What Does Dad Want For Christmas?
“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth” 3 John 4
You have heard the saying, “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” Well, since his wife (mom) usually keeps his stomach full, there is little passage left through this means, HA!
Parenting greatly (for the better) enlarges a person’s interests. Before you have the blessed addition of children (“Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward” Psalm 127:3) a person’s interests center around what they want for themselves, about being a winner themselves. But as children come along and blossom, one’s interests take on a new level, the desire to see the children prosper and be the winners.
Parental love, as God designed it, is one of the purest affections one can have as a human being. It is dedicated to helping the child succeed and do right, rather than repeat any failures or mistakes made by the parents. It is determination to do what is right and best for the child, rather than just do what pleases them at the moment.
Parents who know the Lord, who trust in and hope in the Lord, know that life is made or broken by what one does with God’s Word: “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.” Psalm 127:1 Thus, no matter what one’s circumstances may be, a parent knows that all will be well with their children who are walking in the journey of faith, because the Lord is their Shepherd, and they shall not want.
On the other hand, no matter how successful the child appears to be, any deviation from walking in the truth becomes cause for great concern on the part of the parent, as this indicates things are not what they should be and need to be between God and their child.
It is one’s actual steps, i.e., their walk, not their profession, that is the real indicator of one’s responsiveness to God as their Lord. Thus, excuses, taking exceptions to God’s will and way, yea, and even slackness on the part of children, smites the hearts of their parents, who fear for any and all failures on the part of their children to walk by faith.
The greatest and most heart warming gift a child can give their parents, is to walk in the light of the Lord!
SHARING
Christ’s Second Coming – As A Thief In The Night
“And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” Malachi 3:17 God’s people are referred to as His jewels. God’s peculiar treasure will be taken out of this world, no longer belonging to this world.
“But know this, that if the Goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.” Matthew 24:43 People know a thief could come, but they are just not preparing for it to happen now. Thus, many are going to suffer great eternal losses, not being prepared when Christ does come.
“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Corinthians 15:52 In the twinkling of an eye it will all be over, unseen by the world. With this taking of God’s treasure home to be with Him, the only knowledge the world will have of the event is in what they see that is missing.
“For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.” 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 We live in the age of grace. Satan and anti-christ are being prevented from prevailing over all. But with the rapture, the restraints are taken away, resulting in the ravages of the great tribulation overrunning all the world. The world will not realize what Christianity has afforded them, until it is taken away. “For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matthew 24:38-39
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Christ’s coming will result in the restraints being lifted and anti-christ will assume power over the earth. When this occurs, Christ and Christians will be outlawed – “as a thief.”
SHARINGStanding Alone
It is human to stand with the crowd; it is divine to stand alone. It is man-like to follow the people, to drift with the tide; it is God-like to follow a principle, to stem the tide. It is natural to compromise conscience and follow the social and religious fashion for the sake of gain or pleasure; it is divine to sacrifice both on the altar of truth and duty.
“No man stood with me, but all men forsook me,” (2 Timothy 4:16)wrote the battle-scarred apostle, in describing the events that took place, as Paul stood up to the attacks of powerful Alexander the coppersmith, who welded the support of the Roman world. God’s absolute, revealed Truth has been out of fashion since man changed his robe of fadeless light for a garment of faded leaves.
Noah built and voyaged alone. His neighbors laughed at his strangeness and perished in style. Abraham wandered and worshipped alone. Sodomites smiled at the simple shepherd, followed the world’s fashion, and fed the flames.
Daniel dined and prayed alone. Elijah sacrificed and witnessed alone. Jeremiah prophesied and wept alone. Jesus loved and died alone.
And of the lonely way His disciples should walk, Jesus said, “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matthew 7:14 Of their treatment by the many who walk in the broad way, He said, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world….Therefore the world hateth you.” John 15:19
The redeemed children of Israel in the wilderness praised Abraham and persecuted Moses. The people of God in the days of the kings praised Moses and persecuted the prophets. The court of Caiphas, the high priest, praised the prophets and persecuted Jesus. The church of the popes praised the Saviour and persecuted the saints.
And multitudes now, both in the church and the world, applaud the courage and fortitude of the patriarchs and prophets, the apostles and martyrs, but condemn as stubbornness or foolishness the same faithfulness in standing for truth today.
WANTED! Men and women, young and old, who will obey all scripture at the cost of fortune and friends and life itself. “Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach.” Hebrews 13:12-13
–Copied and edited
SHARINGThanksgiving In America
How different it must be today than it was when the Pilgrims first gave thanks to God for their survival! Would they see any similarity to the spirit of present day observance with the way it was back then?
Modern day thanksgiving is hardly about survival, but more about feasting, family, and football. It is not about people clinging to and nurturing one another, for the most part, but often about people temporarily laying aside their petty differences and ‘sacrificing’ their own plans to get together and get along for a few hours at best. I’m sure each of you could relate experiences that you know of that tell the story of how different our thanksgiving holiday is now, from the way it was in the beginning.
From God’s point of view, Thanksgiving Day, no doubt, is quite different now than it was with the Pilgrims. Then, God heard utterances from the depths of human hearts, who had lost many friends and family members due to the rigors of their pilgrim life, but who were profoundly grateful for God’s providence and care in having spared them. They felt they owed God everything. Today, while there are some who lift up praises to God, there may be many or more who regard not God.
God has a message for those lifting up their hearts and voices to Him today: “Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” Psalm 50:14-15 As we see so much changing around us, so much indifference to God, God’s challenge to us is to remain unchanged and to rather draw closer unto Him. “PAY THY VOWS UNTO HIM.” Every Christian can remember the awakenings and impressions of God’s Word, compelling them to take up their cross and follow Him, by faith in God’s will and way. But have any let these things slip unto going one’s own will and way? To abandon God’s call, will result in God not answering our call. DO NOT ERR!
God is still Sovereign over all the universe! He is still the God of His Word, the God of righteousness and the God of judgment. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess to Him! God also has a message for those who acknowledge Him not: “But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.” Psalm 50:16,17,21
Are you prepared to meet God? It is not a question of “if,” but just a question of “when.” “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found.”
SHARINGThe Big One
“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:1-4
Since Christ died for all, God is for the flourishing of true Christianity, unto reaching out unto all for whom Christ died. 1 Timothy 2:6 Thus, God is well pleased by our prayers for our rulers, so that they might do those things that will be favorable towards Christians living a quiet and peaceable life. 1 Timothy 2:3
~We pray for God to give us health and opportunity to work and provide for our own (areas we have no real power over)
~We pray for deliverance from tragedies (things happening beyond our control)
~We pray for deliverance from temptations (Satan’s power, greater than our own)
~We pray for God to keep us, to guide us, to enable us, and a host of other things, for we know “it is not in man that walketh to direct his own steps”
But God wants us to see how important it is for us to pray for our social and political climate that will permit us to live as Christians, in order to get the gospel out to all men. The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write to Timothy, that this needs to be done “first of all.” 1 Timothy 2:1
God is well pleased when we mature in our thinking to the point where our prayers embrace His purposes as supreme above all else, 1 Timothy 2:3. Through lack of maturity, one’s prayer can be no more than the lusts of the flesh, with selfishness as the objective.
ON WHAT TRACK ARE OUR PRAYERS? Are they in pursuit of really living for God? Are they minded for God’s will to be done in our decisions? Are they fostered by the wisdom that one’s own personal interests will best be served, by first seeking to serve God? Matthew 6:33 God sees and responds to the objective of our prayers, in determining how He answers our prayers. The secret to answered prayer is to want what God wants us to want, to ask for what God sees we need, and to desire to reach what God would have us to attain.
We need to counter the mystery of iniquity, the anti-christ tides, with real and fervent prayers for our leaders not to cave in to those things which oppose Christianity.
SHARING
