God hasn't forgotten you!

The Holman Illustrated Study Bible, Hardcover

I thought I should share this. I hope it touches someone. God Works in Mysterious ways, His Wonders to Perform.

The Bible says, “He (God) has made everything beautiful in its time…” (Eccles 3:11)

It had been 400 years since the people of Israel had heard from God when the angel Gabriel suddenly appeared to a priest named Zacharias and essentially told him, "God has not forgotten you, Zacharias. He is going to give you a sign." My friend, hear this announcement. God has not forgotten you. He loves you and hears your prayers. It is now your turn to be remembered. Your turn of favour and manifestations has come. As a single person, it is your turn to marry. There is a man or woman waiting for you. You better get ready. As Christians, our turn has finally come, and God had orchestrated events for everything to fall into place. He knows about what is happening in our nations now.

The name Zacharias meant "God remembers." Zacharias married to Elizabeth , whose named meant, "My God is an oath." Clearly the parents of Zacharias and Elizabeth had given prayerful thought to the names they gave to their children, because they would have such a significant fulfillment. My friend, your name is very significant to your destiny. What is the meaning of your name? Do you need to change it? What name do you give to your child?

The Bible tells us that Zacharias was a godly man and that his wife Elizabeth was godly as well. At this time, there were thousands of priests who worked in Israel . A lottery system actually was developed to determine which priest would have the opportunity to go into the temple and offer incense on behalf of the people. It was a once-in-a-lifetime- opportunity. It just so happened that Zacharias' turn had finally come, and God had orchestrated events for everything to fall into place on the day of Zacharias' service. What a mighty, wonderful and glorious God we serve!

This reminds us that sometimes God speaks to us in the mundane, day-to-day activities of life. While we are waiting for big events to come, we fail to understand that sometimes God will work through the ordinary circumstances of life. Sometimes we are waiting for the earth to shake or the fire to come down from heaven, and meanwhile, God is saying, "I am speaking to you right now if you would just tune in and pay attention." My friend, ability to hear His voice and obey is the major key into the realm of His glory and manifestations of His power.


Here, in this set of ordinary events, God intervened as He often did at the situations and affairs of His people. When shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks one night, the angels arrived with the wonderful message of the Messiah's arrival. When a man named Elisha was plowing in his field, the call came for him to become the next prophet for Israel . When a man named Gideon was hiding away in secrecy, an angel came to say, "You're going to be a mighty man of valour." When David was taking care of his father’s sheep in the bush, God remembered him.

My friend, today could be like any other day for you. This month could be like any other month for you. This year, that is about to close, could be like any other year for you. But on the other hand, your life could change today, this month or this year. The supernatural would invade the natural and God would say or do something of great significance in your life. Do you believe? As Zacharias carried out his priestly duties, the wonderful announcement came that he and Elizabeth would have a child-but not just any child. That is shown by the fact that Gabriel himself came to announce his birth. Whenever Gabriel showed up, you knew that something big was going to happen. It was Gabriel who had given Daniel the schedule of the Messiah's arrival, crucifixion and return. It was Gabriel who later appear to Mary and to Joseph. His ministry was directly tied to the announcement to the ministry of Jesus Christ.

Friend, this is the time for God to answer you and announce you. But, you must believe and expect it. Gabriel appeared and said to Zacharias, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John" (Luke 1:13). In the original language, this verse implies that God heard the prayer Zacharias was praying at that very moment. What he was praying for we don't know exactly, but perhaps Zacharias was praying for a son. Gabriel suddenly appeared and said, "God just heard your prayer."

Maybe you, like Zacharias and Elizabeth, have been praying for someone or something for a long time. Perhaps you are even on the verge of giving up. Or maybe you have already given up praying for that husband or wife to come to faith, for that prodigal son or daughter to return, for that healing to take place, or for that door to open. Maybe you are trusting God for that resources, that provision, that resident permit, that character of Jesus, that child, that power of the Holy Spirit, harvest of souls, breakthrough, properity, joy or peace. Looking at the present situation, maybe you think you can’t get that job, that contract or that profit. Or maybe you have concluded that God will never answer your prayer. I have Good News for you. Your turn to be remembered has finally come!

The climatic condition of the day doesn’t warrant Isaac to prosper during the time of national famine and global crisis. But God told him to sow in that season of famine because that time was God’s season and it was His turn to be blessed. Isaac obeyed the word of the Lord, he sowed in that year of famine and the season of God opened unto him for unusual and exceedingly harvests (Gen 26) My friend, listen! When God brings you to His season and says your turn has come, no man or woman, no power or force in hell can stop it. No global crisis can stop or delay it.

Maybe you are thinking it isn't His timing to answer you. Listen, God generally does not alert us to the spiritual activity He does behind-the-scenes. Look at Job! He was not alerted of the discussion between God and satan over him. My friend, if you are praying for something that you believe to be the will of God, then keep on praying in the mean time and don't give up. In the set time, the Lord will intervene as He did with Zacharias and Elizabeth and at that time, you will offer up that same prayer you have offered up so many times and an answer will finally come. Hannah had been going to Shiloh every year offering the same prayer. But the answer came one day at the set time in the season of God when it was her turn. This is the season of God for you to prosper. It is time for you to sow or invest your seeds. The Lord delights to bless His people during famine period. It is your turn to be blessed. Amen.

Does God Really Exist?

I will like to share some words from a book titled "Hearing From God" by
Pastor J.R. Wilhite Sr.

This is really an interesting one. It kind of gives some answers to some questions a lot of christians and non-christians ask. I urge you to get your copy and read more. This book can also serve as a reference. Have you ever asked yourself these questions?

Have you ever wondered about God?
Is there a God?
If there is, how can He let so many bad things happen?
Why does He not just show Himself?
If God did create all of this, why does He not just fix what is broken?
You know those are some good questions, and I have a few more Like:
What does it take to be of God's kingdom?
What do I have to give up?
What do I gain?
Want some more good questions? Well, let's start with the old question of evolution Vs creation.
Which sounds more off the wall, evolution or creation?


EVOLUTION:

All existence was formed out of chaos; it was an accident. Out of this chaos came life in the form of small cells in the oceans and the cells grew and one day left the ocean. Then it raised up on two legs and began to form into apes, and as time went on apes became mankind.
Now, do you really believe all of the above? Just sit back for a while and review the theory of evolution. What is stated above is a short version of the theory of evolution. The long version sounds even more off the wall.

CREATION:

God created the heavens and the earth. And then He created all life on the earth.
I find it much easier to believe in a Supreme Being that created everything than to think it is one great big accident! Want proof from the Bible? Creation was supposed to take place in seven days, but we know based on what Peter said:
2 Peter 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day [is] with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
So based on Peter's statement we learn that time does not exist for God. What is time? It is a way to measure or count down to the end of something like our life for an example. Since God and His kingdom don't age or end, then there is no need of time. Since God is supreme, it would be nothing for Him to create all of this in seven days, seven minutes, or even seven seconds,

Now let's poke another hole in evolution. Evolution has depended on the idea that it took millions and billions of years for everything to have evolved. The number 1 way of dating objects is called carbon date testing, which by measuring the levels of carbon 12 in fossils would tell its age. The only problem is science has now proven that there was a flood, and this flood (Noah's flood) did cover the whole earth some 4,500 years ago. Big deal, right? Well, science has proven that before this flood the earth was surrounded by water. This water sack around the earth’s atmosphere would not have allowed carbon 14 radiation to reach the earth. You see carbon 12 comes from the sun and that sack of water the earth was in, blocked any of the sun's radiation like carbon 14. So any levels of carbon 14 had to have been absorbed within the last 4,500 years or so.

Just think, the evolutionists say that dinosaur bones were found with carbon 14. So I guess that blows the theory of a meteor or comet coming to earth and causing the death of the dinosaurs MILLIONS of years ago, because by their own statements it would take many thousands of years for the earth to recover from such an event. We have historical records that date back to within 1,500 years of the flood. That proves that there was life and it was mankind. If the dinosaurs were destroyed by the explosive impact of some meteor or comet, and then after things calmed down life started over and man came from the ashes, how could all of this taken place in such a short time period? It could not have. They will tell you themselves that it would have taken many millions of years. If carbon 14 could not penetrate the earth until after the flood and the flood happened 4,500 years ago, and dinosaur bones have been found with carbon 14, then how could this be? It could not... based on evolution.

However based on the Bible it could. The Bible tells us in Genesis chapters 6-8 about the flood known as Noah's flood. This was where mankind had been perverted and God was ready to give up on man, at least until He found Noah. Noah was perfect in his generations. We also know that Noah took anywhere from 2 to 7 of every living creature with Him on the ark. We also know that the size of the dinosaurs (with their relatively small lungs) would require a denser atmosphere and more pure oxygen. After the earth lost its outer water shield, the atmosphere started expanding, causing it to be less concentrated and the oxygen less pure. Along with this, the vegetation would be less abundant. Since it was harder to breathe and with less food the dinosaurs went the same way as other extinct creatures.

Okay, why has God allowed all this to happen?
Well, first let us look at what God had planned. He created this earth for mankind. Then He created Adam and Eve, and He gave them a lease on the earth. It was theirs to do with as they pleased. God wanted mankind to have free will, not to be a bunch of robots. He could have made robots, but He wanted man to procreate, and fill the earth with freethinking, free willed beings that would be a part of His family. He wanted children.

Then Adam did the unthinkable; he gave his lease away to the only one that would dare try to mess things up. This was one of God's highest Angels ever. His name was Lucifer and he was the only anointed archangel ever.

Lucifer, like so many of us, allowed pride to over take and over power him. He got the idea that he could become God, and he caused division in heaven. So God did the only thing He could–he cast Lucifer out, but in the process He created His biggest problem. Why not just erase Lucifer and his followers? Good question. God could not go against His own words (law), and God had given a lease on the earth to man for a period of time. Since Adam had essentially transferred it to Lucifer, God had to honor this, at least until the end of the lease. Are you wondering what I mean by lease? Well, by the time you finish this book you will understand.

So now God’s creation is basically a sub-let to one who is not of Him anymore, one who is perverted. God knew full well that Satan (Lucifer) would pervert all that God had done and said. So God has to find those individuals here who will work with Him. Since God is honorable, the only way into this earth is through woman. A big difference between God and Satan is that God is a gentleman who always gives choices and never forces Himself on anyone. Satan always forces, and never gives choices.

So as time went by God would find a man or a woman through whom He could work. Yes, God even appeared, in the form of a cloud by day and fire by night to the children of Israel, but they asked that He no longer would appear to them. Even while He did, they still sinned so badly that God wanted to destroy them again. So even His actual presence did not prevent sin.
What is sin? Sin is a thing you do that leads to death. Yes, even something as minor as gossip (false witness, lie) is a sin, and it leads to death. The reasoning is basically simple;

Anything that is of God is life.
Anything that is not of God is of Satan.
Anything of Satan is death and destruction.
God is not a man that He could lie. God is truth, so the lie is truth perverted.
Let's get back on track.

God sees that His being in the presence of man, visible to man, does not work. So He decides that the removal of His visible presence may help us be better. How could that help? It would require man to seek God on a higher plane than this physical one. Too many seek God for the wrong reasons and in doing so never find Him. Man often only seeks him out when there is some kind of trouble. Read the Old Testament and see how many times Israel ignored God until they needed Him. Notice how fast they sought Him out, but only when He was needed.

Some of you may say you have sought out God, and you found nothing. First, how long did you seek Him? Second, what did you do to seek Him? Did you, for a day or two (or less) moan and groan, expecting Him to show up and bail you out? It takes some a year, two years, or more.

Others have taken as short as days to find God. First you have to get through a lot of lies to get to the truth. When you get to the truth you will always find God. He is there trying to get to you, but He will not break His words (law). That would pervert the things He has set up. He will not be found in the lie. What is the lie? That God will hear and answer you if you are good or moan loud enough. Moaning does not move God, faith does.

What is faith? At first faith is having confidence in, trusting in, and relying on Christ for salvation. Christ is a Greek word, which means The Anointed One. Anointed means Saturated in the Spirit of God, the Power and wisdom of God. So faith would be having confidence in, trusting in and relying on the power and wisdom of God to save you from whatever you need saving from. It is like being a child. Have you ever noticed how a child trusts, and has confidence in, and reliance on his/her parents for everything? Well, faith that moves God is like that faith that children have in their parents. That is how you contact God.

A big hindrance to this is that we have been filled with lies. From day one we have been inundated with the lies of church leaders, politicians, and even family members. For instance, how many of you bring up your children or were brought up believing in Santa Claus? People tell their children this lie and ask them to believe. Then, the children get old enough to know better.

How hard is it for them to believe in someone that they can not see, when the one they could see (in a red suit) turned out to be a lie? How much does good old Santa seem like God? Songs, that say he knows when you are naughty or nice or he's coming to town so don't cry or he will know.
It's not just Santa Claus. How about the tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny? Harmless? NO, not when you are talking about a child during the time of his/her life when they are most impressionable. These are not the only lies. In the past, we have been led to believe in politicians, only to be lied to and then let down. The same goes for church leaders.

Do not believe in man, but in God only, because God can not let you down. Only man can let you down. God never set things up this way, man did.
1 John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

We really have all the tools that we need to find God and live the life we should. The tools are the Bible, faith, and prayer. You may ask, why does God not show Himself? He does! But we are too blind to see Him. We are blinded by the things around us like TV, movies, music, sports etc.
The really funny thing is that we are too afraid to get to know God. However we allow ourselves to be programmed by people who we do not know and do not know Him. As far as we know these people could be ax murderers, child molesters, rapists, etc. Who am I talking about? The people who write and produce the TV shows and movies we watch, or those who program the games our children play on X-BOX or Nintendo.

Why does God allow so many bad things to happen? He does not, We do! We have an enemy and we ignore him and allow him to do these things. Oh yes, Satan is still here, and he really does not want you to realize that he is still here, or even that he exists.

John 3:15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

God is love! The only way He could help us was to give us a way out. The way was through His Son. He does not condemn us if we do not choose Him; we condemn ourselves. If we choose God's way then we choose life. What do we give up? We must really give up so much–Death and destruction. People who drink, smoke, or have sex with their spouse are not condemned. The smoker or drinker may shorten his/her life here, but they are not condemned to hell. Yes, a lot of people quit smoking and drinking when they get to know God. That’s not because they MUST, but because they want to, because they found more in life. They found something with which to replace the artificial, external, physical stimuli.

God made it very simple–believe in His Son. If you do sin, repent and God will forgive you. It can not be any simpler.
If you want more out of life and you want to avoid bad things from happening to you and your family, you will have to read the manual. You will have to spend time with the One who wrote the manual. Then you will avoid most of those terrible and awful things you hear about. The manual is the Bible, and the One who wrote it is God. The bad things are any of those things you don't want in your life. Please read the book of John in the Bible. Read it over and over until you have a full understanding and while you read ask God through His Spirit to help enlighten you to understand what you are reading.

Talk to God, He is real. If you do it enough and give Him a chance to get a word in edgewise you will hear Him. Don't set a time limit. Set yourself time to do it until you know what the following verse means.

Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
I have endeavored to answer some of the questions that we had at the beginning, but due to the limitations of time and space, I was only able to skim over some and give you a very short version of others. If you research on your own what I have started here I think you will find that a lot of scientists are even finding God.

My prayer for you is that you find God and have a beautiful relationship with Him. (Amen)

Please get your own copy of this book.
Hearing From God

Is God Boring?

Daily Devotions

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I don't think so. But many people believe so. If we apply our imaginations to various aspects of life, we can see that there are ways we can still be of God and worship, serve Him with enthusiasm, and not in boredom. According to John Piper, when he spoke at Northwestern College as part of their year-long 100th anniversary celebration, (the title of his message was "The Supremacy of God in the Life of the Mind."). One capability of the mind that he focused on was the imagination. He said that imagination applies to everybody who has a mind. Here's what I said:

One of the great duties of the Christian mind is imagination. It is not the only thing the mind does. The mind observes. The mind analyzes and organizes. The mind memorizes. But imagination is different. It does not observe or analyze what's there; it imagines what is not seen but might be there and might explain what is there (as in the case of most scientific discoveries). Or it imagines a new way of saying what is there that no one has said before (as in the case of creative writing and music and art).

The Power of Praying Through the Bible By Stormie Omartian / Harvest House Publishers Join best-selling author Omartian on a journey of discovery from Genesis to Revelation! Based on devotions from The Power of a Praying Woman Bible, this encouraging guide reveals how God designed prayer so that we can communicate with him, embrace the promises of Scripture, release burdens to his care, walk with Jesus, and listen to the Spirit. 400 pages, softcover from Harvest.

John Piper aslo said that imagination is a Christian duty for two reasons. One is that you can't apply Jesus' golden rule without it. He said, "Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them" (Matthew 7:12). We must imagine ourselves in their place and imagine what we would like done to us. Compassionate, sympathetic, helpful love hangs much on the imagination of the lover.

The other reason he said that imagination is a Christian duty is that when a person speaks or writes or sings or paints about breathtaking truth in a boring way, it is probably a sin. The supremacy of God in the life of the mind is not honored when God and his amazing world are observed truly, analyzed duly, and communicated boringly. Imagination is the key to killing boredom. We must imagine ways to say truth for what it really is. And it is not boring. God's world - all of it - rings with wonders. The imagination calls up new words, new images, new analogies, new metaphors, new illustrations, new connections to say old, glorious truth. Imagination is the faculty of the mind that God has given us to make the communication of his beauty beautiful.


Imagination may be the hardest work of the human mind. And perhaps the most God-like. It is the closest we get to creation out of nothing. When we speak of beautiful truth, we must think of a pattern of words, perhaps a poem. We must conceive something that has never existed before and does not now exist in any human mind. We must think of an analogy or metaphor or illustration which has no existence. The imagination must exert itself to see it in our mind, when it is not there. We must create word combinations and music that have never existed before. All of this we do, because we are like God and because he is infinitely worthy of ever-new words and songs.

A college - or a church - committed to the supremacy of God in the life of the mind will cultivate many fertile, and a few great, imaginations. And O how the world needs God-besotted minds that can say the great things of God and sing the great things of God and play the great things of God in ways that have never been said or sung or played before.

Imagination is like a muscle. It grows stronger when you flex it. And you must flex it. It does not usually put itself into action. It awaits the will. Imagination is also contagious. When you are around someone who uses it a lot, you tend to catch it. Please, hang out with some people  who are full of imagination, and that you exert yourself to think up a new way to say an old truth. God is worthy.

Ada

What Cancer Cannot Do

I was having my Devotionals the other day, and I read this passage which has become one of my favorites. I was so moved by the words and the way they apply to so many parts of my life and maybe yours too. Here it goes;

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

And Pastor Adrian Rogers asked this question in his Daily Devotionals, "What if you had an appointment with the doctor and found out that you had cancer? Maybe you have heard this news or heard it on behalf of a loved one. I want to tell you some things cancer cannot do. Cancer cannot shatter hope. Cancer cannot corrode faith. Cancer cannot eat away peace. Cancer cannot place a limit on eternal life. Cancer cannot quench the Spirit of God and cancer cannot lessen the power of the resurrection. That’s how limited cancer is!"

If there's anyone you know who has cancer, please share this good News with them to givethem some hope and maybe life. If possible, pray with them or for them that they may know Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Sealed with the Holy Spirit

BIBLE MEDITATION:


“...ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.”

Ephesians 1:13



DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The moment you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit of God seals you into Himself. What does it mean to be sealed? It means to put the King’s seal on you. The King’s seal can be broken by no man. That means you are His for all time and eternity. Second Timothy 2:19 says, “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His.” You are sealed into a relationship with God by the Holy Spirit.



ACTION POINT:

Read Daniel 6 and Matthew 27. Note the similarities in the accounts of Daniel and Jesus being sealed away for death and how the Almighty God delivered them unto life!


From Pastor Adrian Rogers

Brokenness: The Principle

I thought this was interesting, and decided to share. Please, let me know what you think. Thanks.


John 12:24-25

Brokenness hurts, and most of us would rather live without any seasons of pain. Yet during such times, the Lord often does His greatest work in our lives, reshaping and realigning us for His divine purposes.

Jesus beautifully explains the principle of brokenness in John 12:24-25, where He compares our life to a single grain of wheat. If we hold a kernel in our hands, nothing will happen. If we carefully place it in a jar or on a shelf for safekeeping, it will just sit there indefinitely. In its safety, the grain will essentially be useless.

However, if that kernel is placed in the soil where its protective layer is stripped away, something amazing happens. Before long, a little sprout will emerge from the earth and start to grow into something different, useful, and beautiful. Moreover, that new stalk will produce more grains that can be planted, and the stalks they produce will do the same. It's an amazing cycle of life, wherein a single kernel can lead to countless stalks of wheat. But it has to start with the brokenness of one grain.

Jesus did not just speak this example; He lived it. By sacrificing Himself, He was broken and placed in the ground. From that brokenness came new life for us all. From that one "grain," countless new believers, each with a new life, have sprung forth.

Are you feeling broken today? If so, remember the principle of the broken grain. God has certainly not abandoned you; instead, He may be leading you into a season of radical new growth.


FEATURED RESOURCE
Dr. Charles Stanley