"I Will Give Them a Heart to Know Me" (God)

"When [Saul] turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart.  And all these signs came to pass that day." (1 Samuel 10:9)

This is exactly what David had, "another heart-- God's Heart."  I have pointed out before what a Messianic Jew once said about the passage we often quote that David, "was a man after God's own heart." It is better translated, "David had God's Heart"---- a much, much better scenario.  In fact this translation is totally aligned with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Who is not only with us but in us.  All Which/Who is Jesus Christ is in all which/who is the Obedient Follower of Jesus.  We really have no excuse for all the unbelief, sin, and turmoil in the Church.

I won't get into the "predestination" thing.  But I don't believe Saul was "destined" to disobey, any more than you and I could say such.  Yet over the years I have heard some who call themselves Christian say, and even some traditions have a theology excusing sin by asserting, "Well, I really had no choice; I couldn't help myself.  God knows and forgives."  I would certainly not take a chance on that.

The New Birth brings you and me, "another heart," another Authority, another life style, viz., a life of obedience to Jesus Christ and His "Law-Word."  In Jesus Christ you and I have a "higher calling," what William Law described in his work, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life: Adapted to the State and Condition of All Orders of Christians.  I am so very thankful for a Dad who read and passed on to me some such great works in Church History.  The modern Church would be well advised to dust them off.  I don't want to excuse my sin or even have them "passed over."  I want them eradicated, and eradicated they were in the Blood of Jesus, the Body of Jesus, in the Cross of Jesus.  "We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" !

Father, in Jesus' Name, I thank You for, "another heart," Your Heart.  Help me, Holy Spirit, to protect Your new heart in me.  Amen.

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New Article @: www.apf327.blogspot.com

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"

Hebrews 12:2

"And I Will Pray...Father, And He Shall Give...Comforter"

"And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that he may be with you for ever...." (John 14:16, ASV)

"Comforter," what a description of the Godhead indwelling those who follow Jesus Christ.  Sources say that the word translated, "Comforter," means "someone who gives evidence which stands up in court."  Indeed, in Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit it is the only evidence which will acquit.  The word also means, "I summon, entreat, admonish, comfort, encourage, console."  This is the Holy Spirit in you and me, "The God...of all comfort."  You and I have in the Holy Spirit "someone who gives evidence which stands up in [the] court" of Heaven.  In the Son, Jesus, He is our Advocate, our Intercessor, Encourager, and, in the midst of all this, He admonishes, viz., "to caution, reprove, urge to a duty." 

Notice that the Holy Spirit is not "named after" the gifts or fruits of the Spirit.  These describe the witness in the life of the Follower of Jesus.  He is also referred to in legal and consoling terms.  These too are a witness to the world of the great love and grace of the Blessed Trinity.  The person who submits to the Holy Spirit in His "assigned" service to the Church will be the person who overcomes in life.  

Father, in Jesus' Name, I thank You that You have come to live in me in the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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I have been listening to Obama's address.  He refers to Israel as an occupying  force in The Land.  With such an attitude, he just continues to fuel the flames of hatred in the Middle East.

News, Commentary:  www.apf327.blogspot.com

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"

Hebrews 12:2

"The...God of All Comfort"

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort...." (2 Corinthians 1: 3, ESV)

"The...God of all comfort"----- I have found this true.  

I still vividly remember that dark, lonely, utterly depressed summer of 1970.  I remember there was no hope, no joy, no desire to go on-------- yet all came.  It came by the Ever-Present One, the Living Triune God, revealed in His Wondrous Word, Jesus Christ, and, "everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD."  His standing in front of me that day was more real than my life, more real than the air I breath.  Of course He was in me; this is the great truth of the Gospel.  But in that time I needed Him "in front of me," a sort of out-of-me experience.  I don't know exactly why.  Perhaps I needed to see that no matter what happens in a Believer's life, no matter what direction I was about to take, Jesus Christ is always there, whether I would have embraced Him as the indwelling, resurrected Christ, or rejected Him.  Father, Son Jesus, Holy Spirit, "the...God of all comfort"-- always, for all times, for all people-------- for me.

Now our text is not true because I have found it so; it is true because His Word declares it such.  Intrinsic in the power of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, however, is the testimony throughout the centuries of the People of God.  The literal rendering of Revelation 12:11 is, "They overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb and the Word to which they bore witness."  There is an overcoming power in the testimony of those, "who follow the Lamb (Jesus) wherever He goes."  I pass on that "power" each day------------- and my prayer is that you will pass on your "version" of That Power, "the Blood of the Lamb, Jesus," and, "the Word to which [you bear] witness."

Father, Oh, Father, in Jesus' Name, I confess I know not what I would have done, or would even do today without You, "The...God of all comfort."  Amen.

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News, Commentary:   www.apf327.blogspot.com

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"

Hebrews 12:2

When Only Leadership Has the Weapons

"Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, 'Lest the Hebrews make swords or spears.'" (1 Samuel 13:19)

And we see how successful the Philistines were.  Just a few verses later we read that when the Jews went into battle, there were only two swords among them------ and only the leadership had them.  "So it came about, on the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people...."  This is judgment on disobedient leadership.  

Throughout Church history some "leaders" have taken advantage of such a situation and made sure that they were the only ones who had access to the "blacksmith."  The reason is very clear, and diabolical at the same time.  They wanted to hold exclusive rights to the weapons so that when victory occurred, they received the credit and the glory and the power for future admiration and surrender to that leadership by followers.  If some person around them showed up with powerful weapons, they tended to see them as a threat and made sure they would not have access to that "blacksmith" again.  This control "spirit," which is still very much alive today, keeps Christendom from much of the breakthrough power to defeat Satanic forces in the earth.

Contrast Jesus------ Who loved, trained, served, denied Himself, and sent out well equipped warriors.  Through those who continued to obey our Lord Jesus Christ Who commanded us to, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations," that persecuted, suffering "band of brothers" conquered the Roman Empire.  What the Church could do today with such men!

Father, in Jesus' Name, if I have any successful weapons, help me to pass them on and help others to be, "ready in the day of Your power." 

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New Article on Israel's Struggle of Recent Days @: www.apf327.blogspot.com

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"

Hebrews 12:2

"If The LORD is With Us, Why...?"

"'Pardon me, my lord,' Gideon replied, 'but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us?  Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about....?'" (Judges 6:13a, NIV)

As the saying goes, "If I had a nickel for every time a person said this, I would be a very wealthy man."  When tragedy or anything which seems against us comes our way, this is the inevitable question, "If the Lord is with us, why...?"  Now pastors and counselors have a tendency to attempt "comforting" answers, but some times the answers are not comforting-------------- if there are any at all.

Yet "answers" or not to "Why has all this happened to us?"-- the real question is, What do we do when this seeming paradox arises in our lives?  Some enter "confusion;" some battle with "the faith;" some succumb to, "Well, I guess I deserve this;" some blame others; some families allow it to destroy them; some churches close their doors; and perhaps the worse, some just quit, give up on the Lord Jesus Christ, and go back to fishing (John 21).

The great "God-Breathed" passage, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus," comes after the great list of those who endured to the end in faith, viz., obedience, trust, a faith of, "the evidence of things not seen."  If my faith is only the evidence of things seen, it is not, "the faith of Jesus."  And only when I keep my eyes on Jesus will I be able to break through that age old question of Gideon, "If the LORD is with us, why...?"---- the question which reveals only a faith of sight, not that of which Paul speaks, "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Father, in Jesus' Name, I thank You that You have always overcome any "whys."  Amen.

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News, Commentary:   www.apf327.blogspot.com

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"

Hebrews 12:2