Consider

I have gleaned profit from the prophets.  (Good, huh?)  I know I have only skimmed the surface, yet what I have found in these very books I’ve slighted for years, is amazing.  I have erred in my thinking they were the most boring books in the Bible.  I knew there were wonderful verses and passages in them but what I’ve learned from each of these books, both major and minor, as a whole, has shed new light for me into the personality of God.

Zephaniah, chapter three, alone speaks loudly of the rebellion of man and the patience and kindness of God toward man.  Consider parts of the last four verses:  “God is in your midst”, “exults over you with joy”, “rejoices over you with shouts of joy”.  And then it goes into some glorious, “I wills”:  “I will gather those who grieve”, “I am going to deal with all your oppressors”, “I will save the lame”, “I will gather the outcast”, “I will turn their shame into praise”, “I will bring you in”, “I will give you renown and praise”, “I will restore your fortunes”.  And this is just a portion of a three-chapter book.

And I’ve just begun Haggai.  The key word in this book is “consider”.  What patience and mercy God shows His flower of creation: man!  He want us to think, watch out, beware, behold – consider!  He says, “Consider your ways”, “take courage”, “do consider”.  Why?  “I am with you.” “My Spirit is abiding in your midst.”  “Do not fear”.  “I will give you peace.” “I will bless you.”

If this is just skimming off the surface of these two short minor prophets, what a storehouse of hope and health lie in the Word as a whole.  God has truly given us “everything we need for life and godliness.”  (2 Peter 1:3)

 Listen people, this is our God, our Father.  Revel in that!  Rejoice!

True Security

“Rahab depended for her preservation upon the promise of the spies whom she looked upon as the representatives of the God of Israel.  Jericho’s walls fell flat!!  Rahab’s house was on the wall, yet it stood unmoved!  My nature is built into the wall of humanity and yet when destruction smites the race, I shall be secure.”  These words from Charles Haddon Spurgeon were the start of my day along with refreshment and hope from the Word of God.

Christian, do no think you are too busy for God’s Word on a daily basis.  It must be as important as your food, your clothes, your very breath!  Without it, you will find yourself in the very throes of enemy tainted thinking wrought with despair, fretfulness and depression.  “Your word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path.”  “I will hide Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You." (Psalm 119: 11 & 105)  These verses and a multiplicity of others are there for your need.  Francis Schaeffer, a man now with the Lord, has been an encourager of mine since the beginning of my walk with Christ.  He says, “…though we do not have exhaustive truth, we have from the Bible what I term “true truth”.  God’s Word continues to be for me a treasure house to which I continually find jewels that are used to supply every need I have for right thinking.   It is true!  “TRUE TRUTH!”

Let us run first to that rich Word to supply our day with the needed strength and true security.  Without it our place in the “wall of humanity” will be continually shaken.   Where are you right now in the midst of all the wretched news that bombards us every week?  Let us be instruments of righteous and hope for His name sake.  The world must see a difference in us:  “They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the LORD.”  Psalm 112:7  His Word is true.  Let us dig deep continually all the days of our life.

Seven Bark Theology

Recently a Christian friend told me about a new believer saved out of a difficult and complicated lifestyle.  Even though saved, things don't change overnight and many of the complications still exist as this new believer marches onward.  It's very important for those who are strong believers to come along side these new babes and encourage them.  They must be made to know they are loved.  (There's IS a verse about that:  "know they are Christians by their love".)

Well, a couple of days later, I'm helping my husband clear off some of our property.  There were a few Seven Bark (or Oak-leaf Hydrangea as some call it) that I wanted spared from the destruction my husband was doling out to most of the overgrown area.  Toward the end, he told me that the Seven Bark needed to be freed from some life-zapping vines and I began working toward that goal.

As I worked, I found it not as easy as I had thought.  The vines were many and different sizes.  They literally had to be snipped piece by piece in order not to damage the plant I was trying to save.  Some of the new growth on the Seven Bark was very tender which added another element of caution to the effort.   As I worked, I thought about what my friend had said about the new believer.  It was much like my efforts to save this plant from the overgrown weeds that threatened its life.  The new believer has been saved from sin just like anyone else.  However, sometimes there is much baggage.  Like the vines, the baggage comes in different sizes.    We do not want to damage these new believers.  We cannot rush the process nor are we to be their Holy Spirit.   We must pray and exhibit patience.  We must accept them just as Christ has and encourage them.  They are God's child, His work, and His transformation just like we were.  It will be a process just like we have been and continue to be.  Let us remember our former days and rejoice in His life-changing work in man.

"Fear NO Evil"

I guess I could have entitled this one "Preppers, Part III" but really, I don't want to beat a dead horse.  And, also, they are not the only ones who give into fear.  For the most part, many of them are probably not believers.  And believers definitely, and I would say overall, give into worry and fear when we know what God's word says about both.  Today's post is from Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, evening of April 8th.  It is a beautiful writing of the believer's great privilege to shine in the midst of bad circumstances.  (I share only parts of it.)

"I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me."--Psalm 23:4
"Behold, how independent of outward circumstances the Holy Ghost can make the Christian!  What a bright light may shine within us when it is all dark without!  How firm, how happy, how calm, how peaceful we may be, when the world shakes to and fro, and the pillars of the earth are removed!  Even death itself, with all its terrible influences, has no power to suspend the music of a Christian's heart, but rather makes that music become more sweet, more clear, more heavenly...!  Are you conscious of a growing failure of your bodily powers?  Do you expect to suffer long nights of languishing and days of pain?  O be not sad!  That bed may become a throne to you.  You little know how every pang that shoots through your body may be a refining fire to consume your dross--a beam of glory to light up the secret parts of your soul.  By thy power, O blessed Spirit, my heart shall be exceeding glad, though all things should fail me here below."

Battle Scars

Received a letter from a missionary to Mali yesterday.  Want to share a portion that ministers beautifully to the believer!

"spiritual salvation for so many of us is only the beginning of a hard battle.  While we are forgiven and in right standing with God we still have to work out how to live for Christ daily.  For those of us with deep scars, this involves intentionally releasing ourselves to God fully, jettisoning the bad patterns of behavior from our past, and renewing our minds with truth.  Doing this allows us to live free from the bondage to our past sinful thinking and be able to fully participate in God's work for us today.  Our prayer is that you will continue to pursue this incredible freedom and not be stalled by believing the enemy's lies that your past, and sometimes even your present, prevents your from living life fully for Christ."

Praise God for His unchanging Word that renews us daily for the battle, both with our own bodies and the darkness that surrounds us.  What hope we have in Christ for motivation to move forward--onward and upward!!

Preppers, Part II

I don’t mean to harp.  But everything I hear about “preppers’ is so contrary to the word of God.  Actually, I don’t think about them at all UNTIL I’m in the middle of words like the following:

“Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth who have carried out His ordinances; seek righteousness, seek humility.  Perhaps you will be hidden in the day of the LORD’S anger.”  Now God is talking through the prophet, Zephaniah.  (Zephaniah 2:3)  Bottom line is that the “day of the LORD’S anger IS coming upon them”.  Nothing they can do but seek the Lord, seek righteousness, and seek humility.  I see nothing there about seeking to stockpile, build bunkers, or buy guns. 

And I close this post with a verse that is becoming my personal favorite in regard to worrying:  “They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the LORD.”  Psalm 112:7

The Jesus Banner

Francis Schaeffer, great prophet of God of the twentieth century, speaks lasting truth applicable today as much as his own day.  It never ceases to amaze me as I read his works, to the point I find myself looking over again at the copyright shaking my head.   I share today one such excerpt from Escape From Reason, chapter six subtitled, “Jesus The Undefined Banner”.

“I have come to the point where, when I hear the word “Jesus”—which means so much to me because of the Person of the historic Jesus and His work—I listen carefully because I have with sorrow become more afraid of the word “Jesus” than almost any other word in the modern world.  The word is used as a contentless banner, and our generation is invited to follow it…We have come to this fearsome place where the word “Jesus” has become the enemy of the Person Jesus and the enemy of what Jesus taught.  We must fear this contentless banner of the word “Jesus” not because we do not love Jesus but because we DO love Him.”

Reflect on this, Christian, for as believers by faith in Christ and loving the Word of Truth, we must do battle against spiritual lethargy.  We must, by God’s strength and direction, be vigilant against the sickening, spiritual, feel good stupor we find our church involved today.  However, we must fly a banner and “His banner over us is love”. 

Let me add to this, with sadness and joy, that Edith Schaeffer, wife of Francis, died on Easter Sunday and will have a funeral in Switzerland and memorial service in Minnesota this month.  What a testimony and an impact those two left on Christians all over the world.  Praise God for faithful servants.  Let us work as working for the Lord in all we do.  And let us fly the Banner of Truth and not a “form of godliness” which is a “fearsome place”.