It is always good when we can look back on situations and see that God had HIS hand on us. It says in Ps 121
5 The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
This is true aways for a child of God. Allot of the time we do not see it but looking back on the events of yesterday, I can see it and I am just over come with thank fullness.
My wife Helen and I were traveling from Raleigh back to be with family in Texas for the Christmas Holiday. Our plane was 25 minutes late leaving the RDU airport but we had an hour layover in Memphis so there would not be a problem with connections. When we arrived in Memphis I discovered our flight to DFW from Memphis had been delayed an hour and forty five minutes. Looking at the Departure board I saw a plane leaving from Memphis leaving in 20 minutes going to Dallas Love Field. God worked it out to allowed us to get on that plane and we arrived in Dallas at 11:30 am. I was thankful to the Lord that I did not have to wait around at the air port an extra two hours. I did not realize what God had done until this morning when I was on the airlines website and saw that the plane we were originally scheduled on did not make it to Dallas but landed in Austin because of the snow storm in Dallas. Last night if not for God we would have spent Christmas eve in the Austin airport rather then a warm bed at my brother and sister in laws.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
God's Words to Us
Zechariah 7
9 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another.
Zechariah 8
6 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: All this may seem impossible to you now, a small remnant of God’s people. But is it impossible for me? says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
16 But this is what you must do: Tell the truth to each other. Render verdicts in your courts that are just and that lead to peace.
17 Don’t scheme against each other. Stop your love of telling lies that you swear are the truth. I hate all these things, says the Lord.”
9 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another.
Zechariah 8
6 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: All this may seem impossible to you now, a small remnant of God’s people. But is it impossible for me? says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
16 But this is what you must do: Tell the truth to each other. Render verdicts in your courts that are just and that lead to peace.
17 Don’t scheme against each other. Stop your love of telling lies that you swear are the truth. I hate all these things, says the Lord.”
Saturday, August 29, 2009
God wants us to be Happy
"God wants us to be happy, But he knows that we cannot be truly happy until we are completely HIS and until HE is our all. And the weaning process is hard. The sorrows of our lives are in great part HIS weaning process we give our hearts over to so many things other than God."
John Eldredge (Walking with God)
John Eldredge (Walking with God)
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Yesterday’s My Utmost for HIS HIGHEST
Yesterday’s My Utmost for HIS HIGHEST really spoke to me when we try to be something it always fails, when we just let God be what HE wants in us everything fits together
August 21st.
THE MINISTRY OF THE UNNOTICED
"Blessed are the poor in spirit." Matthew 5:3
The New Testament notices things which from our standards do not seem to count. "Blessed are the poor in spirit," literally - Blessed are the paupers - an exceedingly commonplace thing! The preaching of to-day is apt to emphasize strength of will, beauty of character - the things that are easily noticed. The phrase we hear so often, Decide for Christ, is an emphasis on something Our Lord never trusted. He never asks us to decide for Him, but to yield to Him - a very different thing. At the basis of Jesus Christ's Kingdom is the unaffected loveliness of the commonplace. The thing I am blessed in is my poverty. If I know I have no strength of will, no nobility of disposition, then Jesus says - Blessed are you, because it is through this poverty that I enter His Kingdom. I cannot enter His Kingdom as a good man or woman, I can only enter it as a complete pauper.
The true character of the loveliness that tells for God is always unconscious. Conscious influence is priggish and un-Christian. If I say - I wonder if I am of any use - I instantly lose the bloom of the touch of the Lord. "He that believeth in me, out of him shall flow rivers of living water." If I examine the outflow, I lose the touch of the Lord.
Which are the people who have influenced us most? Not the ones who thought they did, but those who had not the remotest notion that they were influencing us. In the Christian life the implicit is never conscious, if it is conscious it ceases to have this unaffected loveliness which is the characteristic of the touch of Jesus. We always know when Jesus is at work because He produces in the commonplace something that is inspiring.
August 21st.
THE MINISTRY OF THE UNNOTICED
"Blessed are the poor in spirit." Matthew 5:3
The New Testament notices things which from our standards do not seem to count. "Blessed are the poor in spirit," literally - Blessed are the paupers - an exceedingly commonplace thing! The preaching of to-day is apt to emphasize strength of will, beauty of character - the things that are easily noticed. The phrase we hear so often, Decide for Christ, is an emphasis on something Our Lord never trusted. He never asks us to decide for Him, but to yield to Him - a very different thing. At the basis of Jesus Christ's Kingdom is the unaffected loveliness of the commonplace. The thing I am blessed in is my poverty. If I know I have no strength of will, no nobility of disposition, then Jesus says - Blessed are you, because it is through this poverty that I enter His Kingdom. I cannot enter His Kingdom as a good man or woman, I can only enter it as a complete pauper.
The true character of the loveliness that tells for God is always unconscious. Conscious influence is priggish and un-Christian. If I say - I wonder if I am of any use - I instantly lose the bloom of the touch of the Lord. "He that believeth in me, out of him shall flow rivers of living water." If I examine the outflow, I lose the touch of the Lord.
Which are the people who have influenced us most? Not the ones who thought they did, but those who had not the remotest notion that they were influencing us. In the Christian life the implicit is never conscious, if it is conscious it ceases to have this unaffected loveliness which is the characteristic of the touch of Jesus. We always know when Jesus is at work because He produces in the commonplace something that is inspiring.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Thinking Biblically
While it is good to understand where someone is coming from as much as possible.
It is not necessary to go to deep. D. L. Moody once said:
"A great man people say, you must hear both sides; but if a man should write me a most slanderous letter about my wife, I don’t think I would have to read it; I would tear it up and throw it to the winds. Have I to read all the infidel books that are written, to hear both sides? Have I to take up a book that is slander on my Lord and Master, Who has redeemed me with His blood? Ten thousand times no! I will not touch it. "
It is not necessary to go to deep. D. L. Moody once said:
"A great man people say, you must hear both sides; but if a man should write me a most slanderous letter about my wife, I don’t think I would have to read it; I would tear it up and throw it to the winds. Have I to read all the infidel books that are written, to hear both sides? Have I to take up a book that is slander on my Lord and Master, Who has redeemed me with His blood? Ten thousand times no! I will not touch it. "
Saturday, August 8, 2009
HE touched her
In the Old Testment in the law it states in Leviticus 15 :
25 “If a woman has a flow of blood for many days that is unrelated to her menstrual period, or if the blood continues beyond the normal period, she is ceremonially unclean. As during her menstrual period, the woman will be unclean as long as the discharge continues. 26 Any bed she lies on and any object she sits on during that time will be unclean, just as during her normal menstrual period. 27 If any of you touch these things, you will be ceremonially unclean. You must wash your clothes and bathe yourself in water, and you will remain unclean until evening.
So if someone touched her they would be unclean. That makes the story in Mark chapter five all the more intertesting.
25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
So, she do not make Jesus unclean, but Jesus made her clean. Sort of neat how that works.
25 “If a woman has a flow of blood for many days that is unrelated to her menstrual period, or if the blood continues beyond the normal period, she is ceremonially unclean. As during her menstrual period, the woman will be unclean as long as the discharge continues. 26 Any bed she lies on and any object she sits on during that time will be unclean, just as during her normal menstrual period. 27 If any of you touch these things, you will be ceremonially unclean. You must wash your clothes and bathe yourself in water, and you will remain unclean until evening.
So if someone touched her they would be unclean. That makes the story in Mark chapter five all the more intertesting.
25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
So, she do not make Jesus unclean, but Jesus made her clean. Sort of neat how that works.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
I will Bless the LORD
Habakkuk 3
17 Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,
and there are no grapes on the vines;
even though the olive crop fails,
and the fields lie empty and barren;
even though the flocks die in the fields,
and the cattle barns are empty,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord!
I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength!
He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.
17 Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,
and there are no grapes on the vines;
even though the olive crop fails,
and the fields lie empty and barren;
even though the flocks die in the fields,
and the cattle barns are empty,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord!
I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength!
He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
The Hope the Promise
Isaiah 49
1 Listen to me, all you in distant lands!
Pay attention, you who are far away!
The Lord called me before my birth;
from within the womb he called me by name.
2 He made my words of judgment as sharp as a sword.
He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand.
I am like a sharp arrow in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel,
and you will bring me glory.”
4 I replied, “But my work seems so useless!
I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose.
Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand;
I will trust God for my reward.”
A promise to Israel and to us HIS children. What we do so many times seems so useless so pointless. But some how, some way, we will bring HIM glory.
1 Listen to me, all you in distant lands!
Pay attention, you who are far away!
The Lord called me before my birth;
from within the womb he called me by name.
2 He made my words of judgment as sharp as a sword.
He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand.
I am like a sharp arrow in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel,
and you will bring me glory.”
4 I replied, “But my work seems so useless!
I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose.
Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand;
I will trust God for my reward.”
A promise to Israel and to us HIS children. What we do so many times seems so useless so pointless. But some how, some way, we will bring HIM glory.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Free to Be Me
God made me in Psalms 139 it says:
13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. (NLT)
The only way I can really experience that uniqueness that is me is my submitting my life to HIM. For in Jesus I really can be unique and free. For I am no longer a slave to sin. and have been set free in Jesus to be myself.
13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. (NLT)
The only way I can really experience that uniqueness that is me is my submitting my life to HIM. For in Jesus I really can be unique and free. For I am no longer a slave to sin. and have been set free in Jesus to be myself.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Bath Time
Our two cats Smokey and Isis needed a bath. It was something that they did not enjoy, but they did allow it, but not without some protest. Probably would not worked out as well with two feral cats. If I had just saw two feral cats outside and decided to help them by giving them a bath. Funny how that is Smokey and Isis allowed us because they knew and trusted us. Two feral cats would not know me or trust me and would definitely not have allowed me to give them a bath.
Our cats could not understand what needed to be done. Even if I could speak with my cats and explain I do not believe they would agree that a bath was a good thing. They would probably say their way of cleaning themselves (licking) is just fine. In the end they will just have to accept that what I say is best and they will do that because of their relationship with me.
Maybe that is how it is with somethings God feels I need in my life. I think I do not need that in my Life. In the end I just have to trust that HE who gave HIS son for me knows best and can be trusted to do me no harm.
Our cats could not understand what needed to be done. Even if I could speak with my cats and explain I do not believe they would agree that a bath was a good thing. They would probably say their way of cleaning themselves (licking) is just fine. In the end they will just have to accept that what I say is best and they will do that because of their relationship with me.
Maybe that is how it is with somethings God feels I need in my life. I think I do not need that in my Life. In the end I just have to trust that HE who gave HIS son for me knows best and can be trusted to do me no harm.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Just Long Enough
Joshua 5:10-11 NLT
10 While the Israelites were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they celebrated Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month. 11 The very next day they began to eat unleavened bread and roasted grain harvested from the land. 12 No manna appeared on the day they first ate from the crops of the land, and it was never seen again. So from that time on the Israelites ate from the crops of Canaan.
What God had given them lasted just long enough for the next thing that God gave them to arrive.
10 While the Israelites were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they celebrated Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month. 11 The very next day they began to eat unleavened bread and roasted grain harvested from the land. 12 No manna appeared on the day they first ate from the crops of the land, and it was never seen again. So from that time on the Israelites ate from the crops of Canaan.
What God had given them lasted just long enough for the next thing that God gave them to arrive.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Our Lord Said:
John 14
1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
Friday, January 2, 2009
My Place in Life
I have spent most of my life as part of one sub-culture or another. I have never in my life been part of the silent majority, straights, suburban life or whatever it is called currently. My desires have not been for the suburban house a wife two kids the American dream. So I find it very hard to relate to people who’s focus is on these things. I spent my early life until I was twenty two years old hopelessly lost in the a lifestyle of drugs, music and sex. Until the Lord found me at age twenty – two, I have always fit in with Jesus since that day over thirty - five years ago.
Through many dangers, toils and snares...we have already come.T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...and Grace will lead us home.
from the hymn Amazing Grace
HE will complete our life. This is the promise to those who have put their trust in HIM
Through many dangers, toils and snares...we have already come.T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...and Grace will lead us home.
from the hymn Amazing Grace
HE will complete our life. This is the promise to those who have put their trust in HIM
Thursday, January 1, 2009
I Do Not Know What to Say
I seldom am at a lost for words. Normal I have allot to say. As I reflect on the events of the past year I am overwhelmed by what God has done for us in the last year. HIS grace is so big.
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