STINKIN' THINKIN'

I woke up yesterday with a lot on my mind.  A ton of things that needed my attention, things weighing on my heart, and I really wasn't sure where to begin.  I had fixed my coffee and was standing in the middle of my kitchen, contemplating what to do first.  I breathed a prayer and said "Lord, what do I do first?!"  At that moment, my eyes fell on my Bible lying on the kitchen table.  It was almost as if God shined a spotlight on it.  I sort of laughed, and said "Ok...I hear you."  Although I would be leading a Bible study in a few hours in my home and I did need to look over my notes, I sensed that I just needed to open it up and let God speak.

I did and He did.

After flipping through several passages, I landed where I almost always do...Psalms.  My eyes fell on the verses 9-10 of Psalm 119, "I have sought you with my whole heart.  Do not let me wander from your commands."  I felt that voiced the desire of my heart.  I continued reading and then came to verses 15, 16

"I will meditate on your precepts
I will think on your ways
I will delight in your statutes
I will not forget your word."

Those words just jumped off the page at me!  Two reasons.  One, I am the world's worst at rehearsing my woes over and over and over in my mind.  What I should have done or said, what can I do or say, how can I fix this, what if....., etc."  I talk to the Lord constantly about them (not a bad thing, but I have a feeling even HE sometimes wishes I'd give it a rest!).  I know better.  I know not to dwell on those things, not to worry, but I still do.

So when I read those words, it was as if God was reminding me GET YOUR MIND ON THE RIGHT THINGS !!

The second reason was that the Bible study I've been leading has been about God's Story.  We have been doing a chronological study of the Word of God and the one thread we have seen throughout the Bible has been the thread of Bible literacy and how important it is to the survival of a nation and of a life on a personal level.  These verses speak directly to that!

So I have challenged those in my Bible study to memorize these 2 verses for next week.

The first line says "I will meditate on your precepts."  

What does it mean to "meditate"?  Webster defines meditate: "to focus one's thoughts on, to ponder, to chew over, to study, to question, to 'kick around', to wrestle with."

What are precepts?  "A command or principle intended especially as a general rule of action".  

So, if we are to "mediate on your precepts", we will ponder, chew on, wrestle with and question a command or principle put forth in the Word of God.  That will require more than a mere glance at this principle or verse.  It will require that we take it with us, either by memory or in written form.  We will think on it again and again throughout our day.  We will contemplate what it means for us specifically.  We will ask the Lord to open the eyes of our understanding to His meaning for us and for our lives.  Once we begin to do that, we will begin to "own" that verse.  It will no longer just be words on a page.  It will be personal to us, to our situation, and that is when, I believe, that God will begin to change us and maybe even our circumstances.

"I will think about your ways."  God's ways are not our ways.  He is our role model.  When we begin to think about and read about His ways, we will learn to follow after Him.  We will begin to see how He wants us to live.  That, too, will change our lives.  We are to be image bearers to the world, witnesses to the world of the life that resides within us as believers.  If we never give any thought to God's ways, we will never be like Him.

"I will delight in your statutes."  A statute is defined as "an ordinance or a law."   God gave a number of laws and ordinances for us to live by.  Do we "delight" in them?  We should.  They are for our good and for our protection.  It is important for us to know what they are so that we can live within their boundaries.  We can feel secure and cared for when we know the laws that God has instituted for our good and when we obey them.  God never enacted any rule or law to harm us.  Just like we, as parents, make rules for the good of our children, so God has made rules for the good of us, His children.  It just shows He loves us and wants what is best for us.  For that reason, we CAN delight in His laws.

"I will not forget your Word."  If we are meditating on His Word, thinking on His ways, and delighting ourselves in His laws, we will NOT forget His Word.  It will become a part of us.  If we allow God's Word to fill our minds rather than our problems, agendas, and concerns, we will find those things somehow becoming "strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace". 

I challenge you to memorize those verses with us this week and free your mind from "stinkin' thinkin'"!

WOE TO AMERICA!!

 ^{After the children of Israel (the Israelites) went into the Promised Land, the land of Canaan, which God had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they were to possess the land, removing the people from each of the territories and removing ALL vestiges of their religious practices.  The Israelites were to be a 'set-apart' people, God's peculiar treasure.  They were to demonstrate to the world what it would look like to live in obedience to the one true God.  They were given strict laws and statutes to follow so that they would not in any way resemble these pagan nations.  God promised manifold blessings for their obedience, BUT....He also warned them if they did not obey, there would be severe consequences.  They were a wicked, obstinate, stiff-necked people and they continually strayed from His paths.   Time after time He showed them mercy.  He pursued them.  He sent prophets to warn them they were going to face dire consequences if they did not repent and turn back to Him.  They refused.  So, He took His hand off of them and allowed foreign nations to take them into exile for 70 years.  II Kings 17: 7-20 explains:
 
7} 
 All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods ⁸ and followed the practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced. ⁹ The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns. ¹⁰ They set up sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. ¹¹ At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the Lord had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that aroused the Lord’s anger. ¹² They worshiped idols, though the Lord had said, “You shall not do this.”^{[a] 13} The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: “Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.”
¹⁴ But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their ancestors, who did not trust in the Lord their God. ¹⁵ They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.”
¹⁶ They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. ¹⁷ They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sought omens and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.
¹⁸ So the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left, ¹⁹ and even Judah did not keep the commands of the Lord their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced. ²⁰ Therefore the Lord rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers, until he thrust them from his presence.


<sup>Fast forward to 2012:

America left the God of her founding fathers and chose to worship what man could create.  Man's inventions and creations became the gods of America.  They sought money more than God.  Bigger houses, cars, vacation homes, and all kinds of technology soon consumed them.  The Word of God was removed from the schools and evolution and the Big Bang Theory was taught in their place.  The Ten Commandments were ripped from schools and courthouses and situational ethics became the by-word.  Children were murdered in the womb and old people were tossed aside as worthless.   Hollywood became their god, parading sexual immorality before their eyes and perversion of every sort, til their minds and hearts were corrupted.  What God called an abomination was legalized and uplifted, being taught as an alternate lifestyle in the schools and accepted in the pulpits.  The Word of the Lord was watered down and re-translated to suit the people.  False prophets proclaimed a false gospel but the people were too blind to see.  America has been led astray and no longer worships God, but does what is right in their own eyes and one day God's judgment will fall as surely as it did on the house of Israel!</sup>

 

WILL WE BE BLINDSIDED??

"But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.  For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered into the ark.  And knew not until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. 24: 37-39

So what was it like in the days of Noah...the days preceding the flood?  Genesis 6: 5 tells us, 'And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that EVERY imagination of the thoughts of his heart was ONLY evil CONTINUALLY."

Did you get that??

EVERY thought of his heart...not some of his thoughts....not an occasional thought of his heart....EVERY thought of his heart was ONLY evil CONTINUALLY!!

Let that sink in a moment...........

I think things are pretty bad now.  Just to peruse the TV programs on right now can make you sick to your stomach.  There is literally NOTHING they won't put on television or in movies now.  And what's worse, PEOPLE WATCH IT!!

It is as if all moral restraint has been removed.  There is nothing off-limits any more.  The old saying of "If it feels good, do it" is the motto of the day.

Yet there ARE godly people still left on this earth.  People who love the Lord Jesus and serve Him and worship Him.  So with that in mind, at least we can't say that EVERY thought of EVERY heart is ONLY evil CONTINUALLY....yet.

Still, it should make us aware how close we are to being there.

But, there's more.  God says that when the end times draw near, people will be doing life as normal, oblivious to the coming danger.  Noah had warned the people of his day for 120 years that judgment was coming.  No one paid him any attention.  He was just that insane guy building a huge boat in the middle of the desert! They were, you might say, blindsided by the flood that killed them all.

Last week our embassy was attacked in Libya.  Our ambassador was murdered and so were 3 other Americans.  Yet as I strolled through Facebook yesterday and today, I saw almost nothing about it.  No one seemed to care.  There was more outrage over football games than anything else.

And while the games played, and our teams won or lost, while Rocky Top was sung, "whopigsooie" and "hoddy-toddy" were yelled,  a world away our troops were being sent to the Persian Gulf along with other countries' naval forces as Israel prepares for possible war with Iran.*  Did anyone notice?

The U. S. has always been a strong ally of Israel.  I should hope so, for Zechariah 2:8 says "For thus says the LORD of hosts, “After glory He has sent me against the nations which plunder you, [Israel] for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye.  Our president has said America "will always have Israel's back".  Unfortunately, his actions speak louder than his words.  Israeli President Netanyahu will be in New York for the opening of the UN General Assembly and has requested a meeting with President Obama either there in NY or in Washington.  Our President's response?  Too busy.  Just no time in his busy schedule.  But...he WILL have time to appear on the TONIGHT show with David Letterman.* 

We are going about our busy lives just as in the days of Noah.   Doing business as usual.  Yet in the blink of an eye, our entire world could suddenly be turned upside down!  It's almost like watching a movie as the plot thickens and you can tell by the "JAWS" type music, that something BIG is about to happen.  The suspense is building up to the climax as the music swells.  You want to yell at the people "LOOK OUT!! CAN'T YOU SEE WHAT'S ABOUT TO HAPPEN??"  But, of course, they can't hear you.  They are about to be blindsided and there is nothing we can do to help them.

I wonder if God is trying to wake us up as well and we are all too busy with football and our jobs and our other activities to notice the impending doom.

I'm not trying to be dramatic.  Yet I can't help but wonder.  Are we on the brink of being blindsided??


Joel Rosenberg put it best:

"To misunderstand the nature and threat of evil is to risk being blindsided by it.

We didn't understand the threat posed by Adolph Hitler and the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany in the 1930's and we were blindsided by the invasion of Europe and the death camps of the Holocaust.

We didn't understand the threat imposed by Imperial Japan in 1941 and we were blindsided by the attack at Pearl Harbor.

We didn't understand the threat imposed by Osama Bin Laden and al Qaeda in 2001and we were blindsided by the attacks of September 11th."*  I remember that day.  I remember it well.  And I never want to feel the way I felt that day again in my life!! 

Maybe it's time we woke up, looked around and paid attention to what is happening on the other side of the world.  If we don't, we may wake up one morning soon to find life as we once knew it here in America to be gone for good.  

Instead of burying our heads in the sand, maybe we need to fall on our knees and cry out to God for our country, our upcoming election and for all those fighting men and women who are standing on the wall for us and fighting for our freedom.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

*http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/state-of-the-epicenter-2012-a-great-darkness-is-descending/





 

 

THE ANGUISHED HEART

The pain of the anguished heart is deep. It is a cutting pain, one that sears and threatens to take the very breath of life away.

Hatred and rejection are the knives that drive deep into the heart, cutting so deeply that the blood of heartbreak flows freely. How could something cause such searing pain and not be tangible? Yet the pain is as real as the slicing away of an appendage of the body without anesthetic.

Why would one human being choose to inflict this kind of anguish on another? It is not random. It is not accidental. No, but rather deliberate, calculated and enjoyed by the perpetrator. It almost seems to produce a sense of satisfaction to that one who is inflicting this pain upon its subject.

Jesus was acquainted with grief in all points like we are (Heb. 14: 15). Isaiah also tells us that Jesus was a man of sorrows “despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. (Is 53:3). Yes Jesus knew a lot about the anguished heart.

It humbles me and deeply moves me that He would willingly endure such grief and heartache in order to reach me. I've often thought about how He bore the nails for me, but have never given much thought to how he endured the rejection, being despised, and hated, just for me. He knew the meaning of an anguished heart. For the rest of the verse in Isaiah says “we hid as it were our faces from Him; he was despised and we esteemed Him not.”

So only Jesus can understand the anguished heart. He alone can identify with one who is suffering from the blows of rejection and being despised. But He does. He knows. He understands. He cares. He has not left us alone to bear these burdens. He invites us to “cast all our cares on Him, for He cares for us.”

Furthermore, His love is not like human love. It does not end. It is everlasting, eternal, infinite, unconditional. Though we may be hated, despised, or rejected by those in this life, God will NEVER give up on us, nor reject us, nor ever, ever ,ever stop loving us!!!!!!!!!!!!

This song expresses it so well............

I HOPE YOU DANCE!

"[He will] give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness..." Is 61: 3

I read the most heartwarming story this morning written by David Waters in the Commercial Appeal.  Rev. Randall Mullins and his wife, Sharon, had been given a devastating diagnosis.  Rev. Mullins had been diagnosed with the terminal, neurological disease of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.  He was told in January that if he didn't stop eating and drinking and resort to a feeding tube that he could very well choke to death.  He opted for further tests. In June, they traveled to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota where he underwent a battery of tests. 

Now if you know anything about ALS you know that it is a debilitating disease.  It progresses rather quickly, paralyzing the patient until he can do little more than move his eyes.

So you would think if you had been diagnosed with this disease, had undergone more tests than you'd ever had in your life, and you were anxiously awaiting the results, the last thing you would be thinking about would be dancing!

Yet as Randall and Sharon waited on the results from the Mayo physicians, that is exactly what they did.  It seems that in the Mayo clinic atrium was a piano and when the pianist began to play the Patsy Cline song, Crazy, in Randall's words "What could we do?  It was the first song we had ever danced to and the song we danced to at our wedding nine years and one month to the day before."  So like a scene from a Hollywood movie, they danced!  "Randall put down his briefcase filled with doctors reports and test results, took me in his arms, and danced me all over that floor.  I have to say , it was glorious!  I only had eyes for him, but when it was over and folks were applauding, we became acutely aware of how many people gathered around were in wheelchairs or were with those who were."

Now I don't know about you, but for this romantic, that just melted my heart!!  But beyond the romance of it, was the fact that in the midst of difficult circumstances, they still had joy.  That joy was not born of optimism but of faith in the One who would see them through no matter what the outcome of those tests.  It was the same joy we saw in Trey Erwin and his family as they walked through their ordeal and we were awed by it.  It is not natural.  It is born of the supernatural, it is born of faith in a God who will never forsake you even in the midst of life's most difficult and devastating circumstances.

Randall and Sharon's dance story did not end with that dance, however.  Two days later they received the news from Mayo that Randall did NOT have ALS!  He still has a battle before him, but it is not fatal.  As they were leaving, they walked back through the same atrium as a man sat at the piano playing "He Touched Me".  They got all the way to the exit and realized that they had to go back and dance one more time.  "We had to go back and dance our prayer of gratitude" said Sharon.   They asked the pianist if he would mind if they danced.  His reply was "DANCE!"   "So we twirled and spun and improvised with great JOY".

Randall and Sharon, both in their 60's will be dancing at their son's wedding this weekend!

There was a country song recorded by Lee Ann Womack a few years ago, entitled "I Hope You Dance".  I hope you will watch the video below and listen to the words.  And most of all.....I hope when life hands you difficult circumstances, you will hold on to the God of all hope and joy and that you DANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!

A MOONLIT NIGHT

Our last night at the beach, I walked onto our balcony and saw a spectacular sight.  The moon was reflecting on the water like so many sparkling diamonds sprinkled against a black velvet canvas.  What a display of God's marvelous handiwork!!

As I sat staring at the view, I was amazed to think that the moon is thousands of miles away, but it's light was still brilliant enough to illuminate the water below.   Yet in scripture, the moon is described as the "lesser light".  I imagined how brilliant it must be close up if it were this bright so far away.

As I reflected on that, I was reminded that one day there will be no more moon, no more stars and no more sun.  "And the city [the new Jerusalem] had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it." Rev. 21:23  God in his glory will shine so bright, brighter than the moon sparkling upon the ocean, that there will be no need for any other light!

What's more...and this makes this ocean lover a bit sad...there will be no more sea.  Rev. 21:1 says "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth will pass away and there will be no more sea."

So I sat and drank in the beauty of this moonlit ocean and thanked God for his beautiful creation that always points to Him and looked forward to the day when I will be Home with Him, basking in the light of His presence and worshiping Him at His throne on bended knee.  Not even a moonlit night at the beach can compare to that!!!

What Lies Beneath

We were at the beach last week as Tropical Storm Debbie approached.  The waves were enormous...especially for the gulf coast.  As I sat watching the weaves build and then crash as they rushed to shore, a thought occurred to me.  How beautiful...how powerful...and yet how deadly!  You see the rip currents beneath the surface were extremely strong.  All day they had patrolled the beach warning people to stay out of the water!!  Double red flags dotted the landscape, again spreading the warning to stay out.

What is frightening to me is to think of the years we went to the beach, oblivious of those rip currents.  My children were small and yet we would play for hours in the ocean, jumping wave after wave or riding in our boat-like float.  If there were flags, I had no clue what they were for.  It was not until our son was in high school and I chaperoned a youth trip that I learned about rip currents.  It was then I learned about the flags, too.  Green - it's ok to get in the water; Yellow = caution; Red means stay out.  Double red means "No really, STAY OUT OF THE WATER!" 

However, it was on a green flag day that I learned first hand about rip currents.  We were sitting on the beach with a group of our kids, when suddenly we heard the voice of a panic stricken mom, yelling for help.  Her son was being pulled out and she could't get to him.  One of our girls was a life guard.  She instinctively ran to help, as did a couple of men.  However, by that time the little boy had been pulled farther and farther out.  I had jumped up to try and keep our teenager out of the water (after all we were responsible for her), but it was too late.  As I stood watching her go out, I saw that one of the men had gotten the boy.  But the other man was now caught in the current and was struggling.  Our teen was trying to help him, but he was battling her and they were both obviously in trouble.  She was yelling for help.  I knew I had to do something...I could not just stand there and do nothing.  So in I went. 

Before I knew it, the strong current was taking me farther and farther out.  Every time I'd come up after being pulled under by a strong wave, another wave would overtake me.  I could see the beach getting farther and farther away.  I really thought it was the end.

Suddenly, someone was in front of me saying "Pull to the side".  I was so exhausted.  Another wave took me down.  Again when I came up, this person said "Don't try to go forward, pull to the side".  I could not tell you anything about this person, whether it was male or female or any distinguishing features.  All I could see was a form of someone and hear their calm, but commanding voice.  I cried out "I can't!!"  But the voice responded "Yes you can.  Pull to the side."  When I came up again, I pulled to the side with all the strength I had left.  Then I pulled again.  I went under and when I came up I pulled and suddenly my feet touched bottom.  I was shocked and thrilled to realize how close I now was to safety and the shore.  I stumbled into the beach and looked around to thank the one who had saved me. There was no one there. 

Thankfully, all the others had been safely rescued, too.  But I learned a valuable lesson that day. I learned that as beautiful and inviting as the ocean is, what lies beneath can kill you!!

So as I sat watching these monster waves being propelled to shore by Debbie, I was reminded of how attractive sin can be too.

It can come in the form of a handsome, charming man who can sweet talk a girl into going farther than she ever planned to go.  His good looks and smooth talk concealing what really was lying beneath...a conniving, devious spirit bent on nothing less than getting his way.  Then once the conquest is made, he will leave her broken and used.

It may come in a bottle or a pill, promising only a good time, a way to "fit in" and be like the others.  But before you know it, it takes more and more to satisfy the craving that develops so suddenly and you realize what started out as "just a little fun" has suddenly become an addiction.  No one could have told you what lay beneath that pretty little drink in the frosty glass could ultimately steal your looks, your family, your home and your health.

Or maybe what lies beneath in your case is jealousy or bitterness or deep-seated anger.  Maybe it has festered for years.  And the longer it goes, the worse it gets.  You look fine to everyone around you, but they can't see what lies beneath.  Yet the anger builds and builds.  Forgiveness would set you free.  But instead you hold tight to your feelings and as you do, it's like holding a burning coal in your hand.  The longer you refuse to let go, the more you will suffer.

So I ask you today....in your ocean of prosperity, good looks, charm, success, etc. what really lies beneath?  Don't let sin pull you under.  It can destroy you.  God wants to throw you a lifeline.  Grab hold and let Him give you true life.  A life of meaning and purpose...a life with  Him as your lifeguard.  Today you can experience TRUE freedom, lasting freedom.  I hope today will be YOUR real Independence Day!!