Luke 22:32 (KJV) I Believe Jesus

Luke 22:32 (KJV)

But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

I believe Jesus.

I believe that when Jesus prays Jesus’ prayers are answered.
Answers to my prayers, as someone has so famously put it, might be classed, “yes, no, or wait.”

I believe Jesus’ prayers are answered “yes” every time.

So, when Jesus said He had prayed for Peter that his faith would fail not, I am certain that is exactly what happened…

Unfailing faith

But…

• He was still sifted by the Devil
• He still denied Jesus three times
• He still questioned the resurrection
• He still went fishing

Unfailing faith

But…

• He still needed to be rebuked by Paul on an occasion

The Bible says that Jesus “ever liveth to make intercession for us.”[1]

His prayers always get answered, “Yes.” So, 

• When our faith is tested
• When our faith is shaken even 
• When our faith isn’t exercised as it ought to be
• When others accuse us of failing faith

We can be assured that our faith hasn’t failed.

Jesus prayed that it wouldn’t.

I believe Jesus.

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[1] Hebrews 7:25 (KJV)
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

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

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 6000 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

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, and other resources, are available at:
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Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
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Luke 22:32 (KJV) I Believe Jesus

Luke 21:5 (KJV) An Answer for the Disparity?

Luke 21:5 (KJV)

And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said,

It is no coincidence that this passage comes right at the end of the previous
Luke 21:1-4 (KJV)
And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.
And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.
And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all:
For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.

There is a disparity between 

• How the wealthy view offerings
• How the poor view offerings 

and

• How Jesus views offerings

Indeed, the disparity reaches even to those of us who believe we have the mind of Christ. We would claim to believe the widow’s gift was of greater value spiritually than the wealthy person’s offerings – but we would be thankful for those rich offerings too.

After all, how could the house of God have afforded those goodly stones and gifts it was adorned with had there not been some rich men casting in their gifts?

• We’re thankful for the little gifts of those in poverty but
• We depend upon the lavish gifts of the rich

At least that’s true if we want a nice place to worship.

Do I have an answer for this disparity? I do not. There are some things in this Christian life I believe remain a struggle because of the war between the flesh and the Spirit.

But we must confront it if we ever hope to have a heart that is truly after God.

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

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 6000 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

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, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Luke 21:5 (KJV) An Answer for the Disparity?

2 Kings 23:25 (KJV) A Moment of Clarity

2 Kings 23:25 (KJV)

And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

I have been told that among those who have a long illness, very often, just before that person passes away, they have a brief period of lucidity. It sometimes appears that they are about to recover. Medical science says that the brain, having through fasting been cleared of all the chemicals that sugar and carbohydrates produce in the brain, it has an opportunity to function on the food it is designed to live off, fat, and revives (though the body is still dying).

I think it is more of a moment of grace from God.

If that person is a believer, they have opportunities to express love for family and perhaps give testimony concerning Christ. I have heard of them describing eternity in more than a few incidents. I witnessed it once in a dying lady named Diane. She spoke to my pastor and me as she spoke to the Lord. Pastor said she was walking through the valley of the shadow of death, between heaven and earth.

If the person is unsaved, it provides them with a final opportunity to hear and respond to the Gospel. For example, I was able to present the Gospel to my great-grandfather just hours before he passed away. Though he had suffered dementia for many years, it seemed to me that God gave him a period where, though his body was racked in pain, his mind was able to both hear and respond to the gospel.

I think the medical field sedates people so much now that those moments of clarity are rare. Leave it to the scientific world to steal from man any opportunity they might have to turn to God.

It seems to me that Josiah served as one of those final moments of grace. The death knell had already sounded for Judah. There was no turning from the inevitable consequences of sin. But just before the hammer of judgment fell, God gave Judah a last chance to turn to Him.

I wonder if God did something like that with our last president? There is no question that our nation faces the judgment of God. The current administration seems to be, spiritually, one of our history’s worst, if not the worst. But just before, we had an opportunity for revival. The economy did well. Our standing on the world stage improved vastly. We had freedoms of worship that had been slowly stripped. Whether we used those opportunities well is questionable. Whether we have them ever again is, in my estimation, doubtful. 

If we do, I pray we take full advantage of the grace of God.

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

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 6000 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

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, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

2 Kings 23:25 (KJV) A Moment of Clarity

2 Kings 22:10 (KJV) It’s The Book!

2 Kings 22:10 (KJV)

And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.

It’s the Book!

The promise of the Bible is, Romans 1:16 (KJV)
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

There is power in the Word of God, and in the preaching of it, Romans 10:17 (KJV) 
So then faith comethby hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Granted, not everyone who hears the Word of God repents and turns to the Lord in faith, but no one, repeat no one, comes to the true and living God apart from the Word of God.

The Word had been hidden away in the Temple through at least two kings. When it came to Josiah to repair the Temple, the Word of God was discovered, he heard it, and it brought him to God.

• Get people to the House of God
• Get them to hear the Bible

Who knows what God might do should their heart become tender?

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

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 6000 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

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, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

2 Kings 22:10 (KJV) It’s The Book!

2 Kings 20:16 (KJV) Live for Eternity

2 Kings 20:16 (KJV)

And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD.

Hezekiah was one of the few kings in Judah that removed the high places. He was influential in his leadership, right with God, and fervent in prayer. Facing the imminent threat of Assyria, he prayed, and God did the impossible. Though powerful and having laid siege to Jerusalem, God defeated the Assyrians, so they were never a threat to Judah again.

Shortly after, Hezekiah became ill. The prophet came to tell him his “shift” was through. He was to set his house in order and prepare to return home to God. But Hezekiah began to pray, and God granted him fifteen more years. What he did with them is an embarrassment. A decision he made after he should have been dead and buried cost his children the kingdom.

Knowing that he would misuse them, one might wonder why God would have granted him those years. I think the answer is that the Old Testament is meant to serve as a lesson for New Testament believers.[1] We should be careful not to judge God’s methods but to accept them and to learn from them.

Life isn’t all about now. Life is about eternity. Had Hezekiah died when God initially said, it would have been his reward. By begging for an “overtime shift” in this world of work, he soiled what otherwise would have been an unspotted testimony.

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[1] Romans 15:4 (KJV)
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

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

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 6000 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

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, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

2 Kings 20:16 (KJV) Live for Eternity

Luke 18:6 (KJV) Hear This Judge!

Luke 18:6 (KJV)

And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.

The two keys to this parable are found in the first and last verses.
The first verse tells us the end or purpose of the parable,
Luke 18:1 (KJV)
And he spake a parable unto them to this end,that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

The final verse provides us a warning associated with the purpose,
Luke 18:8 (KJV)
I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

The parable describes a situation where a helpless person, a widow, is oppressed by an adversary. The description implies that the oppression lasts a long time, that she pleads for help, and that her pleas seem to fall on deaf ears. The judge, the one to whom she pleas, is thought unjust. By and by, after a long time, the judge hears her case and avenges her.

Jesus urges us to consider the unjust judge and to

• Pray and not faint
• Pray and trust God
• Pray and believe God will avenge us

But then He warned that few would have such faith when He comes again.

• Some will turn away from God
• Some will mock His coming
• Some will lose heart and hope
• Some will give up praying

Jesus will come again, and the believers will be avenged their adversaries. But the time may still be a long way coming.

Pray. 

Don’t faint.

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

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 6000 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

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, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Luke 18:6 (KJV) Hear This Judge!