Martyrs for Christ

I have been so moved to pray for the Christians in Iraq and in many other countries who are suffering and being killed because they refuse to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ.

I was thinking about how we judge Peter, Jesus' disciple, because, when he was questioned, he denied knowing Christ three times on the night before Jesus was crucified. We wonder if we would have denied Him.  Maybe a better question is: "Would we have even followed Jesus at all, or would we have been like some of the Pharisees, bowing to tradition and the praise of man, rather than listening to God?"

Thank God for one of the Pharisees, NICODEMUS, who came to question Jesus. Because of his honest questions, we have been given the answer to LIFE"S GREATEST QUESTION in Jesus' own words.

"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.

God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.

Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind SON OF GOD when introduced to him."

John 3:16-18 The Message

More Than Enough

Corrie ten Boom

Remember Papa ten Boom handing young Corrie her train ticket just before she stepped on the train to Amsterdam (from the film The Hiding Place). The Lord God says, "I have all you need, hidden for you in my pocket! I am more than enough."

Visiting Family

I have been away from the computer for a few weeks. I am visiting my daughter and grandchildren and we are having a great time. I LOVE SUMMER...especially after the winter we had!

As I was looking up at the beautiful cloud shapes with the four-year old, I thought about Job's words:

God spreads out the nothern skies over empty space.

He suspends the earth over nothing.

He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters

for a boundary between light and darkness...

and these are but the outer fringe of His works.

How faint the whisper we hear of Him!

Who then can understand the thunder of His power?

 Job 26:7,10,14 NIV

Where Was Jesus?

I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love,

    for you have seen my troubles,

    and you care about the anguish of my soul.

Psalm 31:7 NLT

It is so sad to watch the news. Every day there are tragedies. My heart especially goes out to parents whose children have been the victims of senseless violence.

This week at Bible study, a young woman asked, "Why did Jesus weep for Lazarus when He knew that He would raise him from the dead?"

I think the verse above from Psalms answers that: Jesus cares about our anguish.

People often ask, "Yeah, well where was Jesus when someone was victimized?"

Jesus might answer, "I was on the cross, bearing the pain of the one who was harmed, and also the sin of the perpetrator."

Jesus is Worthy of All Our Praise

I saw in the night visions, and behold, on the clouds of the heavens came One like a Son of man, and He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And there was given Him [the Messiah] dominion and glory and kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom is one which shall not be destroyed.
Daniel 7:13-14