How many blessings have you missed? How many battles have you lost because you gave up in fear, and frustration and refused to continue on until the end and obtain the blessing that was waiting for you. Faithfulness to God and our Saviour is paramount to all other things and it is in that faithfulness that the blessing is realized. There is a song titled “Don’t Give Up On The Brink of a Miracle.” So many times when the battle seems long and just to hard to bear we give up. We stop praying, we stop searching, we stop fighting for what God has promised and in the end we miss out on the miracle that was waiting for us at the end of the struggle. Fellow soldier, DON’T GIVE UP!! Continue to fight the good fight. Evil may seem to be winning but God is always victorious and He will never, I say NEVER leave you alone in the battle. Are you praying for a lost love one, DON’T GIVE UP!!! Their salvation is sure to come. Are you praying for healing, DON’T GIVE UP!!! God’s answer is on the way!! Are you praying for direction, keep on keeping on, do all you can do for the Master until He shows you which way to turn. Don’t go on in presumption, but walk in faith, trusting that God will lead you and that He will open the doors He wants and close the doors He doesn’t. Phil 4:13“I can do all things thru Christ who strengthens me.” 2 Tim 1:12 For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.”These arejust a couple of verses from God’s word that encourage us to fight on. Fight on weary soldier, DON’T GIVE UP, trust and obey, and have faith in God that He will see you thru. There is a blessing at the end of your struggle that you do not want to miss. You’ve heard the saying, “a pot at the end of the rainbow” well better then that is the blessing at the end of your struggle will be more then your heart can contain.
“Oh for faith that brings the triumph
When defeat seems strangely near.
Oh for faith that brings the triumph
Into victory’s ringing cheer.
Faith triumphant: knowing not defeat or fear”
Poem written by Herbert Booth
During my devotions one morning I was waiting and meditating on what I had just read from Charles Spurgeon’s devotional, Strengthen my Spirit. The devotion for that day was taken from the story of the woman with the issue of blood who had been to every doctor, spent all her money trying to find relief from her illness and could find none, until she reached out and touched the hem of Jesus garment, and was made perfectly whole. Spurgeon was talking about knowing Christ in all His fullness and all His glory. I began to desire that type of closeness with my heavenly Father, to know Him and His love for me in such a way as to never doubt again. To quote Spurgeon, “ I wanted my eyes to be cleansed until I could see my Lord as He is and could sing of those beauties which are the light and crown of heaven itself. If I but touch the Hem of Jesus’s garment, I shall be made whole, but will this always satisfy me? Won’t I desire to get beyond the hem and beyond the garment, to Himself and to His heart, and there forever take up residence?” My answer was a resounding YES LORD YES!!!. Spurgeon says that if one touch of the hem of Jesus garment made the woman totally whole, imagine what allowing Jesus to wrap us in His garment can do. I want to be wrapped in His blessed garments, to be one with my Lord and to know His love beyond compare is truly mine. As I prayed and asked Jesus to help me understand these things I began to sing. “Open My Eyes Lord so that I may clearly see” the tears began to flow and I knew my Lord was listening. The chorus was first, then as days went by the verses came and soon the cry of my heart was in this song. Do you long to know Jesus in such a way as this? If so you must first come to Him and tell Him so, read His word to know Him better, open your heart and mind and allow Him with His Holy Spirit to speak to you and show you His fullness, His mercy, and His grace that goes beyond anything you have ever desired in this life. I pray that this will be your prayer as well, and that somehow this song will reach into the hearts of God’s children and cause them to rise up and say…. Open My Eye’s Lord and wrap me in your presence so that I may know you and surrender to you wholly and completely, so that I might share with others Your greatness and glory.
2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.
God in His love is still working, and molding me into the image He wants me to be and I want to be wholly surrendered to His touch. I thank my heavenly Father that He sees me as I will be, not as I am now. Are you being transformed or are you the same now as when you first came to Christ. If so, I urge you to open your heart and search for your place in Christ, you will never be the same again, I promise! O’ Surrender your all to Him and He will reveal Himself to you.
July 2, 2010: Isaiah 28:24.. Doth the plowman plow all day to sow?"
Plowing up the Soil of my Soul
What a month this has been for us. It has seemed from every turn that life has been against us and all those we love. This morning I was reminded by my devotions once again of that great verse in the bible that says… “All things work together for the good of those that love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28” I have wondered about this verse many times. Wondered how to break it down and figure out just exactly what the writer is trying to say to me. It seems that when trials come against us we crumble and begin to doubt our walk and relationship with our heavenly Father, when really we should cling so much closer to Him and hold ever tighter to His loving hand. That is when I realize that I don’t have to worry about my hold to His hand, because HE IS HOLDING MINE. His words assures me that “He will never leave me nor forsake me.” So, why do I worry? Why do I question His will? It is because in this human mind and life I am weak and I know my weakness all too well, but thru Christ and His love and mercy I am stronger then I ever knew I could be and if I will keep my eyes on Him and not on the surrounding circumstances my faith and trust will grow to know no bounds. So I must come to the conclusion that He is plowing up not only my soil, but the soil of my loved ones as well, preparing for a bountiful harvest to take place in our lives. Isaiah 28:24 says in abbreviation “Doth the Plowman plow all day to sow?” Yes of course he does, the good farmer prepares his ground before sowing that precious seed he has bought with which to reap a bountiful harvest. God is working in my life to plow up the soil and prepare in me and in my loved ones a place to plant seed that will yield a bountiful harvest of souls for the kingdom and workers for the fields. He is a perfect God and King and He does all things well. I only need to trust and yield my life to Him completely for Him to use me to harvest that field of souls. An excerpt from my reading this morning says, “Oh that we might always catch the vision of an abundant harvest, when the great Master Plowman comes, as He often does, and furrows thru our very souls, uprooting and turning under that which we thought most fair, and leaving for our tortured gaze only the bare and the unbeautiful. Why should I start or be afraid at the plow of my Lord, that maketh the deep furrows on my soul? I know He is no idle husbandman, He has purposed a bountiful crop”. So today I will purpose in my heart to trust Him with all things. Yes even the dear friend with 4th stage lung cancer, and the one needing 3 organ transplants, and the loved one with Alzheimers, and so many more, even down to what is now the most insignificant of them all, the flood in my home. Oh how some things seem to wane in the shadow of the real troubles, and under His gaze. I love you Lord for reminding me once again of your complete and total awareness of all these things and Your sure resolve to work all things for my good and the good of those I care so much for.
June 22, 2010 2 Timothy 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
This was my devotion for today from Charles Spurgeon's, Strengthen My Spirit.
Spurgeon puts it like this: "The diligent reading of the Word of God with the strong resolve to get at its meaning often produces spiritual life. We are begotten by the Word of God: It is the instrumental means of regeneration. Therefore love your Bible. Keep close to our Bible. You who are seeking the Lord, your first business is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; but while you are yet in darkness and in gloom, love your Bible and search it. Take it to bed with you, and when you wake up in the morning, if it is too early to go downstairs and disturb the house, get half an hour of reading upstairs. Say, "Lord, guide me to that text which shall bless me. Help me to understand how I, a poor sinner, can be reconciled to You." Oh, cling to scripture. it is the silken clue that will lead you to Him. Cling to Christ and He will speak to you thru His word. Follow it's leadings faithfully.
When you have received regeneration and a new life, keep on reading because it will comfort you. You will see more of what the Lord has done for you. You will learn that you are redeemed, adopted, saved, sanctified. Half the errors in the world spring from people not reading their Bibles."
As I thought on this this morning, I had to reflect back on how in the past and even now the Bible has, and still does, speak to me in so many ways. Revealing to me just what my heavenly Father is like and how much He truly loves me. I can honestly say no matter how many times I have read my Bible, over and over, it has spoken to me in a new and special way. It seems to be a new book with every reading. I have received strength for a difficult time or journey, I have received healing for physical sickness and emotional hurts. It has been my refuge in times of storm, and it has been my hiding place, it has also been my encouragement to continue this walk with my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. My prayer for all my friends is that you will become familiar with your Bible. Read it daily, get a NIV if need be or a NKJV so that it will be easier for you to understand. Make it a part of your daily life, (as the body needs food so does your spirit need that food from heaven that is in the Word of God,) and I guarantee to you that you will find Jesus and all that you are looking for in this life and the life that is sure to come, in those pages.
I was reading my bible the other morning during my daily devotions. I am reading the major and minor prophets right now and so much is relevant for today. While I was reading I began to think about God's soon return to bring His children home. I have a tendency to let things I see happening in this world today cause me to be anxious and at times angry. But as I was reading the Lord brought to my memory the verse that says in Luke 21:28 "And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." (American King James Version) I began to thank the Lord for reminding me that these things have to be for the Son of God to return for His bride..and as I was rejoicing and praying I felt like I could hear Gabriel practicing his trumpet call for the day when he blows that final trumpet blast to call us home to be with the Lord forever. I felt as if I could hear the ones gone before us rejoicing around the throne of God with the angels. So I have written a new song titled, OH Can't You Hear the Music. I can't wait to get into the studio and record it as it has blessed me already, so I am sure it will bless you all as well. I write these things to encourage the children of God to remember that all these things must come to pass in order for the Lord to return. So dear child, lift up your head and rejoice for your redemption draweth nigh.... OH CAN'T YOU HEAR THE MUSIC!!!!!!!!!!!!
