Applaud the Builder

March 19, 2019 by Robin Steinweg
Filed under Daily Devotions, Humorous

By Robin Steinweg –

“Ow!” I hop on one foot. I explore my stinging toes. I can feel the imprint the mystery object left when I stepped on it in the dark. Still hopping, I land on another. Read more

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God on the Spot – Part 8: Protecting the Bloodline, Preserving His Word

March 19, 2019 by Dianne Butts
Filed under Faith, Faith Articles

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By Dianne E. Butts –

God has brought about His plans and preserved the knowledge of Himself in the Tabernacle/Temple and His written Word…in spite of human failure and sin.

Saul failed to be a great king. After Saul, David was Israel’s greatest king but he too failed, committing adultery with Bathsheba and murdering her husband, Uriah, to cover it up. David desired to build a house for God’s Ark, but God prevented him because he had blood on his hands (1 Chronicles 22:7-8). David provided the blueprints and all the materials to build the Temple, but it was his son, Solomon, who built it.

Solomon started out strong, asking God not for riches and honor but for wisdom to lead His people. This so pleased God, He granted Solomon’s request for wisdom and gave him riches and honor besides (1 Kings 3:5-15). But God warned Solomon not take on many wives, for they would lead him astray (1 Kings 11:1-13). Solomon built the magnificent Temple, a palace and more. But he married more than a thousand wives of various nationalities and religions and eventually allowed their idols into the Temple corrupting the portrait God had painted of Himself (1 Kings 11:1-6).

Solomon instituted forced labor and heavy taxation for all this building. Upon his death the northern tribes sent Jeroboam to Solomon’s son, now king Rehoboam, to request these burdens be lifted. But Rehoboam refused and the kingdom divided in two for almost four hundred years, from 975 to 586 BC. The tribes Judah and Benjamin continued David’s line and occupied the south known as Judah, including Jerusalem. The remaining ten tribes, known as Israel, occupied the north and eventually built worship centers in Bethel and Dan so that its occupants would not have to travel into Jerusalem to worship at the Temple. These “duplicate” worship centers further corrupted the one true portrait of the One True God.

The list of kings of both Judah in the south and Israel in the north toggled back and forth between godly kings, like Rehoboam’s grandson, Asa, Asa’s son Jehoshaphat, and later Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah, and those who did evil in the sight of the Lord like Ahab and his wife, Jezebel (1 Kings 16:29-33).

During this time, the Word of God was so neglected that it became lost. (Or perhaps God, being on the spot to preserve His Word, hid it in the Temple.) Under Josiah, Hilkiah the high priest found the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord. He presented it to King Josiah who read it and renewed the covenant in front of all the people (2 Kings 22:1-23:3ff, 2 Chronicles 34).

It was the sin of the people and certain kings, and the corruption of the portrait of God painted in the Temple, that finally led to God cleaning house by sending His people into exile. First Israel in the north fell to Shalmaneser and was taken into captivity in Assyria in 722 BC. Then Judah in the south fell to Nebuchadnezzar and was taken into exile in Babylon, and Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed in 586 BC.

It was God Who was on the spot to preserve the bloodline from Abraham to Messiah through the exiles and preserve the revelation of Himself in His Temple and Word until the people returned and rebuilt the Temple.

And then for about four hundred years, God was silent.

September: “God on the Spot – Part 9: Fulfilling the Prophecies.” When it was time to bring Messiah into the world, God was on the spot to fulfill all His promises.

Dianne has written for over 50 Christian print magazines and seventeen books, including the upcoming For God So Loved the World He Created Chocolate. Her work has appeared in Great Britain, Bulgaria, Poland, Canada, and Korea. When she’s not writing, she enjoys riding her motorcycle with her husband, Hal, and gardening with her cat, P.C. in Colorado. www.DianneEButts.com www.DeliverMeBook.blogspot.com

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How’s Your Relationship with Food?

March 19, 2019 by Courtney McArthur
Filed under Christian Life, Health and Fitness

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By Courtney McArthur –

Are you an emotional eater? When you’ve had a hard day, nothing sounds better than a brownie loaded with ice cream, right?

That was me! Whether it was stuffing my face when I had a bad day or starving myself because I had splurged the day before, I never had a good relationship with food.

In high school I was surrounded by my gorgeous stick-figured friends. They could eat whatever they wanted and not gain a pound. I was an athlete and I tried to stay on a strict diet in order to keep in shape for swimming, but I got tired of having muscles and broad shoulders. I wanted to be a size 0 and be a good swimmer too. That was pretty unrealistic, but in my mind, I envisioned myself being “perfect” by losing an unthinkable amount of weight. I started starving myself in order to lose the weight faster. One time, I made it three days without eating while doing two practices a day. After the third day, I felt sick and couldn’t stand it anymore so I ate everything I could find in my kitchen until I was literally stuffed!

That’s when I knew I had a problem and I couldn’t keep torturing myself. I didn’t want to tell my parents or anyone else for that matter, so I turned to God.

I had forgotten that God is there for us every second of every day. No matter how small the problem, God wants us to turn to Him for guidance. I was horribly mistreating my body that He created in His image. I didn’t talk to Him about my problem at first because I was embarrassed. I guess I wanted Him to think I was perfect. One day I was talking to my friends who were non-believers, telling them about how God is everywhere and sees everything. Something clicked in my mind that seems obvious to me now: God already knew I was starving myself and then bingeing. I didn’t need to hide it from Him; instead, I needed to ask Him for help. I needed God to be my crutch, not food!

When I turned to Him, I discovered that He will meet me in the dark. Without His purifying work on the inside, I will be miserable when problems and weaknesses bombard me. As soon as I told God about how upset I was, He showed me how to start handling my problems without starving myself or overeating.

One thing that helped me tremendously was looking at the world through God’s eyes. I started looking for one thing that was beautiful about everyone who walked by me. And I tried to look at every person with the love and compassion that God has for us. Once I saw the beauty in others, I began seeing the beauty in myself.

I learned the hard way that my relationship with food could turn into an eating disorder if I didn’t put a stop to it. Even though I am nowhere near where I used to be with this disease, I still struggle with it. It is a daily battle for me not to fall into my old habits. However, God is now with me, helping me fight it. His Word encourages me to treat my body as His temple, and I’m doing better at that. I still work out daily and eat well-balanced and healthy meals most of the time. And I pray for my relationship with food—that God will give me the willingness and ability to make healthy choices.

How is your relationship with food? If it’s not good, I hope that you can learn from my mistakes, and ask God every day to help you to make it better.

Courtney McArthur is the newest member of our Health and Fitness Team at TCP. She is a junior at Auburn University and a work-out enthusiast who is interested in sharing her testimony in order to help others who are struggling.

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