Through Him!

We have seen lots of news reports about various celebrities adopting children from other countries.  They hope to draw attention to the orphaned children abroad who are in great need of care.  Yet these adoptions have also made people question why they are not adopting from the large number of children in the United States who are in need.  Adoption is a complicated subject and a complicated process.  There is no easy answer or easy way to do it.  It means opening up your heart to love someone you don’t know that may have come from a different background than your own with a special set of problems.  One of my favorite movies stars Cary Grant and is called Room for One More.  It is a story about a kind couple who have several children already of their own who bring foster children in to their family.  Each child they bring home has issues that they must work through.  As a result of the parents love, the troubled children become loving and productive members of the family.  Even though many of us may have not been orphaned, we still all need to be adopted.  We need to be adopted by God, a perfect loving Father.  Without that adoption process taking place in our lives, we too would be left to struggle through this world as a person with problems.  With God as our Father and showering us with love and blessings we become like the two orphaned kids in the Cary Grant movie.  Read Ephesians 1: 3-6.

³ Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens. ⁴ For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love ⁵ He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will, ⁶ to the praise of His glorious grace that He favored us with in the Beloved.

It is through Him (Jesus Christ) that we are adopted in to God’s family.  We don’t have to be like the kids in Room for One More.  We don’t have to set around some orphanage waiting for a loving family to come along and take us home.  We don’t have to face rejection when that family shows up at the orphanage and chooses another kid.  We don’t have to wait for our adopting parents to save up money for the adoption process or take care of piles of paperwork and background checks.  We simply need to go through Him (Jesus Christ) to be adopted by God the Father.  It is just common sense to recognize that if God put forth this plan of adoption for us, that He loves us and wants us.  What prospective parent would ever go through the process of adoption and then not want the child?  We need to feel and know that we are secure as God’s child once we accept what Jesus did for us on the cross.

What is cool about being a part of God’s family is that there is always room for one more.  So as you start this new year, think about how blessed you are to have been adopted in to God’s family and share that blessing with others you meet or know.  Let them partake in the blessing of becoming an adopted child of God.  Don’t be one of those kids that keeps all the goodies for themselves.  Learn to share.  If you want to take God’s love even further consider the ministry of foster parenting or adoption.  Who better to help those without parents, then Christians who can demonstrate God’s love to them.  Organizations like “All God’s Children” are Christian organizations that can help you through the process.

It Couldn’t Hurt to Ask

I grew up with the old idiom “It couldn’t hurt to ask” or “It never hurts to ask”.  You see an object at the store that you would really like to get, but it looks too pricey so you walk away.  Perhaps that was a missed opportunity to apply the old idiom.  I know it has worked in my life a few times.  I asked for something for a reasonable price and it was given to me.  In this economy you might find that it will work more often than you think.  How many times as a kid were you not afraid to ask you parents or grandparents over and over again for that ice cream cone as the ice cream truck passed?  How many times did it work?  I know if I didn’t ask I didn’t chance at all at getting the ice cream.  That same wisdom was passed on to us by God.  Read Matthew 7: 7-8.

⁷ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

 We need to ask God questions.  We need to ask God for what we need.  We need ask even if we aren’t sure it is something we should even ask for.  Like a child asking for an ice cream on a hot summer day.  An ice cream really might not be the best thing for the child.  Maybe it’s right before dinner.  Maybe a glass of water would really be healthy for the child and quench their thirst and cool them down.  God also tells us that we need to seek or search and we need to knock at the door.  All of these are active steps on our part.  We need to take time to communicate with God.  Just like I use to look for those Chocolate Chip cookies my mom hid from us kids, I need to look for what God has for me.  I need to seek or search out what He has.  I use to knock on my Mom and Dad’s bedroom door and ask them for things.  We need to knock on God’s door and ask.  If Jesus himself told us to ask, seek and knock, don’t you think it would be the wise thing to do?  After all it couldn’t hurt to ask, what is the worst He is going to do to us for asking?  Out of love He is going to give us the best answer, even if that means “No” or “Wait”.

Limitless Energy

According to the X-journals, “Next year, 192 giant laser beams at the National Ignition Facility in California will target this pea-sized capsule, which contains hydrogen, in an effort to trigger the world’s first controlled nuclear fusion reaction. (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)” Scientists goals with these experiments is to hopefully one day to lead to the taming of the sun’s energy and other sources like the sun to produce limitless energy.  I am always amazed at the new developments and experiments taking place in science.  It’s a wonderful thought to think that there could be limitless energy to use.  It would bring down our expenses, and probably have a whole ripple effect on the economy.  People who were previously without energy could now have energy.  Our cars could be fueled and the environment helped as a result.  It is going to take time though.  This is just the next step in the experiments.  For now we are going to have to make due with energy systems we have now.

There is good news now on the energy front though.  God has limitless energy.  Read Isaiah 40: 28 – 29.

“28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never grows faint or weary; there is no limit to His understanding. 29 He gives strength to the weary and strengthens the powerless.”

There is only one way God could constantly be strengthening the powerless or helping the weary to not grow faint.  That is because He has limitless power.  Nothing will ever make His power grow dim.  No matter how many times humans may have to call on Him to regain their spiritual and physical strength, God will not run out of energy to provide them so they can revive.  What an encouragement to know our God is limitless in energy and so many other ways we could name.  So don’t be afraid to ask for help from God.  Why keep struggling along on your own God is there to help. Don’t think you will be a burden to Him.  He is limitless!

Encouragement For Those Times When You Deal With Mockers

So many Christians are going through their daily lives just trying to live good and upright lives and yet many will be attacked by those who don’t believe.  They are treated badly, ridiculed, teased, mocked and scoffed at for no real reason sometimes.  Other times the actions of a few mis-guided Christians cause the Christians who are on the right track to be bombarded because of their actions, such as in the case of those who were mistaken about the May 21st and soon to be the Oct 21st dates that they promote.  We have to learn to accept as followers of God that we will be mis-treated and mis-understood during our lives this life on Earth.  If Jesus was mis-understood and mis-treated, we will be too.  However, we can put our hope in God during those times.  We can learn from His Word that He does take care of those who mis-treat His children.  Their time of judgment is coming.  Read II Peter 3:3-7.

“3 First, be aware of this: scoffers will come in the last days to scoff, following their own lusts, 4 saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they have been since the beginning of creation.” 5 They willfully ignore this: long ago the heavens and the earth existed out of water and through water by the word of God. 6 Through these the world of that time perished when it was flooded by water. 7 But by the same word the present heavens and earth are held in store for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”

In Noah’s day there were scoffers that would not listen to Noah’s message that he preached to them warning them of the judgment that was to come to those who would not obey God.  He suffered through 120 years of hard physical work building the ark while he emotionally suffered through the mocking and scoffing of those who watched him.  In the end he saw God’s judgment come to pass and the mocking ended.  He saw his faith rewarded for his persistence and endurance during the mocking times.  Joshua and Caleb were others who also had great faith and endured others lack of faith.  In Numbers chapters 13 and 14 we read about the people of Israel reaching the edge of the promised land.  Moses sends out 12 men to spy out the land and come back give a report.  Only Joshua and Caleb give a good report and show faith that God will take them in to the land.  As a result the people get to the point where they are even going to stone Joshua and Caleb.  They scoffed at them.  God suddenly intervenes and the people stop while Moses goes and hears what God says.  The end result was that the people would not enter the land.  They were judged as despising God and would have to wonder in the wilderness until they died and then their children could go in.  Only Joshua and Caleb would be allowed to cross over.  They received the promise after enduring the mocking.  The others received judgment.

As we see in II Peter, all people will receive their judgment for their mocking and scoffing.  God will keep His word to us and see us safely to eternity, despite the mocking we may have to endure.  God will punish those who despise Him.  So cling to that hope and promise.  God’s promises found in His Word will serve as encouragement for those times when you deal with mockers.

 

Instructions For Dealing With Mockers

Most of us would agree that as each day passes we are drawing closer to the end times and the Lord’s return.  Many of us feel we are in the actual last days, of course, the Apostles felt the same way.  The Apostle Peter gave lots of great advice in I Peter Chapter 3 about dealing with mockers and scoffers.  First he foretold that in the last days we would experience a rise in the number of mockers and scoffers against God and our faith.  I think most of us would agree that we are already seeing that.  When things like the May 21 fiasco happen, it pushes a rise in the number of mockers and scoffers.  In chapter 3 verses 3 -7, Peter gives us some good instructions for when we deal with these people:

“3 First, be aware of this: scoffers will come in the last days to scoff, following their own lusts, 4 saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they have been since the beginning of creation.” 5 They willfully ignore this: long ago the heavens and the earth existed out of water and through water by the word of God. 6 Through these the world of that time perished when it was flooded by water. 7 But by the same word the present heavens and earth are held in store for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”

Peter reminds us that this mocking and scoffing is nothing new.  He brings to mind the story of Noah.  Noah lived in a world of evil people and God had determined to bring judgment.  He told Noah to build the Ark and warn the people.  Noah preached for 120 years and only reached his own family.  While he preached all those years and built the Ark, he dealt with the people mocking and scoffing at him.  What persistence and faith Noah had to go on through all of that.  Inside this passage Peter reminds us that we need to look to God’s Word when people mock us or our faith.  Inside God’s Word we will find stories of God’s faithfulness to us and stories that show God is not slack in keeping His promises.

So when people come against you and question your faith, remember God’s Word.  Go to God’s Word and show them through God’s Word that when God says something will happen, it will in His own timing and His own way.  These are wise instructions from Peter.  Don’t depend on your own wisdom, reasoning and logic to explain to people what God is doing.  Use God’s Word to respond to mockers.  Just as Peter used the story of Noah to remind the people that God keeps His Word.

In the Habit of Being Thirsty

When I am hot and thirsty, somehow over the years I have programmed myself to think that a nice glass of soda with ice will satisfy me.  My thirst will be quenched.  Unfortunately, the result isn’t always as good as I hoped.  The soda helps, but doesn’t really do the trick.  My habit of reaching for a soda is not really wise, when I am thirsty.  When I was young I should have trained myself to drink water, even if I didn’t prefer its taste in the beginning over soda.  Drinking water regularly may have been difficult, but it would have been better for me in the end.  My body would have been a whole lot healthier.

It is the same with our spiritual life.  Most humans have a tendency to reach for items that bring us pleasure.  We enjoy our hobbies and our friends, more than we enjoy spending time with God.  We enjoy a good adventure movie more than we enjoy reading our Bibles.  We enjoy our accomplishments in our careers more than our accomplishments in our work for the Lord.  In the end those choices will not be the best for us.  They are temporary pleasures that make us spiritually unhealthy.

David was running from King Saul and had ended up in the wilderness.  A place that was very dry and desolate.  While he was there he took the opportunity to pen Psalm 63.  His life was difficult and he had no clue how it would all end.  Yet, in this Psalm we see David’s wise heart.  He declared to us his habit of being thirsty for the Lord:

“1 God, You are my God; I eagerly seek You. I thirst for You; my body faints for You in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water. 2 So I gaze on You in the sanctuary to see Your strength and Your glory.”

What do you thirst for in this life?  Are you in the habit of wisely thirsting for the Lord?  Are you pleased by just seeing His strength and glory as you spend time looking at Him through His Word or His Spirit’s eyes?  You are in a dry, spiritually desolate place in this world.  This alone should cause you to thirst after the Lord.