The Day of Death Better than the Day of One's Birth....

A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth. --Ecclesiastes 7:1

I have been thinking about the second part of this verse a lot over the past two days.  Kinda morbid, I know...  I am, however, glad I did.  I loved the truth of the perspective it brought me. Most of us have family who rejoiced over our birth and will have friends and family who will grieve when we leave this world.  From a worldy perspective then, funerals are sad and "birth" days are to be celebrated.

Through the lens of belief, however, things look quite different.  In reality the day of our birth brings us into a world filled with sin, trouble, futility, and uncertainty; while the day of our death brings a permanent end to all our struggles in the flesh and an eternity with Christ.  No longer do we strive against sin but can now rest eternally in the arms of our heavenly Father.  Through death we enter into His presence...into the joy of our Lord. A believer in Jesus dies with assurance and certainty of his destination.  Absent from the body is present with the Lord. We awake in His likeness.  Truly our exit from this world then is a greater kindness than our entering it...the day of our death is preferable to the day of our birth.

As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.--Psalm 17:5

For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.--2 Corinthians 5:1

So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.  For we walk by faith, not by sight.  We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.--2 Corinthians 5:6-8

 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.  But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell.  For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.--Philippians 1:21-23


Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”--Revelation 14:13

Who Makes You Differ from Another?

For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?--1 Corinthians 4:7

To My Precious Daughters:

Beloved, ask God to implant these words deeply in your heart!  Pride is such deception!  It is of all sins the most ridiculous and foolish. The Bible makes it pretty clear that man is but a breath...a flower that fades and grass that withers. How arrogant we are as human beings to think we are anything!!  We are the work of His hands.  We are the thing formed...not the One who did the forming!  Spurgeon calls us "animated dust."  All we possess comes from the hand of our God...all our gifts are from Him...we cannot glory in them as our own without wronging God.  We owe all to the exceeding riches of His kindness to us in Christ.  As Matthew Henry says "boasting is forever excluded."  

In reality, if we had a proper view, all of who we are would be a reason for humility, NOT pride. A poor man or a beggar glories in those who help and support him.  He does not glory in himself because that would be glorying in his very helpless estate.  In and of ourselves each of us is a beggar...helpless and destined for destruction.  It is only in Christ that we are even made alive!  Without Him we are dead men walking.  He is our all in all.  The more we have received from His hand the more we are in His debt!  Put off pride and put on humility.  By pride and selfish ambition comes nothing but strife, but by humility comes riches, honor and life. God, the high and lofty One...the One who inhabits eternity... dwells with the humble but the proud He knows from afar.  It is Him who formed us, it is Him who works in us...it is Him who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began!  

Beloved, do not envy the gifts and the calling your brother or your sister may have received from  God...do not compare one with another. John 3:27 tells us that a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.  Each one of us are used by God for His purposes and have been made and molded with exactly those purposes in mind.  Enjoy the rest that brings. Revel in how fearfully and wonderfully you are made. Walk in the works He has prepared beforehand for you.  Rejoice in how all that comes into your life is not only for your good but His glory.  Surrender all and trust Him to do His work in your heart.  There is NOTHING that we have that we can boast or glory in except our God.  He must increase, and we must decrease!  

Your Conscience...Your Friend

Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,  from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk,  desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.--1 Timothy 1:6-7

To My Beloved Daughters,

Our conscience is a gift from God.  Our guilt is a good indicator to us that we have somehow offended it or distressed it in some way.  I have read that the Puritans called the conscience "the spy within our bosom."  I really like that.  The conscience, if you think about it, really does stand kind of separate from us and speaks to our hearts from a position of authority.  Ignoring it is NOT a good idea.  Your conscience is your friend...it is your ally in your battle against sin. Our conscience and God's truth work together to set us free from the prisons of sin and guilt.  As we surrender to its promptings and allow His word to do its work and root, James says it acts like a mirror. It reflects our heart to us and transforms us as we surrender to what the Spirit of God shows us.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.--2nd Corinthians 3:18 

Hebrews tells us that the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  

God, by the blood of Christ has cleansed our conscience to serve Him.  We can and should walk blamelessly before Him.  As you read and study His word ask  God to make your conscience tender...to show you those things that He wants you to see.  Ask Him to search your heart and show you any fear, any anxiety or any sin and lead you in the way everlasting.  Confess your sin immediately and ask His forgiveness...don't put it off.  Guilt festers...your conscience will not clear itself but will become loaded down, defiled, and burdened.  Unexamined actions and unresolved conflicts and issues will spill over into other areas of your life and not in a good way.   After a while you will not even know why you do the things you do or the what or why of what you are feeling.  Your load will become heavier and heavier..your mind will darken and anxiety and depression will set in.  Listen to your conscience as soon as it speaks and do not go against it.  Do not allow it to become defiled, seared or hardened by ignoring it...bring those things it shows you before God immediately in prayer.  When we confess our sin 1 John says, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  He died for us when we were yet His enemies.  How much more can we count on Him as His child.  He has given us all things necessary for life and godliness and blessed us with ALL spiritual blessings in the heavenly places.  He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all how shall He not also freely give us all things?  Jesus Christ, the Righteous, is our Advocate. He is not unconcerned or forgetful but lives to make intercession for us.  

Beloved, nothing can separate us from His love...turn your heart upside down before Him and allow Him to cleanse your conscience and heal your soul.  

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It isChrist who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Christ in Our Relationships...

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.--Hebrews 10:24

To My Beloved Daughters

When we live our lives for Christ this happens naturally...no striving needed.  Our submission to His Spirit grows His glory in our relationships with others.  All our earthly relationships have His magnificent and glorious purpose.  We are all fallen sinners in need of His grace.  His goal is to conform us into the image of His Son and He promises that He will be faithful to complete the good work that He starts in us.  See the people God has placed in your life on the basis of the person and work of Jesus Christ.  The way we behave in our relationships with others says much about what we believe about God.  Our words and actions will follow what our heart believes.  Warren Wiersbe puts this in very practical terms.  If a person is a Christian, we can accept Him because Christ lives in Him.  If a person is a non-believer, we can accept Him because Christ died for Him.  Beloved, let Christ be the link between you and your relationships with others.  He gives each of us as believers the privilege to share in His redemptive work.  Love those God has placed in your lives with His love, pray for them fervently, and speak the truth to them in love so that they may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ.   Allow even the circumstances that God permits in your life that crush you and wear you down to shine His light...look to Him in all of it and be radiant.

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;  bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.  And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.--Colossians 3:12-17

WHAT IF...BY BILL

What if Hell were real?

For one thing, all we would know about it authoritatively would be from the Bible.

In turn, that would lend credence to the premise that Heaven was real, as well, since the same Bible is also the authoritative source of information for that, too.

Further, if both Hell and Heaven were real places, as counterintuitive and preposterous as that would seem from a naturalistic worldly viewpoint, then all of the Bible is best taken seriously, since Heaven and Hell are the central themes of redemption, and redemption is the overarching theme of all of Scripture. Simply put, it details how to avoid the one, and attain the other.

So far, so good, yeah?

Here comes the disturbing part - as unimaginably good as Heaven is revealed to be, Hell is equivalently unimaginably bad. It is, in fact, the epitome of bad. There can be no conceivably worse fate than being imprisoned forever in Hell.

But what does that mean?

From what we are told, human beings are immortal. Conscious, and eventually tactile, existence endures after death without end. There is sensation. There is awareness with no cessation. There is no need or ability to sleep or become unconscious. For in Heaven there would be no desire for such, and in Hell, the un-requitable longing for those very things would be unendingly beyond reach or hope of attainment.

In either Heaven or Hell, you are inescapably alive and acutely sensate. In Heaven, these are blessings beyond measure. In Hell, unendurable torments - but endure them you must, for there is no escape, no hope of respite, no hope of relief. 

This is almost impossible to picture. All we experience here on earth, no matter how prolonged, comes with the prospect of an end. Sometimes the end is brought about by the simple passage of time, or by exhaustion leading to fitful sleep, or some other form of unconsciousness. Eventually, even the thought of death brings some hope.

But in Hell, the only prospect is more of the same unending torment.

Hard to really imagine, I know. But if Hell is real, then what I've attempted to describe is real, no matter how unthinkable.

Now here is the truly nightmarish stuff, so be forewarned.

Imagine, if you will, being trapped in an enclosed space, just large enough to accommodate your body laying flat on your back. There is nothing but solid blackness around you and hard, impenetrable surfaces surrounding you. 

You are isolated to the point of feeling as if you are the only being in existence. You can't move, not even to turn over, or bend your knees. You are physically capable of movement, but there is no space to make it possible.

There is absolutely nothing to distract you from your inescapable circumstances. You are alive, excruciatingly awake and aware, and entrapped forever. 

You can think and emote and have perfect recall of all of the opportunities you rejected that were presented to you to avoid this fate by simply accepting the gift that Jesus offers. You have no choice but to experience all of the "if only" regrets and unbearable remorse in raw, soul destroying intensity. Forever.

Would that be mental, emotional and physical torment sufficient enough to be described as immersed in an everlasting "lake of fire"? Or as being endlessly consumed by a "worm that never dies"? Or abiding forever in "outer darkness"?

If Hell were real, it would be like this… or worse.

Now, you can choose to discount or ignore these pictures, and live your scant few years on this planet striving to deny what will be ultimately undeniable.

Or you can accept the gift of redemption offered through the death of God's Son on the Cross, believing that He took upon Himself the payment for your sin.

What if Hell were real?

The only sane response would be abject terror and an unstoppable desire to go to the only Person who could save you, and to cling to Him with all that you are.

Jesus is available today. Today is the day of salvation.

Tomorrow may be too late, for one day, you will breathe your last.

Don't let that day come upon you without Him.

TRUSTING IN HIS UNFAILING LOVE...

He does not delight in the strength of the horse;
He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.
The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him,
In those who hope in His mercy.--Psalm 147:10-11


To My Beloved Daughters 


I so love this.  What an encouragement for us to place our trust in Him!  Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him and hope in His mercy.  Our soul waits for Him...He is our help and our shield. Our hearts will rejoice in Him because we have trusted in His holy name. 


Our God's eyes search to and fro over the entire earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal toward Him. He knows and sees our inward man.  When we give Him our hearts and place our trust in Him...we give Him the glory...we magnify His name on the earth. We can shout for joy and be glad because we favor His righteous cause...we can say continually, Let the Lord be magnified who takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.  We who know we are wretched, poor, miserable, blind and naked can magnify His name by clinging to Him!  Are you seeing His mercy and grace to us in this.  How kind and tenderhearted of our Father to make the one thing that we really need to do anyway because of our wretched estate, the thing that glorifies His name.  Oh, but how we resist our weakness and fraility!  How often do we say in our own pride and arrogance instead,  I am rich and in need of nothing.  

Beloved, the God who made heaven and earth is the God of the poor and needy...of the broken and contrite heart. He delights when we trust in Him...when we depend on His wisdom and His power and place all of our hope in Him. Consolation...and I love that word because it reminds me of the kind of comfort you give a crying child...IS IN HIM.  Blessed are we if the God of Jacob is our help and our hope!!

Temporary Diplomacy...by Anna

2 Corinthians 5:20 “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” ~ 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Every now and then, I find myself taking life too seriously. Stressing over this and that as if it’s deciding to halt the expansion of the universe instead of deciding what clothes to wear this particular morning. Wishing a day had gone better—because I seem to think I have a finite number of days, when I have a limitless eternity of blissful ones ahead. Upset because of lost time with loved ones (which is when I remind myself ‘forever’ sounds long enough to get caught up on pretty much any amount of time). It doesn’t have to be like that. I don’t have to fret over lost days or which clothes or anything else (although the halt of further universe-expansion might be a bump in the road). What’s eighty, ninety years max compared to—again—ETERNITY? The Millennial Kingdom will way dwarf that—and His Thousand-Year Reign on earth is only the tip of the iceberg! 

We are citizens of Heaven. We don’t belong here—not in this running-down, entropy-filled universe. We are ambassadors—of Christ—and our job is simply to save as many as we can from Hell before our brief stay here is over and we’re Recalled—back home! The only things that really matter here, then, is to do what we’ve been sent to do—everything else is fairly extraneous. There are, of course, things you need to do to survive—eat, drink, provide for your family—and there are pleasures here that, although mere shadows of Home, God has put here specially for His weary ambassadors, so we generally don’t get bored. But, caught up in these ‘extraneous’ things, we tend to forget (consciously, at least) that eating, drinking, sleeping, working, and playing—you know, having a life—is not your main job. We forget that life here is a stopover before true Life, a ‘night at a noisy inn’ (Spurgeon’s take) ‘before heading for home’. 

That means that, if you’re a believer, your life here on earth can be, well, hell on earth (pardon the redundancy), you could lose everything and everyone that you cared about—and, in the long run, it wouldn’t matter. It would count as less than a bad day—a bad hour, maybe—in joyful Infinity with your Lord.

I take life too seriously. I forget to take Life anywhere near seriously enough.

Dire Straits...

Matthew 8:26-27  And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, "Save us, Lord' we are perishing!  He said to them, Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?  Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm.  The men were amazed, and said, "What kind of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?  

The disciples turn to Christ here in desperate need...Save us, Lord, we are perishing!  There was nothing else to do and nothing else to try...they were at the end of whatever human means they could employ to save themselves.  Jesus was in the boat with them...they could see Him and had already seen so many of the mighty works He had done and yet it still was not enough to calm their fear...God knows our frames...He knows we are weak and frail...and so very fearful in our flesh.

When we are up against that proverbial wall or in the midst of that terrible storm with no where to go and no human means to help even we as believers will cry out...Lord, where are you..wake up...can't you see I need You...can't You see I am perishing???  Why are you asleep...I am perishing!!  Don't You care?  Fear always springs from a lack of faith.  Our trust in His perfect love is what is needed to quell those fears.

O Lord God of hosts,
Who is mighty like You, O Lord?
 Your faithfulness also surrounds You. You rule the raging of the sea;
When its waves rise, You still them--Psalm 89:8-9

God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;  Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling.--Psalm 46:1-3

Those who go down to the sea in ships,
Who do business on great waters, They see the works of the Lord,
 And His wonders in the deep. For He commands and raises the stormy wind,
Which lifts up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens,
They go down again to the depths;
Their soul melts because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man,
And are at their wits’ end. Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble,
 And He brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storm,
So that its waves are still.  Then they are glad because they are quiet;
 So He guides them to their desired haven.--Psalm 107:27-30

Our God will see us through each and every storm we will face in this life by His great power and wonderful love. Trusting in that reality, however, in our humanness is so hard!  Even when we see His unmistakable hand in our lives...even when He has done amazing things on our behalf we still struggle...we still doubt...we still fear. His love and compassion may be encompassing us and yet we still are fearing.  1 John 4:18 says this:

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

Fear involves torment...in Christ's love there is no torment.  Romans 8:1 tells us that "there is. therefore, now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." Beloved, there is no reason to fear...even if we perish.  He is our guide even unto death and to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord forever. He can take care and will take care of His children...He will see them through.

COMMITTING YOURSELF INTO HIS CARE...

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:

“Who committed no sin,
Nor was deceit found in His mouth”;

who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.--1 Peter 2:21-25

To My Beloved Daughters:

Read through that opening verse carefully.  It begins with "for to this you were called."  What is the "for to this?" The prior two verses answer this question. "For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God."

All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer for righteousness sake.  They will suffer because they do what is good. They will suffer because they name the name of Christ.  Beloved, do not be surprised when it comes but glorify God in this matter.  It is a token of His divine favor. You have been counted worthy to share in the sufferings of Christ and therefore will be counted worthy to share in His glory.  A servant is not above His master...in Matthew 10 Jesus tells His disciples that they will be hated on account of Him.  The path of righteousness is more often than not a path of unjust suffering.   Jesus, the Beloved of God, the perfect and sinless One, the One who was completely obedient and in the will of His Father in Heaven suffered for what??? for doing good. He suffered in order to bring us to glory. He who was perfectly sinless and perfectly righteous and perfectly obedient and perfectly in the will of God was rejected by His own people and His own family.  He was a Man of Sorrows...despised, misrepresented, mistreated, misunderstood, maligned, and hated by the very creatures that He not only created but had come to minister to and save by His death on the cross.  

Peter says we have been called to suffering and our example in this is Christ.  Jesus' path to glory was one of suffering for righteousness' sake.  His darkest moment on earth brought the greatest glory to God and the greatest good for us. 

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

So beloved, don't be surprised or shocked when it comes but in the midst of it look to Jesus...put your confidence in Him and His perfect righteousness.  Follow His example in that when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.   Jesus committed Himself into the care of His Father in Heaven.  His final words on the cross at Calvary were these:"Into Your hands I commit my Spirit." and having said that He breathed His last. 

No matter how much the world (or even your own family) may hate you, no matter how much you are misunderstood, maligned or mistreated, no matter how much they speak of your good as evil...YOU CAN KEEP HIS PEACE IN YOUR HEART.  He is the perfect judge.  He will fight your battles for you.  Commit yourself totally into His keeping and care.  Hold these verses close to your heart...commit them to memory.  Jesus suffered as if he was the worst of sinners and was crucified with criminals. "BUT GOD"...AND HERE IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE VERSES IN THE ENTIRE BIBLE:  "AND THE PLEASURE OF THE LORD SHALL PROSPER IN HIS HAND." In context it reads this way:

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
¹¹ He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.--Isaiah 53:10-11

Because Jesus willingly and totally submitted Himself to His Father in Heaven, the will (or the pleasure) of His Father prospered in His hand.  "He shall see His seed" (that's us) "He shall see the labor of His soul and be satisfied."  That is what I want...I want to "see" the labor of my soul and be satisfied!  Beloved, God will exalt you in due time.  Vindication will come...maybe not in this life but it will come.  Surrender to him as your faithful Creator and do not grow weary in doing good, His pleasure will prosper in your hands and in your life. Look to the reward...press on...keep your eyes on the goal...lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares and run with endurance the race that He has laid out for you. Look to Him the Author and Finisher of your faith who for the joy (us) that was set before Him endured the cross. 

Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,  that he no longer should live the rest of histime in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.--1 Peter 4:1-2

Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; ¹³ but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. ¹⁴ If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. ¹⁵ But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. ¹⁶ Yet if anyone suffersas a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.--1 Peter 4:12-16

Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.--1 Peter 4:19

Teach me Your way, O Lord,
And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.
Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries;
For false witnesses have risen against me,
And such as breathe out violence.
I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.

Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord! --Psalm 27:11-14

and be clothed with humility, for

“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.--1 Peter 5:5-6

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
    For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.--Matthew 5:10-12

OUR GOD IS POWERFUL AND HIS WORKS ARE WONDERFUL...

VBS starts today...Joshua 3 and 4....The River Stood Still is the Bible story for the day.  The verse is this one from Jeremiah:

‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.

I LOVE VBS because when you study the lessons you are forced to see them through the eyes of the children whom you will teach.  Here is what I saw...my God is big...my God is powerful.  My God does MIGHTY AND AWESOME things....AND HE HAS POWER OVER ALL.  MY JOB:  TO TRUST HIM. 

Chapters 3 and 4 of the book of Joshua were some convicting chapters of Scripture for me.  What a reminder of God's sovereign care and love for His people.  What a reminder to me who, like the Israelites, often needs memorial stones to remember the wonderful things God has done and still does in my life.  God wants us to set up these memorials.  He wants us to rejoice in Him always.  He wants us to do this not just for us either...but for the generation that will come after us.

He desires us to talk to our children about the marvelous things He has done in our lives.  He wants us to show them how the Lord blessed the teeny tiny steps of faith we took....He wants them also to know that when we took these teeny tiny steps of faith and got our feet wet in the waters of the Jordan...THE WATERS DID NOT overflow us AND that throughout it all OUR GOD WAS WITH US.  He wants them to know that it was not anything we did, but it was the Lord our God who did it all.  He was the One who performed all things for us and made all that concerned us perfect.

The Lord was with Joshua and He is with us. The Lord exalted Him in the sight of all in Israel and when we obey Him and wait on Him as Joshua did, He lifts us up.   I love that as their leader Joshua spoke words of faith to the people God had placed in his charge.  Read them now:

And Joshua said to the people, "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you."--Joshua 4:5

Wow...what a great thing for your kids to go to bed hearing.  Take a shower, brush your teeth ...tomorrow the Lord is going to do wonders among us.  Be ready for it...look for it!

Too often my kids hear me grumble and complain.  Too often they hear a lack of thankfulness in both my words and my attitude.  How much better if  I magnified my Lord.  How much better if my words and my actions matched always with what I claim to believe.  The faith of all those around me would be strengthened.  God wants lives committed completely and utterly to Him...He desires living sacrifices that glorify Him in both word and deed.  He wants us to dwell on those things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report...He wants us to meditate on the praiseworthy.

As a believer, I can thank God in all things.  In trials I can remember that He works all together for good and that His goodness and mercy follow me wherever He leads.  In good times I can remember that also.    I can sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to those around me always, because my past has been forgiven.  My present is in Him who I can go boldly before to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.  My future is secured in heaven.  Things may look pretty dark at times, but in reality, I am blessed in the heavenlies by a Father who holds all good things in His hand that is forever  stretched out in love toward me.

Each of us face an unknown future each and every day of our lives.  We need our God to direct our steps and open our way.  It is in Him that we live and move and have our being...encompassed in His love there is no fear.  Our old life is buried beneath the waters of the Jordan...I can walk newness of life in Him and by Him.  Praying that my kids today can look to my example and anticipate the wonderful things God can and will do in their lives also.

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God, the Father, through Him.--Colossians 3:17

A PLEA FOR THE UNBORN...

BY BILL LILLEY

According to recent estimates, 3500 unborn babies are slaughtered DAILY in the U.S. in a premeditated, legal, and culturally promoted act of CHOICE. 

If you are against this sanctioned barbarism and are female you are vilified as being against women's right. 

If you are male and have the gall to speak out in order to help protect the most helpless murder victims of our "enlightened and tolerant society", then you are likened to a Neanderthalic tyrant with hidden feelings of inadequacy purposely disguising your need to keep women subjugated.

Why these despicable ad hominem attacks? 

Because reason, morality, compassion, and decency are all on the anti-abortion side. The only thing abortion supporters have left is either ice-cold, counter-factual arguments about the unfeeling, non-personhood of babies in the womb, or vile schoolyard, name-calling attacks that impugn the motives and intelligence of their opponents.

Underneath all the spitting and screeching in favor of the right to abort, is a a monumental selfishness that tolerates not the slightest encroachment. The cry of "WE CARE ABOUT WOMEN" from these modern thinkers stops dead (literally) at the wall of the womb. 

In truth, girls in the womb, are the most unprotected victim class in this country. Female sex-selective abortion is not only a prevalent practice world-wide, but on the rise in the U.S.

And please, please, enough with the vapid arguments about the supposed suffering of "unwanted children". What's worse morally, living a life in whatever circumstances with a chance, at least, of betterment, or having that life summarily executed before it even has opportunity to emerge?

We protect more endangered species in this country than you can shake a stick at, but helpless babies in the womb? You are on your own.

My Eyes Are On You...

For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You."


Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's.  


You will not need to fight in this battle.  Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, 

Father,

Write these verses on my heart.  My help comes from You, the Maker of heaven and earth.  In You, my God, I place my trust.  You will not leave my soul destitute...You will keep me from the snares of the enemy.  You pluck my feet out of the net and keep me from falling.  My eyes are on You!  It is You who bring me out of my distresses, afflictions and pain...it is You who forgives all my sins.  You guard and preserve my soul and deliver me.  I will wait on You.

Let me look to You, Father, as the eyes of a servant look unto the hand of their master or as a maiden unto the hand of her mistress...my eyes will wait upon You until You have mercy upon me.

The battle is Yours.  I will not be afraid nor dismayed.  You will fight for me and I shall hold my peace!  With my enemies is the arm of the flesh but with me is the Lord my God who is great and terrible in battle.  You, O Lord,  will not fail me nor forsake me! Strengthen me, help me...uphold me with your right hand.  I am Yours.  You formed me and have redeemed me....You have called me Your name.  I am Your beloved and You are mine.  When I pass through the waters, You will be with me, and through the rivers,  they will not overflow me; and walk through the fire, it shall not burn me nor flame be kindled upon me.  I am precious in Your sight my God and my Redeemer!

Silencing the Critics by Doing Good...

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men—--1 Peter 2:15


To My Beloved Daughters in Him:


THIS. IS. A VERY INSTRUCTIVE VERSE.  This one has kept me from sin and wrong speaking more times than I can count.  Girls, our single greatest evangelistic tool is how we live our lives.  So often people will speak ignorantly and foolishly...they will judge wrongly.  A foolish man in the bible is one who is disobedient to the word of God...He is a non believer. He is willfully ignorant of God's truth, but attacks it anyway.  We are to silence them not by what we say  but by doing what is good and what is right.  We are to do as it says in verse 12 of this same chapter...We are to have our conduct honorable among the Gentiles so that when they speak against us as evil doers, they may, by our good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.


Wow...crush the critics not by words but by doing right. Give your enemies no foothold...walk blamelessly before your God in uprightness of heart. It secures you in His will and stops the mouths of the lying and the foolish.  Don't fret..it only gives them power and causes you harm.  Keep your upright course.  Let your light so shine before men that they will see your good works and glorify for your Father in Heaven.  


Here is something you probably already know...this is not easy.  It is not easy to have your good called evil...to have your words twisted and your deeds maligned.  No one likes to be hated without a cause but therein is the encouragement.  Our Jesus was despised and rejected...His words were twisted and His deeds maligned.  Look to Jesus then for your example.  See how he reacted...

For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:

“Who committed no sin,
Nor was deceit found in His mouth”;

who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Christ suffered that we might live.  Shine your light so others might live.  There are no true offenses against you...they are against God.  Your life is not about you..it is about glorifying Him in and through it all so that you can lead others to Christ.  The key verse for me from this section of 1 Peter 2 especially when going through this kind of trial is this one:


 "but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously" 


I am never to look to and desire the praises of men...I am to desire the praises of my God.  I am not to get entangled in foolish disputes in an attempt to clear my name. They take the focus off of God and place it on me...so instead of seeing Christ in me others just see me.  They keep the focus on earthly things rather than heavenly things and distract from the task at hand.  I am to commit myself then...all of me...to Him.  I am to surrender to what He has for me.  It is not my job to worry about my critics. It is His.  My job is to do good and keep my conduct honorable.  

These verses above from 1 Peter 2 and the ones below from Psalm 37 are gold to be treasured and obeyed.  As you follow your Lord's example, He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noon day and you will delight yourself in an abundance of peace.  

Trust in the Lord, and do good;
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass.
He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,
And your justice as the noonday.

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;
Do not fret—it only causes harm.

For evildoers shall be cut off;
But those who wait on the Lord,
They shall inherit the earth.
For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more;
Indeed, you will look carefully for his place,
But it shall be no more.
But the meek shall inherit the earth,

And shall delight themselves in abundance of peace                                         

THEREFORE...

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, --Ephesians 4:1


In Ephesians Chapters 1-3 the Apostle Paul speaks of the incredible blessings and privileges we have as children of God...as believers.  This is our "high" position in Christ.  As is Paul's custom he switches gears with a "therefore".  He is finished discussing doctrine and is now going on to duty.  Doctrine is the basis for duty...it is the why of our doing. Therefore...or because we have been given such great and precious privileges we are to desire out of love and affection for our God to walk just as He walked. 


I have not only been created by God but I have been bought with the price of the precious blood of His Son.  I am now a slave not to sin which leads to death and eternal separation from my God but to righteousness which leads to life and an eternity with my Father in Heaven.  Paul beseeches (begs) his brethren here to walk worthy of the calling with which they have been called.  John MacArthur says that we have a high calling that demands a low walk. I. LOVE. THAT.  Jesus was humble, meek, lowly, gentle, patient, forgiving and kind and He Himself is our peace.  In Him we are united in one body with others of like and precious faith.   Our lives should reflect the life and character of our Father!  No longer do we live for the praises of men but the praises of God!  Beloved, our salvation should look like something!  Because of all the kindness we have received in Christ Jesus we are to conform to our God's standards...we are to become like Him.  We are to walk worthy!


For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men—1 Peter 2:15


Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,--Philippians 1:27


Before we get into the qualities that Paul says characterize the worthy walk, let's remind ourselves of all we have been given in Christ. (All that comes before Paul's therefore)  In listing them I am going to be using the first person...as you read substitute yourself in the "I" position.  


Ephesians 1:4 I have been chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.
Ephesians 1:5  I have been predestined in love and adopted as His beloved daughter.
Ephesians 1:6  I am made to the praise of His glory and am accepted in my beloved Jesus! 
Ephesians 1:7  I have been provided with redemption and forgiveness.
Ephesians 1:8  I have been given the wisdom of my God!
Ephesians 1:9  He has made known to me, the mystery of His will.
Ephesians 1:10-11  I have an inheritance that He planned for me from before the foundation of the world. 
Ephesians 1:13  I have been given His Holy Spirit who dwells in me!  I have been sealed with His Spirit who is the guarantee of my inheritance.


and that was just chapter 1 and that list is not exhaustive...on to chapter 2...


Ephesians 2:1 I have been made alive...me who was spiritually dead, a child of wrath headed for hell...He has made alive
Ephesians 2:6  I have not only been made alive, but I have been raised up together with jesus and now sit with Him at the right hand of the throne of my God.
Ephesians 2:8-10  I am His workmanship...and my salvation is His free gift...nothing but belief and acceptance required.  I have been brought near by the precious blood of His Son. 
Ephesians 2:13-15  I have been made into one new man with Christ.


On to Chapter 3:


Ephesians 3:3-6  I have been united with both Jew and Gentile by the gosepl in the church.
Ephesians 3:17-18  He strengthens me with His Spirit so Christ's love can root and ground in my heart and i can be filled with His unfathomable love!
Ephesians 3:19:  I (ME!!) can be filled with the fullness of God!!! 
Ephesians 3:20:  I LOVE THIS LAST ONE a lot...I can know His power in my life!  


I, therefore, urge you, my daughters, in full agreement with Paul, to walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called!