Does God Speak?

My love, my best friend, my SUPERMAN, 1977

 “How sweet Your word is to my taste – sweeter than honey to my mouth.”  (Psalm 119:103)

Does God speak?

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depth, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. (Gen. 1:2-3)

Does God speak to man?

The Lord said to Abram, “Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to a land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Gen. 12:1-3)

But that was the Old Testament. Does God still speak to man?

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things… “Look, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me to repay each person according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End… I, Jesus, have sent My angel to arrest these things to you for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright Morning Star.” (Rev. 22:8,12-13,16)

Does God speak to me?

Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me.” (John 10:27)

God, how can I hear Your voice?

“Be still, and know I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)

“Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things.” (Jer. 33:3)

Thank You, God.

“Oh, how I love Your instructions! I think about them all day long.”

(Psalm 119:97 NLT)

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BOLD!!!

WonderBOY: my bold and daring, fearless and lionhearted grandson

“So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.” (Rom. 10:17 HCS)

       Politely speaking, many of us Christians have grown timid in telling others about God’s free gift of salvation and forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ. (Plainly speaking, we’ve become down right chicken-hearted, lily-livered, shaking-in-our-boots afraid of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus!) Not Peter.

       Saturday, I stumped my toe on Acts 2:40: And with many other words (Peter) testified and strongly urged them, saying, “Be saved from this corrupt generation!” 

       Ouch! Do I strongly urge people toward Jesus or faint-heartedly squeak, “Excuse me. If I’m not bothering you and if it’s not too much trouble, you wouldn’t, maybe, by any chance want to think about, someday, possibly being saved, would you?”

       God’s Word says, “Be bold! Bother them! Tell My Good News! It’s a matter of forever-after life or never-ending death!”

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him? And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him? And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why Scriptures say, ‘How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring Good News!’” (Romans 10:13-15 NLT) 

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A Woman of God

My mother, my hero, 1940s

Proverbs 31:

10-31

Who can find a capable wife?

She is far more precious than jewels.

The heart of her husband trusts in her…

She rewards him with good, not evil, all the days of her life…

She draws on her strength and reveals that her arms are strong.

Se sees that her profits are good, and her lamp never goes out at night…

She extends her hands to the poor,

She extends her hands to the needy…

Strength and honor are her clothing,

She can laugh at things to come.

She opens her mouth with wisdom and loving instruction is on her tongue.

She watches over the activities of her household and is never idle.

Her children rise up and call her blessed.

Her husband also praises her:

“Many women are capable, but you surpass them all!”

Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting,

But the woman who fears the Lord will be praised!

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for giving me a virtuous mother: upright, honorable, and praiseworthy. Please make me a woman that fears You, that my children call blessed and that my husband will praise. 

                                                       In Jesus’ name I pray, 

                                                                          Amen and Amen.

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When Prodigals Come to Their Senses

My boys, late 1980s

“After time had passed…sanity returned, and I praised and worshiped the Most High and honored the One who lives forever!”  (Dan. 4:34 NLT)

My two precious sons were prodigal teenagers. But praise the Lord Jesus Christ who granted them repentance leading to the knowledge of truth and escape from the devil’s snare.

Oh, parents of prodigals, storm-tossed and not comforted, be not quarrelsome, but kind…able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will (2 Tim. 2:24-26).

Pray to and trust in the Most High God, the One who is able to deliver and redeem the one you love! 

     His father watched from a distance as the young man hurriedly shoved the money beside his clothing and other supplies into animal-skin bags. A smirk of satisfaction played across the son's face as he tightly cinched the leather cords of the sacks. 

"Good-bye, Father," he casually called over his shoulder as his sandals hit the dusty road at a rapid pace, racing toward the sun just touching the horizon. The old man's eyes remained fixed on the robed figure trotting into the distance until his youngest completely disappeared from sight.

       In the story of the prodigal son as told by Jesus in Luke 15, having spent everything, that young man soon became poverty-stricken, destitute, a pauper without a penny to his name. So he went and hired himself out to a farmer who sent him into the fields to feed swine.

       Starving nigh to death, the boy would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything, causing him to come to his senses.

In the coolness of the early morn, his father slowly shuffled toward the family's stone well. Looking in the distance beyond the cistern, the old man suddenly dropped his water jar and started running with outstretched arms down the dusty road. His prodigal child had come home.

All your children will be taught of the Lord, and their well-being will be established (Isa. 54:13).

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