https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com Serving God as a web programmer with Digital Strategies. Mon, 12 May 25 22:23:19 +0000 en-US https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/2011/11/28/god-loves-you Thu, 01 Dec 11 14:46:43 +0000 https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/?p=1507 ²⁰ I went on praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people, pleading with the Lord my God for Jerusalem, his holy mountain. ²¹ As I was praying, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, came swiftly to me at the time of the evening sacrifice. ²² He explained to me, “Daniel, I have come here to give you insight and understanding. ²³ The moment you began praying, a command was given. And now I am here to tell you what it was, for you are very precious to God. Listen carefully so that you can understand the meaning of your vision. (NLT) The part I really noticed was how God felt about Daniel.  "for you are very precious to God".  The creator of the universe, the King of Kings, the Ancient One is known in heaven to care very dearly about Daniel.  This is the same King of Kings that Daniel has a glimpse of a few chapters before as He sits as judge on His throne of blazing fire, with millions upon millions ministering to and attending Him. In verses as basic as John 3:16 we see that God loves us too.  In fact, He loves us so much He gave everything to give us the chance to be saved from the situation we've gotten ourselves into.  Jesus tells us that God knows us better than we know ourselves.  He knows the number of hairs on our heads (let alone simple things like our names).  He values us and longs for us to be restored to fellowship with Him. And yet He has also made what must be one of the most difficult choices of all, and that is to let us go.  I'm sure you have heard the saying, "If you love something, let it go."  Well, that's exactly what God did for us.  He loved us so much that he let us go.  He gave us the chance to make our own decision about Him, without pressuring us or forcing us into something, He gave us the chance to make up our own minds and choose to accept or reject Him.]]> https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/2011/11/14/the-disobedient-man-of-god-1-kings-13 Thu, 01 Dec 11 14:47:12 +0000 https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/?p=1505 As the man is going home, another "old prophet living in Bethel" hears about it, and goes after the unnamed man to talk to him about it.  The old prophet invites the man to eat with him and the man refuses, saying God told him not to eat anything.  The old prophet then lies to the man, saying "an angel gave me this command from the LORD: 'Bring him home with you so he can have something to eat and drink.'"(NLT)  At this, the man agrees and goes home to eat and drink with the old prophet.  While they're there eating, the LORD speaks to the old prophet and has him condemn the man for disobeying God.  He prophecies that the man will be killed and his bones will not rest with those of his ancestors.  On his way home, the man is eaten by a lion. What's the moral here?  If I had been in that situation, I can't say I wouldn't have done the exact same.  Based on the information given, I don't see the reason why God would do this to what seems to be an unsuspecting victim.  Furthermore, the old prophet seems to experience no consequences at all for his deception of God's messenger.  So... maybe there is more to the story that we aren't told.  Maybe the old prophet was actually secretly sent by the king to destroy the man.  Perhaps the man had unwritten secret sins.  Or maybe the moral is that if God tells you to do something, you'd better do it until God Himself tells you personally to stop.  Can anyone give me a better explanation?]]>