(Today’s post is by guest writer, Lucas Ward).

1 Kings 17:1-7 tells of the time that Elijah told Ahab that it wouldn't rain.  God then told Elijah to flee Ahab and hide by a certain brook where "I have commanded the ravens to feed thee." So Elijah hid out there "and the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening and he drank of the brook."  We usually read this passage and think 'Wow, look how God takes care of His people! He even commands the birds to bring Elijah food!"  Which is true, and we should be comforted by the thought that God took care of His servant, and He has promised to continue to take care of His servants (Mt. 6:33).  Truly He is a loving God.

I do want you to notice one thing, though. Elijah wasn't eating 5 star meals. Twice a day birds brought little pieces of bread and little pieces of meat to him. Bite sized pieces that were CARRIED IN BIRDS’ BEAKS!  It seems unlikely that Elijah gained much weight during this time.  God promised to take care of him, not to provide sumptuous feasts, and Elijah didn’t complain about the manner of transport and its possible contaminants.

God promises to take care of us. In Matt. 6 we are promised food and clothing if we "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness".  He doesn't promise us big houses or nice cars.  He doesn't promise the latest fashions or the coolest electronics.  He promises to give us our necessities (actual, real necessities, not wants) so we can live to serve Him. If we ever go through difficult times during which we go from eating out a couple of times a month to eating less so our kids can have more, we ought to not fret over what we don't have and praise Him for what we do.  Elijah didn't have a house or even the few comforts most people in the Iron Age could expect.  But God did make sure that he could eat. We can’t let economic hard times weaken our faith.  God will take care of us but God only promises to provide for His people, not pamper them.  We should take nothing for granted and give Him thanks for all things.

Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content, 1 Timothy 6:6-8.

Lucas Ward

Today’s post is by guest writer, Keith Ward.

What could Cain have been thinking?  Why kill Abel?  Detectives look for motives and usually trace them to money or sex.  The record shows that neither played a role in the first murder.

Both Cain and Abel brought offerings to God.  God respected Abel’s offering but not Cain’s.  Cain was upset and depressed over this and God said, “Why are you angry and why is your countenance [face] fallen?  If thou doest well, shall it not be lifted up?” (Gen 4:6-7).  From this we can infer at least two things: first, Cain had a great desire for God’s approval and second, God had told Cain and Abel what to do.  Even a human father would not tell his son, “If you do right, I will reward you,” unless the son had been told what the right way was! Thus, Abel offered in the way God describes as “doing well,” but Cain offered in another way and was rejected.

Though he was unwilling to do things God’s way, Cain still wanted God’s approval.  As there were only two of that generation in the world, it must have appeared to Cain that if Abel were taken out of the picture, God would have no other choice but to accept him.  Besides, no man likes to be upstaged by his little brother.  In his wrath over being rejected and in his desire to be approved by God, Cain slew Abel.  It seems so tragic--how much simpler to just do things God’s way and live in peace.

Following God’s rules is called “walking by faith” (2 Cor 5:7; Heb 11).  Today, many people still seek to gain God’s approval without the sacrifices involved in walking God’s narrow way. They look just fine to themselves and to each other; they may even congratulate themselves on being “better than average.” They are religious and sincere.  What more could anyone ask? Usually, they are even admired by the “average” folks.

Then appears a righteous man who obeys God’s word exactly from a sincere heart.  As a result, like Cain’s, others’ offerings are exposed as inadequate.  If Abel could do it right, Cain could have also.  If a man can live “holily and righteously,” walking by faith in all the ways of God, then so could these “religious” men.  All too often they go the way of Cain and kill the righteous – by slander, by persecutions, by mockery, by ostracism.  Why not repent and follow the example of the “Abel?”  Because “their works are evil;” they are set in their hearts to do things their own way. The Cains see the Abels as an accusation against their religion, label them “narrow,” “bigoted,” “judgmental,” “legalistic,” and thus they seek to justify themselves.

Researching Bible history appears to establish that everyone is a Cain or an Abel.  Not everyone actually murders an Abel, some “just” applaud, or stand by indifferently.  Insofar as meeting God’s standard is concerned, being an Abel is not so difficult, but it takes much courage—there are a lot of Cains in the world….and many that are innocently called, “brother.”

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. Hebrews 11:4

Keith Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.   

"Wow, look at that sunset over the Santa Rosa Sound!" 
Huh? Oh, last night's was better.

"The early morning sunlight sparkling off the Sound is very pretty."
*Yawn* I can't wait to get to work and get my coffee.

"This sugar sand beach is amazing!"
Yeah, but it’s really hard to walk on.

"Watching dusk fall over the Gulf sure can lead to introspection, can't it?"
The gnats are bad tonight, let's go in.

Seems like we as people often forget what we have. It is easy for the amazing to become old hat. We take things for granted, at least I do. Does this ever fall into our spiritual lives? 

"I GET to worship with my brethren tonight!"
Duh, it’s Wednesday. I HAVE to be there by seven. (Still not used to that time.)

"Isn't the plan of salvation amazing? All the intricacies of foreshadowing and teaching in the Old Testament leading to the sacrifice of God's own Son?"

Huh? Yeah, its great that we don't have worry about sin. Um. . . what foreshadowing? 

"Can you believe that we can hold in our hands the inspired Word of God and learn from Him what He wants?" 
Yeah, I just leave my Bible in the car so I never forget to take it to church.

"We can talk to God!" 
Yeah, I pray at every meal.

 Do we take our salvation for granted?  The blessings of the church?  Isn't it a shame that the new converts often outstrip those "raised in the church" in enthusiasm?  We've known it all our lives; shouldn't we be farther along, and more deeply excited by our greater knowledge? Yet the best teachers/students at some churches are the men and women who were converted as adults. The Christians "raised in the church" are often the pew fillers.

Part of the problem may be that we don't understand the boon that Christ offers us, since we never experienced the emptiness and depression often felt by those who don't know why they are here and where they are going, and who have no hope of getting away from past mistakes. We have been taught from childhood about who we are and where we are going and what we need to do, and have in some ways missed the excitement of finding something that gives peace from horrible mistakes and a hope to live for. We all sin, though, and we need to understand how great God's forgiveness is.  As we advance through life, peace from the trials of the world becomes a greater and greater need.

Familiarity breeds contempt, the old saying goes.  We need to become excited again. We must never allow familiarity to rob us of the amazement at the wonders the Lord has worked in us.

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, Heb 12:28.

Lucas Ward

Today's post is by guest writer, Lucas Ward.

Ezra 7 is a fairly innocuous chapter. If you aren’t careful you miss something amazing.  

We are introduced to Ezra, a potential priest descended from Aaron.  He is a scribe of the Law.  He has requested of the king, through proper channels apparently, the right to lead a group of people back to Jerusalem.  King Artaxerxes grants Ezra's request and then some, giving money to Ezra so he could buy the needed goods to make sacrifices on the king’s behalf, giving gifts to the temple for its service, designating a drawing account Ezra can use to beautify the temple, exempting the priests and temple workers from taxes, and finally designating Ezra a sort of minor governor with the ability to enforce the law, both God's and the king's, up to using the death penalty. Notice, this was a pagan king who was showing so much interest and support in Ezra’s mission. 

Ezra must have been blown away at the favor the king showed him,. but all in all, it was a fairly common occurrence.  A minor functionary makes a request through channels to the king and gets a favorable response.  No big deal.

Except for the fact that God is credited at every step.

As we read through the chapter, we would expect to see prophets proclaiming the word of the Lord or interpreting dreams, right?  Or maybe Ezra performed miracles to convince the king.  Surely a hand wrote upon the wall.  No, none of these things happened.  God used nothing miraculous or spectacular to gain all this favor and help for His children.  As far as worldly people were concerned this was a completely normal, straightforward event.

Yet in verse 6 we are told that "the king granted him all his request according to the hand of Jehovah, [Ezra’s] God upon him."  And the trip back to Jerusalem was quick and easy because of "the good hand of his God upon him." (vs 9).  And Ezra had the strength to see all this through because he "was strengthened according to the hand of Jehovah my God upon me," (vs 28).  God, without doing anything miraculous, caused all these things to happen.  He was working for the betterment of His people all through this chapter while staying behind the scenes.

Does God work miracles today?  We know He doesn't. Does He send prophets? No.  Does He work in our lives? Absolutely, yes, just as He worked behind the scenes to help Ezra get everything he needed.  Can He really affect the world positively for us without miracles? Well, look at what He did for Ezra.  Ezra wouldn't have dreamed of asking for half of what the king gave him, but God was on Ezra's side.

God is working for us in the same way. We just need to trust him, just like Ezra did, and with no more evidence than Ezra had.  We just need to remember who is on our side, and believe it.

Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king, to beautify the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem, and who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counselors, and before all the king's mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the LORD my God was on me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me. ..The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will. Ezra 7:27-28;  Proverbs 21:1.

Lucas Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, "Bring near the executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand." And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand, and with them was a man clothed in linen, with a writing case at his waist. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar. Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writing case at his waist. And the LORD said to him, "Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it." And to the others he said in my hearing, "Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. Ezek 9:1-5.

In Ezekiel’s vision did you notice who was marked out to be saved? Those "who sigh and groan" over the sins and wickedness they saw all around them in their society. Everyone else was killed. This implies that there might have been those who did not participate in the sins, but who turned a blind eye to the sin around them, who might even have found it entertaining.  They were not spared either.

This makes me consider my dedication to righteousness. No, I don't participate in the sins that go on around me, but when I hear about some wild party do I mourn the wickedness or am I leaning in to catch every word, laughing along with others at the stories about the drunks?  Do I turn off the television or am I one of Nielsen’s ratings?  Do I mourn the hedonism around me or do I silently wish I could join Jimmy Buffet in Margaritaville instead of joining my brethren in worship?

I think too often some of us wish instead of mourn. When we see the rampant sin around us we should, as a holy people, be repelled, not attracted. We should sigh and lament the judgment that is coming for those sinners, not idolize their lifestyles.

New Christians might have problems developing this attitude; it won’t come immediately. But for those of us who have been Christians for 20+ years the concept of being holy like God is holy should be pretty well imprinted on our brains.

"Blessed are they that mourn ...”

Lucas Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

We were on our way to church on Sunday morning.  There was little traffic; Dene was wearing her usual “necklace”--my microphone--and my hearing aids were set to pick up only that.  Long ago, conversation without this wonder had ceased due to road noise.  

Suddenly, I hit a hole in the road and exclaimed, “I’ll bet I would have missed that if I had been looking at the road instead of into the woods.”  I followed that a moment later with, “That is why you are a better driver than I am despite:  I have better coordination, more practice, can see better, and am smarter than you are.”

When she objected to the last point, I said, “I married you; you married me.”  She conceded. 

When she drives, Dene does nothing else. Her whole attention is on the road and the business of driving; it has to because of her vision problems.  Jesus said that if one’s eye is single, his whole body will be full of light.  Despite all the discussion about multi-tasking, we really cannot do more than one thing at a time.  We always short one in order to do the other, which is the reason I hit the hole in the road and why I stumble when I try to chew gum and walk.  

On a spiritual plane, Jesus is urging that we keep our focus: “You cannot serve God and Mammon.”  Many Christians have lost their souls because they did not keep their eyes on the road.  

No one preaches about covetousness anymore.  One supposes such preaching would not be very popular in the most materialistic country in this most materialistic age. When church-attenders spend more time and money on recreation in a year than they give to the Lord in all the ways they give (collection, personal benevolence, attendance, personal study, et al.), one must at least suspect their eye is divided and their path is off into the woods.  It is right to work, it is right to have houses and good food and toys.  It is not really difficult to discern when the focus has shifted to those things, even when the sinner continues to attend.  “By their fruits you shall know them….”  Only the guilty says that you cannot really know what is inside him.  Jesus says that you are what you do.

The one who worries about the things he does not have, food and clothing, Jesus says, is actually in the same boat with the covetous man.  He has his focus on things, on mammon, and not on God and righteousness.  Filling the needs of the covetous man is impossible.  But, if done, would not satisfy him or free his time for the Lord.  He will always want “more.”  Likewise, providing abundantly for the anxious will not stop his worrying. Neither one is focused on the Lord, but on things.  When one says that if he just had _________, he would be able to devote more time to God, he is fooling no one but himself.  He is driving with only an occasional glance at the road and lucky to drive between the ditches.

Sometimes we are deceived into thinking there are many choices.  Jesus said there are two—God or things; righteousness or carnality.  All the various pursuits such as career, honor, status, art, etc are just variations on mammon that allow us to believe we are above the money-grubber.

So, think about it the next time you drift off the road toward the direction you are looking, and evaluate what your spiritual focus is.

All scripture references are from the Sermon on the Mount. If you cannot make the time to find and read them, you may have an indicator of your focus!                                           
Keith Ward