Longing For Rescue

LONGING FOR RESCUE

 

This was the title of the devotional by Bill Crowder in ODB today, Feb 24, 2015. He mentioned a movie that was released in 2013 called "Man of Steel", which was very popular around the world. It was based on the comic book character of "Super Man", and the actress who played the part of "Lois Lane", apparently made the statement "Who doesn't want to believe that there is one person who could come and save us from ourselves?" And of course we know that there was just such a man who came to earth some 2000 years ago, His name was not called Super Man, but was named Jesus, and He was not called Super Man, but He was the one and only "God/Man" who came from heaven to save us from our sins. His "virgin birth", sinless life, sacrificial death on a cross, and miraculous resurrection from the tomb is well recorded by the 4 gospel writers Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. He was actually God in human form, to put a "face on God" so to speak, that we might know what the Father God is really like. Read (John 1:1-14) and also (Heb 1:1-4) for the details of who Jesus is. Then in (John 14:6) Jesus gives us a more accurate definition of him being the "Truth", and the only "way to the Father" in heaven.

 

The special Archangel Gabriel came down from heaven and spoke to Joseph, as recorded by Matthew in (Matt 1:21) "She (Mary) will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His Name Jesus, for He will save his people from their sins". Jesus came not only to save us from our sins that we inherited from our original parents Adam and Eve, but also from ourselves. His name actually means "The Lord saves", and His mission was "our salvation" that He accomplished on the cross. The universal "Longing for Rescue" that is in the heart of every human being, who tries to fill this longing with other "things" that never satisfies, like wealth, success, alcohol, or sex etc. Only Jesus can really satisfy this longing in the human heart as the words of an old hymn expresses so well. "Shout salvation full and free, Highest hills and deepest caves; This our song of victory, Jesus saves! Jesus saves! The author Bill Crowder closes the article with the following words.

 

"Jesus' Name and His mission are the same—He came to save"!!

 

Our task as followers of Jesus is to sound this message loud and clear!!

Sincerely Submitted.

Dave Jamer                                             24/02/15                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Don't Worry

DON'T WORRY

 

That's easy to say to someone who has just received some very bad news about a doctor's report, or some other upsetting news report, but not easy for the average person to handle. That's where a belief in the Word of God comes into play, for example read (1 Peter 5:5-7); he speaks about being in "submission" to your elders, and "serve each other in humility for God opposes the proud but favors the humble. So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time He will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you". We see several truths in this passage of scripture, 1/ Submission is most important, God desires everyone to be in submission to their elders. For children this would mean to your parents, for followers of Jesus it would mean to your spiritual leader, like a pastor or church elders. 2/ God opposes the proud, who usually are very un-submissive, 3/ Humble yourself under the mighty power of God, who expects us to do this ourselves. God will then take care of whatever that troubles us because of His love and care for us as our heavenly Father.

 

Peter then goes on to mention our enemy the devil in verses 8-11, where he warns us to be on the alert for him, whose job it is to cause "fear" which is usually the cause of anxiety and worry. Read (2 Tim 1:7) "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline". NLT From this scripture we learn 2 things, first we know that fear is a "spirit", and secondly it doesn't come from God so it has to come from our enemy the devil. So if we heed the advice of Peter about "Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy the devil". We then have identified the cause of our worry it originates in fear of some sort, which comes from the devil, as James tells in (James 4:6-7). "But He gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the scripture says, God opposes the proud but favors the humble, so humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you". So when we combine the truth from these passages it seems to me that we have the answer to the problem some people have of being anxious and worrying. God's Word has the answer to every need we might have, it's simply a matter of having "faith" in God's Word, or being controlled by "fear" which comes from the enemy's camp. And it all boils down to a "choice", and I find that God always leaves the choice to us!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                                                       17/04/15 

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The Unseen World

THE UNSEEN WORLD

 

I just read an article this morning from ODB by this title, in which the author mentioned that the number of "microbes" on one of our hands would be more that all the people that inhabit our earth. And that more than a million of them could fit in the eye of a needle. That is amazing; and yet these things exist in the air, soil, water, and even in our bodies. They are so small that they can only be seen with the help of a high powered "microscope", yet we interact with them every day. This reminds me of the "unseen spiritual world" where the Father, Son, and Spirit exist along with an immense number of angels surround us every day as well. The Apostle Paul tells us in (2 Cor 4:16-18) that the things we cannot see are more important than those that we can see, because what we see are only temporary, but what we can't see are eternal. That is why it is so important that we know about this "invisible spiritual world" where God dwells.

 

It is true that God is invisible, but He sent His Son Jesus to earth so that we might see what God was like. I like (John 1:1-14) that starts out with "In the beginning the Word already existed, The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and this life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. ---So the Word became human and made His home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son". NLT In (Heb 1:1-4) we see another description of how Jesus compared to the OT prophets, and how He is so much greater than the angels. In (John 1:29) John the Baptist identified Jesus as "The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world". And we know that He became the Sacrificial Lamb on the Cross on Mount Calvary when His blood was shed for us all. Then when we read (John 14:15-21) where Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to come and take His place on earth when He went back to be with the Father on The Throne. So today those of us who have believed in what Jesus accomplished on the cross, and accepted by faith what He did was for us personally, and received Him as Lord and Savior are already part of this "invisible spiritual world", because Father adopted us into His eternal family, and gave us each one the gift of the Holy Spirit to abide with us forever. We are part of this "Unseen World"!!

Sincerely submitted.

DaveJamer                                                                                                                         23/02/15

Rock Solid Faith

ROCK SOLID FAITH

 

When we read Psalm 18 in the NLT version, we see where David the Psalmist uses (2 Sam 22:1-51) which is actually a word for word copy of this passage from second Samuel. David uses many words to describe God, words that we call "metaphors". I see at least seven, 1/ a rock, 2/ a fortress, 3/ a deliverer, 4/ his strength, 5/ his shield, 6/ his horn of salvation, 7/ and his stronghold. Any one of these things indicates an object that we would relate to as a source of safety in time of trouble. David was a man of God who faced a lot of troubles, both before he became the second king of Israel, and also after. And of course as we read the history record from first and second Samuel we find that King Saul the first king before David proved to be his worst enemy because of his jealousy of David, and actually had his army chasing David all over the country trying to kill him.

 

There are many scriptures that refer to the Lord as our rock, (Ps 18:2) "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer". And also I can think of many old hymns and songs about Jesus being the rock of our salvation. One of my favorites is called "The Solid Rock" that starts out "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness, I dare not trust the     sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name". And the chorus "On Christ the solid rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand; all other ground is sinking sand". It would be hard to find a better description of the Gospel of God than that song, in my mind. We know from both the OT scriptures as well as the NT that He was the promised "Messiah" in the OT, who became

"Emmanuel" (God with us) in the NT, as John the Baptist referred to Him as "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). There is no doubt about Jesus being the one and only begotten Son of God, who becomes our Lord and Savior the moment we accept what He accomplished on the cross by dying for our sins and accept Him by faith. Then Father God adopts us into His family as His child, and gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit as proof of the transaction. As the "virgin born" Son of God He became the one and only "God/Man" who because He was sinless, could redeem us from our sinful lifestyle inherited from our original parents Adam and Eve. So now Jesus is our Redeemer, our "Solid Rock"!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                                                     06/04/15

 

The Bible's Description of Hell

THE BIBLE'S DESCRIPTION OF HELL

 

Most people don't have a proper understanding of a place called "hell", but God' Word describes it as a place of endless torment in a very dark place. I once had a person say to me "where ever hell is, a lot of my friends will be there and we will have a big party". What a stupid remark! As I understand scripture, hell will be a place of such extreme "darkness" that you could stand 10 feet away from a friend and not know he was there. Not exactly a good place for a party! Actually most people don't really believe there is such a place as hell. Their concept I guess is that God is a God of love, and would never send a person to hell, even if there were such a place. The ignorance of some people's understanding of scripture truly amazes me. I have been told that Jesus spoke more times about hell than He did about heaven, which should give us a clue of the importance of both places. Actually God doesn't send anyone to hell, His plan is that we all make a choice to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and spend eternity in heaven with Him and the Father. But failure to make this right choice, results in automatically making the only other choice which is hell. There are only 2 places to spend eternity, heaven with Jesus, or hell with the devil and his wicked angels. And the choice is left up to us as individuals; that is just the way our Creator arranged things.

 

There are three items that I know of in scripture to describe hell, 1/ It is a place of torment, 2/ It is a place of total separation from God and people,

3/ It is a place without love. God is [Agape] according to (1 John 4:8) and [Agape] is a Greek word for love, so it goes without saying that God and His everlasting love is not there. When we read (Rev 21:1-14) we see a place called the "New Jerusalem", which is clearly the eternal abode of God and His children. John sees it in His vision given to him by Jesus, this place we have been told is "heaven" where God's people go when they die, is here seen coming down from heaven, which is possibly a "temporary" holding place until all of God's chosen people who are followers of Jesus, arrive there and then the transfer can be made to their permanent home in the New Jerusalem. And of course all others who have rejected Jesus will spend their eternity in hell with Satan and his crowd of Christ rejecters (Rev 21:8). Our Creator is a just and Holy God who has always had a plan of how things will work out in the end. Are you ready for the end days? If not you better hurry and get right with Almighty God through His Son Jesus (John 14:6)!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                                                          16/03/15