Friday, October 28, 2011

ARE YOU SHOWING GOD’S KIND OF LOVE?

Most of us have come to understand a few basics, #1 being that Christ is truth according to John 14:6…”I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father except through me.” That’s pretty clear…without a relationship with Him, truth is not discernable, we cannot know real truth. Also the fact that He says He is the way…that never sets well with persons of other faiths but I didn’t say it, Jesus, God the Son did! Narrow? Darn right it’s narrow! Jesus Himself said His way is narrow but the way of the world is wide. So, I said all that to say this, you and I can only discern truth if we have a personal relationship with Him. #2 BEING a Christian is not a matter of doing, it is a matter of BEING…He is much more interested in what you are in your spirit man than in the things you do. He even spoke a parable about workers in the field, check it out. So if being is so important, then it stands to reason that God’s quality of love is meant to be a personal possession of each one of us. Most of us will most likely take our entire lifetime to achieve it but the important thing is that we understand and are working all the time to achieve it. When the Scripture speaks of “being holy as I am holy” in my opinion, that’s what it means…God’s holy love demonstrated in and flowing out of us!

God in His Essence is Holy and He is love. That is a hard concept to get ahold of…HE IS LOVE…it is impossible for Him to do anything unloving. Now that’s something to consider, nothing He does to us, for us, on our behalf can possible be anything but pure, unmixed love because He is! Trying to get a grip on unconditional love is difficult enough but grasping that God’s essence IS love, don’t you find that a mind-blower? We all long for “love.” This generation has taken perverse love to a new level, always relating it to sex which it isn’t, sex is the fulfillment of love, given us by God to be used within marriage to cement two beings into one, who will love and respect one another. I believe this longing for love is something God put inside of us to give us the desire to search for Him. His love is a pure and burning one, seeking the best for another, and moral purity leads us to be able to know that love with our partner, and move on together to find complete fulfillment in knowing and loving a holy, pure and loving Father.Remember, He did not make us different than Himself but LIKE Himself, in His own image and likeness, the very likeness of the Son.

ARE YOU SHOWING GOD’S KIND OF LOVE?

Most of us have come to understand a few basics, #1 being that Christ is truth according to John 14:6…”I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father except through me.” That’s pretty clear…without a relationship with Him, truth is not discernable, we cannot know real truth. Also the fact that He says He is the way…that never sets well with persons of other faiths but I didn’t say it, Jesus, God the Son did! Narrow? Darn right it’s narrow! Jesus Himself said His way is narrow but the way of the world is wide. So, I said all that to say this, you and I can only discern truth if we have a personal relationship with Him. #2 BEING a Christian is not a matter of doing, it is a matter of BEING…He is much more interested in what you are in your spirit man than in the things you do. He even spoke a parable about workers in the field, check it out. So if being is so important, then it stands to reason that God’s quality of love is meant to be a personal possession of each one of us. Most of us will most likely take our entire lifetime to achieve it but the important thing is that we understand and are working all the time to achieve it. When the Scripture speaks of “being holy as I am holy” in my opinion, that’s what it means…God’s holy love demonstrated in and flowing out of us!

God in His Essence is Holy and He is love. That is a hard concept to get ahold of…HE IS LOVE…it is impossible for Him to do anything unloving. Now that’s something to consider, nothing He does to us, for us, on our behalf can possible be anything but pure, unmixed love because He is! Trying to get a grip on unconditional love is difficult enough but grasping that God’s essence IS love, don’t you find that a mind-blower? We all long for “love.” This generation has taken perverse love to a new level, always relating it to sex which it isn’t, sex is the fulfillment of love, given us by God to be used within marriage to cement two beings into one, who will love and respect one another. I believe this longing for love is something God put inside of us to give us the desire to search for Him. His love is a pure and burning one, seeking the best for another, and moral purity leads us to be able to know that love with our partner, and move on together to find complete fulfillment in knowing and loving a holy, pure and loving Father.Remember, He did not make us different than Himself but LIKE Himself, in His own image and likeness, the very likeness of the Son.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

ARE YOU LIKE THE RICH, YOUNG RULER?????

This is probably my absolute favorite portion of Scripture. I just read it again this morning from the book of Mark. As always, I get really tickled when I read these things I have read a kazillion times before, but still get a thrill on reading it again. Even before this man spoke, Jesus knew what was going to happen…and it did. The young man wanted “salvation” but he wanted it his way, preferably with no cost to him. Not a cost in dollars but in lifestyle. Jesus questions to him were pretty much normal for this kind of conversation. But, it went farther than a brief encounter. He pressed Jesus and Jesus laid it all out for him. What I truly love about the Mark account is the phrase, “He looked at him and loved him.” Even though Jesus knew exactly what was about to take place, he played it out, giving the young man every opportunity to respond correctly…but, the young man couldn’t bring himself to give it all up. Apparently he had quite a lot, and enjoyed a rich lifestyle. He like it, it pleased him to live high, have friends in high places, go to special places…all the things rich people do today. They live “large” as the young people say. He actually lived for himself alone, never thought of the future nor a life hereafter, or doing things for others. Charles Stanley believes this young man is the same man referred to in the story of Lazarus the beggar and the rich man in Luke 16…see if you agree with Dr Stanley.

To me, This young man is very typical of most people, especially now…you know, the Judges line, “every man does that which is right in his own eyes.” This young man surely did, to his eternal detriment. The tragedy then and now is that we tend not to allow ourselves to think ahead to what happens after death…live for today seems to be the way everyone lives today, even Christians sad to say. No laying up treasure for yourself in Heaven…most do not even know what that means. Most Christians don’t even know what a tithe is, so of course they don’t give it. Many would tell us they can’t afford it, reality is, you can’t afford not to, especially today!

When I read this account, I always think of my men. I can’t tell you how many, probably thousands by now, have said to me, “Mrs Farrow, when I get out, I am going to stay clean and serve the Lord. I will never forget you or Wings of Eagles and all you have done for me. You will see me outside this fence.” And…I know that at the time, they mean it. But like the rich young man, the allure of the world and for them, making up for lost time, is very strong. Many DO stay straight and get involved in their churches, for which I am very thankful and consider my mission accomplished. But they are the minority. Why? Because it is very difficult, all of us know that…but for addicts no matter the addiction, it is even more difficult and getting work is next to impossible. Some I hear from, most I don’t. And…I have to admit, it took many years and tears for me to get use to it to the point like the Lord, “I could look on them with love, and let them go.” And, many of them I did indeed become very fond of, basically good men, misguided but good intentions. And I believe that is how the Lord felt about the young man in this account. When I first read it, I didn’t see the parallel but later I did, and let me tell you, it became very precious to me. You do not pour you life into other people and casually “let them go.” There is a price, but a price that is worth it for sure.

So if you see yourself in what I have said, no matter which character you line up with, be blessed. You are loved by the Lord and most likely by some person who ministered to you at a time when you really needed them. Did you ever say thanks?

Sunday, October 23, 2011

WHERE ARE WE IN HISTORY, PART 11

If you pay attention to the news at all, you will hear things like, “the Israeli’s are occupiers” or “we (Palestinians) want them out of our land” or “we will push them into the sea” or “the Holocaust is a fraud.” Reality is that 60+ years ago they were offered the same amount of land in the same area as Israel. It was called “partitioning.” It was all part of the ending of WW11 and what had belonged to the Ottoman Empire now belonged to Great Britain. When that war ended the allies, US, Great Britain, and Russia divided overseeing the lands that were conquered, including the Middle East area. The newly formed United Nations, (the League of Nations had disbanded) offered part of what had belonged to the Ottoman Empire, to Israel and the Arabs living in that area, not yet referred to as “Palestinians.” The surrounding Arab nations convinced them that they would invade Israel promptly and push them into the sea. Then the Arabs could have it all. Unfortunately for them, the surrounding nations did invade Israel the day after they were declared a nation, can you imagine a one day old group of people beating back people that had it all!!!!!!!  They lost, Israel remained in the land, and began to make it bloom, just as the Scripture said. God was at work and still is…they are His people, He called them back to their homeland and has been protecting them all the while they have been there. In 1967, another was broke out between the Israeli’s and the surrounding nations, Israel advanced, pushing them back and regained the Holy City, Jerusalem! Look at a map…see little Israel, the size of New Jersey, and then look at how much land the Arabs own all around Israel. The Arabs that refused the partitioning, have lived in the area on Israel’s borders, in settlements, and in the intervening years, untold millions have been given to them…they were now called the Palestinians and led by Yasser Arafat, starting in the late 60’s…to enable them to re-settle and improve their lot. However, no one ever accounted for what happened to the money and they still live in the same condition as they did in the late 40’s and early 50’s. Sad, but true. Over the years, what I have related here has gotten “lost.” The true story is no long the story being told all over the world but the real story is still real. I tell this story as often as I can because I feel compelled to keep God’s truth about His people out in front of we Christians so we are not deceived. These are God’s people, God’s land, God’s Jerusalem…we must remember that!

Now, where are we in history at the present time? One can only guess, especially since the Lord Himself said, “The day and the hour no man knows but My Father only.” Matt 24:36. My personal belief is that this present generation, including me, will go to be with the Lord in the Rapture and return with him after the Tribulation, in power and glory. All of the GOOD prophecy teachers agree, this generation…Matt 24:32-36, is the one based on that Scripture. The symbol for Israel all through the Old Testament into the New is a fig tree, that portion of Scripture talks about the fig tree blooming, and when it does know that the time is near. We have seen Israel become a nation, it has indeed “blossomed,” and we are 60+ years from the date of Israel’s re-birth. They retook Jerusalem in ‘67 which I important for the Tribulation period and it indicates the time of Gentile domination over the Holy City has ended. The European Union has become very powerful and controls most of Europe. The nations that the OT speaks of as being aligned in the end times, are all descendants of Ishmael and Esau, (Edom) and are today aligned. God said to Hagar (an Egyptian and an Arab) in the desert He would make of Ishmael a great nation but they would be wild men, full of anger and hate and subservient to Isaac’s descendants. Are they not as God said?????  Matt 24 are the Lord’s own words, He speaks of severe weather changes, earthquakes, the Arab nations aligning with Russia, (Revelation). Daniel tells us learning would increase greatly in the end time.  There will be one religion. Right now some protestant churches are opening their doors and worship services to Muslims in an attempt to integrate the two, twenty-six states are participating calling the merging, Chrislam! Soooooooo……. the stage is set, the players in place, we shall soon see what will happen.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

WHERE ARE WE IN HISTORY?

I am not exactly a history expert but I have come to love Biblical history and of course into that scenario fits Bible prophecy. I DO know a lot about that…when I returned to the Lord 38 years ago it was because of Hal Lindsey’s book Late, Great Planet Earth. As a child I had been to church, Sunday school, Bible studies, Bible clubs, anything that had to do with the Lord, we as a family were involved in it. I was pretty well taught, and my main teacher Miss Margaret Carter really like prophecy so she talked and taught about it a lot. As a teen, I decided to go my own way, God let me but many years later reminded I was His (commitment made at a youth rally when I was 12) and it was time to make that a reality in my life. From that time on, I read, studied and read some more. Time lines fascinated me, especially trying to fit together Patriarchs, Priests, Prophets, Kings, Kingdoms, it was great fun to me and I did a lot of research. consequently I learned…especially history from God’s point of view! I remember made a time line of the entire Old Testament, took me about two months, and I loved every minute of it. You should try it, I did it by hand with few resources and learned a lot! And even now in my “old age” I still remember it all. Once I researched the book of Daniel, I was anxious to get through the Prophets so I could go to Revelation and study and compare what I had learned in the OT. In case you don’t know it, everything fit together…God is a very orderly God, and makes it easier to understand by the gift of His Holy Spirit.

The timeline from the book of Daniel especially fascinated me…it seemed God was telling us exactly when everything was to happen. He spoke of days, weeks, months, years…I was really intrigued. What was God saying and if He was saying it , He really wanted us to know what and when. Then Matthew 24 had to be taken into consideration. So…my gleanings gave me this:

God started His end-time plan about 100 years ago with a few Jewish Zionists that worked diligently for a Jewish homeland. We know the Jews were dispersed all over the world since 70AD, but God said a time would come when they would return to their homeland. There were some Jews living in the area, along with Arabs, living peacefully. The Ottoman Turks ruled from the 600’s AD until the British conquered them during WW1, then the territory became a British possession, one they really did not want. There were legal papers drawn up over the years giving the Jews legal claim to a portion of the area, the League of Nations sanctioned the claims, when they broke up and the newly formed United Nations came into existence, the paper work was transferred to into the control of the UN. But…nothing more happened, until WW11 ended and the Holocaust was seen by the world. Everyone cried out for the Jews to be given a land. Many people worked to make it happen and on May 14, 1948 it did. Israel became a nation and Harry Truman our President recognized Israel as a sovereign nation. Now the sad part of the tory is this, the same size portion of land the Jews accepted, the “Palestinians” refused to accept.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thursday, October 20, 2011

God’s Point of View

Did you ever give a thought to seeing “things” from God’s point of view? I never did until I read Colossians 1:9, “see things from God’s point of view…” it seemed like an impossible thing to me. How could I , with my finite little mind, see my life and others from His point of view? We are so use to looking at everything the way we always have, and don’t give it a thought after we come to Christ. But…I began to see that was not what God had in mind…He wanted us to learn from His Word, apply what we were learning and allow it to penetrate our minds and hearts. Scripture says “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks…” the mouth speaks what we are storing up internally. I found many times that what I was learning from the Lord was contrary to my natural way of thinking and especially different from many things I had been taught I had to pray hard and long to get input from Him. My mind/heart  did not want to give up it’s own way and I would tell myself, “yea but.” However, God always prevailed, and as I read and compared Scripture to Scripture, I slowly realized just how messed up our human reasoning was/is and how abundantly clear God’s Word was if we would persevere.

Everything we say and do begins in the mind. As a side issue, anything we put in our bodies, such as booze, drugs,etc., will cloud it and keep us from thinking God’s thoughts. In the same way, being unwilling to obey something God is telling us to do will hamper growth…when we won’t…we stay where we are until we obey. Just a principle I learned over my years of reading. God wants His best for us but it comes at a price…yielding. And we do not do that easily. You might say the mind is the watchtower of your life, what you put into it shows in your life, your speech, your mannerisms, certainly your character. Here is something to think about…what did Christ mean when He said if we would follow Him, we must “take up your cross” and follow Him? That really perplexed me for along time. Finally, years ago, I attended a seminar for Christian workers at Sandy Cove with my son Bill and his wife. The speaker was John MacArthur, our favorite writer. During his teaching he said this, “ take up your cross…what does that mean? Well, it means to give up your right to yourself, your life, your plans and desires and give your life to Him to use as He sees fit…willingly.” That last part is the key to “our cross.” He wants us to serve willingly, with our whole heart, soul, mind, strength. He did not want to take up His cross and be separated from the Father for the first and only time in His life anymore than we want to give our total selves up to Him for whatever He has in mind. And frankly, many times we do not know initially what it is He has for us to do in service to Him. I know I didn’t! One of the areas of our lives we have the most trouble conquering is our right to ourselves, personal rights it is referred to in counseling courses. When we come to Christ, we give up our rights, especially our right to our own lives…no more “old nature” ideas and actions, but a putting on of the “new nature” made in the likeness of Christ. Really, it’s a no-brainer…

All in all, seeing things from God’s point of view is not difficult. It is mostly a matter of wanting His best and being willing to let Him have His way in your life.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

An Authentic Christian Life

How many people have you met over the length of your Christian life that when asked, “are you a Christian” answered yes…then as time went by, you really, really wondered? And…as you wondered, felt guilty because you were “judging.” Well, I have a lot of experience with that kind of question and answer. Very perplexing to say the least. Not the part about judging but people saying they are believers and yet live like heathens. What are we to do? How are we to know? Some of what I am going to write is my opinion, some from Dr Kinlaw’s writing. I trust you will have something to ponder.

Our belief must be authenticated by how we live and how we live on a consistent, day-to-day basis. We are NOT to be like the world, the Scripture says to be “in the world but not of it…” Have you ever thought about what exactly that means???? I have given that a lot of thought, mainly because of hearing people say things about judging when you ask about or discuss certain behaviors. There are the obvious things like drinking, smoking, sleeping around…but today, those are socially acceptable ways of behaving, God forgive us….you get answers like, “the Bible doesn’t say anything about not drinking or not smoking…” but the Bible does say not to be drunk. In my opinion, and I say that on purpose, it is a better thing not to drink at all if only for testimony sake. But, there are other reasons. Alcoholism pretty much runs in family lines. If there are drunks in your family line, why would you want to risk the behavior just to be sociable???  Believe me when I tell you, it’s not worth it, my husband was an alcoholic, from a long line of alcoholics. It not only eventually killed him, but it ruined our life together, destroyed our business, had a profound influence on our two kids, (God took a hand in that, He brought them both to Himself and gave them partners and careers that led them to a life lived for Him) and forever influenced our way of looking at “social drinking.” As far as promiscuous sex, the bible does directly address that as a no-no. Some have said silly things like “God doesn’t want us to have any fun,” or “no one will know,” or “I’ll be careful not to get pregnant.” There are other results and implications that hardly ever get talked about. STD’s for one, physical damage for another. I think the worst is the emotional damage, because it is never talked about or recognized. God made us to be monogamous, that is what He indicated when He said, “the two shall become one flesh.” Two people joined in sexual union are for all intents and purposes, one. That oneness was designed for one man, one woman for life. When we break out of God’s order, not only are we in sin, but we are damaging ourselves emotionally. It may not show up immediately, but in the mind, it does it’s work because the way God made us is broken. And, that can make for serious damage. All three of those things usually cause one to “sneak around,” to hide the behavior. We would not want everyone to know what we are doing! And in the end, it is the emotional damage worldly living causes that does the damage. inappropriate dress goes with worldly living, and……….it could lead to rape……..or worse. Going to movies or viewing video/tv that is inappropriate can damage the mind/emotions. Watching too much brutality twists the conscience. There are probably many, many more. If you let your mind wander you can probably think of quite a few yourself. Ponder these things, they may be in your life or you may be thinking of putting them in your life…my advice…DON’T!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

TRUST

Do you believe God is the Creator, Sustainer and Lord of all? Do you believe that strongly enough to obey what He directs you to do? Psychologically, you will not obey one you do not trust and you cannot trust one you do not know. You can only learn Biblical faith and trust from an armchair in a limited way. Until you risk, and frequently risked greatly and God has worked for you, you trust will not be in operation. That biblical faith emerges when you have risked a lot and know that if God does not work for you, you’re sunk! We are all acquainted with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego…they told the King whether God saved them or not, they would not bow the knee to him. Now that is real faith!!! And, God did save them, in a dramatic manner. David the King urges all to put their full trust in Him…he says this over and over in the Psalms.  Biblically, the word trust indicates a relationship of two friends that know each other VERY well, and know the depth of the other’s character. That is how we can “know” God will undertake for us..we know His Word and we know His character. It takes a pretty long and intense relationship with God to be able to trust Him completely but it is attainable…because He wants us to know we can trust Him. And,…glory of glories, He will trust us with His work, His people, His message. Is there anything better thn that.