The Devotional - 22

The Devotional

Comment:

Yesterday the focus on naval power was not much more than a blind man’s attempt to say “I see!” None of us see as we ought, nor do we know as we should; and with “power” all around us we willingly ignore what we should be fearing. The war machines of land, air and sea should be impressive to the eye of mankind and these are. To the military person the ability to make one of these machine operate effectively is the ultimate of success. Yet there is a Power that is above all powers developed by man that if this Power did not exist, there would be no power at all.

Challenge:

The Book of Job in the Holy Bible speaks clearly on the comment above. Read with me the discussion of Job as he speaks to his three friends. We will break in to his conversation in chapter 28, beginning in verse 12. But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? (Good questions Job) Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living. The deep says, it is not in me and the sea says, it is not with me. It cannot be purchased for gold, nor can silver be weighed for its price. (Don’t forget “IT” is wisdom and knowledge and in these words alone one could find hours of meditation and prayer to God)!) Job 28:12-15.

It is not that man ignores wisdom or willingly lacks understanding, but more obvious to Job is that man looks in all the wrong places and spends all of his resources in vain, so in verse 20 of the same chapter in Job, Job repeats his questions. From where then does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding? He considers then that the “place” wherever it is, it is hidden from the land of the living, not only that, but even the birds of the air (literally heaven or spiritual beings) are not mindful of this wisdom and understanding.

We ought to be very interested in these truths from the Book of Job and the rest of the Holy Bible as well. As we see also that Job in his day some 3 to 4 thousand years ago that he knew this: “Hell and death have reported saying; we have heard a report about it (wisdom and understanding) with our ears”, (Job 28:22). I say ole chap, if you wait until your death to know these things, then you’ve waited too long.

So let us begin to know the power of God over His Created universe, His power over you and me is Love (John 3:16), revealed by God to His Creation by His Wisdom and Knowledge. While we will never fully understand, God will always be willing to teach us to have a proper Fear of Him. Job 28:27-28; Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 1:7 and Proverbs 8:12-36.

I have an eye appointment tomorrow at 9am, so the Devotional may not be published, but we will pick up on the Wisdom and Knowledge of God the next time.

The Devotional - 21

The Devotional

Comment:

Have you ever heard of INS Vikramaditya? Most of us have not! Truth is for the very first time today I am reading about this refurbished Russian built modern war machine. It is India’s 45,000 ton aircraft carrier. It served in the Soviet Navy in 1987 through 1996 when it was decommissioned for being too expensive to operate. India purchased the ship for a mere sum of 2.35 billion dollars. Is this information pertinent for this morning? I am looking at articles from the U.S. Naval Institute magazine, March 2015 issue of seventy countries worldwide that are seeking to develop larger and stronger navies. With the exception of one of these navies all have the mindset to be as brave as the sun, which is the English translation of “Vikramaditya”.

Challenge:

The one nation that is not at the moment rebuilding is Ukraine. At the present time the leaders of Ukraine and its naval forces are assessing loses in recent conflicts with Russia. The article states that 12,000 out of 15,000 navy personnel of the Ukrainian Navy defected to Russia or were reassigned to the Russian Navy and this is the point of our challenge this morning. If I understand this, the Ukrainian Navy consists of only 3,000 members.

A small remnant of faithful men and women remain to rebuild a naval force in a country pilfered by the aggression of the giant (Russia) next door. Here in the U.S.A. we share various thoughts about this, many of whom could care less and say poor Ukraine, or others who do care and they say poor Ukraine also. With arms folded and fingers crossed we ignore the obvious.

This same mindset about our national security is spreading into the heartland of the U.S. and I would like to use an article written by the apostle John that Jesus relayed to the Sardis church in Revelation. I do so because we as a nation were once identified as a godly nation; Christian that is in case you have forgotten. So as once a national congregation of God conscious people, I believe that the LORD Jesus may just say this to us - Revelation 3:1-6

"And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, 'these things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: "I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." ' Just replace Sardis with the initials – U.S.!

Absurd you say! We have given up our bravery to those who look to sun and moon as their gods, we have given up our freedom for the intoxicating perfume of the harlot who has covered her nakedness and filth. With the offerings of peace and safety (the husband ((GOD)) is out of town) therefore it is warm and cozy in the tapestry of her bed linen. In the reading of Proverbs 7 we the U.S. are the ox for slaughter or the fool in shackles; Proverbs 7:22.

The Devotional - 20

The Devotional

Comment:

Life and liberty, are you interested in both of these pursuits? I suppose you are so I have some thoughts on this to share. Of course if you are not interested in life and liberty the things I have to say will be interesting to you anyway, so go ahead and continue reading. It is not that I intend to change anyone’s mind, only the LORD God could effectively do that since the things He says to all of us are “absolute” or “final” the things that people say are relative and subject to change. One look at education over the last fifty plus years will prove that. For an older example this is what God said in Genesis 2. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Vs. 16-17).

Challenge:

Now most of us know the story of Eve; Adams wife had a conversation with Satan who spoke to her through one of God’s created reptiles, a cunning beast at the time that could communicate with Adam and Eve. In the conversation Satan challenged Eve’s understanding of life and liberty in the Garden of Eden. We know from the biblical record that Eve’s understanding was not absolute or final, it was relative.

Her response to the serpent’s question was; “we may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die’ ”. (nor shall you touch it) is an addition to what God commanded. Here is my point, we encourage one another to take the absolute truth of God and replace these with relative truths of humankind.

I was looking at a web site that I use daily at the number of “English” translations of the Holy Bible, if my count is right, there are listed on this web site 35 translations. This is alarming, and if you listen to some of the preachers on the television these days, they say things like “well this version means this, but I like the way this version reads and so on”! Big BAH and Bigger HUMBUG! And sadly there are cropping up different versions of the original text.

In thinking about this, this morning it was not long before the LORD brought to my mind something that we constantly ignore because of our desire to corrupt the absolutes of Life and Liberty. Notice: Matthew and Luke record these words of Jesus – “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your Name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on EARTH as it is in HEAVEN. Matthew 6:9-10 and Luke 11:2.

When is the last time you sought to live LIFE and pursue LIBERTY by allowing the LORD’s will to be active in your little corner of the earth? Almost never would be the correct response. I see that the Word of God does not change for God is the same yesterday, today and forever, yet we change with each generation and say things like. “Well, I don’t know all of the facts, but gee; this is 2015” Brilliantly dark!