The Worth of God's Breath

Everything in God's word is there for a reason, but when reading the Bible we take so much of it for granted.  Numbers, names, and places we just pass over without really thinking about them.

When the law was given to Moses, he came down from Mt. Sinai with the tablets of the law.  He found the people dancing and celebrating before the idol of a golden calf.  On that day about 3000 people died because of their actions. Exodus 32 I have read that many times and never really thought twice about it.  Ok, 3000 people died.  Big deal!

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was given to the people.  Peter preached to the crowds telling them what was happening and how Jesus was the Messiah who fulfilled the scriptures.   About 3000 people were saved that day.  Acts 2

Exodus and Acts both say "about 3000".  Is this just a coincidence? The longer I live, the more I do not believe in any coincidences when it comes to God and His word.  The day the Law is given, about 3000 people die, and the day the Holy Spirit is given, about 3000 people were saved.

There is not one word in your Bible that was not meant to be there.  There is not one word in your Bible that has no reason to be there.  When God speaks every breath is notable.

God Meets Our Needs Precisely

When I was a young Christian living in Hawaii, I went to a prayer meeting one night.  We were sharing needs and praying for people when one man's need struck my heart.  I knew that God was speaking to me.

The man felt God leading him to fly back to California and speak to an old friend about Christ.  He was so sure that God wanted him to go, that if necessary, he was willing to sell his car in order to buy the plane tickets.

I was compelled to leave the group and go outside and just talk to the lord about it.  After praying about it I knew I was to give him some money.  It wasn't until a few days later that I had the money and found him at a Christian coffee house.  I asked to talk to him and we sat together at a table.

I told him how God had led me to give him $115.  I knew it was a strange number.  You would normally give a nice round number like $100 or $120, but God led me to give him exactly $115.

The man jumped up and was laughing and dancing around.  Finally, he sat back down.  "God is so good.  Yesterday my apartment manager came up to me and gave me $3.  He said, 'I know it's weird to give only $3 but I really felt God leading me to give it to you.'  I thought that it really wasn't going to help much but I thanked him and took the money.  My tickets cost $118.  With that $3 and your $115 God exactly met my needs."

That lesson was not lost on me.  God does provide and He exactly provides what is needed.  God knows our needs.  God provides for everyone who is walking upon the path that God directs them to.  You want to see God moving in your life?  Do His will and trust Him to provide.  He will never abandon you. 

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight" Proverbs 3:5-6

Photo Credit: Praying by Brittany Silverstein

Jew and Gentile, One in Christ

Throughout history, there has been contention between the Jews and Christians.  Even today there are many true Christians who look down on the Jews and wish they didn't exist.  In the Middle East, they want the Arab nations to win against the state of Israel.

The only explanation I know that can explain the animosity between Gentiles and the Jews is that there is a spiritual battle for the hearts of man to either hate or love the Jew.  Satan hates them with a passion and he has corrupted millions of hearts against the Chosen Children of God.

It is interesting to me that God has grafted the Gentile believers onto the same root as the Jews. (Romans 11:11-31)   Ah! But those are Jewish believers.  Yes, but even the unbelievers are still God's Chosen People.  And why do people hate Jewish unbelievers more than Gentile unbelievers?

Galatians 3:28  states that there is neither Jew nor Gentile.  We are one.  To despise a Jew is to disparage someone that God has designed to be brought together with the believer.  Physically we are separate but spiritual we are to be one.

When Christianity was first birthed and Christians were just beginning to join together for worship, Christianity was seen as a Jewish sect of Judaism.  They had the same scriptures, the rabbinical teaching was from a Jewish Rabbi, Jesus.  They would go to synagog every week. Their lives were purely Jewish and their belief was actually the same as other faithful Jews except they believed the Messiah had come and his name was Jesus.

Christianity today is missing out on so much to the detriment of both Jew and Gentile. The Body of Christ will be at its strongest when the two become one again.

To despise the Jew is to despise the body of Christ becoming whole and strong.

Photo Credit: Israel-06639-Hasidic Jews by Dennis Jarvis

The Unmentioned God of Esther

The book of Esther is unique in that God is never mentioned.  The absence of God's name makes this book stand out from all the other books of the Bible.  Does that mean that God is not in the book?  Does it mean that the book is about the actions of men without God?

The story of Esther shows how wicked man can be.  Hamen is the villain of the story.  He is a very powerful man in the kingdom and plots how to kill all the Jews because he doesn't like one Jew who refused to bow to him named Mordicai.  He wants revenge against this man and his people and loves the idea of seeing Mordicai hanging from a high scaffolding.

The only person who can save the Jews is Queen Esther who must risk her life to go see King Ahasuerus.  The king finds out that Haman has plotted against her people, the Jews, and makes it possible for them to fight back and defend themselves.  In the end, Hamam ends up hanging from his own scaffolding.

So where is God?  He is there throughout the story.  He is not seen or mentioned but He is there.  You never hear His voice or see His hand in all the events, but He is there.  God is the one who protected Esther as she went unbidden before the king knowing that doing so meant death unless he held out his scepter to her.  If King Ahasuerus had not done the bidding of Queen Esther, all the jews of the kingdom, including her, would have been slaughtered.  God was there behind the scenes making his will come to fruition.

There are times when we can not see God in our lives.  We feel as if He was a million miles away.  It might seem like darkness has surrounded you and is about to overcome you.  The silence of God seems deafening and you feel all alone.

Even though you can not see His hand, He is working.  Even if you cannot hear His voice, He is still speaking.  Although He feels so far from you, He is right there beside you.  He never abandons us.  He never forgets or ignores His children.  Just as He was never seen in the Book of Esther, but He was working out His purposes for good, God is with you as well

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."  Isaiah 41:10

Photo Credit: queen-esther-revealing-her-true-identity-mosaic-portrait-lilian-broca by aaron wolpert

Your Existence is Impossible

What are the odds that you should have been born?  Something is considered mathematically impossible if the odds are 1 in 10⁻⁵⁰.  While it is not actually impossible for you to exist, the chances of your existence is mathematically impossible.

The chances that the exact egg from your mother and the exact sperm from your father should come together to make you is very small.  If you take for granted that your mother had the right egg to create you, the odds of the right sperm from your father reaching that egg is 1 in 200-500 million.

200 million to 500 million sperm racing for that egg and the right one won in order to create you.  Of course, that does not take into account the right timing, the right egg or even the chance of your parents meeting at all in the first place.

Just taking the odds of the right sperm winning the race, in two generations (parents and grandparents) it is statistically impossible for you to exist.  Considering the odds of your existence after hundreds of generations of the right man meeting the right woman, having sexual intercourse with the right egg and the right sperm meeting to make the exact right people to eventually create you, is astronomical.

There is only one way that you could exist.  God planned for your birth before the universe was even created.  He knew you long before your birth (Jeremiah 1:5).  God took an impossible event and made it happen.  You were specially designed by God.  You are not an accident, but a creation with a purpose. 

If we follow the plan of God for our lives, we will find fullness, life, peace, hope and a bright future. 
"I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"  Jeremiah 29:11

God made sure you are who you are, living at this time in history.  You are so important to Him that He made the impossible happen.

Holiness from the Unholy

Jesus Christ was betrayed through bribery, brutally beaten and tortured, put on trial in an illegal trial, lied about in court, mocked, spat upon and in the end murdered on a cross.  The men who did such a thing were evil men.  Men who were spiritual leaders but in reality were unholy.

How can such unholy actions bring about something so holy as the sacrifice of the lamb of God to take away the sins of the world?  Actually, it was necessary in order to bring about God's will.

Who were the people that were ordained to offer up sacrifices?  It was the priesthood.  The key men who offered up Jesus to be killed were in the Sanhedrin, which was led by the High Priest and the chief priest of the Temple.  Their ministry and calling was to offer up the sacrifices to God.  Only the priest could have offered up the sacrifices.

It was the High Priest alone who could offer up the holiest sacrifice once a year during the Passover.  That was the sacrifice for the forgiveness of the nation's sins.  It was also the High Priest who presided over the Sanhedrin and was the most responsible for delivering Jesus to his death.  The High Priest offered up the lamb of God, the Messiah Jesus, for sacrifice so that the sins of the world could be forgiven.

Out of the dark hearts of men, God created a holy and wonderful act.  From the act of murder, God brought eternal life to all who believe.

What darkness of evil hangs over your head?  What life events have come against you with the goal of your ruin and hopelessness?  God can take the worse event in all of history and turn it to good, and he can take the worse things in your life and turn it for good.

From the unholy plans of Satan, God brings blessings.

Photo Credit: Jesus is covered all over with bruises by Angela Xu

Living in the Hand of God

Where do you find the blessings and safety of God in a world that is getting more violent and crazy every day?  Terrorist are found in every nation.  Murder, theft, rape, and every kind of evil can be found today.  We are living in days that are like the days of Noah.  A world full of sin and wickedness.

There is only one place in this world where we can be safe and where God greatly blesses.  Only one place in all the world where you will find true unadulterated peace.  Do you see the picture above?  Those people have found that one place where God blesses and give them peace.  That place is in Vanuatu where they are missionaries translating the scriptures into a language that never had the written word of God before.  

They live on an island in a native village, far from civilization, with their families. If there is any serious accidents or sickness, it would take many hours to get to civilization where they can be treated.  Their lives are wholly in God's hands.

Does that mean you need to go to Vanuatu also?  NO!  You need to find the will of God for your life.  The missionaries above live in a primitive village in the jungle because they are truly living in God's will.  They are safer there in the hand of God than if they were anywhere in the United States, outside of God's will.

When did God bless Abraham?  Not when he sat safely in his home at Ur of the Chaldees. It would have been easy to stay there comfortably living his life out, but God called him away from there and from his family.  It was not until Abraham walked in the will of God that he was blessed and found greatness. 

Many of us must leave our comfort zones if we want to live in God's will.  We have to leave the safety of the known, to find the blessings of the unknown.  Do you dare to follow God or does fear stop you from living in the hand of God?

To follow the missionaries at Vanuatu add them as friends on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/houghtongretchen.richard

https://www.facebook.com/laura.thulesen

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