John 4.24 describes, God is Spirit, so those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and in truth.
One of the ways we know there is a God is that humanity from all time in all places has worshiped a god. The Bible explains this propensity as the One True God placing within us a deep knowledge that our Creator lives and beckons us to Himself. (more…)
Haggai 1.14 records, the LORD sparked the enthusiasm of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the enthusiasm of Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the enthusiasm of the whole remnant of God’s people. They began to work on the house of their God, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
The modern vernacular of, ‘God sparked enthusiasm’ is revival. We could use a revival. This movement of God followed His rebuke of Israel for doing nothing to build His temple while they spent their time and money on building their houses and fields. (more…)
Luke 23.49 observes, Jesus’ friends, including the women who had followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance
watching.
A lot of people are standing from a distance watching for God to do something.
Sometimes we are waiting for Him to rain hell fire upon our enemies because we know how much they deserve it. Sometimes we are waiting for Him to heal us or our friends because we know how much He cares for us. Sometimes we are waiting for Him to bless us because we know how much He loves us. We wait, we hope but….. (more…)
1 John 5.21 ends the letter with, dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.
The Apostle John ends his letter succinctly with the summary admonition to stay away from anything that might take God’s place in our hearts. This statement feels much like the Lord Jesus’ summary of what God the Father really wants from us: love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. (more…)
Luke 16.13 observes, no one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.
The Bible has many warnings against the pursuit and accumulation of wealth. It is interesting that God observes that our greatest competitor to Him will not be some strange idol from a weird man-made religion but a desire to be wealthy. Why do we want wealth? (more…)
1 Chronicles 28.7 requires, if he continues to obey my commands and regulations as he does now, I will make his kingdom
last forever.
The Jews understood and still believe, that they are God’s chosen people. Indeed, He did choose them thousands of years ago when God selected one man from all those living on the earth to be the one through whom He will build a nation culminating in His arrival as one of us, Jesus the Messiah.
God’s choice was His own, it wasn’t based upon the merits of the man nor of the people to come from the children born through that man and his wife. Today, the protestant church believes it too is the chosen people of God. (more…)
James 4.4 warns, you adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it
again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.
What does it mean to be a friend of the world? Being a friend to anyone means liking them, possibly imitating them and wanting to be their constant companion. So why does God warn us about being a friend of the world? (more…)
Amos 5.14 commands, do what is good and run from evil so that you may live! Then the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper, just as you have claimed.
Do you feel like the results from our election were a blessing? Do you believe we dodged a worst case scenario bullet not having Hillary in the White House? If so, should we go back to normal and wait for the Donald to make everything right? Can he even do that? I don’t think even the proponents of Donald Trump believe him to be the savior of our nation’s moral and spiritual decay. (more…)
Amos 3.8 observes, The Sovereign LORD has spoken— so who can refuse to proclaim his message?
The answer to Amos’ question seems to be most of the people of God. This was true in the day of Amos and it is true today as well. Why does this appear to be true?
As in Amos’ day, so few know the message of the Lord. This would not be true if the people of God were constantly declaring God’s message even as they lived that message. What is God’s message? (more…)
Proverbs 27.23 tells us to know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds.
This is good, solid practical advice for everyone in leadership. God tells us that our first priority as leaders should be our people. For fathers this means knowing how our wife and children are doing then doing those things that will make their lives easier and better. (more…)
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