Two Plans for your Life (Choose Wisely)

  

 

Dear reader, this I do know: God has a plan for your life, and so does the Evil One.  You will find in John 10:10, Jesus laying out the plan of both.  “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  The problem is that many people have their own plans, and it is part of the plan that the devil has designed to lead them away from the truth.   Jesus has made it clear in John 14:6 that He is the truth, not some truth, but the Truth. Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

 

Jesus has made clear that He is the Word who is being referred to in John 1-1-3.  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”  Reader, in these three verses, one has to come up with the understanding that Jesus, the Creator, has the only plan that brings peace and joy into our lives.  A man I met twice, Major Ian Thomas, often said the following: “I can’t, you never said I could, You can, and You promised You would.”

 

Reader, I hope you understood that God does not need your money, but He desires His children to honor Him by doing what He has requested of them.  As a dad, you expect your boys to do as you ask of them.  In Malachi 3:8-10, “Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions.  You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.  Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” 

 

You are not the first person to buy into the lie that you could not afford to give away 10% of your income.  I’m not the one who gave you the challenge to put God to the test. He made clear in verse 10 the offer.  

 

Dear Reader, I am praying for you and asking the Lord to give me the ability to share a clear word that will bring a new beginning in your life, and if married, to your marriage.

 

You are greatly loved,  and my prayer is that Christmas is about the Greatest Gift ever given by God, His only Son.

 

From our Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

Jerusalem Will Be Destroyed

 

Ezekiel 5:1-4

 

November 2, 2023

 

Jerusalem Will Be Destroyed

“And you, O son of man, take a sharp sword. Use it as a barber's razor and pass it over your head and your beard. Then take balances for weighing and divide the hair.  A third part you shall burn in the fire in the midst of the city when the days of the siege are completed. And a third part you shall take and strike with the sword all around the city. And a third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will unsheathe the sword after them.  And you shall take from these a small number and bind them in the skirts of your robe.  And of these again you shall take some and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire. From there, a fire will come out into all the house of Israel.

 

Often, doing what God tells you will not be pleasant nor accepted in your culture.  A shaved head and beard were a shameful act in his time.  It reminded me of a story told about Rees Howells as a young man who was told by God not to wear a hat, which was not acceptable in his day.  It disgraced his parents, but it was clear to him what God had said.  He visited with a friend in the Parliament and longed to wear a hat, but honored what God had told him to do.  This act and others of training led Rees to be known in England as the Intercessor.  It has been said that Churchill often asked him what the Nazis were planning.  My Bride of 58 years and I were discussing Rees’s faith, and it became clear that his kind of faith is faith that requires a John the Baptist faith.  Jesus has to increase, and you must decrease.  

 

The following quote from Rees Howells: “I want to know that the Holy Spirit is stronger than the devil in the Nazi system.  This is the battle of the ages, and victory here means victory for millions of people.” Rees Howells

 

If we, you, and I want to have faith that can faith that move mountains, it will require the following: A quote from Jesus, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  Taken from Matthew 6:33, but look at verse 34, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”  It brings to mind this quote;

“Sorrow and regret look back.
Worry and fear look around,
But faith and hope look up!”

 

From our Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Doing what God Tells you to do

 

 

Ezekiel 4:4-17

November 1, 2023

 

“Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their punishment.  For I assign to you a number of days, 390 days, equal to the number of the years of their punishment. So long shall you bear the punishment of the house of Israel.  And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the punishment of the house of Judah. Forty days I assign you, a day for each year.  And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against the city.  And behold, I will place cords upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed the days of your siege.

 

In the year 2023, Ezekiel would be locked away in a mental hospital, and that is what some commentators are saying about this prophet of God.  They do not understand obedience to the voice of God, but Ezekiel did.  He did as God told him, and yet it is clear that when God told him he would cook his food on human dung, he had this reply to the Lord.  “Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself. From my youth up till now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has tainted meat come into my mouth.”  Then he said to me, “See, I assign to you cow's dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread.” 

Hebrews 3:15, As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”  I have little doubt that in 2023, Ezekiel would be viewed as a madman. Does that change anything? When God speaks, you always have two choices: to obey or to reject. One brings eternal blessing, and the other separation.  Will you be willing to be called a mad person by the world, by obeying our God?

The rest of chapter 4:4-17,

 “And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet, and emmer, and put them into a single vessel and make your bread from them. During the number of days that you lie on your side, 390 days, you shall eat it.  And your food that you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from day to day you shall eat it.  And water you shall drink by measure, the sixth part of a hin; from day to day you shall drink.  And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung.”  And the Lord said, “Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.”  Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself. From my youth up till now, I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has tainted meat come into my mouth.”  Then he said to me, “See, I assign to you cow's dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread.”  Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, behold, I will break the supply of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water by measure and in dismay.  I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and look at one another in dismay, and rot away because of their punishment.

“During this period of the sign-act, the prophet, weighed down with his heavy burden, symbolizes the entire nation’s long history of accumulated sin, which will culminate in the siege of Jerusalem, God’s chosen city, and the destruction of its temple. Ezekiel is not atoning for the people through his suffering; he merely represents the people’s being loaded down with their sin.”  

[Jesus] bears the fiery wrath of God against the sin of all his people—past, present, and future.” I am not sure of the Author of this quote.

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

 

The Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized

 

Ezekiel 4:1-3

October30, 2023

 

The Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized

 “And you, son of man, take a brick and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem.  And put siegeworks against it, and build a siege wall against it, and cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around.  And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; and set your face toward it, and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is a sign for the House of Israel.

President Ronald Regan emphasized, “America is a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere.”  In his farewell address, he said, “In my mind, it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity.” We also have another quote from our history, "For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses... ."—John Winthrop, aboard the Arbella, 1630.

 

As I write this paper, what happened to America, the USA, we are not a nation living in harmony, for we have dealt falsely with our God.  Just look at the ignorance of our history and the history of Israel, coming out of our Colleges.  

 

I am not a prophet, not even close to having any understanding of the future, but we are a lot like the people of Ezekiel's time, and in this regard, we believe they were proof.  We like them have not prepared for God’s judgment, and like them, we do not believe it will come.  

God required Ezekiel to engrave on a brick the city of Jerusalem and to take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city, and set your face toward it, and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is a sign for the House of Israel.  The iron griddle was like an impenetrable wall between Israel, Judah, and God.  Their cries for help would not be heard, and the Lord forbade Ezekiel to intercede for them.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

A Watchman for Israel

 

Ezekiel 3:16-27

 

October 25, 2023

 

A Watchman for Israel

And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.  If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.  But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.  Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand.  But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.”

And the hand of the Lord was upon me there. And he said to me, “Arise, go out into the valley, and there I will speak with you.”  So, I arose and went out into the valley, and behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory that I had seen by the Chebar canal, and I fell on my face.  But the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and he spoke with me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself within your house.  And you, O son of man, behold, cords will be placed upon you, and you shall be bound with them so that you cannot go out among the people.  And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth so that you shall be mute and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house.  But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ He who will hear, let him hear; and he who will refuse to hear, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house.

It is written; Watch and wait; “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41

In the book of Lamentations 3:25, “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.”  And in Psalm 62:5, “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.” 

Has the church been called to be a watchman?   In many ways, standing against false teaching encourages the weak in the faith and looking to Jesus for those who have been deceived by the devil.  I asked the question “Got Questions” and this was the answer: “But remember, as a Christian, our personal duty is to be that which God has called us to be:  the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the Children of God, the Shepherd’s sheep, the Teacher’s disciples, the Master’s bondservants, the stones of God’s house, the workers in God’s field, the subjects of the King, the citizens of Heaven, and more.  We are to be looking UP — looking unto Jesus.”

2 Cor 4:6  “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

 

Sorrow and regret look back.
Worry and fear look around,
But faith and hope look up!

 

 

From ​our Back Porch, 

 

Bob Rice

 

 

 

Eat the Scroll

 Ezekiel 3:1-15

 

October 14, 2023

 

And he said to me, “Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.”  So, I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat.  And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.

 And he said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them.  For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the house of Israel, not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to such, they would listen to you.  But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart.  Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.  Like emery harder than flint have I made your forehead. Fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.”  Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears.  And go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ whether they hear or refuse to hear.”

Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great earthquake: “Blessed be the glory of the Lord from its place!”  It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the sound of the wheels beside them, and the sound of a great earthquake.  The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the Lord being strong upon me.  And I came to the exiles at Tel-Abib, who were dwelling by the Chebar canal, and I sat where they were dwelling.  And I sat there, overwhelmed, among​ themseven days.

We, the Church, have been given much, but are we willing to eat what God has given and allow His spirit to be our guide?  I fear we are more enlightened by man than by God.  We are instructed to go and tell; it is the Holy Spirit's job, not yours or mine to bring convictions.  But often I want to wait till I earned their friendship before going and telling, but that is not what the command was, “Go into all the world and tell what God has done, that salvation is found in none other than Jesus Christ,  As my friend Greg Hood often says, as you go tell, about what Jesus has done for you.

 

But go in the Spirit, for in Him you will have success.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

Ezekiel's Call

 Ezekiel 2:1-8

 

October 23, 2023

 

Ezekiel's Call

And he said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.”  And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.  And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day.  The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’  And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.  And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.  And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house.

“But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.”  And when I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of a book was in it.  And he spread it before me. And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe.

Son of man is a rather common term in the Bible, and it simply means “man.” It emphasizes the humanity of a person.  But when Jesus uses the same term, it has a much different meaning.  Look at Daniel 7:13-14, “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.  And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

We have John the Baptist's confession in John 1, where John calls Jesus the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world.  In John 1 32-34, ^“And John bore witness: 'I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.  I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’  And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”  

John 3:16 is well known, but too often we have not read the rest of the chapter, how about verses 17 and 18, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

The Jewish people are and always will be the chosen people of God, and yes, they are the same in many ways as they were when Ezekiel got this vision from God.  Ezekiel was sent by God, “to the people of Israel, to the nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day.  The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’  And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.

Now, let me ask you who goes by the title of Christian, how different are you from the impudent and stubborn rebels who have transgressed against the commandments of our God? John 3:19-21, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.  But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

 

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