Genesis 18:9-15 – “Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?”  So he said, “Here, in the tent.” 10 And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.”  (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.   12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”

13 And the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”

15 But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh!”    NKJV

I wonder how often we have done what Sarah did?  Maybe not outwardly but through our actions, doubt and disbelief we laughed at the prospect of the promise!  Abraham and Sarah were not Spring Chickens and time had passed them by and Sarah’s reaction should not be viewed as anything but normal.  She had been barren for a long time and now they were in the twilight years of life.  She heard the promise and I am convinced wanted the promise to be true but when she looked in the mirror reality hit her squarely in the face.  SHE WAS OLD and so was Abraham.

Abraham had a life of demonstrated obedience and Sarah willingly followed him wherever he believed they were to go and into whatever venture he deemed advisable.  The Promise of God to make Abraham a Great Nation and to have heirs as numerous as the sand on the seashore or the stars in the heavens prompted her to urge him to make a tragic error with Hagar producing Ishmael.  NOW, she hears that she is going to have a child and her natural response was to laugh.

I am convinced that we have laughed at some of God’s promises either by actually snickering or through our demonstrated unbelief, doubt and question.  I am equally convinced that when God calls us on that fact we do what Sarah did and DENY, DENY, DENY.  I know that in my own experience when I have smiled at the promises thinking them probably a figment of my own imagination the Holy Spirit has done to me what the LORD did to Sarah and said, “No you laughed!”  

The question is not our initial reaction to the promise but what we do in the subsequent days, weeks, months and/or years that is of most importance.  Abraham and Sarah did not simply say, “God said it so it will be” and failed to be active participants in the process.  Yes, they had pleasure even in their old age.  I can only imagine the surprise and thrill of finding that their bodies functioning as they possibly had not functioned in years, giving them a further confirmation that God’s Promise was true.  God will sometimes allow us to experience things in life that give solid verification of his promises. 

I do not believe that God was particularly upset with Sarah’s initial reaction.  I have heard Sarah vehemently criticized for her initial doubt and laughing at God’s Promise but is she dramatically different than us?  It is how we proceed after the promise that is of critical importance not how we initially react in the shock or surprise of the moment.  So, if God has made you a promise and your initial reaction was to doubt or even laugh at the prospect instead of beating yourself up, rejoice and remember Abraham and Sarah for what God promised became reality and Isaac was born.

Remember God’s Promises are sure so rejoice in this day He has created and walk in His blessings as you partake of His Abundant Life!  Blessings!

Genesis 2:18-24 – “And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. 

21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 

23 And Adam said: 

“This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman,Because she was taken out of Man.”

 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”  NKJV

Marriage is not or should not be a political issue but a spiritual one.  There is no constitutional mandate regarding marriage but there is a biblical one.  When I must decide on any issue even if public sentiment and popular opinion is strong and it conflicts with God’s word I will stand with the Word of God.

Notice here in Genesis the “first mention” of what could be deemed marriage is from God Himself.  God had created, Adam (the male) and determined that being alone was unhealthy and left man unfulfilled.  IT WAS NOT GOOD!  God’s declared, “I will make him a helper comparable to him.”  If we only took that statement without the remainder of this section of scripture and the remainder of the Bible we could conclude that God was unconcerned about the gender of the companion or mate.

God brought the animal creation before Adam not to seek a mate in them but to allow Adam to see the need of a companion of his kind.  Then God caused Adam to sleep and took a rib and from Adam’s rib he created Eve.  When Adam saw the woman he was elated. She appealed to him and he understood something that seems to be missed.  He called her WOMAN.  The translation is “she-man” or “womb-man”.  You cannot get that in a homosexual relationship even if one is incredible feminine in males or masculine in females. The difference in sexes is clear and the union allows for reproduction.

Then in verse 24 the declaration of the union is found, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”  Marriage is found in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis not in the Declaration of Independence.  To allow what God has designed as a spiritual and physical union to become a political football is tragic.  The Bible is not silent on physical unions by the same sex. Romans 1:26-27, “Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones; in the same way, men committed shameful acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.”  Consider the city of Sodom (Genesis 19), the prohibition regarding homosexual relations (Leviticus 18:22; 20:13), the New Testament prohibition (Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9) and you find a clear understanding of God’s view.

The home is of paramount importance in God’s mind.  He has much to say about the relationship between husband and wife, parents and children and children and children.  Marriage has always been designed to be between “One man and One woman”.  Marriage is a holy institution or union designed by God and ordained in His word.   We should carefully protect and nurture it.

God bless you as you enjoy this wonderful day in Him!

2 Timothy 3:1-9 – “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.”  NKJV

Without attempting a complete exegesis in eschatology I find it impossible to miss the incredible happenings of our time and their relation or correlation to the prophecies of Scripture.  I do not know if the apostle Paul realized how far into the future he was speaking in his prophetic word and pastoral warning to Timothy but we do.  I am convinced, he believed the “last days” were almost upon them.  Throughout my Christian experience I have heard that we are the generation that will see the return of the Lord.  I do believe we are but also recognize that each previous generation thought the same thing.  The delay in His return is not an indication that the promise or prophecy is false.  Remember that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.  He does not operate with a clock or calendar as we.

When I view the rise of Islamic jihadism and terror I recognize “perilous times” in our day.  With the rise in technology we do not just hear or read about the evil in the world we witness it on the television, computer, or smartphone.  It is every before us!  With the increase in abortion, the selling of body parts for profit, the murder of innocent living babies to accommodate “so-called” personal rights of the woman, I cannot help but realize “perilous times” in our present day.  When I see people around the world slaughtered because of their refusal to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ, I recognized “perilous times” in the world.

Even a cursory reading of the above passage identifies how squarely and perfectly it fits in our modern society.  I do not know if there has ever been a generation more in love with self than today’s.  Money is an all-powerful driving force like no other time in human history.  The pride and arrogance of today’s world is stunning.  I have lived on this earth over 60 years and have never witnessed such open blasphemy, utter disrespect for parents and authority, ungratefulness, viciousness and the devaluing of human lives that are not of the same ethnicity, ideological or religious beliefs as today.  Fabrication is acceptable, slander is just business as usual and the pursuit of personal pleasure and demand for tolerance and political correctness is frightening.

How long can we continue on this path before total chaos becomes the rule of the day?  I fear, not long and for those and other reasons I am completely convinced that we are living in what the Bible calls THE LAST DAYS and if we are you can expect the evil of this world to grow more and more prevalent and pronounced.  If you are not secure in your relationship with God I suggest that you take steps to become completely confident in your Salvation.  The time is coming when it will mean everything.

            God bless you, guard and guide you as you go through this day!

1 John 5:14-15 – “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”  NKJV

Years ago I was called to the home of one of our members for prayer.  The husband and wife were elderly and had served in ministry for decades.  She was ill and wanted me to pray for her that God would raise her up.  I began to pray and in my prayer I asked the LORD to “touch her”.  She stopped me in mid-sentence and said, “I don’t want just a touch I want healing.”  Not to split hairs on what she said, she caused me to evaluate my prayers and expectations in prayer.  The lesson learned has been invaluable through a number of years and countless times when I or someone I was praying for needed an answer from God.

As we talked later she explained in very simple terms that too many people have little expectation when they pray or when they are prayed for.  The thought of a “touch” often carries with it less than urgency and might result in a casual prayer that never presses through to the answer.  It was out of that mindset that she resisted asking for a “touch” she wanted all God had and His promises realized in her life.  She wanted me to pray with the urgency she felt in her need.  One could argue that it is the “touch” of the Master’s hand that brings all the promises to fruition in our lives and I would not disagree.  However, I understood her heart and it altered the way I thought about prayer.

Often we are asked to pray or ask for others to pray and we or they respond, “Will do”.  I do not question the sincerity of that commitment and am always appreciative of any prayer that is being offered on my behalf.  I was recently challenged by the Holy Spirit regarding “expectation” in prayer.  I do not want to pray half-heartedly, casually, or without urgency.  I do not want to pray without expectation.  I want to meet the requirements of the text passage and receive that which Jesus declared in the Gospels that if we ask ANYTHING in His Name we receive.  I want to find His heart, mind and will and then grab the horns of the altar and like Jacob refuse to let go until I hear from heaven.

John tells us that we can have complete confidence that if we ask ANYTHING according to God’s will He hears us.  He then presses it further and declares that IF God hears us WHATEVER we ask we receive.  That is incredible and something that too often we miss and flounder in wonder hoping and praying rather than knowing and praying.  There are times when we simply do not know the will of God or the mind of God in a matter and that is where the ministry of the Holy Spirit becomes invaluable.  He knows and when we allow Him to guide our prayers and pray through us we can pray the will of God rather than adding the addendum, “if it be thy will” we are praying the will of God and doing so with expectation.

There are heroes of faith in the Bible and Church history who took God at His word and when they prayed they expected mountains to move, drought stricken lands to become watered, life to be restored, healing to transpire, the schemes of the devil to be thwarted and victory to be the result.  We should not pray as I heard after a doctor told the family, “All we can do now is pray.”  One of the family members said, “Oh no!  Has it come to that?”   Prayer is not an act of futility we do in times of desperation it is a weapon and a means of worship.

God bless you as you go through this day and build you up on your most Holy Faith praying in the Holy Spirit. 

Matthew 5:6 – “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”  NKJV

The Psalmist described spiritual thirst in an incredibly vivid pictorial manner in Psalm 42:1-2, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for Thee, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?”  The picture, often passed over, is that of intense thirst and when we read Matthew 5:6, I wonder if we catch the implication that simply have a shallow craving for spiritual things will not bring one to this water nor satisfy that intense longing.

The word “thirst” is translated from the Hebrew (sama) and the Greek (dispos).  There is an English word derived from “dispos”, the word “dipsomania” which described extreme thirstiness, but especially the insatiable craving for alcoholic beverages.  It describes someone that has to have a drink.  Thirst refers to the sensation of dryness of the mouth and throat which is caused by a lack of fluids resulting in a craving for something to quench that sensation.  Using this understanding we find that people of almost any language use the word “thirst” to refer to an intense craving for something.  We are said to have a thirst for knowledge, wealth, power, etc.

The question we should ask is, “have you been truly thirsty?”  Understand I am not talking about the mild dryness of mouth and that sensation when we have been working in the heath of needing a drink of water.  I am talking about being truly thirsty!  I am referring to the thirst that Hagar and her son experienced in the wilderness in Genesis 21:14.  Thirst was something the people of the Middle East readily understood.  This is a subject the Bible refers to over and over again as it was very frequently a life threatening condition.

If you have been thirsty you know that some things quench thirst better than others.  Yet, even water cannot quench the need for salt no matter how much you drink.  Revelation 7:16, “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst.”  This is speaking of that time of eternal perfection that we do not fully know here on earth.  We need the “Water of Life” from God for spiritual health and if we are going to be FILLED we have to become desperately thirsty.

Jesus’ declaration in Matthew 5 brings us face to face with the realization that if we are to have full satisfaction and be filled with Him and His righteousness we have to develop an intense thirst.  Also, we know from the revelation of the Bible that ONLY JESUS can satisfy that thirst.  ONLY His word can bring us the water of life.  ONLY the Holy Spirit can lead us to the well of life and help us drink.  If we are not filled the only biblical explanation is that we either have not become thirsty enough or we are not drinking of the water of life He brings.  Either way is spiritual disaster.

The promise of God is that IF we are hungry and thirsty for Him and His righteousness we WILL BE FILLED.  There is no gray area in this. If we are and drink then we are filled.  What is your level of hunger and thirst?

            God bless you as you go through this day!

Ecclesiastes11:1-2 – “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. 2 Give a serving to seven, and also to eight, for you do not know what evil will be on the earth.” NKJV

There are several possible interpretations of this passage and all plausible so let me offer some thoughts about stewardship not just generosity that I believe is being illustrated in this passage.  There is no question that the Bible instructs us to be charitable and generous regarding the needs of the truly needy.  God never forgets acts of kindness and generosity and the Psalms declare that “giving to the poor is lending to the LORD.”  In Luke we read that we are to “give and it shall be given to us…”  Therefore it is quite plausible that this is speaking of caring for needs that we see and I would never argue against that interpretation but I believe it is more than that.

I have seen interpretations that suggest this was being spoken to the farming communities along the fertile Nile.  The idea was that the time for sowing seed was when the waters were receding leaving incredible fertile loamy beds in which the seed could be deposited and the result would be a bountiful harvest in due time.  Thus, the farmer would receive a great return on his investment or seed.  That too is plausible but I believe it is more than that.

The reason I believe it is more is because of verse two, “Give a serving to seven, and also to eight, for you do not know what evil will be on the earth.”  I believe that could be rightly translated, “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” and speaks of stewardship, enterprise and investment.  If the entrepreneur shipped his bread (goods) via the water (rivers and seas) in due time the return on his investment would be great.  The words, “…for you do not know what evil (disaster) will be on the earth.”  Times change, situations change and conditions change therefore having all one’s eggs in the same basket could spell disaster but diversification could be a hedge against economic turmoil.  I believe that the writer of Ecclesiastes is teaching a lesson in economics which will enable one to hedge against economic downturns and provide the ability to care for their own and to have enough left over to care for the needy before them.

If you read the next verses you will get a glimpse of the danger of inaction further solidifying my belief that this passage is about more than just charitable giving and caring for the needy before us.  If we do not obey verses one and two then we face the dilemma of verses three and four and encounter the uncertainty of verse five.  The imperative is for action not idleness.  It is for stewardship not pie in the sky fantasy that you are responsible for nothing just sit and wait for God to drop portions from heaven for you.  I believe God will care for His children but I also believe that when He opens doors and gives us directives for stewardship we err and could be guilty of tempting God if we fail to act.   Remember the parable of the talents where one took his talent and buried it so he would lose nothing.  No risk, no gain!  His no risk mentality was not appreciated or rewarded and the master took his talent from him and gave it to the one that was a good steward and man of action.  God does not reward laziness or timidity but faith!

I believe deeply in the principle of “sowing and reaping” in all aspects of life.  I believe that if we give it will come back to us.  I also believe that God wants us to live in this world “wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”  If we know to do good and do not do it that inaction becomes sin to us.  This is true in all aspects of life including economics.

May the LORD bless you and guide you in your walk of stewardship.  Blessings!

Hebrews 12:5-11 – “And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:

 “My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens,And scourges every son whom He receives.” 

 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”  NKJV

Nobody likes to be chastened.  Nobody enjoys the process of chastisement.  Well, no one in a healthy sane spiritual condition and mindset.  In the natural I did not enjoy chastening my children and I can guarantee they did not enjoy it.  As a child I did not enjoy the rod of correction being applied to my fundament and my parents were not sadist enjoying applying the rod of correction.  However, because of love and understanding that chastening is necessary to correct, shape and direct in the right path.  I won’t get into a debate over how that correction and chastisement is to be applied.  That I will leave between you and the LORD but I had the board of education applied and applied it to my children and, at this point, it appears that we are better not worse for it.

Chastening out of love is not just for correction but is redemptive in nature.  It has an objective in mind and that objective is not to punish behavior but shape character and direct a life in a particular direction.  Paul informs us that we are not to despise chastisement and that could be applied to the one receiving it and the one responsible for administering it.  We are not to neglect correction for it has redemptive value.  He informs us that God chastens or corrects us because He loves us and is not willing to just allow us to do our own thing in our own way.  There is right and righteousness and He wants to direct us toward that.

We are instructed to endure or submit to chastening, humbling ourselves, learning the lesson being taught and rejoice in the love that is willing to teach us right.  God’s chastening is a mark of sonship for God deals with us as His children.  It is a testimony that we are members of the family and that He, as a loving father, disciplines and corrects us.  I would rather have God chasten me now rather than hear Him say on that day, “I never knew you.”

Paul then tells his audience that if you are not corrected it is an indication that you are illegitimate children.  In the natural, the ones caring for illegitimate children frequently demonstrated no affection or obligation to correct or train the child.  That is not universally true but was incredibly accurate in Paul’s day and is also largely true in our time.

Therefore, when the LORD chastens me it humbles me and while it is painful spiritually and emotionally it is joyous because I know that He would not be going to the trouble of correcting me if He did not love me.  Because He loves me, I welcome His correction.  I do not want to go astray and would ten thousand times rather He correct me now than let me go my own way and not hear, “Welcome, my good and faithful servant, enter in…”   The objective and fruit of chastening is so desirous it makes the chastening’s pain pale in comparison.

Discipline us O’ Lord we want to manifest you in this present world.  Blessings as you go through this day!

2 Corinthians 3:1-6 – “Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? 2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.  4. And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”  NKJV

There is a teaching in Christendom today that suggests man is and has everything he needs to be complete in himself.  I can agree with that with the qualifier that it is IN CHRIST that we have sufficiency.  In my own flesh I am powerless against the forces of hell but IN CHRIST I am more than a conqueror.

The apostle Paul address this very thing numerous times but especially in Philippians 4 when he spoke of the various states or conditions he found himself.  He had known plenty and poverty.  He had been hungry and full.  He had flourished and floundered and declared that he had learned the secret of contentment and that secret was his confidence in God and God’s ability to keep him.  He said in verse 13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” 

In the text referenced above Paul is reminding his hearers of the biblical truth that we have been weighed in God’s scales and been found deficient in ourselves.  However, those same scales when used IN CHRIST we rise to the top and excel being more than conquerors through Christ.  We are IN HIM and it is IN HIM that we live and move and have our being.  It is IN HIM that we are sufficient.  It is IN HIM that we are able to break free from the bondage of the doctrines of man and move into the gloriousness of Him and His life!

I am sufficient IN CHRIST and that sufficiency is not mine but His.  It is Him living His life through me for the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of and faith in the Son of God.  When the Blood of Jesus is applied there is no deficiency.  When we are translated from the kingdom of darkness into His marvelous light there is no deficiency.  When IN HIM we live and move and have our being there is no deficiency.  We are often tempted to fall into the trap that enslaved Adam and Eve.  That trap was making self the center of their universe, firing God as the center and elevating self to that position.  They went from beings that would and could live forever in their natural state to beings filled with death, dying and decay.  In a sense they were born again backward believing THE LIE of hell.

They did not house, in themselves, sufficiency for that comes from God and God alone. They moved from His keeping and care to their own strength and enslaved the race to the devil.  However, when Jesus went to the Cross as a sinless sacrifice for the race, shed His blood, rose again and ascended to the Right Hand of the Father that curse was broken.  Now man, IN CHRIST, has the sufficiency to not only survive but thrive.  Now man can enter into the Life that Jesus came to bring – ABUNDANT LIFE.  Now, man has the potential to be more than a conqueror IN CHRIST.

What is your condition and position?  Rise up and be who God declared you to be IN CHRIST!   God bless you as you go through this day!