Saturday, December 22, 2012

Awaiting Jesus~ Still the hope of the world~

This has been a horrendous week or so, with the senseless slaying of 20 innocent children and 6 brave teachers and administrators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Ct on Dec. 14th, 2012. Many are asking where was God when this was going on? How could a loving God let this unknown young man, Adam Lanza, perpetrate this awful thing on these totally innocent victims just going about their business on a normal Friday morning. That is a legitimate question, and I will try to make some sense of it when it makes so sense at all.

                                               The 26 angels of Sandy Hook Elementary - taken too soon~

We are living in a very unsettled world these days. Our confused society and the people living in it are increasingly carefree and desensitized to the frailty of human life. Over the years, we have slowly and systematically removed God from our nation. We have removed Him from our classrooms, our courtrooms and in many cases, our own lives. Example - We don't want to say Merry Christmas and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, we'd rather say Happy Holidays to as not to offend anyone. We've thrown out God's idea of marriage between one man and one woman and decided it's okay for homosexuals to marry. Homosexuality is against God's Word. The Bible calls it an abomination, yet the current President of our Country has said he endorses gay marriage. How do you think God feels about that? Why would He want to bless and protect our nation when we are doing things that are so totally against His Word? Do you think God Almighty is offended at all by the way we have removed Him from our lives without even asking?

One thing I have learned about God in my study of Him is that He never changes. He doesn't waiver, He doesn't change. His Law and His Word don't either, they have been the same since the beginning of time. There is great comfort in that I think because you always know where you stand with God. He doesn't change His mind and say "Naw, I've been thinking about it and I really don't see why you can't do it, I've changed my mind." He NEVER changes His mind. His laws are the same, always. It is us that needs to do the changing.

No one knows when the Lord will make His glorious return, but it just seems to me that more and more we are seeing more prophecies being fulfilled. And the Bible says as the time draw near, we will live in Godless times. Do you think what happened at Sandy Hook was a Godless, unholy act? I sure do. The book of Timothy is clear:

II Timothy 3:1-5,7 "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

Turn on the evening news each day and there is more despair around us than ever. You'd have to have your head buried in the sand to not see it.

Killings, pornography, violence, child abuse, hunger, hopelessness, drug addiction,and alcoholism surround us. So what is there to be joyful about at this most joyous time of the year? 26 people are dead. They were slaughtered by a deranged and mentally ill young man who began his day by gunning down his own mother. Pure evil, that's all that is, pure evil. How then, can we expect God to protect us and those we love when we don't honor Him? We have turned our backs on God for too long in this country. We need to repent and return to Him, asking for His love, His forgiveness and His protection.

The Bible is also clear that if we do that, He will forgive and He will restore our land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 is very specific in His promise to us;

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

                                                  We must pray and turn back to God, before it is too late~

We can still turn this around and return to God. So, the Good News is that even in the midst of a horrible tragedy, like what happened a week ago, we can still count on Jesus, the hope of the world. Now is the time friends. We need to turn away from our evil ways and return to living for God. Think about it. When something terrible happens, where do we go? We go to our knees to pray. When we don't understand, we pray that God will give us the wisdom to deal with the situation that has been put before us. God Almighty is our only true promise, our only true hope in a world that seems to be falling apart. The birth of Jesus Christ, the only son of God, is what gives us hope in life-- everlasting.

So even in the midst of terrible tragedy, we still have His hope. We have hope in Jesus Christ, the Savior of mankind, the Savior of our souls. The only true light of the world. The precious little baby boy, born of the Virgin Mary over 2,000 years ago. His birth is still known as the Great Story Ever Told - We still call Him Emmanuel, Savior, Prince of Peace, Lamb of God, the Great I am, Jehovah Rapha, and many other names. But for all of us, He is the only true hope in a hurting world.

So through it all, we are still waiting... for the birth of the one who can change any man's heart: the vilest sinner,the brokenhearted, the disheartened, the weary, the weak, the proud, the meek, and anyone who needs a savior who can promise eternal life. He won't turn anyone away who comes to Him in repentance with humility.

He will be the one who saves us all from ourselves and from this evil world we live in. Hallelujah! Praise His Holy Name! Merry Christmas everyone and may the Light of Jesus shine on you and those you love.


                                                   We are awaiting the birth of Jesus, the hope of the world!

My verses for today are above in red.

My prayer for today:

Lord Jesus:

It's so very hard to understand how someone can take human life and be so callous and unfeeling about destroying those around them. We will never understand it Lord. But we know that You give us hope Lord, even in the midst of tragedy, even in the midst of horror. You are the only light that shines so bright, no matter what the circumstances.

Lord, I pray for the families of those affected at Sandy Hook. Comfort them and wrap your loving arms around them during these horribly difficult days. Watch over those children and teachers who had their lives taken so suddenly from them. They are your angels now Lord, and we are thankful for that. Shine the light of their love on their families to help comfort them during this difficult Christmas season.

In Jesus Name I pray,
Amen and Amen