Beautiful "Poetry" From A Suffering Saint

"He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.  He binds up the water in His thick clouds, yet the clouds are not broken under it.  He covers the face of His throne, and spreads His cloud over it.  He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters, at the boundary of light and darkness.  The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at His rebuke.  He stirs up the sea with His power, and by His understanding He breaks up the storm.  By His Spirit He adorned the heavens; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.  Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, and how small a whisper we hear of Him!  But the thunder of His power who can understand?"(Jb 26:7-14)

"....How small a whisper we hear of Him!"  What beauty in a worship expression.  What a humble declaration of the reality of any relationship we think we may have with God.  Yet this is Job's praise of God Almighty, Immanuel, "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."  He is speaking of the Living Triune God, Father, Son Jesus, Holy Spirit.

The tendency in reading Job can be, "Oh, just three friends who are later rebuked by the Word of God for everything they said.  Then there is Job, just complaining about his lot in life."  If one takes this approach to the Book of Job, they will miss some of the grandeur of the Book.  Our text reveals the heart of Job, who was once rich, healthy, had a happy family, now on the ash heap, boils on  his body, scraping himself like some homeless, discarded leper.  Yet in the midst of unspeakable suffering and loss Job utters our text.  There is just no greater utterance of the Glory of the Blessed Trinity than here, from this beaten, confused, heartbroken saint, we hear a Believer who will just not stop praising and trusting.

You and I can live such a life of victory in the midst of life's battles, if we will keep running the race as Job did, "Looking unto Jesus."  Yes, "Abraham rejoiced to see [Jesus'] day, and he saw it and was glad," and so did Job and every Old Testament saint.  They, just as Simeon in the temple, were looking forward to "The Coming One."  The anticipation of the appearing of the Christ, their view of the Cross (Isaiah 53) was their salvation and power for living and facing anything life could bring their way; therefore, in the same spirit, March on, Christian Soldier!

Father, in Jesus' Name, I thank You, You who Are The Same One Whom Job continued to love and worship through his darkest hour, are doing and will continue to do for and in me what You did for and in Job.  Amen.

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If you did not receive the Mircea and Woody TV Interview, view it @: http://originofantipas.blogspot.com

Read, "Israel Is the Only Safe State For Mid-East Christians" @:

www.jerberwash.blogspot.cpm

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

"14 March, 2012, International Day of Action to Defend Blasphemers and Apostates"

"....Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.  For indeed the days are coming in which they...will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and to the hills, 'Cover us!'  For it they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?" (From Luke 23:27-31, NKJV, NASB)

This is from my yesterday's Gospel reading.  Our text is a most disturbing and sobering utterance of our Lord concerning the future of humanity after His Cross.  Could we respectfully paraphrase, "If you think this is bad.........................."

I made a decision many years ago when I heard of a pastor in Canada who was sentenced to take sensitivity training for insulting Islam.  He had to drive 6 hours one way every week for six months to attend the class.  I thought at the time, This is a more serious issue than tea.  I will write from prison first.  This is not fleshly bravado.  This is preparation for what our Lord Jesus warned the women of in our text.  We read in the Book of Acts that it began to happen very shortly after Christ's death, resurrection and ascension.  And succeeding Church History, right to the present day, reveals just how awesome was the warning. 

The Church in America should have taken our text seriously and been prepared for the events of the 1960's.  There had been forces at work for many years in America which were determined to take the nation from a Judeo-Christian based nation to an atheistic, believe-anything-and-stand-for-nothing nation.  In 1962 and '63, the Church in America should have said to those who reject and hate Jesus Christ, "You may not like the prayer of Jesus and the Bible, but you are living in a nation which was founded in both.  Your child may sit in a classroom and not say the prayer, and be free to not listen to the Bible reading.  But as long as you are a citizen in our "house," such activity will continue.  To all atheists and those who reject Jesus Christ:  The Church of the United States of America says to you, You are in our house; we are not in your house. 

History reveals just how unprepared the Church in America was in those days.  Yet what about now?  Our text was no idle words of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Nothing God says is idle words.  He still speaks the solemn words to Planet Earth, "For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?"

Father, in Jesus' Name, I trust You and You alone for my strength when, "what will happen," may come upon me.  Amen.
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Read of "14 March, 2012, International Day of Action to Defend Blasphemers and Apostates @: www.jerberwash.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

58trojan23 sent you a video: "APF DEVOTIONAL"

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Acculturalization, The Historic Challenge of The Church

"Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD?  or who shall stand in his holy place?  He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.  He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation." (Psalm 24:3-5, KJV)

Today's Unreached People Group is the Uzbek of Southern Afghanistan.  Among other prayer requests, the site asks us to pray that they would "put off falsehood and speak truthfully to one another."  

Our text came to mind when I remembered an experience I had while visiting one of our missionaries to Morocco in September of 1985.  One day I met with one of his young Moroccan converts, Said; of course he was from a Muslim background.  He shared with me the extreme difficulty of being a Follower of Jesus in his Arab culture.  He said that even with the very few Christian friends he has, the cultural deception and "falsehood" in interpersonal relationships was a struggle for him in his walk in Christ.  It was the age-old battle of acculturalization.  I remember sharing our text with him, no preaching, teaching, just, "The Words of God."  That was all it took; his countenance changed.  The next day he brought one of his friends with him, Mustafa.  Why?  "The Words of God," had impacted Said and he wanted his friend to hear, "The Words of God."  They challenged the Arab Islamic Culture straight on and encouraged Said, empowered him, gave him renewed hope.  "The Way, the Truth, and The Life," Who is our Lord Jesus Christ, won the day. 

The American church faces the similar challenge of acculturalization.  I read an article this morning entitled, "Acculturalization: assimilation-integration-rejection-deculturalization."  The article is quite short, and I have posted it on our News, Commentary Blog at:  www.jerberwash.blogspot.com

The author defined aculturalization as, "when 2 autonomous cultures meet and one becomes the dominant while the other either assimilates to the new culture, integrates into the new culture while maintaining their identity, rejects the new culture, or deculturalizes all together (removes from both cultures)."  The article posted on our Blog is a timely illustration of the acculturalization challenge which has faced the Church through the centuries.  In my opinion, this is, and has been through the centuries, the number one nemesis of the Church.

Father, in Jesus' Name, please keep me from any acculturalization.  Amen.

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Very Timely Article, Plus Others at: www.jerberwash.blogspot.com  

Unreached People Group: www.apfunreachedpeoples.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