Be Still, My Soul

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side

bear patiently the cross of grief and pain

Leave to thy God to order and provide

In every change He faithful will remain

Be still my soul: thy best, heavenly friend 

Thro' thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God does undertake 

To guide the future as He has the past

Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake

All now mysterious shall be bright at last

Be still, my soul: the waves and wind still know

His voice who ruled them while she dwelt below

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on

When we shall be forever with the Lord

When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone

Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.

Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past

All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Harvesters

"Today could be the day.  Look up."  

More and more within the past few weeks i have been hearing this statement.  Yesterday as i was on my way to an appointment I heard two men talking and one said to the other "Look up, today could be the day."  

Upon hearing those words my spirit was encouraged.  Knowing that these gentleman were brothers in the Lord, I turned and said "Thank you.  I reallly needed to hear that."

"You're welcome brother.",  was his reply.

A couple of days before that, at our local mall, we had Fall Community Festival. This is the time of year when groups and organizations come from different communities and set up tables and put out baked goods or literature about themselves.    For some reason this the festival was only for one day.  It usually lasts the whole weekend.

  

      

     

My church group had a table there and it was an AMAZING time.

Our main goal was to give them Jesus.  Hence, the picture above.

I am always excited to get out there and share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Millions of people go about there day and never hear the words of eternal life.

Some have heard these words and still choose to sit on the fence and not decide, not knowing they 

have already decided.  

On one occassion Peter preached a sermon where 5,000 came to salvation.  5,000!  That still floors me to this day.  But the work was done by the Holy Spirit through Peter.  

The mall was busy that day and many people came to our table and the gospel message was given, either through our word of testimony or the Jesus film we had playing on our television.  What i can tell you is that a hundred or more people watched that video as it played.  Many were taken back by the suffering Jesus experienced.  Many more heard the words He spoke and walked away in stunned silence.  After a while children started gathering around the table and we put on the childrens version of the Jesus film and then the children started asking questions.  Praise God.

There are times when all i want to do is reap the harvest.  I want hear all who hear the message of salvation say "Yes" to Jesus and eternal life.  That is what we as believers live for.  

At the end of my shift and a very long day I opened the newspaper and saw this caption.

My heart leaped within my chest.  Figuratively.  I was encouraged all the more.

Add to this the smile on the gentleman's face and how could i not praise God.

Jehovah is the LORD of the harvest.  We are His workmen and women, His laborers.

Our harvest is the gathering of lost souls for the kingdom of God.

His harvest is the gathering of those, who have been found, into His eternal kingdom.

God bless

ג

Sweep over me , O word of God

and renew a right spirit within me.

My mornings are spent continuously hitting the snooze button on my alarm clock.  As I do this the news begins to play on my am/fm radio (who still uses those?) and I catch up on current events from around the world.  

Less than an hour later light from the sun filters through my curtainless window and I am refreshed by the light of its presence.  A new day is dawning.

Hosea the prophet is echoing the same sentiment in regards to the Israel.

Come, and let us return to the LORD; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up.

After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight.

Israel although in sin, continues to find mercy and grace in the eyes of God.  

Hosea pleads with Israel to turn from its idolatrous lifestyle.  Even in the darkness God's word goes forth to condemn in judgment and comfort during repentance.

Just as the sun rises everyday and the warmth of her rays find me to penetrate the darkness of the passing night, so to does the faithfulness of God shine down on His children as we are awakened to a renewed life, a renewed hope, to an unchanging God.  

This same God who keeps us in His sight and showers us with mercy and grace until we return to Him and the glory of His presence.

God like the morning sun, is established forever.

God bless

A Firm Foundation

How purposeful must our gait be when we come from the presence of the LORD?

Sunday's after our church services I feel as though I can take on the world. Having been with the body of Christ, being filled with the Holy Spirit, in the very presence of God, I am energized.  

Psalm 63:2 "So I have looked for You in the sanctuary.  To see Your power and Your glory."

The sanctuary, in any true house of the Most High, is where He meets us.  There amongst His chosen and elect God reveals Himself.

During the praise and worship time God is revealed, by the praise of His people in song as we proclaim His worthiness.

"Thou are worthy LORD God Almighty.  

You who formed the heavens and the earth.

You who spoke the stars into being and named them all.

Great are You who formed my inward parts 

and breathed into me the breath of life."

Think about the cross.  That wonderful cross.

We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  

More praise.

We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.

More praise.

Jonah the prophet thought on these two things ( grace of God & the works he was called to do) as he spent three days in the belly of a whale.  Jonah, looking at his own situation, set his heart toward God.

Because of his own disobedience Jonah wound up in an unlikely prison, but he knew God was still God.

"You have cast me into the sea, the waters tossed me about and covered me.  I have been cast away from Your sight." Jonah 2:3-5

Jonah though greatly discouraged, finds hope within.  He remembers the times he spent in the presence of God in His holy temple and remembers His goodness.

Instead of looking at the darkness all around him and smelling the stench, he cast his eyes inward to the Light, the LORD his God.  Jonah began to praise God.  That sweet savor reached the ears of God.  And God was pleased.  Jonah repented.

God knows our comings and goings.  He knows our joys and sorrows. Praise Him.

We need not be confined to a prison of our own choosing forever.  Praise Him and be restored.

Just as God spoke to the great fish and it vomited Jonah onto dry land, God will speak to your situation and you will be placed once again on solid ground.  A firm foundation.  

Once we have found our footing and direction, we must continue to honor our vow to God.

God bless.

Hmm...

Eve was not given her name until after the fall.  

I did not know that.  

You really do learn something every day.  

God bless

In the Midst of the Sea

In the midst of the sea is where you find me held captive and tossed about.  

The inner most chamber of an unlikely source. 

LORD God, now, yes now, Your hand is upon me. With a heavy heart I cried out and You heard me.

I am completely surrendered to You.  

I remembered You in my darkest moments and once again 'saw Your faithfulness.'  My soul fainted within me, remebrance kept me from dying.

Life speaks of excess.

I shall speak of mercy and grace, found only in You. 

Release me my God, not as Your bond servant, but from my bonds that keep me from serving You.  

Salvation is of the LORD.