There is Still Time

God is merciful as well as righteous. He never sends judgment on a person or nation until He first sends a multitude of warnings through prophets, nature, inner promptings in our soul or spirit and the natural consequences of our behavior.

He does not want anyone to perish, but for everyone to share in His blessings of eternal life. He is like a mother hen who wants to gather her chicks under her wings and protect them all (2 Peter 3:8-10; Matthew 23:37).

In these later days, God ramped up natural disasters, wars around the world, a famine of His Word; and He allowed the rapid growth of debauchery in our world in order to call us to repentance.

Yet, the pride and rebellion of many cause them to ignore His warnings and His attempt to draw all men to Himself (John 12:32). People think they know better than God and disdain Him for what they perceive as His failings.

Comedians turn the hearts of many away from God with their human logic and satanic lies. So many people run from God rather than into His outstretched arms.

In our modern society, men's hearts daily fail them for fear (Luke 21:26). They use suicide, alcohol, drugs and amassing worldly riches to assuage their discontent - to no avail.

Archeological discoveries persist in proving the veracity of the Bible, but this news is hidden in the back pages of annals and ignored or belittled.

Science continues to uncover never before seen species of God's creation; but they refuse to give God credit for the creature's magnificence and the fact that they thrive in almost impossible living conditions.

People also ignore the fact that these creatures did not evolve, but are exclusive in their designs and functions. They stubbornly uphold a theory with missing links as their truth.

God will continue to send warnings, tribulation and amazing discoveries to prove His existence and to turn hearts to Himself, until the day He raptures His Saints from the earth and sends His Great Tribulation on our godless civilization.

Prayer:

Father God, You attempt to draw everyone into Your loving embrace and You use every means available to bring people to their knees in repentance and belief in You for salvation. You never give up on anyone, even when they condemn themselves by their unbelief (John 3:18). 

However, there will come a day when Your cup of wrath is full and You will pour out judgment on the nations of the world in a period of the greatest tribulation the world has ever known. You will send strong delusion on the Gentiles, once this age is finished; and then it will be too late for them to repent. However, You will give Your chosen race of Israel one final chance to choose You as their God and Savior.

We praise You for Your patience with mankind and Your plan to redeem us all back into Your embrace. Teach us to humble our self under Your mighty hand and to heed Your warning signs designed to draw us back to You.

Thought for the Day:

God sent His Word full of prophecies that prove His existence, and He continues to warn people of His coming judgment and the culmination of life as we know it; He is patient and long-suffering, and He chooses to store up His wrath and to pour out His mercy on the world every single day. There is still time. Won't you believe?

Why Christians Suffer

Read: Romans 8:31-39

"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” - Psalm 73:26

When I surrendered my life to Christ, I had the misguided notion that my life would forever float free of any negative circumstances. I pictured myself tiptoeing through the tulips without a care in the world. Boy was I wrong! The few initial trials I experienced threw me off course. I stomped and squalled in disgust over the fact that a child of God should be subjected to such inconvenient conditions (Psalm 73:13-14).

As I checked around with my new friends, I found out that every one of them went through appalling situations as well (Matthew 5:45). We all conjectured, postulated, hypothesized and speculated about God’s reason for allowing this. We wondered why He did not destroy our enemies who mocked us, did not prevent the infliction of emotional wounds by calloused individuals and did not maintaining the security of our jobs and our financial stability. The inequality of the world weighed heavily on us and some injustices even inflicted pain in our own lives. It appeared that the unrighteous people we knew enjoyed more blessings than the righteous ones did (Psalm 73:1-12).

Our Pastor explained to us that God is able to make everything work out wonderfully for us, but He teaches us so much more through the negative times than the positive ones. In good times, we ride along almost oblivious to the need for prayer and fellowship with Our Father. As soon as something terrible happens, however, we run for cover under the shadow of His wings. We remind Him that we are the apple of His eye (Psalm 17:8) and we misguidedly accuse Him of not taking proper care of us.

Over the years, I learned that we suffer negative circumstances for several reasons. One comes from the curse on the earth, caused by Adam and Eve’s rebellion. Sinful behavior by others is the basis of most of our problems. We suffer harmful consequences imposed on us by wicked people. On top of this our own sins, our poor judgment and/or our faulty decisions are also a catalyst for our negative experiences. The good news is that God’s grace sees us through all of these painful times and teaches us lessons that we would otherwise miss.

God lives in eternity, and His concern is with the infinite issues of life. He sees the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). God views 1000 years as if they were only one day (2 Peter 3:8). We, on the other hand, rarely focus on eternal issues. Our mind is consumed with the earthly realm and what we experience with our senses. We view life with a finite mind.

In His unlimited wisdom God knows that our concerns are only momentary and fleeting, and that He has ultimate plans for our good, as well as for the eternal punishment of the wicked (Psalm 73:17). God teaches us to trust Him through the hard times, because He knows that the blessings are just around the corner. We grow deeper, wider and stronger roots and every trial strengthens our faith. God uses these exasperating situations to conform us to the likeness of His Son (Romans 8:29).

Just look at the stars in the heavens. God created every pin-point and He calls each one by name. He does great things that cannot be fathomed and wonderful works that cannot be counted (Job 9:9-10). His power and incomparable strength holds each one in its place, and not one burns out without His knowledge (Isaiah 40:26; Psalm 147:4). God also spread out the earth and everything and everyone in it. He gives breath to the living and life to every creature that walks on the earth (Isaiah 43:5). His greatness is incomprehensible. He made the heavens and earth by His great power and outstretched arm. Absolutely nothing is too hard for Him (Jeremiah 32:17).

Even with the provision of all of this for us, God went one step further to connect to humanity and to provide for our needs. He sent His only Son to pay the penalty of our sin and to give us His righteousness in exchange (Psalm 8:3-5). This proves that He cares about every anxiety, distress, perplexity and difficulty we experience. He promises to work them all out for our ultimate good (Romans 8:28).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, we are more than conquerors because You love us. I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any power, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from Our Father’s love, which is in You, Our Lord (Romans 8:37-39).

Thought for the Day:

God esteems the person who is humble and contrite in spirit, the person who heeds His Words. - Isaiah 66:2