Over the last few weeks we have been examining the subject of temptation. We began by looking at what happened when Satan tempted Jesus right after His baptism. The 3 ways in which Satan tempted Jesus were:
• Turn these stones into bread
• The offer of all the kingdoms of the world in exchange for worship
• Jump off the pinnacle of the temple and God will rescue you.
As we saw, Jesus overcame Satan, not by arguing with him, but by quoting Scripture to him. And eventually Satan left him. But Satan lies in wait to take the unwary by surprise. And he concentrates on those areas in which we are vulnerable, where he has detected a weakness which he can exploit. In this, Satan has no mercy and he is always willing to play dirty.
Today we will look at another episode in which Satan tempts someone. We will look at the process that Satan utilizes to get the individual to fall into his trap. Read Genesis 3:1-7. As we can see from this passage, from the beginning of history, people have been subject to the dangers of lying and deception. And Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). He is very clever, and he knows how to use half truths, or twisted truths, or outright lies, to his advantage. And he also uses innuendos, or slanted questions which lead a person down the path he wants them to go. Satan begins his attack on Eve with a question that he often poses to all of us: “Did God really say…?”. It implies, did He actually say that? Or, if He did, did He really mean it?
How you answer that question will determine how you face the temptation at hand.The passage we just read about what took place in the Garden of Eden is not simply about apples and trees and making fig-leaf aprons. It is about thoughts and words and how they shape our deeds. It’s about love and loyalty. It’s about freedom and responsibility. Whom will you trust? Who will guide and direct your life?
Satan will try to get you to listen to him, and become his slave, by means of deception. How does Satan do this? The road to deception is a process that Satan uses consists of 5 steps. It is a process, and once you have fallen for the first one, you are ripe for the second one, and so on.
Step No 1: Subtle questioning of God’s Word.
“Did God really say…?”
The tempter begins with the suggestion rather than an argument. Notice the tone of the question: it is incredulous. “Did God really say, you not eat from any tree in the Garden?” Rather than launch a frontal assault, the tempter sows seeds of doubt and suspicion. Notice the fact that by doing it this way, Satan doesn’t have to take the blame; he just gets things going. He says, “I just asked the question: You’re the one who drew the conclusion.”With this question, Eve began to think consciously about God’s word for the first time. Up until now, she had just enjoyed conversations with God, and took everything He said at face value. There was total trust and confidence in Him.
Step No. 2: Innuendo and exaggeration.
The serpent (Satan) said to the woman, “Did God really say, you must not eat from any tree in the garden?”To see what God really said, we need to turn in our Bibles to Gen 2:16-17: And the Lord commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
Notice those first words: You are free…! Free to do what? To eat from any tree in the garden, except one. Satan cleverly turns around a statement of God’s giving freedom with one limitation, to an insinuation of oppression and slavery: “You must not eat from any tree in the garden”.
Here is modern equivalent to this story:
A parent says to his teenager: “You may borrow the car tonight: I trust you to get home at the time we agreed. I have filled the tank with gas so you can go wherever you need to. The only thing I don’t want you to do is to go to the San Pedro Mall where that big bar and night club is. You know about all the things that go on there…just stay away from there, but you can go anywhere else. I trust you to use good judgement. Have a great time.”
But during the evening one of the teenager’s friends says “What do you mean you can’t go anywhere you want to go? Your parents are setting all these boundaries and restrictions on you. What’s the deal with you? Are you going to listen to them?”
And the teenager begins to think, “Yeah, what’s the deal with my parents? Don’t they trust me?”. Thus,what started out as a gift of freedom becomes a restrictive prohibition! That’s just the way Satan made a good freedom-granting commandment of God to look like niggling restrictive rule.
What could Eve have done instead of what she did? She could have quoted the words she had heard from God, and set the record straight – which is what Jesus did when He was tempted. She could have remembered her position of authority and her duty in responsibility. As a result, she could have told the serpent (Satan) where to go. As we can see, the first way to deal with temptation is to recognize the lie and silence it. If you don’t, you will stumble into the third step on the road to deception.
Step No. 3: Debate.
Debate is often a sign that you are looking for loopholes. That’s when the battle is usually lost. Whenever you and I accept the questioning of God’s authority as the legitimate basis for debate, we give the enemy the high ground. Now, wait a minute, you say, “we’re not robots! We can ask God questions! We can try to understand what the Bible says!” That is absolutely true, but there is a difference between an honest question and a question disguised as an accusation. There is a big difference between honestly exploring a subject from the prospective of faith, which is seeking to understand, and saying, “there is really nothing to this”.¨Look at the different ways Zechariah and Mary responsed when visited by the angel announcing the births of their children.
• Zechariah (challenging): How can I be sure of this? (Luke 1:18)
• Mary (wondering): How can this be, since I am a virgin?
In the passage we are looking at today, Eve begins a debate with Satan.She says “No, we may eat of the trees of the Garden, except not from the central tree, nor may we touch it.” Now, wait a minute! Who said anything about not touching the tree?
It seems that Eve is on the defensive here. Instead of calmly correcting the serpent about not eating from any tree in the garden, Eve overcorrects, and in doing so she makes God sound harsher than he is. Is it possible that Eve is beginning to feel that God was not fair for setting limits? We don’t know. But we do know this: as she began to debate, she began to take the side of the tempter.
Step No. 4: Denial
Debate leads to denial. When you get into denial, Satan takes off his disguise and makes a direct attack.Following Eve’s “correction”, the serpent says to her: “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” God says that if you eat of the fruit you will surely die. Satan says, you will not surely die. Someone is lying. Someone is wrong.
Satan is the one calling God a liar. What in effect Satan is saying to Eve, explicitly and implicitly, goes something like this: “Eve, God lied to you. You’re not going to die. Furthermore, you know why he told you that? Because he didn’t want you to be like Him, knowing good and evil. He wants to keep all this God stuff to himself and He doesn’t want to share it with you. Isn’t He a pain? So you go ahead, and eat of that tree! You’ll be just like God!” Satan presents God as a petty jealous being who is trying to keep us from what is rightfully ours. He misrepresents God and His intent. He creates competition and rivalry between humanity and God. And he says, “You will learn good from evil.”
There are two ways to discern good from evil:
1. Doing what is right and experiencing the benefits of that goodness.
2. Going against what we know is right and receiving the bad consequences and punishment for our wrongdoing.
At this point the tempter’s work is done. He began with the subtle questioning of God’s word. “Did He really say that?” Then he went on to exaggerate and twist the truth. “You mean you can’t eat from any of those trees?” The he went on to debate, looking for loopholes. And then denial, saying “No, you won’t die.”
Step No.5: Enticement
At this point Satan’s role in the temptation process is almost over. All he has to do now is to step back and watch it work. He allows Eve to wrestle with the enticement that is there. Eve is focused on this gorgeous tree with beautiful fruit that is right there for the taking. As it says in James 1:14: Every person is tempted when he (or she) is lured and enticed by his (or her) own desire. What this means is that we are drawn into sin when we are enticed and lured by our own desire.
So it follows that no temptation will affect you unless you are tuned in to it.
What are you tuned in to? Satan in this story has tuned in to exactly where Eve was
He went after her thirst for knowledge and her thirst for godliness. And he turned around to become the occasion for sin and destruction. Eve followed her impressions rather than the Creator’s instructions. When we reject God’s Word we forfeit the truth, and we fall into Satan’s deceptions.
Here are three principles that can help us stand firm in God’s truth:
1.Question the questioner. Not every question deserves an answer. You need to discern from whom the question is derived. What’s his motive? Is it a true question or a caustic arrogance of a critic? Is it designed to clarify or slant?
2.Know God’s Word
In the story we have been analyzing today, first, the devil misquoted what God had said. And he’ll do it again, to you, if he thinks he can get away with it. Then, Eve herself misquoted God. God said that it was forbidden to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but Eve added something that God did not say: “You must not touch it.” Ignorance of God’s Word will lead to rejection of God’s Word. That might sound harsh, but it is the truth. Jesus used Scripture to wage spiritual warfare against Satan when He was tempted at the beginning of His ministry. As we said a couple of weeks ago, that is the best defense. But in order to use Scripture the way Jesus did, you need to study, and know it.
3.Trust God’s wisdom
Eve relied on her senses instead of on her holy common sense. When that happened, she got carried away. Too often we learn the hard way that God really knows best.
There are a lot of things in life that don’t make sense to us. We wonder why God won’t let us do certain things or go certain places. We wonder why certain things that we would like don’t happen. We might get frustrated with God, but we need to draw back and trust his wisdom. I have found out, many times the hard way, that God’s plan is better than my plan, and His ways are better then my ways.
Therefore, when the question comes up, “Did God really say…?" Learn to question the questioner. Soak in God’s Word and let His wisdom seep into every dimension of your life.When Peter was asked by Jesus at one point whether he was going to leave Him, Peter responded with these words: “Lord, to whom would we go? You alone have the words that give eternal life.” That is what we also have been given: not the words of death, but the words of life.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Friday, January 19, 2007
I Ask
Father I come before you this morning to pray.
I ask you to lead me and show your way
You said: "If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it"
These words overwhelm me. I am in dismay.
What shall I ask you? What shall I say?
I say: Don't let me speak in haste. Don't let me burst any word out.
I think: This is an opportunity I can't waste. Let me set aside my doubt.
I say: Let me in the stillness of your presence stay.
I want to see things your way.
Don't let me speak, muzzle my mouth, don't let me utter a single word.
It's not my voice Lord, but my heart you heard.
For, from its silent stillness, flows this desire,
That my heart and will align to yours,
That my heart beat to the rhythm of yours,
That I could remain close to you.
After a long silence...
I realized that I was free to speak, and boldly say:
I ask that whatever I say, whatever I do, whatever I lose,
whatever I recive,would glorify you.
If my heart and will are aligned to yours, and you lead me by your hand
if your Holy Spirit is making me understand.
Then again I bodly ask:
Lead me always, never leave my side.
Let me acknowledge you first in all I do.
Let me never lose heart, and always wait on you.
Let me in all I ask and all I do, seek first to honor you.
From this right standing in my heart, God's true peace is born,
and I no longer feel torn.
Praise be to God, our fortress, and place of solace.
Ana Cecilia Petersen
Friday, January 19, 2007.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Psalmlets
This is like Ana Cecilia Petersen feels as she looks into the face of God. As she writes in one of her poems: "Awaken my passion, Lord, remove my fear, that I may come in the presence of One so dear." May we, too, see God in all his strength and power as we read Ana's writings.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Lessons from the Temptation of David
Last time I spoke it was on the subject of the temptations of Jesus by Satan. The temptations we looked at were: turn these stones into bread, the offer of all the kingdoms of the world in exchange for worship and jump off the pinnacle of the temple and God will rescue you.
As we saw, Jesus overcame Satan, not by arguing with him, but by quoting Scripture to him. And eventually Satan left him. But Satan lies in wait to take the unwary by surprise. And - guess what? – he concentrates on those areas in which we are vulnerable, where he has detected a weakness which he can exploit. In this, Satan has no mercy and he is always willing to play dirty.
Let’s look at a case in which King David fell victim to Satan, and how and why God was displeased.Read 1 Chron 21:1-13. As a result of David’s actions, God sends the prophet Gad to get David to choose among 3 disagreeable disciplinary alternatives (vs11)
3 years of famine
3 months at the mercy of Israel’s enemies
3 days of the sword of the Lord (pestilence and other destruction)
David chooses Option #3, and as a result pestilence 70,000 men died.
There are a number of questions we can ask at this point: What’s the deal here? Why all this fuss over the census? Isn’t God overreacting? There must be something that displeased God. What is it? If we look at this passage, we will see that David is trying to measure the human, tangible basis for his security.
This is something he hadn’t done until now. He always had relied on the Lord for his security. When he was a young man about to face Goliath (1Sam 17), he refused to wear King Saul’s armour, and said to Goliath when they met for battle: “You come to me with sword, spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord…it is his battle, not ours. The Lord will give you to us!” David had started well.
David continued to do well, as he waited to become king of Israel. Following his anointing, he was hunted by a jealous King Saul. David had several opportunities to kill Saul, but he refused to trust his own hand to force God’s plan. When the time came to take the throne, David continued to honour God as he solidified his kingdom, often expressing his confidence in God.
Then came the Bathsheba episode. All that God had given him was not enough for David, and he began to seek to fulfill his felt needs elsewhere other than going to God. That was a disaster that brought a number of consequences to him and to his family and to others.
It appears that while David was climbing the path of spiritual progress set out for him, he kept his eyes on the top, on the Lord. He fought every battle, military or otherwise, confident that it was the Lord’s battle. But once he got to the top, all he did was look down: down at his own successes, down at his own desires, and down at his own securities. He looked down instead of looking up to the next summit that God had prepared for him. The result was disastrous!
There’s a warning here for us. We need to know how to go forward in spite of success. We are in danger of moving backward spiritually as we move upward in the world. Those who have known the Lord a long time have to be beware of losing their spiritual vitality:
“Oh, I’ve been to prayer meetings before. I don’t need to go to this next prayer vigil” You may be drifting
“I’ve been in worship all my life. I don’t need to go any more on a regular basis.” You may be drifting
“I used to teach Sunday School, but I’m tired and I want to rest now.” You may be drifting
“Oh, I don’t need to be so diligent about tithing any more.” You may be drifting
Ironically, we may reach a place where God’s blessing lulls us into complacency, and we become targets of Satan’s scheme. Satan wants us to take God for granted. We don’t pray as we used to, like we did when our finances were rocky, when our children seemed to be going off the rails or
when there was sickness in the family. But when those things are over, we slack off, and we begin to take God for granted.
When we are most secure in the worldly sense, we are most vulnerable in the spiritual sense. That is when Satan comes along and says: “So, now that you have arrived, why don’t you count it?” Satan urges us to turn from counting on God to counting what we have. Satan asks us to trust what we can see, to put our trust in things we can count. David fell into the trap of, “If I can see it, I can count it. If I can count it, I can count on it.”
David was taking a census to assess his military power. He counted his soldiers to know what he could count on. In the past God had helped David in every battle. Nontheless, urged on by Satan, David wanted to count. Even his chief of staff, Joab, warned him not to do it! David fell into what could be called the security trap of power (there is also the security trap of possessions, or the security trap of pleasure, etc) Ironically, David himself wrote Ps 20, which says in vs 7, "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God."
Ps 33:16-19 says a king is not saved by a mighty army, a warrior is not delivered by his great strength, a horse is a false hope for victory…Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fearHim or on those who hope for his lovingkindness to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. What is our security trap of power? How many of us rely on the equivalent of mighty armies, or horses, or chariots, for our security?
The Bible teaches us that we need to look only to the Lord for our security. He is the only One who can provide it for us unfailingly, if we look to Him in trust for this basic need. Worldly power can actually make you powerless! We are vulnerable when we say to ourselves: “I have a secure place, a place I can count on.” We are also vulnerable when we say to ourselves, “I’m secure. I have a position of power and respect.” Zechariah the prophet said it several hundred years ago:
Zech 4:6: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.
People used to say this about their jobs. But have you noticed how many people who supposedly had a secure position all of a sudden are out on the street? Many years ago I went to insure the house of a retired pilot from Pan Am. He had bought a house here in Costa Rica because he wanted to live in a mild climate. But his wife told me that one of their requirements when they chose their country of residence was that it had to be a Pan Am destination. “We feel secure knowing Pan Am is here every day”, she said. Well, we all know that Pan Am no longer flies here, or anywhere else. Pan Am went bankrupt, and no longer exists.
And what happens to the self-image or self-respect of those whose self worth was is a worldly system? Look at the possible trap of your job, your neighbourhood, your service organization, or even your national citizenship. But worldly systems can change. Country systems can change (look at what’s happening in Venezuela). Companies can be taken over and jobs are lost, neighbours come and go, investments can be lost, real estate values change and close friends can betray us in the eternal scramble to reach the top.
Let's look at the security trap of possessions. We may say, “I am secure because I have possessions that give me self-respect and money to take care of any unforeseen contingencies”
The trouble with money is that it makes us more of what we already are: If we are generous, we can be generous big-time, if we are misers, we become misers big-time, If we are spendthrifts, we become spendthrifts big-time.
We forget how limited money is. Has it ever protected you from gossip or an accident? has it protected you from a quarrel? Has it ever brought a person back to life or restored a relationship? If our security is based on externals, we are subject to volatile forces beyond our control. Only God makes us free. Think how wonderful it is to value yourself for who you are, not for what position or possessions you have. There is great joy when you don’t feel you have to guard it or protect it or control it.
Let's look at the security trap of pleasure. If we find ourselves saying“I am secure because I can do things that make me feel good.” or "This makes me happy so I am safe", we need to realize that our society seeks security in pleasure. There is a long list of actors, actresses and performers who literally pleased themselves to death. But the list is even longer of people who have access to every pleasure this world can supply, and they still find no security or happiness.
A very rich gentleman once wrote the following: “I said to myself, ‘Come now, let’s give pleasure a try. Let’s look for the good things in life.’ But I found that this too was meaningless. It is silly to be laughing all the time, I said, what good does it do to seek only pleasure?” This gentleman was the richest man in the land, and he had numerous wives and concubines. His name was King Solomon, and this paragraph comes from Ecclesiastes 2: 1-2.
The downfall of David began with the story of Bathsheba. His desire for pleasure overrode his integrity. The result of this was trouble and strife in his house from then on (2 Sam 12:10)
King David lost the battle, not when he was young, but later when he was a successful ruler.
Where should we place our security? We have seen that power, possessions, pleasure, etc fail. Our only security is in Christ. God wants us to trust in things that are unseen. Heb 11:1: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see. Satan wanted David to count what he could see so that he would count on what he could see. God wants us to base our security on Christ, who has spiritual resources that we cannot see.
How do we anchor our security in the Lord? It may begin with a costly wake-up call, such as what happened to David. God judged David after he’d counted his troops. God gave him 3 alternatives and David chose # 3 because he preferred falling under the hand of the Lord than under the forces of nature or under the hand of other human beings.
Whatever you trust in may be taken away from you so that you will trust in the One who will never forsake you. Sometimes God takes away our false security crutches so that we put our trust in Him and save ourselves many worse troubles. Ask yourself what you are looking to for security. Be ready to turn away from those false securities. Remember how God has rescued you and provided for you in countless ways. Remember the battles you have fought against Goliath and won.
Many times we forget God’s goodness in the past, and we end up going backwards spiritually
Remember your stories of God providing for you, guiding you, answering your prayers, protecting you. What is your holy history? Be ready to let God show you the truth about where you have put your trust. Are you caught up in the trap of power, possessions, or popularity or position or pleasure? If you are, remember these principles:
Worldly power can make you powerless.
Positions can make you captive and may be quickly lost.
People are limited.
Possessions possess you.
Only the Lord, not momentary pleasure, can satisfy your deepest hunger.
Learn to say to yourself, “If I have God, I have enough.”
As we saw, Jesus overcame Satan, not by arguing with him, but by quoting Scripture to him. And eventually Satan left him. But Satan lies in wait to take the unwary by surprise. And - guess what? – he concentrates on those areas in which we are vulnerable, where he has detected a weakness which he can exploit. In this, Satan has no mercy and he is always willing to play dirty.
Let’s look at a case in which King David fell victim to Satan, and how and why God was displeased.Read 1 Chron 21:1-13. As a result of David’s actions, God sends the prophet Gad to get David to choose among 3 disagreeable disciplinary alternatives (vs11)
3 years of famine
3 months at the mercy of Israel’s enemies
3 days of the sword of the Lord (pestilence and other destruction)
David chooses Option #3, and as a result pestilence 70,000 men died.
There are a number of questions we can ask at this point: What’s the deal here? Why all this fuss over the census? Isn’t God overreacting? There must be something that displeased God. What is it? If we look at this passage, we will see that David is trying to measure the human, tangible basis for his security.
This is something he hadn’t done until now. He always had relied on the Lord for his security. When he was a young man about to face Goliath (1Sam 17), he refused to wear King Saul’s armour, and said to Goliath when they met for battle: “You come to me with sword, spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord…it is his battle, not ours. The Lord will give you to us!” David had started well.
David continued to do well, as he waited to become king of Israel. Following his anointing, he was hunted by a jealous King Saul. David had several opportunities to kill Saul, but he refused to trust his own hand to force God’s plan. When the time came to take the throne, David continued to honour God as he solidified his kingdom, often expressing his confidence in God.
Then came the Bathsheba episode. All that God had given him was not enough for David, and he began to seek to fulfill his felt needs elsewhere other than going to God. That was a disaster that brought a number of consequences to him and to his family and to others.
It appears that while David was climbing the path of spiritual progress set out for him, he kept his eyes on the top, on the Lord. He fought every battle, military or otherwise, confident that it was the Lord’s battle. But once he got to the top, all he did was look down: down at his own successes, down at his own desires, and down at his own securities. He looked down instead of looking up to the next summit that God had prepared for him. The result was disastrous!
There’s a warning here for us. We need to know how to go forward in spite of success. We are in danger of moving backward spiritually as we move upward in the world. Those who have known the Lord a long time have to be beware of losing their spiritual vitality:
“Oh, I’ve been to prayer meetings before. I don’t need to go to this next prayer vigil” You may be drifting
“I’ve been in worship all my life. I don’t need to go any more on a regular basis.” You may be drifting
“I used to teach Sunday School, but I’m tired and I want to rest now.” You may be drifting
“Oh, I don’t need to be so diligent about tithing any more.” You may be drifting
Ironically, we may reach a place where God’s blessing lulls us into complacency, and we become targets of Satan’s scheme. Satan wants us to take God for granted. We don’t pray as we used to, like we did when our finances were rocky, when our children seemed to be going off the rails or
when there was sickness in the family. But when those things are over, we slack off, and we begin to take God for granted.
When we are most secure in the worldly sense, we are most vulnerable in the spiritual sense. That is when Satan comes along and says: “So, now that you have arrived, why don’t you count it?” Satan urges us to turn from counting on God to counting what we have. Satan asks us to trust what we can see, to put our trust in things we can count. David fell into the trap of, “If I can see it, I can count it. If I can count it, I can count on it.”
David was taking a census to assess his military power. He counted his soldiers to know what he could count on. In the past God had helped David in every battle. Nontheless, urged on by Satan, David wanted to count. Even his chief of staff, Joab, warned him not to do it! David fell into what could be called the security trap of power (there is also the security trap of possessions, or the security trap of pleasure, etc) Ironically, David himself wrote Ps 20, which says in vs 7, "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God."
Ps 33:16-19 says a king is not saved by a mighty army, a warrior is not delivered by his great strength, a horse is a false hope for victory…Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fearHim or on those who hope for his lovingkindness to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. What is our security trap of power? How many of us rely on the equivalent of mighty armies, or horses, or chariots, for our security?
The Bible teaches us that we need to look only to the Lord for our security. He is the only One who can provide it for us unfailingly, if we look to Him in trust for this basic need. Worldly power can actually make you powerless! We are vulnerable when we say to ourselves: “I have a secure place, a place I can count on.” We are also vulnerable when we say to ourselves, “I’m secure. I have a position of power and respect.” Zechariah the prophet said it several hundred years ago:
Zech 4:6: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.
People used to say this about their jobs. But have you noticed how many people who supposedly had a secure position all of a sudden are out on the street? Many years ago I went to insure the house of a retired pilot from Pan Am. He had bought a house here in Costa Rica because he wanted to live in a mild climate. But his wife told me that one of their requirements when they chose their country of residence was that it had to be a Pan Am destination. “We feel secure knowing Pan Am is here every day”, she said. Well, we all know that Pan Am no longer flies here, or anywhere else. Pan Am went bankrupt, and no longer exists.
And what happens to the self-image or self-respect of those whose self worth was is a worldly system? Look at the possible trap of your job, your neighbourhood, your service organization, or even your national citizenship. But worldly systems can change. Country systems can change (look at what’s happening in Venezuela). Companies can be taken over and jobs are lost, neighbours come and go, investments can be lost, real estate values change and close friends can betray us in the eternal scramble to reach the top.
Let's look at the security trap of possessions. We may say, “I am secure because I have possessions that give me self-respect and money to take care of any unforeseen contingencies”
The trouble with money is that it makes us more of what we already are: If we are generous, we can be generous big-time, if we are misers, we become misers big-time, If we are spendthrifts, we become spendthrifts big-time.
We forget how limited money is. Has it ever protected you from gossip or an accident? has it protected you from a quarrel? Has it ever brought a person back to life or restored a relationship? If our security is based on externals, we are subject to volatile forces beyond our control. Only God makes us free. Think how wonderful it is to value yourself for who you are, not for what position or possessions you have. There is great joy when you don’t feel you have to guard it or protect it or control it.
Let's look at the security trap of pleasure. If we find ourselves saying“I am secure because I can do things that make me feel good.” or "This makes me happy so I am safe", we need to realize that our society seeks security in pleasure. There is a long list of actors, actresses and performers who literally pleased themselves to death. But the list is even longer of people who have access to every pleasure this world can supply, and they still find no security or happiness.
A very rich gentleman once wrote the following: “I said to myself, ‘Come now, let’s give pleasure a try. Let’s look for the good things in life.’ But I found that this too was meaningless. It is silly to be laughing all the time, I said, what good does it do to seek only pleasure?” This gentleman was the richest man in the land, and he had numerous wives and concubines. His name was King Solomon, and this paragraph comes from Ecclesiastes 2: 1-2.
The downfall of David began with the story of Bathsheba. His desire for pleasure overrode his integrity. The result of this was trouble and strife in his house from then on (2 Sam 12:10)
King David lost the battle, not when he was young, but later when he was a successful ruler.
Where should we place our security? We have seen that power, possessions, pleasure, etc fail. Our only security is in Christ. God wants us to trust in things that are unseen. Heb 11:1: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see. Satan wanted David to count what he could see so that he would count on what he could see. God wants us to base our security on Christ, who has spiritual resources that we cannot see.
How do we anchor our security in the Lord? It may begin with a costly wake-up call, such as what happened to David. God judged David after he’d counted his troops. God gave him 3 alternatives and David chose # 3 because he preferred falling under the hand of the Lord than under the forces of nature or under the hand of other human beings.
Whatever you trust in may be taken away from you so that you will trust in the One who will never forsake you. Sometimes God takes away our false security crutches so that we put our trust in Him and save ourselves many worse troubles. Ask yourself what you are looking to for security. Be ready to turn away from those false securities. Remember how God has rescued you and provided for you in countless ways. Remember the battles you have fought against Goliath and won.
Many times we forget God’s goodness in the past, and we end up going backwards spiritually
Remember your stories of God providing for you, guiding you, answering your prayers, protecting you. What is your holy history? Be ready to let God show you the truth about where you have put your trust. Are you caught up in the trap of power, possessions, or popularity or position or pleasure? If you are, remember these principles:
Worldly power can make you powerless.
Positions can make you captive and may be quickly lost.
People are limited.
Possessions possess you.
Only the Lord, not momentary pleasure, can satisfy your deepest hunger.
Learn to say to yourself, “If I have God, I have enough.”
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Prior Prayer
Oh, Lord, it is so hard to break a habit.
Even, when we want it with all of our heart.
I need your mercy, I need your strength.
What words can I use?
What can I say?
Align my will to yours, I fail on my own.
I have seen others, by your hand succeed.
Look down upon me, hear my plea.
Remove from me this stumbling stone.
Have mercy on my weakness, take pity on my frailty.
How long must I wait?
Out of my helplessness let victory triumph.
Let all who know me see.
How you took pity over me.
Let all who know you, marvel, at the power of your name.
Reach into the depths of my heart, pluck out the evil stone.
Pluck out the evil stone, the one that stands in the way,
of the path you want me to walk in today.
Take my hand, lead me to repentance, and don’t let me have my way.
Come shine through me like a powerful ray.
You, who lead my heart, to come to you, and pray.
As you do your work on me Lord, let me stand in peace.
Hold my hand tight.
Let your will, not my weakness, triumph in this fight.
Remove from my heart all evil desire.
Burn them with your fire.
Purify my way.
Show me how to pray.
Ana Cecilia Petersen
Even, when we want it with all of our heart.
I need your mercy, I need your strength.
What words can I use?
What can I say?
Align my will to yours, I fail on my own.
I have seen others, by your hand succeed.
Look down upon me, hear my plea.
Remove from me this stumbling stone.
Have mercy on my weakness, take pity on my frailty.
How long must I wait?
Out of my helplessness let victory triumph.
Let all who know me see.
How you took pity over me.
Let all who know you, marvel, at the power of your name.
Reach into the depths of my heart, pluck out the evil stone.
Pluck out the evil stone, the one that stands in the way,
of the path you want me to walk in today.
Take my hand, lead me to repentance, and don’t let me have my way.
Come shine through me like a powerful ray.
You, who lead my heart, to come to you, and pray.
As you do your work on me Lord, let me stand in peace.
Hold my hand tight.
Let your will, not my weakness, triumph in this fight.
Remove from my heart all evil desire.
Burn them with your fire.
Purify my way.
Show me how to pray.
Ana Cecilia Petersen
Blessed be the name of the Lord today and forever!
I Spoke to You
I used this place so you could see my face.
I used this place so you would seek my embrace.
I used this place to get your attention.
I wanted you to feel my affection.
I used this place to remove your doubt,
That is not what I am about.
My plan unfolds for your life
And that’s my word - to write, write, write.
You hear my voice and turn away.
I want you near me to stay.
My heart breaks when we are apart.
You are one after my own heart.
Don’t fear when you hear my voice, don’t look back, don’t question me.
Close your eyes and it’s me you will see.
You heard my voice, and you did not close your heart.
You did not from my presence part.
Don’t become defensive; let me have my way with you.
Don’t ignore me, till I am through!
I have a plan. You have a mission.
Speak my word with my permission.
I will come and call on you.
You will see my plan come through.
This is true.
Remove your doubt, burry it in the ground, under sand.
For, I will, make you understand.
You are all unworthy, but I chose you.
And I know that you will come through.
Remember, this is not all for you.
It is not about you, it is about Me.
And you will help them see.
I will draw you back and back again.
I will beckon you by my command.
It is on my promise that you stand.
And you will, your mission understand.
Do not look to man, it is my command!
You who feel the least worthy
You who have nothing to flaunt
You are who I want.
Fear not, we will, on our talks, embark.
Just like Noah, about the ark.
I will speak, and you will beckon my call.
I will get your attention, if I have to tear down a wall!
Some will doubt, and bid you stop.
Do not heed their poison, not even a drop.
You have no answers, and know not the reason.
Yet, all will come in due season.
Do not be anxious, do not be afraid.
I will not allow you to be swayed.
Be wary of man’s adulation.
It is nothing more than manipulation.
Do not head to any man’s demand.
It is in me alone that you stand.
Words are a powerful tool.
They ignite fire like a fuel.
We come after the heart, and not the mind.
Remember, it is Me that they must find.
And you must never lose heart.
Learn this lesson from the start.
Ana Cecilia Petersen
Bless me Father, your humble servant.
Make me obedient, to your command.
New Year Service
We had an unusual service on Sunday December 31. We spent an hour singing and worshiping with musical intervals for prayer and for hearing our Lord speak to our hearts. God inhabits the praises of His people and His presence was very sweet. We looked back on 2006 and asked a number of questions about things God had tought us, mistakes we had made, things we had done right, and in what ways we had grown. The children spent quite a bit of time with us as we praised and worshiped.
We stopped for a time of fellowship, then returned to find the chairs in a big circle and a pile of rocks in the middle. Everyone, including the little children, was given paper and pencils to write down prayer requests for 2007. On the white papers, we wrote requests that were later read out and prayed for by those they were distributed to. On the coloured papers we wrote out prayer requests that were not read by anyone, but prayed for as a group. Each request was handed in and a rock representing it was placed around a fire. As we placed the rocks, we had a graphic representation of placing our burdens in the Lord's hands. After everyone had prayed, we burned all the requests together.
We wrapped up the meaningful morning joyously singing He is Yaweh! With drums and tamborines, clapping and dancing, we praised our God for being who He is!
Sunday, January 07, 2007
(English) In God I Place My Hope
Some days ago I went to see the movie “The Nativity Story” (directed by Catherine Hardwicke, 2006), and something that impressed me a great deal was that the whole story moves around the hope that is based on the Word of God. When the angel speaks to Mary, Mary believed in the word of God and based her hope on it. When the angel spoke to Joseph, he believed and had hope, based on the Word of God. The Magi hoped for the prophecy of the Messiah’s arrival to be fulfilled, and acted according to that hope.
Hope based on the Word of God was in action all through the story, and it is fitting to point out that hope is actually hope because it believes in goodness.
In Greek the word hope (elpizo), strengthens the character of those who have hope more than the action itself. A main characteristic of those who wait is their having hope, which shows what kind of people they are.
Hope has to do with what cannot be seen now, what is to come in the future. By “hope” we understand:
(a) the joyful waiting for the good
b) the basis hope stands on
c) the object on which hope focuses
The kingdom of Hezekiah
(2 Kings 18: 1-7 NIV)
In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan. ) Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses. And the LORD was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.
And how many times we are just like Hezekiah, full of passion and love for God, wanting to desperately do His will. Here we have an example of this:
I want
I want your Holy Spirit in me to flow.
I want to give it up to you Lord, I want to let it go.
What ever it is that stands in the way,
What ever it is that could lead me astray.
I want to surrender at your feet,
As Satan looks on in defeat.
I want you to strip me of my attachments.
For they are the stumbling blocks,
That hinder our talks.
I want to remain in your presence.
I want it to permeate all of my essence.
I want to be lead only by your hand.
I want by your promise only to stand.
I want to honor your word Lord.
I want it to be my guiding light.
I want this to be so with all of my might.
--Ana Cecilia Petersen
Dec-6-2006.
Hezekiah rebelled against the Assyrian King and would not serve him. He fought and damaged the Philistine forces as far as Gaza and its territory, from the watchtowers to the fortress city.
King Hezekiah, wanting to be free from the Assyrian yoke, inherited from his father, decided to make an alliance with the Babylonians, who also rebelled against the Assyrians, although the prophet Isaiah commanded him not to do that.
Very quickly, the Assyrian king quenched the rebellion and King Hezekiah was left alone, under siege in Judah, caged as a bird.
How many times we also look for our own human solutions to the problems, and we attempt to help the Holy Spirit, just a little! And we get ourselves caught up in a “thinking party”, as this poem says:
Adoration
Good morning Lord, bless me today and every day of my life.
To be with you, does not mean, to be without strife.
Yet, I can remain faithful to you and pray.
I can remain calm, and in your presence stay.
Allow me Lord, under the wing of your protection,
To wallow in your affection.
Keep me Lord, under the watchful eye of your angels, I pray.
Don’t let me in any way stray.
Over- thinking leads to despair.
Remind me Lord that it’s an error.
I refuse to have a thinking party today.
Allow me, from this conviction not to sway.
Thinking, thinking, thinking…
Thinking myself all the way to fear and apprehension.
Today Lord, instead of thinking, I will give you adoration.
Ana Cecilia Petersen
Dec-5-2006
Hezekiah had to go in front of the presence of God and acknowledge his sin in front of Him, and asked Him for His protection. And God protected him. We will also be protected by Him and we may then say:
A New Tomorrow
Prepare for Eternity
Armed with Serenity
Cleanse from Iniquity
Fill with Humility
I bow my head and place it in your lap.
Wipe the tears, from my eyes.
Replace with joy, all my sorrow,
And give me hope, for a New tomorrow.
Ana Cecilia Petersen
Dec-5-2006
So, don’t be discouraged if you cannot understand what God is doing. For example:
There’s a story about a man who everyday spoke with God, and one day The Lord told him:
“I want you to push on that stone over there”
“But Lord, it is too big!”
“I just want you to push on it every day” –said The Lord.
The man, not very convinced, got up every day and pushed on the stone, trying to shift its position. This went on for several days, until the man, fed up with the task and discouraged, went to God and told Him:
“Lord, I am sick of this. This is nonsense. I have been pushing on that horrible stone every day, for several weeks, and the stone has not moved an inch. I am tired, I don’t see any sense to this, the stone won’t move!”
The Lord answered:
“What did I ask you to do?”
“To push on the stone!” , the man said.
“That’s right”, said The Lord, “ I didn’t ask you to move it. Now see your arms and your legs, how strong they have become; and see what determination you have obtained, you haven’t wasted your time. You have become stronger!”
If you are afraid of the future, put your trust in God. He always does incredible things to protect us.
There is another story:
It is said that a man was escaping from some evildoers, and looked for shelter in a mountain. God told him to hide in a cave. The man, mistrustful and fearful, hid there thinking the evildoers would trap him easily.
And the day was not over yet when he saw a great deal of spiders weaving their webs at the entrance of the cave. He thought he would kill the spiders, but the fear of being seen stopped him and he let them weave their spider webs. After some days, he heard the evildoers outside the cave, and, shaking from fear, he heard the men talk:
“Look, there is a cave there!”
Another voice, approaching the cave, answered:
“Don’t waste your time, look how many spider webs there are. It’s obvious nobody has come in here”
Don’t be afraid of the future, of the difficult decisions you have to take, of the problems that you are living through. God will do something. He will act if you request His help.
CONCLUSION
What do you need? Do you need God to provide for your need? We have Jehovah-Jire. Do you need somebody to defend you? We have Jehovah-Nissi, Do you need peace? We have Jehovah –Shalom. Do you need justice? We have Jehová-Tsidkenu. Do you need to feel the presence of God? We have Jehovah-Shammah; and as if that wasn’t enough, we have Jesus, in whom all the virtues of God are gathered. In Him you have the source of hope. Let us come to Him today.
Hope based on the Word of God was in action all through the story, and it is fitting to point out that hope is actually hope because it believes in goodness.
In Greek the word hope (elpizo), strengthens the character of those who have hope more than the action itself. A main characteristic of those who wait is their having hope, which shows what kind of people they are.
Hope has to do with what cannot be seen now, what is to come in the future. By “hope” we understand:
(a) the joyful waiting for the good
b) the basis hope stands on
c) the object on which hope focuses
The kingdom of Hezekiah
(2 Kings 18: 1-7 NIV)
In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan. ) Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses. And the LORD was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.
And how many times we are just like Hezekiah, full of passion and love for God, wanting to desperately do His will. Here we have an example of this:
I want
I want your Holy Spirit in me to flow.
I want to give it up to you Lord, I want to let it go.
What ever it is that stands in the way,
What ever it is that could lead me astray.
I want to surrender at your feet,
As Satan looks on in defeat.
I want you to strip me of my attachments.
For they are the stumbling blocks,
That hinder our talks.
I want to remain in your presence.
I want it to permeate all of my essence.
I want to be lead only by your hand.
I want by your promise only to stand.
I want to honor your word Lord.
I want it to be my guiding light.
I want this to be so with all of my might.
--Ana Cecilia Petersen
Dec-6-2006.
Hezekiah rebelled against the Assyrian King and would not serve him. He fought and damaged the Philistine forces as far as Gaza and its territory, from the watchtowers to the fortress city.
King Hezekiah, wanting to be free from the Assyrian yoke, inherited from his father, decided to make an alliance with the Babylonians, who also rebelled against the Assyrians, although the prophet Isaiah commanded him not to do that.
Very quickly, the Assyrian king quenched the rebellion and King Hezekiah was left alone, under siege in Judah, caged as a bird.
How many times we also look for our own human solutions to the problems, and we attempt to help the Holy Spirit, just a little! And we get ourselves caught up in a “thinking party”, as this poem says:
Adoration
Good morning Lord, bless me today and every day of my life.
To be with you, does not mean, to be without strife.
Yet, I can remain faithful to you and pray.
I can remain calm, and in your presence stay.
Allow me Lord, under the wing of your protection,
To wallow in your affection.
Keep me Lord, under the watchful eye of your angels, I pray.
Don’t let me in any way stray.
Over- thinking leads to despair.
Remind me Lord that it’s an error.
I refuse to have a thinking party today.
Allow me, from this conviction not to sway.
Thinking, thinking, thinking…
Thinking myself all the way to fear and apprehension.
Today Lord, instead of thinking, I will give you adoration.
Ana Cecilia Petersen
Dec-5-2006
Hezekiah had to go in front of the presence of God and acknowledge his sin in front of Him, and asked Him for His protection. And God protected him. We will also be protected by Him and we may then say:
A New Tomorrow
Prepare for Eternity
Armed with Serenity
Cleanse from Iniquity
Fill with Humility
I bow my head and place it in your lap.
Wipe the tears, from my eyes.
Replace with joy, all my sorrow,
And give me hope, for a New tomorrow.
Ana Cecilia Petersen
Dec-5-2006
So, don’t be discouraged if you cannot understand what God is doing. For example:
There’s a story about a man who everyday spoke with God, and one day The Lord told him:
“I want you to push on that stone over there”
“But Lord, it is too big!”
“I just want you to push on it every day” –said The Lord.
The man, not very convinced, got up every day and pushed on the stone, trying to shift its position. This went on for several days, until the man, fed up with the task and discouraged, went to God and told Him:
“Lord, I am sick of this. This is nonsense. I have been pushing on that horrible stone every day, for several weeks, and the stone has not moved an inch. I am tired, I don’t see any sense to this, the stone won’t move!”
The Lord answered:
“What did I ask you to do?”
“To push on the stone!” , the man said.
“That’s right”, said The Lord, “ I didn’t ask you to move it. Now see your arms and your legs, how strong they have become; and see what determination you have obtained, you haven’t wasted your time. You have become stronger!”
If you are afraid of the future, put your trust in God. He always does incredible things to protect us.
There is another story:
It is said that a man was escaping from some evildoers, and looked for shelter in a mountain. God told him to hide in a cave. The man, mistrustful and fearful, hid there thinking the evildoers would trap him easily.
And the day was not over yet when he saw a great deal of spiders weaving their webs at the entrance of the cave. He thought he would kill the spiders, but the fear of being seen stopped him and he let them weave their spider webs. After some days, he heard the evildoers outside the cave, and, shaking from fear, he heard the men talk:
“Look, there is a cave there!”
Another voice, approaching the cave, answered:
“Don’t waste your time, look how many spider webs there are. It’s obvious nobody has come in here”
Don’t be afraid of the future, of the difficult decisions you have to take, of the problems that you are living through. God will do something. He will act if you request His help.
CONCLUSION
What do you need? Do you need God to provide for your need? We have Jehovah-Jire. Do you need somebody to defend you? We have Jehovah-Nissi, Do you need peace? We have Jehovah –Shalom. Do you need justice? We have Jehová-Tsidkenu. Do you need to feel the presence of God? We have Jehovah-Shammah; and as if that wasn’t enough, we have Jesus, in whom all the virtues of God are gathered. In Him you have the source of hope. Let us come to Him today.
(Spanish) En Dios Pongo Mi Esperanza
EN DIOS PONGO MI ESPERANZA
INTRODUCION
Hace unos días fui a ver la película Jesús: El nacimiento, y algo que me impresionó mucho fue que toda la historia gira alrededor de la Esperanza en la palabra de Dios: Cuando el ángel le habla a María, María creyó en la Palabra de Dios y espero en ella, cuando el ángel le habló a José, él creyó y espero en la Palabra de Dios, los magos tuvieron la esperanza de que la profecía del Mesías se cumpliría y se movieron de acuerdo a este esperanza.
La esperanza puesta en la Palabra de Dios estuvo en acción durante toda la historia, y cabe señalar que la esperanza, es esperanza porque cree en la bondad.
En el griego, la esperanza (elpizo, ἐλπίζω), acentúa el carácter de aquellos que esperan, más que la acción en sí misma; se caracterizan por la esperanza, mostrando qué tipo de personas son.
Tiene que ver con lo invisible y lo futuro. Esperanza describe:
(a) la feliz espera del bien,
(b) la base sobre la que descansa la esperanza
(c) el objeto sobre el que se fija la esperanza
Reinado de Ezequías
(2 Reyes 18:1-7)
En el tercer año de Oseas hijo de Ela, rey de Israel, comenzó a reinar Ezequías hijo de Acaz rey de Judá. 2Cuando comenzó a reinar era de veinticinco años, y reinó en Jerusalén veintinueve años. El nombre de su madre fue Abi hija de Zacarías. 3Hizo lo recto ante los ojos de Jehová, conforme a todas las cosas que había hecho David su padre. 4El quitó los lugares altos, y quebró las imágenes, y cortó los símbolos de Asera, e hizo pedazos la serpiente de bronce que había hecho Moisés,a porque hasta entonces le quemaban incienso los hijos de Israel; y la llamó Nehustán.1 5En Jehová Dios de Israel puso su esperanza; ni después ni antes de él hubo otro como él entre todos los reyes de Judá. 6Porque siguió a Jehová, y no se apartó de él, sino que guardó los mandamientos que Jehová prescribió a Moisés. 7Y Jehová estaba con él; y adondequiera que salía, prosperaba.
I. Y cuántas veces nosotros estamos como Exequias, llenos de pasión y amor por Dios y queremos desesperadamente hacer su voluntad, para ilustrarlo basta una muestra:
I want
I want your Holy Spirit in me to florw.
I want to give it up to you Lord, I want to let it go.
What ever it is that stans in the way,
What ever it is that could lead me astray.
I want to surrender at your feet,
As Satan loks on in defeat.
I want you to strip me of my attachments.
For they are the stumbling blocks,
That hinder our talks.
I want to remain in your precence.
I want it to permeate all of my essence.
I want to be lead only by your hand.
I want by your promise only to stand.
I want to honor your word Lord.
I want it to be my guiding light.
I want this to be so with all of my might.
Ana Cecilia Petersen
Dec-6-2006.
II. “El se rebeló contra el rey de Asiria, y no le sirvió. 8Hirió también a los filisteos hasta Gaza y sus fronteras, desde las torres de las atalayas hasta la ciudad fortificada.”
El rey Ezequis queriendo la libertad del yugo Asirio, que había heredado de su padre, deició hacer alianza con los Babilionios, que también se rebelaron conra los Asirios, -aún y cuando el profeta Isaías le advirtió que no lo hiciera- .
El rey asirio rapidito calmó la rebelión y el rey Exequias quedo solo, sitiado en Judá –preso como un pájaro-.
Cuántas veces nostros también buscamos nuestras maravillosas soluciones a los problemas, y tratamos de ayudar al Espíritu Santo. Y hacemos una fiesta con el pensamiento, como dice la siguiente poesía:
Adoration
Good morning Lord, bless me today and every day of my life.
To be with you, does not mean, to be without strife.
Yet, I can remain faithful to you and pray.
I can remain calm, and in your presence satay.
Allow me Lord, under the wing of your proteccion,
To wallow in your afection.
Keep me Lord, under the wathful eye of your angels, I pray.
Don’t let me in any way stray.
Over thinking leads to despair.
Remaind me Lord that’s an error.
I refuse to have a thinking party today.
Allow me, from this convicction not to sway.
Thinking, thinking, thinking…
Thinking my self all the way to fear and apprehension.
Today Lord instead of thinking I will give you adoration.
Ana Cecilia Petersen
Dec-5-2006
III. Ezequías tuvo que ir delante de la presencia de Dios, reconocer su pecado delante de Dios y pedir a Dios su protección. Y Dios lo guardo. A nosotros también nos guardará y tal vez podemos decir:
A New Tomorrow
Prepare for Eternity
Armed with Serenity
Cleanse from Iniquity
Fill with Humility
I bow my head and place it in your lap.
Wipe the tears, from my eyes.
Replace with joy, all my sorrow,
And give me hope, for a New tomorrow.
No te desanimes si no entiendes que esta haciendo Dios. Como ejemplo:
Se cuenta de un hombre que todos los días hablaba con Dios, y un día el Señor le dijo:
-quiero que empujes esa piedra
-Pero, Señor. ¡Es muy grande!
-Solo quiero que la empujes todos los días- le repitió, el Señor.
El hombre no muy convencido, pero obediente, todos los días se levantaba para mover la piedra. Al cabo de varias semanas, el hombre, ya cansado, desanimado, y molesto, fue con Dios y le dijo:
-Señor, ya me aburrí, esto no tiene sentido, he empujado esa horrible piedra todos los días, por muchas semanas y no se ha movido ni un milímetro, ¡¡Estoy cansado, y no veo que esto tenga ningún sentido, esa piedra, no se mueve!!
A lo que el Señor le contesto:
- ¿Qué es lo que te pedí que hicieras?
-¡Que empujara la piedra!
-Bien has dicho- Dijo el Señor, yo no te pedí que la movieras. Ve a hora tus brazos y tus piernas que fuertes estas, y mira que decisión has formado, no has perdido el tiempo. ¡Te has fortalecido!
Si tienes miedo del futuro, pon tu esperanza en Dios, El siempre hace cosas increíbles para protegernos.
Se cuenta de un hombre que huia de unos bandidos, buscando refugió en una montaña. Dios le dijo que se escondiera en una cueva. El hombre, desconfiado y temeroso, se escondió en la cueva pensado que sería presa fácil de los malhechores.
Y no había terminado el día cuando el vio un montón de arañas tejer sus redes a la entrada de la cueva, pensó en matarlas, pero al miedo a ser visto se lo impidió y las dejo continuar su labor. Al paso de algunos días, escucho afuera a los bandidos, y, titiritando de miedo, escucho a los hombres:
-¡Mira, ahí hay una cueva!
Al acercarse al lugar, el otro hombre contesto:
- No pierdas el tiempo, mira cuantas telarañas hay, se nota que nadie ha pasado por aquí.
No tengas miedo del futuro, de las decisiones difíciles que tienes que tomar, del problema que estas viviendo, Dios hará algo, intervendra si se lo pides.
CONCLUSION
¿Qué necesitas? ¿Que Dios provea para tu necesidad? Tenemos a Jehová-Jire ¿Necesitas quién te represente? Tenemos a Jehová-Nissi, ¿Necesitas paz? Tenemos a Jehová-Shalom, ¿necesitas justicia? Tenemos a JehovaTsidkenu, ¿Necesitas sentir la presencia de Dios? Tenemos a Jehová-Shammah, y por si fuera poco, tenemos a Jesús, y en El se reunen todas las virtudes de Dios, en El tienes la fuente de la esperanza, acerquémonos a El hoy.
INTRODUCION
Hace unos días fui a ver la película Jesús: El nacimiento, y algo que me impresionó mucho fue que toda la historia gira alrededor de la Esperanza en la palabra de Dios: Cuando el ángel le habla a María, María creyó en la Palabra de Dios y espero en ella, cuando el ángel le habló a José, él creyó y espero en la Palabra de Dios, los magos tuvieron la esperanza de que la profecía del Mesías se cumpliría y se movieron de acuerdo a este esperanza.
La esperanza puesta en la Palabra de Dios estuvo en acción durante toda la historia, y cabe señalar que la esperanza, es esperanza porque cree en la bondad.
En el griego, la esperanza (elpizo, ἐλπίζω), acentúa el carácter de aquellos que esperan, más que la acción en sí misma; se caracterizan por la esperanza, mostrando qué tipo de personas son.
Tiene que ver con lo invisible y lo futuro. Esperanza describe:
(a) la feliz espera del bien,
(b) la base sobre la que descansa la esperanza
(c) el objeto sobre el que se fija la esperanza
Reinado de Ezequías
(2 Reyes 18:1-7)
En el tercer año de Oseas hijo de Ela, rey de Israel, comenzó a reinar Ezequías hijo de Acaz rey de Judá. 2Cuando comenzó a reinar era de veinticinco años, y reinó en Jerusalén veintinueve años. El nombre de su madre fue Abi hija de Zacarías. 3Hizo lo recto ante los ojos de Jehová, conforme a todas las cosas que había hecho David su padre. 4El quitó los lugares altos, y quebró las imágenes, y cortó los símbolos de Asera, e hizo pedazos la serpiente de bronce que había hecho Moisés,a porque hasta entonces le quemaban incienso los hijos de Israel; y la llamó Nehustán.1 5En Jehová Dios de Israel puso su esperanza; ni después ni antes de él hubo otro como él entre todos los reyes de Judá. 6Porque siguió a Jehová, y no se apartó de él, sino que guardó los mandamientos que Jehová prescribió a Moisés. 7Y Jehová estaba con él; y adondequiera que salía, prosperaba.
I. Y cuántas veces nosotros estamos como Exequias, llenos de pasión y amor por Dios y queremos desesperadamente hacer su voluntad, para ilustrarlo basta una muestra:
I want
I want your Holy Spirit in me to florw.
I want to give it up to you Lord, I want to let it go.
What ever it is that stans in the way,
What ever it is that could lead me astray.
I want to surrender at your feet,
As Satan loks on in defeat.
I want you to strip me of my attachments.
For they are the stumbling blocks,
That hinder our talks.
I want to remain in your precence.
I want it to permeate all of my essence.
I want to be lead only by your hand.
I want by your promise only to stand.
I want to honor your word Lord.
I want it to be my guiding light.
I want this to be so with all of my might.
Ana Cecilia Petersen
Dec-6-2006.
II. “El se rebeló contra el rey de Asiria, y no le sirvió. 8Hirió también a los filisteos hasta Gaza y sus fronteras, desde las torres de las atalayas hasta la ciudad fortificada.”
El rey Ezequis queriendo la libertad del yugo Asirio, que había heredado de su padre, deició hacer alianza con los Babilionios, que también se rebelaron conra los Asirios, -aún y cuando el profeta Isaías le advirtió que no lo hiciera- .
El rey asirio rapidito calmó la rebelión y el rey Exequias quedo solo, sitiado en Judá –preso como un pájaro-.
Cuántas veces nostros también buscamos nuestras maravillosas soluciones a los problemas, y tratamos de ayudar al Espíritu Santo. Y hacemos una fiesta con el pensamiento, como dice la siguiente poesía:
Adoration
Good morning Lord, bless me today and every day of my life.
To be with you, does not mean, to be without strife.
Yet, I can remain faithful to you and pray.
I can remain calm, and in your presence satay.
Allow me Lord, under the wing of your proteccion,
To wallow in your afection.
Keep me Lord, under the wathful eye of your angels, I pray.
Don’t let me in any way stray.
Over thinking leads to despair.
Remaind me Lord that’s an error.
I refuse to have a thinking party today.
Allow me, from this convicction not to sway.
Thinking, thinking, thinking…
Thinking my self all the way to fear and apprehension.
Today Lord instead of thinking I will give you adoration.
Ana Cecilia Petersen
Dec-5-2006
III. Ezequías tuvo que ir delante de la presencia de Dios, reconocer su pecado delante de Dios y pedir a Dios su protección. Y Dios lo guardo. A nosotros también nos guardará y tal vez podemos decir:
A New Tomorrow
Prepare for Eternity
Armed with Serenity
Cleanse from Iniquity
Fill with Humility
I bow my head and place it in your lap.
Wipe the tears, from my eyes.
Replace with joy, all my sorrow,
And give me hope, for a New tomorrow.
No te desanimes si no entiendes que esta haciendo Dios. Como ejemplo:
Se cuenta de un hombre que todos los días hablaba con Dios, y un día el Señor le dijo:
-quiero que empujes esa piedra
-Pero, Señor. ¡Es muy grande!
-Solo quiero que la empujes todos los días- le repitió, el Señor.
El hombre no muy convencido, pero obediente, todos los días se levantaba para mover la piedra. Al cabo de varias semanas, el hombre, ya cansado, desanimado, y molesto, fue con Dios y le dijo:
-Señor, ya me aburrí, esto no tiene sentido, he empujado esa horrible piedra todos los días, por muchas semanas y no se ha movido ni un milímetro, ¡¡Estoy cansado, y no veo que esto tenga ningún sentido, esa piedra, no se mueve!!
A lo que el Señor le contesto:
- ¿Qué es lo que te pedí que hicieras?
-¡Que empujara la piedra!
-Bien has dicho- Dijo el Señor, yo no te pedí que la movieras. Ve a hora tus brazos y tus piernas que fuertes estas, y mira que decisión has formado, no has perdido el tiempo. ¡Te has fortalecido!
Si tienes miedo del futuro, pon tu esperanza en Dios, El siempre hace cosas increíbles para protegernos.
Se cuenta de un hombre que huia de unos bandidos, buscando refugió en una montaña. Dios le dijo que se escondiera en una cueva. El hombre, desconfiado y temeroso, se escondió en la cueva pensado que sería presa fácil de los malhechores.
Y no había terminado el día cuando el vio un montón de arañas tejer sus redes a la entrada de la cueva, pensó en matarlas, pero al miedo a ser visto se lo impidió y las dejo continuar su labor. Al paso de algunos días, escucho afuera a los bandidos, y, titiritando de miedo, escucho a los hombres:
-¡Mira, ahí hay una cueva!
Al acercarse al lugar, el otro hombre contesto:
- No pierdas el tiempo, mira cuantas telarañas hay, se nota que nadie ha pasado por aquí.
No tengas miedo del futuro, de las decisiones difíciles que tienes que tomar, del problema que estas viviendo, Dios hará algo, intervendra si se lo pides.
CONCLUSION
¿Qué necesitas? ¿Que Dios provea para tu necesidad? Tenemos a Jehová-Jire ¿Necesitas quién te represente? Tenemos a Jehová-Nissi, ¿Necesitas paz? Tenemos a Jehová-Shalom, ¿necesitas justicia? Tenemos a JehovaTsidkenu, ¿Necesitas sentir la presencia de Dios? Tenemos a Jehová-Shammah, y por si fuera poco, tenemos a Jesús, y en El se reunen todas las virtudes de Dios, en El tienes la fuente de la esperanza, acerquémonos a El hoy.
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