Peter

John 13:37-38  Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake.

³⁸ Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.

I know I have written about Peter, a lot.  However, he is such an example to me.  He was bold, brash, big, brave, and he was ‘backslidden,’ (so to speak.)  He declared Jesus as the Christ and grew praise from Jesus; shortly thereafter he was called satan by Christ for presuming to correct Him.  Now, that correction had to hurt his pride, especially having it done in front of the others.  Yet, he continued following Jesus, and didn’t modify his big personality – he was always the one to make the bold statements of faith – putting himself out there in his love for our Lord.  His enthusiasm for our Lord had to be something to behold.

Peter was full of hope and genuine joy as he followed Christ.  He wanted to serve Him so badly that he often didn’t consider the consequences of his statements and/or actions.  He reminds me so much of myself; particularly in earlier times when I thought I could do anything.  But I see him in several other people, our exuberance gets ahead of our making sure that what we are doing is what GOD wants us to be doing.

Peter did deny Christ, but he was forgiven – and he continued in God’s service.  God understands our desires to work for Him, to please Him, and even when we are foolish, He knows where our heart lies.  Through the years I have been humbled many times, I would hope I would have less of that, now, but still find myself having to backpedal a bit at times.  Wisdom doesn’t always come with age, it comes with dedication to God, His Word and following Christ’s example – Peter learned that. 

Peter gives us hope.  As he walked with Jesus he was brash and audacious in his statements.  However, he was humbled when he denied Christ, far more than we can probably ever appreciate. But it did not stop him from becoming the leader of the new church.  He was never perfect, he made mistakes, even after the day of Pentecost where he was filled with the Holy Spirit and preached to thousands of unsaved people.  I can imagine him standing in front of that crowd with a loud booming voice proclaiming God’s Word and the promise given in the Lord Jesus Christ.  He was a big man with a heart full of the love of God.  

He matured and grew in wisdom.  When Herod had killed James the brother of John and saw how it pleased the Jews, he incarcerated Peter and planned the same fate for him.  However, God had other plans, He sent an angel who awakened Peter, his chains fell off and the angel guided him out of the prison:

Acts 12:11- 18  And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that theLord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.

¹² And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying.

¹³ And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda.

¹⁴ And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate.

¹⁵ And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his angel.

¹⁶ But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished.

¹⁷ But he, beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, Go shew these things unto James, and to the brethren. And he departed, and went into another place.

¹⁸ Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers, what was become of Peter.

The old Peter would have danced and shouted for joy, confident in his protection.  The mature Peter went to the house where he knew Christians would be gathered and knocked on the door.  He didn’t get upset that Rhoda wouldn’t let him in, he just continued to knock.  He patiently told them what happened and then went somewhere else, I would think to keep them from being in trouble and so that he would not be recaptured.

Peter shows us that when we give ourselves over to God, He WILL change us, for the better.  We may let God down in our service, but He forgives and will still use on in His service.  Peter was still the leader, but he had grown in wisdom and became mellower and deeper in his service to God.  We CAN grow in Christ though His precious Holy Spirit’s guidance.  As we grow in Christ we learn from both reading His Word and our own experiences that He will be there for us; that He truly cares for us.  In this instance God sent His angel to ‘spring’ Peter from jail.  That doesn’t mean that in every case He will remove us from our problems, but it does mean He takes special interest in His servants.  

One other thing comes to mind – as we recall the fact that the Bible is written by man, as inspired by God – I am always intrigued by the understatements in the Bible.  I find it quite humorous.  It happens often and in this case it was no different - Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers, what was become of Peter.

No small stir, indeed.

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous

Reality of Sin

Isaiah 41:13   For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.

John 15:18-20  If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

¹⁹ If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

²⁰ Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

While I usually cannot recall my dreams very well, the ones last night are memorable, not in detail, but for the feeling of dread I woke up with, several times.  First one consisted of the thousands of abortion babies crying out for justice as they had no chance to live.  There was an anger coming from them and a feeling of lost opportunities and painful death.  I fully believe these little ones are in heaven, I believe God embraces them quickly, but in this dream there is a time of pain and longing just before death they must go through before the assailant takes their lives. 

And our government pays and insists we pay for abortions.  There is a feeling of helplessness to get the government off this path and admit that abortion is murder.

In a later dream I was at some kind of a function where bakers were giving demonstrations of their abilities for couples about to be married.  They were required to be there.  They were required to give a 10% discount to gay couples and the Christians were crying as they had to attend or lose their license.  The gay couples were deliberately demanding services from the Christians and telling the other bakers, not to worry that eventually they would be the only ones left – they were going to force the Christians out of business.  It was not a comfortable night.

And our government insists individuals who have photography, floral, bakery or other service for those that are getting married – whether a large company or a sole proprietor – must give them the service even if it goes against the Biblical standards they hold. 

A Christian bakery closed doors in Gresham, Or. over this issue, a Christian baker in Colorado has not only been found guilty of discrimination, but lectured for his stand by the judge and ordered to take ‘sensitivity’ training.  A photographer (can’t remember where) has closed shop rather than violate his beliefs. I am sure there are many more examples out there – and there definitely will be many more coming.

It isn’t as if the gay community can’t go elsewhere to get services, it is a direct attack on Christians to force them to either deny their beliefs, close their doors or be charged with a crime for standing their ground.  

How long will it be before Christian churches that take stands against Gay marriage will be required to either perform them or close their doors?  There are some that say that will never happen, I am not so sure, satan is alive and well in America and I am sure he is very pleased with the results of his work, thus far.  He will keep attacking Christians using whatever means he can and he has willing accomplices everywhere.

Verse 22  If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.

If we take this verse out of context it would appear the only reason a person sins is that Jesus has told them, personally, they have sinned; if He hadn’t said anything then they would be without sin.  That, of course is not true at all as we find throughout the Bible.  I believe He is making it clear that they hate Him because He calls them on their sin and tells them to believe on Him.  He brought the Word of God home to people and they chose not to listen or believe Him.  They are upset because they are being called sinners.  They have no excuse; their judgment will be all the harsher for their refusal to accept Him.  We should not expect a different response from us.  As Christ is hated and ridiculed for Who He is, so too are His servants. 

What is sad is those people that are rejoicing in their good fortune of having the government sanction their sins, are leading many people astray.  Not just those that have the propensity to make the same sinful decisions, but those that support the sinful life of these people because they love the person and don’t want to condemn them.  Many sinners are wonderful people, they help others, they contribute to society – but, they are still sinners who are facing condemnation from God.  It is a growing vortex that whirls about us sucking in those that it can find and sending them down to a murky hell. 

The propensity or desire to engage in a specific sin, whatever that may be is not a sin.  It only becomes a sin when we yield to our desires and the lusts of our hearts and commit the sin. However, even if we do not engage in the physical aspects, but allow our minds to embrace and focus on the lust and desire of that conduct that is offensive to God, we can find ourselves in sin.  Sanctioning these sins by society and government make them seem okay and the sinner has more difficulty understanding that God not only doesn’t approve of them, but He punishes those that engage in them.  Rather than seek forgiveness, they are encouraged to participate in the sins as if there were no consequences.

For the government to sanction sins in the manner it has been doing this past century, particularly the past couple decades, is going to cause God to turn from us – and I fear that is already happening.  As Christians we need to pray, we need to stand for Him wherever and whenever possible.

Satan is alive and well here in American.  He is destroying, with the blessing of the government, the very basis of the foundation of the nation.   And too many Christians are either burying their heads in the sand, or supporting the destruction.  We need to be understanding that sinners are human, they need the love of God and they need the loving admonition of God’s children.  But they also need to understand that they have no excuse, Sin is Sin – it hasn’t changed just because society and the world says it is okay, or that the activity ‘can’t be helped.’   Making something immoral to something legal, doesn’t change the fact it is immoral.

Drunkenness is still sin, lust, is still sin, promiscuity, adultery, lying, stealing, theft, murder is still sin and no matter how society paints the picture of addiction or ‘chromosomes’ or the way they are raised, etc. God views them as sins and He offers forgiveness and freedom from those sins – and without that forgiveness, through Christ, they are lost.  The sinner needs to understand that God is God and He doesn’t change just because we think He should.  He is not a milk toast as many Churches are teaching, He is an all-powerful God that hates sin and will hold the sinner accountable.  

How we as Americans, and particularly as Christians, can forget the terrible purges and disciplinary actions He laid on the Jewish nation when they took their eyes off Him and went their own sinful ways I do not understand.  He has made it clear that He will not continue to accept such behavior, but many are ignoring the warning signs, ignoring His Word and those that truly preach and teach it.  Unfortunately, as Christians we too – and our children - will suffer as the nation suffers from such short-slightness of our elected leaders, the judges and the bureaucrats that run the government – as well as leaders in several industries, including the media, that not only support those decisions but push for them.

May God have mercy on our nation; I just pray it isn’t too late.

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous

The Proper Place

1 Chronicles 29:11  Thine, O Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.

I read it, and I say I believe it, but what do my actions say? Where is God in relationship to the things I cherish in this world?  I owe Him everything, but am I delivering on what He deserves?  Not as I should and it is up to me to figure it out. Today is not one of my better days, physically or spiritually.

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous

The Narrow Path

Matthew 7:13-14 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

¹⁴ Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

John 16:32  Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

I had one of those nights where I was awakened by the call of nature and had a difficult time going back to sleep.  As I lay there I was thinking about the gate that only those who accept Christ can enter.  I thought how we can only go on that narrow way by ourselves, while we may have people who love us, who pray for us, who we see every day – there are still times that we are by ourselves.

We may find ourselves alone because we are just alone for a time, or we may find ourselves deserted by our friends and left to our own devices to survive whatever crisis we are facing.  However, we are never truly alone, as God was with Christ, so too is He with us.  But it did get me to thinking about those lonely stretches of path we travel on that narrow way.

I don’t like to ask for help, I like to think I can handle the situations that confront me.  It is one of my weaknesses, I know I can’t do things by myself, but it is difficult to admit it.  I guess I just hope God understands and helps me when I need it whether I admit it or not – and he has done that often for me.

But I do know that Christ IS with us, we know He has sent His Holy Spirit to comfort us, we know that God has sent angels to protect His people many times.  I know a few days ago I said, it really doesn’t matter how he does it, but that he does; while I still believe that, in the o-dark-thirty hours this morning I got to thinking of how would I protect my people on that lonely road to heaven if I were Him. 

2 Kings 6:16-17 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

¹⁷ And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lordopened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

This is what “I,” and emphasis on “I” not that I have biblical reference for this, would protect my people.  The path we walk on, of course, is the path we take through life to serve Him.

I do believe that the narrow way is paved; it is paved with the blood of Jesus.  It is impervious to any destruction, any weed cast about by satan to make the path impenetrable or anything to make us stumble.  He has NO access to that path – he cannot walk on it, he cannot destroy it; we have completely sound footing on that narrow path.

We will face many battles with satan along that path and many of those battles will be ambushes.  The path is straight and presses on far beyond our ability to see, for at the end comes our physical death and our transformation into our heavenly bodies. Since we do not know that time or that moment, the gates are beyond our sight.

While satan cannot enter that path or obstruct our way on it, I envision satan having many pretty things scattered next to the path, things that will entice us into leaving it where we are vulnerable to his wiles and deception.  He will do things that will cause us to look from the path, become intrigued and perhaps leave God’s path and join him in his debauchery.   He can only lure us, he cannot reach over the path to grab us.  Satan can insult us and place obstacles in a way that if we are not mindful appear to be in our path, but we are safe as long as we keep our eyes forward and stay in the center of God’s will – the center of that path.  We can use the resources God has given us to overcome satan’s forces.

But God knows we are human, so I would envision a protective force about us as we walk along that path.  This is how ‘I’ would set it up:

Since we are in an acknowledged spiritual battle I will have my armor of God on and be in close communication with Him; never letting the line to be broken so I could gather intelligence and knowledge as I walk that path.

Behind me I would have powerful forces that protect me from satan coming up from behind me to overpower me with his lies about my salvation.  These would be my rearguard to keep him from reminding me of past failures and broken promises.  They would remind me that Jesus has abolished those deeds forever under His Saving Blood.  They tell me they have my back, and I cannot go back in time, telling me to always look forward - down that glorious path.

On both sides of me would be columns of angels that would help keep me from straying.  As satan seduces with his alluring sins or try to make me afraid with his slings of insults and assaults as I walked along the path, they would keep me in the center of the path and away from the temptation, striking out against the forces of evil that would entrap me.  If I should start to stray they would step in front of me and show me where I am risking my relationship with God for a moment’s pleasure – they could not stop me for I know I have a will, but they would do all within their power to discourage me.

Hopefully I am wise enough to listen and follow them back to the center of the path, using their guidance and God’s armor to protect myself, and, if necessary working my way back to the center of God’s will for me.

In front of me would be the forward angels clearing the way, keeping the forces of satan back as far from the path as they can so I cannot hear or be lured in with his soothing manner and voice.  Warning me of ambushes which lay alongside the path by satan and destroying them as they find them; and if they cannot they would help prepare me for the battle and join me in it.

They will help me keep on track in my service to God and will enable me to stand strong in the face of adversity – even if they might have to hold me up to do so – as the men had to hold Moses’ hands up in the Israelites battle against Amalek so Israel could be victorious. 

I have nothing to fear from overhead for God is over me as His Hand protects the entire length of the path.

Lastly this battalion of angels would escort me triumphantly through those golden gates into the presence of God in heaven and rejoice with me as I meet Jesus.  They would pat me on the back, hug me and congratulate me – then go to God to be assigned to another sinner saved by His Grace for their walk along God’s narrow path.

Yep, that is what “I” would do, but the fact is God does protect us in ways we have no understanding and it really is enough to know that He loves us and wants to bring us home as a victorious child; one who has fought the good fight and is now ready for rest with Him.  In the meanwhile, I do know that I never walk alone, He is always with me.

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous

Christ's Prayer

John 17:8-9   For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.

⁹ I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

19-20 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

²⁰ Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.

How precious Christ’s prayer was during this time of great tribulation for Him.  He knew that He was about to be sacrificed for our sins, yet, His focus at this time was on His followers, on us as we receive the Word from them.

God’s Word revealed Christ before He came to earth.  When Christ came to earth He served God by serving and teaching man.  He showed us by His love and actions that He was God’s Son.  He showed us through the scriptures written centuries before that He was God’s Son.

He preached, He taught, He healed, He performed miracle after miracle in demonstration of the truth of His message and who He is; He walked on this earth that we may know we have a Savior. He then gave of Himself as a sacrifice for our sins – NOT the world’s sins, ours.

There is a distinction here; first those that have accepted Christ and second the world.  The world is a twofold noun here, it first means the earth itself, the physical feel, touch, smell and see world; the second is the deadness of the spiritual world where they deny the existence and being of Christ and even of God and walk in spiritual darkness. 

When saved we are not removed from the physical world, we are removed from the deadness and darkness of the spiritual world into the light and His Grace.  He wants us to walk the earth as He walked it; He wants us to proclaim who He is and what lies in store for those that accept Him as well as those that reject Him.  He wants us in the physical world so others will learn of Him, as we learned of Him.

He knows that satan has taken charge of this dead spiritual world, it is a world of darkness where he blinds the eyes of man to the spiritual as well as physical wonders of God. 

Mathew 13:38-39   The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

³⁹ The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

Ephesians 6:12   For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

John 12:46  I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

How often I have wished that when I was saved, Christ just whisked me off to be in heaven with Him.  It would have been so much easier.  However, that was not His prayer for us, that is not His desire for us.  He wants us to be His voice to the world that others will come to Him, even as we have come to Him.  I know that the desire to be whisked off is a selfish one; it is a human reaction to the stresses and trials I go through; and it is a wrongful attitude. 

God has chosen to use man to tell others about His Son.  He has chosen to give us everything we need – His Word, His Love and Grace, His Time, His Holy Spirit, His Guidance, His Son, His protection; so we can tell the truth to those in the dark world that will listen.  We can shine light in the darkness that will help others come and accept Christ. 

Christ came as a man.  He didn’t have to, he could have used a far more spiritual form.  But we can relate to Him as a man, we can see in His walk with God that we can grow in grace and show others who Christ is – using many of the same methods He used. All too frequently we think we must use a soap box to proclaim God’s Word.  We don’t.  What we need is a heart that is full of Him; a true desire to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our daily walk and a willingness to share God’s promises as the opportunities come to us; and He will make sure they come to us.

People were drawn to Christ because of His miracles, Love, compassion and truth in His teachings.  But He also took the opportunity to talk with people, one on one, as the Spirit led Him.  An excellent example of this is the Samarian woman at the well of Jacob.  John 4:7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.

Yes, I know He had divine insights into her life style and that helped convince her of who He is; however, it is not all that much different for us.  When we talk to people with genuine interest, take the time to observe and listen, we will be shown what to say to them and people will open up – especially if the conversation has been ordained of God beforehand.

The people in the world, do not have to stay in that deadly darkness, they can be shown the light of God and join God’s family.  But it is up to us to allow that light to shine in our life and the way we communicate with people is one of those opportunities to shine God’s light.  Jesus specifically prayed that we stay in this physical world, so that we might be able to proclaim His Love and Salvation to the dead, dark spiritual world.  That is mine and every Christian’s responsibility to Him.

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous

Isolation

Ecclesiastes 10:18  By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.

We have all heard the fateful cry from our children – and sometimes uttering it ourselves – there is nothing to do! Of course there is something to do; we just don’t want to do it.

But what if that were really true, then what WOULD we do?  Over the past few weeks, I have been reading accounts of Christians incarcerated in some of the worse conditions imaginable.  Many have been placed in solitary confinement.  Let us think about that for a while.

That kind of confinement is just what it means, the prisoner is all by themselves with no contact with the outside world and no human being to interact with outside of the guards.  The person is in a small cell.  Many times the guards do not even speak to them other than giving them curt and blunt orders – no human touch other than the cruelty a guard may impose.  Often times they are denied anything to read let alone a radio or television.  Some prisons will allow them out of their cells for a specific period of time to ‘exercise’ but that is all and the time is limited, sometimes an hour a day, sometimes much less. They are in complete isolation.  All they have are their thoughts; if they have not been mentally prepared, they will go downhill fast!

One of the first things I was told, and quickly learned, when running our jail was the prisoners need to do something – even if it is just watching television.  If we left them to their own devices mischief transpired and Corrections’ officers were in danger.  We didn’t have an exercise yard, and other than tv there wasn’t much for them to do.  Fortunately we had a small jail and our inmates didn’t stay there for long periods of time – for the most part the jail was safe and the inmates weren’t violent.

I have always known that good food helps keep people happy and the cooks we had did a good job of keeping the inmates happy. The CO’s were good officers; they knew how to treat people with respect.  That also makes a difference in the inmates’ attitude – ‘most’ of the time.

The populations of our jail were local men for the most part, many of whom visited us often – sometimes it was like old home week when we booked them in.   We had one cell for women, but it was not an ideal situation for them and we seldom held women for very long periods of time.  However, I remember one woman we held for several weeks.  With no recreation area she was stuck in that cell, and we rarely could let her out.  We were a small department with limited personnel so we could not spend a lot of time with her.  She had no visitors, so she had no outside contacts.  One day as I watched her come out of the cell I realized that she was in a horrible mental condition, she had deteriorated in her time with us. 

Frankly there wasn’t much we could do, and fortunately she left us within a couple days – can’t remember if she had served her time or was transported to prison.  Our officers were not cruel, they did not try and deliberately make things difficult for her, actually just the opposite they tried to make additional time for her, but I was ashamed of how we treated her.  It was shortly thereafter we were sued and we had to make a lot of modifications in our jail and procedures – one of which was an outdoor recreation area.  I had developed a five year plan to address these issues, but the lawsuit helped get them done much quicker. It was expensive and unfortunately the county had to cut back in other areas, but it really was the humane thing to do. 

But our Christian friends who are incarcerated in other areas because they are Christians are not so fortunate.  They are beaten, served poor quality food, placed in filthy conditions, deprived of kind human contacts and medical assistance.  Many are tortured by the sadistic guards just because they are Christians.

While many are thrown into prison without warning, they have God’s Holy Spirit with them, comforting and communicating with them.  One of the themes that seems to play out in almost all of the testimonies I have read is that the Word of God they have hid in their hearts makes the difference.  They remind themselves of the promises of God, of the strength that comes from Him.  It uplifts their hearts when they repeat verses back to God in worship, show of dedication and love relying on the promises in those verses to help them through each long day and long night. Days, weeks, months and even years in the same condition.

They have prepared themselves for something like this by reading God’s Word, by memorizing scriptures, by a continual communication and contact with God throughout their lives.  They have not spent all of their time in idleness, they have set aside time to specifically spend with God.  Even though they may never had thought they would have to leave their Bibles behind, they prepared themselves by listening and learning God’s Word.

Psalm 119:160-162 Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

¹⁶¹ Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word.

¹⁶² I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil.

Most Americans have no idea what isolation is, let alone what it can do to a person.  Oh they have some indications when their cell-phone, ipad, computer or other technical devices crashes. Many actually panic – they have a difficult time handling that kind of ‘isolation,’ which really isn’t isolation, they are usually surrounded by people but have forgotten how to communicate one on one.  We get an indication of what it is like in those o-dark-thirty mornings that satan uses to try and discourage us and we feel all alone. 

But to be totally isolated, alone, with our thoughts rarely occurs and when it does it isn’t for long.  But long periods of isolation can happen to us, it doesn’t have to be in a jail cell, it can be where our communications skills have been removed from us by illness or accident.  We can’t see or hear, we are in a ‘zone’ of silence where we are left alone with our thoughts.  And we know it can and does happen to people.

There are many forms of isolation that may not include any of the above, for some reason we just feel alone, feel isolated from everyone, in all of these times God’s Word can lift us up; it can recharge and energize our hearts and souls.  It can guide us through our depression and show us the path to follow to crawl out of it. 

When we have God’s Word in our hearts He brings the verses we need to our minds and the promises He has for us to make and keep our Joy full.  But the only way that happens is for us to know His Word.  If we are slovenly in our studies of His Word then our spirit suffers, and our whole life decays as a building decays and falls down from disrepair.

We may never have to give up our Bible; but we should study as if we will have to give it up.  Then if something does happen where we are truly isolated, God’s Word will still be with us, His Holy Spirit with bring it to the forefront of our minds and we will have comfort in it.

We need to be prepared for the possibility of losing our ability to read God’s Word.  We need to not sit idly by thinking we will always have this great treasure – and start using it, NOW.  As we need to keep our mind and body active, so too do we need to keep our soul and spirit freshly fed and growing.  Dad :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous