Every sin first begins in the mind. One of Satan’s favorite tricks is to have us believe every thought we have is our own when they are not. Some thoughts are actually planted by him in order to derail us—and they can run the gamut from the unkind to the perverse. But they don’t actually become our thoughts until we entertain them, examine them, mull them over, and finally embrace them. If this were not so, then God wouldn’t have told us in His word to cast “down imaginations and every high thing that exaleth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5) Nor would He have told us “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2

If left unchecked our mind can take us down roads we don’t want to go. It could be as simple as telling us that when our head aches, it’s not a headache but a brain tumor; that when someone we know doesn’t say “hello” at the foodstore he/she is snubbing us rather than busy or preoccupied. It can tell us that we are any number of negative adjectives when we are actually made in the image and likeness of God. An unchecked mind can fester with thoughts of real or perceived injustices or injuries, stirring up feelings of envy, jealousy and hatred. It can steal our peace, make us feel unworthy, or fill us with fear or other destructive emotions as Satan tries to convince us that we are a loser, will never be or have anything, become poor or sick or friendless or . . . . You fill in the blank. And all are lies planted in our minds by the Father of Lies. There is no end to the negative power of an unchecked mind.

It’s interesting that science is finally catching up with the Bible and now tells us that negative emotions—often the product of faulty thinking—can make us sick, raising our blood pressure, affecting our heart, affecting, in fact, nearly every cell in our body. The Bible tells us that a “merry heart doeth good like a medicine” Proverbs 17:22. But our hearts can be merry only when our thinking is right.

Scripture tells us that as a man thinketh so is he (Proverbs 23:7). Our thoughts matter. And since that’s so, we need to renew our mind daily with God’s word which tells us not only that we are greatly love, that we are priests and kings, but that we are overcomers, as well. And then there’s this, one of my all-time favorites: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee (God)” Isaiah 26:3.

Make no mistake, it is a battle, but it’s a battle we can win if we fight with the proper weapons.

Until next week,

Sylvia

We all know the story of the Garden of Eden, the garden of disobedience where Adam and Eve violated God’s authority by wanting to become “as gods”. It took another garden, the Garden of Gethsemane, the garden of submission, and what followed, to correct the damage. It is the place where Jesus, on that fateful night, sweated blood and surrendered His will to that of the Father’s. “Not my will but thy will be done.” It is important to understand that without this surrender there would have been no crucifixion.    

Sadly, we Christians can spend too much of our lives living between these two gardens—vacillating between disobedience and submission. And what we find is that the garden of disobedience brings us no joy, while the garden of submission can often be a difficult and gut wrenching experience for this garden always leads to the third garden, the garden of death—death to self. John 19:41 tells us that “in the place he (Jesus) was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulcher, wherein was never man laid.”  It was the place they buried Jesus after His submission in Gethsemane and subsequent trip to Golgotha.

It’s interesting to note that when Mary Magdalene saw Jesus for the first time as He stood near the empty tomb, John 20:15 tells us she thought He was the gardener.  And in a very real sense He was and still is. Words in the Bible are never wasted and often convey double meanings. Descriptions, too, are often types and shadows. In that context, Jesus is a gardener, planting and preparing His heavenly garden. Isaiah 61:1-3 is a prophecy of Jesus ministry and what He will accomplish. It’s this very scripture or part of it (Isaiah 61:1-2a) that Jesus read in the synagogue, declaring Himself the Messiah. But verse three tells us that His ministry was also to include making us “trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord.” I image that is why in Mark 8:24 when Jesus healed the blind man, this man saw with his spiritual eyes first before seeing with his physical eyes, and what he saw was “men as trees, walking”; and I imagine that’s why God takes such care in pruning us; why He does it so diligently and so often for it will lead us to the fourth garden.

The Song of Solomon—depicting, in types and shadows, Jesus as the bridegroom and the church as His bride—describes this garden very well. In chapter 4 verse 12 it calls the believer “a garden enclosed (it’s private and for His pleasure) is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.” It goes on in verse 13-16 to lavish praise on this garden talking about its pleasant fruits and sweet smelling spices. It is the garden we all hope to be planted in one day. It is the place where our beloved Jesus will come and enjoy his fruits (verse16) for we are all His workmanship, the product of His labors.

So, as we go through the hard trials of life, let us remember what God is trying to do. He’s trying to make something wonderful of us—a beautiful planting in His very own garden.

Until next week,

Sylvia

In the eternal sphere, something terrible happened in the heavens. A rebellion of unimaginable scope disrupted God’s perfect order. Things were obviously said about His nature and character, His motives, perhaps even His fitness and right to rule when one-third of the angles shook off His authority. Under the leadership of Satan, this horde struck out on their own with the intention of bringing down God’s rule because Satan obviously believed he could run things better. The Book of Enoch and Jubilees and Jasher all give a sense of just how old this ancient conflict between good and evil is.

So what was God to do? He could easily have struck down the rebels with a flick of a finger or clamped them in irons. After all, they were created beings. His created beings. But that would still leave the swirl of accusations, begun by the Accuser, to possibly foment another rebellion among those angels still loyal.

A definite predicament. How to, once and for all, extract justice for the crime perpetuated against Him and His kingdom, while at the same time illustrate His true loving character and lay rest all those lies and accusations circulating about Him? His plan was brilliant, magnanimous, and terrifying all at once. He would create time, a set span of minutes and hours in which he would unfold His plan and display His true nature, and thus repair the torn fabric of His kingdom. Indeed, we see in Genesis 1:1 where it states “In the beginning, God . . . .” In the beginning of what? Since eternity has no beginning, it obviously means the beginning of time, the beginning of the present age. And what did He do in this “beginning”? He created the heavens and earth for the first time, then recreated them again in Genesis 1:2 for the second time. Since God never creates anything that is void and without form, many Bible scholars believe there is a gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, and that the first world was destroyed sometime after Satan’s rebellion. I think it’s a plausible scenario.

Then God created man, and gave him the charge to replenish the earth (Genesis 1:28) again alluding to the fact that this earth on which man now walked was a recreation. And God did all this while allowing Satan to continue fomenting rebellion, and while knowing that man, too, would sin and need a savior. And God did it all knowing that He Himself was to be the remedy and that it would come at a great cost. Revelation 13:8 talks about the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth,” showing God’s foreknowledge not only of man’s original sin but also of what God’s intended solution would be.

Thus, we are all living in a timeline, a timeline set by God, Himself, and one that will last only until His full plan is accomplished. So where are we on this timeline, now? According to the Bible, very little remains to be fulfilled. It seems that more and more commentary is coming out about it every day: the rapture of the church, the rise of the antichrist, the one world government and monetary system, the seven year tribulation, the return of Jesus.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to conclude that time is running out. It’s running out for Satan, for us, for the world systems.  And at its end, God will have put to rest all questions of His character, His nature, His love and kindness, His fairness, His patience and long suffering. No angel, no demon, no man, no woman will be able to cast doubts about Him again, for all He will have to do is point to the corridor of time as His witness.  And then there will be a clear divide between those who love Him and those who don’t. And that divide will remain forever as, once again, things revert back to eternity.

Until next week,

Sylvia

Rarely have I been so blown away by a series of CDs (seven in all) as I was after listening to Jonathan Cahn’s The Harbinger; so blown away, in fact, that I’d like to take my blog space this week and talk a bit about it. The CDs I got from sidroth.org, and while Amazon doesn’t carry them, they do carry Cahn’s book by the same title plus his, The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment which, together, should cover most of the material found in the CDs.

In essence, The Harbinger is a warning to America and deals with events from 9/11 to the present. It talks about the Nine Omens of Judgment, and let me tell you, it’s a stunner. Cahn takes you step by step, citing events and quotes from notable people to illustrate how the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is firmly in control. Cahn also gives a stunning preview of what lies in store for America if we don’t change course.

If you never read another book or listen to anther CD, I strongly suggest you read/listen to this one.

Until next week,

Sylvia

Did you ever want something so much you could taste it? Did you ever pray for it, hope for it, even beg and weep for it? And when things didn’t turn out the way you wanted, you were so disappointed, perhaps even angry with God?  I have. A few times. And when that moment came when I realized my prayers were not going to be answered, at least not in the way I wanted, there also came the grace to deal with it.

But it brought to the forefront something else, too: my sense of entitlement. I think sometimes we Christians can fall into an “entitlement” mentality. Just because we are God’s, we sometimes believe He is obliged to answer our prayers in just the manner we want. It’s coming to us. Right? After all, we’ve been walking in faith these many years, doing things His way. Surely we can expect our prayers to be answered now and then.  But what we forget, what I forget, is that God is not obligated to do anything more for us. He already did it all by sending his son, Jesus, to the cross to pay for your sins and mine. And this act has given us the greatest gift of all, peace with God and a hope and a future.

During this Easter season, as I thought about the magnitude of what He did for me, everything in my life, all of its problems, its hurts, its disappointments, paled in comparison.  If God never does another thing for me, I’d have no right to complain. When I reflect on this great gift of peace with God, forgiveness of my sins, and the hope of eternal life, I’m amazed all over again by God’s great love. It’s this kind of loving God that I can trust with my future, to know what is best, even when I don’t understand what He is doing. And He is the kind of loving God you can trust as well.

Until next week,

Sylvia

This is the third and last of the judgments, and the one that makes me weep. Revelation 20:11-15 tells us this judgment will occur after Jesus’ one thousand year reign on earth, and after Satan is released from the bottomless pit and allowed to deceived the world one last time before he’s cast into the lake of fire for all eternity. When this is done, the dead will be summoned. “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them;” and they were judged every man according to his works. From previous scriptures, we know that believers have already been judged, even those believers who lived through the tribulation and did not worship the beast or take his number (Revelation 20:4). Thus, we can assume those at this judgment are unbelievers only.

This judgment will take place before a great white throne where Jesus will sit. Every deed, every thought, every word of every person has been recorded in books kept in heaven. Now those books will be opened and each person will come before the Great Judge and King of Kings, and give an account. And those found guilty will be cast into the lake of fire for all eternity. But found guilty of what?

Verse 15 tells us; “whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” It is this one thing, and not all their bad deeds, that will send them into eternal torment—not found written in the Book of Life. If that’s so, how does one get in? Philippians 4:3 gives us a clue.  It talks about those who are followers of Christ and His gospel and “whose names are in the book of life.” And again in Luke 10:20 after the disciples brag about how “even the devils were subject to them”, Jesus says this: “rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven (the book of life). Revelation 21:27 calls it the “Lamb’s book of life.” And there’s only one way in. Through Jesus. Those who have rejected Jesus, will not be written in the book, and at the white throne judgment it will be too late for them to change their minds.

And that’s the tragedy. It’s the easiest thing in the world to avoid this judgment. God has made it so simple: “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved.” And the alternative? Hebrews 10:31 says it well, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Until next time,

Sylvia

If Scripture tells us that “Righteousness exalteth a nation” (Proverbs 14:34) and “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD” (Psalms 33:12) does that mean the opposite is also true? Does that mean nations that follow unrighteousness and whose god is not the LORD are cursed and brought low? I think so. Can we not point to the world collapsing around us as ample proof?

The Bible tells us these nations will be judged.

And one of the things they will have to answer for is how they treated the nation of Israel. Isaiah 34:1-8 is sobering text that speaks about the last days and how the “indignation of the LORD is upon all nations and his fury upon all their armies,” and goes on to tell us what is going to happen to them. Then the reason for this indignation and fury is revealed in verse 8: “For it is the day of the LORD’s vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.” That word controversy in the Hebrew means contest, contention, strife, and the “nations” God talks about, according to the Hebrew translation, are the Gentile nations. Isaiah 29: 6-8 also explains what will happen to those nations “that fight against mount Zion.” The scriptures in both Isaiah 34 and 29 speak of destruction, slaughter, land soaked with blood, stinking carcasses, storms, earthquakes, tempests, huger, and thirst.

Not a pretty picture.

But if that’s still not plain enough, Zechariah 12:9 says it all in one paragraph, “And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”

These are troubling words when you consider more and more nations are turning against Israel.  It is a cautionary tale of what will happen if this trend continues. It should drive us to our knees and make us diligently pray for our nations, and the nation of Israel.

Until next time,

Sylvia

Did you know we’re going to get crowns in heaven? We are. At least believers in Jesus will get them when they appear before the “judgment seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10). I think there will actually be three judgments: 1) the judgment of believers which will begin after the rapture, 2) the judgment of the nations after the battle of Armageddon, and 3) the Great White Throne Judgment of non believers after Jesus’ one thousand year reign.  In this blog I’ll only be talking about the first judgment. I’ll discuss the others another time.

1Corinthians 8-15 gives us a good picture of this first judgment. It’s obviously speaking to believers or the “saints” since the passage makes it perfectly clear that salvation is not on the line, but only the rewards for the works one has done for the Lord. Our works will be tried, and if our motivation is wanting, if we have not obeyed the Lord and instead followed our own inclinations rather than the Holy Spirit’s, and done a work, even a seemingly good work, because of self interest, then it will not be viewed as “gold, silver” or “precious stones” but rather as so much “wood, hay and stubble” to be burned.

At times I’ve collected my share of “wood, hay and stubble,” just as other times I’ve narrowly escaped doing so. One example was during the season when God specifically impressed upon me to concentrate on three things: His word, prayer, and writing. At that time a friend was going through a difficulty and asked me to work with her at a local mission for the summer. After praying about it, I felt the Lord’s permission, so I did. But at the end of the summer, instead of releasing the mission ministry, I began begging God to let me stay. I think He got tired of my whining and pleading because He finally came back with a one-word question: “WHY?”

I thought about that question long and hard, and came to realize my desire to stay at the mission was birthed only out of the good feelings I had about myself for working there. I felt like a “real” Christian, and my actions proved it! Sadly lacking in my answer was God Himself. My work was not an act of obedience. Neither was it for His glory but for mine. Fortunately, I didn’t continue at the mission. If I had, my seemingly good effort would have been nothing more than a bit of stubble.

The Bible tells us that God Himself has prepared the specific good works that He wants each of us to do (Ephesians 2:10) and that He gives us the will and the ability to do His will (Philippians 2:13) . Our job is just to yield ourselves. And here’s the part that blows my mind. After Jesus gives us the will and ability to do His will, after He provides all the grace necessary to do the things He’s asked us to do, after He’s given us the provision, the ability, the courage, the talents, after He’s given us everything required to succeed in our assignment, He rewards us with crowns for actually doing it!! Imagine!

Who is like our God?

Until next time,

Sylvia

Imagine spending three years with Jesus, following Him around with eleven other sidekicks, watching Him do all those wonderful miracles, then having the gall, at the end of it, to argue with your eleven buddies which one of you was the greatest?  It’s hard to wrap one’s mind around it, yet it shouldn’t be because we all, in some way, want to be great. It’s the pride thing.

Mark 9: 34 tells us that the disciples had “disputed among themselves who should be the greatest,” and this after three of them had just witnessed Jesus transfigured in front of their eyes as He talked to Moses and Elijah, and after all twelve witnessed Jesus casting out a demon from a boy they themselves had been unable to cast out. Here they were in the presence of true greatness and all they could think about was their own importance.

Then in Luke 22 we see them again disputing who was the greatest. They were celebrating the last supper. Jesus had just told them he was going to suffer and die, had talked about the kingdom of God, and also that one of them was going to betray Him. And right after a brief inquiry by the apostles of who the traitor was, came this stunner in Luke 22:24, “And there was also a strife among them (the disciples) which of them should be accounted the greatest.”

Both passages reveal the depths of man’s self absorption. And be it right or wrong, most of us want to be “great”. And since we do, it would behoove us to learn how to accomplish it.

In both the Mark passage and the one in Luke, Jesus basically says the same thing: those who want to be great must be the servant of others. Talk about radical! Upside down, even, to our way of thinking. In a world where most people are trying to scramble to the top Jesus says the path to greatest is serving others.  Serving others means humbling ourselves, putting our own selfish interests aside in order to consider the interests and wellbeing of others. It can mean taking the lower place instead of the higher, more prestigious, one. And since it fundamentally goes against the grain of our human nature, we could never achieve this without the help of the Holy Spirit. He is the only one who can change us, who can enable us to overcome our pride, and make us into the truly great people God has created us to be.

I say, let the work commence.

Until next time,

Sylvia

Yesterday, in order to get where I wanted to go, I had to cross a bridge. I had come this way before and knew what a “white knuckle” experience it could be. Both the bridge and the winds were high. I held my breath, put my foot to the pedal, and forged ahead . . . carefully. I felt the steering wheel bounce in my hand; heard the whizzing sound as I moved within inches of the concrete wall, a wall that only reached to the handle of my car door and seemed to climb straight up to the sky; then saw the dizzying view of the rough waters below; and finally sighed with relief as I reached the apex and began my descent to safety. 

It’s a good metaphor. How often have we had to pass through a difficult situation or circumstance in order to get where we wanted to go? And it was a “white knuckle” experience, too; one that was scary and dangerous because it could cost us something. Yet, when we persevered, pressed our foot to that pedal, we eventually reached the apex of our problem and found our selves returning to secure ground. I could name some in my own life: the loss of loved ones, the loss of a job and home. Perhaps you could name others such as the loss of a marriage to divorce or the loss of a child to drugs.

If you’re like me, you’re not fond of bridges; preferring a smooth, flat road instead, a road that is safe and predictable. But sooner or later we’re all faced with a bridge, and in order to get where we want to go, in order to get to the other side, we must cross it. The good news is not that there will never be bridges in our lives, but that we don’t have to cross them alone. We have One who can help us, who can place His hands over ours to steady the wheel.  And whether the bridge is short or long, like all bridges, it does have an apex where the problem peaks and eventually leads to some conclusion, though not always the happy ones we envision. But even here, we have One who is able to comfort and sustain us through it all.

At present, it seems so many people are crossing bridges they’ve never had to cross before. If you’re one of them you already understand that no one can make that journey for you. But be of good cheer. You don’t have to go it alone. You have One that will make it with you, for “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1

Until next time,

Sylvia