Man made Paradise
I wonder, about a place called Paradise, in California. According to the latest early Sunday morning reports, 80-90% of homes in Paradise have been incinerated (my word): they have literally, gone up in smoke. The fire came quickly upon the city and the people living there, causing mass destruction. The mayor is quoted as saying “We do intend to rebuild; it’s going to be a process–a lot of hard work, a lot of coming together” Paradise Mayor Jody Jones.
He alone is God
The elements are Gods dear reader. I sit with the morning sun shining in on the lovely front room in my house, cozy and warm on the inside, crisp and cool November air on the outside. Am I immune to the threat of fire? Yes, currently, I am. Have I prayed for weather to be abated, for Gods hand to cover my home, my city and surrounding area, my loved ones and community members, why yes I have, many a time. Do I believe God has protected me and my own. Yes, yes again, I know he has. What I also know is this: He alone is God. He is in charge of rain, driving wind, fire, and the earth that we live on top of quite comfortably most of the time, and rather petrified some of the time, as in running for your life from a fire that licks at your heels…
Dismantled in a matter of seconds
When it comes to be subjected, being subjects of the Sovereign, it would be wise to admit dear reader, that what we build with our own arrogant and tiny minds and hands, he can dismantle in a matter of seconds. What it takes us years to accumulate, to create our own Paradise, he demolishes in a matter of hours. Rebuild, recommit, re… what?
Mother Nature, mean and kind witch
Is God mean? Are we little ants? Does he come with a wicked grin, and with one swish of his mighty hand, wipe out the little man made mansions and self appointed King and Queen castles we have built? Or is it Mother Nature, that mean spirited and often kind hearted witch, that just randomly does as she pleases while we scramble to reclaim what she so cruelly flattened within our clear and helpless sight?
Prayers of the righteous
Warnings dear reader, there are warnings in The Bible, one after another after another after another… it is getting worse; “it” will continue to get worse… because man has this crazy idea that they can create a Paradise on earth and reject the one who created them to worship him and him alone. None of us are immune. I heard a mom whose son was murdered say “I don’t want prayer or good thoughts, I want gun control.” This is my point, dear one. You and me, we have perceived control, and nothing more. It is the prayers of the righteous that are powerful and effective:
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16).
This woman has it all wrong dear one and my question is, do you too? In her devastated emotional state, she angrily insisted that prayers and good thoughts would not help her. She was correct on this front, if the point is that the prayers and thoughts will not resurrect her dead son or save her from the fact that she feels helpless in the battle and could not save him herself. The problem is her grasping for man to make it right, protect her, prevent atrocities… it is man that is the threat, with charred and blackened unrepentant hearts. She is turning in the wrong direction, she turns toward the fire instead of rushing away.
Prayer heals
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| Be consumed by the fire of faith |
The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (I spliced these verses together).
God is not mean. God is just. He wants you to be consumed and consecrated. He wants each of us to be on fire in faith. We will see much more destruction dear one, it is prophesied and, God is no liar. Open your Bible, buy one if you don’t have one. Attend church. Join a Bible study. Do something for yourself and your family that leads you to God, to Truth. It is our souls, not our physical bodies, that are in jeopardy.
If you haven’t yet, thank God today for all of your blessings. They come from him and he sees you, from his heavenly Paradise. Secondly, do pray, for those in need, their homes and lives changed forever by fire, and murder. It is our prayers, offered up to God, that are fragrant, powerful and effective. One day soon, it will be me, it will be you, that needs the prayers of many.
Let us never forget, on this Remembrance Day, who Sovereignly rules, jealously.
