Nehemiah 5:1-7:4, Ezekiel 46:1-47:12, Acts 24:1-9, Revelation 17:11-18, Psalm 138: Does the celebration of Christmas ever make you wonder about heaven? My mind gets captured by the thoughts of what has been. It ponders what it must have been like for Mary and Joseph. Yet my mind doesn’t stay there. My mind quickly runs to a second coming. A second time Jesus will descend from Heaven and this time return as Revelation 17:14 “They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”

He won’t be a helpless child. He will be what He was even then Lord of Lords and King of Kings. So many were put off by the fact that the baby did not live up to their expectation of a King. This time He will! He will be a victorious warrior but on a political path. He will be over everything from politics to all creation. There will be no doubt who is in control.

So today I come to adore the One born in Bethlehem’s stable. I come to give honor and glory and praise to the One the angels sang gloria too. I come to once again kneel and peer into the face of the One who showed love beyond any human comprehension as He lived a perfect life and gave Himself for our sin. I come to Tell it On The Mountain that the baby born to Mary brought eternal life to me and all who believe. What a precious celebration of Heaven come to earth and one day we will return to Heaven with our Conquerer and King! GLORY!!!! Let’s Celebrate!!!!

Nehemiah 3, Ezekiel 44, Acts 23:12-22, Revelation 16:17-21, Psalm 136: When reading the Bible and especially the Old Testament and there appears a list it is easy to skim the list because we don’t know the people or most of the time how to pronounce their names. When we do that we are likely to miss a treasure that is hidden within.

Nehemiah 3: 5 And next to them the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord.

If you were just skimming or reading these pages for the first time that might not have jumped out at you. But if you have read this story a few times you might have picked up on the word Tekoites. In a few chapters we are going to find out that there were some who did not want Nehemiah to succeed. Some of the ones who proved to be a stumbling block where these Tekoites. As I pondered about their unwillingness to “stoop to serve there Lord” my mind went to the fact that pride is at the heart of so much of our sin. In a few chapters when their divisive behavior is revealed we can trace it back to this verse. Their pride and not wanting to “stoop” reveals their hearts. Everyone else realized that in order for the project to be complete all had to work on their part. When we think we are too good to work we leave a crack in the wall that the enemy can usher himself into. That crack may start small, but given time it can open up entire fissures that pour in the enemy’s power and presence. Later in the book we read that the men built with a hammer in one hand and a weapon in the other all because pride allowed the enemy to set up camp within the walls of the city.

Oh sweet friend, if you are seeing division in your church, home, business, or other relationships trace the root. Most of the time you will find that pride and selfish desire are the enemies’ entry point. You can’t do much to prevent this pride in others, but you can certainly do your part to prevent it in yourself. Check your heart attitude. Serve Your LORD and others. Don’t consider yourself above, but reach to the lowliest. When you do you don’t have time to find the faults in others because you are too busy working on the solutions for all.

Ezra 3, Ezekiel 33, Acts 20:17-38, Revelation 12:7-17, Psalm 128: In our reading today in Ezra we are tracing the steps of the Children of Israel as they are coming out of captivity and returning to Jerusalem. They are restoring the Temple and turning their hearts and worship back to God. They are literally picking up the pieces of what had once been a great place of worship and trying to put the puzzle back together again. Yes they were far from where it once was, but they were laying a foundation for what it would become again. Here is how Ezra records it

Ezra 3:11And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord,
“For he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.”
And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. 12But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, 13so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

I wonder if there are some reading this that can really identify with this passage. Maybe you attend a church that once was a house of worship that was on fire! God was moving in your midst, people were attending, you didn’t want to miss church for fear you would miss what God was about to do. You remember the glory of yesterday. You may even be like those mentioned here weeping for the losses you feel. And yet, God is doing something new. He is stirring again in the lives of those in the church. You may not see a huge move yet, but little by little a foundation is being set again. There are some shouting praises and you are still crying. May I suggest what is recorded here. Praise the Lord. Sing His praise. Give Him honor and glory right where you are. The new work may not look like the old, but in some ways it can be better. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Pray for the leadership in your church family. Pray for revival. Then you be the embers that spark the great awakening. Speak positive words about what God is doing. Look for Him at work all around you. God is looking to do a new work and it is looking for those willing to let go of the past to reach forward to what is to come.

2 Kings 23:1-35, Ezekiel 29, Acts 19:11-20, Revelation 10, Psalm 124: the thing that stood out to me today is how Josiah found the Book of the Law as he had the temple cleaned. When he read it he realized how far his nation was from God’s way. His response wasn’t to change the Book or what it said, but to get in line with what God said. What a great reminder to us in our generation. We can’t and won’t change the Bible to make it get in line with what we desire. We may change some words on a page, but God’s word stands forever. Blessing and His favor come only when we do things His way.

Josiah was determined to clean the nation up and he started at the church. He removed anything that did not bring honor and glory to God. He did not just remove the foreign gods and anything used to bring glory to them. He destroyed them burning them with fire and crushing them after. He was determined that his nation would not go back to its old ways. The church was where he started, but he also went throughout the land removing anything that did not honor God.

In our lives if we really want blessing and favor from God we must start by reading His word and finding out what pleases Him. Then we do like Josiah did and start in our homes and churches taking out anything that does not bring Him glory. As we get our lives right we will impact the world around us and little by little we will see God move in a mighty way through out our land. Start today. Read His word and ask Him to reveal anything in you that does not please Him. That is the best gift you could give God and yourself this Christmas season.

2 Kings 17, Ezekiel 23, Acts 16:25-40, Revelation 7:1-8, Psalm 119:121-14:One of my favorite songs to sing is entitled I Bless Your Name. It is sung by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. In the Song it describes the scene from Acts 16 where Paul and Silas are in the Jail and yet they sang.
Acts 16:25 “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”
The song goes on to say that in their pain as they began to sing their chains were loosed and they were freed. In the account in the Bible there was an earthquake and sure enough they were freed, but in reality they were free in their spirits even when the chains were on because of their freedom in Christ. He was their reason to sing.
The song continues on to say
“Some midnight hour if you should find,
You’re in a prison in your mind,
Sing out in praise, defy those chains,
And they will fall in Jesus name, Just sing,
I bless Your Name,
I bless Your Name,
I give You Honor, give You praise,
You are the Life, the Truth, the Way.
I bless Your Name, I bless Your Name.”
If you should find yourself in a prison today, not necessarily of physical bars, but in chains non the less, I challenge you to sing out in praise to the Name that is above every name. At His Name there is freedom, peace and hope. Sing out my friend, sing out and believe. I too Bless His Name!

2 Kings 16, Ezekiel 22, Acts 16:6-24, Revelation 6:9-17, Psalm 119:97-120: As I read in Ezekiel today of how Israel had fallen so far away from God my heart broke for them. The real sorrow came when I read:

Ezekiel 22:30 “And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. 31Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way upon their heads, declares the Lord God.”

Not only where they far away from God, but there could be found NO ONE to stand in the gap. That means He could not even find someone to stand up for them in prayer that they would return to Him. No ONE! Oh my friends, our nation is in a terrible mess spiritually. We could easily be described by so many of the same things said about Israel, but I am determined that it will not be said as long as I have breath and mental ability that No ONE stood in the gap. I WILL STAND to pray for my president whether I believe what he or she is doing is right or not. I will pray for our legislators whether I agree with them or see the moral decay they are allowing. I will pray for our judges and those in the judicial system. My country may go down a dark path, but it will not be because someone is not praying for them. I believe God shines the brightest in the darkest times and I know He will use whoever is willing to be a light for Him. So this light of mine will shine until Jesus comes or I breath my last. Join me, together we may not be many but we can be powerful on our knees.

2 Kings 8, Ezekiel 13, Acts 13:13-25, Revelation 2:18-28, Psalm 115: Our God is sovereign over everything. His hand is at work all around us bringing about His good will and pleasure. His providence is seen today as we read about the Widow of Shunam who’s son Elisha had brought back to life. Elisha had warned she and her husband that famine was coming on the land and to move to another land. On the very day she returned to claim her land again before the king, Elisha’s servant Gehazi just “happened” to be telling the king about their story. When she walked in the room Gehazi said, here she is, you can ask her yourself. When the King heard the story and saw the woman he immediately gave her back her land and even gave her back the produce the land had produced in the years she and her husband had been gone. Now many people would say, how lucky that Gehazi was there and telling her story. Luck has nothing to do with it. It is God at work providentially putting the people in the right places at the right time to bring about a big display of His glory.
How about you. Have you seen God’s providence at work in your life? Was there a time where you thought man this has got to be God! Or maybe you thought, you were “lucky”. There is no luck involved. It is God working His good pleasure in and through you. Keep your eyes open! God is at work! He is waiting for us to see and experience His glory at work in and around you!
Feel free to share your God story in the comments. I would love to hear it!

2 Kings 1, Ezekiel 4-5, Acts 10:9-33, 2 John, Psalm 108: When hard things come do you turn to other things first and then as a last resort pray to God for His intervention? Hopefully you said no, but just in case you had to honestly say yes, today’s reading in 2 Kings 1 should be a warning to all of us. The king at the time sent to ask of a foreign god to see whether he would recover from a sickness. God spoke to Elijah and told him to head the servant off and give the bad news to the king that because he sought other gods instead of the one true God he would not recover from his illness.
When we seek other things over God He becomes jealous and is not pleased at all with our choices. His greatest desire is for us to come to Him and make Him Lord of our lives. That may seem prideful or wrong to you, but God can’t be and isn’t wrong. In the end He knows what is best for us and how we were meant to function. He longs for us to come to Him because it is also what is the very best for us. When we turn to other powerless things they can’t help. They have no power. It would be like you going to kneel before your front door and ask it to heal you. You would never do that, but some of the things we turn to are just as powerless. Money can’t heal you, a job no matter how prestigious cannot give you life eternal. It is though God alone. How unloving would it be for God to allow us to think those things had power and could or would save us. Even us trying to control our lives. It may look good for the moment, but in the end you would be very discouraged because on your own you can do NOTHING. With God ALL things are possible. He created all things and by His word all things came into being. Now who would be better to trust. If you need a reality check just look outside, or even better, look in the mirror because He made you too! Most of all He longs for you to love Him and accept Him as Lord or another way to say it is Boss of your life. In the end unlike the king in the story you will have Life in Him and in heaven there after. You get to make the choice.

I wrote this in 2017 but never published it. I thought today would be a great day to publish.
John 8:12-20: The world around us during the latter part of October can seem so dark with scary movies and demonic things given air. My heart groans to see the celebration of evil. Then the calendar changes and instead of ghouls and ghosts Thanksgiving and the Light of Christmas dawns. I know people get frustrated at the Christmas lights coming out on top of the Thanksgiving celebration, but I love that Jesus is the reason to give thanks. Without Him we would stay in the darkness.

John 8 says it this way 12Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Glory to the Light of the World! Praise His Name! I give glory and honor and thanksgiving to the One who dispelled the darkness then and does now. Hallelujah to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is worthy to be praised!

If you are one who can’t wait to decorate for Christmas, go ahead, light a candle, throw a little color around. The King was born to shed light on our dark world.

1 Kings 22, Ezekiel 2-3,Acts 9:36-10:8, 1 John 5:13-21, Psalm 107: Do you like it when people tell you what you want to hear? Do you get angry when someone speaks truth to you that doesn’t go along with what you want? I wish I could say I never get angry or hurt when people speak truth to me, but that is not true. I do get angry, or maybe a better word is hurt because I want so bad to please people, but as I get older I understand better the “wounds of a friend” who truly loves me.
In 1 Kings today King Ahab and Jehoshaphat were pondering going to war with the Syrians. Jehoshaphat requested that Ahab seek the counsel of the prophets. Ahab called in 400 prophets and they were saying go to battle god will give victory. Jehoshaphat asked if there was a prophet of God. Ahab said there is one but he never tells me what I want to hear. Jehoshaphat asked him to seek his counsel anyway. True to for the prophet prophecies that Ahab would be killed and that the armies would go home without a leader. They did go to battle and Ahab had Jehoshaphat dress in his kingly garb and Ahab dressed as a regular soldier. The enemy chased Jehoshaphat thinking it was Ahab to kill him. When they realized he was not Ahab they turned away. There was an archer though that shot an arrow and it just happened to hit Ahab between his armor. It was a fatal wound and sure to the prophet’s word, Ahab died and his army fled. The 400 were wrong and the one was right.
The lesson to me today is listen to those who truly walk with God. Seek their counsel even if it is not what you want to hear. Take examine your life and take proper actions. You can listen to poor counsel, but the end result may be very misleading and cause you great pain or even eternal death.
If you are giving counsel, seek the Father and His will not the culturally acceptable thing to do. Your friends need you to speak truth!