beauty for ashes

Wake up and smell the orchids!

It is so easy to get discouraged at the prevalence and strength of untruth and evil in our world. It takes my mind away from the real power and almighty omnipresence of God - who is more than able to overcome, and whose will and purpose will be accomplished on earth. He has given us his word. And, when we need reminding, all we need do is look around at the beauty of his creation, like this bloom erupting out of my jungle garden. When you bend down to admire her, you can also inhale the perfume.

A Beautiful Promise

"The song of the ruthless is stilled.
On this mountain the Lord Almighty
will prepare a feast of rich food
for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine -
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away
the tears from all faces." Isaiah 25:5c-8a

And, all those aborted babies and people murdered in secret will be revealed as,

"The earth will disclose the blood shed
upon her;
she will conceal her slain no longer." Isaiah 26:21b

Some day everyone will know the truth, whether or not they accept, agree with, or fall in line with it.

"for the earth will be full of the knowledge
of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." Isaiah 11:9b

I very recently did a post I called The Book of Miracles, discussing a current tendency to question, rather than really teach the Word of God. This can't be emphasized enough.
All those irreverent, so-called "Christian" teachers and professors at our "Christian" colleges and universities, who confuse and mislead their students will be judged more severely. They don't seem to comprehend the serious responsibility they have, and are in danger of the millstone hanging. Our God is as able to preserve and protect the whole of his Word to us, down through the years, as he is to communicate it to us in the first place. But, if you have difficulty believing in the power of God to create this universe as he said he did, without some millions of years' worth of trial and error, then you are worshiping a false and weak god, who would leave it to mankind to compile a "canon" of scripture; that by religious power-plays and politics, we ended up with what we call the Bible. This link is an example of the sort of teaching going on, in case you don't believe me.

Praise God, his Word is usually able to get me out of a funk, and all creation is a constant reminder to us of his beauty, power and majesty - good to remember with Thanksgiving coming up soon.

A Prayer for Obama

Flowers represent hope.

In our office yesterday I was grumbling, Bob was playing the blues on his guitar along with various blues CDs, and Byron said something about it's so sad. Then my daughter received an email from a friend, asking everyone to pray for the Obama family. She replied with a wonderful prayer and I'm posting it here today:

My Prayer for Obama

Heavenly Father,
I love you and know that you are in control. I thank you for my family, and friends, a warm bed to sleep in and good food to eat.

I pray that Your will be done in our government. I pray that even though people are racist and vote based on looks, charm, and the color of a man's skin, that you would work a miracle in our country.

I pray that even though Obama has the reputation of being the most fascist, communist senator in 2007, that you would do what some might call impossible, and CHANGE Obama's heart.

I pray that even though Obama has a history of voting against the rights of the unborn, that You would prick Obama's heart every time he looks into the eyes of his dear children. I pray that in spite of the way Obama has voted in the past, You would work a miracle in his heart, and the cries of pain from the children who are being aborted would be heard.
Then we will know that the CHANGE came from YOU God, because YOU can change
even Obama's heart. Our HOPE is in you, Lord.

I pray for a miracle of protection over our children and our country that now has a President who is supported by Ahmadinejad, Chavez, Castro, Hamas.
Have mercy on us Heavenly Father for the sake of our children.

Most of all, Heavenly Father, I pray that WE will humble ourselves and pray. In your Word you say,

"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

Father please forgive us, and heal our land.

Lincoln's post at Habitation of Justice had a good perspective. We, as Christians, need to look to our churches and our own lives and see what needs to be changed. Paul was not as concerned with which Caesar was ruling as with warning Christians about all the false teaching going on and about the way they were living.

God is Not Bipolar

Unbelievers, as well as many Christians, often have trouble with the frequent horrific death, destruction and killing going on in the Bible, even terming some of it genocide. Most of this took place in the Old Testament, though Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) in the New Testament were also judged by God, through the Apostle Peter.

Henry Imler opens up discussion on his post, "An Evil Bipolar God" and presents 3 different options for interpreting Old Testament "genocide." An interesting bunch of comments follows.

The judgments of God for wickedness start with the Flood, which destroyed all of humankind, excepting only one family. That was the hand of God himself. Some of the time he used (uses) people and nations, as when "the iniquity of the Amorites" had reached it's full measure. He commanded Israel to go in and wipe them all out. Later, he had the Babylonians execute his righteous judgment on the Israelites, as he had used various Canaanite tribes to harass the backsliding Israelites during the time of the Judges.

Justifiable homicide by a just and righteous God. The humanists among us cringe at such an outrageous idea. And yet, those same liberal sweetcakes would scream if you denied them the "right" to murder their own babies. A case of calling white black (nothing ethnic intended) and wrong right. In all cases, however, God is the arbiter of righteousness and whatever he does, or causes to be done by his command, is right.

We cannot extrapolate and decide that it would be justifiable to go out and do likewise, taking death into our own hands, on our own initiative, even suicide. That, my friends, is called presumption and is a sin against God. On the order of Jim Jones and Hitler. And, in case some anti-war (aren't we all really?) liberal is reading, that does not include national military service.

So, God is not Bipolar. For,

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Hebrews 13:8

This life is not the end all and be all. It is only an opportunity for us to get to know our loving Creator and to be with him in the life that is eternal.

As a postscript, what I actually had in mind with the photo was a scripture I'd read in Psalms:

"Though my father and mother forsake me,
The Lord will receive me." Psalm 27:10

Remembered when considering the plight of many without parents at all, or who have worthless ones. Perhaps a single mother only, doing her best. But, in spite of the hand we're dealt, and we all have a few dud cards in our decks, God is there - wanting to hear from his children, hoping we'll turn to him for the help we need.