Loves Our Nation

Luke 7:1-10 NKJV Now when He concluded all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum. 2 And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die. 3 So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal his servant. 4 And when they came to Jesus, they begged Him earnestly,saying that the one for whom He should do this was deserving, 5 "for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue." 6 Then Jesus went with them. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, "Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. 7 Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word and my servant will be healed. 8 " For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, 'Go and he goes; and to another, 'Come and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this' and he does it." 9 When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him; and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, "I say to you I have not found such great faith; not even in Israel!" 10 And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick.

Now this text is also given in Matthew 8:5-13. And the book of Matthew was written to the Jewish person. The book of Luke was written to the Greek. Decades I heard this taught and thought always that Jesus was speaking to the centurion personally.....you know face to face. But when you put this text from Luke 7 next to it...Jesus was talking with those sent by the centurion! (first elders, then friends)

Now if this occurred today, the person would ask Jesus to come and when He said yes, this same person would put on a big-to-do for the event that Jesus was coming to heal someone. You would most likely see maybe a news network covering this event and how excited they were Jesus was coming to heal someone within their house, or family.

But according to this specific passage, Jesus is talking with those sent by the centurion in that he, the centurion, did not think himself worthy to stand before Jesus. Wow, what humility in a man, even though he had many men who took orders from him in the daily operations of the military.
But I want to point you to something specific here in that the centurion in verse 5 said "for he loves our nation and has built a synagogue."
This man had built us a synagogue for Israel. He also said the man loved Israel. Remembering this passage in Psalm 122:6-9 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; "May they prosper who love you. 7 Peace be within your walls, prosperity within your palaces." 8 For the sake of my brethren and companions, "I will now say, Peace be within you." 9 Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek your good.

As we know of the house of the LORD, there is to be worship to God, having revelation of Him, to have unity among believers and to have God's justice. AND we are to seek the LORD'S good!

A man sought to seek out Jesus for his servant who was very ill and at the point of death. This centurion, even though a leader with much authority still kept his place in that pointed which pointed to faith that works. And this man's faith was that Jesus was and is the Healer! Within that, the centurion wanted Jesus to know what this man had done to see that Israel had another synagogue and how he loved the nation Israel.

Can that be said of us and would it be spoken about? Do we love Israel? Do we send monies to help love Jerusalem, to love Israel's people or are we those who kick Israel to the curb and use our monies to fund another 7 days at some theme park with water slides and the such?

Illness can certainly come to people. NOT that we should go looking for sickness but that we have to have proper foods and proper sleep to maintain a healthy body. Stress should be removed and loving others should be our priority. Yet, I wonder how many become ill and have not done anything to prosper. I wonder how many forget Israel and forget Jesus is a Jew!
Praying for the peace of Jerusalem was expecting an orderly society. Jerusalem the city of peace was to live up to the prayer being spoken over it.

The centurion sent first elders( verse 3) of the synagogue to speak with Jesus and then he sent others (friends)  while he stayed with the sick man under his roof!  He spoke this of this in (verse 6) saying, 'Lord do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. Verse 7: "Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You but say the word and my servant will be healed.
Jesus spoke this in John 15:12-13 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. 14 "You are my friends if you do whatever I command you.

In pertaining to life, Christ Jesus is our example. He was and is always the supreme example of love on the earth! In the above we read of a man who gave through his responsible actions to help the Jewish people have a synagogue. His unselfish manner proved his love for that nation! Sacrifices produce peace and unity with God. And those who submit to the burden of bearing one's responsibilities before God is seen. Love and sacrifice is given by the ill man and the centurion in authority. He did not demand his way!  No, he sought the Lord in the manner worthy of He greater than any sickness or disease.
If you are ill today, have you built a synagogue? Have you loved the nation Israel? Have you pulled out your debit card or checkbook and sent monies to help an evangelist in Israel or send a pastor from this nation of America to minister the truth of God through Jesus Christ?
In this we should obey God! I certainly pulled out my checkbook and wrote a check to slap the devil in the face when confronted with something that affected my eyes. YOU want to mess with me devil ....."I will show you...here in this writing" and I did  and sent it to that place where Israel is given the word of God for salvation's.
Father God began this process and did it by loving those who did not even know Him. And the Son was sent and He obeyed the Father by the giving of His life in that which was not of royalty, or anything regal, but was of death and sacrifice on the Cross that represented shame. But the joy that was set before Him, He Jesus endured the Cross and came out on the other side victoriously. (Hebrews 12:2)
Today, if something of sickness has come to your house, ask yourself if you have prayed for the peace of Jerusalem and have you loved Israel in ways that will prosper you and your loved ones? For God will perform HIS word in our lives when we speak, believe it and act on it.
To God be all the glory.....Amen!

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REJECT WHAT GOD IS REJECTING

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NO SHAME!

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WOULD THAT SCARE YOU?

Psalm 29
Give unto the LORD, O you mighty ones,
Give unto the LORD glory and strength.
2 Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name;
Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
The God of glory thunders;
The LORD is over many waters.
4 The voice of the LORD is powerful;
The voice of the LORD is full of majesty.

5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars,
Yes, the LORD splinters the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes them also skip like a calf,
Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the LORD divides the flames of fire.

8 The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;
The LORD shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth,
And strips the forests bare;
And in His temple everyone says, "Glory!"

10 The LORD sat enthroned at the Flood,
And the LORD sits as King forever.
11 The LORD will give strength to His people;
The LORD will bless His people with peace.    NKJV

Is God in the "let's scare mankind business"? No! He does not scare anyone, but He will certainly "correct".
Living in the south certainly can be predictable about storms, those either as electrical or the tornadic super-storm. In that kingdom of nature, we can see, wonderful effects of natural causes, and the operations of those powers of nature we see take on a strength and life of their own. Living in those regions where those events occur, can in the least be harrowing. After such storms one can see the magnitude of damage and sometimes death. One can see what is left in the aftermath of such destructive winds, storms, and even in those catastrophic earthquakes.
In my youth, I saw more than one tree hit by lightning. I had seen buildings pushed over as the leaning Tower of Pisa, and knew there was more going on than what meets the eye.

In the aftermath of one such storm, I saw debris piled up for miles and sometimes on both sides of this main interstate through the city. This was the early 70's. There were still flood waters some 24 hours later on major roadways into neighborhoods and highways. In the light of day, and passing through, I saw a golf course that looked more like a swamp area than that of the pristine look of the normal glorious playground of velvet green. That golf course was truly short of its beauty. With standing water and trash and objects strewn around, it appeared to be a "real mess"!
Would this event last? No!
But one takes note of the brutality of winds and destructive forces beyond our control! In all that chaos, man got up and gathered teams, and the clean-up began. What took just minutes to destroy, it would take months to rebuild that which was brought down by the horrific winds of nature. When the waters dried up and the soil removed from the grassy lawns, some resemblance of the beauty started to return. Those leaning buildings had to come down.
Was this God's doing?

Again, no, for God is the God of creating and not destroying. God is not in the destruction business. But satan is the destroyer. He came to kill, steal and destroy!
John 10:10................ 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. NKJV

From the scripture passage of Psalm 29, we are introduced into the voice of the Lord!
His voice is over the waters like we see in the Beginning with God in Genesis 1. We see the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the deep! Verse 4 tells that the voice of the LORD is powerful and is majestic. Verse 5 reminds us that His voice will break the cedars in Lebanon.
People purchase things in cedar when they want them to last a long time. Cedar is considered a good wood. It is considered durable for the long haul in life. Ranchers will purchase cedar posts to build fences to keep their livestock within said boundaries of their property. They expect to pay out money for the best wood in fencing.
But God's voice will break cedar into pieces, and it would be hard to do, or would it?

When we speak the Word of God, and the enemy, that thief (the devil) hears the voice speak what God speaks, then that same speaking is powerful, it is majestic, it is strong, and will shake things up like we see in Verse 8. And in Verse 10, we see the LORD gives strength to his people, and He blesses His people with peace.

So if God speaking God's own Word shakes things up, then we shake things up as well when speaking His Words.

In the dramatic effects of Mt. St. Helen's erupting in 1980. .......that mountain decided to explode into gas, ash and rocks. It lifted high its belching capabilities and lifted rocks and ash far into the sky and then those great capabilities became evident of all the ash into other states. That continual affect left the sky darkened with the ash and then if that was not enough, the day became like night where no light remained. Then there came the spilling over a great accumulation of lava to fill the lake and valley below with melted glacier ice. Yes, even those who were miles away saw the plume of smoke rise higher and higher into the sky. Devastation took place in the area in the shadow of Mt. St. Helen where lives were changed or lost in the cataclysmic upheaval that day. When the word got out, and pictures taken of that eventful May 18, much talking was going on. What was written and recorded was that of loudness that volcano gave giving up it's load of the mixture of gas exploding, causing a heat to melt those glacier ice sheaths to become the muddy waters with a force of power to run it's desired course and in it's path, it took out massive sized trees and rocks larger than a school bus that swept down a great mountainside that had no say in the matter.  And what was recorded also spoke of the the darkness that fell today, and it was like being wrapped in a blanket!
WOULD THAT SCARE YOU?
We lived about a 1800 miles from that catastrophic event and still saw ash on our driveway. It was some two inches that floated down from a cloudless sky!

God has not given us a spirit of fear, but He has given us power, love and a sound mind! (2 Timothy 1 :7)

We must behold His glory. We must behold the Creator who created the rocks, the rivers, the icecaps on mountain tops, the sounds of birds singing, the voices of children in laughter and in play, and the promise of tomorrow in Jesus Christ.

For to us, we have His promises of safety when we dwell with Him. Others who may not know Him may come under the other voice of terror. But He is God forever. He is the one who blesses us with His peace.

I remember hearing about the Comet Halle Bop. The newscasters were saying, "you can see it on these days of this particular month." We searched the sky and found it there, almost like it was held in space. Parading across a starlight sky, we noticed the tail that seemed to go on and on. It was seeing liking this reside left behind, but oh, what a beauty it left behind it. On that darkened sky, it looked like shimmering diamonds. I remembered the Lord spoke to me about it. He said  that when He too, passes by us, we can stand in His glory.........and when we look later or even tomorrow, we would still see that beauty, that lingering affect of being  in His presence. That glory would not be just in front of us, but behind us as well!

In speaking in His glory, in His beauty, power and honor, we are declaring His Word to be true. It is strength and peace to us. But to others that same word may be terror!

That power from Psalm 29 is seen when we declare the same Words the Lord speaks. When we do everything must change.

May we pray and give honor to the ONE who created for His glory. May we all have opportunity to speak to the storm as Jesus did when satan has his hand in it to create evil. Be turned to God and His glory and voice what He has spoken.

Mark 4:35-41.......35 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side." 36 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?" 39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace, be still!" And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40 But He said to them, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, "Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!"    NKJV

Like Jesus we too, can speak to the storm. It may be a great windstorm arising, but we can rebuke the wind and if there is a sea of water that can be calmed. That which He created had to obey Him!

Father, thank You for Your word that is life and truth to us. In Jesus' name , we pray to be those who declare YOUR word everywhere we go and in everything we do for Your glory. We expect to speak as You spoke in the Beginning and light began.
Today, we stand on the Rock of our Salvation. We speak from hearts that are grounded in His Word. As we speak may the ground shake, yes a shaking that removes that which we do not need so that which is of God may remain. May we spiritually be connected always and look to that raised banner of the Lord's victory over us!
We will not speak as the devil or the world speaks, but we will speak as we hear our Father God speak.

I pray each who read this will walk safely in their way today and that their feet will not stumble. Tonight when we lie down in the South or in the Northwest, we lie down and be in His peace that we shall not be afraid.  We shall not be afraid of sudden terror from the enemy nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes for the Lord will be our confidence and will keep our feet from being caught. Thank You Father for the creative Word that we unwrap today. We will speak as You speak and see the ground shake and that which is of YOU will REMAIN IN OUR LIVES. AMEN AND AMEN!

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