Stephen De La Vega

  Leave your rifles in the rack. You won’t need them when the battle is insurmountable. Has anybody ever told you that? Sometimes we can go to battle without breaking a sweat or calling upon those heroes who are somehow larger than life. But, of course, we should call on the Almighty Hero. God will be our Hero when we let Him. This is the 3rd  post about kings and kingdoms within our larger series of New Years Resolutions based on every 20:24 and 20:25 verse in the Bible. Regarding kings and kingdoms, we first resolve to stand for God’s government . When we do so, we support His choices for who sits in office, and we ultimately trust and obey His commands. Then we are prepared to step forward, and follow Him through the highs and lows of life, including battles we can't win. We can remain committed to His plan despite any difficulty or hardship because our battles are God’s battles when we lean into Him. He will go before us and do the heavy lifting if we let Him, which is...

  This intro is a disclaimer: I recognize there is significant dissatisfaction with governments across the globe. It is not uncommon for citizens to distrust and even despise certain government officials and government organizations. I don’t intend to discredit our varied opinions, positions, beliefs, value systems, or ideologies. I also am not writing to promote one political position over another, or even to promote a political position at all. However, I do intend to share, at least in part, a biblical perspective on God’s involvement in government and how we should respond in light of it. Resolution #6: I Will Stand for God’s Government Our 20:25 verse in this resolution brings us to 2 Samuel . (Remember, I am walking through every 20:25 verse in the Bible, and a few 20:24 verses since I started this last year.) 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel were originally written as one book. The same is true for 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles. These books were so long, early scribes coul...

When we contemplate the canvas of life, I hope we recognize that God is the Master Painter. He determines the colors, the background, the foreground, the objects, and the goings on in His big picture. We see in limited frames, but God combines them onto a single, grand canvas, with the richness of differing perspectives, multiple art forms and mediums, and expertly woven nuances of light and dark space across and beyond varied genres and time periods. God is the artful Master, and He profoundly captures the details of our interests, talents, and emotions within a single image. And then another that expresses a new adventure or a different struggle, and ever-maturing qualities as time elapses. All that is within our hearts, that which was before and that which is to come, are deeply impressed in our eyes as He unveils His treasure: each one of us – each individual, eternal person. The Master Painter never overlooks the value of texture and depth. Each portrait within ea...