2020

December 27, 2019

What will 2020 be like? I asked the Lord tonight.

“Pause. Full Stop. Go back,” he said.

He showed me people on the wrong path because of wrong decisions in the past.

Unhappy. Unsuccessful. Dissatisfied. Depressed.

Frustrated. Fearful. Anxious. Angry.

I saw chaotic situations and confused circumstances, small and large communities of people at odds with each other. Coworkers. Families. Friends. Men and women in business, religion, and government.

In the coming days, weeks and months, the Lord will get his message across, if he has to yell.

Pause! Full stop! Go back!

Go back to where you made the wrong decision, the wrong turn. Where you were faced with two paths and you chose the wrong one. Set aside ego and pride, admit your mistake – your wrong – and begin again on the right path. (In other words, I thought, repent.)

And if they don’t, I wondered? One way or the other, 2020 will be an interesting year.

Above All Remember These Things

Reblogged from Mario Murillo… anointed. And so very appropriate.

Mario Murillo Ministries

Matthew 2:3, “When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.”

Dear Friend,

Today is Christmas day so remember this…  Yes, we live in a world of explosive insecurity.  Yes, we live in a time where disaster comes without warning and destroys lives instantly.

America has finally become the generation with nothing to look forward to.  This is a time where people are melting down because of a crushing sense of helplessness and despair.  Some react with mindless panic and rage. They shoot and kill their loved ones and then turn the gun on themselves rather than face their losses.  Others are too frozen in fear and uncertainty to do anything.  Still others frantically numb their despair by plunging into addictions and perversions that prior generations never imagined.

How deep and widespread is this panic?  It is so pervasive that it has seeped…

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Where will you be in 500 years?

Esther's Petition

Sometimes I’m taken aback by the reaction of Christians to the death of another believer.  I don’t mean the normal sense of loss, grief, sadness and sympathy for the family and friends –  those things I understand very, very well.

Those reactions are part of our human nature.  We lose our mother, father, husband, child, friend, and we feel the dreadfully empty hole where they used to be.

No, what I’m talking about is the other regret they sometimes express, that now that person won’t have a chance to see another beautiful sunset, or see their grandchildren all grown up and successful, or experience the grandeur of a vacation in some spectacular place, even spiritual ones in a place like Israel.

As if those things are the very best God ever created and now those opportunities are gone forever.

As if death was the end of our lives.

If we…

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Why a baby?

Why did the Creator of the universe choose to become a baby?

“… who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be a grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. ” (Phil. 2:6-7 NASB)

“For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. ” (Heb. 4:15)

Babies can’t sin, I’ve heard people say. Surely they aren’t tempted like adults are – after all, they don’t even reach the age of accountability until 12 or so!

Have they ever been around little kids? Toddler tantrums? Terrible twos? Self-willed children? Full of selfishness, greediness, me-me-me-itis? Did you ever tell a little child No, No, over, and over, and over?

As young as they are, and as trusting of mom and dad that they are, children are indeed tempted to disobey. Determined to get that thing, do that thing, apt to stomp their foot, yell and break into angry tears when told No for the umpteenth time.

While those early behaviors may not qualify to some folks as sinful, they still need correcting. Training. Discipline. Guiding. Teaching. Lovingly, lovingly, firmly and consistently.

Children can be led astray. They are susceptible to being misled, mistreated, deceived, cheated, and abused. Susceptible to being lied to, and also lying to others.

They need to know the savior, the rescuer, the teacher, the guide and constant companion from an early age.They need to be taught right from wrong and how to tell the difference. They need to learn the word of God, and know the Word of God.

Children need to know that Jesus went through childhood himself with all its scrapes and bumps, all its hazards, and he knows what that’s like. And so he came as a baby.

Jesus loves children. When the disciples wanted to shoo the kids away, Jesus rebuked the disciples, not the children.

“Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. ” (Matt. 18:3)  “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matt. 19:14)

Was it because the children were so innocent? So charming, so sweet, so trusting, so loving – so innocent? Hmmm. Maybe. Maybe there’s more to it.

Children are curious. They are always attracted to something “new and shiny,” something different and fun. They are full of energy, running, climbing, investigating everything. Wanting to do it themselves. “Me do it! Me do it!” Wanting to have it for themselves, no matter who it may belong to.

So, why did Jesus come to earth as a baby, and not a full grown man? In order to be tempted in all points as we are, he had to.

(Originally published on 12-22-15.)