Blood Moons, the SuperMoon, signs in the heavens … I don’t know about all the prophetic insights some folks see in these things. (After all, I have already lived through the end of the world several times – the comet Kohoutek, Y2K, 99 reasons the Lord will return in 1999, the alignment of the planets in 1982 and again in 2000, end of the Mayan Calendar December 21, 2012 and a few others.) I have no idea what the cosmic meaning of a SuperMoon is, I just try to live every day ready for his return.
But, I do know the SuperMoon is caused by the moon being closer than normal to the earth and I saw a message in that.
Reading Acts 13 this morning I was impressed again with the phrase “they were ministering to the Lord.”
As a young believer I was reading Psalms and came across the phrase “Bless the Lord”. I stopped. What? Me, bless Him? I knew He could bless me. But me bless Him? Acts 13 is even more unbelievable – they were “ministering” to Him? How do you minister to the all-powerful, transcendent God?
Then I discovered the problem. I was reading one of those new versions. So I got out the trusty old King James to see what those verses really meant. Guess what. They said the same thing – bless the Lord, minister to the Lord. I sat back in my chair astounded. I don’t want to lose that sense of wonder that we, mere specks of dust in the cosmos, can minister to the Creator of it all. What an unbelievable concept. We can please Him. We can “grieve” Him. What we do impacts Him emotionally. Think about that. What you do today makes a difference in the heart of God. Isn’t that unbelievable?!!
(Zeph 3:17, Eph 4:30, Gen 6:6, Is 62:5)
We couldn’t know that if He hadn’t told us in His Word. Obviously He wants us to know that we matter to Him. We matter so much that what we do touches His heart. We can make His day – or grieve Him. So, I have a choice today – and every day. Will I bring a smile to the heart of God today or be a source of sorrow for Him?
_____________
Zephaniah 3:17
For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.
As I read through the book of Joshua, chapter 13 is one that is tough to read because of the strange names and most of us have little interest in how the land was divided. But, often hidden in chapters like this is a jewel if we take time to look.
You probably know Israel was divided into 12 tribes. Each tribe was named after one of Jacob’s 12 sons. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel and that is why they are called the “Children of Israel”. But did you know there were actually 13 tribes? No, this isn’t some weird new teaching. Continue reading →
1 Corinthians 6:18
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.
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There is a time to flee and a time to stand. If you confuse the two you are bound to fail. Scripture speaks of standing up against Satan (James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:9). He will try to put thoughts into our head, to instill fear, distrust and evil ideas. We must resist those thoughts by replacing them with those that pass the filter of Philippians 4:8.
But when dealing with sins of our flesh, those things that are not from an outside influece but just part of our fallen nature, we are told to flee. For example, “flee from sexual immorality” 1 Corinthians 6:18, “flee idolatry” 1 Corinthians 10:14-15,”flee the love of money” 1 Timothy 6:11, “flee the evil desires of youth” 2 Timothy 2:22.
I have seen believers who will try to stand up under temptations of the flesh thinking God will not allow them to be tempted beyond what they are able to stand, a misunderstanding of 1 Corinthians 10:13.
And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. – 1 Corinthians 10:13
This passage clearly says the way you will be able to “bear” the temptation is by taking the way out God provides. In other words, “flee!” (For more on this click here)
When we try to “stand up” under temptations of the flesh we often end up negotiating, compromising, deciding “it won’t be so bad”, “just this once” or other reasoning that make sense before the fall but seems so silly afterwards.
Ever notice how Satan minimizes the impact of our sin before we sin and maximizes it afterward?
So, like the example of Joseph when tempted by Potiphar’s wife, flee! Get out of there! Take the way of escape God provides.
________________ Genesis 39:12 (NLT)
She came and grabbed him by his cloak, demanding, “Come on, sleep with me!” Joseph tore himself away, but he left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house.
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Blood Moons, the SuperMoon, signs in the heavens … I don’t know about all the prophetic insights some folks see in these things. (After all, I have already lived through the end of the world several times – the comet Kohoutek, Y2K, 99 reasons the Lord will return in 1999, the alignment of the planets in 1982 and again in 2000, end of the Mayan Calendar December 21, 2012 and a few others.) I have no idea what the cosmic meaning of a SuperMoon is, I just try to live every day ready for his return.
