Can hardly wait to see what the Lord wants me to draw next - love drawing.
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
"little bat" drawing
Can hardly wait to see what the Lord wants me to draw next - love drawing.
Sunday, June 28, 2020
AGREE ON GOD
AGREE ON GOD
My friend Doug posted photos on Facebook of things
in nature that caught his eye. A friend responded: “Are you seeking a refuge
for the next virus (or continuation of this one), or just having fun?” His
answer was: “A little of both, I think. Want to also show the beauty of life and
that life continues.” Doug and I are opposites in our opinions politically, but
when it comes to God’s creation, we agree. No person could logically argue over
the magnificence of God’s creation.
When I want to remind myself of the magnitude
and wisdom of our God, I go to the book of Job and to the Psalms.
“By the word of the Lord were
the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He
gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the
depth in storehouses.
“Let all the earth fear the Lord; let
all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
“For he spake, and it was done;
he commanded, and it stood fast” (Ps. 33:6-9).
Psalm 96 says: “Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let
the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein:
then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord” (Ps.
96: 11-13).
In Job 37, God commands Job to halt and consider. Sometimes we
need to do that too.
“Hearken unto this, O Job: stand
still, and consider the wondrous works of God” (Job 37:14).
“God
thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we
cannot comprehend. For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the
small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.
“Then the beasts
go into dens, and remain in their places. Out of the south cometh
the whirlwind: and cold out of the north. By
the breath of God frost is given” Job 37:5-6, 8-10a).
Then in Job 39:
“Knowest
thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? or canst
thou mark when the hinds do calve? Canst thou number the months that they
fulfil? or knowest thou the time when they bring forth? They bow
themselves, they bring forth their young ones, they cast out their
sorrows. Their young ones are in good liking, they grow up with corn;
they go forth, and return not unto them.
“Who
hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the
wild ass? 6 Whose house I have made the
wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings. He scorneth the
multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver.
The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth
after every green thing.
“Will the unicorn
be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib? Canst thou bind
the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys
after thee? Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great?
Or wilt thou leave thy labour to him? Wilt thou
believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy
barn?
“Gavest
thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto
the ostrich? Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth
them in dust, and forgetteth that the foot may
crush them, or that the wild beast may break them. She is hardened against her young ones, as
though they were not hers: her labour is in vain without fear;
because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither
hath he imparted to her understanding. What time she lifteth up herself on high,
she scorneth the horse and his rider.
“Hast thou given
the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck
with thunder? Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the
glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley,
and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed
men. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth
he back from the sword. The quiver rattleth against him, the
glittering spear and the shield. He swalloweth the ground with
fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound
of the trumpet. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he
smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the
shouting.
“Doth
the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south?
Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high?
She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the
strong place. From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes
behold afar off” (Job 39:1-30).
Job gives us some of God’s thundering
magnificence, but In the Song of Solomon, we are encouraged also to see our God
as the tender lover that He is. And He does this by calling us away to share
the intimacy of His tenderest creations.
“My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love,
my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain
is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the
time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the
turtle is heard in our land; the fig tree putteth forth her green figs,
and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell.
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away” (Song of Sol. 2: 10-13).
Whether we need to be boldly confronted with the magnificence
of God like Job, or tenderly coerced into a quiet place where the loudest thing
you hear is the voice of a turtle, let’s take a closer look at some of God’s
creations this week and see what we can learn.
Love, Carolyn
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Wednesday, June 24, 2020
BEAUTIFUL BUT DEADLY
BEAUTIFUL BUT DEADLY
When I saw this photo of the Blue-Ringed octopus, I thought it
was strikingly beautiful. But then I found out that it’s one of the most
venomous creatures in the ocean. When it feels threatened, it strikes and
asphyxiates its victims by paralyzing respiratory muscles. It reminded me of
Satan in the Garden of Eden. Ezekiel 28: 12-15 describes how beautiful he was,
but we quickly see that his ways were deadly to humanity. We can never trust in
outward appearances. Moses and the great Apostle Paul were both murderers.
Peter was somewhat of a bigot. But, in contrast, look at how beautiful and wise
Satan was:
“Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and
perfect in beauty.
Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God;
Every precious stone was thy
covering,
the sardius, topaz, and the diamond,
the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper,
the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle,
and gold:
The workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes
was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast
created.
Thou art the anointed cherub that
covereth; and I have set thee so:
thou wast upon the holy mountain of God;
Thou hast walked up and down in the midst of
the stones of fire.
Thou wast perfect in thy ways from
the day that thou wast created,
till iniquity was found in thee” (Eze. 28:13-15)
If we go one by one through the Bible stories, we see that most
of the great men and women of the Bible had pretty big flaws. Jesus himself
said: “I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32). And guess what? We all fall
into that sinner category. “There is none righteous, no, not one”
(Rom. 3:10).
That doesn’t mean we are okay staying sinners.
The goal is to do our best to let the Lord guide us into all righteousness.
Only Jesus can lead us. It’s the way God set it up.
We can’t make up what we think is right. We go
by what the written Word of God says, and we get born again of His Spirit so we
can truly understand the lessons of the Bible and get personal
downloads from the Lord of spiritual understanding and instruction in everyday
life situations.
Our beauty is from within. It’s not in the clothes we wear, the
houses we live in, the great book knowledge we have, or the intellectual
acumen. That’s all fluff—nice fluff—but fluff none the less. And even as
Bible-believing sons of God, we are going to do some things that are not so
beautiful, and we are going to see others do some things we don’t like either.
But the lesson of looking on a person’s heart is never
overstated. God does it, and Ephesians 5:1 tells us: “Be ye therefore followers of
God, as dear children.” One way to pray for ourselves and others
is to pray that the Lord gets to the heart and brings us and others forward
into the things He’s intended. It doesn’t always look sparkly, peaceful or
pretty. But integrity of heart is better than beauty.
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and
renew a right spirit within me.
Love, Carolyn
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Sunday, June 21, 2020
WISDOM FOR FATHERS
WISDOM FOR FATHERS
It’s Fathers’ Day in the United
States, so I looked up some verses on fathers and children, and the Lord opened
my eyes to some really interesting things. Ephesians 6:4 says: “Fathers,
provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord.”
In Abraham’s time, the
ways of God were verbally passed down from fathers and mothers to their
children. Then later, God gave Moses written words. Traditionally, the telling of
Bible stories continued in families, but they had the written word of God as a
backup. God knew the people would turn away from Him and out of their mouths
would come different stories, stories that erred from His truth. They would
need the true physical words when they were ready to return to God’s ways. In
Deuteronomy 31-32, we see that God also gave people songs that contained the
truths of the Bible. Moses was given a song that he was to record for his
children and generations to come. It’s a very long song, so here, I’m putting
in a plug for memorization—a really useful skill for parents to teach to their
children, for sure.
I believe that it’s
important for all of us to first to all read the Bible stories, but then also
to memorize them to the point we actually could tell them accurately to our
children, or to anyone else for that matter. The fact that God gave Moses a
song is interesting too, because it seems that memorizing a song can be easier
than memorizing other things. We don’t need puzzles to work our brains; we have
the ability to enhance our brains with memorization. How many adults and
children actually do that anymore?
Just imagine, what if our
internet connections were totally blacked out? We wouldn’t be able to hear our
favorite preachers and wouldn’t be able to look up Bible stories online. And
what if we didn’t have a physical Bible to refer back to? How much Bible truth
would we know or be able to communicate, before error started to creep in? I’m
not trying to be negative, but it happens. God, Himself knew it would happen so
He’s constantly reminding us in His Word, to remember the stories of old and to
teach them.
I think that fathers and
mothers are very fortunate to have children to teach. It’s great for the
children to learn Bible stories, and it great for the parents to tell them, and
tell them accurately. Parents that take the time to teach, are ones who are
learning at the same time and establishing them in their own lives!
God inspired Moses to
write a song that the people of Israel could have and could teach their
children:
“And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel. And
he said unto them, I am an hundred and twenty years old this day;
“Gather the people together, men, and women, and
children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may
hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do
all the words of this law: and that their children, which have
not known anything, may hear, and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as ye live in
the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.
“Now therefore write ye this song for you and teach it
to the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a
witness for me” (Deut. 31:1-2, 12-13, 19).
God’s songs, stories, and
wise ways are what good fathers teach their children.
Love, Carolyn
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
OUR INHERITANCE - WHAT DO WE DO?
OUR INHERITANCE – WHAT DO
WE DO?
We have a great
inheritance from God, and choices as to what to do with that inheritance. The
Lord showed me two examples in the Bible of people who squandered their
inheritance. The difference between the two is a lesson for all of us. The
first record is an unusual one for a message on inheritance; it’s the story of the
man of the tombs, and the central characters are those who lived around him. Mark
5:2-4 tells us:
“When he [Jesus] was come out of the ship, immediately there met him
out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, and no man could bind him, no,
not with chains: because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains,
and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in
pieces: neither could any man tame him.”
This poor
man was possessed by an evil spirit, crazy out of his mind. “Always, night and
day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself
with stones” (v.5).
The
people who lived around this man couldn’t help him. They did everything they
could to stop him from cutting himself. They tried to restrain him and calm him
down, but every time he broke out of the restraints.
The
people who lived in Gadara only believed what they could understand by their
five senses, and it wasn’t helping them to help this crazy man. But when Jesus
came, He healed the man by spiritual means. By the Spirit within Jesus, Jesus
could see what was wrong with the man, and “He said unto him, ‘Come out of the
man, thou unclean spirit’” (v. 8). Jesus taught by example, and the
people had an amazing opportunity to tap into the spiritual inheritance Jesus was
offering them.
They
witnessed with their own eyes the transformation of the possessed man. “And they [the people] come to Jesus, and see him that
was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in
his right mind: and they were afraid” (v. 15).
When we
don’t understand something, we are often afraid of it. Instead of being
courageous enough to try it, we get angry and reject it. Mostly our reactions
come from a deep fear that we’re not really worthy—it’s way too crazy, and if
we reach out to take it, we may fail! That’s way to embarrassing!
Well, the
Gadarenes didn’t want to reach out. They said a big NO to their inheritance.
“And, behold, the whole
city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that
he would depart out of their coasts” (Matt 8: 34).
“The whole multitude of
the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for
they were taken with great fear” (Luke 8:37).
We don’t hear much about
these people after this incident.
The other lesson about
inheritance is one we know well. Jesus told the story:
“And he said, ‘A certain man had two sons: and
the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion
of goods that falleth to me [his inheritance]. And he divided unto them
his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and
took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with
riotous living” (Luke 15:11-13).
This
younger son squandered his whole inheritance. He rejected it like the men of
Gadara rejected the spiritual answers Jesus came to give them. This son didn’t
feel his inheritance was valuable.
“And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty
famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined
himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed
swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the
swine did eat: and no man gave unto him” (vv. 14-16).
“And when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many hired
servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with
hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, ‘Father,
I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be
called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants” (vv.17-19)
This son didn’t
value his inheritance. He abused and squandered it all. But the big difference
between this man and the men of the Gadarenes is that when the prodigal son hit
bottom, he woke up and was willing to humble himself to get right with his
father again. He was going to go back and ask for forgiveness.
“And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was
yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell
on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, ‘Father, I have
sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy
son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring forth the best robe, and
put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet and
bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be
merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is
found.’ And they began to be merry” (Luke 15:20-24).
We’ve probably
all rejected a part of our spiritual inheritances in one way or another. But let’s
not be like the fearful men of Gadara, who never got to experience the
wonderful treasures of spiritual life. Let’s be like the prodigal son, and go
back and get every morsel the Lord wants to open to us.
Love,
Carolyn