The Word of God
is the seed that we plant daily in our hearts and in the hearts of others
and it is watered by prayer.
As we plant seeds of life
in the heart of others, we are guaranteed in due time that we will reap
a righteous harvest.
BY
EDMUND DESOTO
I
always
like my introductions to set the tone for the ministry's devotional.
I have been called to encourage
the church so I try to do my very best to do just that so I encourage my
recipients to read further.
At times, since I know the
Shout Of Victory audience, my style may be warm and casual, yet other times
it is theological and technical and even at times, believe it or not, I
go right to the point with no-nonsense.
By doing so, I cut the head
off the enemy with one shot, with one blow not allowing him any time to
recuperate.
Oh! yes, yes, I know it hurts,
but when times calls for it, just like when David cut the head off Goliath,
this must be done that we may experience glorious Victories in our walk.
So here is where my story begins.
As I stood on my balcony
one lazy day of summer this last month of July before the ministry's last
trip to Reno, I was soaking on the view of a city that despite temperatures
of 96 degrees was still managing to function at its best.
I quickly remembered January
21, 2005 when the New York area was expecting a major blizzard that would
roughly last two days and was to affect the entire northern east coast
of the United States.
I remember most of the north
Midwest of the country was already buried under eighteen inches of snow.
This coming storm was being called the worst blizzard of that winter and
yes, New York City was next in line.
With temperatures at 9 degrees
and wind chill factors of 20 degrees below zero, this storm would leave
most of the tri-state area of New York buried under sixteen to eighteen
inches of snow and I remember that I couldn't wait for it to begin.
This was a night when the
entire city could see its own breath. A night when just the sound of the
wind could give you a chill in your bones.
Looking at the millions of
stars that were clearly reflecting over the Hudson River and transparently
shining over the clear cold night sky of that January 21 over New York
city, I caught myself simultaneously looking at the same New York city
skyline that now in the mid of summer was under a heat wave with temperatures
of over 93 degrees.
I was abruptly brought back
to reality when suddenly five All American military Blue Angel planes
flew right over my head, flying north over the Hudson River at what seemed
to me to be over 700 miles an hour, although I really need to check that
to be true fact.
For those who do not know
me personally, I live right on the Hudson River overlooking New York city.
The river is literally my back yard. One does not see the Hudson River
at a distance from my home, I live right on it. You can throw a rock from
the southern balcony, as I often do, and reach the water in no time.
Not only do I see the George
Washington Bridge clearly to the north, I can see Lady Liberty clearly
to the south of me as well as the Riverside Church and Hudson River Parkway.
I see two high and two low tides in a 24 hour period as well along with
lots of weather.
I can also see a clear view
of New York city's skyline with the Empire State building sitting majestically
smack right in the middle of it all and of course I experienced a first
hand view of the destruction of the Twin Towers on that fatal September
11th, of 2001.
That September 11th morning,
I suddenly looked at the win towers and saw smoke coming out of one. My
first reaction was to think that the smoke was coming from behind them
somewhere from the city of Brooklyn but I was wrong and that's another
story all together. So back to the Hudson River for now.
For those outside the U.S.A,
here is a little history on the Hudson.
The Hudson River flows 315
miles, from Mt. Marcy to the southern tip of Manhattan, where it empties
into the Atlantic Ocean.
It commences its journey
at the river's source in the Adirondack Mountains, at Lake Tear of the
Clouds. This lake is in the shape of a teardrop and about as big as a football
field. It is actually 4,293 feet up Mt. March to be exact, the tallest
peak in New York State.
There is much daily activity
that goes on the Hudson, it is a very active river. It's traffic consists
of government ships, the coast guard, sail boats, both private and daily
cruises. Garbage and raw material is also transported daily through the
Hudson.
There is a vast amount of
private yachts that come from all over the country as well as the world.
They come just to see the famous New York city skyline and to join the
huge Ocean Liners that dock weekly on the New York City harbor.
These private yachts accompany
them out to the Atlantic Ocean as they sail out to great vacation spots.
The Hudson skies are filled
with planes as well. Commercial airlines make their way in from all parts
of the world into our three major airports in our area, La Guardia, Kennedy
and Newark International.
A vast amount of private
planes and helicopters with their enthusiastic pilots and passengers fly
up and down the Hudson daily enjoying the wonderful view of this great
area.
Fireworks rule the night
skies during the summer season as different waterfront cities along the
Hudson make their skies come alive right after sundown with color. On the
4th of July the Hudson dresses for its yearly celebration as it becomes
alive with boats that cruise the Hudson all day celebrating our independence
day.
But what does
this information have to do with this devotional?
Well, the rocks of the Palisades
are PreCambrian in age, dating to more than 1,100 million years.
This makes me think
often that the Palisades were here at the time of Lucifer's fall. Although
they may have laid desolate for a time and then again during the flood
of Noah, I tend to think that they they saw the big rebellion.
We, in the other hand, have
only 6,000 years of human history, which brings me right into this devotional.
Science verifies
that the earth has been here for millions of years. When we look at Bible
history and the fall of Lucifer, theologians cannot really tell how many
millions if not billions of years took place between Genesis 1:1 and
Genesis
1:2.
But Lucifer did fall and he
did rebel against the Almighty God. Theologians agree that during this
rebellion the earth laid desolate for a time not known yet to us and that
years, millions or billions perhaps passed between the actual fall of Lucifer
and the creation of Adam.
The Holy Spirit
however introduces us to God right away as the Author and cause of the
beginning of everything that is.
The great fathom less vastness
of the material universe, life in all of its mysterious forms, and the
crowning glory of God's heart and hand, man, whom by the inbreathing of
His Holy Spirit, He made Him a living soul.
Although man lost
the crown of glory and honor given to him by his Creator, it wasn't until
just two thousand years ago that our Lord and Saviour returned it to us
by the power of His beloved Son's blood.
So, yet again, even though millions
of years have marched on with this conflict between good and evil and the
Palisades might have been here to witness this great tragedy of the fall
of Lucifer and the fall of man, they will be here to witness the return
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
He is returning
for His Glorious Church and for the coming one thousand year of peace during
the reign of our King of kings here on the earth.
IN MY OWN WORDS,
EDMUND
DESOTO
