Month: July 2023

Our future is in God’s past, as He saw all of our days before we were even born…

He sees it all – every trial and every tribulation; and He works it ALL for our good, in order that we may be conformed into the image of His Son (Rom 8:29-30).

God promises to enter into EVERY situation we face and work it for our good, to all those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28).

Sometimes we may get discouraged, but don’t lose hope, always trust in God’s timing.

It’s always seems darkest before the dawn,

Lamentations 3 describes what that is like, and why we must trust God and wait upon Him until we get our breakthrough.

Lamentations 3:17-26

17 My soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten prosperity.
18 So I say, “My strength and my hope
from the Lord have perished.”

19 Remember my affliction and my misery,
the wormwood and the gall.
20 Surely my soul remembers
and is humbled within me.
21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:

22 It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed;
His compassions do not fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in Him.”

25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
to the soul who seeks Him.
26 It is good that a man should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
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Saturday, July 22
Streams in the Desert

GOD IS WAITING UPON US

“And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you…blessed are all they that wait for him.”
— Isaiah 30:18

We must not only think of our waiting upon God, but also of what is more wonderful still, of God’s waiting upon us.

The vision of Him waiting on us, will give new impulse and inspiration to our waiting upon Him.

It will give us unspeakable confidence that our waiting cannot be in vain.

Let us seek even now, at this moment, in the spirit of waiting on God, to find out something of what it means.

He has inconceivably glorious purposes concerning every one of His children.

And you ask, “How is it, if He waits to be gracious, that even after I come and wait upon Him, He does not give the help I seek, but waits on longer and longer?”

God is a wise husbandman, “who waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it.”

He cannot gather the fruit till it is ripe.

He knows when we are spiritually ready to receive the blessing to our profit and His glory.

Waiting in the sunshine of His love is what will ripen the soul for His blessing.

Waiting under the cloud of trial, that breaks in showers of blessings, is as needful.

Be assured that if God waits longer than you could wish, it is only to make the blessing doubly precious.
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“God waited four thousand years, till the fullness of time, ere He sent His Son.

Our times are in His hands; He will avenge His elect speedily; He will make haste for our help, and not delay one hour too long.”
—Andrew Murray

Amen
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SELAH (let us pause and calmly think about these things)

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IXOYE <><
Be still & know Him
Psalm 46:10

In Mark 3 we read how Jesus’ Mother and Brothers came looking for Jesus…

And Jesus asked the question, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”

Jesus had overthrown many conventions earlier in this chapter, so why not one more?

Here’s the backstory:

Jesus’ life and mission revolved around the will of God.

Our highest priority in life is to serve our Creator, as the Bible clearly says we have been created for His pleasure.

Only the Creator and Author of each one of our lives can require such devotion, how-be-it He doesn’t demand it, He only requests that, as an act of our free will, that we surrender to Him daily in His service.

The “sheep” must learn to follow their Shepherd, as He alone knows where the Green Pastures are and the Still Waters.

To put it another way, as a loving omniscient (All-knowing) God, He knows every detail of each of our futures, and the Bible says, He goes before each one of us to make our path straight (see Prov 3:5-6).

In Colossians 3:17 we are told, WHATEVER we do in word and deed, do it as unto the Lord.”

In Romans 12:1-2 the Apostle Paul admonishes us, “…to present our bodies as a LIVING SACRIFICE, holy and acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

I particularly like the Phillips translation of verse 2, which says,

“Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within.”

In Mark 3, when Jesus asked, “Who are my family,” He was stating that there are some matters and some relationships that transcend the normal blood relations known as “family.”

Notice how in verse 34 and 35 that those who were seated around Jesus were His disciples (His followers), and per 1 John 2:6, as followers of Christ, of all those who say that they abide in Him, our place is to sit as His feet that we may learn to walk as He walked in His earthly ministry, totally submitted and Reliant upon the Holy Spirit and His Father in heaven.

1 John 2:6

“He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.”

This is the assignment of every Christian; and so as christians, after having been born again, this new life in the spirit has been birthed in each one of us.

And so Jesus, in verse 35 asks the question, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?”

And his answer is, “whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”

SELAH (let us pause and calmly think about these things)
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IXOYE <><
Be still & know Him
Psalm 46:10

The Bible tells us that the scriptures were written for our example and admonition that we may learn lessons from them…

From God’s point of view, the emphasis is always on us remaining in faith, and as we grow in the knowledge of the scriptures we learn how not to allow the enemy to deceive us and get us off track.

The truth is, going all the way back to our original parents Adam and Eve, we have all been bitten by “Old Sleuth Foot the serpent,” whose name is Satan.

And because of that infection which we all have inherited through Adam’s blood, we each have a sin nature from birth, which nature the Bible says is at enmity against God (Romans 8:7-8).

But through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has de-fanged the snake.

When we place our faith in Christ, the snake’s venom is no longer fatal-and when we situate ourselves against the prevailing winds of culture, we can easily hear him, smell him, and pinpoint his location.

Even so, Christians are still bitten by the snake.

How? We turn our backs-not our faces-to the wind and move with it, dulling our senses to sin and allowing the snake to surprise us when it strikes.

And so in this pilgrimage of faith, that starts when we are born-again, and doesn’t end until we graduate to glory, out of necessity we must learn as Paul warned us, “lest we be taking advantage of, we should never be ignorant of the enemy’s devices (his modus operandi),” and the way we are taught these things, they are given us through the instruction of the Holy Spirit, as we study, meditate and immerse ourselves in God’s Word.

The development of our faith is what’s at stake and remember how Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God!

The key lesson here, unless we continue to press forward in faith, then the law of entropy applies, and all we have to do to start slipping backwards is do nothing!

Hebrews 3
Contemporary English Version

Jesus Is Greater than Moses
1 My friends, God has chosen you to be his holy people. So think about Jesus, the one we call our apostle and high priest!

2 Jesus was faithful to God, who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in serving all God’s people.

3 But Jesus deserves more honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house deserves more honor than the house.

4 Of course, every house is built by someone, and God is really the one who built everything.

5 Moses was a faithful servant and told God’s people what would be said in the future.

6 But Christ is the Son in charge of God’s people. And we are those people, if we keep on being brave and don’t lose hope.

A Rest for God’s People
7 It is just as the Holy Spirit says,

“If you hear God’s voice today,
8 don’t be stubborn!

Don’t rebel like those people
who were tested
in the desert.

9 For forty years your ancestors
tested God and saw
the things he did.

10 “Then God got tired of them
and said,

‘You people never
show good sense,
and you don’t understand
what I want you to do.’

11 God became angry
and told the people,
‘You will never enter
my place of rest!’ ”

12 My friends, watch out! Don’t let evil thoughts or doubts make any of you turn from the living God.

13 You must encourage one another each day. And you must keep on while there is still a time that can be called “today.”

If you don’t, then sin may fool some of you and make you stubborn.

14 We were sure about Christ when we first became his people. So let’s hold tightly to our faith until the end.

15 The Scriptures say,

“If you hear his voice today,
don’t be stubborn
like those who rebelled.”

16 Who were those people that heard God’s voice and rebelled?

Weren’t they the same ones that came out of Egypt with Moses?

17 Who were the people that made God angry for 40 years?

Weren’t they the ones that sinned and died in the desert?

18 And who did God say would never enter his place of rest?

Weren’t they the ones that disobeyed him?

19 We see that those people did not enter the place of rest because they did not have faith.
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And finally, let us all remember the admonition of Peter:

1 Peter 5:6-11

6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,

7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

SELAH (let us pause and calmly think about these things)

Come join the Adventure and keep your faith strong in Christ!

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With all the pressures and hassles of life, we as Christians tend to be leaky vessels, and so we need to recharge our batteries from time to time…

The Need to Rest

Mark 6:30-31
The Message

The apostles then rendezvoused with Jesus and reported on all that they had done and taught.

Jesus said, “Come off by yourselves; let’s take a break and get a little rest.”

For there was constant coming and going. They didn’t even have time to eat.

SELAH (let us pause and calmly think about these things)

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Monday, July 3
The Winning Walk
Dr Ed Young

SOLITUDE AND REPLENISHMENT

Some people never really rest. They are so busy with the activities of life that they appear to be a blur: always on the way to somewhere; never slowing down.

Jesus did not have that problem. He purposely sought solitude for spiritual replenishment.

He seemed to know just how important such times were for “re-charging” His spiritual battery, and He took advantage of them at every opportunity.

What about you? How long has it been since you were quiet and still in the presence of God, with no agenda other than a desire to sit at His feet?

Many view solitude as a negative prospect, and are alone only if, and when, it is absolutely necessary.

But solitude rightly pursued and experienced energizes our interaction with others, and nurtures our soul.

When Iowans Bobbi and Kenny McCaughey became the parents of septuplets (that’s seven babies, folks!) they were exponentially overwhelmed with the responsibilities faced by every new mom and dad.

Seven to rock, seven to feed, seven to change, seven to bathe and cuddle and hold…what a challenge!

But this young, Christian couple said, while they appreciated the outpouring of help they received, they looked forward to the time they could be “alone” with their young family for an entire evening.

Once, after bringing the babies home, this husband and wife reported that they got in their car, drove to a nearby grain silo, parked behind it, and cried and prayed together.

They instinctively knew that stepping out of the fray for a few stolen moments away would strengthen them for the task at hand.

All of us have demands on our time and become weary of life’s grind.

Time alone with God without phones, pagers, prayer partners, portable cd players or other human or technological distractions, is critical for allowing His Spirit to fill us.

In solitude, we can receive from God His life-giving breath, emerging with renewed sensitivity and compassion for others, and intensified love for Him.

This is true replenishment from the source of all strength and truth.

Memory Verse

Mark 6:31
And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest awhile.”
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