Marching Forth!

" Understanding is a wellspring of life to him who has it.     But the correction of fools is folly ." Proverbs 16:22 Our ability to understand is a gift given us by God.  Elihu said in Job 32:7-9 , " I said, ‘Age should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.’   8 But there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. 9 Great men are not always wise, nor do the aged always understand justice ."  God who knows all things and created mankind is able to give eternal life and understanding by His grace.  Unless the living God had revealed Himself to us, we could never know Him or experience the abundant life He delights to provide all who trust in Him. Solomon described understanding as a "wellspring of life" to those who have it.  This understanding is more than observing or accepting reality as we perceive it, but it is knowledge of what is true and the desire to submit our lives to it.  This wellspr...

From beginning to end, the Bible is a revelation of the one true God to all mankind.  The Old Testament is a grand epic that foretells the promised Messiah revealed as Jesus in the New Testament, and Jesus Christ is the central figure throughout all Scripture.  Genesis 1:1 says, " In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth ."  The beginning of the Gospel of John says in John 1:1-3 :  " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made ."  John establishes straight away the divine nature and power of Jesus Christ, that Jesus the Word spoke all things into existence as part of the eternal and supreme Godhead.  The whole Bible is written to lead us to know Jesus Christ as KING OF KINGS and our Saviour. Observing Jesus is the primary and central figure in the Bible helps us better understand the stru...

After Jesus called Matthew to follow Him, Jesus ate at his house and many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Him.  When the Pharisees saw this they asked His disciples:  "Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?"  Merely asking this question exposed the unbelief and ignorance in these religious leaders.  Their question implied they saw His sinful company as a blight upon His character; it showed they did not believe sinners could be redeemed or Jesus unable to cleanse or change them.  Their response showed they did not believe Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah God sent to seek and save the lost. Jesus answered their query in Matthew 9:12-13 :  " When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance .”  Jesus pointed out the...

I had a great conversation with a new believer in Jesus who was saved this week, and we briefly discussed the importance of reading God's word to grow in maturity.  Just like we need to eat food to uphold the health and strength of our bodies, we need to regularly receive God's word to be strengthend in faith as we obey.  When we read the Bible, it can be quite foreign and strange to us because it is not the way we naturally think, God's ways and thoughts being higher than ours.  Careful reading ought to provoke questions in the spiritually hungry, and we will wonder with the disciples at time how things Jesus said could possibly be true. Reading the Bible with faith in God is key to receiving spiritual benefits from God's word, for divine truth is obscured and even appears foolish to the natural man.  It is important for us to allow the Bible to begin to frame our new worldview as children of God and disciples of Jesus Christ rather than imposing our own opinions up...

One aspect of God's character I love is His ability to redeem what we consider avoidable and even unredeemable.  I read a poem in a book titled, "The Saints Should Never Be Dismayed."  While this is a  true statement, we could spend our time beating ourselves up for doing what we never should do--or we could thank God He uses our being dismayed to draw us to Himself.  In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the relationship between the father and son was enriched by the son leaving, losing his inheritance, and choosing to return to his father he trusted to treat him well.  Having always enjoyed the blessings of his father's house he didn't realise how good his father was until he found himself in want.  Sheep should not wander from the Good Shepherd, and sons should not show such disrespect to their fathers, yet God rejoices when the lost are found.  When we are dismayed, let us remember to turn to the LORD. Below is the aforementioned hymn written by Will...

As I tend to think in concrete terms, it was always difficult for me in my younger days to understand what Christians meant when they spoke about "fruit."  Because the Bible spoke about spiritual fruit in a figurative sense, it seemed a very subjective standard legalistic-leaning people were pleased to spell out.  I remember kids in our youth group debating whether we had a responsibility to be "fruit inspectors," that we were the ones qualified to determine whether others were living up to a biblical standard.  While the Bible does provide a clear contrast between obvious works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 , being able to identify faults in others did nothing to ensure we faithfully walked in the Spirit ourselves! Reading what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount would have been very helpful for me to read in regards to His warning about false prophets.  He said in Matthew 7:15-20 :  “ Beware of false prophets, who come to you in ...