Marching Forth!

The start of a new year is an exciting time of looking gladly towards the future.  Perhaps of all the years of my life I have never seen a "year" cop more hate than 2020.  I have seen countless memes and references of 2020 that paint those 365 days in a negative light.  I am reminded of a song I sang often growing up taken from  Psalm 118:24 :  " This is the day the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it ."  If we acknowledge each day we are given on earth is a gift received from our good God, how can we say 365 of them in a row are bad?  2020 was an awesome year because we have an awesome God, and should we live to see one day in 2021 we have been granted a blessing beyond what we deserve. What I love about the song taken from Psalm 118 is the context of the Messiah God would send who would suffer and die for sinners.  Hebrews 12:2 says Jesus for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame.  Jesus re...

A word I hear concerning the benefits of Christian fellowship is "accountability."  It seems to be part of being a disciple of Jesus to be held or "hold others accountable."  This can be little more than keeping tabs on someone else, to watch over their shoulder to confirm they are doing the right things or avoiding sin.  The more I think about this concept of what passes as a need for serious discipleship from a biblical vantage point, I wonder if we can actually stand in the way of spiritual growth and maturity.  With a desire to be accepted by others we can seek the favour of an accountability partner rather than seeking God and relying upon His strength to overcome sinful desires of the flesh.  Accountability without the governance of God's love has the potential to become prescriptive, controlling and suggests to find favour with God people must labour to please man. The Bible does speak about giving an account of ourselves, and the context typically conce...

" When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. " Deuteronomy 24:19 God is able to use forgetfulness or being absentminded as an opportunity for blessing.  God knows that we who remember also have the capacity (and even tendency!) to forget.  If a farmer forgot a sheaf of grain in the field, he was not to go retrieve it:  that would provide food for the stranger, the fatherless and the widow.  I wonder if this happened to farmers as often as I forget a pot on the stove that needs cleaning when washing dishes!  The sink being empty of dishes, I often remove the drain plug only to see another pot or dish to wash I had forgotten about. A forgetful farmer was to be always mindful of the God who commanded him to leave the forgotten sheaf in the field.  He was to remember...

Zerubbabel was a Jewish governor of Judea who came out of the Babylonian captivity and was used by God to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.  Haggai and Zechariah were prophets and contemporaries of Zerubbabel who encouraged him in the work.  Great difficulties and obstacles were prevalent:  the busyness of the people in their own affairs, opposition of enemies, and even satanic attacks.  Zerubbabel had a massive task before him that loomed like an impassable mountain.  The foundation had been laid, but how would the work be completed? In the face of great discouragement and his own inability to do the work, an angelic messenger said in  Zechariah 4:6-9 :  " So he answered and said to me: "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,'  s ays the LORD of hosts. 7 'Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of "Grac...