Marching Forth!

" Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ,  11  lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices ." 2 Corinthians 2:10-11 In his second letter to the church in Corinth, Paul spoke of the importance of recognising the tactics of Satan to prevent him from taking advantage of believers.  Unforgiveness is a snare Satan lays at our feet when we have been offended or after we heard about what others said or did.  When we allow malice and envy to abide in our hearts it leads to greater sin.  In William Gurnall's book The Christian in Complete Armour, after a detailed explanation of various satanic tactics, he counsels believers in good actions to take.  In light of God's sovereignty and goodness, there are things we can do to be prepared: 1.  Take God into thy counsel.  Heaven overlooks hell.  God at any ...

We are blessed the unchanging, eternal God has made the way of salvation simple enough for a child to understand:  by faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour, God who became flesh, sinners who repent can receive forgiveness and eternal life.  A child knows what it is like to trust their parent to pick them up and carry them.  You don't need a doctorate to understand what it means to rely or depend on someone.  A baby can tell the difference between good and bad milk, and very early in our Christian walk God helps us to discern truth from deception.  You don't need 20 years of professional experience in the dairy industry to know when milk has curdled and gone off.  If a child failed to do a sight or sniff test of sour milk before drinking it, only a brief taste would be required before the whole glass of milk would be rejected. When I observe eating and drinking habits of children, they notice when flavours are different.  They can drink too much of what make...

In my morning reading, I came across the passage in Numbers 25 where Phinehas executed judgment upon Zimri of the tribe of Simeon and Cozbi a woman of Midian.  The Hebrews were condemned by the LORD for their idolatry, and because of a plague many among the people died.  The rulers of the tribes were executed and hung according to the command of the LORD.  Phinehas was obedient to the command of God and with one stroke slew two transgressors in a tent, and God took notice. Numbers 25:10-13 says, " Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying:  11  "Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal.  12  Therefore say, 'Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace;  13  and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was ...

I have been starting to read through J. Oswald Sander's book, Spiritual Leadership .  He observed, " The overriding need of the church, if it is to discharge its obligation to the rising generation, is for a leadership that is authoritative, spiritual, and sacrificial ."  (Sanders, J. Oswald. Spiritual Leadership . Moody Press, 1989. pg. 25) The only way this need for spiritual leadership is met is when a person submits to Jesus Christ as LORD and is filled with the Holy Spirit.  The way leadership looks and works in the world is completely different than the leadership Jesus Christ modelled.  The great need of the church is to seek, obey and depend on Jesus Christ, and individuals who embrace this call will be equipped to lead regardless of their role in the church. One observation hearers made of Jesus was how He taught with authority--not like the scribes who quoted their rabbis.  When officers tasked with arresting Jesus refused to do so,  John 7:46 gi...

" God is not a man, that He should lie, n or a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good ?" Numbers 23:19 As Good Friday and Easter draws near, I remain in awe of the incarnation.  It is an amazing, miraculous demonstration of love Jesus would die on the cross to redeem sinners from death, yet it is remarkable God humbled Himself to put on human flesh at all.  Unless God was willing to become a man, He could not have died and provided atonement for us on the cross.  While God became the man Jesus Christ, God is not a man.  That's one reason the incarnation is so marvellous. To humans with a natural mind, it is not humbling in itself to be a human being.  We can discern the difference between an honourable, respectable person and one who is treated with contempt, but we cannot know what it is like to be something other than human.  The God who created the world and all that is in ...

We can presumptuously imagine the work of God depends upon our best efforts.  While we ought to take responsibility before God to do His will and walk in the way that fully pleases Him, God is required for any of our service and ministry to be fruitful.  If God can redeem our lives from destruction, He can also accomplish His work through our failures.  We should guard ourselves against the error that says since God is all powerful and sovereign, He can do whatever He wants without us and seek to justify our indolence. When the Hebrews murmured in the wilderness for lack of water, God commanded Moses and Aaron to take the rod of God and speak to the rock, and God would cause water to flow from it.  Instead, Moses and Aaron spoke harshly to the people and struck the rock.  God made water spring from the rock, and the people and all their flocks were well-watered.  Yet there was a severe consequence for the sin of Moses and Aaron:  they would not be...

" Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD , t he fruit of the womb is a reward ." Psalm 127:3 Rewarding means to give in return, and this occurs according to the generosity of the one offering the reward.  I have seen posters offering monetary rewards to anyone who finds a lost pet and notifies the owner.  A reward in such circumstances is compensation given to the deserving, even as wages might be given to an employee.  But there is a notable difference with God's rewards, for they are given all of God's grace to the underserving out of His goodness.  We might think on the basis of the forgoing verse that those with many children have received a greater reward from God based on their merit, yet it is by God's merit, wisdom and goodness every living soul enters this world. While I was reading the book of Numbers , I was blessed to read the section at the end of Numbers 18 .  To those under the Law of Moses, God commanded people bring a tithe of the best ...