Thomas E Meyer Jr

Standing Around the Lords BBQ Grill, Sitting at the Feast Table of the Lord: Celebrating and Seeking God through the Holy Scriptures. Matthew 4:1-4

Learning to seek the face of God is the foundation for experiencing the amazing life Jesus died to give us.

We have available to us through Christ all the wonders, excellencies, and satisfaction we can fathom. God has granted us grace upon grace, mercy upon mercy, affection upon affection, and love upon love.

When we pursue him through all the avenues available to us, a door is opened in which we discover all our heavenly Father longs to give us.

May you grow in your pursuit of God this week as we study various ways we have been given to seek his face.

Matthew 4:1-4 Amplified Bible

The Temptation of Jesus

4 Then Jesus was led by the [Holy] Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ²After He had gone without food for forty days and forty nights, He became hungry. ³And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” ⁴But Jesus replied, “It is written and forever remains written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.’”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

Nice weather, family barbeques, parades, fireworks and red, white and blue everything – Americans all over the world are in the process of preparing to celebrate Independence Day today with time-honored and beloved traditions.

Known now as a day of patriotism and enjoying time off from work.

The Fourth of July began the journey to becoming a quintessential American holiday in 1776, when the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.

Though 12 of the 13 American colonies had already approved the resolution by July 2, 1776, even prompting John Adams to write his daughter with predictions of future July Second festivities, the actual document declaring independence from Britain wasn’t officially adopted until July 4, 1776.

Some Americans began celebrating the very same year, though the practice would not become widespread until the aftermath of the War of 1812.

Congress finally passed a bill making the celebration of Independence Day a federal holiday on June 28, 1870.

In 1941, the law was amended to make it a paid holiday for federal employees.

Though some traditions associated with the Fourth of July have changed or disappeared over time – such as hosting mock funerals for the king of England, for example – many have remained righteous and true to their roots in the almost 250 years since the declaration was signed.

Barbeques and Picnics

Independence Day falling in early July is probably reason enough to enjoy a meal outside to take advantage of the warm summer weather.

The urge to fire up the grill and lay a picnic blanket out on the grass, however, can also be tied back to original holiday celebrations.

What we now know as barbeque food began as a form of cooking brought to the Americas by enslaved Africans.

It would take many years before it would become a staple of the national diet.

Instead, revelers of the day probably would have attended a community pig or bull roast or seafood boil.

It wasn’t until about 100 years after independence that barbeque went from being a food for poor, enslaved people to being popularized on a national scale.

Feasting and drinking “was true of really elite people but also of the really poor, and the common, even enslaved people, not just on the Fourth of July, but other holidays would come to use this idea of BARBECUE and COOKOUTS as a chance to kind of build community and think about what it meant to be an American.

Seeking and Feasting on the Lord through Scriptures

Deuteronomy 8:1-3 Amplified Bible

God’s Gracious Dealings

8 “Every commandment that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, so that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore [to give] to your fathers. ²And you shall remember [always] all the ways which the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart (mind), whether you would keep His commandments or not. ³He humbled you and allowed you to be hungry and fed you with manna, [a substance] which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, so that He might make you understand [by personal experience] that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.

Israel had spent four hundred years of their existence suffering under the yoke of hardcore slavery in Egypt – building Egyptian cities and its infrastructure.

Finally, God sent Moses to Egypt and after great, powerful and miraculous displays of His power over the land of Egypt, and Israel had their freedom.

Israel had then spent forty years of fasting on manna and water in the desert, but Moses still had to so much to teach them what that long fast was all about.

In their wanderings they needed to be shepherded to know that every moment of their lives utterly and completely depended on God and his Word for them.

Israel had plenty to eat when they left Egypt, for they had taken their flocks and herds with them (Exodus 12:38).

But the food that really kept them alive was the daily manna which God spoke into existence, and the drink that really quenched their thirst was the water that God sweetened and the water that flowed from rocks split by his mighty Word (see Exodus 15:22-17:7).

When Israel left behind the food of Egypt and limited themselves to their own herds, that was not fasting.

In the desert God’s people received a new menu: “every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

In a nutshell it comes down to this: “Celebrate the Lord, Feast on the Lord, Love the Lord thy God with everything you have, and love your neighbor as yourself.“

Fasting enables Christ’s disciples to eat from the new menu, the Word of God.

Real fasting imitates the example of Christ, who did not give in to temptations to make his own food during his forty-day fast, who lived only by every word that comes from the mouth of God, and who repeatedly said: “It is written.”

Are you following Christ’s example today?

Am I following Christ’s example today?

Is the Body of Christ, God’s Church in the World, following Christ’s example?

Celebrating and Seeking The Lord Through Scripture

Matthew 4:1-4 GOD’S WORD Translation

The Temptation of Jesus

4 Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil. ²Jesus did not eat anything for 40 days and 40 nights. At the end of that time, he was hungry.

³The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”

⁴Jesus answered, “Scripture says, ‘A person cannot live on bread alone but on every word that God speaks.’ ”

From Genesis to Revelation, the pages of Scripture are filled with declarations of the wonderful, mysterious, powerful, loving nature of our heavenly Father.

Holy Scripture is one of God’s greatest gifts to his people, who so easily forget the vast labor of love He has undergone to gain restored relationship with us.

The Bible is the truest and most loyal and faithful companion to all those who long to seek and find the invisible God who so greatly desires to be discovered.

Let’s open our hearts today to Scripture and the Holy Spirit and receive fresh revelation on how God longs to use his word to guide us as we seek his face.

In Matthew 4:4 Jesus rebukes Satan’s words of temptation saying, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

From Genesis to Revelation, the truths of God’s Holy Scriptures is meant to be the very sharpest of rebukes to the smooth talking temptations of Satan’s lies.

There is no truth to be found anywhere in the words of Satan, the Father of Lies.

2 Timothy 3:15-16 GOD’S WORD Translation

¹⁵From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures. They have the power to give you wisdom so that you can be saved through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶Every Scripture passage is inspired by God. All of them are useful for teaching, pointing out errors, correcting people, and training them for a life that has God’s approval.

From Genesis to Revelation, every single word of Scripture is meant to fill us with the truths of abundant life by leading us directly to our heavenly Father.

The matchless power of Scripture lies in the fact that its pages are filled with the spoken words of a God who is still ALIVE, active, powerful, and loving.

Early in my Christian walk I realized I went years using Scripture incorrectly.

I viewed it as a set of rules I needed to read and try to keep rather than as a guide to experiencing the adventure of communion with my heavenly Father.

I viewed reading and studying Scripture as an insufferable chore rather than the Words of God meant specifically as the ultimate source of nourishment for me.

I finally came to the realization that if I wanted to authentically read the Bible, I would have to willingly place myself on a “40 day 40 night fast” from the world.

Celebrating and Feasting on my worldly God, my problem wasn’t a lack of will but rather, a lack of revelation on God’s intention behind authoring the Bible.

My problem was that I hadn’t experienced a life lived in the wilderness where the Spirit of God sent me “by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Wherever you and I are in our reading, studying, understanding of Scripture, please know that God has a fresh desire for His word in store for us all today.

He longs to fill each and every single one of His Children with a desire to read, study and consume and feast on the words that will guide us to abundant life.

The Holy Spirit longs to speak directly to each and every single one of God’s Children through “Milk and Honey” words written thousands of years ago.

Our Bible is a powerful miracle safeguarded throughout the ages for the benefit of all who would seek to be nourished, who’ll seek out the face of its Creator.

May we all come to have an appetite for the heart of the Psalmist and grow and be nourished and sustained in our love of Scripture and the God who inspired it:

Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way (Psalm 119:97-104).

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on the power of Scripture in seeking God.

“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” John 15:10-11

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4

2. Where do you need the help of Scripture in seeking God? What lie do you believe about the character of God? What thought or perspective is keeping you from pursuing God with all your heart? Scripture is a powerful tool to combat incorrect thinking with God’s truth.

3. Ask the Spirit to guide you to a passage of Scripture that will speak directly to your situation. Pay attention for a passage or book that comes to mind, or search online for key verses.

May you have ears to hear the voice of God speaking to you through the pages of Scripture. May your heart become soft and open to God’s presence as you open his Word. And may you experience the delight that comes from the knowledge of God’s will for you as found in the pages of the Bible.

We thank you, Lord of all Creation, for the manna, for the quail, for the Honeycomb, for our daily bread, for the bread of heaven who came to feed us with His Way, His truth and His Life. Help us to live by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Do Not Apologize for Existing! Let Us Have A Conversation About Suicide! Psalm 13

Compared To God

The Israelites were filled with fright
As Goliath started toward them
Compared to man, this giant stood so tall
But David said, “My God has led me here to defeat him,
So don’t compare him to me, let’s compare him to God.”

When compared to God, everything’s small
There’s no giant that compares at all
To the Holy One who sits upon His throne
So when you come to face a mountain so high
One glimpse of God brings it down to size
Satan will flee; you’ll gain victory
When you compare it to God.

Oh, my friend, do you fear within
As your giant marches closer?
Do you know within your heart you cannot win?
Just have the faith of David’s day and shout
“My God is bigger.”
You’ll find there’s nothing on earth that compares to Him.

Psalm 13 GOD’S WORD Translation

For the choir director; a psalm by David.

13 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
²How long must I make decisions alone
with sorrow in my heart day after day?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?

³Look at me! Answer me, O Lord my God!
Light up my eyes,
or else I will die
⁴and my enemy will say, “I have overpowered him.”
My opponents will rejoice because I have been shaken.

⁵But I trust your mercy.
My heart finds joy in your salvation.
⁶I will sing to the Lord because he has been good to me.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

“How Long, O’ Lord?” Will You Forget Me Forever?

Psalm 13:1-2 GOD’S WORD Translation

For the choir director; a psalm by David.

This lament of David is a cry of the heart from someone who feels that he is alone and forsaken.. isolated, forgotten and cut off from the favor of the Lord.

David’s soul is crying out in bitter anguish of mind and inner confusion of the soul because to David, in the moments he penned this, the Lord seems to have forgotten all about him and has apparently hidden His face from His servant.

David, in the throes of this time of deep depression could not understand why the Lord was delaying the help he desperately needed.. and so his heart was grieving and his soul cried out in bitterness and distress – “how long O Lord?”

David felt that the enemy was triumphing over him while the Lord seemed to have distanced Himself far away from His faithful servant.. and so he lashed out at the people around him and God, challenged the Lord with multiple questions:

How long O LORD.. will You forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart all the day?

How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

David wanted to know how long the bitter trial and manifold difficulties that were flooding into his life would continue, before the Lord would step in..

to right the wrong and injustices and comfort His servant?

And in our own days of greatest distress and difficulties we too will often find ourselves locked into David’s position.. calling out in desperation to the Lord as we become increasingly submerged by the struggles and sorrows of our day.

As we too cry with our loudest, saddest voices, out to a iron-clad heaven and we find ourselves wrestling inwardly with the very same rhetorical questions that burdened David’s heart, flowed from his pen some three thousand years ago.

How often do we too feel that God has forgotten us and that like David we seem to have been completely, utterly cut off from the abundant favor of the Lord?

How often we experience feelings of deep depression.. anguish of soul and bitter heartache as the enemies of our soul seem to be attacking us from every side..

and we not so subtly discover ourselves to be increasingly overwhelmed by all the news of everything which is bad, tragic, that is coming on the earth today.

Psalm 13:3-6 GOD’S WORD Translation

³Look at me! Answer me, O Lord my God!
Light up my eyes,
or else I will die
⁴and my enemy will say, “I have overpowered him.”
My opponents will rejoice because I have been shaken.

⁵But I trust your mercy.
My heart finds joy in your salvation.
⁶I will sing to the Lord because he has been good to me.

But David is a man after God’s own heart.. and although that does not preclude him from having to go through the inevitable trials and tribulations of life-

his confidence in God stands firm in the goodness of the Lord and his bitter pleas for help.. come from the heart and the soul of a man who ultimately trusts in God’s mercy, grace, loving-kindness; and rejoices in the joy of his salvation.

However, it was not long before the bitter lament of David turned into a hymn of praise when he remembered the many precious promises of the Lord –

for he knew that the “brief sufferings” of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory of God that is to be revealed to us in the days to come.

The same is no less true today.

Indeed the enormous complexities and difficulties and dangers we face in life today.. should be pondered as momentary, light affliction, which are producing for us an eternal weight of God’s glory far beyond what we could ask or think.

But, Still, We Need to Very Much Talk About Suicide

When it comes to an awareness of mental health, it is important to be aware of our own, as well as, others’ feelings – We never know what a person may be going through – they could be doing alright, but they could also be on the brink.

First and Foremost it must absolutely be said, in no uncertain terms, our own mental health needs to be taken extremely seriously, given the utmost respect and great personal attention – we must take the value of our lives to the utmost.

If we need to make and take the time to “sort out the things of this life” which increasingly do not make sense, threaten to overwhelm our sense of wellbeing, then by all means we must exercise our own absolute right to life and to seek help!

We cannot think more highly of others until we can straighten out our own thoughts and feelings of how we feel about ourselves and why we feel less about ourselves!

Please! Please! Please! Absolutely, avail yourself of every single opportunity to take the utmost care of yourselves – You are always Highly Valued by God, our Father!

Be Affirmed! In the name of God, the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit!

You are a wonderful creation of God, in His Image and God loves you so dearly.

The Hand of God created you singularly, uniquely, loves you unconditionally.

Even before you were born, God knew you and He had a wonderful plan for your life — a plan shaped exclusively for you, and God knows that only you can do.

Maybe you have tried many things and tried them over and over and over again, and only messed up worse each time, but God still has a great idea for your life.

Things Christians Need to Understand about Suicide

My own professional background is as a Registered Nurse whose many years of clinical practice was devoted to the area of Psychiatry, Mental Health, Chemical Dependency and Addictions – to both the Acute and Chronic and the Homeless.

Over the years, I have attended many professional conferences and seminars.

Conclusions are generally the same of the PhD level presenters: Suicide is a word that often makes people feel very uncomfortable for several reasons.

For some, it triggers past pain or current fears, while for others, it provokes the final, ultimate taboo, it evokes judgment, concern, and a lack of understanding.

Many who experience the depth of internal stress of major depression have an enormous difficulty expressing it to anyone for fear of being labeled as weak or emotionally unstable or risk being embarrassed as too emotionally insecure.

In other cases, I have counselled many homeless who will see family members dismiss the concerns of their loved ones due to the stigma surrounding suicide.

Additionally, Christian culture has added more rancor and division within this topic by neglecting to provide a serious measure of support for those suffering, thus perpetuating the needless stigma associated with psychological distress.

The truth is, an advanced clinical university degree or whether we have little to no personal knowledge of suicide, we as true believers need to be informed and prepared to address the acute reality of pain, both personally and relationally.

For as much as we may or may not want to admit, talk of it, the reality is that professional burnout and suicidality is increasing within the church family.

From pastors to their Laity, the body of Christ in their diversity of backgrounds, experiences are silently struggling to minister in the name of spiritual maturity.

The rates of suicide across the board is rising at an all too alarming rate not for the church to give its utmost attention too – where can it play an essential role.

Unfortunately, the topic of suicide has been an untouchable, taboo topic within the church for centuries.

Starting as early as mid fifth century AD, churches began to condemn suicide and punish those who sought to take their own lives and disgracing the burials of victims of suicide.

While we have certainly come a long way over the years, made great strides in providing more facilities and resources the church has not fully embraced its own role to provide non-judgmental support for mental health-related issues.

Lifeway research reports that although a large majority of church members want their pastors to talk openly about mental illness, 66 percent of pastors speak to their church once a year or less on the subject (Lifeway, 2014).

Consequently, this zone of silence unintentionally isolates those impacted by mental health, suicide, allowing room for some to believe that their struggles are simply a sign of a critically weak faith or even worse, spiritual immaturity.

Maybe, this is you or this is someone very close to you – maybe your Pastor?

It is long past the time we bravely speak up and support each other in seeking to end the silence, the stigma of suicide by learning facts, sharing our struggles.

What We Each Need to Understand

1. The Word of God for the Children of God

First, we must ground our learning process in the Word of God.

Believe it or not, suicide is nothing new to our current culture.

Did you know that there are over six accounts of suicide mentioned in Scripture between the Old and New Testament?

The most well-known passage, found in Matthew 27:3-5, is the account of Judas Iscariot’s death, hanging himself after betraying Christ.

Why is this significant?

Because it affirms and validates the history of hopelessness and severe mental health issues experienced since the beginning of time.

Just look at David’s psalms, Hannah’s prayer, Jeremiah’s Laments, the Apostle Paul’s account of his persecution, which led to him say he despaired of life itself (2 Corinthians 1:8).

These men and women of God spoke honesty and publicly and vulnerably of the excruciating, overwhelming depths of pain that gripped their hearts and souls.

Scripture invites us to acknowledge and recognize this pain, suffering, and emotional distress as consequences of our broken state and Satan’s attacks.

We are indeed all in need of a hope that does not minimize nor stigmatizes our suffering.

The message of the gospel is just that.

Although often misused as a sugar-coated solution, Christ’s hope does not minimize nor negate our own seasons of pain but repurposes it for our gain.

The gospel Christ preached rightly recognizes shame, sin, pain, brokenness, and lovingly invites us, welcomes us, into the healing process of Salvation.

In light of Scripture, we can begin to cultivate a new understanding of suicide, by way of suffering, and seek to hold fast to the unfading hope found in God’s eternal promise (1 Peter 1:2-7, Revelation 21:4-5).

2. The Stats

For many, suicide is a personal battle or a deep wound of loss, yet others would say they know little about suicide or its prevalence in our current culture.

Why is it important to understand statistics surround suicide and suicidality?

Because our awareness of a problem prompts our responsibility to address it.

Do you and I know where suicide ranks on the leading cause of death report?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2018, suicide ranked as the tenth leading cause of death in the United States, claiming the lives of over 48,000 people.

Within this vastly significant number, suicide was recognized as the second leading cause of death among the ages of 10 and 34 and the fourth leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 35 and 54 (CDC, 2018).

Even more astounding, research states 1.2 million people attempted suicide in 2018; one attempt every 26 seconds (American Association of Suicidology, 2020).

By knowing this reality, our response is likely to change when a friend stops reaching out or when a family member begins to isolate themselves.

Our awareness of the likelihood of suicide is what will prayerfully prompt deep and meaningful conversations, support our efforts in loving those around us.

4. The Psychology

Ever wonder what causes someone to end their life?

I believe this is the question to answer when a loved one is lost to suicide.

All of our whys do not always end with solid answers, and for many, the lack of psychological understanding gives way to missing the seriousness of this issue.

In seeking to bring closure to the unanswered questions many survivors may have, it is helpful to know suicide is complex, much more so than depression.

Dr. Norman Wright notes that the most common answer to why people take their own lives is psychological pain, or “psychache” (Crisis & Trauma, 2011).

The Founder of the American Association for Suicidology (2020) expounds on this broad understanding stating,

“Psychache is the hurt, anguish or ache that takes hold in the mind. It is intrinsically psychological – the pain of excessively felt shame, guilt, fear, loneliness, etc.… Suicide occurs when psychache is deemed unbearable and death is actively sought to stop the unceasing flow of painful consciousness.”

Because emotional pain is experienced in diverse and various forms, Dr. Schneidman categorizes five clusters of psychological needs, which I have connected to scriptures, that if left unmet can account for suicidal action.

1. Need for love, acceptance, and belonging (Isaiah 43:1-4, Ephesians 3:14-21)

2. Need for control, achievement, autonomy, order, and understanding (Ephesians 2:10, 5:15-17)

3. Need for positive Self-image (Romans 8, Hebrews 12:1-12)

4. Relationships, nurturance, and affirmation (1 John 3:1-3; 11-24)

5. Need for dominance and emotional expression (James 1:19-27)

(Crisis & Trauma, p.300).

Scripture speaks of these significant needs in our lives through many biblical character’s experiences.

Look again and again at David’s words in Psalm 13:1-4 God’s Word Translation

³Look at me! Answer me, O Lord my God!
Light up my eyes,
or else I will die
⁴and my enemy will say, “I have overpowered him.”
My opponents will rejoice because I have been shaken.

As we seek to understand and value how our emotions communicate our lived experiences, we can begin to normalize the prevalence of emotional distress and support others who may feel as though God does not care about heartaches.

4. The Signs

The fourth thing that is important to know about suicide is the signs.

Whether we are currently struggling or know someone who is, understanding and assessing the warning signs is key to prevention and providing support.

As we have already learned, many contributors lead to suicidality, so how do we know if someone is actually at risk or deeply struggling?

Here are just a few signs to consider:

Evidence of emotional distress (depression, anxiety, hopelessness, fear, anger, sudden mood shifts, isolation/withdrawal, recklessness, etc.)
Intrusive thoughts and/or statements of suicidal intention or ideation (“I don’t have a reason to live” or “I keep thinking people would be better off without me”)
Seeking access to or having access to items such as firearms, pills, sharp objects
Having a plan or contemplating a plan for attempting suicide.

If we are experiencing any of these symptoms, please seek support immediately (see resources at the end of this article).

For those of you who may know someone exhibiting these signs, speak up.

Assessing risk can be done with four basic questions (status, frequency, duration, plan):

1. Are we wanting/thinking about suicide/self-harm?

2. If so, how often do we think about it?

3. How long have we been feeling this way?

4. Do we have a plan and/or means of carrying this out?

The answers to these questions will help us determine how to best proceed with obtaining and providing support.

5. The Support

Finally, the accumulation of our understanding allows us to be equipped to both find support and offer support to one another.

As the family of God, we are called to bear with one another in love (Ephesians 4:2) and carry each other’s burdens (Galatians 6:2).

By no means does this place the responsibility of other’s choices on our shoulders, but invites us to be active participants in supporting the work of healing for our hearts and the hearts of those around us.

As a Christian with my years of professional experience as a Mental Health Counselor, I readily encourage my friends and family to find a professional counselor they trust and encourage them to both make and the take time to acknowledge their pain and access healing through various forms of therapy.

Also, there are many groups, online and locally, that readily support the work of addressing the seriousness of suicide prevention and of survivor support.

Ultimately, the most meaningful way we can personally support someone in our life who is struggling with their thoughts of suicide or the loss of a loved one by suicide is to be in it with them – Gracefully, we learn to listen, love others well.

Lastly, If we are personally struggling, I want to be the one to tell you, God, our Father, and Jesus Christ His Son and God the Holy Spirit are 100% in it with us.

Please reach out to those in your circle and/or call the Suicide Prevention Hotline 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for support.

Until Heaven, Let us hold onto our LIVNG HOPE found in our LIVING SAVIOR!

Resources and References

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

Focus on the Family’s Get Help

Anthem of Hope

National Alliance on Mental Health

American Association of Suicidality

Christian Counselor’s Network

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2018) WISQARS Leading Causes of Death Reports.

Retrieved from: https://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/leadcause.html

Drapeau, C. W., & McIntosh, J. L. (for the American Association of Suicidology). (2020). U.S.A. suicide: 2018 Official final data. Washington, DC: American Association of Suicidology, dated February 12, 2020, downloaded from http://www.suicidology.org.

Mental Illness Remains Taboo Topic for Many Pastors (2016) Lifeway Research. Retrieved:https://lifewayresearch.com/2014/09/22/mental-illness-remains-taboo-topic-for-many-pastors/

Wright,Dr. H Noram (2011) The Complete Guide to Crisis & Trauma Counseling: What to Do and Say When It Matters Most. Regal Publishing, California.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 23 Amplified Bible

The Lord, the Psalmist’s Shepherd.

A Psalm of David.

23 The Lord is my Shepherd [to feed, to guide and to shield me],
I shall not want.
²
He lets me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still and quiet waters.
³
He refreshes and restores my soul (life);
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
for His name’s sake.

⁴
Even though I walk through the [sunless] ^[a]valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort and console me.
⁵
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You have anointed and refreshed my head with ^[b]oil;
My cup overflows.
⁶
Surely goodness and mercy and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life,
And I shall dwell forever [throughout all my days] in the house and in the presence of the Lord.

Heavenly Father, Savior Christ, Intercessor Holy Spirit, thank You for the example of David who despite the many successes, many problems, pressures, disappointments and pain that he brought upon himself, he was called upon by you to suffer, still he trusted in Your never-failing promises, kept in his remembrance Your never-ending faithfulness. Help me to follow his example when life’s pressures bear down on me and keep me under the shadow on Your goodness and grace – I ask in Jesus name.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Does God Care About My Feelings? Psalm 137

At times, you may feel too alone, and think that you have no one to care for you.

Know that all of us are God’s children, and he never allows us to stay alone.

There’s no point in keeping yourself aloof from the rest of the world, for God is always there even when we are too emotional to acknowledge it, to help guide and move you out into the light from your entire struggle.

You may feel that you have not got anyone to be there for you, and support for you.

Although it is easier said than done, we often tend to suffer from such kinds of frustrations and suppressing thoughts.

However, you need to understand that you are not alone. You are never alone, for God is always there with you and you have your guardian angels to pave your ways, no matter how tough the situations get! Just be humble, have patience and get going!

Nothing is hidden from the Almighty, and he has been keeping an eye upon you all the time. He is there to guide you in all your odds, and even when life has been making you walk through the hurdles, you have Him.

Believe me, God is always there for you and he has been working behind the scenes of your life. You may find it difficult to get going, but if you have faith, things will surely start falling in their places all by themselves.

God is always there to talk care of you, even when you aren’t aware of it. He is going to take over when things go out of your hand. In any case, if situations seem to be pushing you to the last extent, keep your trust upon God’s powers and God’s promises and in time, by God’s grace, things are going to work out all by themselves, sooner or later.

Psalm 137 GOD’S WORD Translation

137 By the rivers of Babylon, we sat down and cried
as we remembered Zion.
²We hung our lyres on willow trees.
³It was there that those who had captured us demanded that we sing.
Those who guarded us wanted us to entertain them.
⌞They said,⌟ “Sing a song from Zion for us!”

⁴How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?
⁵If I forget you, Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget ⌞how to play the lyre⌟.
⁶Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I don’t remember you,
if I don’t consider Jerusalem my highest joy.

⁷O Lord, remember the people of Edom.
Remember what they did the day Jerusalem ⌞was captured⌟.
They said, “Tear it down! Tear it down to its foundation.”
⁸You destructive people of Babylon,
blessed is the one who pays you back
with the same treatment you gave us.
⁹Blessed is the one who grabs your little children
and smashes them against a rock.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

The book of Psalms is a book of poetry; most often each Psalm is a song written for a specific purpose.

These songs and poems consist of praises to God, sorrowful lamentations, and joyous celebrations.

Psalm 137 falls into the sorrowful lamentation category.

The Psalmist here is speaking of Israel’s captivity in Babylon (vs. 1).

The southern tribes of Israel, the land of Judah, were all that remained of Israel after the Assyrians had captured the northern tribes (2 Kings 15-17).

Later, the southern kingdom was taken captive by Babylon (2 Kings 24-25).

In this Psalm, the psalmist is lamenting that the captors of the Jews, the Babylonians, are asking them to sing songs about Jerusalem, or Zion.

Because these were songs of worship and praise to God, they would remind the people of their sin against God, the thing which led to their painful captivity.

These songs would also remind them of their longing to be back in Jerusalem.

The second stanza of the Psalm is a self-reflection of what the author would wish upon himself if he were to ever forget Jerusalem.

The final stanza is what revenge the Psalmist wishes upon his captors.

While the picture is disturbing and graphic, it gives us a real portrait of how desperate the Jews were and how badly they wished to be freed from captivity.

It also reveals to us the incredible depth of emotions these exiles were feeling.

The depths of rage, anger and of depressive sadness is quite palpable and for us who would come to read those hard words, quite emotionally provocative also.

God had sent His chosen people into a seventy year exile for their sins against Him – and the beginning of that exilic road to Babylon was exceedingly brutal and one could easily use the word merciless unto the very absolute maximum.

But God is a God of Mercy, of Grace, Slow to Anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving of transgressions, remembering them no more, casting them into the sea of forgetfulness, as far as the east is to the west – just max gone!

So, it leaves open to the reader of such scriptures the very significant question;

Does God Authentically Care About Our Feelings?

Ever feel like God gave up on you, does not care about your feelings?

You are absolutely not alone.

This assumption is one that can promote a sense of invalidation within our relationship with God.

In many ways, this belief can frame our faith in such a way that it leaves us quick to mask the messiness of our emotions for the sake of spiritual maturity.

If we authentically feel our feelings, does that mean our faith is fragile?

When our emotions overwhelm us, is God actually 100% for us or against us?

This disconnect between emotional health and Christian theology has been at odds for some time.

The common Christian response to uncomfortable emotions is phrases like “You just need to pray more” and “trust the Lord in all circumstances,” which risks adding to the distortion that our distress impairs our spiritual maturity.

I whole-heartedly believe that the spiritual disciplines found in Scripture were never meant to invalidate our pain and problems, but rather not so subtly invite us into expressing our feelings openly and freely unto a loving and caring God.

Here is the truth: You absolutely matter to God, feelings and all.

Never in Scripture do we see Jesus dismiss the feelings of others or invalidate those in distress.

On the contrary, God’s Word repeatedly reiterates the safety found in seeking God as our refuge when we are weak (Psalm 46:1–3), and as a shelter when we are suffering (Psalm 62:8).

When we are faced with a depth of feelings that shake our faith to the core of our being, we must go back to Scripture and be reminded that our emotions, created by God, are meant to bring us closer to Him, not pull us farther away.

In my frequent exploration of this concept, I have found 4 ways God responds to my feelings which have ultimately strengthened my faith, comforted my soul.

1. God Is Present in My Feelings

In Psalm 34:18-19, David speaks of how God is attentive in our distress saying:

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted

and saves the crushed in spirit.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous,

but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”

God does not leave us in our distress or dismiss the weight of our worries, but graciously and mercifully comes near to us as a father comforts his dear child.

His awareness of all things at all times is absolutely active 100% of the time.

The passage states God saves the crushed in spirit, delivering them out of pain.

What is even more powerful about this passage is that in the original Hebrew, the term for saves is translated as “to be safe.”

God is not simply standing with us, around us, by us, but He actively provides absolute safety for us in His presence.

2. God Values My Feelings

In addition to God’s attentiveness, He also values emotions.

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, we see His expression of emotion and how He values caring for those who were suffering.

Jesus wept with those who experienced loss (John 11:34-36) and comforted many with compassion and consideration (Mark 6:50).

The intersection of emotional expression and feelings validation was first modeled for us by God throughout the Old Testament, and then again by Jesus throughout the narratives of the 4 gospels and Paul’s letters to the followers.

We see how God so gently guided the Israelites to their promised land flowing with milk and honey and manna and quail and water and shelter against the sun despite all of their rebellion and complaining throughout the book of Exodus.

Similarly, Jesus speaks to many emotions in his Sermon on the Mount saying,

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:3-4).

The apostle Paul in Romans speaks on this same value of emotional expression, encouraging believers to, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another” (Romans 12:15).

I wonder what it would look like if we too were to authentically begin to value the emotions we experience and authentically own all the freedom to express them, knowing our God is near and desires to comfort us with His compassion.

3. God Challenges My Feelings

Within God’s attentiveness and compassion for His children, He challenges the feelings that no longer have a place in our lives and hearts.

Paul writes on this disputation of futile feelings, encouraging his young protégé Timothy to not be overcome by the spirit of fear but to remember his faith first.

He says, “For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit, not a spirit of fear but power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:6-7).

This very Pauline response to my own feelings is one that helps me identify the foundation of my emotions.

As I seek to understand God’s Word and His truth, I am reminded to focus upon my aligning my feelings with the myriad of God’s promises found in Scripture.

This passage reminds me of the truth of the Holy Spirit of God at work in me.

4. God Reframes My Feelings

Finally, I believe that God’s Word so beautifully helps us to reframe and to refocus our emotions by placing our focus and intention back on God’s power, God’s provision, God’s strength, and God’s ability to meet us in our emotions.

One of my favorite passages that help reframe my feelings and focus on my faith is found in Paul’s prison letter of Philippians 4:8-9 where Paul writes,

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Then further bolstered by these words of God assurance, Christ like confidence;

Philippians 4:10-14 GOD’S WORD Translation

Thanks for Your Gifts

¹⁰The Lord has filled me with joy because you again showed interest in me. You were interested but did not have an opportunity to show it. ¹¹I’m not saying this because I’m in any need. I’ve learned to be content in whatever situation I’m in. ¹²I know how to live in poverty or prosperity. No matter what the situation, I’ve learned the secret of how to live when I’m full or when I’m hungry, when I have too much or when I have too little. ¹³I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me. ¹⁴Nevertheless, it was kind of you to share my troubles.

Paul’s thoughtful and timely words subtly remind me how to slow down and replace my thoughts that have led to distress and distortions within my heart.

When feelings flood our minds and muddy the truth of God’s goodness and grace, we are invited to renew our minds in the truths found in His Word.

Romans 12:1-3 GOD’S WORD Translation

Dedicate Your Lives to God

12 Brothers and sisters, in view of all we have just shared about God’s compassion, I encourage you to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, dedicated to God and pleasing to him. This kind of worship is appropriate for you. ²Don’t become like the people of this world. Instead, change the way you think. Then you will always be able to determine what God really wants—what is good, pleasing, and perfect.

³Because of the kindness ^[a] that God has shown me, I ask you not to think of yourselves more highly than you should. Instead, your thoughts should lead you to use good judgment based on what God has given each of you as believers.

So, whatever you may be feeling, acknowledge them, just remember that God is near and desires to be involved in the fears and failures, the loss and laughter.

His Living and Active Word continually reminds us to always feel and to be free from the false kind of faith negating the weight of legitimately raw emotions.

Let us continue to seek after God, training our hearts, tuning our hearts, to find rest in the absolute truth (Matthew 11:28-30, John 5:1-9, John 11:35, John 14:1-6), knowing God authentically cares about all of our feelings no matter how deep.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 23 King James Version

23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

²He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

³He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

⁴Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

⁵Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

⁶Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Your Daily Prayer: A Prayer to help us Refocus Our Thoughts back onto God. Philippians 4:8-9

O happy day that fixed my choice
On Thee, my Savior and my God!
Well may this glowing heart rejoice,
And tell its raptures all abroad.

Happy day, happy day,
When Jesus washed my sins away!
He taught me how to watch and pray,
And live rejoicing every day;
Happy day, happy day,
When Jesus washed my sins away!

Philippians 4:8-9 The Message

^8-9Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

A Stranger in the Room? Think About These Things

Have you ever walked into a room and felt you didn’t belong?

The first day for a new Pastor, their very first Sunday in the Pulpit leading their new to them Congregations through the very first of many worship experiences.

Nobody really knows who each other are.

What are the myriad of myriad expectations of the new congregations of their new to them Pastors and vice versa – Pastors know very little of their new flock.

Who knows whose name and their histories and their experiences on those first few initial “break the ice” Sundays before all the wonderful times of fellowship.

Been there and done that.

And please, give all glory to God and pray heavily and mightily for Your New Pastors, and their new to them congregations in this season of Transition.

As it is with new Pastors in new Pulpits, those first few days of anything new are always those of someone’s greatest excitement and anticipation and eagerness.

That first day of class for someone whose entering a new middle or high school.

The first day of College when the new High School graduates move into their dorm rooms and meet their new room mates for the very first time.

Fresh with the excitement of their College Degrees in their hands, that very first day of someone’s first job, first responsibilities following college graduations.

A new Job for an experienced worker in a new Company or new Organization in a new city, in a new state, in a new country – and those promises of promotions.

Those first few days of a young or veteran Service Member returning to Civilian Life, perhaps trying to adjust, re-adjust to civilian life after Surviving Combat.

Those first new experiences for a Cancer survivor when they finally get to ring the Bell to celebrate, declare themselves to be “Last Chemo”, “Cancer Free” or “In Remission” and now they have to rebuild their strength for life afterwards.

How about those first days and weeks and months when first time Parents are bringing home their first born child – and first being introduced to Parenthood.

How many personal “first time” experiences can readers bring to life here?

I have entered more than a few meetings, and I felt nobody wanted me there.

Frowns and furrowed and grimaced brows graced their faces.

It almost instantly spiraled me into a series of “what now” negative thoughts.

I thought I wasn’t good enough, likable, or worthy of acknowledgment.

I struggled to bring my attention to the purposes of the meetings because I felt the high likelihood of being heavily scrutinized, new boy on the block rejected.

Perceived rejection is assuming rejection before it has happened.

I am, among many, a genius at pre-rejecting myself on someone else’s behalf.

I will interpret the squint of the eyes as disapproval and the purse of the lips as annoyance toward me.

I may also assume I’m already rejected to protect myself in those first days, but this behavior leads me into a cycle of being rejected and rejecting other people.

I became aware of this tendency when one day the Word of the Lord revealed how the fear of rejection prevented me from walking in the ways He had for me.

God longs relationships with His Children, for us to grow and for us to mature in true friendship, consolation and compassion, forgiveness and reconciliation, kindness and mercy, peace and unity of mind, building, edifying His Kingdom.

He wants us to know who we are in Christ, which is chosen, approved, desired, transformed and discipled by the renewal of our minds away from the world.

Yet, when we get stuck in patterns of pre-rejection, we wrestle with all these.

We somehow automatically assume the very worst about ourselves and others.

Our focus drills inward until we can only see ourselves through a rejected lens.

This sin dark rejected lens prevents us from seeing someone else’s struggles and worries.

It interferes mightily with Christ Like compassion toward others.

It takes us down a path of biased and unchallenged prejudicial assumptions, leading to a barrage of needless misunderstandings and broken relationships.

While so many of us have external struggles with home, family, work, and finances, we also deal with internal battles of self esteem and God esteem.

Our mind is one of the greatest places of battle, where external battles are won or lost.

An automatic mindset of pre-rejection steals our peace and promotes anxious thoughts, pre-emptively, wrongly influencing our faith actions and attitudes.

It’s amazing how easily we can morbidly gorge ourselves on a feast of “hot and spicy” rejection when we automatically assume we have been or are about to be rejected, or we ourselves are about to move into our own “automatic rejection” of others mode – put some “100 octane into our motors and slam on the Gas”.

When I start from a place of 100 octane assuming rejection, it severely impacts my personal perspective of new opportunities and potential new relationships.

If I am 100 Octane closed off and self-protecting, the risk is it will leave a badly soured taste inside the mouths of others, it makes me seem cold and unfriendly.

This is not who I am, but when I’m ruled by 100 Octane fear, it’s what I display.

Slowly, I’ve learned the secret to overcoming this tendency lies in my thoughts.

And this is the critically important lesson we can each teach and each of us share with our children, our spouses, family, friends and to all our neighbors:

Romans 12:1-2 The Message

Place Your Life Before God

12 ^1-2So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Romans 12:1-2 educates, encourages us to allow “all of ourselves” to first and foremost “be transformed by the renewal” of our minds, and our pre-rejecting ourselves on behalf of someone else who assumes the worst possible outcome.

The Apostle Paul heavily encouraged the Philippians to guard their hearts.

Guarding our hearts promotes peace within ourselves and our relationships, but we must work hard every day at it – sacrificing all our pre-conceived rejections.

Our sin darkened minds naturally run along negative tracks, but we can, by the study of the Word of God, and intercession of Holy Spirit, retrain our thoughts.

Imagine what would happen if we dared concentrated on whatever is good, and when we walk into a room, we dare think about whatever is truest Shalom, is honorable, meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse – can we dare to imagine the distance between us and Satan?

100 Octane rejecting ourselves, rejecting others because we are afraid someone might first 100 Octane reject us doesn’t honor God or you or the other person.

One of the ways to overcome this tendency is to look for the good in others.

I realized when I automatically assume someone has rejected me, I am also automatically projecting all my irrational fear of rejection back onto them.

I have prepackaged, prewrapped, pre-nailed tighter than a drum, a crate filled with every single preconceived personal biases and my 100 Octane prejudices.

I am just waiting for the mailing or shipping address so I can surprise them.

In my sin broken mind-set, they might be inwardly frowning in my direction, not because of my presenting myself, but because of something in their life.

Instead of responding with compassion and outward focus, we react with self-protection and self-focus.

I still walk into meetings with the “Do they like me?” “Will they like me?” “Do I like them?” “Will I like them?” game playing over and over inside my soul.

But I’m learning to refocus my thoughts on myself and asking the Lord, “How can I show them more you?” It starts in our minds and then translates into actions.

Imagine the state of God’s Kingdom if we actually took into our hears and souls;

If in the fellowship of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

We who are the Body of Christ, we who are supposed to be modeling and are supposed to be like Christ, God’s Church in the vastness of this diverse world;

In a moment of authentic Holy Spirit in an Ignited Philippians 4:8-9 mind-set;

Philippians 4:8-9 Amplified Bible

⁸Finally, ^[a]believers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things [center your mind on them, and implant them in your heart]. ⁹The things which you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things [in daily life], and the God [who is the source] of peace and well-being will be with you.

Fellowshipped, Worshipped Prayed as one Community as God is in Community?

Oh, what a God-Gifted day of rejoicing that would be!!!

But, dare we too ever conceive or imagine or spontaneously plan for such a day?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Heavenly Father, on this day of first experiences for many of Your Children, Thank you that you give us all the tools we need to live this life for you. Forgive us when we too easily forget to use them, let our thoughts scatter to unhealthy and life-stealing pathways. We want to focus on you. You are honorable, lovely, true, commendable, just, and excellent, and when we think about you in these terms, you help us think about others in them too. Help us refocus our thoughts today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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About Abraham’s Legacy of Faith and Obedience: Do We Have Even .01% of What It Takes Today? Genesis 25:7-11

1. Faith of our fathers, living still,
in spite of dungeon, fire, and sword;
O how our hearts beat high with joy
whene’er we hear that glorious word!
Refrain:
Faith of our fathers, holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death.

2. Faith of our fathers, we will strive
to win all nations unto thee;
and through the truth that comes from God,
we all shall then be truly free.
(Refrain)

3. Faith of our fathers, we will love
both friend and foe in all our strife;
and preach thee, too, as love knows how
by kindly words and virtuous life.

Genesis 25:7-11 The Message

^7-11Abraham lived 175 years. Then he took his final breath. He died happy at a ripe old age, full of years, and was buried with his family. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, next to Mamre. It was the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites. Abraham was buried next to his wife Sarah. After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac. Isaac lived at Beer Lahai Roi.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

Why Should We Be Contemplating Abraham’s Legacy?

What if, like Job and his 3 friends, if you and I had been sitting with Abraham at the very moments of him making his decision in his life, like Job’s friends, we might often have pitied him, counseled against, questioned the wisdom, of each and every single decision, then inserted our own “invaluable life experiences”:

When he left Ur, we might have said, Abraham, you poor fool, do you mean you are going to wander away from home into the desert, perhaps live in a tent the rest your life, when you could keep the enjoyment of home, all of its blessings?

When he allowed Lot to choose the best of the land, perhaps some of us might have thought, “Abraham, are you crazy, don’t throw away your rights like that!”

You are the older one.

You have the first right to choose.

Why let Lot take that choice piece while you are left with this dry old pasture?

You are throwing away your rights.

Instead of exercising his rights, Abraham let Lot choose, and God chose for him.

Do we remember when King of Sodom offered all the riches of his city to him, Abraham said, “I’ll not take even one of your shoelaces; I don’t want any of it.”

Some of us would have been tempted to say,

“Now wait, one minute, Abraham, as your CPA, you are carrying this a little too far. You could have deducted all this richness and wealth from your income tax, just think what you are missing, future you are walking away from. Your family could have all the vast riches of Sodom. Think how you could use it in the Lord’s work.”

But Abraham chose God every time, and his was a life of fullness.

Scripture tells us that Patriarch Abraham lived 175 years, and every one was packed full, spiced with excitement and adventure, filled with challenge and interest, rich in possessions, rich in faith, rich in obedience and in blessing.

He was finally “gathered to his people,” he died an old man, full of days.

There is the promise of a legacy, a full life to those who live in the Spirit.

In verse 8 there is an indication that Abraham, our man of faith and obedience and integrity, had divine fellowship; saying “he was gathered to his people.”

What does that mean?

It means he was gathered to those before him who had modeled themselves after Abraham, who had exercised a like level of faith and obedience in God.

He was with those righteous ones who all through that intervening time of history had been spending their length of days walking upright with God.

Enoch, Noah were examples of such men who learned to know the living God.

Those are Abraham’s people, just as the people who are ours are not the fleshly people, but the ones to whom we are spiritually bound to walk with in our faith.

By no means did Abraham’s legacy of faith end four thousand years ago.

Matthew 22:29-33 The Message

^29-33Jesus answered, “You’re off base on two counts: You don’t know what God said, and you don’t know how God works. At the resurrection we’re beyond marriage. As with the angels, all our ecstasies and intimacies then will be with God. And regarding your speculation on whether the dead are raised or not, don’t you read your Bibles? The grammar is clear: God says, ‘I am—not was—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.’ The living God defines himself not as the God of dead men, but of the living.” Hearing this exchange the crowd was much impressed.

In Matthew’s narrative,

when the Sadducees—who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead—asked Jesus a question, He answered them:

Have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Matthew 22:31b-32).

By this He was answering those who did not believe in life after death.

He was saying that Abraham is living.

What a picture Abraham’s life is!

His was a life like yours and mine!

Originally, there was nothing unusual about him; nevertheless, God had made him an extraordinary person whose life of faith and obedience to God reaches far beyond the realms of earth, out into furthest and widest depths of eternity.

His life is one of blessing, fellowship, and fullness.

The written legacy of faith and obedience of Abraham’s long life stands out as a living testimony to anyone who should walk on the path of faith, walks in their integrity, leaves a life of faith and obedience to be modeled, walks by God’s way.

Comprehending the Joys of Faith and of Obedience

Psalm 119:1-8 The Message

119 ^1-8You’re blessed when you stay on course,
    walking steadily on the road revealed by God.
You’re blessed when you follow his directions,
    doing your best to find him.
That’s right—you don’t go off on your own;
    you walk straight along the road he set.
You, God, prescribed the right way to live;
    now you expect us to live it.
Oh, that my steps might be steady,
    keeping to the course you set;
Then I’d never have any regrets
    in comparing my life with your counsel.
I thank you for speaking straight from your heart;
    I learn the pattern of your righteous ways.
I’m going to do what you tell me to do;
    don’t ever walk off and leave me.

When it comes to our looking backwards and forwards at our own legacies of spiritual pursuits, many people discover they only put in the bare minimum.

They will engage in the daily pursuit of spiritual things only when it can be fit into their schedules, between their appointments and generally during a crisis.

When everything is going well, when the sky is blue, the sun is out, and all the bluebirds of happiness are singing, they don’t really have a thought about God.

But when a crisis looms on their horizon hits, when the storm clouds gather over their heads, then suddenly they are calling on the Lord out of necessity.

Some people pray only in a time of crisis or when they think of it.

They read the Bible only when they have time.

But that is not the faith-filled, faithful and obediently way to live for God.

The Bible says, “Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the Lord” (Psalm 119:1 NLT).

God’s commands are not something we should fear, minimize or shun.

Yet some Christians will still say, “I’m not under the law; I’m under grace.”

In a sense that’s true.

As we choose obedience to God, put our faith in Jesus Christ, we are no longer under the curse of the law, which we are unable to keep in our own strength.

But let’s also remember that Jesus said, “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose” (Matthew 5:17 NLT).

We do not keep the law to earn God’s approval.

But it also doesn’t mean that we disregard it.

It doesn’t mean that we can do whatever we want.

It does not mean that we can live live whatever we want.

It does not mean that we can or should live the way culture would prefer.

We know all too well how culture wants us to live by its expectations, by its own shamefully weak worldly standards of “faithful, faith-filled, and obedient lives.

Christians, are by no means strangers to everyone else’s “great expectations.”

Yet, Jehovah God has His own “Great Expectations” His own exceedingly wiser standards of our own legacy of living faithful, faith-filled and obedient lives.

Exodus 20:1-17 New American Standard Bible

The Ten Commandments

20 Then God spoke all these words, saying,

²“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of ^[a]slavery.

³“You shall have no other gods ^[b]before Me.

⁴“You shall not make for yourself ^[c]an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. ⁵You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, inflicting the ^[d]punishment of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, ⁶but showing ^[e]favor to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

⁷“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not ^[f]leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

⁸“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹For six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your cattle, or your ^[g]resident who ^[h]stays with you. ¹¹For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; for that reason the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

¹²“Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be prolonged on the land which the Lord your God gives you.

¹³“You shall not murder.

¹⁴“You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵“You shall not steal.

¹⁶“You shall not ^[i]give false testimony against your neighbor.

¹⁷“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male slave, or his female slave, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

The principles of the law, the Ten Commandments all surely still apply today.

Yet, we must still recognize our habits of being unfaithful and disobedient also.

Instead of being, or our by navigating through a long list of 614 rules that were basically unobtainable for us in our own strength, God’s laws have now all been written on the fleshly tablets of our hearts, as faith-filled, faithful and obedient Ministers of a New Covenant as Scripture says (see 2 Corinthians 3:1-3 NASB).

Ministers of a New Covenant

3 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you? ²You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all people, ³revealing yourselves, that you are a letter of Christ, ^[a]delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on any tablets of stone but on tablets of ^[b]human hearts.

They, the laws of God are weaved into our DNA, they become our delight.

They become our joy -and we obey them because it’s 100% our desire to do so.

In so doing, we will find the same lasting legacy of blessings Abraham lived out.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 16 The Message

16 ^1-2Keep me safe, O God,
I’ve run for dear life to you.
I say to God, “Be my Lord!”
Without you, nothing makes sense.

³And these God-chosen lives all around—
what splendid friends they make!

⁴Don’t just go shopping for a god.
Gods are not for sale.
I swear I’ll never treat god-names
like brand-names.

^5-6My choice is you, God, first and only.
And now I find I’m your choice!
You set me up with a house and yard.
And then you made me your heir!

^7-8The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake
is confirmed by my sleeping heart.
Day and night I’ll stick with God;
I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go.

^9-10I’m happy from the inside out,
and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed.
You canceled my ticket to hell—
that’s not my destination!

¹¹Now you’ve got my feet on the life path,
all radiant from the shining of your face.
Ever since you took my hand,
I’m on the right way.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Personal Evangelism: Are We Praying For Our Greatest Expectations of God to be Successfully Met? Genesis 24:10-14

This is my Servants Prayer,

1. Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,
pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but thou art mighty;
hold me with thy powerful hand.
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven,
feed me till I want no more;
feed me till I want no more.

Genesis 24:10-14The Message

^10-14The servant took ten of his master’s camels and, loaded with gifts from his master, traveled to Aram Naharaim and the city of Nahor. Outside the city, he made the camels kneel at a well. It was evening, the time when the women came to draw water. He prayed, “O God, God of my master Abraham, make things go smoothly this day; treat my master Abraham well! As I stand here by the spring while the young women of the town come out to get water, let the girl to whom I say, ‘Lower your jug and give me a drink,’ and who answers, ‘Drink, and let me also water your camels’—let her be the woman you have picked out for your servant Isaac. Then I’ll know that you’re working graciously behind the scenes for my master.”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

A Servant’s Prayer

Genesis 24:12 New American Standard Bible

¹²And he said, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, please ^[a]grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.

Our reading for today opens with Abraham calling his most trusted servant to a special task – to swear an oath to go forth into his homeland and find a wife for his son, Isaac – from those who authentically worship Jehovah God not idols.

The servant makes a vow, gathers his master Abraham’s gifts on his camels and sets out on a journey to find a wife for Isaac from among Abraham’s relatives.

We do not know much about this “senior and most trusted” servant, but we can tell he has truly seen God at work in the lives of Abraham, Sarah, and now Isaac.

Mother Sarah is dead and Father Abraham is old, and he wants Isaac to marry.

Abraham is trying to arrange for a bride for Isaac, but only Jehovah God is the one who will really provide “our success” so that God’s promises are fulfilled.

Before the servant starts any conversations with the young women of the area, he prays to the God of his master and asks God to show kindness to his master.

Success for the servant will come by God’s taking the next step in this mission.

Why is the name of the servant not shared in this story?

Maybe it helps us focus on God as the primary actor in this drama – a servant who prays for success turns not to his own abilities but to the kindness of God.

Not knowing the name of the servant helps us put ourselves in his sandals.

How do we define “success”?

In this case, the servant’s success is the completion of Jehovah God’s mission by the most senior, most trusted servant for his master the Patriarch Abraham.

The master’s success is the ultimate goal of the servant.

Have we prayed the servant’s prayer lately?

Praying Our Great Expectations of God Will Be Met

The major emphasis of this passage is centered on what we might call the cooperation of the Spirit.

This is the missing note in much personal evangelism.

Many men and women have heard the command of God, Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation (Mark 16:15).

Mark 16:14-16 The Message

^14-16Still later, as the Eleven were eating supper, he appeared and took them to task most severely for their stubborn unbelief, refusing to believe those who had seen him raised up. Then he said, “Go into the world. Go everywhere and announce the Message of God’s good news to one and all. Whoever believes and is baptized is saved; whoever refuses to believe is damned.

They have recognized this is a command, but then, in their uncertainty, in their “stubborn unbelief” they go out, acting as if all success all depends upon them.

This is where the grim-faced, fever-eyed fanatic comes from, on the one hand and, on the other, the fanatically shy, timid, blushing, flustered Christian who hardly dares to utter a word believing success is that thing they all desire least.

There is a failure to recognize that not only has God commanded us to do this, but he has also provided the Holy Spirit by which we will overcome, to go do it.

This is what we see as the story progresses.

Here is a man, a loyal servant, greatly expecting God to work for our success.

He does not go into this land and say to himself,

“Well now, I guess the success or failure of this whole job is up to me and me alone. I have to find this girl, and how in the world am I going to find “the right one”? And after that, I must somehow persuade her to come. How am I going to do that?”

For this loyal servant of Father Abraham, it is very simple for this man, because he knows within the deepest parts of his soul he is not left alone to do this task.

Hebrews 11:1-2 The Message

Faith in What We Don’t See

11 ^1-2The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.

An invisible partner is at work, going ahead of him, preparing the way for him.

I wish we would pray to successfully learn this lesson about our own witness.

Jehovah God has not left it to us to do alone.

John 3:16-18 The Message

^16-18“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

The work of going forth into our own homelands, to pagan lands reaching men and women for Christ is not a matter of human persuasion, but it is a divine call.

Luke 10:1-9 GOD’S WORD Translation

Jesus Sends Disciples to Do Mission Work

10 After this, the Lord appointed 70 ^[a] other disciples to go ahead of him to every city and place that he intended to go. They were to travel in pairs.

²He told them, “The harvest is large, but the workers are few. So ask the Lord who gives this harvest to send workers to harvest his crops. ³Go! I’m sending you out like lambs among wolves. ⁴Don’t carry a wallet, a traveling bag, or sandals, and don’t stop to greet anyone on the way. ⁵Whenever you go into a house, greet the family right away with the words, ‘May there be peace in this house.’ ⁶If a peaceful person lives there, your greeting will be accepted. But if that’s not the case, your greeting will be rejected. ⁷Stay with the family that accepts you. Eat and drink whatever they offer you. After all, the worker deserves his pay. Do not move around from one house to another. ⁸Whenever you go into a city and the people welcome you, eat whatever they serve you. ⁹Heal the sick that are there, and tell the people, ‘God’s kingdom is near you!’

We are called and sent – not just into all of the easiest places as Abraham sent his servant into – with that highest expectation of our own personal success.

As the stark reality of Luke’s narrative plainly puts before us in Luke 10:1-9 we are also summoned and called by God to try and to evangelize even the wolves.

We are also called by God to try and evangelize those who would not even give us the time of day or would offer to sell us us drugs at the point of a revolver.

We are also called by God to go and move and evangelize among those who are marginalized, untouchable, viewed by us as being too far gone even for our God to make even .01% difference, are too deeply inside our own “abhorrence zone.”

Overcoming our “abhorrence zones” thru the intercessory work of Holy Spirit.

Recalling first and foremost John 16:31-33 The Message

³^1-33Jesus answered them, “Do you finally believe? In fact, you’re about to make a run for it—saving your own skins and abandoning me. But I’m not abandoned. The Father is with me. I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.”

Jehovah God is the One who is continuously and miraculously at work to move, to overcome hate, to shape, to develop, to transform the lives and hearts of all.

Do you notice how Abraham’s servant does it?

Genesis 24:11-14 Names of God Bible

Abraham’s Servant Finds a Wife for Isaac

¹¹The servant had the camels kneel down outside the city by the well. It was evening, when the women would go out to draw water. ¹²Then he prayed, “Yahweh, Elohim of my master Abraham, make me successful today. Show your kindness to Abraham. ¹³Here I am standing by the spring, and the girls of the city are coming out to draw water. ¹⁴I will ask a girl, ‘May I please have a drink from your jar?’ If she answers, ‘Have a drink, and I’ll also water your camels,’ let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. This way I’ll know that you’ve shown your kindness to my master.”

First, he prays, revealing his expectation that God is at work.

In his simple prayer he asks God to make the way clear, to indicate the one to whom God would have him speak.

As he prays about his problem, he confidently, greatly, expects God to answer.

This is a wonderful concept to remember when we’re testifying and witnessing.

When I get behind the wheel of my personal vehicle, or go on a cruise ship or go someplace where I may be in contact with someone who doesn’t know the Lord, I try hard to recall to ask God to indicate who is the one He wants me to talk too.

Maybe there is no one; maybe the Lord wants me to spend my time reading or studying and praying and observing all of those neighbors placed into my path.

But very likely He does have someone He wants me to encounter and to engage with at some point in my future – I don’t know with whom God is working, but I know He will certainly direct me through ways of which I am hardly conscious.

“Jehovah, Lead, Guide, Direct my Steps. Break My Heart for What Breaks Yours.”

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 37:23-34 The Message

^23-24Stalwart walks in step with God;
his path blazed by God, he’s happy.
If he stumbles, he’s not down for long;
God has a grip on his hand.

^25-26I once was young, now I’m a graybeard—
    not once have I seen an abandoned believer,
    or his kids out roaming the streets.
Every day he’s out giving and lending,
    his children making him proud.

^27-28Turn your back on evil,
work for the good and don’t quit.
God loves this kind of thing,
never turns away from his friends.

^28-29Live this way and you’ve got it made,
but bad eggs will be tossed out.
The good get planted on good land
and put down healthy roots.

^30-31Righteous chews on wisdom like a dog on a bone,
rolls virtue around on his tongue.
His heart pumps God’s Word like blood through his veins;
his feet are as sure as a cat’s.

^32-33Wicked sets a watch for Righteous,
he’s out for the kill.
God, alert, is also on watch—
Wicked won’t hurt a hair of his head.

³⁴Wait passionately for God,
don’t leave the path.
He’ll give you your place in the sun
while you watch the wicked lose it.

Master, Creator, make me a servant of your peace. Help me continue to pray and seek for your will to be done on earth, in me, as it is in heaven. In your name, O Jehovah.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Personal Evangelism. “Father Abraham said Unto His Most Trusted Servant, By God, Go Forth and Take a Bride For My Son.” Genesis 24:1-9

Personal evangelism is sharing the message of Jesus Christ with others.

It is showing and telling and serving others— with, through both word and deed — who Jesus is and how it’s possible to have a relationship with Him.

Think of individual evangelism in light of our own and everyone else’s life’s journeys.

Personal evangelism is simply the privilege of entering into the spiritual journey of another person, living into and out from God’s summons, and discovering how God is at work, and the undeniable role that we can play.

Genesis 24:1-9 GOD’S WORD Translation

Abraham Instructs His Servant

24 By now Abraham was old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. ²So Abraham said to the senior servant of his household who was in charge of all that he owned, “Take a solemn oath. ³I want you to swear by the Lord God of heaven and earth that you will not get my son a wife from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I’m living. ⁴Instead, you will go to the land of my relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.”

⁵The servant asked him, “What if the woman doesn’t want to come back to this land with me? Should I take your son all the way back to the land you came from?”

⁶“Make sure that you do not take my son back there,” Abraham said to him. ⁷“The Lord God of heaven took me from my father’s home and the land of my family. He spoke to me and swore this oath: ‘I will give this land to your descendants.’

“God will send his angel ahead of you, and you will get my son a wife from there. ⁸If the woman doesn’t want to come back with you, then you’ll be free from this oath that you swear to me. But don’t take my son back there.” ⁹So the servant did as his master Abraham commanded and swore the oath to him concerning this.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

And Father Abraham Said Unto His Servant, “GO!”

Abraham’s wife Sarah has died (Genesis 23:2).

Isaac is the only son left through whom God will make a great nation of people.

So, the question naturally arises,

“Does not Isaac need a wife if he’s going to have children, bless generations ?”

Abraham is old, and he knows he won’t live much longer.

There is one more thing he needs to take care of – get a wife for his son Isaac.

Of one thing he is very sure: he cannot let Isaac take a bride from the Canaanite women who worship false gods.

Abraham calls on his most trusted servant and commissions him to find a wife for Isaac from among his kin.

Abraham is very clear that Isaac is not to go; he must stay in the land the Lord has promised them.

So, the loyal servant of Abraham swears an oath to Abraham and “Goes Forth.”

That’s the story we come to next.

In Genesis Chapter 24, however, we must first take careful note in our text that we have four main persons: the father, the son, the servant, and the bride.

This is very meaningful.

As we move forward in time and come to the writings of the New Testament, we should see that the Triune God is working, laboring together to obtain a bride for the Son….The subject of the New Testament is the Triune God, the Father, the Son, the Spirit, working, laboring together to obtain the bride for the Son.

From the start, The Father made the plan, the Spirit carries out the Father’s plan, the Son enjoys what the Father has planned, what the Spirit carries out.

Who is the bride?

The bride is that chosen part of the human race which will marry the Son and become His counterpart .

Upon Closer Scrutiny-With One Eye Towards Eternity

If we read this chapter through carefully, we will find that the central character in the text is not Rebekah, who is to become the bride of Abraham’s son Isaac.

Very little of her reaction is actually recorded here; she has a secondary part.

The spotlight of the story really follows Abraham and Abraham’s unnamed senior and most trusted, most faithful servant, who is the central character.

For us, this is a picture of the Holy Spirit’s work.

But remember, the Spirit of God chooses to do His work largely through men and women, through those of us who are His.

This is especially true in the work of the calling out a people for God’s name.

God has given us the responsibility and the privilege of being His instruments to go into the world and faithfully seek out and call His bride out of the world.

So this whole story from Genesis chapter 24 becomes for us a precursor, an ancient beautiful picture of the whole process of PERSONAL EVANGELISM.

PERSONAL EVANGELISM: The process of we, Father God’s loyal and trusted servants bringing others to Christ begins with the command of God the Father.

Genesis 24:1-4 New American Standard Bible

A Bride for Isaac

24 Now Abraham was old, advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in every way. ²Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household who was in charge of all that he owned, “Please place your hand under my thigh, ³and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live; ⁴but you will go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”

The initiative here is with Father Abraham, he knew he was advanced in age and his length of years would soon end, and he knew well God blessed in every way.

Abraham sends his most senior and trusted servant, who has authority over everything Abraham owns, to do this work, binds him to the task with an oath.

When the servant puts his hand under Abraham’s thigh, he is simply practicing an oriental custom that recognized the loins of the thigh were the source of life.

For the trusted servant, it was a representation of being bound in a solemn oath.

As we apply this to our own situation and see God the Father standing in the place of Abraham here, He is asking every servant to give himself to this task.

The servant is unnamed here so that you and I can put our own names here.

The Father calls us His servants, commands us to go and take a wife for His Son.

This is not an option for a believer in Jesus Christ.

God has said, not only in the fashion we see here but also in direct statements in the Word of God, the obligation rests upon believers to give themselves over to the sacred task of reaching to others for the coming Bride Groom Jesus Christ.

God has commanded, us, His most trusted servants, to take a wife for my Son.

And so unto this end, the Holy Spirit of God has come into our hearts to dwell.

His whole purpose of coming into your life and mine is that He might be what He is and do what He came to do – send us out into the world to find a “Bride.”

Our Lord Jesus is the one dwelling within, and we are told what He came to do.

⁴⁵It’s the same way with the Son of Man. He didn’t come so that others could serve him. He came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many people.” Mark 10:45

He said, For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost (Luke 19:10).

If this is what He came to do, we will find Him doing exactly that in our lives, if we give Him the opportunity – we authentically become that “Trusted Servant.”

Do we recognize and live by our servant mandate as disciples of the Lord Jesus?

Are we being .01% authentically responsive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit?

Are we being .01% authentic, responsive to Acts 1:8 “go forth into the world?”

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

A Prayer for Opportunity

God, My Father, Like Abraham’s loyal servant I long to be sent forth, the chance to serve you, for the opportunity to proclaim the goodness of Your name. I long to seek others, engage with them, pray with them, be a servant unto them, draw them closer to you, for service in your Kingdom. As I go out today, please bring me into contact with those who have been given eyes to see, ears to hear. Direct my steps and lead me into those conversations You want me to have today, Jesus. In Jesus’ name, I pray.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Beautiful Lessons in Love from Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon 1:1-4

HOW CAN WE NAME A LOVE?

How can we name a love
that wakens heart and mind,
indwelling all we know
or think or do
or seek or find?
Within our daily world,
in every human face,
Love’s echoes sound
and God is found,
hid in the commonplace.

If we awoke to life
upheld by loving care
that asked no great reward
but firm, assured,
was simply there,
we can, with parents’ names,
describe, and thus adore,
love unconfined,
our Father kind,
our Mother strong and sure.

When people share a task,
and strength and skills unite
in projects old or new,
to make or do
with shared delight,
our Friend and Partner’s will
is better understood,
that all should share,
create, and care,
and know that life is good.

So in a hundred names,
each day we all can meet
a presence, sensed and shown
at work, at home,
or in the street.
Yet names and titles all
shine in a brighter sun:
In Christ alone
is full love grown
and life and hope begun.

Song of Solomon 1:1-4 Amplified Bible

The Young Shulammite Bride and Jerusalem’s Daughters

1 The ^[a]Song of Songs [the best of songs], which is Solomon’s.

^[b](The Shulammite Bride)

²
“May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!” [Solomon arrives, she turns to him, saying,]
“For your love is better than wine.
³
“The aroma of your oils is fragrant and pleasing;
Your name is perfume poured out;
Therefore the maidens love you.
⁴
“Draw me away with you and let us run together!
Let the king bring me into his chambers.”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

We Will Sing Your Songs and We Will Rejoice In Thee

Song of Solomon 1:2-4 The Message

The Woman

^2-3Kiss me—full on the mouth!
    Yes! For your love is better than wine,
    headier than your aromatic oils.
The syllables of your name murmur like a meadow brook.
    No wonder everyone loves to say your name!

⁴Take me away with you! Let’s run off together!
    An elopement with my King-Lover!
We’ll celebrate, we’ll sing,
    we’ll make great music.
Yes! For your love is better than vintage wine.
    Everyone loves you—of course! And why not?

If this Hebrew love song was modernized, it would be steamier than most romance novels out there!

It is full of passion, desire, pursuit, possession and pleasure.

Like a ballad, it tells the sensual love story of a man and woman, their longing for the day when they can fully give themselves to each other, their wedding (Song 3:11), the consummation of their love, and their love life together.

C.S. Lewis wrote a timeless book called The Four Loves which summarizes four kinds of human love and four Greek words for love:

affection (storgé),

friendship (phileō),

romantic love (eros),

and the love of God (agapé).

The Bible is and should be our authority on the topic of love because love (agapé) comes from God and God is love (1 John 4:7-8).

Even though the love God has for us is a unique and wholly unconventional type of love, the Bible is also our complete authority on all other types of love.

The Four Types of Love

Storgé, or family affection, is mentioned only one time, in Romans 12:9-10.

Romans 12:9-10 The Message

^9-10Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

Phileō is used many times in Scripture (see example in John 21:15-17).

John 21:15-17 GOD’S WORD Translation

Jesus Speaks with Peter

¹⁵After they had eaten breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than the other disciples do?”

Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus told him, “Feed my lambs.”

¹⁶Jesus asked him again, a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus told him, “Take care of my sheep.”

¹⁷Jesus asked him a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

Peter felt sad because Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love me?” So Peter said to him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”

Jesus told him, “Feed my sheep.

Agape’ is the word for love used most often in the Bible, being therefore the type of love upon which we should focus the hardest.

1 Corinthians 13:3-10 The Message

^3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

^8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

That leaves romantic love, or sexual desire.

The Greek word eros is never found in the Bible.

A Hebrew equivalent is found in the Old Testament however.

The Hebrew word, ‘ahabah, is used repeatedly in the Song of Solomon and though it does not explicitly refer to romantic love or sexual desire, in the context of the Song of Solomon, it does.

“Let him lead me to the banquet hall, and let his banner over me be love. Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love” (Song of Solomon 2:4-5).

“Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires” (Song of Solomon 2:7, 3:5, 8:4).

“Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you—if you find my beloved, what will you tell him? Tell him I am faint with love” (Song of Solomon 5:8).

“Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned” (Song of Solomon 8:6-7).

Who Wrote the Song of Solomon?

The author of the Song of Solomon, known as the Song of Songs, was King Solomon, son of King David, who reigned over Israel for 40 years (971-931 B.C.).

Solomon is best remembered for his wisdom.

1 Kings 4:32 lets us know that Solomon “spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five.”

He wrote 1,005 songs and the Song of Solomon was his very best, which is why it is referred to as the “Song of Songs.” it is the most excellent of all songs!

This fact is debated by scholars, but it seems as if Solomon is also “the beloved” in this love song.

The Shulamite woman (Song of Solomon 6:13) was likely Solomon’s first wife (though he went on to marry 699 other women).

In this song, “Solomon recounts (1) his own days of courtship, (2) the early days of his first marriage, followed by (3) the maturing of this royal couple through the good and bad days of life” (MacArthur Study Bible notes).

The Song of Solomon stands out in Scripture as the only book that seemingly has nothing to do with God, even though “all 117 verses in Solomon’s Song have been recognized by the Jews as a part of their sacred writings.

Along with Ruth, Esther, Ecclesiastes, and Lamentations, it is included among the OT books of the Megilloth, or ‘five scrolls.’ The Jews read this song at the Passover, calling it ‘the Holy of Holies’” (MacArthur Study Bible notes).

It may seem to have nothing to do with God, but romantic love has everything to do with God!

It is completely accurate to say that God is the inventor and author of romantic love which naturally makes Him the authority on the subject! Therefore, we should care very much about what God thinks about romance and marriage.

How Does This Song Apply To Our Lives

So how can this Jewish love song apply to our lives?

Here are at least two ways:

1. Sexual intimacy is reserved for marriage and should be highly honored and protected.

There is a “charge” given three times in the Song of Solomon, reminding us not to “arouse or awaken love until it so desires” (Song of Solomon 2:7, 3:5, 8:4).

In the context and scripts of the range of modern-day TV shows, Reality TV shows of and from every conceivable “love” angle and ideological spectrum and movies, we will sometimes hear the all too ambiguous advice given unto teens to wait to have sex till “it finally feels right” “until it’s finally the right person.

That’s not even close to what Solomon’s wife is saying at all.

She is expressing her absolute commitment to wait until love can be aroused or awakened in the context of complete commitment and possession!

“My beloved is mine and I am his” (2:16).

Solomon refers to his bride as “a garden locked up,” “a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain” (4:12).

Until marriage, she did not open herself to him (4:15).

This theme of faithfulness and fidelity is all through Scripture, and the reason is that the sacred covenant of marriage is pointing directly to the mystery and covenant relationship between Husband and Wife, to Christ and His Church.

Hebrews 13:4 GOD’S WORD Translation

⁴Marriage is honorable in every way, so husbands and wives should be faithful to each other. God will judge those who commit sexual sins, especially those who commit adultery.

Those are strong words!

Why does God care so much about the sanctity of marriage?

Again, it is because it points at His relationship with His covenant people:

Ephesians 5:31-32 GOD’S WORD Translation

³¹That’s why a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will be one. ³²This is a great mystery. (I am talking about Christ’s relationship to the church.)

2. Love and Attraction are Powerful Forces for Good or For Evil.

Solomon left us a beautiful song about the holy love between a man and a woman which points us both to the importance of faithfulness and to the very heart of God and His covenant of love with us.

Sadly though, that is not the only example which Solomon left us.

1 Kings 11:1-4 GOD’S WORD Translation

Solomon’s Idolatry

11 King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh’s daughter. He loved Hittite women and women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon. ²They came from the nations about which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “Never intermarry with them. They will surely tempt you to follow their gods.” But Solomon was obsessed with their love. ³He had 700 wives who were princesses and 300 wives who were concubines.^[a] ⁴In his old age, his wives tempted him to follow other gods. He was no longer committed to the Lord his God as his father David had been.

Solomon, known for his vast breadth of wisdom, was also guilty of severe infidelity in his relationship with God.

Sadder than the fact that his heart was divided between hundreds of women, “his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God.”

If there is anything we learn from Solomon, may it be the devastating choice of allowing our hearts to be led astray from our first Love! (Isaiah Chapter 53)

Take me away with you–let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers. We rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. How right they are to adore you! Song Of Solomon 1:4

Most people have someone who they love to be around.

They desire to be with that person all the time.

This is especially true of newly married couples.

They want to be together.

They hate being apart from each other and love to spend all their time together.

Young children often want to spend time with one of their parents, the dad or the mom.

They love their parents and they cannot stand being away from the parent.

The reason that people love to spend time with someone is that they love that person.

Solomon shows a scene of a woman who is eager to be brought away by the king.

She is in a hurry to have it happen.

Her friends also realize the value of this relationship.

While this may be meant to be just a relationship between a man and woman, it can also represent the relationship between a person and God.

God is always seen as the ultimate king. Jesus is called the King.

The believer in Jesus should have a desire to be with God in the most intimate of places, not just in the public open spaces.

The intimate place shows the relationship at its very highest level.

Often believers are too easily content just to be with God on Sunday in church, but will mostly ignore Him going through their busyness the rest of the week.

Their heart is really not in the relationship, but just on getting out of hell.

When one realizes how much Jesus (The King) has done for him, he will also desire to be with God immediately.

He will not want to wait for a later time, but wants to spend time getting to know God more and more.

The relationship with God will take priority over any other relationship or action.

When you take a look at your life, when you take a look at your spouse, take a long look into your bathroom mirror, who do you want to be around more?

When you read, study and pray over the Word of God for His Children, what questions of God and His Love are you asking, what answers are you seeking?

Are you seeking just to make friends friends on this earth, with this earth and to have a worldly good time, even though you already know it is only temporary?

Or is your heart’s desire to be with God?

Or is your heart and soul looking to embrace, to live the truth of God’s Love?

John 3:16-17 New American Standard Bible

¹⁶“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him.

Seek to get to know the intimacy of God more and more in the intimate places.

These are the very private places of your life, in the very quiet times of prayer and bible study and Koinonia Fellowship – Get to know His great love for you.

I pray today that you will come to know the intimacy of Jesus alone as your Lord and Savior; that you will know God’s most intimate love for you; and that you will seek to spend more time with God; and that God will be your one true love above all others.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 40 The Message

40 ^1-3I waited and waited and waited for God.
    At last he looked; finally he listened.
He lifted me out of the ditch,
    pulled me from deep mud.
He stood me up on a solid rock
    to make sure I wouldn’t slip.
He taught me how to sing the latest God-song,
    a praise-song to our God.
More and more people are seeing this:
    they enter the mystery,
    abandoning themselves to God.

^4-5Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God,
    turn your backs on the world’s “sure thing,”
    ignore what the world worships;
The world’s a huge stockpile
    of God-wonders and God-thoughts.
Nothing and no one
    compares to you!
I start talking about you, telling what I know,
    and quickly run out of words.
Neither numbers nor words
    account for you.

⁶Doing something for you, bringing something to you—
    that’s not what you’re after.
Being religious, acting pious—
    that’s not what you’re asking for.
You’ve opened my ears
    so I can listen.

^7-8So I answered, “I’m coming.
    I read in your letter what you wrote about me,
And I’m coming to the party
    you’re throwing for me.”
That’s when God’s Word entered my life,
    became part of my very being.

^9-10I’ve preached you to the whole congregation,
    I’ve kept back nothing, God—you know that.
I didn’t keep the news of your ways
    a secret, didn’t keep it to myself.
I told it all, how dependable you are, how thorough.
    I didn’t hold back pieces of love and truth
For myself alone. I told it all,
    let the congregation know the whole story.

^11-12Now God, don’t hold out on me,
    don’t hold back your passion.
Your love and truth
    are all that keeps me together.
When troubles ganged up on me,
    a mob of sins past counting,
I was so swamped by guilt
    I couldn’t see my way clear.
More guilt in my heart than hair on my head,
    so heavy the guilt that my heart gave out.

^13-15Soften up, God, and intervene;
    hurry and get me some help,
So those who are trying to kidnap my soul
    will be embarrassed and lose face,
So anyone who gets a kick out of making me miserable
    will be heckled and disgraced,
So those who pray for my ruin
    will be booed and jeered without mercy.

^16-17But all who are hunting for you—
    oh, let them sing and be happy.
Let those who know what you’re all about
    tell the world you’re great and not quitting.
And me? I’m a mess. I’m nothing and have nothing:
    make something of me.
You can do it; you’ve got what it takes—
    but God, don’t put it off.

Lord, my Heavenly Father, allow me to receive Your most intimate love for me and to share that level of intimacy love with all those who are my neighbors, Just as Christ loved the Church so are we to love all. In Christ Jesus Holy and Precious name I pray!

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

God Will Make A Way When There Seems To Be No Way Though Your Dreams are Shattered and Your Faith Is Being Shaken Down to its Very Roots. Matthew 11:2-3

Right now, I can hear John the Baptist having a conversation with himself;

“There were still going to be things in life that were out of my control and things that I could not anticipate that would cause me to feel shaken in my faith from the inside out.

And let’s be honest, how I hated that! ever growing feeling of doubt!”

It doesn’t matter if you are a new Christian or mature believer; we are all subject to the potential of having our faith shaken from time to time. But let it be known that even when your faith is going through a shaky season, this doesn’t mean that God is any less sovereign or any less loving. Our God has the ability to bless even those going through a season of lukewarm faith, use those who doubt and bring comfort and reassurance to those whose faith is wavering…

Abraham was commanded by God to sacrifice his son Isaac, Moses and the burning bush, Peter the apostle who denied Jesus three times and the Temple Priest Zechariah who did not believe that God could give him a son… just to name a few!

But for today, let’s dive into the shaken faith of John of Baptist.

Matthew 11:2-3 GOD’S WORD Translation

John Sends Two Disciples

²When John was in prison, he heard about the things Christ had done. So he sent his disciples ³to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is coming, or should we all now look for someone else?”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

My Faith Has Been Shaken, My Life Fully Stirred Up

Sometimes my faith is severely shaken when the course of my life is altered, the course of my wife or my children’s life is altered and my dreams are shattered.

I wonder where God is in the midst of my doubts about God, my suffering soul.

I cannot always sense His presence as I have when things we going fairly well.

I will feel alone and afraid, wondering about my future and my wife’s.

I set my thoughts to the ways the world presents itself in the media and what my son must contend with raising my grandson to be someone of faith, truth.

Truthfully, my soul gets all stirred up, my faith in my Savior wavers sometimes.

I question what I have long believed.

I wonder what is prophetic, what is real and truthful and faithful from the Word of God especially when my personal experience doesn’t match my expectations.

This wavering deeply troubles me.

I have tasted and felt the winds of the vanity of man, man’s inhumanity of man, I have tasted bitterness I would never wish even upon my very worst enemies.

I have tasted God’s goodness, enjoyed close fellowship with him, rested in his tender care, known His grace and been blessed beyond what I know I deserved.

I can say that I have known both His power, His healing and his love.

Yet in the midst of such profound struggles, I have no answers, just questions.

Answers which I’m not entirely sure I’ll receive with more faith than with more doubt that I know somewhere deep inside me is sourced from an irrational fear.

The question of having any hope for a prosperous future?

Mine, and for generations of my family yet to come?

I will only scratch my head and shrug my shoulders and maybe I might just get around to actually and authentically fervently and ceaselessly praying to God.

But, I guess right now, I kind of feel like John the Baptist, sitting in a Prison cell.

Matthew 11:2-3 Amplified Bible

²Now when ^[a]John [the Baptist] in prison heard about the activities of Christ, he sent word by his disciples ³and asked Him, “Are You the Expected One (the Messiah), or should we look for someone else [who will be the promised One]?”

I am wise enough to know there are still going to be things in life that were out of my control, myriads of things which I could never hope to anticipate, would cause me to acknowledge my raising doubts, feel shaken from the inside out.

And let’s be honest, however wise I believe myself to be, and God knows me to be on any given day and in any given moment of time, I say, how I hated that!

It doesn’t matter if you are a new Christian or a maturing or mature believer; we are all subject to the potential of having our faith shaken up from time to time.

But let it be known that even when our faith is going through a shaky season, this doesn’t mean that our Savior God is any less sovereign or any less loving.

Our God has the continuous ability to bless even those going through a season of abandoned, back-sliding, fractured, wavering, doubtful and lukewarm faith, to use those seasons of those who doubt and bring comfort and reassurance to those whose faith is wavering… Gospel Narratives are replete with such stories.

The Samaritan Woman in the heat of the day at the Well in John Chapter 4

The Woman with the Issue of Blood whom even the smartest of those ancient Doctors and Priests could not find a reason or cure – whose faith in God told her that if she could just “get close enough to his tunic – she would then be healed.” (Luke 8:43-48)

The Good Samaritan.

The Prodigal Son.

Blind Bartimaeus

The Lepers.

The long disabled Man who spent over 38 years waiting for someone to help him into the angel stirred healing waters at the Pool of Bethesda. (John 5:1-9)

The 100+ year old Patriarch Abraham who was commanded by God to sacrifice the greatest gift he had ever received – his own son, Isaac.

The Israelite slaves in Egypt.

Moses and the burning bush,

Peter the apostle who denied Jesus three times and Zechariah who did not believe that God could give him a son… just to name a few of the hundreds!

The Wailing Lament of the Song of the Exiles from Psalm 137.

I hope we get the idea that a shaken faith is nothing new to God’s ears or to the compassionate and sometimes tearful eyes and heart and soul of Jesus Christ.

But for today, let’s try to take a drive into the shaken faith of John of Baptist.

The Shaken Faith of John the Baptist

The whole gospel of John is one that clearly tells its readers from the beginning of chapter one verse one to the very last full stop that Jesus was the Messiah… the Lamb of God who was to take away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)

He knew who Jesus was while he was still in his mother Elizabeth’s womb and leapt for joy in the womb when a pregnant Mary approached them (Luke 1:44).

John the Baptist witnessed the Spirit of God descend and remain on Jesus with God declaring Christ as His Son. (Matthew 3:16-17).

But even John the Baptist who knew through divine revelation and firsthand experience Jesus was the Messiah, had his faith shaken while he was in prison.

While it is not explicitly said why John the Baptist was having second thoughts and doubts about Jesus, it makes sense that John the Baptist in the midst of his suffering sought real reassurance from Jesus that He was indeed the Messiah.

Matthew 11:2-6 GOD’S WORD Translation

John Sends Two Disciples

²When John was in prison, he heard about the things Christ had done. So he sent his disciples ³to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is coming, or should we all now look for someone else?”

⁴Jesus answered John’s disciples, “Go back, and tell John what you hear and see: ⁵Blind people see again, lame people are walking, those with skin diseases are made clean, deaf people hear again, dead people are brought back to life, and poor people hear the Good News. ⁶Whoever doesn’t lose his faith in me is indeed blessed.”

While John the Baptist was a hardcore preaching believer, one of the few who had been able to experience so many confirmations from God Himself that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, he still experienced a season of shaken faith.

And yet, Jesus still felt so much love and mercy towards John and his shaken faith because instead of getting angry and cynical for his lack of faith, instead, sent word back to John to confirm to him He was exactly who He said He was.

What Does This Mean for Us in Our Present Context?

Has your faith ever been shaken?

Is your faith being shaken right now?

How about the faith of your spouse?

How about the faith of your young children?

How about the faith of your teenage children?

How about the faith of your adult children raising their own young or teenage or adult children or even their grandchildren?

How about the faith of your best friend?

How about the faith of your church and church community?

How about the faith of your Pastor leading your church?

How about the faith of the Laity of the church who make the decisions?

How about the faith of the laity who sit in the pews or watch on Social Media?

I guess you get the idea – people with a shaken faith are definitely an issue!

John’s and Our Own Unfulfilled Expectations

John knew from Scripture that he who gave the blind sight, made the lame walk, and preached good news to the poor could surely open “the prison to those who are bound” as prophesied in Isaiah 61:1-3 God’s Word Translation.

The Lord Will Anoint His Servant with His Spirit

61 The Spirit of the Almighty Lord is with me
because the Lord has anointed me
to deliver good news to humble people.
He has sent me
to heal those who are brokenhearted,
to announce that captives will be set free
and prisoners will be released.
²⌞He has sent me⌟
to announce the year of the Lord’s good will
and the day of our God’s vengeance,
to comfort all those who grieve.
³⌞He has sent me⌟
to provide for all those who grieve in Zion,
to give them crowns instead of ashes,
the oil of joy instead of ⌞tears of⌟ grief,
and clothes of praise instead of a spirit of weakness.

They will be called Oaks of Righteousness,
the Plantings of the Lord,
so that he might display his glory.

But Jesus didn’t do that for John.

Jesus did not directly affirm John’s future and the future of John’s calling.

So perhaps at this point, staunch believer John doubted what he knew.

If Jesus was indeed the Messiah, John probably expected to have a role in his earthly kingdom beyond his extended stay in Herod’s prison cell.

He wouldn’t have expected to start with such a high calling, preparing the way of the Lord in the wilderness, only to have end his life and his ministry end in a small prison cell with his head quite literally on someone else’s silver platter.

Besides, John preached that the Messiah would come with an unquenchable fire. With judgment. With power. He likely expected that to be in his lifetime.

None of those human expectations coincided with God’s reality.

And that may have caused John to doubt.

Unfulfilled expectations often elicit that response in me.

Especially when I have tried very hard to be faithful and true to God my Savior.

Jesus doesn’t condemn John for his doubts.

He even says that no one greater than John has ever lived.

He understands why John is asking the question.

And Jesus’s response to him reinforces what John already knows: that Jesus is indeed the Messiah.

At the same time, Jesus knows that John’s public ministry is over.

Just like the saints in Hebrews 11, John wouldn’t receive all God’s promises but could only greet them from afar.

He would not serve with Jesus or see the fulfillment of God’s kingdom or see the crucifixion or be an eye witness to the empty tomb and Christ’s Resurrection.

But one day he would.

One day he would see his glorious part in God’s magnificent plan.

He, the last of the old covenant prophets, would see how God used him to prepare the world to receive Jesus.

And John would rejoice.

But for now, John has to accept the Messiah’s plans for his life.

Plans that are different than what he envisioned.

He has to dwell on what he knows to be true rather than fixate on his own circumstances.

He has to remember who God is and trust him from a dark prison.

And so it is with me.

When all our best laid hopes crumble all around us

When my plans crumble and God takes me away from my dreams, I must over a period of time come back to the place where I will again renew and refresh my trust in God’s infinite wisdom over my own current failing and faulty displays.

When my cup of suffering enters into those moments when it seems too much for me to bear, I know I will need my Shabbat rest in His immeasurable love.

When my personal efforts at self control enters into the realm of “Oh No!” my life turns, spins out of control, I need to remember God’s absolute sovereignty.

I may not, probably will not, understand what is happening.

But I cannot stop talking to him.

Or turn away in fear.

I must simply go to Jesus, tell him my doubts, desire for a stronger faith.

Ask him to help me see.

Psalm 13 The Message

13 ^1-2Long enough, God—
    you’ve ignored me long enough.
I’ve looked at the back of your head
    long enough. Long enough
I’ve carried this ton of trouble,
    lived with a stomach full of pain.
Long enough my arrogant enemies
    have looked down their noses at me.

^3-4Take a good look at me, God, my God;
I want to look life in the eye,
So no enemy can get the best of me
or laugh when I fall on my face.

^5-6I’ve thrown myself headlong into your arms—
I’m celebrating your rescue.
I’m singing at the top of my lungs,
I’m so full of answered prayers.

John’s doubts are the same as mine and maybe the same as your own or your spouses, your children’s, your co-workers, best friend, even your churches.

I will wonder if God is who He says He is.

And if everything is indeed under his control. And if he authentically loves me.

And when I doubt, God calls me, as he did John, to trust what I know to be true.

To trust the bedrock principles that I know from Scripture and from experience.

That God is completely sovereign.

And loving.

And wise.

Not a sparrow falls to the ground apart from his knowing everything about it.

In this life, I may never see or know how God is using my trials.

In this life you may never see or know how God is using your trials.

But one day you and I will certainly be grateful for them.

All you and I can do now is trust that God who made the lame walk and the blind see, who died on a cross so I could spend eternity with him, is 100% going to do absolutely the very best thing for me, the absolute very best thing for you also.

It all comes down to coming back to our obedience, faith, and our trust in God.

Will we trust our understanding of our circumstances that constantly change?

Or will we trust in an understanding and much wiser God who is unchanging?

For the believer or even the non-believer or the sceptic or the cynic who has been met with the unexpected or thrown into a situation that makes no sense,

We can all, in the course of time be reassured that God is exactly who He is.

His promises have always been fulfilled (Joshua 21:45) and He isn’t a God that will leave you on your own or anyone else on their own.

His promises have always been punctuated with His Alleluia and His Amen.

He is ready to answer our prayers when we cast our anxieties and cares on Him (Philippians 4:5-6) and as we come to Him, He promises to carry our burdens.

Key Final Thoughts

As John faced the struggle of his life, he maintained his integrity and his faithfulness.

His motivation was simply to know for sure that Jesus was who John believed him to be.

He was not afraid to face death or doubt as he sought God’s truth and lived God’s life with commitment.

Nearly all of us go through periods of doubt or struggle with difficult questions about our faith.

Struggle with difficult questions, in and of itself, is not wrong or is it something to be feared.

Christianity has withstood the criticisms, scrutiny, accusations, and doubt of centuries of our world’s best thinkers and harshest skeptics.

The issue with these kinds of struggles is whether we maintain Godly character with faithfulness in our ministry, holiness in our lifestyle, and honesty in our motives, speech, and actions.

As we work through our struggles, if we are true to these Godly characteristics, we will find that our doubts and questions move us toward faith rather than toward disbelief.

The biggest problem with struggles and doubts will occur when we break faithfulness and Satan can unleash a chain of consequences that weaken us spiritually.

So in struggle and doubt, remember these three things:

faithfulness in our ministry,

holiness in our lifestyle, and

honesty and Integrity and God in our motives, speech, and actions.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us pray,

O Lord, God of the great expanse and my Abba Father who adopted me in grace, please help me face myself when I look into a mirror. Please give me courage to face my doubts. Empower me with strength to face my struggles. Give me a heart that depends on the Holy Spirit’s guidance. O God, I want to honor you with my behavior and my choices. More than just knowing the truth, dear God, I want to know you and to display your truth in my life. In the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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When We Do Withhold Nothing From God, What Does God Give Back To Us? Genesis 22:12-18

Psalm 84
GOD’S WORD Translation

84 Your dwelling place is lovely, O Lord of Armies!
2 My soul longs and yearns
for the Lord’s courtyards.
My whole body shouts for joy to the living God.
3 Even sparrows find a home,
and swallows find a nest for themselves.
There they hatch their young
near your altars, O Lord of Armies, my king and my God.
4 Blessed are those who live in your house.
They are always praising you. Selah

5 Blessed are those who find strength in you.
Their hearts are on the road ⌞that leads to you⌟.
6 As they pass through a valley where balsam trees grow,[a]
they make it a place of springs.
The early rains cover it with blessings.[b]
7 Their strength grows as they go along
until each one of them appears
in front of God in Zion.

8 O Lord God, commander of armies, hear my prayer.
Open your ears, O God of Jacob. Selah
9 Look at our shield, O God.
Look with favor on the face of your anointed one.
10 One day in your courtyards is better than a thousand ⌞anywhere else⌟.
I would rather stand in the entrance to my God’s house
than live inside wicked people’s homes.
11 The Lord God is a sun and shield.
The Lord grants favor and honor.
He does not hold back any blessing
from those who live innocently.

12 O Lord of Armies, blessed is the person who trusts you.

Genesis 22:12-18 GOD’S WORD Translation

¹²“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you did not refuse to give me your son, your only son.”

¹³When Abraham looked around, he saw a ram behind him caught by its horns in a bush. So Abraham took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. ¹⁴Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide. It is still said today, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

The Lord’s Seventh Promise to Abraham

¹⁵Then the Messenger of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time ¹⁶and said, “I am taking an oath on my own name, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not refused to give me your son, your only son, ¹⁷I will certainly bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of their enemies’ cities. ¹⁸Through your descendant all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

God Sends an Obedient Abraham and Isaac Home

When I was reading and then re-reading these verses, I was thunder struck, not just by the promises of God’s blessings to Abraham here which only seem huge.

They’re abundant, and we’ve seen those in different places.

Genesis 12, Genesis 15, Genesis 17, but here in Genesis 22, remember the story.

This is when God tells Abraham to sacrifice his only son.

The long promised miraculous son, Isaac, on the altar, and Abraham showed God that he was willing to humble himself out of reverence of his God to do it.

He calls his son Isaac to his side.

Obediently, Isaac goes to his fathers side.

Abraham tells his son they are going to build an altar and worship God.

He takes his son.

He gathers all of the wood.

Abraham, with Isaac, goes to where God is sending him

He builds his altar.

He lays his son on the altar and ties him down, he’s got his knife raised above him because this is what God has commanded him to do-no question or debate.

But, observing Abraham and his readiness to obey Him and stops the sacrifice, provides a ram to sacrifice, so Isaac is able to live. God shows that he provides.

Abraham returned home with his son after sacrificing the goat.

Abraham had been faithful and obedient, he was ready to sacrifice everything which was most precious to God for the blessings he, his family had received.

Following this act of faith, and obedience God had promised Abraham and his growing family that He would bless them and their coming generations more than the stars in the skies and grains of sands in the desert and on the seashore.

Abraham’s family was overjoyed.

Giving Our All in All We Illuminate God’s Blessings

But when I read these verses, Genesis 22:13–18, and God, through the angel of the Lord, says to Abraham,

“Because you’ve done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you. I’ll bless you all these ways because you have obeyed by voice.”

Genesis 22:18 says, and I just think in my own life, I want that to be said of me,

“I did not withhold anything from God, that I didn’t hold on to anything in my life, even my life itself, that my life and everything I have was before God as an offering to be used by him, for him, his purposes, his glory, however he wants.”

God gave me everything therefore I do not want to withhold anything from God.

I want to likewise encourage you the reader not to withhold anything from God.

The whole point here, in Genesis 22:15–18, is that God is faithful to provide for those who in faith are obedient to the utmost and in the utmost, trust in Him.

I just want to encourage you, as I have, to trust in him with everything we have.

Let’s obey his voice, surrender to His will, do whatever He tells us to do because our lives and everything we have come to treasure, even up to all which is most precious to us, ultimately came from His and ergo, belongs ultimately to Him.

The story of Abraham and Isaac teaches us to have maximum trust, faith in God.

As mentioned in the story, Isaac the son of Abraham was saved by God himself.

Another important lesson we can learn from the story is that oftentimes when we are faced with hardcore choices, adverse circumstances, we must try and believe in doing good as God will show kindness to those who believe in Him.

God was, is and forever shall be above our circumstances and in His time, He will prevail over them and He will let us know He was the One who prevailed.

When We Give Our ALL, What God Gives Back to Us

Genesis 22:15-18 The Message

^15-18The angel of God spoke from Heaven a second time to Abraham: “I swear—God’s sure word!—because you have gone through with this, and have not refused to give me your son, your dear, dear son, I’ll bless you—oh, how I’ll bless you! And I’ll make sure that your children flourish—like stars in the sky! like sand on the beaches! And your descendants will defeat their enemies. All nations on Earth will find themselves blessed through your descendants because you obeyed me.”

In Obedience, when Abraham gave his son back to God, then God said that by His own oath, His very promise of fruitfulness would be immediately fulfilled.

The rivers of living waters would now begin to flow out from him to bless all the nations of the earth as God had promised.

It was when Isaac came back from the dead, so to speak, in resurrection power that God said, “Now the fruitfulness of your life will be maximized and manifest.”

Even God’s least and greatest gifts to us are of no value until we are willing, if necessary, to lose them so that God might reign without a rival in our hearts.

When we have to come to that place to which the Spirit of God wants to bring us, that perfect relationship with the Father when God means more to us than anything, and we are even willing to give up the very gift that God has given,

then in resurrection power that gift will be a blessing to everyone it touches.

We all have been given gifts from God.

Maybe God has given you a special gift, a specialized and a singularly unique talent, and you are asked to take a job where perhaps you can’t use that talent.

You wonder about it and perhaps rebel over it.

But please remember Abraham, and when summoned, give it back to God.

Face the possibility of not using that talent, and the God of resurrection will take that talent and return it to you and make it a blessing to many hearts.

Perhaps you have a loved one, and a situation arises in which you have to part from that one or break that relationship.

This is an enormous struggle, but Abraham’s faith and trust in God says that if God asks you to do it, surrender it and then there is blessing beyond if you obey.

Maybe you are living in a situation of retired comfort and happiness, but you are needed in another place not nearly as pleasant, nor desirable, and you say,

“Lord, why do I have to give up my home, my retirement and my relationships that I enjoy and go there?”

Remember, however, if God calls us into His Work, His Labor, we must obey.

Beyond the apparent heartbreak and death lies resurrection.

In obedience to that Summons from God, In the resurrection of that experience, by God’s very own oath, God will give you back that gift and make it a blessing.

Is not this the record of every man and woman we read of in the Scriptures whose life has ever counted for God, who have been willing to give up the very areas they thought were God’s choice blessing for them when God called?

When Noah was called by God to build an Ark in the face of harshest criticisms.

When a young shepherd boy named David was called away from protecting his father’s flocks to protecting the integrity, reputation of Israel against Goliath.

David was also secretly anointed by Samuel to become Israel’s greatest King.

For such a time was Esther called to become Queen of a foreign nation that she might boldly step in, risk her life, so to save her people from total destruction.

Examine the summons of God’s prophets – Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Jonah, Amos and the rest – called into a time of reluctant obedience unto God.

Study, and examine the summons of the first twelve Apostles by Jesus Himself.

In so doing, by their full throated obedience to God, God made them a blessing.

Proverbs 3:5-12 The Message

^5-12Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
    don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
    he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all.
    Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health,
    your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own;
    give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst,
    your wine vats will brim over.
But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline;
    don’t sulk under his loving correction.
It’s the child he loves that God corrects;
    a father’s delight is behind all this.

God’s summons on our lives can be in minor or major areas.

Requiring degrees and measures of personal sacrifice – up to our own lives.

This is the principle of walking the road to the Cross throughout all our lives.

We maximize our efforts, we willingly surrender our whole lives unto God, we willingly sacrifice those things which gives us maximum comforts, pleasure.

We surrender ourselves, we give to God our maximum “all in all” knowing that in the end, in God’s anointed and appointed end – there will be our resurrection.

That knowledge, faith and trust – this is what makes resurrection life possible.

When it looks as though we are throwing away every chance of blessing, God transforms in a moment the very exact thing we give up into the most richly rewarding and abundantly blessed, meaningful experience we have ever had.

I dare you to act upon this opportunity to discover what God has for you in the place and places which you previously deemed unreachable and unsearchable!

I don’t know what this sacrifice might mean for be for you, or your family, but I can say with a high degree of confidence, to know this is true, God has written your life’s account so we may know that this is His way in the affairs of people.

These Verses Lets Us Know that by God’s own Oath, God is Always With Us!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 23 The Message

23 ^1-3God, my shepherd!
    I don’t need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
    you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word,
    you let me catch my breath
    and send me in the right direction.

⁴Even when the way goes through
    Death Valley,
I’m not afraid
    when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook
    makes me feel secure.

⁵You serve me a six-course dinner
right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
my cup brims with blessing.

⁶Your beauty and love chase after me
every day of my life.
I’m back home in the house of God
for the rest of my life.

So God, I just want to most humbly pray this on behalf of others reading this.

God, we surrender our lives to you. God, everything belong to you. Everything we are, everything we have, God, we want to trust you with it all so we lay it before you as an offering, and we pray, use us, use all that we have to accomplish your purposes, and we trust that you will be faithful to provide all along the way. There’s no better place, no better hands, to put our lives in, our families in, our future in, our plans, our surest certainties, our wildest hopes, dreams, our rusting possessions in, than your hands.

ABBA, Father, God Almighty, You are so faithful, so good and so very gracious. You are working for our good. You’re working for your glory, and you will use everything we put in your hands towards that end, so God, we trust in you. We surrender to you. Please help all who are listening right now, not to hold on tightly to anything in our lives, to hold loosely to it, to place it before you that you might use it however you want, that you might use us, our whole lives, and everything we put in your hands for your purposes as we trust you as our provider. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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