A Poem

This is a poem my mother kept in her Bible:


God broke our years into hours and days,
That hour by hour, and day by day,
Just going on a little way,...
We might be able, all along
To keep quite strong.

Should all the weight of life be laid
Across our shoulders at just one place,
And the future, rife with woe and struggle,
Meet us face to face:
We could not go;
Our feet would stop, and so
God lays a little on us every day.


And never, I believe, in all life's way,
Will burdens bear so deep,
Or pathways lie so steep,
But we can go, if, by God's power,
We only bear the burden of the hour.

True Freedom

"Freedom" that is not rooted in God's moral law produces a bondage to sin and self. Those who believe in such a "freedom" will do everything they can to oppress and vilify those who believe in true freedom--a freedom that always acts within the bounds of God's righteous commands. Only the truth can set a man truly free. "Sanctify them in the truth; Thy Word is Truth." "I am the way, the truth, and the life."

Self-made Religion

In Him:
The power of the flesh has been broken.
Your old life has been put to death, and you have been indwelt by the Spirit in all His power.
You have been made spiritually alive.
All your transgressions have been forgiven....
He has nailed your sin debt to His cross--paid in full.
He has defeated the enemy--we are victorious through Him.

How should we respond to such love and power and grace? Don't be enslaved by a series of man-made rules foisted on you as a measurement for spirituality--as a way to please Him. They make you a victim of a deceit that will make it impossible for you to please Him, impossible for you to grow spiritually. Such things are idolatry--self-worship, a destructive fallacy of self-made religion. It grieves the Spirit of God who lives within you as the only Power that can transform you into His image. God gives growth. God alone. Don't live as an orphan but as a child.

Drops in a Bucket

Drops in a bucket. That's what our God calls the nations of this world.

"All the nations are as nothing before Him, they are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless."


They can rattle their sabers, boast, and scheme all they want. "He who sits enthroned in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them."
...

"But the word of our God stands forever."


"The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want."


"Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs, and carry them in His bosom"


Fear not. Rest in your Shepherd's arms. He is the God of omnipotent strength and omnipotent love.


 "What is man that I should fear him?

Pray

Prayers needed for a beautiful little five-month old boy--Judah Walton. He will be having heart surgery tomorrow. Pray for the surgeons. I can't imagine the level of expertise, knowledge, and confidence it takes to operate on the tiniest of hearts. I also know that all that expetise and knowledge needs God's hands to bless and guide those surgeon's hands.
And pray for mom and dad--Amy and Joel. The emotions they are dealing with some of us know and all of us can imagine ...in some small way. But remember the promise: "Be anxious for nothing, but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses human understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Pray that God will be their strong tower, will garrison their hearts with His presence and His incomprehensible peace.
And remember to pray that most difficult of prayers, the prayer of trust and submission to His love and wisdom. "Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."
Pray for the surgeons. Innundate the throne room of grace and mercy with the names Judah, Amy, and Joel. He knows exactly who they are.

Please pray.

To Know Him

The nation of Israel claimed that they "knew" God--right up until the time they were destroyed by the Assyrians and scattered among the nations. (A fitting judgment since they wanted to be just like all the nations.) God, however, kept telling them that they didn't know Him at all--even that they had forgotten Him. God's explanation was simple: "If you actually knew Me, you would be doing good--obeying my commandments, living righteously, helping the poor and oppressed, t...earing down your idols, worshiping Me from your heart, not just performing the rituals. So many today claim to know Him, but their lives say they are deceived. To know Him is to love Him and to love Him is to live lives of obedience to His Word. The Israelites didn't know Him at all. Their lives showed them to be liars. And is there any lie more dangerous than self-deception?

Uh-oh

"Beloved, let us love one another--except, of course, for those arrogant, obnoxious Christians who irritate me to death every time they open their mouths. What it doesn't say that? Hm. Oh.


"Beloved, let us love one another--except, of course, for those Christians from other denominations--or from one of those non-denominational things. Not that either? Hm. Oh.


"Beloved, let us love one another--except, of course, those who have different political stands than I do, vote ...for the wrong candidates, and . . . Huh? It doesn't say that either! Hm. Oh.

"Beloved, let us love one another--except for those Christians who disagree with me on music, baptism, what Bible to use, and, oh yeah, eschatology. Come on. Not even that?!!


Well, then, what does it say?


"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love."


Hm. Uh-oh.

Poisoned

A Poisoned Culture--and the poison is self-administered:


Believes that their prosperity is self-made. The "richer" they become, the more they worship their riches.
Have no respect for those in authority.
Are Covenant breakers--their word is worthless....
Cherish warped priorities--material more important than the spiritual.
Glory in their shame.
Would rather die than live a life of obedience to God

These are not occasional bad choices that they make; it's a lifestyle.


What can we do? Sow rigtheousness. Sow loyalty. Sow kindness. Sow justice. Only God's harvest can suppress the poison weeds.

Reflections for September 2017

A nation's prosperity--materially or even militarily--is not evidence that that nation is being faithful to God. It's easy to tell. When the nation gives credit to themselves for their prosperity--worships their wealth and their might instead of giving thanks to God who gave them both, they are idolatrous. And that god can't help them when the crisis comes. And it will.
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If we didn't love the people who did stupid things and disappointed us at times, we wouldn't have anyone we could love.


And, certainly, there would be no one to love us.
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Creation's groaning has as its source the sin of man.  Still.
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God's discipline is undeniable evidence that He is eagerly waiting to draw us back into His embrace.  Discipline and restoration are synonyms in God's dictionary.
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Sometimes God lets us discipline ourselves.  It's called reaping and sowing.  Why do we blame God for the harvest when we arrogantly planted the seeds?
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God wants a Husband-Wife relationship with His people--not a Master-Slave relationship.  Love obeys. Duty grows weary.  And quits.
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God can turn The Valley of Sorrow into the Door of Hope.
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We serve the Living God--not a living God, the Living God. Eternal. Everlasting. Able to comfort, help, love, touch our lives with a sense of His presence. To be separated from Him--to have to relationship with Him--is to be dead. To have no life. To be the real walking dead. "We serve a living Savior, He's in the world today. I know that He is living." "Because He lives, we will live also." Eternally.
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Wanderers:  "The way of the cross leads Home."
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One of the reasons "old" saints have such joy is that they are amazed how deeply He must love them to have put up with them for so long.  Oh, and they have discovered through The University of Time that Jesus never fails.
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At one point in history Babylon was the greatest power in the world.  Invincible.  They magnified themselves above God.  He took them down in one day.  One day.
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Renewal comes in the quiet times with Him. "Weary in well doing"? Go into His presence--alone. Let the sureness of His presence and the whispers of His love revive your strength. In the quietness, He speaks the "loudest" to your heart and soul.
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Effective prayer begins and ends with praise for your Father's love, wisdom, and power.  Only He can answer your prayers.  And He only does good--with every answer.
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No one can be filled with--under the control of--the Spirit who has not filled his heart and mind with His Sword--the Word of God.  And it must be done day by day.
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Jesus loves me this I know.