Melcena’s Words on Christian Themes

As I look around the Internet, I am totally impressed as how technology has grown. Today, anyone can reach out to the world, if they so desire. For so long, I have wondered how I could fit in to the information age. It seemed to me that everything had been either done or said.

I realized that satan, like an octopus, has His tentacles  everywhere and there would be no room for someone, such as I, to express those things I dearly love and wish I could express to someone who needed encouragement even as I. While praying about what to say, the Holy Spirit lead me back to Nineveh.

The story of Jonah and the fish is a familiar one. It is about a servant of God named Jonah. When God told him to go to Nineveh and tell the people of the city that because they had not repented of their sins that He was going to destroy them. Jonah ran from the Lord, he thought, and tried to get away. But, a huge storm came up while he was on a boat and the mariners threw him overboard were he was swallowed by a huge fish.

Now, most us would think that that was the end of that. Right? I mean, no way was Jonah going to live in all of that acid and digestive stuff! But, God is God. And if God wants to make a point without killing someone, He can let them be put in fiery furnaces, or in acid stomachs and keep them alive. So He did Jonah until Jonah came to his senses and told God he would obey Him.

So, he goes to the town, tells the people, they repent. Yeah! Everything is ok. Right? Well, there is that human tendency. You know the one. You suffer, you repent, you go do what you were told then you wait for the destruction of the bad guy. Satan has really drawn us away from the Will of God by deceiving us into believing there are good guys here on earth and then there are bad guys. We are always on the side of good and we just love it when the bad guy loses. Especially if we feel that God has lead us to be either the instrument of destruction or the messenger before the Lord does the destruction.

Yeah, you even climb to great heights so that you will have a front seat to the action. After all you went through you believe that they deserve it. More than that, you deserve to watch it happen!

Been waiting for a while? What’s the matter? Nothing’s happening? How many times have you prayed that God would rain destruction down on those who have wronged you? Not happening? Wonder why?

Well, if Jonah had stuck around town, he would have noted that the people DID repent. And, God forgave them. He told them that they would be His people and He would be their God.

Don’t you just hate when that happens. Look at all Jonah went through and he ended up SAVING the people of this town by warning them and allowing them to turn back to God. And did that make him happy? No. Because Jonah only saw Jonah. He only understood his part in the story. He did not understand that he was an instrument through which God spoke, but not the power that actually saved those people.

How much do we go forth in this world thinking that we are the ones that matter and that without us God could not reach those He wishes to save?

It’s like the missionary to China that thought that democracy and capitalism was Christianity and that when he looked in the mirror he saw God. Not only was he deceiving himself but look at the many people he confused.

One of satan’s greatest tricks is to get us to believe that we are more important than God. That the world we live in now is more important than The Kingdom of God. That being busy with spreading goodwill without God is being too busy to worry about God.

Wonder what would have happened if in the beginning God had just decided that He was more important than His Creation? After all, wasn’t that what split He and satan in the first place? Satan began to think that he and what he wanted was more important than being what he was in God’s Kingdom.

When we decide that what we want is more important than God’s Kingdom, then we no longer are concerned about doing anything except for selfish reasons. This is when we convince ourselves that we are the answer to everything. Then we decided that we can do everything. Then we can do everything ourselves so we do not need anyone. Then we can do everything better than everyone so there is no need for anyone else because….we are the gods!

Not one god that man has dreamed up has not only created, but has sacrificed himself for his creation. No other god has loved that which he created so much that he became a part of it to share himself with it. Mankind has written, acted, dramatized, and sung about so much he has aspired. But, never has he loved as his own creator.

If we would just stand aside, we would be surprised at how glorious the Lord shines before us. How wondrous His mantle. How humble His countenance. Oh, how much we miss when we allow ourselves to blind us!

Dear Heavenly Father,

Please help us to realize that we are Your instruments on earth. And we do not have any power within ourselves, save what You give us through the Holy Spirit. Please guide us and direct us and teach us Your will, Lord as it is You Will that we are employed to accomplish. In the name of My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

7/11/07 Revised 9/15/08