Friday Update:
What a week! Our God is so good.
My husband is still in the hospital, but will be sent home Saturday, if not today. We are sooooo ready.
They have increased his medicine that is a blood thinner, to prevent a stroke. Everything else is good, except our patience.
My sister inlaw, Wanda, is still on machines. They found a blood clot in her liver on Wed. Thurs. a CAT scan revealed it was either dissolved or moved on. Her oxygen level was good, but kidneys aren't functioning.
Today is a new day. We are trusting that Jesus has a plan and is working it, in His time.
Please continue the prayers
May you have a blessed Christmas, as we remember our Savior's birth.

Thank you Gaylene, Lindsay, and Steve for encouragment.

Glory to god in the Highest!
Linda

Update Wednesday:
What a week! Our God is so merciful and gracious.
Hubby, Roger came through the heart procedure fine, with 4 ablations. Hopefully, this will keep his heart beating right. We won't know until 3 months are past. It's the special diet that's killing him.

Please keep my sister inlaw Wanda in your prayers. She's had a rough recovery road from open heart surgery last Thursday. They are keeping her on dialysis all day today, hoping to rid fluid from organs. Ventilator  is still breathing for her. My family has had a stressful week.

Our routine is to stop  in to check on sil on the way to my husband's hospital, 2 towns away, only 20 minutes. And then the boys are keeping up with the farm chores feeding cows and pets.

But when I think of the families in Connecticut, this is nothin'.

Ps. 45:2 says, God Himself is blessing you forever.

Truly, our heavenly Father has blessed us beyond meassure.

May you and your family have a blessed Christmas.

Keep checking back. Plans are to resume Jude on Monday, depending on Wanda's situation.

Linda

Friday Update

Good morning friends,
Update on my sister inlaw: she made it through 7 1/2 hrs. of surgery yesterday. They placed a ring on 1 heart valve and replaced another valve. Her heart was beating on its own last night, off machines.
We'll check on her today. Please pray for her strength renewed.

Hubby goes for CT Angio this morning as a pre-op to Monday.

Today's verse in my devotional is Luke 1:37, For nothing is impossible with God.

Everyone have a great weekend and please pray for my husband on Monday. His procedures are at 5am and 7:30 am. totallying 5 hrs.

Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name.
Linda

Special Prayer Request

Special Prayer Request

Sorry, but it is very busy around my house today and next week. I probably will not be posting any study, but check back for updates.

I have a special prayer request, dear friends:

My husband, Roger, is going to the hospital today for pre-op tests. Then, Monday, beginning at 5am, he will have a scope down his esphogus to take  pictures of his heart. If there is no pool of blood there (which would require open heart surgery and no procedure), they will proceed to do 4 heart ablations. This is an attempt to correct abnormal rapid heart thythms he has had over the past 40 years. (all meds have been exhausted) Therefore, it is planned that I will be at the hospital through Wednesday. He will be on a special diet of soft, room temp foods, and no lifting for 2 weeks, which will require my attention.

Thanks so much for your love, understanding, and faithfulness to join me on this journey through the New Testament. Can you believe we are almost to Revelation?

Isaiah 2:5 says: Let us walk in the light of the Lord.

We are trusting Jesus for His alone is Trustworthy and Faithful.

Linda

Hidden Rocks

660. "Hidden Rocks"                     December 13, 2012
Jude 12,13-Part 10
These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm-shepherds who feed only themselves. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.  NIV

LET IT GLOW
* Special prayer request: My sister in law, Wanda, is having 2 heart valves replaced this morning at 10am. Please pray for her. Thanks.

Friends, come in out of the cold, take your coat off, sip a cup of hot tea with me as we warm by the glowing fire studying God's Word today. I'm so glad you've come. I think I need that tea so I can relax because these last 10 verses have been so gloomy.  Let me go get some sugar or sweetener. I think we're going to need it.
Jude continues to describe the apostates, false teacher, false prophets. Where's the encouragement? Words to live by? Phrases to memorize and meditate on? Well, dear ones, we are not to be like these people he describes. Aren't we to be the opposite? Make yourself comfortable as I explain.

Various translations of the Bible use in place of spots (KJV), blemishes, hidden rocks. Spots refers to rocks in the sea, ledge or reef; of men who by their conduct, damage others morally, wreck them as it were. (Thayer's Lexicon)

Am I keeping my faith as a hidden rock?

MacArthur Bible Commentary says:

Spots can be "hidden rocks" or "reefs" or as "stains." These apostates were dirt spots, fifth on the garment of the church; or more likely, what God intended for the church as smooth sailing, they turned into a potential shipwreck through their presence. Love feasts were the regular gathering of the early church to partake of the bread and cup, plus share a common meal.
 

Do you mean to say, these deceivers had the nerve to eat with believers of the church? Yeap. (I see we are both shaking our heads in dismay.)

So how is Jude describing these guys' character now in our verses?

1. deceptively and fearlessly  attending dinners as hidden reefs; (potential for shipwreck)
2. disappointing as rainless clouds; (hope of rain, but delivers dryness and death)
3. dead as fruitless and uprooted trees; (barren trees without fruit due to being uprooted)
4. destructive as raging waves; (promise powerful ministry, wreak havoc, worthless workers) 
5. doomed as falling stars (a brilliant meteor or shooting star that fades away into nothing).

Resources: New Testament Postcards, a Bible study guide by Charles Swindoll, MacArthur Bible Commentary.

LET IT GROW

As I considered that my life should be the opposite of those apostates, here's what I came up with:

• Let my faith be as solid as a rock and exposed as a reef. (From a plane, a reef is green colored surrounded by a blue ocean.
• Allow the Holy Spirit to reign in my life, bringing refreshing hope and love to others.
• Bare fruit of the Spirit as a tree planted by a river, grounded with deep roots in Jesus.
• Be a calm gentle wave in a stormy sea of life.
• Be a shining star as Jesus lives through me.

LET IT GO

Let go of fear, hopelessness, selfishness, raging anger, dull life.

Surrender to Jesus, allowing Him to be the star of my life.

Bare spiritual fruit.

Animals

659.  "Animals"        December 12, 2012
Jude 10,11-Part 9
Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals-these are the very things that destroy them. Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion. NIV

LET IT GLOW

Previously, Jude was exhorting us to contend for the faith, yet he continues to give us some bold reminders concerning apostates, false teachers, and false prophets.

Charles Swindoll, in his study guide New Testament Postcards, described the apostates this way:

• Their doom is certain, like Sodom and Gomorrah.
• Their tongues are blasphemous, speak evil, and are irreverent toward things that are sacred and holy.
• they verbally revile things they don't understand.
• Their religion is empty.
• They rejected authority, like the fallen angels.

Their way of life is to allow the instincts they share with "unreasoning animals" to run wild in the streets-unleashed and unrestrained. This lifestyle is governed by animal instincts, and withers and disfigures character:"by these things they are destroyed(corrupted)". Ephesians 4:22

I recall visiting a couple of towns in the Dominican Republic last month. I saw cows running down the paved street and another time a man riding on a horse. Pigs, chickens, and dogs were inside fences. I thought of these animals when I read this.

LET IT GROW

Apostasy is nothing new; it's as old as the human race, isn't it? Jude makes three references to Old Testament strayers:

• The way of Cain, on the broad way that led to destruction. He tried to gain acceptance with God through the fruit of his works rather than the blood of a substitionary sacrifice. (Genesis 4)
• The error of Balaam, who was a prophet greedy for gold. (Numbers 22-25)
• The rebellion of Korah, a Levite, which he led against Moses and Aaron, that resulted in Korah swollowed up by an earthquake. (Numbers 16) 

With this warning, we can conclude:
*there is a way of Cain instead of a way of Christ,
*there is the error of Balaam instead of the truth of Christ,
*there is the death of Korah instead of the life of Christ.

We can choose our ways following Christ, His truth, and life, or rebell and follow death. It's our choice. God's gift of grace is available for us to take, just for the asking. 

LET IT GO

Be grateful for God's gift of grace.

Watch out for wild animals, false teachers.

Stay in the Word.

Encountered Angels

658.  "Encountered Angels"     December 11, 2012
Jude 9-Part 8
Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. KJV

LET IT GLOW

I believe in guardian angels, don't you? Several times they have rescued my family from harm. Do you know the times angels appeared to people? Elisabeth, Zacharias, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds encountered angels. Have you? Here is an angel that is named-Michael.

Who is Michael?

• Michael means "who is like God?" It is the name of an archangel, who was supposed to be the guardian angel of the Israelites. (Thayer's Lexicon)
• Michael is the messenger of God who came to Daniel, and is called by him prince of the people of Israel. (Young's Concordiance)
• He is an archangel. Archangel refers to one of the princes and leaders of the angels. (Thayer's Lexicon)
• He leads the holy angels. (MacArthur)
• He contended, disputed with the devil about the body of Moses. This is the only mention in Scripture about the struggle over the body of Moses. Michael had to fight with Satan to do God's bidding.
• Michael did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him (the devil) but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" NIV
• He is also mentioned by name in Daniel 10, Daniel 12, and Revelation 12. Every time Michael appears, it is in the context of battle or readiness to fight. (Guzik)
• Why the dispute over Moses' body? Commentators suggest that the devil wanted to tempt the Israelites into idolatry, worshiping Moses' body instead of God. Perhaps the devil knew a purpose God had for Moses' body at the appearing on the Mount of Transfiguration with Elijah and Jesus, so the devil wanted to defeat that plan. (Matt. 17:1-3)

I am glad there are angels around us. I am also glad that God is all-powerful and in charge. They were quite busy during the Bible times. Many Scriptures tell us. Look up "angel" and see how many references there are.

LET IT GROW

There are invisible, angelic beings all around us. Ministering spirits are sent by God to assist us and there are demonic spirits who want to defeat us.

It's not the why but the how, the manner of Michael's fighting that is important. It is a model for spiritual warfare. Michael battles with the Lord's authority. (Michael is not Jesus in the verse.) Michael doesn't rebuke the devil in his own authority, but in the authority of Jesus. (Bauckham)

We all need to be aware of demons who want to corrupt, defile Christians who want to walk in purity and freedom. Let's be time bombs to the devil, ready to wreck his work.
We work in Jesus' name and with the Holy Spirit's power.

Who knows, maybe today you or I will encounter an angel unaware. Don't forget to entertain strangers, it just might be an angel. (Hebrews 13:2)

LET IT GO

Turn from the world. Turn to Jesus.

Remember that we have angels to help us in this spiritual battle.