It only takes six minutes to listen to some melodious tunes by this young group of gospel men called “Kings Return”. These A cappella selections soothes the soul and comes from their hearts. I truly believe they trained those angels who ushered in the birth of Baby Jesus on that blessed night. Yes…angelic-harmony-extraordinaire! So, do yourself a favor and usher in 2024 by praising God with them in song.
And while you are at it, pray for the peace of Jerusalem and the entire world.“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall have eternal life.” John 3:16
However, there is a caveat to the title of this week’s blog. Before you ask God “why?”, perhaps you would receive a quicker response to your inquiry if you considered other interrogatives such as “how,” “when,” “what,” and “where”! After all, God is God. And his plans are far above our meager notions and understanding.
For ten years, I was a volunteer missionary with Buckner International, a Christ-centered privately owned humanitarian organization in Texas (USA), that works with vulnerable children, senior adults and helps to build strong families in the USA and also in more than six foreign countries. And during that time of traveling abroad to those foreign countries with the Buckner mission teams, I am ashamed to admit that I was full of “why” questions for the Lord.
Once when I discovered that I did not have enough supplies to teach the children in the orphan homes, or ample desks and chairs for them to sit on in the ‘make-shift’ class rooms; or that I was not assigned an english translator; or the building where activities were to be performed lacked ample electricity; I found myself complaining and crying out to the Lord. I realize now that I must have come off as an ugly American…spoiled rotten by the conveniences of the Grand ole USA. But boy, oh boy, was I ever smacked down by the Holy Spirit.
I shall never forget the spiritual lessons that the Holy Spirit taught me. Where is your faith, young lady? This mission trip is not about you, my child. Check your attitude and your motives. Smile and show my children that you represent a God who cares, provides and knows what is needed. Now go over to that corner and look inside that box, the Holy Spirit said to me. Guess what was in that box.
Several brown lunch bags were inside the box along with some broken crayons. Just enough for each student. The kids ran over and quickly grabbed a bag and a crayon. Each child found a chair and without any instructions from me, kneeled down in front of it and positioned them selves to use the seat of the chair as their desk. The children then turned to look up at me and I realized that it was time to teach the Bible story.
As I told the story of Joseph leading Mary on a donkey, pregnant and heading down to Bethlehem, a child in the front row repeated my words in the language of the land. The children all begin to draw that scene on one side of the brown bag. As I continued telling each part of the story, the children would turn their bags to a clean side of their bag and draw the images. When I finished the story, all sides of the children’s bag was full of the story details. And the young man in the front row showed the class how to punch two small holes in the sides of their bag and slip their hand up in it and make a paper puppet.
Now the Holy Spirit whispered to me that now each child can take their puppet back to their village and become the ‘teacher’ and recite the story of the birth of the Baby Jesus to all their friends and parents. Glory, hallelujah! What if I had told that story by using my own drawings on a black board. There would have been no evidence for each child to take home!
I later learned that each child used their lunch bag to take back to their villages a portion of their lunch we provided for them to share with someone else. So the bags served two purposes and God was glorified and my faith was strengthened and my gratitude and attitude was emboldened.
“But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13–14).
“A life without regrets is a life built on a mirage.” (Author unknown)
“For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10).
Boy, Oh Boy, have I had fun this week prayerfully calling upon the Holy Spirit to show Himself mightily and to help me understand two passages of scripture I ran across during my early mourning bible study time. One passage from the New Testament and another from the Old Testament.
”Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. (John 3:14-15)
“And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
” And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.” (Numbers 19:8-9)
The question that pondered me was this: Why did Jesus compare the example of His impending death on the cross to a manmade image of a bronze snake on a pole?
To refresh your memory of the incident in Numbers, you will recall that the Israelite people were sojourning from Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea on their way to Canaan (the Promised Land). They were hungry and had no water and so they began to speak against God and against Moses. ’Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?” they said.
As punishment for their blaspheming, God sent fiery serpents among the Israelites, and the snakes bit the people and many of them died in the wilderness. Then all the people came to Moses and asked him to pray to God for they realized that they had sinned against him and against Moses. God instructed Moses to make an idol of the fiery serpent and place it on a pole. And everyone who is bitten, when they see the pole they shall live.
Now, after many days, the Holy Spirit said to me, my child, what does that story remind you of. After deep thought and soul searching, I proclaimed that the event reminded me of the Garden of Eden and the first couple; Adam and Eve. They performed a sinful act of disobedience after entertaining devilish thoughts from the serpent (Devil, the father of lies). The Israelites’ acts were similar and their punishment was also death by snakes.
On the other hand, Jesus Christ was saying that the offsprings of Adam and Eve (people of the world), should/must become engaged in conversations about Him…accept Him…have faith in Him…obey Him…trust Him. AND LIVE (ETERNALLY) AND GET TO THE PROMISE LAND! In other words, we as His ambassadors, must turn our eyes upon Jesus and lift Him up before all peoples and He will draw all men unto Himself.
This is the final blog post I will be publishing concerning the subject on “God alone”, my brother and I had some 40 years ago. You will recall in Part 1, I shared a personal discussion (did I say ‘heated’ discussion?) we had on a deep theological disagreement on the personage of Jesus Christ. Since my brother had recently died with a firm belief that God alone would receive him into heaven without his having to confess Christ Jesus as his personal Savior. At the time of our disagreement, I was trying to convert him to Christianity and the acceptance of the Son of God as a propitiation for mankind’s sins.
I have since learned that…”So then neither is he that planted any thing, neither he that watered; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planted and he that watered are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.” 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 KJV
So, now, let’s come to the conclusion of the matter:
Just remember…God gives the increase.
And God said to the Apostle Paul, His prisoner… (Column 1.)
And God said to me, His prisoner…(Column 2.)
25. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor; for we are members one of another.
26. Be ye angry, and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
27. Neither give place to the devil.
28. Let him that stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needs.
29. Let no corrupt communi- cation proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edify- ing that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
30. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
31. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice;
32. And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
Verses 25 through 32 instructs you on how to live in the Spirit of God. Read them and weep.
(Thank you God (Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ) for my lesson. May I soon have an opportunity to do as the Word says and share.
Love, From Me, Your servant and blogger.
To all my readers of this blog…Please use the Comment Section below (or ‘LIKE‘ button) to share your comment(s) on your own experience with family members that hold to different religious beliefs than you do.
Three (3) times in the Holy Bible the creator God is a witness that Jesus Christ is his Son:
(NOTE: The key to being able to communicate with God is to state your case succinctly and then allow the Holy Spirit to do it’s thing. My soul was a witness to the excruciating pain I felt all those years between my brother and myself. But the Holy Spirit pointed me to the writings of the Apostle Paul and now, all is well with my soul. Please click the song below and be blessed for 2:43 minutes. Amen)
In addition to my own soul being a witness, the Holy Bible is also a witness…see below.
To Mary, wife of Joseph, we find this statement by an Angel: Luke 1:30-35 provides a clarifying identification: Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.“
At Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist we read: …suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, who I love. I am very pleased with him.” (Matthew 3:16-17 – See also Mark 1:10-11; Luke 3:21-22.)
And on the mountain where Jesus was transfigured we read: …suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, who I love. I am very pleased with him. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:1-8 – See also Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36.)
To my dear readers…Thank you so much for finding an interest in the first 2 blogs posted on this subject matter. I realize that I have delved into a very personal and confidential family matter that could seem to some too private to blog about. And if that was your thoughts, I apologize. My only thoughts were of perhaps there were other siblings out there that had surmountable disagreements that needed closure. It is my hope and prayer that this series of blogs on the subject of WWJD (What would Jesus do!) that could shed some light on how to deal with the problem. I am finding closure and in all my getting, acquiring an understanding on the matter (albeit biblically).
So, let us continue to digest the good and perfect advice given to me by the Holy Spirit on how to continue to love and respect others (including relatives) who might just disagree with us from time to time.
And God said to the Apostle Paul, His prisoner… (Column 1.)
And God said to me, His prisoner…(Column 2.)
17. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind.
18. Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.
The Gentile does not believe in God, but his own might. So even though God has given him a measure of grace (because the word says he has given it to everybody), the Gentile is blind (or living in darkness) and thus ignorant. Because if he was in the “know”, he would be “in God” because knowledge comes from God.
19. Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
20. But ye have not so learned Christ;
21. If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus;
22. That ye put off concern- ing the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
24. And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and tru holiness.
Now you Ephesians are just like everybody else. You’ve received your gift, through grace, but you are greedy…not sharing. You act like you don’t even know where the gift came from and I’ve told you all about Christ.
So it’s about time you forget what you knew before Christ came into your life (deceitful- ness, lusts, etc.) and be renewed with the Godhead knowledge about the flowing of the Spirit, in your mind.
And that you become one in the Spirit, etc., and let God account it unto you as righteousness.
Part 4 will be presented next Friday
Part 4 will continue to show you how God revealed it is impossible to only believe in him and not his Son, Jesus Christ.
Conversations With God Using Scripture 