knowledgeofgoodandevil

Jonah is a very relatable person in the Bible for me. He makes perfect sense. When he runs away from God’s directions, I totally get it. How many times have I felt that way?

There are people that have crossed my path whom I hoped, would never get saved. It’s true. I am being very honest here. These people caused so much hurt and havoc in my life, I hoped they would never join God’s family. It was inconceivable to me that they could.

When Jonah runs away from the Ninevites, he knows the power of God. He knows that God is capable of saving a wretched people like the Ninevites, and he wanted no part of it. He understood clearly, who God was.

A little history lesson here. The Ninevites were a terrible people. And I mean, bad. Unlike the Veggie Tale’s version of the Ninevites being fish slappers, that wasn’t even close to who they really were. They were a people related to the Assyrians. The Assyrians were a nasty group. One of their specialities was taking their enemies and sewing them into a bag of skins, then placing them in the desert to die like that. Can you imagine? I have claustrophobia, so the thought alone of being sewed into a bag just gives me the chills.

When Jonah is on the ship and the storm hits, Jonah knows exactly what’s going on. He knows the God who he believes in, is making it uncomfortable so he can go to Nineveh, like God asked him to do the first time. And Jonah doesn’t want to put others at harm, he tells the ship mates to throw him overboard, to save themselves. He probably hoped he would die and that would end it and he would never have to go to Nineveh.

But as the story goes, Jonah doesn’t die. Instead, to create a spectacular story, he’s swallowed by a large fish. (Another cringe worthy moment for my claustrophobia). Then he’s vomited up by the fish, onto dry land. Can you imagine what he’s thinking at this moment? He can’t beat God. God is going to make sure he goes to Nineveh and save those people.

So reluctantly, he does. He finally goes to Nineveh. Jonah delivers a fire and brimstone message to the Ninevetes. (That was probably fairly easy for him). Then he climbs up the mountain to sit and watch, what he hoped, fire and brimstone rain down on Nineveh. But that didn’t happen. Instead, he has a chat with God about his bad behavior.

I’ve heard people rag on Jonah. When I hear people complain about him, they fail to realize one important aspect of the story. It’s an important piece, that I usually don’t hear people talk about. Jonah sits down and writes the story of Jonah, warts and all. Jonah wrote all that bad stuff about himself. He didn’t try to cover it over or make it sound better. He wrote about himself in a very unflattering light. I love that part of the story. That is the cool part about Jonah. Jonah ragged on himself in the book of Jonah.

I have talked a lot about the waiting time. I’ve shared my ups and downs, while I waited on God to answer my prayers. I’ve had good days and bad days. And I am sorry to say, I had many bad days, where I clearly doubted God. I wrote about it several times.

While I fretted, God was working on me. His love never stopped. He heard all my prayers. He sent me reminders, over and over again to tell me who He is and remind me how He operates.

While I fretted, He kept calling me back to Himself. He kept telling me over and over that He hadn’t forgotten me. Sometimes I listened and other times, I fretted more.

I knew I would feel this way. Deep down in my soul, I knew God was going to take care of me. And I knew I would regret all my fretting and doubt. I knew I would. But did that stop me from fretting? Regretfully no.

Why is it, we can be a Christian for so long. We can look back on our lives and see God’s fingerprints all over and yet, when we walk through the valley, we forget.

I’ve been a Christian for a long time. I’ve trusted God for so many things. He has been faithful to faithless me over and over again. He has never let me down. Yet when pressure comes, I doubt. I don’t say that proudly. It takes longer for the doubt to come in, but it seems to eventually make its way into my brain.

For those of you who have followed my blog, God has answered my prayers. The waiting time is over. I have a way to make money to help pay my son’s college tuition.

I want to share with you. All of us will go through a waiting time. If not now, later. It’s just par for the course. We as believers WILL have difficult times. We will spend time crying out to God and waiting, waiting for Him to answer. And then we will have a break and then it will happen again. Jesus told us our lives will be like this. A constant crying out to Him, and then waiting for His answer.

Save yourself some grief. If you are a believer, God will answer your prayers. He does love you. He won’t leave you high and dry. He won’t forget about you like I have done by forgetting to turn off the stove and are reminded that I have done so, when the smoke billows out of the kitchen. God doesn’t forget. There aren’t too many things and people for Him to think about, that you will slip through the cracks. He doesn’t forget anybody.

So don’t be like me and regret your doubt of God. God is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow. He will never forget you or stop loving you. Don’t fret.

I remember a saying when they banned prayer from schools. We used to say there will always be prayer in schools, as long as there are tests in school.

What is prayer? We’re commanded to pray without ceasing. This strange activity in which we speak to an unseen God, One who we cannot see, hear, or touch. We make our requests to Him. No papers are signed, verifying what we’ve said. No voice responds to our prayers, telling us we have been heard. There is no confirmation that we have been heard at all. It is only by faith, that we believe that our prayers have been heard. The word tells us, these prayers are placed in golden bowls, held by the twenty-four elders.

These elders appear to have a place of authority. And what do they hold in their hands? Scepters? No, they hold our prayers in their hands, contained in golden bowls.

This activity of prayer, even Jesus Christ did it.

Luke 22:32 “but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail, and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

Jesus is talking to Peter, telling him that Satan has asked to sift him like wheat. So Jesus tells Peter, “…I have prayed for you…” Jesus-the One who walks on water. The One, whom even the winds and seas obey Him. Jesus, God in human flesh, is saying He prayed for Peter. An activity, that seemingly, would be for us alone. Jesus is saying He prays for us.

Prayer is so powerful, the Apostle Paul tells us to pray without ceasing. Jesus prays for Peter. When we pray, our prayers are placed in golden bowls held by the twenty-four elders.

Through our prayers, believers have access to the very throne of God. The God who loved us, and gave Himself for us, now listens to us. He takes everything we say: all our requests, cries, pleas, and puts them in golden bowls.

Often, through prayer, we are in a humble state. Usually, asking God to help us, whatever that may be. We cry out to Him. He asks us to cry out to Him. “Lord help me…”

1 Peter 5:7 “casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”

God is listening. God can hear us. The heavens are not made of brass like we feel they sometimes are. He answers our prayers before we even utter the prayer.

1 John 5:15 “And is we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.”

There is no problems too big for God to solve. There is no sin too big for God to forgive. All believer’s prayers are heard by God. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. So pray. Pray without ceasing. Cast your cares upon God, because He cares for you!

God says His relationship with believers is the same as marriage. He is the bridegroom, we are the bride. Let me say that again. He says His relationship with believers is the same as marriage.

When God tells us we should have no gods before Him, He means what He says. Allowing another god in our life is akin to bringing a third party into a marriage. It just doesn’t work, period. A marriage is between a man and a woman. God never put three people together in a marriage, it’s two, period. Another person, and everything falls apart. Look at Solomon. He had over seven hundred wives and look how that turned out for him. What a mess.

Marriage is holy, sacred. God designed it that way. He views His relationship the same way, holy, sacred.

I’m sending out a warning right now. If you are single and want to be friends with either my husband (if you’re female) or me (if you are male), that’s not going to happen, period. The love we have between each other is just that-between us. It is meant for just us. We give attention to each other. We share intimacy with each other. “Thou shall have no other gods before me.” There shall be no other people in a marriage besides the husband and wife.

If you are single, find friends of the same sex that are single. Don’t come knocking on our marriage door. We aren’t interested. No, married people can’t be friends with the opposite sex. If you are friends with the opposite sex, you are taking and having intimacy outside the bounds of marriage. Is that okay? Absolutely not.

Those of us who are married have a great protector of our marriage, God Himself. He values marriage and if anyone tries to intrude upon that, you will lose. It’s a one-sided game and God’s on our side, period. It’s a losing battle EVERY time.

Satan prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he can destroy. But if a marriage is between two believers who are walking with the Lord, the enemy has no power against it.

God puts a huge premium on marriage. He loves marriage. He designed marriage. He will protect it at all costs.

So if you are single, like I said, go find friendship somewhere else. Don’t come knocking on our door, we aren’t interested. I know that sounds harsh, but it’s true and I won’t apologize.

There’s a faucet outside our place that has a slow drip. When I pass by it and see it dripping, I will try and turn the faucet as tightly as I can to get it to stop dripping.

The faucet is over asphalt. Underneath the faucet, where the drip hits the asphalt, is a hole. The ever slow drip, drip, drip of the faucet has corroded a hole into the asphalt. It’s been slow, over time, drip, drip, drip.

The enemy works in our lives in much the same way. You’ve heard of the proverbial frog in the pot. You first put the frog into room temperature water, then turn on the heat. The water slowly heats up, but the frog is unaware until it’s too late. By the time the frog figures it out the water’s too hot, he’s already seconds away from being boiled to death.

When the enemy enters our lives (and the enemy WILL enter the believer’s life). He doesn’t walk up to your front door with two baskets in his hand for you to choose. Basket A is sin and basket B is not. If it were that easy, we’d all pick basket B and be done with it.

No, the enemy is just like the slow drip of a leaky faucet. Or, like the frog in the pot. Very slowly, he enters your life. Drip, drip, drip. Slowly he introduces something into your life and it’s not good or bad. You allow it in, because it really isn’t bad. Drip, drip, drip. Something else comes in. That’s not bad either. Drip, drip, drip. Another thing and another thing. Before you know it, a hole has been created by all the many drips, but you weren’t paying attention, because each drip wasn’t all that bad.

That is how the enemy works. He enters our life, slowly turns up the heat, and before we know it, we’re seconds away from being boiled to death.

It’s like the guy who entered my life, right when I got engaged to my husband. He wanted to spend time with me. He wanted to hang around me at work. He asked questions about what I liked. He knew right away I was a basketball player because I was so tall. Yes, I was, drip, drip, drip. ” I bet you’re pretty good,” drip, drip, drip. “We should play one on one some time.” Drip, drip, drip. And so it went. When I told him no to one on one, I essentially turned off the dripping faucet. I turned off the heat on the frog in the pot.

Believer, be aware, the enemy is prowling around looking for who he can devour. It’s going to be a slow process, a slow drip in your life. Be aware, stay awake. Turn off the faucet before it’s too late. God wouldn’t have told us how the enemy operates if he didn’t think it was a big deal. It’s a very big deal. And just like a lion, he crouches low in the grass, slowly creeping up on it’s prey, so the enemy creeps up on us. We must be ready and alert at all times. Avoid the drip, drip, drip.