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THE BATTLE IS NOT YOURS

"Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned . " (Isaiah 40:2).    2 Chronicles, chapters 17-20, tells the story of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, who lived during the 10th century B.C.  Jehoshaphat was a good king.  Scripture tells us, "his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord." (2 Chronicles 17:6).    He was not a perfect man, however.  He made the mistake of allying himself with Ahab, king of Israel, against the Syrians.  This displeased the Lord because Ahab was a very wicked man who had led Israel away from worshipping God and taught them to worship Baal instead.  It is said of Ahab, "Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him." (1 Kings 16:33).   After the battle with the Syrians in which Ahab was mortally wounded and Jehoshaphat escaped with his life only because of God's divine inte...
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WALK IN HIM

“ As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him : rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 2:6, 7).   I am forever amazed at just how ready I was to receive Christ as my Savior.   I had been brought to a point in my life where I knew I’d messed up and couldn’t fix things or go back and change the choices that I had already made that had brought me down the road that I was on.   I needed help, but more than that, I needed mercy.   I didn’t need a theologian to tell me I’d offended my Creator.   What little I knew about God was enough to tell me I’d blown it.   That’s when someone found me and told me about Jesus.   I was amazed to hear that my past could be forgiven, and that I could have a clean slate to write the rest of my life on.   It wasn’t difficult – I simply believed it.   As a gift from heaven, I just accepted it an...
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LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION

" And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil ..."  (Matthew 6:13)   Growing up, I was taught to recite the Lord's Prayer in Sunday school, and I committed it to memory at an early age.  It wasn't until years later, however, that the words began to sink in, and then only little by little as the Lord opened my understanding to what I had learned.  Most recently, though, I was brought up short by the words quoted above.   I have always considered that temptation was an inevitable part of life, and that there was nothing that I could do to avoid it.  These words promise something altogether different than I had ever considered.  They indicate that the Lord is willing to lead me in such a way that I will not walk into temptation blindly, and that He is able to deliver me from the evil that would seek to divert me from following Him.   When Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane to pray before His betrayal and ultimate crucifi...
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