Love and Respect

The TV ad from Nebraska Furniture Mart blasted, “It’s Father’s Day. All your dad wants is love and respect.”

I’m glad we take a day to honor fathers. Dads are supposed to be God’s representatives of His fatherhood to us. Our Creator desires love and respect from us just as our earthly fathers do.

As I look at the world around me, I don’t think we do that at all. This week, our state legislature passed laws to ensure that our students would be taught evolution and climate change.

I can hear someone asking, “So what’s wrong with evolution and climate change theories?”

Neither theory honors God. Evolution says we just happened from pond scum. No loving Father, who created each individual for His purpose and will. No accountability to Him for how we live our lives. Evolution treats God’s Word, the Bible, as a fairy tale. In essence it says, “We have evolved to such high knowledge that we know better than God, how it all began.”

Creation is the foundation, the beginning step to believe God for the rest of His book. His word is true. We can either build our lives on that firm foundation, or on shifting sand. It’s up to us. Teaching children to build on shifting sand sets them up for a life without God and His powerful promises. A life without lasting guiding principles or a personal relationship with the living God.

Climate change advocates believe that we are in control; that we are the masters of our fate. That we can control the weather if we charge certain companies and individuals enough taxes to bring about that change.

Theories come and go. God’s word remains true forever (Isaiah 40:8; I Peter 1:25).

God says in the Bible that “those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise me will be lightly esteemed” (1 Samuel 2:30). Note: In order to read these scriptures, click on the blue letters.)

Any time a word jumps out at me when I read a Bible passage, I go to http://www.blueletterbible.com and look it up. When I click on the blue number after a word, the program takes me to the Greek or Hebrew dictionary.

As I read this I Samuel 2:30 scripture, I was drawn the word “esteemed.” Listen to what the Biblical definition of esteemed is:

Esteemed=qalal (in Hebrew; the original language of the Old Testament)

to be insignificant
to be cursed
to treat with contempt
to bring contempt or distain
to shake

Do we want God to esteem us and our children lightly? We want to be blessed, right?

For me, I want to honor Him as my Creator; the One who has planned all my days before I yet lived one of them (Psalm 139:16). I want to walk in the deeds He has prepared for me to do (Ephesians 2:10). I choose to give Him the love and respect my Heavenly Father so richly deserves.

What are your thoughts?

Who’s Your Daddy?

I am more convinced every day that we must be living in some kind of bizzaro world. Hopefully one day we’ll wake up and say, “Whew! What a wild dream!”

This past week I stood in a line at Wal-Mart at the pharmacy. Below the gum to help people to quit smoking and beside the antacids I noticed a box. The price stamped on the package in large letters was $129.00. Then I noticed it was marked down to $26.99.

That sure was expensive gum. Then I looked closer. It was a paternity test. Really? You can buy those in Wal-Mart? Who buys these things? Why was it marked down? Was the date about to expire? What would happen if you bought an expired one? Would it tell you, you had a different daddy?

From there I traveled to Costco and stood in another pharmacy line. While I waited for the pharmacist to locate my husband’s meds I noticed a product on the wall behind the cash register. I squinted to read the label. It said, Doggie Beer. No way!

When I got home I looked up Doggie Beer on the internet. The first thing that popped up was an ad . . . for Doggie Beer. It suggested you buy a 6-pack of their product for “Fur-thers Day” so your dad could drink with his best friend. All this for only $37.99.

I’m still scratching my head. I don’t think I’ll go out much anymore. The world is going nuts and I don’t care to ride along.

God’s Mysterious Ways

I got the call from a fellow chaplain in Texas as I settled into a seat at my writer’s group last Friday.

“Could you please make a call on Mr. Bennett’s* grandmother in Paola, Kansas?”

“Sure,” I said. “But it will be a while. I’m over an hour away.”

“That’s all right. Just so you see her by this afternoon. According to the nursing home personnel, she’s suffering from heart failure. They’ve called in hospice.”

“Will do.”

“Mr. Bennett is concerned not only for her health, but he’s not sure she has ever received Jesus.”

“I’ll check it out.”

Over the last couple of years I had visited Hanna Bennett* several times. Her grandson’s business is one of our subscribing clients for Marketplace Chaplains, Inc. We supply chaplains to corporations and on occasion, do hospital visits in other cities for out-of-town employees.

Driving, I wondered what would greet me when I arrived. Hanna was a sweet little 98-year-old farm lady.

When I entered her room, she was in bed rather than her wheel chair. Her lips were purple; a slight rattle in her throat. I greeted her and took her cold hands in mine. She rallied a bit and spoke to me.

I noticed a bowl of chicken noodle soup on her bedside table, sealed over with plastic.

“Hanna, would you like some soup?”

She nodded. “I’ll try a bite or two.”

As I fed her, I asked, “Hanna, have you ever asked Jesus to come into your heart and life?”

She smiled and nodded.

“Then you know He has a place ready for you in heaven.”

She took another bite, swallowed, then nodded and said, “But I’m not ready to go yet.”

After a few more bites, she indicated she didn’t want anymore. I took her hands again and prayed with her.

“Your hands are so warm,” she said.

I continued to hold her hands while she drifted off to sleep. Wrapping her hands in the sheet I took one last glance and bid her a silent good-by. I wondered how long it would be before she died.

Before leaving, I left my name and number with the staff but heard nothing.

The next Thursday an email arrived from the Texas chaplain. It read: “Hanna made a miraculous recovery on Friday night and is looking forward to seeing her grandson this weekend.”

If I live to be 100, God will never cease to surprise me.

*Not the real name.

Tornado Taming

As a young mother, I remember looking out my basement window watching a tornado snake across the sky a few miles south-west of us. At the time, I didn’t know about the power of the name of Jesus. As I watched, the white tail turned black as it picked up debris from a school and a church in the suburban Kansas City neighborhood.

Years later, I learned as a believer in Jesus Christ, He had given me and all His followers authority to do the miracles He did. (“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father” John 14:12.)

Jesus not only healed the sick and cast out demons. He also stilled storms (See Mark 4:39).

I wrote the following account in my first God’s Little Miracle Book about another tornado I was in. I’ll share it with you here.

The Power of the Name

John 14:12, 13 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

Tornado sirens wailed in the dark. For Kansas residents, this is the signal for everyone to take cover immediately. This evening before sunset, the atmosphere had a greenish-tinge to it. My five-year-old, Josh, and I were the only ones home.

“Let’s go the basement, son,” I said.

He grabbed my hand.

“Afraid?”

He nodded.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be safe down here.”

I hoped my casual tone convinced him. I wasn’t as confident as I wanted him to believe. The weatherman had predicted a powerful storm headed straight for our section of the city.

“Get in that corner away from the window.”

We settled ourselves in the south-west corner, and waited for the storm to pass. I said a silent prayer for our safety.

Josh clutched my arm as strong winds whipped the trees outside. Sycamore branches pelted the house. Although I had been through tornadoes before, this one seemed particularly loud—like a freight train coming toward us.

While the storm raged, I remembered the testimony of a survivor of a tornado in Topeka.

“Josh, want to hear a story?”

“Sure, Mom.”

“There was a lady who lived in Topeka several years ago. She heard a teaching on the power of the name of Jesus at her church. She learned Jesus gave His believers the authority over storms just like He had.*

“Well, this lady in Topeka saw a funnel cloud headed straight for her living room. She pointed her finger at the tornado and said, ‘In the name of Jesus, turn.’

“It turned alright . . . right into the capitol building. It tore up the capitol dome pretty bad. I remember seeing a map on the front page of The Kansas City Times newspaper the next day. It showed the strange right turn the tornado took.

“Later, she said, ‘If I’d had my wits about me, I would have said, In the name of Jesus, lift!’”

Josh pulled on my sleeve. “Mom, the storm sounds like it’s getting worse.”

I took his hands. “Let’s pray. We’ll ask Jesus for help. He gave us authority over storms–even tornados.”

“In the name of Jesus, lift,” I said over the churn of the storm.

The train-sound stopped immediately as if someone hit the “mute” button on a TV remote. Only the sound of the pounding rain remained.

Josh’s eyes widened. “Wow, Mom! What happened?”

“We belong to Jesus. When we walk with Him, we have power in His name against anything that would harm us. Jesus answered our prayer and took the tornado back into the clouds.”

“Cool!” he whispered.

Josh is twenty-seven now. When we hear the whine of tornado sirens, we are not afraid. We grin at one another, and remember the time we learned, first hand, the power of the name of our Lord Jesus.

*Mark 4:39 “And being aroused, He rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.”

Pride and Its Consequences

This week as I listened for the Lord’s direction for the blog I heard the word pride. That attitude is the opposite of humility. Last week I mentioned II Chronicles 7:14 which instructs us to humble ourselves before God in order for Him to heal us.

I checked out the 55 times the word pride appears in the New American Standard Bible to see what God had to say about pride.

There is the pride of power which brings God’s judgment (Leviticus 26:19).

Then in II Chronicles 17:6 He speaks about taking pride in His ways. In other words, stopping to marvel at Him and His way of working in the lives of every-day people. This same scripture talks about removing false gods. A false god would be anyone or anything we look to for our needs, other than the One True God. He is the God who sees, hears, and acts on behalf of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

We are told in II Chronicles 32:26 that King Hezekiah, as well as the inhabitants of Jerusalem, humbled the pride of their heart, so they avoided the wrath of the Lord. God’s wrath didn’t fall on them as long as Hezekiah ruled.

Psalm 10:2 states that in pride the wicked hotly pursue the afflicted. The psalmist asks the Lord to let them be caught in the plots which they have devised. Later in Psalm 31:18 the psalmist asks the Lord to let the lying lips be mute which speak arrogantly against the righteous with pride and contempt.

This week we have seen the truth come out in the Benghazi attack of last September 11, revelations of wire-tapping of Associated Press reporters, and the special scrutiny by the IRS of Tea Party contributors and those who supported the Billy Graham Ministries.

I wonder if our Almighty God is undertaking for us who cry out to Him for protection against those who lift themselves in pride and arrogance.What do you think?

God’s Chastening

None of us like to think of God chastening us. No correction is ever pleasant. There is one consolation. The Bible says in Hebrews 12: 6 “For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” Then in verse 10 He gives us the reason for that discipline, . . . “that we may share in His holiness.”

God’s word is true Truth. Romans 3:4 says “. . . let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, . . . ” When we choose to live our lives contrary to God’s Word, we become liars.

I ran across a Bible scripture in Job, chapter 5 verse 17 and 22 this morning. It reads, “Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. You will laugh at violence and famine, neither will you be afraid of wild beasts.”

The words wild beasts stood out when I read this scripture. Wild beasts come in many forms.

Just this week, Jodi Arias was convicted of murder for attacking and killing the man who brutalized her. Then there was Ariel Castro in Cleveland who kept three women prisoner for ten years. Here in Kansas, a man in the rural town of Ottawa killed four people, one of whom was an eighteen-month-old child.

Surely we are under the Lord’s chastening. He is calling us back to Him and His ways before it’s too late. Will you seek Him? II Chronicles 7:14 says, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Do you notice the word will? It is His will to hear, forgive, and heal. In order for Him to do His will we must do our part: humble ourselves and pray, seek His face and turn from our wicked ways.

Will we obey or suffer the consequences?

Choices

Jason Collins, an NBA basketball player came out this week announcing he was gay. He’s featured on the cover of Newsweek Magazine. It’s reported his Twitter account has thousands of new followers. President Obama called to congratulate him.

There is a missing voice in all this. The Creator of the Whole Universe. The One Who Loves Him Best. The One who laid down very specific instructions both in the Old and New Testaments about homosexuality, among other subjects. Is anyone listening?

Just in case you missed it, let me quote Him.

Leviticus 18:22 “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.”

Revelation 21:8 “But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

God doesn’t give us His Word just to hear His head rattle. He gives us ordinances so we’ll know what pleases Him and what doesn’t; so we’ll know when we’ve crossed the line and need to come to Him and repent (turn back from) our ways that have caused Him grief.

God is just. He told us the way to live. If we choose to live apart from God, we will have to face the consequences. He doesn’t mince words. He tells us what will happen if we choose to go our own way.

Leviticus 26 tells us exactly what He will do. If we obey Him, He promises to give us rain in due season, peace in the land, and promises to walk with us with His presence. By verse 14, He lists what will happen if we do not obey Him. If we reject His statutes and don’t carry out all His commands, among other things He will:

Appoint sudden terror, consumption, and fever.
Our enemies will eat our produce.
We will be struck down by our enemies.
Those who hate us will rule over us.
We will flee when no one is pursuing us.
We will be punished seven times more for our sins.
He will break down our pride of power.
He will act with hostility toward us.
He will bring a sword on us.
He will inflict us with pestilence and deliver us into enemy hands.
Our bread will be rationed.
He will scatter us among the nations.
Our land will become desolate and our cities a waste.
We will have no strength to stand before our enemies.
We will perish among the nations.

Pretty straightforward, isn’t it?

The scripture from Revelation above is translated into English as “immoral persons.” According the original language, Greek, found at www.blueletterbible.com, that word is “pornos, a man who prostitutes his body to another’s lust for hire. A male prostitute. A man who indulges in unlawful sexual intercourse, a fornicator.”

Another scripture in I Corinthians 6:9 states, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate (by perversion), nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”

This applies to those who do these things as a habit of life. If any of these habits apply to your lifestyle, you need to stop, ask God for forgiveness, and turn to Him before it’s too late.

Jason Collins would do well to take a second look at his chosen lifestyle.