Friday, December 8, 2023

Happy Hanukkah !

 

 

The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah began Thursday, December 7th. A friend, Pastor Larry Robertson shared this information on his Facebook page. I thought it was helpful and worth passing along: 

"Jesus observed Hanukkah, also known as the Feast of Dedication. We read in John 10:22-23, “At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon.”

The story of Hanukkah really is amazing. It comes from the 2nd century BC after Antiochus Epiphanes invaded Jerusalem, raided the temple, set up an altar to Zeus in the Temple, and slaughtered pigs to Zeus in the Temple of the LORD! When the Jewish people argued against the desecration, Antiochus Epiphanes slaughtered many of the Jews and sold others into slavery. He also made circumcision illegal and required everyone to sacrifice to pagan gods and eat pig flesh.

In 167-166, however, Judas Maccabeus led a revolt against the Greeks and won! Afterward, the Temple was cleansed and rededicated to the Lord, thus the “Feast of the Dedication.”

And as the story goes, when the Jews went to relight the Menorah in the Temple, they found only enough consecrated oil to light it for one day … but miraculously, it lasted for eight days, which is why the celebration of Hanukkah lasts for eight days.

Hanukkah is also known as the Festival of Lights. Use these next 8 days as a prayer prompt to pray for the power of the Gospel to bring souls from spiritual darkness into the Light." (Larry Robertson)

As we prepare our hearts to celebrate the birth of the Savior, the true Light of the World, let us join in praying for those who have yet to see the Light, and let's strive to be Light-bearers to those living in darkness! 

God bless, and Happy Hanukkah!



Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Pray for Israel

 

Pray for peace in Jerusalem. May all who love this city prosper.

Psalm 122:6

I'm sure you are aware of the situation in Israel. Recently Pastor Dean Haun of First Baptist Church of Morristown, posted an article from a ministry contact in Israel. It is a guide to praying for Israel during this current crisis. 


PRAYING FOR ISRAEL…
The Hamaayan congregation in Israel (one of our partners) put out a great prayer guide for believers concerning this conflict:
1) Pray for the young people who have been called up to active military service as well as their families who see them off knowing how devastating this conflict is. Joining with the soldiers who are already in service. There are many from our congregation & all the congregations in Israel being called up daily.
2) Pray for the soldiers, for wisdom & discernment when looking for the terrorists who are still hiding in the villages & other place through the country.
3) Pray for the kidnapped soldiers & citizens, many elderly, women, small children, for their safety & quick release.
4) Pray for a wall of fire, for protection against the intervention of Hezbollah, the Muslim Shihad from Lebanon, allies of Iran, that they will not open another front against Israel from the North.
5) Our families and friends living in the south where the devastation is the most extensive. Pray they are safe, out of harm’s way and will be healed of post-traumatic stress. All of them will have friends/relatives that they celebrated the holidays with, now gone.
6) Our government and military to make wise, long-lasting decisions that honors God, seeks His help and wisdom to defeat the enemy and save our troops.
7) Many families lost their home along with all their belongings. Pray that God will supply and provide for them.

8) For the body of Yeshua (Jesus) to unite and be the light to their friends and family. Going through this trauma as well, for God to give them the strength to give out.

“See how they are rewarding us by coming to drive us out from Your possession which You have given us as an inheritance. Our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.” (2 Chronicles 20:11-12).

Thank you for praying!



Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Get Up and Go On

 


The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again... Proverbs 24:16 NLT

Recently I found myself falling back into some old patterns of thinking and behaving that have plagued me for much of my life. Over the years I have tried hard and worked hard to break some habits and thought processes that bring me down spiritually, mentally and emotionally. I will do good for a while, sometimes even long stretches, but then I either get lazy or something triggers me and I fall back into my old ways. It's very frustrating and I've asked God to "fix" me many times over the years, but I end up back in my old ways. I even wrote in prayer journal on Monday, as a prayer to God, "I know it's not true, but part of me thinks I'm never going to be able to change in this area. I am ... disappointed with myself. I am sorry ... but I am always sorry after the fact." 

This morning (Tuesday) I was doing my morning walk around the neighborhood, ear pods in, listening to a podcast and not paying much attention to where I was walking. About a fourth of the way into my neighborhood loop I stepped on the edge of the pavement with my left foot, my ankle turned and down I went onto the pavement. I managed to get my right hand down to catch myself, and I turned a little to my right side to keep my face from planting on the ground; I landed on my right side and rolled a little. I immediately looked around to see if anyone saw me (it was about 7:30am and thankfully no one was outside their house.) I got up and sort of triaged myself to make sure I hadn't sprained my ankle or broken a hip. Thankfully just a few scrapes on my right hand a nice little blood-blister. I continued on my walk, picking up the pace to get out of that part of the neighborhood just in case someone was looking out their window when I fell. 

As I continued my walk, I was thinking about my fall and the Holy Spirit began to speak - "How did you respond when you fell?" I got up, checked myself out and moved on. "What did you WANT to do when you fell?" Well... my first thought was to lay there on the road and feel sorry for myself. I was already discouraged, and my fall just added insult to injury. I also thought about rolling off the pavement, down into the ditch next to the road and hide out in case someone saw me. But instead, I got up, brushed myself off and kept moving. 

The Holy Spirit reminded me that when I fall back into my old patterns of life, it's like taking a fall. I basically have three ways I can respond: 1. I can wallow in self pity and beat myself up for failing again (which is what I was doing). 2. I could withdraw from God and others and try to hide out in my shame and embarrassment (which I often do). Or 3. I could get up, get back on the road and keep moving forward (which is what He was telling me to do). I still had to deal with the consequences and pain of my failings, but I didn't have to stop making progress. 

I'm thankful God never gives up on me, even when I give up on myself. He is faithful to love me and teach me even when I fail Him (though I wish the lessons weren't so embarrassing and painful sometimes, lol). God loves me, and you too much to ever give up on us. 

I did make a couple of changes in my walk after my fall - I started paying attention to where I was walking, AND I stayed a good distance from the edge of the pavement the rest of the way. Both of those are good lessons for life as well. 

Thursday, July 27, 2023

How Praising God Changes Our Perspective

                                                                                

 “Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God! Now I am deeply discouraged, but I will remember you” Psalm 42:5-6 (NLT)

As followers of Jesus it is important that we develop helpful spiritual habits into our lives. Habits like daily Bible reading, prayer and meditation help us grow in our relationship with the Lord. One of the habits that God has been building in my life recently is the habit of praising God. I have found it to be incredibly helpful especially in times of discouragement and discontent. 

One of the ways praising God has impacted me is by changing my perspective. Miriam-Webster defines "perspective" as "a mental view or prospect." Perspective is the lens which you view the circumstances of your life... your point of view. I've noticed that in times of discouragement and discontent, my point of view is focused on me; I'm viewing my circumstances through the lens of self, which only compounds and complicates my situation. When I intentionally praise God, my point of view changes; I become focused on God instead of myself and my problems. 

Whatever we focus on becomes magnified. When we focus on ourselves, our circumstances or our problems, those things are magnified from our perspective. When we praise God, our focus changes from us to Him, and He is magnified. The Bible tells us this in Psalm 69:30: “I will praise the name of God with song And magnify Him with thanksgiving” (AMP). When we look at something with a magnifying glass, it gets bigger. When God gets bigger, our problems get smaller. Either your problems will be big or God will be big. It’s your choice.

The next time you find yourself being discouraged by your circumstances, or discontent with your life situation, change your focus; be intentional in praising God and watch your focus shift, and your perspective change. God and His goodness will grow larger, and your problems (and self-pity) will grow smaller!