Christmas Wishes, 2009
Love to all…Merry Christmas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiVNASlIFOQ&feature=youtube_gdata
Dec
24
Dec
14
When God Hedges Us In
God is good, all the time. Part of His goodness is His willingness to disrupt our plans to sin, block the paths of our efforts towards unholiness, and cause us to have a wake up call and to realize that we are foolish to turn to anyone but Him.
God spoke through Hosea and said about His people:
Hosea 2:6, 7 “ Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way
with thorns, And wall her in, So that she cannot find her paths. 7 She will chase her lovers, But not overtake them; Yes, she will seek them, but not find them. Then she will say, ‘ I will go and return to my first husband, For then it was better for me than now.’
Pastor David Guzik comments…
I will hedge up your way with thorns: To bring Israel to repentance, God promised to set a hedge of thorns on the sides of her path, so that it would hurt whenever Israel went off the correct path, and so the wrong paths would be hard to find.
When God hedges our way with thorns, we usually don’t like it. We sometimes think God is against us when the thorns hurt and we can’t find the wrong paths. But it is really one of the sweetest expressions of God’s love to hedge up your way with thorns and to wall us in.
I will go and return to my first husband: When God allows the passing pleasures of sin to pass, we often then see how good it was to follow the LORD. In a marriage sometimes the grass can seem greener even with the best spouse; in our walk with the LORD our idols seem attractive until God exposes them. Then we are ready to return to our first husband, the LORD.
NOTE- Pastor David’s commentaries can be found at http://enduringword.com/
Dec
3
An “Awesome” Consideration
I am going to put on my over sized language shoes, and I hope not to step on any toes as I try to make a point. By the way, I’m not wearing steel tipped boots, just over sized Ugg Boots.
Speaking of Ugg boots, don’t you think they are awesome? Oh, and our new family pet pit bull, April, she is awesome too. And April and I have been taking hikes in the hills lately, and they are awesome. And then after our walks, we come home and I have coffee flavored ice cream, which tastes awesome. And then I thank God for all my blessings, because He is, uh…awesome.
It’s not life or death. It’s not a salvation issue. I may be the only one that I know of who notices it, but…aren’t we dumbing down the English language a bit? Are there any words left in the church that can be reserved for God alone?
Dec
1
Motivated To Pray
Prayer is soul work. For me, more-so than studying, teaching, preaching, serving, or counseling. It competes with my flesh like nothing else, and yet, when I pray, there is a special blessing that comes which is experienced in no other realm of life.
Christians need to be motivated to pray. Let me share an idea with you.
There is reward in prayer.
In Matthew 6:16-18, Jesus taught about fasting and praying.
16“Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 17But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.