God Sees You!

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 

 Luke 1:26-27

Late last year, I had the privilege of going to the Holy Land. It was my second trip, and it was so meaningful. One afternoon, we made the trip to Nazareth, a very busy, Islamic city today … but a very, very, very small Jewish community at the time of Christ, perhaps as low as 35 families. 

In fact, Nazareth was so small, forgotten, and disrespected that Nathanael even said, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). (I believe we know the answer to that one.)

Don't Just Sit There...Arise!

"Now four men who were lepers were at the entrance of the city's gate; and they said to one another, Why do we sit here until we die.... So they arose." (2 Kings 7:3,5, The Amplified Bible)

No matter how bad the problem is you may be facing today, no matter how far under the circumstances you may be, in 24 hours you can be back on top!

"Oh, Brother Copeland, that would be impossible!"

That's what the Samaritans thought in 2 Kings 7. Their land was being ravaged by famine. Enemy troops had surrounded them and cut off all source of supply. Mothers were eating their own children just to survive.

Jacob's Ladder - Stairway to the Father

And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night... and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. Genesis 28:10-12 (KJV)

When I was a girl in Sunday school, we used to sing a popular chorus, "We are climbing Jacob's ladder... soldiers of the cross." The song harkened to a story in the Bible about Jacob. He fell asleep and had a wonderfully mysterious dream -- Jacob saw a ladder stretching from heaven to earth with angels ascending and descending on it. The ladder bridged the yawning gulf between man and God. When he woke up, Jacob realized it was a divine visitation. 

You Are Your Spouse's 'Angel'!

Written by Danny Gutierrez 

As a child, do you remember watching Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse cartoons? Some of my favorite episodes were the ones where Donald found himself trying to impress Daisy by babysitting his three nephews, but they would drive him absolutely crazy! 

He would plop down in frustration, and two figures would inevitably appear to give him advice: an angel on his right shoulder and a devil on his left. The angel would give him good advice, and the devil, bad.

Well, God has called us to be our spouse's "angel." We all make decisions every day, and the person who hopefully has the most influence our choices is our spouse.

So, when your spouse asks you for your opinion, are you most often "the angel" or "the little devil"? Do you give him or her solid advice based on God's Word, or do you say whatever sounds best at the moment? 

Climbing Jacob’s Ladder

“He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” — Genesis 28:12

The Torah portion for this week, Vayetze, is from Genesis 28:10–32:3 and Hosea 12:13–14:10.

The Jewish Sages teach that when Jacob was on his journey to the city of Harran, he ended up somewhere that he had not intended to go. But it was late, and so Jacob found a few stones, made a pillow, and went to sleep. As providence would have it, the place There, he had his famous dream in which Jacob saw a vision of a ladder resting on earth, stretching up to heaven. Angels were going up and down on it. When Jacob woke up he said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it” (Genesis 28:16). Jacob had unintentionally, but providentially, stumbled upon a virtual stairway to heaven.