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Abba, Father There are three times in the New Testament where we find the phrase "Abba, Father" repeated - each time showing the closeness and intimacy that the Heavenly Father wants with every single person He has created. The word "Abba" is an Aramaic term meaning "Daddy." When we realize the closeness this term implies, these passages take on a whole new dimension to our hungry hearts. The first time is found in the Gospel of Mark. Here we see Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, the Son of God (the second person of the Trinity), praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Mark 14:34-36 And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch. And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt. Jesus Christ knew that within...

Lessons In The Valleys: The Valley Of Trouble In the book of Hosea, we have the account of faithless Israel departing from God and the Lord wooing her back. This is also pictured by Gomer's and Hosea's relationship. There are lessons here that we can apply to the life of the Christian. This passage is about the Valley of Achor, which means trouble. I call it the Backslider's Valley. This is the valley the Lord uses to get the attention of His children who have wandered from Him. In light of this, I believe we can also make a general application regarding His dealings with the lost. (I will deal with this aspect of the valley at the end of this study.) What does it take sometimes for the Lord to get our attention? How far will Jesus go to bring a rebellious soul to Himself? In Hosea 2:2-5, we have the Lord pleading with the nation of Israel to forsake their spiritual adulteries and return to Him. What idols do we have in our heart that keep us from Him, that occupy the fir...

Numbers In The Bible Series: Day 57 - Turning Bitter Waters To Sweet Exodus 15:22-26 So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee. The Lord was testing the nation of Isra...

A Good Conscience 1 Timothy 1:19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: I was challenged by reading an older post on a friend's blog today ( How Does A Life Become Shipwrecked? ), and I wanted to dig in a little deeper into the subject of having a good conscience. Webster's 1828 Dictionary gives this as its primary definition of the word conscience : "Internal or self-knowledge, or judgment of right and wrong; or the faculty, power or principle within us, which decides on the lawfulness or unlawfulness of our own actions and affections, and instantly approves or condemns them. Conscience is called by some writers the moral sense, and considered as an original faculty of our nature. Others question the propriety of considering conscience as a distinct faculty or principle. The consider it rather as the general principle of moral approbation or disapprobation, applied to ones own conduct and affections; alledgi...

I Have Sinned - Part One Years ago, I looked up the phrase, "I have sinned" in my Bible program, tracing it through the Bible and noting how many times it was spoken, by who, and what kind of confession it really was: ie. sincere or hypocritical. Reading about Achan, the troubler of Israel, yesterday reminded me of that study, and I wanted to post those Scriptural statements as a gauge for all of us. There were 10 different individuals that made that statement in the Bible, several stated it more than once, for a total of 21 times altogether. It is interesting that there were 10 people, both saved and lost, making this confession - and 10 in the Bible is typical of the whole world. So here, in a sense, we have a picture of the whole world under sin, and their responses when that sin is revealed to them. My question to you today is: are you like any of these Bible characters? Are there times when you were not sincere before God or others in acknowledging your sin? Are there t...

Jacob's Fear Of The Lord Proverbs 3:7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. The fear of the Lord is used in two different senses in the Word of God: For believers, the fear of the Lord is such an awe, reverence, and love for the Lord God that they depart from evil - that they desire to turn from sin and also get any sin right that they have allowed to come into their lives. To the lost, the fear of the Lord is more a terror, a dread, such a fear of His power and His judgment that they are overwhelmed. (See 2 Corinthians 5:11.) Better to trust the Lord for salvation, and then have the only fear in your life that pleases Him: the fear of the Lord. Proverbs 16:6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil. In Genesis 34, we have the story of Jacob's daughter, Dinah, and her fornication with Shechem, a lost man. When her family found out what had happened, they were understandably upset. Genesis 34:1-5 And D...

Justifying Ourselves Or Accepting Responsibility? There was a situation that was bothering me and I let myself get somewhat bitter about it. I would try to tell myself it didn't really matter and I was right in my reactions, but my spirit was uneasy whenever I thought about this person or the situation. Then I would try to make myself feel better by telling myself I have the right to be annoyed because of the way this other person had reacted. Tonight I was under conviction and wanting to make it right - the Holy Spirit wouldn't let me go until I had been reconciled with this person. I wrote an apology, and in it I stated I was sorry for my reactions - but then I had justified myself, in a way stating that I did this because you did that. Then hit Send . Then my heart smote me. That isn't an apology, that is not taking responsibility for my actions, words, etc. That is still placing the blame on others. How many times have we all (especially me) been guilty of that? Thank t...

Kingly Lessons - None Like These (Or Lessons From The Kings) No doubt there are many lessons we can learn from the kings of Israel and Judah: from their examples, we can learn what to do to please the Lord and what not to do. We can see which kings God honoured and why, and which kings He was against and why. Two verses that I have always been blessed by (and likewise been encouraged/exhorted by) are regarding two different kings of Judah: King Hezekiah - 2 Kings 18:5-7a He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. For he clave to the LORD, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses. And the LORD was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth. No king had ever trusted the Lord God quite like King Hezekiah did - he followed the Lord and clung to Him, turning to Him anytime he was faced with difficulties in his life and reign. He trust...

The Lord Would Not Repent One word that I have been blessed with tracing throughout the Bible is the word repent and forms thereof. The main Greek word ( metanoeo ) used for " repent" in the New Testament means "to change one's mind" - and the Scriptural usage of this English word is "a change of mind resulting in a change of conduct." This can be verified through studying out each passage where this word is used. There are several good books that take an in-depth look at this word throughout the Scriptures, and I highly recommend reading both: Repentance And Soulwinning (previously entitled, Repentance Is More Than A Sinner's Prayer ) by David Cloud (which can be ordered through Way Of Life Literature - this book also quotes extensively from oldtime preachers, to show what they believed and preached on this important subject, especially as it relates to salvation ); and Except Ye Repent by Harry Ironside (can possibly be found online or as an...