“Your eyes saw my unformed substance, in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalm 139:16

These words have become a ‘peace in my heart’ standby and a confidence in God’s scripture when I am faced with the loss of a friend or family member or uncontrollable situations. I can tell you that was so true this past weekend as I learned that a grandson had totaled his car.

It was no small miracle to see my grandson and the picture of the car to know that God still had days left for his life. The car was split in half and the top completely removed. He actually stood up and walked away from the car with only glass, cuts and a broken jaw tooth. Apparently, an 18-wheeler swerved and pushed him towards the shoulder and as he moved to the edge the tires got in the grass and spun out. He ended up wiping out a few trees and came to a stop when the bumper wrapped around a tree trunk.

It just so happened a car behind him saw the whole situation and called 911. The witness’s name was Christian. Neither my grandson nor the witness was able to get any information on the truck because it was unmarked.

Now, you can imagine our family’s desire to be in God’s house the next day on Easter Sunday as we gratefully thanked Him for His death on the cross for the gift of salvation for our souls and we gratefully thanked Him for sparing my grandson’s life.

I went to my ‘peace in my heart’ scripture that the Lord made me aware of many years ago when my late husband Willis Hinkson was undergoing a bone marrow transplant. Each morning we would read from the book of Psalms and he would pick out one scripture for me to write on the statistics board in his room. (It was surprising to us how many doctors and nurses read the verse each morning.)

During that time, one scripture, Psalm 139:16, became a personal scripture for me to comfort myself in knowing that I had done everything I could to assist Willis as he went through cancer and that God was in charge of the date of death. It helped me to realize that God is the one in charge of life from before the beginning to the end and that no matter the circumstances it is still His charge. The day is set. When my husband died a few months later, that scripture reminded me that God had written his name in His book; the number of days set for Willis Hinkson.

“For You formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present, nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

“The steps of a man are established by the Lord; and He delights in his way. When he falls, he shall not be hurled headlong; because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.” Psalm 37: 23-24

“look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” Matthew 6:26

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ For He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day…” Psalm 91:1-16

Scripture verses give us the peace in our hearts and the confidence we need to make it through any circumstances that might be presented on any given day. But is this a comfort to everyone? No, many people do not know the forgiveness of sin nor the peace in their heart nor do they know where they will go when they die. So, for those of you who may be reading this article and do not know the rest and peace that Jesus offers, I have given you a few scriptures to contemplate.

“ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

Everyone is born into a sinful life because of the curse of Adam and Eve but we do not have to remain in that state because Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice for that sin of disobedience. This is the acceptable will of God the Heavenly Father that Jesus came to earth in the form of a baby, lived among men as an example, died a cruel death on the cross for all of our sins, and then became alive to reign in heaven on our behalf.

“Jesus said, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

“For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

“Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9

My family and I were on a Bible study trip to the Holy Lands and as I stepped off the tour bus at St Peter’s church, a flying sea gull gave a splat of white that landed on my forehead. The tour guide didn’t know whether to laugh or apologize so he gave me his handkerchief.

The story didn’t end there. The bus soon traveled on to the next sight on the agenda which was Mt. Carmel. As we began the journey up to the top, the tour guide began to give information about the mountain. He made a long, drawn-out story about how pristine, clean, and white this city was. He said you wouldn’t even find a cigarette butt on the grown, but the clincher came when he looked at me and said, “And Charlotte, it is so clean even the sea gulls fly upside down when they fly over Mt. Carmel!”

That was my experience with Mt. Carmel and sure enough, it was white and clean and the rocks looked like white chalk. Being there I could just see the prophet Elijah as he called down fire from heaven. Did you ever hear the story about his willingness to stand for God against all the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah? He wanted to bring God’s people back to God because King Ahab, the most evil king of Israel in the sight of the Lord, and his queen, Jezebel, had turned all the people to worship Baal and had killed most of the prophets of God.

After some time had passed and a great drought of three and a half years had come upon Israel, God told Elijah to meet with King Ahab. When they met, the king called him a troublemaker of all of Israel. Elijah answered him that the king was the one that had forsaken the commandments of God and followed Baal. (Baal and Asherah were mythological idols mostly worshipped by the Canaanites)

“…how long will your falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him. But the people did not answer him a word.” Verse 21

That is such a sad verse. They, God’s people, couldn’t give an answer.

Elijah called for the other prophets to cut up an ox and place it on top of a prepared wood pile but put no fire under it. Then he told those same prophets to call upon their god to provide the fire. Well, those prophets of Baal and Asherah, all 850 of them, began chanting and cutting themselves and calling with a loud voice most all of the day. Nothing happened. I can’t even imagine the noise they must have been making.

As it became the time of day for evening sacrifice, Elijah repaired the damaged altar of God and he placed 12 stones representing each tribe of Israel in the repair. (reminding the onlookers of just who they were to identify with) Then he prepared the wood and cut up the ox and place it on the wood and altar. Next a trench was dug around the altar. He requested that four pitchers of water be placed in the trench and again a second time. His prayer to the Lord:

“Oh Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that Thou art God in Israel, and that I am Thy servant, and that I have done all these things at Thy word. Answer me , that this people may know that Thou, O Lord, art God, and that Thou hast turned their heart back again.”

“THEN THE FIRE OF THE LORD FELL and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench.”

It took a Godly man who was tuned in to God with the strength and courage God provided him to prove to the people that He, God of the Universe, was the one true God and worthy to be worshipped.

As if this calling fire down from heaven wasn’t enough, Elijah told king Ahab to get ready for the rain, because God would provide relief from the draught for His people. Sure enough, Elijah once again went to Mt. Carmel to wait for the Lord to send rain. Seven times he sent his servant to see if he saw any clouds because he was crouched with his face towards the grown. The seventh time there was a cloud rising from the sea and THERE WAS RAIN!

“O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me.
Thou doest know when I sit down and when I rise up;
Thou doest understand my thought from afar.
Thou doest scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And art intimately acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O Lord, Thou doest know it all.
Thou hast enclosed me behind and before and laid Thy hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high; I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from Thy Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Thy presence?
If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
Even there Thy hand will lead me,
and Thy right hand will lay hold of me.
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
and the light around me will be night,’
even the darkness is not dark to Thee,
and the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to Thee.

For Thou didst form my inward parts;
Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from Thee when I was made in secret,
and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.
Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance.
and in Thy book they were all written,
the days that were ordained for me,
when as yet there was not one of them.

I wonder how many people have read Psalm 139 with an understanding of verses `13-16? The thoughts of abortion cannot enter your head if you break these verses apart and realize that before you were born, God knew your frame, your name, He knew every part of you and your life and the time of your death.

This may be hard to comprehend on this side of heaven, but if God is truth and the Bible says “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, then we must believe that our life is totally in God’s hands.

If we are in God’s hands, why do we suffer, have pain or feel like everything in the world is wrong and crazy? I believe there are many reasons:

There was no pain or sorrow until sin came into the world through disobedience of Adam and Eve.

We refuse what God is offering
“They have turned their back to Me and not their face; though I taught them, teaching again and again, they would not listen and receive instruction.” Jeremiah 32:23

We do not acknowledge that there are consequences for our own personal sins
“So this I say and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.”

We don’t view ourselves as a sinner in need of a savior
“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

Many teach there is no God
“The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. All his thoughts are, ‘There is no God.’”

“Unto thee it was shown that thou might know that the Lord He is God’ there is none else beside Him.” Deuteronomy 4:35

Our bodies are decaying daily in a world with decay.
“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” 2 Corinthians 4:16

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.” Matt 6:19-20

“How precious also are Thy thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with Thee.

…Search me, O God, and know my heart;
try me and know my anxious thoughts;
and see if there be any hurtful way in me,
and lead me in the everlasting way.”
Psalm 139

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,

that who ever believes in Him should not perish but have

everlasting life.” John 3:16

Matthew 3:15 records the baptism of Jesus:
“Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent Him. Saying, ‘I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?”

So, who is this John recorded in writings by Matthew?

In the Old Testament, about 700 years before Christ’s birth, the prophet Isaiah spoke of one coming before the Messiah.
“Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; and let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley; then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together.” Isaiah 40:3-5

Several hundred years after Isaiah prophesied, it is recorded that the prophet Malachi repeated to the people what the Lord said to him of a messenger being sent to clear the way before the Lord appeared. Malachi 3:1-5

How do we know this was the same one spoken of in the Old Testament?Matthew, referred to Isaiah’s words when he wrote about the baptism of Jesus.
“For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet, saying, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.’” Matt. 3:3

More information about John the Baptist is recorded in Luke. In the first couple of verses Luke says these stories were handed down by eyewitnesses but that he investigated them thoroughly. He tells more about the miraculous birth of this son to Zacharias and Elizabeth, both older adults without children. Zacharias, a priest in the temple, was considered righteous in the sight of God, blameless and keeping the commandments as well as his wife. One day while Zacharias was attending to his duties, the angel Gabriel, appeared to tell him that he would have a son and to name the child John, and that the child would be filled with the Holy Spirit while in his mother’s womb. Fear gripped Zacharias, but the angel told him not to be afraid that his son would be a forerunner to make ready a people for the coming of the Lord. But because he questioned the angel and the message, Gabriel told him he wouldn’t be able to speak until the child was born.

When Elizabeth was about 6 months with child, Gabriel appeared to Mary with a message from God. That she would be with child and she was to name him Jesus.
“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” Luke 1:32-33

Gabriel also told Mary that her relative Elizabeth was also to bear a son. Mary hurried to the place where Zacharias and Elizabeth lived. Anxious to visit and to see that Elizabeth was with child even in her old age. It is recorded that when the baby in Elizabeth’s womb heard Mary’s voice, the baby leaped for joy and was filled with the Holy Spirit. What a blessing and encouragement it must have been to Mary as truths began to unfold to her. The first chapter of Luke very meticulously describes this event.

Fast forward to the baptism. Matthew records the conversation between John the Baptist, and Jesus at the Jordan River where Jesus had come to be baptized.
“Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordon to John, to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?’” Matt 3:13-14

What did HE say?

“Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Matt 3:15

What did HIS Father say?

“And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased’.” Matt 3:16-17

This study can be used to prove that Jesus is who He claimed to be:

Prophesied 700 years prior to the incident.
John witnessed it as well as all those gathered at the baptism
They heard God speak
They testified to the facts
Apostles recorded it.
Especially Luke who states he investigated the handed-down story
and God said it!

What do you expect to happen from your prayers? Would you say you are looking for a deeper walk with the Lord, answered prayer, guidance for the day, event or decision, and/or comfort, support, and encouragement? All of us at one time or another have offered up to God the scenario to troubles or situations in our life. We have literally asked God to “make it so” according to our thoughts on how something should be solved.

I remember my husband saying if you want your prayers to be answered, you have to pray for what He is offering you. In other words, get on the same page with God.

Why should I pray?

I Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray without ceasing.”

Matthew 6 records Jesus teaching on prayer

Luke 11 records Jesus himself praying

Psalms is full of the prayers of King David,

who was recorded as a man after God’s own heart.

It is a way for us to verbally understand what we are asking of God

and a way to understand His reply back.

You might want to consider these basics in your own prayer life:

First, you must be His Child.
“But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:12, 13

Second, be willing to die to self (that is your pride), your desires (which may be self-serving), and wrong motives.
“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Matt. 16: 24

Third, trust the one in whose hands you have placed your life.
“But without faith, it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him”. Hebrews 11:6

“For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” 2 Timothy 1: 12

Four, take action to go forward in all of the light and understanding that He has given you.
Jesus said: “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act upon them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and burst against that house, and it fell, and great was its fall.” Matthew 7:24-27

Five, have the confidence to take action and go forward because God has already equipped you with:
*The Holy Spirit who will guide you into all truths.
“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” John 14:16, 17

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 14:26

*Jesus as the example of what is pleasing and acceptable to God and what is His will.
“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12

*The Bible, which is God’s revelation of Himself to you. This passage in James 4:1-10, is a wonderful example in a nutshell of who God is and what He expects from us.
“From whence come wars and fighting’s among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, ‘The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy’? But He giveth more grace. Wherefore He saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

So, now that we have gone through the basics:
How do we have a successful prayer life? Being a child of God, denying self, trusting in God’s ability to take care of us and taking action on all we know with the confidence in knowing He has already equipped us for the task.
How can we know God’s will for our lives? By staying in communication.
How can we ask and receive what we have asked for? Praying God’s will.

A funny thing happened on my way to the outhouse one night. Several of you have read some of my stories on my blog and know that my late husband and I developed a campground in Arkansas that was used as a Christian facility.

In the beginning of this ministry, we actually lived in an army surplus tent on 68 acres of undeveloped land and had an outhouse. For those of you who might be city folks like me, it is a small shed away from the living quarters for those who do not have indoor bathrooms. I did have a donated luxurious stainless-steel pot in that outhouse. But having been raised in the city of Little Rock, outhouses were foreign to me.

At that time, the non-profit organization was just getting started so the donations were few. My husband took a part-time job at Wal-Mart and I took a job washing dishes at a restaurant. (We didn’t want full-time jobs, because our goal was to invest all of our time in the ministry.) Anyway, one night as I finished washing the dishes and mopping the floor, the owner was in a hurry to close so I didn’t have a chance to go to the bathroom before I went back to the camp which would have normally been on my list of things to do before heading back to the woods!

It was a twenty-minute drive to the camp from the town and by the time I got there, I really had to get to the outhouse. There was no moon that night, we had no nightlights, and the darkness was powerful. As I drove into the campground, I remembered we had a flashlight somewhere in the tent. So, I left the headlights on the truck on till I found the flashlight, and then I turned the truck lights off and walked back to the outhouse.

By this time, I could hardly wait to get there. One problem was that the flashlight had been dropped and the face of it had to be held in place in order for the light to shine. So, as I tried to pull down my jeans and hold the frame on the light, an unpleasant thing happened. I dropped the flashlight in the hole of the stainless-steel pot!

The story didn’t end there. I made my way in the dark back to the tent. Now at this time we had one extension cord that ran 200 yards to an electric pole. The refrigerator and one other appliance could be plugged into it such as the TV, a coffee pot or an electric skillet. Well this night, I chose to turn on the television because it gave out enough light to light the tent while I waited for my husband to get home from work. The part-time jobs gave us different hours.

Pretty soon I heard the rumble of the jeep coming up the road and then stop but, he didn’t come in the tent. I sat wondering what had happened and then he appeared at the back side of the tent. His first question to me was: Have you been to the outhouse tonight? “Yes,” I replied, “why?” He said, “Did you know there is a light shining up through the hole in the outhouse?” I had to confess, not only had I been to the outhouse, but that I had dropped our only flashlight in the hole!

Can you just picture this dark night: no moon, no stars, no outdoor lights and all of a sudden you see a bright light shining up through a hole?

Jesus is that for us: a bright light in the midst of evil and darkness. He is there to show us the way to heaven and to show us the way to live our life above the filth of this world. As we allow God to be the light in our lives, we can show others the way.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without Him, nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:1-5

Dear family and friends,
I am writing this letter because my heart is so heavy and burdened for the division and the hatred and the bitterness that has been brewing over differing political points of view.

I want to explain to you who I am voting for in the upcoming presidential election. I do not appreciate the personality or the background of either candidate, therefore I began to look at what issues are important to me and that is the way I will vote. (not on personality but platform issues.)

Having watched many hours of news both conservative, neutral, British, network and after watching many of the committees live sessions, I began to seek from God’s Word the issues important to me and to the future of my family and extended family.

Many say God shouldn’t be brought into politics but over and over in the Bible you will find scriptures contrary to that thought.

Psalm 33:12 “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as His heritage!

Acts 17:26 “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.”

Psalm 89:11 “The heavens are Thine, the earth also is Thine. The world and all it contains, Thou hast founded them.”
I Timothy 2:1-15

ABORTION
Psalm 100:3 “Know that the Lord Himself is God! It is He who has made us and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”

Psalm 139: 15-16 “My frame was not hidden from Thee, when I was made in secret. And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in Thy book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.

HOMOSEXUALITY
Genesis 2:18 “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
Institution of marriage as husband and wife, man and women.

Genesis 2:18-25
“And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. And the man gave names to all the cattle, and to all the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. So, the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man and brought her to the man. And the man said, ‘ This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.; For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

Leviticus 18: 22-24 “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; It is an abomination. Also, you shall not have intercourse with any animal to be defiled with it, nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it is a perversion.”

RACIAL EQUALITY (the constitution gives racial equality)
John 8:31-36 “Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you abide in My Word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’ They answered Him, ‘We are Abraham’s offspring, and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You shall become free’?” “Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. And the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever.’ If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.”

IMMIGRATION
My thoughts on immigration. I love the legal immigration idea because almost all of the original people came and settled, and the process began. But how would a new nation take care of all the ones coming in? How would they feed themselves and their families? They were able because of the abundance of the land. Then laws went into place for those coming because this nation couldn’t provide for all the ones who wanted to come. Now, it is the same. We still are obligated to provide and care for all those within our boundaries and assist with emergencies as a good neighbor to other suffering nations. BUT, the guidelines are in place for those coming into this nation. That is as it should be because we the people will be accountable through our taxes to care for their needs. Is it fair to load our country with illegal refugees that we must be taxed more, work more hours to feed our own family, and be asked to give up hospitals, doctors care, school participation, food banks, law and fire protection, housing in order to care for them. As a Christian, the Bible teaches us to give and take care of refugees and I want to be a caring person; How much can I give? Where is the stopping point for those coming in? I believe that nations have boundaries for reasons. In a perfect world, the money we sent to the countries to assist them would actually help the individuals and they could stay in their own homeland.
We have laws in place for a reason.

THE BORDER WALL
Revelation 21:12-19 describes a wall around the city of heaven.

In the book of Nehemiah, he was asked by God to rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem after it was attacked and torn down by enemies. Why? God so ordered it and used Nehemiah, as leader and organizer to prevent attacks from enemies and the looting, crime, the engagement of foreign gods and the intrusion without law and order.

TRADE AGREEMENTS
I believe there is a trade imbalance. It would help with the imports from other countries, especially China if this was addressed. Trade bill would benefit USA companies.
Lowering taxes to USA businesses that seek lower hourly wages in other countries would help bring back USA businesses to our own soil.

Deuteronomy 25:13-16 “You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a large and a small. You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. You shall have a full and just weight, you shall have a full and just measure, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord you God gives you. For everyone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly is an abomination to the Lord your God.”

CREATING JOBS
Proverbs 14:23 “In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.”

2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 “For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now, such persons, we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.”

I Timothy 5:8, Genesis 2:15 Proverbs 6:6-8. Psalm 128:2

GLOBAL WARMING
Genesis 1:28 “And God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Genesis 2:15 “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.”

Psalm 95:4-6 “In HIS hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land. …Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.”

CONSTITUTION
Romans 13:1-3a “Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore, he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil.”

LAW AND ORDER
Romans 13:1-3a “Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore, he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil.”

I Peter 2:13 “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme.”

ISRAEL
Joel 3:2 “I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land.”

Genesis 12:1-20 “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (God speaking to Abraham)

To sum this up, we are all still humans and make mistakes. If we are Christians, we are on different levels in our walk with the Lord. I don’t like the personality of Trump or Biden. However, Trump has accepted Christ into his life since taking office and he has surrounded himself with Christian believers: Mike Pence, Sarah Huckabee, the Spoke person for Trump,, Kayleigh McEnany, has given her testimony to the reporters. I am sure there are many more. I do know he also calls an all-day prayer meeting once a month in the oval office with several preachers such as Franklin Graham and David Jeremiah. I do believe there is a chance he might consult the Lord for directions.

“O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me.
Thou doest know when I sit down and when I rise up;
Thou doest understand my thought from afar.
Thou doest scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And art intimately acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O Lord, Thou doest know it all.
Thou hast enclosed me behind and before and laid Thy hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high; I cannot attain to it.”

“Where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or where can I flee from Thy presence?
If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
Even there Thy hand will lead me,
and Thy right hand will lay hold of me.
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
and the light around me will be night,’
even the darkness is not dark to Thee, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to Thee.
For Thou didst form my inward parts;
Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from Thee when I was made in secret,
and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.
Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance.
and in Thy book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me,
when as yet there was not one of them.”

“How precious also are Thy thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with Thee.”

“…Search me, O God, and know my heart;
try me and know my anxious thoughts;
and see if there be any hurtful way in me,
and lead me in the everlasting way.”
Psalms 139

Several years ago, in planning a conference for pastor’s wives, the theme scripture verse chosen was II Corinthians 3:18. A few years later when I began writing study material for an overnight ladies retreat, that specific scripture verse seemed like a great starting place and I used the same theme of “Reflections of His Image.”

“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

My mother was in the hospital at the time and sitting with her gave some reading and thinking time. As I was eating supper one night at a restaurant on my way home and with my pen and paper in hand and rereading the main scripture verse, I noticed reflections in the window of people walking by me. I also realized that while I was able to see their reflections in the window, I was really drawn to lights outside the window.

It is amazing how God takes the simplest things to help us grab hold of His truths. The idea of reflections and lights in windows and mirrors kept stirring in my mind the rest of the trip home and probably through the night. Next day when I went to the hospital, I went by the gift shop to pick up a little surprise for mom. On the wall in the gift shop was a mirror, which when turned on, had lights and a reflection of a cross that continued as though it were a pathway. It totally illustrated what I had been putting on paper about reflections, the Light, and the mirror.

If you look in a mirror, you see a reflection and when you walk away from that, there is nothing on the mirror. Webster’s dictionary says the word reflection means: An instance of reflecting as in the return of light or sound waves from a surface; something produced by reflecting as an image given back by a reflecting surface or an effect produced by an influence.

II Corinthians 3:15-18 EV Paul explains it as he compares the children of Israel when the Law is being read by Moses those that are God’s have the Spirit in them that reveals the reflection of the Lord to those around. It is an action

“When the Law of Moses is read, the people of Israel have their minds covered over with a covering that is removed only for those who turn to the Lord. The Lord and the Spirit are one and the same, and the Lord’s Spirit sets us free. So, our faces are not covered. They show the bright glory of the Lord, as the Lord’s Spirit makes us more and more like our glorious Lord”.

As God’s children, we should be the glory of the image of Christ. When people see us, they should see that reflection of the Light of Christ in us. Not our outside beauty or lack thereof, but the Light of Christ flowing through us to them.

John used Light as a metaphor to explain that Christ is the Light to a Christian and a reflection of the Christ Light to others.

“This is the judgement, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” John 3:19-20

“But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” John 11:10

“I have come as a light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me would not remain in darkness.” John 12:46

“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the Light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” II Cor 4:3,4

The Light that is talked about in all of these verses is of course Christ, but the way in which the word is used gives us an idea of the action of the word.

1. The Light shows direction, without the Light of Christ we will stumble in our journey
2. The Light shows our behavior, our conduct. The difference should be obvious in a believer’s life.
3. The Light is used to show the entrance to our revelation of the gospel of Christ.
4. The Light is used to denote the Savior, as in salvation.

One of the greatest ways that you and I can be a reflection of His Light in us is through love. Jesus said,
“By this, all men will know that you are My disciples if you have love one for one another.” John 13:35

Is the Light in your life? Is your life reflecting the image of Christ? Has God shown his Light in your heart today to make you aware of something that you need to change?
Maybe it is a direction, maybe it is behavior or attitude. Maybe it is just simply recognizing that Christ Jesus is the Light and you bring honor and glory to Him as you shine and reflect all that you know about Christ in your own life: a reflection of His Image.

My quote for the day is not God bless America, but:
America bless God.

Better still, those who claim His name bless HIM.

I am thinking back on how many times the Lord has spoken to His people and said, “serve me with all your heart and all you soul” If we His people would just do that, then all of the wonderful promises in the Bible would be there.

In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses speaks to the people of God’s declarations.

v. 12“When you have finished paying all the tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan and to the widow that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. “

v.13 “You shall say before the Lord your God, I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and also have given it to the Levite and the alien, the orphan and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed or forgotten any of Your commandments.”

v. 14 “I have not eaten of it while mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor offered any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of the Lord my God; I have done according to all that You have commanded me.”

v.15 “Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel, and the ground which you have given us, a land flowing with milk and honey, as You swore to our fathers.’

v. 16 “This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul.”

v. 17 “You have today declared the Lord to be your God, and that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments and His ordinances, and listen to His voice.”

v 18 “The Lord has today declared you to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments; and that He shall set you high above all nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall be a consecrated people to the Lord your God, and He has spoken.”

v 19 and that you should keep all His commandments; and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall be a consecrated people to the Lord your God, as He has spoken.”

This is a lot to read from Moses, but he declares two things: God has given the nation of Israel a high honor and position above all other nations and He commands their obedience. However, read verse 16 again. The warning was that this should be done “with all your heart and with all your soul.” I thought about some questions that some of you have asked me:

• Are the Jews the only people God chose?
• Why do Jews not recognize Jesus as the Son of God?
• Am I supposed to follow the ten commandments and statutes laid out in the Old Testaments?

Paul made the point that God has allowed the Gentile (non-Jew) to be expanded into the family of God because the Jews did not put their “heart and soul” into their obedience and worship of God. They might have had a “zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.”

“For not knowing about God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.” Romans 10:2-4

They were missing the “heart and soul” of the Lord and His goodness and His lovingkindness and His mercy and His grace.

You might be asking the question how does this apply to me; I am not a Jew? God’s word says we are Gentiles (non-Jew) grafted in as children of God through the blood of the Son of God. This gives you and I who believe in Him the right to be called the “children of God,” and the right to the inheritance of God.

“For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, GOD DID; sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh.” Romans 8:3

In Matthew 5:17 Jesus is teaching his disciples with a multitude of others listening to His words about God and His own purpose for being on earth.

“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets, I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.”

He did what we cannot do: He lived the perfect life and became the perfect sacrifice which was required by God for our entrance into the Kingdom. Even the Jew will one day be compelled to recognize that Jesus was, is, and will always be the Son of God.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.” Hebrews 13:8

Until this chaos came into our lives worldwide, we were so busy, and our agendas were so full, we had no time to serve Him. This worldwide pandemic has now given us time to sit and reflect, to pray, to study God’s Word, to think about what will be the “normal” in the coming days. I trust that you will find a way to:

Bless God with all you heart and all your soul!