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Archive for December, 2010

Trust Also

Posted in Spiritual, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on December 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment »


Dear Friends,

Commit your way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass.” (Psa. 37:5)

This very meaningful portion of Scripture is very familiar to most of us, probably having been memorized at one time or another.  But a poem in one of our recent devotional readings made a point which spoke to me quite loudly:

“Commit your way unto the Lord – and trust!”
Ah, it is here we fail!  We give the wheel
Of our small bark to Him; but then we trust
Our hand upon His hand,
And dare to stand
Beside our Master, lest He wreck our keel.

“Commit your way unto the Lord – and trust!”
Leave all to Him; believe He knows your course,
Your dangers, and your safety – all – then just
Abandon all to Him:
So shall you skim,
Borne briskly on before the Spirit’s force.

“Commit your way unto the Lord – and trust!”
There is an “also” we too oft forget,
And so are plagued and worried.  Oh, we must
“Trust also,” then our soul
Shall cease to roll
In restlessness and reason and regret!

Commit!  And then, committed, – trust His Word!
Has He not said that He will bring you through?
Trust His strong arm; and when wild storms are heard,
Believe He holds them still
By His strong will.

Trust Him, the Wise, the Faithful, and the True.
Trust Him to manage all that you do now
Commit to Him – the ship – the sails – the sea –
The sailors, your strange crew.  And ask not how He will do all for you,
But trustful be.
Lie down and rest from anxious worry free.

-          Unknown

 

It is generally not so difficult to commit to the Lord our ways, our concerns, our needs, or our burdens.  But then it is a little more difficult to “trust also!”  We too often tend to commit to Him and then continue to doubt and worry.

I am reminded of an old hymn we used to sing:

“Leave your burden at the place of prayer;
Take to Jesus all your want and care;
For He is a Friend indeed, and supplies our ev’ry need;
Leave your burden at the place of prayer.”

Jesus reminded us of the carefree sparrows.  They were actually sold for food in the markets.  Matthew tells us they were so cheap that two of them were sold for the paltry price of a farthing (a half cent!)  Luke tells us that five of them were sold for two farthings; so insignificant the vendor threw in an extra one.  Our modern ads would say, “Buy four, get one free!” Yet, Jesus assured us that not one of them is forgotten before God, or falls on the ground without Father’s notice!  To Him we are of much greater value than many sparrows:  the value of the blood of Jesus paid for our redemption at Calvary!   (Matt. 10:29-31; Luke 12:6,7))

So Jesus tells us very pointedly, “Do not fear!  But trust!” Is not this a wonderful assurance as we enter upon another new year?   May 2011 be a blest year crowned with the Goodness of God.  (Psa. 65:11)

“May God, the giver of HOPE,
fill you with continual JOY and PEACE
because you trust in Him—
so that you may have abundant HOPE
through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

(Romans 15:13 Weymouth)

In Agape,

Eulene

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The Reason He Came

Posted in Spiritual, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on December 27, 2010 | 1 Comment »


It seems most of the world, whether or not they believe in Him, celebrates the birth of Jesus, many not even be aware that they mark their calendars from His advent.  Elaborate parties are held, but all too often the One Whose birth is being celebrated is not acknowledged and, sometimes, not even invited!!  As Jesus said, “they draw near to me with their mouths, and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

I think it is crucial that we know why He came.  The Christmas story is not just about the birth of Jesus;

it is about the incarnation of Divinity into Humanity!   In the fullness of time “the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.”  It is about the whole of His Life, Death, Resurrection and Glorification.  As long as He is left in the manger, He is no threat to anyone; or as long as His life is just considered as a good example for us to follow, we are only challenged to ‘be good.’  But the purpose of His Death and Resurrection is to make us “new creations,” give us “new hearts,” impart to us His “Divine Nature’ with all that is included:  Forgiveness, righteousness (right standing with God); faith; hope; love; peace; joy; wisdom; power; and ultimately to bring His original plan to a perfect consummation – man in God’s image!

I never cease to marvel when I read the account in Philippians of how Christ Jesus Who, although He existed in the form of God, and could well have considered Himself equal with God, literally emptied Himself of Deity, taking the form of a slave, and came to the earth, confining Himself in a tiny, helpless human body, entrusted to the care of human parents.  “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,” John tells us.  As He grew to manhood, He humbled Himself to the point of obedience even to death, and that a most humiliating and excruciating death.  “…our Saviour Jesus Christ…gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity…”

Just before Jesus and His disciples left the upper room where they shared their last supper together, Jesus said some amazing things.  He said He would ask the Father to send them a Comforter, Whom He called the Spirit of Truth, Whom they already knew because He was with them (old covenant), but He would be in them (new covenant)!  He assured them that He would not leave them orphans, but “I will come to you…Because I live, you also will live.  Then you will realize that I am in my Father, and YOU ARE IN ME, and I AM IN YOU!” He came to establish a New Covenant based, not on laws for us to try to keep, but on His unfailing faithfulness.

He had said earlier, “I came that you may have Life, and may have it abundantly.” It is certain that the abundant life to which He referred is Himself – “the Way, the Truth, the Life” living in our innermost beings.  The Apostle Paul expressed it in his famous declaration to the Galatian Church:  “With Christ I have been crucified, and I live no more, but CHRIST LIVES IN ME; and the life I NOW LIVE in the flesh, I live in faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

It is this coming – to literally dwell in the hearts of all who receive Him – that makes the celebration of His first coming so much more meaningful than just the historical baby born in the Bethlehem stable 2000 years ago.  This is the Gospel – Good News – of Jesus Christ!  We celebrate His coming and His dwelling in His people!

Many of the carols that are sung this season of the year convey the message:

O Holy Christ of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin and enter in – BE BORN IN US TODAY.
We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;
O COME TO US, ABIDE IN US, our LORD EMMANUEL!

- or -

Born Thy people to deliver; born a child, and yet a King;
Born to REIGN – IN US – FOREVER; now Thy gracious Kingdom bring – or -

Come, Desire of Nations, COME!   FIX IN US Thy humble home;
Ride, the woman’s conq’ring seed; bruise IN US the serpent’s head.
Adam’s likeness now efface, stamp THINE IMAGE in its place;
Second Adam from above, reinstate us in Thy love.

Jesus came as Son of Man in order to make us Sons of God!  Because He came, we can be children of God through the new birth.  We can have peace with God; be filled with all joy; abound in hope; be strengthened with might by His Spirit; be more than conquerors; be renewed day by day; be conformed to His image; know the hope of His calling; be filled with His fullness…  The list of blessings is endless!

God gave the very best He had for us.  Can we do less for Him?

In Agape,

Eulene

(Bible Refs. in order:  Matt. 15:8-9; 2 Cor. 5:17; 3:3; 2 Pet.1:4; Gen. 1:26; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:17; 12:27; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:19-22; 1 Pet. 2:5; Phil. 2:5-11; John 1:14; Titus 2:14; John 14:15-20; 17:23; 7:37-39; 14:6; Gal. 2:20; Col. 1:27; Eph. 3:17; 1 John 3:24; John 12:23-24; John 1:12;  Gal. 3:26; John 3:7; 14:27; 15:11; Rom. 15:13; Eph. 3:16; Rom. 8:37; Eph. 4:23; Rom. 8:29; Eph. 1:18; 3:19)

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Precious Promises

Posted in Spiritual, tagged , , , , , on December 14, 2010 | Leave a Comment »


Referring again to a quotation in my last letter from 2 Peter 1:4 & 5, a further thought stood out to me concerning God’s “precious and wondrous promises” which He has given to us.  The phrase “in order that” explains the purpose for these wondrous promises.  They are given in order that-  through them – we might participate in the very nature of God. We do well to seriously consider these precious promises.

“And this is the promise that He has promised us, even eternal life.”  ”Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law…that we might receive the Promise of the Spirit through faith.” Having trusted in Christ, after hearing the Word of Truth – the Good News of salvation – and believing, God has sealed us with the promised Holy Spirit, that Spirit being a pledge and a foretaste of future blessing.

(1 John 2:25;  Gal. 3:14;  Eph. 1:13)

The context of Paul’s “Therefore, having these promises…” in his letter to the Corinthian believers, reviews the incredible truth that we are “a temple of the living God;  as God has said, ‘I will dwell in them, and they shall be My people’…’and I will be a Father unto you, and you shall be My sons and daughters…’ ” (2 Cor. 6:16; 7:1)

There is a multitude of promises concerning our Heavenly Father’s loving care, supply of our needs for spirit, soul and body, the impartation of faith, peace, joy, and love.  Then there is “the living HOPE by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” that we, too, shall not sleep in death, but “shall be changed…”   “Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

(1 Cor. 15:51;  1 John 3:1-3)

In her Sincerely Yours devotionals, Ann Mainse reminds us of a fascinating story first told by Ken Taylor.  In Communist Russia, in the 1930′s, there was a great deal of persecution of the Christian believers.  Stalin had ordered that all Bibles be confiscated and the Christian citizens sent to prison camps.   Many of them died as “enemies of the state.”

In 1994, after the fall of Communism and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a Christian missions team arrived in the now-liberated town of Stavropol.  They had arranged for a shipment of Bibles to distribute in that town, but it had been delayed at customs.  Someone told them about a warehouse outside of town where some of the confiscated Bibles which had escaped destruction were still stored.  Having received permission to take and distribute them, they hired several local Russian workers to help load their trucks with the dusty Bibles.

One young man, a cynical and bitter individual, agreed to help, but he assured them it was only for the pay he would receive.  After a while, it was noticed that the angry young man had disappeared.  Much later, he was discovered in the corner of the warehouse, weeping uncontrollably, with an open Bible in his hands.  He had intended to steal it and later sell it, but when he opened the cover, he discovered on the fly-leaf his own grandmother’s signature!   As he read the life-changing words of that Book, his heart began to change and he was remarkably transformed by the very Bible for which his grandmother had been persecuted!

Endless stories can be told of how, throughout the ages, the inspired Scriptures with their Precious Promises have revolutionized countless millions of people the world over.

Your Word is like a garden, Lord, with flowers bright and fair;
And everyone who seeks may pluck a lovely cluster there.
Your Word is like a deep, deep mine, and jewels rich and rare
Are hidden in its mighty depths for every searcher there.

Your Word is like a starry host – a thousand rays of light
Are seen to guide the traveler, and make his pathway bright.
Your Word is like an armory where soldiers may repair
And find, for life’s long battle-day, all needful weapons there.

O, may I love Your precious Word, may I explore the mine;
May I its fragrant flowers glean; may light upon me shine.
My faith be settled in the PRECIOUS PROMISES of God;
His faithfulness my blessèd HOPE as on through life I plod.

Edwin Hodder, 1837-1904                            (The last two lines altered)

 

“For ALL THE PROMISES OF GOD, whatever their number,
have their confirmation IN HIM;
and for this reason through Him also OUR AMEN
acknowledges their truth
and promotes the glory of God through our faith.”
“Let us hold firmly to an unflinching avowal of our HOPE,
for HE WHO GAVE US THE PROMISES IS FAITHFUL!”

(Heb. 10:23;  2 Cor. 1:20 Weymouth)

In Agape,

Eulene

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