Does He Watch Over You?

"For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil". I Peter 3:12 God certainly watches over us and hears our prayers, that is, if we are righteous. But the Heavenly Father turns away from those that do evil. What an awful thought, a father turning away from his child, but the Heavenly Father turning away from one of his creation, that He wanted to be saved, is eternally awful. To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ brings salvation to one's life, and that is where our righteousness comes from ( Philippians 3:9). Are you saved and clothed in the Lord's righteousness?

He was just a janitor to most!

He was just a janitor to most, but not to my wife and myself. To us he was a man of God, that God had put into our lives at just the right time to help us on our way. He had been a pastor and was a mature Christian. We had him over several times to answer our questions and to teach us the basics of Christianity. I was attending college at that time and would see him in the hallway almost daily. It was my pleasure to greet him on those occasions, and to fellowship for a moment. We don't know where he is today, but we would like to honor him with this short blog. In I Peter 2:17, it says, Honor all men. We want to say thank you to Duane Sweat who, like I said, is a man of God. We look forward to seeing him in heaven. Are we honoring all men?

Demas' sad choice!

II Timothy 4:10 says, "For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica..." Demas chose the world over serving Christ. We must all make a choice as to whether we will serve Christ or the world. I John 2:15 says, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Verse 17 of the same chapter says, "And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." We are clearly told that we can't serve God and mammon (the world) for we will love one and hate the other (Matthew 6:24). Trying to serve both will cause us to fall. We must make a righteous choice, and chose serving Christ. Are we up to the occasion?

The goodness and severity of God!

Romans 11:22, says, "Behold the goodness and the severity of God..." Have you ever seen a promise box? It is a box of small cards with the promises of God written on the cards. Although I must say that the ones that I have looked at, didn't have what I would call all the promises of God, for they left out of the box any promise that was deemed negative. God does have two sides, as Romans 11:22 clearly states (the goodness and the severity of God). The rest of that verse goes like this,"on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off."
Everyone likes to read of the promises of God that seem positive , but don't seem to like the promises of a just reward for our improper behavior. If we continue to be obedient, we receive his blessing. If we are disobedient, we are cut off. Let's summarize, obedience brings blessing, disobedience brings cursing or being cut off. We must choose which we desire, the goodness or the severity of God. It's our choice!

Is it weakness or wickedness?

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not, deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (I Corinthians 6:9,10) Humanity sure is inclined to label wickedness as weakness. What say you on this subject? Be careful in answering this question, for the Bible says in Proverbs 8:13, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil..." Are we haters of evil or do we give evil a name like, weakness, fault, or disease. God knows! Hopefully we do too!

Which do you need?

A child misquoted John 14:18 as such, "I will not leave you comfortable". The Lord never intended for us to be comfortable, at peace with God and resting in his love, but not comfortable. He said, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world you will have tribulation: but be of good cheer; for I have overcome the world". (John 16:33)
Too many Christians are serving the Lord for what they can get from him, rather than how they can serve him and their fellow man. They are at ease in Zion, on beds of ivory (comfort), eating the lambs and calves of the flock. They are drinking wine, and basically just partying on. (See Amos 6:1-7) They have been brought into captivity and the devil couldn't be happier.
An old saying goes as such, "the preachers job is to comfort the afflicted, and to afflict the comfortable". Are we needing comfort for an affliction ,or do we need to be afflicted because we are so comfortable? Good news, Jesus can and will do both!

Time for your medicine

A little boy ask his mother where they got his baby brother, who was screaming at the top of his lungs? She said, we got him from heaven, to which the little boy replied, I can see why they threw him out.
Proverbs 17:22, says, A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
I hope your day is going well, and that you won't forget to take your medicine.