Deut. 20:4 For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.
An organization in Montana offered a bounty of five thou10sand dollars for every wolf captured alive. Two hunters decided to head for the hills and make some money capturing wolves. Day and night, they scoured the mountains and forests, searching for their valuable prey. Exhausted after three days of hunting without success, they both fell asleep.
During the night, one of the hunters suddenly woke up to find that the two were surrounded by a pack of fifty wolves, their eyes flaming and teeth bared. At once, he called to his friend, "Hey, wake up! We're gonna be rich!"
Sometimes we feel in over our heads in difficulties. They surround us like that pack of wolves preparing to pounce. But perhaps these difficulties are actually opportunities?? Recently, we've had some interesting trials. But through these tribulations, we see that God is taking each situation, one by one, and turning it for His Glory -- just more opportunities for us to testify of His goodness.
Today, we have the opportunity to learn and grow and experience the grace and power of God through these trials which surround us. The devil is not as smart or powerful as he appears -- and we have a great and All-Mighty God who has a way of using our enemy's silly tactics for the building up of His Great Kingdom!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]A good pastor friend of ours told us that his congregation was experiencing some hardships and division. How often does this happen among us? It breaks my heart -- and I believe the Lord weeps over this too.
I came across an old article about "fake physicians". According to this article, many American citizens could be receiving medical treatment from doctors who lied on their medical school loan applications and used the money to pay a broker for fake documents. One guy was arrested and later admitted that he was paid beaucoup bucks to hand out approximately a hundred phony medical documents claiming that his clients completed their training! Can you imagine?!
I came across a powerful parable written by a Haitian pastor illustrating to his congregation the need for total commitment to the Lord.
We arrived at the airport late Thursday night with our bags and our kiddos only to find out that our flight was canceled because of a freak accident -- a tractor ran into the plane, of all things! So we repacked our ourselves tightly into a small rental car to make the two hour drive to get back home to Arad in the middle of the night. Our flight was postponed till Sunday.
There is a tale told of that great English actor Macready. An eminent preacher once said to him: "I wish you would explain to me something."
Yesterday, actor Robert Clary of Hogan's Heroes fame passed away at the age of 96. Upon reading his autobiography, Mr. Clary was the youngest of 14 children. However, 10 of his siblings were tragically killed during the Holocaust. He survived his captivity in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in 1942. Upon reading his story, and with thanksgiving coming this week in the United States reminded me of another story by Corrie Ten Boom, a Christian survivor of the Holocaust because of her willingness to protect Jews during World War 2.
The parable of the Prodigal son might also serve as an illustration of the relationship between Israel and the Church.