READ AND SUBSCRIBE CONFIDENT LIVING MAGAZINE

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CONFIDENT LIVING MAGAZINE

(An Official Organ of Back to the Bible)

(Read Few Pages From The Magazine)

   

Source:
Back to the Bible,
Confident Living Magazine

G for Glory: Glory in the Morning

Glory in the Morning

by Dr.Woodrow Kroll

And in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD.  Exodus 16:7

Some days make you wonder if you should have stayed in bed. You cut yourself shaving, you spill coffee on your clothes, you have a computer crash at work, you receive overdue notices in the mail, and your son breaks his arm on the jungle gym at school. It's enough to make you want to crawl under the covers and hide.

The Israelites also were experiencing difficulties. They were hot, tired, hungry and upset. They even wondered if they should have stayed in Egypt. This trip was more difficult than they thought it was going to be.

In the midst of these trials, God did two things: He gave them manna for their physical bodies, but He also promised to reveal His glory to them "in the morning" for their spiritual well-being. God knew that the trials of the day needed a spiritual response as well as physical relief. And He chose to meet that spiritual need while the day was yet young.

When the day is hectic, the frustrations plentiful and the disappointments thick, it's  time to turn to God. Yet how different the day might have gone had we turned to the Lord before we ever got started. Whether the events of the day change or not, when we have first spent time fellowshipping with God, we are better prepared to face them.

Perhaps you aren't a morning person—many people aren't. Yet getting up even 10 minutes earlier and spending those moments reading your Bible and praying will yield greater dividends than you might imagine. When you meet with God first in the morning, it's much easier to keep Him first all day.

How you begin your day will frequently determine how you end it. 

F for Friends: A Little Help From Your Friends

A Little Help From Your Friends

by Dr. Woodrow Kroll
(Former President Back to the Bible Int.)

hrexach.wordpress.com/Google

And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.    Exodus 1 7:1 1 -1 2

Few things of importance come easy. Noah Webster worked 36 years on his dictionary, while Gibbon labored 26 years on his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. When Milton was writing Paradise Lost, he rose at 4:00 every morning to begin work. Plato wrote the first sentence of the Republic nine times before it was acceptable to him.

In the midst of challenging circumstances, it's wonderful to have friends who will come along and give their help. Moses experienced such a blessing. The conflict with the Amalekites was a key battle. If the Israelites were defeated at such an early stage on their journey, they likely would become so discouraged that they would turn around and go back to Egypt. Victory was essential, but it wouldn't come easy. The Israelites were winning only when Moses held up his hands in prayer. After hours in this position, however, his arms began to tire and defeat seemed a real possibility. That was when Aaron and Hur stepped in. With a little help from his friends, Moses was able to keep his hands held up until the enemy was thoroughly defeated.

Prayer is the key to victory, but it's also hard work. Often our spirits, if not our hands, grow weary and we face the potential of defeat. That's when we need other believers like Aaron and Hur to step in and lend their strength to our efforts. Praying with friends gives us renewed vigor.

Be sensitive to the opportunities to respond as Aaron and Hur did. Maybe there is someone today who needs you to lend your prayers to his efforts. God will lead you to that person; just make yourself available. Your strength may be essential for his victory.

Victory is never won alone. 

Source: Back to the Bible

E is for Evening: Trouble in the Evening

Trouble in the Evening

by Dr. Woodrow Kroll

pic credit. www.allgraphic.com

The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters; but God will rebuke them and they will flee far away, and be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. Then behold, at eventide, trouble! And before the morning, he is no more. This is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who rob us.  Isaiah 17:13-14

What do Assyria, Babylon and the Roman Empire have in common? All of them, at one time or another, conquered Israel. Yet they share another commonality—none of them exists today as a nation. You will never get an Assyrian stamp in your passport. No one will every proudly announce to you, "I'm a Babylonian!" None of these once-powerful nations has survived into the 20th century—but Israel has. 

Throughout history men and nations have demonstrated their hatred for God's people. The Roman Emperor Diocletian is a good example. He issued an edict in 303 A.D. designed to annihilate the Christian religion and destroy the Bible. The emperor even built a monument on which were inscribed the words Extincto nomene Christianorum (The name Christian is extinguished). Only 25 years later, however, the emperor was dead, and the new ruler, Constantine, commissioned 50 copies of the Bible to be prepared at government expense.

Are you are facing persecution at work or school? Maybe people in your own family are seeking to discourage you from living out your Christian faith. God never promised that you wouldn't face these kinds of trials. What He did promise, however, was that ultimately those who afflict His people will fail. Your day of difficulties may seem long, but it won't last forever. Take heart? Morning is coming and when the sun rises, the night of despair is no more.

For every night of trouble, there's a morning of glory. 

Does Jesus Care?

Does Jesus Care?

www.aubeacon.com 

Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters.  Exodus 15:27

Almost a hundred years ago, a minister was plagued with ongoing trials and discouragements. When he thought he no longer could stand it, Rev. Frank Graeff remembered 1 Peter 5:7, which says, "casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." A new joy and peace encouraged his soul and he penned a song in which every stanza began with the question, "Does Jesus care . . . ?" The refrain echoes back, "0 yes, He cares—I know He cares! His heart is touched with my grief."

The Israelites had reached a point in their journey where they were asking, "Does God care?" There had been years of hardship in Egypt. Then there was the hard trek through the wilderness. Finally they came upon a campsite where the water was unfit to drink. Life was not easy, but at last God brought them to Elim, where the water was plenteous and the trees were lush and shady. In the midst of their adversity, God brought them to a place of relief.

Does God care about you? He really does. If you're going through a tough time, don't give up. God has an Elim in your future. Scripture promises that God "will not allow you to be tempted [tried] beyond what you are able" (1 Cor. 10:13). Ahead, at God's rest stop, there is rest for the weary and tranquility for the distressed. If you're at Marah, the water of bitterness, look ahead to Elim, the place of peace.

In His time, God gives us rest from every test. 

PS:  This is in continuation to the  A to Z Blog Challenge series for the Year 2015, These are written by Dr. Woodrow Kroll, Former President, Back to the Bible International.    

Due to some unavoidable technical problem we could not post on time.  —C L Team

C is for Caiaphas

C is for Caiaphas

Success From Failure

Annas and Caiaphas, Picture Credit: artprintimages.com

At the peak of the reality TV craze, American Idol ruled the roost, especially American Idol 2 when Ruben Studdard won with Clay Aikeen coming in a close second.  But in the months that followed, Clay appeared to outshine Ruben with a top-selling single and appearances on program like The Tonight Show

NAME:  "He Who Seeks"

DATE: 1st Century AD

IDENTIFICATION: High priest of Israel, son-in-law of Annas

STORY LINE:  Caiaphas illegally tried and condemned Jesus

READ IT IN THE BIBLE:  John 11:47-57: 18: 1-28

Caiphas knew what it was like to win and lose.

He was appointed high priest of Israel in AD 18 by the Roman procurator, Valerius Gratus, Caiaphas became the official head of the Jewish State and presided over the Sanhedrin, Israel's highest court.   Next the Roman government he was the land's most powerful man in Jesus' day.

But after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, Caiaphas and other Jewish leaders became alarmed at Jesus’ increasing popularity.  The Sanhedrin quickly called a meeting where Caiaphas demanded Jesus’ death.  He and the others actively plotted Jesus’ arrest and held an illegal trail to condemn Him.  Caiaphas was holding all the cards; in the contest the night before Jesus’ crucifixion, you would have to consider him the winner.  But in the days after Jesus’ crucifixion, the real winner emerged.

 In AD 36, Caiaphas was summarily removed from office by the proconsul Vitellus.  Nothing more is ever heard from him.  Jesus, on the other hand, lives and reigns forever, His impact is still being felt in your life and mine two thousand years later.

Success or failure isn’t always evident from the scorecard.  Sometimes our reaction to apparent defeat shows who the real winner is.  When you don’t come out on top, live as if you did.  You’ll make a difference anyway.

— by Dr. Woodrow Kroll

B is for Bathsheba

B is for Bathsheba

Good For Evil
 

Picture Credit: calvary-kids-page.com

Only God could bring something so good out of something so evil

Bathsheba was a beautiful woman, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of David’s most loyal soldiers away on duty.  One evening when King David saw her taking a bath, he did a stupid thing.  Instead of looking away, he stared, lusted, and sent for Bathsheba to be brought to his palace. 

NAME: “Daughter of the Promise”

DATE:  10^th Century BC

IDENTIFICATION:  Wife of Uriah the Hittite and then David the King

STORY LINE:  David sinned with Bathsheba, had her husband killed

READ IT IN THE BIBLE: 2 Samuel 11:1-12:2

There he slept with her and she became pregnant.  When Bathsheba told the king about the child, David did a deceitful thing.  He had Uriah brought home so it would appear the child was his, but Uriah refused the pleasure of being home while his comrades were engaged in battle.  Frustrated, David did an evil thing.  He had Uriah sent to the frontlines specifically so he would be killed. 

Eventually David confessed and repented of his sin. Bathsheba may not have been entirely innocent in this story either.  But they paid terrible price for their sin.  They married but their child became sick and died.

Adultery can never be condoned, but leave it to God to bring something so good out of something so evil.

David and Bathsheba  later had seven sons, including Nathan and Solomon, who appear in the lasting of the ancestry of Jesus Christ as does Bathsheba  herself, “who had been the wife of Uriah” (Matthew 1:6)

Sin is always defeating, debilitating, and deadly.   But in His amazing grace, God often salvages something form our sin to bless us.  Don’t sin to be blessed, but don’t despair when you do sin.  Instead, cast yourself on God’s mercy, as David and Bathsheba did, and allow Him to bring good from your evil.

                                                                                                           — by Dr. Woodrow Kroll

Source:

Confident Living Magazine (Back to the Bible International)