Steve and Pam’s Bio

Like you, we are glory seekers. We have wonderfully, “Tasted and seen, the Lord is good!” The greatest prize is in the pursuit of the fame, splendor and radiant beauty of our Sovereign! We came to Yeshua in the days of the Jesus... Read More...

Riverfront Property in Audio

I am so grateful and pleased to share freely the whole audio book of Riverfront Property: Connecting At The River Of Life! I’m confident you will receive a delicious drink! As you find your thirst quenched please recall those you know who would also love a drink, and pass the cup! Read More...

A Miracle Story

Thursday July 30, 1987, started out as just another hot summer day in Ellensburg, Washington, a town of about fifteen thousand souls in a picturesque valley a hundred miles east of Seattle... Read More...

HOLY MOMENT, FIGHT OR STARVE and MORE

HOLY MOMENT

“All creatures great and small, The Lord God made them all.”

The day started cool and wet. It was still dark and a drizzle required wipers for visibility as I drove through rural Washington. Arriving at my destination I found the back deck covered in big drops of water beading up like miniature puddles. It felt cold and unfriendly and I moved back to the warmth of the house.

A few hours later I went outside to check the temperature and found a honey bee struggling to survive. It was wet and cold having landed in a puddle and had stopped trying to escape. In fact, it did not move at all. I looked for a tool and found a leaf to scoop it up. It hung on and I knew what to do.

i placed it in the sun and went inside to find a food source. No honey, but I could dissolve sugar in a spoon. I placed the bee near the sugar but it did not respond, so I dripped a little on its mouth. It immediately began sucking up the sweet stuff. Awwwww!

I had done all I could and returned to my work. An hour later when I looked the bee had flown. Restored to return home!

For me, this was a Holy Moment.

Pamela Johnson

 

FIGHT OR STARVE?

If thieves were coming into your home to steal your food pantry, would you fight them to the death?

It’s probably unfair to ask people living in modern Western nations this question. Most of us would say, “It’s not worth the fight.” We’d step aside. A few might willingly share their food. Others would give up their food to appease. The next day we would go to the grocery store to restock the refrigerator.

Near Eastern people have had different circumstances, attitudes and practices.

Gideon warred to save the barley harvest

Boaz slept at the threshing floor to protect the wheat harvest.

Shammah fought to save the lentil harvest

Biblical characters would build watch towers in their fields to house their harvests. They would post lookouts on them to watch for marauders who wanted to loot their wealth by raiding their pantry. Food was the measure of your bank account as well as the measure of your longevity. Houses were built with the food stored in the back room so raiders would need to come through the living area, “over the owner’s dead body” to capture the family’s supply.

Consider the heroic stand of Shammah. “Next to him was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines banded together at a place where there was a field full of lentils, Israel’s troops fled from them. But Shammah took his stand in the middle of the field. He defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the Lord brought about a great victory.”  2 Sam 23:11-12

It might be good to know “Shammah” means The LORD is there! He must have realized the Lord was present that day in the field of lentils!

Months later families could say, “We are eating tonight because Shammah saved the lentils.” Failing to defend the food supply meant slow and painful starvation. One might die fighting to defend the staff of life, but it would be a quick death. If they died fighting they would not have to watch their children starve. Defending the food supply was defending their family’s lives.

Going to the modern grocery is a marvel. Most of the world does not understand our abundance. When I walk through an American grocery store I am so amazed at the plenty! I often worship God in the grocery store, giving thanks for the wonderful access to food we enjoy.

Just a hundred years ago many of us still took in the crops, sacked, canned and dried the food, and stocked the larder. Ben Franklin as a youth helped his parents pack out the year’s foodstuff into the pantry. In his young tongue-in-cheek way, he suggested they could pray once for their food for the year. In different days having a year’s supply of food was not hoarding. It was basic planning. Albertsons, Safeway, Tom Thumb and Walmart would not be open that year. Today we save money to buy food. Before modern groceries we just saved food.

Biblical characters were willing to die to save their pantry. They were not defending the few contents of an icebox or cupboard. They were defending supplies to sustain their lives for the year!

In those days food was not easily gained with bonus discount coupons. Their backs and blisters produced it from the earth. Farming people were known for their faith and hard work.  Some suffered anxiety when it came to planting. If seed was taken from the pantry to sow the field would there be enough food remaining till the harvest? Would they grow enough to restock the pantry for the next year? The reassuring prophetic word to the farmers was, “Those who sow in tears will come again reaping in Joy.”

The lion protects its kill. Dogs jealously gauard their bones. Bees fight to protect their hives.

As an FYI – Fema on food and water preparations

A SPIRITUAL APPLICATION

It may be totally appropriate to defend your physical food supply in a life or death battle. But, are we willing to fight tooth and claw to defend truth, integrity and righteousness? Solomon said, “Buy the truth and do not sell it.” I agree! Don’t sell out on truth regardless what you are offered, or threatened with. We can share truth freely without cost but we must never sell out on the truths which sustain our lives. God’s word, our daily bread, is worth fighting for! Our lives depend on it!

 

CHRISTIANS WHO DON’T VOTE

I’ve heard three out of four Christian don’t vote.

Can we also say, Three out of four Christians don’t

Pray?

Witness?

Give?

Study?

Fellowship?

Serve?

Can we say, “Three out of four Christians – are not?”

“Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.” James 2:17

 

PREPARATION

 

Question: What does a spare tire, fire extinguisher and gun have in common?

Answer: It’s nice to have them but you hope never to need to use them.

 

A HYMN FROM MY YOUTH RINGING IN MY SPIRIT

Rise up, O men of God!
Have done with lesser things.
Give heart and mind and soul and strength
to serve the King of kings.

Rise up, O men of God!
The kingdom tarries long.
Bring in the day of brotherhood
and end the night of wrong.

Rise up, O men of God!
The church for you doth wait,
her strength unequal to her task;
rise up, and make her great!

Lift high the cross of Christ!
Tread where his feet have trod.
As brothers of the Son of Man,
rise up, O men of God!

Steve Johnson

[email protected]

 

 

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