In a world of trouble and turmoil, there is peace, a peace that comes from God Himself.
Where it seems like nothing is sacred anymore, in the midst, there is peace.
From the abortionists to the bombers, from sending a family back to their homeland to be persecuted, in reality, because they are Christian, to the many rights of Christians being stripped from our honorable military forces, from the renaming of what marriage is,
and how do you rename something God put a name to?
Can you call an orange an apple or a cat a dog?
How dare we claim to have enough power in ourselves to say something should now be something else just to suit our selfish and power hungry selves? How does that happen?
Then, I remember the thoughts I had, the temptations that lay before me, how my mind, my "old nature," just hangs around the corner waiting for any opportunity to rear its ugly head, and how so often, too often, I allow my mind to stay there, to wander. I am disgusted by how I cannot stay in complete control of all things going on in and around me,
and I seek Him.
Yes, the One who gave me a "new nature," and still I am troubled.
As I sit and listen and read, I am appalled and torn, I want to cover my head, hide because of what I hear, I want to jump through the screen and say, "listen to what God says, listen to the many accounts of obedient hearts when following the paths He has chosen for us," oh, to be able to make them see, and then, I read Romans...
"He gave them over..."
I see this beauty around me, everywhere I go, new eggs in a little nest hidden away in a tree, which we just happened upon, oh, the small joys of our Creator. The colors, blue, green, brown and gray, so amazing is our God that He would care for this, for me, for even me.
A precious rabbit hanging around our house, under the trampoline, God brought the animals to Adam "to see what he would call them, and whatever the man, (Adam) called a living creature, that was its name." Gen. 2:19
God's promises, as shown in the afternoon sky,
a covenant between He and us, between the Living God, the Creator of all things,
The King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and us, of me,
who fail Him daily.
Thank You for Your great promises, and a reminder of Your love for us.
"Then they will see The Son Of Man Coming In Clouds with
great power and glory."
Mark 13:26 Luke 21:27
Gathering fresh eggs is such a delight, even more so when my father-in-law passed on to us his mother's egg basket. How can one get pleasure from going out to gather eggs,
to be content with what God gives, to be
satisfied, bowing down on bended knee and be grateful, simply grateful for all things, in all things, to have a eucharisteo heart.
To have
a repentant heart, a truly, fall-down prostrate, on your face before the High King of Kings, and worship, and ask for forgiveness we so desperately need,
so need.every.single.day.
And I read Romans...
Romans 1:16-32
16 For
I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for
salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek.
17 For
in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith;
as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”
Unbelief and Its Consequences
18 For the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
Do you see the Truth trying to be suppressed every day?
The media?
Government leaders?
19 because that
which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident
to them.
"God has sovereignly planted evidence of His
existence in the very nature of man by reason and moral law. (1:20, 21, 28, 32;
2:15) (John MacArthur)
20 For since
the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and
divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has
been made, so that they are without excuse.
"God holds all men responsible for their refusal
to acknowledge what He has shown them of Himself in His creation." (John
MacArthur)
Through God's nature and creation, people have a deep
sense of right and wrong, they are without excuse, they "have suppressed it," as
MacArthur says.
21 For
even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks,
but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was
darkened.
Oh, what a heart of eucharisteo can do to a soul,
giving thanks in ALL things, or we can choose to allow our souls to be darkened by not
honoring the One who gives ALL things.
22 Professing
to be wise, they became fools,
23 and exchanged
the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man
and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
Man will find something to worship, this is "the
inward cause of their idolatry. They are therefore without excuse, in that they
did know God, and from what they knew might easily infer that it was their duty
to worship Him, and Him only. Though some have greater light and means
of knowledge than others, yet all have enough to leave them
inexcusable." (Matthew Henry)
24 Therefore God
gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their
bodies would be dishonored among them.
"Those who dishonored God were given over to dishonor themselves. A man cannot be delivered up to a greater slavery than to be given up to his own lusts." (Matthew Henry)
25 For
they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served
the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
We see people wanting to worship everything and
anything except the One true God, Jesus Christ. They do not want to admit
that He truly is the One who has the answers to the questions we seek.
Everywhere we look, we see people exchanging the Truth to anything except Christianity, and the ONLY exception is Christianity. And once again, God gave them over...consequences for disobedience.
26 For
this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their
women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,
"Paul mentions women first to show the extent of
debauchery under the wrath of abandonment, because in most cultures women are
the last to be affected by moral collapse." (John MacArthur)
27 and
in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and
burned in their desire toward one another, men with men
committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due
penalty of their error.
Homosexuality abounds. The 12th state in our once
great country of America has just legalized gay marriage; we are now calling apples
oranges, and much more is the LGBT, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender,
(it hurts me to even type that out) culture who God has given over to their
degrading passions, and they do not look at the ensuing consequences and the
penalties of their errors as they have abandoned the natural functions God has
given them.
AIDS is only one evidence of the penalty and
consequence of their error.
28 And
just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave
them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,
They do NOT "acknowledge God any longer,"
just read the news...they are attempting to take Him from courthouses, have
already succeeded with the public schools, are in the process of taking Him out
of our military; can you imagine how unprotected our men will be if God is not
there to protect, cover, and shield them? This is our great country, America. As we see with Israel, countries, even great countries do not last when the people rebel; God will show His mighty hand.
29 being
filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder,
strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,
Greed? Envy? Deceit? Gossips???
It is easy to see the evil, the murder and malice around us, but how
guilty am I of greed, envying others, being deceitful or a gossip. How
guilty I am...
30 slanderers, haters
of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to
parents,
Listen to the news; we are sending a family back to
Germany to be persecuted because they love their God, by those in power,
haters of God; they slander, are insolent, arrogant and boastful to the things of God.
Oh.Forgive.Us.Lord.
These have been given over to do those things which are
not proper...read the list...again...arrogant, boastful, yes, even, disobedient
to parents. "When duty fails on one side, it commonly fails on the other." (Matthew Henry) Parents, so much responsibility relies on us, will we step up, will we take up the charge and lead?
31 without
understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;
They are without...
32 and
although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things
are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty
approval to those who practice them.
They "know," therefore, it is "not ignorance, but blatant rebellion." (John MacArthur)
Other religions give approval for the sins committed and celebrate those who have committed some atrocities, as martyrs. As such is the rebellion against the God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who loved and died and rose again for ALL. We should be in much prayer and petition for the way our country is heading. God will not linger with such outward and blatant defiance.
Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God. (John Bradshaw)
"See what wickedness there is in the nature of man. How abominable and filthy is man!
Lord, what is man? says David;
what a vile creature is he when left to himself!
How much are we beholden to the restraining grace of God for the preserving any thing of the honor and decency of the human nature!
For, were it not for this, man, who was made but little lower than the angels, would make himself a great deal lower than the devils." (Matthew Henry)
In this world of trouble and turmoil, with sin so blatant and exposed and celebrated, are you willing to stay true to the Truth, the real Truth? Can you find peace? A peace that passes all understanding? Are you willing to stand for Truth, to stand for Jesus, to stand for all He reveals in His Holy Word, and teach your children so they will teach their children, until He comes again?
"Even so, come, Lord Jesus!"
Rev. 1:20
He is our hope!
"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
Romans 15:13
In His Grace,
Jody
