We can have a place like Beersheba, either in our hearts or even a particular place special to your heart. It is the place where your burden of sin was lifted. It is a place where you can call on the Name of the Lord and He will be there. Where we can go for peace, for healing, for help or just to be with the Lord. Jesus had a place. It was in the mountains. There are a number of places in the Scripture where Jesus went into the mountains to be by Himself to pray. Our place can be ours alone or shared with others.
Author: Pamela Porterfield
I am a graduate of Bethany Nazarene College which is no Southern Nazarene University. I have a Bachelor of Arts in Speech, English, Creative Writing and Drama with a minor In Educations. I live in Baton Rouge, La, with my husband of 45 years, Stan. We are members of the Baton Rouge First Church of the Nazarene. I am excited to be doing what God has inspired me to do.
Why Believe the Bible – Part 1
There are those that will tell you that the Bible is myth, written by many different people and copying the myths and legends of other nations. There are those that say that the Bible is not historically accurate. Others will say that the people of the Bible never existed and their stories are merely morality stories, like fables. They will say the Flood never occurred, that Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt through a sea of reeds across water 6 inches deep and that the plagues in Egypt can be scientifically explained. They will also say that there is no such thing as a miracle. There are also those that say that the Bible contradicts itself. I believe that the Bible is true from cover to cover. If God said it, it’s fact. But I am going to start this off with things that verify events and statements in the Bible. Not from religious standpoint, but from a secular view. We’re going to look at proofs outside the Bible that verify things within the Bible.
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TWO SONS, TWO NATIONS
It’s been a year since Lord told Abraham and Sarah that Sarah have a son. Who would have ever imagined that a man of 100 and a woman of 91 years would have a baby together? But God had promised a child to Sarah and Abraham. You can just imagine the celebration. The promised child had finally arrived. Just as He had promised, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. She laughed again, this time with joy. Isaac’s name reflected her joy. But even in this time of joy, there was one who did not rejoice. Ishmael.
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OOPS! I DID IT AGAIN
Abraham moved from the mountains overlooking the destroyed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, staying for a time in different places. Then, he pitched his tents in Gerar, the land of the Philistines. Word got around about the beautiful woman in Abraham’s company and the king asked about her. Obviously, Abraham forgot what he learned in Egypt, and he lied again about Sarah’s relationship to himself. And Sarah was taken, again, into the harem of a king.
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FINDING HOPE IN TRAGEDY
What can I say? This is a very disturbing portion of scripture. I said that I wouldn’t gloss over the bad stuff, so I’m not. It’s a tragic sin that ultimately was the result of wrong choices. Lot chose to live in the city of Sodom. He took the easy way, the greener grass and the prosperous city. But apparently, he did not take the time to teach his daughters just how sinful the culture of the Sodom was. He did not teach them that the actions of the people of Sodom was sin the eyes of God. And that God hated sin. Sin brings trouble and has consequences that can only bring sorrow and pain; not only to the ones who have sinned but it will affect generations to come. Only God can take a tragedy and make something good out of it.
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RUN FOR YOUR LIVES
The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is a very sad story but it is one that reminds us of just how much God hates sin. The Lord and two angels had visited Abraham and told him of the destruction that was going to fall on the cities. Abraham pleaded with God to spare the city if as few as ten righteous men could be found. Abraham knew Lot lived in Sodom. The Lord knew just how bad the cities were. How corrupt and what an abomination they were. The immorality, the sexual perverseness and the absolute abandonment of any sense of right and wrong.
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Why Believe in God
The fact is, God is a real person. He knows each one of us from the spark of our conception to the death of the very last cell of our bodies. God created us. He loves us. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to us, when we were lost in sin to redeem us. God IS in the past. God IS in the future. God IS in the future. Note that all those verbs are present tense. God IS. God sent Jesus to defeat death for us. That death gave us the opportunity to be forgiven of our sins and to be made righteous for Jesus’ sake. God is a gentleman. He will not impose Himself upon us. He romances us to draw us to Him. The Bible is His love letter to us.
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Let’s Make a Deal
Bargaining with God is pretty risky. But God was patient with Abraham. God showed him that asking for anything is allowed. We may not always get what we ask for but we can ask knowing that answers come from God’s perspective and not ours. We often don’t even see God’s answer to our prayers because what we get is not what we expected. Sometimes we don’t realize what we are asking for. And then sometimes, God does give us what we ask for, much to our regret
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REALLY I DIDN’T LAUGH
Have you ever overheard other people talk and heard something so preposterous that you just wanted to laugh out loud? Then you had to try to keep from laughing too loud because you didn’t want anyone to know that you were eavesdropping. Or have you ever gotten the giggles in church? That is the worst. You have to keep your mouth shut and try not to let anyone know you’re laughing.
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ANGELS AMONG US
I had gotten into line at the self-checkout and remembered another item I had wanted to get. I left the line, got it and came back. This time I lined up behind a little lady that had to be 90 years old if she was a day. She looked back at me, smiled and asked me how I was doing. To tell you the truth I was exhausted. This was my first solo anything since leaving the hospital. She offered to let me go ahead of her and to scan my groceries, what little they were. We discussed it and I said ok. My first thought was that God had sent an angel to help.
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FATHER OF A MULTITUDE BUT NO KIDS
God didn’t just promise Abraham a son, He promised him a nation, He promised ownership of land, a forever home, a place to put down roots and grow. God also promised to be their God down through the generations. God’s only demand was that Abraham, and his descendants, keep their part of the covenant.
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LET ME GIVE GOD A LITTLE HELP
Have you ever had someone give you a task and you tell them you’ve got it and that they don’t need to worry, it will get done? Then, while you are getting things together in a manner that will complete the task correctly and in a timely manner, they jump in a do something that messes it up. Well, that’s what Sarai did. She didn’t take God at His Word and jumped in to see if she could help God move matters along. Not only did she bring about the birth of child whose descendants would be enemies of her own son’s descendants. She gave herself someone to be jealous of. Neither event was a good thing.
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Third Time’s a Charm
Life settled down for Abram. He returned to his home under the trees of Mamre. And he still did not have a son. I often wonder what Abram and Sarai thought of the promise of descendants that could not be numbered. They had no son, or daughter for that matter. No children at all. My heart goes out to Sarai. She must have wanted children and suffered because she had not been able to give Abram a child.
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DON’T FORGET YOU HAD HELP
King Kedorlaomer and his allies sacked the cities and took everything. Food, clothing, livestock and captured all of the people in those cities. One of the captives was Lot, the nephew of Abram, who was living in Sodom. Abram did not have to go after Lot. He could have just left him enslaved. It would have been easier and safer to just stay out of it. But he didn’t. It took courage to go up against the forces of these four kings. He took 318 men to go after them.
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THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER
Abram realized they had too many livestock for the land to support. He also anticipated that if they stayed in the same area, there were likely to be disputes among the herdsmen over grass and water. Not only were their livestock in the area but livestock of other people were there too. There were too many for the land to support without disputes. So, Abram decided to prevent any disputes by separating. Abram, even though as the elder should have had the first choice, he gave that choice to Lot. He told Lot that he could go to the left or the right and he would go the other direction.
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Easter – Pagan or Christian Holiday
As I look forward to the Easter Sunday, I have to wonder. Have we lost the true meaning of Easter? Why chocolate bunnies and eggs? The word ‘Easter’ is not found anywhere in the Bible. It came about long after the Passover week when Jesus was crucified, dead and buried, and, on the third day of Passover, rose again. That is what we should be celebrating. The word ‘Easter’ does not mean resurrection or anything concerning Jesus at all. So why do we call the first Sunday of Passover Easter? And why do we use bunnies and eggs to celebrate with? I remember, from my church history classes back in college, that many of the pagan holidays were incorporated into the Roman Catholic Church calendar and given Christian meanings.
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The Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth
Have you ever been so afraid that you did the wrong thing and it made it worse? Well, that is just what Abram did. Abram knew how beautiful his wife was and he was afraid that someone might kill him just to take her. So, he told her to say that she was his sister. I don’t know what he was thinking. All he wanted to do was deceive the Egyptians so that they wouldn’t take Sarai.
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The Reason for Easter
Many of us celebrate Easter with chocolate, Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies. But this is not what Easter is all about. First of all, the word Easter is nowhere in the Bible. There are sources that have a theory of where the word began. Suffice it to say, it has nothing to do with Jesus’ death and resurrection. I am going to walk you through the last week of Jesus’ life before the resurrection.
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Before the Beginning
This year I’m determined to read the Bible through. However, I may not make it because, since the first of the year, I have only gotten as far as Genesis 28 (as of today January 28, 2023) and this is why. When I began reading in Genesis, I was struck by just how many times Jesus was reflected in those Scriptures. Some are very bold pictures and some you might need to read between the lines to see it.
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Genealogy from Adam to Jesus Christ
March 23, 2023 To return to the blog, click the link below. Feel free to comment. Thank you. https://bringingjesusn2focus.com/blog-it-took-just-eight-people/
