Do It Again, Daddy

When my sister and I were younger, we LOVED when our dad would swing us or toss us into the air or flip us around. Of course, we were never satisfied with just one time, we were always shouting, "Do it again, daddy, do it again!". He loved to do silly and fun things that would entertain us. Even though I am sure it tired him out at times, we would chant "Do it again" and he loved it!

God is the same type of Father with us. He loves to do things for us! He enjoys giving His children gifts! When we share about what the Lord does for us, it is called our testimony - and our testimony is continually growing! In Hebrew the word testimony can be translated as "do it again".

For me, I look back over my life and see a lot of mistakes. I see times where I took advantage of God's Grace and used it as an excuse to continue in a sinful lifestyle. I see times where I lied to cover my tail. I see hurts and pain and grief...but that's not my testimony. My testimony is how the Lord redeemed me from that. My testimony speaks of His great love that met me where I was at and changed my heart. My testimony gives me greater cause to Worship the Lord, because He saved me from so much! That salvation changed my life yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Testimonies are powerful, which is why the enemy does not want us to share them. The enemy tells us that we should be ashamed, that people will reject us, that the Lord can never use us because of what we've done, etc... The truth is that satan is the father of lies, it's the only language he can speak! Truth comes from the Lord and the Lord says that we conquer the enemy by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimonies! (Revelation 12:11) No wonder satan wants to keep us quiet about our testimonies.

In 1 Samuel 17, David kills Goliath. I absolutely love David's statement beforehand, he says:

"You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD's, and he will give you into our hand." (1 Samuel 17:45-47)

David responds to Goliath with authority, knowing that the Lord had delivered the Philistines into Israel's hand. When the enemy speaks lies to me, telling me that I am unworthy, I respond with the Word of God which is truth. My testimony declares that I serve the One True God.

In 2 Samuel 21, the Israelites were battling the Philistines again. One Philistine had six digits on each limb - six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot! The men they fought were descended from giants. David and his men defeated them. The other Israelite warriors had the faith to stand against giants because of David's testimony of what the Lord did against Goliath! Testimonies build our faith! Testimonies declare that our God is the only One worthy of praise and worship and adoration.

Don't be ashamed of your testimony. Share it. Maybe it will help someone else overcome their giants. Together we can shout unto God and as His children say, "Do it again, Daddy!"

Feeling Homesick

I recently listened to a compelling sermon by Pastor Steven LeBlanc called "Lessons for Living in a Foreign Land: Are You Homesick" which influenced my thoughts and provided a lot of insight used for this post. 

"For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come." Hebrews 13:14

After King Solomon died, the nation of Israel divided- he was the last king to reign over a united nation. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, Simeon, Ephraim, Manasseh, Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Issachar, and Zebulun (10 in all) comprised the southern kingdom of Israel. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin comprised the nation of Judah in the North. For about 200 years the nation of Israel rebelled against the Lord, and in the end they were led into captivity. Before captivity, a few of the faithful fled North to Judah, the nation that had remained faithful. However, eventually Judah was taken into exile in Babylon for 70 years because they rebelled against the Lord. (The 70 year period was in order that the land could enjoy it's Sabbaths. 2 Chronicles 36:21; Leviticus 25:2-4)

"Then the king [Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon] commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king." Daniel 1:3-5

When Nebuchadnezzar brought these men into Babylon he had planned to do the same thing with the nation of Judah that he had done with all the other kingdoms he had conquered. His strategy was to bring young men of influence into Babylon, give them everything they could ever want, strip their culture from them, and immerse them in the culture of Babylon, then he would reinstate them as leaders in Judah to create a vassal state loyal to himself. He even renamed them to change their identities to that of Babylon. Satan's tactics have not changed. His strategy is still to remove us from our Biblical principles, to give us everything we could ever want, to strip the Heavenly culture from us, and to immerse us in the culture of this world, so we become lukewarm Christians.

The story of Daniel (and Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah) proves that it is possible to be faithful to God even away from the Promised Land. The prophet Jeremiah prophesied that Judah would be taken into Babylon, and, after it came to pass, he instructed the exiles on how to live in Babylon. "Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." (Jeremiah 29:5-7) In studying the life of Daniel in the Old Testament, we find that he was highly favoured in Babylon. He sought the welfare of Babylon, but he never compromised his obedience to the Lord. When he first arrived, he refused to defile himself with the king's food and requested to eat only vegetables and to drink water. When an injunction was enforced that no one should pray to any god or man other than Darius the Mede, Daniel continued to pray to the Lord three times a day. For this he was thrown into a den of lions, but was delivered because he trusted in God.

In the same way, we live in Babylon. (America resembles Babylon more than you would think). This world is not our home and the ways of this world are not our ways. In Romans 12, Paul warns Christians not to be conformed to the ways of this world, but instead to be transformed by seeking out the will of God. The Holy Spirit gives us more discernment the more we allow Him to speak into our lives. We are called to remain undefiled by the world. Our ways are God's ways, that means that we cannot endorse or approve (Romans 1:32) of the world's fallen values. The Bible is truth. Always. Period. It is not half-truth. It's truth is not contingent upon the "evolution" of science and culture. God alone determines right and wrong. Don't let the fallen culture of a fallen society do that for you.

As we live for purity and holiness in a fallen world, the world will hate us and reject us. Jesus said himself, "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." John 15:18-19  Do not mistake me for saying that as Christians we need to walk around like holier-than-thou jerks. I am a sinner saved and redeemed to the Father by Jesus Christ. We are called to model the life of Jesus--a life of love, compassion, and grace. So what's more important, obeying God or loving people? Both! Jesus modeled both. (Luke 11:42)

My life has been far from holy and far from pure. I have fallen and repented. I have dealt with transgressions and iniquities. I need the blood of Jesus Christ on my life. I need the daily friendship of the Holy Spirit. I need the love of the Father. I desire to bring glory to the Lord in all that I do. I hope that the world will see in me an unrelenting desire to obey God AND a compassionate love for people. Because people are God's passion. The older that I get the more homesick I become for Heaven. This world is not my home and the ways of this world are not God's ways. But I know that I am here to seek God's provision over the welfare of the world in which I live and the people in it.

In closing, I leave you with the encouraging words of the Apostle Peter: "Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation." 1 Peter 2:11-12

The Lord, My Provider

"Give us this day our daily bread..." Matthew 6:11

After the Lord delivered the Israelite nation from Egypt - after all of the miraculous signs and wonders they had witnessed - they complained in the wilderness that Moses and Aaron had led them their to die. In their hunger they actually longed for the life they had in Egypt - a life of bondage. They did not trust that the Lord would provide for them as He led them into the promised land. But God caused bread to rain down from heaven. He instructed each family to gather only enough for one day, but many did not trust Him and the extra that they had gathered was infested with worms the next day.

Whenever I read through Israel's desert story, I find myself getting annoyed with their continual lack of faith. Then I remind myself that I do it too. I have tried to be my own provider. I have longed for life as it used to be. I forget that God actually cares about my daily needs.

God cares about our daily needs!

The Lord doesn't provide for us once or twice then tell us to fend for ourselves. He wants us to come to Him daily. He rained bread from heaven every day. He doesn't want us to just get by, He wants to bless us with abundance. 

In Matthew 6, Jesus teaches His disciples how to pray. Within the prayer He instructs the disciples to pray "Give us this day our daily bread...". I think Jesus taught them to ask God for daily provision not only to recognize that He provides, but to remind us that He is our Provider. Every day.

"Manna only came from heaven one day at a time." - Sherry Perdue (A.K.A. Mom)