Does HE Have Your Attention Now?

Tornadoes, Tsunamis, Earthquakes, Nuclear Disasters, Floods, and Mud Slides have descended upon the Earth with a ferocity never recorded.  Global Financial collapse looms as the dollar plummets, the integrity of gold deposits is called into question (Fake Gold Bars), and the stability of the stock market is in serious doubt due to an ever growing and insidious Global Financial Scam. Real unemployment is quickly approaching levels not seen since the Great Depression. Global Warming has been unmasked as a serious hoax through Climategate.  The World's Savior, Barack Obama, so lauded by the lost as the Messiah, has proven himself a humiliating, bumbling and weak buffoon as clearly demonstrated by this video, Worst Foreign Trip Ever.  Wars are being fought across the globe, the world is lining up against Israel, and the great restrainer, the USA, is stretched to the absolute limit and going broke.  Disease and starvation annihilate the Third World especially through malaria and AIDS.  The irony is that both conditions are preventable with DDT and abstinence coupled with Biblical marriage, respectively.  In short, this world is teetering on the razor's edge of disaster and evil seems to be ruling the day.

Do not be deceived, these calamities are not random.  They are designed to demonstrate to human beings that they are not in control of this Earth.  We are not the supreme authority here and nothing in this life is safe, permanent, and secure.  Everything can collapse and things we have held dear seem to be running through our fingers like sand.  There is but one who is steadfast and true.  There is one hope for a suffering and dying world, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Does HE have your attention, now?  If not, what's it going to take?  Do not be a hard-hearted and stiff necked fool!  Do not reject the gift of salvation that costs you nothing and saves everything.  If you have already made that transaction but continue to live in self sufficiency, is HE calling you back into fellowship with him?  If you are an on fire believer are you praying for this lost world and conforming yourself daily to be like Christ to the damned?

It is time to wake up folks, these are the birth pains.  The Lord is rich in mercy and desires that no one should reject Him and damn themselves to eternal torment.  HE loves you, HE died for you, and HE wants you to come to Him and have fellowship with Him.  If you have never before asked the Lord into your life, all you have to do is pray something like this:

Lord Jesus, I am a sinner in need of a Savior.  I believe that you were born of a virgin, crucified for my sins, and on the third day rose from the dead.  Please forgive me of my sins, come into my heart and save me.  Fill me with your Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Counting Your Blessings in America

Abigail and Dolley readers I was at the pool yesterday and was completely overwhelmed by how blessed we are in this country.  I know that is not an original thought, but it became so true to me as I lay there in the sun watching the families around me.  There is one family who adopted a boy from Africa.    In Africa, he was an orphan, likely by disease or war.  He was born into a world where his life expectancy is less than 50, where child soldiers are used in brutal civil wars, and where AIDS is as common as a cold.  How different his life is here, in middle class America!

I have been watching a series on Nexflix called Monarchy.  They are documentaries about the oldest Monarchy in the world, that of England.  The first three episodes chronicle the struggles of the Dark Ages.  What a terrible and brutal time to have lived!  You and I could have been easily born then as opposed to now.

The times in history and the places other than America where we all could have found ourselves is astonishing.  I could be a Muslim woman living in Saudi Arabia, I could be an African mother trying to stay alive and feed my son, or I could be a Chinese Christian facing death for proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Instead, I found myself at a private swimming pool where the parking lot was filled with new shiny cars, the swimwear was brand new for the season, and all around us were loving parents and well fed, loved children.  No matter the circumstances that my family finds themselves in due to unemployment, we are still blessed beyond measure.

Ears to Hear

Abigail and Dolley readers I have a funny tale to relate to you.  This afternoon I was out for my daily walk and prayer time.  I do this about 5 days a week, weather and ankles permitting.  We live in a nice neighborhood, but this world is crazy and I am always aware of my surroundings, you know a girl can not be too careful.  So I keep an eye on work trucks, strange cars, and of course white paneled vans.  Today, a black Explorer eased slowly past me and came to a stop about a dozen yards ahead.  It seemed a little suspicious to me, so I turned down a side street that I had previously skipped trying to avoid whatever was going on in that vehicle. 

When I got back to the main road there was no Explorer in sight, so I forgot about it and went on.  I rounded the corner and the Explorer was back.  It sped toward me and pulled along side quickly.  There was a man and a woman in the car and I felt no menace from them.  I expected that they would ask me for directions.  Instead, in a Midwestern Accent and with an expression of complete exasperation the man said to me, "Do you know where that alarm is coming from?"

I must have smiled and replied, "That's not an alarm.  Those are cicadas." He clearly had never heard of a cicada so I elaborated.  "It's a bug."

Cicada

He turned to his wife in astonishment and repeated, "It's a bug."

"Yeah, they come out about every 13 years or so."

He did not find it amusing but I quickly was, he shook his head and said, "It has been driving us crazy!"  I laughed and walked off thinking of this poor couple driving around Charlotte trying to find the alarm that was going off!  Well, I hope they can relax now and they sure gave me a good laugh.

Update:  Since some of you live where you do not have cicadas, here is a short video of my backyard so you can hear for yourself.  Enjoy!

Seeking God

Abigail and Dolley readers today's Scripture was 2 Chronicles 7:14 “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.”

Books could be written about this Scripture and indeed a search for the term "seeking God's face" will return pages of results.  Many of these talented authors are far more articulate than I on the subject but I will endeavor to convey a small amount of insight.

Often when we begin to seek God, we seek Him for His hand.  We have fallen on our faces, we are in times of peril, and we know we must go to the true and living God for His divine intervention.  Our prayers are for help, deliverance, healing - things God can do for us.  Our relationship with Him at this point is one of a servant to a master, we humble ourselves before the Lord in supplication and submission.  These prayers will often take time, we do not serve a God that has a drive up window, His timing is not ours.

While we are seeking His hand, He will reveal His face.  We will begin to understand His love for us  We will get glimpses of Him, not just His works.  He will give us a hunger for a deeper relationship with Him, we will feel a devotion and a closeness to Him.  The Holy Spirit within us directs our gaze to the Son and the Son allows us to see the face of the Father.  Our relationship with Him now is one of child to loving parent.

When we come outside of ourselves and our circumstances, He will then take us to the next level, that of seeking God's Heart.  This is when we begin to look at the world through His eyes and not our own.  We begin to love the unlovely, to hurt for the lost, to pray for others in their need.  Our hearts are changed to be more like His.  Others see God through our lives and actions.  Our relationship with Him now is that of a mature child in service to the King.

Ironically, at each step we must sacrifice ourselves to move to the next level.  We can be full of self and seek God's Hand, but we must begin to sacrifice some of our own wants and desires to begin to see His face and we must humble ourselves completely before we see His heart.  In each step, we must be diminished and God must be magnified.  When you think about it though, is it really much of a sacrifice to be diminished within ourselves, are we all that great to begin with?

I found this handy little chart, Seeking God's Heart that I would like to share with you.  Many blessings to you friends and may you find peace and rest in the Lord today.