Heard This Sermon and I Desire to Share It as a Farewell From Me….

Title: The Shout of a Godless Shout. Text I Samuel 4: 1-11; II Chronicles 10: 1-30

Greetings everyone. Time to Pass the Torch. After much deliberation, a smidgen of which I shared with you in several recent posts; hearing God speak to me rather vividly thru several sermons recently, and finally after several false resignations, I am indeed giving up my last microbiology client, Smith Dairy after 30 years as an independent contractor, that only being because we’re going to try wintering once in the hills of The Republic of Panama, and see if we’ll like it as much as we think we may. It’s not that far away and we’re not cutting any long term ties here any time soon, as we’ve found the PGD/Paul Gerber family farm chicken house an ideal place for us to roost (next door to the exquisite AirB&B) and fly away when needed/desired. See you next spring.

BOTTOM LINE: After this anonymous sermon, it may be weeks, even months before you’ll get an email. It’s been most enjoyable for me. I trust you’ve located your own resources for daily inspiration besides the few I shared with you. The One Year Bible began by Pastor Bill Deweiller has been huge for me as has been Dr. Jim Miller’s gift book My Utmost For His Highest, not forgetting dailylightdevotional.org., and bathing it all in much prayer, whether you’re speaking or listening.

Blessings on your life journey while faithfully seeking and serving our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I was given this anonymously, and I’ll honor that.

Variety Pack Perspective to Jump Start Your Thursday Sept 12, 2024

“Materialism is the stupid philosophy where everything is invested in what will eventually become nothing.”   Mark Dever

“Hell is truth known toooo late.”   J.C. Ryle

“Jesus is the God whom we can approach without pride and before whom we can humble ourselves without despair.”   Blaise Pascal

“You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.”  Amy Carmichael

Day 103 Truth: A Bigger View of God’s Word   Randy Alcorn

“All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” I Peter 5:5

Humility isn’t pretending that we’re unworthy because it’s the spiritual thing to do; it’s recognizing that we’re unworthy because it’s simply true.

J.C. Ryle warned, “Let us watch against pride in every shape – pride of intellect, pride of wealth, pride of health, pride simply of our own goodness.”

Pride pushes us away from God; humility draws us toward God. By choosing humility; we agree with God about our true condition and our true need for Christ.

Actually folks, we need Christ today just as much as we did the day we came to faith in Him. That’s a humbling truth we must never forget.

BOTTOM LINE:  

We humans must confess, ‘I am because He is.’ Only God can say, ‘I am who I am.’                                                                               Jen Wilkin

Was Jesus Really Alone On The Cross? A Reader Responds

These words captured my thoughts this evening from your blog: “For Your Further Reflection”. 

 “I believe the only time Jesus Christ called out in loneliness was from the cross when the Father forsook Him and allowed Him to die as a sacrifice for the world. Without His presence, the most agonizing loneliness will afflict even the strongest person. No person should search for a solution for their loss, trauma & betrayal, without FIRST asking why are they experiencing separation from God?

 I would offer these thoughts for your further reflection and discussion if you choose to talk about them beyond my comments below.

In Western Christianity we have associated the idea that God was separated from Jesus on the cross because of what Jesus said when he spoke these words, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me.” In actuality, Jesus was quoting the first verse of Psalm 22, feeling the full weight of sin and the darkness of the human soul as a human being. Those in the audience, other than the Romans, would have known that he was quoting from that psalm. However, in verse 24 toward the end of the chapter we read, “For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.” 

The Father did not turn His face away as that familiar song “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” expresses and which I no longer sing when we get to that phrase. Why? Because the separation of God from Jesus on the cross is not Biblical, no matter what any preacher has said. I give some passages of Scripture below to refute the separation concept that has become our Westernized way to do evangelism and denies the very essence of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost as ONE. 

If God was IN Christ reconciling the world to Himself, how do we come up with the idea that God turned His face away? I have heard so many times over the years that God is too holy to look on sin. Really??? Take a look at this passage of Scripture.

The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 from J.B. Phillips:

“All this is God’s doing, for he has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ; and he has made us agents of the reconciliation. God was in Christ personally reconciling the world to himself—not counting their sins against them—and has commissioned us with the message of reconciliation. We are now Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were appealing direct to you through us. As his personal representatives we say, “Make your peace with God.” For God caused Christ, who himself knew nothing of sin, actually to be sin for our sakes, so that in Christ we might be made good with the goodness of God.”

From this verse we read that Christ became sin for our sakes and that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. The Trinity has never been separated, not even at the cross in light of these verses.

Paul goes on to talk about this “separation” in Colossians 1 and really highlights who is doing the separating. It’s us!! Look at these verses of Colossians 1:15-23. It’s dynamic in its scope in that all things were created through Christ and for Christ and in Him all things hold together. Note verse 19 which states that “God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and (in verse 20) through him to reconcile to himself all things…” Here’s the passage which is so beautiful!!! It’s the true Gospel or Good News!!!

The Supremacy of the Son of God

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

When we feel alone and estranged from God in our minds, as Paul indicates, we are sensing alienation which to me is different from separation. Paul is saying we feel alienated in our minds, from our perspective. 

Here’s one definition of alienation:

     the feeling that you have no connection with the people around you or that you are not part of a group:

 Separation is a “pulling apart” which is what the Latin root (separare) word means. If God is love, which the Bible writers indicate, then what Paul writes must be true that, “nothing can separate us from the love of God” in Romans 8:38-39. “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In reality, separation is a figment of our own imagination or better yet, a feeling of alienation which originates in our own minds. 

David says this in Psalm 139:7-12

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

 The topic of separation from God has had my attention for some time and I don’t have all the answers. I just know this area of my theology has been shaken to the core from reading these passages and from watching how God pursues us, comes looking for us. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

I welcome your response and “further reflections” my brother!!

Blessings,

Steve Yoder

FOR YOUR FURTHER REFLECTION:

A further note from the prior post concerning loss, trauma & betrayal, I read recently we human beings possess a fundamental emptiness which can only be filled by the presence of God himself. I believe the only time Jesus Christ called out in loneliness was from the cross when the Father forsook Him and allowed Him to die as a sacrifice for the world. Without His presence, the most agonizing loneliness will afflict even the strongest person. No person should search for a solution for their loss, trauma & betrayal, without FIRST asking why are they experiencing separation from God? And why the overwhelming loneliness? For it is only by accepting His Son and being filled with His Spirit, that any of us can overcome the negative dimensions of loneliness. True for us, & true for Nick in the book.

Furthermore, I understand the greatest minds of history have wrestled with the issue of the sovereignty of God versus the free will of we humans. Perhaps some day in eternity we may discover how the track of God’s sovereignty and the track of our responsibility finally mesh. For now though, perhaps it’s just best we let God take care of His sovereignty, and that we in our free will choose to live responsibly in His Kingdom.

Perhaps you too, heard that in our perspective, the sovereignty of God in our lives could be compared to looking at a weaving from the production side. We see all the various threads and knots and strands sticking out from the back side because we do not possess the perspective God has. But someday in eternity God will take that patchwork we have only viewed from the underneath production side never understanding its significance, and turn it around so we can see it topside. At that moment, we will see the beautiful tapestry that has been woven out & about in our lives as well as in & amongst all of those in our spheres of influence. You & I can waste much time trying to figure out why God does this & that; when we should just relax & trust that He is sovereign & in control, and we’re NOT. We can rest secure in that truth.

Begin by requesting your copy of How Can Any One Say God is Good? Become a Kingdom relationship ambassador artist as He directs.

A Mission Opportunity Re-Visited, This Time Though, Shared With You …

The following 800 word document accompanies the book I offer faith seekers, much as some Christ Followers offer gospel tracts when out in public. The book is titled How Can Anyone Say God Is Good, written by Gary Miller of Christian Aid Ministries (CAM) Berlin OH. I wrote this doc perhaps 4-5 years ago, anticipating its distribution and here I am today, not so much anticipating, but rather now, contemplating my options to implement a plan.

So, after prayer and contemplation, I decided I should share this dream first with my blog mailing list of 230. And this opens another can of worms. I dare not call you subscribers because likely less than 30 of you actually subscribed; the other 200 were merely hijacked as former current or prior acquaintances or prospected from business cards, etc. I seriously more than once, have considered removing all 230 names from the blog list and then opening it up only to those who subscribe. That way, I WOULD KNOW those on the blog list actually chose to be part of this communal written adventure. The way it is now, the only thing I know for sure, is that you’ve chosen not to unsubscribe. You may never open, or, if you open, may never or seldom read. So, it is a rather tenuous relationship, at best, but certainly within the scope and confines of God’s ability to reassure me to continue in this mission of being an encouragement to seekers of Him, at least for now.

With all that out of the way, I am offering each blog reader a copy of this book. I think I’ve purchased at least 4 boxes of them from CAM thus far, because a box of 50 copies is only $50., and that is why I can afford to distribute them as tracts. I just checked thriftbooks and their price tonite is $7.39.

Both the author Gary Miller and CAM are evidently very serious about making this book available to those servicing, encouraging, inviting, confronting the billboard seekers out & about our communities, perhaps even the too comfortable in our pews, with this real deal Gospel message. So, if this is a book you desire to read, contact me immediately as we hope to be in Panama for the winter by early October. Seriously, I’ll mail you one. I’ll leave a supply at Kidron Mennonite for you locals, or while on your next trip to Berlin area between 8-4pm, you should just stop by CAM and buy your own box and have them handy in your car’s trunk to distribute whenever God so compels you. And He will! Get Blessed. Just imagine the lives God could change thru your actions for less money than it costs three of you to eat at your favorite Amish restaurant. No comparison!

Also, may I remind you we need to take advantage now of our freedom to disseminate literature and assemble to worship freely. I’m told assuredly by those in the KNOW that this may well soon change. We are not to be compelled by fear (false evidence appearing real) but rather, by the immensity of His love for all of mankind and that none would be lost from His eternal care, even if at the last moment as was the thief on the cross, being told “today, you’ll be with me in paradise.”

Folks, I had no idea all this would flow forth this afternoon when I sat down to write after lunch and a 75 min nap. Now I need to send Mr. Nisely and Paul Miller at CAM an email informing them we need to get this book available in Spanish ASAP. Perhaps it already is. I’m hoping.

Below is a rough draft of the insert I’m contemplating of including when each book is given out. If you buy your own box for distribution, I suggest you offer your contact info somehow someway for their follow-up. Feel free to contact me with your ideas, or simply adapt the document to make it work for you. Blessings

So, you’ve endured about all you can handle in this life? Do you keep thinking that somehow someway your life has got to get better soon?

Believe me, you are not alone. Five years ago before covid was launched, a study estimated 75% of the world’s population had suffered loss, trauma, or betrayal in a primary relationship.

Would it help you to know that 50+ years ago, not only had I personally suffered such loss and trauma, but then in its aftermath, I too set into motion the poisoning of relationship betrayals causing decades of more loss and trauma. God indeed was unbelievably gracious and merciful to me. Hence, David’s Psalm 51 holds a unique & special value to me and it is my personal burn for you to avoid any additional loss, trauma, and betrayal, and to gain a life of victory NOW! And, similarly, this is exactly where we pick up the loss, trauma, and betrayal story of our novel’s main character, Nick, in the 78-page novel titled, “How Can Anyone Say God Is Good?”

First, you need to know that beyond your Almighty Father God in Heaven, in this very community there are persons much like the Andy in the novel who has the bicycle shop; persons who are willing to listen to your problems, try to answer your questions, love you unconditionally, just as God is loving each of us right now. This book best exemplifies, other than the Bible, just how we are to love our neighbors, be they rich or poor, young or old, down on their luck or in the clover, sick or healthy, friendly or friendless, happy or sad, focused or totally confused, perhaps because of recent brain surgery; it just doesn’t matter. We all need to be loved, respected, encouraged, and accepted as active participants in just such a community as demonstrated to opportunity-less Nick, who is literally right now, at the end of his rope. So, first things first, read the book! Enjoy the hope that Nick experiences so vividly replacing his stinging loss, trauma, and betrayal.

Once you’ve finished reading the book, you may choose to contact the person who gave it to you, and catch him/her up on what has happened since you first spoke. And at some point, you may consider the following suggestions:

  1.  If you already have a church home or are periodically visiting one or several, I suggest you meet with a staff person from your favorite congregation and indicate your interest in strengthening your relationship with Jesus Christ and being mentored by a mature disciple like Andy from the bicycle shop to strengthen your faith and coach you on the narrow way.
  2.  I’m told living a joyful victorious Christian life involves three simple modules:

First, we get our directions from the Word of God by reading and studying the Bible.

Second, we dedicate ourselves, including our desires and emotions to the specific Will of God for us.

Third, we are obedient to His instructions to perform the Work of God.

More on those specifics later. Also, if you don’t have one, I strongly suggest you get a One-Year Bible to begin reading the Bible daily, but there are other programs utilizing your primary Bible, even your phone or tablet. I keep a supply of used One-Year Bibles available.

  •  Perhaps after reading the book, you realize you have never met a person quite like Andy, so generous and so loving to so many people. And, unfortunately, most of us in this culture of separation, individualism, self-protection and self -promotion, seldom do meet such a person as Andy. But down thru history, for the past 2000 + years, there are persons much like Andy who exist in your community, who are Spirit empowered to daily live, believe, and practice that God is good, and desire that you experience much more than merely becoming a convert with membership in a church somewhere by your profession of faith, while not fully understanding the accompanying doctrinal practices to move your faith far beyond merely the “academic head knowledge” to the “transformed heart experiential inspiration.” Nick witnessed this dynamic spiritual interactive tension every time he delivered mail to Andy’s bike shop, because he saw persons experiencing Jesus first-hand while they were being discipled, mentored, and coached in Andy’s faith community.
  •  In the event you are without a church to contact, or if the one you visited is not yet similarly equipped, please contact us and we’ll do our best to find you a personal mentor to walk with you on your journey Living in Faith.
  •  For more information, contact Merlin Erb merlin.erb@gmail.com (330) 465-2565 Blog: merlinsmustache.com, Request a Word doc: Ten First Steps for the New Christian by Woodrow Kroll, Back to the Bible.

OUR CORPORATE OPPORTUNITIES TO WORSHIP ARE TOMORROW! Are we prepared?

dailylightdevotional.org Sept 7 EVENING

I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Psa. 40:17

I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil. Jer. 29:11

My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isa. 55:8, 9

How precious … are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. Psa. 139:17, 18

O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep. Psa. 92:5

Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward. Psa. 40:5

Not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 1 Cor. 1:26

Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom? James 2:5

Having nothing, and yet possessing all things. 2 Cor. 6:10

The unsearchable riches of Christ. Eph. 3:8

BOTTOM LINE:

Much of the misery in our Christian life comes not because the devil tackles us, but because we have never understood the simple laws of our make-up. We have to treat the body as the servant of Jesus Christ: When the body says “Sit,” and He says “Go,” go! When the body says “Eat,” and He says “Fast,” fast! When the body says “Yawn,” and He says “Pray,” Pray! Oswald Chambers Biblical Ethics 107 R

For Further Reflection, consider David’s famous Psalm 51 is today’s (Sept 7) One Year Bible reading.

Cholera, Boiling Water, & Ice Cream!

Day 164  from “All to Jesus: A Year of Devotions” Robert J Morgan      Psalm 138

I will give you thanks with ALL my heart; I will sing your praise.” 138:1

A cholera epidemic swept through Asia following WW I, but experts noticed that it did not penetrate China. The reason? The cholera germ cannot survive boiling water, and the Chinese drink tea almost exclusively.

When the epidemic threatened to wrack the Philippines, doctors ordered people to boil their water. But the cholera continued. Investigating, the doctors found that the population has misunderstood their instructions. Every day Filipinos would boil some water and take two or three teaspoons like medicine, then drink their ordinary water as usual. Oh, the perils of effective communication! And, especially so, within our congregations/fellowships.

Perhaps that is the way we think of thanksgiving. We take a spoonful every now and then, sometimes at meals, or especially, annually on Thanksgiving Day. But a thankful spirit isn’t a matter of spoonfuls; it’s a constant state of mind.  

Remember the story of the ten lepers Jesus healed? Afterward only one returned to thank Him. I have a theory the one leper had a life – orientation toward thanksgiving; and had you him seen the day before his healing, you have found a thankful person. He would have told you, “Well, it’s true I have this disease, but praise God any way. Let me tell you about all these blessings.” Having a mind-set of thanksgiving already, it was only natural for him to thank Christ for healing him. The other nine were grouches before they were healed, and remained still soaking and souring afterwards.

One in ten! Are the same proportions true today? Ninety per cent of us negative? Let’s give thanks with all our hearts, not merely by the spoonful! Limit your use of spoonfuls when sharing a small bowl of ice cream!

Work For Your Night Is Coming …

Day 156 Matthew 19:23-30 All to Jesus: A Year of Devotions. Robert J Morgan 2008

Peter answered and said to Him< “See, we have left ALL and followed you.” Matt, 19:27

David Livingston was one of the most famous men on earth when he disappeared in darkest Africa. After months without word from him, the New York Herald sent its overseas correspondent, Henry Stanley, to search for him. When Stanley asked how much the paper was willing to invest, he was only told to spend whatever it took, but DO FIND LIVINGSTON! And, he did find Livingston, greeting him with the famous words, “Dr. Livingston, I presume.”

Sometime later pressing further into Africa, Stanley wrote a letter that included “King M’tesa of Uganda has been asking about the white man’s God … Oh that some practical missionary would come here.”

Stanley entrusted the letter to a French soldier, Colonel Linant de Ballefonds, but the colonel was slain at the Nile. English soldiers discovered his body shortly afterward, and while burying him, they pulled off his long boots and found Stanley’s letter inside, stained with the dead man’s blood. The letter was forwarded to the English general in Egypt, who sent it to a newspaper in London.

On December 12, 1875, while traveling in Berlin, Alexander Mackay picked up a copy of the Edinburgh Daily Review, and as he read the letter a thrill shot through his heart. He knew he was the man. God instantly called him to Uganda, and Mackay left all, followed the call, never looked back, and spent 14 years evangelizing Uganda before dying of malarial fever.

BOTTOM LINE:

We need heroes today more than ever who will leave all and follow Him. Perhaps even though, right from your desk, or if you’re physically challenged, from your wheel chair or recliner.

Once more folks, claim your birthright! Live your destiny in Him. His Kingdom has no time for couch potatoes while the internet yet circles the earth! And none of this “someday I’ll” attack HIS spiritual bucket list for me! If you can use a phone and a computer and are compelled by His Spirit to be an Ambassador of Encouragement for Jesus Christ today in your spheres of influence, you have the opportunity to be an underground intercessor with heavenly connections. If desiring such opportunities, pray about it before contacting me. And if you’re already so engaged similarly, praise God and feel free to share.

While sitting here at brunch on Wednesday 9/4/24…

I do try to eat twice daily, 11 am & 6 pm, while skimming devotionals for pertinent future blog inspirational material, frequently getting inspired “out of my gourd,” so to speak; terminology from Hesston College days perhaps? I’m personally processing some rather heavy stuff with a very tight schedule for the next 30 days, such that I was seriously considering while driving to my 9 AM to see our accountant, thinking that I should really shut down the blog for the next 60 days, and give “everyone” a break!

Doug’s advice to us this morning was the word “simplify” and that I too sensed from the Lord, as i had just been processing taking a blog break. Understand, not only was our auction a trifle disappointing, but the way we added additional properties into the mix over the years, now exempt from our home tax exemption was not helpful either, for now it raises our tax liability. But you know what, our family was so very blessed those 41 years on those 10 acres in a community of paradise, both spawning and maturing each of us for our life’s destinies, that now I can only say, so what? After 41 years of tax breaks by running a business at home, and getting those breaks when we really needed them, how dare I quibble now over a possible tax liability of a good used car, or two, depending on your tastes? Again, it really is all about perspective; HIS, NOT ours!

Moving on, I spent 5 hours Tuesday PM in Aultman ER with my former neighbor of 17 years, Jeff, who had brain surgery in April and was initially given 1-5 years to live. After nearly a month in both Canton Aultman and the Cleveland Clinic, he was sent home with 4 different seizure meds that worked well the first month plus+, thru his first 30 day round of chemo & radiation, but for the past 4-5 days, he has fallen twice, with multiple seizures daily. So, after 10 hrs. in the ER, he was sent back to the Clinic by 11 pm for evaluation and med tweaking. Pray for Jeff’s healing and his newly found faith to thrive as he is a frightened 54 yr. old man with way too much baggage to process without Jesus.

Now, onto the “nugget” devotional I found while eating brunch and considering my tax liability, Day 152, from Robert J Morgan’s “All to Jesus” A Year of Devotions.

“For just as in Adam ALL will die. So also in Christ ALL will be made alive. I Cor 15:22

Dr. Bob Hill was a dear friend of mine and a member of my staff at Donelson Fellowship. He was 72 years old, has his degree in gerontology from Oxford, and had longevity in his genes. We assumed he’d live be a hundred years old.

When his mother passed away at 93 years, Bob drove to St. Louis to help conduct the funeral, and he opened the service with these words: We want to welcome everyone here to this memorial service for our mother. This is not a time for grieving but a time for celebration.”

Then Bob slumped to the floor and died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage.

I miss Bob terribly, but I often think of the incredible poignancy of his last words: “This is not a time for grieving, but a time for celebration!”

First Corinthians 15 is the “Resurrection Chapter” of the Bible. Apparently, some of the Corinthians had questions about the resurrection, and Paul tackled them in this glorious chapter. He began by reviewing the historical facts of Christ’s resurrection. Then he suggested that the bodily resurrection of Jesus provides the PROOF, POWER, & PATTERN for our own resurrections.

As in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet” (v 52).

Don’t worry about dying, and don’t over-grieve over loved ones in heaven. Christ arose, and all is well. It isn’t a day for grieving, but celebration!

BOTTOM LINE:

And as I have heard it explained over the years, we as His redeemed empowered & transformed believers, are already in a spiritual sense, living resurrected lives here on earth, merely awaiting our final transitioning. So, what’s the big deal about death & taxes? Really now?

Claim your birthright! Live your destiny in Him! Now! And none of this “someday I’ll….”

Always remember Dr. Bob Hill’s last sentence! Perspective at its best!

DESIRED AT ALL COSTS: A Steadfast Spirit

Renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

While on a family camping trip, a storm struck. The winds were so strong the parents stood the entire night clinging to the center pole of their old tent while their children slept. Had they not held fast to that center pole, the tent would have surely blown down and their outing would have been spoiled.

For Christians seeking to remain steadfast and faithful to God, the Word of God is our center pole! The world we live in will buffet us with winds of temptation, false doctrine, and compromise. To remain true to God and His call on our lives, we must hold fast to the Word and keep it central. When we look to the Word rather than the world, we can be assured that our doctrine will be correct, and our faith will be pure.

BOTTOM LINE:

So, make it your aim to hold fast to the Word. Read it daily, and let it pervade your thoughts and actions. Consult your Bible in decisions large and small. In moments of confusion or trial, turn to the Scriptures for insight and guidance. Like the parents holding onto their tent’s center pole, hold on to the Word of God, and let it be your central focus.

Our strength is shown in the things we stand for. Our weaknesses are shown in the things we fall for. Hugh A. Cowan

Ouch! So, So Spot On!

Discovery: Experiencing God’s Word Day by Day Aug 12 David Jeremiah