Tag: destruction

Consecration: Turning Away and Turning Toward

On By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion App3 Comments

www.bible.com/reading-plans/13696/day/18

This devotional presents one of the simplest and easily understood explanation of consecration that I think I have ever read. We have to turn away from the things of the world and turn towards God. The wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon, started out right, wholeheartedly devoted to God. He built the temple and dedicated it to the Lord in a long prayer asking for God to dwell there and bless His people. But as he aged, Solomon’s heart was turned towards the wives that he had married from other nations, the very thing that God had warned him not to do. In turning away from God, Solomon turned to the world, worshipping the false gods of Moab among others. As a result, God took the kingdom away from Solomon and Israel was divided between Jeroboam and Rehoboam. What great blessings could have continued for generations if only Solomon had kept his first love for God and not for his foreign wives! We will never know the outcome of that scenario because it didn’t happen that way. Solomon had consecrated his life to serving the Lord, asking only for wisdom to rule well. Then he turned AWAY from God and toward the world and his own ego destroyed his kingdom. How many times have we felt the pull of the world, the entertainment that others seem to get so much pleasure from, the language that others use freely and seem to be accepted because of their irreverence, the riches and success that the world clamors for? We feel the pull, but if we are turned away from the world and toward God, these things cannot capture our hearts and souls. They may capture our attention, hopefully only briefly, but not enough to entice us away from our commitment to God. Each time we feel a tug to turn towards the world, we must remember that leads to destruction, not to life. Only God offers life eternally. Thus, our consecration to Him must be wholehearted, sincere and with a complete knowledge that the choices we make today may affect our eternal destiny and the witness we show others affects the way they turn, either towards God or away. Solomon’s choices led to the destruction on a united nation; choices matter. God desires us to turn towards Him but He will not force us to do so. It is our free will choice, and therein lies the problem. We are a sinful people saved by grace, a fact that we must remember every day, especially when we are faced with the choice to turn towards the world instead of towards God.

Merciful God

On By vickleaIn Quotation and Citations, Scripture1 Comment

Every day that we breathe and walk the earth, whether our condition is healthy or not, God is in control. Every day is a new day to serve God and ask for His guidance on what He wants to accomplish through us this day. And every day is a new day to be thankful that we have not been totally destroyed because of our own selfishness and sins. Grace keeps us but mercy continues to reach out and not allow us to be destroyed.

God is always just and righteous and would be righteous in judging and destroying all of us.

The Bible Study Tools online has a good description of God’s mercy and grace:

Bible Study Tools: Mercy

May we never forget that every breath we take and every step we take is because God is merciful to us and has provided Jesus to save us from our sins so that we do not face His merited wrath.

A Source of Life

On By vickleaIn Scripture1 Comment

When the woman at the well was thirsty, Jesus said that He had living water that would always refresh her. We have that same living water living in us and we are called to pour it out to others.

The words that we speak should be a source of life for others, giving them hope and encouragement and love just when they need it the most. The wicked, however, spew words of death and discouragement and hatred. They plot to destroy, not to build up. It is up to those of us who know the Lord to be a source of life to others, to speak boldly and proclaim with courage that our hope lies in the Lord and in His plan for salvation for the world. Let’s be a source of life together!

Breaks My Heart

On By vickleaIn Uncategorized4 Comments

What breaks your heart? Is it the death of a loved one? Of course! How about the death of a stranger that the news reports in a thirty second segment? Maybe. How about the death of a stranger that is never reported on the news but is part of a list of statistics, not to be named, but dead nevertheless. Probably not. The answers to the questions that I provided are the answers that I found in my own heart. But, I want to have the heart of God. I want all of those who have died to have a relationship with the Lord so that they will spend eternity with Him. So, each loss of a person on earth who may or may not have died without the Lord is heartbreaking.

You know what just broke my heart this morning? First, I read the headlines in the local paper that two local schools are changing their names form Lee-Davis High School and Stonewall Jackson MIddle School. Why? Because the Cancel Culture wants to get rid of history. Then even worse. A lot worse! I read that churches are being set on fire throughout the United States. One church was over 200 years old. What is the meaning of this? This, folks, is the picture of a divided society and one that is breaking down. Instead of being united around one goal, to survive this pandemic and celebrate our freedom as Americans, we have become a divided nation. People march and chant, “Black Lives Matter.” Of course, they do, but don’t all lives matter to God? Isn’t all injustice the same in the eyes of our Creator? But if I dare to mention that on social media, that all lives matter or even that Blue Lives Matter, I am attacked in two minutes flat. Maybe even less. A young lady whose father was a policeman was killed and she posted online that Blue Lives Matter. That was her father, people! Her father! And she was attacked viciously with some of the foulest language possible. Now, I’m not saying racism doesn’t exist. I’m just saying that we live in a great nation in which we are all free today. Can’t we celebrate that instead of deliberately trying to create division? My heart breaks over the one year old who was shot and killed. And the community won’t even talk about who shot him. They are hiding the killer. The grandmother even said that BLM doesn’t care about his little life. Well, enough about my rant. Here is the article from Dr. Denison about fires in the churches.

Dr. Denison July 15, 2020

You may read this article and think to yourself that these are only buildings or only statues so it’s not a big thing. After all, the real church is its people. That is true. But don’t you think that God’s heart is hurt by this destruction? Just as His heart was broken when Babylon and other invaders destroyed and carried off the treasures of the Temple in Jerusalem, the place that He said He would dwell with His people. God allowed the destruction because of the sin of His people, but I can still imagine His heart breaking over it, and the senseless killing of His people Israel by the marauders.

Here is the song mentioned at the end of Denison’s article.

Hosanna by Hillsong

Here are the lyrics of the song:

Lyrics for Hosanna

I hope that each of you has a blessed day and that in your prayer time today, you take the time to pray for the things breaking God’s heart today: for the loss of life, for the divided nation and for the lawlessness that is never a part of God’s plan. Be blessed, my friends, because God sent His Son to make us free indeed!