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...

  A mountaintop high. Indescribable. The view. The air. The freedom. Above it all. Breathe in… Exhale…   Now step back down for a moment. Let’s consider the mountain top high of a despicable king who somehow decided to obey God. In our walk through every 20:24 and 20:25 verse in the Bible, we find ourselves in the middle of a 3-part look at our responsibility to God as we consider kings and kingdoms in the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. Part 1 was the prior post: I Will Stand for God’s Government . Next time, we will Let God Win Our Battles . Today, we resolve to Follow God through Highs and Lows . Our story is found in 1 Kings 20 . At this point in history, Israel had been a divided nation consisting of a northern kingdom called Israel, and a southern kingdom called Judah. Jerusalem was the capitol city of Judah, and Samara was the capitol city of Israel where King Ahab reigned as its seventh king. He was ungodly – not a role model in any way for the king...

  No survivors. If you weren’t on the ark, you didn’t survive. It’s the unfortunate truth. We have an ark today. Jesus built it with His life and it is life-giving. Think of it as the cross. In the past 6 episodes, we have seen how Noah’s Ark is the ride of our lives because the true story from ancient times is the same story for us today. Come to the cross. The door is open. Step aboard the Ark and live.   This post is Episode 7 of an 8-episode series about boarding and deboarding Noah’s Ark. If you’re visiting this series for the first time, you should start at Episode 1: The Story of Our Lives . Otherwise, sit back and experience Episode 7 .   Episode 7: Victory Over Death   As I mentioned in Episode 6 , Noah’s story didn’t end when his son found him naked and drunk. His other sons covered him through an act of honor and forgiveness and his story is remembered even today as a reminder of God’s judgment upon the unrighteous and His promise to all life ...