Pull up a chair and put another log on the fire. If that can be said of us from a spiritual standpoint, maybe we’re too comfortable. On the other hand there are times that this would be the thing to do. Quiet times, just to meditate upon God’s Word and spend time in prayer, but can that be said of us?

There are certainly times we need to just step back and relax. Many pastors have not learned this and their family and bodies suffer. When Jesus set aside one day to rest, maybe this is what He was saying to us. “Pull up a chair. Put another log on the fire and let’s talk. Relax with Me for a while.”

Can’t you just visualize Jesus and His disciples sitting around a camp fire together? Their Creator, my and your Creator, was sitting among them teaching them while they relaxed in His Word. They were drawing strength not just from His physical presence but from the Words He spoke.

We can do the same you know. It doesn’t matter where we’re sitting or that we can’t physically see Him. He will be there, and He will also speak to us. We too can relax in His Word.

How many of us do that? If we don’t, we’re really missing a blessing. It is surprising when receiving the spiritual strength that comes from quiet time with God, just listening to what He has to say and talking to Him. He says to us;

“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalms 46:10

No matter what kind of pressure is upon us, the one and only omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God is with us, sitting alone listening to us and nourishing us with His strength through His divine Word. Maybe there are no pressures in our life, yet. He is still there for us.

I have found in my life that I am more apt to seek those quiet times when pressure of some sort weighs me down. I suppose that would be why He has to allow pressure in my life at times, to get my attention. I have also discovered, why not spend those wonderful quiet times with Him without having to be coaxed by outside pressures that He may have to allow to get my attention. Now that makes sense doesn’t it?

I wonder how many Christians are feeling un-wanted and perhaps unnecessary pressure, simply because He is trying to get their attention. Think about that for a while. Isaiah said;

“With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” Isaiah 26:9

With the hectic lives most people live today, maybe going to bed a little later or getting up a little earlier would be the preferred method of finding some quiet time with Him. I am very fortunate to be retired and healthy. I have plenty of time to seek the Lord with no one else around, and even then, I need to use it more wisely than I do. It’s a learning process for us all, finding that niche in our life to upgrade the quality of our “down-time.”

So, we have rested at the Lord’s campfire. We have been nourished with His presence and His Word. Our strength is built up and our orders are clear. What orders? In Matthew 22:9 and 28:19 Jesus begins with three words, “Go ye therefore.” Now each of these verses has a different purpose, but the general thought is there for us too.

It is now time to put another log on the fire of our heart and be fired up for Him. After our quiet time, we should be strengthened by the fire of His Word to tell others what Jesus has revealed to us. He has a message for those who do not know Him as Savior and Lord. He has said they need to be born again (John 3:7) and we need to tell them.

“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” Romans 10:14

Understand this. The word “preacher” in this verse does not mean we have to be an ordained minister. A preacher is one who proclaims. We, as Christ’s messenger, are to proclaim His message. The message is;

“And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Acts 16:31

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

The Lord has also given us much more to pass on to our brothers and sisters in Christ also. With our fellow Christian(s), each person and circumstance is different. We need to be ready to minister to each other in whatever capacity the Lords leads us. That will be up to Him. We just need to “Go ye therefore.”

So, there is a time to put another log on the fire and relax. There is also a time to put another log on the fire of our heart and get busy. Far too many who claim to be a child of God, have no fire to put a log on. If there ever was a fire, it burned out long ago. Now there is nothing but ashes. Can it ever be started again? I have good news. Yes, it can.

Get alone with Jesus and spend that much needed time with Him. Ask His forgiveness for being lazy, because that’s what it is, and ask Him to help you get that fire going in your soul for Him and for others He leads you to. He will, and you will not be alone. He will be with you every step.

Grant Phillips

Replacement theology is a satanic doctrine taught by some of our churches today. It states simply that the Church has replaced Israel and God is done with Israel. He will have nothing more to do with them since they rejected His only begotten Son and crucified Him. Since Israel failed God, the Church is now the recipient of all His blessings that were once offered to Israel.

It amazes me that so many church folks actually believe this lie. This proves the ignorance of the masses in Christendom. Those teaching these lies are either of Satan or extremely ignorant of God’s Word. Those accepting this teaching need desperately to blow the dust off their Bible and get in the true Word.

The following verses, just by themselves, confirm that God will never forsake Israel and they are very much His people today. The Church has not and will not replace Israel.

“It is the LORD who provides the sun to light the day and the moon and stars to light the night, and who stirs the sea into roaring waves. His name is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, and this is what he says: “I am as likely to reject my people Israel as I am to abolish the laws of nature!” This is what the LORD says:

“Just as the heavens cannot be measured and the foundations of the earth cannot be explored, so I will not consider casting them away for the evil they have done.

I, the LORD, have spoken!” Jeremiah 31:35-37 NLT

“This is what the LORD says: If you can break my covenant with the day and the night so that one does not follow the other, only then will my covenant with my servant David be broken. Only then will he no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. The same is true for my covenant with the Levitical priests who minister before me. And as the stars of the sky cannot be counted and the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who minister before me.” The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, “Have you noticed what people are saying?—‘The LORD chose Judah and Israel and then abandoned them!’ They are sneering and saying that Israel is not worthy to be counted as a nation. But this is what the LORD says: I would no more reject my people than I would change my laws that govern night and day, earth and sky. I will never abandon the descendants of Jacob or David, my servant, or change the plan that David’s descendants will rule the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Instead, I will restore them to their land and have mercy on them.” Jeremiah 33:20-26 NLT

In Ezekiel 16:60-63 we see that God will establish His covenant with Israel even though they have failed Him time and again. It will be an everlasting covenant which is a covenant of grace. Notice, it is an everlasting covenant, and everlasting means everlasting.

End time prophecy is built around God bringing His people back into their land. He has miraculously done that. Nothing but the awesome power of God could have performed this impossible feat.

God has protected her in every battle since He brought her back home and established her as a nation on May 14, 1948. Israel should have been annihilated, but she is stronger than ever militarily. This can only be of God.

The coming seven years of Tribulation on earth are the remaining years due Israel. Many terrible things will happen on a world-wide scale during this time, but these are the remaining years prophesied for Israel in Daniel 9:24.

To say that God has replaced Israel with the Church is to call God a liar. Jesus said that the devil (Satan) “is a liar and the father of it.”

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. John 8:44

It could not be any clearer in God’s Word that He will never forsake Israel and He has not replaced her with the Church. It’s black and white. It’s without discussion. There is no argument. To support Replacement Theology is to equate God with Satan, and I sure would not want to be in that camp.

Salvation during the Tribulation will depend on those who support God’s people the Jews, the Israelites. (See Matthew 25:31-46.) And this is forsaking the “apple of His eye?” (See Zechariah 2:8.) I don’t think so.

If you are caught up in the false teaching of Replacement Theology, do yourself a favor and run from it. It is false doctrine and not of God.

God loves His people Israel and so should we. It is because of Israel that we have the Holy Word of God. It is from them we were told of Jesus Christ and our opportunity to be saved by His precious blood. We owe Israel our souls. Let us never “throw them under the bus” as so many are doing today, our political leaders included.

If your church teaches this, let God use you to shed light on the darkness of this fallacy of Satan’s. Speak with your pastor and let God use you to witness to him. If he will not listen and your church remains adamant in supporting this false doctrine then “shake the dust” from your feet (Mark 6:11) and leave.

In Genesis 12:2-3 God says to Abraham, “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

Grant Phillips