So what’s the big picture story of man from the beginning of time? Who is man and why is he here on the earth? What is his purpose? Who is God and where does He fit into all of this?
God created the earth and everything in it. Genesis Chapter 1. God is Creator and the originator of everything.
Continue readingWhy do I write about the great men and women of faith in the Bible? Why do I examine their stories and and pay attention to what they did and how they lived?
2 Tim. 3:16 says “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
Continue reading“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:18
How do we behold the Lord? We worship Him. We express our gratitude to Him. When we read His word, we are beholding His glory. We read of what He has done. He is our Creator. He is great, He is magnificent, He is love. He loves us. We owe our existence to Him. He planned for each one of us to come to be on this earth with a plan for the course of our lives. (Jeremiah 1:5, Psalm 139:16)
Continue readingI find Psalm 103 to be so rich and full of the blessings of the Lord that I want in my life. David wrote this Psalm and it is a praise for the Lord’s mercies. I like to pray it out loud to the Lord directly, such as in this manner, adding some of my own prayer inspiration (one can also say “I” instead of “we”):
“We bless You Lord and all that is within us,
Continue reading“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit,…”
Continue readingIn Judges 6, we see the Israelites under severe oppression by a group of people called the Midianites. The oppression was so bad, these Midianites would come and steal the crops from the fields before the Israelites could get to them. This caused a severe food shortage for the people. (This reminds me of how the Soviet Union took all the food grown in Ukraine many years ago and the Ukranians starved by the thousands.)
Continue readingI love patterns that show up in the bible…patterns can confirm things you thought you noticed. When it comes along twice, I really start paying attention. God paints pictures through the Old Testament bible stories. As we study them, we can see spiritual lessons emerge.
Continue readingCan God’s plan be delayed? Does man determine when things happen? Does God get frustrated when man doesn’t “follow the plan”?
Continue readingThere’s another story I find interesting too, about when things don’t go the way we think they should. I am reminded of a story where the nation of Israel had to pass a severe judgment on one of their relative tribes….
Continue readingAs of this writing, conservatives are reeling, at least a bit and some maybe a lot, at the apparent loss of the Presidency to Joe Biden in our country. There’s a lot that could be said about that, but at the moment I’m thinking of a couple of bible stories…
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Dogtags and Pearls...the plain and the precious 