Meditations Archives - Apollos Wannabe

February 25, 2018May 3, 2018

The Beautiful Garments of Salvation

Ps. 149:4 For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation. NKJV

Is. 61:10 I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (NIV)

This morning during praise and worship at the church we’ve been attending, the verse above came to my mind and spirit. With it came a flood of thoughts that really blessed me, so I’d like to try and share them with you.

March 20, 2017May 3, 2018

The Lord Makes a Distinction

Exodus 11:7b

When Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to submit to God, He brought crushing plagues upon Egypt. The final plague was the death of all of Egypt’s firstborn. As Moses announced this plague to Pharaoh, he did so with great anger. We’re not told why, but I suspect it was because Moses was frustrated with Pharaoh’s stubbornness and saddened that things had to come to this. For a person of normal psychological makeup, it would not be pleasant to announce that every single family in a nation was about to lose its firstborn child.

But as Moses announced what was coming, he made sure Pharaoh understood that God would make a distinction between Israel and Egypt. This terrible plague would not come upon the Israelites as it would on the Egyptians. It occurs to me this little verse has much for us to consider in our day.

January 26, 2017May 21, 2017

Willful Blindness

So many stories in the Book of Acts read just like news stories today! Take the story of Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem (Acts 21), as an example. Paul felt a strong desire to go to Jerusalem (Acts 20:22). He was even in a hurry to get there before Pentecost (20:16). On the journey there, Christian people at several places urged him not to go to Jerusalem. For his part, Paul felt “compelled by the Spirit” to go (Acts 20:22), yet the believers in the city of Tyre urged him “by the Spirit,” not to go! (21:4b) When he reached Caesarea, God actually sent the prophet Agabus to warn him that he was going to be taken prisoner, bound, and turned over to the Gentiles (21:10, 11) All the believers who heard this pleaded with him not to go (21:12), but he would not be dissuaded. Should he have listened to them and to Agabus? Or was he right in believing the Spirit wanted him to go anyway?

Continue reading “Willful Blindness”

January 25, 2017May 21, 2017

Are Science and Theology Incompatible?

Last week, I had to write a blog for a Theology course I’m taking. Now that it’s been graded, I thought I’d share it with those of you who visit this website. It’s similar to something I wrote earlier, but has some additional thoughts. Continue reading “Are Science and Theology Incompatible?”

January 12, 2017May 21, 2017

Put Yourself in Their Place

Today my daily Bible reading included the eighth chapter of the book of Acts. In verses 1-4, we read about something that happened after the stoning of Stephen that really struck me today, and I wanted to share it with you. Evangelist Ray Comfort has a book with a title that really fits here, so I wanted you to see the cover of his book. Continue reading “Put Yourself in Their Place”

January 12, 2017May 20, 2017

God’s Two Books

The last few days, I’ve been finishing up another of Dr. Hugh Ross’s books on how science and faith fit together so well. Reading of these books has given me a greater appreciation for the astonishing complexity, vastness, and practical infinity of the physical universe. The more you study any aspect of nature or creation, whether it be the galaxies of stars or the intricacies of the human body and DNA, or the tectonic plates on which the continents float, or the amazing things that go on in the earth’s core, the more you study and ponder these things, the more you realize how powerful, wise, and brilliant God is.

Continue reading “God’s Two Books”

January 4, 2017February 9, 2017

Paradoxical Prophecies

I was noticing in chapter two of Haggai the amazing prophecies given to encourage God’s people after the Exile. Their entire country had been riven by civil war, then devastated and destroyed by foreign invaders and carried into exile because of sin. It must’ve seemed to them that they’d been abandoned by God. But now He wanted them to stir themselves up again, to realize they were still His people, He still had a purpose for them, and He wasn’t through with them. Continue reading “Paradoxical Prophecies”

January 4, 2017February 9, 2017

Read Zechariah lately?

I was so blessed this week as I read through the Book of Zechariah. I came upon some precious nuggets in chapters 3 and 4, and wanted to share them with you. Continue reading “Read Zechariah lately?”

January 4, 2017January 4, 2017

Outrageous and Appalling

The other day, I was listening to a YouTube clip featuring Dr. Hugh Ross, a Christian astrophysicist, and Ravi Zacharias, one of the greatest apologists of our time. Both men are so brilliant and both speak with great wisdom, gentleness and care. It seems that never does a rash, brash, unkind or poorly-thought-out word proceed from either man’s lips. They’re some of the best spokespeople for Christianity you could ever hear in our time. You can hear it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYBHacV9vPU&t=1193s and the part I’m describing starts 19 minutes in… Continue reading “Outrageous and Appalling”

November 3, 2016November 3, 2016

Life as a Seminary Student

Wow, it’s interesting being a seminary student, especially at 62 years of age! Interesting, but strange. Great in some ways, but very odd in others.

Yesterday, I spent an entire day reading. I’m not sure I’ve ever done that, just read for an entire day? Then there was about an hour-long online lecture at night. The only time I went outside was just for about an hour to ride my bicycle through our community, then I jumped into our icy pool for a short time, and it was back to reading. Continue reading “Life as a Seminary Student”