Roy’s Blog: “Breaking Apart”

https://bphowlett.wordpress.com/?p=6114

Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV) “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.”

Society is “breaking apart” more and more. Not because we lack everyday essentials like food, housing, healthcare, and education. For we have these things available more than any generation before us.

We are breaking apart because we have opened the doors wide to the demonic influences of the world and kicked God out of our society. We have made everything else a priority except God. We ignore God’s word that says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” (Matthew 12:30-31)

You may not be able to control what the world does, but you can start with opening your heart to the Lord and making Him your number one priority. It can start with one person at a time loving God and loving their neighbor as themselves and spread across our country and the world. That’s how we put the pieces back together again.

Roy’s Blog: “Beat The Heat”

https://bphowlett.wordpress.com/?p=6109

Isaiah 4:6 (NASB) “There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and rain.”

I have spent many nights watching the clock as the night went on and wondered, “Is it ever going to cool down?” Those days long ago with no air conditioning were the worst. I’d twist and turn trying to find a new cool spot on the bed. By morning when it finally cooled off a little, I would be exhausted and could finally fall asleep, minutes before the alarm went off.

Today many are squirming in the heat of battle. They look at inflation eating away at their bank balances and wonder if they will have enough money to feed their children or buy enough gas to get to work and back. They see the border issues and wonder, “Will my child become a victim of the drugs coming across? With the massive rise in crime in our cities (and sadly even our small towns now) will it ever cool down? How can we rest when life is such a hotbed of sin and chaos? Will we ever have peace and safety again?”

Unfortunately, I don’t believe that will happen for believers until the Rapture of the church. So the real question becomes are you prepared to “beat the heat”? Are you ready for the Rapture? Most people want relief–but few are ready!

Roy’s Blog: “Ticking Time Bomb”

https://bphowlett.wordpress.com/?p=6104

Genesis 6:5-6 “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”

We have all watched movies with drama built around a ticking bomb. It may have been in a government building, a financial center, or even a school. You get caught up in the intrigue and suspense, knowing the consequences were the bomb to go off. “Will they find it in time?” is on everyone’s mind.

Today we are watching a “ticking time bomb” and it is our world. From the chaos in our homes and families, our schools and churches, and our governments it is only a matter of time until something blows up. No matter how you try to touch it up or put a band-aid on it, it is just not going to work when you are doing the same thing time after time.

We have cheapened life from the womb to the elderly to the point that our society can’t even acknowledge that killing the innocent is wrong, or that immorality (firmly defined in the Bible) is wrong. Our society even promotes those deviant behaviors.

The Lord is seeing the same behavior in our world today that “grieved His heart” in Genesis. We need a complete turnaround to Almighty God. Put Him back in our lives, in our families, in our schools, and in our country.

Roy’s Blog: “Ready Or Not”

https://bphowlett.wordpress.com/?p=6099

Matthew 24:44 (KJV) “Therefore be ye ready; for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.”

Notice that Jesus did not say “get ready” but rather ‘”be ready”. It’s not a one-time thing. You are to stay ready at any moment for the coming of the Son of Man is coming unexpectedly.

If you’ve ever played the game “hide and seek” you know you have to stay ready for the person considered “it” to come and find you. When they say “ready or not, here I come”, you can’t walk around and when you see them coming your way, then go and hide. It would be too late. Anticipating they will come your way, but not knowing where they will go first, you have to be patient and wait.

Why are we told so much about a time (the Tribulation) we will not even be here to see or experience? Or a time the church would not have to deal with? So we can be moved to escape it with an urgency to tell others who may not “be ready”. So we never waste an opportunity to exhort, urge, and be a witness of God’s goodness and grace. We know the second coming is 1260 days after the abomination of desolation is standing in the holy place” because it marks the mid-point of the “70th week of Daniel”. That means His “glorious appearing” is expected, very soon.

Everything going on in the world indicates how near the Tribulation is. And that means the Rapture is very near, even at the door, then “ready or not”, Jesus will come. Be Ready!

Roy’s Blog: “Where Will You Stand?”

https://bphowlett.wordpress.com/?p=6094

Joshua 24:15 “Choose this day who you will serve; As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua, one of Israel’s greatest leaders, stood his ground and called for his people to make the choice of where they would stand. Would they follow the pagan gods that dominated the promised land that lay before them, or would they stand with the one true God? What would it be?

Today we face the same dilemma. Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Many people try to divide their lives up like a pie. One piece is their job, one for sports, one for school, one for family. And then whatever is left is the Lord’s piece. Standing with God can’t be a half-hearted commitment. God should be the main ingredient in every part of the pie, throughout.

Like Joshua, we must choose. There is no fence to sit on. God calls us by His grace, but we must choose where we will stand, and who we will follow.

Roy’s Blog: “Kill Switch”

https://bphowlett.wordpress.com/?p=6089

Psalms 9:9-10 “The Lord also will be a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of troubles; And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, for You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.”

Years ago when our kids were young, I let my daughter ride on a homemade go-cart with one of her cousins. I should have known better. He was one of those kids that if anything could go wrong it happened with him. And it did.

They started off fine, around our yard, then down the country road for a short distance. Then, the throttle hung up, on full blast. Which might not have been too bad, but we found out too late…the brakes didn’t work. They went round and round unable to stop until finally, the throttle cable slipped as they passed by close enough and two of us grabbed the go-cart to stop it. No one got hurt, but what I would have given if that cart had a “kill-switch”.

I feel like that today about our country and our world. What I wouldn’t give for a switch that would shut down some of the terrible things I see being promoted, pushed even. All the craziness that just keeps piling up.

Praise the Lord a kill-switch is coming that will put everything right, and that is Jesus Christ our Lord!

Roy’s Blog: “Frustrated”

https://bphowlett.wordpress.com/?p=6084

James 5:7 “Be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it until it gets the early and late rains.”

It’s frustrating. You wait for the morning coffee to be ready, relishing that first-morning cup, but you can’t enjoy it because you have to hurry or you’ll be stuck in the early morning traffic. You leave the house and sure enough, the traffic jam has already started. It doesn’t help that you have to stop at every red light on the way, and then there’s the train. And you wait and wait. You finally get to your appointment with seconds to spare…and you wait in line for another ten minutes. Frustration rears its head and your temper begins to rise. But, such is life. Whether you live in the North, South, East, or West, waiting is a big part of life. May as well get used to it.

We must also wait and be patient when it comes to our future as Christians. Too many times we have gotten impatient, tried to help things along on our own, and…messed up. James 5:8 says, “be patient, strengthen your heart, for the coming of the Lord is near.” Isaiah 40:31 “But they who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength…” Psalms 27:14 “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” Many other verses encourage us to wait, and not get frustrated.

Waiting tests our faith. While we wait for God’s timing we are to continue serving and loving Him and being patient. It’s not easy…it takes practice.

Roy’s Blog: “That Sound”

https://bphowlett.wordpress.com/?p=6079

Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and sup with him and he with Me.”

We have all experienced it. That sound from the kitchen or the bathroom that never stops. Drip…drip…drip. Or that knock…knock…knock from your car that isn’t there when you take it in to have it fixed. It can drive you crazy. You want it fixed as soon as possible, NOW would be best.

Our world reminds me of that pesky irritating drip. It’s bad, but you know it’s going to get a lot worse before you can find someone that has the tools and the time and is qualified. Our world needs someone who can “fix it” and the only one qualified to do that is Jesus Christ.

But, what can we do until He comes? One, we can rest assured that He will come. He keeps His promises. Two, we can know that He will be able to fix our world. He is the only one who can. And three, He will be here soon…He is even at the door!

Roy’s Blog: “Does He Know Me?”

https://bphowlett.wordpress.com/?p=6075

Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not for I am with you; be not dismayed for I am your God: I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

I see so many people searching for something to fill their lives with meaning. But, instead are drawn to all kinds of confusing, meaningless things. They wonder, “Does He know me?” From the grocery store stocker working day in and day out to the rancher tending his cows to the executive on Wall Street, that burning question comes up: “Does He know me, that I even exist?”

I remember a story (true story) of a man who loved to fish on Lake Texarkana every chance he had. He would go out in his fourteen-foot aluminum boat and spend hours by himself with just his thoughts. Until one day a storm caught him off-guard in the middle of the lake. With the wind blowing hard and the waves breaking over the edge of the boat, he broke down and cried out to the Lord for help.

He said later that somehow he made it back to the shore, and he never wondered again “Does He know me?” For that day he trusted in the Lord to save him and he knows now…God knows him and cares for him.

Roy’s Blog: “What’s Going Right?”

https://bphowlett.wordpress.com/?p=6071

Psalm 16:8 (ESV) “I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.”

Name one thing that is going right in this administration. I couldn’t come up with anything. All the “let’s all get along, work together, build back better“, none of it has happened. Just the opposite. Our economy is tanking. High prices are eating at our paychecks, and now we can’t even feed our babies what they need.

Something is up, and it will not be long before it jumps out of the shadows like one of those jumping spiders. Russia is an easy target because of its move into Ukraine. But while they dominate the news, I believe it is covering up much more. Nations are being pushed along to ultimately fulfill a part of the prophetic puzzle of the end times.

To usher in a “New World Order” you have to have crisis after crisis. We have a war that could spin out of control at any moment, branching out not to just Ukraine but across the Middle East. You have shortages of basic goods and especially food (and water in some places). Suffering and turmoil on a scale we’ve never seen.

Nothing is going right: The perfect environment for the masses to call for SOMEONE who can solve all the problems. Because of his words and actions, the masses will believe that one man (the antichrist) is the one.