desert

August 8, 2019

“A Well Full Of Water”

19 Then God opened Hagar’s eyes, and she saw a well full of water. She quickly filled her water container and gave the boy a drink. – Gen 21:19 NLT

Genesis 21:15-19 NLT

For years, I have thought and read this verse as God miraculously giving Hagar water for her and her son.  But that isn’t what the verses imply at all, they say “God opened Hagar’s eyes and she saw a well full of water”.  It was there all the time, she just couldn’t see it because she was fearful and wallowing in self-pity. Not only was the well there but God had already shown shown her evidence that there was water in the area. He showed her a bush large enough to lay her son under and a bush that large takes some water to grow.  How many times have we found ourselves in a spiritual desert experience moaning and groaning about our situation and missed the encouragement that God was trying to get us to see?  How many times have we whined about what we didn’t have when we are living in a land of plenty and abundance.  Just as there was water and not just enough to fill the wineskin but a “WELL FULL OF WATER” close enough for Hagar to see and she didn’t see it, God’s provision for each of us is there, let us ask Him to open our eyes to see the provision He has given us to continue our journey.

Divine Promises

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 08-16-2019

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February 19, 2018

“The Steps of a Righteous Man…..”

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24 Each of you, dear brothers and sisters, should remain as you were when God first called you. – 1 Cor. 7:24 NLT
 
1 Cor. 7:20-24 NLT
​God calls us right where we are. He will never ask us to do something He has not prepared us to do. If we know nothing about missionary work and have not been trained to do it, we won’t be leaving for the mission field the day after we are saved (at least, not with God’s blessing). Except to tell others that you are saved, you probably shouldn’t be preaching or teaching until you have become grounded in the Scriptures. Jesus had forty days in the desert and withstood great temptations before He started His work here on earth. If Jesus needed some training, we can rest assured that all of us do as well. We can also look at Paul’s experience for an example. After his conversion on the Damascus road, God sent him to the desert of Arabia for three years to be trained by the Holy Spirit. God paid a high price for each of us and He is not going to waste our time. He will send us when He knows we are ready to go, not when we think we are. So until He calls and/or sends, we should just stay where we are doing what we are doing and rest in the knowledge that our salvation and calling were not by accident or coincidence, but for a higher purpose.

10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.—Ephesians 2:10 NLT

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 02-19-2018

July 29, 2016

God Specializes in the Unusual

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4 Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food.”  — 1 Kings 17:4 NLT
 
 

When  the children of Israel kept complaining about their food situation in the desert, God gave them meat in the evenings and bread in the mornings (Exodus 16:8) .  The manna fell from the heavens and an east wind blew in the quail.  After Elijah had told Ahab that there would be no rain or dew in the land of Israel for a few years, Ahab became angry and desired to kill Elijah.  God instructed Elijah to go hide by the Kerith Brook.  Even though there was famine in the land, God had commanded the ravens to bring Elijah bread in the morning and meat in the evening. Elijah had food twice a day and water from the brook.  God had created the ravens as scavengers.  They are able to find food and survive when others are dying from hunger.  It probably doesn’t sound too tasty but God provided all that Elijah needed to survive.  We may not be happy in our present position but God has provided that position to us so that we can survive.  Be thankful until the brook dries up and the ravens quit bringing the food.  If we are thankful and obedient, then God will open up another way to feed us just as He did for Elijah by sending him to the widow of Zarephath. The widow fed Elijah a little bread made from her last flour and oil.  That little turned into an abundance.  God blessed the widow for her obedience and her jars of flour and oil never ran out. Provision and abundance follows obedience.

Post 07-29-2016

December 19, 2015

Are You Dressed?

even-smaller-bug-light13 This is the voice of one who calls out:“Prepare in the desert the way for the Lord.
Make a straight road in the dry lands for our God.
4 Every valley should be raised up, and every mountain and hill should be made flat.  The rough ground should be made level, and the rugged ground should be made smooth.
5 Then the glory of the Lord will be shown, and all people together will see it.  The Lord himself said these things.” — Isaiah 40:3-5 NCV

John the Baptist was chosen to be the “voice in the wilderness” calling out “prepare in the desert the way of the Lord”.  John was the son of Zechairah, a priest who was chosen by lot to offer sacrifices at this particular time and Elizabeth, his wife, who was a cousin of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. To fulfill this prophecy, when John became an adult, he actually lived in the desert. He wore rough clothing and his diet consisted of locust and honey. God has not called all of us to subsist as John did. However, He has called all of us to “prepare in the desert the way for the Lord”.  While John lived in an actual, natural, physical desert, we live in a spiritual desert which we call the world.  John could only preach about repentance from sin and being baptized with water since the Holy Spirit had not yet been sent to stay on earth.  He preached about the One coming that would change all of that,  The One who could baptize with the Holy Spirit. Our message is that Jesus has come and that we must accept that truth along with the truth that He died for us so that we could be baptized with the Holy Spirit.  Our message is that “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord”.  Whether you will do that or not is not a choice, you will do it.  The choice is when will you do it?  You can do it now and spend an eternity with Jesus in heaven or you can wait until the “the glory of the Lord is shown” and all the people still alive see it.  But, if you wait until then, it will be too late and your eternity will be spent in hell, a place prepared for satan and his demons. Each day as we go about in this spiritual desert, are we daily calling out to others that “Jesus is coming back again, get ready by accepting Him as your Savior, let Him make your paths straight and your pathway smooth”
Are You Dressed for the Wedding
Post 12-19-2015
May 26, 2015

Preparations and Plans

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20 Yes, each of you should remain as you were when God called you. 21 Are you a slave? Don’t let that worry you—but if you get a chance to be free, take it. 22 And remember, if you were a slave when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord. And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ. 23 God paid a high price for you, so don’t be enslaved by the world. 24 Each of you, dear brothers and sisters, should remain as you were when God first called you.—1 Cor 7:20-24 NLT

​God calls us right where we are.​ He will never ask us to do something He has not prepared us to do. If we know nothing about missionary work and have not been trained to do it, we won’t be leaving for the mission field the day after we are saved (at least, not with God’s blessing). Except to tell others that you are saved, you probably shouldn’t be preaching or teaching until you have become grounded in the Scriptures. Jesus had forty days in the desert and withstood great temptations before He started His work here on earth. If Jesus needed some training, we can rest assured that all of us do as well. We can also look at Paul’s experience for an example. After his conversion on the Damascus road, God sent him to the desert of Arabia for three years to be trained by the Holy Spirit. God paid a high price for each of us and He is not going to waste our time. He will send us when He knows we are ready to go, not when we think we are. So until He calls and/or sends, we should just stay where we are doing what we are doing and rest in the knowledge that our salvation and calling were not by accident or coincidence, but for a higher purpose.

10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.—Ephesians 2:10 NLT

Post 05-26-2015