Good Morning,
This week we begin to see that Habakkuk's question of how long will this tribulation take place begin to be answered. In Habakkuk 2: 6-8 we read:" Will not all them taunt him with ridicule and scorn by saying,`Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion. How long will this go on?`... Because you have plundered many nations they will plunder you, for you have shed man's blood..." We see here very vividly that the Lord tells Habakkuk that the very people that the Babylonians have destroyed, killed and plundered all they had, will also be the same people who will reap revenge upon them. Isn't it fitting that those who have caused them to suffer will rise up some day and destroy this empire. Often we look at the world and say:" How long Lord can this sin and rebellion go on"? The answer is the Lord knows exactly how long and we need to trust Him so that we can have peace in this life. Where we find our answer to this question is in the book of revelation where we see the Lord returning to the earth with all His saints, that is you and me, to see those same people that rebelled be destroyed by the Word of the Lord. The Lord knows our struggles and heartaches and wants us to place our trust in Him so that He can even now give us peace. Let us always remember that He is on the Throne.

Blessings on You,

Good Morning,
We continue to see today how the Lord answers Habakkuk's request about how long Israel will suffer. In Habakkuk 2; 9-11 we read :" Woe to you who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the church's ruin You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life..." We see in these versus the way that the Chaldeans gained their wealth. They would destroy the city, kill the people and take all their wealth. They would become rich at the expense of others. Their would be nothing left of the cities and many families would be completely destroyed. Today we may not have this type of mass murder to get rich in this country, but we do see many people destroy the reputations or companies of others to be sure they have great wealth. Oftentimes we who are struggling look at this and cry out the same way. Habakkuk is telling us that no matter how rich and powerful people may seem to us on earth, the Lord has the last word. Our day of riches untold in Christ is coming, so let's not fret if the wealth that we see others have is not our own. In a small town in England the Mayor who is elected is weighed when he takes office. After his term is up he is weighed again to see if he got fat at the peoples expense. Yes, many people do get fat at others expense, but God will judge all.
Blessings on you,

Good Morning,
We continue to see today how the Lord answers Habakkuk's request about how long Israel will suffer. In Habakkuk 2; 9-11 we read :" Woe to you who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the church's ruin. You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life..." We see in these versus the way that the Chaldeans gained their wealth. They would destroy the city, kill the people and take all their wealth. They would become rich at the expense of others. There would be nothing left of the cities and many families would be completely destroyed. Today we may not have this type of mass murder to get rich in this country, but we do see many people destroy the reputations or companies of others to be sure they have great wealth. Oftentimes we who are struggling look at this and cry out the same way. Habakkuk is telling us that no matter how rich and powerful people may seem to us on earth, the Lord has the last word. Our day of riches untold in Christ is coming, so let's not fret if the wealth that we see others have is not our own. In a small town in England the Mayor who is elected is weighed when he takes office. After his term is up he is weighed again to see if he got fat at the peoples expense. Yes, many people do get fat at others expense, but God will judge all.
Blessings on you,

Good Morning,
We now come to the fourth woe to the nation who has persecuted the people of God. In versus 15-17 we read: " Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring from the wineskin till they are drunk, so they can gaze on there naked bodies... The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will terrify you. For you have shed man's blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them." As the answer to Habakkuk's question of how long the Lord will let this go on; the Lord continues to show him how violent His judgement will be. Here he is judging them for their base and degrading treatment of these nations. The immorality and murder of not only humans, but animals was terrible in the sight of God. The Chaldeans would have the nations of God do things that were degrading to humanity and to the creation the Lord brought into existence. We see very clearly that the very things they inflicted on the people of God will be inflicted on them even worse. When we again look at our nation we see much of the same sins that were in Habakkuk's time. The internet has all kinds of base and immoral material available to anyone, and this affects their minds and hearts till they must not only look at it but experience it. We need to know that just like in Habakkuk's time the Lord will judge this type of rebellion and when He does many will suffer beyond anything they could imagine. We must do all we can not to be swallowed up in all this sin and remain pure of heart. Remember to put on the full armor of God and He will protect us.
Blessings on you,

Good Morning,
Hanukkah now makes a statement that is so applicable today as we look at our world. In verse 18 we read: " Of what value is an idol since man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak." The Lord is trying to let Hanukkah know that all the so called gods that the Chaldeans have are all made by man. They cannot speak and since man made them they will only tell them what they want them to. They themselves are really the idols and gods that teach the people. In contrast you have a God who created all that is far above anything in the world. More than that He is alive and can direct your life. In Romans chapter one the same thing is said by Paul when he says: " They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the creator..." A missionary came home and put his curios out on a table for missionary conference. They consisted of watches, rings,money, gold and all kinds of trinkets. The people were expecting to see all kinds of native artifacts and were surprised. He said these are the things the people I minister to worship. I wonder if we look at our world and specifically our country and own lives, are these the same thongs that sometimes we worship. Has or possessions become more important to us than our Lord God. I trust that we will always remember that the Lord created and gave us all we have and we should always worship and thank Him " the author and finisher of our faith".
Blessings on you,

Good Morning,

We now come to the final woe of the Lord to the Chaldeans. In Habakkuk 2: 19-21 we read: " Woe to him who says to wood `Come to life!.' Or to a lifeless stone Wake up! Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; their is no breath in it. But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him." Here we see the Lord trying to impress upon Habakkuk that there is a huge difference between the gods of the Chaldeans and his God. Their god He says is nothing but wood or stone covered with gold and silver. They cannot speak, give wisdom or even hear what they are saying. We see the same thing in the world today. Many choose to worship gods such as money, power, sports or any other thing that really has no life. They feel the more they have of this the happier they will be. However, we see these same people looking for something real and substantial in their lives. Habakkuk is told that his and our God is different. He can hear, answer, lead and empower us to a new life. He says we are to be silent before Him and let Him speak. It is like going to the jewelry store and buying a gold necklace. You can buy one that is plated and it looks real, but soon the plating wears off and the real metal is shown. However, when you buy the real thing it will always look like gold. Let's not settle for any other God except the true one and worship Him.
Blessings on You,

Good Morning,

It is good to be back with you and I want to express my appreciation to all of you for your prayers during this time. The fingers are doing well and I trust I will not have another accident.

As a review Habakkuk is still trying to wonder why the heathen is prospering when they worship other gods. He allow Habakkuk to get these questions out then in versus nineteen and twenty the Lord answers him by saying: " Woe to him who says to wood, Come to life! Or to lifeless stone, Wake up! Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it. But the Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him." Here we see very clearly that the gods of the heathen have no power, but are really stone and wood covered in gold. Even though they give them power and personality they have none. People can make all kinds of claims but that doesn't necessarily make them true. Today we have all kinds of people proclaiming they either have absolute power or some object they posses does. This doesn't make it true. Of all the religions in the past, present and future there is only one which serves a living Savior and that is Christianity. All other gods ar objects of power are dead or inanimate. The Lord tells Habakkuk that He is in His temple and that when we approach Him be silent and know that He is God. In the midst of all the belief systems in the world let us hold our ground and know that Our God is the true God and He is in control of all things.

Please pray for our community and that the Lord will give us a burden for it.

Blessings on you,

Good Morning,
Habakkuk now switches to lifting a different kind of prayer to the Lord. After complaining for the first two chapters of how unfair it is to allow them to suffer, the Lord's promises become more aware to him. In the first three versus we read: " Lord I have heard your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in or day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Peran." Habakkuk begins to concentrate on who God is and all that He has done in the past. It is so easy to get caught up in the everyday activities of the world and almost get to the point to where we forget about who God really is. When Habakkuk complained all he could do was see the injustice to him and his people, but when he began to concentrate on who The Lord really is then he saw the many blessings He had bestowed upon them. His entire way of looking at situations changed, because now he saw The Lord as greater than his problems. Let's never fall into the same trap as he did and remember that he is able to greater things than we can ever imagine. Nothing in this world is to large for the Lord to intervene in and give us peace of mind.
Blessings on you,
Pastor Hengle

Habakkuk 3:3b-7
Good Morning,
As Habakkuuk continues his journey in trusting God, He continues to praise The Lord for His omnipotence. In vs 4b-7 he prays: " rays flashed from His hand, where His power was hidden... He stood and shook the earth; He looked and made the nations tremble... I saw the tents of Cushan in distress; the dwellings of Midian in anguish." Habakkuk is trying to come with the age old question of just because things don't go my way is God still at work. As he looks back at all the Lord has done He begins to realize the almighty power that is the Lords'. He knows the lightning and thunder come from Him, the earth shakes and nations crumble because of only Him. When he ponders these things, then it is easier to understand that even though the world and his enemies are surrounding the Israelites, God is still at work. He and He alone is in control and no one or anything can change that. All of us have things that happen and we don't understand why this may be happening. We can give a hundred reasons as to why the Lord should reconsider. However, what we must do is begin to ponder the greatness of God like Job finally did and the same result will happen. We will look at the greatness of God and realize He is in control, and in His time He will reveal all the answers to our questions. Faith and trust in God is easy when things go the way we want, true faith trusts God when they don't go our way. Remember we are His children and He will always take care of us.

Blessings on you,

Habakkuk 3:8-13
Good Morning,

As Habakkuk continues to pray to The Lord, he asks a few questions of God then begins to proclaim once again how powerful Our Lord is. I will not write down all these verses, but here are some that will allow you to see his description of God. Verses seven through fourteen states: " Were you angry with the rivers O Lord? Was your wrath against the streams?... You split the earth; the mountains saw you and wreathed... Sun and moon stood still in the heavens at the glint of Your flying arrows, at the lightning of your flashing spear... You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one..." Habakkuk once again is reassuring himself and the people of Israel that The Lord is in control of the entire earth. He begins in this section of proclaiming through a series of questions that God is indeed in control of all nature and will use whatever means to protect Israel and His annoited one the King who follows the lineage of David. The Israelites continue to worry that the Chaldeans will destroy them and their king, however Habakkuk reassures them that God is in control and will sustain them until victory is theirs. It is the same today in every way. We will have battles in our life, but just as The Lord protected them He will sustain us and protect us. We need to rely on The Lord's strength and not our own. Then and only then will our confidence soar over all obstacles. May we have this confidence always.

Blessings on You,