Men of the Bible: Abraham

It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans. Psalm 118:8

Imagine sitting outside your tent on a really hot day, when you look up you see none other than God. As I work as a drug counselor and am getting an education in mental health I cannot help but wonder what a conversation with Abraham would be like.

Yo Abe what’s happening today?

“Well to be honest, I think am going crazy, must be this heat.”

Really buddy, why do you think that?

“Well the other day I was just chilling outside the tent and when I looked up I saw…”

Who Abe, who did you see?

“Yahweh”

The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Genesis 18:1

The Bible is telling us here that we can meet God in everyday circumstance, how awesome and powerful is that. God had plan for Abraham, a plan like He has for each one of us. Was Abraham any different?

Abraham had visions of God and followed Him as God had commanded, but at points he lacked faith. He slept with a maid, had a son, and caused grief in his wife’s heart even though she had told him to. God had already promised Abraham a son and all he had to do was wait.

I think that this example parallels with so many of our lives today. God has given us the answer in Jesus Christ; He has provided a way that leads to His glory, honor, and kingdom. Sadly we become impatient, maybe lack faith that a God could be so generous, that we attempt to fill our lives with the here and now. I believe as a community, a nation, a human race; if we live by the rule that it is what we have in our life (Christ), not what we can get out of life, we will thrive as a loving and wondrous world.

Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 2 Peter 1:4

Time

If you are reading this blog right now, stop… no wait not yet, I want you to take 15 seconds, right where you are sitting and just be silent and still. Ok so ready, set, STOP!

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Welcome back, now think about that time, 15 seconds of just being silent and still. What did you hear? What did you feel? What stuck out, if anything?

Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

In 15 seconds on an average day 5 people will die of thirst. Every 15 seconds there are 45 babies born and nearly twice as many iPhones sold. In 15 seconds I heard the heat vent pushing heat out on this cold February day, the sound of someone watching the news on a TV in another room, my own breath, cars driving by on the street outside, the ticking of the clock behind me on the wall, the fan running in the computer I am using to type this blog, and peace. For those 15 seconds I wondered how many of those cars driving by were heading to the hospital because there is a new baby about to be born, or a life reaching its time to rest. I wondered how much bad news was on that TV news broadcast and if they shared any of the wonders of the day to lift up viewers. Those 15 seconds wells spent are refreshing for the soul, cleansing the heart, and allowing God to do His work in you. God doesn’t need time, man does. If you really want to be closer to God, give Him some of the time back, even if it’s just 15 seconds at a time.

The Way Out

A while back I was asked by our old neighbor, not once but twice, if I could come over and get a bird out of her house. It was a small little bird that quite frankly scared the crap out of me. Why it would come back in a second time is still a completely mystery to me. As I ran around her home chasing the bird from one corner to the other trying to catch it with a towel, because I knew its little bitty beak would cut me to ribbons, I thought this would be so much easier if I could just speak bird and explain how to get out of this mess.

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. Hebrews 1:1-2

God is able to do just that, how awesome! God spoke through prophets and angels and burning bushes until finally He decided, ‘Hey I could just go chill with them for a while.’{{Thunderous God voice intended}} Jesus was sent to us so that we could understand that there is a way out.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. John 14:6-10

Imagine if I could have just communicated clearly to that bird that I knew the way and he should follow me. Maybe he wouldn’t have listened. God communicated with us through many sources but none more directly than His son, Jesus. The question is, are you listening to the words He said, the truth He shared, the love He inspired and commanded, and the way out of the hard situation you are in with a path to the kingdom He desires you to have?

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. Hebrews 1:3

My Testimony

I have been posting on this blog for a few months now and after a recharging concert last week and a testimony given by a good friend I was compelled by the Holy Spirit to share mine. I began typing it and realized at the 4th page that I would need to do it in a video. YouTube threw another monkey wrench into the works by limiting me to only a 15 minute video and this is about 25, so I am sorry for the two separate parts. I think i found a good breaking point for transition though. I hope that those of you who watch this watch it to the end because that is where the Love happens. God bless you.

I can only take credit for the stuff in this video that I did without God, the rest belongs to Him, oh and Matthew West and Sparrow Records for the song "The Story of Your Life" at the end of this video.

Men of the Bible: Adam

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” Geneses 2:15-17

Imagine being totally alone, it is dark and dirty, the ground is dry and not very lush. Trying to keep busy during the daylight but having fear and loneliness in the darkness of night, the place they now stay so much different than the place they were just a short time ago. Adam had Eve for company, comfort, and support but how much time did they spend blaming each other for their problems. Problems that neither of them ever knew existed.

 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you;
    through painful toil you will eat food from it
    all the days of your life.

 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
    and you will eat the plants of the field.

By the sweat of your brow
    you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
    since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
    and to dust you will return.”

                              Geneses 3:17-19

For Adam this meant a new home, a home that required him to learn survival, a violent home full of wild consequences, animals, demons, storms, arguments, pain, and sin. Prior to sin Adam and his helper Eve walked freely in a bountiful garden of life and love and along with God himself. God gave Adam and Eve the right to choose, or as Christians call it, free will. Why did God do this? Because God made man in His own image and desired man to love Him. If he did not give man free will to choose that love would not have been really. Love is given without condition and free will removes those conditions. Eve was tempted by the serpent; Adam still had the choice to not eat from the Tree of knowledge. Sadly Adam ignored God’s warnings and chose to eat with Eve and Adam became the father of sin. Adam and Eve would be cast out of the garden, have children together and eventually find that the new world they live in full of scary murderous beasts would eventually include their own son.

The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Geneses 4:10

Cain murdered Able because Able had it good with the Big Guy. Cain was insanely jealous and struck him dead. Because of that day in the garden when Adam, like many young children did not listen to his Father, the consequences became more than could have been imagined.

What is your forbidden fruit and what damaging affects has sin had in your life?

Are you willing to trade what God has given you (Grace) for some substitute?

Adam had huge regrets; he did nothing to prevent Eve’s actions, are you willing to help those around you, be accountable for, and learn together how God wants you to live?

 These are question I want you to ask yourself today, and every day really. We are all descendants of Eve, tempted by the evil one just as she was; will we follow him or except God’s grace and unfailing love?