Thankful, Day Seventy-Five

Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands!

Serve the LORD with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the LORD, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the the LORD is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100, NKJV

I looked up the word lord in the original language, expecting to find one meaning and found something totally different. This is what I get for memorizing words and not paying closer attention to things like punctuation and capital letters. So now, in the closing days of this little exercise in thanksgiving, I've discovered something new and life-impacting in this Psalm which I have journaled for 75 days.

To the ancient Jews, God's personal, covenant-keeping name was YHWH. When said aloud it sounded more like a breath than a word. When written it is called the Tetragrammation, and the actual pronunciation is uncertain. Some suggest the most accurate pronunciation is Yahweh. At its heart is the Hebrew root hayah which means "to be" or "to exist", which is what God said to Moses out of the Burning Bush. I AM that I AM is one way of saying "I exist, and bring all things into existence". It is about the eternal and infinite nature of God. He went on to say, I AM that I AM, YHWH, the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob. This was the first time He actually designated His name. During the intertestamental period, those four centuries between the prophetic ministries of Malachi and John the Baptist, it became customary to refer to the Divine as simply God--to emphasize His singularity as deity, and the truly religious revered the name so much that they began using substitutions such as adonai meaning lord or HaShem meaning The Name. When the Masoretes worked to reproduce the original Hebrew Bible, they added vowel points to the consonantal language, using the vowels from adonai and combining them with YHWH to produce something a little more recognizable to us: YaHoWaH, or Jehovah. And when the translators of King James brought it into English, they used the accepted meanings of both YHWH and adonai and rendered it LORD; and note the capitalization of the letters as opposed to Lord.

So when the Psalmist says, Make a joyful shout to the LORD or Know that the LORD, He is God, he is actually invoking the proper personal powerful name of the supreme and sovereign LORD of all. He is invoking the name of YHWH.

Our God is not some impersonal, unknowable, unreachable overlord sitting on some far-off circle of never-never land. He is a personal God with a personal name. He wants to be known, and He has made Himself both accessible and attainalbe. He wants us to reach Him. So the next time we see the word LORD in the Bible, remember that it is actually His covenant-keeping name that we are reading, the name by which He swore and made promises, because He could swear by nothing higher than Himself. It's not just an impersonal title, it is His very identity and existence. He is YHWH, the LORD, the eternally existent Godhead, who was, who is and who is to come, the Almighty, everlasting, all powerful, supreme of supremes! That's the God that we know and serve. That's the God that I thank today.

Thank you LORD for Your powerful presence in church yesterday, for the ministry of Your Word and Your Spirit in the hearts and lives of Your people.

Thank you LORD for Your answers to our prayers, for moving and working on our behalf, and for Your assurances that You are doing all things well for our good and Your glory.

Thank you LORD for Your existence and personal interaction in my life. I love you so much.

Thankful, Day Seventy-Four

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100, NKJV

It's a brand new day, and my God is on the throne! I don't mean to say that I have sole ownership of Him, but rather that I have a personal God who is infinitely concerned with the intimate details of my life. He orders my steps, He has numbered my days, He has blessed me with every spiritual blessing, forgiven my sins, healed my diseases, delivered me from the hands of my enemies, redeemed my life from destruction, and filled my mouth with every good thing! My face is engraved in the palm of His hand, my name is known to Him, my prayers are ever before Him, and He both hears and answers my prayers. No matter what this day brings, this is a good day to be serving the Lord, because He is a good God!

Thank you Lord for the good things you're giving me right now; they are good indeed.

Thank you Lord for the wonderful ways in which you are turning me right now; it is a blessing to walk in them.

Thank you Lord for hearing my prayers, and for answering my prayers; You really know how to do things right.

Thankful, Day Seventy-Three

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100, NKJV

Have you ever thought, What do I have to be thankful for? Or am I the only one? I mean, have you ever looked around, taken inventory, and felt like someone else got all the gold and you got the shaft? Have you ever truly wondered, God, why should I be thankful. Nothing good ever happens to me. If you've ever had those kinds of thoughts and feelings, you are not alone. And I've got a feeling God might understand.

I love those heroes of faith mentioned in the great Hebrews 11 passage. But think about how life turned out for some of them.

Abel: Gee God, I did everything right, I offered the more excellent sacrifice, and you honored me in front of my brothers. And what did I get for it? A cracked skull and a shallow grave. Thanks alot.

Noah: Gee God, I did everything you told me to do. I built this big ol' boat, and loaded it full of animals, and for 100 years I preached your message of repentance to all my kinsman, and they still all drowned. And what did I get for it? Yeah, my family was saved from the flood, but all those days cooped up on the boat turned me to drinking, and my youngest kid has no respect for me. Thanks alot.

Abraham: Gee God, I followed you everywhere you sent, and even when I got off track down their in Egypt for a while, you were still with me. You made all these promises, and I do have a wonderful son who makes me laugh, but where's all this land you told me I was gonna own? The only title deed I have to my name is a grave plot in the cemetery at Hebron, and I'm soon to end up there. Thanks alot.

Isaac: Gee God, you let my wife conceive, but now I've got one son that has no regard for you, and another son who has no regard for me, and they usually act like they're going to kill each other. Thanks alot.

Jacob: Gee God, you blessed me and changed my name to something cooler than ConMan. But these four wives are driving me crazy, always fighting over whose bed I'm gonna sleep in, and my kids can't get along, and to top it all off, my favorite son, my heir, the one in whom I put all my confidence, got lost trying to find the sheep pen and ended up as lion scat. Thanks alot.

Joseph: Gee God, you told me I was gonna rule over all my brothers. I just didn't know it was going to mean spending time in a pit, in a slave caravan, in Potiphar's house with a brazen hussy after me all the time, and finally in prison when I stood by my principles. Thanks alot.

Moses: Gee God, I did everything you asked of me, even though I told you it wasn't gonna work. And now after 40 years of dragging my blessed assurance all over this desert with a couple million whining, complaining, ornery people, I've preached funerals for everyone I've ever known, my own family turned against me, and now I don't even get to go into the promised land. Thanks alot.

Now, I could be letting my technicolor imagination get the better of my Biblical interpretation, but how are things in your world? Do you ever ask yourself the question, "What do I have to be thankful for?"

My wife left me.

My kids hate me.

My dog bites me every time I try to pet him.

My neighbors despise me.

My brothers won't talk to me.

My church family ignores me.

My job just got eliminated.

My stocks just crashed.

My retirement account was embezzled by a gazillionaire.

My kid wrecked my new car.

My doctor just told me I have six months to live.

What in the world do I have to be thankful for???

People, I have the answer. You thank God anyway. You thank Him in the good times, and you thank Him in the bad times. You thank Him for the good things, and you thank Him for the bad things. You thank Him when you feel blessed, and you thank Him when you're feeling not so much. You thank God anyway!

My daddy used to sing the song:

Hallelujah anyhow!

Never, never let your troubles get you down!

When life's problems come your way

Hold your head up high and say

Hallelujah anyhow!

So thank God for the sunshine, and thank Him for the rain. Thank Him for the mountaintop, and thank Him for the valley. Thank Him for the straight path, and thank Him for the rough. Thank God for the gentle breeze, and thank Him for the storm. Thank Him when He's done something, and thank Him when you don't think He's done anything at all. Thank Him for what He's already done, what He's promised, what you know He's going to do. And if you can't do that, just thank God for Who He Is, for He is worthy!

Thank you God for the road that got me here. I wondered sometimes if you knew what you were doing, or if I did. Turns out, you knew the way the whole time.

Thank you God for the bad things that happened that you turned around for good. I wondered sometimes how it would all work out, but I always trusted when You said it would. And it turns out You knew what You were talking about.

Thank you God for the blessing of your presence, in bitter days and in sweet. I couldn't have made it without you, and I don't intend to start trying now. Your ways are better, Your thoughts are higher, and even thought I'm still learning...I do trust you.

Thankful, Day Seventy-Two

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all you lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100, NKJV

Is my life a blessing to the Lord? It's an interesting question to consider. After all, He's God. He doesn't need anything from me. I mean, not really. Heaven won't shutdown if I don't give in. My lack of support will not create a crisis situation on the throne. If I don't give my time, talents and treasures to God, the Kingdom will not go off the air. God is sovereign, and He is supreme. He is almighty. He doesn't need me. But He does want me.

So how can we be a blessing to the Lord?

We can honor Him with our words and our works. We can praise Him, and offer Him our worship. We can commit ourselves to obedience and sacrifice. We can follow where He leads, go where He sends, do what He bids us do. We can tell others how great God is, how wonderful, how glorious, how beautiful He is. We can testify about His goodness and His greatness. We can live a life of thanksgiving before Him, and continually lift Him up. We bless the Lord by making this life about Him rather than about us. As we decrease and allow Him to increase in our lives, we bless Him. As we surrender and submit to Him, we bless Him. As we lay our bodies and our lives on His altar again and again as living sacrifices, we bless Him.

And when we bless Him, we are blessed in return.

Thank you Father for your kindness toward me. Your gentleness has made me a gentle man; your tender mercies have taught me to be tender; your immeasurable love has shown me how to love unconditionally. Let my life be a reflection of you, let me bear fruit for the kingdom, manifesting the character of Christ in every area of my life. And help me to be a blessing to you.

Thank you Father for your power at work in me. It is your power that has saved me, that sanctifies me, that fills me and enables me to do what you have called me to do. Let me lead a life of power in your Spirit, operating in the power of your name, and doing all for the glory of your honor!

Thank you Father for your hand that is fulfilling your ultimate plan for me. You see all things, know all things, and have control over all things. My life is yielded to you, my destiny is in your hands, my future is ever before you, and you are working all things out for my good because I love you and I'm called according to your purpose. Let me know your will, your way, your purpose and pathway, and help me never to stray, but always stay the course until the end.

Thnakful, Day Seventy-One

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100, NKJV

Praise is such an important part of our relationship, and our relating to God. He is great, and greatly to be praised. He inhabits the praise of His people. He is worthy of all our praise. In fact, the Jews believe that this is the purpose for which Adam was created--to praise the Lord.

In ages past, long before the world existed as we know it, there was a beautiful cherub in heaven, an archangel high and exalted whose assignment it was to fly around the head of God and sing to His glory. He was adorned with jewels and equipped with amazing instrumentation to assist him in his magnification of God. Some say he even had charge over a third of the heavenly hosts, a division of worshipers. And his name was Lucifer, the light-bearer.

The Bible does not tell us what processes took place in the inner recesses of Lucifer's existence, except to say that pride crept in and turned his heart away from his responsibilities. He didn't want to fly around the head of God and sing God's praises forever and ever. He wanted a better job. He wanted a higher position. He didn't want to be God; he wanted to be over God. He wanted to be master of all he surveyed, lord of the universe, the overlord of the Lord of lords. And in desiring to climb higher, he fell. And when he fell, he took a third of the heavenly host with him, apparently that third whose job it was to accompany him in the high praise of God.

And after that, God made the world that we know. He knelt on the banks of the river he had just carved into the earth, scooped up a handful of ruddy mud and fashioned after his own likeness the image of a man. And then he breathed into that earthen vessel new life, and gave man a living spirit, and according to the Jewish traditions, the man sat up and said, "The Lord is King forever and ever." To which God responded, "Now the whole world will know that I am king."

We were made to praise the Lord, to tell of his greatness and his glory throughout all the ages, world without end. We were made to worship him. Is it any wonder then that the devil, that fallen Lucifer, has been working so hard for the last six millennia to destroy the handiwork of God that reflects the Sovereign's own image and likeness? Is it any wonder that he does all he can to prevent our praise? He tempts, he tries, he tests, he attacks, he deceives, he distracts, he destroys. He does what he can to keep us from praising God, because he knows there is power in praise. He knows there is deliverance for us in praise. He knows there is victory over him in our praise. He knows that God listens, when God's people praise him. So he has ever reason for keeping us quiet.

Of course, that right there should be reason enough to keep us praising. It ticks the devil off! So go ahead. Give God a shout out right now. Let the glory-hallelujahs roll off those lips! It may start in a heady place, perhaps as an intellectual exercise, a simple vocalization. But keep praising God. Throw in a praise the Lord or two. Proclaim worthy is the Lamb of God. Give God some thanks and praise with your voice. Clap your hands. Stomp your feet. Jump and shout, dance about. Put your whole body into it. Throw both hands in the air and give God a double high-five while you tell him DUDE, YOU'RE AWESOME!

And if you think I'm getting carried away over here...don't knock it 'til you've tried it. You start praising God and see how long it takes for something to start stirring deep within you, something that won't settle down, something that is fighting to get out. It's like a wellspring of living water that will gush from your innermost being. It's like a might wind, blowing upon your soul. It will turn your world around!

So let's just praise the Lord!

Thank you God, that I can praise you. I mean, that I am able to praise you. Thank you for breath. Thank you for my voice. Thank you for hands and feet that work. Thank you for a body that is healthy and whole. But God, even if I didn't have those things. Even if I was bed-ridden and unable to move, or mute and unable to talk, I'd like to think that I would praise you still. Because nothing can stop my heart from praising you!

Thank you God, that I have reason enough to praise you. You've done so much for me that I cannot tell it all, and I will never forget what you've done for me! You've given and given and given again. You are gracious and merciful and compassionate and bountiful. You supply all my needs, you look after me, you listen patiently to my requests, and sometimes you even give them to me. But even if you never did another thing for me, I could go on praising you just because of who you are, and because you are worthy without having done anything!

Thank you God, that you respond to me when I praise you. When I begin to praise you, I can feel your Spirit rising up within me, and moving all around me. When I begin to lift your name on high, I can feel your presence in my life. It's not that you're not always there; I know that you are. But I love that sweet wonderful sensation of knowing that you are here right now!

God, I give you all my praise!

Thankful, Day Seventy

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100, NKJV

Once day a year, America takes a day off from work for the giving of thanks. It's always the fourth Thursday in November, and we celebrate the survival of the Pilgrims through their first winter, summer, and harvest. We watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, sit down to a feast unlike anything we experience all year long, join hands around the table to say "Thanks God for all this stuffing", and then while nursing our swollen bellies and heartburn, we watch the Dallas Cowboys throw away another game they should have won.

Then Friday rolls around and the kids are fighting, the inlaws aren't talking, we're tired of turkey, and we can't wait for Monday so we can go back to work and hope things just go back to the way they were before this wretched holiday.

Now I'm not describing my personal Thanksgiving celebrations in particular, but I'd imagine that alot of people in alot of places experience it just the way I've described it. So what about the other 364 days of the year? I'm beginning to think that celebrating Thanksgiving every day might not be such a bad idea.

Of course, I'm not talking about turkey and football. I'm talking about a continual giving of thanks to God who has done so much for me, and continues to do so. This exercise in gratitude has truly impacted my life...and can I tell you that it actually started on Thanksgiving? On the very day when most of us were bloated with sweet potatoes and cornbread dressing, God began to do a work in me that I have yet to see the end of.

I don't have the time or the energy to tell you about the last six months of 2010...but suffice it to say it was a dark and lonely time for me. It was perhaps the biggest crisis of faith I have ever had in my life. It started with me being obedient to the instruction of God, and then failing to trust that He was truly working out all things for my good and His glory--and that's my life verse! That's the Scripture I hold onto at all times with both hands. I kept saying it with my mouth, but my heart could not see how THIS was going to work out well. And then Thanksgiving rolled around, and I got sick and was unable to celebrate in the way I had planned, and I spent most of the day on my couch watching disaster movies and sleeping.

After midnight, I sat down at my computer to blog--you can scroll back and check this out--and gave thanks to God for things that had happened to me, and people that had happened to me. But my blog wasn't enough. I needed some people to know how much I loved and appreciated them. So I sent out some notes. As it happens, one of those notes was an answer to someone's prayer. And from one simple note of thanks has come a world of blessing.

I have to tell you...I didn't feel like giving thanks. I'm not sure it was really in my heart to do so, but it was Thanksgiving after all. And shortly after that I began this 100 day exercise in giving thanks. Which has only increased the blessings of God in my life! I think I'm going to keep on giving thanks, and keep watching what God does. It's so much better to let Him work...because, after all, He doesn't really need my help.

God, I'm so very thankful for the prompting of your Holy Spirit to do the unthinkable, for the boldness to take a step of faith, and for the inspiration to express just the right thought.

God, I'm so thankful for the seeds that have been sown, that you have watered and shined down upon, that have now sprouted and are beginning to peek through the soil of my life.

God, I'm so thankful for the anticipated harvest that you have promised, that you are bringing to fruition.

It's a slow process, Lord, and I'm thankful you're still working on me. Please get me ready for that harvest!

Thankful, Day Sixty-Nine

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100, NKJV

Is there a song in your heart today? I have to confess, there's not really one in mine. Yet. I've almost always got a song on my mind, but at the moment...nada. Well, that's not exactly true. I have the themesong from an '80s soap opera playing in my head, but that's a different story.

I'm an old soul, they say. My mother always told me I was a little old man from the day I was born. So when songs do pop into my head, it's not usually the latest hit from Chris Tomlin, Casting Crowns, or Skillet. I'm more likely to hum a Phoebe Knapp tune, or remember a Fanny Crosby lyric...and no, those aren't the hot young members of the newest worship band. My songs come from Songs We Sing...Complete, Hymns of Glorious Praise, or a Gaither Homecoming video. And every once in a while, some praise chorus from the '80s (yeah, I just called it a praise chorus) or perhaps the '90s will throw itself out there.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not one of those people that thinks "If Melodies of Praise was good enough for Paul and Silas to use in prison, it's good enough for me!" I don't think you have to have a hymnbook to worship God. Of course, I don't think the only good worship is the kind you sing off the wall using a video projector and an electric guitar either. Truthfully, I like it all (well, almost all...but I have a friend who is wearing down my resistance to Lecrae. I'm holding the line, though. For now.) I like variety in worship, and I think God does too. Take yesterday for instance. I led worship at church, starting with an old Southern Gospel hit Goodbye World, Goodbye. I followed that with My Redeemer Lives (Hillsong), Friend of God (Gungor), and then tossed out the first verse of What a Friend We Have in Jesus. Someone had requested It is Well with My Soul, and I'd had I will Rise (Chris Tomlin) on my mind all week long. So we did them all, with piano, bass, and drums. I hope I managed to satisfy everyone's musical tastes (except for those who would prefer Lecrae) and I think God was pleased with the mix. They were all great songs of worship.

I heard someone recently say that Church is the only event in the world where people gather regularly for corporate singing (I suppose they were leaving out choir class and Taylor Swift concerts). But corporate worship is part of who we are, of what the Bible gives us as a pattern, and what God desires from His people.

The Psalmist wrote that God inhabits, or is enthroned, in the praises of His people.

In Exodus, when the trumpets sounded, the presence of God came down on top of the mountain.

In the temple, when the choirs and orchestras led the people in the worship of God, His visible presence filled the Most Holy Place.

Jehoshaphat led an army of singers and watched God defeat their enemies.

Paul and Silas sang in jail, and all the prisoners were set free by God's accompanying percussion.

Paul also wrote that we are to encourage each other with songs, hymns, and spiritual songs, making melody in our heart to the Lord.

The first disciples worshiped God daily in the temple and going from house to house.

Paul wrote again that we should sing in the Spirit and with the understanding.

Even Jesus led the disciples in a hymn after the Last Supper.

And the Revelation's descriptions of heaven are filled with the worship of the Four Living Creatures, the Twenty-Four elders, the innumerable company of angels and saints, the 144,000, the Tribulation martyrs, and all the saints of all the ages assembled for the one and only time around the throne of God. Apparently, they are going to take a page out of Hymns of Glorious praise when they sing "Holy, Holy, Holy."

Okay, so this blog has been a little tongue-in-cheek. But I'm still thankful today!

I'm thankful for all the songs that have been written in praise and worship to God. I don't care who sings them, or what style they are done in, I'm just glad the whole world is filled with good songs being sung to God.

I'm thankful for all the songs I have committed to heart, so that when my CD player won't work, and my IPOD battery is dead, and there's nothing but talk radio to be found in the truck, I can pull up the verses and choruses from memory and sing my heart out to the Lord.

I'm thankful for God's response to my worship, that when I praise Him, He comes down and lives with me in that moment!

Thank you Lord, and I'm gonna keep on singing...

Thankful, Day Sixty-Eight

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with thanksgiving.

Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves.

We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100, NKJV

Just so that you know that my life isn't sunshine and daisies every day when I blog...

I got too little sleep last night, and not because I was up late on the phone.

Rosie & Sam woke me up too many times during my short night, and when I finally put them out, they started barking their heads off two hours before I was supposed to get up, so I had to bring them inside. I'm guessing shock-collars are in their future.

Dreaming wasn't bad, but I was restless throughout.

My new, 5-year guaranteed pillow is almost flat after less than a month.

There's alot on my mind, things that I can't solve and want to fix, and God keeps telling me to leave it alone because He's taking care of things. And I think He knows what He's doing, but I'd sure like to help.

I'm preaching a message this morning that needs to be heard everywhere in this town, and less than 30 people will ever know I preached it.

My house has been on the market for nearly a year with no offers. I really need it to sell, and then I need a huge financial miracle to get me the rest of the way to where I need to be.

Things are not bad in my life. In fact, all things considered, things are pretty good. But it's not perfect. Sure. I have a house to call home. I have a comfortable bed to sleep in, with new pillows plus all the old ones, and 600-thread-count sheets. There's a roast with potatoes and carrots in the crockpot for lunch. People are going to meet me at church for a couple hours of fellowship with God and each other, and then someone (I don't know who yet) is going to come over to share my roast with potatoes and carrots. I'm going to take a nap this afternoon, and perhaps spend some time with friends. And somewhere along the way, I will probably lose a game of Scrabble to the most wonderful woman in the world and enjoy an evening of playful banter and deep conversation. All in all, not bad.

I just wanted you to know that even as I rejoice and give thanks and express gladness and gratitude, that not everything is perfect in my life. Not all is a bed of roses. I still have difficult days, difficult times, difficult circumstances. But I am thankful that I serve a great God who is on the throne watching out for me and working on my behalf! I have Jesus as my friend and savior, the Holy Spirit as my indwelling comforter, the Bible as my all sufficient guide, the church as my companion. I have the three things that will always remain--faith, hope, and love. I truly have the things I need, and God has promised so much more in this life and in the one to come.

So of course I am thankful this morning!

Thank you Lord for another day to draw breath and see you do great things!

Thank you Lord for much more grace, mercy, and favor than I could earn or ever deserve!

Thank you Lord for the good things in life that you have blessed me with!

I offer you my sincerest thanksgiving and gratitude this morning, and hope to have more to thank you for before this day is through. You know my needs, my requests, and my cares...and whatever you do about them, I know you will do well!

Thankful, Day Sixty-Seven

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God.

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100, NKJV

Missing two days of blogging is what I get for going out of town without my computer. But right up front let me say I am very thankful for the last two days, and thankful now to get back to my routine of blogging my gratitude. It's a wonderful exercise!

You know, serving the Lord is not always simple or easy. It requires dedication and discipline. It requires selflessness and sacrifice. It requires effort on our part. Some people "get saved"--they raise their hand, walk an aisle, pray a prayer, sign a card, shake somebody's hand, maybe even get dunked underwater for good measure--and never do anything with it. They don't change; they don't grow; they don't work. Often times they don't even stay with it. They think, "Well, now I've made my peace with God, I can go live like I want to live and everything is okay."

Can I tell you, everything is not okay with that kind of thinking?

I've been serving the Lord for nearly thirty-five years, including the two and a half years during which my parents served the Lord before I gave my heart to Jesus at the tender age of six. I gave my life to Him a long time ago, and I told Him I would serve Him for the rest of my life. I won't try to convince you that I've always been perfect, or that I have never messed up since I got saved. There have been mistakes, bad choices, stupid decisions, wrong actions taken by this poor wretched man. Let's face it; whoever says they don't sin is a liar, and the truth is not in them. So I admit it; I have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God...many times.

I've had to deal with my own share of miserable moods and sorry attitudes. I've tangled with outward problems and inward too. I may not have killed anybody or committed adultery or stolen something, but I won't try to tell you that I've never had a problem with anger, lust or greed. I'm a man, and (though I'm not planning on going, and have done everything to ensure that I won't go) if I go to hell, it won't be for lying. I'm going to be honest with you today, I'm not perfect.

But in thirty-five years, I have never stopped serving the Lord. I didn't always walk as close as I could, or as well as I should. I didn't always do it with a humble heart or a committed spirit. But I never turned my back on Him. Even in the hard and difficult days that I've had to face. Even when friends turned their backs on me and my enemies were members of my own house. Even when the bottom dropped out of everything I'd been pouring my life into and I found my dreams in ruins. Even when I suffered disappointment and pain, grief and trial, persecution and loss. I did not quit. But I have to admit, I wasn't always happy about it. I wasn't always glad to be serving the Lord.

Serving the Lord with gladness is one of the challenges of the Christian life. Can you serve the Lord in sickness and in health? In poverty and wealth? In good times and bad times? In blessing and in loss? Can you serve the Lord when the night is dark, the road is rough, the night is dark, and the storm is fierce? Can you serve the Lord when nothing you do succeeds or seems blessed, when you can't feel His overwhelming presence when you rise or when you sleep? Can you serve the Lord with few or no companions, with no acknowledgement, appreciation or applause? Can you serve the Lord when your prayers aren't getting answered, when your seed fails to produce fruit? As one preacher I heard recently put it: Can you serve God when He gives you rocks instead of bread? And can you do it with a smile on your face and a song in your heart?

Your song might be "Farther Along We'll Know All About It" or "We'll Understand It Better By and By". Your song might be "No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus" or "No Never Alone." Heck, your song might even be "Hold the Fort." But can you find the gladness of serving the Lord even in those songs?

We're glad to be glad when all is well. We must still find our gladness, when everything is not.

Thank you Lord for a glad and happy heart. I've been through alot of sadness, in all probability will go through alot of sadness still. But as the tears roll down my cheeks, I will still say, "I will serve you with gladness, because you've never let me down."

Thank you Lord for the blessing of serving you, and for the Spirit in me that fills me with joy and gladness as I do it. Serving you is no burden, it's a joy!

Thank you Lord for the little rewards--the one shoot that springs from the many seeds I have sown, the one crust of bread that comes back on the tide, the one ray of light that shines through the overcast night. Thank you Lord for the small taste of sweetness when the world has been so bitter, for the small glimpse of future hope when the past has been so dismal. Thank you Lord for your blessed assurance because Jesus is mine!

I'm going to serve you with gladness, because I know you do all things well, and you are doing them for me.

Thankful, Day Sixty-Six

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands.

Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100, NKJV

Did you know there is a difference between happiness and joy?

Let me demonstrate. If big, red, Dodge trucks are your thing, and you get one, it makes you happy. You drive around town so happy in your big, red, Dodge truck and you just know everyone is looking at you, and you're happy about that too. You pull into a parking space at Wal-Mart and run inside for some wax to put a nice shine on your big, red, Dodge truck, and you don't mind paying for the really good stuff, because having a shiny, big, red Dodge truck makes you happy. You whistle as you walk back to your truck, and as you get close, you notice something. Someone has parked a shopping cart next to your driver's side door. You get a little closer, and you realize someone has rammed that shopping cart into your shiny, big, red Dodge truck, leaving a small dent, some chipped paint, and a scrape the size of Pennsylvania on your door! Who would do such a thing! And just like that, your happiness over your shiny, new, big, red Dodge truck has vanished over something that can be cosmetically covered with some red nail polish.

But if you have joy, a scrape in your paint doesn't bother you. It's just paint, and joy is the character of Jesus Christ being developed by the Holy Spirit within you as you live it out. In fact, if someone rammed you from behind and tore up the rear end of your shiny new big red Dodge truck, you'd still be okay because your joy is not invested in your toys. In fact, if you have joy, you don't even care about not having the shinynewbigreddodgepickup. You've got Jesus, and that's really all you need.

Happy is the result of favorable circumstance; joy is a fruit of knowing Christ. Happy is about giddy feelings and laughter; joy is about abiding peace and stability. If my heart is committed to Christ, if His Spirit is moving and living in me, then my joy overflows and does not depend what happens to me, for me, or around me. It is simply an outflow of the Holy Ghost!

That's why I can shout joyfully when things don't go my way. My joy is not in having my way; my joy is in knowing that I have Christ. I can shout joyfully in the midst of grief and pain, sorrow and affliction, lack and loss. I can shout joyfully when all the world around me rages. And why? Because God is on the throne, Jesus ever lives to make intercession for me, and the Holy Spirit has filled me up.

Thank you Jesus that the joy that comes from you gives me strength for every situation. When it seems like my heart is about to be overwhelmed, and my life overcome, all I have to do is turn my thoughts toward you and discover that in your presence there is fullness of joy, and pleasure at your right hand forevermore. Thank you for joy!

Thank you Jesus that you comfort me through the night of weeping and grief, but when the night is over, joy comes in the morning. I know from personal experience that doesn't have anything to do with the time of day, but rather the time of life. Sadness is going to come, and grief is sometimes necessary. But when the time for tears has passed, joy still abides!

Thank you Jesus that when I don't necessarily feel your joy, all I have to do to find it again is begin to rejoice. Your word says, "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice!" There is more joy to be had by the soul that is always rejoicing.

Thank you Jesus for joy!

Thankful, Day Sixty-Five

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord, He is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100, NKJV

We've come through all the actions prescribed in this Psalm for the giving of thanks: SHOUT (as in make a joyful). SERVE (with gladness). COME (with singing). KNOW. ENTER (with thanksgiving and praise). BE THANKFUL. And now for the last one: BLESS HIS NAME!

I did a quick word study, and discovered that the word bless as used in this passage actually means to kneel and salute, and can include either blessing or cursing, and is mostly translated as bless, but a couple of times it means blaspheme. I don't think the Psalmist meant this in a negative way, so I'm gonna go with the 302 times as opposed to the 2 times and say we are supposed to kneel before our Lord in salute and praise Him.

But how often do we kneel in the presence of the Lord for praise? Do we ever fall to our knees during the first chords of a worship set and bow our face to the floor in worship? Do we ever spontaneously sink down between the pews (or chairs) with our hands lifted high in adoration and praise?

When I was growing up, most of our churches still had altars in them. If you don't know what an altar is, it's also been called the penitent forum and the mourner's bench. Traditionally, it was a low bench situated between the seats and the stage in a church where people were invited to come and pray. Sinners were compelled to come to the altar and give their lives to Jesus. Seekers were encouraged to come to the altar to receive more from the Lord. The saved, sanctified and spirit-filled Saints came on their on, to altar their lives even more. Everyone cried there. The old wooden altars were stained with people's tears. It was a place of groaning and affliction, and when the release came, it became a place of praise.

I've noticed we don't do that much anymore. I've been in lots of churches that don't even have altars, and I'm not trying to make a doctrinal statement out of a bench across the front. Our heart can be our altar. But along with removing the altar, many churches have abandoned the practice of penitence, of kneeling in the presence of God and offering the sacrifice of our praise. I, on the other hand, love to kneel before the Lord. I do it at my bedside, I do it in my closet, I do it in my office, I do it at my piano bench, I do it in my living room, I do it at whatever chair is available to me at the moment I want to kneel. And I love the act. It is absolutely overwhelming to humble myself before the Lord, and in that position let Him do some much needed work. In fact, I think I'll find a place to pray...just as soon as this blog is done.

And don't get me wrong...I'm not bragging about my own holiness and righteousness. I'm not putting myself on display. But I am holding my own life and practice up as an example. If you don't believe me when I tell you how good it is, do as I do and try it out for yourself. Kneel before God and praise His Holy Name, and see what starts to happen!

Thank you God for your goodness. You have blessed me with every spiritual blessing, every good and perfect gift. You have filled my mouth with good things, you have satisfied my soul, and supplied for my every need. You have granted me favor and grace, and I am truly thankful for all that you have done for me, all that you're doing in me, and all that you have promised to do!

Thank you God for your mercy. You have forgiven me all of my sins, cleansed me from all unrighteousness, covered and passed over all of my transgressions. Your grace is sufficient, your compassions never fail, your love covers a multitude of sin, and your mercy is new every morning!

Thank you God for your truth. Your Word is faithful and true. It is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path, and I will hide its word in my heart, that I might not sin against You. All of your promises are yes and amen to me. Everything you have promised, You will also perform. All that you've started, you'll be faithful to complete. For You are not a man, that You should lie. Grass withers, and flowers fade. But Your Word, O God, remains forever!

I bless Your Name, and worship You today!

Thankful, Day Sixty-Four

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100, NKJV

I know there is only one verb left in my little exercise, but since it is Valentine's Day, I thought I would turn aside for a moment to reflect on all the love that God has put in my life.

Thank you God, for the love of my mother, which has been unconditional since the first time we met. That lady has been a big blessing in my life, and I am so grateful that you didn't give someone else. And thanks Mom, for being the best Mom ever!

Thank you God, for the love of my friends, who have proven themselves faithful and loyal through the hardest of times. I know I have said this before, and I will likely say this again, but thanks guys! I might have been able to make it without you, maybe, possibly, perhaps...but I'm glad I didn't have to try. You're the best friends a man could ask for.

Thank you God, for the singularly special love you are preparing for me, and for which you are preparing me, and that's all I'm going to say about that here. Except to say this: thank you, sweet lady.

Thank you God, for love that is patient and kind;

for love that does not envy;

for love that does not parade itself,

and is not puffed up;

for love that does not behave rudely,

does not seek its own,

and is never provoked;

for love that thinks no evil,

that rejoices not in iniquity,

but rejoices in the truth;

for love that bears all things, believes all things;

for love that hopes all things and endures all things;

for love that never fails!

1 Corinthians 13:4-7, CLS paraphrase

Thankful, Day Sixty-Three

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100, NKJV

Be thankful, it says. Thankfulness is not just an action or an expression. It's not about speaking words of thanks, or having an attitude of gratitude. It's not something you say, or something that you do. Thankfulness is a state of being. It is something that you are.

People can say thanks without meaning it. Oh, they may mean the words at the time they say them. But they don't really have a heart of thanksgiving. People can send Thank You cards to acknowledge the gift that you gave or the kindness that you showed. But that could just mean they are merely polite and understand social etiquette. People can turn thanks over a plate of food, rattling off some rote prayer without feeling any stirring of gratitude toward the hands that really provided it.

But the kind of thankfulness the Psalmist is talking about is a lifestyle, not a single act. It is about a heart and mind and body all turned constantly and continually in praise and gratitude toward the Almighty. I love the encouragements of the Apostle Paul. Such as, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks. Or, rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice. Or, with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.

Yes, thankfulness isn't supposed to be what we do. It needs to be who we are.

Lord, I thank you for the good times, the great times, the happy, fulfilling, satisfying, completely wonderful times that you bless me with. The moments, the minutes, the hours, the days that you fill with such good and blessed things. Lord, I'm truly thankful and I hope my life reflects that. I appreciate the favor that shines down on me from on high!

Lord, I thank you for the bad times, too, the sad times that are often dark and lonely, when the road is rough and my companions are few. I thank you for the valleys in life, for they make me appreciate the mountaintop even more. I thank you for the desert wandering, which makes me appreciate the oasis even more. I thank you for the dry and barren land, which makes me appreciate the fountain of life even more. And most of all, I appreciate your faithful presence in my life that is recognizable in the bad times, as well as in the good. Your favor still shines down from on high!

Lord, I thank you for the times yet to come that you have promised me. I know I will walk through hard times, and that you will be with me, but I thank you for the assurance that better days are ahead, and that the best in life is yet to come. I know what you have promised, and I can hardly wait to see how you are going to do it all! I truly appreciate the plans that you have for me, the path that you have set before me, and the perfection with which you will bring it all to pass.

Thank you Lord for all days!

Storm Clouds Rising, Part 8

Storm Clouds Rising

Setting the Stage for the Rise of Antichrist and the End of the Age

A new look at Ezekiel 38-39

Aftermath

The question has often been debated in modern prophetic circles: Will the enemies of Israel really ride on horses and be armed with swords, bows and arrows, and spears? Or is this just the only description a prophet from 2500 years past could lend to what he saw? There are scenarios being suggested today in which a nuclear-induced electromagnetic pulse could render modern technologies useless in warfare, as well as in every day life. I’m also reminded of the words of Albert Einstein: “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” Will the war of Gog and Magog employ primitive or modern weapons, literal bows and arrows, or Arrow Missiles? I suppose it could happen either way, and I suppose that neither really matters that much. We simply know that the war will be fought, with devastating consequences and a horrible aftermath that paves the way for the end of everything as we know it.

Whatever the nature of the weapons used by Gog’s Horde, Ezekiel tells us that those who dwell in Israel’s cities will go out and collect the weapons, set them on fire and burn them for seven years. They won’t need to cut down any trees or take wood from any forests, because they will make fires with the weapons of their enemies. Some have gone to great lengths to describe modern weapons being made from wood or other combustible materials. Others have suggested that the fuel from modern war machines is what is burned. Again, it doesn’t really matter, except to understand that the entire nation of Israel will plunder and pillage those who wanted to do it first to them, and that the spoil will provide them with fuel for seven years. It is possible that this will be God’s way of supplying fuel for His people when Antichrist cuts off the fossil fuel supply to the world.

There will also be the disposal of the bodies to consider. Long ago, Ezekiel saw God’s solution to the clean-up in the aftermath of Gog’s invasion of Israel. The birds of the air and the beasts of the field will be supernaturally summoned to the battlefield, gathering from all sides to feast on the sacrificial meal provided them by the Lord. Following the feast of the earth’s scavengers, the entire population of Israel will join in the clean-up work. Ezekiel says the burial process will last seven months. There will be no logistical way to bury the dead in individual graves, and someone will make the decision to have one mass grave, a valley somewhere in which to bury the remains of their dead adversaries.

That valley will be found in the newly acquired lands of Edom, east of the Jordan River. The ancient road known as the King’s Highway passes through the Valley of Abarim parallel to Jordan and the Dead Sea, and it will be in this valley that the bodies are interred, and afterward it will be called the Valley of Hamon Gog, which means the Valley of the Gog’s Horde. A city there will be named Hamonah, and whenever remains of any of the fallen are found afterward, they will be marked for collection and burial. In this way, the land will be cleansed from the stench of death.

Finally, in Ezekiel 39:21-22, God says, “I will set my glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward.” In the aftermath of these devastating wars that revolve around Israel, the whole world will know that God is indeed the Lord. In Israel, they will worship Him, but in the rest of the world they will despise Him, because the world has always hated Israel and their God. From that day forward, it is a race against time to another battle, the battle that will settle once and for all who is God and who is not—the Battle of Armageddon.

Storm Clouds Rising, Part 7

Storm Clouds Rising

Setting the Stage for the Rise of Antichrist and the End of the Age

A new look at Ezekiel 38-39

The Battle Belongs to the Lord
               
First will be an earthquake as God shakes the entire planet. Ezekiel says the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, every beast of the field, and all people on the face of the planet will shake at His presence. It has been a long time since God actually showed up in person on this planet, but when He finally does show up, everyone will know it. Mountains will be thrown down, high places leveled, cities destroyed, and God will call for His own sword against Gog in the mountains of Israel.

As happened so many times in the past with Israel’s enemies, the soldiers of Gog’s Horde will turn on each other in their terror. You know that if one Russian kills one Iranian, then the Iranians and the Russians are going to turn on each other. Add a Turk or an Ethiopian to the death toll, and everyone will be fighting against everyone else. In this way many will fall.

Then God will break out against His enemies with pestilence and bloodshed, which would seem to indicate that while men are dying at the hands of other men, they will also be dropping dead by the power of God. As with many great cosmic battles, there will be flooding torrents of rain, and great hailstones will fall from the sky, mixed with fire and brimstone which could be Divine in origin or the result of volcanic eruptions that accompany the great earthquake.

Finally, in Ezekiel 39:3-4, God says, I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand. You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to the birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. Realizing that they very hand of God has been brought down against them, the soldiers of Gog’s Horde will drop their weapons and begin to retreat, but they will not escape the furious judgment of God.

And as they are falling on the mountains of Israel in a massacre unrivaled in human history, fire will begin to fall on their homelands. Ezekiel 39:7 says, “And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands.” While Magog is the only nation specifically named, the inclusion of the coastlands and the fact that God’s anger is against all these nations for their attack on Israel are good indication that all of these allied nations will suffer judgment in their own countries. Cities will be consumed, populations incinerated. There is an interesting translation of Ezekiel 39:2 that is only found in the King James Version of the Bible: “I will turn the back, and leave but the sixth part of thee…” This has long caused prophecy scholars to believe that either five-sixths of the total military strength will be deployed against Israel and destroyed, or that five-sixths of the people—soldiers and civilians—will be annihilated by the wrath of God. I think there is uncertainty enough not to be dogmatic about a specific number, but suffice it to say that millions will definitely die in the war of Gog and Magog, and the sole victor will be God the Lord.

There will be no doubt as to the source of the victory. This is not God employing the nuclear arsenals of Israel or her allies to destroy their enemies—God doesn’t need the arsenals of man. This is God simply speaking it done. When the smoke clears and the dust settles and wide-spread carnage is witnessed by the horrified world, there will be no conjecture about who has done this thing. It can only have been God. In this way, he says, “I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of the nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.” God’s name will be greatly known in that day, not necessarily worshiped or honored, but at least known. And He will demonstrate His holiness again, especially by upholding His covenant to Israel. He will have preserved and defended them again as He did in the days of the Old Testament, drawing attention to Himself and turning the eyes of the world heavenward, if only for a brief moment in time. The revival within Israel will turn a nation back to their God, though not quite all the way to Jesus as their Messiah. That will take a few more years to accomplish, seven to be exact. But God’s name will be made holy in the midst of His people, and they will not profane Him anymore.

Storm Clouds Rising, Part 6

Storm Clouds Rising

Setting the Stage for the Rise of Antichrist and the End of the Age

A new look at Ezekiel 38-39

The Unavoidable War
               
From man’s perspective, the fulfillment of certain prophecies can be delayed, but they cannot be avoided forever. Take for instance Jonah’s prophecy against Ninevah. God sent Jonah to tell the citizens of Ninevah that he was going to destroy them and their city because of their wickedness, and that he was going to do it in forty days time. In response to Jonah’s message, the Ninevites repented and God delayed judgment for one-hundred-fifty years. Then once again he prophesied to them through Nahum the prophet, and this time Ninevah was destroyed so thoroughly that it has not been rebuilt to this day. So, the actions of men can, from the perspective of men, delay the prophesied intentions of God, but in God’s master plan, every prophecy ever uttered by one of His prophets will be fulfilled. This is especially true of the prophecies of Ezekiel 38-39.

As we have already seen, the land has been reclaimed and restored, exactly according to the words of Ezekiel 36. And the people of Israel, though scattered and without a homeland for nearly 2000 years, have been brought back to their land, exactly according to the words of Ezekiel 37. The prophet refers to this restoration again in Ezekiel 38:8 when he speaks of the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely. The restoration of the land and people of Israel, described by Ezekiel twenty-five centuries ago, has been fulfilled within recent memory. It stands to reason that if the prophetic progression continues, we may soon see the fulfillment of the next chapters. I may not be able to explain to you exactly how and why these things will happen, but I can tell you with certainty that these things will happen. They are, from God’s perspective, unavoidable.

Imagine with me the prophetic stage of the not-too-distant future. Saddam Hussein is dead, and Osama bin Laden is largely unseen and unheard in the public arena. But their agenda has not ceased. There are too many others ready and willing to take their place. The Islamic nations of the Middle East are duty-bound by their religion to convert or destroy by the sword those people who do not accept Islam as the only religion, Allah as the only God, and Mohammed as Allah’s last and greatest prophet. They are sworn to destroy both Israel and the satanic West—namely the United States of America—and they are working through the avenues of terrorism to accomplish just that. At this point in time, it is impossible to predict what the status of the United States involvement in the Middle East is going to be following the term of our current president, but for the time being, we have the reins of Afghanistan and Iraq.

In the current build-up to war, it seems that the nations take major steps toward war, and then draw back suddenly from the brink, as if undecided over their own desires—do we launch World War III, or do we broker for peace. The fact remains that their animosity toward Israel will be the spark that ignites the powder keg, whether they want it to or not. Palestinian unrest, Islamic meddling, and Israeli inability to find a solution will continue to escalate until Israel is pushed passed the point of no return. Israel will implement its own Final Solution to the Palestinian problem, and the Muslim world will react. At the end of the ensuing conflict, Damascus will be destroyed, Egypt will fall into civil war, and Israel will be in control of all the disputed territories in addition to lands in Lebanon and Jordan. At this point, it would seem that Israel may attempt a diplomatic solution to reach a peaceful agreement before any more destruction takes place. Ezekiel 38:11 describes an environment in which Israel is dwelling in apparent peace and safety when the attack comes, but that is the constant warning of Scripture: Beware when they cry ‘Peace and safety’, for sudden destruction is at hand.

When Damascus goes up in flames, the die will have been cast. Regardless of any peace deal brokered to keep the world from war, world war will erupt. An anti-Semitic alliance will be forged between the former Soviet Republics, Turkey, Iran, Libya, and Sudan—just to name a few—to punish Israel for its reprehensible use of weapons of mass destruction. They will invade, covering the land of Israel like a great cloud. But in spite of all the geo-political wrangling we could point to as the “reason” behind the conflict, the actual reason is plainly found in Scripture. Turning our attention back to the Ezekiel 38-39 passage, God says in verses 4, “I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws and lead you out.” Furthermore in verses 7-9, “Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them. After many days you will be visited…you will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you.” The why and wherefore of the invasion of Israel by Gog’s horde is really in the providence of God. Thoughts will arise in the mind of world leaders, thoughts that give birth to an evil plan. When Israel thinks it is dwelling in safety, victors in a devastating war of aggression against it by its neighbors, that’s when danger will descend like storm clouds over the land.

Moreover in their reasoning is the intention to take plunder and booty from Israel. Every empire in the world has longed to control the geography of Israel for its strategic value, but the land itself is a wealth of natural resources, perhaps with many resources as yet untapped or undiscovered. As God’s Chosen People, the Israelites are constantly and continually blessed in the land flowing with milk and honey. Ezekiel speaks of the waste places being inhabited by people who were gathered from the nations and who have acquired great wealth. These great treasures are even now the envy of the cursed earth that still struggles outside the favor of God to force the earth to produce their bread.

The Coalition of the Willing, headed by the United States of America and joined by its allies in Western Europe and Saudi Arabia, will at the very least protest the invasion, but Ezekiel 38:13 details only a question against the invasion, a vocalization in defense of Israel. There will likely be speeches and propositions and condemnations on the floor of the United Nations and throughout the global media. But in the wake of Israel’s strike against Syria, the former allies of Israel will be powerless to stop the onslaught, and even if they tried it is likely they would suffer defeat at the hands of the enraged Russian-Muslim confederation. Whatever America’s role, it is likely that this series of events will remove the West from any position of power and influence it might have had in the world, for the wheels of prophecy are slowly turning back to the Mediterranean nations of the Old Roman Empire and those alignments that will usher in the coming kingdom of Antichrist.

Gog will come out of his place in the far north, bringing with him the cavalries and infantries of many nations, a great company and a might force. It is likely that the world will never have seen such a force arrayed against a single enemy in all its history, but God says of their coming, It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me who I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes. God had prophesied the defeat of His spiritual enemies and the destruction of the physical enemies of His people since the beginning, and this war against Israel will really be a fulfillment of God’s promises. In Ezekiel 39:2, God says, I will turn you around and bring you against the mountains of Israel. This war is really working to bring the nations into line for the final events of this age before the coming of the King of kings.

Regarding its own role in bringing the world to the brink of war, Israel will realize its mistake too late and cry out for help from the only quarter left to them—the realm of the Most High God. And God will be waiting. When the forces of Gog’s Horde come against an indefensible Israel, God’s fury will show on His face and He will speak in jealousy and the fire of His wrath. Thus will begin the downfall of Gog’s Horde.

Storm Clouds Rising, Part 5

Storm Clouds Rising

Setting the Stage for the Rise of Antichrist and the End of the Age

A new look at Ezekiel 38-39

Missing Neighbors

It is interesting to note that in Ezekiel’s list of nations, all of Israel’s more prominent and proximate enemies are noticeably absent. For instance, Egypt or Mizraim, the first nation that tried to destroy Israel, is not named. Neither is Lebanon. Neither are Israel’s brother nations of Edom, Ammon and Moab, whose territories make up modern day Jordan. Also missing—Aram, which correlates to one of the more vicious enemies of Israel, the modern nation of Syria with its capital at Damascus; and the ancient enemies of Israel, Assyria and Babylon, which make up today’s Iraq. Why are these particular nations not included in the alliance to destroy Israel?

By now in our study it should come as no surprise that these nations probably have something in common, a shared explanation as to why they are not involved in the Russian-Islamic alliance against Israel. And one only need examine the history of the Arab-Israeli wars that have raged since Israel’s Independence in 1948 to find it.

On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion read Israel’s Declaration of Independence, and the following day the nations of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq launched a massive invasion to annihilate the nation of Israel in its infancy. To the world’s surprise, Israel triumphed and expanded the borders of its territory. In 1956, Egypt launched a strike against Israel that was again turned back on itself and resulted in the expansion of Israel’s borders. In 1967, the Six-Day War saw another invasion by Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Syria, and again the invaders were defeated and Israel added to its territory. In 1973, Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq tried again, this time with a multi-national force with contributions from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Morocco, Pakistan, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Uganda and Cuba, not to mention the emerging Palestinian Liberation Organization. Again, these nations were defeated, although Israel suffered losses more severe than in any conflict before. In 1982, Syrian-Palestinian activity in Lebanon prompted Israel to invade and occupy Southern Lebanon, an occupation that ended in 2000. But in 2006, terrorist action against Israel prompted a second invasion of Lebanon. The neighbors of Israel have been interested only in the destruction of the Israeli people and their nation since their rebirth, and have repeatedly formed alliances to attempt exactly that, to no avail.

Despite the efforts of the United Nations and many national governments around the world, including repeated interventions by the United States of America, tensions are escalating again in the Middle East. Israel is still not secure within its own borders, occupied by hostile Palestinians and surrounded on every side by people and nations who have sworn to destroy it. It is possible that at least one other war is destined to take place in Israel before the Invasion of Gog’s Horde, one in which Israel is finally allowed to truly defeat their enemies and possess what was given to them through God’s promises to Abraham 4000 years ago. It could be the sixth Arab-Israeli War, or the seventh, or some number above that, but I am convinced from my studies of prophecy that Israel must not only possess beyond question the disputed territories of the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, but also neighboring Lebanon and Jordan. The Syrian capital Damascus will be destroyed, and the remnants of Syria and Egypt will then join in a peace pact with Israel that unites the three into a God-ordained alliance. Exactly how that will be accomplished is unpredictable, except to say that if past is prologue, Israel will be engaged by its neighbors in a future conflict that again results in defeat for its enemies and the expansion of its own territories. Think it absurd? Let’s look at some other prophecies.

Consider the prophecy of Obadiah, a proclamation against the ancient nation of Edom. Together Edom, Moab and Ammon were the ancestral nations of today’s Jordan. Obadiah foresaw Edom’s destruction when he said this: The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. The house of Jacob shall be fire, and the house of Joseph a flame; but the house of Esau shall be stubble; they shall kindle them and deliver them, and no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau. Obadiah clearly states that Israel shall destroy Edom. Though the Edomites, or Idumeans, ceased to exist as a distinct people group in 70 AD, slaughtered beside the Jews by the Roman armies of Titus while trying to defend Jerusalem and Palestine, neither the people nor their land was ever conquered by Israel in fulfillment of Obadiah’s prophecy. It is yet to be fulfilled. Furthermore, Obadiah’s prophecy indicates the captives of both Israel and Jerusalem shall return to the land and take possession of it. This universal return of all Israelis did not happen until the last century, when Jews scattered among every nation on earth began returning to Israel. Obadiah states that when they have returned, they will possess the following territories:

· The Mountains of Esau, which is Jordan

· Philistia, which is the Gaza Strip

· The Fields of Ephraim and Samaria, which is the West Bank

· Gilead, which is the Golan Heights

· The land of the Canaanites, which is Lebanon

· The cities of the South, which is the Negev and the Sinai Peninsula

One day soon, Israel is going to take indisputable possession of the territories of its own borders, and it will extend its borders to include territory it has never owned but that has been promised to it by God—Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, the Sinai and portions of Syria will belong to Israel.

Consider Isaiah 17, a proclamation against the nation of Syria and its capital of Damascus in which God said through his prophet, “Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap.” Damascus is considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited city on the planet, and it has never in history ceased from being a city; it has never been conquered and reduced to a ruinous heap. But Isaiah saw its destruction at the hands of Israel as surely as if he had been standing there when it happened. The destruction of Damascus will end the rule of terror that Syria has inflicted upon Israel, removing its support of Hezbollah and Hamas, and taking away its influence in the nations around it. One day soon, one of Israel’s most vicious enemies will be violently removed from the stage of world politics in a strike that will enrage the rest of the world and quite possibly spark the Invasion of Gog’s Horde that we have been discussing.

Consider Isaiah 19, a proclamation against the nation of Egypt, And the land of Judah will be a terror to Egypt; everyone who makes mention of it will be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the Lord of hosts which He has determined against it (v. 17). This is one verse in a lengthy prophecy that foretells Egypt’s future, predicting civil war that leads to the rise of a fierce king to rule it, drought and natural disaster that leaves the land desolate, and finally a spiritual revival that turns Egypt to the Lord of hosts and leads to a unification with Israel and the remnants of Assyria. Pair this with further prophecies in Ezekiel 29, which predicts such desolation in Egypt that it will be uninhabitable for forty years, and Daniel 11, which details the invasion and destruction of Egypt at the hands of Antichrist, and we begin to see a series of events beginning with Egypt’s own internal problems that would keep it out of the coming fray, even though it won’t be spared in the Latter Years.

And what about Iraq? God has plans for the ancient nations of Assyria and Babylon, plans that prevent their involvement in a devastating war against Israel. If these things are to happen in the near future, perhaps the presence of the United States military in Iraq will keep it out of the conflict. Or perhaps the social and political unrest will render Iraq incapable of participating in the war. Or perhaps there is a rising political star in Iraq who will shrewdly avoid the military alliances that he knows would result in a defeat that he cannot afford, for he has imperial designs on a world that will soon need a peacemaker. One thing is certain, from the ancient lands of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, a man will arise in the Latter Years to lead the world in the aftermath of Ezekiel’s World War, and woe be to the world.