A Blogging Intermission

Sorry, but I've decided to suspend blogging my journal for an indefinite period. I'm hoping to return to it in some form after a brief break. As Pastor says, read you Bible every day, love everybody and try not to sin.

Judges 13-16; 2 Corinthians 2

Judges 13:8-9a

Then Manoah prayed to the LORD : "O LORD, I beg you, let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born." God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field.

I don't know if Manoah really wanted instructions or he just needed some confirmation regarding what his wife told him. God isn't trying to make His will a big mystery. When He calls us to do something He is more than willing to give us everything we need for the job. Perhaps when I'm wondering if I've really "heard from God" about something, I need to be bold enough to ask the Lord for more clear instructions like Manoah did. God doesn't want me to be confused. Maybe when I don't seem to have clarity it's because I I haven't bothered to ask for it.

Judges 11-12; Psalm 50; 2 Corinthians 1

2 Corinthians 1:12

Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God's grace.

What do I boast about? Am I "boastful" when I act in a way that conforms to "God's grace, as Paul does? Or do I try to immitate the world and try to look like I'm following their wisdom so they won't think I'm foolish? Never forget, God's ways often seem foolish to the world. I need to be sure I'm living by God's standard and not worrying what other's who don't have Christ think about that.

Judges 9-10; Psalm 49; 1 Corinthians 16

1 Corinthians 16:8-9

But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.

When there are many who oppose me, why don't I see it as a great door opened to me like Paul does here? In these times the tendency seems to be that having opposition is taken as a sign that God has closed a door. Somehow we have become programmed to think that way. Jesus even told us that in this world we will have troubles. He says we are blessed when we are persecuted and insulted for His name's sake. We are to consider it joy when we go through various trials because of what the testing of our faith produces. We seem to have exchanged The Comforter for living comfortably. I pray that I will be able to clearly see the diference between an opportunity for effective work in the midst of opposition and a closed door.

Judges 8; Psalm 42; 1 Corinthians 15

1 Corinthians 15:2 & 58

By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

It is one thing to say I believe something. But if I do not live according to what I profess I believe, what is the point? My words are idle chatter and my stated belief is meaningless. Trusting in Jesus is really an all or nothing proposition. It cannot be a part way thing where I pick and choose the things I want or only act according to my belief when I see it is to my benefit. Once I've made the committment and taken a stand there should be nothing that can move me from it. The words ALWAYS and FULLY here really mean that. Often being extreme is not comfortable or popular. But when it is for the sake of Christ, it is never in vain.

Judges 6-7; Psalm 52; 1 Corinthians 14

Judges 6:2

The LORD said to Gideon, "You have too many men for Me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against Me that her own strength has saved her,..."

Gideon started with thirty-two thousand men to deliver God's people from Midian. But God wanted to make sure they all know their deliverance wasn't due to their own strength, but because of God. So through a couple of little tests the number of Gideon's men was reduced to only three hundred.

I always am fighting the between trying to really trust God or wanting to do things my way. How smart was it for Gideon to send away 31,700 troops and only use 300 men to defeat the Medianites? From a human perspective, not very. But that's only the case if you don't really trust God and believe He knows what He's doing. If I really believe God is in control then the most foolish thing to do is to use my own strength and understanding to resolve a crisis rather than to follow His leading.

Judges 4-5; Psalm 39 & 41; 1 Corinthians 13

Psalm 39:4-5

Show me, O LORD, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life.

You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before You. Each man's life is but a breath.


Life is so short. It seems like only yesterday my oldest child was born and now she's already in high school. And there is no way over a quarter century has passed since I was in high scholl myself, is there? There are fewer years until I retire than there have been since I graduated from college. The days, the months, the years just keep clicking by. Have I already lived over half of my life yet? Yes, life is indeed fleeting and but a breath.

I really wonder how people cope with the shortness of life here on earth who don't have Christ and the hope of eternity. Wouldn't you expect them to treasure every moment even more if they think this life is all there is? I need to see those people around me and share with them the hope I do have.