Daniel

Today I am struck by Daniel's words before he is thrown into the blazing furnace

Daniel 3:17+18
"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

Daniel a Faith that was tried and tried but never failed.

The hope of God

More and more I am convinced that we humans are driven by hope.  Our hope is what gives our lives direction.

Romans 5
{3} And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; {4} and perseverance, character; and character, hope. {5} Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

The problem with this it seems is that this world is really very cold. The rain, the sun, the earth are mechanisms that do not offer any reassurance. The physical world has world has no concern over the human being.

John 3:16
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Eugène N. Marais stated in his book "The Soul of the White Ant" that the most convincing argument that there is a God is that humans in a world of death and fighting we humans look for peace, justice, and love.

(NIV, John 13:34-35)
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

One of the most amazing things I find in the book "The boy who came back to heaven" is that anyone who depends on God even a 6 year old has power to overcome the devil through the power of Jesus.

Matthew 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

It's better than that yet. This awesome Jesus is available to anyone who trusts in him. Jesus understands that we are imperfect people. We fail and that is the grace of God even though we want to do right and we fail God will still be there for us. He is there for our every need.

Psalm 107:1 (NIV)
"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."

Sorry I have been without internet and have been fairly busy the past few weeks.

God Bless us,
God Lead us,
God show us your grace
God destroy the fortifications of evil.

Battle over the Hearts and Minds

One reason why I admire Mohamed Gandhi, and Marten Luther King Junior is that they they choose not to fight the evil that was present with violence, but choose to fight the evil in our minds.

I heard a speaker talk about his interpretation of the last battle that John talks about in revelation and he interprets it as a figurative language. The battle as mentioned in revelation takes place at the centre of the world. A crucial strategic point that would control the world. He understood John to be saying that the last battle is over the hearts and minds of people. Where we all take a place.

Now I don't know if he is right but I think he makes some good points. The battle is not against people but it's one step deeper. The battle is over the hearts and minds of people.

We find this through out scripture.
King Hezekiah when he faces an overwhelming force of Assyrian coming to destroy him and Jerusalem prays to God "Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you along, O Lord, are God."  Isaiah 37:20

Where would the western world be with out the battle over the hearts and minds of the people in the enlightenment age. No matter how hard rulers tried to snuff out revolutionaries the printing press proved the better weapon.

God is God

I have been struck lately how we humans seem to think it's all about us.
It is so easy to start thinking that God's blesses those that obey him, and doesn't bless those that don't but we find something else in the bible

Ecclesiastes 8:14
righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve.

I believe because God is calling us to something deeper, something more important that physical blessing. God is calling us into a relationship with him no matter what happens.

I have just finished a book called "The boy who came back from Heaven" and really liked this book. This is the words that the father Kevin received from an Angel in the nonfiction book

"Speak of Me,forMe, and about Me
Use Alex to show who I am
I have chesen him as a screen upon which to show Myself
I am unity, the trinity, a complete circle,
Your story will lead to praise an worship, ther willbe alter calls
Your bills are the least of My worries
I will be with you all the days of your life
I will speak to you
I will guide you
I am in you
I am about you, you be about Me
My love is unconditional
My vengeance is restricted for the holy
My apostles died for Me, will you die for Me?
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last."

What I learnt most while reading this book is that it's not about us. Miracles are not to save a person from death but for God's power to be shown to the world.

Read the book If you can!

God lead us,
God protect us,
God lead us to your green pastures,
God lead us to believe and trust in you
God I love you!

Job

I'm reading a book on Job and I find a striking story of loss and through all of the loss we find Job response.

Job 1:20-21 (The Message)

20 Job got to his feet, ripped his robe, shaved his head, then fell to the ground and worshiped:

21 Naked I came from my mother's womb,
naked I'll return to the womb of the earth.
God gives, God takes.
God's name be ever blessed.

I find this is a beautiful response. He strikes the truth and shows his true love for God.

All is God's anyways, it's all on loan, so if you will to take it all away, I trust you and love you God. Job is a man of heroic endurance.

I think when ever reading this story we have to remember the end of the story. That God has more to his plan than what it seems in the moment.

East is from the West

New Living Translation (2007) Psalm 103:12
He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.

It's funny how God works. I wonder how the author choose east and west, and not north and south. In a world that you believe is flat, there would be no difference. Yet us in the 21st century understand the world as round. So we can mark the distance between the south pole and the north but can you mark the distance from east to west.

I find God sometimes uses the subtle hints to show his power, his leading in peoples lives such as this author. It's like a treasure that is buried until we discover the truth but the world.

That reminds me of something I heard from someone I look up to. We live in a world that is a fine line.
We live in a world where it is possible to believe that there is no God, but it is impossible to do so.

This verse highlights that. It could be just chance that the author picked east and west.

God lead us to green pastures
God bless us with your presence
God help us shine for you
God protect us from all who oppose you

Born Again

It seems to me over and over again that Jesus is about rebirth.

John 3:5-7
5Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'

Jesus calls us to give up our flesh. A rebirth from the old to the new. I dislike rebirth, it seems that I like the old familiar ways but everything I see in our world is about destruction and rebirth. It's written into every part of our lives.

Jesus I believes calls into all parts of our life wanting to create a new life. He wants to be so much more than just an addition to us humans. He wants to create new life a rebirth.

It seems that sometimes I would rather drag the whole world into how I believe the world should be rather than transform myself into what God calls me to be.

It's been summer!

Sorry I've taken so long to send a post, but well ... it's been summer.

Recently at a bible study we go to we watched a video about samson. He pointed out a few interesting points that I'd like to pass along.

Background:
Philistines had control over the Israel. They were called sea people who had immigrated from the north. They had advanced culture, science, and buildings. Israel was still in tents, and it appears that philistine culture was invading the culture of Israel.

God blesses a son and he is told to be a Nazirite. Someone who doesn't shave, doesn't drink, and doesn't touch anything dead and so on (appears very rough and backwards to me when compared with the Philistines). Samson is very strong, he steals the gates from the philistine city and carried them a long distance, kill many Philistines.

But then Samson breaks the commands of the Nazirite, is caught and held and eventual dies. You can read the full story in Judges 13-16.

It seems to me God was painting a picture. God's people then and today are like Samson. We are not the most cultured, smart, artistic ... people but we are like Samson with God's power we can and do great things.

But once we start fitting God into our life instead of giving God rule our life we fall apart.

I wonder sometimes if I am trying to be cultured, smart, ... instead of letting God rule my life. I believe if I do what God he calls me to do whether it's culture, science, art ... and so on no one can stand in the way of God as Samson shows us.

In the Beginning God Created Freedom

I think one of the marvelous creations by God is the creation of freedom. If God is in everything and created everything imagine trying to create something that can do something separate from God. In a sense ignore the God that created it. He gave this freedom to many things not just humans, He gave it to the angels.

But the trouble with freedom is that it comes with responsibility. If you are free to do what you want, you are now free to cause pain. Free to limit other peoples freedom. Free to cause other people pain. God isn't going to limit this ability all the time because then we wouldn't be free.

So what does God do about this tragic situation was not his intention when he created freedom. He doesn't change the rules of freedom, but rather He gives every believer the ability to overcome. He gives every believer everything that they will need.

I believe God had in his mind, beings that out of there own free will would trust God, Worship God, and serve God. I believe He is still intent on seeing His plan through.

Those are my thoughts for today!

God bless us,
God lead us,
God protect us,
God lead us to green pastures.

Footprints in the Sand

Footprints in the Sand
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only.
This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord,

“You promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand.Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.”

Mary Stevenson, 1936

Sorry I have no pictures of steps in the sand

I pray your having a great week!!