From Rubble to Rejoicing

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Many of us maybe have come out of the wreckage of damaged lives. But because of God’s offer of forgiveness and His ability of rebuilding broken lives we can be lifted and secured in faith. Praise the One, the Only One, who can! We can be used again for His glory and majesty to bring honor, glory, unto the Almighty.

The Bible is filled with stories of saints who have served God in the most of trying circumstances. Noah was a shipbuilder and he preached and worked for one hundred and twenty years to get others to go with him. Joseph was a slave who later became prime minister of Egypt. Moses and Joshua fought through much pain and sorrow as military generals and leaders of God’s people.

God takes those who are willing and calls us away from the rubble of exiled living to the rejoicing of having rebuilt lives and homes. Many do not escape the damage done to their lives or even the damage they have caused themselves. But there are some who excelled in Christ. They go through life with faith in God, facing the trials, opposition, and setbacks of life with the strong, secure defense that God provides.

If you are sitting in the midst of broken down walls, damaged relationships, or feeling isolated, turn the page with me–and let the rebuilding begin. God is good. He made the stone which makes the wall. He will take us and rebuild us into the people He has predestined us to be.

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  • Praying the Bible

    “When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness”  (Acts 4:31).

    On the cross the Lord Jesus only said out loud seven brief things. The Romans had flayed His back until it was ribboned and torn, and was seen by every eye that passed by. Severely dehydrated, His entire body weight hanging on three nails that held Him to the wood, the Lord of love had to push himself upward to be able to talk, and then only briefly before releasing and settling downward.

    Understandably, then, everything Jesus spoke from the cross was important. And as He lifted himself up each time I am convinced that He prayed through the verses of Psalm 22. As He weighed back downward, wrestling on those nails, He continued to pray silently through Psalms 22. Oh! How that pangs my heart. Yet, oh, how, it rejoices my soul! His first prayer from Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The last prayer was from Psalm 31:5, “Father into thy hands I commit my spirit.”

    Jesus prayed the Psalms. The final act of His earthly life was to pray the words of a psalm, the Word of the Bible. Friends, if the Lord Jesus prayed the psalms and the Bible, and the early church prayed the psalms should we not do as well? There is power in praying the Bible.

  • An Unclouded Day

    “And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds, as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain” (2 Samuel 23:4).

    The political parties are at extreme odds with one another. One is considered to be dark while the other is considered to be light. One is negative while the other is positive. The Democrats say our country is up. The Republicans say our country is down. We are living in a clouded day, a day of confusion.

    The Lord Jesus was neither an optimist nor pessimist but a realist. He saw things as they were and one day we will too. There is coming a day when there will be no more clouded days and heaviness of heart. God will take away away the clouds and the rain and the Light of Day will forever shine without clouds in the sky.

    We are going to a land of unclouded day and it is not just a pie in the sky mentality. It is God’s forever provision for His people who may weep through many a dark day but who are bound for the world where not only darkness is not present but even tears are passed away.

  • Momentary Marriage

    “When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor or given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Mark 12:25).

    There is no human marriage after death. The shadow of the covenant made before God turns into reality in the moment of death. It is the reality of marriage to Christ–the marriage of His glorified Church. Nothing is lost. The music of marriage is transposed into something much higher.

    Those who have departed this world are closer to each other in love than they were on earth. They “shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43). They are perfect which points to the glory of Christ.

    Dietrich Bonhoeffer was engaged to Maria von Wedemeyer before he was hanged at dawn on April 9, 1945. He was a young pastor in Germany. He opposed Hitler and Nazism, and because of this he was arrested and assassinated. While in prison he wrote these words from the military section of the prison at Tegel, Berlin. He called it “A Wedding Sermon from a Prison Cell.”

     

    Marriage is more than your love for each other…in your love you see only the heaven of your own happiness, but in marriage you are placed at a post of responsibility towards the world and mankind. Your love is your own private possession, but marriage is more than something personal–it is status, and office. Just as it is the crown, and not merely the will to rule, that makes the king, so it is marriage, and not merely your love for each other, that joins you together in the sights of God and man.

     

    Marriage is more than your love for each other. Much more! The meaning of marriage is the display of the convent-keeping love between Christ and those who have been born from above. Romance, sex, and childbearing are temporary gifts of God. They are not part of the next life. And they are not even guaranteed for this life. May marriage be recognized “for the praise of his glory.” May we realize that marriage is more than about us but about Him.  Amen.

     

     

     

     

     

  • A Personal Question About Danger

    “And he said unto them, Go, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out demons, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall have finished” (Luke 13:82).

    Herod had threatened to kill the Lord Jesus. The Pharisees wanted Him dead as well. What would the Lord Jesus do? Would He run? Would He hide? No, for He was under divine appointment. His Father and the Spirit of God was leading Him to Jerusalem.

    Herod nor the Pharisees had any control over God’s anointed One. Our Lord was not afraid of any danger. He followed a divine timetable and nothing could harm Him until He gave Himself over into the hands of His enemies. He was on the Father’s schedule.

    There are a lot of Herod’s running around today. A lot of Pharisees who do not have your best interest in mind. A fox was not held in high esteem by the Jews. A fox was known for its cunning ways and it was known to hunt at night. Holy sarcasm was used here to describe the enemies of God.

    My friend there is a God and He has work for us today. We have today, we have tomorrow, and the third day if the Lord wills.

    We have a work to do, a class to teach, people to reach, and others to minister God’s good hand. And we have a family to pray for, sons and daughters to love, and enemies to pour out God’s love upon. There is a world to reach, much money to give, prayers to pray, and God has it planned out for us. Let’s walk in the light while it is still day. Don’t fear the sound of Satan nor the breath of unbelievers.

  • Your Own Meditation of the Bible

    “The Israelite’s did as they were told; some gathered much, some little” (Exodus 16:17).

    What would happen if you and I would read more of the Bible on a daily basis? I believe it would change the way we think, talk, and walk. We get into so many ruts in life that sometimes we need to get into the “rut of reading more” and allowing the Spirit of God to shape us into His people.

    America needs more Christians who would read, digest, and depend upon the Author to imprint His Word upon the hearts and minds of His people. It would literally change us from the inside out. It would turn our lives upside down and right side up.

    The Bible read for significant minutes will become the Essential Everyday Life Commentary upon what we feel, do, and live. Try it and find out how God will speak to each of us on His level. See the wonder of life in His Word and find yourself walking more in His presence. Gather much and you will receive more. Gather little and you will receive more.

  • As It Was In the Days of NOAH

    “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:18).

    In Noah’s day the creation of the Creator chose to choose against God. They lived as if He wasn’t there. They were devoid of God. They were detoxing themselves from all that reminded them of the true and living God. They unanimously voted God off the island, eliminating Him completely from earth’s equation. Humanity hung by a thread of a thin, godly line. Though outnumbered by millions, Noah’s little family is the “why” God held back His judgment for 120 years.

    We see a sneak preview of things to come, an advance viewing of humanity in the last days. That generation was a God-hating breed, and their kind has returned in this generation. Noah’s contemporary message was ignored by the masses and the messenger was maligned and hated. They ate, drank, and pursued relationships without the acknowledgment of God at all.

    God was not in their human hard drive, erasing Him from their collective conscience and culture. They produced after their own kind, making more degenerates, just like them. They flocked together, sinned together, and hated together. Rejecting the words of a man who gave them the Words of God, they chose to suppress the truth and avoid all witnesses.

    We as Christians are, by nature, salt and light, we’re also masters at hiding in the salt shaker and hitting the dimmer switch. We must allow God’s Spirit to lift us and load us for love. For it is God’s people who again are postponing inevitable judgment. Noah’s world did not begin without God, but it sure ended up that way.

    Look around. Which way do you think we’re headed?

    And what are going to do about it?