Thank-You: Jewish Help to America

"Deliver Israel, O God, from all their troubles!" Psalm 25:22 NIV

Do you know when you are supposed to say thank you? It's when someone does something nice for you right? Well, there were some Jewish people who did something very nice for the United States of America. If you live in America, you can say thank you to these people.

Haym Salomon was a Jewish person from Poland who was living in America at the time of the American Revolution. This was the war the United States fought to become a free country. Mr. Salomon gave the U.S. army a lot of money so they could give the soldiers food and clothes and win the war that gave us our independence. He, and other Jewish people he gathered money from, gave millions of dollars to the army for the war. They said they could not have done it without him! He was never paid back this money either.

As a way of saying thank-you, George Washington instructed the people who were making the one-dollar bill to put something on the bill for the American people to remember the Jewish people's contribution to our independence. If you have a one-dollar bill, look on the front side and you'll see it has George Washington on it. Look at the back side and find the eagle in the circle to the right. Look above the eagle and you'll see 13 stars in the middle of a cloudburst. The thirteen stars are for the 13 colonies but they are shaped in the Star of David to honor the Jewish people. They are in a cloudburst to represent God's glory cloud in the temple in Jerusalem. 

Let's always remember what these Jewish people did for America!

See Stand With Israel: Friends of Zion by Mike Evans, by Time Worthy Books. Pages 97-102.

Bad Breath!

"...has God said,...?" Genesis 3:1

When someone talks, they breathe out. Say your name out loud. There is air that comes out of your mouth when you talk! This breath of words create an atmosphere--like a cloud--around you. It could be a life-cloud or a death-cloud. If you say things from a heart full of God's Spirit, a heart that is full of the love of God, then you make a life-cloud. But sometimes people say things that makes a death-cloud around them. 

One example of this is the serpent who spoke to Eve. He created a death-cloud of doubt. He asked Eve about what God said to them and which trees they could eat from. He wanted her to start to doubt God and think that God didn't really care about them. This is bad breath! We don't want to listen to those people who breathe out words against God--making us doubt Him or His goodness.

The Bible tells us that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. When He was here on the earth, His whole life looked like God's breath! His life showed us the love of God and helps us get to know Him better. When we spend time breathing in the Words of God, (by reading the Bible and making sure we understand it), then God's big life-cloud surrounds us. You will be surrounded by His love, faith, peace, and everything that God is. Then, when you breathe out and speak, your breath will make life-clouds around you and other people too!

Breathe in..breathe out...the life-filled breath of God!

John 1:14

Like a Dove

"and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove..." Luke 3:22

After Jesus was baptized in water, heaven opened up and the Holy Spirit came down from heaven, looking like a dove, and rested on Him. Why do you think God had the Holy Spirit look like a dove? There's another place in the Bible that talks about a dove. It was with Noah. After the rain stopped Noah opened the window of the ark and sent out a raven. The raven flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth. The raven never came back to let Noah know what was going on. It just went on its way exploring the earth. 

Then, Noah sent out a dove, but the dove couldn't find a place to rest so she came back to the ark. The dove came back to Noah, letting him know the water was still flooded over the earth. I love how the Bible says that Noah put out his hand and took her into the ark. You can just picture Noah putting out his hand, the dove landing on it and him very gently bringing her into the ark.

The dove, like the Holy Spirit, will rest with someone who is happy to have her. The Holy Spirit has a special way to talk to us too. Just like Noah's dove. After Noah's dove came back the first time, he waited seven days and sent her out again. This time the dove returned in the evening with a freshly picked olive leaf. Noah understood what that meant--that the water was gone down from the earth. Seven days after that he sent her out again and she did not return. It was time to get ready to leave the ark! Noah learned from the dove even though she didn't speak to him in words. How helpful it is to welcome the dove and learn the language of the Holy Spirit.

See Genesis 8:6-12

Perfect?

"...Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Matthew 6:48

Do you know what it means to be perfect? If something is perfect it means that nothing is wrong with it. It means its complete or finished. It's all done and there's nothing to do to make it any better. But who is the one who decides if something is wrong or not? If you take some clay and make a vase and you finish it and feel like it came out exactly the way you wanted it to, then you think its perfect don't you? What if someone else comes along and says they think it should be a different color so they don't think its perfect, who is right? That's the problem with trying to be perfect. Everyone has their own opinion so its hard to tell who is right. The only way to be perfect is to live by God's truth--His opinion.

Truth means that something is real or right. It means its not a lie. If I tell you that the sun will rise tomorrow and it does, than I've told you the truth haven't I? But I could lie and tell you that your best friend said something mean about you when he didn't and that would not be true. The next time I tell you something you might not know if you can believe me because I might be a liar--someone who lies a lot. 

Some people think they are telling the truth but they aren't. It could be because they just don't know the truth so they make up an answer, or someone else lied to them so they are deceived. If a person believes a lie we call that being deceived. Eve believed the serpent's lie in the garden so she was deceived. That caused a horrible thing to happen and brought sin into the world. Being deceived makes your life full of problems!

God always tells the truth. He never lies and He never deceives people. He always knows the truth because He decides what truth is! You can always trust God. You can always believe what He says. He is the only one who is always right.