Have you read the News

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“I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms.” – Ezekiel 37:22

How do you get your news?  Is there still a newspaper in your driveway or mailbox each morning, or are you sitting in front of the TV and watching it, or are you scouring the Internet for the latest and greatest headlines, or like most it is a combination of these three?  We have always been a society of information seeking junkies wanting to have the latest and greatest story before someone else.  There is some perverse fulfillment that comes from being able to tell someone something that they haven’t seen or heard before.  So we seek out the new story, the latest gossip and tabloid trash so we appear more informed than others. 

I find it unusual that people will spend hours and hours reading the headlines and news stories of the day, yet find it hard to open their Bible for 15 minutes.  It is rich in truth and righteousness, with violence, drama and even sex thrown in for good measure.  God’s word helps us understand where we come from and why we are here.  It is filled with data that has been verified time and time again through archeological finds, yet many will still say it is complete fantasy.  Authentically written over the span of thousands of years from 50 different authors, compiled and reprinted over the last 1000 years with a distribution of well over 200,000 daily, there is no question that this single manuscript is the most influential collection of writings in the history of the world. 

Why then aren’t we studying it and learning from it with more vigor?  Consider the news of late in the Middle East and Africa, and then read Ezekiel 37 & 38.  The prophetic alignment is so candid, it’s almost as if we were reading the New York Times.  Now consider that it was written nearly 600 years before Jesus Christ was born, which was 6 or 7 years BC; which makes the book of Ezekiel approximately 2700 years old.  Now if you were to look 2700 years into the future to the year 4712, tell me what will happen.  In Ezekiel 37 we find Ezekiel speaking for God, prophesying about the recreation of the Israel nation.  From all corners of the earth, God’s children are brought back to Israel and it is reformed as a nation in their own land.  In 1948, after the holocaust had scattered them all over the earth, Jews migrated back to their home land and formed their own nation once again declaring independence from the United Kingdom.  Throughout 1948 they were at war with Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq; sound familiar to the news you are reading today?  They overcame those countries attacks and established themselves as a sovereign government from that point to where we are today.  Do you not see the corollary, the completion of the prophetic words from Ezekiel coming to fruition? 

Realize that you are living in a time that has been outlined biblically.  We don’t know the timing of the following prophecies in Ezekiel 38 or 39, but one has to think about the clarity providing in the prophetic word of Ezekiel 37 and realize that the other dominoes will soon be falling into place.  This is not to alarm you, but to make you take note of what is going on around you.  The bible is your tool for understanding God’s plan for the world, and we know how it ends.  But, realize He also tells you what will happen leading up to that point.  If you don’t have a Bible, it’s time to get one, the Good News is better than anything you’re seeing on TV, the Internet or in the newspaper.

© Sondove Enterprises, 2012
For an archive of Daily Thoughts go to: http://www.10minutereader.com

Where are You?

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“But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” – Genesis 3:9

If you are a parent you have undoubtedly been walking in a department store or grocery store at some point and looked around to see that your child is nowhere to be found.  Maybe it’s just me, but I think many have been in the situation when your child decides to play hide n seek while you’re shopping.  They hide under clothing racks, behind displays, or in the next aisle as if it is a game.  More than once I have been found calling for one of my children “Where are you?  This isn’t funny.”  To them it is a game and most times they are found or come back giggling and full of the joy of winning the hiding contest.

Adam and Eve were given a paradise to live in and enjoy.  God’s specific instructions in Genesis 2:16-17, ““You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil . . .”  Having been seduced and tempted by Satan they both disobeyed God and ate of the forbidden fruit.  When God walked amongst the beauty of the garden He called out, “Adam, Where are you?”  I can picture the man and woman, hiding behind a tree or a bush, or boulder with their hands covering their faces, naked, ashamed and afraid.

God wasn’t asking, “Where are you?” because He didn’t know where they were physically.  We must remember that God is omnipotent (all knowing) and omnipresent (ever present).  He knew exactly where they were, and what they had done.  He knew the fear and shame they felt and the embarrassment that had led them to hide from Him.  He was asking “Where are you?” in the context of spiritually.  Adam had been created for a purpose to rule over Paradise, populate and prosper from what God had given Him.  The act of disobedience was only an outward expression of the lustfulness and idolatry that had fallen upon his heart and spirit.  I envision God’s question as more of a loving Father with disappointment saying to His son, where are you in relation to the plan and purpose I designed you for? 

God is asking you and I the same question each and every day, “Where are you?”  He is not asking where you are physically, for He already knows that.  He knows exactly where you are at every moment – in the bar, in the movies, at the party, in an affair, in church, in school or work, at home, in the midst of criminal activity.  There is nowhere to hide from His awareness.  He is asking you and I; are you walking in My plan for your life, are you living for the purpose I designed you for and carrying yourself in the manner I have demonstrated through the life of Jesus Christ.  Are you loving and serving others as I have loved you?   God is pursuing you, He wants a stronger relationship with you, to where your understanding and strength comes from Him.  His desire is that you follow the path He has designed for you and that will provide you with the optimal life and the most benefit for His Kingdom.  You are God’s child, and if you’ll listen, He is calling to you; “Where are you?”  It’s time to stop hiding from Him and come live within His plan without fear of rejection.  His loving grace is greater than anything you might have done or will do.

© Sondove Enterprises, 2012
For an archive of Daily Thoughts go to: http://www.10minutereader.com

Lean on Me

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"If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother" - Matthew 18:15

  Who amongst you are quick to throw stones when your friend, peer or brother falls? I often hear people speaking behind someone's back when things start to get tough for that someone. We have seen this more predominantly in the lives of celebrities as national news. I don't need to mention individual cases of the last year, because you all have heard the stories as well. Be it problems with addictions, adultery, violence, public mishaps or simply the latest scandal; our grocery store shelves are filled with this dribble. It's the most valuable real estate in the retail supercenter - right next to the register. Having worked marketing with mega-retailers (Wal-Mart, Target, Best-Buy, etc.) I know that it cost significant marketing funds to secure that real-estate. This means that the tabloids are doing very well with their dribble and the consumer (you and I) are eating it in volume.

So why are we so enthralled with the lives and mistakes of others? I propose that inherent in each of us is a hidden ego switch that is triggered every time something like this pops up. This switch flips on and reassures us that “we aren't so bad, look at that person. At least I haven't done that.” Our pride is pumped up slightly and our own sins seem a little less severe. When it really comes down to it, the tabloids are all about comparative processing of scandal - right?

I want to believe that we are a more mature, character driven, and uplifting society. I want to think that we are going to be there to help others when they fall down. As quick as we are to judge and criticize others, we could be so much more productive using that time to give them a word of encouragement and a helping hand up. I know inside of each of us is the moral character and fiber of integrity that wants to do the right thing, and you know that the right thing is not to condemn and foster the negativity but rather to support and help.

Helping someone who has fallen is not condoning their actions or sins, but it is showing them the love of Christ. When faced with the opportunity to help someone up through the love of Christ or push them down with the cynicism of Satan, I'm sure you'd agree that the former is the better choice. Can you do this? Make it one of your priorities and remind yourself daily to be an encourager. I'll bet you've got it in you. No more forwarding of gossip emails or hallway chatter about so & so and you know who. Choose to ignore these paths for they do not lead to righteousness, and you know this.

© Sondove Enterprises, 2012
For an archive of Daily Thoughts go to: http://www.10minutereader.com

Don’t Make Him Mad

“When I {the Lord} shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of famine, I will shoot to destroy you. I will bring more and more famine upon you and cut off your supply of food.” Ezekiel 5:16

 

Have you ever had one of those days where enough is enough?  Most of us will answer yes to this question.  The bills are piling up and then the car breaks down.  You’re running late on a project at work and your boss comes by to give you yet another project to complete in an even shorter timeframe.  There is only so much we can take before we explode.  There is always that point at which we throw up our hands and lose it.  In most cases someone is going to get the outburst of our frustration, whether they deserved it or not.

We have studied in many past devotionals that God is immutable, never changing.  His love for us today is equal to His love for King David, Moses, Paul, Peter and the other saints from the scripture.  He can neither love us any more, nor any less than He does today. We adhere to this principle, and focus much of our attention on His loving grace and mercy.  It’s important that we do not lose sight of the fact that God is all powerful and capable of unbelievable wrath, like nothing we have ever experienced in our lifetime.  He is truly immutable, but that does not only refer to his loving side.  Here in the 5^th chapter of the book of Ezekiel we read about the city of Jerusalem and His wrath that would fall down upon them. His chosen city, the city set up on a hill, where His temple was built and the Arc of the Covenant was held.  When His wrath is poured out upon this city, devastation, chaos and mourning are heard in the streets. 

I reference this scripture this morning because God is to be feared even today.  It is my hypothesis that we have forgotten just how vengeful and omnipotent God truly is.  He is not this loving Santa Claus that will give us everything we want in life.  He is a Father and fully capable of disciplining His children out of pure love whenever necessary.  You see it is my belief that God has zero tolerance for sin.  Time and time He has demonstrated His wrath over the sinful nature of mankind and their blatant disobedience of His word. This is not a reality show or a game called life, this is living for Him and His Kingdom, and nothing else.  Understand that the only reason you have breath each day is to glorify Him, and to serve Him and build up His Kingdom.

You and I are unbelievably sinful beings.  From the moment we awake until the moment we lay our head upon the pillow, sin fills our thoughts, our actions and our heart.  As a society, the human race has fallen to a place in history where our actions, our wickedness and debauchery far outweigh anything in the scriptures from those societies of old that fully experienced God’s wrath and were completely wiped off the map.  Why are we still here?  There is only one reason that God has not poured out His wrath on you and I.  That one reason is the man Jesus Christ.  When God sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross, the sins of mankind were placed upon Him.  Not just the sins of those standing on the hill in Jerusalem watching that day, no, the sins of all mankind before and those to come after.  God’s wrath that was poured out on Sodom, and the wrath He poured out on Jerusalem, and the plagues He poured out on Egypt are nothing compared to the wrath He poured out onto His own Son, hanging on that cross.  Grasp this, if nothing else when you read John 3:16 from here forward. 

Jesus stands between you and God.  If God were to look down upon the earth He would see the evil and unrighteousness of mankind.  Yet, with Jesus as our Savior and Lord, He sees us as forgiven, washed clean and redeemed.  Imagine Jesus as a filter between you and God, taking away all of the sin that corrupts our lives and heart, such that we are presented fully righteous and worthy of God’s perfect heaven.  Only Jesus can act for us in this manner, for He alone was perfect through His life, death and resurrection.  Perfect in God’s eyes and worthy of God’s loving grace and mercy.  Therefore through Him we are given this same grace and mercy.  The opposite is also true though.  Those without Christ as their Savior will stand before God one day on their own and try to justify the sins of their past and their worthiness, which will fall well short of the perfection required.

 

© Sondove Enterprises, 2012
For an archive of Daily Thoughts go to: http://www.10minutereader.com