August 5-6 – Hands of time

So if they tell you, ‘There He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” – Matthew 24: 26-27

In 2013 it surprised everybody when the Chelyabinsk meteor shot across the skies above Russia, exploding 18 miles above the earth, in a blast 30 times brighter than the sun. http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/15/world/europe/russia-meteor-shower/ The 65 foot wide rock, roughly the size of a five bedroom home, and weighing 14,000 tons, making it heavier than the Eiffel Tower. It's estimated that the meteor was travelling at 42,000 miles an hour when it entered the earth's atmosphere, producing an explosion, about the same kinetic energy, about 30 times the energy as the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. About 1,000,500 people were treated for injuries, mostly from flying glass from blown-out windows in the area. The flash from the Super Bowl light metre was so bright, many observers were sunburnt by the rays. Even though hundreds of astronomers around the world are constantly scanning the heavens, looking for potentially dangerous asteroids and meteors, nobody saw this one coming. You know, the Bible says, the second coming of Jesus will be brighter, louder, more surprising than any random meteor. (Doug Batchelor) “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him....” - Revelation 1:7

Christ's coming is imminent – just look around at the state of the world today, "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man” - Luke 17:26. “You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” - Matthew 24: 6-14 

The days are passing and we have little time. Maybe it's an age thing, but the older I get the more this thought gets me - I want it to matter that I lived upon this earth. What will my legacy to the next generation be? Will my epitaph be seen in souls brought to Jesus? We can't turn back the hands of time – rewind. All we have is today, and what we do today affects eternity for ourselves and others.

We all have regrets locked away in our past, regrets only the Lord knows about – I know I have my share, but because of that, do we throw up our hands and surrender, saying “What's the point? It's too late now,” or do we stand up and, as a line from a song called “History Maker” by the group Delirious says, “I'm gonna be a history maker in this land, I'm gonna be a speaker of truth to all mankind.”

Ronald Reagan came to the same conclusion after the attempted assassination that nearly took his life in the beginning of his Presidency. He says he got more serious about his purpose in life after that incident and tells it this way; "Whatever time I've got left now belongs to the Big Fella Upstairs."

Yes! That's it. God, 'the Big Fella Upstairs' has work for us to do. He wants us today, to tell of His love and sacrifice for us, and His soon return to take us home from the suffering and horrific mess this world is in. Are we ready and willing to use our today to tell of eternity tomorrow? "Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?' Then I said, 'Here am I, send me!'" (Isaiah 6:8)

For our music - New Ethiopian Worship Song "EYESUS EFELGIHALEHU" by Lidiya tefera with English Subtitle 2016 -"I Worship You."

August 4 – Tired and weary

And He said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves” - Mark 6:31-32.

There's a quote from John Dryden that describes the spiritually weary to a tee: "“I am sore wounded but not slain, I will lay me down and bleed a while And then rise up to fight again”. These words were from an old English folk song - an 18^th century ballad written in memory of Sir Andrew Barton (privateer).

I remember the feeling well. Some years ago I was bone weary spiritually, physically, and emotionally. I was caring for my mother who, following a heart attack and massive stroke, had developed a form of vascular dementia. (This occurred on top of my father's death after five years with Parkinson's disease and dementia). At the time support from the church I was attending, was non-existent – apart from one member who, armed with a bottle of home-made grape juice and Jamaican ginger cake, faithfully visited my mother once a month to play our organ for her while she sang her favourite hymns - dementia she may have had, but praise God, she never lost the ability to sing hymns and pray for her family and grandchildren.

I was weary, spiritually weary. I knew all of this wasn't the Lord's doing, but I found it hard to understand why God was allowing this God-fearing woman, whose life had been devoted to Him, His service, and caring for others, to suffer as she was, why was He letting the devil have his way?  Day by day I saw the mother I knew being slowly taken apart as the dementia tightened it's grip. The battle was almost too much to bear, and it wasn't until after her death that I was able to find the spiritual rest I craved. I was wounded, exhausted, beat-up, worn down, and, ready to rest.

If no-one else understands, Jesus does. If you have The Message Bible, turn to Mark 6:31, there Jesus invites these people to “Come off by yourselves; let's take a break and a little rest.” He's literally saying, all will be well, take a breather, let me carry the bags. He fights when we can't. He picks up our bags when we drop them.

Remember the story of David and Zikglag? David and 600 men returned from fighting the Philistines to find a band of Amalekites had looted the village and taken the women and children hostage. Now, if anyone toted baggage it was David. An adulterer and murderer. Ignored by his family. Raged at by Saul, and now the guilt of Ziklag - not being there to defend the women and children. On top of that, his own army wanted to kill him! 

David's only support system was his God. 1Samuel 30:6 says, “David strengthened himself in the Lord His God.” He and 200 of his men dropped their baggage. At Brook Besor they waded out into the creek. Splashed water on their faces and stretched out on the grass. That is what church is intended to be – a place of support and affirmation, that allows for each of us to stretch out - to splash the Living Water on our faces, recover, then rally and march on.

The time came when I was ready to move on, and when I did so I was prepared to fight again with a fresh heart. I had not withdrawn from God's church; I had simply been in the hospital wing for a season and needed a period of recuperation. Every soldier on a battlefield must have a furlough at some point or they won't be able to go on.

Are you tired and battle weary? Go ahead and rest awhile. Then rise up. You too will fight again.

Music “For Those Tears I Died” - LIVE sung by Danny Gaither is today's choice. Click on the picture to listen.

"Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it" Prov. 22:6

Do you believe in coincidence? I am afraid I don’t. I would rather believe in God’s divine providence. I am not willing to believe that God placed me on this earth to just drift around until my time here is up; that I have no purpose. Or that the moment my friend prayed, after his only pair of glasses fell off his face whilst he was scrubber diving, he found them on the sea bed even though he could hardly see without them and four hours had gone by. Or that my friend told me the Lord had instructed him to give me an exact amount of money, the exact amount I needed to pay a bill I hadn’t told him about.

So am I supposed to believe that whilst the world is mourning over lost ones; people are feeling scared to walk the streets for fear of persecution because of their looks or religious dress; politicians are fighting over office or screaming to hear their voice the loudest. In the midst of these confusing and profound times in earths history, a re-vamp of a 90’s Japanese card game is released as a phone app and overnight becomes not only the biggest mobile game is US history, but the biggest mobile game ever.

According to SurveyMonkey Intelligence™ within three days of its release more people were accessing it than Twitter, just under 21 million users daily. Even if you are not interested in the gaming world or mobile apps surely you have to admit that the timing is well, more than a coincidence?

The game is an augmented reality game which means that it is played whilst viewing through your camera lens. Pokemon (which stands for pocket monster) characters flash upon your screen and you are supposed to collect them by swiping towards them. It sounds like harmless fun, but is Pokemon dangerous?  Potentially, yes it is.  It conditions the person who plays the game into accepting occult and evolutionary principles.  Haunter can hypnotize, eat a person's dreams, and drain their energy.  Abra reads minds.  Kadabra emits negative energy that harms others.  Gastly induces sleep. Gengar laughs at peoples' fright.  Nidoran uses poison.  The Psychic type of Pokemon are among the strongest in the game.  Charmander, Haunter, Ivysaur, Kadabra, and many more evolve.  The children are taught to use these creatures to do their will by invoking colored energy cards, fights, and commands. Much of it is reminiscent of occult and eastern mysticism.

The Bible says in 2 Chron. 33:6, "And he made his sons pass through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger."

Let us not conform the the standards of the world and protect not only our children but our minds also. So instead of ‘Pokemon go’, how about ‘Pokemon NO!”, the release is not a coincidence it is about mind control. Pray for those who refuse to ignore the potential danger this game carries.

Sources: What is Pokemon?

Donnie McKlurkin sings ‘Speak to my heart’. Click on the picture to listen.

While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. Matthew 25:5

The boiling frog is an anecdote describing a frog slowly being boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is put in cold water which is then brought to a boil slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. That’s is not exactly true because if you put a frog in boiling water it would immediately die! Watch the experiment here  but be aware that the frog at the end is plastic and not real if you think you cannot watch to the end!

I think this anecdote is a perfect analogy to what is currently happening in world history. Just last month there were so many tragedies happening on the world stage that it was hard to focus on a couple of headlines alone;

• The mindless killing of a priest in France
• The unstable political situation in UK following Brexit and and new government
• The shootings at a McDonalds in Germany
• The street killings by police and police being killed in America
• The heavy fighting on the Ethiopian border with Eritrea

The mind, or more specifically the emotions of the mind can only hold so much. Before you know it yet another tragedy appears and as the headlines from last month are pushed aside to accommodate the incoming news. This is called saturation. The problem with this, like the frog in the water, is that almost unnoticeably we slowly become numb to the pain of the world around us.

Let us not be caught sleeping when Christ returns, now more than ever is the time that we need to be fortifying ourselves daily with his written word. In your private devotion today, remember to pray for your leaders.

Kirk Franklin sings ‘Lean on me’. Click on the picture to listen.

July 29-30 – Blind spots

“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.” John 12:40

In my car I have mirrors that eliminate blind spots around the vehicle and help reduce the risk of accidents from overtaking cars. This always brings to mind a friend of university days – we shared a room with her guide dog. In one eye Sue had a condition which affected her peripheral vision – side, top, and bottom. The other eye had no vision at all. In the 'useful' eye Sue was reliant upon an ever decreasing pinspot of sight which she used to advantage – though she lost even that during our time together. Sue had blind spots.

Do you have any blind spots? I know I do-loads! Most of the time we don't notice them, if we did, they wouldn't be blind would they? We know in our heart we must have blind spots because we notice them in other people and deep down we figure other people must notice them in us. Then occasionally one pops out of hiding, exposed, for all to see.

We can be found out in two ways. We can usually rely on a well-meaning person who feels it's their duty, and a kindness, to inform us for our own good. Or maybe they just choose to 'give it to us' in the heat of an argument. We react by denial, anger, humiliation, defensiveness, and hurt. Maybe what they have noticed is actually there but we don't feel in any condition to accept it.

Thank God for God. His way is entirely different. He exposes blind spots when he is ready to start working on them....kindly, and with patience, while others are thinking; 'why doesn't God zap her for that?' If He considers that we need more time, God may allow a character issue to sit in our lives for many years Yet we go along oblivious -- not seeing it at all. God knows that if we are serious about walking with Him, that awareness will dawn – the light will come on – we are ready, and God knows it, so we don't feel humiliated or hurt. Instead, we are affirmed because He placed His trust in us.

Perhaps the blindspots that concern me most are, not spending more time in prayer and God's Word. We know these are the most important things in our lives, now, for the future – neglect these and we risk losing eternity. But day after day, week after week, the blindspots of 'other things' come crowding in....considered priorities of home, work, children, husbands, wives – even church work, so much to do and so little time to do it in. Blocked out is the view of peace, refreshment, restoration and strength that comes from spending time with the Lord.

In John 12:40 Jesus quotes, nearly word for word, Isaiah’s prophecy about the hardening of the hearts of those who would refuse to believe in Him (Isaiah 6:10). It’s not that God has hardened their hearts or that God has blinded their eyes, but as the author of Hebrews wrote “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion” (Heb 3:12) so they are actually hardening their own hearts by refusing to hear the Spirit’s voice as in the Holy Spirit Who says, “Today, if you hear his voice” (Heb 3:7). This warning about not hearing His voice, the voice of the Holy Spirit, is found throughout Scripture and repeated many times as it is again in Hebrews 4:7 where it says “God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

The point is, we must hear His voice today; we must listen to the Spirit’s voice to put our faith in Christ. The more we suppress His voice by putting prayer and study of His Word low on our list of 'to-do's', the harder our hearts become and we reach a point when we won't hear His voice anymore.

Your heart hardens and your eyes become blinded to the glorious gospel in Jesus Christ.

It's wise to turn a blind eye to other people's blind spots. It's also wise to welcome God's spotlight on our own. No matter how blind any of us are, Gods vision is crystal clear.

“Open the Eyes of my Heart” - LIVE is my music choice today, sung by a 10year old blind, autistic child. Click on the picture to listen.

July 28 – Under pressure

“You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colours.

You know that as soon as the sun rises, pouring down its scorching heat, the flower withers. Its petals wilt and, before you know it, that beautiful face is a barren stem. Well, that's a picture of the "prosperous life." At the very moment everyone is looking on in admiration, it fades away to nothing. Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life. Don't let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, "God is trying to trip me up." God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one's way” - James 1:3-13 MSG

The world feels as though it's going mad, it's like living in a pressure cooker. Nothing feels quite as hot and tight. At home, whenever we expected an influx of visitors, my mother would often use a pressure cooker to help prepare a meal in the quickest time. The results were delicious to eat, but I never really trusted that cooker with it's strange noises and steam as the pressure built up. I used to keep a wary eye on it, fully expecting it to explode at any moment. I looked forward to the end result, but didn't like what it took to get there.

That's the same way I feel about the spiritual pressure cooker. Violence and hatred are rife throughout all levels of society, and pressure is placed upon individuals to conform to what is considered to be society's 'norm'. What has happened to compassion for our fellow man, and Jesus' command to “love your neighbour as yourself”? - Mark 12:31 NLT

It's hard to imagine anything good coming from the enormous stress many of us are living under today. There is a good description of it in Psalm 55: "I am restless in my complaint and am surely distracted, because of the voice of the enemy, because of the pressure of the wicked." (Verse2-3) "My heart is in anguish within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling come upon me; and horror has overwhelmed me." (Verse 4-5) That about sums it up, doesn't it?

In these times the world is going through, we have to remember that God is making good use of our stress. He knows just how to control the pressure to produce something good. "Cast your burden upon the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never allow the righteous to be shaken." (Psalm 55:22)

No, I'm sure that you too, like me, don't like the pressure....or the sights and sounds of the traumas and cruelty humans are inflicting on each other, but I look forward to the end result....the soon return of Christ. You may be shaking but you won't be shaken. Hang in there!

Acknowledgements: Hannah's Cupboard

Music is “Lord Send Your Angels” LIVE. Click on the picture to listen.

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

Yesterday I blogged about the reality TV show ‘Big Brother’. Today I am focussing on the show ‘Idols’.

The Idol franchise was created by the English entrepreneur Simon Fuller. It was first seen in the UK under the name ‘Pop Idol’ from 2001-2003 and includes ‘American Idol’ which is still running in the USA. Simon Cowell launched a similar show in 2004 called ‘The X Factor’.

All of these shows masquerade under the guise of talent shows who are looking for the ‘next big thing’ in the entertainment industry. I don’t know about you, but I felt uncomfortable when I realised that the umbrella names under which all of these shows fall is called the Idol franchise. Do you think that is a coincidence? Let us look at what the bible says;

 “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” 1 John 5:21

“You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God.” Leviticus 26:1

“Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.” Jonah 2:8

The adversary is always looking for ways in which to lure people away from God. It seems that in this world of fast everything, a short cut to the top via a ‘fair’ television program giving them their 5 minutes of fame, what could be the harm in that?

The devil never gives you something for nothing. The first lie began in the garden of Eden;

‘And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.’ Genesis 3:4-5

A synonym or another word with a similar meaning to gods is idols. Let us be wise what we feed our minds.

Charlotte Richie and her daughter sing ‘My Fathers angels.’ Click on the picture to listen. 

For it is written: "'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; Luke 4:10

In the 1990’s two television shows really spawned what we recognise as ‘reality’ TV today.  According to Wikipedia ‘Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents supposedly unscripted real-life situations’. The two shows that I am referring to were ‘Big Brother’ and ‘Idols’. In order that my blog is not too long, I am going to look at the programme ‘Idols’ tomorrow

The format of ‘Big Brother’ was that individuals would audition or were chosen to live in a house in which there were cameras capturing every move and conversation they had. Knowing this most people, I would imagine, would run a mile away from such scrutiny, but unsurprisingly this show really caught on and tapped into the voyeuristic nature of man. The phrase people watching indeed took on a whole new meaning.

The amount of media traffic this program alone generated was huge. People would continue watching into the night even while the ‘subjects’ slept! In the staff room on Monday mornings I would constantly over hear “Did you see ‘Big Brother?” as if the people in the house had a real tangible impact on the lives of the viewers.  The gospel of Luke 4: 9-10 records this;

⁹Then the devil led Him to Jerusalem and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple. “If You are the Son of God,” he said, “throw Yourself down from here. ¹⁰ For it is written: ‘He will command His angels concerning You to guard You carefully;

Just as God is watching us, so is Satan. Not only that but he has set up the deception of spying, or watching others as a pleasurable rather than a sin. Deposed governments would rule their regimes of fear by getting people to spy and report on each other, promising valuable reward for those willing to trade information for profit.

As a children’s song goes ‘be careful little eyes what you see’. Let us not be trapped by the images we put into our head. The adversary has already tried that lie with Jesus but he has showed us how we too came overcome. Jesus’s promises are the only ones that have a positive impact on our lives and give us hope. Come back tomorrow for part 2.

Virtue sing ‘Angels watching over me’. Click on the picture to listen.

Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? 12 Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers? - Numbers 11:11-12

You would think that of all the people depicted in the Bible, the moms would be the ones who could best understand our frustrations as mothers. That’s probably why there are so many books titled something like, “Moms of the Bible.” We’re supposed to read about moms and learn from them. Be inspired by them, even.

All of that is well and good. But lately, I’ve come to think that the Biblical personage who could best understand a mom’s frustration is Moses.

Moses was a father, but not a mother. He wasn’t even a woman. How could he be the one who best understands moms?

Consider his words to God for yourself, and see whether you agree that he understands:

“Why have you made this so hard? What have I done wrong for you to burden me with these people? They keep complaining. I can’t deal with them all by myself. It’s too hard! If this is how you’re going to treat me, then if you love me at all, kill me now, so I don’t have to deal with this anymore!”

I kid you not! That’s what Moses said. (You can look up the full passage in Numbers 11:11-15.)

Yet we also know that Moses is the only human being ever to have seen God’s face (see Exodus 33:11 below).

That means there is hope for you and me, moms. We don’t have to be some kind of super-spiritual Christian in order to have a close relationship with God. Intimacy with Him is possible for anyone who desires it—even for us!

I’m not saying that our emotions are always righteous (far from it.  What did Moses do? He talked to God about what he thought and how he felt. He didn’t just stuff his feelings down, or try to deal with them in his own strength. He admitted he needed God, and he begged God for help. from it!). What I’m saying is that if we do what Moses did, we can still have precious intimacy with God, even though we’re not perfect.

But Moses didn’t just come to God when he needed something. He came to God often. He loved God with his whole heart, and he maintained that relationship all the time, not just when he wanted to ask God to do the genie thing and pop out of a bottle and rescue him.

Moms, did you realize you can bring your thoughts, emotions, and frustrations to God? Moses did, and God didn’t zap him to death. Instead, He helped him. God’s not going to zap you either when you come before Him honestly and pour out your heart. He will help you—not condemn you.

So take a cue from Moses. Seek a relationship with Him always, even when things are going well. And when something comes up, admit what you think and how you feel and pour your heart out to God.
Megan Breedlove.  www.MannaForMoms.com

Music is provided by the Heritage Singers - "I Just Came to Talk With you Lord."  Click on the picture.