The above link is from my hometown in North Dakota, The Minot Daily News. My brother, Donny, and his wife, Mary’s picture was snapped as they were leaving the store! He is quite proud of it.
Click on the link to see the article and then click on the picture itself to enlarge it.
Whom, When, How to Deliver
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. (2 Peter 2:9)
The godly are tempted and tried. That is not true faith which is never put to the test. But the godly are delivered out of their trials, and that not by chance, nor by secondary agencies, but by the Lord Himself. He personally undertakes the office of delivering those who trust Him. God loves the godly or godlike, and He makes a point of knowing where they are and how they fare.
Sometimes their way seems to be a labyrinth, and they cannot imagine how they are to escape from threatening danger. What they do not know, their Lord knows. He knows whom to deliver, and when to deliver, and how to deliver. He delivers in the way which is most beneficial to the godly, most crushing to the tempter, and most glorifying to Himself. We may leave the “how” with the Lord and be content to rejoice in the fact that He will, in some way or other, bring His own people through all the dangers, trials, and temptations for this mortal life to His own right hand in glory.
This day it is not for me to pry into my Lord’s secrets but patiently to wait His time, knowing this, that though I know nothing, my heavenly Father knows. C.H. Spurgeon
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. John 15:7
Christ’s Words in Us
by R.A. Torrey
If we are to receive from God all we ask from Him, Christ’s words must abide in us. We must study His words and let them sink into our thoughts and heart. We must keep them in our memory, obey them constantly in our life, and let them shape and mold our daily life and our every act.
This is really the method of abiding in Christ. It is through His words that Jesus imparts Himself to us. The words He speaks unto us, they are spirit and they are life (John 6:63). It is vain to expect power in prayer unless we meditate upon the words of Christ and let them sink deep and find a permanent abode in our hearts; His words do not abide in them. It is not by moments of mystical meditation and rapturous experiences that we learn to abide in Christ. It is by feeding upon His Word, His written Word in the Bible, and looking to the Spirit to implant these words in our heart—to make them a living thing in our heart. If we thus let the words of Christ abide in us, they will stir us up to prayer.
The Word of God is the instrument through which the Holy Spirit works. It is the sword of the Spirit in more senses than one. The person who wants to know the work of the Holy Spirit in any direction must feed upon the Word. The person who desires to pray in the Spirit must meditate on the Word, so that the Holy Spirit may have something through which He can work. The Holy Spirit words His prayers in us through the Word. If we seek to feed the fire of our prayers with the fuel of God’s Word, all our difficulties in prayer will disappear.
THE BLAME GAME
‘The woman you put here…gave me some…and I ate it. Genesis 3:121 NIV
Blaming came naturally to Adam and Eve, the father and mother of the human race. After all, who could fault them? God did! Their blame was a result of how sin had changed them. Their relationship to themselves, each other, their environment, and even God, was radically changed by their irresponsibility. And since God can do nothing with people who won’t take responsibility for their decisions, He dismissed them from Paradise. What a price to pay!
Here are two good reasons for giving up the blame game: (1) It makes you a victim. When you make someone else responsible for your circumstances, you put the power to change things in their hands. That means nothing will change unless they decide to change it. You make them master of your fate. Only by accepting personal responsibility can you retain the power to change your circumstances. (2) It makes you miserable. You say, ‘But they hurt me.’ Yes, and by harbouring resentment you are hurting yourself over and over. The Bible says, ‘See to it…that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.’ (Hebrews 12:15 NIV) Before you know it, your entire outlook gets distorted. ‘See that no one…is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights… Afterward…when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he…could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.’ (Hebrews 12:16-17 NIV) Forgive, take back your life, and get out of the blame game! Bill & Debby Gass
Google had a nice surprise for me tonight. When I went to login, I saw these pretty cakes at the top and wondered who they were celebrating now, so I placed my cursor on them and it said, “Happy birthday, Carolyn” … Yes … Me! How cute. Well, anyway, in a little more than an hour, I’ll be 68 years old. It just doesn’t sound real. I always tell me kids (37 and 35) that they’re the ones getting older, not me.
Children are a gift from the Lord;
they are a reward from him.
Psalm 127:3
Going to an Indian baby shower for our niece
and nephew today. It is called a Godh Bharai.
Here is a link you can click on to learn more about it:
http://wishgoodluck.com/india-good-luck-symbols/godh-bharai/
Personally, I don’t believe in ‘good luck’ … I believe in blessings.
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Deal with the Rooster ‘There is … No condemnation …’ Romans 8:1 NKJV Booker T. Washington tells a wonderful story about his mother. Every morning of his young life, he, along with all the plantation slaves, was awakened by the crow of a rooster. Long before daybreak the unwelcome noise would fill the shanties, reminding Washington and his fellow workers to crawl out of bed and leave for the cotton fields. That rooster’s crow came to symbolise a life of long days and backbreaking labour. But then came the Emancipation Proclamation. Abraham Lincoln pronounced freedom for all slaves. The first morning after, young Booker was awakened by the rooster again. Only this time his mother was chasing it around the barnyard with an axe. That day the Washington family fried and ate their alarm clock for lunch. Their first act of freedom was to silence the reminder of their slavery. Are any roosters stealing your sleep? You might need to sharpen the blade. The great news of the Gospel is, yes, His grace is real, and so is your freedom! ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.’ Forget your sins for God’s sake, because when you keep bringing them up you bother Him! Does that sound too strong for you? Then read what God says about your sins: ‘I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.’ (Isaiah 43:25 NKJV) God has buried your sins in the ‘depths of the sea’ (Micah 7:19 NIV) and posted a sign beside it which reads, ‘No fishing in these waters. Bill & Debby’s Gass |
Needs to Open Our Mouths
Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. Psalm 81:10
What an encouragement to pray! Our human notions would lead us to ask small things because our deservings are so small; but the Lord would have us request great blessings. Prayer should be as simple a matter as the opening of the mouth; it should be a natural, unconstrained utterance. When a man is earnest he opens his mouth wide, and our text urges us to be fervent in our supplications.
Yet it also means that we may make bold with God and ask many and large blessings at His hands, Read the whole verse, and see the argument: “I am Jehovah, thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.” Because the Lord has given us so much He invites us to ask for more, yea, to expect more.
See how the little birds in their nests seem to be all mouth when the mother comes to feed them. Let it be the same with us. Let us take in grace at every door. Let us drink it in as a sponge sucks up the water in which it lies. God is ready to fill us if we are only ready to be filled. Let our needs make us open our mouths; let our faintness cause us to open our mouths and pant; yea, let our alarm make us open our mouths with a child’s cry. The opened mouth shall be filled by the Lord Himself. So be it unto us, O Lord, this day. C.H. Spurgeon
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