Come To God And Pray

Assemble yourselves and come;
​​Draw near together,
​​You who have escaped from the nations.
​​They have no knowledge,
​​Who carry the wood of their carved image,
​​And pray to a god that cannot save.
  -- Isaiah 45:20

You may wonder at my choice of a verse for today and the title. And yet, that is where we began: outside the assembly of believers in Jesus, having no knowledge of the Lord and His salvation, and praying to idols that cannot save us. We had no knowledge of how to come to God and pray, but the Spirit of God moved us, parents and preachers taught us, and then there was Jesus.

Praise God, Jesus lives! So, come to God and pray.

Bucky

Ask Until You Receive

Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?
And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?
  --  Job 21:15

Job said that? Oh, yes, he did. Had Job given up on the Lord then? We know from the story that Job wanted a discussion with God, but no, the man did not sin by giving up on God. The argument had been made that Job suffered the consequences of his sin. And one of Job's responses was to invite his mockers to look at how the wicked prospered and grew strong in the world. The wicked in Job's example even said things such as those two questions in our verse for today. By their argument, the wicked should be in much worse suffering than Job, yet they were not.

Someone, somewhere may well be asking those two questions this morning as they look at the news from Minneapolis. Encourage that person to continue in prayer. Yes, we should continue in service to the Almighty. Why didn't the Almighty protect those children by stopping that person yesterday? Ask God in prayer!

And keep on asking until you receive His answer,

Bucky

Fighting The Sickness

As for God, His way is perfect;
The word of the LORD is proven;
He is a shield to all who trust in Him.
  -- 2 Samuel 22:31

As I had another practice session with sickness the past four days, I wondered in amongst the self-pity if there wasn't a way to praise God even in such a condition. Praising God for the sickness while griping about it seemed a bit hypocritical. Evidently the self-pity would have to go since, as we read in our verse for today, His way is perfect. It would seem that self-pity is of itself a sickness to be fought with praise to God. You will understand that I had to recover some from the worst of it before this sort of thought would take root and grow since, well, the wallowing in self-pity can be hard to stop. And as all know, men are such babies when it comes to being sick!

So, from one sickness baby to all the others, Praise God for once again pulling me out of the Slough of Despond. Praise and glory to God our Father, and healer, savior, redeemer, and friend!

Bucky

Contrition Needed

I said, “LORD, be merciful to me;
​​Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”
  -- Psalm 41:4

Some may have said that we do not have to pray things like this after going down to the altar to be saved. David, writing this psalm, was a man after God's own heart, a man blessed with the Spirit of God, and yet he also wrote this verse for today to us. Jesus, a man who was and is God, wrote to us to pray like this, "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." (Matt 6:12) Those would seem some strong encouragement for us to pray with contrition: a feeling of remorse and penitence. We need God's mercy all the time, and if David needed to pray it and Jesus gave it to us as a model of prayer, well there we go!

Lord, be merciful to me!

Bucky

Psalming

The LORD is my strength and song,
​​And He has become my salvation;
​​He is my God, and I will praise Him;
​​My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
  -- Exodus 15:2

Sometime back, way back, in the day, Israel began psalming. Whether it was poetry or song lyrics, the writing down of what they said and sang to the Lord became a thing. Perhaps they had sung songs for years before some bright bulb decided to start writing down the lyrics so that they sang the same thing more than once. Given the length of the song in Exodus 15, one would think this was not their first time. Some of us can blurt out a few clever lines here and there, but to compose an entire song takes effort and practice, which some say is the same thing repeated many times. Singing praises to the Lord our God has a strong tradition, and we should do it often.

Grab a psalm and sing along!

Bucky

Also The Whole World

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. 1 John 2:1-2

The whole world? Yes, before we exclude anyone from the Lord's salvation we may want to review that last part of our scripture for today. Now does this mean that everyone is automatically saved? It does not appear to be so by the words of our Lord Jesus, wherein we find many references to Hades or Hell, and ways to end up there. However, for our part we see by John's letter that the Way to the Father is open to the whole world.

Therefore, do not be afraid to pray for anyone, for even us allergy sufferers can believe in Jesus!

Bucky

What A Promise!

And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life. 1 John 2:25

The weather folks promise us a drop in temperature on Friday. What a promise! Always a welcome change in August, but if one can get excited over that little promise, what about the one in our verse for today? It began in another writing from John, the gospel written down by him, and in that most famous verse: 3:16. God loved, He gave His Son, and we believe in Him to eternal life. So, if we like even the little promises, then surely we must rejoice in Christ Jesus and the much bigger one!

Be faithful in Jesus and rejoice in His eternal life!

Bucky

Start With Prayer

For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.  Romans 10:13 from Joel 2:32

It seems too easy that someone should be saved merely by calling on the name of the Lord. And yet, would we be so mean as to forbid salvation to someone who suffers such a stressful moment in life that one name is all they are able to call on? I certainly agree that if we have the time, and most of us have, that we should confess our sins, repent of them, believe in the Lord Jesus with earnest prayer, and be baptized for our salvation. However, as we read and study the prophecies of the end times, we must come to know that not everyone in those (these?) days will have the luxury of hours or days for quiet reflection and comparison of the Lord's way and the way of the world. Of course we hope that no one waits for the terrors of the apocalypse as the Lord's name is not "Aaaugh!" or "Aiiieee!" 

Start with prayer now, when times are easier.

Bucky

Victory In Jesus

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.  1 John 4:4

There is a hymn to sing it, but the reason we like to proclaim victory in Jesus comes from what He did for us and this verse we read for today. With the many great and powerful things the world has to overcome us, it is wonderful to know that there is one greater than he who is in the world. As seen yesterday, I can be defeated for a time by a blankety-blank recording device. How will little ol' fumbling me overcome the powers of the world? Nothing in this world can overcome my God and Savior though! It is comforting to know that the Good Shepherd who saved you and me also rules by the mighty power of His command. (Hebrews 1:3). 

Have a comforted day in Christ Jesus!

Bucky

Blasted Time-Period Recording Devices

I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” Revelation 1:10-11

You will be able to relate to this one: a device arrives, the instructions are followed, time period configuration completed, the 'record' button is pressed, and afterward the device smugly reports no recording took place. That period of time is gone. Not one of us can get it back. It is almost as if some gnome-like programmer deep in the bowels of a multinational corporation chuckles evilly every time an event is missed forever by their device. Well, you and I are in good company as Moses got so mad at his first recording device that he smashed it to bits, and God had to provide a new copy of the Ten Commandments. The difficulties we have with recording devices also make it all the more remarkable that any of the Bible scriptures made it to us these thousands of years later. We know by experience that copies of copies of copies are fraught with peril every step of the way, especially since we have so much trouble obtaining that first one. Yet somehow, we can read the Revelation and 65 other books of scripture from a long time ago.

I guess God was a lot better with His recorders over thousands of years, than I was with one blasted recording device on just one little night. Sigh! As Mr. Coyote says, "Well, back to the ol' drawing board."

Bucky

A Babe's View

In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. Luke 10:21

Do you have a baby's view of the Bible? Good! We are often called in the Bible terms that the proudly educated would not approve of, such as lost sheep, little ones, and babes. It is among these simple folk that Jesus finds His treasures to bring home with Him. The educated Pharisees struggled to accept Jesus, and few of their number ever followed Him. Therefore, if that sort of thought comes to you that a person must be really educated or highly smart to believe in Jesus, doubt the source of that thought and just believe in Him!

Faith may not make sense to the sensible,

Bucky

Feeling Powerless?

The God of my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation,
My stronghold and my refuge;
My Savior, You save me from violence.
  -- 2 Samuel 22:3

So, a meeting Friday between the presidents of the USA and Russia in Alaska. This week the boss is gone on vacation...to Alaska. Oh, no!

If you are feeling powerless for being left off the guest list for the presidential meeting in Alaska this week, then imagine how Ukraine feels. Perhaps President Trump shows wisdom though in that nothing has been accomplished by meeting with the war leaders together, so he chose to start with one of them. And perhaps I am trying to make an excuse for someone who has not asked.

2 Samuel 22 is a psalm from a powerful leader, a king, who chose to give the glory for his victories to God. Living in a time when most leaders and other famous persons sing the song of themselves, David's psalm is refreshing to read.

Read it, and rejoice in the Son of David!

Bucky

Sometimes We Ask

They said to Him, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.” Mark 10:37

A well-known example of asking without knowledge comes in our verse for today when John and James, the Sons of Thunder, asked for special places with their Lord Jesus. We know from our scripture studies that it wasn't a request for two places at the dinner table, or even two honored places at a feast, but in His glory. Words can flow out from us with no regard for any but ourselves, and the two disciples appear to stand in for us in this case. You and I have probably asked our Lord Jesus for something that was inappropriate or set aside for others. Our denial right now comes from that same lack of knowledge that James and John had in their moment of grieving our Lord Jesus. His first words in response tell us all: "You do not know what you ask."

Praise God for the Holy Spirit who makes intercession for us in our requests!

Bucky

Practicing Love

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.  Deuteronomy 6:5

A piece of advice sometimes given to us has a cute roll to it, and that is 'fake it till you make it'. However when it comes to approaching the Lord to learn love, that just does not seem like good advice to me. Practice till you become proficient seems like a better way to go. If I do not yet understand love fully, then I can go to the teachings of the word of God and practice. Faking love would certainly be obvious to God, and likely to everyone else as well. Practicing, on the other hand, will show that I am far from perfect at loving, but that I have a desire to improve at it. I believe the Lord can work with practicers, but fakers? Uh, not so much.  

May the love of the Lord, who is of course 100% good at it, go with you this day! 

Bucky

Attention Derailed!

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.  1 John 1:7

Plastics crisis, nuclear accident, global temperature abnormality, hurricane #542, and the sky is falling!  Any number of things demand that our attention to the word of God be derailed right now and most immediately. And by the way we are being fogged this morning. Whatever comes next, seek some comfort in the Word. Each day will present some sort of crisis to test us from little bitty personal ones to the big international news spectacles. We have plenty to pray over and many people to pray for, but we also need to see to our mental health in the word of God. As our Lord said, love your neighbor as yourself. 

Love me and love you, and God said love both of us too...

Bucky

Sinstincts

But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid.
And He said, “No, but you did laugh!”  -- Genesis 18:15

Since Adam and Eve took of the forbidden tree and ate, we have lived in a state of fear. To this fear are added those instincts of self-preservation that we can easily recognize: lying, cheating, stealing, and many others. These all seem to be sins according to the law of Moses. And if one thinks that doing one by thought alone will excuse a person, Jesus assured the disciples that thinking the sin was sin too. So, we have an inherited 'sinstinct' reaction to perceived danger, even if it is merely the danger of being found out. We see a famous example in our verse for today. Clearly then we need to be saved and reborn somehow, which Jesus addresses with the teacher of Israel in chapter 3 of John's gospel. 

I can't save me, and you can't save you, but Jesus can save us both, it's true,

Bucky

Read The Word

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.  1 John 1:5

Strange things go across social media feeds, and I saw one of those hidden word ones today that try to tell you the first word you see will be your day. Only certain words are hidden in the puzzle, and why should my day be determined by some stranger or AI making up something like that? Some people read the Bible in a similar way, like it's some sort of hidden word puzzle or a code game. While there may be passages that I do not yet understand, I believe the word of God was not given to baffle me. Those parts I don't understand yet? Well, that's there to bring me back to try again! 

Read the word, and learn from the Word!

Bucky