Pastor Brad’s Notebook
02 Nov Devotional Thought – Fit For Glory
"By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, "and was not found, because God had taken him"; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God." Hebrews 11:5
Doesn't the end of this verse seem to be a bit anticlimactic? Think about it. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Enoch was taken - translated, raptured - to Heaven, and what a truly tremendous revelation that is. But, for the writer of Hebrews to then add to such an amazing account the fact that before Enoch was taken "he had this testimony, that he pleased God" is no doubt evident and expected. In fact, one could easily say, "Well that makes sense, he got to go to the place of God so surely it is unnecessary to say he had pleased the person of God." Well, actually it isn't superfluous at all. In fact, it is the one thing that is necessary to finish such a fantastic picture.
31 Oct Devotional Thought – Rest And Revelation
"Then he went up from there to Beersheba. And the LORD appeared to him the same night..." Genesis 26:23-24
Moses says that Isaac went up from the Valley of Gerar to Beersheba, and it was on that very first night that the Lord appeared to him with a wonderful revelation of future blessing. Was this an accident? Was the timing of this divine appearance simply coincidence? Could the Lord have appeared to him the night before he left the Valley of Gerar for Beersheba? No, the timing of the appearance of the Almighty to Isaac not only came when it should, but when it could. The reason is that this was the night that Isaac finally reached his place of rest. Before this night there had been a series of struggles, a succession of quarrels, over the possession of wells that he and his men had dug.
26 Oct Devotional Thought – When We Need His Armor The Most
"Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." Ephesians 6:13
This seems to be a very odd ending to such a blatant battle cry. Normally the soldier is told to gear up, get ready, for the battle by putting on his armor, but here he's told to gear up to do nothing more than stay back in the camp. This seems to be a very strange statement. One would naturally consider the hard part of the Christian life to be the day of battle, the hour of the conflict. Paul, however, takes a different view. He see the difficult day, the time of testing to be that which comes after the fight has ended.