Sunday, April 30, 2017

BACK TO THE FUTURE



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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

A prophecy: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.

“I have loved you,” says the Lord.

“But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’

“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.”

But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord. You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’”

Malachi 1:1-5

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Today marks the start of our study through the last book of the Old Testament, the Book of Malachi. And as you would imagine given Malachi was a prophet, we begin with a prophecy, one that conjures us Israel’s past to remind God’s people of where they stand with Him. Look again at these opening five verses:

A prophecy: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.

“I have loved you,” says the Lord.

“But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’

“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.”

But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord. You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’”  Malachi 1:1-5

You may ask why Malachi is located where it is in the Old Testament. The answer is found in looking where his work took place in reference to Israel’s history, particularly after the Babylonian captivity.

At the first return, you’ll recall that Zerubbabel led the first remnant of Israelites home from Babylon, a move permitted by King Cyrus the Great of Persia, who had defeated the Babylonians and assumed their empire. That first remnant included the prophets Haggai and Zechariah who along with Zerubbabel urged the Israelites to rebuild God’s temple, a feat they accomplished in 516 B.C.

Ezra the priest and several more thousand Israelites would join the newly reconstructed Israelite nation in 458 B.C. with Ezra placing an emphasis on reinstituting proper worship practices as well as a return to obedience toward God’s law. You can get a more in depth account of what happened in Ezra’s time by reading the Old Testament book that bears his name.

The third wave of Israelites that returned in 445 B.C. did so under the leadership of Nehemiah who had been the cupbearer for Persia’s King Artaxerxes but became Judah’s new governor. God specifically tasked Nehemiah with rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem but Nehemiah also spent time continuing the reform work started by his contemporary, Ezra. Nehemiah would return to serve Persia’s king in 433 B.C. and in his absence, the Israelites fell back into old sinful practices, something Nehemiah discovered upon his return years later. And given that statements from Nehemiah in the Old Testament book named after him match up closely with words from the Book of Malachi, it is widely assumed that Malachi served as a prophet at the same time Nehemiah was governor, particularly after the latter’s return from Persia. With this, I think it’s easy to see why Malachi is often thought of as the last prophet in the Old Testament and thus this book’s positioning.

Now let’s turn our attention back to our scripture passage.

What we see immediately is that we go back to the future. Let me explain.

Note how the Lord goes back to the lives of Jacob and Esau, emphasizing His relationship with both. You’ll recall that Jacob and Esau were the twin children of Isaac, Abraham’s son, and Rebekah who while pregnant was given these words about her unborn children and the destinies for each:

“Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”  Genesis 25:23

And with that, the stage was set for what would follow because here’s how the scripture’s describe the birth that followed these words from the Lord:

When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Genesis 25:24-26

Esau emerged first and that made him the firstborn, the one who was entitled to receive his father’s birthright. But wait a minute, didn’t the Lord say that the older would serve the younger? How in the world would that happen?

The answer is found in the scriptures as we move forward in Genesis from the birth of these two brothers to the moment when the birthright would be issued. Here’s what happened to fulfill the Lord’s promise:

When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.”

“Here I am,” he answered.

Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.”

Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.”

Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin. What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.”

His mother said to him, “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.”

So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.

He went to his father and said, “My father.”

“Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?”

Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”

Isaac asked his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”

“The Lord your God gave me success,” he replied.

Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.”

Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him.

“Are you really my son Esau?” he asked.

“I am,” he replied.

Then he said, “My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.”

Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.”

So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,
“Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness—an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.  May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.”

After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, “My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”

His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?”

“I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Esau.”

Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!”

When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me—me too, my father!”

But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”

Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?”

Isaac answered Esau, “I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?”

Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.

His father Isaac answered him, “Your dwelling will be away from the earth’s richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.”

Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him.  Genesis 27:1-41

And with this, a conflictual rift was established between these two brothers that would extend well beyond their lives.

Esau would eventually leave Canaan and move to a land south of where Jacob would settle:

This is the account of the family line of Esau (that is, Edom).

Esau took his wives from the women of Canaan: Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite— also Basemath daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.

Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, Basemath bore Reuel, and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam and Korah. These were the sons of Esau, who were born to him in Canaan.

Esau took his wives and sons and daughters and all the members of his household, as well as his livestock and all his other animals and all the goods he had acquired in Canaan, and moved to a land some distance from his brother Jacob. Their possessions were too great for them to remain together; the land where they were staying could not support them both because of their livestock. So Esau (that is, Edom) settled in the hill country of Seir.

This is the account of the family line of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir.  Genesis 36:1-9

From this point on, the Edomites would be rivals of Israel, all tracing back to the days of two brothers, the younger taking the birthright and blessings from the older.

So what happened to Jacob?

Well, without getting into too much and making this devotion an epic, he went through his own series of deceits but produced twelve sons. He also underwent a name change after wrestling with God:

The man asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,” he answered.

Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”  Genesis 32:27-28

And so it was. Jacob became Israel and his twelve sons became leaders of the twelve tribes of Israel, each tribe gaining a portion of the inheritance of Canaan, the land God promised and delivered to the Israelites.

Now, with all this as a historical backdrop, we can better understand the opening words of Malachi 1.

The Lord wanted to remind His people how beloved they were and He reminded them by going back to Jacob and Esau. Note here that the word “hated” sounds as if God despised Esau but the reality is that God only loved Jacob more and thus why Jacob ended up blessed as he was, the progenitor of the twelve tribes of Israel. The Lord wanted Israel to remember they were still His favored nation.

As for Edom, the nation which held Esau as their founder, the message was strikingly different. For because of the resentful, inciteful attitude the Edomites adopted toward Israel, the Lord promised they would not be blessed but cursed, gaining a reputation as being the “Wicked Land” under the “wrath of the Lord”.

Today, we know Israel still remains a nation blessed by God and any enemies should take notice or run the risk of becoming like Edom, cursed for being a wicked land and people, enemies of His beloved.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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Saturday, April 29, 2017

A COMING DAY



Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark
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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls. I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.”

“Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as He fights on a day of battle. On that day, His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with Him. On that day, there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness. It will be a unique day—a day known only to the Lord—with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will be light.”

“On that day, living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter.”

“The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day, there will be one Lord, and His name the only name.”

“The whole land, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up high from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses, and will remain in its place. It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure.”

“This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. On that day, people will be stricken by the Lord with great panic. They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another. Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected—great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.”

“Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The Lord will bring on them the plague He inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.”

“On that day, holy to the Lord will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the Lord’s house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the Lord Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord Almighty.”

Zechariah 14

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Our journey through the Book of Zechariah ends today but not before we find amazingly blessed news for the nation of Israel on a coming day foretold by the prophet.

First, a scene is set that would unsettle any nation as a day of the Lord was yet ahead where Jerusalem particularly would see extreme hardship come its way, a hardship where all the nations will rise up and at least have initial success against God’s holy city. We know this because the prophecy tells of the following calamities that would occur:

1. Jerusalem would be captured.

“I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured.”

2. The houses within Jerusalem would be ransacked.

“I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked.”

3. The women in Jerusalem would be sexually assaulted by the attackers.

“I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped.”

4. The possessions within Jerusalem would be plundered, the spoils divided up among its attackers. .

“A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls.”

5. Half of the city’s population would be taken into captivity.

“Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.”

It’s not a pretty picture, is it?

But as we have seen in other places within the scriptures, a period of peril is usually followed by deliverance and restoration, a walk in the valley proceeded by a mountain top experience. As we continue to look at Chapter 14, we find that this happens again with Israel, a continuation of events of the past.

Remember that an Egyptian captivity was followed by a God-powered liberation and subsequent journey to a land where the Israelites could settle down and live.

Recall that a seventy year exile to Babylon was followed by a restoral to Israel where the people of God could rebuild their nation, God’s temple, and their relationship with Him.

Now, we see where the damage and destruction caused by Israel’s enemies would end with God once again coming to their rescue. The prophecy promises as much in the following words:

“Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as He fights on a day of battle. On that day, His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with Him.”

Just when all seemed to be lost for Jerusalem and the Israelites at large, enter the Lord God Almighty who would take up the cause of His people and wage war against their enemies, fighting as if on a “day of battle”. The great power and majesty of God’s actions beckons us back to the parting of the Red Sea where the Israelites were given a path to escape Pharaoh. Here, the Mount of Olives (only mentioned in one other place in the Old Testament in connection to David, 2 Samuel 15:30) is split in two forming a great mountain valley which His people would be able to flee through to be joined by the Lord and His holy ones. As for the enemies, their plight would be pretty gruesome:

“This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. On that day, people will be stricken by the Lord with great panic. They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another. Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected—great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.”

Can you imagine how all this had to be received by God’s people?

For they knew there would be a coming day when they would be freed from their enemies and joined together with their Lord, a day that would have been special enough because of that but as we see in the scriptures, there would be other unique qualities to that day, qualities never ever seen before which included:

1. There wouldn’t be sunlight or “cold, frosty darkness”, “no distinction between day and night”.

2.  Living water would flow from Jerusalem in summer and winter, half to the Dead Sea and the other half to the Mediterranean Sea.

Indeed, it was an amazing coming day, a day when the “Lord would be King over the whole earth”, the One and only Lord, His name being the name above all names. It would be a day when Jerusalem would be raised up, elevated to be the holy city above all cities, the home of the King of kings and Lord of lords. The word of God even tells us that even the horse bells and cooking pots would be consecrated. The elevated divine Jerusalem would never again be uninhabited nor destroyed but rather secure, protected by the one and only Lord. It also would once again become the central place of worship, drawing not just the Israelites but the “the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem” as well who would “go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles”. There would be no room again for a Canaanite (code for non-believer) to exist within the “house of the Lord Almighty”. If anyone decided they wanted to skip worshiping the Lord, whether from Egypt or any other nation, then consequences would follow as the Lord would hold back life sustaining rain. In other words, there was an incentive for bringing devotion and adoration to the one and only Lord, the Sustainer of all things.

That’s what the Israelites had to look forward to. Much better days were ahead for them on the sacred coming day of the Lord.

As we rejoice in this news for the people of Israel, perhaps it would be a good time to rejoice ourselves if we are Christians. For no matter what life brings our way, there is a future day for us as well when Jesus will return as He promised to usher all those who have placed their faith, hope, and trust in Him into eternal life. In other words, those in Christ have their futures set and that coming day is guaranteed to be the best day ever, the day when we get to live with Jesus and God the Father forever.  

Rejoice and revel in that truth today.

Tomorrow, we start to look at the last book in the Old Testament, the Book of Malachi.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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Friday, April 28, 2017

A STRICKEN SHEPHERD



Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark
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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Awake, sword, against My shepherd, against the man who is close to Me!”, declares the Lord Almighty.

“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn My hand against the little ones. In the whole land,” declares the Lord, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”

Zechariah 13:7-9

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we have seen in the Book of Zechariah, the imagery of shepherds has played a central part in the prophecies within, both good and bad.

There have been shepherds who failed to lead God’s people in the direction He expected, guiding them into sin vice righteousness. For those shepherds, the Lord promised judgment.

On the opposite side of things, we read of a coming Good Shepherd who would come to watch over those in God’s flock, a foretelling of Jesus the Messiah who would keep the Israelites in His care.

There was only one problem with the coming arrival of the Good Shepherd, one that we have found mentioned in this book prior.

He would be rejected by the flock He came to shepherd. And not just rejected, but as we see in today’s passage from the closing verses of chapter 13, stricken as well. Look again at these words here:

“Awake, sword, against My shepherd, against the man who is close to Me!”, declares the Lord Almighty.

“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn My hand against the little ones. In the whole land,” declares the Lord, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”  Zechariah 13:7-9

I think it’s of utmost importance to remember this in regard to the rebuffing, snubbing, and eventual execution of Jesus:

God, His Father, ordained it.

We know this because of the prophecy we just read:

“Awake, sword, against My shepherd, against the man who is close to Me!”, declares the Lord Almighty. “Strike the shepherd!”

These were commands issued by the Lord Almighty, commands for the sword to be used to strike His Son, the Good Shepherd. We know a sword wasn’t used and so this was not a literal command in regard to the use of a particular weapon but it was a command to strike a fatal blow to Jesus, His Son, and as we know, He was struck with many blows, before and during His crucifixion. Such was the penalty mankind deserved for sin but God, out of His deep love and compassion for all His children, chose to give us His one and only Son instead, a living sacrifice to serve as the final atonement for the transgressions of all people.

What would the aftermath of the Good Shepherd being struck down?

Go back to our scripture passage for the following answer:

“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn My hand against the little ones. In the whole land,” declares the Lord, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”

What happened after Jesus was crucified?

Look in the New Testament scriptures and you’ll find out His followers scattered:

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Acts 8:1

After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the apostles went about the business of growing the Christian church, just as Jesus had commanded but their movement was met with a lot of resistance. Jesus had promised they would be persecuted and it didn’t take long for this to happen in a big way after Stephen, one of the seven servants selected to assist the apostles in ministry, was stoned to death, an event supervised by Saul who would soon become Paul. Stephen’s execution was followed by an all out assault on Christ’s apostles who then scattered through Judea and Samaria, a fulfillment of the very prophecy we’re studying today.

Note the striking down of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, would not come without consequence. The aftermath of His crucifixion would find two-thirds of the Israelites being struck down dead. The remaining one-third of the population, a remnant, would remain but they would not remain as they were before Jesus, the Good Shepherd, was stricken. No, God promised this remnant would be purified, refined and tested similar to precious metals like silver and gold. Those people, purified and restored to a place of loyal faithfulness to their Refiner, would call on the Lord, seeing Him as their Master and Maker. And in return, God would once again acknowledge them as His people.

It’s a beautiful picture of restoration and renewal but then again, that’s what God is all about, right?

After all, He resurrected the stricken Shepherd and promoted Him to Savior of the world.

Won’t you praise the Lord and give thanks for that truth today?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com