Home is where the heart is

Our earthly home is the physical place we dwell in with our families, whether it's our childhood family or our adult family.  We have meals in our homes, we hang out with our families in our homes, and we sleep in our homes. We may entertain others in our homes, or they may come to stay with us for a while in our homes if necessary.  Thinking about our homes brings back memories, both good and bad.

If we are believers in Christ, we have a home waiting in heaven for us.  Jesus tells us so in John 14:2(a):  "In my Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you."  When we hear the word "mansion" in this modern time, we think about a large house with many rooms, luxurious accommodations, and maybe even a butler or maid.  However, the word "mansion" had a different meaning in Jesus' time. Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament defines the word "mansion" as follows:

Mansions (μοναὶ)

Only here and v. 23. From μένω to stay or abide. Originally a staying or abiding or delay. Thus Thucydides, of Pausanias: "He settled at Colonae in Troas, and was reported to the Ephors to be negotiating with the Barbarians, and to be staying there (τὴν μονὴν ποιούμενος, Literally, making a stay) for no good purpose" (i., 131). Thence, a staying or abiding-place; an abode. The word mansion has a similar etymology and follows the same course of development, being derived from manere, to remain. Mansio is thus, first, a staying, and then a dwelling-place. A later meaning of both mansio and μονή is a halting-place or station on a journey.

Our mansion in heaven, which will be our dwelling place, is where we'll be staying for all eternity.  Our mansion in heaven is our final station on our journey of faith. Paul also speaks of our future heavenly home in 2 Corinthians 5:1:  "For we know that if our earthly house, our tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Jesus states in John 14:2(b): "I go to prepare a place for you."  That means Jesus is building our heavenly homes Himself! 

When we are invited to someone's home for the first time, we are given the address of that home and sometimes directions to it.  But the way to our heavenly home is even better.  In John 14:6 in response to Thomas' question as to the way to Heaven, Jesus states that the only way to the Father is through Him.  Not only that, in John 14:3, Jesus states that He will come again (the Rapture) and receive us to Himself.  He will take us to our heavenly homes Himself!  Who needs a GPS when you have Jesus?

Have you ever wondered what our heavenly homes will look like?  Will they look like the homes we live in now?  Or does God have something better in mind?  Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:9:  "But as it is written:  Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor has entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him."  Our heavenly homes will be even better than we can even imagine.

But we don't have to wait until eternity to live with Jesus and God.  In John 14:23, it reads: "Jesus answered and said to him (Judas, not Iscariot - in verse 22), 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and we will make Our home with him.'"  So if we love Jesus and God and keep His Word, Jesus and God will come and live in our heart.  Isn't that wonderful? Knowing that God and Jesus are living in our hearts makes us not want to sin, and makes us look forward to living with them eternally.

Given the state of our world today, I am looking forward to my heavenly home more and more each day and hoping that Jesus comes and gets us soon.  I hope that your eternal home will be in heaven and we'll see each other there. 

Thanks for reading! See you next time!

Diane

Where is your identity?

I  have always had problems with self-esteem. It started in grade school.  My family was poor and I wore hand-me-down clothes and ugly glasses with thick lenses (there weren't spiffy glasses for kids when I was young). Other students made fun of me and teased me.  They were mean. I believed what they said about me was true, that I was ugly and worthless.

My parents weren't well-employed and they weren't cool parents.  My dad had to drop out of school in 6th grade and my mom in 9th grade so they could work on their families' farms.  They didn't have many friends; they married very late (Dad was 40 and Mom was 29) and they only met because my aunt introduced them to each other. They had poor social skills and they passed that on to me.  I only had a few friends, and that was because they engaged with me first. I was sure that the only reason they hung out with me was that they felt sorry for me.

Even though I attended a bigger high school with students from different cities, my high school social career was just as bad as my grade school social career.  I didn't have the hand-me-down clothes or the ugly glasses anymore, but I hung out with the misfits.  I didn't go on any dates, nor was I asked to the prom. The kids from grade school still were mean to me.  I was so glad when I graduated from high school. I hoped things would be better for when I got to college.

Our family attended a United Church of Christ during my childhood and high school years, and it was the church that my mother's family attended. The UCC is a mainline Protestant denomination that doesn't believe in being born again. I was baptized (sprinkled) as a baby and I went through confirmation.   I thought I could feel the Lord's presence occasionally, but I didn't have a real relationship with Him. One night during my freshman year in college, I was very depressed. I was at the end of myself.  I cried out to the Lord to come into my heart, that I needed Him, and He answered my prayer. I  later discovered that when  I prayed to God that I had been born again.  I used to be very shy, but I got more confidence in myself. I was a totally changed person thanks to the Lord living in me.

When you are born again and become a new creation (see 2 Corinthians 5:17), your inner self becomes different.  The Holy Spirit lives in you and the love of Christ radiates through you.  You are a child of God and you are no longer worthless. You want to be around other Christians to be friends with them and fellowship with them.

As born again Christians, we are to live in the world, but not be of the world. As Paul wrote in Romans 12:2:  "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." People should be able to see that there is something different about us, and Paul wrote of this in Philippians 2:15:  "that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world."

It took a few years, but the more I spent time in the Word, in prayer, and in Bible-believing churches, my self-esteem issues began to disappear.  Yet, something happened recently that set me back in my struggles with my self-esteem,  This year was the 40th anniversary of my high school graduation. I had been going back and forth in my mind about whether or not to attend the reunion.  I had gone to the 10-year reunion,  but my classmates were still very cliquey and didn't want to hang out with those were not in their cliques.  The possibility of attending this reunion weighed heavily on me until one night, I literally cried out to the Lord. I was worried about what my classmates would think of me. How would I answer questions about my kids, and did I have grandchildren (I never will)? And why I had never left my hometown?  Those questions weighed heavily on me.  The next morning during worship, however, I received an impression from the Lord telling me that I was not to worry about what my classmates thought about me but about what He thought about me. That gave me the confidence to go ahead and make plans to attend the reunion.  I shopped online to find a nice shirt to wear to the reunion.  I finally found one, tried it on and bought it.

My classmates greeted me and my husband at the reunion, and I spoke at length with some of them, but after a while, they all started hanging out in their cliques again. The hubby and I were left alone for a long while. There were photos taken for the class Facebook page and when I saw the photo of me, I was very sad. That new shirt I bought that I thought looked nice on me in the mirror didn't look good on me at all in the photo. There's a reason that the photo of me on this blog hasn't been changed in years and that's because I don't photograph well - well, at least I don't think so. My body is like that of my German farmer ancestors - short, wide and (now) with more weight around the middle.

The reunion was three weeks ago and I'm just now getting to the point where I can write and think about it without being very sad and depressed.  I know this was an attack by our adversary.  When you are confident that you are a child of God and in His love for you, and you start feeling bad about yourself, it is an attack from Satan.  Whenever I start feeling this way, it shows that I need to spend more time in the Word and in prayer to chase away the enemy.  Put your mind on Christ and not on yourself.  As Paul wrote in Philippians 4:8: "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things."

It all boils down to what is the most important thing, as Paul wrote in Philippians 3:8-9: "Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith." The most important thing is your faith in Christ and that you are a child of God.

I hope I didn't put you to sleep with this long blog post. Thanks for reading! See you next time!

Diane

Vacation, all I ever wanted

As I write this, it's summertime, and summer is vacation season.  People take vacations for various reasons - they go back home to visit family and/or friends or attend a class reunion, they want to go on an adventure, they want to spend time and pursue activities with their immediate family, or they just want to rest from an exhausting job or life situation.  Whatever the reason, a vacation is a change of pace from our ordinary lives. 

There is, however, Someone who does not take a vacation, and that is God.  God does not take a vacation because He is much too busy watching over us and the whole universe.  Omnipresence is the theological term that describes the concept that God is everywhere at the same time. I'm glad that God doesn't take a vacation, aren't you? 

In fact, there is only one place in the Bible where it mentions that God even rested.  In Genesis 2:2, we read that God rested on the seventh day after He created the earth.  Creating the earth and everything in it was a mighty big job. God also does not sleep, as stated in Psalm 121:4.

God does not take vacations from us, so we should not take a vacation from Him when we are on our vacations.  We should still continue our daily Bible readings and our prayers.  We can even spend a little more time in prayer and Bible study since we don't have work getting in the way.  Perhaps we can even take a solo vacation to get away and spend time with the Lord without any distractions.  I hope to do that someday.

I hope a vacation is on your agenda this summer and that you have a relaxing time wherever you go and whatever you do.  Thanks for reading! See you next time!

Diane

The Holy Spirit - the third member of the Trinity

As I write this, tomorrow is Pentecost, the day on which the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles and disciples like flames of fire, and the church was born.  So I thought it was an appropriate time to take a look at who the Holy Spirit is and His (yes, "His" is the right pronoun; despite modern thinking, no part of the Trinity is feminine) attributes.

The Holy Spirit is sometimes an overlooked member of the Holy Trinity.  It seems like more emphasis is placed on God and Jesus in our churches than on the Holy Spirit.  It's like pastors are afraid that they would seem too Pentecostal and/or charismatic if they speak about the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit is an equal member of the Trinity and just as important as God and Jesus; He just has different duties.

The word "spirit" does not mean "ghost" in the context of the Scriptures. The Oxford Companion to the Bible's definition of the name of the Holy Spirit is:

There is no distinct term for spirit in the languages of the Bible; the concept was expressed by a metaphorical use of words that mean, literally, wind and breath (Hebr. ruah; Grk., pneuma); the English word "spirit" is simply an Anglicized form of the Latin word for breath (spiritus).

So then, the colloquialism of the Holy Spirit as the Holy Ghost is very inaccurate. A ghost is a spirit that a person can see and the Holy Spirit is unseen. God and Jesus are not physically on earth, but the Holy Spirit is on earth to assist believers and convict non-believers of their sins so they can repent and put their trust in Jesus as their Savior. 

The Holy Spirit has a few different names in the Scriptures.  He is mentioned as the Holy Spirit in only four places in the Scriptures, however: Psalm 51:11; Luke 11:13; Ephesians 1:13 and Ephesians 4:30.  In most other places in Scripture, the Holy Spirit is just referred to as the Spirit, the "Holy" part being implied.  When you see just the word "Spirit," it is usually followed by an attribute of the Spirit, such as "the Spirit of truth," "the Spirit of life," etc.  You will also see "the Spirit of God." When you see just the word "Spirit," you will know that it means the Holy Spirit. 

Let's look at some of the duties of the Holy Spirit.  He is the Author of Scripture since the Word of God is God-breathed.  He is the Comforter (some translations state this as Helper), who comforts those in Christ. He is the Advocate, who defends us. He convicts unbelievers of their sins so that they can repent of their sins and trust in Christ as their Savior.

The Holy Spirit is a guide to help believers understand the Scriptures.  Unbelievers are unable to understand the Scriptures since the Holy Spirit does not live in them.  The Holy Spirit lives in believers to direct them and guide them, and to be the link between God and man.  The Holy Spirit intercedes for us with the Father. He prays for us when we are so distraught we can't pray ourselves.  The Holy Spirit is a teacher, sent to the disciples to remind them of what Jesus taught them while He was on Earth.

One of the most interesting attributes of the Holy Spirit is that He is the Restrainer.  In 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8, Paul tells the Thessalonians about how the Holy Spirit restrains all evil in the world until He is taken out of the way when the Rapture occurs. Once the Holy Spirit's restraint is removed from the world, a greater level of evil than what we see now will occur, and the Antichrist will arise. The aspect of the Holy Spirit that allows Him to indwell new believers and guide them will still be around during the Tribulation period, but the restraining aspect will not be there.

I hope you have enjoyed my brief overview of the Holy Spirit.  There are some links below to websites that I used to help write the blog posts.  Thanks for reading!  See you next time!

Diane

Bibliography:

The Oxford Companion to the Bible, edited by Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan, Oxford University Press, 1993.

Got Questions:  What are the names and titles of the Holy Spirit?
https://www.gotquestions.org/names-Holy-Spirit.html

Compelling Truth:  What names and titles does the Bible use for the Holy Spirit?
https://www.compellingtruth.org/names-Holy-Spirit.html

Here is a free e-book (in PDF format) that goes into a great deal of detail about the Holy Spirit:
The Names of the Holy Spirit, by Elmer Towns
http://www.ntslibrary.com/PDF%20Books/The_Names_Of_The_HolySpirit[ETowns].pdf

It's a family affair

When we exit our mother's womb and are born, we become a member of a family - a mother, a father, maybe brothers and sisters, and grandparents.  These are our blood relatives because the DNA in their blood is in our blood as well.

When we repent of our sins and trust Jesus as our Savior, we are born again, but into a different family - the family of God.  The family of God consists of all those who are born again and have put their faith in God and Jesus Christ throughout the centuries.  Revelation 1:5(b) states: To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood." Ephesians 2:13 states: "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." If you are a member of the family of God, you have been washed clean of your sins through the blood of Jesus Christ which was shed on the Cross. As your family's blood runs through your veins, the blood of Christ makes God's children a family.

In the family of God, everyone is a brother or a sister to the other members of the family of God and God is our Father. Throughout his epistles, Paul refers to other believers as brothers.  In Romans 16:1, Paul refers to Phoebe as a sister.  In 1 John 3:14(a). the apostle John refers to the family of believers as brethren, which is another word for family.  John states, "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren."

If you're a born again, blood washed believer in Jesus Christ, not only are you a member of the worldwide family of God, but you should also be attending a local church with local members of the family of God. A local church will provide fellowship, learning opportunities, worship, and accountability. As Christians, we need the support and love of other Christians and indeed, we are told in Hebrews 10:24-25 the following:"And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."

So since we are members of the family of God, how should be we be treating our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ?  In the 1 John 3:14(a) verse quoted above, John says we should love the brethren.  But that's just the start. Paul has many instructions written in his epistles as to how we should treat our brothers and sisters in Christ. Although Paul's instructions were written to the churches of his day, they apply to us as well.

So if you are a member of the family of God, I look forward to seeing you at our family reunion in heaven someday!  (I wrote about that here.) If you're not a member of the family of God, we would love it if you would become our brother or sister in Christ.  If you're unsure about how to do that, you can read more about that here:  Got eternal life?

Thanks for reading! See you next time!

Diane

Respect your rulers

This post is not about the wooden or plastic objects with numbers on them that you use to measure things. This post is about rulers like kings, presidents, governors, etc. 

All of us know people who only talk about how much they hate the president or their governor. (Sadly, some of us happen to be married to one of these.)  Listening to them complain and gripe gets very tiresome.  If that person claims to be a Christian, however, what they are doing is going against what it says in the Bible about how we are supposed to treat those who rule over us.  Let's take a look at what it says in the Bible about how we are supposed to think about and treat our leaders.

Paul writes about rulers in Romans 13:1-7.  Keep in mind that the Roman Empire was in charge in Paul's day (hence the reference to a sword in verse 4), but they apply to us in our time as well.   I'll discuss my thoughts on each verse.

1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 
That's a heavy verse. We are to be subject to the governing authorities even if we don't like them, and they are appointed by God? That has a lot of implications like God has appointed certain authorities over us because He's upset with our actions, or we cry out for righteous leaders (like the Israelites) and He delivers us. 

2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 
This is another heavy verse. As Christians, we don't want to resist the ordinance of God or we will bring judgment on ourselves. 

3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.
Aren't we all afraid when we get pulled over by a police officer? We feel guilty because we know we're speeding, or maybe we've done something else we're not supposed to. If we are behaving ourselves, we have nothing to fear from the governing authorities.

5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. 
As Christians, we feel guilty when we break the law because our consciences bother us.

6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. 
Although some of us would not like to pay taxes, God tells us in His Word that we should because these taxes help support the government. So yes, we do need the IRS whether we want them to exist or not.

7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
Paul summarizes the preceding 6 verses in this verse: pay your taxes, obey the law, honor those in high office.  

In 1 Timothy 2:1-4, Paul discussed how we are to treat our rulers in greater detail:

1Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 
Paul is speaking about all people in this verse, not just rulers. Some folks are hard to pray for, but Paul says we should do so anyway.

2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 
When we pray for all those in authority, we will lead a life like that mentioned in this verse.  And who doesn't want to live a quiet and peaceable life?  

3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 
Paul is stating that praying for our rulers (and indeed, for everyone) is what God wants us to do. Verse 4 is a verse you may want to keep in your memory bank in case you are having discussions with a Calvinist who says that only the elect are saved. You can point him/her to verse 4 that says that God wants all men to be saved. 

The current president of the United States certainly brings out many people's fierce emotions. There are those who think he's the greatest thing since sliced bread and then there are those who think he's Satan incarnate.  

The people who love our current president surely must have Romans 13:1 in mind.  They believe that even though we vote for our president that God must have made it happen so that he would win the election.  They post on Facebook how much they love him and that he's the greatest president ever. This group of people must be careful that their love of the president doesn't grow into idol worship.  God is the only one we should be worshiping.  We are supposed to pray for our president (see 1 Timothy 2:2 above) and honor him, not worship him.

The group of people who hate the president and who would love to see him deposed from office ignore Paul's words in Romans.  They are letting their hatred blind them so that all they can think and talk about is how much they hate the president.  This obsessive hatred is consuming their lives and alienating their loved ones and their friends.  If we are Christians, we are supposed to love each other (see 1 John 3:23) and not hate others, especially our fellow Christians.

What's worse, some of the people who hate the president are not attending church anymore because they think that the Christians that voted the president into office are hypocrites for electing such a person. They don't want to hear the pastor pray for the president and for our leaders because they hate them.  I would like to remind them that we're all sinners in need of grace and forgiveness.  We're all on a level field at the Cross. Hebrews 10:25 says the following in regards to church attendance: "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, is the manner of some, but exhorting one another; and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." 

So what's the best thing for a person to do?  We as Christians are to live by God's Word, which tells us to respect our leaders, obey the law, pay our taxes and pray for our leaders and for all people. We should put God first in our lives and not our rulers.  If our president has done something that is against God's and man's law, it will be discovered and he will be tried and judged then. Until that happens, let's love and worship God and love one another. Those are the best things to do.

Thanks as always for reading! See you next time!

Diane

Palm Sunday - The entry triumphal

Today is Palm Sunday, which commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week.  This event is recorded in all four of the Gospels and considering that each Gospel was written by different individuals, the details of the event in all of the Gospels are remarkably the same.  There are minor additions to the story in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke.

Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem was not only to announce to the Jewish people that the Messiah had come, but it also fulfilled Old Testament prophecy.  In Daniel 9, Gabriel the archangel gave Daniel the prophecy that foretold when the Messiah would arrive.  Gabriel didn't give exact dates, however; he said that 70 weeks had been decreed for the Jewish people and for Jerusalem.  Bible scholars have determined that each "week" equals 70 years.  After sixty-nine "weeks," the Messiah would be "cut off," or put to death. Chuck Missler did the math (Thanks, Chuck! Math was my worst subject in school) and determined the following:

This includes a mathematical prophecy. As we have noted in previous articles, the Jewish (and Babylonian) calendars used a 360-day year; 69 weeks of 360-day years totals 173,880 days. In effect, Gabriel told Daniel that the interval between the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem until the presentation of the Messiah as King would be 173,880 days.

Chuck then gives us even more important information:

The commandment to restore and build Jerusalem was given by Artaxerxes Longimanus on March 14, 445 B.C. . . .This [the Triumphal Entry - DMS] is the only occasion that Jesus presented Himself as King. It occurred on April 6, 32 A.D. When we examine the period between March 14, 445 B.C. and April 6, 32 A.D., and correct for leap years, we discover that it is 173,880 days exactly, to the very day!

That's really incredible, but as we all know, God does all things in His own way.  He does give us clues in His Word, and we just have to dig them out.

Another Old Testament prophecy that Jesus fulfilled was in Zechariah 9:9 when He rode into Jerusalem on a colt.  "Colt" in those days referred to a young donkey and not a young horse like we think of in modern times.

Titus Kennedy, in an Adventures blog post on the website Drive Thru History titled "The Triumphal Entry," compared Jesus' entry into Jerusalem to the triumphal entry of ancient Israeli kings and the triumphal entry of Roman emperors.

According to the list of Triumphs on the Fasti Triumphales, which concludes with a triumph in 19 BC, by the time of Augustus the triumph had become part of the Imperial cult, and only the Emperor could receive this honor and recognition as king and divine (Dio Cassius; Suetonius; Pliny). In a comparable fashion, Jesus began the Triumphal Entry outside the boundaries of Jerusalem in Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, rode on a donkey like the kings of ancient Israel, descended down the road into the Kidron Valley, entered the city through the Susa Gate, then went to the Temple where He cleansed it of merchants and moneychangers. The similarities to the Roman Imperial Triumph and the ancient Israelite kinship procession are obvious. Therefore, the Triumphal Entry of Jesus had significance and implications for both the cultures of Israel and Rome, as Jesus carried out traditions associated with both an ancient king, conquering victor, and the Divine all in one procession. 

So Jesus' triumphal entry proclaimed that not only was He the Jewish Messiah and King, He was also the spiritual King of the Gentiles as well.  The Jewish people recognized on Palm Sunday that Jesus was the Messiah.  Yet five days later, those same people chanted for Jesus to be crucified and that His blood would be on them and on their children.  Because the people rejected Jesus as their Messiah, the prophecy in Daniel 9:26 (". . .and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.") would be fulfilled in AD 70 when the Romans (the people of the prince that shall come) destroyed Jerusalem.  

Dear reader, has Jesus made his triumphal entry into your heart?  Is Jesus your Lord and Savior? He died for you on the Cross - all you have to do is repent of your sins and ask Jesus to rule in your heart and life. 

That's all for now. Thanks as always for reading!

Diane

Bibliography:
Chuck Missler, "Daniel's 70 Weeks:  The Precision of  Prophecy,"
https://www.khouse.org/articles/2004/552/
Titus Kennedy, "The Triumphal Entry - Drive Thru History,"
https://drivethruhistoryadventures.com/the-triumphal-entry/