Devotions

Thomas Buxton

Come, my soul, thy suit prepare

Come, my soul, thy suit prepare:
Jesus loves to answer prayer;
He Himself has bid thee pray,
Therefore will not say thee nay;
Therefore will not say thee nay.

Thou art coming to a King,
Large petitions with thee bring;
For His grace and power are such,
None can ever ask too much;
None can ever ask too much.

With my burden I begin:
Lord, remove this load of sin;
Let Thy blood, for sinners spilt,
Set my conscience free from guilt;
Set my conscience free from guilt.

Lord, I come to Thee for rest,
Take possession of my breast;
There Thy blood bought right maintain,
And without a rival reign;
And without a rival reign.

As the image in the glass
Answers the beholder’s face;
Thus unto my heart appear,
Print Thine own resemblance there,
Print Thine own resemblance there.

While I am a pilgrim here,
Let Thy love my spirit cheer;
As my Guide, my Guard, my Friend,
Lead me to my journey’s end;
Lead me to my journey’s end.

Show me what I have to do,
Every hour my strength renew:
Let me live a life of faith,
Let me die Thy people’s death;
Let me die Thy people’s death.

What Various Hindrances We Meet

What various hindrances we meet
In coming to a mercy seat;
Yet who that knows the worth of prayer,
But wishes to be often there.

Prayer makes the darkened cloud withdraw,
Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw;
Gives exercise to faith and love,
Brings every blessing from above.

Restraining prayer, we cease to fight;
Prayer makes the Christian’s armor bright;
And Satan trembles, when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees.

While Moses stood with arms spread wide,
Success was found on Israel’s side;
But when through weariness they failed,
That moment Amalek prevailed.

Have you no words? Ah, think again,
Words flow apace when you complain;
And fill your fellow creature’s ear
With the sad tale of all your care.

Were half the breath thus vainly spent,
To Heav’n in supplication sent;
Your cheerful song would oft’ner be,
“Hear what the Lord has done for me.”

Creating Space for God

Discipline is the other side of discipleship. Discipleship without discipline is like waiting to run in the marathon without ever practicing. Discipline without discipleship is like always practicing for the marathon but never participating. It is important, however, to realize that discipline in the spiritual life is not the same as discipline in sports. Discipline in sports is the concentrated effort to master the body so that it can obey the mind better. Discipline in the spiritual life is the concentrated effort to create the space and time where God can become our master and where we can respond freely to God's guidance.

Thus, discipline is the creation of boundaries that keep time and space open for God. Solitude requires discipline, worship requires discipline, caring for others requires discipline. They all ask us to set apart a time and a place where God's gracious presence can be acknowledged and responded to.

Hudson Taylor

"Come, My Soul, Thy Suit Prepare"
by John Newton, 1725-1807
Text From:
THE LUTHERAN HYMNAL
(St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1941)

1. Come, my soul, thy suit prepare,
Jesus loves to answer prayer;
He Himself has bid thee pray,
Therefore will not say thee nay.

2. Thou art coming to a King,
Large petitions with thee bring;
For His grace and pow'r are such
None can ever ask too much.

3. With my burden I begin:
Lord, remove this load of sin;
Let Thy blood, for sinners spilt,
Set my conscience free from guilt.

4. Lord, I come to Thee for rest,
Take possession of my breast;
There Thy blood-bought right maintain
And without a rival reign.

5. As the image in the glass
Answers the beholder's face,
Thus unto my heart appear;
Print Thine own resemblance there.

6. While I am a pilgrim here,
Let Thy love my spirit cheer;
As my Guide, my Guard, my Friend,
Lead me to my journey's end.

7. Show me what I have to do;
Every hour my strength renew.
Let me live a life of faith;
Let me die Thy people's death.

Peace, doubting heart! my God’s I am;
Who formed me man, forbids my fear;
The Lord hath called me by my name;
The Lord protects, for ever near;
His blood for me did once atone,
And still He loves and guards His own.

When passing through the watery deep,
I ask in faith He promised aid,
The waves all awful distance keep,
And shrink from my devoted head;
Fearless their violence I dare;
They cannot harm, for God is there!

To Him mine eye of faith I turn,
And through the fire pursue my way;
The fire forgets its power to burn,
The lambent flames around me play;
I own His power, accept the sign,
And shout to prove the Savior mine.

Still nigh me, O my Savior, stand!
And guard in fierce temptation’s hour;
Hide in the hollow of Thy hand,
Show forth in me Thy saving power,
Still be Thy arms my sure defense,
Nor earth nor hell shall pluck me thence.

Since Thou hast bid me come to Thee,
Good as Thou art, and strong to save
I’ll walk o’er life’s tempestuous sea,
Upborne by the unyielding wave,
Dauntless, though rocks of pride be near,
And yawning whirlpools of despair.

When darkness intercepts the skies,
And sorrow’s waves around me roll,
When high the storms of passion rise,
And half o’erwhelm my sinking soul,
My soul a sudden calm shall feel,
And hear a whisper, “Peace; be still!”

Though in affliction’s furnace tried,
Unhurt on snares and death I’ll tread;
Though sin assail, and hell, thrown wide,
Pour all its flames upon my head,
Like Moses’ bush, I’ll mount the higher,
And flourish unconsumed in fire.

There is no sorrow, Lord, too light
To bring in prayer to Thee;
There is no anxious care too slight
To wake Thy sympathy.

Thou, who hast trod the thorny road,
Wilt share each small distress;
The love, which bore the greater load,
Will not refuse the less.

There is no secret sigh we breathe,
But meets Thine ear divine;
And every cross grows light beneath
The shadow, Lord, of Thine.

Life’s ills without, sin’s strife within,
The heart would overflow,
But for that love which died for sin,
That love which wept with woe.

Paul's direction is very specific, "Be careful for nothing." Be careful for not one thing. Be careful for not anything, for any condition, chance, or happening. Be troubled about not anything which creates one disturbing anxiety. Have a mind freed from all anxieties, all cares, all fretting, and all worries. Cares divide, distract, bewilder, and destroy unity, power, and quietness of mind. Cares are fatal to weak piety and are enfeebling to strong piety. What great need to guard against them and learn the one secret of their cure, even prayer!

Day by day the manna fell;
O to learn this lesson well!
Still by constant mercy fed,
Give me Lord, my daily bread.

“Day by day,” the promise reads,
Daily strength for daily needs;
Cast foreboding fears away;
Take the manna of today.

Lord! my times are in Thy hand;
All my sanguine hopes have planned,
To Thy wisdom I resign,
And would make Thy purpose mine.

Thou my daily task shalt give;
Day by day to Thee I live;
So shall added years fulfill,
Not my own, my Father’s will.

Fond ambition, whisper not;
Happy is my humble lot.
Anxious, busy cares away;
I’m provided for today.

Oh, to live exempt from care
By the energy of prayer:
Strong in faith, with mind subdued,
Yet elate with gratitude!

PRAYER

Prayer was appointed to convey the blessings God designs to give;
Long as they live should Christians pray,
For only while they pray they live.
And shall we in dead silence lie, when Christ stands waiting for our prayer?
My soul, thou hast a Friend on high; Arise and try thy interest there.
If pain afflict, or wrongs oppress; If cares distract, or fears dismay;
If guilt deject, if sin distress; The remedy is before thee Pray!
Depend on Christ, thou canst not fail; Make all thy wants and wishes known.
Fear not; His merits must prevail; Ask what thou wilt; it shall be done!
Joseph Hart

Noon.

Full speed along the world's highway,

By crowds of eager travellers trod,

My soul, my soul, a moment stay,

To hold communion with thy God.

He spake with Abraham at the oak,

He call'd Elisha from the plough,

David He from the sheep-folds took;

Thy day, Thy hour of grace is now.

Earth, with thy vanities, depart!

My God, I stand alone with Thee;

Thine eye is looking on my heart;

Oh! what a noon is risen on me!

Struck to the ground, like conscious Saul,

And blinded with the sudden view,

Trembling, astonish'd, "Lord," I call,

What wouldst Thou have Thy servant do?"

My sins, as fresh-committed, rise;

My secret sins, by darkness seal'd,

Before my Judge's flaming eyes,

Are all in naked guilt reveal'd.

Lord, lay Thine hand upon my head;

A touch, a word, will make me whole;

Speak with the voice that wakes the dead,

Peace, pardon, comfort, to my soul.

Henry J. Kaiser

Faith has never won a victory nor gained a crown where prayer was not the weapon of the victory, and where prayer did not jewel the crown. If "all things are possible to him that believeth," then all things are possible to him that prays.

Depend on him; thou canst not fail;

Make all thy wants and wishes known:

Fear not; his merits must prevail;

Ask but in faith, it shall be done.

God put no limitation to his ability to save through true praying. No hopeless conditions, no accumulation of difficulties, and no desperation in distance or circumstance can hinder the success of real prayer. The possibilities of prayer are linked to the infinite integrity and omnipotent power of God. There is nothing too hard for God to do. God is pledged that if we ask, we shall receive. God can withhold nothing from faith and prayer.

The thing surpasses all my thought,

But faithful is my Lord;

Through unbelief I stagger not,

For God hath spoke the word.

Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees,

And looks to that alone;

Laughs at impossibilities,

And cries, "It shall be done!"

E.M.Bounds

Prayer is not an indifferent or a small thing. It is not a sweet little privilege. It is a great prerogative, far-reaching in its effects. Failure to pray entails losses far beyond the person who neglects it. Prayer is not a mere episode of the Christian life. Rather the whole life is a preparation for and the result of prayer. In its condition, prayer is the sum of religion. Faith is but a channel of prayer. Faith gives it wings and swiftness. Prayer is the lungs through which holiness breathes. Prayer is not only the language of spiritual life, but also makes its very essence and forms its real character.

O for a faith that will not shrink

Though pressed by every foe;

That will not tremble on the brink

Of any earthly woe.

Lord, give us such a faith as this,

And then, whate'er may come,

We'll taste e'en here, the hallowed bliss

Of our eternal home.

I look to Thee in every need, and never look in vain;
I feel Thy strong and tender love, and all is well again.
The thought of Thee is mightier far than sin and pain and sorrow are.

Discouraged in the work of life, disheartened by its load,
Shamed by its failures or its fears, I sink beside the road.
But let me only think of Thee and then new heart springs up in me.

Thy calmness bends serene above, my restlessness to still;
Around me flows Thy quickening life, to nerve my faltering will.
Thy presence fills my solitude, Thy providence turns all to good.

Enfolded deep in Thy dear love, held in Thy law, I stand;
Thy hand in all things I behold, and all things in Thy hand.
Thou leadest me by unsought ways, and turn my mourning into praise.

Whatever!

Ephesians 5:19-21 [Speak] to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.

Whatever! --It sounds like I'm copping an attitude but nothing is further from the truth. Whatever! should be our response whenever God's Word says to do something. Whatever You say, Lord.

This kind of submission doesn't come naturally. We are all natural-born rebels with a built-in resistance to another person's agenda. So when you can say, Whatever, Lord, that's great evidence that God is changing you.

Submission of any variety has a terrible reputation. And biblical submission is often high-jacked by selfish, even cruel authoritarians who twist it for their own purposes.

Contrary to what many people think, submission is not just for women and children. Romans 13:1 clearly commands that "every person be subject to the governing authorities established by God."

Ephesians 5:21 says, "Be submissive to one another in the fear of Christ." Mutual submission is for both sexes, every age, social status, and employment relationship.

Submission comes down to choice. It's not top down; it's bottom up. If you're in a role where you need to submit--that's a choice God asks you to willingly make. Husbands are not to demand wives to submit. Pastors are not to demand that their people submit but both are to lovingly serve and give themselves to those they lead.

Are you in a situation where you're being unfairly treated in the name of submission? God's will is "that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men" (1 Peter 2:15). That word silence actually means "to muzzle." You might love to muzzle some people. God's all for it but you need do it His way--do right, trust God, wait on Him, and willingly submit as unto Him.

When we choose this attitude, we put ourselves under God's protection. That's a great place to live. But when you get out from under His umbrella and do it your way, you become very vulnerable. It's only when you say Whatever, Lord, and submit to God-placed authority as unto the Lord that God's blessings are yours in abundance.

E.M.Bounds

Though Troubles Assail Us

Though troubles assail us and dangers affright,
Though friends should all fail us and foes all unite,
Yet one thing secures us, whatever betide,
The promise assures us, “The Lord will provide.”

The birds, without garner or storehouse, are fed;
From them let us learn to trust God for our bread.
His saints what is fitting shall ne’er be denied
So long as ’tis written, “The Lord will provide.”

When Satan assails us to stop up our path,
And courage all fails us, we triumph by faith.
He cannot take from us, though oft he has tried,
This heart cheering promise, “The Lord will provide.”

He tells us we’re weak, our hope is in vain,
The good that we seek we never shall obtain,
But when such suggestions, our graces have tried,
This answers all questions, “The Lord will provide.”

No strength of our own and no goodness we claim;
Yet, since we have known of the Savior’s great Name,
In this our strong tower for safety we hide:
The Lord is our power, “The Lord will provide.”

When life sinks a pace, and death is in view,
The word of His grace shall comfort us through,
Not fearing or doubting, with Christ on our side,
We hope to die shouting, “The Lord will provide.”

~By John Newton.~

THE PROMISE OF SANCTIFICATION

(Ezek. xxxvi. 25, etc.)

BY THE REV. CHARLES WESLEY

God of all power, and truth, and grace,
Which shall from age to age endure;
Whose word, when heaven and earth shall pass,
Remains and stands for ever sure:

Calmly to Thee my soul looks up,
And waits Thy promises to prove;
The object of my steadfast hope,
The seal of Thine eternal love.

That I Thy mercy may proclaim,
That all mankind Thy truth may see,
Hallow Thy great and glorious Name
And perfect holiness in me.

Chose from the world, if now I stand
Adorn'd in righteousness divine;
If, brought unto the promised land,
I justly call the Saviour mine:

Perform the work Thou hast begun,
My inmost soul to Thee convert:
Love me, for ever love Thine own,
And sprinkle with Thy blood my heart.

Thy sanctifying Spirit pour,
To quench my thirst and wash me clean;
Now, Father, let the gracious shower
Descend, and make me pure from sin.

Purge me from every sinful blot:
My idols all be cast aside :
Cleanse me from every evil thought,
From all the filth of self and pride.

Give me a new, a perfect heart,
From doubt, and fear, and sorrow free;
The mind which was in Christ impart,
And let my spirit cleave to Thee.

O take this heart of stone away!
(Thy rule it doth not, cannot own);
In me no longer let it stay;
O take away this heart of stone!

The hatred of my carnal mind
Out of my flesh at once remove;
Give me a tender heart, resigned,
And pure, and fill'd with faith and love.

Within me Thy good Spirit place,
Spirit of health, and love, and power;
Plant in me Thy victorious grace,
And sin shall never enter more.

Cause me to walk in Christ my way,
And I Thy statutes shall fulfil;
In every point Thy law obey,
And perfectly perform Thy will.

Hast Thou not said, who canst not lie,
That I Thy law shall keep and do?
Lord, I believe, though men deny:
They all are false; but Thou art true.

O that I now, from sin released,
Thy word might to the utmost prove!
Enter into the promised rest,
The Canaan of Thy perfect love

There let me ever, ever dwell;
Be Thou my God, and I will be
Thy servant: O set to Thy seal!
Give me eternal life in Thee.

From all remaining filth within
Let me in Thee salvation have;
From actual and from inbred sin
My ransom'd soul persist to save.

Washout my old orig'nal stain:
Tell me no more it cannot be,
Demons or men! The Lamb was slain,
His blood was all pour'd out for me!

Sprinkle it, Jesu, on my heart:
One drop of Thy all-cleansing blood
Shall make my sinfulness depart,
And fill me with the life of God.

Father, supply my every need;
Sustain the life Thyself hast given;
Call for the corn, the living bread,
The manna that comes down from heaven.

The gracious fruits of righteousness,
Thy blessings' unexhausted store,
In me abundantly increase;
Nor let me ever hunger more.

Let me no more in deep complain,
'My leanness, 0 my leanness!' cry;
Alone consumed with pining want,
Of all my Father's children I!

The painful thirst, the fond desire,
Thy joyous presence shall remove;
While my full soul doth still require
The whole eternity of love.

Holy, and true, and righteous Lord,
I wait to prove Thy-perfect will;
Be mindful of Thy gracious word,
And stamp me with Thy Spirit's seal!

Thy faithful mercies let me find,
In which Thou causest me to trust;
Give me Thy meek and lowly mind,
And lay my spirit in the dust.

Show me how foul my heart hath been,
When all renew'd by grace I am;
When Thou hast emptied me of sin,
Show me the fulness of my shame.

Open my faith's interior eye,
Display Thy glory from above;
And all I am shall sink and die,
Lost in astonishment and love.

Confound, o'erpower me, with Thy grace;
I would be by myself abhorr'd:
(All might, all majesty, all praise,
All glory be to Christ my Lord!)

Now let me gain perfection's height,
Now let me into nothing fall!
Be less than nothing in my sight,
And feel that Christ is all in all.

Prayer goes by faith into the orchard of God's exceeding promises and, with hand and heart, picks the ripest and richest fruit.

E.M.Bounds

"Prayer takes hold of the promise and conducts it to it's marvelous ends, removes the obstacles, and makes a highway for the promise to it's glorious fulfillment."

I'm reading a book on prayer by E.M.Bounds-I believe that I will record alot of amazing quotes from this amazing book.

"The knees may not always be bended, the lips may not always be vocal with words of prayer, but the spirit is always in the act and intercourse of prayer."

Salvation is from our side a choice; from the divine side it is a seizing upon, an apprehending, a conquest by the Most High God. Our accepting and willing are reactions rather than actions.

FREED FROM LEGALISM
2 Corinthians 3:5, 6
God . . . made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life

Walking by the Spirit is not legalism, the opposite extreme from license. Paul said: "If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law" (Galatians 5:18). Stringently striving to obey Christian rules and regulations doesn't enable the Spirit-filled walk; it often kills it (2 Corinthians 3:6). We're told in Galatians 3:13 that the law is really a curse, and in Galatians 3:21 that it is impotent, powerless to give life.

Laying down the law--telling someone that it is wrong to do this or that--does not give them the power to stop doing it. Christians have been notorious at trying to legislate spirituality with don'ts: Christians don't drink, don't smoke, don't dance, don't attend movies, don't play cards, don't wear makeup, etc. But legalism can't curb immorality. In fact, laying down the law merely serves to heighten the temptation. Paul said that the law actually stimulates the desire to do what it forbids (Romans 7:5)! When you tell your child not to cross a certain line, where does he immediately want to go? Forbidden fruit often seems to be the most desirable.

Neither will a Spirit-filled heart be produced by demanding that someone conform to a religious code of behavior. We often equate Christian disciplines such as Bible study, prayer, regular church attendance, and witnessing with spiritual maturity. All these activities are good and helpful for spiritual growth. But merely performing these admirable Christian exercises does not guarantee a Spirit-filled walk.

Does this mean that establishing rules is wrong? Of course not. God's law is a necessary protective moral standard and guideline. But the means by which we live a life of freedom is not the law but grace. Within the confines of God's law, we are free to nurture a spirit-to Spirit relationship with God, which is the essence of walking in the Spirit.

Prayer:

Lord, help me encourage other believers to freedom in their walk with You and not impose on them a religious code of behavior.

Hidden Greatness

There is much emphasis on notoriety and fame in our society. Our newspapers and television keep giving us the message: What counts is to be known, praised, and admired, whether you are a writer, an actor, a musician, or a politician.

Still, real greatness is often hidden, humble, simple, and unobtrusive. It is not easy to trust ourselves and our actions without public affirmation. We must have strong self-confidence combined with deep humility. Some of the greatest works of art and the most important works of peace were created by people who had no need for the limelight. They knew that what they were doing was their call, and they did it with great patience, perseverance, and love.

My brethren, let me say, be like Christ at all times. Imitate Him in "public". Most of us live in some sort of public capacity -- many of us are called to work before our fellow-men every day. We are watched; our words are caught; our lives are examined -- taken to pieces. The eagle-eyed, argus-eyed world observes everything we do, and sharp critics are upon us. Let us live the life of Christ in public. Let us take care that we exhibit our Master, and not ourselves -- so that we can say, "It is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me."

Spurgeon, C. H.

Walter Cradock

I Want to Be Real

O LORD, you have searched me and known me!

You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Psalm 139:1-6

I don't know how else to say it: hypocrisy is very serious.

Inside we're like this; outside we're like this. The gap between what people see and what's really inside us-that's hypocrisy. It starts off as a crease between what we appear to be and what we really are. It then becomes a crack and, if neglected, it becomes a canyon between us and God.

I want my life to be different. I don't want to pose for anyone. I don't want to take up some position in my life to match anyone's expectations.

I was praying about it this week for my own life and wrote this prayer. This is for God, but I'll just share it with you to encourage you in your passion of authenticity.

I Want to Be Real

I want to be real. I don't want to force it or fake it or fix it after the fact.
I just want to be real.

I want to operate from truth, not from pressure to please or perform for people. I don't want to choose from fear of what others will think of me or of my motives. I want to choose what I know is right because it's good and because it pleases You.
Help me, God. I want to be real.

I have the information mostly. I know I'm supposed to read and pray, and I know about worship, too. I know I'm supposed to witness and work for the kingdom, and I know about loving others more than myself. Oh, yeah, I know all the stuff. I know nearly everything I'm supposed to know, and most of all I know that knowing is not enough, because it doesn't displace the denial in my heart.
Help me, God. I want to be real.

By real, I mean ready, filled with anticipation when I arrive at Your house to worship You, heartfelt worship. Yeah, that's real.

By real, I mean ready with thanks for the cascade of blessings raining down on my head in this and every moment, genuine gratitude. Yeah, that's real.

By real, I mean an easy choice of obedience to silence my demanding flesh which calls me to choose what You lovingly forbid, obedient holiness. Yeah, that's real.

By real, I mean ready to be generous to people in need, not hoarding or hiding or helping out of guilt. Yeah, giving freely and continuously. That's real for sure.

Help me God. I want to be real.

“The Kingdom belongs to people who aren’t trying to look good or impress anybody, even themselves. They are not plotting how they can call attention to themselves, worrying about how their actions will be interpreted or wondering if they will get gold stars for their behavior.”

The Barometer of Our Lives

Although the table is a place for intimacy, we all know how easily it can become a place of distance, hostility, and even hatred. Precisely because the table is meant to be an intimate place, it easily becomes the place we experience the absence of intimacy. The table reveals the tensions among us. When husband and wife don't talk to each other, when a child refuses to eat, when brothers and sisters bicker, when there are tense silences, then the table becomes hell, the place we least want to be.

The table is the barometer of family and community life. Let's do everything possible to make the table the place to celebrate intimacy

Erica began having right sided groin pain in late December of 2005. She was told she had a groin pull and to rest it. After four months of rest, rehab, and assorted other procedures Erica was sent to Lansing to see a specialist. He ordered a special MRI, which indicated Erica had a tear in some cartilage in the hip socket area, and needed surgery.

Erica began to tell her dad and I in 3rd grade that she was going to play college basketball. We thought it was a cute little dream and thought little of it at first. It didn't take long to realize that not only did she have athletic ability, but her commitment to hard work at a very young age revealed to us that this was truly a dream and a goal for our daughter. She worked incredibly hard and had to overcome some big obstacles, one of them being that she is only about 5'5" tall. By the time Erica was a sophomore she had several colleges at the division one level looking at her.

This injury happened in her junior year, the very worst time for an injury, as that is the peak recruiting year for high school students. Erica was scheduled for surgery on June 13th. We realized that all the summer exposure camps she had been invited to were not going to happen, but we were releaved that the problem was going to finally be fixed. We had watched our very strong and athletic daughter for five months not be able to lift her leg toward her chest more than an inch or two without extreme pain. She was not able to lift her leg off the floor when lying on her back or hold it off the floor when someone manually lifted it for her. It would immediately drop to the floor. Something as simple as climbing stairs was painful and running was absolutely impossible.

Erica had her surgery on June 13th. The surgeon came and got me and took me to a small room where he informed me that there was no tear in the cartilage. I began rejoicing until he said the word, "but". I am a registered nurse, and know that the word "But" was not a good thing. He told me that he began probing around at the surgical site because he knew there was a problem. His words to me were I came to an area in the neck of Erica's femur and "my probe dropped 5mm into her bone." He did not push it in, it dropped in. He did not push to see how far it would have gone. He biopsied the site and praise God it was negative for cancer.He gave the condition the name avascular necrosis, which is a lack of blood supply to the bone. We headed for home and my struggle with God began.

I called my husband and gave him the news, he was very calm and didn't react much. I did not understand his response at the time. The doctor called the next day and told me he had consulted with other doctors. They put Erica on strict non-weightbearing for six weeks. Then another mRI would be done. If there was no change, Erica would go to Duke University, where they would take bone and blood vessel from her tibia and graft it in to her femur. If this did not take, Erica would most likely have to have a total hip replacement by the age of twenty.

I was devastated.Erica's dream of playing college basketball was gone and perhaps she was going to have life long physical issues. Iwas angry at God, and I let him know I was angry. I went through two weeks of this struggling with God. Then Craig did a sermon on the sovereignty of God. I knew God was speaking directly to me. It was that morning that I surrendered Erica to the Lord, and I felt this load lifted from me. I had been praying for Erica's healing, but now I could pray in freedom. Jerry and I had her anointed and prayed over by the pastors twice, and she was prayed over two other times by groups of people. There were many, many people praying for her.

Much to my embarrassment, Erica came to the place of surrender long before I did. I truly felt in my spirit that this was not God's plan for Erica. I began praying scripture over her, and was standing on the verse by his wounds we are healed. I had made arrangements for Erica to be seen by two doctors at Mayo clinic for a second opinion. However, I kept getting just one word from the Lord, WAIT. I argued with God and told him that the nurse in me and the mother in me did not want to wait, and I pleaded with Him that if he was truly asking me to wait, then let me read that in scripture that particular morning.

I don't know why, but I began reading Zephaniah. I haven't read Zephaniah in probably ten years. I got to chapter three and just before verse eight, my Bible has a heading, which reads "The day of Hope." Verse eight says,"Therefore,wait for me declares the Lord, for the day I will stand up to testify..." I couldn't believe what I had just read. I again, that day surreneder to God and said yes Lord, I will wait. This was about July 10th. We continued to pray and trust God. Isaiah 53:5 continued to be the scripture we stood on "...and by his wounds we are healed."

The morning of July 13th I was on my way to work. Erica had spent the night with her cousin, Aunt and uncle. She went to basketball practice that morning as she did every day, and watched some the sidelines. The assistant coach approached Erica that morning and asked her what is it exactly that you can't do. She showed him that when she lifted her right leg and flexed toward her chest she could lift her foot about two inches off the floor before she had extreme pain. She also had an area about the diameter of a quarter, in her upper femur that when pushed on caused excrutiating pain. He went back to practicing with the others.

I usually listen to Smile FM on my way to work. I was frustrated that morning because the station wouldn't come in. It had always but fine before. Usually, I would just turn the radio off. For some reason I hit the next button.WLJN was the station that came in. A very old song by Carmen, I think it is called "The Champion," which is about a boxing match between Jesus and Satan, was playing. About fifteen seconds after tuning in the station, the words, "and by his wounds you are healed, part of the song, were said. I thanked God through my tears for his promises and went to work. I picked up Erica at 5pm. On the ride home she was concerned that her surgical wounds were oozing and might be infected, and she was concerned about this new pain she had noticed with a certain movement the night before.

When we got home, I had her lay flat on her back on our couch. I looked at her wounds, they were oozing a bit, but not infected. She then showed me the painful motion she had noticed the day before. Much to her surprise, it didn't hurt this time. I asked her to do it again-no pain. Erica said nothing, but just looked at me as she lifted her leg effortlessly toward the ceiling.

I couldn't believe what I had just seen. She did it again, and then jumped up and brought her leg completely to her chest with absolutely no pain. By now we were crying and trying to absorb what was happening. She pushed as hard as she could on that quarter size area and she had no pain. I called my sister Michelle and tried to get the words out that God had just healed Erica.

While I was on the phone, Erica whispered in my ear "Race you." Before I could yell NO, Erica took off running full speed across our lawn, laughing and crying at the same time. I was absolutely speechless. We called several other people, pastor Larry, Pastor Dave, and others. They were nearly speechless too.

During this time, God had spoken to Jerry that It was not going to be by man's hand that Erica was going to recover. He treasured this in his heart. That was why he was so calm, and even releaved when I told him that the doctor did not fix Erica's problem after surgery. He had heard from God and he knew it. Jerry came through the door and I met him with the news. He was calm, as he stood there with a smiley face balloon in his hand. He went to his daughter and said that God had told him to stop and buy Erica a balloon. He wasn't sure why or what one to buy. But then God told him to buy the smiley face one. So he did, and we all understood.

I emailed her doctor in Lansing, to tell him what had happened. He was cautious of course. He ordered another MRI, which Erica had done after returning from the youth retreat in NewYork, at which she participated in every event with no pain or restrictions. We took Ericas report and MRI films to Lansing and met with the orthopeadic surgeon. He looked at the MRI and informed us that it was perfectly normal. He said to Erica, "Erica, I must tell you that this is not at all the outcome we expected for you, and I would have to agree with you and your mom. You truly have been healed and this is a miracle."

We left there with an inexpressable joy, giving glory to God. I don't know why God healed Erica. The full understanding of it will probably not happen this side of heaven, but I do know that God has used it several times already to give people hope, to restore people's faith and to show people that He is not a far off God who is unconcerned about our lives, but a loving and close heavenly father who wants to be involved in every aspect of our lives. Erica is now on a basketball scholarship at Indiana Wesleyan University having a wonderful time and glorifying God with her talent and her story.

"What if God does not demand prayer as much as gives prayer? What if God wants prayer in order to satisfy us?

What if prayer is a means of God nourishing, restoring, healing, converting us?

Suppose prayer is primarily allowing ourelves to be loved, addressed and claimed by God. What if praying means opening ourselves to the gift of God's own self and presence? What if our part in prayer is primarily letting God be the giver? Suppose prayer is not a duty but the opportunity to experience healing and transforming love."

Seeing the Beauty and Goodness in Front of Us

We don't have to go far to find the treasure we are seeking. There is beauty and goodness right where we are. And only when we can see the beauty and goodness that are close by can we recognize beauty and goodness on our travels far and wide. There are trees and flowers to enjoy, paintings and sculptures to admire; most of all there are people who smile, play, and show kindness and gentleness. They are all around us, to be recognized as free gifts to receive in gratitude.

Our temptation is to collect all the beauty and goodness surrounding us as helpful information we can use for our projects. But then we cannot enjoy it, and we soon find that we need a vacation to restore ourselves. Let's try to see the beauty and goodness in front of us before we go elsewhere to look for it.

Prayer is not appointed for the furnishing of God with the knowledge of what we need, but it is designed as a confession to Him of our sense of the need. In this, as in everything, God's thoughts are not as ours. God requires that His gifts should be sought for. He designs to be honoured by our asking, just as He is to be thanked by us after He has bestowed His blessing.

As the Lamb
Jill Carattini

Ralph Wood, professor of theology and literature at Baylor University, once asked a group of seminary students to compare two individuals: an astute collegian who tells you insistently that sin and the fall of humanity are fallacies invented by the superstitious, and a young pagan in a remote village whom you find in the woods sacrificing a chicken on a makeshift altar. "Which man is farther from the truth?" he asked. The students hemmed and hawed but hesitantly agreed that the pagan boy, however primitively, understood something the other did not. There is a need in
our lives for atonement. There is a need for blood.

As Malcolm Muggeridge regularly insisted, the depravity of humankind is at once the most unpopular of the Christian doctrines and yet the most empirically verifiable. We have within us a basic sense of our desperate condition. We are aware--or often reminded--that we are not quite what we should be, what we were intended to be. Something went wrong, something we yearn to see made right, but somehow find ourselves incapable of restoring.

For generations, the Israelites labored to follow laws that were meant to atone for their sin and restore them to the presence of God: "And you shall provide a lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering to the LORD daily; morning by morning you shall provide it" (Ezekiel 46:13).
The language of sacrifice and offering was found throughout Near Eastern culture. But Israel's sacrifices were not the same as blood shed by those attempting to appease the many gods they feared and followed. The prophets sent throughout Israel's history were forever insisting that what God was commanding was far more than the empty performance of sacrifice. God wanted sacrifices offered with hearts of worship, lives yearning to be in the presence of their creator, though recognizing the fear of such an act.
The God of Israel wanted to be near his chosen people, and God made them a way through the blood of a spotless lamb.

When Scripture speaks of Christ as the Lamb of God, it is easy to think of it as something like a symbolic code. Each time we read of the lamb or the lion in Scripture, it is easy to move through the text with an instantaneous recognition: The lamb is Christ. The lion is Christ. But Oxford scholar John Lennox reminds us that these passages tell us not only who it is, but what it is. It is Christ as the lamb, the spotless lamb whose blood my life requires. The description moves well beyond symbolism. Christ is the Lamb whose blood atones my depravity, the Lamb who moves me forever into the presence of God.

When the apostle John describes his vision of heaven in the book of Revelation, the Lamb is found in the center of a singing multitude: "Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders"
(Revelation 5:6). Lennox thus asks thoughtfully: "But how can a slain lamb stand?" On these days leading up to holy week, it is an image that poses much for our hearts and minds. The Lamb who bore my sins, forever bears the scars of my atonement, even as he stands.

As the Lamb, Christ has reached a need we could not. He has become the sacrifice we could not give. He is the Lamb who was slain so that we could bow and sing in the presence of God on Easter Sunday. In these days leading to that celebration, indeed, as the apostle instructs, behold the Lamb of God. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Cornerstone, the Shepherd, our Advocate who overcomes. The Slain Lamb stands!

Jill Carattini is senior associate writer at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia

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Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation.

Come, my soul, think thou of this. Believing in Jesus, thou art actually and effectually cleared from guilt; thou art led out of thy prison. Thou art no more in fetters as a bond-slave; thou art delivered now from the bondage of the law; thou art freed from sin, and canst walk at large as a freeman, they Saviour's blood has procured thy full discharge. Thou hast a right now to approach thy Father's throne. No flames of vengeance are there to scare thee now; no fiery sword; justice cannot smite the innocent. Thy disabilities are taken away: thou wast once unable to see thy Father's face: thou canst see it now. Thou couldst not speak with Him: but now thou hast access with boldness. Once there was a fear of hell upon thee; but thou hast no fear of it now, for how can there be punishment for the guiltless? He who believeth is not condemned, and cannot be punished. And more than all, the privileges thou mightst have enjoyed, if thou hadst never sinned, are thine now thou art justified. All the blessings which thou wouldst have had if thou hadst kept the law, and more, are thine, because Christ has kept it for thee. All the love and the acceptance which perfect obedience could have obtained of God, belong to thee, because Christ was perfectly obedient on thy behalf, and hath imputed all His merits to thy account, that thou mightst be exceeding rich through Him, who for thy sake became exceeding poor. Oh! How great the debt of love and gratitude thou owest to thy Saviour!
"A debtor to mercy alone,
Of covenant mercy I sing;
Nor fear with Thy righteousness on,
My person and offerings to bring:
The terrors of law and of God,
With me can have nothing to do;
My Saviour's obedience and blood
Hide all my transgressions from view."

anonymous

Abraham Lincoln's Path to Divine Providence
February 12, 2008
By John Piper

Read this article on our website.

Abraham Lincoln, who was born on this day 199 years ago, remained skeptical, and at times even cynical, about religion into his forties. So the most striking thing about Marvin Olasky's recent article about Lincoln in World Magazine is how personal and national suffering drew Lincoln into the reality of God, rather than pushing him away.

In 1862, when Lincoln was 53 years old, his 11-year-old son Willie died. Lincoln's wife "tried to deal with her grief by searching out New Age mediums." Lincoln turned to Phineas Gurley, pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington. Several long talks led to what Gurley described as "a conversion to Christ." Lincoln confided that he was "driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I have nowhere else to go."

Similarly, the horrors of the dead and wounded soldiers assaulted him daily. There were fifty hospitals for the wounded in Washington. The rotunda of the Capitol held 2,000 cots for wounded soldiers. Typically, fifty soldiers a day died in these temporary hospitals. All of this drove Lincoln deeper into the providence of God. "We cannot but believe, that He who made the world still governs it."

His most famous statement about the providence of God in relation to the Civil War was his Second Inaugural Address, given a month before he was assassinated. It is remarkable for not making God a simple supporter for the Union or Confederate cause. He has his own purposes and does not excuse sin on either side.

Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war might speedily pass away.... Yet if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid with another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said, "the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether."

Lincoln would have resonated with the paradoxical words of Alexander Solzhenitsyn eighty years later, whose imprisonment in Joseph Stalin's "corrective labor camps" led not to despair but to the discovery of goodness:

It was granted to me to carry away from my prison years on my bent back, which nearly broke beneath its load, this essential experience: how a human being becomes evil and how good. In the intoxication of youthful successes I had felt myself to be infallible, and I was therefore cruel. In the surfeit of power I was a murderer and an oppressor. In my most evil moments I was convinced that I was doing good, and I was well supplied with systematic arguments. It was only when I lay there on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart—and through all human hearts. . . . That is why I turn back to the years of my imprisonment and say, sometimes to the astonishment of those about me: "Bless you, prison!" I ... have served enough time there. I nourished my soul there, and I say without hesitation: "Bless you, prison, for having been in my life!" (The Gulag Archipelago: 1918-1956, 615-617)

I pray for all of you who suffer loss and injury and great sorrow that it will awaken for you, as it did for Lincoln, not an empty nihilism, but a deeper reliance on the infinite wisdom and love of God's inscrutable providence. "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!" (Romans 11:33).

Pastor John

I wish, brothers and sisters, that we could all imitate "the pearl oyster"—A hurtful particle intrudes itself into its shell, and this vexes and grieves it. It cannot reject the evil, but what does it do but "cover" it with a precious substance extracted out of its own life, by which it turns the intruder into a pearl! Oh, that we could do so with the provocations we receive from our fellow Christians, so that pearls of patience, gentleness, and forgiveness might be bred within us by that which otherwise would have harmed us.

When Love is Tough

Love suffers long and is kind; loves does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up. Does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoke, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Some chapters in the Bible are well-known just by their chapter reference. I bet if I said, 1 Corinthians 13, you’d say love right away. Normally your Bible doesn’t turn there except on Valentine’s Day or you’re at a wedding. This chapter is like a beautiful flower that people admire but then file away with “white lace and promises....”

However, put 1 Corinthians 13 under a microscope, and you’ll discover that it only becomes more beautiful, especially as it applies to someone we struggle to love. Love is an attitude-a pattern of thinking formed over a period of time. When the people in our lives aren’t living up to what we think they should be doing and our critical spirit kicks in, we need to get to work on whatever attribute of love applies. Maybe we put on kindness . . . or patience . . . or give that person grace to grow in that area that is really turning your crank. Go through 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 and ask the Lord to show you how to express this kind of tough love. We’ve all learned the hard way that if you:

Confront without love, someone gets hurt.
Correct without love, someone gets hurt.
Complain without love, someone gets hurt.
Console without love, and someone already hurt gets hurt worse.
In most cases, when love is missing from the communication, everyone loses. No matter how clearly you understand God’s truth or how capable you are of bringing truth to bear upon a person’s life, if you don’t love the person you’re talking to, if you don’t have a broken heart for them-you’re just wasting your time. How many times have we made the mistake of speaking the truth to someone but not having been on our knees for them? The very first verse in 1 Corinthians 13 says that it doesn’t matter how eloquent or super-spiritual I sound, if I don’t have love, “I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal . . .”

The world is all too familiar with selfish, hateful communication. It never expects love.

Words That Feed Us

When we talk to one another, we often talk about what happened, what we are doing, or what we plan to do. Often we say, "What's up?" and we encourage one another to share the details of our daily lives. But often we want to hear something else. We want to hear, "I've been thinking of you today," or "I missed you," or "I wish you were here," or "I really love you." It is not always easy to say these words, but such words can deepen our bonds with one another.

Telling someone "I love you" in whatever way is always delivering good news. Nobody will respond by saying, "Well, I knew that already, you don't have to say it again"! Words of love and affirmation are like bread. We need them each day, over and over. They keep us alive inside.

Dying Well

We will all die one day. That is one of the few things we can be sure of. But will we die well? That is less certain. Dying well means dying for others, making our lives fruitful for those we leave behind. The big question, therefore, is not "What can I still do in the years I have left to live?" but "How can I prepare myself for my death so that my life can continue to bear fruit in the generations that will follow me?"

Jesus died well because through dying he sent his Spirit of Love to his friends, who with that Holy Spirit could live better lives. Can we also send the Spirit of Love to our friends when we leave them? Or are we too worried about what we can still do? Dying can become our greatest gift if we prepare ourselves to die well.

A truly humble man is sensible of his natural distance from God; of his dependence on Him; of the insufficiency of his own power and wisdom; and that it is by God's power that he is upheld and provided for, and that he needs God's wisdom to lead and guide him, and His might to enable him to do what he ought to do for Him.

Words That Create

Words, words, words. Our society is full of words: on billboards, on television screens, in newspapers and books. Words whispered, shouted, and sung. Words that move, dance, and change in size and color. Words that say, "Taste me, smell me, eat me, drink me, sleep with me," but most of all, "buy me." With so many words around us, we quickly say: "Well, they're just words." Thus, words have lost much of their power.

Still, the word has the power to create. When God speaks, God creates. When God says, "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3), light is. God speaks light. For God, speaking and creating are the same. It is this creative power of the word we need to reclaim. What we say is very important. When we say, "I love you," and say it from the heart, we can give another person new life, new hope, new courage. When we say, "I hate you," we can destroy another person. Let's watch our words.

Care, the Source of All Cure

Care is something other than cure. Cure means "change." A doctor, a lawyer, a minister, a social worker-they all want to use their professional skills to bring about changes in people's lives. They get paid for whatever kind of cure they can bring about. But cure, desirable as it may be, can easily become violent, manipulative, and even destructive if it does not grow out of care. Care is being with, crying out with, suffering with, feeling with. Care is compassion. It is claiming the truth that the other person is my brother or sister, human, mortal, vulnerable, like I am.

When care is our first concern, cure can be received as a gift. Often we are not able to cure, but we are always able to care. To care is to be human.

Changed from the Inside Out
by Max Lucado

When you believe in Christ, Christ works a miracle in you. You are permanently purified and empowered by God himself. The message of Jesus to the religious person is simple: It's not what you do. It's what I do. I have moved in. And in time you can say with Paul, "I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20).

If I'm born again, why do I fall so often?

Why did you fall so often after your first birth? Did you exit the womb wearing cross-trainers? Did you do the two-step on the day of your delivery? Of course not. And when you started to walk, you fell more than you stood. Should we expect anything different from our spiritual walk?

But I fall so often, I question my salvation. Again, we return to your first birth. Didn't you stumble as you were learning to walk? And when you stumbled, did you question the validity of your physical birth? Did you, as a one-year-old fresh flopped on the floor, shake your head and think, I have fallen again. I must not be human?

Of course not. The stumbles of a toddler do not invalidate the act of birth. And the stumbles of a Christian do not annul his spiritual birth.

Do you understand what God has done? He has deposited a Christ seed in you. As it grows, you will change. It's not that sin has no more presence in your life, but rather that sin has no more power over your life. Temptation will pester you, but temptation will not master you. What hope this brings!

Hear this. It's not up to you! Within you abides a budding power. Trust him!

Think of it this way. Suppose you, for most of your life, have had a heart condition. Your frail pumper restricts your activities. Each morning at work when the healthy employees take the stairs, you wait for the elevator.

But then comes the transplant. A healthy heart is placed within you. After recovery, you return to work and encounter the flight of stairs--the same flight of stairs you earlier avoided. By habit, you start for the elevator. But then you remember. You aren't the same person. You have a new heart. Within you dwells a new power.

Do you live like the old person or the new? Do you count yourself as having a new heart or old? You have a choice to make.

You might say, "I can't climb stairs; I'm too weak." Does your choice negate the presence of a new heart? Dismiss the work of the surgeon? No. Choosing the elevator would suggest only one fact--you haven't learned to trust your new power.

It takes time. But at some point you've got to try those stairs. You've got to test the new ticker. You've got to experiment with the new you. For if you don't, you will run out of steam.

Religious rule keeping can sap your strength. It's endless. There is always another class to attend, Sabbath to obey, Ramadan to observe. No prison is as endless as the prison of perfection. Her inmates find work but never find peace. How could they? They never know when they are finished.

Christ, however, gifts you with a finished work. He fulfilled the law for you. Bid farewell to the burden of religion. Gone is the fear that having done everything, you might not have done enough. You climb the stairs, not by your strength, but his. God pledges to help those who stop trying to help themselves.

"He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:6.) God will change you from the inside out.

As rivers, the nearer they come to the ocean whither they tend, the more they increase their waters, and speed their streams; so will grace flow more fully and freely in its near approaches to the ocean of glory.

Giving and Receiving Consolation

Consolation is a beautiful word. It means "to be" (con-) "with the lonely one" (solus). To offer consolation is one of the most important ways to care. Life is so full of pain, sadness, and loneliness that we often wonder what we can do to alleviate the immense suffering we see. We can and must offer consolation. We can and must console the mother who lost her child, the young person with AIDS, the family whose house burned down, the soldier who was wounded, the teenager who contemplates suicide, the old man who wonders why he should stay alive.

To console does not mean to take away the pain but rather to be there and say, "You are not alone, I am with you. Together we can carry the burden. Don't be afraid. I am here." That is consolation. We all need to give it as well as to receive it.

Oscar Wilde

The cheerful little girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them, a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box.

'Oh mommy please, Mommy Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please?'

Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl's upturned face.

'A dollar ninety-five. That's almost $2.00. If you really want them, I'll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself. Your birthday's only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma.'

As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbor and asked Mrs. McJames if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.

Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere, Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath. Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.

Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story. One night as he finished the story, he asked Jenny, 'Do you love me?'

'Oh yes, daddy. You know that I love you.'

'Then give me your pearls.'
'Oh, daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess, the white horse from my collection, the one with the pink tail. Remember, daddy? The one you gave me. She's my very favorite.'

'That's okay, Honey, daddy loves you. Good night.' And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.

About a week later, after the story time, Jenny's daddy asked again, 'Do you love me?'

'Daddy, you know I love you.'

'Then give me your pearls'
'Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand new one I got for my birthday. She is beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper.'

'That's okay. Sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you.'

And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss.

A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed Indian style.

As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek.
'What is it, Jenny? What's the matter?'

Jenny didn't say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. And when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said, 'Here, daddy; this is for you.'

With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny's daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny.

He had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her the genuine treasure. So it is, with our Heavenly Father. He is waiting for us to give up the cheap things in our lives so that he can give us beautiful treasures.

Christian, let God's distinguishing love to you be a motive to you to fear Him greatly. He has put His fear in your heart, and may not have given that blessing to your neighbor, perhaps not to your husband, your wife, your child, or your parent. Oh, what an obligation should this thought lay upon your heart to greatly fear the Lord! Remember also that this fear of the Lord is His treasure, a choice jewel, given only to favorites, and to those who are greatly beloved.

The Final Apologetic
L.T. Jeyachandran

If there’s a message that the Lord has been speaking to me over many years is it the crucial aspect of what it means to be a Christian community.

What Jesus would say to his disciples the closing evening before he would be arrested and tried is of such importance in our understanding what it means to be Christian. I’m beginning to see that is it not what it means to speak christianly per se, but rather, to be Christians. Jesus said in John 13:34, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” The old commandment was from Leviticus 19, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Now here, Jesus raises the bar and says, the standard of your love for one another will not be your love for yourself; it’ll be my love for you: “As I have loved you, you must love one another.”

If you read John 13 through 17 in one sitting, you will see that the bookend chapters are different in many ways. John 13 is an active parable of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. John 17 is Jesus’s prayer to the Father. Here we are afforded one of the most sacred episodes of eavesdropping as we listen to a conversation in the Trinity. John 14 through 16 is centralized teaching on the work of the Holy Spirit. But the middle chapters can never be detached from John 13 and 17, where the Holy Spirit is not mentioned by name. We begin to see that Jesus is sharing with the disciples something that is part of the being of God.
Then in John 15:9, Jesus says again, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” In other words, the standard of love for us within the body of Christ is the standard by which the Father loves the Son.

As we listen to Jesus speak to his Father in these chapters, we discover the important doctrine of God that is so special to Christians. It is significant to note that the doctrine of the Trinity did not come to us either by philosophical or theological speculation. Rather, it comes to us by three historic encounters: God at the foot of Mt. Sinai, God on the dusty streets of Palestine in Jerusalem, God in the Upper Room. Are there three gods? No. Because if there is more than one God, each of those gods would necessarily be limited. Is it one person playing three roles? After all, we hear one person speaking to another. We hear the Son speaking to the Father, the Father speaking to the Son. We heard the Son referring to the Holy Spirit as another person. But no--not three gods, not one person playing three roles.

Thus the only obvious, inescapable conclusion: here are three persons, who in some amazing, mysterious way constitute one God. Their relationship is going to be the standard by which our love for one another would be measured.

In the country of my birth, India, I have often shared the gospel with Hindus and Muslims. And of course, you need to have an apologetic for them when you ask them to follow Christ because you are calling them out of a community. Hindus and Muslims have very strong communities. I’m now discovering in the Asia Pacific, that Buddhism is also an equally strong community. But when you ask them to follow Christ, are you inviting them into a community or are you calling them out of their communities into a vacuum?

To be a part of the body of Christ is about constructing such communities.
That’s exactly what Jesus is saying here in John 13-17. The demonstration of the reality of the Trinity, in the final analysis, is not going to be theological; it is going to be experiential. It has to be demonstrable.
It has to be seen and felt by people that they would know that we belong to Christ.

The only way people will know that you are my disciples, says Jesus, is to demonstrate it, not individually, but by your relationships--for there can be no real apologetic without a community of love and relationships. “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” After we have given all the arguments, the defenses and the evidences, this indeed is the final apologetic.

L.T. Jeyachandran is executive director of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Singapore.

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A true faith in Jesus Christ will not suffer us to be idle. No, it is an active, lively, restless principle; it fills the heart, so that it cannot be easy till it is doing something for Jesus Christ.

By Tim Manzer

I was wondering an odd thought the other day, “Could Hillary Clinton and I meet at Beaner’s coffee shop and discuss books?” The question began with a jail visit; I was taking a friend to visit his wife. The state of Michigan was making her sit still and eat a high starch diet for a few months. He could not drive a car. So we traveled to the tiny jail in the middle of cherry orchards in Northern Michigan. Having nothing else to do while he visited, I read all the magazines in the jail lobby.

In an ancient issue of “O” magazine, Hillary Clinton was asked what her favorite book was. I have asked the same question to others when I want to consider making them a close friend. If they answer a book by Thomas Merton, Calvin & Hobbes, C. H. Spurgeon, Dr. Seuss, Hannah Hurhard, Jon Krakauer, Max Lucado, Oswald Chambers, Francine Rivers, Brennan Manning, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Far Side, Pete Greig, Randall Arthur, Amy Carmichael or hundreds of other authors that I love, then I know that we might be friends. I like book-lovers who love to discuss literature, especially classic Christian works, Mountain-climbing novels or certain crazy cartoons.

When I daydream about books I have some wild fantasies. I would love to invite Don Miller over to my home. We could play video games and talk about how messed up life is till we are both blue like jazz. I could go Frisbee golfing with John Eldredge and have a captivating conversation about living out our wild hearts. I could invite John Piper, H.A. Ironside, Jim Cymbala and Matthew Henry over for a game of cards. We could all discuss faith and theology while we play Euchre.

Just imagine meeting C. S. Lewis at the local north woods pub and talking about the imagery behind the characters in “Narnia”. After he had a few beers I would ask him about “Shadowlands”. Then we would cry together. Or I could go cross-country skiing with Phil Yancey, we would ski for a few miles and then I could ask him about the subjects of pain and prayer. I would love to double-date with Mr. and Mrs. Gary Thomas. We could go out for a seafood dinner and discuss holiness and marriage. I can see myself sitting in the hot-tub and discussing the power of fantasy with J.R.R.Tolkien, G.K.Chesterton, John Grisham and Ted Dekker. It is a good thing that I have a big hot-tub.

I will never have these wonderful experiences but each time I preach, teach, talk and counsel, these authors go with me. They are friends that I have traveled with; laughed with; wept with and learned from. Their love for God and passion for truth has given me hope in times of distress, peace in the midst of the battle and perspective in this journey called life.

So back to Hillary Clinton; she picked “The Return of the Prodigal Son” as a favorite book. I love that book! Hillary even picked out an excerpt from the book that I found to be deeply profound. You can learn a lot about someone by the books they love. As Dawn Adams writes, “Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man far better than through mortal friends.”

I can now see myself sipping a hot spiced chai and talking about the powerful writings of Henri Nouwen with Hillary. Then I would have to confess to her that I have often been like the older brother. That would be difficult. After that awkward moment; we could talk about the amazing love of the father in the story of the prodigal. So Hillary if you get bored with politics. Come and visit me at Beaner’s and chat about Henri Nouwen.
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I love these quotes;

Will Rogers declares, “There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.”

Dr. Seuss says, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”

Oswald Chambers explains, “Books are standing counselors and preachers, always at hand, and always disinterested; having this advantage over oral instructors, that they are ready to repeat their lesson as often as we please.”

Plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
Nelson Henderson

Returning to God's Ever-Present Love

We often confuse unconditional love with unconditional approval. God loves us without conditions but does not approve of every human behavior. God doesn't approve of betrayal, violence, hatred, suspicion, and all other expressions of evil, because they all contradict the love God wants to instill in the human heart. Evil is the absence of God's love. Evil does not belong to God.

God's unconditional love means that God continues to love us even when we say or think evil things. God continues to wait for us as a loving parent waits for the return of a lost child. It is important for us to hold on to the truth that God never gives up loving us even when God is saddened by what we do. That truth will help us to return to God's ever-present love.

Eternity to the godly is a day that has no sunset; eternity to the wicked is a night that has no sunrise.

The only gift is a portion of thyself.

A Sinners Prayer for Someone Needing Jesus Again .

You Are All I Ever Wanted! A Prayer to our Lord

Lord, you are all I ever wanted.
You are all I ever needed.
So help me find the right path again
because I want you back.

It's hard to say I'm sorry.
It's hard to forgive myself
for all the sins I have done in my life.

Please don't give up on me Lord.
I'm trying to figure out just what to do.
I am lonely and missing you so much!

Lord, you are all I ever wanted
You are all I ever needed.
So give me a sign to follow.
because I need you back.

Lord, I remember...
when I had you so deep in my life,
You're promises would last forever in me.
But now I have gone astray,
and I am needing you so much.

Lord, forgive me of my sins!
And send me your Holy Spirit.
I want you back.

You're the one I want.
You're the one I need.
Lord, forgive me of my sins.
I submit myself to you
because I got to have you back!

If you read this prayer, and truly have asked Jesus back into your
life...Welcome to the kingdom of God!

God loves you and so do I!
Ken Kreh

God Hates Fake Stuff

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:1-4

Everybody hates a fake.

My wife is so tricky sometimes! She puts out all this counterfeit fruit in bowls in our kitchen and I get so confused. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve picked up a great looking pear and almost broken my tooth when I tried to bite into it! How worthless is that? I hope you don’t have fake fruit at your house.

I also hate fake grass. Football should be played on real turf.

I hate fake laugh tracks on TV shows. What?-is the comedy so bad that it needs canned laughter?

I just hate fake stuff.

God hates fake stuff, too. Not so much the surfacey, silly things that bother me-God hates soul fakeness. He detests the gap in our lives between what we know to be true and how we’re living it. The biblical term is hypocrisy.

There should be some kind of alarm that’s goes off in your heart when there’s a substantive gap between what you say and what you do; between what you profess and what you actually live; between the appearances that you keep up at church in front of other people and what it’s really like at your house. God hates that phoniness. That’s why Jesus says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them” (Matthew 6:1).

People will see you live your life; that’s not the problem. You don’t have to keep secret the fact that you go to church, or raise your hands in worship or get on your knees to pray, or open your written-in Bible. But when you do all those things so that people will see you-that is a problem. Doing-spiritual-things-so-other-people-notice goes right to motive. If you’re acting godly with the desire to get attention or affirmation or strokes from folks-you just got all the reward you deserve and lost God’s approval in the process.

So this begs the question, “Why is hypocrisy such a hard thing to shake?”

It’s because of the weight you and I put on people’s opinions of us rather than feeling the weight of what God thinks of us.

The solution: Don’t do anything “to be seen.” Have a better, more pure reason to do whatever it is you choose to do for God. Anything less than pleasing Him will only get you canned applause.

God's Unconditional Love

What can we say about God's love? We can say that God's love is unconditional. God does not say, "I love you, if ..." There are no ifs in God's heart. God's love for us does not depend on what we do or say, on our looks or intelligence, on our success or popularity. God's love for us existed before we were born and will exist after we have died. God's love is from eternity to eternity and is not bound to any time-related events or circumstances. Does that mean that God does not care what we do or say? No, because God's love wouldn't be real if God didn't care. To love without condition does not mean to love without concern. God desires to enter into relationship with us and wants us to love God in return.

Let's dare to enter into an intimate relationship with God without fear, trusting that we will receive love and always more love.

“Death is never sudden to a saint; no guest comes unawares to him who keeps a constant table.” By George Swinnock

by Jeremiah Burroughs