NCarolinian

The word "Autumn" appears a handful of times in Scripture. The NIV has it recorded in Deuteronomy 11:14 ; Psalm 84:6 ; Jeremiah 5:24 ; Joel 2:3 ; James 5:7 ; and Jude 1:12 . Most of these verses refer to seasonal rains - "the autumn and spring rains" - that God would provide for the harvest of that same season. The one verse among these that the Holy Spirit magnified was the James 5:7 Scripture. Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. Right off the bat the Lord spoke to my excitement of seeing Him soon in the first sentence by saying - "Be patient" . Then the Lord called my attention to us as spiritual farmers and how some of us plant, some water, some harvest, but God makes people grow or mature toward Him and in Him ( 1 Corinthians 3:6 ). Notice also the land does not just yield a crop, it yields a "...

The Book of Revelation speaks of two men called The Two Witnesses who will appear and prophesy for half the time, 1,260 days, of the seven year Tribulation Period. Their ministry, powers, and story are documented in Revelation 11:1-14. However, there are two other witnesses that have had Box Seating (pun intended) to view the salvation plan of humanity. The other two witnesses were servants who ministered in God's presence and tended to God's presence. They protected both Adam and Eve AND the Tree of Life from interaction (Genesis 3:24). Then many years later they were honored as the two figures on top of either end of The Covering to The Ark of the Covenant. Image of The Ark of the Old Covenant "He made the atonement cover of pure gold--two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. Then he made two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. He made one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; at the two ends he made them of one pi...

For those who have seen the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, the creature Golum says a familiar saying throughout his appearances - " My precious.... ".  Golum was speaking about that which consumed his every thought, dream, and desire - waking or sleeping - The Ring of Power. There are many things in The Bible that are called "Precious", like Stones ( Ex. 28:17 ), death of the saints ( Ps. 116:15 ), the law ( Ps. 119:72 ), God's thoughts ( Ps. 139:17 ), wisdom ( Pr. 8:11 ), faith ( 2 Peter 1:1 ), and promises ( 2 Peter 1:4 ). However, humanity and Jesus have the one thing that stands out above them all - blood, precious blood. The lives of humanity are valuable to God. Psalm 72:13-14 says, "He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight." The "needy" physically and spiritually in David's day through the age...

Maybe you have heard of someone having backbone and standing for the right. Maybe you have heard the saying - "If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything." This is the impression personal purpose or Principle gives us. Rick Renner does an excellent job describing this concept.  PRINCIPLE IS A PERSON'S INWARD RULE.... It is a conviction of what is right and wrong; a moral foundation that determines how one sees and responds to life; a rock-solid belief system so ingrained into one’s disposition that he cannot ignore it or deviate from it. Thus, it can be called a person’s guiding principle. Unfortunately, we live in a world today that has thrown principle to the wind.More often than not, it is a wimpish world that chooses to abandon what is right. Regretfully, even believers and spiritual leaders are often wimpish, quickly succumbing to people’s opinions and other sources of outside pressures. So be prepared that when your inner belief system ...

I have made mistakes. In addition, I have tried to justify some of them. I have dreamed up reasoning to try to deal with the guilt and shame I feel for being at fault. Guilt has always been an emotional piece of baggage that I don't want and can't afford to carry around in life. So, I have tried to discard my blame elsewhere - also known as displacement. However, I have found that if you do not deal with those false justifications, they tend to float to the surface of the mind and spirit later on, continuing to fester and pester. There is some truth to the saying -  when you point your finger at someone or something you always have three others pointing back . Isaiah mentioned a terrible but true characteristic about justifying mistakes to Israel which now applies to the present time more than ever.  Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. (Isaiah 5:20) Here the situat...

The sun is shinning. Whether we want it to or not; whether we can tell it or not; whether we acknowledge it or not - the sun still shines. Around the shadow of a great structure the sun shines. The sun's rays along with the size of the structure creates the shadow.  On a cloudy day, the sun still shines. The sunlight penetrates the clouds enough to notify us that daytime is still here.  When night-time comes, we are the ones who move, the sun does not move, the sun is still present, shinning it's light for others.  The Son is present. Whether we want Him to be or not; whether we can tell it or not; whether we acknowledge Him or not - The Son is always present. In the deep valleys of life and the deepest valley of all - He is there. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me;" ( Psalm 23:4 )  I might not see His hand in a situation; my life's vision may be distorted by outside influences, but...

Cair Paravel Throne Room (Narnia) What does it mean for the Believers in Christ to read we will reign with Christ? Reigning with Christ can be found in 2 Timothy 2:12 , Revelation 5:10 , Revelation 20:6 , and Revelation 22:5 . Although the timing of reigning with Christ is future when looking at the Revelation references, I believe Christians can begin to practice their authority in Christ this side of the next chapter (Rapture).  All the Revelation selections above have as their original Greek word for "reign" - basileuo - which means king; to rule; or In Other Words .... Reigners . The 2 Timothy 2:11-12 verse has as it's original Greek word for "reign" - sumbasileuo  - meaning to be co-regent. 2 Timothy 2:11-12  reads - "Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him."  The original Greek word for  "endure"  in this verse is  hupomeno  and means...

We have email now-a-days. Before the message of an email is read and sometimes at the end there is the information of who sent the email. Things are so automatic these days. Have you ever hand written a letter? I guess I am speaking to a certain generation here. However, for all those who have penned a hand-written letter we all made sure to sign our name, sometimes with affection, other times with professionalism, and other times with neutrality - at the bottom of the letter. We identified ourselves for any information provided, requests made, or clarifications needed. Whatever the purpose of the letter we distinguished ourselves with our signature. There is a similarity with prayer. There is an addressing of the person one is writing, the body of the letter, then the signature. The difference with prayerful communication with God is that the body of our prayers contains life situations and circumstances that Christ has victory over. So, when we end our prayer o...

To me anger is an emotional and/or situational response of dissatisfaction, whether incited from others or internalized from within, carried to a negative extreme.  Researching the word Anger , in the New International Version Scripture (crosswalk.com), I found 260 occurrences. Reading each one, God seems to be angry most of the time in the Bible. I see this displayed notably throughout the Old Testament.  God was angry with individuals ( Exodus 4:14; 2 Samuel 6:7 ). God was angry with people as a favored group who would not comply with His Laws, Prophets, and Kings ( Exodus 32:12; 1 Kings 14:9 ). God was also angry at cities and nations, even His own ( 2 Kings 24:20 ). We even get a mental picture of God's anger from Job when he submits this comment -  At the breath of God they are destroyed; at the blast of his anger they perish.  ( Job 4:9 ) Paul makes a sweeping statement that seems appropriate for this side of God.  It is a dreadful thing to fal...

To me the phrase "I'm living my life through him/her" carries with it a sense of withdraw. A sense of dreams not realized. I recognize not everybody can be what we dream to be due to lack of a particular skill, talent, resource, or drive to perform in the position. And I acknowledge that like John Donne said, "No man is an island." and we need supporters in every facet of life. However, for the Christian, God asks the Believer to go a step further. Where the human supporter is limited in living our life through somebody or some cause, Father God has infinite resources to supply through His Followers to make a difference in this world for His Glory.   God's Way is not a matter of mere talk; it's an empowered life. (1 Corinthians 4:20) If The Body of Christ, The Church, ever gets a firm grasp on this concept - look out world. The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Ch...

Old Habits Die Hard - the people of the ancient nation of Israel knew this concept very well. In 1 Samuel 6 & 7 the Scripture records the return of the Ark of the Covenant. The return was a lengthy process. In the midst of this process Samuel observes a glimmer of hope for the people of Israel to get right with God and declares an If...Then proclamation. It was a long time, twenty years in all, that the ark remained at Kiriath Jearim, and all the people of Israel mourned and sought after the LORD. And Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, "If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines." So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the LORD only. (1 Samuel 7:2-4) I want to emphasize a word and a phrase in this passage - "rid" and "put away"...

There are preachers and teachers out there saying Christ is looking for a Church without spot or wrinkle before He comes back. There is no truth in this. Those who believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ of Nazareth for the redemption of their relationship with Father God and the salvation of their eternal souls from Hell are without spot or wrinkle. Once Jesus said, "It is finished." - all those who believed in His complete work of salvation have eternal life. In addition, Christ is not looking for anything. The return of Christ FOR His own ( 1 Thess. 4:13-18 ) is imminent. This means it could happen at any moment; that there are no signs preceding the event. There are only signs to the closeness of His return like the full number of gentiles coming into the Kingdom, which only God knows and the closer the world travels toward events at the beginning of The Tribulation. I think one of the key verses, if not the main verse, that gets misused a...

I remember my humble beginning and the years since. Many tides have come and gone Countless phases of the moon have passed. The seasons have taken their toil - Tattered and torn, battered and bruised, twisted, sunken and old My body creaks. I have endured. I have weathered the storms. I have stood my ground - strong and defiant to this day. Stable, strong, and dependable - or am I just stuck? The history I have seen, the longevity I have endured is staggering. I have been anchored for so long or is it stubbornness? Visitors have come and gone or were they trespassers? Either way they made their impact. By nature I desire to peacefully influence all that is around me. Trusted for shelter and protection over the years Time has made me a patient observer whether I like it or not. I have been the confidant of confidential information. Now, the attention of others is elsewhere. I seem to hold no wonder for people anymore. It seems I am back to bei...