Just sharing.

[beensetfree]

“Take up the cross, and follow me.”

Mark 10:21

You have not the making of your own cross, although unbelief is a master carpenter at cross-making; neither are you permitted to choose your own cross, although self-will would fain be lord and master; but your cross is prepared and appointed for you by divine love, and you are cheerfully to accept it; you are to take up the cross as your chosen badge and burden, and not to stand cavilling at it. This night Jesus bids you submit your shoulder to his easy yoke.

Do not kick at it in petulance, or trample on it in vain-glory, or fall under it in despair, or run away from it in fear, but take it up like a true follower of Jesus. Jesus was a cross-bearer; he leads the way in the path of sorrow. Surely you could not desire a better guide! And if he carried a cross, what nobler burden would you desire? The Via Crucis is the way of safety; fear not to tread its thorny paths.

Beloved, the cross is not made of feathers, or lined with velvet, it is heavy and galling to disobedient shoulders; but it is not an iron cross, though your fears have painted it with iron colours, it is a wooden cross, and a man can carry it, for the Man of sorrows tried the load. Take up your cross, and by the power of the Spirit of God you will soon be so in love with it, that like Moses, you would not exchange the reproach of Christ for all the treasures of Egypt.

Remember that Jesus carried it, and it will smell sweetly; remember that it will soon be followed by the crown, and the thought of the coming weight of glory will greatly lighten the present heaviness of trouble. The Lord help you to bow your spirit in submission to the divine will ere you fall asleep this night, that waking with to-morrow's sun, you may go forth to the day's cross with the holy and submissive spirit which becomes a follower of the Crucified.

 

[beensetfree]

“O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy upon Jerusalem? ... And the Lord answered the angel ... with good words and comfortable words.”

Zechariah 1:12,13

What a sweet answer to an anxious enquiry! This night let us rejoice in it. O Zion, there are good things in store for thee; thy time of travail shall soon be over; thy children shall be brought forth; thy captivity shall end. Bear patiently the rod for a season, and under the darkness still trust in God, for his love burneth towards thee. God loves the church with a love too deep for human imagination: he loves her with all his infinite heart. Therefore let her sons be of good courage; she cannot be far from prosperity to whom God speaketh “good words and comfortable words.”

What these comfortable words are the prophet goes on to tell us: “I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.” The Lord loves his church so much that he cannot bear that she should go astray to others; and when she has done so, he cannot endure that she should suffer too much or too heavily. He will not have his enemies afflict her: he is displeased with them because they increase her misery.

When God seems most to leave his church, his heart is warm towards her. History shows that whenever God uses a rod to chasten his servants, he always breaks it afterwards, as if he loathed the rod which gave his children pain. “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.” God hath not forgotten us because he smites — his blows are no evidences of want of love.

If this is true of his church collectively, it is of necessity true also of each individual member. You may fear that the Lord has passed you by, but it is not so: he who counts the stars, and calls them by their names, is in no danger of forgetting his own children. He knows your case as thoroughly as if you were the only creature he ever made, or the only saint he ever loved. Approach him and be at peace.

 

[beensetfree]

An Angel

I started out an angel
The one you couldn’t hate
Then the angel turned mortal
And made a few mistakes

I soon could not be trusted
Or so my loved ones thought
They do not understand
The pain and suffering they’ve brought
Little do they know

Of the ones I’ve learned to love
Who do not see the mask I wear
When I am truly hurt at heart
They give me the strength and courage
To make it through the day
And face what problems might conspire
If I’m not the angel so many have come to desire

This angel is sick of the disguise
And wants everyone to know
That she is not all that wise
For this angel is also human

And is allowed some mistakes
But should not be cast down
For the problems that she makes
For you see with every problem comes a solution

And with every solution a lesson to be learned
That whoever you are
And whatever you do
You are only expected to be you

 

[beensetfree]

Why Its Easy To Misjudge People


It’s almost impossible to know what’s inside of a person, so why are we so quick to judge?

Forgiving Others
John 3:16 is a beautiful verse that speaks of the immeasurable gift that the Father gave of His Son for our forgiveness of sins. Even so, John 3:17 completes this thought since it says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him,” so Jesus came not to condemn the world, but to save the world.

One of the greatest things about redemption is that we are forgiven by God. He removes our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). The point is east and west never meet. He didn’t come to condemn but to save, even though many believe that’s the only reason Jesus came. He casts our sins into the oceans, which is a type of death, but we still love to go fishing for them, including those of others.

As far as God is concerned, our sins are forgotten, never to be dealt with again, but its human nature to try and resurrect the sins of others. The irony is that when we fail to forgive others, we are robbing ourselves of health, joy, and happiness. In what is called the Lord’s Prayer, we are told to ask for our trespasses to be forgiven just as we are to forgive others there trespasses.

The word trespass is simply an old English word that basically relates to sin, so if Jesus came into the world to not condemn the world, then why do so many Christians (and non-believers) condemn others when they don’t know what’s inside the person. Only God can see what’s in a person’s heart, but humans, even Christians, tend to judge a book by its cover. We are quick to ask for forgiveness but no always so quick to forgive others. There is something decidedly wrong about this picture.

Forgiving Self
There are times when we even get made at ourselves and cannot forgive ourselves for own mistakes. We are told to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves, but we sometimes don’t love ourselves, and so we sometimes don’t forgive ourselves, even though God has. We might be harder on ourselves than anyone else, but if we believe God, we have been cleansed from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9), and given a new standing before God.

The believer has Jesus’ very own righteousness (2 Cor 5:21), so why do we have such trouble forgiving ourselves? I think it’s a lack of belief. In other words, since God promises to cleanse us from all of our unrighteousness, and there is no more condemnation (Rom 8:1), and we are now at peace with God (Rom 8:1), why are we sometimes not at peace with ourselves? It could be others who keep bringing up the past, but they have no reason to since God has taken our sins away.

Jesus told the woman caught in adultery that she was not condemned, but told to “go and sin no more” (John 8:11), but I wonder how many of the Jewish religious leaders still saw that woman later on and still labeled her an adulterer? I wonder how many of us would do the same thing. And what of the man caught in the act of adultery?

Why wasn’t he brought to Jesus? It’s the old double standard, but since Jesus forgave her, and it appears that she forgave herself, her sin should never be brought up again. What God has cleansed, no one has the right to accuse. The Apostle Paul asks, “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us” (Rom 8:34).


Hypocrites
Many people don’t want to go to church because they say it’s full of hypocrites. I can tell them that there’s always room for one more, and if you find a perfect church, don’t join it…you’ll run it…just like I would, so there is no such thing as a perfect church, just as there are no perfect people. Clearly, Christians are far from perfect, but they are forgiven, so why do we quickly judge others and often harbor grudges for things they’ve done? People may not want to be around those who are judging others, and why would they?

If they know you’ll judge them, even without having all the facts, why would they ever want to associate with you or with me? If you choose to forgive others and they choose to not forgive you, you at least have met your obligation. You can’t make someone forgive you, but you can accept God’s forgiveness and move on. Only you can control your decision to forgive yourself and others, but no one has any right to condemn. Not forgiving is an issue of pride and God is known to resist the proud but to give grace to the humble (James 4:6). You cannot be humble and be unforgiving at the same time.

A Book’s Cover
Two members of another church were sitting in a beauty parlor they saw the new pastor of the church down the street. They noticed his walk was unsteadily when he into the first floor of a building that was housing a bar. When he came out, he was apparently in no better shape than when he left as he wobbled back to his car and drove off.

The two church members could not believe that the new pastor of the church was drunk. Naturally, they had to tell some of the members of that church what they had seen, but it was only then that they find out that the new pastor had cerebral palsy and had difficulty walking. And when it looked like he was going into the bar, he had actually been visiting a prospective member who lived in an apartment upstairs, above the bar. What a great reminder that only God knows the heart (1 Sam 16:7). We can’t judge a book without reading it any more than we can judge someone we don’t know. We have no idea what’s in their heart and so we’re in no position to judge.

Conclusion
I have been misjudged a few times and it’s not fun, but I’ve done the same thing to others. One person assumed something about me from the way things looked, but they could not have been more wrong about me. When we judge people, we almost always get it wrong. Only God knows what’s inside their heart, and God is the One Who is in a position to judge them. I am not qualified. He is. I can tell people what the Bible says about certain things and that some things are clearly sin, but even then, I’m telling them what God’s Word says and it is really God’s Word that is judging them, not me.

 

[Psalm23]

Why Its Easy To Misjudge People


It’s almost impossible to know what’s inside of a person, so why are we so quick to judge?

Forgiving Others
John 3:16 is a beautiful verse that speaks of the immeasurable gift that the Father gave of His Son for our forgiveness of sins. Even so, John 3:17 completes this thought since it says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him,” so Jesus came not to condemn the world, but to save the world.

One of the greatest things about redemption is that we are forgiven by God. He removes our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). The point is east and west never meet. He didn’t come to condemn but to save, even though many believe that’s the only reason Jesus came. He casts our sins into the oceans, which is a type of death, but we still love to go fishing for them, including those of others.

As far as God is concerned, our sins are forgotten, never to be dealt with again, but its human nature to try and resurrect the sins of others. The irony is that when we fail to forgive others, we are robbing ourselves of health, joy, and happiness. In what is called the Lord’s Prayer, we are told to ask for our trespasses to be forgiven just as we are to forgive others there trespasses.

The word trespass is simply an old English word that basically relates to sin, so if Jesus came into the world to not condemn the world, then why do so many Christians (and non-believers) condemn others when they don’t know what’s inside the person. Only God can see what’s in a person’s heart, but humans, even Christians, tend to judge a book by its cover. We are quick to ask for forgiveness but no always so quick to forgive others. There is something decidedly wrong about this picture.

Forgiving Self
There are times when we even get made at ourselves and cannot forgive ourselves for own mistakes. We are told to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves, but we sometimes don’t love ourselves, and so we sometimes don’t forgive ourselves, even though God has. We might be harder on ourselves than anyone else, but if we believe God, we have been cleansed from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9), and given a new standing before God.

The believer has Jesus’ very own righteousness (2 Cor 5:21), so why do we have such trouble forgiving ourselves? I think it’s a lack of belief. In other words, since God promises to cleanse us from all of our unrighteousness, and there is no more condemnation (Rom 8:1), and we are now at peace with God (Rom 8:1), why are we sometimes not at peace with ourselves? It could be others who keep bringing up the past, but they have no reason to since God has taken our sins away.

Jesus told the woman caught in adultery that she was not condemned, but told to “go and sin no more” (John 8:11), but I wonder how many of the Jewish religious leaders still saw that woman later on and still labeled her an adulterer? I wonder how many of us would do the same thing. And what of the man caught in the act of adultery?

Why wasn’t he brought to Jesus? It’s the old double standard, but since Jesus forgave her, and it appears that she forgave herself, her sin should never be brought up again. What God has cleansed, no one has the right to accuse. The Apostle Paul asks, “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us” (Rom 8:34).


Hypocrites
Many people don’t want to go to church because they say it’s full of hypocrites. I can tell them that there’s always room for one more, and if you find a perfect church, don’t join it…you’ll run it…just like I would, so there is no such thing as a perfect church, just as there are no perfect people. Clearly, Christians are far from perfect, but they are forgiven, so why do we quickly judge others and often harbor grudges for things they’ve done? People may not want to be around those who are judging others, and why would they?

If they know you’ll judge them, even without having all the facts, why would they ever want to associate with you or with me? If you choose to forgive others and they choose to not forgive you, you at least have met your obligation. You can’t make someone forgive you, but you can accept God’s forgiveness and move on. Only you can control your decision to forgive yourself and others, but no one has any right to condemn. Not forgiving is an issue of pride and God is known to resist the proud but to give grace to the humble (James 4:6). You cannot be humble and be unforgiving at the same time.

A Book’s Cover
Two members of another church were sitting in a beauty parlor they saw the new pastor of the church down the street. They noticed his walk was unsteadily when he into the first floor of a building that was housing a bar. When he came out, he was apparently in no better shape than when he left as he wobbled back to his car and drove off.

The two church members could not believe that the new pastor of the church was drunk. Naturally, they had to tell some of the members of that church what they had seen, but it was only then that they find out that the new pastor had cerebral palsy and had difficulty walking. And when it looked like he was going into the bar, he had actually been visiting a prospective member who lived in an apartment upstairs, above the bar. What a great reminder that only God knows the heart (1 Sam 16:7). We can’t judge a book without reading it any more than we can judge someone we don’t know. We have no idea what’s in their heart and so we’re in no position to judge.

Conclusion
I have been misjudged a few times and it’s not fun, but I’ve done the same thing to others. One person assumed something about me from the way things looked, but they could not have been more wrong about me. When we judge people, we almost always get it wrong. Only God knows what’s inside their heart, and God is the One Who is in a position to judge them. I am not qualified. He is. I can tell people what the Bible says about certain things and that some things are clearly sin, but even then, I’m telling them what God’s Word says and it is really God’s Word that is judging them, not me.

This is so true. One of my dearest prayers is for me to be less self-righteous! I can't speak for others, but I have been struggling this day and night as keep on judging others. I know I will keep struggling for this sin of self-righteousness of years to come! Keep praying of me - my fellow Christians. We (or rather I am) are not different from others. We are as black as charcoal but God will by His mercy cleanses us from all out unrighteousness (and self-righteousness) and will be as white as snow when we come face-to-face with our God..

Dear Brother Beensetfree - Have a great Lunar New Year with great blessings from our dear Living God, Lord Jesus! Keep on writing! God will bless you greatly for your faithfulness!

Psalm23

 

[beensetfree]

Hi brother Psalm 23,

Nice to hear from you again. Yes we all have our personal and weaknesses and fall short of His glory but with the Spirit we try to be better.

Having said that, I am sure you are shining your light for others in the other areas of your life.

Good bless you and your family.

This is so true. One of my dearest prayers is for me to be less self-righteous! I can't speak for others, but I have been struggling this day and night as keep on judging others. I know I will keep struggling for this sin of self-righteousness of years to come! Keep praying of me - my fellow Christians. We (or rather I am) are not different from others. We are as black as charcoal but God will by His mercy cleanses us from all out unrighteousness (and self-righteousness) and will be as white as snow when we come face-to-face with our God..

Dear Brother Beensetfree - Have a great Lunar New Year with great blessings from our dear Living God, Lord Jesus! Keep on writing! God will bless you greatly for your faithfulness!

Psalm23

 

[beensetfree]

Living in Him.

If you love the Lord

And try hard to keep His ways,

You’ll live with more contentment

Throughout your earthbound days.

His way of life will guide you

Through years filled with His peace;

And every day of life in Him

Your faith will be increased;

And when your life is over,

You’ll see His light of love

And quietly be guided

To your glorious home above

 

[beensetfree]

“Thy love is better than wine.”

Song of Solomon 1:2

Nothing gives the believer so much joy as fellowship with Christ. He has enjoyment as others have in the common mercies of life, he can be glad both in God's gifts and God's works; but in all these separately, yea, and in all of them added together, he doth not find such substantial delight as in the matchless person of his Lord Jesus. He has wine which no vineyard on earth ever yielded; he has bread which all the corn-fields of Egypt could never bring forth. Where can such sweetness be found as we have tasted in communion with our Beloved?

In our esteem, the joys of earth are little better than husks for swine compared with Jesus, the heavenly manna. We would rather have one mouthful of Christ's love, and a sip of his fellowship, than a whole world full of carnal delights. What is the chaff to the wheat? What is the sparkling paste to the true diamond? What is a dream to the glorious reality? What is time's mirth, in its best trim, compared to our Lord Jesus in his most despised estate? If you know anything of the inner life, you will confess that our highest, purest, and most enduring joys must be the fruit of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.

No spring yields such sweet water as that well of God which was digged with the soldier's spear. All earthly bliss is of the earth earthy, but the comforts of Christ's presence are like himself, heavenly. We can review our communion with Jesus, and find no regrets of emptiness therein; there are no dregs in this wine, no dead flies in this ointment. The joy of the Lord is solid and enduring. Vanity hath not looked upon it, but discretion and prudence testify that it abideth the test of years, and is in time and in eternity worthy to be called “the only true delight.” For nourishment, consolation, exhilaration, and refreshment, no wine can rival the love of Jesus. Let us drink to the full this evening.

 

[beensetfree]

I refuse.

I refuse to be discouraged, To be sad, or to cry;
I refuse to be downhearted, and here’s the reason why:

I have a God who’s mighty, Who’s sovereign and supreme;
I have a God who loves me, and I am on His team.

He is all-wise and powerful. Jesus is His name;
Though everything is changeable, My God remains the same.

My God knows all that’s happening; Beginning to the end;
His presence is my comfort; He is my dearest Friend.

When sickness comes to weaken me, To bring my head down low,
I call upon my mighty God; Into His arms I go.

When circumstances threaten to rob me of my peace;
He draws me close unto His breast, Where all my strivings cease.

When my heart melts within me, and weakness takes control;
He gathers me into His arms, He soothes my heart and soul.

The great “I AM” is with me. My life is in His hand.
The “Son of the Lord” is my hope. It’s in His strength I stand.

I refuse to be defeated. My eyes are on my God;
He has promised to be with me, As through this life I trod.

I’m looking past all my circumstances, To Heaven’s throne above;
My prayers have reached the heart of God I’m resting in His love.

I give God thanks in everything. My eyes are on His face;
The battle’s His, the victory mine; He’ll help me win the race.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!!!!
Pass it on!
“Vision is not seeing things as they are, but as they will be…”

 

[beensetfree]

Worshipping God Or Worshipping The Gifts?

Does it seem that more and more attention is being focused on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and less and less on the fruits of the Spirit?

New Apostolic Reformation
The New Apostolic Reformation that is sweeping across the world has made many people re-think the gifts of the Holy Spirit. There is suddenly a new focus on gifts and it’s moved from God dispensing gifts as He purposes, to trying to acquire these gifts either by baptism, the laying on of hands, or even learning how to use their gift in a class.

The most troubling part however is the latter…where there are classes that teach you how to receive the gift of divine healing, and this, despite the fact that God does the healing and He chooses whom to heal and whom He will work through. Of course, God still does use people as a means to heal some, but it not by their power but by God’s Spirit, and it must not be in accordance to the will of man as they suppose; it must be according the will of God.

Instead, what we see is they’re trying to heal everyone that they come in contact with, whether they believe or not. There is no mention that I’ve seen where people are told they must repent and believe, which is the very gospel Jesus brought (Mark 1:14-15). Rather, they are praying for man’s will to be done on earth and in heaven, rather than praying and working for God’s will to be done on earth as it already is being done in heaven (Matt 6:10). Prayer is not trying to get our will done on earth, but God’s will done on earth. Our wills are marred by sin; God’s will is always perfect and best for us (Rom 8:28).


The Giver
Over the years, I’ve had some very interesting conversations with believers who speak about their gifts of the Holy Spirit as evidence that they are saved, but a select few have become almost obsessed with their gifts, almost flaunting them before others, but this was one of the problems with the church at Corinth.

Members were ranking themselves over others because they were coveting the “best gifts” and felt superior to others because they had been given certain gifts that others hadn’t, but the point is they didn’t acquire these gifts so they had no reason to boast. The Bible teaches that “All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills” (1 Cor 12:11), so it’s not up to the individual to boast that they have such and such a gift, but they ought to give glory to God Who gave these gifts at it pleased Him and not them.

Not long ago, one man asked if I had been baptized in the Spirit and spoke in tongues, adding, “If you have not spoken in tongues you have never been saved.” I asked the man for chapter and verse to back up his statement but he never did answer me back. Besides, God alone knows the heart (1 Sam 16:7).

Fruits of the Spirit
Jesus once said that they will know you by your fruits (Matt 7:15-20). Never did Jesus or any of the other apostles indicate we will know them by their gifts. Even Satan can bring certain powers of darkness but that doesn’t mean he’s “filled with the Spirit,” so why the emphasis on gifts and not fruits?

Because gifts can bring attention and draw large numbers of people (i.e. the Last Reformation), but this is just the opposite of the way Jesus’ ministry worked. After healing someone, Jesus would often say, “Tell no man” (Matt 8:4, Mark 7:36). I doubt He’d have taken a selfie of Himself and the patient and then post it YouTube.

Sadly, many who are charismatic don’t understand that “God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose” (1 Cor 12:18), and not what they chose. God decides who receives certain gifts of the Holy Spirit, not us! One example is the Last Reformation which teaches or trains students how to heal, but can we be trained to heal or does God choose to heal whom He wills?

On one website, they offer classes for healing as they “provide instruction and practical training in healing the sick” [1], however this is contrary to Scripture and the way God works by His Spirit, as it says, “God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul” (Acts 19:11), and not as some claim that they are the ones doing the extraordinary miracles.

When they attend these classes and focus on the gift of healing, it’s as if Jesus rebukes them from over 2,000 years ago, saying, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah” (Matt 6:14). It wasn’t the apostles who actually did the healing, and never once did they attend a healing class (or a kick start). They understood that “God had done through them among the Gentiles” (Acts 15:12), and not them by themselves.

An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign.
Confusion
Years ago I went to one church that was charismatic and the entire service was nothing but the preacher trying to preach while about a dozen or more spoke in tongues. There was no one to interpret, so it was a mass of confusion trying to hear the preacher. As I sat there, it almost appeared that they were worshiping the gifts more than the Gift Giver, and instead of worshiping God, they were worshipping the tongue…their tongue! I thought, “Why don’t they just erect a giant tongue and place that on the altar?”

We know that God is not the author of confusion, so it was hard to tell whether God was even present. I couldn’t tell whether His Spirit was there or not. There was so much activity and speaking that it was like attending a sporting event. Dozens were speaking at the same time so nothing could be understood, and why didn’t they ever mention Jesus or preach out of the Bible?

Conclusion
How will they know we are Jesus’ disciples? Is it by our gifts or our speaking in tongues or being baptized in water? No, Jesus said, “You will recognize them by their fruits” (Matt 7:16a), not by their gifts. You will not know them by their gifts or by their miracles or by their tongues.

Jesus said it is by their fruits that you will know them, not by their gifts, but also it will be by our love for one another that others will know we are His disciples (John 13:34-45). For some reason, we want to flaunt the gifts of the Spirit in front of others (or on You Tube) while ignoring the fruits of the Spirit, and it’s almost as if we’re worshipping the gifts and not the Gift Giver.

Where is Jesus in all this? Oh that’s right…speaking and teaching about Jesus doesn’t get as many page views or sell as many books as seeking miraculous gifts, but is He not to be the main focus of worship? Why then do we come dangerously close to worshiping the gifts rather than the good God Who dispensed these gifts, and as He sees fit, not we? It’s far too easy to rob glory from God and put the focus on the person with gifts, but that’s not a good thing to do at all because God will not share His glory with another (Isaiah 42:8).

 

[beensetfree]

Ideals.

Remember that ideals
are like stars up in the sky,
You can never really reach them,
hanging in the heavens high …

But like the mighty mariner
who sailed the storm-tossed sea,
And used the stars to chart his course
with skill and certainty,

You too can chart your course in life
with high ideals and love,
For high ideals are like the stars
that light the sky above …

You cannot ever reach them,
but lift your heart up high
And your life will be as shining
as the stars up in the sky.





Read more: http://www.inspirationalarchive.com/978/ideals/#ixzz58YHiYgVb

 

[beensetfree]

“He is precious.”

1 Peter 2:7

As all the rivers run into the sea, so all delights centre in our Beloved. The glances of his eyes outshine the sun: the beauties of his face are fairer than the choicest flowers: no fragrance is like the breath of his mouth. Gems of the mine, and pearls from the sea, are worthless things when measured by his preciousness. Peter tells us that Jesus is precious, but he did not and could not tell us how precious, nor could any of us compute the value of God's unspeakable gift. Words cannot set forth the preciousness of the Lord Jesus to his people, nor fully tell how essential he is to their satisfaction and happiness.

Believer, have you not found in the midst of plenty a sore famine if your Lord has been absent? The sun was shining, but Christ had hidden himself, and all the world was black to you; or it was night, and since the bright and morning star was gone, no other star could yield you so much as a ray of light. What a howling wilderness is this world without our Lord! If once he hideth himself from us, withered are the flowers of our garden; our pleasant fruits decay; the birds suspend their songs, and a tempest overturns our hopes. All earth's candles cannot make daylight if the Sun of Righteousness be eclipsed. He is the soul of our soul, the light of our light, the life of our life.

Dear reader, what wouldst thou do in the world without him, when thou wakest up and lookest forward to the day's battle? What wouldst thou do at night, when thou comest home jaded and weary, if there were no door of fellowship between thee and Christ? Blessed be his name, he will not suffer us to try our lot without him, for Jesus never forsakes his own. Yet, let the thought of what life would be without him enhance his preciousness.

 

[beensetfree]

The hypocrite.

On Sundays, when in church you sit,

Is there a chance you’re a hypocrite?

You hear the preacher say again,

“Give to the needy,” and you say, “Amen”

But on Monday the beggar on the street

Is someone you don’t care to meet.

Do you reverently bow your head

And partake of the wine and of the bread

Then spend the rest of your whole day

Seeing frivolous videos play?

You know that heaven and earth are ruled

By Almighty God who can’t be fooled;

So do not think hypocrites will be

Seated in heaven at His knee;

Instead you’ll receive what is deserved

A special place, for you reserved.

 

[beensetfree]

Why Failure Is The Best Teacher

Why do we learn more from our failures than from our successes?

1000 Failures
There are a select few men and women in history that didn’t allow failure to be final. Instead of failure being a period, they made it a comma by pressing forward. One such man was the remarkable Thomas A. Edison. If anyone knew about failure, it was him, but those failures didn’t defeat the man, but drove the man to find new ways to make things work (whatever they might be, and there were many!).

Mr. Edison would rebuff one negative comment after another, once saying, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” That perseverance eventually led to the phonograph, motion picture cameras, and a practical electric light bulb that would eventually light the cities of America…and the world. Even without Edison, someone else would have eventually come up with these ideas, but probably not all his inventions, and probably not as many as he had, largely in part to Edison’s perseverance.



Failure Leads to Success
Failure can be final or failure can be the launching pad to success. Failure can be a period or it can be a comma. It is up to you what you do with failure. If inventors were quick to give up after failure, half the inventions we have today would’ve come later, having been invented by someone else, but repeated failure does not deter the determined person because they know that failures can lead to eventual success…if, that is, they persevere. There is no chance for success when someone quits. Christ followers know that even “though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD upholds his hand” (Psalm 37:24). That’s because “The LORD upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down” (Psalm 145:14), as “The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous” (Psalm 146:8).


Success Leads to Failure
One thing that I’ve noticed is that there are times when someone has reached a point of great success, but then that success begins to go to their head, and what was once a person striving for success is someone coasting on what’s been done, but when that happens, pride can kick in, and pride can be the cause of a fall. Pride is invisible. It can sneak up on you unknowingly. That’s why the Bible teaches that “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov 16:18), so pride precedes a fall, almost as if it causes the fall, so just as failure can lead to success, success can lead to failure.

Whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Success can easily become a source of self-pride, and pride has a way of distorting our self-worth. We can believe we’re more important than we actually are because of what we’ve done, but God resists the proud and only extends His grace to the humble (James 4:6), so success can lead to pride, pride can lead to an overestimation of a person’s worth, and this overestimation of a person’s worth causes them to be lifted up with pride, but the higher someone thinks they are above others, the farther they can fall, so “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom” (Prov 11:1). This is based upon Jesus’ teaching where He said, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matt 23:12).

Failure is not Final
When the Vietnam War was in its waning years, and just before the draft was ended, I was going to enlist because it appeared I’d be drafted anyway. My draft status was 1-A, and I was told I would be next, so I went down to the Navy and tried to enlist. I passed all the requirements and even the vision test…until I took the test for colorblindness.

When I got to that part, I failed, and my desire to be a naval electronics technician was ended. Can you image me in a rocket silo or on a nuclear submarine, and they tell me to push a button of a certain color? Naturally, you can see why it wouldn’t work. The Navy wanted to reassign me but I told them I was going to try to enlist in the Army, but by the time I was going to enlist, the announcement was made that the U.S. was going to withdraw from Vietnam and the draft had ended. What if I had not been colorblind and had been sent to Vietnam and then the Tet Offensive exploded near the end of the war? What appeared to be failure in joining the Navy may well have kept me out of the Vietnam War…perhaps even saving my life. Who knows?

Conclusion
I can’t think of anyone that hasn’t failed at least at something. The only exception is Jesus Christ who failed at nothing, including living a sinless life and giving His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). When Jesus died on the cross, it appeared that He had failed His mission, and the disciples thought it was over too, but what was an apparent defeat was the ultimate victory…victory over sin, victory over this world, and victory over death.

Jesus conquered the grave because He was sinless, and because He was sinless, the grave couldn’t hold Him (Acts 2:24). “God raised him on the third day and made him to appear not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead” (Acts 10:40-41). After Jesus death on the cross, the disciples were disillusioned, at least until they saw Jesus in the flesh, and Jesus told the doubting Thomas, “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Luke 24:39). This is why the angel told the women, “He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay” (Matt 28:6).

 

[beensetfree]

The Tulips.

Of course, this story is not true; but yet it tells the truth, because our life on earth is a mere blink in ageless eternity; and Jesus has made us a promise of a place where time has no meaning and love forever endures.
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Fiction:

One day in the early fall, a little girl was helping her widowed mother plant bulbs in the soil. While it didn’t seem there could be any life in the seemingly dead objects, the little girl’s mother told her about the many different colors of tulips that would arise from the bulbs in the spring.

The little girl said, “I am sorry I will not see that.”

Her mother thought the little girl did not understand how seasons change, so she told her all about the cycle of plant life. The little girl smiled.

Later that year, at Thanksgiving time, the little girl took her turn giving thanks. “I am thankful my mother will see all the beautiful tulips in the spring,” she said. Her mother did not notice that her daughter had not said she also would see the tulips.

At Christmas time the little girl suggested to her mother that she spend less on Christmas gifts that year. “I would be so happy if you spent what you usually spend for me to give gifts to poor children,” she said.

Her mother did as her daughter asked.

One day shortly after Christmas the little girl sat down with a fat pencil and began to write on her lined paper. When she had finished, she folded the paper and placed it in her Bible.

The next day the little girl did not feel well. She did not go to school. All day she stayed in her little bed. She told her mother she felt very tired.

Her mother thought if her daughter was not better the next day, she would take her to the doctor; but by the next morning the angels had come for the little girl.

Of course the mother was extremely sad, sadder than she had ever been. She was very sad for a very long time.

Then one day the mother was sitting on the edge of her daughter’s wee bed weeping. Her eyes fell on the child’s Bible on the bedside table. The corner of a piece of paper could be seen extending from between the pages.

The mother opened the Bible and unfolded the paper. In her daughter’s childish scrawl a message was written. “Jesus told me to tell you to look at the tulips.”

When her mother read this she went to the window. Outside she saw an array of beautiful colors spread across the plot where she had worked beside her daughter in the fall. The tulips had bloomed.

In the center of the patch was a group of tulips in a bright yellow hue—a hue unlike that of all the other tulips. There were two straight lines of the yellow tulips. amidst all the other random colors. They crossed each other.

Looking at His cross of tulips, the mother knew that Jesus was telling her that her daughter was in heaven with Him. After that, although she missed her little girl all of her remaining life, she was never quite so sad again because she knew without doubt she would see her once more in heaven where little girls who pass away far too young bloom with as much vitality as a seemingly dead tulip bulb blooms in the spring.

 

[beensetfree]

“The barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.”

1 Kings 17:16

See the faithfulness of divine love. You observe that this woman had daily necessities. She had herself and her son to feed in a time of famine; and now, in addition, the prophet Elijah was to be fed too. But though the need was threefold, yet the supply of meal wasted not, for she had a constant supply. Each day she made calls upon the barrel, but yet each day it remained the same. You, dear reader, have daily necessities, and because they come so frequently, you are apt to fear that the barrel of meal will one day be empty, and the cruse of oil will fail you.

Rest assured that, according to the Word of God, this shall not be the case. Each day, though it bring its trouble, shall bring its help; and though you should live to outnumber the years of Methuselah, and though your needs should be as many as the sands of the seashore, yet shall God's grace and mercy last through all your necessities, and you shall never know a real lack. For three long years, in this widow's days, the heavens never saw a cloud, and the stars never wept a holy tear of dew upon the wicked earth: famine, and desolation, and death, made the land a howling wilderness, but this woman never was hungry, but always joyful in abundance.

So shall it be with you. You shall see the sinner's hope perish, for he trusts his native strength; you shall see the proud Pharisee's confidence totter, for he builds his hope upon the sand; you shall see even your own schemes blasted and withered, but you yourself shall find that your place of defence shall be the munition of rocks: “Your bread shall be given you, and your water shall be sure.” Better have God for your guardian, than the Bank of England for your possession. You might spend the wealth of the Indies, but the infinite riches of God you can never exhaust.

 

[beensetfree]

Will I wake in Heaven


I am tired; I am weary;

I am feeling slow;

I know someday soon

It will be time to go.

Tomorrow when I wake,

Will I be here on earth;

Will I still face my death

Or will I know my rebirth?

I can’t tell you now

Because nobody knows

Whether I’ll dress in my clothes

Or in heavenly robes.

All I know is I’m tired

And life’s no longer sweet,

And I’m ready to rest

Lying safe at God’s feet.

 

[beensetfree]

With the news of Billy Graham’s death came a wave of mixed reactions. Many lamented the death of a man whose life marked one of faithfulness to many ministry endeavors, others utilized this as an opportunity to critique his theology, whilst others still utilized it to speak to the eschatological hope those in Christ have. Perhaps what was most interesting though was reaction from many progressives, as they saw Graham’s death as an altogether different occasion to celebrate. Graham committed the LGTBQ’s unforgivable sin: he supported traditional marriage.

I’ve been arguing for years at this point that the trajectory of LGTBQ ethics is not one wherein a middle-ground can be reached. They don’t want middle-ground. It is an all or nothing approach. Some have maintained I am an alarmist or treat progressive arguments unfairly, yet reality indicates otherwise. They are incredibly well-funded, well-organized, have great legal representation, and have the attention and backing of popular media outlets, major corporations, politicians, and celebrity personalities.

Former gay and lesbian people, now speaking against it and advocating the power of salvation through Christ, are often bullied and slandered. Heterosexuals speaking against it, advocating for the goodness of the biblical sexual ethic, are also bullied and slandered. A man, hours after his death, had his body dragged across the digital square in an effort to dishonor him. There is no tolerance for traditional marriage supporters.

As a fair warning, I am not going to censor any of their comments. I want Christians to take them in. Provocative language serves a purpose, and ultimately serves my case here quite well.











So why bring these examples to light? Bible-believing Christians shouldn’t be shocked by them. Even when something deserves a bit more decorum and tact, we ought not to be shocked. Simply stated, the apostle Paul describes two distinct realms that believers and unbelievers operate in (1 Thess. 4: 1-8). The Christian, having been brought from death to life, has been placed in the realm of sanctification (that is, they have a vested interest in pleasing the Lord); the unbeliever operates in the realm of vileness and impurity. They exist in these two distinct realms of operation simply by the nature of what God has done – not on the basis of their heterosexuality or homosexuality, political affiliation, etc.

Yet what is even more notable is that hatred of God doesn’t have to appear as vitriolic as some of the above comments. Your unbelieving great-aunt Betty might be the kindest lady you’ve ever encountered, yet when she dies an atheist, she will meet the same end as the most vitriolic anti-theist you’ve ever witnessed. When her heart is laid bare before the Lord, the revelation of her hatred of Him will be made clear. No amount of kindness will spare her from the wrath that awaits if she refuses to repent and believe the gospel.

The Scriptures demonstrate this reality over and again, placing a focus on the fact that those who are not in Christ are God-haters. They will speak like God-haters. They will act like God-haters. Part and parcel to this is hating the one who bears likeness to that God who has revealed all truth. Bluntly stated, this is why you have a meek and mild man like Billy Graham, mere hours after his death, having his body dragged across the virtual public square and paraded about as an example of what is perceived to be bigotry.

No amount of kindness will allow one to escape this condemnation unscathed. If you preach a message contrary to the desires of this world, there will be consequences to that. I fear that we have somehow lost sight of the fact that Scripture teaches no servant is greater than their Master in every regard. No servant. Not even the late Billy Graham. If Christ, being targeted since the day He arrived in His mother’s womb did not escape this reality, you will surely not be the exception to this rule. This is precisely what we need to be woken up to: if you don’t accept the prevailing winds of cultural dogma and instead believe Scripture’s ethic, especially in regard to matters of sexuality, you don’t deserve an honorable send-off. In this we must acknowledge that the world’s Christians throughout the history of the earth have not enjoyed the relative prosperity and peace we do. The common trajectory of Christianity has not been limited to experiencing anything less than hatred for the name of the One they bear witness of.

This is the reality of the world we currently live in – and it has always been this way. Social media has a nasty habit of giving many a platform and backbone they wouldn’t otherwise have, yet it nonetheless serves as an example of humanity’s utter hatred of God. We have somehow bought into the notion that there is neutral ground, or perhaps, the rebellion of one God-hater is less severe than the hatred of another, more vocal God-hater. There is no such thing as neutral ground, nor is there such a thing as less wicked ground. Scripture simply dictates this isn’t the case, and we ought not to be surprised to find that Scripture adequately pinpoints the issue as one of worship. People are all too happy to reject the message-bearer on account of rejecting the God of the message. This is not an effort to blindly broad-brush people as if they do this in the same manner, but a depiction of these two spheres of reality Paul lays out so clearly. They are diametrically opposed because they have different understandings of reality, a different trajectory, and a different end goal.

However, we must acknowledge the reality of the spiritual dimension to this as well, in that Satan is very much at work behind the scenes. Every institution, whether it be the education system, government, media, entertainment, social structures, false religions, financial policies, etc., are all in the hand of Satan. The powers and principalities at play go far beyond political parties as well. One ought not to think the speedbump of Trump being in office will eradicate the trajectory of this nation’s liberal ethic – yet they also ought not to believe they are not at work within the heart and mind of Trump.

This is what makes the gospel so important. This is particularly what makes the work of Christ so incredibly important. Likewise, this is why we ought to feel a sense of dread when we look at our sweet, great-aunt Betty and realize she is dangling over the pit of eternal hellfire. Scripture makes no hesitations declaring there are billions of people who will willingly embrace eternal torment in favor of eternal paradise, simply because they have a profound hatred of the Lord. However, this is also our measure of encouragement, for we too were once those who hated God.

The glorious Maker of heaven and earth holds the ultimate power in His hand to change that heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh. It is the grand-reversal of our hatred for Him, ultimately bound in the greatest expression of love this world has ever seen. It is the great exchange of our sin for Christ’s righteousness. In spite of our hatred for Him and our propensity for great wickedness, the Lord displayed His love for us, while we were yet God-haters, through the crucifixion of His Son.

 

[beensetfree]

I dreamed I was in heaven
Where an angel kept God’s book.
He was writing so intently
I just had to take a look.

It was not, at first, his writing
That made me stop and think
But the fluid in the bottle
That was marked ETERNAL INK.

This ink was most amazing,
Dark black upon his blotter
But as it touched the parchment
It became as clear as water.

The angel kept on writing,
But as quickly as a wink
The words were disappearing
With that strange ETERNAL INK.

The angel took no notice,
But kept writing on and on.
He turned each page and filled it
Till all its space was gone.

I thought he wrote to no avail,
His efforts were so vain
For he wrote a thousand pages
That he’d never read again.

And as I watched and wondered that
This awesome sight was mine,
I actually saw a word stay black
As it dried upon the line.

The angel wrote and I thought I saw
A look of satisfaction.
At last he had some print to show
For all his earnest action.

A line or two dried dark and stayed
As black as black can be,
But strangely the next paragraph
Became invisible to see.

The book was getting fuller,
The angel’s records true,
But most of it was blank, with
Just a few words coming through.

I knew there was some reason,
But as hard as I could think,
I couldn’t grasp the significance
Of that ETERNAL INK.

The mystery burned within me,
And I finally dared to ask
The angel to explain to me
Of his amazing task.

And what I heard was frightful
As the angel turned his head.
He looked directly at me,
And this is what he said…

I know you stand and wonder
At what my writing’s worth
But God has told me to record
The lives of those on earth.

The book that I am filling
Is an accurate account
Of every word and action
And to what they do amount.

And since you have been watching
I must tell you what is true;
The details of my journal
Are the strict accounts of YOU.

The Lord asked me to watch you
As each day you worked and played.
I saw you as you went to church,
I saw you as you prayed.

But I was told to document
Your life through all the week.
I wrote when you were proud and bold,
I wrote when you were meek.

I recorded all your attitudes
Whether they were good or bad.
I was sorry that I had to write
The things that make God sad.

So now I’ll tell the wonder
of this ETERNAL INK,
For the reason for its mystery
Should make you stop and think

This ink that God created
To help me keep my journal
Will only keep a record of
Things that are eternal.

So much of life is wasted
On things that matter not
So instead of my erasing,
Smudging ink and ugly blot

I just keep writing faithfully and
Let the ink do all the rest
For it is able to decide
What’s useless and what’s best.

And God ordained that as I write
Of all you do and say
Your deeds that count for nothing
Will just disappear away.

When books are opened someday,
As sure as heaven is true;
The Lord’s ETERNAL INK will tell
What mattered most to you.

If you just lived to please yourself
The pages will be bare,
And God will issue no reward
For you when you get there.

In fact, you’ll be embarrassed,
You will hang your head in shame
Because you did not give yourself
In love to Jesus’ Name.

Yet maybe there will be a few
Recorded lines that stayed
That showed the times you truly cared,
Sincerely loved and prayed.

But you will always wonder
As you enter heaven’s door
How much more glad you would have been
If only you’d done more.

For I record as God sees,
I don’t stop to even think
Because the truth is written
With God’s ETERNAL INK.

When I heard the angel’s story
I fell down and wept and cried
For as yet I still was dreaming
I hadn’t really died.

And I said: O Angel tell the Lord
That soon as I awake
I’ll live my life for Jesus
I’ll do all for His dear sake.

I’ll give in full surrender;
I’ll do all He wants me to;
I’ll turn my back on self and sin
And whatever isn’t true.

 

[beensetfree]

“Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting”

Micah 5:2

The Lord Jesus had goings forth for his people as their representative before the throne, long before they appeared upon the stage of time. It was “from everlasting” that he signed the compact with his Father, that he would pay blood for blood, suffering for suffering, agony for agony, and death for death, in the behalf of his people; it was “from everlasting” that he gave himself up without a murmuring word. That from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot he might sweat great drops of blood, that he might be spit upon, pierced, mocked, rent asunder, and crushed beneath the pains of death.

His goings forth as our Surety were from everlasting. Pause, my soul, and wonder! Thou hast goings forth in the person of Jesus “from everlasting.” Not only when thou wast born into the world did Christ love thee, but his delights were with the sons of men before there were any sons of men. Often did he think of them; from everlasting to everlasting he had set his affection upon them.

What! my soul, has he been so long about thy salvation, and will not he accomplish it? Has he from everlasting been going forth to save me, and will he lose me now? What! Has he carried me in his hand, as his precious jewel, and will he now let me slip from between his fingers? Did he choose me before the mountains were brought forth, or the channels of the deep were digged, and will he reject me now? Impossible!

I am sure he would not have loved me so long if he had not been a changeless Lover. If he could grow weary of me, he would have been tired of me long before now. If he had not loved me with a love as deep as hell, and as strong as death, he would have turned from me long ago. Oh, joy above all joys, to know that I am his everlasting and inalienable inheritance, given to him by his Father or ever the earth was! Everlasting love shall be the pillow for my head this night.