Wisdom From Above

James 3: 17-18

But the wisdom from above is first of all 
pure. It is also
peace-loving,
gentle at all times, and
willing to yield to others. It is full of
mercy and
good deeds. It shows
no favoritism and is always
sincere. And those who are
peacemakers will
plant seeds of peace and
reap a harvest of 
righteousness.

Our God is great and majestic. He is our Awesome God of Truth and Justice. He is Father, Lord, Lawgiver and Judge. His compassion and mercy are incomprehensible, and His Love knows no boundaries. His Justice is righteous and perfect and complete.

O my Father, grant me Your wisdom this day, today, that my thoughts and intentions, my actions, my words today would be Your thoughts, actions, words; Your purposes carried out in and through me, according to Your Plan. 

And You, Father, will receive all the glory, for it is You Who is doing it all.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Wisdom And Obedience

Psalm 111: 10

Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom. All who obey His commandments will grow in wisdom.

People all over the world, of every Nation, every Time, every religion, have all been aware of the Natural Laws that God based this Universe on when He created it all. And true science is seeking the Truth of how this material existence works. 

No one can deny the working of the Law of Gravity, for instance. It would be foolish to try to "break" the Law of Gravity, we can only break ourselves on it. We could not disobey this law, everyone who has tried has paid instant consequences, according to the working of the law.

When we know and respect how Gravity works, then we can learn to enjoy it. Airplanes don't go against Gravity, but obey a higher law, of Aerodynamics. Working with both laws, planes fly. And people jump out of planes to sky-dive. These people are not trying to defy Gravity, but enjoy using it to feel weightless as they drop, and highly respect it by pulling the cord on the parachute in time to, still obeying the laws, approach their landing at a safe speed. 

But people don't have the same respect, or fear, of God's moral laws. They talk of "breaking" the laws, but, like the Natural Laws, they will only break themselves on it. We do have the freedom to disobey, but we will only pay the consequences for it, in both our relationships and our peace of mind. 

How much better for us when we know the right way to live, and live according to it. The way God designed the World to function. The better we know God and His ways, and follow them, then the better we get along with ourselves, our environment, and our fellow man. That's why the "Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom," and "all who obey His commandments will grow in wisdom." 

I've heard it said that the definition of "wisdom" is "knowing how to apply Knowledge." So having knowledge is only the first step. Discerning how to apply the knowledge we have is the key to having Wisdom. 

"Always learning, but never able to acknowledge the Truth" is the way Paul's second letter to Timothy says it (3:7). This is one of the "signs" of the Last Days before the Coming of the Lord. These people are highly educated, but are not able to discern God's basic moral rules. I see this in those who are running our highest institutes of learning; they think that any kind of sexual lifestyle is equal to any other, they think that political systems that have failed every time in the past should be put in place instead of what worked in the past, and they are teaching our youth these fallacies and others. They have no wisdom, but have become fools, being deceived.

I do hope and pray that you, dear Reader, are learning how to order your own life and thinking processes according to God and His ways. So that you will acquire godly wisdom, as opposed to the worldly wisdom of the foolish. So that you will know God, not just know about Him, and knowing Him will love Him, as He loves you more than you can imagine. And loving Him, you will love who He loves, your fellow human beings. Then you will be obeying His Law. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

How God Rescues

Psalm 107: 1, 6, 13, 19, 28, 43

O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endures forever.

"Lord, help!" they cried in their trouble, and He saved them from all their distresses. (4x, all kinds of distresses.)

Whoever is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.

Just the other day I heard about Christians in the Middle East who were saved by three lions. The terrorists had " pursued Pastor Paul’s group for weeks and finally had the Christians cornered. Then out of nowhere lions came to the rescue. 

"Easter Sunday Pastor Ayyoob was leading a worship service at his house when the militant group targeted them. The Christians were certain that they’d lose their lives so they started crying out to Jesus. Then, out of nowhere an angry lion roared out of the forest and pounced on the militants. The lion went after one of the attackers and grabbed him by the neck. Some of the other militants started hitting the lion. Two more lions then appeared and went to the aid of the first lion. Shocked by suddenly having to defend themselves against 3 lions, the militants ran away.

"Pastor Paul was amazed that the lions never approached any of the church members. He was even more amazed by the fact that no lions actually live anywhere near there." 

(from the KLOVE news page, http://www.klove.com/news/2017/06/01/Lions-Save-Christians-Targeted-By-Terrorists/)

This is modern-day evidence that God is still in the business of caring for His children. When we belong to Him, His eye is always on us, no matter who else sees us as a target. These Middle-Eastern Christians live in a very dangerous part of the World for anyone who doesn't adhere to the idol of the region, especially God's people. And they, "cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses."


Because "The Lord is good, and His mercy endures forever," we can always rely on Him to be true to His Word, and we can trust His love to remain genuine, powerful, and covering over us.

That's why, "Whoever is wise and will [pay attention, take to heart] all these things will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord."

Even so, come, Lord Jesus! 

He Hears My Voice

Psalm 116: 1-2

I love the Lord because He hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!

I love You, Lord,
And I lift my voice
To worship You,
O my soul rejoice!
Take joy, my King,
In what You hear, 
May it be a sweet, sweet sound
In Your ear!

When I read this Psalm, I was reminded of this old song. [If someone knows who gets the credits for this song, I would appreciate that knowledge.] 

O my Father, You are such a good God! Such a wonderful Father to me, to us all! Thank You for the privilege of prayer, that I can talk to You and You listen to me!

Open my ears and heart to listen to You, and to obey You--not get distracted from what You are directing me to accomplish. Strengthen me, Father, that I may narrow my focus onto the objective You place before me, and not be turned off to the right or to the left! Use me, Father, to do my part in Your Great Plan of the Ages!

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

The Wall Of Righteousness

Ezekiel 22: 30

I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone who might stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn't have to destroy the land, but I found no one.

I am concerned for any nation that doesn't have a wall of righteousness guarding their land. There have been only two nations in the history of the World that have been able to have that wall of God's righteousness, and they've been Israel (because God gave His Law to them) and the United States of America (because our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution were based on that Law). 

Israel did not maintain that wall, being seduced by all the idols of the nations around her, and God destroyed their land that He gave them, scattering them to all the Nations. Unlike any other people who had been conquered and dispersed, they didn't get lost in the genetic dilution, but always maintained their own identity. Now, since 1948 Israel has again been a Nation among the Nations of the World. But they have yet to recognize their Messiah.

America has a different story. When our founding fathers came here to be able to worship according to their consciences instead of having to join a state-church, they devised a system of government that permitted the new Nation to prosper greatly and enjoy peace with other Nations. We were a very moral people who were mostly church-going and we taught our children how to read with the Bible as their textbook. That's why God blessed us so greatly.

But like the rest of mankind, we got to thinking that God's laws were too restrictive and we thought we knew better, so we changed the laws, and took the Bible out of our schools, and we've experienced two world wars, but not on our soil. Then we took the Ten Commandments (that all our laws were based on) out of our public buildings, and now we're having terrorists flying into our buildings and deranged, cowardly gunmen are mowing down our citizens in no-gun-zones.

Now we have a Christian president and a Christian vice-president, and I do hope that they will seek God with their whole being, and follow His ways in all their decisions to bring God's righteousness back to this Nation, and that God will protect them from their ungodly enemies as they do what is right for all of us. I pray that they will stand in the gap and rebuild that wall of righteousness to guard our land.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Could Today Be Your Last Day?

Hebrews 10: 23-25

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise. 

What is the hope that we affirm? Is it a wish that everything would turn out all right? That's the World's meaning of hope, an "I hope so" kind of way of thinking. No, not at all. 

When God talks of hope in His Word, He refers to what He is going to do, without fail, but hasn't yet. This is a firm confidence that everything God says, He will do, exactly the way He says it will happen. That's why we can trust Him to always keep every promise He's ever made, all through the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. If He didn't intend to do exactly what He says, then He would have said something else.

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 

This is a nice thought. How are we to know how to motivate each other if we don't know each other? 

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, 

Oh, so this is how we are to get to know each other, we need to meet together regularly. This refers not only to attending a worship service on the weekend, but also meeting with a smaller group of believers that we can get to know as friends. That's where "church" actually happens, in the smaller groups of brothers and sisters in Christ who have come to trust each other with their personal sorrows and joys. These are those we can know how to encourage, being acquainted with what's going on in their lives.

especially now that the Day of His return is drawing near.

Believers in every age have had the notion that Jesus could return in their lifetimes, because there have always been some of the "last times" happenings present in every age. But never has there been all the signs being displayed in the World at the same time, as seems to be today. 

It is true that Jesus' coming again is closer than it ever has been, every day is another day closer to that Day. I keep my eyes open to catch the news of every sign that has been predicted, and I haven't found one yet that I can't point to somewhere today. 

So we need to count every day as if it may be our last. If today were your last day before Jesus calls you out of this world either by death or by rapture, how would you live it? Would you change anything? We never do know when we will live our last day. 

So we need to pay attention to holding to the faith we have been given by the church fathers and the Spirit of the Lord. And continue to look for how we can minister to one another, encouraging each other to not give up.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

The Great Eagle

Ezekiel 17: 2-10, 24

A great eagle with broad wings and long feathers ... seized the top of a cedar tree and plucked off its highest branch. He carried it away to a city filled with merchants, he planted it in a city of traders. He also took a seedling from the land and planted it in fertile soil ... beside a broad river where it could grow like a willow tree. It took root there and grew ... [and] turned up toward the eagle. ... Then another great eagle came ... so the vine now sent its roots and branches toward him for water, even though it was already planted in good soil and had plenty of water. ... 

So now the Sovereign Lord asks: Will this vine grow and prosper? No! I will pull it up, roots and all! I will cut off its fruit let its leaves wither and die. I will pull it up easily without a strong arm or a large army. But when the vine is transplanted, will it thrive? No, it will wither away when the East Wind blows against it. It will die in the same good soil where it had grown so well. ... 

And all the trees will know that it is I, the Lord, Who cuts the tall tree down and makes the short tree grow tall. It is I Who makes the green tree wither and gives the dead tree new life. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do what I said.

This was written long ago by Ezekiel to and about Israel. But can it also apply to us today? Is not America known as the Eagle? Were we not "plucked off" of Europe's finest, and "planted" in this good land with major rivers and fertile plains? Are we not a Capitalistic society of merchants and traders? And we did honor the Lord, basing our laws on God's good Laws, and He blessed us with great peace and prosperity. 

But now another "eagle," who looks like it could be an imposter, has drawn away our gaze from God's ways to the World's ways, even though we already had everything we needed. God has allowed our prosperity to decline. Will we take note of how we have left what works for what has consistently failed in the past? Will God have to pull us up by the roots, easily, without violence (sounds like an election!)? Will He then transplant us in the same soil, but will we not revive, but wither away under the "East Wind" (would this be Middle-Eastern?)?

God is God, and has the authority to "cut the tall tree down and make the short tree grow tall, to make the green tree wither and give life to the dead tree." Just as my son could build his Lego cities and castles, then dismantle them to build them up again greater or smaller, so God is our Creator Who has all authority and power to do whatever He wants with us. 

O my Father, I pray for all of us: Your church to wake up; Your people to open our eyes to see what has happened and where we are heading; to turn us around as a Nation, back to what You have shown us is the right Way--to confess our sins, seek Your face, and turn from all of our wicked ways. 

Then You have told us that You would hear from Heaven, forgive our sins, and heal our land (II Chronicles 7:14). I pray that it would not be too late for us to turn around, for You to again bless this Nation for the sake of Your Children and Your holy Name. Father, let not Your enemies point to all of our shortcomings and slander Your Majesty! Promote Your righteousness in this land again, make us again that City on a Hill that those all over the World look to because of Your blessings, and protect us from the enemy and his minions who envy our prosperity and seek to destroy us, both foreign and domestic.

Father, I know that Your justice is just, and that we deserve Your wrath for all our wickedness. I also know of Your grace and mercy, that if we turn back to You, then You will relent on the destruction we have earned; just like You relented when Jonah preached in that evil, violent, cruel city Nineveh, when they repented in sackcloth and ashes and sought Your Face (Jonah 4:2). Their destruction did come later, a generation later. Please humble us in "sackcloth and ashes" and relent, that Your Name would be lifted up before all the Nations, and all will know that You are the Lord Almighty.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!