Seeking God Through Daily Meditation
Unlocking the Mysteries of Genesis
By Betty K. Fisher
Defending Genesis
Several years ago, God impressed I Peter 3:15 on me. “Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you for a reason of the hope that is within you with meekness and fear.” Then later, Psalm 11:3 “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” And then in Isaiah 58:12 “. . . raise up the foundations, . . . Be a repairer of the breach!”
The study of Genesis is the foundation of all we claim to believe Biblically, including creation, the deity of Jesus Christ, the Gospel and the Second Coming of Jesus (among other salient doctrines). Thus, the defense of the Genesis record has become my way of living by I Peter 3:15. God told us “earthly things” in Genesis—things we can check out (John 3:12). But if we don’t believe those “earthly things,” how will anyone believe the promise of His soon return–what we can’t check out? If they don’t believe Moses writings, they won’t believe Jesus either (John 5:46- 47).
Christian Apologetics
Education has tried to destroy the “foundations” of our faith given in Genesis. We’ve been sold a false doctrine in which there is no room for the authority of the Creator God or manifestation in the flesh, Jesus Christ our Savior. Evolution cannot be, and has not been, proven. It is based on mountains of speculative assumptions for so long that people have accepted it as truth, principally because of its secular scientific credibility. Those who promote evolution as scientific truth have been deceived just as Eve was deceived. Those who push such false lies know that to acknowledge belief in a God makes us responsible toward Him as Creator. “No Creator – No guilt” (Romans 1:28).
Evolution deceived man into thinking he can decide what’s right or wrong. NO absolutes! True scientific “knowledge” supports divine creation that is dependent on a supreme intelligence. Life on earth depends on the sustaining power of Jesus (John 5:17, Hebrews 1:3, Colossians 1:17). He is upholding all things by the power of His Word. Science has no explanation of how atoms hold together or how the universe functions like a well-oiled machine. Apostle Paul said it right, people believed a lie and became as fools (Romans 1:22).
Many people have said to me, “I just believe whatever the Bible says, that’s good enough for me.” But that is not a ‘defense’ (I Peter 3:15). Yet those same people can’t give an answer for what or why they claim to believe a certain way, and this is because there is such a drought among professing believers concerning what they believe and why they believe it! I certainly don’t know all the answers but it is such a thrill to know the foundation of my faith is secure.
Small Groups Help Answer Difficult Questions
In our small group, we will study “A Primer on Biblical Worldview” by Michelle Holland and Dr. G. Thomas Sharp and view videos from the “Unlocking the Mysteries of Genesis” series by the Institute for Creation Research.
Unlocking the Mysteries of Genesis Trailer from Institute for Creation Research on Vimeo.
Join us as we discuss questions and answers to many issues not usually dealt with in Sunday School. The excitement of learning new information about our Creator and His plan will help anyone more effectively defend what he claims to believe. Books available at my class are $3.00.
A Primer on Biblical Worldview is a book outlining the elementary principles that are needed to have a proper understanding of science and the first 12 chapters of Genesis. This primer endeavors to help you evaluate your worldview and adjust it to align fully with the Bible so that you interpret your world through the lenses of Scripture.
How to Join our Small Group
I am leading two small groups with this study. We meet on Sundays @ 5:30 pm or Wednesdays @ 1:00 pm. Register at https://eastwoodtulsa.org/small-groups or contact the church office at 918-836-8686 for more information.
Small Groups: Our Pathway to Adoption
Pray Without Ceasing
The Holy Spirit led Paul to write to the believers in Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 5:17), saying after “Rejoice always,” “Pray without ceasing.” I’m not any kind of Bible scholar, but I don’t think these statements are suggestions.
They are obviously imperatives—commands.
I can at least vaguely understand how I might be able to rejoice all the time, but pray all the time? Impossible! – At least as I had always understood it. I had a living to make, a house to keep up, and a husband and children to care for. I couldn’t be kneeling down, bowing my head, or whatever requirements there might be to be praying all the time.
Surely preachers and Sunday School teachers had tried to teach me better for years, but I never quite got the message. Until…until, as it so often happens, a circumstance, an occasion or an event comes along to make things clear.
My daughter died in a vehicle accident. I was devastated and I cried out,
“My child, my daughter, my first-born, my, my, my!”
God spoke to me, not just a feeling inside, but translated to me in words inaudible to anyone else, “What’s this my business? I let you in on the fun of placing this little person on earth, but she never belonged to you. She was mine from the beginning because I was her creator and then she was mine multiplied over when she accepted my son Jesus as her Savior and Lord.
You had a great 33-year loan but I didn’t have to ask your permission to bring her home to me.”
His words were stern but not harsh. He was taking part in the dialogue of prayer.
Dialogue? Yes! Without intention or even recognizing what I was doing, I had engaged in true prayer.
His words were stern but not harsh
That prayer is a dialogue rather than some kind of monologue from me was the first lesson I learned. The second was perhaps even more wonderful. Prayer needn’t be an event with boundaries of time or place, but more of a state of being. It should be an ongoing, unceasing state of communication. At any moment I can reach out to my Dearest Abba Father and whisper, “I love you,” “I need you, please help me,” “I can’t understand this, would you please instruct your Holy Spirit inside me to teach me,” and most powerfully, “I don’t know how to pray right now. Please let your Holy Spirit know my heart and speak for me.
I guess these things are from my side again but with an open door for God to speak to me, sometimes in answers to what I have said, but often without my beginning any dialogue. Perhaps I can be looking in a mirror, frowning at what seems to be an obvious flaw or sign of aging to me, and I hear His gentle voice saying, “You are just as I made you and I love you just the way you are.” To my best-intentioned but still mid-excellent singing, “Trust me, one day you’ll do better up here.” At some time when I’ve really tried to do something which has been unnoticed by all the humans around me, simple words of encouragement: “Good job!” At a season of personal despair: “I cherish you.”
“I cherish you.”
Sometimes I forget the prayer lessons I’ve learned an unwittingly go back to those earlier misguided days, but it only takes a moment for His gentle reminder that our prayer time together is real and unceasing.
Do I pray for God’s guidance? Of course, I do, and sometimes I even do so in the same way I formerly thought was the only way to pray—a set-aside time either early in the morning or the last thing at night looking forward to the next day—asking His direction and blessing on that time to come.
I’m not trying to disparage this kind of action, but even asking for direction, I find that I now am more likely to follow the immediate and constant contact that has been given to me.
Whenever big decisions or events are imminent, I say, “Go before me, Lord, I always want to be following you. Open doors, but just as importantly, close doors before me. I would even prefer that you slam them to make your will clear to me. Help me remember that I want to follow only your will. That I would not be led off in trying to follow my own when I know that is hardly wise.”
Sometimes this prayer for guidance can even be for something simple or minor, yet remembering that the Father wants to hear about the little things of my life, too. My husband thinks my prayers can be kind of silly, but God and I don’t think so. “Lord, I just lost one of the lovely blue earrings that I’m so fond of.
If it’s your will, please lead me to it.” However much some bystanders might scoff, the number of times He has graciously answered such prayers is astounding.
Sometimes this prayer for guidance can even be for something simple or minor, yet remembering that the Father wants to hear about the little things of my life, too.
Praying without ceasing covers all areas of communication with God: guidance, protection, healing, provision, deliverance and intervention. Yet guidance actually covers them all and I have been so gifted to have this privilege of communication with the master and creator of the universe, my Dearest Abba Father.
-By Trudy Graham
Advent Adventure: The Shepherds
In all the Christmas hubbub, don’t forget about Advent. That’s the four Sundays before Christmas when we focus on events of Jesus’ birth. We’ve already looked at Prophecy and how Mary and Joseph got to Bethlehem. This Sunday we focus on the shepherds. Have you ever wondered what it was like on the fields outside of Bethlehem that night?
It had been a busy day for Nathan and the other shepherds. Finally, the day was done and the flock was settled down for the night. After supper, he laid down by the fire and soon was fast asleep.
Suddenly, something woke him up. When he opened his eyes, he was blinded by a dazzling bright light. What was happening? Was this an attack? Then, he began to see that there was something in the bright light… something that looked like an angel! Then, he heard a loud voice say, “Do not be afraid. I have great news for everyone. Today, in the town of Bethlehem, a Savior has been born for you. He is Christ the Lord. You will find a baby lying in a manger.” Suddenly, the whole sky exploded in light as thousands of angels streaked through the skies over Bethlehem. They began praising God, “Glory to God in the highest,” they said, “ and on earth peace to men of good will. ” It was the most glorious thing Nathan had ever seen or heard.
All too soon, they were gone and the sky was empty and black. The shepherds looked at each other in wonder. “Let’s go see what the angel was talking about.”, they said. They left their flocks, which is very “unshepherdish”, and ran to Bethlehem. There, they found the stable with Mary and Joseph and the baby in a manger just as the angel had said. In awe they knelt down before the baby in the manger and worshiped him. As they left Bethlehem, they told everyone what they had seen and heard that night.
Later, Nathan realized how amazing it was that God had sent His angels to shepherds! Shepherds!… the poorest, smelliest, most disrespected bunch of folks in Israel! Yet, God chose them to be the first to hear His great news. What Nathan didn’t understand was that everyone is equally important to God! It is no different today.
“When we were utterly helpless with no way of escape, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners who had no use for Him.” Romans 5:6 (The Living Bible)
-Lujean