THY KINGDOM COME---COMMENTARY

THY KINGDOM COME----COMMENTARY

   I have had a serious situation ongoing in my life.  I constantly pray about it, telling God how I feel and what I would really like to see Him do about it.  Have you done that?  When there is something that is really weighing heavy on your mind, do you take it before God and ask Him to fix it?  Well, I was praying about my situation the other night and it hit me like a ton of bricks, as I always end my request with, "Not mine, but Your will be done".  This is how Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done."  Now, it is alright to pray that, but are we really willing to accept His will regarding our most important problems?  After all, we hear preachers of "Mega-churches" always telling us to "just believe" and God will resolve all of our problems, right?  Have faith!  Send more money!  God will fulfill your request as soon as you remove all of the sin from your life.

   What is your most important possession?  What, in your life, do you spend all of your energy to care for, to protect?  What are you willing to die for?  What is the most important possession you have?  Your wealth, your health, or your family?  As a single parent most of my life, I have focused my energy in caring for my children.  They have been MY responsibility.  I have not been responsible for taking care of my family until recently.  It has just been my children most of my adult life.

   When you raise your children, they come to you and ask you for things that you know is not good for them.  In this instance, you can see into the future and see the negative outcome, so you deny their request.  At times, they want it so badly that they hound you for it to the point that, even though you know the outcome, you say yes and hope it will be used in the future as a lesson.  In a way, God is like that.  You really don't want to push your will upon Him, or He may say yes.

   So, when my child is in trouble, right or wrong, I take responsibility for him.  I run to God and tell Him what I want Him to do about it, and it has to be done right now!  Please, I haven't seen any movement, Lord, I really need Your help right now!

     I have taken a "Job" approach, praying for the sins of my children to be forgiven daily.  Job started his days by sacrificing for the sins of his children and bringing them before The Lord.  We don't sacrifice animals anymore, since Jesus was The Ultimate Sacrifice.  But, I do bring them before The Lord daily for forgiveness.   Does it matter?  Does it count?  Well, I know they are responsible for their own actions, but I have to believe Job's kids were accountable for their own actions, also.  So, I pray.
    My brother has been dead over 40 years and I still pray for him.  Does it matter?  I don't know, but I do know that God knew, before my brother died, how many times I would pray for him, even in the future.  You see, my God is not constrained by time.  He invented it! 

   While I was earnestly praying about a recent problem with one of my children, I realized that I had been praying for God to have His will to be done about the problem.  This problem has the potential of being life altering, it is a very BIG deal.  And there I was, praying "Not my will, but Yours be done."  What was I thinking?!?  Then, I tried to convince God, yes, I was doing my best to convince God that my will in my child's life was best for him.  I have not posted the rest of the Book of Job on this blog site, so let me spoil it by telling you how Job's time of trouble ends:  even Job, who saw himself as perfect, was rebuked for questioning God.  (beginning in Job 32)  And there I was....God forgive me!

   I have a type 1 personality.  I like to be in control.  I have been responsible for my children all of their lives, and here is my turning point.  I have also known all along that God had entrusted me to RAISE my children.  He has allowed me to teach them and to set an example for them.  He has given them to me to love and care for.  But, ultimately, they BELONG to Him.  My children, my family, my health, my possessions, etc., all that I have BELONGS to Him.  I am but a steward. So, in faith, I relinquished my strangle hold on my child to my God.  

   You see, even though we hear preachers saying to claim this blessing or that blessing, or to have faith, or do this or do that, we need to step aside and give God glory and praise for His will in whatever the situation.  Remember Lazarus, the diseased beggar at the gate of the rich man?  (Luke 6)  If God wants all of  His people to be rich, He needs to apologize to Lazarus, don't you think?  If He wants us all to be in constant good health, there is the Apostle Paul, John the Baptist, etc., that He needs to apologize to.  What ever we go through, we are to trust Him, that He has our best interest at heart and He has a purpose in all that He will have us endure.  He allows us to make mistakes, but He is big enough to use whatever the situation to further His Kingdom, and to grow us in our faith.  It is hard, because we don't want to let go of what we have been entrusted with.  When we let go and trust God, though, it has eternal blessings, not just temporal ones.

   Let us focus on God and promote His Kingdom in whatever our situation.  The Apostle Paul did not tell God that he would write his epistles as soon as he was released from prison.  No, he used his "down time" from traveling around and preaching to write letters to the churches and teach.  What are you doing, what are you qualified to do?

You are invited to leave a comment with your thoughts.  No comment is published without review.

If this post is a blessing to you, please consider sharing it on your favorite social media, and maybe it will be a blessing to one of your friends. Above all, please pray for us, that The LORD will use us to His glory.  Thank you.

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DANIEL INTERPRETS THE HANDWRITING DANIEL 5: 13 - 30

DANIEL INTERPRETS THE HANDWRITING 
  DANIEL 5: 13 - 30

Rembrandt's Belshazzar's Feast (1635)

(13) So Daniel was brought before the king, and the king said to him, "Are you Daniel, one of the exiles my father the king brought from Judah?  (14) I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you and that you have insight, intelligence and outstanding wisdom.  (15) The wise men and enchanters were brought before me to read this writing and tell me what it means, but they could not explain it.  (16) Now I have heard that you are able to give interpretations and to solve difficult problems.  If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.

   (17) Then Daniel answered the king, "You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else.  Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.

   (18)  "O king, the most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor.  (19) Because of the high position He gave him, all the peoples and nations and men of every language dreaded and feared him.  Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled.  (20) But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory.  (21) He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like cattle; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone He wishes.

   (22) But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this.  (23) Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven.  You had the goblets from His temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them.  You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand.  But you did not honor the God who holds in His hand your life and all your ways.  (24) Therefore He sent the hand that wrote the inscription.

   (25) This is the inscription that was written:

            MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN

    (26)  This is what these words mean:

            MENE:  God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

           TEKEL:  You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting

           PERES:  Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

   (29) Then at Belshazzar's command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.

   (30) That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.   (NIV)

LIFE APPLICATION STUDY BIBLE COMMENTARY

    The king offered Daniel beautiful gifts and great power if he would explain the writing, but Daniel turned him down.  Daniel was growing older and had lived his life characterized by doing right.  The gifts from this king would be worthless.  He could be killed for not giving the king a positive interpretation or for even refusing his gifts.  Daniel, though, wanted it to be known that he was giving an unbiased interpretation to the king.

   Belshazzar knew the story of Nebuchadnezzar and how God had humbled him, but Belshazzar rebelled against God and disrespected Him.  The message on the wall is for ALL who defy God.  Although Belshazzar had power and wealth, his kingdom was totally corrupt, and he could not withstand the judgment of God.  God's time of judgment comes for ALL PEOPLE.  If you have forgotten God and slipped into a sinful way of life, turn away from your sin now before He removes any opportunities to repent.  Ask God to forgive you, and begin to live by His standards of justice.  To learn more, click here:   https://omaswisdom.blogspot.com/p/path-to-salvation.html.

COMMENTARY FROM H. A. IRONSIDE

   Ancient Babylon, as we have seen, was the city of idolatry, and the expression of the pride of man's heart, combining religion with self-seeking.  Idolatry, properly speaking, began there.  That was the place where the great tower was made, where men said, "Let us make us a name."  It was no thought of building a tower to escape another possible flood that filled their minds.  But they wished a center around which to rally, that they might make themselves a great name upon the earth.  God told them to scatter abroad; but they were determined not to obey Him.  Rejecting His will, they turned from Him to the worship of demons.  That was the beginning of heathenism; there they commenced to worship and serve the creature more than the Creator; and every idolatrous system in the world is simply an off-shoot of that first parent stem.

  And so we find, in the mystic Babylon of the last days, the union of all human churches, only to be superseded by the worship of the Anti-Christ.  It speaks of a glory yet to be enjoyed by the professing Church, after the Body of Christ has been caught away to heaven, for a brief season, upon the formation of the ten-kingdomed empire, ere the kings and nations of the earth sicken of the contemptible sham, and, becoming utterly atheist, burn the harlot's flesh with fire, destroying forever the great world-church, who says in her heart, "I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow."

    Some may be asking, "Do you not think that Babylon the Great is already in existence?"  Surely:  Babylon's description in Revelations 17 coincides too exactly with history's record of the papal church to warrant any denial of her identity.  What other church has sat upon the seven hills of that great city which ruleth over the kings of the earth?  What other church has been for long centuries "drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus"?  What other church possessed the power and wealth ascribed to her?  And where else shall we find a religious organization so delighting in names of blasphemy as she?

   But the Roman communion does not alone constitute great Babylon.  The harlot has daughters who, like herself, profess to be pledged to a heavenly Bridegroom while committing fornication with the world that rejected Him.  "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship of the world is enmity with God?"  Spiritual fornication is, at large, the union of the church and the state;  individually, of the Christian with the world--an unhallowed alliance, opposed to the whole teaching of the New Testament.  So if Rome be emphatically the great harlot, the state-churches are her off-spring; and "As is the mother, so are her daughters."

MY THOUGHTS

   You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting."  At the end of the day, I like to reflect on what I have traded that day of life for and how I could have improved on it.  Some days, I feel that I, too, have been "found wanting."  There is so much to do with such limited supplies to work with.  I strive to have the spiritual side heavier than the physical side of the scales.  In the end, that will be all that matters.

You are invited to share your thoughts in a "comment".  No comment is published without review.

You are also invited to visit Oma at http://omaspolitics.blogspot.com,  http://omaslife.blogspot.com, and http://omashealth.blogspot.com.

THE WRITING ON THE WALL DANIEL 5: 1-12

THE WRITING ON THE WALL   DANIEL 5: 1 - 12

Rembrandt's Belshazzar's Feast (1635)

   (1) King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them.  (2) While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them.  (3) So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them.  (4) As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

   (5) Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace.  The king watched the hand as it wrote.  (6) His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way.

   (7) The king called out for the enchanters, astrologers and diviners to be brought and said to these wise men of Babylon, "Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.

   (8) Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king what it meant.  (9) So King Belshazzar became even more terrified and his face grew more pale.  His nobles were baffled.

   (10) The queen, hearing the voices of the king and  his nobles, came into the banquet hall.  "O king, live forever!" she said.  Don't be alarmed! Don't look so pale!  (11) There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him.  In the time of your father he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods.  King Nebuchadnezzar your father--your father the king, I say--appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners.  (12) This man Daniel, whom the king called Belteshazzar, was found to have a keen mind and knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems.  Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means.   (NIV)

LIFE APPLICATION STUDY BIBLE COMMENTARY



    From the first of the Book of Daniel to the 5th chapter, 66 years have elapsed.  After Nebuchadnezzar died, his son, Evil-Merodach ruled for two years; his brother-in law

Neri Glissar reigned for four, Labashi-Marduk for two months, then it was Nabonidus, who reigned with his son Belshazzar.  When Nebuchadnezzar is referred to as Belshazzar's father, that means his ancestor.

   The queen was not one of Belshazzar's wives.  She was either Nabonidus' wife or the wife of one of the other rulers before them, possibly even Nebuchadnezzar's.

MY THOUGHTS

   After reading the book, The Harbinger, by Jonathan Cahn last year, the Book of Daniel is frightening to me.  If you did not read it last year, it may still be available at wwwtheharbinger.com.  My eyes are wide open to current events and to the ways of my God.  I pray His forgiveness upon this Nation daily but I also await His judgment.

What about you?  Have you been delivered from sin?  Have you accepted the gift of salvation given freely by Jesus?  There is still time.  Visit our "Path to Salvation" page by clicking here:  https://omaswisdom.blogspot.com/p/path-to-salvation.html.   None of us are promised tomorrow.

What are your thoughts?

You are invited to visit with Oma at http://omaslife.blogspot.com and http://omaspolitics.blogspot.com. 

THE DREAM IS FULFILLED DANIEL 4: 28-36

THE DREAM IS FULFILLED  DANIEL 4: 28 - 36

   (28) All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar.  (29) Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, (30) he said, "Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?"

   (31) The words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven, "This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar:  Your royal authority has been taken from you.  (32) You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle.  Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone He wishes."

   (33) Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled.  He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle.  His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.

   (34) At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored.  Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified Him who lives forever.

        His dominion is an eternal dominion;

          His kingdom endures from generation to generation.

       (35) All the peoples of the earth

         are regarded as nothing.

       He does as He pleases

         with the powers of heaven

       No one can hold back His hand

          or say to Him:  "What have You done?"

   (36) At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom.  My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before.  (37) Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of Heaven, because everything He does is right and all His ways are just.  And those who walk in pride He is able to humble.   (NIV)

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL BY H.A. IRONSIDE

   In Nebuchadnezzar we see a picture of all Gentile power--its departure from God, its degradation and bestial character, and its final subjugation to God in the Time of the End, when Christ shall return in glory and all nations shall prostrate themselves before Him, owning His righteous and benevolent sway.  Nebuchadnezzar set up in intelligence was the embodiment of authority given from Heaven:  "The powers that be are ordained of God."  But it is written, "Man being in honor abideth not, but is as the beasts that perish."  This, the king's madness clearly sets forth-- the turning away of the nations from God, and the corruption of governments to serve human ends. 

   Has not this been characteristic of the great ones of this world?  Instead of kings standing for God, and acting as His representatives to maintain justice and judgment in the earth, do we not find pride and self-will, covetousness and self-seeking, generally controlling them?  All this is pictured by the debasement of Nebuchadnezzar, when his heart was changed to the heart of a beast, and he was driven forth to eat grass like the oxen of the fields.

     When Queen Victoria was asked by a heathen chieftain who came from his distant  domain, he asked her to tell him the secret of England's progress and greatness, it is said that The Queen presented him with a Bible saying, "This book will tell you."

   Who can doubt that according to the measure in which that Book of books has been believed and loved by any people, God has honored them; and you will find that every nation that has welcomed and protected the Gospel has been cared for and blessed in a special way.

   On the other hand, let there be a national rejection of His Word, as in the case of the French nation, who were among the first favored by Him in Reformation times, but drove out the Truth He gave them, and you will find disaster following disaster; for He who cannot lie has said, "Them that honor Me, I will honor; but they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed."

   Do you know the Most High God Who lives forever?  Click here for more information on how to have a relationship with Him:    https://omaswisdom.blogspot.com/p/path-to-salvation.html.

MY THOUGHTS

   At this point, all I can say is that the time draws near.  I have posted in the past regarding The Nine Harbingers  of America:  'https://omaswisdom.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-nine-harbingers.html

   If you are not sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have been saved, please visit our "Path to Salvation" page.  We are available to talk with you if you leave your phone number.  No comment is published without review, so if you would prefer privacy, please indicate it in your comment.  We do not publish phone numbers or addresses.

You are invited to leave your comment with your thoughts.  We love hearing from you.  Also, if this post has been a blessing to you, please pray for us and share this post on your favorite social media.  Thank you for being a part of spreading The Gospel with us.

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KEEPING THE SABBATH

KEEPING THE SABBATH

 

   To understand this post, you need to understand that I want a closer walk with my God.  I study His Word and pray to Him many times throughout the day.

   The third Sunday in August, I phoned my son and discovered he was sick.  I asked if he had chicken soup and 7 Up and he said he did not.  So, I went to the store and purchased the soup and soda.  He had crackers.  I took all of the things to him.  No big deal, right?
   It is a big deal.  In the spirit of the law, I have made a decision not to buy or sell on Sunday out of reverence to The Most High God.  The Fourth Commandment says we are to "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. "  Of course, I felt that I was excused this time, because of the situation.

   The last Sunday in August, I ran out of cigarettes.  I had expected company on that Sunday and would have bummed some off of them, but they never showed up.  So, I went to the store and spent less than $5.00.  Now, some might say that smoking is a sin.  I say the "Sunday thing" is a Commandment, and I was convicted....not for smoking, but for violating the Fourth Commandment.
   See, in the old days, Texas had what was called a "blue law" that prevented many stores from opening on Sunday.  It was easier then to make arrangements on Saturday for what you might need on Sunday, knowing that there would be no way to buy them.  These days, God isn't even an afterthought.  Even the religious establishment go to lunch after worship service without a thought to keeping the Fourth Commandment.
   But God created the entire physical world which sustains us in six days.  He created the seventh day for our spiritual sustenance.  We are to "feed" on His blood and His body.  We are to rest at His feet.  We are to renew our relationship with Him.  We are to re-focus from the physical world we work in 6 days a week to the spiritual world.

   At Church of the Great God, cgg.org, here is what they say on the subject:   "We honor men and women who have made significant contributions to mankind by setting apart a day as a memorial to them so others will remember their deeds and strive to emulate them. Hence, men celebrate the birthdays of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King. The Sabbath memorializes God. Compared to any man, God's contributions are beyond compare, but one stands out above all: He is Creator."
   In Mark 2: 27-28, Jesus says, "The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath."  When God created the Sabbath, He intended it, from the beginning, as a universal blessing to benefit mankind.  He made it to ensure man's physical and spiritual well-being.  Spiritual well-being comes from a special, loving, understanding relationship with the One True God.

   So, the first Sunday in September arrived.  I had been invited to a relative's house but instead, he brought his family to mine.  Well, I am a cook, but there was nothing to feed the family I was expecting.  What would you do?  I notified all who were coming and explained that I had been too tired to shop the day before, so if they were expecting to eat, they would have to supply the food.
   Let me explain that "I am a cook".  On the holidays, most of my family and a lot of our friends congregate at my house to eat.  I like to feed the masses.  For me to give up control of cooking and feeding my family was a very big   deal, virtually unheard of.  But I was NOT going to repeat the Sunday past.

   That brings us to King David.  I now understand how he could be a man "after God's own heart" even after he committed murder, adultery, and covetousness.  It is a matter of relationship.  I accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was 15 years old.  He is not constrained by time.  He forgave ALL of my sins at that time: past, present, AND future. 
   My God has forgiven me for buying cigarettes on that Sunday, but I have not forgotten.  It was as if I lifted up that pack of cigarettes as my god, and my God is a jealous God.  I hurt his feelings.  I want my God to say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."  I don't want to cause Him to weep.

   I hope I have explained this so that you may be blessed.  I welcome comments or e-mails that may help get the message across.

 You are also invited to visit Oma at http://omaslife.blogspot.com, http://omaspolitics.blogspot.com, and http://omashealth.blogspot.com.