Thoughts for the Journey

HURTING JESUS
MEMORY VERSE: And l answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest (Acts 22:8).

Paul must have told his conversion story many times. Five of these occasions are recorded for us in the Bible. He never tired of calling to mind what had happened to him on the road to Damascus. Here he is giving his testimony to a great company of people gathered in the court of the Temple in Jerusalem as he defends himself against accusations being made about him.

Most are familiar with the ingredients in Paul's conversion: there was the light from heaven and the voice of Jesus questioning him about his persecutions and then, of course, his response. Imagine how surprised the persecutor of Christians must have been when he discovered he had been persecuting Jesus...that is what the voice said, "I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest."

But how could that be?

Paul had never personally hurt Jesus...only those who professed to know Him as Saviour.

Now an important truth surfaces: Jesus feels all the hurts of His people. To persecute a Christian is to persecute Jesus

Have you wondered just how close Jesus is? Consider this revelation given to Saul (Paul) on the road to Damascus. He not only knows every wound you experience but He feels it as well...even the one you are grieving over today.

Is your heart heavy? He feels the ache...the lump in your throat. You do not carry your burdens alone. And you do not need to seek revenge. Those who have injured you have inflicted pain on Jesus and they must face Him one day in judgment.

Be kind to Christians. Don't be guilty of hurting Jesus.

Special thanks to Jack Van Impe Ministries

Check out this link!  It is beautiful and is a great reminder of God's Love for us!

http://www.bittybitznpieces.com/FathersLoveLetter~.htm

MEMORY VERSE: Redeeming the time, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16).

Matthew Henry says: "Time is a talent given us by God, and it is misspent and lost when not employed according to His design. If we have lost our time heretofore, we must double our diligence for the future. Of that time which thousands on a dying bed would gladly redeem at the price of the whole world, how little do men think, and to what trifles they daily sacrifice it!"

H.C.G. Moule points out that Paul is calling for us to buy up every opportunity, and adds: "Do this, remembering that you will need do it if you are to be really serviceable to Him; it will not do to let things drift, as if circumstances would take care of themselves." He explains that world conditions demand diligence in seizing opportunities to serve the Lord. In his words: "...the 'days' of your human life in a sinful world do not lend themselves to holy uses where the man who lives them does not watch for opportunities."

Actually, the thought here is that of a businessman buying up valuable articles. And time is one of life's greatest values. Emerson said, "One of the illusions of life is that the present hour is not the critical, decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year. He only is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day who allows it to be invaded with worry, fret, and anxiety."

THIS is the day to serve the Lord. It may be the only day any one of us will ever own. What would you do if you knew this would be your final opportunity? What service for your Lord have you longed to do but have not found the time nor the courage?

Do it today.

TIME TO SEEK THE LORD
MEMORY VERSE: Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you (Hosea 10:12).

Hosea is calling for revival among his people. He reminds them that it is time to seek the Lord. In order to do so, he says, they must break up their fallow ground.

A fallow field is one that has been neglected, one that has not felt the plow for a long period of time. A. W. Tozer has written: "The fallow field is smug, contented, protected from the shock of the plow and the agitation of the harrow. Such a field, as it lies year after year, becomes a familiar landmark to the crow and blue jay. Had it intelligence, it might take a lot of satisfaction in its reputation; it has stability; nature has adopted it; it can be counted upon to remain always the same while the fields around it change from brown to green and back to brown again. Safe and undisturbed, it sprawls lazily in the sunshine, the picture of sleepy discontentment. But it is paying a terrible price for its tranquility: Never does it see the miracle of growth: never does it feel the motions of mounting life nor see the wonders of bursting seed nor the beauty of ripening grain. Fruit it can never know because it is afraid of the plow and the harrow."

What a picture of most present day Christianity! Especially in America! Too many Christians have settled down to an easy life that is undisturbed by the plow of God's Word. Instead of allowing the Bible to do its work of correction, many have settled for nothing more than a kindly respect for the Scriptures. After preaching time comes discussion time...not revival time. And the world is unmoved by such cold and formalistic Christianity...if indeed it can be called that.

Has your life become fallow? It's time to seek the Lord.

                                WISE USE OF TIME
MEMORY VERSE: So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom (Psalm 90:12).

Phillips Brooks wrote: "A friend says to me, 'I have not time or room in my life for Christianity. If it were not so full! You don't know how hard I work from morning till night. When have I time, where have I room for Christianity in such a life as mine?' It is as if the engine had said it had no room for the steam. It is as if the tree said it had no room for the sap. It is as if the ocean said it had no room for the tide. It is as if the man had said he had no room for his soul. It is as if the life had said it had no time to live. It is not something added to life; it is life. A man is not living without it. And for a man to say, 'I am so full in life that I have no room for life,' you see immediately to what absurdity it reduces itself."

The first wise use of time is that moment of coming in faith to Christ that brings new birth. Jesus said: Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). From that point on, wisdom dictates using time to lay treasures in heaven through service for Christ.

It is wise to take time to pray.

It is wise to take time to read the Bible.

It is wise to take time to tell others of Jesus.

It is wise to take time to help those who are in need.

It is wise to take time to bear the burdens of those who are troubled.

It is wise to value spiritual things above material things.

It is wise to act in faith.

In view of the brevity of life, we must learn to number our days and apply our hearts to wisdom. Any other course results in a wasted life.

PEOPLE OF DESTINY
MEMORY VERSE: And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? (Esther 4:14).

God has a perfect plan for every life. Each Christian has the opportunity to become God's person for the hour. Standing at the portal of this new year, we will do well to learn from people of destiny of the past. George Burger has written: "I will, like Paul, forget those things which are behind and press forward; like David, lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help; like Abraham, trust implicitly in my God; like Enoch, walk in daily fellowship with my Heavenly Father; like Jehoshaphat, prepare my heart to seek God; like Moses, choose rather to suffer than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; like Daniel, commune with my God at all times; like Job, be patient under all circumstances; like Caleb and Joshua, refuse to be discouraged because of superior numbers; like Joseph, turn my back on all seductive advances; like Gideon, advance even though my friends be few; like Aaron and Hur, uphold the hands of my spiritual leaders; like Isaiah, consecrate myself to do God's work; like Stephen, manifest a forgiving spirit toward all who seek my hurt; like Timothy, study the Word of God; like the heavenly host, proclaim the message of peace on earth good will toward men; and like my Lord himself, overcome all earthly allurements by refusing to succumb to their enticements.

"Realizing that I cannot hope to achieve these objectives by my own strength, I will rely on Christ for I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13).

MEMORY VERSE: When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6).

Currently there is great interest in studying the signs of the times. It is exciting to see God at work fulfilling His prophetic promises. Knowledgeable students of the Bible agree that we are living in the last days. Signs of His coming multiply.

The disciples also lived in a time when the moving of God was clear. Events prophesied for centuries had suddenly come to pass. Christ was born. Miracles were performed. Redemption was wrought. The resurrection of the Saviour had taken place. The miraculous momentum was such that it appeared the kingdom would be set up at any time. It was not surprising then that the question was asked, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? That was something like present day Christians saying, "Lord, are You going to return today?"

The Lord's response to the disciples' question is noteworthy. First, he informed them that they could not know the exact timing of God in carrying out His prophetic plan. Then he reminded them of their responsibility to serve Him while time remained: But ye shall receive power, after the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8).

What time is it? It's time to witness -- across the street and across the seas. And time is running out.

Setting the Captives Free

            Jesus came to give you to set the captive, oppressed, prisoners free.  Prisoners of anger, lust, pride, selfishness, etc. to set these free.  He came to give you abundant life:  life filled with peace, joy and righteousness.  He did this so that we would glorify him and God the Father.

If we as Christians go around upset, distraught, sad and angry, how does that glorify God?  We're just like the rest of the world.  But Jesus came to give us peace - not as the world gives but God's peace.  The world's peace is an absence of upsetting circumstances - no war, no strife, no irritating people to put up with.  But God says that we will always have trials and tribulations as long as we are in this world. 

So where's the peace?  Jesus lived and died as an example of how to live in peace in the midst of these circumstances.  Even when Jesus was under attack, he had peace.  He refused to get upset and irritated at those who sought to do him harm.  And he left that peace to us who believe on him as an inheritance.  It is ours.  All we have to do is claim it.

But once we know we have it and we claim it as our right, satan is going to show up.  He is a thief and a liar who comes only to kill, steal and destroy.  He has us believing that we can only have peace if our circumstances are perfect.  And just when we think we have everything under control and we are about to enjoy peace, some body or some thing comes along to steal and destroy that peace.  God will allow us to be tested to help us grow by allowing satan attempt to take our peace.

Another part of our inheritance is joy.  The joy of the Lord is our strength.  When we realize that God loves us unconditionally, that we are forgiven, that we are headed for heaven, that nothing happens to us on this earth that God does not allow to help us grow and mature in him, then we have joy.  When we count God's manifold blessings to us, we get happy and joyful.

But don't you know that satan keeps all the bad stuff in the news.  Do you know how rare it is to hear something good in the news?  Good doesn't make the headlines.  Satan wants you to focus and dwell on the bad.  He wants to kill our strength by killing our joy.

The third part of our inheritance is righteousness which is right standing with God.  The Bible says that when God forgives us, "He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea", (Micah 7:19) and Psalm 103:12 "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us."  East and west will never meet.  Our sins are gone, they are just as if they never existed.  All those memories in your mind that haunt you are now figments of your imagination because God has erased them.  He no longer holds them against you.  To Him, they never happened.  TO GOD, THEY NEVER HAPPENED. 

So why do we keep rehearsing them in our minds?  Why do we feel so guilty?  Guilt is a weapon of the devil to destroy our right standing with God.  He takes our memories of past sins and uses them against us.  You and I both know they happened, we did it and we know the devil has the goods on us.

But precious children of God, let me tell you, he's holding an empty bag.   Jesus wiped out our sins on the cross even before we were born.  It was all part of God's plan to build a family, a church for Himself.  It is finished.  Our sins have been forgiven.  All we have to do is accept it and live it.

We can either agree to walk with Jesus or we can agree to walk with satan.  The Bible says that no two can walk together unless they are agreed.

When satan tries to steal our peace, kill our joy and destroy our right standing with God, we have a powerful weapon.  God's Word says that if we will draw near to God and resist the devil, he will flee.  Most of us know the part of the verse about resisting the devil, but we leave off the first part of drawing near to God.  We don't have the power to resist the devil, but God does.  Just as in the children's time, when we run to God when the bully is picking on us, God defends us.

How many captives need to be freed today?  Do you realize that satan has been taking things from you, he's been blackmailing you, terrorizing you and making your life miserable?  Now is the time to make it end.  Draw near to God here and now.  Tell him you agree with him and want to walk with him and the devil will flee.                      Renee 11-2003

God Knows Best

An old poem tells of a woman who was walking through a meadow one day. As she strolled along, mediating on nature, she came upon a field of golden pumpkins. In the corner of the field stood a majestic, huge oak tree.

The woman sat under the oak tree and began musing about the strange twists in nature. Why tiny acorns on huge branches and huge pumpkins on tiny vines? She thought, God blundered with Creation! He should have put the small acorns on the tiny vines and the large pumpkins on the huge branches.

Before long, the woman dozed off in the warmth of the late autumn sunshine. She was awakened when a tiny acorn bounced off her nose. Chuckling to herself, she amended her previous thinking, Maybe God was right after all!

In every situation, God knows far more about the people and circumstances involved than we can ever know. He alone sees the beginning from the ending. He alone knows how to create a Master Plan that provides for the good of all those who serve Him.

Romans 8

28   And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Stand in the Gap

“Who will stand in the gap?”

In this scripture, God is asking for someone to stand in the gap, to fill and guard a hole in the fence.  But how do we do that and exactly what does it mean?

My father has a love affair with his cows.  And I do mean love affair.  They give him great pleasure and satisfaction.  He works with them constantly, buying and selling, moving from pasture to pasture to give them better grass in winter or hot dry summers, to give them shade in the heat of the summer and shelter in the deep freeze of winter.

In order to move these cows, they have to be driven from place to place, just as in the cattle drives that you see on TV westerns.  Except that we do it on foot, no horses.  And often times when we were moving cows from one place to another, there was a gap in the trail or route that needed to be blocked off to prevent the cows from going the wrong way.

Dad would yell up to me to go stand in the gap to prevent the cows from going through the gap and onto the wrong path.  So I would take off for the gap.  When I got there, I simply stood there until the cows came, just waiting.

Many times, that was all that it took, I simply had to stand there.  The cows would look at me and go the other direction.  The hardest part of standing in the gap on those occasions was the run to get ahead of the herd.

But……what if the cows didn’t like the other direction?  Maybe it was near the house, there were dogs barking or children playing?  What if the cows kept coming in the direction of the person standing in the gap?  Then it took some arm waving and some noise to deter the cattle from the wrong path.

But…..what if those cows were coming at a run because something had spooked them and they were more afraid of what was behind them than a little girl standing in the gap of where they were blinding running?

Now imagine that you are that person.  You see a herd of scared cows coming your way.  What do you do?  Freeze in fear, run like crazy or trust that your Dad knew what he was doing when he sent you to this position. 

Now you, the person in the gap, have two options:  run like crazy to get out of their way or stand your ground, scream, yell, and become an animated crazy person that actually acts as if they are going to attack the lead cow?   You do whatever it takes, no matter how crazy you look, to get those cows to turn.

If you chose the last one, you would be safest.  Cows seem to be easily spooked.  The lead cow will see you and turn.  If you get him turned, the others will follow and you will have fulfilled your father’s command.

Then there are the times when your father sees that you need help and he outruns the herd to come to your side, he and your brothers help you turn the direction of the herd.  And gratefully you all realize that you have accomplished your mission of getting the cows moved to a better place.  Later, you even sit around the table and laugh about that day, the hard work, the scary moments, detailing each others weird actions as each of you did your best to deter those cows from the wrong direction.  It was a good day.

So many times in Christianity, we are faced with moving the world’s direction and focus from a bad place to a good place.  We are called to be people who stand in the gap.  Most of the time, that just means standing up for what the Bible says, just making the statement that God says that is wrong,  just give a little guidance.

But sometimes, the crowd is going at a stampede pace into a very dangerous place.  At that point we need to do more than stand there.  We need to yell, make ourselves heard above the noise of the world, point out the dangers, and act like determined people intent on turning the tide of opinion from the wrong path.

Just as with the cows, we never intend to hurt them or even have a way to hurt them, we are the ones in danger of being trampled (so it seems from our position).  But just as with the cows, God calls us to stand in the gap for Him.  We can trust Him, knowing that He is watching, knowing that He knows the difficulty of the assignment or we can run in fear.

Unfortunately in today’s world, too many Christians are running in fear. 

“We have no right to judge someone else.  The Bible says judge not that ye be not judged.”

“Why should I stick my neck out for those crazy people?  There are lots of preachers on TV.  If they want help, it’s there.  Let them get it for themselves.  Besides, I have a family and my business to take care of.”

“There’s too many of them.  I’m only one.  What can I do?”  So we opt to do nothing.

God’s call to day is the same as in the days of the prophet.  “Who will stand in the gap?”  Will you take Him up on this challenge or will you opt out?    Renee 2002

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Last modified: 04/23/08