Psalms 139:14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully
made; marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.
The body is a masterpiece of exquisite
design. Beautifully
"engineered," it is governed by several hundred systems of control ‑
each interacting with and affecting the other.
The brain has 10 billion nerve cells to record what it sees and
hears. Our skin has more than 2 million
tiny sweat glands ‑ about 3000 per square inch ‑ all part of the intricate
system which keeps the body at an even temperature. A "pump" in our chest makes the
blood travel 168 million miles a day ‑ equivalent of 6720 times around the
world! The lining of the stomach
contains 35 million glands secreting juices which aid the process of
digestion.
These are but a few of the involved processes
and chemical wonders which operate to sustain this wonderful and fearfully made
life. A young student had been impressed
with the fact that most new products have some "bugs" that must be
ironed out before they can operate efficiently.
As he stood gazing at a chart showing the organs, nerves, arteries, and
glands in the human body, he suddenly exclaimed, "Just think, the first
time God put it together, it worked!"
In honor of the unborn that have needlessly
been murdered at the hands of abortionists, I would like to talk about the
wonderful gift of life we have been given by God our Creator and the battle
that ensues for that very life. Let's
give honor to God the Father who is the creator of all things, including each
one of us!
As we look at the gift of life, I want to
take the time to look at the whole panorama of our lives from the moment of
conception in the womb till the time we return to the earth. I want us to see the battle that goes on
between God and the devil for our lives from the moment we are conceived till
the time we die. It is a battle for
life!
Job 5:5-12 For affliction does
not come from the dust, nor does trouble spring from the ground; yet man is
born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward. "But as for me, I would seek
God, and to God I would commit my cause; Who does great things, and
unsearchable, marvelous things without number. He gives rain on the earth, and
sends waters on the fields. He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who
mourn are lifted to safety. He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that
their hands cannot carry out their plans.
It is my conviction that even before we were
conceived, God had a plan and purpose for our lives through His infinite
foreknowledge. As intricately as He as
planned and designed our physical bodies, God has also planned and designed the
life of our soul and spirit. But there
are an innumerable number of choices and decisions we must make in order to
come into the fulfillment of God's perfect design for our lives. As a result there are tremendous battles that
take place in the heavenlies and in the earthly realms that have direct affects
on us achieving the fullness of this wonderful gift of life that God has
planned for us.
God's
Involvement In The Creation Of Life.
We Are Fearfully And Wonderfully Made By Our Creator.
Psalms 139:13-17 For You have formed my inward parts; You have covered me
in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully
made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was
not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the
lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And
in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet
there were none of them. How precious
also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
Isaiah 44:24 Thus says the
LORD, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb: "I am the LORD,
who makes all things, Who stretches out the heavens all alone, Who spreads
abroad the earth by Myself...
As we see from these passages of scripture,
even though life comes as a result of a man and a woman coming together in
sexual unity, we are fearfully and wonderfully made by our Creator, God of the
Universe. As a result we should praise
and honor Him for the wonderful work He does in creating us. We should be eternally grateful.
The
Beginning of Life in the Womb.
There has been much discussion and debate as
to when life really begins, but David makes it clear that his life as well as
ours began in the womb, because God is the God of the living.
Psalms 22:10 I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother's womb
You have been My God.
· The 20th Day after conception.
In the watery world of the womb, the
developing child is a complex, dynamic and rapidly growing individual. By the 20th day the foundations of the brain,
spinal cord, and entire nervous system have been established. The heart begins to beat in irregular
patterns by 21 days and in smooth rhythmic contractions a week later.
· The end of the first month – through the 8th
week.
By the end of the first month, the child will
have grown ten thousand times his or her original size, and by birth the
child's weight will have increased six billion times. Lines in the hands and fingerprints begin to
be etched by the 8th week, and these will remain a distinctive feature of the
individual throughout his or her life.
· After eight weeks.
After eight weeks, the child bears all the
external features and internal organs of a full-term baby. From now until fully grown, generally around
25 years of age, the body will change mainly in terms of size and gradual
refinements.
· The third month.
In the third month, the child becomes very
active. If the womb had windows we would
see graceful and fluid motions as the child sleeps and wakes, makes fists,
sucks his thumb, fans her toes, and seeks positions of comfort. During the remaining months in the womb, the
child continues to develop activities, and even to learn, in preparation for
the day of birth.
· The most dangerous stage.
You would think that in this state of life
the child would be relatively safe, but this is one of the most dangerous
battles for life that this person will ever face. It's ironic that in the child's most innocent
stage of life there is a fierce battle raging for the life of this tiny unborn
infant.
Psalms 10:8 He sits in the
lurking places of the villages; In the secret places he murders the innocent;
His eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless.
Satan has been trying to destroy God's
creative beings since the beginning of time, when he first tried to destroy
Adam & Eve, God's first created beings.
He is a destroyer and a killer.
His lust for blood and revenge has continued throughout the ages to the
degree that he has been successful in the slaughtering of millions and millions
of unborn babies, who are in the secret place of their mother's womb fixed in a
helpless condition against the forces of evil.
Abortion Is A Ploy Of Satan To Thwart God's Plan.
Satan attacks and destroys God's creative
works with any weapon he can conceive.
He has now been successful at using our own laws of the land as an
effective weapon of destruction. He has
infiltrated our society, feeding on the selfishness and greed of man to
legalize his pattern of destruction and killing; convincing us that the killing
of unborn children is a woman's choice.
· Those of us who stand against this tide of violence and
killing are considered politically incorrect.
We have truly fallen prey to the times that
God warned us about when "evil is called good and good is called
evil."
· What does God’s Word say about the killing of unborn
children?
Does a woman or a man have a right before God
to make this critical choice concerning someone God has created?
Deuteronomy 32:39`Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God
besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; nor is there any who
can deliver from My hand.
· Only God has the right to bring the innocent home to
Himself.
Only God has the right to open or close wombs,
but man has taken matters into his own hands.
Mothers with their selfish excuses and doctors with their sharp
instruments are playing God!
Exodus 23:7 "Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill
the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked.
Exodus 21:22-23 "If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that
she gives birth prematurely, yet no lasting harm follows, he shall surely be
punished accordingly as the woman's husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as
the judges determine. "But if any lasting harm follows, then you shall
give life for life..."
· If abortion happens unintentionally through unnecessary
roughness it is wrong – how much more so when it happens willfully.
Listen to the heart cry of one of God's
precious unborn children in this poem:
My shining feet will never run on early
morning lawn; my feet were crushed before they had a chance to greet the
dawn. My fingers now will never stretch
to touch the winning tape; my race was done before I learned the smallest steps
to take. My growing height will never
be recorded on the wall; my growth was stopped when I was still unseen, and
very small. My lips and tongue will
never taste the good fruits of the earth; for I myself was judged to be a fruit
of little worth. My eyes will never scan
the sky for my high‑flying kite; for when still blind, destroyed were they in
the black womb of night. I'll never
stand upon a hill Spring's winds in my hair; aborted winds of thought closed in
on Motherhood's despair. I'll never walk
the shores of life or know the tides of time; for I was coming but unloved, and
that my only crime. Nameless am I, a
grain of sand, one of the countless dead; but the deed that made me ashen grey
floats on seas of red. (Fay Clayton, Christian Crusade Weekly, Jan. 18, 1976)
· What should be the battle plan against the slaughter of
unborn children?
Proverbs 24:11-12 Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back
those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, "Surely we did not know
this," does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? he who keeps your
soul, does He not know it? and will He not render to each man according to his
deeds?
· We can take a stand
for truth and speak with conviction what our convictions are to friends,
letters to editors etc.
· We can pray fervently
in this area, wrestling against the rulers of darkness and the spiritual hosts
of wickedness in the heavenly realms.
· We can picket
abortion clinics peaceably.
· We should not be
involved in any kind of violent act against abortion clinics or doctors who
perform abortions. Vengeance belongs to
the Lord only!
· We can offer all the
help and support we can to insure mothers to carry their child to full term.
· We can work with
pro-life candidates, helping them to get elected into office. I do not believe we can legislate morality,
but it's a shame to live in a country that has legislated murder.
· We must continue to
spread the life changing gospel – that's when lives are really changed.
· Melody Green writes,
"Abortion is not an issue that you can remain "neutral" on. You are either for it or against it. What would you do if you were walking down
the street, and looking up, you saw a woman about to throw her three-month-old
baby out the window? Would you turn and
walk away saying, `Well, I wouldn't do that, but I won't interfere. It's her decision – that baby's probably
messing up her life anyway.'"
The
Battle For Life After Birth.
The battle for man's soul begins in the womb
and continues from birth; throughout his life.
As soon as a person is born the sparks begin to fly.
According to the passage of scripture in
Psalms 139, God already has our lives mapped out with a plan that will bring us
into the fullness of life and His sovereign will for each of our lives. But Satan will be there every step of the way
to lead try and lead us in his destructive paths rather than the Divine design
for our lives.
Satan Tried To Destroy Jesus After His Birth.
Matthew 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise
men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male
children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and
under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.
Satan shows his total disregard for life when
he influenced Herod to have all the male children in Bethlehem and its
districts, who were born around the time of Jesus to be put to death. He tried to destroy the giver of eternal
life, the only one who has the power to save our souls from eternal
corruption. Jesus came to give us life
abundant, but Satan came to kill, destroy and steal.
John 10:10 "The thief does not come except to steal, and to
kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may
have it more abundantly.
As parents, God sets you as guardians over
your children to watch out and protect them, just as Joseph and Mary did for
Jesus. They escaped from the hand of the
enemy into Egypt.
The
Gift of Life Throughout Life.
As I shared earlier in the message, God has a
Divine design for our lives that brings us into a greater dimension of the gift
of life that we have through Jesus Christ.
But it takes making the right choices to avoid the pitfalls and the
snares of the enemy.
· The first step.
The first step is that of receiving Jesus
Christ, the Author and Finisher of our faith into our lives. We must be born again of the Spirit to
experience the Divine design of God for our lives. Satan will do everything He can to keep us
blinded from the truth.
· The second step.
The second thing we must do, is to continue
to walk in obedience to God, His Spirit and His Word. We must lose our lives in order to truly find
the life that God has given to us. It is
through obedience that we are continually rescued from the snares of the enemy.
Matthew 10:39 "He who finds his life will lose it, and he who
loses his life for My sake will find it.
The battle for your life will continue right
on through to the end of your life here on earth. The apostle Paul referred to it as the good
fight of faith.
2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race,
I have kept the faith.
As we have seen, our lives have been
fearfully and wonderfully made by our creator.
Just as an artist would be deeply upset if someone were to come along and
destroy the masterpiece he or she was painting before it’s completion, this is
exactly what is happening with abortion.
God is in our midst of creating beautiful masterpieces
out of all of our lives and those who are still in the womb. The abortionists are on the rampage seeking
to destroy all that God is creating before the final brushstroke is made.
Let us pray fervently and labor fervently
with our creator to do away with this injustice.
The San Antonio City Council has proposed an update to its non-discrimination policy which would ban anyone from serving on the city council if they have ever "demonstrated a bias."
Pastor Charles Flowers of Faith Outreach International says the outrageous proposal could effectively ban Christians who believe homosexuality is wrong and have expressed that belief publicly.(Photo: Pastor Flowers/Flickr)
