The Sword of the LORD

"Ye are My witnesses, saith the LORD, and My servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He: before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me.  I, even I, am the LORD; and beside Me there is no Saviour.  I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are My witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God." (Isaiah 43:10-12).   We often struggle to understand our purpose in this life.   We wonder what we should be doing, and how we can best invest ourselves.   We think that we must climb some great mountain peak, locate a mysterious guru perched at the top, and ask him to tell us the meaning of life.   God has already made it quite plain for us in His Word, however.   He says of man, "I have created him for My glory." (Isaiah 43:7).   We have been called to be God's witnesses.   Of what are we to witness and testify of?   That God is God.   We are t

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; ( for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us ;) that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ .  And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." (1 John 1:1-4).   The great doctrine of the Christian faith, and the thing that sets it apart from other religions, is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  Jesus was very plain and deliberate in teaching the necessity of both life and death.  Without a death, there can be no resurrection; and without a resurrection, there can be no life.  At one point in His ministry, He told His disciples, "Ver

My wife and I recently attended a surprise 80th birthday party for my wife's aunt.   There were lots of cousins, great-cousins, and even 3rd generation cousins present at the party, some of whom had come a good distance to attend; so it was great to see everybody and catch up on news of their families.   My wife later commented about how one little baby who was just a few months old was able to pick out her mother's voice even above 40 or more other voices all talking at the same time.   Her little ears would prick up and her head would turn toward the direction of her momma's voice.     As my wife described what she observed that day, I had to think of our relationship with our heavenly Father and how similar it is to that little one and her momma.   There are many voices around us always, some are good, and some are not so good, but in the midst of so many voices our Father's rings out true and distinct from all others.   We know that we can trust that voice becau