"'It Is All Right,' He Said, 'I am Here! Don't Be Afraid.'"

"If it is You, command me to come to You....So [Jesus] said, 'Come.'"  (Matthew 14:28, 29)

 

The context says, "Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves....But Jesus spoke to them at once.  'It is all right,' he said, 'I am here!  Don't be afraid.'"  At this point in his walk with the Savior, Peter had little idea of what the Bible calls, "the deep things of God."  He just knew that the safest place in the storm that night was not in the boat----- It was on the water.  And, as time went on, it became more and more clear to Peter that Jesus was offering humanity a Reality which they had never encountered.  "Follow Me," "Come to Me..., I in you and you in Me." 

 

Popular modern religion tells us to look within.  One of the early Eastern religionist said, "What is important is not to follow anybody but to understand oneself.  If you go into yourself without effort, fear, without any sense of self restraint, and really delve deeply, you will find extraordinary things; and you don't have to read a single book."  In stark contrast is The Word of God, Jesus Christ, "Follow Me....Search the Scriptures.... They testify of me....You are complete in Him...." 

 

Before this day is over, you and I will have another opportunity to choose, "Come to Me," or to ourselves, or someone else.  Personally, I have written on my heart that I have no answers, no power, no inner strength to deal with life.  I am not too proud to embrace, "It's all right....I am here!  Don't be afraid."

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, may the, "washing of water by the Word," "penetrate" my heart.  Amen.

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Prophetic News, Updates:    www.apf327.blogspot.com

When an 18 year old Norwegian "heard the call to evangelize China, 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

"Mercy And Truth...Preserve Him"

"Oh, prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him!" (Psalm 61:7b)

 

"Mercy and truth," are interwoven.  Both, "may preserve him!"  One without the other, however, may destroy him.  "Mercy triumphs over judgment," but not over truth.  The translations which say, "For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth," are correct.  The Greek construction contrasts, "against the truth," with, "for the truth."   

Truth cannot be changed.  Judgment can.  Truth is the "immovable object" against which there is no "irresistible force."  Everyone wants mercy, but few want truth.  Yet our text indicates the relationship of the two.  Maybe the reason men cry so much for mercy is that they walk so little in Truth.  

The popular quote, "It is easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission," is the modus operandi of pop Christianity.

 

One of the most powerful dialogues in cinematic history is from, "The Godfather III."  In irony of life, Michael approaches a cardinal in the Catholic Church about corruption in the Vatican.  The Cardinal begins the dialogue with an illustration.  He takes a small stone from a water bowl and breaks it.  He points out that the stone has been in the water for a long time, but the water has not penetrated the stone, "Inside it is completely dry."  He then says, "The same thing has happened in Europe.  For centuries they have been surrounded by Christianity, but Christ has not penetrated, Christ doesn't live within them."  It is still true today.  With all the confessions, indulgences, absolutions, catechisms, all the worship, dancing and shouting, all the praying, all the prophetic declaration, all the good works------------------------------------ "Christ has not penetrated."     

 

Our Lord Jesus Christ asked Father to, "Sanctify them in Your truth.  Your word is truth."  It is Truth which saves me and sanctifies me.  Of course I need Christ's mercy at all times.  Most of the time, however, mercy is what I need when I fail to walk in Truth.  To many it sounds so "compassionate" to speak of mercy, and so harsh to speak of truth.  I confess, I need all the mercy I can get, but so of truth.  The summation of our text for me is---------------- "Mercy and truth preserve [me]."

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, I am continually amazed at Your Word, "lamp to my feet, light to my path."  Amen.

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Updated Prophetic News at:    www.apf327.blogspot.com

 

 

When an 18 year old Norwegian "heard the call to evangelize China, 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

Holocaust Remembrance Day

" 'For I, Myself, will be a wall of fire around Jerusalem,' says the LORD.  'And I will be the glory inside the city....Anyone who harms you harms my most precious possession.  I will raise my fist to crush them, and their own slaves will plunder them.'  Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me....Be silent before the LORD, all humanity, for he is springing into action from his holy dwelling." 

(From Zech. 2, NLT))

 

Anyone who has seen photos of German cities, circa 1945, knows that one would be well advised to take the Word of God seriously.

 

Over the weekend, we heard the news out of Poland that one of Israel's greatest supporters died in a plane crash.  Yet at the same time I read more news about America's President and his attempt to destroy Israel (See today's Blog).  Obama is standing with Israel's enemies, and in doing so he really is standing with them, not only against Israel and the Jews, but against the United States of America.  If America continues on this path, the 1945 photos of German cities could be twenty-first century photos of America's cities.  The American President, with the approval of the American people and constant urging of his staff, continues to make decisions which attempt to weaken Israel, and in doing so has set America on a perilous path. 

 

Yet Followers of Jesus Christ need not be partakers in the sins of nations.  If we take the Word of God seriously, then in, "the Day of Judgment," we will be as Noah in the flood------- "and the Lord shut him in."  The Blessed Trinity will protect us, provide for us, all the Obedient to Jesus Christ, those born of the Spirit, delivered from the fires of Hell for a place in the, "many mansions."  When we believe and surrender to the Word of God, Jesus Christ, we are as the Hebrew text describes, "pupil of His eye," not only the center of His "gaze" and affection, but also the center of His Will.  I can think of no greater security in these perilous times.

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, I pray that I am ready for the time of Your, "springing into action."  Amen.

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Don't miss stories of six Holocaust Survivors @: www.apfjw.blogspot.com

Obama's Latest Attack on Israel:                         www.apf327.blogspot.com

 

 

When an 18 year old Norwegian "heard the call to evangelize China, 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

"Educated From Childhood...to Say 'Never Again'"

Shoah Remembrance Day Ceremonies Begin
by Gil Ronen

The official events commemorating the Holocaust or Shoah – the systematic slaughter of the Jews in Europe in the course of World War 2 – began at Yad Vashem at 8:00 PM Sunday.





After more than a millennium in which they lived in Europe – often persecuted, sometimes thriving – the Jews of the continent were rounded up systematically by Germany and methodically put to death. For years before their annihilation in death camps too ghastly to imagine, they were starved and humiliated, yet they managed to put up a fight in places such as the Warsaw and Vilnius ghettos, and even inside the death camps of Sobibor, Treblinka and Auschwitz. 

German soldiers and their collaborators in France, Poland, Rumania, Hungary, the Ukraine and elsewhere in Germany's temporary "Third Reich" empire were responsible for some of the worst atrocities on record, against a people who were unarmed and without a state of their own. A race theory was propounded and anyone with Jewish ancestry was reviled and persecuted – as were gypsies, homosexuals, and the mentally and physically ill.

Two thirds of Europe's Jews, 6 million victims including 1.5 million children, were murdered by the Nazi regime which feared them more than it did the world's most formidable armies. Trains carrying Jewish men, women and children to the slaughter received priority over those shipping men and arms to the front even when Germany's military situation was deteriorating.

65 years after the liberation of the last death camp, the Jewish people in Israel alone numbers over 5.6 million strong. Its army is feared throughout the region and is said to be armed with the world's most potent weapons. The grandsons of Holocaust survivors are its generals, educated from childhood to remember the horror and to say "Never again!".



Jews rounded up for transport to slaughter.



IAF F-15D over Auschwitz (file)
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When an 18 year old Norwegian "heard the call to evangelize China, 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