We are the light!

All through this day, O Lord, let me touch as many lives as possible for You—through the words I speak, the prayers I breathe, the letters I write, and the life I live.

How to move forward through grief and loss

(1) Be real and know your limit
- Don't ever give up on God who never gives up on you
- Denial, blaming others and ourselves, become hostile
- Life is hard
- our weaknesses open opportunity for God's strength to be manifested

(2) Be patient and wait for God
- He will do something new
- God is present when His children grieve
- God is just and will bring final justice, but life in the meantime is often deeply unfair

(3) Be steadfast and trust in God
- Every trial we face is for our ultimate good
- God is still God and He is still good

Ways of responding fear

- Blow Up
- Cover Up
- Back Up
- Give Up
- Face Up

Genesis 22:1-5

Ways to overcome fear :
- by putting our faith in God
- by placing a higher value on eternal life than the temporal of this life

The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else.  But when you do not fear God, you fear everything else
~ Oswald Chambers ~

Is it true that all Christians want to go heaven ...... But not today???

Silence is golden

It is not necessary to be continually speaking to God, or always hearing from God, in order to have communion or fellowship with Him, for there is an unspeakable fellowship that is sweeter than words. A little child can sit all day long beside his mother, totally engrossed in his playing, while his mother is consumed by her work, and although both are busy and few words are spoken by either, they are in perfect fellowship. The child knows his mother is there, and she knows that he is all right.

In the same way, a believer and his Saviour can continue many hours in the silent fellowship of love. And although the believer may be busy with the ordinary things of life, he can be mindful that every detail of his life is touched by the character of God's presence, and can have the awareness of His approval and blessing...... ~selected~

Be gentle

relationships and families can begin to fracture with only a few hateful words. James wrote, “See how great a forest a little fire kindles!” (James 3:5). A key to avoiding verbal conflict is found in Proverbs: “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (15:1).

A small comment can start a large fight. When we, by God’s grace, choose not to retaliate with our words, we honor Jesus our Savior. When He was abused and insulted, He fulfilled the prophetic words of Isaiah, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth” (Isa. 53:7)
-RBC Daily bread-

Upside Down

Among the lowly, the wretched, the downtrodden—the rejected of this world—God’s kingdom takes root.


Taking God’s assignment seriously means that we must learn to look at the world upside down, as Jesus did. Instead of seeking out people with resources who can do us favors, we look for people with few resources. Instead of the strong, we find the weak; instead of the healthy, the sick. Instead of the spiritual, the sinful. Is not this how God reconciles the world to Himself? “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. . . . I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:12-13 niv).

To gain a new perspective, look at the world upside down as Jesus did.
~Philip Yancey~

Broken

God uses most for His glory those people and things which are most perfectly broken. The sacrifices He accepts are broken and contrite hearts. It was the breaking down of Jacob’s natural strength at Peniel that got him where God could clothe him with spiritual power. It was breaking the surface of the rock at Horeb, by the stroke of Moses’ rod that let out the cool waters to thirsty people.

 

It was when the 300 elect soldiers under Gideon broke their pitchers, a type of breaking themselves, that the hidden lights shone forth to the consternation of their adversaries. It was when the poor widow broke the seal of the little pot of oil, and poured it forth, that God multiplied it to pay her debts and supply means of support.

 

It was when Esther risked her life and broke through the rigid etiquette of a heathen court, that she obtained favor to rescue her people from death. It was when Jesus took the five loaves and broke them, that the bread was multiplied in the very act of breaking, sufficient to feed five thousand. It was when Mary broke her beautiful alabaster box, rendering it henceforth useless, that the pent-up perfume filled the house. It was when Jesus allowed His precious body to be broken to pieces by thorns and nails and spear, that His inner life was poured out, like a crystal ocean, for thirsty sinners to drink and live.

 

It is when a beautiful grain of corn is broken up in the earth by DEATH, that its inner heart sprouts forth and bears hundreds of other grains. And thus, on and on, through all history, and all biography, and all vegetation, and all spiritual life, God must have BROKEN THINGS.

 

Those who are broken in wealth, and broken in self-will, and broken in their ambitions, and broken in their beautiful ideals, and broken in worldly reputation, and broken in their affections, and broken ofttimes in health; those who are despised and seem utterly forlorn and helpless, the Holy Ghost is seizing upon, and using for God’s glory.

~streams in the desert~

Darkness

What shall the believer do in times of darkness -- the darkness of perplexity and confusion, not of heart but of mind? Times of darkness come to the faithful and believing disciple who is walking obediently in the will of God; seasons when he does not know what to do, nor which way to turn. The sky is overcast with clouds. The clear light of Heaven does not shine upon his pathway. One feels as if he were groping his way in darkness.


Beloved, is this you? What shall the believer do in times of darkness? Listen! "Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and rely upon his God." The first thing to do is do nothing. This is hard for poor human nature to do. In the West there is a saying that runs thus, "When you're rattled, don't rush"; in other words, "When you don't know what to do, don't do it." When you run into a spiritual fog bank, don't tear ahead; slow down the machinery of your life. If necessary, anchor your bark or let it swing at its moorings.


We are to simply trust God. While we trust, God can work. Worry prevents Him from doing anything for us. If our minds are distracted and our hearts distressed; if the darkness that overshadows us strikes terror to us; if we run hither and yon in a vain effort to find some way of escape out of a dark place of trial, where Divine providence has put us, the Lord can do nothing for us.
The peace of God must quiet our minds and rest our hearts. We must put our hand in the hand of God like a little child, and let Him lead us out into the bright sunshine of His love. He knows the way out of the woods. Let us climb up into His arms, and trust Him to take us out by the shortest and surest road.

 --Dr. Pardington

The wise old owl

A wise old owl sat in an oak;
The more he saw the less he spoke;
The less he spoke the more he heard;...

"Be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath"
(James 1:19)

Solomon said, "God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore let your words be few"
(Ecclesiates 5:2)

LET YOUR SPEECH BE BETTER THAN SILENCE, OTHERWISE BE SILENT

The Highest Arena

When a person who suffers reaches a point where he can be calm and carefree, inwardly smiling at his own suffering, and no longer asking God to be delivered from it, then the suffering has accomplished its blessed ministry, perseverance has finished its work, and the pain of the Crucifixion has begun to weave itself into a crown.......... a quietness of eternity settles into the entire soul; and finallly, the mouth becomes quiet, having only a few words to say, and stops crying out the words Christ quoted on the cross: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Ps. 22:1)

At this point the person stops imagining castles in the sky, and pursuing foolish ideas, and his reasoning becomes calm and relaxed, with all choices removed, because the only choice has now become the purpose of God.  Also, his emotions are weaned away from other people and things, becoming deadened so that nothing can hurt, offend, hinder, or get in his way.  He can now let the circumstances be what they may, and continue to seek only God and His will, with the calm assurance that He is causing everything in the universe, whether good or bad, past or present, to work "for the good of those who love him" (Rom. 8:28)

(from Soul Food)

Do you live a shallow life?

Some seed fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil.  It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. (Matthew 13:5)

But a shallow life lives on its impulses, impressions, intuitions, instincts, and largely on its curcumstances.  Those with profound character, however, look beyond all these and move steadily ahead, seeing the future, where sorrow, seeming defeat, and failure will be reversed.  They sail right through storm clouds into the bright sunshine, which always awaits them on the other side.

Once God has deepened us, He can give us His deepest truths, His most profound secrets, and will trust us with greater power.

(A.B. Simpson)

Sow What?

- taken from Our Daily Bread (Sep/Oct/Nov 2014)

read Mark 4:1-20

........ As the parable indicates, the sower sows indiscriminately, knowing that some seed will fall in places where it will not grow.  Like Jesus, we are to sow good seed in all places at all times.  God is responsible for where it lands and how it grows .......

(Julie Ackerman Link)