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Standing in support of Israel, Jews, and believers in all the nations, in the name of Jesus (Yeshua). Sharing biblical truth, encouragement, news and prophecy.
Showing posts with label Bible reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible reading. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Bible Reading for Shavuot ✡ "Your People Shall Be My People" - ISRAEL365
Monday, October 5, 2015
So That's Why - Now Think On This by Steve Martin
So That's Why
- Now Think On This
by Steve Martin
“We
don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist.
But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll
see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly
just as he knows us!”
(1
Cor 13:12 THE MESSAGE)
You have, as I have, many times thought, or even said out loud, “Why?” “Why
did it happen that way?” “What was the purpose in me having to go through that?”
“I don’t get it. Why did it have to happen to me?” Surely there was a better
way, right Lord?
I like how The Message translation of the Bible puts it, how we are
“squinting in a fog, peering through a mist.” We try hard to do what is right.
We press on as Paul said he did, in Phil 3:12-14, “Not that I have already
obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay
hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do
not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting
what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the
goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (NASU)
But sometimes we still don’t get it, or see it happening as expected.
There were situations that my kids had to deal with, and thus as their
parents, so did Laurie and I, that we didn’t comprehend. Even as we pressed on
to seek the Lord’s answer, sometimes it didn’t come as we liked, or as soon as
we wanted, or as it had been prophesied it would. Even though we prayed
diligently and continually for them, there were occasions when we just didn’t
know exactly what to tell them, or what would bring the understanding we sought
from the Lord.
It was as if He would say simply, “In time you will know.”
We don’t have full knowledge of what the Lord does, when He will do it,
or how He will do it. I know that even ones who have known and walked with the
Lord for years (personally true in my life) don’t have all the answers. But what
I do know is that the Lord wants us to keep seeking Him, keep knocking at the
door, keep letting Him know, or rather ourselves, that we are totally dependent
on His daily interaction with us. He likes that. So He does what He does.
It is also one good reason why He has given us apostles, prophets,
teachers, evangelists and pastors, as written, “for the equipping of the saints
for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all
attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a
mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of
Christ.” (Ephesians 4:12-13 NASU) We are not meant to go it alone. We have been
created to need one another, rely on one another, walk together in common
purpose, so that we can obtain more understanding in all His ways and purposes.
There will come a time when we’ll look back, probably years from now, and
say, “Yes, NOW I know why that went that way!” Until that time happens, that
moment (some call it an “Ah ha! Now I get it!” moment) when it is revealed to
us, when the fog has lifted, we’ll see the immense wisdom that the Lord had in
directing and guiding us, His beloved people.
In our consistent time of daily prayer, Bible reading, and meetings with
gathered believers, what the Lord is doing in our lives, and why, will be more
fully known. In our efforts to seek and understand, we will receive understanding,
as He rewards those who diligently seek Him.
Then we will know the “whys”!
Now think on this,
Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People. Inc.
Love For His People,
Inc. is a charitable,
not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love
of the Father in the nations.
If these messages
minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and
maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we
consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible
contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.
Click here for
safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love
For His People.
If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank
account (where available).
Contribution checks
can be sent to:
Love For His People,
Inc. P.O. Box414 Pineville, NC 28134
Todah rabah! (Hebrew
– Thank you very much.)
Please share Now
Think On This with your friends.
Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com
martinlighthouse@gmail.com
Facebook pages: Steve
Martin and Love For His People
Twitter: martinlighthous,
LovingHisPeople
Now Think On This #183
“So That Is Why” by Steve Martin
Date: In the year of
our Lord 2015 (10.05.15) Monday at 5:00 am in Charlotte, NC
All previous editions
of Now Think On This can be found on this
Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This
Please
share this message with your friends on your FaceBook page, Google+, and/or
Twitter account if you would. You can use the icon links below. Thanks!
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
A Head Start In Heaven - Now Think On This by Steve Martin
A Head Start In Heaven
- Now Think On This
by Steve Martin
"…but
I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. “Matt. 20:14 NASU
As was my usual custom, when I cleared the parking
deck ramp, after leaving the uptown Charlotte, North Carolina office, I turned
on the radio news. Seemed to be the same usual as usual. Before much too long I
turned it off to have some “quiet time” while travelling southbound down the
busy late afternoon NC I77 traffic toward home.
Thankfully I began humming in my head a song by
Joshua Aaron, a Messianic Jew, singing about his bride and his promise to her,
for a long time. Forever in fact. The song, My
Beloved (Wedding Waltz) kept going over and over in my head. I was singing along,
“I am no longer mine, I am yours forever.
I give it all to you, my beloved.”
As you may know yourself, your mind often goes onto
another subject. Most of the time they don’t seemed to be related, but as I
traced back my thoughts later, they were. It was the Holy Spirit giving me a
little revelation blessing of His Word. Follow the thread as it unwinds.
A close friend’s father had passed on to eternity two
weeks earlier, and I began thinking about her loss. With my own dad having crossed
over to his eternal reward in heaven over 15 years ago, it occurred to me that
my dad had already a head start in heaven. He was already enjoying eternity
that I know will someday be mine too. Only because Jesus Christ is our Lord and
Savior.
Then somehow (Holy Spirit in action) I got to
thinking about the parable Yeshua (Jesus) shared with His disciples about the
workers, or laborers as He called them, in the Gospel of Matthew. Here is the
story, which you probably know well.
“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said
to his foreman, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the
last group to the first.' When those
hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. When those hired first came, they thought
that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they grumbled at the
landowner, saying, 'These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made
them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the
day.'
"But he answered and said to one of them, '
Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? ‘Take what is yours and go, but I wish to
give to this last man the same as to you. 'Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish
with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?' So the last shall be first, and the first
last." Matthew 20:8-16 NASU
Now in times past, when trying to understand this
Scripture, I couldn’t justify in my mind how the owner could be so unjust. Or
even generous, as it says he actually was. After all, if I worked a full day on
my job, beginning at 7:00 am, and another got hired and started at 3 pm, and
then both of us got off at 4 pm, I would expect I’d get paid for eight hours,
and he for only one hour. But if we both got paid for eight hours…
Catch my figuring at what seems unfair?
So back to the “head start in heaven” thought. Still
driving down the road at the 65 mph going rate, it seemed the Holy Spirit wanted
to enlighten me on that Scripture, to further my understanding. He started to
say that those who have gone on ahead of us to their eternal reward, that being
heaven and His presence, are enjoying their time even now. Though some have
been there for centuries, once you and I who know the Lord get there, it will
be as if we had been there just as long as they have too. There won’t be any “unfairness”,
for His reward (pay) at the “end of the day” would be the same for each of us.
(Now I know there are different crowns passed out to each for their labors on
earth, but that is for another message.)
The head start in heaven, because of eternity’s
timelessness, makes it seem as if it is all the same time for all. I know, my
head spins too just trying to imagine that. Heaven and eternity are bigger than
we can comprehend at this point. It is because His thoughts and plans are so
much greater than ours.
It amazes me how the Holy Spirit speaks to us as we
give Him moments to do so. In just a short amount of time, whether it is during
a drive down the interstate after a busy work day, or starting the morning off
in a Bible reading and prayer time, little things like that revelation above
encourage us. And yes, I sure am looking forward to heaven.
And I know He is looking forward to us being with
Him there too!
Now think on this,
Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People. Inc.
Love For His People,
Inc. is a charitable,
not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love
of the Father in the nations.
If these messages
minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and
maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we
consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible
contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.
Click here for
safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love
For His People.
If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank
account (where available).
Contribution checks
can be sent to:
Love For His People,
Inc. P.O. Box414 Pineville, NC 28134
Todah rabah! (Hebrew
– Thank you very much.)
Please share Now
Think On This with your friends.
Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com
martinlighthouse@gmail.com
Facebook pages: Steve
Martin and Love For His People
Twitter: martinlighthous,
LovingHisPeople
Now Think On This #178
“A Head Start In Heaven” by Steve Martin
Date: In the year of
our Lord 2015 (09.08.15) Tuesday at 6:00 pm in Charlotte, NC
All previous editions
of Now Think On This can be found on this
Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This
Please
share this message with your friends on your FaceBook page, Google+, and/or
Twitter account if you would. You can use the icon links below. Thanks!
Sunday, January 11, 2015
NEW: Israel Bible Reading Plan ✡ "She Named Him Moses"
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