Your workmanship is marvellous - how well I know it!
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed. New Living Translation.
THE ABOVE PICTURE IS THAT OF A SINGLE HUMAN CELL AS VIEWED UNDER A POWERFUL ELECTRON MICROSCOPE
All the structures have names and all have specific purposes. How amazing is our Creator God that this single cell is so detailed in its structure but is totally invisible to the naked eye!
This same God cares for you as an individual person, and has a plan and a purpose for your being, as you put your trust in Him.
To find out more about how you can come to know the God who made the universe and all that is in it, the God who sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to earth to live as a man, and to die on a wooden cross in our place as punishment for our sins - go online to www.vision.org.au This is the online home of Australia's Vision Christian Media.
At the top of the page, click on the "Grow your Faith" tab, then from the dropdown menu, click on "Looking for God." God Bless!
A TIME TO STAND
The above image, when clicked on will play the song "STAND" from popular contemporary Christian music artist, Rebecca St, James. This is one of my favourite songs from her. The lyrics of this song seem so appropriate to quote for this current blog post of mine called "A Time To Stand." Please listen to the song and be blessed.
The lyrics are as follows:
There is a time for healing
There's a time for all purposes under the sun
There's a time for laughter
There's a time to let go and a time to hold on
So we are here, but why are we waiting
Why are we acting like dead men walking
The time has arrived
For us to arise
Joining our hands united together
This is our time to be strong
This is our time to rise up
To stand and be counted
This is our time to believe
To know in our God we are free
Let the world know to Him we belong
Lord capture our hearts now
Drown out the pleasures and treasures that bind us
Give us your courage
To be strong, to be brave, and to never back down
There's no time to lose
We can't be silent
In a world that is dying to find out the truth
We have the hope
We've got the answer
Let's lay down our all
With reckless abandon
In the book of Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 10-18, the apostle Paul introduces us to the Christian's essential dress requirements, the Armor of God.
Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. NIV (Emphasis mine)
I am reminded of a saying I have heard a number of times over the years, quoted by pastors and other Christian leaders: If we don't stand for something, we will fall for anything! I think there is a lot of truth in that statement. But, to narrow the intent of that statement even further, as Christians, we are called to not just stand for anything, but to stand uncompromisingly for Biblical truth. Sadly, in recent years, with the rise of Political Correctness and also the push by the radical left in such areas as the LGBTQ and transgender brigades, individual Christians and even whole church denominations have departed from the truth of the Word of God and embraced the spirit of the world, clearly compromising Biblical absolutes for life and sexuality.
In the lyrics of the Rebecca St. James song "STAND" quoted above, one line says": The time has arrived
For us to arise
Joining our hands united together.
The Holy Spirit is calling the church of Jesus Christ, the Body of Christ, to be "all on the same page" so to speak, to all adhere to Biblical truth and to join together as one body with one voice - IN UNITY - proclaiming that Jesus Is LORD!
As I write this today, my wife and I have just been to our church fellowship gathering this morning, where our pastor was speaking on the subject of Unity. As part of his message, he quoted Psalm 133 in the Old Testament, which speaks about the power of God's people and His church flowing together in unity, and walking in humility.
Psalm 133 says: How good and pleasant it is
when God's people live together in unity!
It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron's beard,
down on the collar of his robe.
It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the LORD bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.
I had not really heard it preached this way before, but Pastor Anthony spoke about the unity being of the Spirit flowing from the head, Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, down through the ministry leadership (Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers) down to and through all the members of the Body.
Another picture of the Christian life in the New Testament is that of soldiers in an army, and in this current blog theme of "A Time To Stand," it is clear that, just as in an earthly army, everyone knows his rank and responsibility to stand in their designated positions, the army of God is being trained and equipped to stand shoulder to shoulder to advance in the authority of our Commander-in-Chief, the LORD of Armies, called in the Old Testament the LORD of Hosts, as we engage in the battle of the ages against our tireless foe, Satan, for the hearts and souls of men, women and children in the nations.
The prophet Isaiah, at around 700 BC spoke of the age in which we are living, when he wrote: When the enemy shall come in like a flood,
the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.
Increasingly, the enemy is coming in like a flood, and in Western nations where the Christian Gospel was preached and practised unhindered, with seemingly little opposition, today the freedom Christians took for granted to proclaim the truth of God's Word is being challenged by governments, and in the courts of the nations, with very real possibilities of even the Bible being banned in hitherto so-called Christian nations.
Christians, even in nations such as Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Canada are facing the fact that they, and we have a choice to make - Are we going to STAND strong for Jesus and uphold the truth of God's eternal Word, even if it means real persecution, and possibly with government legislation, falling foul of the law - or are we going to just blend in with the crowd, giving way to compromise out of fear or a desire to be accepted by those whose philosophies are anything but God-honouring? We, like never before, are being called and challenged to: STAND!
