Pray about all things

This is something I wish I would do, pray about everything. I find myself making decisions before I pray. I have made so many mistakes in the past by deciding before I have prayed. I want to do better. I want God's direction in the things I do. I think Daniel of the Bible is a good example for prayer. It was a daily habit for Daniel and even when it was outlawed he still continued, it was his habit. When you think about Daniel getting on his knees three times a day, I would guess, he prayed about everything.  I pray for my Children and Grandchildren. I pray for other family, I pray for my accountability partner. I pray for my church and my Pastor. We need to pray for our Church leaders. We need to pray for our elected National leaders, our President, Senators, Congressmen etc. I pray for my wife. A couple of years ago our Church did a survey among its members and they discovered, only a small percentage prayed for their church daily. We were encouraged to lift up our church and it leaders daily.  I believe our country is failing fast, and often you hear people express hope in this or that candidate running to be the next President of our country. We need to seek God for our next President. Our country needs God's intervention and when that happens it will not matter who is elected. Our hope needs to be in God, not in any elected official, yet you hear that hope all the time. If this country turns around, it will only be because of God. We are going in a Godless direction fast. We  need to pray about all things, including our country. The decisions we make, need prayer first. Our families, need God. I can go on and on. We need God. Proverbs 3:6 "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." God bless, LVZ. 

Christian nation?

OK, we have considered the U.S. to be a Christian Nation for a long time. Consider the fact that we abort some 57 million babies in the U.S. in I think it has been 40+ years (Murder). Consider the fact that our Supreme Court has just made same sex marriage legal across the country(contrary to scripture). Consider the language that is common place on face book and other Media. Listen to the music that has become popular. Our television programming has become a steady diet of adultery. Many of the popular shows like the Today Show support and promote Same Sex marriage, and how many times have you seen them celebrating the birth of a child and perhaps the parents will get married next year or sometime in the future (the child is innocent). We are considered to be antiquated if we still believe in the ten commandments. Look at not only sports but politics, its OK to cheat and win. Sports taking performance enhancing drugs, politicians and sports figures, lying under oath. Politicians, slander and tear down even other members of their own party. We post video after video of bad police action even when statistically these incidents are .0039% of all interactions with police. We have done so much of this that many of the public no longer trust the police. We are certainly not acting christian when we murder at will, slander at will, lie and cheat to win. Glorify National sin on a daily basis. Hold up criminals to be saints and name buildings or programs after them. Call evil good and good evil. This is not what a christian is suppose to do. We are suppose to love and protect and even consider others above ourselves. I believe when we fought to end slavery, those actions taken to end slavery were Christian. The actions to integrate society through schools and public buildings was Christian. But when did it all start to go so wrong. We celebrate a President that lied under oath and consider him to be good. He was adulterous multiple times but you do not hear any accusations against him, because he was a liberal champion. A conservative leaning individual will be destroyed over the same type of behavior. A former President that wanted all legislation to be considered on the basis of how it affected the family is considered by liberals to have done nothing good.  Our President goes to other countries and lectures them on same sex marriage. Considering all this, I'd have to say we are a Godless, sinful nation that needs to repent. We are suppose to support one another and build up, even when people disagree with us. Consider the words in Romans chapter 14, where we are to watch out for our weaker brethren and not destroy them because we disagree. There are many non essentials of the faith were there can be diversity. There must be unity on the essentials, but tolerance and understanding on non essential issues. Probably one of the most essential beliefs is stated in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."  This is where a christian nation starts, by believing on Jesus and accepting him as Savior and Lord. Obeying and supporting his word, the Bible. Living by his word to the best of our knowledge and ability. The day we except Jesus as Lord and Savior is just the beginning of a new life. It is a starting point that continues though out our life. O that we could become a Christian nation again. God bless, LVZ,

the fig tree

In Matthew chapter 21 verse 19 we read about Jesus coming to a fig tree. Jesus was hungry and as he walked by this particular fig tree, he went to it to get some figs.
"Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered."
Then Jesus said the words, " may you never bear fruit again."  The fig tree withered at the words of Jesus. When the disciples saw the tree wither, they marveled and said, "how soon is the fig tree withered away." In verse 21 Jesus says; "Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed , and cast into the sea; it shall be done." Verse 22 "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."

I know that we need to interpret scripture with scripture. I know the scripture tells us that sometimes we ask amiss that we may selfishly consume things. In this case Jesus had a need, he was hungry. I saw different prayers in my life that God answered. There was a need in my life for what I was asking. One of the prayers I think of just now was not selfish. I remember wanting to take Mom on a trip to North Dakota for a family reunion. I was concerned about my transportation at that time. I prayed about it, Lord you know my need. It that time I was on SR22 insurance and could not buy a new car. I checked one time and it would have cost me $430 a month just for full coverage insurance, and I knew I couldn't afford it. I wanted an older car with low miles that I felt I could trust on this trip. I had prayed about my situation, my 85 Cadillac I was driving at the time, just didn't feel trustworthy. I prayed, and later that day I happened to look at classified ads on the computer, and typed in low miles. What appeared on the list was a 96 Oldsmobile with only 26,000 miles for $4000 which I was able to buy.  I had a need, even though the car was for me, it wasn't totally selfish because I needed it for this trip to take Mom around for her family reunion. I believe this was in 2005, so the car was about 9 years old. I also remember a time when I was young and working with a man that had a fairly new Camaro. It was only a year or two old. As he was working he said I saw this brand new Camaro and it is awesome. I am claiming it, he said.  He claimed to be a Christian and was claiming this brand new Camaro. It wasn't a need, perhaps it was a spirit of greed or coveting. I don't think that is the type of prayer God is what God is talking about. He is not up there in heavenly places to spoil us with things we really don't need. James 4:3 "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."

In Luke 18, there was a widow woman who went before a judge continually until the judge intervened on her behalf. Jesus tells us will not God hear us if we continually come to him and grant our request. Sometimes God has answered quickly, and sometimes it has taken a long time to get answer. Sometimes we may need to check our motives, but know this God cares about his children and answers their prayers. He does what is in our best interests, not necessarily everything we want or desire. God bless, LVZ. 

First things first

When looking at face book, most times you can tell what is important to a person by what they post. I don't post a lot of religious items but occasionally I will. I will post political stuff that would be pro conservative or negative Liberal. I post stuff supporting the police. These are things important to me. God wants to be first in our lives.  Mostly I try to keep my religious stuff on my blog, but I do put stuff I think is really important on Face book. I do feel relationship with God is important, but do not feel putting it out there on Face Book is proper. So many people do not want to hear it, just like I don't want to hear the swearing and cuss word on Face Book. I have a duty to speak out and so I use my blog.  So it is with others, I see cousins post stuff about faith and God on face book. I see others post mostly political posts in some form. Others that I read may have a lot of family stuff. Some would post so much stuff with bad language, that you feel dirty reading their stuff and I end up having to not follow. You shall have no other gods before Me, is the first commandment from the short list. God wants to be first in our lives. You can tell what is most important to people by what comes out of their mouth, either in talking or what they post. We are a Nation that has for the majority strayed from God, you can tell by the multitude of what you see posted on face book. At one time we were a God fearing Nation. Perhaps the liberals do not see it that way, but the founding fathers if not religious at least feared God. They point to the constitution which was a compromise among people of different faiths, that did not want to be told like England did what church to attend, but they respected God. This generation does not fear God. They almost mock God, almost daring him to do anything. He controls the wind and the seas. I wonder if the lack of rainfall in some parts is his response. I wonder if excessive rain in other parts is his response. Some point to the dry conditions in California could possibly be God's doing. They have been a leader in this nation of things moving away from God. One face book response said perhaps the White House should put up more lightening rods after their display of rainbow colored lights in support of sin. The LGBT community does not fear God. Look at gay pride marches and parades, they are not sorry for their sin, but want us to accept it as normal behavior. All have sinned, but do we have a repenting  attitude or are we daring God to do something. The Gay community is transforming our country to support their lifestyle. It does not matter to them what God thinks. Their are others that put their political agenda before God. It is winning that is most important, not what is best for our country.  I wonder how soon we cross the line of God's long suffering? Let us remember to keep God in first place. Perhaps like Lot's family, we will be spared God's judgement. When God sent his Judgement on the earth in the form of a flood, he spared Noah and his family, because he was a righteous man. He spared Lot and his family due to the prayers of Abraham. Many times in the Old Testament, God fought battles for those that feared him, but allowed judgement to fall on those that did not.Will God remove his hand of blessing from this nation, or perhaps there are still enough righteous that he withholds his hand of judgement. I don't know, I cannot see the mind of God, but he sees our hearts. Let us keep him in first place in our lives. Honor and fear the Lord,  the one who controls the weather, the one who can fix hearts.  Keep first things first, keep God in first place in our lives. Is love what comes out of our mouth?  We need God and his Love in our hearts and lives. May our soul long for God. I want to stand for righteousness and Love. May the words of my mouth be acceptable in thy sight, O God.   God bless, LVZ.

repentance

Repentance is absolutely necessary for a relationship with God.  A man posted on face book and I thought about what he said. He admitted to several sins in his post. He said he was sorry and that he needs God. Then he said something else that made me think: He talked about Gay pride and how the gay community goes out there in their parades and say look at me, accept me. It is like he said, they are not repenting of their sins, its almost like they shake their fist at God. Perhaps it is not all of them. I hear of a group of gays that have left that lifestyle. I hear of a church in Tacoma, that the Pastor has been working with a group and 3 of the group have left the gay life style all together. This tells me that it is something other than God made me this way. This tells me it is a normal sin like the ones I committed that need to be repented of. I had never looked at it that way, I had never thought about the arrogance of many gays. I am sure it is not all of them. When I think of it,  is it so different than an adulterer, that goes to church Sunday after Sunday and does not change? Do they repent every Sunday, and then go and commit the same sin the next week? When I was sinning, I knew it, and I would say God I know this is wrong. Sin needs to be repented of. Perhaps daily. I remember a time and I know I blogged about it before. On a Sunday morning in Renton I went to a little store front church. The minister that morning preached on Psalms 1, and I knew God was talking to me. I was in sin at the time. I read that Psalm everyday, asking God for help, to cleanse me from my sin. Sin takes a hold on you and it must be repented of.  It is a spiritual battle that can be won only with God's help. 1 John 1:9  "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."      Ephesians 6:12 : "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."  I don't think we need an arrogant attitude in addition to our sin. We need an attitude of repentance and a desire to turn from our wicked ways (2 Chronicles 7:14). An attitude of repentance and even a forgiving spirit towards others is what we need. I have said this many times: God is the only one that can fix a heart. When we have sin in our life, know that it is a spiritual battle, that can be won only with God's help. Once again as I though about this, I think I started to zero in on a particular sin and realized how arrogant many of us can be when it comes to our own sin. We can so easily see the sin someone else commits and it is big, but ours is little. Is that not arrogant itself? When sin is involved, there is a spiritual battle going on. Only God can fix a heart, we need his help, we need his intervention in our lives. For all have sinned. God bless, LVZ.

Sandra Bland

It is just sickening to see the way the Media inflames and outrages the public with their reporting. And articles on social media. If your liberal, you'll probably mention FOX as the media that does unfair reporting. If you lean conservatively, it will be ABC, CBS, and NBC that are mentioned as being biased. You have college professors saying all backs are one traffic stop away from Sandra Bland. It seems Sandra who would have only gotten a warning if she had  kept her mouth shut had to be told many many times to exit the vehicle. She was arrogant and uncooperative in the video. It seems we have an epidemic of fools in this country when it comes to dealing with the police. We pay them to police, if it be as simple as warning someone of an unsafe lane change or a tail light out. The stupidity of the public in dealing with the police amazes me. I have yet to hear of someone being injured or dying that cooperated. The police are doing their job, when they pull us over. Listen to them to find out why you were pulled over. Don't get all irate to start with. They are doing their job. Every ticket I received in my life time I earned. I did what they ticketed me for. Watch the show COPS, how many times do you see people talk themselves into trouble, or just a minor traffic stop turns bad because so many of the public are just idiots.  The Officers do not know what they are going to face in any traffic stop. They watch as they pull you over, your movements. Don't reach, don't try to hide anything. Keep hands where they can see them. Think about this from a cops perspective, they don't know you. They pulled you over most times for something little. It can be just a light out. You forgot to signal as you changed lanes. Little stuff, no big deal. Just be respectful, listen, don't talk unless answering a question from the officer. Keep hands on steering wheel or dash. Lets get through these idiotic times when the media finds any stupid reason to make something out of nothing.  I am sorry for the family, I know they are hurting, but please don't turn your grief into hating police. Someone acted irrationally, and leave it at that. To destroy a police officer that was just doing his job and the person he pulled over was having a bad day helps no one. It don't make it better for the next person getting pulled over, it makes it worse. Our police are on edge, they are called names, disrespected in so many ways and they are our servants. There to protect and serve. Not to abuse and slander at every traffic stop. Lets be smart, if you get pulled over be calm. He is just doing his job. I watch the TV show Cops, and some times you will hear an officer say he is just going to give a warning and he gets back up to the car he stopped and gets attitude and it escalates.  I think how can people be so stupid. This is what happened in Sandra's case, she would have just gotten a warning, but she gave the officer attitude. I know we never like getting pulled over, don't like getting a ticket, but have you never made a bad move in traffic and think , O sorry, I didn't mean to do that. It could be something ever so minor, just be calm and let the man do his job. Respect will go a long ways towards making things better. If Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland and so many others had just shown respect for the office, things would have turned out so differently.  Does any one posting all this negative stuff about the police think that is going to make things better? Respecting the office, even if it is not the best officer on the force will go a long ways towards stopping these incidents. It really is in our hands. Try it next time, be respectful and see if it don't turn out better. You reap what you sow, even a cop can have a bad day. Isn't it nice when your having a bad day someone says something nice or gives you a smile, when you really need it. Cops deal with the negative on a daily basis, give them a break. If you get a chance, look up this cop Woodard, Bryan or King B.  He is a black man and as nice as can be, yet even a good cop like him can be called all kind of names and disrespected. We can be a positive influence in our world or a negative influence. Think about the things you say and post. God bless, LVZ.

Love

We Christians are suppose to be the most loving people in the world. John 13:34-35: "A new commandment I give to you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." I am bothered by all the hateful words I hear on face book. Can we not disagree about the things we discuss without name calling and putting another down? We are facing some difficult times ahead in this country. We have aborted 57 million babies since abortion became legal. Now 5 men have changed the meaning of marriage in this country. Yes we still need to take a stand for truth. But can we do it in Love? Can we disagree about a confederate flag or about the Mississippi State flag having the confederate flag in the upper corner without the angry outbursts? The Bible has not changed, but do we pick and choose those things we stand for? I really do not like to bring up some of my sins. I have been a practicing Christian for some 30 years. I paid tithes, I went to church regularly, I drove the church van, I mowed the church lawn. I attended midweek Bible study.  Yet in that time I have not lived that perfect life, as many others. I was divorced 4 times, had multiple relationships.  Does the Bible not teach that adultery is a sin? People loved me in spite of my struggles. Attending church on a regular basis, and co-habitating with another christian as Husband and Wife.  This is common
 in our society and in the church today. I know because I was part of the problem. I could point to King David and his sins and justify my actions because of what King David did. It is easy to point to others sexual sins and ignore my own. God loved me through it all and worked with me to correct my heart and realize King David wasn't a man after God's own heart because of his sin but because when God pointed it out to him he, repented and changed. We have a steady diet of adultery on television today. It looks so right. Even Jimmy Carter says he believes God is for a loving relationships. Those loving relationships need to be within Biblical guidelines. I cannot throw stones, when I look back at my own life. How can we expect others to live by Biblical guidelines if we as Christians make excuses for our sins? I know we have heard this saying many times, Christians aren't perfect just forgiven. While that is true, it should not be used as an excuse to continue in sin. Romans 2:1 "Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things." We in the Church are upset by what we see happening in our country today. Perhaps we need to take a good look inside, at our own sin. The same way God loved me thru my sins is the way we need to love others. I received grace and forgiveness for my sins. But I had to change, when God convicted me of my sins, I had to change. I think of the woman caught in adultery  in John 8. Jesus did not condemn her but said go and sin no more. We need to change.  I believe the men that brought the woman to Jesus would be our Christians today. When they looked inside, they walked away without casting a single stone. We need that same kind of love today, as Jesus modeled for us. It is my heart that needs to be fixed. Yes we need to be salt and light for our world today. It so desperately needs to be done in love. Our world, our nation is headed to hell. If my people which are called by my name.... will turn from their wicked ways.... 2 Chronicles 7:14. Then God will heal our land. It has to start with Christians. May we be filled with God love. May my heart show God's love.  I am so thankful for God's grace.  God bless, LVZ.

Anger

Listen to a lot of posts on Facebook or other social media and what do you hear? Especially if two sides are talking about a current issue like the confederate flag, or same sex marriage. Or listen to post that are anti police. Or listen to people talking about their least favorite political candidate. How often do you hear angry words creep into the conversation?  Luke 6:45 "A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of." Remember the story of Jonah? God sent Jonah to Nineveh. Nineveh was known to be an evil place. Jonah knew this. One person compared Nineveh to our modern day ISIS. Who would want to go and preach God's word to those people? Jonah certainly didn't, but after his 3 days in the belly of a great fish, Jonah went reluctantly. He warned Nineveh and the people of Nineveh repented. Jonah was angry, he wanted these evil people to suffer God's judgement. He had anger in his heart towards these people. He spoke what God wanted him to speak, but he wanted God to send judgement upon these people like God said. God relented, when they repented, and did not send judgement. Instead God extended grace. Sometimes when I listen to face book, I wonder if I and others have the same condition as Jonah did? Jonah forgot that these evil people were also made in the image of God. God extended grace to me. I think of this and realize neither I,  nor the people of Nineveh or the many people I do not see eye to eye with today,  do not deserve the grace God gives. He could have destroyed Nineveh as he warned them through his prophet Jonah. What about the peoples today? We warn them of the impending doom. Some day we too shall face a sovereign God. Do we think of the people we interact with as People made in the image of God? I have thought about this when I think of ex's. They are God's children too.  In fact sometime back I believe I wrote in a blog about God being my father-in-law. Yes there were some hurtful times in divorce. But I need to remember, these are God's children, made in his image. I need to remember when I have a discourse about same sex marriage, these people are made in the image of God. Help me not to be like Jonah, who wanted judgement and not repentance. What comes out of our hearts? Is it anger, if so why? Do we wish for judgement or grace?  Why should we receive grace, and not these we disagree with? Help me to be like Jesus with the woman caught in Adultery, and not like Jonah. Yes we may live in evil times. We may not like sin being made a National Sin, but God who forgave Nineveh, perhaps he wishes to forgive many today.  Judgement or Grace, what do we prefer? Help me to receive grace and extent it towards others. Let not anger be what comes out of my mouth, but Love.  God bless, LVZ.

A doubter

In John 20:27-29 "Then saith he (Jesus) to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold  my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."  In this chapter what is happening is after Christ arose from his tomb where they buried him after his Crucifixion. The disciples did not understand the words he had spoken while he was with them. He foretold his death and that he would rise again. They went to the tomb, probably heartbroken, because their leader was gone and he was not there. Jesus appeared unto Mary and told her to tell the disciples that he had ascended to his and their father. She told it but Thomas said unless he saw the nail prints in his hands and his put hand to the side where they thrust Christ with a sword, he would not believe. Jesus then appeared again unto them when Thomas was present and the words above were spoken. Thomas believed when he saw Jesus standing there with the nail holes in his hands and feet. Jesus even showed him his side where he had been stabbed with a sword. We do not have that opportunity today to see Jesus as Thomas did that day. We are blessed when we believe without seeing. Jesus died for our sins, and rose again and sits with our heavenly Father until that day when we will stand before him and give an account of our life. Have we believed? It is essential that we believe Jesus is the Christ, the one who died for our sins. That is the way we will inherit Eternal Life, by believing and not seeing. For all have sinned, our works are not good enough. The way to eternal life is believing on Jesus. Believe that he died for our sins. Confess our sins and repent. God bless, LVZ.

Mandate

Mandate = an authoritative order or command:  I chose this particular meaning of mandate because there is no higher authority than God. After the last election I heard the President say he had a mandate from the people of the U.S. As I thought about this, the Congressmen and Senators he was at odds with also had a mandate from the people of the U.S. that voted them into office. His mandate does not trump their mandate, they were both elected by the people. We, as Christians have a mandate from God. God is the highest authority, his authority trumps ours (the U.S. public) or even our President, our Congressmen and Senators. God's authority trumps the Supreme Court. In Matthew 28:19-20 "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you always; even unto the end of the world. Amen." 
This Mandate was given to us by God himself through his word. God's word does not change because of a Supreme Court ruling. I wonder sometimes if I should just shut up because I know there are those that do not believe in God and think I should just shut up. They do not want to hear it. Believing in God as I do is a voluntary action on my part. I accept the Bible to be true. As I consider that, here is this mandate from God for us to be his witnesses to the world around us. We are to be salt, we are to be a light to the darkness in this world. That is a mandate from God. God's mandate trumps all other mandates. It is becoming a hate crime to speak of some Biblical truths to speak about certain sins. If it is not already, it is headed that way. It is already a hate crime to speak and use passages from the Bible that say same sex relationships are a sin, in Canada. Some may object to the saying fear God. To that I bring this scripture Matthew 10:28 "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." There is no higher authority than God. In these times we should remember that. God is sovereign, over all.  Proverbs 8:15-16: "By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth."  We need to once again fear God in this nation. Our nation is not the first in the ages to have strayed from a fear of God. What God does is yet to be seen. Just like Darius and Nebuchadnezzar in Daniels chapters 3 and 6. Their rules did not trump God's rules. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and Daniel realized this truth and obeyed God rather than man.  These men of God feared God and obeyed his laws above the laws of their land. God delivered them in miraculous ways, but that is not always the case. Either way they were delivered from the kings hands and would be in the hands of a God who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. That is why God's mandate trumps any mandate from earthy rulers, they can only kill the body. Fear God and obey his mandate. God bless, LVZ. 

Just life

So many things I write and post about on my blog. They pertain to me, what I am reading or what perhaps God is working on me with. My life has never been perfect, just forgiven. There are no perfect Christians. I feel like in our family we had an imperfect example, that gave us a tainted view of God. But, there are so many Christians, their circumstances were different but yet the same. The thing that is the same is at some point they came face to face with God. Every so often I hear someones testimony, sometimes they were in church at an early age, sometimes much later in life. Some were what we call goody two shoes, hardly ever seemed to do anything wrong growing up. Some are the hard cases, seemed to do everything wrong from day one. One common part to their stories, they realized at some point they needed God. Our best is just as filthy rags to God. It is never good enough. We need to get to that place in life where we realize we need God. I think it was George McDonald that said we can fail miserably or we can succeed miserably in life without God.  We all must face God someday. We can know without a doubt that are sins are forgiven. We might seem like a failure in life, but only God knows us as we truly are. We fool ourselves at times with impure motives and actions, but God is not fooled. It is God that we must please and it only takes just a simple action on our part. God come into my heart and fix me. Be my Savior and Lord. He takes us just as we are, goody two shoes, or the most miserable sinner or some wheres in between. He is the only payment for sin, his death on the cross is the only payment that was good enough. Once you have taken him into your heart and accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord, you will never be alone, no matter what you go through in life. He is there with you. Down through the ages Christians have suffered for their faith, but this life as we know it now is only temporary. Some day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. It needs to be done before judgement day.  If God is talking to you take him in. He knocks at our hearts door, he does not break in. It is our choice. God bless, LVZ.

Attitude

Attitude is so important. What is our attitude when we are in conflict or disagreement with someone? In the Bible there are essential and non essential beliefs. That Jesus died for our sins is an essential belief. Some customs are different in cultures around the world. If you were raised in a legalistic environment like I was, you might have some difficulty with Christians and alcohol consumption. If you were raised in Germany, you might think nothing of having a beer. I remember when I was young it bothered me when I saw my Uncle give my Grandfather a big bottle of beer. It was probably common in German culture but not in my legalistic environment.  I have never liked beer, but there are some strong drinks that taste good to me. I have never liked wine either. In Romans the 14 chapter is talking about non-essential issues, it will talk about meat eaters and vegetable eaters and a tolerance between those that believe differently. Love is the key, and considering another persons beliefs on non essential issues. Its not all about us. There have been many church splits over non essential issues. We are to love our brothers and sisters. When we cannot tolerate a difference over non essentials, it shows a lack of love in our hearts.  "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves," Philippians 2:3  "Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another."  Romans 14:19  "Owe no man anything, but to love one another; for he that loveth another has fulfilled the law." Romans 13:8 "For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Romans 13:9  Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." Romans 13:10 This is some of the stuff we went over in a Sunday School class and it spoke to me as I thought of the attitude I had recently in some conflicts. What comes our of our mouth is a reflection of what is in our hearts. We need love in our hearts. We need to value others above ourselves. A lot of it stems from our attitude. On the essentials of faith there needs to be unity, on non essentials there needs to be freedom. There are many non essentials that we do not have to see eye to eye. If we have love in our hearts, we can tolerate these non-essential differences. The discussion went on and some described various non-essentials that caused conflict. Wearing blue jeans or shorts, casual clothes. Or how about contemporary music versus traditional music,  Or how about if a Church borrows money or does not borrow money for a capital improvement project.  We have seen churches that didn't even allow musical instruments at all. The difficulties I had recently were over politics. Love over everything, if we have God's love in our hearts, we should be able to handle the non-essentials. Create a right spirit within me, O God. Help me with my attitude.  God bless, LVZ.  

Tough Issues

Right now in our country we are facing some tough issues. Depending on who you listen to what is right changes. How do you figure this out. I think the main thing is to figure out what God thinks. When we stand before God it will be God's judgement day. What he thinks about these tough issues is what matters.  You can find religious leaders giving their opinion on these issues from both sides. What do you believe? I have listened to some leaders for many years. and trust their words. We are responsible for what we take in. We need to know enough of God's word to know who is telling us the truth. Some leaders with an opposing view I have run across just recently that perhaps someone sent me via a link on the Internet. I never heard of this person before and he is interpreting God's word totally different than I have ever heard before. At the end of this life, I will stand before God. I will be judged by what God thinks, not any preacher. Yet this is what those wanting to condone their sin want to hear.  There is a spirit in this world that is determined to deceive. Except God cuts the time short the Bible says even the elect shall be deceived. Matthew 24: 22-24  " And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."  

I believe we are living in the very days this chapter is talking about. But make no mistake, we must interpret God's word as God sees it. We can be deceived, even God's people. That is why it is so important to find a good church to belong and be a part of. When I see what Pastors are saying on the issue of same sex marriage, you can find some supporting both sides of this issue. But what does God think? Both sides use the scripture to support their view. 

Romans 1:26 "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:"

I think that everything God created reproduces. look at the grasses, corn, wheat, cedar tree, pine tree, oak tree, Everything, fish in the sea, mosquitoes in the air, reproduce themselves. Same sex couples cannot. A woman still needs a man, a man still needs a woman. It is against nature to think otherwise. So who is being deceived? We have a responsibility for what we take in. We will be judged on judgement day by what God thinks. Don't think for a minute because you believe something that sounds good and it came from me or a preacher it will save you. This preacher said this and this preacher said that is not going to stand on judgement day. What does God himself say? Even in the time frame when the book of Romans was written, they were facing the same issues. Knowing what God thinks starts with a relationship with him. We need his Holy Spirit to guide us. We daily need to seek God.  That is what God is trying to teach me. We live in perilous times, where if it were possible even God's people would be deceived. That is how convincing error is. Jesus is the answer for the world today. Do we seek the word to justify what we are already doing, or do we seek the word to correct our hearts? God help us, LVZ. 

Honor

Today Hope Church Tupelo honored Tupelo Police Officers. They had a dinner for the officers, I think it was about forty plus and some family members.  I really liked this idea, and I did help with security and some moving tables and chairs afterwards. In a time when it is popular to disrespect the police via any video you can find on the internet that is derogatory or disrespecting them during a traffic stop, this was the right thing to do. They deserve to be honored and respected as God's servants.  As Pastor said , when we honor you (the Police), we are honoring God. Name any job that doesn't have some bad employees once in a while. A teacher, a lawyer, a plumber, or ask me about a carpenter. By disrespecting the Police do we think we are making things better? Do we not hear of cops not wanting to respond? Who can blame them, would you if you were treated so badly for putting your life on the line every day you go to work?  This was the right thing to do and I am so glad I attend a church that wants to make a positive difference in their community. We have not had incidents like Ferguson and Baltimore, but we have had cops killed by bank robbers. This is the right way to make things better between the police and the community. Not protesting a criminal that got hurt or killed resisting. Honoring them for the good things they do every day. If you were married to someone and told them how bad they were doing day after day, do you think it would get better or end up in divorce? "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: The powers that be are ordained of God." And then dropping down to verse 4, "For he is a minister of God to thee for good...". Romans 13:1, 4.  I heard someone today say they hate police, because they and their family have always been mistreated by the police. I have yet to see someone get hurt that is not resisting or fighting, or running away. The Media must take responsibility for their unfair reporting. We must follow God and not the ungodly trends of this world. We must not get sucked into bad behavior by bad reporting. They have a political agenda behind their unfair and biased reporting. Listen to the word of God, trust God not this biased media. Every ticket I ever got I earned, or deserved it. I do not remember how many tickets in my years of driving. I did every thing I got a ticket for and more.  I watched officers deal with a drunk years ago and they had more patience than Job, at that time. I'd have thrown the man in jail,  but they calmed him down and he went away with me and another man for coffee to sober him up. This drunk called them names, wanted them to take off their badges and fight him, but they were patient and just calmed down the situation. There are many more incidents like the one I described than the bad. They deserve our respect. God bless our police. LVZ.

God fixes us

As I think about the messes I have made in my life and about the time I had strayed from my relationship with God. Don't we often fall into that line of thought where we want to fix ourselves or others?  I think I do, I think during the years I stayed away from God, I was expecting someday I could fix myself and come back. God never left me, he continued to work in my heart and finally I realized I could not fix me. Sometimes I think I still get into that mode of trying to fix myself. Sometimes when I hear people being critical of Christians, I think back to that time when I also felt like they are all hypocrites. I wanted to fix myself and just found I could not. Things just got worse and worse until I finally surrendered.  I still remember the time when God whispered in my ear, if you think it is so easy, show them how it is done and stop complaining.  Sometimes I look when so many things seem to be going wrong and I wonder what am I doing wrong? The things that we consider fixing first in our lives may not even be what God is concerned about. He sees our heart and sees all, it is his choice what he fixes first.  I wonder if I am on that same track again and seeing something I don't like in me, but God is looking at something totally different. Our lives are in his hands. God alone fixes hearts. God sets the agenda for our lives, especially if we claim to be his child. All of us are in his hands, and we don't see the big picture like God does. I read about Jonah just a few days ago, and he was angry with God because God didn't do things his way. God spared Nineveh and Jonah went outside the city and pouted, waiting to see what God would do. God sent Jonah to Nineveh to preach the word, in forty days he would destroy their city because their wickedness was great and God had had enough. They listened to Jonah and the people of the city repented and changed their ways. Let me put it this way, they stopped and put on sackcloth and ashes,  fasted and repented.  Jonah didn't want them to repent. He wanted God to destroy them as he had warned. God gave a chance to Nineveh and they took it. Don't we often do the same thing. God how can you be God and not do what I want you to do? When you write it out on paper, it is almost laughable. Me, tell the God of the universe, that created me, that gives me breath everyday, this is what I want you to do. Yet we pray and often ask God to do this or that, but the model prayer, says thy will not mine be done. God's agenda was to save 120,000 people from destruction, but poor old Jonah wanted God to destroy them instead.  He was angry with God because God wouldn't play it his way. God,  the God that put the stars in place and makes our earth rotate around the sun and makes gravity work, does not play by our rules. His will,  not mine be done, in my life also. Jonah was so angry, he wanted to die, why, because God would not play by Jonah's rules. God sets the agenda, God fixes hearts, God is still in control. Do you think God should have destroyed Nineveh? What kind of God would we call him if he had? Would we read Jonah and see God relent because of Jonah's temper tantrum, what would we say? God how could you destroy 120,000 people because one man is throwing a temper tantrum. We may not see things as clearly as we do in the story of Jonah and how foolish Jonah looks today, but we never see all that God sees. He never slumbers or sleeps. He is aware of what is happening in our world today. Perhaps he is wanting the same today, for people to repent. Forgive me Father and let thy will and they way be done in my life. God bless, LVZ.

Love

Love your enemies, love those that despite fully use you. Love those that disagree with you. Love unconditionally. Love like the Father, like the Son of God that gave his life for our sins. Love your neighbor. Mark 12:33 "And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." Was the Good Samaritan showing love to his neighbor when he found the man beaten and left for dead on the side of the road.Yes. Was Jesus showing love when he willingly allowed himself to be crucified for our sins.  Yes. How do we live in this present world and show love at the same time as we quote scripture that might make some feel uneasy. Have you ever spanked a child for misbehaving? Was or could it have been showing love? The story is told in the olden days when many homes had a coal burning stove in the middle of their living rooms. Perhaps in the middle of winter when they had a toddler, a child close to one year of age that would be unsteady on his or her feet. Sometimes they would reach out to something with their hands to steady themselves. It was said that some parents would take one of that toddlers little fingers and press it against that hot coal burning stove to impress upon this toddler that it was hot. He would have a little burn on the tip of his finger, that reminded him under no circumstances reach out to this coal burning stove to steady yourself. It is better for you to fall on the floor than to touch that stove and burn the whole surface of one or both of his little hands. Is that love? I would say so. It certainly would protect him from a greater hurt down the road. In the same train of thought is it love when we tell a world that in on a journey towards hell, to change their ways. To warn them. The Bible is true, and it does not change because of culture. Yes we can write a new Bible and change what it says, but does it change what God says. That is where we read how we are to love even our enemies. It does not change. If the Bible tells us to love our enemies, does it not also stand to reason that we are to love those that disagree with us. Can we quote unpopular scriptures and still love people. Yes, The same as that parent that would touch that little finger against a coal burning stove to save that child from a bigger hurt later on. Yes that is love. We need to love like Jesus loved us. Remember the woman caught in the very act of Adultery, Jesus said where are your accusers, neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more. He didn't say it wasn't sin, he said go live your life and don't do that sin any more. We are to be salt, a lamp unto this world, a city set on a hill, pointing to a better way. Telling a world that is on their way to a hell, there is a better way. It is Jesus, who loved us so much he gave his life to pay the penalty for our sins, past, present and future. We need his love, his grace, for we all are guilty of sin. Mine may be different than yours, but sin is missing the mark. What mark have we missed. What sins have we committed. Don't make some ones sin to be bigger than your own. Love like the Father loved us. Love like he tells us to in his word. That does not mean we must be silent. We can warn of the time to come and still love. God bless, LVZ.

Disciplining Children

I am not an expert, but I do want to give some thoughts on this subject. I was raised in a home that believed in spanking children. The Church I was raised in believed in spanking. Many times they use the scripture below. I survived and think I turned out pretty good considering my family was somewhat dysfunctional as most homes / families are. I do believe children need to be disciplined. Perhaps there are other better ways of disciplining a child. I am not an expert. My thought on this is the spanking is immediate and then it is over and kids and parent go on with life. Other forms of discipline may be better but require more time and effort to accomplish. Many times it just doesn't happen and a child does not get the discipline he needs. 
Proverbs 13:24 "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes."
This scripture says if you don't discipline, you hate your child. I think it means you are not giving him something he so desperately needs, discipline. Betimes from what I understand means diligently. You do not forget or let it slide. I think it is also important to make the punishment fit the offence. The more serious the offence, the more serious the punishment. Punishment is meant to hurt. If it does not hurt, it will not change behavior. There are other scriptures like foolishness is bound in the heart of a child and so on. Kids need to know their boundaries. Sometimes boundaries over lap, and kids need to be taught to respect others boundaries as well as their own. Kids need to have a healthy respect for authority. The parents are the first authority they come in contact with and if they learn to respect parents, they do better respecting  civil authorities, school authorities and others. I think without discipline kids begin to think the world revolves around them. It doesn't and we have to interact all our lives with other people and we are constantly bouncing off their boundaries. I think discipline helps us to respect other peoples boundaries. I think we are fast approaching society that does not understand authority such as law enforcement, bosses and others. It is going to be difficult as these children bump into authority and other peoples boundaries and do not know how to behave. We are beginning to see so much disrespect towards law enforcement and that is dangerous, because they are the line between law abiding citizens and law breakers. These are just my thoughts, I am not an expert, but I believe lack of discipline at home at a young age is the cause of much social disorder today.  The more discipline kids receive at the early ages reduces the need for it as they grow older because they learned to respect the first authority in their lives, their parents.  I believe this is critical, and I did not realize how critical when I was young, but as I age and see society having more and more trouble as time goes on, I think much could have been solved in the early years. Just my opinion, I am not an expert. I do not think I was a very good parent. My children were born before I was 23 years of age. I was very young.  May God help us to be the best parents we can possibly be. I do not believe spanking to be the only  type of discipline, but perhaps the easiest and quickest way to deal with a problem.  opinions are like noses, everybody has one. Or like butts, everyone has one but everyone's stinks except my own. God bless, LVZ. 

listen to the tone

I have read so much stuff on Facebook or the internet and many times on both sides of an issue. I try to listen to the tone of the message. Like the guy that was defending the confederate flag, because it was for states rights. He was angry, said things like never forget, even though it has been 150 years ago. Then you read others that talk about forgiving the shooter of the nine members of the church in South Carolina. Forgiving during great hurt. It is a different tone in their message.  Listen to the tone of those supporting same sex marriage or the tone of those that are against it. Is the message coming from a heart of love or of hate. When we have devalued marriage as we have, perhaps it will be like it was in the old testament. In Judges chapter 19 was a time when they had no king. In fact the last verse of Judges says "In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes."  In the story in chapter 19 a Levite traveled to Bethlehem to get his concubine. One thing to note in stories the Bible gives us, they are not always about God's perfect plan. Some times they show the error of not following God's plans.On his Journey back to the side of Mount Ephraim where he lived, he stopped for the night in Gibeah. Gibeah was a town that belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. A concubine is not a wife other than it is to be an exclusive relationship.  The man bought her for his pleasure. She does not have the same rights as a wife. During the night they stayed with a resident of Gibeah. After dark the men of this city came to this residence and asked for the traveler, the man himself to have sex with him. The old man they stayed with said do not do this wicked thing. But the men of the city continued and the old man sent his daughter and the Levite's concubine out to the men of the city. They raped and abused these women and the concubine crawled back to the door of the door of the house they had been at and died from the abuse of that night. There was no law, and it was a dangerous time. These men in this city without law did what they wanted to do, no respect for others, or the institution of marriage. They murdered this woman and probably would have done the same to the Levite if they had gotten their hands on him. Listen to the tone of these people that demonize the police. Listen to the tone of just about any post you see on facebook, what is the spirit or tone of the message. Is it tearing down society and law and order or is it of a healing and nurturing spirit. What is it we want in this country? DO we really want no law and do what is right in every mans own eyes? Do we really want to protest against the police in support of a thug who was killed while the police were trying to arrest him because he fit the description of a person who had just robbed a store? I think we really need to think through what we are supporting and promoting. We need Law and Order, God ordained it, The government officials are God's servants. There has always been evil in this world, always have been people with a depraved heart that only want what they want and do not care what the Bible says. I have yet to see one of these idiots hurt by complying with the officers of a God ordained government.  It is when you are breaking the law and then resisting and fighting against God ordained authority that these people get hurt. Romans 13:3 "For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil, Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same." We need law and order, we need to promote good things that are for the betterment of society.  We do not need a society that does what is right in their own eyes at the expense of others. We do not need to be afraid of God's servants, if we are doing good, it is only when we are doing bad that we need to be concerned. God help us. God bless, LVZ.

Loving People

As Christians we are to love people, even when we don't agree with them. Some seem to think this can not be done. It is a lie, we do not have to agree on everything or accept someones behavior to love them.  Almost any one you talk to has a gay person in their family somewhere. Ministers also, Presidents and other National leaders, but to say they cannot love without accepting a lifestyle is false.  When raising Children, or especially after they are grown and make their own choices, do you agree with everything they do? No, I never agreed with everything my parents did either, but I still loved them. I saw indications of marijuana use when I saw someone I love recently. I still love that person. I may see the harm that it is doing to this persons life. I may not like it but I still love this person.   Many think the minute you give a Biblical explanation for your stance on this same sex marriage sin, our nation as entered into, that you are a homopho or a bigot. That is not true. There are many sins the Bible talks about. I may give a Biblical explanation for why I am against adultery, but that doesn't mean I hate adulterers. I think the lifestyle is harmful. I recently was talking to a man and I knew his wife had been sick and she passed away. He was talking about his girlfriend being sick and in the hospital, and I was confused because at first I thought he was talking about his wife. But then he said and his wife passed away also. So casually we can talk about sin in our lives and claim to be Christian. Only God knows where this man is in relationship with God. I may not approve of his behavior, but that doesn't mean I hate his man. I consider him a friend.  I believe this thinking that we have to accept a lifestyle  to love someone is meant to shut us up. We have to continue to be salt. We have to continue to be that light on a hill. We have to continue to speak God's word to a nation that is sick and near death. A person that studied many civilizations, said none of them recovered when they devalued the family. It was at the end of their life, when they devalued the family. We as a nation are at that place. IT has been understood for centuries, in many religions and in many nations that marriage is between one man and one woman. This is something that predates our constitution and our nation. This is something that is found in Genesis, from the creation account. God saw that man needed a helpmate, and he created woman. Everything God created from the animals, to plants, trees, fish in the sea, insects, recreate themselves.  Same sex relationships go against God's design and cannot reproduce. They still need a man and a woman. This is God's design from the very beginning of life, and to stand for God's design does not mean we hate those that have fallen into this sin. I do not hate thieves, I don't like them stealing from me or from my neighbors. I would like to seem them change their behaviors. I don't hate adulterers, I do disagree with their lifestyle, but I was one. An adulterer, I mean,  and I had to repent of my sins and change my lifestyle. I disagreed with some things my ex's did, it hurt me, but I do not hate them. Some of my actions were just as bad, and I don't want them to hate me either. I disapprove of sin and sinful lifestyles, but I still am commanded by the scriptures to Love people. Help me God to stand for you and your word and still love just as you have. You gave us many example in your word where you did just that. Like the woman caught in Adultery, neither did you condemn her, but sent her on her way and said, go and sin no more. All her accusers left, one by one, because they were convicted in their hearts of their own sin. Jesus came to redeem sinners from sin. There but by the grace of God go I. God fixes hearts, that is where sin resides, in our hearts. God is the only one that can cleanup a heart and life. We cannot do it on our own. God bless, LVZ.

Doing what I already know to do

Obedience is better than sacrifice comes from the book of Samuel. 1 Samuel 15:22   DO we really need to learn anything new if we cannot do some of the things we already know. I know the Bible tells us to forsake not the assembling together. In more modern language, go to church, find a house of worship you feel comfortable in. That's a starting point. I believe in praying about where to attend and trusting God. It has worked for me. Just take one simple word from God and apply it to your life. I have been doing this one for some 30 years now, and have learned some good things. Obey what you already know. Need to pray, practice and greet God every morning as you face a new day. Direct my steps this day O God and create a clean heart within me. Look at the commandments, struggle with any? One Pastor called them the 10 most common struggles. I once read Psalms 1 every day for a long time. I believe God talked to me in a sermon I heard on Psalms 1 on a Sunday morning and I read that Psalm day after day. We are not perfect beings, the truth is we struggle with the ten commandments and need a heart change to keep them. They need to be written on our hearts. Jesus does that, changes our hearts and lives. Just take one step towards God. If you hear him talking to you don't ignore him, listen to what he is trying to tell you.  Your life will be better. I've seen people walk away before. I have also seen and heard a lot of people tell their story and in spite of struggles and hardships along the way, have no regrets. Do you hear an alcoholic with regrets, do you hear a drug addict with regrets, do you hear of a man or woman that lost their family because of bad behavior with regrets. Have you ever heard them after they turned their life over to God and wished they had done it sooner. I have over and over again, from all types of sinners from the worst to the goody two shoes. There is only one way to the Father, No man cometh to the father but by me Jesus said.  God bless, LVZ.

rock piles

Joshua 4:21 "And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, rWhen your children shall ask their fathers †in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?" When the Israelites crossed over the Jordan River in their way into the promised land, their leaders picked up stones from the river bed and made an altar on the river bank. This was for a memorial so they could remind their children of what God did for them. As I thought about this I thought about some rock piles in my life. Memorials of answered prayer: I remember as a five year old child praying about a situation where I was scared. I rode with my Dad out to the country in an old pickup truck to unload some dirt. The old truck didn't want to start when Dad was finished unloading. Dad was angry and when Dad got angry, I got scared. I stepped away a few steps and prayed just a simple 5 year old prayer. God please let this truck start. It started. I remember very little from my five year old time of life. But I remember that incident. I believe God answered that prayer and allowed me to remember it as a rock pile, a memorial to show he cares for us. I remember praying during a time of divorce, I felt my wife was unfaithful to me and we were separated. I was praying, God this is what I think is happening. I also felt like I didn't have much of a right to pray as I got myself into that situation. I prayed: But God you know what is really going on, perhaps I am being hasty, I know you hate divorce. I can't see what you see. I was praying as I was driving along. I felt impressed to turn  one block to the left and instead of driving down the street I was on, I continued south one block over. I was still praying about my situation as I came up to the stop sign at the next intersection. I was about 4 cars back from the stop sign. There I saw my  wife crossing the street at the intersection in front of me. She went to the gas station and got into a vehicle that I was familiar with and driven by the guy I suspected she was cheating on me with.  Then I felt like God said in my mind, "I didn't show you this to cause a scene, I showed you so you would know."  I drove on and also continued with my divorce. That was a rock pile in my life where God answered prayer to help me in a difficult time of my life.  In the year 2000, I was on strike walking a picket line when my leg was going numb. I had recently transferred to a new place in the company and had not initiated health care and chiropractic care in the new community.  I was going to loose any health benefits due to the strike in just a few days. I prayed about this and asked God to help me find a Chiropractor  that would work with me and perhaps give me a Chiropractic adjustment to relieve what I thought was a pinched nerve causing the numbness in my leg.  I picked out a Chiropractor in the phone book and made an appointment to see him. During the appointment, he said he thought he could help me. He was a different type of Chiropractor then I'd been to before. He only adjusted the upper portion where my head sets on top of my spine. He said he would carry me through the strike if I would make every appointment he made for me. I thought in my head he is a kook, but because I had prayed about it, I stuck with it and he did carry me through the strike. Hind sight, I see that once again God had answered prayer in a way I had not expected. The problem healed after a time, but it was like this Doctor said, it took you a long time to get where you are at and it will take time to fix the problem. I thank God for this answer to prayer, it is another rock pile in my life, showing God does care and has our best interest at heart.  These are three of the rock piles I look at to remind myself that God hears and answers prayer. These are not the only ones, just the ones I felt like sharing today.  Not always the way I expected.  Memorials where God took care of me over and over again. Got any rock plies in your life?  God bless, LVZ. 

Crazy Laws

Remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego?  Perhaps if you remember back to Sunday School days you'll remember the story of the three Hebrew children thrown into a furnace. Some one mentioned this story recently when talking about the crazy things governments do.  The King of Babylon had built a big statue and had ordered all the people to bow down and worship this image.  The three Hebrew children refused, and they were indeed thrown into a fiery furnace. They did not know that God would deliver them, but they told the King, God will deliver us out of your hands. It could have been by death, but they truly would have been in the hands of God. Daniel 3. Or how about Daniel in chapter 6? Once again a different King made a law that no one could pray to any God or man, except to the King only. Daniel continued as was his habit to kneel facing towards Jerusalem and pray to his God three times a day. He was thrown into the Lions den and God delivered him.  There were many evil Kings in the pages of the old testament, they did that which was evil in the sight of God. There is nothing new under the sun. Just like Daniel, we need to remember the Law of the Lord is not changed by the law of the land. We need to continue serving our God to the best of our ability in these crazy times. Do we forget that this God is the same yesterday today and forever?  Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever." We just need to continue to serve God as we always have. God is not troubled by what President Obama or the Supreme Court have done in our land any more than he was troubled by King Nebuchadnezzar or King Darius.  God's word does not change because of the law of the land. When we stand before God it will be what God thinks and not politically correct leaders. God needs to change hearts to fix the problems in our nation. Is God at work in your heart?   Matthew 5:

13Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of  men.

14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

We must continue as we always have. 
God bless, LVZ. 

National Sin

We as a Nation have sinned against God with making laws that are contrary to God's Law.  The first such sin was slavery and we corrected that with the civil war. We have taken innocent babies lives through abortion, I think I heard recently some 55 million lives. Some feel we will have to atone for this sin someday. Now we have added sexual sin to our National Sin list. We can change the law as we have done, we can call evil good and good evil, but make no mistake, some day we will answer to God. Each of us will answer for the lives we live. We answer to God our creator. I do not know what God's thinking is other than reading his word. I do know I have not suffered for every sin I have committed. Perhaps that awaits in the future, or perhaps God's mercy was extended. When we do not heed God's warning, sometimes his voice gets louder and perhaps like our parents of yesteryear, he may take disciplinary measures to try and correct our behavior. Many scoff at the though of a sovereign God. I for one believe in God and his Son Jesus Christ. Jesus the one who died for our sins. Make no mistake the Bible says all have sinned and will have to answer to our creator. Our Nation will have to answer for our National Sins because of the laws of our land. It may not be us, it may be our children or Grandchildren that answer for our sins. God is sovereign, he gets the last word. It is a condition of the heart that concerns me. I wish I had not gotten into a debate over the confederate flag other than it did show the condition of peoples hearts but the words that came out of their mouth and mine were not pleasing to a loving God.  Help me God, even in debate and disagreement to love. We must repent, as individuals and as a Nation. God is sovereign and he does get the last word. The Laws of the land do not change or supersede God's law.  God bless, LVZ.

Christians for Public Office?

A person recently said to me Christians should never be elected to public office. I thought about that and his comment that they would choose to do what they think over the public wishes. Perhaps if they are a serious Christian they would consider keeping God's laws above public law. I for one think that is correct to esteme God's laws above public law. Would one want a person in public office that considers others better than himself as the Bible teaches. Would one want a person in office that believes in telling the truth, vs a president that will lie under oath?  Would one want a person that tells you what he thinks even if it is not what you want to hear vs a person who tells you what you want to hear and then does another? We have had elected officials locally that stole from the public, we want that instead of someone who believes in the eighth commandment? We want someone who will slander to win  as happened here in Mississippi and  then be sued for slander. The person that lost the election sued for slander and won the lawsuit.The lawsuit was actually against a PAC that supported the guy that won. We want some one who will slander to win over someone who believes in the ninth commandment. Would we want someone in the White House that commits adultery over someone who tries to keep the 7th commandment? Civil authority is ordained by God, and we are to respect and honor civil authority. Yes, there are times when civil law and God's law conflict, as when we make sin legal and make it a national sin as we did with slavery in years gone by. Or now with abortion, a national sin. And the most recent national sin when the supreme court made it legal for a man to marry a man and a woman to marry a woman. Already a man has applied to marry a second wife in Montana using the same arguments. Not all Christians are equal, by that I mean a former President has stated publicly, even though he admits he has no scripture to back it up, that Jesus would welcome same sex marriage. Politics over scripture? I think it needs to be the other way around, Godly behavior over politics. I believe many of the problems we have in our country today is electing people that then will use voter fraud to stay in office or support their party candidate in the next election. Honesty over voter fraud. I can think of so man things like this. Wouldn't a man of integrity in public office be what we should want? A company I used to work for had ethics classes for every employee of the company yearly, and I thought, this is the stuff I learned in Sunday School. Shouldn't we want ethical people in public office? Now I realize many including the President that lied under oath and committed adultery in the elevator of the White House claim to be Christian to win votes, but wouldn't a person of integrity and with ethics be better? I am just thinking, God bless, LVZ.