A Living Hope - 1 Peter 1:3-5

The Coming Islamic Invasion of Israel – by Mark Hitchcock – Interesting and Informative

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to hear Pastor Mark Hitchcock preach a message on Ezekiel 38 and 39.  It was a riveting and fast-paced hour.  So I jumped at the opportunity to read his book The Coming Islamic Invasion of Israel and I was not disappointed.  He wrote this book to expand upon a chapter in an earlier book What on Earth Is Going On.  With radical Islam in the news on a regular basis readers may also wonder how Islam fits into Bible prophesy. 

Mark helps the reader to understand who the players are, their ancient Biblical names and the corresponding countries and locations in today’s world.  He takes what can seem like a puzzle and helps put the pieces in place to reveal how these nations may play into God’s end time events as prophesied in Ezekiel and Revelation. 

Mark also delves into God’s prophetic timetable:  How close are we to the Rapture and when will the Battle of Gog and Magog occur?  He is mindful that only God knows the day and the hour when the church will be raptured and when the Tribulation will begin.  But Mark closely examines the signs of the times and admonishes Christians to live in light of the Lord’s soon return. 

I appreciated his clear presentation of the Gospel message and reinforcing biblical theology that God has not given up on Israel or replaced His chosen nation. 

Whether you have a good understanding of Bible prophesy or are new to the study, I believe you will benefit from this book.  I highly recommend Pastor Mark Hitchcock’s book The Coming Islamic Invasion of Israel.

I would like to thank Blogging for Books for the opportunity to read The Coming Islamic Invasion of Israel.  I was under no obligation to give a favorable review.

Making a Home in Texas

When I looked at the calendar today, I realized that it’s been exactly 2 months since my husband Chris and I left California to move to Texas. 

In many respects it’s been an overwhelming two months, make that four months.  Once we made the decision to move, we contacted our realtor and got the house ready to put on the market.  In an answer to prayer our home sold quickly and following a short escrow we were on our way to Texas. 

Leaving California was a hard thing to do.  Hard because we left family, friends and our church, Kindred Community Church.  We left a home that we loved and the state with an abundance of blessings.  A place where the weather is nice most of the time and you can be at the beach, desert and mountains in just a short time away.  It was hard to leave, but we both felt the Lord was leading us to move. 

I’m so grateful that I didn’t know just how hard this would be…if I had known, I might have stayed put.  Thankfully, the Lord has walked with us through this each and every day. 

Oh my goodness…I can scarcely believe the 1,500 mile drive with cars fully loaded with 3 cats, 2 birds and enough of our belongs to help us get through our time in temporary housing.  When we arrived we got settled in temporary housing, shortly thereafter we started our search for a new home.

In less than two weeks we found a home to purchase in a city we hadn’t really previously considered.  The Lord was with us as we went through and extended escrow period and all the demands required from the mortgage company with our limited access to documents and records. 

On October 31^st, we moved into our new home.  Boxes are scattered hither and yon and begging to be emptied and have things put away.  As much stuff as we gave away and threw away before we moved, I wish we had gotten rid of more stuff.  I didn’t realize how much stuff we had until we moved. 

In the two months since we arrived in Texas, not only did we find a home, but we found a church home where the Word of God is faithfully taught.  There are many opportunities to study God’s Word throughout the week. 

Something I took for granted is being in a church were you’ve been for a long time, you know people and they know you.  Your lives are intertwined as you pray for one another and go through life together. 

On my first day in a woman’s Bible study I just wanted to cry.  It was weird being in a place where no one knows me and I don’t know them.  But the Lord comforted me with the assurance that overtime, our hearts and lives will be knit together and I will make friends.  Right now I still feel rather isolated.  I want to make sure that I remember what it’s like to be the new kid on the block and I’m grateful for the kindness of the ladies in the Bible study who reached out and befriended me.

In the past two months my blogging has been very sparse, but I hope to get back in the swing of things.  I’m transcribing the Psalms that I have been writing out during my morning devotional time.  I want to write about what the Lord has been teaching me. 

As hard as it’s been, there are many good things about Texas and I hope to share some of those things too.

Psalm 6 – In my own words

Vs 1 – Lord, You are righteous and just in Your anger towards me, but I ask You to not rebuke or correct me in Your anger.  Please do not chasten me when you are filled with wrath.

Vs 2 – Instead, I ask You to please be gracious to me O Lord For I feel like I’m fading away.  Please touch me with Your healing hand.  Even my bones ache and are in pain; it’s like they understand and feel the dismay I am feeling.

Vs 3 – Even my soul is greatly grieved, burdened and weighted down.  Lord, how long will it be before You help me? 

Vs 4 – Lord, I ask that You turn back to me and rescue my soul.  Save me, not because I am worthy, but out of Your lovingkindness.

Vs 5 – Do the unrighteous and ungodly make mention of you in death or give thanks to You in hell?  No!  But I give You thanks even in the midst of my trouble and my unknown future.

Vs 6 – I sigh all day long and have grown so very weary of my grief and depression.  I cry and feel like my bed is so filled with tears it’like a swimming pool.  If my couch could melt away when wet it would dissolve from all the tears I have shed. 

Vs 7 – My eyes are wasting away from all the tears I’ve shed in my grief.  They feel like they are old and worn out because my adversaries pursue me relentlessly. 

Vs 8 – But in my grief and fatigue I proclaim to my enemies who do inequity – depart from me and leave me alone – for the Lord God Almighty who reigns has heard me and seen tears.

Vs 9 – The Lord has heard every one of my prayers.  He has received my requests and will answer them and come to my aid.

Vs 10 – They day is soon coming when my enemies will soon be put to shame and be greatly dismayed.  For the hand of the Lord will turn against them.  It’s only then that they shall turn back and feel shame over their wrongdoing. 

The Spirit-Filled Life by Charles Stanley – A Great Resource – Convicting, Challenging and Encouraging

It was my great privilege to read Pastor Charles Stanley’s newest book The Spirit-Filled Life in which he shared how a Christian can discover the joy of surrendering to the Holy Spirit.

Wow…this was a great read and a valuable resource to understand the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer.  I found the book to be biblically sound and Pastor Stanley doesn’t mince word or back down when confronting people who misinterpret what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  But he does so in a winsome manner.  He goes through the Scriptures that address being filled with the Spirit and presents a strong argument that the phrase does not mean being able to speak in tongues.  He also exposes an issue that arises with an incorrect interpretation, that of second class Christians, the haves and the have nots.

Pastor Stanley also goes through the Fruit of the Spirit and helps the reader to better understand what it means to Abide in Christ.  I’ve got to warn you, this book is very convicting and there were times I felt like he had read my diary and was expressing what I feel when I see a lack of the fruit of the Spirit in my own life. 

Thankfully, Pastor Stanley also shares and encourages Christians how to remedy that through abiding in Christ and by surrendering yourself completely to God and recognize your own inability to live the spirit-filled Christian life on your own.  He stresses the absolutely necessity of reading the Word of God everyday, understanding it in context and gives examples of how the Holy Spirit may use Scripture to help us walk strong in Christ. 

There were a couple of instances where I thought Pastor Stanley could have made a stronger argument on knowing God’s will where he addressed the question of Christians dating unbelievers and if it’s okay to continue to have relationships with people from our past when we were unbelievers and walking in sin.  He approached the subject from the standpoint of making wise choices, but there are scriptures that he could have used to show God’s will on those subjects.

I greatly appreciated Pastor Stanley’s openness and transparency from his own life, both the successes and failures, and seasons of fruitfulness and dryness. 

I highly recommend The Spirit-Filled Life by Charles Stanley.  This book is a keeper and one that I will read again.  It would also make a great gift to someone who wants to better understand the Holy Spirit and what He does in the life of a Christian.

I would like to thank BookLook for the privilege of reading this book in exchange for an honest review.  I was under no obligation to give a favorable review. 

Psalm 5 – In my own words

Vs 1 – O Lord my God, won’t You please listen to my cries for help, even when I lack words and groan in my spirit.

Vs 2 – Please listen to – attend, regard, consider – my cry for help for You alone are my God and it is to You alone I pray.

Vs 3 – In the morning when I rise, I will cry out to You in prayer and You hear my voice.  May I rise and seek Thee with eagerness.

Vs 4 – You are righteous and holy God and take no pleasure in wickedness.  Evil cannot dwell with You.

Vs 5 – Those who boast and brag will not stand before You.  You hate sin and iniquity, evil, mischief, falsehood, unrighteousness, and wickedness. 

Vs 6 – Those who are unrepentant liars and who speak falsely will be destroyed.  For You O God abhor – loath, utterly distain – the man who sheds innocent blood and is filled with lies and deceit.

Vs 7 – Unlike the unrighteous who have rejected You O Lord, it is by Your lovingkindness which flows abundantly that I will enter Your house.  O Lord when I come to Your holy temple I will bow down in reverence to You.

Vs 8 – Please lead me in paths of Your righteousness for foes seek to devour me.  Make the pathway straight before me.

Vs 9 – Nothing that the unrighteous and ungodly say is reliable and true.  Inwardly they are deceitfully wicked and bound for destruction.  When they open their mouth they only speak words of death and destruction.  In deceit they will flatter if they think it will be to their advantage.

Vs 10 – Lord God, I ask You for justice.  Should they continue on in their wickedness and unrepentant ways that You will find them guilty.  Let their deceitful ways cause them to fall.  As their sin and transgressions mount push them away with great force for they are ungodly and rebellious against the One True, Living and Holy God.

Vs 11 – Let all who love You, those who have repented of their sins and received forgiveness in Christ, take refuge in God and be glad.  Let them sing with joy because You keep and shelter them with Your great love and protection.  May those who have been redeemed love You and proclaim and exult Your Holy Name.

Vs 12 – It is God alone who blesses the righteous – those who have been forgiven of their sins and made righteous in Christ.  Your surround him with grace, forgiveness and mercy and are a shield about him.