Category: Thoughts and Meditations

“And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.” – Daniel 2:44

In a single night, God gave the king of Babylon a vision of the next 1000 years of history. A vision that so mystified and overwhelmed the king that only God could explain it, using His faithful servant Daniel. In that vision, God revealed the future of empires: Babylon’s as well as those that would follow it, Persia, Greece, and Rome. Each empire would fall and be replaced by another. Of particular interest is God’s promise of what would replace the divided empire of iron and clay representing Rome.

What did God have planned after Rome? God’s eternal kingdom that can’t be destroyed and will never fall. A kingdom established by God and overcoming the empires that come against it. And so it unfolded… In the moment of Rome’s greatest strength, the eternal Son of God was born into our world. Jesus of Nazareth came proclaiming that God’s Kingdom was present in Him.

Jesus demonstrated that God’s kingdom had been established by reversing the effects and consequences of mankind’s fall into sin. He healed the sick. He cast out demons. He raised the dead. This is the eternal Kingdom that began with a handful of souls in Israel and continues to grow to this day. This is the kingdom that overcomes empires. This is the kingdom that reigns wherever the name of Jesus is praised and He is worshiped as Lord. This is the kingdom where citizenship is granted as a gift of grace through faith in Jesus. This is, we pray, your forever home. This is God’s eternal kingdom, the vision for which He shared with a pagan king some 2600 years ago. #FollowJesus

“He said, ‘I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.’” – 1 Kings 19:14

It can be easy to start feeling overwhelmed by the darkness and evil that fills the world around us. Headlines scream the same bad news Elijah had come to believe in this verse. “Everyone has forsaken God.” “The church is dead.” “The battle for the nation’s soul has been lost.” “There’s only wickedness and evil at work in the world.” “Faith is pointless.”

This is one way the devil discourages and sidelines God’s people. The prophet Elijah had just been part of a massive triumph. He’d seen God’s miraculous power with his own eyes. And yet, he was scared for his life and felt completely alone in the world. He believed the lie that he was the last faithful person in Israel. But it wasn’t true. It’s never true.

God had preserved thousands who had never betrayed Him to worship the false god Baal. Elijah wasn’t alone. God was with him and God’s people had been protected and preserved. The same is true today. Remember this whenever you begin to feel all alone in the world. If Jesus is your Lord, then you definitely aren’t alone. He is always in you and with you. There are many whom He has protected and preserved. Don’t let the lies of the devil convince you otherwise. Don’t give into the paralyzing despair of imagining it’s just you against the world.

Jesus is still Lord and He sits on His throne. God is still sovereign over all creation. His will is going to be done here on earth as it is in heaven. Fear not! Take courage and find strength in the people of God! #FollowJesus

“I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.”
– Psalm 104:33

Many things change as we pass through the seasons of life. Schools and jobs come and go. Health waxes and wanes. Responsibilities, pressures, and stresses rise and fall. Households grow and shrink. Fads, fashions, movements, and technologies shift like the wind. Passions rise and fall. One thing, however, should remain constant – your praise for the Lord!

The Lord is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. His love, faithfulness, grace, and mercy toward you don’t shift like wind or rise and fall like the tide. May your praise for Him be similarly steady. May your worship remain fully committed all the days of your life. You will never retire from praising and worshiping the Lord. Ever!

For followers of Jesus, praise is a major part of what we’ll be doing for all eternity. If the Lord Jesus is your Savior, then you will be delighted to praise Him in His presence for all eternity. So, don’t take a break from praise and worship here on earth. Even as your body changes, praise the Lord. Even as the seasons of life and health turn and shift, praise the Lord. Even as earthly fortunes rise and fall, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, whether you love your current season or loathe it. Praise the Lord and #FollowJesus

“And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes.” – Ezekiel 47:9

God gave Ezekiel a vision of His power to restore life to even the deadest of things. He showed him the river of life, flowing from His temple down to what we call the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea lies amidst the devastated ruins of the region that used to be Sodom and Gomorrah. It’s so salty that absolutely nothing can live in it. Nonetheless, God promises Ezekiel that He can bring vibrant new life and flourishing to something as dead and hostile to life as that.

This is what Jesus does to people. When He promises fountains of “living water” springing up in everyone who believes in Him, this is what He accomplishes in them (and in you). Jesus, the Living Water, raises the deadest of souls to new spiritual life through faith in Him. God’s grace brings abundant, vibrant, joyous life to the darkest, deadest, soul. There is no person so far gone that he or she can’t be made new in Christ Jesus! Why? Because their salvation and restoration to life is never based on who they are or what they’ve done. It’s always entirely based on Who Jesus is and what He did on the cross!

Never give up on someone who seems hopelessly hardened against the Lord. Pray, and keep on praying. Show them Christ, tell them about Christ, love them like Christ. Trust that in the Lord’s perfect timing, living water may yet bring healing and life to their soul. #FollowJesus