things we need have no knowledge of and there are things that God has revealed to us. The things that God has revealed to us, these are the things that are life and truth. He has brought these things into the light. What is in the darkness is best left in the darkness until He exposes them. They belong to Him. Don’t get trapped by the ghosts, goblins and the darkness. Bring the light that God has given to us into the darkness. The “witch” of Endor cried out when she saw Samuel. She knew right away Saul had tricked her. She wasn’t dealing with familiar spirits, but with God. Let’s make sure this spooky season we bring God’s terror on those who are of the darkness and expose them to the light.

Angela

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Third Verse Devotion: Be Thou My Vision

This has long been my husband’s favorite hymn. The song has an Irish tune, and the Irish notes are heard in the melody still. The hymn was written with five verses though four are only ever published in most hymnals. I want to look at the rare third verse. The song is in the public domain, and you can find the song at www.hymnary.org.

As I read over verse three, there is so much packed into the four-lined stanza. I could go into spiritual warfare, delighting in the Lord, the Lord is our refuge our strong tower, and he is our power who will take us to be with him either in death or at the end of all things.  Here is the verse that is left out of most hymnals.

Be thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight;
Be thou my dignity, thou my delight.
Thou my soul’s shelter, thou my high tow’r;
Raise thou me Heav’nward, O Pow’r of my pow’r.

The writer prays “Be thou my breastplate.” Ephesians 6 speaks of the armor of a Christian. Part of this armor is the breastplate which protects a soldier’s heart. A soldier cannot survive long on a battlefield if his chest and heart are exposed. As Christian soldiers, we are the same. We need to protect our heart. Many things are shot at us throughout a day aimed at taking out our heart.

Proverbs 4:23

Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.

In other words, what we fill our heart with is what will pour from our life. The bible has much to say about protecting our heart and how what we put in our heart comes out in our life.  Jesus in speaking to temple leaders put it this way,

Matthew 12:34

You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, express any good things? For the mouth speaks from that which fills the heart.

So, the question is, how can I protect my heart? I think there are three areas of our life in which we can guard our hearts: what we watch, what we listen to and what we dwell on.

I am not here to tell you to stop watching television or stop listening to music you like or to only read a certain kind of book. You must work that out with the Lord. However, you remember the old adage, “garbage in, garbage out,” well it is true. What we watch on television or the movies we choose to go see fills our hearts with violence, perversity, and other sins that make it easy for us to accept and turn a blind eye to in society. There are things on television now that would have been shocking only a few years ago. Yet we have become accustomed to these things as common place. They should still be shocking.

We also guard our hearts by what we listen to. Music is a powerful medium. We listen to music for many reasons. When we need some background noise to enhance study, when we are celebrating, when we are sorrowful, when we want to relax. Some people will say they listen for the words. While others say it is about the beat. Either way music gets into our heart. Will it not be better for it to be music that uplifts rather than songs about cheating, stealing, murder, abuse of all kinds? Again, it is about choices. I am not going to tell you what kind of music to listen to, but I will say that what we put in our ears and eyes affects our hearts.

This is also true with what we read. I am a reader. I would surround myself with books if I could. My family toured a home the other day which had a library which at one time contained 50,000 books. It was a dream for me. I could imagine the books I would place in such a space. I don’t read my Bible all day. I have favorite genres I go back to and some I don’t come near to touch. Even within the genres I enjoy there are still some I stay away from. Books, more specifically, words have a way of getting deep into our hearts and minds. The psalmist perhaps understood this when he wrote this verse:

Psalm 119:11

11 I have treasured Your word in my heart,
So that I may not sin against You.

It is so important that we have a regular plan for putting God’s word in our heart. One way is to memorize a verse each week. As we work through memorizing the verse we meditate on the verse and spend time on the meaning. The process strengthens our breastplate and in turn guards our heart.

Our stanza of study become even more beautiful when we consider how connected it is. We move from breastplate to sword. God’s word is our sword. As we learn to spend more time in His word, our bible becomes a sword against the things we see on television, in movies, what we listen to in music, and what we read and ultimately what we dwell on. He is our refuge and strong tower. The more time we spend in his word the more he becomes our dignity and delight.  He is our hiding place when the world is too much, and our soul needs a break from the craziness that is the world.

We cannot do this on our own. We need him to be our breastplate. We need him to be our dignity. We need him to be our sword and our strong tower. If you are struggling today with your breastplate and realize your heart is unguarded in any of these areas I have mentioned, take it to him and let him be your vision and your power.

Angela

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Rattling Bones

Get the picture with me. You are praying and everything is great, suddenly you open your eyes, and you are standing in the middle of a valley filled with bones. They had been there a while. These skeletons covered the whole valley floor. God tells you to walk among them and as you do so, He asks you if they can live again. Now you know there is no way, but since you are talking to God you know nothing is impossible with Him. You wisely answer, “Lord, God, You Yourself know.”

You are standing there a little weirded out half wishing he had put you somewhere less creepy. Then he tells you to speak to the bones. This is what God wants you to say to them.

“Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘You dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’This is what the Lord God says to these bones: ‘Behold, I am going to make breath enter you so that you may come to life. And I will attach tendons to you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin, and put breath in you so that you may come to life; and you will know that I am the Lord.’”

The man is Ezekiel, and this story is found in Ezekiel chapter 37. Ezekiel does what God asks of him. While Ezekiel prophesied “there was a loud noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone.” While he was watching, “tendons were on them, and flesh grew, and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them.”

Ezekiel is standing in the middle of this valley where only a moment before had been covered with dry bones. Now it is full of dead men laying all over the valley floor. He had watched as their bones had come back together and tendons and ligaments came to cover the bones and muscles, and flesh covered the tendons and ligaments. They lay there with no breath in them. But God wasn’t done. He tells Ezekiel to prophesy one more time,

“Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘The Lord God says this: “Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, so that they come to life.”’” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.” (Ezekiel 37: 7-10)

God put breath in these men. They were just dry bones lying in a valley. Now they were living men. God had restored them.  They stood there looking around at each other and at Ezekiel wondering what had just happened. Ezekiel was looking at them wondering what in the world this was all about.

God does not do anything without a reason.  He tells Ezekiel that these bones are the house of Israel. They believed all hope was lost. They were in exile from their land. The land God had promised them. God tells Ezekiel the people are saying three things. First that their bones are dried up. Represented by the valley of bones. Second, their hope had perished. They felt they had nothing left to hope for. And third, they had been completely cut off. They felt abandoned. Psalm 88:5 gives an example,

Abandoned among the dead,
Like the slain who lie in the grave,
Whom You no longer remember,
And they are cut off from Your hand.


I just wonder, have you ever felt abandoned by God? I think if you breathe you have felt that way at some point in your life. We go through difficult challenges, and we cannot see a way out of them, and we pray to what feels like a heaven made of iron. We feel forgotten and alone and cut off. Sometimes the fault is our own and the choices we have made. Other times it is just a season of life that we all walk through.

Israel brought their exile on themselves. God had given them prophets and warnings for years. He had tried to turn their hearts back to Him, but they were hard-hearted and unwilling. So, they were left with punishment and exile. Now here they were feeling abandoned, forgotten and cut off. Still God loved them. He gave Ezekiel this vision to give to the people to give them hope again.

The entire chapter of Ezekiel 37 is about the restoration of Israel. God reveals his plan in verses 12-14,

“Behold, I am going to open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. And I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it,” declares the Lord.’”

What began as a terrifying moment for Ezekiel turned into a word of hope for the people of Israel. It is also a word of hope for us. As Israel came out of their captivity back into their land we are assured of God’s promises. There is a two-fold promise in this chapter. I challenge you to read the chapter sometime over the weekend. He promised them to return to their homeland and it happened – twice. First following the exile and second following the holocaust when Israel was recognized as a nation in 1948. Today as Israel sits on the land God promised we have hope in the assurance that God keeps his promise. No, Israel is not on the entire land. The rest will come. But Israel stands as a nation again. One and united, not two separate nations of Israel and Judah. When they were released from captivity, they were Israel.

I don’t know where you are today or what your struggles are. You might feel abandoned forgotten and cut off. Maybe you feel like those dried bones. But look up. God can breathe fresh breath of life into those rattling bone and call you out of your grave of despair and hopelessness.  Today walk in his love and assurance.

Angela

Posted on by Angela

Third Verse Devotion: Are You Washed

The greatest anticipation of Christians is the return of Jesus. We have been expecting his return since his ascension 2, 000 years ago. I know some might say he is slow in his return, yet Peter already had an answer for that very argument.

2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

His delay is for those who have yet to believe. The Lord will keep all his promises, including his promise to return. He doesn’t want any to perish in an eternity away from him, so he waits. He gives ample opportunity for unbelievers to come to him in repentance for salvation. One day the clock will run out and he will return. As sure as I type these words, he will return. Our hymn today asks the question, Are you ready?

When the Bridegroom cometh will your robes be white?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Will your soul be ready for the mansions bright,
and be washed in the blood of the Lamb?

When he comes have you done what you needed to in preparation? Jesus told a parable in Matthew 25 of the second coming in relation to ten virgins five had extra oil and five did not. When the bridegroom came the hour was late and five virgins trimmed their lamps with their extra oil and went out to meet him. The remainder did not have enough oil. They tried to borrow some from the other five but there would not have been enough for all of them. They were told to go to the market and purchase more. While they were out, the bridegroom came, and the party went in and shut and locked the door. Finally, they came and knocked on the door begging to be let in but were refused. They weren’t prepared, they weren’t ready in advance of his coming.

The second part of the line is “will your robes be white” and harkens to Revelation and perhaps Isaiah. In Revelation chapter 7, John looked and saw a great multitude. Look at Revelation 7:9

…I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all the tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands…

John was asked by one of the elders with him if he knew who they were, he answered he did not. The elder responded with,

“These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:14)

There is a time coming when a great tribulation will fall on the earth. A man of lawlessness will reign for a short time. Any who profess to believe in Jesus during that time will suffer for their belief like never before. These martyrs for the name of Jesus are the ones who are referred to here. Earlier in chapter 6, John had witnessed those who had been martyred crying for justice. At this time, they were also given a white robe. (Revelation 6:11)

This idea can also be found in Isaiah 1:18,

Though your sins are as scarlet,
They shall become as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be like wool.


When we are covered in the blood of Jesus, we are made new again and made white as snow. Our sins are no more. We will be ready for the bridegroom and our robes will be white. Then we will be ready for the mansion bright. Jesus talks about that mansion in John chapter 14. He has been talking to his disciples about going away to prepare a place for them and he says this,

John 14:2

In My Father’s house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you.

The many rooms translated in the New American Standard is often translated mansions in other versions. It means he is preparing a place for us. Whether it is a room or a mansion, he has us in mind, and it will be magnificent. It will be a place beyond our wildest dreams. So, if he has gone to prepare a place for his believers, doesn’t it stand to reason he will come back for them? Yes, he will.

 I don’t know when but someday Jesus will come back for his church until then let me encourage you to be ready. Be washed in the blood of the Lamb. Let your robe be white and be ready for the mansions bright. O be washed in the blood of the Lamb.

Angela

Posted on by Angela

Into the Water

Baptism can be a divisive issue among Christians. Some baptize by immersion, fully putting the one baptized under the water, others baptize by a sprinkling of water or pouring of water over the one to be baptized. Some baptize infants and some say one should be baptized when one can make a full confession of faith in Christ and an infant cannot make such a confession. Some say baptism is not necessary for salvation while others say it is essential. All these varying claims can cause confusion for those who are not affiliated with any church. After all, if the churches can’t figure it out how can anyone else?

I don’t think baptism was ever meant to be divisive. After salvation, baptism is the first natural step in obedience to following Jesus. If you have confessed Christ as Savior, the next step is baptism. The chances are good you are already affiliated with a local church, and they will probably talk to you about their form of baptism. If you aren’t connected with a local bible believing church, you need to do that and let the pastor know of your decision to follow Jesus.

There are three things that baptism entails and must be found in the life of the one to be baptized. First, a confession of sins. Second repentance. And third belief in Jesus.

John’s baptism followed a confession of sins. Matthew 3:6 gives us our first look at baptism in the New Testament and he writes:

“and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.”

From this we can gather that confession of sins is a necessary prelude to baptism. Without the confession of sins there would be no reason to be baptized. The confession of sins indicates the fact we need cleansing. We need washing away of our old life and the putting on of a new life. The act of confession is the beginning of the process of taking off the old self. This does not mean we need to go through the baptismal waters every time we need to confess our sins. No, once is enough. We follow the example of Christ. While he had no sins to confess, he led by example through the waters of baptism and our new life in him begins the same. We confess our sins and repent of our old ways. In the gospel of Luke, speaking of John the Baptist, we find,

…he came into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; (Luke 3:3)

Repentance is the decision to change behavior. It is the act of turning away from what one had been doing and not doing it any longer. A thief no longer steals. A liar no longer lies. An addict no longer uses. Repentance results in changed behavior. Confession and repentance often go hand in hand. We confession our sins and repent of them in that we turn our back on them striving never to commit them again. We are not perfect, but we are in the process of becoming more like Jesus.

This brings us to belief in Jesus. We confess our sins and repent of them. If we stop here, we have done nothing more than turn over a new leaf. There must be belief. We must put our belief in Jesus. Without belief in Jesus, baptism is only getting wet. Baptism is the outward demonstration of the change that has taken place in our hearts. It is the act of showing the world that we belong to Jesus now. We are serious about our confession and repentance. We choose to follow Jesus. It is because of this choice we are following his example in baptism. Mark 16:16 states that,

The one who has believed and has been baptized will be saved; but the one who has not believed will be condemned.

Baptism is one of the two ordinances Jesus gave us while on earth. The second being communion, or the Lord’s Supper, which he instituted before his death. Baptism is the first step in a life devoted to obedience to Christ. If you have accepted Christ as Savior and confessed your need for him to forgive your sins and have repented of your ways, the next step is to follow him in baptism.

I have tried to stay away from the various forms of baptism and arguments various churches have over baptism. I fear that my belief leaked through onto the page. While I do have my answers for what I believe about baptism from the beginning of this post, I wanted to go to the heart. What is in our heart is essentially what leads us to the baptismal waters. If our heart is not changed, there is no need to be baptized. If we are not willing to confess our sins or repent of them, turn away completely from them, then our heart is not changed, and we have not believed. We are still lost, and it doesn’t matter what we believe.

So, where are you today? The way to baptism has three stops, confession, repentance and belief in Jesus. My hope for you is that you have passed all three. Now step into the water.

Angela