The Name of the LORD our God!

Psalm 20

May God answer you in a day of trouble; may the name of Jacob’s God protect you.

May He send you help from the sanctuary
and sustain you from Zion.

May He remember all your offerings
and accept your burnt offering.

May He give you what your heart desires and fulfill your whole purpose.

Let us shout for joy at your victory
and lift the banner in the name of our God.
May God fulfill all your requests.

Now I know that the Lord gives victory to His anointed;
He will answer him from His holy heaven
with mighty victories from His right hand.

Some take pride in chariots, and others in horses,
but we take pride in the name of our God.

They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand firm.

Lord, give victory to the king!
May He answer us on the day that we call.

Home Sweet Home

Page 70, Autumn, by Susan Branch

When the Church disappoints...

 Elizabeth Prata has a really good article about the gift of distinguishing spirits. An important point she makes is this:

  “You shouldn't accumulate knowledge just for the sake of knowledge. Once you know something is true or false, you have a responsibility to do something about it. You have a responsibility to praise the Savior if you find a true teaching, but if you find a false teaching you have to say something about it, as well.” 

I tell my fellows at church that I am a carbon monoxide alarm. Carbon monoxide gas is poisonous and odorless. It kills, but people only detect its presence when they start to feel sleepy and even then it may be too late.

False doctrine is like that, odorless, undetectable except for some symptoms that appear in people who are under its influence. If you detect a false teaching, or an evil spirit at work or a carnality creeping in, or whatever it may be as MacArthur outlined, DO something.

What I do is speak to my pastor or the teacher of the class. I make a report. I tell the men, right away. I let them know what I found, how I found it, where I found it, and the methods I used to find it. This is so they can check for themselves. I also offer the scriptural foundation that in my opinion shows the teaching or carnal thing is false so they can compare it to the Word. If they deem it false, my prayer next becomes that they do something about it and therefore it will not be tolerated.

Please Read the entire article.

HT The Watchman's Bagpipes & The End Time

God's Glory Declared!

Psalm 19 

The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

Day to day pours forth speech,
And night to night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech, nor are there words;
Their voice is not heard.

Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their utterances to the end of the world.
In them He has placed a tent for the sun,

Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.

Its rising is from one end of the heavens,
And its circuit to the other end of them;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.

They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them Your servant is warned;
In keeping them there is great reward.

Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.

Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins;
Let them not rule over me;
Then I will be blameless,
And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

Sweet Autumn

opening page, Autumn, by Susan Branch

Forgiveness 101

Isaiah 43:25
I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for 
My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.

Psalm 103:12
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Lamentations 3:22
The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.

Daniel 9:9
To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, 
for we have rebelled against Him.

Romans 8:1-2
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those 
who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life 
in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

Psalm 130:3-4
If You, Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
⁴ But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.

Colossians 1:13
For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, 
and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son

1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive 
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Psalm 66:18
If I regard wickedness in my heart,
The Lord will not hear;

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, 
he is a new creature; 
the old things passed away; 
behold, new things have come.

"You can't go back" --HUH?!

Years ago we knew a group of Christians who were arrogant, prideful, controlling, manipulative, and legalistic. "The group" had many legalisms, rules, and control devices, one of which was pressed upon us and others at the time--- I suppose, they chose to use it as their "ultimate" control method.  

Their exact quote was:

"You can't go back."

Go back where!?  and what does this really mean?  

In this "group" this comment meant that any member of "the group" now definitely knew that -- in "the group's" rules of perfect behavior -- a person must never stop doing, wearing, acting as "the  group" did, or you would lose your perfect godliness which they themselves had perfected.

Scary.  

Can you imagine if you were in this group and trying to fit in?  Obedience was the only option or you would be out and cruelly, visibly shunned.

As time has marched on, we have heard of "sightings" of these people who have definitely changed their looks just a little bit, although sadly, not their wrong behavior --- but that little "bit" is enough to break their own hard fast rule of "never going back," thus affecting their own holiness!

Soooo... 

in their own godliness rules --is it true that they can't go back?  

I am confused.  

I thought they knew the "godly way" and that they had said, "You can't go back."  But they went back! 

So if we had followed them completely --as many have-- so that we also would be "godly", so that we would never "go back" to our prior ungodliness, and now we discover that they went back, and so their way to godliness must not be as perfect as we --or they-- thought, where does this all lead us??

...Confusion, disillusionment, emotionally injured, spiritually damaged, perhaps even distrustful of God or blaming God...

And so it is when we follow arrogant, prideful, controlling, manipulative, and legalistic sinners.  We can not trust that they are actually following God's word rightly.  We must be like the Bereans and search the scriptures daily for ourselves so we can be wise and discern the false teachers, and bad leaders.  Acts 17:11

There is good news:
We can go back!
if you are turning around from your sin. 

This is all because of our God; the God of the Bible is a forgiving God.  We can mess up and sin big time, and He will forgive us.  

For example, we can make up our own holiness rules of dress and speech and behavior, and when we realize how foolish we have been and repent ---

we can know He will forgive us.  

We can go back!

Do not ever think that God will never forgive you for the mess you have made in your life or in other's lives.  God is always waiting, encouraging, desiring for each of us to run to Him in repentance.

Praise God! For I can run to Him any and every time.  He is my precious forgiveness.

He can be yours also.  

Precious Forgiveness

Psalm 130:3-4

If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins,
    O Lord, who could stand?

But with You there is forgiveness;
    therefore You are revered.

Praising God! for His forgiveness is 

precious and sweet---

a balm to a wounded soul, 

a life preserver on a sinking ship.

I've been saved!

*

Being Wise

Our words have much power.  

As godly women do we want our words to be for God or satan?

Should Christians Say----? has a wonderful post on words, our culture, and why we, as Christians, should be aware of our speech.

Ephesians 5:1-20

...Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.  So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is... 

HT Watchman's Bagpipes  :oD

Listen, my son, to your father's instruction

Most of our TV watching is from selected decades old television shows---can't stand the modern venue.  Just read a good post concerning television from the past:

TV Dads....in watching the Cosby Show last night, there was a scene of great tenderness. Cliff comes down the stairs in the middle of the night, searching for his wife who is absent from the bed. He finds her at the desk, working. He gently asks her if anything is the matter, and she says she couldn't sleep and decided to work. He asks if he has been snoring again and she admits he was. "Why didn't you turn me over?" he asks, and she laughs and said she had turned him every which way but his snoring didn't abate, so she came downstairs. Cliff asks her to come back to bed and she says she wants to work a while longer. He looks lovingly at her for a moment and then gently picks her up and dances with her up the stairs. Her low laughter echoes in the room as the light is turned off.

This scene remained with me because it is tender. Where is the tender, selfless care by tv fathers and dads these days? Husbandly and fatherly tenderness is absent from tv today. I am not speaking of a tenderness that is effeminate, but of a strong, loving, tenderness. Most of the time today we see that if a husband (or lover) awoke in bed alone he'd smile and grab all the covers, never mind actually get up to see if his bride was all right.

I like her analysis:

The bible says a husband/father is to leave his mother and father and cleave to his wife. (Genesis 2:24). That leaves Ray Barone out.

Husbands are to have authority over their wives. (1 Corinthians 11:3). That leaves Dan Conner out.

Husbands are to respect their wives. (1 Peter 3:7). That leaves Archie Bunker out. In one Everybody Loves Raymond episode, Ray calls his wife Debra a "smelly tramp."

Husbands are to consult with their wives. (Genesis 31:4-7). That leaves Ray Barone out.

Husbands are to love them. (Ephesians 5:25-33). That leaves Dan Conner out.

Fathers are to love their children. (Psalm 103:13). That leaves Family Guy out.

Fathers are to discipline their children. (Hebrews 12:7). That leaves Ray Barone & Homer Simpson out.

HT to the End Time Bog, Elizabeth Prata.

Humble trust in the Lord gives peace

In peace I will both lie down and sleep,
For You alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety.
Psalm 4:8

The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.
Psalm 16:6

And the LORD said, “My presence shall go with you,
and I will give you rest.”
Exodus 33:14

Thankfulness... in knowing the LORD is with me no matter if I am home or far away.

Precious, Warm...Nostalgia

Seeing our Autumn in full "bloom" has made me pull things out to enjoy for the season.

The Year at Maple Hill Farm, by Alice and Martin Provensen and also Our Animal Friends,
bring back to my mind such precious, warm nostalgia.

We use to gather many books from the library each week with many repeats as each of us had our favorites.  We spent many an hour reading and rereading by our selves and to each other.  These two books were such favorites.  The children would comb over the pictures and relish each time they would be  read to them---eventually they would read the books themselves.  

The simple pictures, the relating of what is normal on the farm and in nature, and the silly humor will capture your attention.

Those days are so long ago.  The library we borrowed from has probably sold those worn books at a book sale decades ago.  But we have our own copies now and I have given so many of them as gifts through these many years.

I can still hear the soft giggles of our little people as we enjoyed these books together.

The LORD is Our Dwelling Place

Psalm 90

Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.

2 Before the mountains were born
Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

3 You turn man back into dust
And say, “Return, O children of men.”

4 For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it passes by,
Or as a watch in the night.

5 You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep;
In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew.

6 In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew;
Toward evening it fades and withers away.

7 For we have been consumed by Your anger
And by Your wrath we have been dismayed.

8 You have placed our iniquities before You,
Our secret sins in the light of Your presence.

9 For all our days have declined in Your fury;
We have finished our years like a sigh.

10 As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.

11 Who understands the power of Your anger
And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?

12 So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.

13 Do return, O Lord; how long will it be?
And be sorry for Your servants.

14 O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness,
That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

15 Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us,
And the years we have seen evil.

16 Let Your work appear to Your servants
And Your majesty to their children.

17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;
And confirm for us the work of our hands;
Yes, confirm the work of our hands.

Seek Forgiveness

Confession seeks pardon from God,

not amnesty. 

Pardon accepts guilt; 

amnesty, derived from the same Greek word as amnesia, "forgets" the alleged offense without imputing guilt.

Confession admits wrong and seeks forgiveness; 

amnesty denies wrong and claims innocence.

Devotional author, Max Lucado, Remembering our Foundations; Turn, page 78.

Suffering produces perseverance

It is Well with My Soul

By Horatio Gates Spafford, 1828-1888

When peace like a river attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea-billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,

*

“It is well, it is well with my soul.”

It is well with my soul,

It is well, it is well with my soul.

*

Though satan should buffet, tho’ trials should come,

Let this blest assurance control,

That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,

And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

*

My sin --- O, the bliss of this glorious thought,

My sin --- not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

*

And, Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,

The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,

The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend,

“Even so” --- it is well with my soul.

*

Horation G. Spafford, a forty-three-year-old Chicago businessman, suffered financial disaster in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.   He and his wife were still grieving over the death of their son shortly before the fire, and he realized they needed to get away for a vacation.   Knowing that their friend Dwight L. Moody was going to be preaching in evangelistic campaigns in England that fall, Spafford decided to take the entire family to England.   His wife and four daughters went ahead on the SS Ville du Havre, and he planned to follow in a few days.

But on the Atlantic Ocean the ship was struck by an iron sailing vessel and sank within twelve minutes.   Two hundred and twenty-six lives were lost --- including the Spafford’s four daughters.   When the survivors were brought to shore at Cardiff, Wales, Mrs. Spafford cabled her husband, “Saved alone.”

Spafford booked passage on the next ship.   As they were crossing the Atlantic, the captain pointed out the place where he thought the Ville du Havre had gone down.   That night, Spafford penned the words “When sorrows like sea billows roll … it is well, it is well with my soul.”

*

We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings,

because we know that suffering produces perseverance;

perseverance, character;

and character, hope.

Romans 5:2-4

from:  The One Year Book of Hymns, February 4

 

Part Two of: Renewed Day by Day

Here I conclude with Dr. Ray Pritchard's, The Blessing No One Wants:

The Ministry of Divine Comfort
... the Bible has a great deal to say about the ministry of divine comfort. It tells us a number of important truths we need to remember.

1. God Himself draws near to those who hurt.

Psalm 34:18 says, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." 

Here is a promise of God's special presence in the midst of our pain.  Through the Holy Spirit, the Lord Himself draws near to us in times of great suffering.   We sense His presence in a way that goes beyond the natural.   We "hear" His voice though there is no sound in the room.   Many Christians can testify to this special sense of God's nearness felt during a time of great suffering.

2. God uses suffering to draw us to Himself.

In this same Psalm David declared, "I sought the Lord, and He answered me;  He delivered me from all my fears" (v.4)  

Suffering turns us to the Lord as nothing else can.   Perhaps you've heard it said this way,  "You never know if Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.  And when Jesus is all you have, then and only then will you discover that Jesus really is all you need."

Recently we received a letter from a prisoner named Monica who said,

"I finished reading "An Anchor for the Soul," and I  am about to begin reading it again ... I truly believe I have been blessed by the situation I am currently in.   Because of it I know I have gained eternal life with Jesus.  If I had not been arrested, I doubt I would have ever come to know Jesus as I do now."

Prison is not "good" in the sense that we usually use the term, but going to prison can be good if it causes us to turn to the Lord.  So it is with all the troubles, difficulties, and afflictions of life.  We pray more. We pray more fervently during a time of crisis because we know that if God doesn't help us, we're sunk.  Sometimes I think that God allows certain things to happen to His children in order to get our attention focused completely on Him.

3. We grow faster in hard times than we do in good times.

Romans 5:2-4 describes the process God uses to develop godly character in our lives.  In fact, Paul says that "we also rejoice in our sufferings" (v.3).  

That may appear to be a misprint, but it isn't.  Paul isn't suggesting that we should become masochists who rejoice in the hard times as if we enjoyed the pain.  That wouldn't even be a Christian idea.  He doesn't say, "We rejoice because of our sufferings" but rather, "We rejoice in our sufferings.

Even in the most difficult moments, God's people can rejoice because He is at work doing something important in them.  The next few verses explain the process.  Suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, character produces hope, and "hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit"  (v.5). 

What starts with suffering ends with the love of God.  This is a wonderful progression, but you cannot get to the love of God without starting in the place of suffering.

More than one person has said to me,

"I wouldn't trade my pain for the things God has shown me." 

If that doesn't make sense to you, it is only because you haven't been there yet.

4.  Our sufferings qualify us to minister to others.

2 Corinthians 1:4 tells us that God "comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." 

The Greek word translated "comfort" in this verse is the same word Jesus used in Matthew 5:4.  God uses our sufferings to comfort us so that when we are better, we can minister to others in His name.

No one understands cancer like someone who has been through it.  No one understands divorce like a person who's been through it.  No one understands the pain of a miscarriage like a mother who has lost a child that way.  No one knows the pain of losing a job like someone who has been told, "You're fired."

Many Christians are superbly qualified to minister to others, and they don't even know it.  They are the ones who have been deeply hurt by the troubles of life, and through it all they have discovered that God is faithful.  Those folks have an important message to share.  They can say with conviction,

"God will take care of you.  I know, because He took care of me."

They have earned their degree in the School of Suffering, and now they are qualified to minister to others  who are newly enrolled.

                                               *

The Majesty of God's Sovereignty

What do these things teach us about the character of God?

1.  Because God is sovereign and we are not, most of our questions will never be answered in this life.

Some people can't live with that truth, so they devise human answers to explain suffering and death.  Those answers almost never work, and sometimes they hurt more than they help.  When I am called to the hospital, I never try to answer these hard questions.   They are beyond me.  Better to say less and be silent before the Lord than to try to explain the mysterious ways of God.

2.  Because God is good, we know that He has our best interests at heart.

That sentence gets to the heart of Romans 8:28.  The older I get, the more I am convinced that the goodness of God is the central issue of life.  If you believe God is good,  you can endure things that would break most people.  You can live with unanswered questions so long as you believe in the goodness of God.  But once you doubt His goodness, you must become either a secret atheist or an angry Christian.  And really, there's not much difference in those two categories, if you think about it.

In stating it that way, it is important to remember that God's goodness doesn't depend on our happiness.  When our oldest son was in high school, he and a few friends survived a late-night wreck that totally destroyed our new van.  The man at the local body shop estimated that when the van hit the tree, it was going at least fifty miles per hour.  The force of the impact drove then engine eighteen inches off its block and into the passenger compartment.  You could see tufts of hair in the windshield left from the force of the impact.  In the providence of God, the van hit the tree in the center of the front bumper. 

"If it had hit the tree six inches to the left or right, you would have been going to the funeral home, not to the hospital,"  the man told us.

I cannot explain why things happened the way they did.  At one point that night, there were four people in four different hospitals.  But no one died, and we eventually replaced our van.  Several months later, during a Thanksgiving service, my wife rose to give a testimony.  She said something like this:

"Many of you know that our oldest son and his friends barely survived a terrible wreck.  Some people have told us that God was good to spare Joshua and the others who were with him.  It's true that God was good to us, but God would have been good even if Joshua had died in the wreck."

I confess that I was unnerved when I heard those words.  Like many people, I am accustomed to connecting God's goodness with my happiness.  But it doesn't work that way. 

I listened to Eddie Fox describe what happens in the Methodist churches of Nigeria.  He said that whenever the church gathers, the speaker will say, "Hallelujah,"  and everyone responds, "Amen."  When the speaker says,"God is good,"  with one voice they reply, "All the time."  Our Nigerian brothers and sisters are right. 

God is good all the time.

God's character is not on trial in your sufferings.  You may think it is, but it isn't.  Job tried to put God on trial, but the Lord ended up putting Job on trial.

God is good, and His mercy endures forever.  That is true regardless of our moment-by-moment experience.

3.  Because God is wise, nothing is ever wasted on our experience.

Romans 8:29 tells us that God has predestined us to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.  I often think of a sculpture sitting down before a hunk of marble.  On the outside, the marble looks ugly and unformed.  But the sculpture sees something beautiful inside that hunk.  So with hammer and chisel, he begins to chip away.  For many weeks he shapes, cuts, and polishes, until little by little an image emerges from the stone.  On and on he works, never stopping until the sculpture is complete.  What was once ugly is now a thing of beauty.

Even so, the Lord takes the hammer and chisel of human suffering to shape us into the image of Jesus Christ.  In those moments when we feel that God has simply hammered us into the ground, we discover later that nothing was done in anger, nothing in haste, but everything was according to His plan so that, in the end, we might be beautiful, like Jesus Himself.

The most beautiful Christians I know are not the young, the rich, the educated, the successful, or the influential.  Those persons may be happy, but their lives are shallow because the sculpture has not yet picked up the hammer and the chisel. 

No, the most beautiful Christians I know are those who have been through suffering and come through it with their faith in God intact.  They may not laugh as much as others and their faces may be lined with care, but the beauty of Christ is in their eyes and their voices testify to God's amazing grace.

If you feel the heavy weight of God hammering down on you, rest assured that nothing is being wasted.  Everything has a purpose.  In the end, God will be glorified, and you will be more beautiful than you ever dreamed possible.

4.  Because God is love, He will not leave you alone in your pain.

This is the promise of the second Beatitude, 

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted"  (Matthew 5:4).

God will come to you.  You may not feel it or believe it, but it is true, for He has promised it.  If it were necessary, I could produce a long line of witnesses who could testify to God's comfort in the midst of great suffering.

But it is not necessary to do that.  I know God will come to you, because He came for you two thousand years ago.  God proved His love when He sent His Son Jesus into this sin-cursed world.  He didn't have to do it.  He chose to do it.  He did what we would never do.  He voluntarily sacrificed His only Son.  He not only sent Him to earth, He stood by and watched Jesus die a terrible, bloody death.

After Calvary, God has nothing left to prove to anyone.  How can you doubt His love after you look at the bleeding form of Jesus hanging on the cross?

See from His head, His hands, and His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down;
Did e'er such love or sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Isaac Watts, ("When I Survey the Wonderful Cross")

I realize that this may not answer every question, but it does answer the most important question:

Does God care for me in the midst of my suffering?

The answer is yes, God cares for you, and if you doubt His love, fix your gaze on the Cross and be comforted.

We understand these strange words a bit better when we see them refracted through the bloody haze of Good Friday.  See Him on the cross, "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3). 

He knows what you are going through.  He will personally comfort you, and in the end, you will be blessed.

HT Dr. Ray Pritchard, Founder and President of Keep Believing Ministries