The Sword of the LORD

“ … looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith ; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12: 2).   These three words, “looking unto Jesus,” seem to be at the heart of Paul’s letter to the 1 st century Hebrew Christians, but it is also the heart of the Gospel message to every soul that has received Him from the 1 st century until now.  Paul especially wanted to make sure that these Jewish converts were placing their faith solely on Jesus Christ and His finished work of redemption rather than in the trappings of religion they formerly trusted.   He knew that it would do no good for them to rely on angels, a worldly temple, an earthly priesthood, a temporal Promised Land, a fleshly covenant, or carnal sacrifices to secure their eternal salvation.  All those things were part of the old covenant and were ineffective in bringing God’s people to...

“Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life …and God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.  So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God .” (Genesis 45:5, 7, 8). " Whither the Forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus… ” (Hebrews 6:20). In the book of Genesis we find the story of Joseph, a type and shadow of our Savior, Jesus Christ.   We also find a pattern by which the sons of God may attain full maturity in the Lord in these last days.   Just as Jesus was a forerunner, Who went before us and overcame all things to provide salvation and eternal life to all who receive Him, Joseph also fulfilled that role for his family and for the world by providing a way for them to be saved during a time of great famine. Joseph was one of twelve sons born to the Jewish patriarch Jacob.   Joseph’s mother was Rachel,...

The disciples approached Jesus one day with an important request. They said to the Lord,  “Teach us to pray.”   Jesus gave to them what has become known as the Lord's prayer. Churches and Christian believers the world over recite this prayer, both privately and congregationally. Jesus did not mean for this prayer to be something they memorized and repeated every time that they spoke to God, though. He meant for it to be a model, a pattern, from which they could shape their own prayers, expanding on it, and making it personal and an expression of themselves. Studying the various elements of the Lord's prayer, and understanding the intent behind them, can breathe new life into our own prayers and make them much more focused in the will of God. Our Father. . . Of all the ways that we can address Almighty God,  "Father"  is the one that I believe pleases Him the most. We might address Him as "Creator of the universe," "Judge of all the earth," or just ...