THINKING, LOVING AND CARING ABOUT ISRAEL

I am a Bible believing Christian, every jot and tittle, I follow and read about prophecy, I also follow and read about current events. I’ve been a Christian, a very committed one, for 37 years, got right with the Lord through reading Hal Lindsey’s Late, Great, Plant Earth in 1974. I had been properly instructed in the Scripture as a child so I knew what he was talking about was true, and probably coming about soon. I remember either watching or hearing the UN voting on Israel’s partition. I remember Abba Eben  speaking before the UN as they debated what to do. At the time, I didn’t know what was going on but for some reason, I had a sense of “history.” I remember President Harry Truman making a speech stating our nation’s recognition of Israel as a nation. I wasn’t very old so I don’t remember too many details but after my experience with the Lord in ‘74, I remembered, and gave it a great deal of thought. I’ve been “thinking out loud” about Israel and her place in God’s world and ours. I consider it a great privilege to be alive now, in this time period, when I believe God’s final dealing with Israel as well as His wrath with mankind will be happening. There is a saying, “I’m not expecting the undertaker, I’m expecting the uppertaker!”

These last couple of years have been incredible in light of Bible prophecy. People say they can’t understand Revelation or Daniel or any other of the Prophets…hogwash…they don’t want to. The speed with swift…the Bible uses the term, “suddenly.” Who, 40 years ago would have thought the Arabs/Muslims would be taking over as they have these last years. Who would have thought the nations would be aligned as they are, with everything moving in the direction of one, great big world, governed by a few liberal radicals or that Christianity a we have known it would be almost totally wiped out! It is happening so fast it almost takes your breath away. Jesus told us, warned us, begged us, and still we don’t listen…then or now. The show is about over and we are soon to see the finale.

If President Obama turns us away from supporting Israel and being her greatest ally…it’s all over. There are more verses of Scripture that speak to the issue of “those who love Israel/those who hate Israel” than I can record on this blog but take my word for it, these are A LOT! God loves Israel and her people with an undying, unconditional, unexplainable love. And we as a nation had better think about that. But I doubt the powers that be will give it any thought and eventually we, Israel’s last important friend, will turn on her and she will be all alone. The big BUT here is this: they are never alone, Israel’s God will never leave her or forsake her, no matter how stiff-necked she is. Watch!!! We are about to see the greatest event in human history, the curtain falling on the drama of God and His creation of and love for humanity.

TAKE THE NAME OF JESUS WITH YOU

This beautiful hymn was written by a woman name Lydia Baxter, inspired by Colossians 3:17, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jeus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Most of us realize the name “Jesus” brings comfort,, cheer, settledness to those who are suffering and/or bereaved. It can also bring a sense of peace to persons who are depressed and/or fearful. Lydia Baxter was bed-ridden most of her life, she was always cheerful and patient. She would tell friends she had a “special armor. the Name of Jesus. when the Tempter tries to make me blue or despondent, I mention the Name Jesus and he can’t get to me anymore.” Mrs Baxter wrote this hymn from her bed, just four years before her death in 1874 at age 65. She was always known for her interest in and discussion of Bible names…their origin and those who bore those names…Samuel, “asked of God,” Hannah, “grace,” Sarah, “princess,” but the name that meant the most to her was the name, Jesus. It was used often during the evangelistic campaigns of DL Moody and Ira Sankey in the latter part of the 19th century. We still sing this hymn today, it speaks to us about carrying His name through our lives and even speaks to us of eternity, and the “joy of Heaven” that awaits us.

Here are the words, ponder them and enjoy…

Take the name of Jesus with you, child of sorrow and of woe; it will joy and comfort give you…take it then where’er you go…

Take the name od Jesus with you, as a shield from every snare; if temptations round you gather, breathe that holy name in prayer…

O the precious name of Jesus, How it thrills our souls with joy. When His loving arms receive us, and His songs our tongues employ…

At the name of Jesus bowing, falling prostrate at His feet, King of Kings in heaven we’ll crown Him, when our journey is complete…

CHORUS…Precious name, O how sweet, hope of earth and joy of heaven.

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DAY BY DAY

This seems an appropriate hymn to think ponder early in a new year. It was written by a young Swedish woman, along with many others.
She learned early in life to live with the consciousness of the Lord’s presence all the time.

At the age of 26 Lina experienced an event that influenced her all the rest of her life. She and her father took a ship going to the city of Gothenburg, Sweden across Lake Vattern. The ship lurched, and her father, A devout Lutheran minister, fell overboard and drowned before the eyes of his adoring daughter. Prior to this event Lina had written some 650 hymns, many that influenced the revival that swept the Scandinavian countries during the latter half od the 19th century. After the tragic death of her father, poetic thoughts, expressing a tender, childlike faith and trust flowed freely from her broken heart. So tender and touching were her many beautiful hymns expressing her love for her Lord, she became known as the “Fanny Crosby of Sweden.” Ponder these beautiful words:

Day by day and with each passing moment, strength I find to meet my trials here; trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,  I’ve no cause for worry or for fear. He whose heart is kind beyond all measure gives unto each day what He deems best…lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure, mingling toil with peace and rest.

Every day the Lord Himself is near me with a special mercy for each hour; All my cares He fain would bear, and cheer me, he whose name is Counsellor and Power. The protection of His child and treasure is a charge that on Himself He laid: “As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,” this the pledge to me He made.

For some reason, the words of this hymn really speak to me. I am very fond of hymns but this one seems special. I think Lina’s “trust” level climbed and climbed through out her life, until she so “leaned into” her Lord for everything, she just rested in His goodness and love for her. I relate to that and aspire to the same kind of love for Him. I know it only comes with time and trial, I know that because I have lived through both and learned much, both about myself and about my Master. The words of this precious hymn say it well and will always be very special to me.

WHAT TO TAKE INTO ETERNITY

Oswald Chambers, that grand writer from England, said God’s not interested in our doings but in our character…it is the only thing we can take with us into eternity. Think about that…we could work/serve Him all our lives, doing all kinds of wonderful, kind things and have them count for nothing when we appear at the Judgment Seat of Christ. And why??????  Because He is interested primarily in what we “are”…what we have allowed the Holy Spirit to accomplish IN us! We kind of loose sight of the fact that we are born in sin, with a very active sin nature that just about always wants us to do what we shouldn’t. And of course that starts with our thought processes…think it, entertain it, finally do it.

There are lots of places in the Word that speak to the renewing of the mind. If anything needs a makeover, our minds do. Especially when you think of them as a computer with a humongus hard drive. Everything that gets fed in, gets filed away for future reference. And all those accumulated thots and ideas are like filters, through which we run our experiences and observations, good, bad, somewhere in between. They definitely color our actions and re-actions to life situations, how we handle most things. When most of our input is negative and ugly, we see most of life from a negative and/or ugly perspective, then we act accordingly. We need to “unlearn” those points of view and the only one to enable us to do that is the Holy Spirit. That’s probably the hardest part of His job…bringing us to the place that we can see our bad thinking and behavior. When we mature to the point we can actually be aware of our crookedness and sinful thinking, we are making good progress down the path to fullness in Christ.

I once read an old tract that was called,”others may, you may not..” I only had one and lost it some place along the way. The point of it was that God is preparing us for whatever place He has for us to serve. Most places are unique to the one serving so it makes sense that the training would be equally unique. What God will allow one follower to do, He may not let you do. Why? You may never know until you are face to face with Him. But…He knows why you can’t, and you may be sure there is a reason. Obedience…one of the most critical character qualities but obviously one that matters very much to Him…obedience. Do you think Abraham WANTED to kill Isaac???? I’m sure He did not, but he followed the instructions God gave him, to the letter, without understanding. Could you? Could I? I wonder…

Another part of character changing is learning to “not go with the Flo.” We are living in a time period that the Bible describes as “calling right wrong and wrong right,” but that doesn’t mean we must do what we know is wrong, even just “a little” wrong. So many of God’s instructions for us, especially for family life, are completely turned around. Marriage has become “unnecessary” in general. Living together or multiple relationships are common. Divorce is commonplace. Affairs, one night stands, all are done everyday. And the affects on any children is disasterous in most cases. No wonder our character is so warped and twisted when all around us is totally contrary to what God has instructed  in His Word. He says, “one man, one woman, for life.” Most of us don’t want to go through the character-building exercise of working through a marriage, creating security for children, actually making a family…with His help all the way. Character…it isn’t changed and built overnight, it takes time and a lot of hard work, but I believe eternity will tell us, it was worth it.

ABIDE WITH ME

I know this is not a Christmas song but…one of Christ’s names is Immanuel which means Christ with us. I’ve always loved the concept of abiding…”settle down and make yourself at home”…which I believe is very critical to our developing an intimate relationship with Christ. He talks about it in John 15, encouraging us to “become” comfortable with Him. This hymn also encourages closeness. It was written by Henry Lyte in 1847,shortly before his own home-going.It has been a hymn of great consolation and encouragement ever since. Pastor Lyte was a sickly man but a very spiritual one. He suffered from asthma and tuberculosis. Despite his poor health, he was a tireless worker with a reputation as a poet, musician and minister. This is the man  who coined the phase,”it is better to wear out than to rust out.” He pastored for years in Devonshire, England but the climate caused his health to deteriorate and he moved to southern Italy where it was warmer. It is said for his last sermon to his poor parishioners, he literally had to crawl to the pulpit, but he did, and exhorted them to prepare themselves for the solemn hour when they too would join their precious Lord. He stressed the concept of ABIDING IN CHRISTON A CONTINUING BASIS. It is said he wrote this beautiful hymn just before he died, was sung infrequently in England at the time. In 1855 Henry Ward Beecher wrote a collection of hymns and noted that this one should be “read and not sung.” Later, a man named William Henry Monk , a music editor of a well-known Anglican Church Hymnal and included in the first edition of that hymnal published in 1861.

William Monk personally contributed fifty original tunes for the hymnal. In addition to his work as editor of this hymnal, considered by hymnologists to be one of the most important hymnals ever published. Additionally, he was choir director and organist at King’s College, London.

Henry Lyte’s text for this hymn was taken from the account of Christ’s walk with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and their statement, “Abide with us for it is toward evening and the day is spent,” Lk 24:29. Another of his hymns is “Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken.

I love the idea of God desiring us to abide with Him…not so much in a physical place but in the heart…to be so comfortable with him that we sense His nearness and we begin to “talk” with Him continually…the Scripture says to “pray without ceasing…” and I believe that is what is meant here. We abide with our spouse, we’ve gotten use to him/her and enjoy and look forward to being with him/her. Comfortable with the Lord and it CAN be attained along with contentment and rest…qualities that saints should aspire to and work toward. God desires us to be whole emotionally, and as we work on these concepts, emotional wholeness becomes a reality and we can rest in His desire and ability to care for us. Abide…what a beautiful word.

GUIDE ME O THOU GREAT JEHOVAH

One of the great problem in the church today is music…hymns…the younger generation does not care for hymns at all, just “praise music.” Personally, I prefer traditional hymns but I don’t mind the older chorus’ such as “Isn’t He, Jesus, Name Above All Names,” etc. A nice mixture can really enhance a worship service.

I recently received an early Christmas gift for my Kindle from my son Bill, a devotional entitled Amazing Grace, 366 Hymn Stories. As I began looking thru it I thought perhaps there are other bloggers interested in background to these hymns, so here goes.

This great hymn was written in the 18th century, in Wales. A young man named William Williams was preparing to go to medical school. He came across an itinerant preacher, Howell Harris holding evangelistic services, attended and came to Christ. One of the attractions to the services was gospel singing by the congregation. He decided to also dedicate his life to preaching the Gospel, traveled one hundred thousand miles over forty three years on horseback, preaching and singing. He wrote and sang in Welsh so that the listeners could learn the songs. He earned the title, “sweet singer of Wales.”

His inspiration for this particular hymn came from the record of the Israelites travels in the wilderness from Egypt to Canaan. Throughout all the 40 years of wandering God provided all they needed, food in the form of manna…fresh every day. Water as they needed it, their shoes never wore out and they followed a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He was always there…guiding!

Is this God of the Israelites the same God we worship today? Of course He is, problem for us is we don’t get to know him so that we can trust and wait for Him to supply our needs. We are very use to meeting our own needs by whatever means possible, sometimes without even consulting Him. It had taken me the better part of 30 years to learn some of the lessons of trusting and waiting…try it, you’ll like it!