War on Terror

Proverbs 6:16-19

There are six things that the Lord hates, no, seven things He detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family. 

     In the wake of the events in Paris last night, I ask for everyone to pray. Pray for the victims and families, and for Paris as a city. To further the prayer, I ask that you pray for ALL who are on this side of the enemy's agenda. These attacks we have seen already, maybe not to that scale, around the world. Attacking soft targets with minimal security, killing innocent people is a sign of cowardice. Killing Christians on such a large scale that in some nations Christianity is expected to disappear. Pray that something starts to succeed in taking out these disgusting militants. Reading around on http://www.christianbiblereference.org, I found some interesting tidbits on just biblical war theories. I checked off each one, but I'll only name a few. Just causes; in response to certain, grave and lasting damage inflicted by an aggressor, advancement of good or avoidance of evil, serious prospects of success, non-combatants (civilians) must not be intentionally harmed, prisoners and conquered peoples must be treated justly. I'll let you do your own comparison, just like I did mine. But, Christians, we are under attack, along with innocent civilians, our friends, and our allies. We cannot continue to sit idle while they crucify us, behead us, rape us, attack us, and try to instill fear in us. 

Husband's Treasure

Proverbs 18:22

The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the Lord. 

Again, another verse that is nothing more than cut and dry. Fellas, wives are considered our treasure. Yet, everyday there is news of a husband, even Christian husbands, who beat, verbally abuse, cheat on, rape, even murder their wives. That's pitiful. I bet those same men wouldn't mistreat a monetary or material treasure in the same way. WE FIND A TREASURE when we find a wife. She is something of great value, to be cherished and taken care of. NOT to be abused in any way, not even to complain about. A treasure. A treasure, that when found, also brings favor from the Lord. That's heavy. Society has not only decreased the worth of our women, but also the value of marriage. Society displays women are to be used and marriage to be thrown away. To all men who are reading this, I challenge you. I challenge you to go against the grain of our corrupt society and hold the value of our women at the highest below Jesus. Husbands, I challenge you to hold your wives tight, value them like the treasure they are. Keep the values of a biblical marriage true. WE NEED A CHANGE. And for the woman reading this, if these men aren't following these guidelines that Jesus has ordained, know your worth and demand better. 

Marriage

Genesis 2:22

Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and He brought her to the man. 

        This verse is really pretty straight forward, to me anyway. It seems to be that there is a created wife for every man, perfectly suited for him. I'm sure several will disagree, but if we all followed this God-designed plan for marriage, instead of seeking lust, or money, or anything else, the divorce rate would drop, probably to very, very minimal numbers. Since God has the first day in marriage, no society or the courts or our peers, it seems like going against His plan and marrying otherwise is similar to that game we all played (and got wrong) as children, trying to shove a square into a circle. Adam didn't devise marriage, so neither should we. 

Miracles

I've been meaning to post for awhile, forgive me. Around Easter, I had the privilege of getting to be in the Passion play at the Christian theater we are affiliated with. There were many scenes and many perspectives that I'd like to share over the next few posts. 

One scene that stood out to me was that of a healing of a young boy. To reference the Bible, this story is in John 9. One of the townspeople stepped out to Jesus after he was asked to be healed and said, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?" It was the answer that stuck out to me. Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents have sinned. But he has been born blind so that the works of God can be displayed in him." Amazing. Many people have tendency to think that God punishes us with harsh consequences when we sin. While this may be true for those who do not know Jesus or have turned their back on the Father, it is not true that He simply does this to His children. I guess what I'm saying is as sure as Jesus performed miracles while He walked this earth, He is still performing miracles today. Keep the faith. Even that of a mustard seed is enough faith to witness the miracles of Jesus. I remember when my wife and I were going through our first big trial with my back, a short 9 days after our wedding day. It was said by an individual that this was God's punishment for my sins. We shook off the comment, kept our faith in our Father, and sure enough, He came through with a miracle. Even the surgeon said it was out of his hands. 

Please, as many of us will face medical and physical trials while we are on this earth, remember that they are not punishment for anything that we have done in our pasts. We have been forgiven and every circumstance is a chance for us to show relentless faith and wait for God's miracle.