The other day, in church, as our pastor walked up the two stairs to the platform, I pictured Jesus sitting on those steps and me walking over to Him. I took a seat on the floor and looked up at Him. He looked at me and sincerely and compassionately asked, "Fred, how are you doing?" This was not a vision. It was my imagination, yet it concurs with Scripture because of how much He cares about you and me. He didn't ask me because He wouldn't have known. It was His way of drawing me out, telling me it was safe to share with him by deepest, darkest thoughts and concerns. He knows them already yet does not reject me.

n my last article, I spoke of being in the Word. No one will completely master His Word in this life though I'm amazed at the ability of some to quote it verbatim. If we are honest with ourselves, we will be forced to admit that we probably do not read or study it enough. We also do not likely apply ourselves to memorizing parts of His Word to carry it in our hearts at all times. We may not even think about it or contemplate it enough throughout each day. We become what James 1:24 says; we look in the mirror, walk away and immediately forget what we look like. It takes effort to dwell on, contemplate and remember God's Word even after we are done reading it and walk away from it.

As a Christian, do you find yourself not talking to Him about what concerns you, preferring instead to keep it to yourself and handle things on your own? How can we think we will get to know Him when we do that? God allows trials and issues to come our way so that we will take them to Him, so that we can see Him actually work in our lives. When we see Him moving and taking care of things, this increases and strengthens our faith in Him.

By the time of Malachi, Israel had literally become numb toward God, having gotten to that point by deliberately and continually moving from faithful and obedient to becoming full faithless and disobedient. They eventually became bitter toward God. Can you imagine that? They actually harbored animosity and bitterness toward the God who had rescued them from Egypt and many troubles after that.

Over the years, as I have faced situations that have caused anxiety in me, sometimes, I have submitted myself to the Lord for His keeping and His guidance. On other occasions, I have only half-heartedly done this and it usually resulted in works of the flesh. The problem for me has usually been the fact that I tend to feel as though I'm sinning because the anxiety is getting to me. Doesn't the Bible tell us that God will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is set on Him (Isaiah 26:3)? So when I'm not at peace within, I feel as though I failed. This is wrong. When we are not at peace within, it essentially means that God is trying to get our attention so that we can bring our cares and concerns to Him for Him to deal with for us (1 Peter 5:7).

I thought about David's reaction and his desire to have his sins blotted out, to be washed thoroughly from his iniquity and to be cleansed from his sin. Commentators believe this occurred just prior to the birth (and death), of Bathsheba's child. During those months, he had apparently hardened his heart toward God and his own moral failures. Yet, the Psalm shows the process that David finally went through in order to regain the closeness with God he had experienced prior to his sins.

This is how far the Israelite society had fallen because of their continued rejection of God and His truth. They didn't want to do things His way. They wanted to do things their way, much like the way global society today is doing things. God out. Self in. They think because there has been no immediate reckoning, that God either doesn't hear, or worse, doesn't exist. This is the exact same type of thinking that Israel entered into and because of it, got themselves in serious trouble time and time again.

I'm quite certain that there are good people trying to get into the USA. Unfortunately, those people are nearly completely eclipsed by those whose intentions are not good and in any case, everyone coming into the USA by illegal means is breaking America's laws. Turner seems to be saying that we should set all this aside and simply view them as people in need. Of course, their biggest need is salvation. I'd agree with that, but there's more to it than that.

Zechariah 14 is a powerful and dynamic chapter that speaks of the Day of the Lord and the ultimate victory of God over evil. It serves as a reminder to all believers of the hope and redemption that is to come through Jesus Christ. The imagery of judgment, deliverance, and worship points to the final fulfillment of God's promises to his people. As we await the return of Christ, we can take comfort in the knowledge that God is sovereign and will ultimately triumph over all.

Israel's problems came from the fact that they often wandered from God, literally turning their backs on Him, to worship false gods (demons). While they often continued to observe the sacrificial system, their hearts were not in it. They simply went through the motions of worship to check things off. God saw their hearts, that they were far from Him. Because they had turned their backs on Him, He chose to turn His back (temporarily) on Israel in order to refine and purify those within Israel who were dedicated to Him.