John 18:1-2 (KJV) If The Enemy Looked For Us?

John 18:1-2 (KJV)

When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.

And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples.

One of the first two families I ministered to, the husband was a Vietnam Veteran. I do not know what he was like previous to his service, but I do know that he returned disturbed. He and I would often make visits or other short trips together and, whenever he was the driver, I noticed he took the wildest, most winding routes everywhere we went. He said it was because of his military experience. He never wanted to become predictable. He never wanted a potential enemy to find a routine or pattern in his life. After every church service I would shake his hand and say to him, “See you…” and then name the next service time. His response was always an indefinite. Though he came to every service all of the years I was his pastor, he would never commit to coming. 

Jesus was different. He had habits and routines and places He was wont to frequent. People knew that, if He was in an area, He would likely be found in one of those places. He oft-times resorted to the garden at Gethsemane. It was so often, in fact, that Judas knew exactly where to find Him. Jesus, knowing He would be betrayed by a friend, still went where He would always go. A place to pray and worship. 

I wonder, if the enemy of Christ looked for us, 

• Would he find us in that place we always worship? 
• Would he find us in our regular place of prayer? 
• Would He find us in the house of God, the local church, He fitted us to be part of?

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4500 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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John 18:1-2 (KJV) If The Enemy Looked For Us?

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Daniel 7:28 (KJV) Keep It To Yourself

Daniel 7:28 (KJV)
Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart.

Daniel has received a vision that troubled him, I think, for a number of reasons:

• It was ominous to say the least
• Its fulfillment would be disastrous to the world
• It seemed like there was little he could do about it 
• It was only one of a number of similar visions he was to receive

Then he said this vision troubled him so much that his countenance changed. It made a visible impression upon his appearance. But he said that he kept the matter in his heart. 

There is a lesson here for all of us that experience troubling and difficult things. 

• Some of us are troubled by the circumstances life throws at us. 
• Some are troubled at the terrible news we hear about the condition of the world
• Some are troubled at thoughts of a failing economy 
• Some are rightly troubled at the turning away from God we see today

What do we do about our troubled thoughts?

• Many people break down in fear and panic. 
• Others dump their troubles on others.
• Some these days vent over social media. 

Daniel did, I think, three things:

First, he wrote it out
This was not the typical vent of today’s generation. He was reporting what God had given him for the benefit of others. Venting is for the benefit of the venter. It can be toxic to those upon whom it falls. What Daniel did was beneficial to those who heard and read. 

Secondly, he prayed
And in prayer God gave him the meaning of the vision. Sometimes knowing why there is trouble helps us get through a troublesome time. 

Thirdly, he kept the matter in his heart
Far from venting, he did the very opposite. He kept it to himself. He did not panic or explode in anger. He kept the matter in his heart. 

I know people say it’s okay to “get it out”. They tell us it’s unhealthy to keep our burdens locked inside. God says just the opposite. Take it to God, find answers from heaven, use those answers to help others. But keep your venting to yourself. 

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4500 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

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My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

Daniel 7:28 (KJV) Keep It To Yourself

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Daniel 6:5 (KJV) They May As Well Be Atheists

Daniel 6:5 (KJV)
Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.

The fact is this world, its governments and many of those in its leadership, are opposed to faith in God and His law. A man might be the very best of citizens but, if he is a man of true faith, it will at some point be used against him. 

This in no way means we should avoid public service as some of our Anabaptist forefathers did (and some still do today). God used Daniel and his friends in high public office. (Though it was not by their choice but thrust upon them.) Thank God our country allows that Christians may be and have been placed in positions of high public office.

Here’s the thing, Daniel never compromised his faith in order to gain or to keep his office. If we would be used of God, if we would escape the den of lions, we must have leaders whose confidence is in God and who therefore obey His law first. We don’t need compromising Christians in office. We need Christians of conviction in those places or they may as well be atheists. 

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4500 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
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My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

Daniel 6:5 (KJV) They May As Well Be Atheists

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Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

John 15:2 (KJV) The Key To Long Term Success

John 15:2 (KJV)
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Purging! The very Word brings negative images. We like growth, progress, increase. We have trouble seeing how loss, slowing down, decrease could ever be a good thing. 

Fact is, it’s the key to long term success. 

When I was a teenager, I got a short-term job in an apple orchard. My responsibility was to go through each of the apple trees and, where there were two or three young apples in a bunch, pluck them leaving just one. More than one apple in a blossom results in smaller, scarred, misshapen and bruised apples. Better one really good apple than two or three that are sub-standard. 

I think we see something like that in much of American Christianity. We have some huge, even mega-churches whose focus seems to be growth. They are always on the increase. But their produce is not what it ought to be. 

To be sure, there is no intrinsic virtue in small churches. Some of them are merely an excuse for spiritual laziness. But there can also be no question that some church growth results in shoddy spiritual life. 

It’s a humbling thing to be purged of God. When the time comes, I pray we are the sort of Christians who will surrender to it for the glory of the Lord. 

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4500 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
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My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

John 15:2 (KJV) The Key To Long Term Success

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Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

John 14:22 (KJV) Lord, How Is It?

John 14:22 (KJV)
Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?

Every caring Christian has wondered about this and maybe even wished it weren’t so. 

• We want to see people saved
• We want to see people in heaven and not hell
• We want to see people believe in and trust Jesus Christ

But wanting it doesn’t make it happen. 

We can get frustrated, can’t we, that people we care about do not see the same obvious truths in the Bible we see. 

And we are likely to question the Lord about it, “How is it?”

I think the question can be in a couple of different ways:

• Why is Jesus manifested to us and not the world?
• How is it that a person can see Jesus unlike the world?

The answer seems to be the same in both cases; it is a faith issue. One has to “keep his words” and then everything else falls into place. This doesn’t mean that obeying the commands of the Bible is what saves us. It means that we accept the Word of God. 

• We believe what it says about: sin, Jesus, eternity. 
• We call upon Christ as instructed in the Bible. 
• We respond to His overtures of love 

and then He, through the Holy Spirit, reveals himself to us. 

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4500 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
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My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

John 14:22 (KJV) Lord, How Is It?

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Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

Daniel 3:4-6 (KJV) Nebuchadnezzar and God

Daniel 3:4-6 (KJV)
Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,
That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:
And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

It seems to me that there is a progression in Nebuchadnezzar’s understanding and relationship with the God of Israel. 

Chapter two

• Daniel’s God is a God of gods
• He is the God who speaks
• He was God of the future 

Nebuchadnezzar could be proud to be in God’s plan. 

Chapter three

• There is no other God like Daniel’s God
• He is the God who saves
• He is the God of governments

Nebuchadnezzar learned he could not overpower this God

Chapter four

• He is the king of heaven
• He is the God of the heart and soul

Nebuchadnezzar learned to humble himself before Him and to give Him praise. 

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4500 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
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My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

Daniel 3:4-6 (KJV) Nebuchadnezzar and God

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Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

John 12:9-11 (KJV) Let Your Life Be The Reason

John 12:9-11 (KJV)
Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.
But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death;
Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.

There is no question that Lazarus’ case is a unique one:

• He had been dead four days
• He had been sealed in the tomb and
• He had been personally raised again by Jesus 

But beyond that he wasn’t much different than any other believer:

• He still gathered with others
• He still ate at suppers and
• He could still be killed[1]

Lazarus was resurrected no more certainly than any Christian is. His life became the talk of the town because, well, he was alive. When a person gets saved his or her life is resurrected by none other than Jesus Christ. Whatever they were before, they could not be the same again. The difference is life. And that life can be the reason, should be the reason many others leave their old life and believe on Jesus. 

---

[1]At least the chief priests believed they could put him to death.

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4500 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

John 12:9-11 (KJV) Let Your Life Be The Reason

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Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.