Sunday, February 22, 2015

HANDWRITING ON THE WALL! 2/22/15

REMEMBER the story in Daniel 5 about King Belshazzar? He was believed to have been the grandson of King Nebuchadnezzar on his mother’s side of the family. Ancient Babylon flourished under the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar, but his son and successor, Belshazzar, proved weak and wild. He ignored all standards, and drank heavily from the holy vessels that were seized from the Temple in Jerusalem. A strange thing happened on the night of the great feast when Belsahazzar committed this act of sacrilege! A mysterious hand appeared, and to his astonishment, the hand wrote four strange words on the wall of the banquet room.

WOULD THAT have been me, I would have sobered up pretty fast! However only Daniel, the Hebrew prophet, could interpret the mysterious message. He boldly told the ruler that they spelled disaster for him and for his nation. That night Belshazzar was defeated and slain, just as Daniel said he would be, and Babylon fell to the Medes and the Persians.

WHAT WAS the mysterious message? "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN." Daniel 5:25 In researching this I discovered the Aramaic of the weight known as a "maneh" is Mene; the verb from which it is derived means;"to number". Tekel; the Aramaic of the weight known as a "shekel"; the related verb means; "to weigh". Parsin; the Aramaic plural of the half-maneh weight; the related verb means "to divide." Daniel interpreted the names of the weights in terms of their related verbs; "numbered, numbered, weighed, and divided." Interestingly enough; Peres, the singular of Persin also suggests the name Persians.

SO WHAT WAS the mysterious message? "God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting.     
Your kingdom is divided and given away to the Medes and Persians." Daniel 5:26-28
DID YOU KNOW that the foundation of this very wall has been uncovered? According to Halley’s Bible Handbook it has, and he shows a picture of the wall. Did you know that until 1853 no mention of Belshazzar was found in Babylonian records and another guy was known as the last king of Babylon? I don’t consider myself an authority on this subject but I do find it interesting when a story in the Bible comes to life as proof is given.

RELIGIOUS DRAMAS of the Middle Ages often included this vivid event that took place in the ancient banquet hall. Viewers of such pageants would sit on the edge of their seats, enthralled as they watched the writing of the strange warning to a king. As a result, any threat of impending doom is still known as "handwriting on the wall." Have you ever used that phrase yourself? I am sure I have because the term is often bantered about even today.

OF COURSE this story is during the time of the Law of Moses, even though the Israelites had been in captivity for 70 plus years. How do you think God views His people and even people in general today, who go about defacing or defiling the things that are precious to Him? Christians are referred to as the Temple of the Holy Spirit as well as the Church is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. What kinds of things do we do that would or could be called sacrileges? Think about those who are torturing and murdering God’s people!

"THEREFORE, lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with all men, and for the holiness, without which, no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fail to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness spring up and cause trouble, and by it, the many become defiled." Hebrews 12:12-15

PAY attention to your walk, so that as you go, no one can say that your days are numbered; that you have been found wanting, and all you have will be divided, and cast asunder.   The writing on our wall has already been written by God through our baptism. It came with a seal, the Holy Spirit. Our escape route is through our obedience and His forgiveness. No matter what we may face; God knows our hearts; He is our witness!       By Jane Ann Crenshaw 2/17/15

(Why You Say It by Webb Garrison) (Halley’s Bible Handbook)

Sunday, February 8, 2015

OH TO BE CHARMING! 2/8/15

HAVE YOU ever attended a beauty pageant? One where the judges took in account the ease, charm and the absolute beauty of the contestant, to the extent that one is better than all the others. A winner is chosen with a first and second runner up! All take a prize; and life goes on.

MOST LITTLE girls grow up with the idea planted into their little heads that they should have gone to a charm school to learn how to be graceful and pleasing in all circumstances. Most little girls wanted to be tom boys but were always scolded with; Sit still; put your legs together; don’t cross your legs; stand up tall, don’t slump your shoulders and the worst of all; act like a girl!

AS ADULTS we are enamored with those who can be graceful; who dress with charm, and walk in and out of all situations with ease. Some make comments like; "A woman of such grace and grandeur" or "She has such grace and always does the proper thing." "Oh to have such grace!" Oh to have these statements made about you. No such luck when you are clumsy!

I HAVE ALWAYS liked the idea of having a grace period. Payment is due on the 1st but you have a 15 day grace period. Of course today with all the bailing out of big business and allowing the government to become involved where they shouldn’t, a lot of rules and regulations are changing within the finance world and the grace period could become a thing of the past.

GRACE ISN’T usually a dinner topic but it is our topic this weekend. Grace in the world stands for posture; manner and a somewhat sense of propriety. The name Grace is one of the top ten most favorite girls names of this generation. And why not; it is a beautiful name and means "God’s favor!" In our church alone; there are at least 4, not to mention those who have the middle name of Grace.

"THEREFORE putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy, and all slander; and become like newborn babes who long for the pure milk of the word; that by it you may grow in respect to salvation." 1 Peter 2:1     Understanding our part in "grace" is to become involved in God’s will. We grow in the grace of God by reading and doing His word. We begin with the milk; learning how to repent, and to follow the Savior. From there we begin to know our God!

"BUT GROW in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen!" 2 Peter 3:18    We are walking in God’s grace from here through eternity. Sounds ominous, but God says we can do this!

WHEN WE continue in growing in God’s grace we can see how the Beatitudes can apply to us. "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted; Blessed are the gentle for they shall inherit the earth; Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied; Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy; Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of me." Matthew 5:3-11     Can you see the results of God’s grace? When we make every effort to supplement our faith with; virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness and brotherly love; we become more fruitful and affective in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

WHOEVER lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Those who do these things will be richly provided an entrance into the eternal kingdom. We are walking in God’s grace; not by our charming ways! This is the Holy Spirit within us! The road we are on is the road to heaven by way of Calvary. Thanks be to our God for His passion in saving souls!   By Jane Ann Crenshaw (3/11/10) Revised 2/7/15

Sunday, February 1, 2015

TIME WELL SPENT! 2/1/15

HAVE YOU ever wanted to do something but didn’t do it because of the time factor? It would be too hard or perhaps it would cost more than you wanted to spend right then. How about, what if it didn’t work? Then what would we do? Well a few weeks ago I had a bright idea! Jim is always agreeable and so we began to plan. Then the time we wanted to do it, wouldn’t work because of obligations already in place. So we decided not to do it that week, but do it the next week. And so we did! It worked and even though it was all done in just a few days, and we were exhausted when we climbed into our own bed; it was worth it!

"COMMIT your plans to the Lord and your plans will succeed" Proverbs 16:3    Our plan was to surprise my sister and her husband on their 47th anniversary, and take them to dinner. They live about 9 hours away which meant Jim would be driving a lot, and of course, we would be staying in motel’s a couple of nights. That wasn’t daunting but we would only be able to spend one night there. What if they weren’t home! Of course we didn’t want to call them until we were in their driveway.

SO THE SECOND PLAN was the first, but make arrangements to visit some old friends also. They are not as old as Jim and me but close enough, and we haven’t seen them for many years. We also wanted to visit with their son and his wife! So the plan included spending the night at the bed and breakfast that they are associated with, for a donation only, and have breakfast out with the four of them.

BUT MY PRAYER was that Jeri and Ron would be home, we would go to dinner and have a good time celebrating both of our anniversaries; theirs the week before and ours, the day before we got there. Our cup would run over by being able to visit with old friends later that night, and visiting in the morning over breakfast. God is so good! Because that is exactly what happened. Everything fell into place and Jim didn’t fall asleep at the wheel!

SOMETIMES when we make plans in a rushed way, it comes to pass. But many times when every minute counts, we don’t do it because we don’t have enough time. In 2002, some one said; "We have all the time we need, to do everything God wants us to, in 2002!" Every year I try to say that and make it rhyme. So here goes again; "God has given us time, to love one another, and it is always, time well spent!" Okay, so it doesn’t rhyme!

THIS IS a new year with one month already spent; eleven more to go! How are you going to spend it? If only we could do something similar to what we did this month; every month! How exciting that would be! Should have thought of this 20 or 30 years ago, but then we didn’t have time! Retirement does have it’s perks!     By Jane Ann Crenshaw 1/31/15