Celebrate The Next Chapter

celebrate the next chapter

Are you a senior adult?

Me?

I’m not sayin’.

Ok, I’ll admit it.

I am, as they say, “getting up there.”

A golden oldie

Over the hill

Wise beyond my years

As young as I feel

Seasoned

Writer Mark Twain once said, “Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.”

How true!

But, it seems like every day, new smile lines are showing up. Lol!

Embrace them!

We have reason to celebrate the next chapter.

Celebrate The Next Chapter – Wise Words From Proverbs 16

I am who God created me to be, and so are you.

There’s a verse in Proverbs that addresses those gray hairs.

Check this out:

A gray head is a crown of glory;
It is found in the way of righteousness. – Proverbs 16:31, (NASB).¹

I like that.

So if you have gray hairs that means you’re “righteous,” right?

Wrong.

This is another good example where reading the Bible in context is important to understanding the true meaning of a verse.

In other words, just because you and I are getting older, that isn’t a guarantee of our righteousness.

While there is nothing inherently righteous or unrighteous about the color of a person’s hair, gray suggests maturity. While our culture views aging as negative and youth as positive, God wants us to know that He is with us in every season of life. Even when we grow old, He continues to give us opportunities to bear fruit for His kingdom and enrich the lives of others. – Got Questions website.²

As we age, we still have every opportunity to serve and be enthusiastic members for the cause of Christ.

Our righteousness comes through the cleansing blood of Jesus.

If you’re fretting about those gray hairs remember, there’s so much to look forward to!

There is something commendable about old age that can remember a long walk with God through life and can anticipate unbroken fellowship with him in glory.” – Allen P. Ross, biblical author and teacher.³

# # #

²Quotation courtesy of Got Questions, “What Does the Bible Say About Gray Hair?” Accessed August 2, 2021. Retrieved from https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-gray-hair.html

³Quotation from Allen P. Ross, courtesy of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 5 (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1992).“Proverbs”. Accessed August 7, 2021.

Our Exceptional God

Skimming Past The Cubits

When I first became a Christian, I struggled reading through the Old Testament.

The intense battles, the complete brutality of mankind, the rampant idolatry (Sounds a lot like today.)

You know what they say about history – it repeats itself.

I’m completely amazed at God’s long-suffering patience and mercy towards us considering that we, the human race as a whole, continually turn against Him.

There’s a lot of information about those battles to take in, and besides that, there are the “cubits.”

The what-its?

Starting in Genesis, we read about the cubit lengths required for Noah to build the ark. These measurements were precise, per God’s specific instructions.

As mind-boggling as they can sometimes be, a “cubit” is a very real description of measurement used by ancient civilizations.

cubit - ancient measurement

More specifically, a cubit is an ancient measurement of length based on the distance from the elbow to the tip of the longest finger. – Ark Encounter, Williamstown, Kentucky.¹

Cubits appear in other Bible books as well.

Sometimes, I got lost in all of those figures. In essence, you could say that in my earlier Bible readings, I ended up skimming past the cubits.

But not now.

There’s nothing in the Bible, including the measurements, that aren’t important and purposeful.

There are many reasons to follow our Sovereign God’s instructions to the “T”, including showing our obedience and reverence to Him.

Delight In His Word

Reading the Bible is not only rewarding, it’s a complete joy for me. Thinking about the treasures in His Word has given me a lot of insight into God’s character.

“We” are His.

Consider the following:

skimming past the cubits

Skimming Past The Cubits No More

If you’re a new believer, my advice to you is to not read through the Old Testament without a Biblical commentary.

There’s a great online, completely free, audio and written commentary from pastor David Guzik that you might like. It’s one of my favorites. His commentary starts at the bottom of the landing page. I’ll link to it right here!

These free resources can help you better understand the sometimes difficult-to-read Bible passages.

You’ll see for yourself the very practical applications for today.

Facing Our Giants

My dream has always been to go to Israel, but in the meantime, I found the next best thing.

There are some excellent Christian teachers who did travel thousands of miles to the Biblical locations where our readings took place.

How cool is that?

Do you remember the account of David and Goliath in the Valley of Elah?

David and Goliath

Please read about this account of true events if you haven’t already.

In 1^st Samuel, Chapter 17, we read that Goliath – the taunting, freakishly tall, giant from the Philistine army – used to call out to the Israelites across the Valley of Elah to dare anyone to fight him.

No one stepped forward except for David (the shepherd boy). He wasn’t a fighter in the traditional sense. Even so, he had a powerful weapon.

He was armed with a few smooth rocks, a sling, but even more importantly, the Lord God was on His side. David conquered that giant with a stone’s throw.

A miracle? You bet!

I thought you might enjoy the following lesson about David and Goliath – taught right in the actual location of the Valley of Elah.

I loved watching this!

Facing our giants may seem impossible, but as Christians we know that, nothing is impossible with God.

# # #

¹ Description of cubit measurement, courtesy of Ark Encounter. n.d. Web. Acccessed July 29, 2021. https://arkencounter.com/noahs-ark/cubit/

Our Exceptional God

Commitment To Christ Comes At A Price

July 27, 2021 Gracie

Commitment To Christ Comes At A Price

Look at me

Ohhhhh, snap!

Did you hear that?

It’s just another social media influencer snapping a selfie, and posting it online for their millions of fans.

SMI’s live on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more.

It’s incredulous to me how serious this “influencing” business has become – to the point where SMI’s are now a brand for posting about their daily lives.

These “influencers” live and breathe R E P U T A T I O N, as if that’s all that matters in the world.

commitment to Christ comes at a price

Now, with millions of young people following the SMI’s every word, you have to wonder what would happen to these “influencers” if, overnight, they lost everything.

By everything, I mean every sponsorship, affiliate link, and follower who adore the ground the influencers walk on.

Talk about a letdown, meltdown, time-to-skip-town, kind of day for them.

We’ve seen it happen when a national name takes a dramatic fall.

An adoring crowd can turn on a dime.

Our Purpose Isn’t Elevating Ourselves Over Others

In reality, big egos, pride, popularity-chasing, fame seeking – it’s all meaningless in the eyes of God.

³⁰He must increase, but I must decrease.- John 3:30, (NASB).¹

I . . . must . . . decrease. (That’s every narcissist’s nightmare.)

Any popularity we have acquired will be meaningless when it comes to our eternity.

As Christians, we already know this.

God has a bigger purpose for us in mind, and that is to bring Him the glory, not seek it for ourselves.

Commitment To Christ Won’t Win You A Popularity Contest

Fulfilling God’s purpose won’t win us any popularity contests. In fact, commitment to Christ comes at a price.

The Bible speaks of persecution, ridicule, and much more aimed at you and me because of our faith in Jesus Christ for our salvation, and our belief in His Word.

We have to be prepared for people to reject us, talk about us behind our backs, mock us, wish our destruction, and other toxic behavior.

Are we ready for this?

There’s no time like the present to pray for the lost, pray for our own strength, the right words to say, and for our ability to endure this coming onslaught.

Are we ready to die to self, take up our crosses, and become bold witnesses for Jesus Christ?

In today’s world, you can hardly even speak without someone getting faux “offended.” Eventually, the mob is coming for Bible believers.

Christians, we must persevere!

This world is on a collision course, but our reward is coming.

Some day.

Keep looking up!

The One Who gave us Life has already won this battle.

²²Blessed are you when the people hate you, and when they exclude you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man. ²³Rejoice on that day and jump for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For their fathers used to treat the prophets the same way. – Luke 6:22-23, (NASB).

# # #

Our Exceptional God

God’s Chisel

July 20, 2021 Gracie

The Impact of God’s Chisel

God's Chisel

Life can be painful sometimes, let’s face it, even excruciating.

Are you at your wits end?

There could be a number of reasons for the trial you’re going through.

We have to face up to the fact that God allows these challenges.

God’s chisel is always at work, but there’s a reason.

I look back on some of the distressing events in my own life.

At the time, none of them made any sense except that looking back, God had used those sad times to grow my faith.

God always has a divine reason for everything He allows. With every trial we can experience His love and great compassion for us.

God will not permit any troubles to come upon us, unless He has a specific plan by which great blessing can come out of the difficulty. – Peter Marshall, Presbyterian Minister.

God’s Chisel and a Not-To-Miss Video

Recently, the youth group at our church put on a dramatic presentation called, “God’s Chisel.”

It was so well done and unforgettable, that I wished I had filmed it.

A search on YouTube gave me the next best thing – the original from The Skit Guys that their presentation was based on.

The title of this amazing video is called, “God’s Chisel.”

I contacted The Skit Guys and the only “official” version they had available was for a very large mp4 file used for church-wide presentations.

Thankfully, they do have a “Preview” version which is available on YouTube.

Before the video starts though, what’s this chisel analogy all about?

When I think of the word “chisel,” my mind immediately goes to a dentist’s drill.

Can you imagine having an offending tooth drilled away without Novocaine?

In life, when challenges and trials drill away at us, it hurts deeply.

This video, just shy of twelve minutes, is worth taking the time to watch.

I have to hand it to The Skit Guys – they produce some really meaningful presentations, with just the right amount of humor thrown in.

When you look in the mirror and all you see are your problems, remember that you are God’s creation and He is molding you into something beautiful.

# # #

¹ Peter Marshall, Presbyterian minister (1902-1949)) quotation, courtesy of and as quoted from Christian quotes.info

Our Exceptional God

Take It To The King

July 13, 2021 Gracie

The Battle Rages On

spiritual battle

This awful virus has taken a toll.

People everywhere are suffering or have suffered.

Lives have been lost – just what the devil wants.

People have left the church – just want the devil wants.

The media and certain politicians driving division between people – just what the devil wants.

Brothers and sisters in Christ – This spiritual battle that we’re in is way bigger than we could ever possibly imagine.

¹⁰For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. – Ephesians 6:12, (NASB).¹

In this well-known verse, Paul warned the Ephesians that satanic influences were coming against any who professed their faith in Jesus Christ.

Why do we think the devil is fighting so hard, even now? Because he knows his time is eternally short.

It can be hard to encourage people not to fear when there are so many evil influences all around us.

Worry and anxiety set in and can take hold, affecting all ages.

worry

This virus caused a mental health crisis.

Check out these sobering statistics from a Barna study,

When respondents had an opportunity to provide a portrait of their emotions, the image is one of a generation gripped by worry. Anxiety about important decisions is widespread (40%), as well as uncertainty about the future (40%), a fear of failure (40%) and a pressure to be successful (36%). Though this study alone can’t speak to actual diagnoses of mental illness, nearly three in 10 overall (28%) call themselves sad or depressed. – Barna Group Study.²

So What Can We Do About It?

There’s only one answer, and He is Jesus.

JESUS

Thankfully, our upcoming eternal victory over evil is based on what He did, not on what we can do.

We have to lay these spiritual problems at the throne, because we can’t solve this.

What we can do is love and support each other through all of these challenges, and most importantly, pray.

Ultimately, we must lay all of our troubles at the cross of Jesus Christ and take it to the King.

Take It To The King

I thought of many recent conversations with friends of mine.

Right now, they have teenagers who are agonizing over their futures in the wake of this terrible plague going on.

These teenagers should be looking forward to bright futures, but instead they are seeing businesses close and many large companies making crazy demands just for their employees to go to work every day.

It’s overwhelming.

Recently at church, we sang a song that, I believe, is comforting during these dark times.

It’s called “Take Me to the Cross,” here performed by the talented Northwest Choralons.

No matter what difficult circumstance you are going through – keep looking towards the Cross, and take it to the King.

# # #

²Quotation from Barna Group, courtesy of online study, “Only One-Third of Young Adults Feels Cared for by Others?” Accessed July 7, 2021. Retrieved from https://www.barna.com/research/global-connection-isolation/

Our Exceptional God

« 1 … 34 35 36 37 38 … 106 »