The Bible

Fed by ravens

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1Kings 17:2-16

The background of this story is that Ahab was the King of Israel and he did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him. (1Kings 16:30) He set up an altar to Baal and worshipped him and made a wooden image. In 1 Kings 16:33 it says that Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the Kings of Israel who were before him. 

Wickedness was at its peak in Israel. God was not happy with them and He spoke to Elijah that there would be a drought.

God gave Elijah specific instructions about what to do regarding the drought to receive God’s provision He told him to hide by the Brook Cherith. Elijah was to drink from the Brook and God commanded the ravens to feed him – and they did! Every morning and every evening they brought him bread and meat – Divine provision.

A bit of information about ravens – the brains of ravens are amongst the largest of any bird species – they are very intelligent, playful, curious and often scavengers. The raven was the first animal to be released from Noah’s ark.

God is not limited by human resources and He is creative in His provision. He could have sent manna, like He provided for the Israelites in the wilderness, but here He chose to use the ravens.

Can I just say that God knows what His people need. Elijah was alone. God knew he needed companionship of a sort, as well as physical sustenance, so He chose to use the ravens. They would have been a welcome antidote to solitude – coming twice a day. Maybe Elijah started to look forward to their regular visits – a break in monotony; companions; confidants etc.

Saints, God is not just going to feed you and then leave you to go mad with loneliness. God cares about your mental health just as much as He cares about your physical sustenance. He is sending His ravens, so to speak, with encouragement and help.

1 Kings 17:7 “And it happened after a while that the Brook dried up, because there has been no rain in the land.”

It was bound to happen but God had a plan. 

When one source dried up (the Brook) God sent him to another source – a widow in Zarephath.

Verse 8 – God told Elijah to go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon. Sidon is a port city in modern day Lebanon.

From the Cherith Brook to Zarephath it was a long journey – about 80 miles away. Jezebel, the wicked wife of Ahab, was from there and it was an ungodly place. It must have seemed to Elijah that God was leading him into a place of danger.

God could have provided him a widow from the next village to feed him – that would have been much easier – but God is not about making things easy for us. We must respond to His Words with tenacity and faith. God knows where our next provision must come from. He knows what He wants doing and the people that need to be involved.

A little widow in Zarephath preparing her last meal with her son, getting ready to die because food and funds had run out was God’s choice to provide for the prophet and receive miracles.

Please, just read that again and reflect on that.

God has His sources. You think your money might come from a certain place yet God may have other ideas.

Sometimes we can be tempted to think our source will be a wealthy person or a multi-million pound company – yet God may have earmarked a widow on the verge of destitution to help you. He is not limited to the funds of this world. But we must be obedient to God’s voice.

Elijah could have said to God, “Why do I have to go all the way to Zarepath to get food? Aren’t there any widows near my brook that could help me?”

There may have been widows nearer Elijah’s location that could help him… and the widow God chose wasn’t really able to help him – but God chose her… and He had a plan.

To be continued…

 

 

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God’s view of the unborn baby

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Psalm 139:13-16 “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvellous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skilfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they are were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them”

Even at the point of conception God sees the unborn baby as a living being. The Bible says that God sees the substance of the baby, even though it is still unformed – when it’s still a mass and there are no discernible parts.

Not only that, but the Bible talks about the baby being fearfully and wonderfully made – he or she has a Creator  who loves him or her. The child has been created with the skill of the Master Creator – the one who made the Heaven and Earth, who painted the zebra and the giraffe, who created sky-topped mountains and sensational sunsets. He’s the one who gives life to every human being.

In His book are written all the days fashioned for each child, even when it’s just a mass of cells, when as yet there are no days – just the time of darkness, growth and development in the womb – a specific plan and purpose for each specific human being .

God creates no child by accident. He has a plan and a purpose and a story for each one. Even when we can’t see a purpose – God sees it all.

When John the Baptist was in the womb of his mother, Elizabeth,(Luke 1:39-45) he leaped for joy when he heard the voice of Mary, who was carrying Jesus in her womb. He was fulfilling his purpose even in the womb – to be a forerunner and a proclaimer of Jesus, the Messiah.

To abort a child is to go against the very heart of God. Only God has the right to give and take away life. This is not a choice we should fight to have. Indeed, this is too great a  responsibility for us. Who are we to say that a child is unwanted – God loves that child immeasurably. Who are we to say that a child is too great a burden – God can give us strength to do all things. Who are we to say we can’t afford to have another child – God will provide all we need, according to His riches in glory.

If we abort a child, we are aborting the purpose of God in our own life, the life of others and the life of another human being.

What if Mary had decided to abort baby Jesus? To continue with the pregnancy meant that she had to face possible rejection by Joseph and the whole of her community. Not only that, she would have aborted God’s plan and purpose for the whole of mankind. We’d all be facing an eternity in Hell without the birth of Jesus into the world.

What if the child you are carrying is the one God plans to become the one who discovers a cure for cancer? What if the one you are carrying is the one who will carry revival to their generation;who will lead a country; who will invent new and wonderful products?

What if you discover that it’s greater to preserve a life than to destroy it? That in that clump of cells there is great purpose and potential.

All His works are marvellous.

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Forget Me Not

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These beautiful flowers called Forget Me Nots are growing in my garden. Forget Me Not flowers symbolize remembrance.To me, they remind me of how God has promised never to forget us.

We are always on God’s mind.

Psalm 139:17-18 says “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I am awake, I am still with you.” God’s thoughts towards us are too many to be counted.

Isaiah 49:15 says,  Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you”

I nursed all four of my children. For a large proportion of their early life I nursed them, sustained them and met their every need. It was impossible for me to forget about a tiny, hungry, needy baby. Such is a mother’s instinct and love. Yet God is saying surely some mothers may forget their children (unlikely but possible) but God will never forget about us. Yes, sometimes we’re loud and needy but God will never turn us away. He is compassionate. God’s divine remembrance to us is even more tender than a mother’s love and He is ever mindful of us.

Sometimes when we are going through things, we are tempted to think that God has forgotten about us. That is not the case at all.

Isaiah 49:16 says “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands”

Your hands are always in your view. We wear rings on our fingers, often as a symbol of affection, promise etc and the right hand  in the Bible, is a symbol of strength.

God is saying how often He thinks about us.

Furthermore, in John 20:20 the risen Jesus showed the disciples His hands  which had been pierced by the nails of the cross-showing the sacrifice He made for us.

2 Timothy 2:13 says “if we are faithless, He remains faithful ;He cannot deny Himself.”

It is not in God’s nature to be faithless. He is a faithful God. And He will not forget you.

Comfort

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In Matthew 5:4 Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Jesus promises comfort to all who mourn.

In John 14:15-18 Jesus said  “I will pray the Father and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever-the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him;but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you”

We have a helper – the Holy Spirit is our Comforter and He helps us to pray, even when we have no words to say. The Holy Spirit will never leave us. He will not abandon us in our hour of need.

Some things may happen in life that we can never fully understand this side of eternity, but one day, we will understand. No matter what happens  God is good. He loves you and He promises to help you because He cares about you.

The Holy Spirit comes alongside us in our disappointment and grief and He shares our load. He says, “Come to me, all you who are burdened and heavy laden, and I will give you rest”

God’s yoke is easy and His burden is light.

Give your burden to God. He can handle your pain, your loss, your grief and He will help you through it.

 

The Word of God discovers our condition

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Hebrews 4:11-13

 

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The Word of God is powerful. When you read it, your life will be changed. It is not just an old, dusty book that has no relevance. As you read it, asking the Holy Spirit for revelation, He will speak to you through His Word. He will convict you about your sin and will give you direction about your life.

Joints and Marrow

The three parts of the inside of the bone are the marrow, surrounded by the actual bone cells (which is where the blood cells are) and the outside membrane.

This membrane is a very hard substance and is called the periosteum.

It would be very difficult to slice between the three parts because the three parts are fused together to form the bone. It could be done, but only with the very sharpest knife or tool.

In this passage, the Word of God (ie.the Bible ) is being compared to this, the sharpest of knives with precision cutting abilities.

God knows what He wants to accomplish in our lives and as we meditate on the Word of God He operates on us (spiritually)  with the precision of a surgeon.

Let His Word transform your inner being!

Take a Gospill!

God knows our frailties and our weaknesses and He wants to do a work in our life.

 

 

Eagles circling Part Two

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I usually use my own photos in my blog, but I felt it was important to put a picture so please see the picture below:-

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Since I saw that vision of eagles circling together over a valley God showed me many other things.

Eagles soar without flapping their wings. In order to do this, they have to wait for the wind thermals to come up on them. It does not take any natural effort or strength to fly in the wind thermals. The eagles rely on the wind thermals to carry them.

This is like us as believers. The Holy Spirit is often depicted as the wind: Acts 2:2 (ESV), “And suddenly there came from Heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting ” This was the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:3,4 says, “Then there appeared to them divided tongues of fire, and one sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

In these last days we cannot do anything in our own strength – we must rely on the Holy Spirit’s strength to take us through.

If we do things in our own strength we will wear ourselves out. We need God’s strength.

Just like the eagle has to learn how to fly on the wind thermals – we, as born again Christians, have to learn how to fly on the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

More to follow later.

Sunday’s coming!

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It was a very sombre time after that Good Friday. Jesus’ mother and friends were mourning; hopes of the Messiah liberating Israel were dashed; things had not turned out as hoped or expected; Jesus’ body was laid in a tomb tightly sealed with a stone and guarded by a soldier. There was no hope left.

Jesus’ disciples, who had given up their livelihood to follow Jesus, were devastated. They lost their faith. (see Mark 16:11)

Just as Jesus had felt forsaken by God whilst He was on the cross, so did His followers.

What none of them knew at that time was that Sunday was coming! The day between Jesus being crucified and resurrected was a day of transition. From their earthly perspective the disciples’ situation looked grim. They could not imagine the sort of victory that was being wrought. Resurrection from the dead. Victory over sin and death.

My friend, if things look bleak for you at the moment, just wait a while. Sunday is coming! Your victory is on the way! God will not leave you in the midst of despair – you might pass by there for a season, but you won’t stay there. There are brighter days ahead. Trust God and stay at peace.

Our God of Justice

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Isaiah 30:18 says, ” Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you; And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; Blessed are all those who wait for Him. ”

The definition of justice , according to the Oxford online dictionary, is, ” to do, treat or represent  someone or something with due fairness or appreciation.”

God is a just God. He is impartial and fair.

There are many times in the world where justice does not appear to have been done in earthly courts. People may be wrongly convicted and many years later, they are set free. Sometimes a person is guilty but no charge can be brought due to a lack of evidence. This NEVER happens with God. God sees the full picture. He knows the truth about each person, and sooner or later that person will have to give account of what they have done.

2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

Sometimes on this earth someone may do us wrong, but God tells us not to take revenge.

Romans 12:19 says, ” Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” The Bible says we should not repay people evil for evil but let God avenge us. If we decide to avenge ourselves God may leave us to it. But God knows the wrongs done to us. When we leave things in His hands He will move on our behalf.

The other half of this verse says, ” Blessed are all those who wait for Him.” If we learn to trust God with our troubles we will be blessed. God knows how to look after us.

Psalm 34:8 says, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” If you trust in God, you’ll be blessed and happy. Let Him sort out your problems with injustice.

 

The Joy of the Redeemed

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One day, all the sorrows and sighing, all the work pressure and the cares of life will flee away. Don’t let the sorrow overwhelm your soul.  It is only temporal.

One day you’ll down tools and your earthly work will be done. You will be overtaken by gladness and joy! Everlasting joy shall crown your head! Oh, I can’t wait for that day!

John 14:1-3 says, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

The Earth is not our permanent home. Jesus is preparing a place for us in Heaven. We don’t need to let our hearts be troubled. Instead, we can trust our Maker to look after us.

The Bible

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dsc_0194It’s World Book today and my children dressed up as characters from their favourite books. I thought I would tell you a bit about my favourite book – the Bible.

The Bible is made up of 66 books. It was written by various men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Bible says Scripture was God-breathed. It is made up of books of the Law, Prophetic books, the Gospels and letters from Paul the apostle, amongst other things. The Bible was written originally in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek.

My favourite Bible passage is Psalm 139, which talks about God’s perfect knowledge of man. The longest Psalm is Psalm 119, which is about the Word of God.

Luke, a doctor, wrote the Gospel of Luke and he also wrote the Acts of the Apostles.

The apostle Paul, a Jewish convert to Christianity and former killer of Christians, wrote a large proportion of the New Testament. He was imprisoned for preaching the gospel and wrote many of his letters from jail.

If you ask God, He will give you revelation about the Bible, which will help you to understand it. The Holy Spirit will make the Bible clear to you.

There are many different translations of the Bible available to help you.

The Proverbs contain a lot of wisdom to help you in everyday life.

If you read it regularly it will change you!