In family worship, we have reading from the book of Ezekiel. There are a lot of deep and awesome truths found in that book, some of which unlock other controversies that we have yet to understand. Throughout the coming weeks, I will write about the book of Ezekiel based on various points my family members bring out each night. I pray that you will blessed.   After writing last night's post ("The Word of God"), I realized that the Bible teaches that the Son of God was the active agent in Creation. In other words, God the Father planned it, and God the Son executed it. How do we come to that conclusion? Well we learned that Jesus is the Word - that He has always been the Word, even before His incarnation. We also learned that the Son of God does in fact take commands from the Father; that is their order of things. With those lessons in mind, consider this text: " By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breat...

We are living in the perils of the last days. All heaven is inerested in the characters you are forming. Every provision has been made for you, that you should be a partaker of the divine nature,having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Man is not left alone to conquer the powers of evil by his own feeble efforts. Help is at hand, and will be given every soul who really desires it. Angels of God, that ascend and descend the ladder that Jacob saw in vision, will help every soul who will climb even to the highest heaven. They are guarding the people of God, and watching how every step is taken. Those who climb the shining way will be rewarded; they will enter into the joy of their Lord. How completely gratifying is that thought! As I prepared to "pen" this blog post, I was pondering and praying as to how to start it. I knew what the topic was: Jacob's ladder and the ladder of grace (found in 2 Peter 1:5-7, but vv. 1-12 provide the bigger pict...

On a hill long ago, Someone died for doing nothing at all. In being obedient to his Father's will, He showed His Father's love. And thousands of years before His arrival to our dying planet, God painted a picture of what that love would look like. You see, His Son would become flesh and dwell as Deity among humanity. But the Father -- His losses would be less tangible in the eyes of His creation. So rather than using reams of paper and additional doctrinal points to show us His side of the sacrifice, He gave us a story. Abraham was another father; Isaac another son. The mother in this story is distant, almost nonexistent. There was another mountain far away from their home. It was a new place. There was another pile of wood, another willing son tied to it; another group of two men on the same journey, yet not called to the same fate. There were another father's tears; another son's prayers; another story of love and self-sacrifice. And it started in the beginning*...

 This is a little devotional thought that I gave during a kid's cooking school at our church this past summer (2013). It is based on the story in found in Genesis 25 & 27 of Jacob's deception and Esau's birthright. Feel free to share this story with the younger members of the family of God. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. 31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. 32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? 33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright. (Genesis 25:30-34) How many of us have said a lie before? How many have cheated on a test? Was it right or w...

She would not leave her possessions. She had heard the angel's instructions; but as she observed her husband's hesitation, she dwelt on her own doubts. Her heart clung to Sodom, and the thought of leaving behind all she loved was too much. So she looked back... He had stepped out in faith. Yes, he had doubted along the way, but as he saw the fulfillment of divine promises, he was learning to love and trust God more. But, there was only one thing he did not yet trust Providence to take care of -- her. She was the apple of his eye, the joy of his life. She was a beauty, and he knew that other guys would think so too. Please, Beulah* , he said, if you love me, just please call me your brother . He would rather lose her than lose his life... Relief flooded over him as he reached the promised haven. As he entered the city, he turned to see the intense firestorm raining about six miles behind him. Heaven's judgment had come. He noticed his two daughters in the city with...

God is a keeper of His word. What He say, He will do. "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness" (2 Peter 3:9). To Noah and his sons the promise was made that never again would the earth be destroyed by water. As a token of that vow, God said, "I do set My bow in the clouds..." His bow? In the Revelation, at the beginning of chapter 4, John relates this scene: "After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne , in sight like unto an emerald" (verses 1-3). No matter how bad the rain gets, God will never destr...

          Our lives are like a mirror: what we do reflects who we are. Our actions reveal our character. The first brothers of this earth’s history, for example, thought about obedience very differently from each other, and this is best seen in their different ways of sacrificing.           God required that each person kill a lamb upon an altar as a sacrifice for sin; for the wages (or cost) of sin is death, according to Romans 6:23. God would then accept the sacrifice as payment for the wrong that was done throughout the day. You see, God had a pattern: The lamb represented Jesus, who is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Jesus came to earth and lived and died because He wanted to – he wanted to save us from sin. Hebrews 12 tells us that Jesus consider it a joy to die on the cross for us. He paid for our sins: he died so that we can live. We can see that in Romans 5:11 and Isaiah 53:4.     ...

What is the fear of the Lord?  It is the beginning of wisdom. What does that look like? It looks like awe.           When we know God as it is our privilege to know Him, we will realize just how wonderful He really is. We will be unable to fathom His greatness; and as we stand in complete silence, with no words to utter, we will feel the sheer awe of the Beauty of Holiness. Let's look at Job. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~           Yet there was a missing link in Job's connection with God. Does Job know who God really is? Nope, not yet. By the time we reach chapter forty-two, he does know; but not before.            You see, Job's view of God was along the same thought process as Jonathan Edwards. God was someone to be feared, too big to mess around with -- too big to mess up with. God was -- and is -- the judge of the earth. "And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me...