Posts Tagged ‘prayer’

CHRISTMAS – JUST BELIEVE!

Friday, December 19th, 2014

Year after year Christmas comes and goes and year after year the Lord has been gracious to all who have been able to see how the birth of the Christ child has changed the world. It is true that no other life on earth has ever impacted the world as much as that of Jesus. Even though there are those in the secular community that refuse to acknowledge it, early church leaders used the birth of Jesus to split time vis-à-vis AD and BC–a recognition that is still used widely today. But Jesus was much more than just the splitting of time. Jesus’ impact has been the reason why so much good has gone on in the world. Hospitals, Nursing Homes, Schools, Universities, Orphanages, Shelters, and Hospitals can all find there roots in Christian outreach and goodwill. But even those wonderful things do not fully explain what Christmas is all about.

The birth of Christ was God descending from the throne of heaven to take the form of humanity in order that He might become like us–even for just a moment in time. It was important for God to visit us in this way in order for Him to become our representative. He grew up like us. He experienced childhood like us. He chose friends like us. He sat a meals like us. There was nothing we have done that Christ has not also experienced. It is this experiential life that allows Him to relate to us and provide His never ending fountain of mercy for us. Do we get that? He came to us that He might save us, and to accomplish that mission He had to become like us. The Bible puts it this way:

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DELIVER US FROM EVIL

Thursday, July 10th, 2014
psalm91_1-4The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen (2 Timothy 4:18 ESV).
The popular cultural and societal notion is “there really is no evil” in this world. Even those in the liberal mainlines churches  refuse to come to terms that there is a devil – Satan – who is the accuser of the saints seeks to kill, steal and destroy. The atheist and the liberal deny the existence of evil for a simple reason. That reason is, to accept the existence of evil, one has to accept the existence of Good….and Who is Good? God is good!Those who are under the oppression of evil know it exists. They know it in the Christian towns of the Islamic Middle Eastern Countries, in Pakistan, throughout Africa where hordes are rampaging through Christian countries. The persecuted know that evil is not just those who suffered under Stalin, Hitler, Castro, Mao and Pol Pot.

To deny the existence of evil, and blame “society, or capitalism or democracy”, is easier than recognizing that our own sin opens us up to be brought down and put in spiritual bondage by evil.  This sort of thinking prevents many from coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and it remains an obstacle to most professing Christians, who accept the defeat of the devil. Both sets of people are outside of the Victory which God, through Christ, provides in the following: