God Where Are You? by Ashley McKlveen

    Let me start out by saying I’ve never written a  blog or ever had a desire to read blogs, until now. As a matter of fact, this opportunity literally just jumped into my lap; therefore, I’ve decided to embrace it and see where it goes.  I am not a pastor, minister, or anything of the sort. I am just someone on a journey to seek answers and this blog is a reflection of some of my most intimate thoughts, questions & feelings regarding God. When beginning a new journey, it's crucial to have an open mind, otherwise you can find all the answers and never get any “truth” from them. The mind you have right now has led you to a ton of questions, and if you seek the answers you must be open to the possibility that the way you currently think about something may change. A closed mind does not give room to learn, change or grow. We must enter into a place where we can see in a new light which brings new understanding. (Galatians 1:12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.)

       

    How many of us have prayed and asked God for something and not received what we asked for, which resulted in disappointment setting in? When we pray to God we are looking to see results and when don’t get what we wanted we become disappointed, lose faith and even become bitter.  How many of us have experienced severe loss and not understood why it happened and have blamed God? How many of us pray everyday and may even do church on Sundays because it is what we are supposed to do? However, after years and years of disappointments and silence when we pray, we've stopped thinking that our words even reach God's ear. Now we pray and don't even expect to see results. Therefore, the question remains deep inside our hearts: God, where are you?

    Somewhere in between the point of our prayers and what appears to be a total silence in response to them, we develop a distorted view of God and who He is. We hear of God’s goodness and all of the miracles and the healing’s that have taken place in the Bible right? His goodness is constantly beaten into us at church, and we hear all about God’s power but why haven’t we seen it? When people don’t see God’s power we begin to make excuses as to why something didn’t happen. We makes these excuses because they make us feel better about our disappointment.

    Some, turn to science to explain the unexplainable, that way there is no room for a “God”. Therefore, giving their hurts and disappointments an explanation; which is, there is no God and the world is a cruel place.

    Others, begin to develop their own doctrine and begin to makes excuses for why they don't hear or see God, they say “Well miracles are not for today they are from another era”. This theology makes them feel better, and their disappointment is now cushioned.

  I can remember as a young girl sitting on my grandfather’s lap as he would tell me Bible stories. During those times I clearly remember that I NEVER questioned God, I just trusted and believed in Him with every part of my being.That is until I experienced my first disappointment with God, and from there the questions began. I had so many questions for God, I was torn in two and there was so much that I did not understand. It says in James 1:8 such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. That definitely hit the nail on the head and it was very evident in all that I did.

   Regardless, of where you are in your life right now, we all have questions and desperately need answers. With that said, over the next several weeks we will embark on a journey to investigate our deepest most hidden thoughts, feelings,and ideas about God. So let’s begin our quest for the “Truth” and be rid of our double-mindedness. I would love for readers to respond with your questions and thoughts concerning God and in return I will do my best to address them.

                                                                Ashley McKlveen

Overflow

Joel 2:32; " for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil." 

Today my prayer is, “Lord, rain on us!” We need the rain of the Holy Ghost in our lives like never before. During a good rain, vegetation is nourished, animals are nourished, the grass gets greener; rain refreshes the land. Rain causes things to grow and be fruitful. We as well need to be nourished and refreshed. We need God to rain on us, to make us fruitful for His kingdom. 

There comes a time in every person’s life when they experience a drought of some type.    

• It may be the drought of health when it seems like there is no end in sight to your physical problems.    
• It may be the drought of finances when it seems like the bills are coming in faster than the money to pay them.         
• It may be the drought of your occupation because you have lost the enjoyment of doing what you do for a living.  
• There may be a drought in your marriage because you're staying together "for the sake of the children" and you have lost your "first love" for one another. 

But of all the droughts I can think of, probably the worst is a spiritual drought.  We have all had them. You pray but you feel like your prayers don’t leave the ceiling in your house. You read your Bible but it is like reading Greek and Hebrew, and worse yet, it puts you to sleep; and you go to church and get absolutely nothing out of it.    

Sometimes the pickings in our spiritual bean patch are pretty slim too! Lord, we need some rain.

We need the rain, both the former (early) rain before the difficult growing season and the latter day (fall) rain to bring plants to the harvest season. But how do we get the rain?

When we get saved the Holy Spirit starts to work in us. The heavens become new to us. I liken this to the former early rain. It's all new! Talking to God, hearing from God, having life change because of God, the first experiences with the Holy Spirit....all things that are new to us. All early rain.

Then we start to grow with the Lord. In Israel between the two rains comes the dry arid hot season. The time when plants are tested and have to grow deep roots in the soil to survive. If they don't get deep roots, this middle season will kill them. And that is the same with you and I when we get saved. God tutors us for a while, then He steps back and watches us grow and struggle and do things on our own. God wants us, in this middle season, to become strong and to learn through His leading. He wants us to stand with Him through life events....But God will not make us dependents and He certainly won't become an enabler. He wants us to stand on our own, making the choice to invite Him into our life situations. During this time we are growing our roots deep with the Lord's encouragement.  

All this is preparing us to go into the latter day rain. For our article today, we'll call the latter day rain  the season when God communes with us on a daily, personal basis and we are being prepared to go on and be with Him eternally. His rain, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, takes us into a mature relationship with Him. We can walk with Him right out of this place into eternity. To me the latter day rain is the best rain, because here we have come to love the Lord. We are walking with the Lord, we've learned to trust the Lord, we see the Lord bless and influence us and we've seen Him prove He is capable of sustaining us. In this season of latter day rain -  He is so real to us.

Can you say, "Give me that latter day rain, Lord"?

 

God Made Flesh

When we talk about Christmas, many times the conversation involves gifts, receiving and giving, love, the tree, mall or how much you plan to spend. This year a survey tells us the millennials will "out spend" all of us other significant shopping groups for Christmas.
The Christmas subject is, Jesus in the manager, or the story itself, but in this blog I want to focus on Jesus in a different way.

I want to look at him from eternity past to the manger.

In heaven, before creation, the Trinity consisted of God, the Word and the Holy Spirit. On earth, the ‘Word’ is called Jesus. God’s wisdom is made manifest or known to us through Jesus.
Jesus as the ‘Word” takes the mind of the Trinity and puts it in the form of the written word because it reveals to us the mind of our invisible God. As much as our words reveal to others our heart and mind and thoughts as people, so Jesus Christ is God’s ‘Word” to reveal His heart and mind to us. Since God is a spirit and Jesus, as the Word, is a spirit…Jesus' mission on earth was to become to us the visible image of the invisible God. That is what is meant when the prophet Isaiah said He is “Emmanuel- God with us.” That is what is meant in John 1:14, “and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The Word in heaven became flesh and blood. So God became flesh in the person of Jesus and lived among us. During that time, His mission was to demonstrate God’s love for us. When He spoke and taught, He told us of God’s great love for us. In both the demonstrations and the conversations, Jesus communicated to us that as human beings with a free will we are separated from God by sin. But through His life, death, and resurrection, He came to rescue us from the death that that sin causes. 

Billy Graham wrote, “Jesus came so we could know, once and for all, that God is concerned about the way we live, the way we believe, and the way we die.  God could have told us in other ways. Of course -He had - throughout the pages of the Old Testament and in the lives of his people. By His written Word he declared His love. But when Jesus the Word was born in Bethlehem of a Virgin maiden that glorious night in that desert manger, the ‘Word” became ‘the Living Word.” It bears repeating what we read earlier in this article, He was ‘Emanuel-God with us.’ 

Finally, of all the things that your life will be involved with this Christmas, remember the powerful message of that simple little stable….there…..God came in the flesh.

He is Altogether Lovely

Song of Solomon 5:10-17, gives us this comprehensive account of a bride explaining her Lord.
After the conclusion of her lengthly description and passionately cooing over every part of His body, she closes with this one last beautiful summary, "Yea, He is altogether lovely."
Now just as this bride sums up her Lord in this allegorical account, I would like to remind you that the patriarchs, all the prophets, all the apostles, all the confessors of yesterday, tomorrow and the entire body of Christ have left us with no lesser testimony of our Lord.
I want to add this as well, that since all the Bible has been pretty much sealed up and there will be no further additions to it…….. that all the saints since it was closed up…..on earth…..and in heaven, have continued to confirm the exact same declaration made by this charming bride of old……the verdict of each particular saint, and of the whole host of saints as a body, could still be summarized by her lovely words. From the sighs and groans of our suffering brothers and sisters in the persecuted church and from the songs free of groaning and suffering that perpetually come from those immortal tongues before the presence of our Most High God, I could put my ear to their testaments and hear this one-master chorus--- “Yea, He is altogether lovely."
Now I speak to you personally about this text…..I struggled to preach on it. In my thoughts and construction of this message, I felt that - “It is just to high a thought and I will never be able to wrap my brain around it or do justice to it.”
?How do you take so high a statement, with so limited a human ability, and bring it excellence? Or make something so perfect….. better, or something so brilliant….. brighter? Let me ask you as you are reading this….how would you improve on those five lovely words from your experience with your Lord……?

Well, God is good and He helped me in my thinking……….I was a little afraid of the volumes that I couldn’t say about this verse but I could at least approach it and start chipping away at it and see where  the Holy Spirit would take me.

·      After all ….I may not be able to grab hold of the whole ocean in my hand….but I can swim in a part of it and be refreshed by it….

·       I may not be able to hike the whole side of that huge mountain anymore but I can park the camper on one of those 20 x 20 campsites and enjoy a campfire, the birds singing and that beautiful chunk of earth…

·       I might not be able to understand how some of those magnificent stones were cut and placed so perfectly on beautiful buildings of old but I can at least stand outside, awestruck, and admire the architects, carpenters, and stone masons of old and walk through the splendid threshold of their magnificent doorways and be amazed at their effort and design...

 

·       And in relation to this scripture, I may never be able to understand the length and breadth of this verse, but by the gift of divine grace, God has chosen to put it in my path to stimulate my thought and encourage my desire to preach on it……… therefore, I need not fear to take it on as a project for the purpose of meditation.

 

So no matter what is said, I pray for you the same thing that I desire for myself, that as we walk our individual faith journeys and after all the experiences of life have taken place in our sojourning here...I pray that like this appreciating bride, you and I would be able to say of Jesus, "Yea, He IS altogether lovely."

 

 

 

 

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Zoe Life

When the preacher is talking about life and sin, God and being blessed, we see that our lives, as we are living them from birth, are not really a blessing. Instead, we realize we come up short. Our eyes need to be opened to see ourselves in God's light and  then, we realize we are sinners.  Being born again means that we accept Christ's sacrifice for us and exchange the lifestyle we were living for the new life that God is going to help us walk in.

Lets talk about the life that God wants us to walk in; the life that belongs to God that becomes ours when we cross the doorway of Jesus and enter into a relationship with Christ.

It is not a duration, because this life is not limited by time, nor hindered by death. It is not a possession but rather an infilling -- God once again breathing His life into us.

 

Many of us, here today, don't truly understand living the abundant life that God wants us to live. Many are barely surviving. The influence of the" pre-Jesus life" still hinders the post-Jesus living. It is a shame and a tragedy that very few Christians have experienced the abundant life that Jesus came to bring us. The abundant life I am referring to is the life living the will of God.
Please do not get it confused with the, 'I will make money crowd, the I will drive a Lexus, build a $500,000 dollar house, exceed my income, hit the mutual funds lottery' crowd! No, it is not that.
It's living in the will of God and His will for your life crowd. A great example of a zoe life is the missionary doctor in the news the last couple of weeks, Dr. Kent Brantley. He is the doctor who has contracted the Ebola virus working with the people of Liberia. For him there is no money, car, house or lottery that can fulfill him and his purpose found in God, except by being on the mission field, in the totally bankrupt environment of Liberia.

In John 10:10, Jesus says, "I am come that they might have life,'. The word life used there is referring to the Greek as, 'Zoe'.  Zoe life is life in a fuller God-directed and satisfying way.
Do you remember the illustration Jesus used of the rich young ruler? The dude had everything and he boastfully told Jesus that he lived a life totally dedicated to the Law, but his one desire was to have eternal life. Well again the word 'life' in the original Greek language is zoe. It is the same word that is used in the Gospel of John when Jesus said,  "In Him (Jesus) was life (zoe), and the life (zoe) was the light of men."  Zoe is the very life of God. It is the essence of His being. It is the personification of His (Jesus) character. It is that which can only be received from Jesus because (pay attention to this) because He (Jesus) is the point of its origin. Since its fountainhead is Jesus Himself, then as it flows out to you  it will be His very plan and purpose for you.
When we were born we were given bios (physical) life.  When we are born again, we are given this  zoe life. Until we cross the threshold of Christ and enter into a relationship with God through Jesus, we may be physically alive but spiritually we are dead.  Jesus goes on to quantify this life as He says, "and have it to the full" (John 10:10). Depending on the translation you use, the word that is translated "full" in the NIV may be translated "abundantly," or "fullness," or "overflowing" in other versions of the Bible. But what is meant by this word? "Have it to the full" means to have a super abundance of a thing. To be a follower of Jesus, to know who He is and what He means, is to have a super abundance of His life. There is a new Spirit driving our vitality, a new spiritual meaning, a new spiritual energy, a new spiritual purpose, a new spiritual significance, a new spiritual outlook, a new hope, a new joy, a new spiritual life! check out 1 Cor. 2 & 3, it will be a blessing, also Gal.4.
Seriously, read these Scriptures. Don't take my word for it - stop and ask God, the giver of life, to open your eyes to this "life of fullness in Him"; this zoe life.

Duck dynasty and Phil Robertson part #4 of 5

3. The Prophets of the Old Testament speak against it.

Isaiah 1:9, “Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.”

Isaiah 3:9, “The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.”

Isaiah 13:19, “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.”

Lamentations 4:6, “For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.”

Ezekiel 16:49, “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.”

4. The New Testament speaks against it.

Romans 1:26-32, “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.”

1 Corinthians 6:9-11, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”

1 Timothy 1:9-10, “Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;”

2 Peter 2:6, “And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;”

Jude 7, “Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

(A very nice concluding comment by the author)

Revelation ({e}, the rapture part 2)

We've been talking about the rapture. One of the great promises of the church's rapture is given to us by the Lord, Himself, when He spoke to the Apostle John concerning the seven churches. He said something very significant to the church at Philadelphia, in Revelation 3:10, "Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth."
This message represents Christ's very own words. It transcends that little church there in Asia because that church has long been extinct, and the hour "Which shall come upon the whole world" has not yet taken place.
It doesn't really matter, in context with this verse, whether you believe the seven churches represent seven types of churches, or whether you believe each church represents seven time periods.  What is important to us in this text is what is being said. I would like you to go back and read that scripture verse again and again so that you're familiar with it.
Now, the first part of the verse, "because you have kept My (Jesus) command to persevere", this is obviously speaking of Believers so we have a handle on that part of the verse. But in the next phrase the Master Himself says, "I (Jesus) also will keep you (the believer) from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world.'  I embolden the word 'from' because that word literally means 'out of.'  What Jesus is saying to John as he wrote this verse is "I will keep you 'out of ' the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world."  That word is derived from the Greek word "ek", and is a very ordinary word. It is used over 800 times in the New Testament. Every time it is used, it is translated 'out of.' It is always used to mean 'out of'.  (The only place it is used in another word form is Galatians 3:8.)
Revelation 3:10 teaches us that the faithful church-which will not deny His name, but will practice good works, evangelism, and missions-will be kept 'out of' the hour of trial (the Great Tribulation) that will test and try the whole earth. Everybody realizes that becoming a Christian does not save them from the ordinary tribulations that plague this world and those of us who dwell on it. History is filled with suffering saints and martyrs. Trials are not an option to this life, they are a standard part of existing in this fallen world. But Jesus tells us that the great tribulation is not a standard trial but would be a very specific judgment of God. Jesus said, "for then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened" (Matt 24:21-22).
Someone will say, "But Pastor, the church doesn't deserve to be saved from the wrath that will try and test the whole world". I have only one answer and it is supported throughout the Bible; none of us, not one of us, deserves the deliverance from the hour of wrath that Jesus is speaking of. But God deals with us on the basis of grace when we turn to Him in faith.  The church today, with all its carnality, worldliness, and sin, doesn't deserve to escape from the Tribulation; but typical of His sovereign grace, God will save us from the wrath to come, not because we deserve it but because of His great mercy. 
Think about it. Did Israel deserve to be saved over the Egyptians who were drowned? Not much later in the trip they acted so badly that God had to destroy some of them like the Egyptians. Did we deserve Jesus to lay His life on the cross in our place? Do we as American's deserve the great benefits of this wonderful country when in Africa, Syria, or Egypt our brothers and sisters in Christ are being tortured and dying for their faith? Do we deserve the Holy Spirit, or heaven? I think not.
Why, if we went on the merit of deserving something, we would be bankrupt of many things. It is because of the grace of God that we have so much that we don't deserve, and that includes escape from the great wrath to come.
(Another scripture concerning Revelation and the rapture of the saints)