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Judging Life’s Events
(This popped up in my Facebook Memories. It is from Jan 11, 2016. I thought it was worth reposting, given recent events).
How do you, how do I, judge the events of our lives? Do you, as I, occasionally have difficulty judging them and then responding appropriately? Do we always respond in the same manner to all difficult events?
Ecc 3 tells us that our Father, the creator of all things, has made (arranged) everything to fit perfectly in the appropriate time. However, the amount of awareness He has given us is not enough for us to fully comprehend the full impact of what He does, of what He allows to happen in the world and in our individual lives.
Do we yield to the temptation to always respond in the same way to every event? Or do we seek out the appropriate response from His Word, by His Spirit? Yeshua promises us rest if we respond with humility and faith, seeking and expecting to learn from Him (Matt 11:29).
In order to respond in faith as He expects, we should rely on His Word and His Spirit to judge each event of our lives. I think that this includes what, from our perspective, is either good or bad. If we aren’t seeking to be aware of His purpose for what He is doing in our lives, we could fall into the trap of thinking that we are blessed because we are “good” or “sin-free”, or that things are tough because we are sinning or because the enemy is attacking us. Either or both could be true, but our Father is a teacher and is always molding us and will use everything that happens for our development if we permit Him to (Rom 8:28).
Until next time…”May the LORD bless and protect you…May He give you Shalom.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
Bill
Anger of Man
The wrath of man will not accomplish the purposes of God! (James 1:20)
Diagnosis: Dehydration; Cure: Living Water
January 12, 2021
Diagnosis: Dehydration; Cure: Living Water is from today’s Stepping Stones daily devotional)
Transformational Thought
When I was a kid, people weren’t obsessed about health. Fitness clubs didn’t exist, nobody ran unless they had to, grease and butter were an actual food group, fast food was the new Utopia, and cigarettes were just a smelly habit. Now my wife says my Fruit Loops aren’t healthy. She keeps putting vegetables on my plate even though the only vegetable I like is french fries. Our generation must be the last of the ‘meat and potatoes’ species as we seem headed for extinction.
It gets even worse. Everywhere I go nowadays, I see water bottles. I still have a hard time paying for water, but it seems like we have bottles of it all over the house. Martine and my girls tell me water is healthy for me. I only get a drink at meals, and sometimes skip lunch. So they get on my case because I don’t drink enough. Well, the experts seem to agree with them. They say that if you feel thirsty, you are most likely already dehydrated. A recent report title said it all: “You are not sick … you are just thirsty.” All the medical experts agree that we need to drink water continually through our day. So it seems like we are all dehydrated.
Well, not only are we physically thirsty, but we are born spiritually thirsty as well … empty … dry. All of our “sickness” is actually due to our spiritual dehydration. You see, we constantly thirst for God … His love, acceptance, and security. Only He can fill these essential needs. Only through Him do we find purpose, fulfillment, contentment, connection, engagement, passion, competence, peace, joy … and especially, pure and true love.
But we are constantly using “spoiled,” even poisoned, water to substitute for the true living water that only God, through Jesus, truly is. But Satan is sharp. He doesn’t put the poisoned water in a bottle with a big ‘X’ on it. He doesn’t place a “Poison Warning” or skull and crossbones on the label. No! He packages this poison in an attractive, fancy bottle, with an enticing ad and alluring promises on the label. Drinking this contaminated water leads to depression, anxiety, addictions, hopelessness, anger, brokenness, stress, agitation, loneliness, and frustration. Still we drink it, thinking it actually cures these problems.
It sounds as though it would be easy to avoid. Why do we still drink that poisoned water? One reason is that we don’t drink regularly from the streams of living water provided by our Father. Then once we become dehydrated, out of desperation and discomfort we grab any bottle to sooth ourselves, thinking something is better than nothing. That is like drinking salt water when you are thirsty. Instead of making the situation better, it actually becomes dangerous.
Today, commit to taking sips, or short prayers, of living water. Confess a sin immediately. Stop to thank God for a blessing you take for granted. Ask His advice on an issue. Tell someone why God makes a difference in your life. Take sips throughout the day from the river of living waters offered by Your Lord and God. Whether you take in His living water regularly, or you wait until you’re dehydrated is your decision, so choose well.
Prayer
Dear Father God, I am so thirsty, Lord, and I know this means I am spiritually dehydrated. Daily, my tank is low and I thirst for more. Please give me wisdom to avoid contaminated water. Help me, Father, to drink and eat only what is good for me so that my soul may delight itself in Your abundance. Help me not to be complacent, but instead, to talk to You and recognize You more often in my day. I pray in the name of the One who died so I might drink from the living waters, Jesus Christ; and all God’s children say – AMEN!
The Truth
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” John 7:37-38
Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; and you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come; buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Isaiah 55:1-2
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” John 4:10, 11,13-15
The post Diagnosis: Dehydration; Cure: Living Water appeared first on Lighthouse Network.
Until next time…”May the LORD bless and protect you…May He give you Shalom.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
Bill
Psalm 140-141 For Today
In the past, when I have read Psalms such as Ps 140 and 141, I’ve asked myself, “Self, what does this have to do with you? It’s good to see David’s struggles and groanings as he sought the Lord’s protection, but they don’t apply to me. I don’t have armies or evil men chasing me!” Or do I?
Actually, all Believers in Yeshua do! This hit me between the eyes this morning during my devotions. In Ps 140, David is asking for protection from wicked and violent men. At this time in history, we in the USA have evil and wicked men and women who plan to harm us. They spend their time planning and stirring up conflict (Ps 140:1-2). These people are inside and outside of our government. I submit that they have fallen under the spell of the antichrist spirit. Not the antichrist himself, but a spirit that is anti-God. This spirit wants to suppress Yeshua-followers and destroy America as it was originally founded to be–a nation that honors the Creator of the Universe.
These people may believe that what they are trying to accomplish is best. But they are blinded by their lust for power and control. How do we know that they have sold out to the anti-Christ spirit, even if unwittingly? Because they have announced plans to take action and implement laws and practices that are in direct opposition to the Word of God. These people are not just inside our government. Some of them may live next door to you. Your neighbor(s) may not be in “power,” so to speak, but they support the actions of those who are, or who think that they are, but we know that HaShem is really in control.
Now, I am confident that HaShem will protect His people, but let’s stop and pray together with David:
Father, we ask that You will not let these people have their way (Ps 140-6-9). However, Father, we cannot ask with David that You throw them into the literal fire and into bottomless pits from which they cannot escape (Ps 140:10-11). Instead, we ask that You do whatever is necessary to thwart their plans. I also ask that, in the process, they will truly find Yeshua as Savior, give Him control of their lives, turn from their wicked, revengeful ways, and become instruments of healing in our land.
Father, we must also ask You to open the eyes and hearts of many true Yeshua-followers who are not responding in love to either their fellow believers or to those who plan to harm us and our country. Apparently, they have forgotten Yeshua’s command to love their neighbors as themselves because they are striking out verbally and physically in anger and revenge. If I have been guilty, I repent of my sin and pray that they will also repent of their sin. Help all of us to stand and act peacefully but boldly in love for Right. With Your help, mercy, and grace, this country will be turned back onto the correct path. Let all of us who call upon the name of Yeshua (that’s you and me) put Him first above even our political alliances.
Father, we echo David’s cry in Ps 141 and ask You to accept our prayers, guard our mouths, and give us the clarity of thought as only You can. May only Your words come out of our mouths and may we not have evil desires or respond in kind to those who desire to harm us. We desire that our words and actions will be a witness against their plans (Ps 141:5). Please provide Your protection from their snares (Ps 141:9). May we never surrender to them but demonstrate Your love rather than succumbing to their ways and tactics.
In the name of Yeshua, we pray.
Until next time…”May the LORD bless and protect you…May He give you Shalom.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
Bill
Election Prayer
Father God, in this U.S. election, crush the the disruptive people and forces that seek to replace order with caos! Scatter Your enemies with Your strong arm! Give us leaders who will stand by and for You!! Leaders who will lead and judge according to Your Word!!! (Ps 89:10)
Until next time…”May the LORD bless and protect you…May He give you Shalom.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
Bill
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol [praise highly, exalt] Him, all peoples! For great is His steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!
Ps 117
Ps 117 is the shortest chapter in the Bible, yet it provides an excellent summary of the character of our God. His love for you never changes! Regardless of what you see going on around you or in your own life, if you call Him your God, He is always faithful to you, is always there with you!
Until next time…”May the LORD bless and protect you…May He give you Shalom.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
Bill
Encouragement
May you be encouraged as you ponder these words:
God’s steadfast love is eternal! It never ends (Ps 136)
The soul of every living thing [that includes yours] shall bless [not might bless, not will bless in the future] His Name, Adonai, our God; and the spirit of all flesh shall [not may or maybe] glorify and exalt Him, our King, continually [not occasionally]. From world to world, He is our Almighty; and beside Him we have no king, redeemer, or deliverer, who liberates, rescues, maintains, and is compassionate in all times of trouble and distress [in everything]. We have no king, helper, supporter but Him!*
Until the next time…”May the LORD bless you and watch, guard, and keep you; May the LORD make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you; May the LORD lift up His face toward you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).” (Numbers 6:24-26)
Bill
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*From the Rosh HaShanah service
2 Tim 4: Thoughts for Today
Paul’s charge to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4: 1-2, 5¹ is for all who claim Yeshua as Savior and Lord today. His warning in vs 3-4* is at its highest point to date in history, at least in the USA and in the American Body of Believers. It will get only worse if we don’t wake up! Yes, it will probably get worse as we progress further into the end times even if we do wake up, but at least we’ll be prepared to handle it. The majority of Messiah-followers, and the general public, are not prepared today, nor are the majority of the leaders in the organized church preparing us.
Mankind in general and, yes, those who claim to follow Yeshua, have turned from hearing the Truth and are instead seeking after myths and a watered-down Gospel that pleases their ears (2 Tim. 4:3-4¹), rather than challenge them. They are more interested in having a good time, than in what is happening under their noses that will change their lives and the lives of their descendants forever if allowed to continue. I pray that I will never be numbered among them, though sometimes I have to wonder.
Paul is calling all believers to “Preach [live] the message, be ready (persistent) whether it is convenient or not” and to “be self-controlled in all things, endure hardship, do an evangelist’s work, fulfill your ministry.”¹ By the way, “Evangelist” doesn’t mean just those who are preaching the Word in a pulpit, nor does “ministry” mean serving as a Pastor or Sunday school teacher, etc. Both mean serving Him in whatever we do.
The Lord is calling out to all mankind through the pandemic and the social unrest we’re experiencing to wake up and turn to Him—to live according to His teaching. The solution is not in man’s ideas; the solution is not in demonstrations, especially not in actions of destruction. Unfortunately, this applies to those in the church almost as much as those who are not. Too many have allowed themselves to come under the enemy’s spell, under the cloud of deception that hangs over our country and the world.
The solution is in Father God and His Son, Yeshua. The solution is in acting out the Truth, the principles of His instructions in love and compassion. Church leaders especially must be taking a strong stand and teaching their flock to live according to the Word instead of providing entertainment and worrying about numbers. Lord, do not let me be counted among them!
I want to be counted among His disciples who live out the two greatest commandments: “Love the Lord your God and Love your neighbor as yourself”² This doesn’t mean that you and I sit idly by and let those who want to destroy the good in America and around the world have their way. It does mean that we stand up for God’s Truth and not what is politically correct.
If you are reading this and have never accepted Yeshua as your Savior and the Leader of your life, I urge you to do so today. If you are a believer or unbeliever who is following popular myths and striving to be “politically correct,” even supporting subversive movements, I urge you to get on your knees, repent, and turn from your “wicked” ways.³ This is the only way you, the United States, or the world will be saved.
Until the next time…“May the LORD bless you and watch, guard, and keep you; May the LORD make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you; May the LORD lift up His face toward you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).” (Numbers 6:24-26)
Bill
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Footnotes:
- 1 Tim 4:2-5 (NET): (2)Preach the message, be ready whether it is convenient or not, reprove, rebuke, exhort with complete patience and instruction. (3) For there will be a time when people will not tolerate sound teaching. Instead, following their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves, because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear new things. (4) And they will turn away from hearing the truth, but on the other hand, they will turn aside to myths. (5) You, however, be self-controlled in all things, endure hardship, do an evangelist’s work, fulfill your ministry.
- Mark 12:30-31 (NET): “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength… [And].Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”
- Read and consider 2 Chron. 7:13-19 (NET): When I… send a plague among my people, if my people, who belong to me, humble themselves, pray, seek to please me, and repudiate their sinful practices, then I will respond from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. Now I will be attentive and responsive to the prayers offered in this place…Do everything I commanded and obey my rules and regulations. … “But if you people ever turn away from me, fail to obey the regulations and rules I instructed you to keep, and decide to serve and worship other gods, then I will remove you from my land I have given you, I will abandon this temple I have consecrated with my presence, and I will make you an object of mockery and ridicule among all the nations.” I believe this applies to America as much as the Israeli people to whom it was originally given.
Shabbat Shalom
S
habbat Shalom on this beautiful Sat., April 4. Even if your sky where you are is gray and/or it’s raining, it’s still beautiful because it is the Lord’s Day!
Shabbat comes from the Hebrew root Shin-Beit-Tav, meaning to cease, to end, or to rest.
Shalom means “peace”, but not just the absence of strife, it means complete peace. It means peace, safety, harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare and tranquility and it can refer to either peace between two entities, or the well-being, welfare or safety of an individual or a group of individuals.
Shabbat Shalom, literally, “Sabbath peace” or “peaceful Sabbath”, means something to the effect of “Have a Sabbath full of peace, safety, harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare and tranquility.” Wow, that is a mouthful! So, where does that all-encompassing peace come from? The only source of such all-encompassing peace is your Father, God, the creator of the universe. Nothing else gives the peace that He does and He does it now and forever, as it says in Ps 121:
I look up toward the hills.
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow my foot to slip;
He who keeps me will not sleep!
Behold, He who keeps me [His child, a follower of Yeshua]
will neither slumber nor sleep.The Lord is my protector;
the Lord is my shade on my right hand.
The sun shall not strike me by day,
nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep me from all harm;
He will protect my life.
The Lord will protect me in all that I do
from this time forth and forevermore.
(Ps 121. ESV, NET, emphasis mine)
Then why are we experiencing a worldwide pandemic? Nowhere in Scripture does God promise that we will be free from trials, from problems. But He does promise to give us His peace in the midst of them and, if we are truly His follower, to use them for our good, to teach us to rely on Him in all circumstances. (1 Pet 1:6; James 1:2-4; Rom 8:28)
Until the next time…May the LORD bless and protect you…May He give you Shalom. (Numbers 6:24-26)
BillExodus 15 for COVID-19
I was reading Exodus 15, Moses’ Song of Triumph and Praise to HaShem following their miraculous escape from Pharaoh and his army. I noticed that it could be applied to our current situation. Although Moses was praising HaShem after their escape, I think the prayer can be applied as petition and praise for what Adonai will do, is doing, and, will have done—in the near future. Praying Exodus 15 is especially appropriate at this time and as we enter the Passover and Ressurection Sunday season.
I like praying Scripture, personalizing it as appropriate and making it my own prayer, applying it to current situations as a covering for my family and friends. But whether we adopt Scripture, praying it in the first person singular or in the plural tense, modifying the wording to do so, or pray it exactly as written, Scripture can inform our prayers mightily.
So, here is my take on what Moses might have sung if they had escaped COVID-19.
Then all followers of Yeshua HaMashiach sang this song to the Lord, saying,
“I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; the COVID-19 virus He has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His name!
“COVID-19 and its virion*, He cast into the sea, and this spreading virus’ droplets were sunk never to be seen. The floods of soap engulfed them; they went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy—COVID-19! In the greatness of your majesty You overthrow COVID-19; You send out your fury; it consumes the virus like stubble. At the blast of Your nostrils, the protective virion bubble breaks; the DNA and RNA are destroyed. COVID-19 said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will multiply; my infectious agent shall destroy them.’ You blew with Your wind; the Blood of Yeshua engulfed it; it sank like lead never to be seen again.
“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed COVID-19.
“You have led in your steadfast love the people whom You have redeemed You have guided us by your strength to your holy abode. The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of the World. Now are the chiefs of countries dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders who don’t believe; Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of Your arm, they are still as a stone, ‘ till your people, O Lord, pass by, ‘till the people pass by whom You have purchased. You will bring them in and plant them on Your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for Your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established. The Lord will reign forever and ever.”
Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; the COVID-19 virus He has thrown into the sea.”
(Based on Exodus 15:1–21)
* Virion are the individual virus particles that contain the RNA and DNA core
Until the next time…“May the LORD bless you and watch, guard, and keep you; May the LORD make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you; May the LORD lift up His face toward you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).” (Numbers 6:24-26)
Bill
WJB's Turn 