Today, I am thankful for the wonderful peace and the quiet that comes from the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This world is filled with the sounds of war in the hustle and bustle of every day life. War sounds are heard in the constant complaining of folks trying to get ahead of each other. By nature, we all complain about most everything. We complain about our jobs, our physical pains, our mental anguish, our government's action, our government's lack of action, and the weather (hot or cold, raining or sunny). We complain about the way we look. I mean the things we are born with, like hair color, eye color, or height. I do not have the time or inclination to keep listing all of the complaints I complain or hear others complain. We even complain about others complaining.
This I do know, complaining is not honouring to God. Godliness with contentment is great gain. Complaining shows a lack of faith and trust in our Saviour. It shows a sense of abandonment. Complaining bears all the weight of all of our cares. The scripture tells us to cast all our cares upon Him, for He cares for you.
I am thankful that in the midst of a perverse generation where men are lovers of their own selves, that our Lord and Saviour gives His people a peace that passes all understanding. He gives us an unction from the Holy One that enables us to hear His still small voice. We can hear the peaceful sounds of the leaves rustling in the wind (Holy Spirit of God - John 3), even in the midst of a whirlwind or the gentle rain from heaven while a tempest rages around us.
The scripture teaches each of us to study to be quiet and do our own business. If we can listen as the quiet is given we will having meaningful peace and find ourselves drinking from the saucer.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Prayer
Today, I am, again, made to realize the blessings of prayer.The blessings are too great to describe wholly. I hope that a few thoughts will stir our minds, though.
1. When you are surrounded with troubles, enemies, health problems, sadnesses, guilts, or any other afflictions of the mind or body, it is of the greatest comfort to have spiritual brethren and sisters praying for you. Many times these intercessory prayers go on without your knowledge of them. Sometimes you receive a note or text saying "I am praying for you." But, when I do not feel like my prayers are very effectual, I am thankful for the prayers of those who love me.
2. It is a privilege and a blessing to pray for those I love in the faith, and those who may not be. The exercise of my faith that comes with constant or regular prayer is very valuable, more so than gold. The more I pray to my God the better I become at wording my supplications. The prayers that I see answered in my brethren and sisters' lives only serve to increase my hope and trust in my loving, gracious, Heavenly Father. We should never be surprised when the prayers are answered, but I usually am. My flesh is so very weak. Praying is of great benefit to the ones I am interceding for and for me. Maybe the greater benefit is for me because the Lord could bless the ones I pray for because of faithful brethren that are also praying for them or because they asked for themselves.
3. Prayer is a communication directly with the Lord. (I do not say that is all it is) For whatever time I am communicating with my God, I am not communicating with the world. It is time well spent. Prayer is NEVER a waste of time.
4. Prayer is often by direction or prompting of the Lord. There have been occasions when I feel impressed to pray for someone and I do not know why. Later, I find out that the need was great at the time of the prayer. This is not because I have intuition or prudence but, rather, that the Lord granted me the blessing of following His leadership which mutually benefited of the one I was praying for and me.
There are many other things to say of prayer. I encourage you to pray more often. Mention names (mention my name). Be specific. Ask believing. Ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ask according to His will and be ready, willing and able to bless the Lord if the answer is "No".
The blessings I have found in and by prayer make me realize that time spent in prayer is time spent drinking from the saucer.
1. When you are surrounded with troubles, enemies, health problems, sadnesses, guilts, or any other afflictions of the mind or body, it is of the greatest comfort to have spiritual brethren and sisters praying for you. Many times these intercessory prayers go on without your knowledge of them. Sometimes you receive a note or text saying "I am praying for you." But, when I do not feel like my prayers are very effectual, I am thankful for the prayers of those who love me.
2. It is a privilege and a blessing to pray for those I love in the faith, and those who may not be. The exercise of my faith that comes with constant or regular prayer is very valuable, more so than gold. The more I pray to my God the better I become at wording my supplications. The prayers that I see answered in my brethren and sisters' lives only serve to increase my hope and trust in my loving, gracious, Heavenly Father. We should never be surprised when the prayers are answered, but I usually am. My flesh is so very weak. Praying is of great benefit to the ones I am interceding for and for me. Maybe the greater benefit is for me because the Lord could bless the ones I pray for because of faithful brethren that are also praying for them or because they asked for themselves.
3. Prayer is a communication directly with the Lord. (I do not say that is all it is) For whatever time I am communicating with my God, I am not communicating with the world. It is time well spent. Prayer is NEVER a waste of time.
4. Prayer is often by direction or prompting of the Lord. There have been occasions when I feel impressed to pray for someone and I do not know why. Later, I find out that the need was great at the time of the prayer. This is not because I have intuition or prudence but, rather, that the Lord granted me the blessing of following His leadership which mutually benefited of the one I was praying for and me.
There are many other things to say of prayer. I encourage you to pray more often. Mention names (mention my name). Be specific. Ask believing. Ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ask according to His will and be ready, willing and able to bless the Lord if the answer is "No".
The blessings I have found in and by prayer make me realize that time spent in prayer is time spent drinking from the saucer.
Friday, December 10, 2010
My Best Friend
Today, I am made to realize that the greatest friend, the Lord Jesus Christ, has given many gifts. He gave himself for us, that we might live. He has left us His words, inspired and preserved in our own language. Psalms 68 assures us that he daily loads us with benefits.
There is one particular benefit that I wish to express thanks for. My God gave me a precious gift over 20 years ago. He led me to the place where my bride was. My wife and I share many personal assurances that He brought us together.
She is the most amazing gift I have been given apart from eternal life and the wonderful knowedge of it. She completes me. She helps me. She is the behind the scenes person that makes the production go smoothly. She prays for me. She teaches and loves our children. She cooks and cleans and washes all of my dirt. I could literally go on for many pages expressing all the large and small things that my wife does to better my life. For each of these and all of these I thank the Lord.
Most of all, I thank the greatest friend for my best friend. My wife is truly my best friend. She loves unconditionally, at all times. Everything she does, she does with me on her mind. We share everything, especially the most important things. We worship our Lord together in unity of mind and body. When I think that our relationship and fellowship cannot get better, it does. That is an evident token of the greatness of our God. His ways are unsearchable.
I thank the Lord for this precious gift. I ask, fervently, that this blessing will continue as we grow old together, drinking from the saucer together.
There is one particular benefit that I wish to express thanks for. My God gave me a precious gift over 20 years ago. He led me to the place where my bride was. My wife and I share many personal assurances that He brought us together.
She is the most amazing gift I have been given apart from eternal life and the wonderful knowedge of it. She completes me. She helps me. She is the behind the scenes person that makes the production go smoothly. She prays for me. She teaches and loves our children. She cooks and cleans and washes all of my dirt. I could literally go on for many pages expressing all the large and small things that my wife does to better my life. For each of these and all of these I thank the Lord.
Most of all, I thank the greatest friend for my best friend. My wife is truly my best friend. She loves unconditionally, at all times. Everything she does, she does with me on her mind. We share everything, especially the most important things. We worship our Lord together in unity of mind and body. When I think that our relationship and fellowship cannot get better, it does. That is an evident token of the greatness of our God. His ways are unsearchable.
I thank the Lord for this precious gift. I ask, fervently, that this blessing will continue as we grow old together, drinking from the saucer together.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Taught by a Pupil
Today, I was blessed to read my first blog, a former student's blog. She expressed very wonderfully the blessings she has received at the hand of a gracious God. She made me realize something I have known and often lose site of...Despite the circumstances we find ourselves in, the blessings that the Lord has provided far outshine the current dilemma or temptation we are in. He, also, provides daily blessings to load us down with to help us keep our eyes focused on Him and not on our problems. Our God is a gracious God that daily provides exceeding abundantly above what we think we need. Therefore, He makes us to drink from the saucer. This quote is not original with me, just a lovely expression from an unknown poet...Drinking from the saucer because my cup has overflowed.
For the blessings of this day I thank my God.
For the blessings of this day I thank my God.
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