My Devotionals Are Determined By The Word, Not the News

"....They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy power;...and the glory of the majesty of Thy kingdom.  Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.  And Thy dominion endures throughout all generations." (Psalm 145:11, 12b, 13)

 

The margin says, "Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages."  The "kingdoms" of man, the empires which ruled for centuries, were kingdoms of the very limited time/space world.  They proved nothing----------- except that what man creates, man destroys.  If the American "kingdom" survives the coming century, it will be only if Jesus returns to close the age.  I have never seen America so confused, so driven by the media, irrationality, and emotion.  I have little confidence in the "American Experiment."  It was raised up for a season, but I have never been so uncertain of its future.

 

The Blessed Trinity, appearing among men in Jesus Christ, has His Purpose for this present age.  Everything is leading to His Return.  The debate as to what He will do when He returns continues.  But make no mistake----- Jesus is coming again, in His Glorious Resurrected Body, to planet Earth.  Our text is perhaps the greatest revelation concerning The Kingdom.  Literally, "Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and Thy dominion is everlasting."  Jesus and His Kingdom are not my "last resort."  He is my only resort.  This is not negativism towards America, or any other nation.  This is great positivism of hope and faith in the future prepared for us, not by constitutions, pundits, religionists, the masses, or heads of state, but by The King, Jesus, Word of Our Father.

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, let me live in the real world of Your Kingdom.  Amen. 

 

---

It's only a deal if it's where you want to go. Find your travel deal here.

America! Your Choice: "Feel Good" or "Be Good?"

"[Jesus] said to her,...'Has no one condemned you?'  She said, 'No one, Lord.'  And Jesus said to her, 'Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.'" (John 8:10b, 11)

 

I said over two years ago that the coming American Presidential Election will be the most obvious choice between the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of Darkness we have ever experienced in our nation's history.  This past week has just given more credence to that statement.  America is being seduced and deceived by the biggest lie in its young history.  At the Democrat Convention, the press and public are allowing themselves to be seduced and deceived by speeches which even the speakers don't believe. 

People are deceived because they choose deception, not because they are ignorant.  I had never heard Democrats talk about "faith" until people of faith turned the last two presidential elections.  Hypocrisy has reached a new high. 

 

Jesus is still saying to the sinner today, "Neither do I condemn you.  Go and sin no more."  Jesus' Blood, suffering, death, and resurrection paid for our sin, not for the purpose of continuing in sin, but that we would repent, be forgiven, and live a devout and holy life, a life of total surrender to Jesus Christ, the Word of God.  If you are a person obedient to Jesus Christ, His Word, His Kingdom, you cannot and will not be deceived.  You will hear His word, "Neither do I condemn you," and, you will understand that true repentance embraces and responds to, "Go and sin no more." 

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, I confess I rejoice in, "Neither do I condemn you."  I just pray that I may always rejoice equally in, "Go and sin no more."  Amen.   

---

It's only a deal if it's where you want to go. Find your travel deal here.

A "Nest Among the Stars"

"'The pride of your heart has deceived you...Though you ascend as high as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,' says the LORD." (Obadiah 3 & 4)

 

Today, Aaron Klein of Word Net Daily reports that "U. S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is pushing for a nearly-complete agreement on a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria by January....Rice says Israel must agree to a Palestinian state capitol in Jerusalem--and a full Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza."  If you are an American citizen, you should be very, extremely concerned over the Bush Administration's desire for legacy, even if it means opposing the Purposes of Jesus Christ.   I am praying for an Obama defeat in November.  But could he be the judgment of God on a nation which has ascended "as high as the eagle," but of which the Living Triune God says, "from there I will bring you down?" 

 

The historic context of our text speaks of judgment "concerning Edom."  But the prophets spoke of things present as well as things to come.  So it is here.  It is not just Edom of which the "God-Breathed" Word speaks here.  It is any nation which rejects the Blood, Reign, and Word of Jesus Christ.  Does anyone think for one moment that just because America is a "Super Power" it will escape the judgement of God?  Many Christians (of course denied with all the evangelical and charismatic fervor which can be conjured up), as well as most Americans, believe that the United States of America will be the world empire which will not "decline" as did the Babylonian, Media-Persian, Grecian, Roman, and Ottoman empires.  It is now in America, "In Our Nuclear Arsenal We Trust," rather than, "In God We Trust."

 

I feel today that the warning from 1 Corinthians 3:15 is for President Bush and all Believers in Jesus Christ.  "But if any person's work is burned up [under the test], he will suffer the loss [of it all, losing his reward], though he himself will be saved, but only as [one who has passed] through fire."  In an attempt to keep this relatively short, I suggest that you go to "Barnes' Notes" for a sobering commentary on this verse.  "Google it," or--    Click Here>> www.studylight.org/com/bnn

                  

Father, in Jesus' Name, I pray that You don't have to say to me, "The pride of your heart has deceived you."  Amen.

 

---

It's only a deal if it's where you want to go. Find your travel deal here.

The Coming Anti-American Convention (Tomorrow's Will Be Shorter, Promise)

"I am for peace; But when I speak, they are for war." (Psalm 120:7)

 

Our text is from yesterday's reading in the Psalms.  It might as well have been written this morning.  It is the theme of the Blessed Trinity.  The messengers announced the birth of Jesus with the words, "Peace on earth goodwill toward men," or, "among...men of good will."  The problem?  The Enemy declared war on Jesus and His Kingdom from the beginning.  And this war continues.  It is just difficult to find "men of goodwill."

 

In October of 1969, "The Weather Underground Organization" led a riot in Chicago.  This group was an offshoot of "Students for a Democratic Society."  The stated purpose of "The Weatherman," as they were known, was the violent overthrow of the US Government.  There were several in my graduate school (seminary) who were a part of this group.  It was a sobering thought this morning; I sat in classes with some of these people. 

I have been saying for many years that there are people in the United States who hate the country they were handed-- and they are everywhere.  They are in the schools, the churches and pulpits, the government.  I personally have seen them on the floor of the US Senate and in church gatherings!  I was in a prayer meeting in Washington, DC, a couple of years ago, when a woman in the group related a statement of her pastor, "Founding Fathers?  They're not my "founding fathers!'"  What can we say?  "They are for war."   

 

Now we have finally done it.  We have a person running for President who is among them.  Here is a statement of Barack Obama which he made last winter.  "As I've said about the flag pin, I don't want to be perceived as taking sides....There are a lot of people in the world to whom the American flag is a symbol of oppression." (You mean like China, Cuba, Zimbabwe, North Korea, the Arab Nations?!?)  "And the anthem itself conveys a war-like message.  You know, the bombs bursting in air and all.  It should be swapped for something less parochial and less bellicose.  I like the song 'I'd like to teach the world to sing.'  If that were our anthem, then I might salute it."  It is now well known that one of Obama's best friends is William Ayers, a member of "The Weather Underground Organization." 

 

If you are an American citizen, you are a citizen of a country which was indeed founded in war, blood, "the perilous fight--- the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air."  And, you have the freedom you enjoy because that "perilous fight," and those rockets and bombs could not extinguish the fire of our freedom loving forefathers, a great many of whom were true Believers in Jesus Christ.  They were men who said what all true Believers in Jesus have said throughout the centuries, "I am for peace."  The historic problem has always been, however, "But when I speak, they are for war."  Mr. and Mrs. Obama have what they have today because some people before them were willing to endure and defeat "the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air."

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, may I always be a man of peace, but, in the face of attack on You and Your Kingdom, say with You, "I did not come to bring peace but a sword."  Amen.

**************************************

News, Commentary:    www.antipasprayerforce.blogspot.com

 

 

---

It's only a deal if it's where you want to go. Find your travel deal here.