For help and wisdom from God for Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano as she works to keep America and Americans safe
May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels." For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say, "Peace be within you."
�Psalm 122:7-8
Loving God, You are the God of all strength, safety and security, and today we praise You for Your constancy, power and love. You are our rock, our strong tower, a refuge to whom we can come in times of great need and in times of stability and ease. Because of the generous sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus Christ, our eternal future is secure, for it is kept in heaven for us! All thanks and praise to You for this great truth, mighty Lord!
Today we bring before you our nation�s Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, asking that you fill her with Your holy wisdom and insight as she works to keep our nation safe from threats and dangers of every kind. Help and guide her and all those who advise and serve with her, Lord, as she works on behalf of our country. Let her turn to You and seek Your guidance at every turn I ask in Jesus� name, amen.
27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evildoers assail me
to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
it is they who stumble and fall.
3 Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.
"Certainly we find that all our fears arise from this source, that we are too anxious about life, while we acknowledge not that God is its preserver. We can have no tranquility, therefore, until we attain the persuasion that our life is sufficiently guarded, because it is protected by his omnipotent power."
(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms)
"The Works of the Flesh"
Galatians 5:19-21
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
I always cringe when I read this passage. Who among us has not been guilty of one of this "works of the flesh," even after professing faith in Christ?
This passage, though, is in the midst of a discussion about "Biblical freedom." This freedom is "liberty from our fleshly nature and the ability to follow the Spirit into holiness." Liberty does not equal licentiousness. Here is the key, though. "The works of the flesh are contrary to life in the Spirit (Gal. 5:21), and all who do them habitually and unrepentantly prove they never received the Spirit and never had real faith. Those led by the Holy Spirit prove it not by never doing such works, but in repenting of them and striving agains them (1 John 1:5-10)." The key words in there are habitually and unrepentantly. So, even though I might struggle with some of the "works of the flesh" in that list, if I am repentant and do, in fact, struggle, I need not worry about my status in Christ. It's those who claim faith in Jesus, but don't even seem to struggle against their actions that are suspect. Yet, even they are not to be condemned, but loved.
I've always about the "Nephilim" mentioned in Genesis 6. They seem to be spoken of as descendants of relationships between the "sons of God and the daughters of man." They are also described as the "might men who were of old, the men of renown." Interesting.
"Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD." Why? Because he found favor. There is no indication that Noah's favor with the Lord was due to any goodness on his part. Noah found favor because Noah found favor. It was the Lord's "good pleasure."
Once again, there is no record of it ever raining before this flood happened. And even though the Bible does not back up all the stories of Noah being ridiculed by his neighbors, you can imagine that it happened. Also, there is absolutely no Biblical evidence that he tried to convince anyone else to come with him, either. In fact, had he done so, he would have been IN DIRECT DISOBEDIENCE to the Lord's commands! So, preachers, be careful how you preach about Noah. The point of the narrative is this: Noah did exactly what God told him to do, no matter how weird it might have seemed.
One other point of interest is this: Not only did it rain, the Bible also says that the fountains of the great deep burst forth! So the water was coming from everywhere.
There's another question that nags me, though. Did the fish die?
In chapter 9, Noah is given permission, for what appears to be the first time, to eat meat. God gives man every animal for food, along with the plants. The only restriction at that point was that the animal not be eaten with its blood, because blood is life.
I've never quite understood the little scene that happens after this, when Noah gets drunk and lays naked in his tent.
What can I get from Genesis 6-9 that can apply to my life today?
I know that God has seen fit to honor me with his favor. How do I know this? Because he has placed within my heart the desire to know him and love him. Just as Noah found favor, so have I. And I praise God for that. Were it not for his favor, I would have no interest in knowing him, and my life would be tragic.
Another thing is that I need to be ready to always be obedient to the Lord, no matter how strange the thing might be that he wants me to do. However, we must be very careful in this. It's a fine line, there. If something that we feel "led" to do is in direct contradiction to God's word, there's a pretty good chance it's not God telling us to do it. There are so many external influences on our lives that, sometimes, it's very difficult to sort out the "voices." That leads me right into my prayer...
Grace and peace, friends.