16 But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble. Psalm 59:16 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.59.16.KJV
God is our Refuge
Category: Accountability
You shall reap Joy!
Memorial Day
I was born in November 1961. My father had been an MP and a soldier in the islands of the Pacific theater of World War 2. In all of the years that I had to talk with him, he never once told me anything about the war. He divorced my Mom in 1966 and I saw him very little for the rest of his life. The few times that we had to talk until his death in 2001 I never asked him about the war and he didn’t volunteer any information. Today is Memorial Day 2021, almost twenty years after his death.
Life and death are what we live with and it doesn’t matter if you have been involved in a war or have only read about it…the effects that it has on men and women who have been a part of it are permanent.
I was an EMT/Firefighter for five years and an EMT for ten. It has taken nearly thirty years for much of what I saw at suicides and car wrecks and at the scene of a fire where people young and old lost their lives or took them to get to the point that I can write some of it down. During the years of working as an EMT, I had to compartmentalize what I saw or had to handle during my shift so I could do my job. Sometimes, those compartments break open and the memories come back as nightmares or episodes of PTSD.
When I was in my teens, around ‘73 or ‘74, I was afraid that the war in Vietnam was going to last long enough that I would be drafted into it. It was a fear that I carried but I didn’t let anyone know about it. This is the first time I have written about it. I watched a very realistic movie today called “We were soldiers” and it was about the first engagement in the Vietnam war on November 14, 1964…a Sunday.
I am proud to be an American by birth but I am glad that the war didn’t last long enough to drag me and my schoolmates into it. Thank you, Lord, for your grace and mercy for that. I also pray that You will give Your comfort, strength, and grace to all of those who lost loved ones or friends in that war as well as all of the wars we have been involved in since then. I want to extend my thanks to all of the families and the survivors of these wars and thank you all for your service to our country.
Be careful of false teachers
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/2co.11.13-15.KJV
God owns the Earth
Our Savior and the American flag
In many ways today’s flag and Jesus have many things in common.
The flag of America has had blood shed for it and on it. In America during the Civil War and during the war of Independence years before. It was carried with our troops on the field of battle overseas in Europe and Asia and across the seas. On Navy ships and troop carriers and subs that old flag has taken its hits from fire and oil and gun shots and at home from crooked politicians and those who hate us because of what it stands for.
Our Savior shed His blood for all of our sins, to make men free from the slavery to sin. Our Savior went through some terrible trials before He was crucified. He was spit on and beaten by His own people and priests. They made a mockery of a trial to show that what they wanted was right and that He was a threat. They accused Him of crimes against the Roman state and cast a dark shadow over His fate. He allowed this to happen because He loved them and had He wanted to He could’ve wiped them out with a word but He didn’t because He came to do His Father’s will and not His own.
So, you see that America’s flag has a lot in common with our Savior. They have both been beaten, torn, ripped apart and yet they both were victorious in the different ordeals that they went through. Our flag has been worn down during the wars that she has fought in through the years and the country that she stands for isn’t the same as it was once before. But there is still pride in our country and in that flag that stands for freedom that has suffered so for it.
Jesus and our flag have been through a lot but He came out of the grave triumphant and whole to stand at the Father’s side and to intercede for us when we don’t do the things that we should. Our flag still stands for freedom and human rights although they are being worn away little by little today. Those of us who remember history, our actual history, look at that flag with pride. So, yes I am proud to be an American and I am proud to say that I am a Christian too. Will life ever return to normal here one day? I don’t know, but I will never give up my freedom willingly and I will not renounce my faith in Jesus Christ.
On that day…
When the Lord sits in judgment of the world and how we have lived and worked in it, whether we served Him or not, there will be millions of children who will testify against their parents and those who took their lives before they even had a chance. God will take up their cause and they will have justice.
This is a very disturbing thing to consider but there have been over sixty million children aborted in the past 48 years in America. I don’t know the numbers in other countries of the world but I suppose there are many, many more in the entire world. But…on that day when God takes up their cause, there will be weeping and crying from those who have killed the children that God had sent to them.
This world and its troubles and trials and all of the other problems that are present today is going to soon come to an end. Whether you believe the Bible or in God or not it has been prophesied by Him and therefore it will happen. It may be a few more years but it could begin tomorrow as well, nobody on Earth knows that day or hour but God knows and it will come to pass.
If you are interested in finding out more about what will happen soon, read the book of Revelation because it tells it in detail. You might want to pick up a more modern translation for it because the King James version has descriptions of some things sounding too fantastic to believe. I pray that you will receive a blessing from reading it because it is the only book in the Bible that says specifically “readers of this book will be blessed“.
Be thankful in all things
The parable of the workers
One day a wealthy man needed some work done in his fields, so he went to the marketplace and found many men standing around. He offered them “whatever is right”, a penny (denarius) for their day’s work. They agreed and began work at an early hour. He did this again at about the sixth and ninth hours. He even went and found others looking for work at the eleventh hour and offered them the same.
Not long after he called his servants and told them to bring the workers in so that he could pay them their wages. Many of them who were there for most of the day ventured that they would receive more than their agreed pay. He began to pay them from the last workers first. The others saw that he was paying them also with a denarius and grumbled about it. When it came time to pay the first workers they were angry about it but the owner of the field said, “Friend, did you not agree to a denarius for a day’s wages?” Take your pay and go, I will do with my money what is right because it is my choice to do so.
Granted, I paraphrased this parable a bit, but it shows the grace and mercy of God to all of us. Just as the thief on the cross was one of the first to attain salvation by his faith and belief in Jesus Christ, he received the reward of being in Heaven. The very last person on Earth who is saved prior to the rapture (catching away) of the church will also attain entry into Heaven through the blood of Jesus and His righteousness. There will be no real difference in reward save for those who worked for God’s Kingdom in their lifetimes and their rewards will be the crowns that they are given for their faith and their work for His Kingdom. The book of Revelation tells about these crowns and what they represent and that we will cast them at the feet of Jesus because He is worthy to be praised! The book of Revelation is the only book of the Bible which has a blessing in the beginning chapter for all who read it and seek the meaning of it. I pray that you will read it and seek the One Who gives its meaning and purpose to all who believe.
Amen
What can we do?
Jesus did all of the work for us to have salvation, so what can we do? We really don’t have to do anything except to believe in Him and His provision for us through that belief because with faith coupled with our belief in Him our salvation is given to us by the grace of God. After we are saved there are many things that we can do regardless of the attitude of some that Christians have all of these rules and are just very boring. Compared to what we did in our “old life” without Christ, whatever that may have been, it could be boring to your friends from that time. After your heart has been changed by the Holy Spirit you no longer need to do the things that you did before. You may not feel like hanging out with your old friends but you will have new sisters and brothers through Christ in a church near you. Join a Bible study and learn more about your risen Savior that provided you with this gift of salvation. Study your Bible each day and learn about how much you are truly loved by God, the Creator, and the Sustainer of the universe. Imagine being loved by the One Who created you to be who you are and Who knows you far better than anyone else.
The Savior and God of all keeps every part of you and the world around you together and working for your blessing and for His glory. Every part of the universe is held together by His will and for His purpose just like we are. The Bible, God’s Word, is full of all kinds of stories about loss and pain, love, anger, regret and yet He can guide you through them all if you will let Him.
The Living Message of Christ 