VENGEANCE AND RETRIBUTION
A LICK, AND A PROMISE
By: Anita Mondragon
We cleaned house twice a week when I was growing up. We’d clean on Tuesdays and Fridays. Fridays were the ‘deep clean’ days…in case someone showed up for dinner on Sunday. My dad was a Baptist preacher for over 40 years, and it was inevitable that someone from church would come for Sunday dinner! So mom wanted the house CLEAN!
My mom always said we should make the house spic and span on Fridays. Tuesdays were more like ‘pick up’ days…hence, her phrase, “Just give it a lick and a promise and we’ll do better on Friday.” Now in case you still don’t understand that phrase, it simply means: “Go over it lightly-pick up what is seen, and give it a promise to do better the next time around.”
I was thinking about this the other day. That’s how we are with God most of the time. When we ‘repent’ of our wrong doings, we go over our sins lightly. We ‘confess’ what we see on the surface without ever getting to the root of the problem. That’s why we keep doing the same sin over and over again! Oh, we ‘promise’ God to try and do better, but we never really let Him get down deep in our conscience or our heart and allow Him to clean house!
Tuesdays were easy…but Fridays were hard! It took time and effort to find all the hidden dirt and junk that cluttered up the house and made it dirty. Our Christian life is the same. We can go to church on Sunday, sing our songs, lift our hands and utter “Amen’s” until the cows come home…but if we fail to truly repent before God, and confess our sins, and ask him to cleanse us…it’s only a lick and a promise…an empty promise.
Do you want a clean heart? David said in Psalm 51:10-19: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.”
If we want to bring the lost to Christ, a lick and a promise lifestyle won’t cut it! Let God give you a DEEP CLEANING! Let every day be a Friday in your heart and life!
HE IS WITH ME
HE IS WITH ME
He Knows Your Name!
TIME AGAIN
By: Esther Hernandez
The Covid19 pandemic which resulted in the shut of our country and most of the world in March of 2020 brought anxiety, fear, uncertainty; loss of life, loss of income, loss of homes, and loss of that sense of control that most of us liked to believe we had about our future. It forced us to stop and slow down from all our running around – going here, going there, no time for this and no time for that, and no time for what is really important.
I was taught to slow down and take account of the things which are important to me. Which are no things at all. They are my family, friends, neighbors, people and my relationship with my heavenly Father. These are what I embraced in my heart. In constant petitions to my Father for their welfare, safety, and provision was how I kept them near.
In slowing down, I was able to remember life with them and the many, many blessings my heavenly Father had bestowed on me and my family. I had time to recount the tiny fingers and toes, the sleepy eyes and smiles that came after. I’ve been blessed with memories of lunches, laughter, tears and united prayer with family, friends and neighbors. These too had been greatly missed. Now I see my loved ones with more love, patience, compassion, tenderness and time.
My heavenly Father has become more necessary in every scope of my life. His mercy and compassion are still new every day, and His love still stretches to the most remote parts of the earth.
I have been given time again to reach the lost and hurting. Our communities are filled with fear, anxiety, a sense of hopelessness, poverty, hunger, homelessness, lawlessness and a senseless taking of life. I will not waste time because time may be taken from me again. 2 Corinthians 6:2 says, “I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. Paul said in Romans 13:11, “The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber. . .” Here I am, Lord. Use me. Give me a heart like Yours.
My Hand
Just sitting there quietly, I happened to look at my hand. As I studied it and thought of how well it has served me over the years, I began to marvel at its capabilities. Consider that a hand can do very small, precise things like pick up a small screw off a work bench. Conversely, that same hand can wield an axe to fell a large tree, or run a powerful jack hammer to break up concrete, or, in concert with our amazing eyes, can swing a bat and drive a baseball over 400 feet for a home run!
Most tools and other functional objects I use to equip me for life are intended for one purpose. Whether it’s a hammer, a screw driver, or a laptop computer, they’re intended to do one thing—not so the hand!
As I sat there contemplating my hand and its amazing versatility, it occurred to me that my hand is just one component of an overall incredible construct: the human body. Prepare to be in awe when you take the time to consider other amazing body parts. Consider the functionality of your eye, for example. Or the constant pounding sustained by your feet, or your heart that faithfully beats a few billion times over a typical lifetime—Of all that God has created, mankind has to be the epitome of God’s great artistry, created in His own image [Gen 1:27] and He called it “very good.” [Gen 1:31]
As I thought about my amazing body and how creative, wise, and artistic God is, another thought occurred to me. The Bible says in Romans [Rom 1:19-20] that we know intuitively that God made all of creation and, as it goes on to say, we are fools if we deny that and fail to honor Him.
That led me to another associated thought: if we look around us, we have to conclude that a very powerful Being (and artistic being, we call Him God) created all that we see. Yet, as it occurred to me, we would know virtually nothing about God except what He has created and that which we can see with our eyes. So how did our knowledge increase: He told us!
Yes, what a wonderful gift is the Bible, the Word of God. Without it we would not know the name of God (or that of His Son). But, with the Bible in our hands, we can read words that came forth from the very mouth of God Himself! And stories of His interactions with men and women just like us. Not to mention the works of His Son on our behalf to buy our freedom from sin and death! God gave us His Word just so we could know Him so much better.
I can only conclude that He must love us a lot given His efforts in creating me and you, and in His work to give us the Book that tells us all we need to know about Him. I hope you read it often!
WHAT BIBLE WAS HE READING?????
By: Anita Mondragon
There is no fear of God before their eyes.-Romans 3:18.
How could a pastor, or even a member of that church have the fear of God in their hearts? They must be reading a different Bible than me! The name of the “church” by the way was, Grande Vista, which means, ‘great view, or wide view’. Unfortunately, the view of the world is so wide that they want everyone to feel included. But the Bible says,
“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:” -Matthew 7:13 Then it goes on to say this: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” -Matthew 7:14
Am I saying we are to hate these people that are gay? NO! We are to hate the sin…but LOVE and pray for the sinner! God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for this very sin, BUT, he was willing to spare it if there were five righteous in the city. God says in Romans 5:8,
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
The word, commendeth according to the dictionary means: to entrust for care or preservation. That means God wanted to preserve mankind so he gave us His love and sent his only Son to die for our sins!
The REAL church-BELIEVERS need to wake up and speak the TRUTH to the lost. After all, where would you and I be if someone had not told us of the love of Jesus? I’d be on that broad way to destruction…. But thank the Lord…someone told me the truth and led me to Jesus and His forgiveness!
DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU HEAR! READ YOUR BIBLE!
“Search the Scriptures, for the Scriptures point to me! 40 Yet you won’t come to me so that I can give you this life eternal!-John 5:39-40
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.-John 14:6
Jesus also said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. “-Matthew 11:28
WOE TO THE SHEPHERD THAT LEADS HIS FLOCK TO BE DEVOURED BY WOLVES!
Tuesdays Talk: If you don’t know Jesus, can you know the Bible?
IT’S WHO YOU KNOW…
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;
3 And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.
4 They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.
5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.
6 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
7 And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.