"Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession." (Psalm 2:8)
I started the book in the late afternoon of a hot July's summer day in 1968. It was into the dark sky of the following morning before I finished it. God's Smuggler affected the rest of our lives. This is the way of our life, a singular event, a singular decision can be a "course changer." Jesus brings something/someone to you for a purpose. How we respond determines our life.
How many "course changers" will you and I face in 2015. I don't know; you don't know; nobody knows, well, of course, except One. The question is, How many "changes" will be proactive or reactive? Are you and I going to allow others to determine our 2015, or are we? Now some may say, "O, no. No one affects change in my life but God." No. We are not automatons. Forget the theology, "Well, God makes no mistakes." Of course He does not. You and I, however, make plenty. The "God-makes-no-mistakes" cliche is ultimate cop out. This puts all of our life's decisions upon God, and exempts us from responsibility, the responsibility which man has been given ever since the Garden, "You may eat of all the trees, except this one." How many times have you and I eaten from the "wrong tree?"
There are things, events which occur in human history which are man's choosing, and there are things which occur which are totally Jesus' doing, "I am the Alpha and the Omega." Jesus, King of Creation and the Universe, King of nations, "King of kings, and Lord of lords," is The One of Whom the "God-Breathed" Words says in our text, "Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance." Make no mistake; the nations are Jesus Christ's. While men and nations "play" in the "river" of history and do much destruction to themselves, Jesus is the banks of that river. Mankind bumps and bangs against the banks, but he cannot get outside the banks. History, or "His Story" is "headed toward a dramatic climax." Those who will arrive safely "on the other shore" will be those who have lived, "Thy will be done".
Conscientious obedience, viz., walking circumspectly, will keep us from the "wrong tree," the dangerous and disastrous path of a will other than that of Jesus. Walking in the Holy Spirit in Him Who alone is, "The Word of God," Jesus, and Our Father keeps us from the regrets of life. "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," aka, "You will navigate life's river protected from the destructive rocks and shoals."
2015 is only a designation of our time/space existence. Followers of Jesus are Children of "the Eternal One." Don't make "resolutions," don't attempt anything on your own strength and desire based on time/space humanism. Walk in and, "looking to Jesus," Jesus Who alone, "is my light and my salvation", in Jesus, Who alone is, "the strength of my life." When this is our "resolution," when this is our determination, our obedience, then 2015 will have no regrets.
Father, in Jesus' Name, "into Your hands," I commit the coming year. Amen.
********************
We have $1100.00 pledged for our March Mission; still need $3400.00.
I started the book in the late afternoon of a hot July's summer day in 1968. It was into the dark sky of the following morning before I finished it. God's Smuggler affected the rest of our lives. This is the way of our life, a singular event, a singular decision can be a "course changer." Jesus brings something/someone to you for a purpose. How we respond determines our life.
How many "course changers" will you and I face in 2015. I don't know; you don't know; nobody knows, well, of course, except One. The question is, How many "changes" will be proactive or reactive? Are you and I going to allow others to determine our 2015, or are we? Now some may say, "O, no. No one affects change in my life but God." No. We are not automatons. Forget the theology, "Well, God makes no mistakes." Of course He does not. You and I, however, make plenty. The "God-makes-no-mistakes" cliche is ultimate cop out. This puts all of our life's decisions upon God, and exempts us from responsibility, the responsibility which man has been given ever since the Garden, "You may eat of all the trees, except this one." How many times have you and I eaten from the "wrong tree?"
There are things, events which occur in human history which are man's choosing, and there are things which occur which are totally Jesus' doing, "I am the Alpha and the Omega." Jesus, King of Creation and the Universe, King of nations, "King of kings, and Lord of lords," is The One of Whom the "God-Breathed" Words says in our text, "Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance." Make no mistake; the nations are Jesus Christ's. While men and nations "play" in the "river" of history and do much destruction to themselves, Jesus is the banks of that river. Mankind bumps and bangs against the banks, but he cannot get outside the banks. History, or "His Story" is "headed toward a dramatic climax." Those who will arrive safely "on the other shore" will be those who have lived, "Thy will be done".
Conscientious obedience, viz., walking circumspectly, will keep us from the "wrong tree," the dangerous and disastrous path of a will other than that of Jesus. Walking in the Holy Spirit in Him Who alone is, "The Word of God," Jesus, and Our Father keeps us from the regrets of life. "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," aka, "You will navigate life's river protected from the destructive rocks and shoals."
2015 is only a designation of our time/space existence. Followers of Jesus are Children of "the Eternal One." Don't make "resolutions," don't attempt anything on your own strength and desire based on time/space humanism. Walk in and, "looking to Jesus," Jesus Who alone, "is my light and my salvation", in Jesus, Who alone is, "the strength of my life." When this is our "resolution," when this is our determination, our obedience, then 2015 will have no regrets.
Father, in Jesus' Name, "into Your hands," I commit the coming year. Amen.
********************
We have $1100.00 pledged for our March Mission; still need $3400.00.
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
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
