The Sword of the LORD

The thirty-second Psalm provides us with the perfect road map for our Christian walk. It outlines the principles of godly living that, if followed, will ensure our spiritual health every day. It is amazing how much powerful "medicine" that the Lord can pack inside such a tiny capsule. At just eleven verses long, it packs a mighty wallop! "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile." (Psalm 32:1, 2) Our God delights in mercy. He doesn't forever hold our sins against us; but, through our Lord Jesus Christ, He has blotted out our transgressions, and erased our sins. As far as the east is from the west - that's how far God has removed our iniquities. He demands that we be without guile (deceitfulness), however, in our dealings with Him. If we pretend not to hear Him, or try to hide what we do from Him, He will know it. Just as w

The fourth chapter of St. John tells the wonderful story of Jesus' meeting with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. Jesus said many things to this woman. He told her that He was a well of water that would spring up into everlasting life, that she should not follow mere traditions, but, instead, worship the Father in spirit and in truth, and that He was indeed the Messiah. Of all the things that He told her, though, one thing impressed her the most, and it was this one thing that she used to convince the others in her city to go out to see Jesus. She told them, "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" (John 4:29) The fact that the Lord knew her so well - all the good, and all the bad - and yet still loved her and wanted her to worship Him in spirit and truth. Many of the Samaritans became believers because of her testimony, and many more believed because they heard Him themselves. Jesus ended up spending two days th

"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." 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." After the battle with the Syrians in which Ahab was mortally wounded and Jehoshaphat escaped with his life only because of God's divine intervention, the Lord sent the prophet Jehu to confront him about his cho