No Odds - part 2 Like Father Like Son

Asa was a king who soared to victory as he followed God with his life and kingdom. In 2 Chronicles 14 Abijah’s son takes the throne and builds on his father’s tradition of following God. Look what he did:

“Asa pleased the LORD, his God, by doing what was right and good.
He removed the foreign altars and the pagan places of worship,
broke down the sacred stone columns, and cut down the symbols of the goddess Asherah.
He commanded the people of Judah to do the will of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, and to obey his teachings and commands.
Because he abolished the pagan places of worship and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah, the kingdom was at peace under his rule.”

He was dedicated to the God of his fathers. All seemed to be going very well. And then it happened. A one million man army descended on Judah from, of all places, Ethiopia. Zerah and his troops came with 300 chariots; the drones of his day. Doom was certain.

Why when someone is doing as God commands and directs do things like this happen? Never had Saul faced a million man army! He did everything wrong, reigned for 40 years and never came into a situation like this one. Can you imagine looking out over a million warriors ready for battle? The odds again were against Judah. A horrendous battle was about to take place between the million and the 580,000.

What could Asa’s battle strategy possibly be ? It was a stroke of genius! He cried out to God! “LORD it is nothing for you to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, o LORD God, for we rest on you, and in your name we go against this multitude o LORD you are God; do not let men prevail against you!”

We look back on this account and say GO GET EM ASA! YOU DA DUDE! SEND THOSE BAD GUYS BACK TO WHERE THEY CAME FROM! THEY HAVE NO POSSESSION IN ISRAEL! WHO DO THEY THINK THAT THEY ARE MESSING WITH? Whew... let me catch my breath!

We we shout this because we know what is about to happen. We know that EVERY STINKING ONE OF THOSE bad dudes is gonna die! They are doomed. They are toast. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Asa wasn’t privy to that information. This was a do or die proposition. He spoke with tremendous confidence and trust in Jehovah. “God it is nothing for you to help, whether with many or with those who have no power...”. He automatically put himself into that latter category.

But wait! He was a king! He had power. He was a descendent of David, of Solomon! He was God’s chosen. He had been following God’s will. All of which was true. Was it easier to face the million because of these truths? I doubt it.

How could Asa trust? Actually, trust was all that he had. The million were on his doorstep. They weren't going away anytime soon. God would prove himself or he wouldn’t.

And He did! In a BIG way. How exactly we don't know. But one million died as a direct result of Asa’s prayer and confidence in his God.

Am I so confident? Are you?

Daughter and dog...

About six months ago we discovered that Ann was pregnant and were very excited for she and Jackson. We will have babies on this side and that of the Atlantic. We weren't prepared for that news and we we were even less prepared for the news that our little dog is pregnant. To date we have spent more on the dog than on Annie (don't tell her... Ann that is). Ann has yet to discover whether her baby is a boy or girl. Both ultrasound images were inconclusive. Though I did some further investigation of my own and was startled with what I found. to me it looks as if the baby is definitely a boy and has some resemblance from both sides of the family. Take a look for yourself and let me know what you think.

Urgent Prayer (part 2)

Does God ever give you a gut punch? He did that just a few days ago when I watched a missionary story from the other side of the world. It was short but poignant, and it punched me in the belly button and brought a few tears too. One thing that shook me was the final statement that the missionary made. He was questioning himself and said, I wonder if what I have done will make a difference. This question comes to a missionary's mind now and again as they ponder how vast God's world is and how tiny one’s work is. As I thought, and identified, with his sentiment, the Lord brought a verse to mind that I had used recently in a youth talk. It was this one in John 12:24, “ Very truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ” When, in Matthew, the sower sowed his seed, it was the Word of God. Here in John, Jesus indicates that the seed is the life of the servant. Jesus talked of his comi...

Church Isn't a Place

Many times we say, I'm going to church on Sunday. What some fail to understand is that "church" isn't a building. I remember our pastor saying, "the church is an organism, not an organization." He was teaching us the Bible truth about the church. Jesus Christ is the head of the body, and the church is his body on earth. Another pastor once said, "God's hands have human fingers." This is a difficult concept for some to grasp, pun intended. However, it is important to understand that God accomplishes his work through human beings. He uses us, the church, to do his will and work. It's not that if we don't do his will that he is stymied. But he does use willing servants. To be in the church, one must be a part of the family. You cannot be in the church if you don't have the Savior. The church is not for the lost; it is for the edification of the saved. The lost can come and hear the message of salvation. But the church is made up of t...

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