Peace on Earth and Good Will To Men

Luke 2:8-14 "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

This is my absolute favorite passage in the scriptures of the birth and arrival of the Lord Jesus Christ and it is one of the premier sections of Christmas verses as well. It embodies the joy in heaven at the birth of Christ. And the question we ask is "why such joy in heaven"? It is because God has come down to man, to live among him to walk among him and to express, not harsh penalties or stern words but He is come down with a Good Will. He is arriving to bless and to save man from the sting of death and hell and from the cruel grave. It brings God no pleasure at all to be exacting or harsh or demanding with mankind, God genuinely wants man to be well, He has a good will towards man. In fact, if God had His true desire all men would be saved from the harshness of penalties and judgment. It is only when man is disobedient and self-willed that he need fear anything harsh at all. It is only when man rejects the free gift God has provided in the death and resurrection of His Son that God has any issue with man at all, He seeks peace and reconciliation with man, it is the very purpose for which he has come down and He has come with a good will. His desire is that man would accept His good will and accept His free gift of salvation.

We understand a dignitaries function by the title they bear, consider the titles of the Lord God and you will understand that He has come as an ambassador or peace: Isaiah 9:6-7  v 6 "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. v 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."

Considering the names that He is known by you will understand all that is embodied in these verses in Luke about a good will. This Christmas season why not open your hearts to Him and ask Him to come in your life with good will and accomplish everything in you He desires, all things that pertain to peace and reconciliation.

Merry Christmas!

The Anderson's

Do Not Hesitate In Doing The Will Of God

Ecclesiastes 11:4 

"He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap." 

What this verse is saying is that one who observes the conditions before sowing will invariably come to the conclusion that they cannot sow because the conditions are not just right (as a result they will not reap any fruit either). Solomon is not commending them for their practicality or prudence in actual fact he is chiding them for paying too much attention to the conditions. He is chiding them because those conditions are preventing them from sowing (when they should). We want to apply this verse to doing the will of God. Let me re-state this verse in that context: "He or she that observes conditions will hold back from doing the will of God and will not obey because of those conditions" People, over the years, have observed the impediments of doing the will of God. Some of the reasons are very practical. "I will wait until I have enough money in the bank", or "I will wait until my family has grown up and my children are older" or "I am not a good speaker" or "I do not have enough education". There can be a host of reasons why one observes the wind or the clouds and does not sow. One of the biggies is the money issue, they cannot move in the will of God because they will not have enough money; it may require they move to an area of lower income or leave their career which is providing a good income. Years ago when God asked me to move my family from my home state to Bible School He knew this would have been a struggle for me so He mercifully removed me from my job through a work related injury so that it would not be an issue. Since then I have learned that you just commit to do the will of God and finances take care of themselves. I suspect this is a struggle for many but if only we could learn that obeying the voice of the Lord it is a righteous act and God upholds the righteous. 

There is another verse that comes to mind and we want to apply it here: Proverbs 11:24 KJV "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty." We observe that those who hold back become weak in spirit, weak in faith, weak in resource and tend to poverty but those who disregard risk and simply obey prosper and increase. We should have a zeal to perform the will of God (once He has revealed and burdened us with what His will is). We should disregard the wind and the clouds and simply obey. Bear in mind the following verse and you will see the wonders of God performed in your life: 2 Chonicles 16:9 KJV 9 "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him..."

Forgive Our Sin and Heal Our Broken Land!

Job 12:23 "He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again."

All the striving of the nations are but a wave by His hand, He raises one up and He brings down another. When there are wars and conflicts it is God who decides the outcome. It is God who increases a nations and it is He who diminishes the nations. We must not think, however, that this is an arbitrary activity designed by the whim of God (As portrayed by the Greek writers of old, Homer and Virgil in the Iliad the Odyssey and the Aeneid.  These books malign the nature of the true God by making the mythical gods appear petty and arbitrary). Our God has very specific criteria for those He raises up and those He uses for a good versus an evil purpose (and this applies to the individual as well as on the national level). What is the criteria that God uses to raise a nation up or to bring them down low, to bless them or to bring on them a curse? We can find the answer to that in the book of Deuteronomy:

Deuteronomy 28:1-2 KJV 1 "And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God." The lifting up of the nations is not speculative nor is it on a whim; we are clearly told in Gods word, in the book of the law that those who keep His commandments and listen closely to His word to keep it will be lifted up above all other nations and will enjoy the blessing of the Lord on their land. As you read through the first half of chapter twenty eight of Deuteronomy then you will see all the great blessings that will follow. This is encouragement for us to follow in His ways and to keep His commandments. We should pray for our nation that God would magnify His law again that we would be a people who would please Him and walk in His ways, that is the way to be lifted up above other nations. It is not a secret nor is it complicated, walk in his ways and you will be blessed.

Contrariwise, we have the other side of the spectrum where a nation is broken down and becomes cursed. Deuteronomy 28:15 KJV "But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:" As you read through the remaining verses of Deuteronomy twenty eight you will see how a nation is brought down low, it is by disregarding His commandments and not listening to His words. This is the deplorable state of many nations today and therefore the entire earth is in a terrible state making the godly to long for the millennium, a reign of peace. Those of us who believe Gods word are moved to pray for our nation that God would bring a revival that will make His Word honorable again; that we would please Him with godly judgments and godly laws to govern us. The primary example is walking in his ten commandments and keeping His judgments and statutes but also that all our laws that govern us civily would be laws that bring Him pleasure and not displeasure.

O' God, forgive our sin and heal our broken land! 

The Finest of the Wheat and Honey That Satisfies!

Psalms 81:16

"He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee."

This is what the Lord would have done if His people had listened to His voice. Implied here, of course, is complete obedience to His voice not just that they would hear it; the indication that one is listening to God is obedience to what He has said. If they had listened to His counsel He would have fed them with the finest of the wheat, and while this was certainly applicable to the original hearers of this verse what we want to gather is what does it mean for us today? It simply means that if we would hearken to His word He would feed us with the finest of His word, the bread of life. Obedience is the key element to the finest of the wheat, or good doctrine. There is such a thing as inferior wheat, the finest of the wheat implies that wheat is graded from fine to poor; obedience produces the finest wheat. Our spiritual standing and well being is dependent upon what we feed on.

I have often considered fellow believers who are content to feed upon the inferior wheat of Gods word (Teachers and leaders who are teaching a mixed message and others who omit part of the full counsel of God) and wondered, "How can they be content with an inferior word?" We want to be those who desire the finest of the wheat, the best of Gods Word and if we are to partake of this finest wheat then we must obey and walk in His counsels. The opposite of this is what the children of Israel actually experienced because of disobedience and we see this in verse twelve: Psa 81:12 KJV "So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels." They forfeited the finest of the wheat, His doctrine, for their own counsels (mans counsels are infinitely less than the counsel of the Lord contained in His word).

Then the Lord takes it to the next level when He says "And with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee" Honey speaks of revelation (Jonathan's eyes were opened when he ate the honey in the book of 1 Samuel). God gives revelation to those who are obedient to His word but notice this, it is not just revelation but it is revelation that satisfies our spirit. It brings joy and contentment to the heart and causes one to be greatly satisfied. This is a wonderful promise indeed but all of this was sacrificed because they did not hearken to the Almighty nor did they obey His voice. What a tragedy that we should hold to our own ways, that we should miss this blessing because of some part of our rebellious nature. Man is horribly insecure, he strives to fight and protect what is his own but Oh that we would freely give up what the Lord requires of us knowing that if we hearken to Him He will give us the finest of the wheat and the honey that satisfies. May God quicken these verses to us and give us a fresh zeal to obey, not as one who is coerced into doing what is right or else they are punished but as one who knows, who really knows the benefit of simple obedience, the finest of the wheat and to be satisfied by the honey from the rock.

Life, Favor and His Visitation - This Sums Everything Up

Job 10:12

"Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit."

"Thou hast granted me life..." Although we see life all around us, life itself is intangeable. Life is spiritual and it is what allows these vessels we are housed in to move and live and breathe. Take away life and there is just a dead container. Life produces awareness, thought processes, decisions are made because of life; it is obvious that a corpse has none of these because a corpse though it is real it has not life (the spark within). Therefore, what we observe as real and tangeable is not life but rather the result of life. The scriptures say this: Act 17:28 KJV "For in him we live, and move, and have our being..." We live and move and have our being; it does not even mention the body just the spirit and soul "Our being". Life comes from the breath of God, even the wicked who blaspheme His name owe their life to him. One who is born without life is considered still born, something happened that a vessel was born without life, a tragic reality. Life is something that is deposited by God into the vessel being birthed and it is not an organic act it is a spiritual act.

Then there is something every bit as important as life itself, it s Gods favor or loving kindness. In fact David said it is better than life itself: Psa 63:3 KJV "Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee." This is certainly true because we can have our being, the spark of life and yet without His favor and loving kindness we can be miserable in life. It is His favor Job acknowledges because at one time he walked in the light of Gods countenance in favor and blessing. All of that has been apparently removed (at least from Jobs perspective) and yet, in reality, it has not left him at all because God is actually putting Job into a posture which will release Gods blessing as never before. It is what we are within and without (how we think and how we behave) that determine His favor on our lives. If we please Him we enjoy life, displease Him and it is death. And so God is, through this trial, altering how Job thinks and acts so He can pour out His loving kindness in ways He never could before.

"...And thy visitation hath preserved my spirit." I want to say something about Gods visitation; sometimes He comes to us as the latter rain and we blossom and grow under the light of His countenance as He shines upon us. But lest we forget the entire picture God is visiting Job right now; he is in the midst of Gods visitation here in this trial. I know that is not what Job is referring to, he is referring to the blessing of God and yet God is still visiting him all the same. We need to be careful in this area to not attribute to Satan what is actually Gods working. Evil circumstances do not mean God is not in it! I have know His visitation to bring great light and I have known His visitation to bring great darkness (and we are not talking about His visitation to the wicked but to those He loves and seeks to perfect). We have reviewed this verse before and we will not doubt interject it again but we must always bear in mind God visits with darkness as well as light (But the outcome will be good if your are His child):

Isa 50:10-11 KJV 10 "Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God. 11 Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow."

Has God visited you in darkness and in sorrow? Remember what Job said; "His visitation hath preserved my spirit" We must always fall upon Romans 8:28 - "All things work together for good..." In life and in death, in joy and in sorrow Gods visitation touches something in us and that work will ultimately preserve us in some way and so there is no need to be overcome, God is on our side.

Who Has Hardened Himself Against Him (God Almighty) and Prospered?

Job 9:4

"He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?"

Here is a wonderful description of God; He is wise in heart, He is in fact wisdom personified. We find a resume of wisdom in the Proverbs, especially in chapter one, eight and nine. He also is mighty in strength, His chief power is exercised through His word (Hebrews tells us with it He created the worlds and with it He destroys His enemies, Revelations reveals a sharp two edged sword proceeds from His mouth to destroy His enemies). And so this really is a wonderful description of God who is wise in heart and His mouth speaks from that wise heart (for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks; if the heart is full of wisdom then the lips are wise). We should add at this point other aspects to His nature that govern Him, if there is a being who is all knowing and all powerful then you certainly want Him to possess other qualities that would make Him temperate in the use of that wisdom and power.

God has those qualities and we see them identified for us in Exo 34:5-8 KJV "5 And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. 8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped." The mythical gods of antiquity possess wisdom and power but they are not temperate; they lack qualities such as mercy, graciousness, longsuffering, goodness, truth and above all the ability to forgive iniquity. These are very aspects of The Lord God's nature, He is more than wonderful and we are very fortunate to have Him as our God.

Who opposes Him and prospers? No one can stand toe to toe with God, although many make their boast while here on earth (It is just like a boaster to speak great words when they feel they are a safe distance from danger) but when they stand before the Almighty they will shake and quiver like a leaf before a fierce storm. No one can oppose Him and prosper; Psalm 2 says He that sitteth in the heavens will laugh at them; the Lord will have them in derision. There is another way men oppose Him and that is by living contrary to His commandments. Deuteronomy 28 governs the whole of life; if one keeps His commands then they prosper but if they turn their back on Him and walk contrary to His ways then they are cursed. We should seek Him diligently and walk fearfully before Him because none can oppose Him and prosper.

The Storm, The Darkness, The Fire Will End Then There Will Be Joy!

Job 8:21 - "Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing."

This is the result of those who please God; though they suffer, though they have valleys and dark trials they are going to be filled with laughter and rejoicing. This is reminiscent of Psa 126:1-6 "1 A Song of degrees. When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. 2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them. 3 The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad. 4 Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south. 5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. 6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."

This is exactly why we should try not to be overly downcast when we suffer; suffering has its purpose and it has its work to do in our lives (God has not promised we would always have sunshine, He promised our end would be good if we please Him). For those who remember Him and strive to please Him (even in the midst of their weakness from their trial) they will always rise from the ashes and will worship Him again in strength and blessing. We should avoid forming harmful opinions and casting off restraint when it seems all is lost in a trial because everything eventually turns good for the righteous, everything rights itself again and God upholds them and turns again their captivity. This is going to be the way with Job as well; he will see better days, the sunshine and blessing of God will again rise upon this man.

Do you suffer yet again, are you again in a valley? Hold fast to your character, retain your integrity and God will bring you out! In despair you will be tempted to complain against the one who seeks to do you good, do not do it, resist the temptation because it will lead to casting off restraint and wicked works which will turn His favor permanently. The secret is to allow yourself the permission to say: "Come what may I know He does only wondrous things; blessed be His name" Lean on what we all know about the character of God, He is just, He is upright, he does not punish the righteous and He deeply loves humanity. At the end of every storm, when darkness comes to the end or the fire is finally extinguished the end of the righteous is always laughter and joy!

MY HEAVENLY FATHER WATCHES OVER ME

I trust in God wherever I may be,

Upon the land, or on the rolling sea,

For come what may, from day to day,

My heav’nly Father watches over me.

Refrain:

I trust in God, I know He cares for me;

On mountain bleak or on the stormy sea;

Though billows roll, He keeps my soul;

My heav’nly Father watches over me.

He makes the rose an object of His care,

He guides the eagle through the pathless air,

And surely He remembers me;

My heav’nly Father watches over me.

I trust in God, for, in the lion’s den,

On battlefield, or in the prison pen,

Through praise or blame, through flood or flame,

My heav’nly Father watches over me.

The valley may be dark, the shadows deep,

But, oh, the Shepherd guards His lonely sheep;

And through the gloom He’ll lead me home,

My heav’nly Father watches over me.