Our Morning Star

 We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 2 Peter 1:19

Howard Beach August 2015

Having the Bible sitting on our shelf, or even dutifully reading it as a mere religious exercise is not what Peter had in mind when he said “Pay attention like you would to a light in a darkened room.” In that dark place there is no other source of light. The only things that we can see are what that light shines on.

Rick Warren once said, “God loves you and everyone else has a wonderful plan for your life!” We live in a world filled with hyped up advertising claims, political promises of utopia and even pulpit promotions that don’t truly match up with God’s word.Peter’s advice is to zero in on what God is saying, as though no one else was speaking. He tells us that it is our own choice, who to listen to. If your world seems so filled with the busy noises of life that you feel lost and confused, then this morning might be a good time to turn off everything else and focus on the word of God. God’s word has the power to amaze us when it shines on everything around us like the dawning of a new day in our hearts.

The Widow’s Cause

  learn to do good;
seek justice,
    correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
    plead the widow’s cause. Isaiah 1:17

Learn, seek, correct, bring, plead: These are all action verbs and they are actions God is expecting us to take. We live in a nation addicted to communication. According to 2014 statistics there are 327,577,529 cell phones in the United States. Yet in this same nation we are abandoning the widows (and widowers) at an alarming pace. As a volunteer chaplain in a nursing home I am often asked to pray that some family member will come or even call. Though there are many families working hard to keep in touch with their loved ones once they have been placed in long-term nursing care, the studies show that 60% never receive a single visit over the space of an entire year.

From the times of Isaiah till today the ease at which we forget what truly matters to God’sKIMG1069 heart remains unchanged. His nation was busy going about its religious festivals, continuing to go to the places of worship and giving great shows of their devotion to God. But God’s response to their outward show was that He was not interested in showing up for their meetings or even listening to their prayers, because they were so focused on themselves that they had forgotten to hear the cries of the abandoned, the groans of the suffering and the loneliness of the widows.

Think of your own small town or city and ask yourself, “what can I do to obey the heart of God right here?”

For more resources in learning what you could do look for our guide on Amazon, titled, “Would You Do it For One?

http://www.amazon.com/Would-You-Do-One-Inspirational-ebook/dp/B00U9STGQM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1440852584&sr=8-2&keywords=Would+You+do+it+for+one