A Lighthouse & Watchman - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

A Lighthouse & Watchman

Note: In a recent communication from good friends from Israel, I was reminded of this message the Lord gave me in Feb. 2016. Even so more valid today.  Steve Martin

“I am God. I have called you to live right and well. I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe. I have set you among my people to bind them to me, and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations, to make a start at bringing people into the open, into light: opening blind eyes, releasing prisoners from dungeons, emptying the dark prisons.” (Isaiah 42:6-7, THE MESSAGE)

We have been hearing much in our Sunday gatherings on our roles as being watchmen. I take that word seriously, and act on it - to pray, to proclaim, to write accordingly, and then to post on our blog Love For His People. Even as the watchman of old sought the Lord, listened to His voice, and spoke out what they were told, I too want to be one who does that.

While being faithful as a watchman to bring the warnings that come with the territory, there is also always hope in the midst of it all, as that comes straight from the Father’s heart. His light brought forth, as a lighthouse, guides us through the sea of life.

Jesus’ love for the nations causes Him to bring awareness to His people of what is coming. His prophetic words, recorded in the historical Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, have proven over and over again of His loving actions. The Lord God of Israel, the Messiah, has continually sought to draw us to Himself through those writings, and current warnings.

Another practical, visual way the Lord has also demonstrated His light shining in the world has been through the ocean and lakeside lighthouses. Located on many coasts throughout the world yet today, these beacons of light through the centuries have given direction to the incoming vessels, and hope to the ones anxiously watching for a light to guide them safely into the harbor. They have stood tall while withstanding the raging seas and mighty storms that have pounded and battered at their foundations through the years.

Lighthouses are a vivid example of the Lord’s hope, standing strong and tall in the battle, shining forth the beam of hope to show us the way.

One summer in the late ’90s our family took the time for a vacation trip, to do the eight hours of

travel from Charlotte to the Atlantic Coast of North Carolina. Our goal was to visit all seven lighthouses, from Currituck as the northernmost one, stopping at the most famous and tallest Cape Hatteras on the Outer Banks, with the final destination being close to the southern border with South Carolina.

Cape Hatteras on the Outer Banks of North Carolina

We did it in the seven days we had. We started at the northern end, first with Currituck Beach Light Station, followed by Bodie Island Lighthouse, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, Ocracoke Lighthouse, Cape Lookout, Oak Island Lighthouse, and finally Old Baldy, on Bald Head Island. Being that one is only accessible by water or air, we didn’t make it out to see it. Someday we may!

As lighthouses and as watchmen too, we have been called upon to stand strong, prepared in our spirits to announce the oncoming storms that seek to take out or overtake the Lord’s people. As lighthouses in the spiritual realm, watchmen are to stand ready to shine the light, the silver lining of hope, as the darkness seeks to consume the continents with its encroaching power. The Lord has given us the weapons of warfare and the fortitude established in our character to be the watchmen and the spiritual lighthouses.

We have been prepared for the war ahead.

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder

Love For His People, Inc.

P.S. A good website to check out on the North Carolina lighthouses is Visit NC Coastal Lighthouses.

P.S S. I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. They might need it. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve

We are blessed when the ministry receives gifts to bless the families that we do in Israel, India, Pakistan and the hurting ones here in the USA. You also can share out of the abundance you have been given.

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.

If these messages minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Click here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People. If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share Now Think On This with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  

martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople 

Blogs: Love For His People,   Now Think On This

YouTube: Love For His People Inc.

#417 Published on 04.24.19 - Reprint from 2016. Wednesday, 4:17 am

(Original Now Think On This - In the New Year of our Lord 02.15.16 - #244 –“A Lighthouse & Watchman” – Monday at 8:45 am)

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This

Again, I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve

It’s A Faith Walk - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

It’s A Faith Walk

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

“But He said to them, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" (Mark 4:40, NKJV)

It’s a faith walk. Really? Yes.

Have you ever tried doing something one way, and then realizing it doesn’t work, and only then do you actually do it the way it was meant to be done?

Imagine making a Dutch Apple pie by using ingredients you tasted in someone else’s, without the recipe? I am sure one or two have tried that. Anyone eat it after the first bite?

Or how about going on what was to be an adventurous mountain hike, but leaving behind a reliable compass, having but a little container of water and no amount of nourishing food for the twelve-mile journey, on a trail little have ever used? Get lost?

Ever try putting together the new Hanukkah or Christmas toy for the tot, thinking, “I got this!” only to find out in fact, two hours later, the kid is crying, the remaining five screws are still left in a pile along with some piece you have idea where it was to go, while frustration came in the front door an hour earlier? Yes, you have, dad. Me too. (I’ll stick to the accounting budget and let another do that construction stuff. Because the toilet still leaked after my great “repair job”.)

As I said, it really is a faith walk. But not because we have faith in ourselves, our natural talents, or the Doris Day song in that movie, “Whatever will be will be.” Que sera, sera. Really? That is walking in faith? Anybody can say that. Most do. And where does that get them? (Thanks Dr. Phil.)

Even putting our trust in that weekly paycheck, the stock market (up and down, up and down), or the retirement fund we spent years building and then lost in the last financial crash that occurred (and will occur again I believe) won’t work in the end.

So where is your faith? If tested, would it hold strong? Or is it like the house built on sand, only to crumble when the water comes in like a flood? I think you best find out now.

"But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards." (Matthew 7:26-27 THE MESSAGE)

I have learned that to grow my faith, that amount of which both you and I were initially given by the Lord Jesus at the start of our spiritual walk, you have to hear what He says (through the Bible, from another believer’s word our Lord uses, a prophetic message written and read by you, touching you, etc.) and act on it. Obedience produces faith. More obedience produces more faith.

Exercise builds up the cardio and the muscular system. Lack of exercise builds up the fat and the sluggishness. Which works three, five, ten years down the road? You know as well as I do.

Today you may be facing a decision. It will require doing something you have never done before. It might be a risk to take, a stepping out. It surely might even cause you to look up.

“I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;

From where shall my help come?

My help comes from the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth.

He will not allow your foot to slip;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

4 Behold, He who keeps Israel

Will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;

The Lord is your shade on your right hand.

The sun will not smite you by day,

Nor the moon by night.

The Lord will protect you from all evil;

He will keep your soul.

The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in

 From this time forth and forever.

(Psalm 121: 1-8, NASU)

Believe it? Do you believe God’s Word? Many have tried it, proven it, and lived by it.

Walk by faith, not by sight, and do what He is calling you to do. I promise He will not fail you. He can’t. He is God.

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

P.S. Want an adventure walk? Come with me while watching my short videos that I recorded. Check it out: Walk With Me

P.S.S. I hope you get my latest book, Adventures in Courage, out this November. Paperback or Kindle versions. My 19^th authored publication. (Yes, this is an advertisement!)

If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$50 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

  

Secure, conveniently contributions can be done online now. Click here: DONATE 

(or use the DONATE buttons on the blog.)

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc. 

P.O. Box 414   

Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.) 

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn.  We appreciate your help.

Now Think On This #373 - in the year of our Lord 12.08.18 – “It’s a Faith Walk”  Saturday, 7:50 am

FIRE - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

FIRE

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

“After this, I will pour out my Spirit on all humanity. Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions;  and also on male and female slaves in those days I will pour out my Spirit. I will show wonders in the sky and on earth — 

blood, fire and columns of smoke.” (Joel 3:1-3, Complete Jewish Bible)

Fire is an amazing creation of the Lord. When mankind discovered how to make it, and keep it burning, he was able to heat his body and home, cook his food, and scare off marauding enemies that tried to attack him and his community. As knowledge increased, fire was harnessed and used for constructive purposes, by generating power to operate machinery, and in time, electricity.

Destructive fire can burn down populated areas and destroy years of growth in forests. In the later part of 2016, we have seen fires consume vast amounts of acreage in some areas that are not usually known for wildfires, such as in the mountains of North Carolina and the land of Israel. These fires can remove accumulations of underbrush and overgrowth, which is a good thing, but if not gotten under control, they will also emblaze people’s habitations and livelihood. 

Arsonists, such as those responsible for the Israeli fires, are bent on destroying that which good people have spent years planting and building up. The hell fire of hell itself lives within their hearts. They seek to kill and destroy, just as their god does.

In the scriptural context of Joel’s prophetic words (verses above), he wrote of both the natural and spiritual fires that were to come upon the earth. In recent decades those fires have already begun to be released, both as a consuming fire for destruction, and a consuming fire for revitalization of human spirits. 

"It will come about after this (Note: the return of the Jews to the Promised Land in Joel 1-3) that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. "I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire and columns of smoke." 

The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. "And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.” (Joel 2:28-3:1 NASU)

On the day of Pentecost, as recorded in Acts 2:3-4, Peter exclaimed that the spiritual fire that had come upon them (…and there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance) was a fulfillment of that very declaration of Joel’s prophecy, about that baptism of fire that was coming.

“But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: "Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words.  For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: 

'AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,' God says,

'THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND;

AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY,

AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS,

AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS; 

EVEN ON MY BONDSLAVES, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN,

I WILL IN THOSE DAYS POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT

And they shall prophesy. 

'AND I WILL GRANT WONDERS IN THE SKY ABOVE.” (Acts 2:14-19, NASU)

As it happened in Peter’s time, during the birth of the church, so again it has happened, and will continue to happen, in our time, in these end times, as the fire of the Lord has once again come in spiritual power. This consuming fire is to empower His people for the fulfillment of His perfect plan and purpose – that of salvation for both Jew and Gentile in all nations of the world.

While we pray for protection from the natural, destructive fires, at the same time we must pray for the full release of the God of Israel’s supernatural fire – to bring His kingdom upon the earth.

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder

Love For His People, Inc. 

  

P.S. I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. They might need it. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve

We are blessed when the ministry receives gifts to support the families that we do, primarily in Israel, Hungary, India, Pakistan and the hurting ones here in the USA. You also can share out of the abundance you have been given.

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.

If these messages minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Click here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVINGTHROUGH OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People. If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share Now Think On This with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  

martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople 

Blogs: Love For His People,   Now Think On This

Full website: Love For His People

YouTube: Love For His People Inc.

Now Think On This - In the Year of our Lord 11.25.16 - #269 –“FIRE” – Friday 1:30 pm

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This

Again, I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve

The Elections - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

The Elections

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

“Do you want to be on good terms with the government? Be a responsible citizen and you'll get on just fine, the government working to your advantage.” (Romans 13:3-4, The Message)

Every four years in American politics the voting age population has a choice to make in the selection of the one who will sit in the presidential office seat. Voting for our elected officials is one of the many freedoms that our founding fathers fought so hard to obtain, and many, many since then have fought to maintain. The freedom to choose is not found in all nations. But in this country, since 1776, it has been one of the great freedoms we have as a people.

Sad to say that too many choose not to exercise this democratic freedom. Since I turned the voting age of 18 in the early 70’s, I have not missed a presidential election, going to the voting booth every time. I am proud, if I can say that humbly, to have done that.

The opportunity taken to vote or not to vote was never a decision I considered not doing. As a citizen of this nation, while I still abide here, I will always feel it is included as one of my basic responsibilities. No doubt I will continue to vote at every opportunity I have. If I am going to pray for our government leaders (not as much as I should), I believe it is also my responsibility, every time I am given the choice, to also vote for the ones who adhere to the principles I stand for. I find it hard to think that other believers often choose to not participate.

How can those who say they are walking in the Lord’s ways not also take the time to know the candidates and then vote for those they want to see lead our local, state, and national offices? Even if our choice we voted for does not win, at least we can say we participated in the process.

Believing that the Lord sets in place those in authority who govern, He also wants us to take part in bringing that about. We are not just to sit it out and say that whatever will be will be, or to glibly say that our actions do not matter in the outcome, so why bother? Does the Lord not tell us to be a light on a hill? Is not the government realm another area where that light is so sorely needed in our time, where we can participate in taking His principles into all areas of life? Even to this one area.

If and when you are given the opportunity, take it, and do one more thing in extending the Lord’s kingdom on this earth. As an American, do the right thing, and vote for those who will act on our behalf. As a big election block voting in unison, we carry a lot of influence, and can do a lot of good. Many have gotten elected because of us. Others have lost because we have not done our part.

If we don’t exercise this freedom, we cannot rant and rave when the darkness even more so penetrates the halls of our government buildings.

We can participate in what the Lord desires to yet do in this nation. This is one opportunity He freely gives you and me to do, as we go to vote, with His wisdom and guidance leading us.

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder

Love For His People, Inc.

P.S. I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. They might need it. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve

We are blessed when the ministry receives gifts to support the families that we do, primarily in Israel, India, Pakistan and the hurting ones here in the USA. You also can share out of the abundance you have been given.

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.

If these messages minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Click here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People. If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share Now Think On This with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  

martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople 

Blogs: Love For His People,   Now Think On This

Full website: Love For His People

YouTube: Love For His People Inc.

Now Think On This - In the New Year of our Lord 07.22.16 - #262 –“The Elections” – Friday at 7:40 pm

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This

Again, I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve