The Mystery Revealed

What is this mystery that Paul speaks of in Colossians 1?  The mystery is a blessing to the nations! The mystery is Christ in us!  Christ is our hope of glory.  Is that not wonderful?  Think about it people, come to Jesus, you who do not know Him.  The day you repent, Jesus comes to live inside your heart.  Absolutely wonderful!  Our loving and merciful God.Hallelujah!  Praise our Lord Jesus Christ!  Thank you Abba!   the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to His saints. 27 God wanted to make known to those among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.•~Colossians 1:26-27  

Art:  Scott Yardley

All Glory belongs to God

God led me in Judges 7 yesterday.  It's about how God gave the Midianites into the hands of Israel. Gideon was called Jerubbaal because after Gideon destroyed the altar of Baal, they wanted to kill him, but his father said if Baal is a god let him plead for himself and then his father threatened to kill all who wanted to plead Baal's case. So from then on Gideon was called Jerubbaal.

The army with Gideon was 32 000 men, but God only wanted to use 300 men, because God knew they would claim the glory for themselves when He gives them the victory over the Midianites. God wanted the glory for himself! No one else!

God told Gideon to go down to the enemy's camp in the valley below and if he was afraid, then he should take his servant with him and go listen to what they have to say and that he will be greatly encouraged!
So Gideon took his servant Purah and went down to the camp.

The armies of Midian and Amalek and the people of the east had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts and their camels were like grains of sand on the seashore, too many to count! Wow! Just think how many they were against these 300 men who are going to come against them!

So Gideon heard a Midianite soldier tell his friend about a dream he had. He said in his dream a loaf of barley bread came rolling down into the camp and hit a tent and turned it over and knocked it flat!
See what our God did!...God gave the interpretation of the dream to the Midianite soldier's friend!
The friend said God has given Gideon the Israelite, victory over all the armies united with the Midianites!
When Gideon heard that he knelt down and worshipped God and thanked Him.

Then they went down to the edge of the camp with blazing torches in one hand (covered with clay jars) and rams horns in the other and when they got there they blew on the horns and broke the clay jars and shouted "The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon!".
Each man stood at their position around the camp and blew on their horns! Meanwhile in the camp in the dark, God confused the Midianites so much that they started killing each other! They were in a panic, shouting as they ran.

Then Gideon sent for his other warriors to chase down the fleeing Midianites. They captured the two generals of the Midianites and decapitated them and brought their heads to Gideon.

Then the jealousy started, the other warriors asked Gideon why he did not send for them when he first went out to fight the Midianites. They had a heated argument with Gideon, but I believe God gave Gideon the wisdom to appease their anger. Gideon told them that God gave them victory over the two generals and what he did does not even compare to that. They were no longer angry. Gideon was being very humble.

See, if God had used all of them from the start, they would have ignored the fact that God was the one who gave them the victory. They would have boasted in their own might! They would have stolen God's glory which belongs to Him and Him alone! God knew exactly what He was doing, using only 300 men.

What is the lesson to be learned from this?....be humble and God will use you mightily for HIS glory.

People always want the glory for themselves, but.....
░░░░░▒▒▓▓GOD ALONE GETS THE GLORY!▓▓▒▒░░░░░

God's Protection

I just have to tell you what an awesome God we serve and how He loves and protects His children.  I am writing this, because I want to give Him all the glory! 

I am in South Africa and have a friend in America, Sandy.  Last night her daughter, Genie, let me know she had the sudden urge to pray for me, so she asked if everything was alright.  I said yes, but that she should keep praying if God put it on her heart to do.  So just after her Mom contacted me to ask if everything was okay and to say that she's praying too, a shot went off outside in the street somewhere!!  Not long after that a police truck came driving by.  Nothing happened, we are okay, by God's grace and protection!  

I do believe something bad was about to happen, but through the power of prayer it was stopped.  Just wanted to share how grateful I am to Jesus. :)  I LOVE YOU JESUS!  You might wonder why did He use a girl on the other side of the world to pray for me at that very moment.....because He wanted His Name to be glorified through all this! :D  What an awesome God we serve!  Thank you Jesus for protecting us! ♥♥♥

Psalm 27:1-3
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When the wicked came against me
To eat up my flesh,
My enemies and foes,
They stumbled and fell.
3 Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.

Psalm 91
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler[a]
And from the perilous pestilence.
4 He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
8 Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
10 No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
11 For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
12 In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.
14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.

God really loves you

Psalm 8:1-9

1 O Lord, our Lord, your greatness is seen in all the world! Your praise reaches up to the heavens; 2 it is sung by children and babies.  You are safe and secure from all your enemies; you stop anyone who opposes you. 3 When I look at the sky, which you have made, at the moon and the stars, which you set in their places - 4 what are human beings, that you think of them;  mere mortals, that you care for them? 5 Yet you made them inferior only to yourself;  you crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You appointed them rulers over everything you made;  you placed them over all creation: 7 sheep and cattle, and the wild animals too; 8 the birds and the fish and the creatures in the seas. 9 O Lord, our Lord, your greatness is seen in all the world!

  ☞  As I Gaze At The Stars ☜