Category: Articles Page 6 of 13

God of Heaven

“5) And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. 11) The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.” (Psalm 89:5,11)

God’s glory and handiwork are declared and preached in the heavens and in the earth. There is no speech nor language where the voice of God’s creation does not preach to man of his Creator God (Ps. 19:1-6). The heavens and earth are so huge and vast we cannot comprehend them with our mortal minds. Our God fills heaven and earth (Jer. 23:24), but we are nothing and yea less than nothing. How could God take notice or be mindful of such insignificant parts of this universe? God was not just mindful of us but even sent his only begotten Son to die for our sins. “3) When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4) What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (Ps. 8:3-4) We have to see how amazing God is and how worthless we are for only then we can stand properly amazed that God could love and die for us!

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“And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me.” (Gen. 42:36)

When we endure tragedy, we have a tendency to develop a “woe is me attitude”. It is very easy in the heat of a trial to let our mind run away and begin to think the entire world is “against” us and quickly end up very depressed. Jacob has a little pity party here himself where he declares “all these things are against me”. Granted, Jacob had endured a lot of heartache in his life, some due to his own sins, some due to the deception of others, and now due to his estranged son’s demands. However, Jacob was much more blessed than he realized in this moment. All things were not against him. Finally, we see the answer of the New Testament, if God be for us, who can be against us? Even if the entire world and every event in our life opposes against us, God is still for us in eternal salvation and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

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“Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?” (Psalm 56:8)

This world is full of a lot of pain and suffering that leads us to shed tears from time to time. Our American masculinized culture looks down on those who shed tears, stigmatizing those who do cry as somehow weaker than those who portray a false of strength by refusing to cry. Crying is a natural human emotion, and Jesus is aware of our tears and our suffering that prompts those tears. God is intimately aware of all our tears, even storing up those tears in his bottle and noting them in his book. Jesus is not aloof to our suffering that causes us to shed tears, but he is intimately aware of every single one of those tears and has made provision that ultimately God himself will wipe away all tears from our eyes in heaven. 

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“And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?” (Mark 4:38)

In the midst of a fierce storm of tribulation in our lives, we are prone to the same response as the apostles during their physical storm on the sea of Galilee. When the waves got high and the water began to fill the boat, not only did they become afraid, but they began to question if Jesus even cared for them in the midst of this storm. Sometimes we feel like Jesus is asleep in the hull of the ship in the midst of our storms as well, and we can question if God even cares and he might even allow us to perish. When we have those doubts and fears in the midst of life’s storms, we have to remember the word of God; remember Jesus’ promise that he is with us in the storm and has promised safe passage to the other side and ultimate deliverance from these storms.

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“13) Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14) Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15) Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16) Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:13-16)

When we consider the steady decline to ungodliness in our culture, it is easy to blame everyone else instead of truly examining ourselves in the church. I believe the steady decline in morality around us is a direct reflection of the impact of the church as salt and light on the culture around us. If our culture is decaying around us, it is because the salt of the church is not preserving the culture. If darkness is prevailing, it is because the light of the world is not shining forth properly and have put our candlestick under a bushel. When you go to the doctor, you don’t blame him for the reality of your diagnosis. You should want your physician to tell you the truth of what is wrong with you so you can remedy the problem. You also don’t put your head in the sand and ignore the doctor’s counsel and diagnosis – you are having these symptoms, so therefore, you have this problem. We must consider the church’s salt and light effect in the culture around us that is rapidly deteriorating.

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“5) And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.” (Rev. 21:5)

Our God is in the business of making all things new. He is the God of new beginnings. As we embark on a new year in 2021, it can be a blessing to feel like you have a new year with a fresh, new, blank slate on which to write new blessings and new life experiences throughout this coming year. Each new day is like a new page in the book of our life. Every new year is like a new chapter in that book. God is in the business of turning the page to a new blessed chapter in our lives. There are many examples in scriptures of those who endured very difficult seasons of their life – some very hard pages and chapters – but then God turned the page and gave them a new chapter in their life. In like manner, we need to take this new year, this new day, as an opportunity for God to write a new, blessed chapter in our lives.

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Beloved, during this uncertain and chaotic time, it is vitally important for you to “put on the whole armor of God” and especially the “helmet of salvation” to withstand against the “wiles of the devil” (see Eph. 6:10-18). Satan is a deceiver, the father of lies, subtil, and wily. Satan cannot pluck any of God’s children of out the eternal hand of the Father, but he is out to corrupt the minds of God’s children. That is why we must put on the whole armor of God and our helmet of salvation to protect our minds. Our helmet of salvation protects our brain, or figuratively, our mind. Our mind should be filled with the salvation of Jesus Christ and our eternal security by his sovereign grace and that will protect our mind from the wiles of the devil. It is vitally for us to be properly adorned with the armor of God to withstand the onslaught of the devil against the Lord’s people.

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“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (Philippians 4:8)

For the disciple of Christ, it is absolutely vital for us to control our thought process, to bring our thoughts into captivity to honor the Lord. We have to be very purposeful to control our thought process because our minds are prone to drift to vain, unprofitable things of this world. We have to make a committed decision to think on these ”true, honest, just, pure, lovely, good, virtuous, and praiseworthy things”.

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Psalm 1 contrasts for us two paths of life: the way of the righteous versus the way of the ungodly. This chapter describes the characteristics of both ways, and then concludes with the end for each course of life. The way of the righteous is known by the Lord; the righteous have intimate fellowship and communion with God when following God’s will in God’s way and flourish in fruitfulness. On the other hand, the final end of the way of the ungodly shall ultimately perish.

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Last week I was on the road for four days traveling for work and church in Tennessee. I was sick most of the week so it had not been the most fun trip overall. As I was beginning my return trip, after driving through a stiff rain and pretty strong winds for quite a few miles, the rain cleared and then I saw a rainbow in my rearview mirror. It was interesting because when I drove through what appeared to be that rainbow’s location (maybe 5 miles back) I could not see anything in that place but rain, strong winds, and storm clouds. Even though I only saw the storm when I was in the midst of it, after I passed on and the effects of the storm had calmed, I could look back in hindsight in my rearview mirror and see the rainbow in the exact location that I had just experienced a storm.

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