The Trumpet Will Sound

5 yrs

Soul Rest … #bodyofChrist

A story came across my path this week that touched my heart. A testimony from a Syrian believer. Five years ago he had the opportunity to leave his country and seek refugee status in Europe, but he chose to stay for the Christians that remained.

Their lives were hard. Food wasn’t always available, nor was medical help, but they combined their efforts as a body of Christ and everything started to become easier.
“It’s true to say our church is now a family. We used to gather once a week, but now we gather everyday. We check on each other and help to meet each other’s needs. When we pray together God answers our prayers, the big and the small. When we get discouraged, we sing praises to our great God. We know that He is in our midst; we feel His presence and His peace. No matter what happens, our souls are at perfect rest in Him.”

Friends, this sweet testimony of God’s faithfulness can be ours too. May we cling to God and diligently follow all He teaches us, then in turn, may we care for each other in tender love. We were meant to love God AND each other.

Only then will our souls know this sweet rest.

(Devotional by Cheryl Hall-Laos)

5 yrs

Sweet aroma … #lilacs; #victoryinJesus

Here in the north our lilacs are finally in full bloom. The fragrance in the yard is wonderful and the closer I draw to these lovely purple wonders, the stronger come sweet memories. For me, the fragrance of lilacs are forever united with memories of my grandparents’ and their home. Today as I buried my face in the lilac bush and inhaled deeply, I closed my eyes and instantly I could see their entire house, entrance, back yard, and every room. Every sweet memory of Grandma’s loving hugs and Grandpa’s warm laughter – everything – flooded into my mind in a nanosecond, in my own backyard.

It is a scientific wonder that smell and memory are intertwined. This is the purpose behind the “sweet savor” offerings given to the LORD. After the flood, Noah offered a burnt offering, and the LORD “smelled a sweet savor”. The Father inhaled that delightful aroma and said, “I will not again curse the ground anymore for man’s sake.” What did He smell that brought forth such a blessing?

The delight of His heart, which the burnt offering symbolized: His Beloved Son who “gave Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor”. Into the Father’s senses came rushing everything about His wonderful Son and all that would come from His sufferings of the cross – the removal of the curse, the salvation of the nations, His everlasting Kingdom and eternal glory.

And although this world is sin-sick and our hearts feel often heavy, every time we draw near the cross, we can inhale deeply and experience the rush of every promise He has made, and say … “Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ, and makes manifest the aroma of His knowledge through us in every place we go. For we are to God a sweet aroma of Christ.”

Ah … the fragrance of Victory is in the air.

5 yrs

Bring the little ones to Me … #predators

When Corrie Ten Boom was a little girl, she asked her father a question while riding on a train. “Daddy, what is sex sin?” Her father looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. Then he said, “Corrie, would you carry my suitcase off the train for me?” as he slid it in front of her. “Oh Daddy, it’s much to heavy!” she exclaimed. “Yes, my love, there are some things that are much too heavy for a little girl to carry. And ‘sex sin’ is one of them. You will have to let me carry it for you until you are old enough.”

It used to be that adults protected innocent children from topics that they are not mentally, emotionally, or physically able to handle, until they are mature enough. Not anymore. At least not the Liberal party of Canada. They have adopted a grooming program called ‘SOGI 123’ and sneakily placed it in schools from kindergarten to grade 12. It stands for, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identification.

Children are told there is no such thing as boys and girls, mom’s and dad’s, or the traditional family. The program wants the children taught about homosexual lifestyles and practices (yes, flashcards included) at the earliest age – which is a gross violation of Canadian Law. The program is intended to confuse and manipulate emotion, forcing the LGBTQ lifestyle on children. It absolutely negates the traditional, loving, moral, family. Parents should be outraged. It was slipped into the Canadian curriculum under an “anti-bullying” law, but it bullies all moral families who want to protect their children.

While those who love their children prepare to stand against this predatorial program, I'm reminded of Jesus' warning: “Whoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in Me, it is better for him that a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were cast into the sea.” – (Mark 9:42)

And did you notice in the book of Revelation what happens to Mystery Babylon? … “And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, ‘With violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.” Why? Because of the violence done to the little children they corrupted. I’m pretty sure I heard the angel say,

“And that one is for the children.”

(And for those wanting more information, go to www.cultureguard.com or www.oneaccord.one to see “Framing the Issue) – and please spread this far and wide.

5 yrs

Grass … #grass, #mowing

“All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower of it falls away: but the Word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached to you.” – 1 Peter 1:24,25

Over and over the Bible reminds us that each person in this life is as temporary as grass without the Lord. Since it is grass season, that preaches. My grass needs to be mown three times a week. And without watering, it withers and begins to turn dry in less than a week. How temporary we are without Christ!

This also means the days of the wicked are shorter than we think … “When the wicked spring as the grass, and when ALL the workers of iniquity flourish, it is that they shall be destroyed forever… but the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.” – (Ps. 37, 92)

The beauty of the Gospel is that the cross of Christ offers all “grass” a change of nature, a glorious transformation. What piece of short, withering grass, wouldn’t prefer to be a tall, strong, everlasting cedar? How wonderful Christ is to offer everlasting life, everlasting righteousness, and eternal purpose, to those who will repent and put their trust in Him …

Before He mows His lawn.

5 yrs

Be thankful unto Him …

Unthankfulness is one of the marks of the last days. We see it all around us. But especially in the hypocrisy of those who live under God’s blessings, benefit from them, even enjoy them – yet decry them.

For example, think of the politicians who live in prosperity built by capitalism but who are pushing socialism. Or People who live in America – yes, the same freedom-loving Country that saved the world from Hitler’s white supremacy and today defends its citizens from the ideologies of Islamic supremacy – but claim it’s a country of white supremacy and oppression. Think of the multitude living under the blessings of Judeo-Christian laws - equality of the sexes, one race under God, and freedom of speech and religion – who use those very freedoms to deny the One who gave it to them and who seek to overthrow everything “Christian”.

At best, these people are unthankful and woefully ignorant. At worst, they are treasonous themselves or, as the Communist Manifest happily describes them, “useful idiots” who further the cause of outside interests. They are bribed by ten dollars to turn over a million dollars.

Those who treat their blessings like curses will lose them. What will the Lord do? He will do as He did for Israel, He will remove their blessings and the godly who uphold His laws … “Behold, the Lord will take away the mighty man and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the elderly. The captains, and the honorable, and the counselors, and the wise craftsmen, and the eloquent speakers. And I will give children to be their leaders (since they hated all wisdom), and spoiled brats shall rule them … because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord.” – (Isaiah 3)

“Be thankful unto Him and bless His Name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endures to all generations.”

#thankfulness