Isaiah 43 Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow. Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
Pathway in the Sea
Ever see a butterfly flutter by? John 3:7-8
Psalm 77:19
Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.
"The best way to show that a stick is crooked is not to argue about it or to spend time denouncing it, but to lay a straight stick along side it."
-D. L. Moody
Sunday, February 12, 2012
February 12, 2012 — by Philip Yancey
Read: Romans 11:26-36
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways. —Isaiah 55:9
The apostle Paul had one overriding desire: that fellow Jews would embrace the Messiah he had encountered. “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart,” he said. “For I could wish that I myself were . . . cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers” (Rom. 9:2-3 NIV). Yet in city after city his fellow Jews rejected him and the Christ he preached.
In his most elegant letter, Paul set as his centerpiece (Rom. 9–11) a passionate passage in which he struggled openly with this great unanswered prayer of his life. He acknowledged one important side benefit of this distressing development: The Jews’ rejection of Jesus led to His acceptance by the Gentiles. Paul concluded that God hadn’t rejected the Jews; to the contrary, they had the same opportunity as Gentiles. God had widened, not closed, the embrace of humanity.
Paul’s prose began to soar as he stepped back to consider the big picture. And then came this burst of doxology:
Oh, the depth of the riches
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments
and His ways past finding out! (Rom. 11:33).
The unsolved mysteries and unanswered prayers all fade to gray against the panorama of God’s plan for the ages.
In the end, unanswered prayer brings me face to face with the mystery that silenced Paul: the profound difference between my perspective and God’s.
Prayer imparts the power to walk and not faint. —Chambers
Classics: Streams in the Desert
The Father's Hand by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman.
"Your heavenly Father knoweth" (Matt. 6:32).
A visitor at a school for the deaf and dumb was writing questions on the blackboard for the children. By and by he wrote this sentence: "Why has God made me to hear and speak, and made you deaf and dumb?"
The awful sentence fell upon the little ones like a fierce blow in the face. They sat palsied before that dreadful "Why?" And then a little girl arose.
Her lip was trembling. Her eyes were swimming with tears. Straight to the board she walked, and, picking up the crayon, wrote with firm hand these precious words: "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight!" What a reply! It reaches up and lays hold of an eternal truth upon which the maturest believer as well as the youngest child of God may alike securely rest--the truth that God is your Father.
Do you mean that? Do you really and fully believe that? When you do, then your dove of faith will no longer wander in weary unrest, but will settle down forever in its eternal resting place of peace. "Your Father!"
I can still believe that a day comes for all of us, however far off it may be, when we shall understand; when these tragedies, that now blacken and darken the very air of heaven for us, will sink into their places in a scheme so august, so magnificent, so joyful, that we shall laugh for wonder and delight. --Arthur Christopher Bacon
No chance hath brought this ill to me;
'Tis God's own hand, so let it be,
He seeth what I cannot see.
There is a need-be for each pain,
And He one day will make it plain
That earthly loss is heavenly gain.
Like as a piece of tapestry
Viewed from the back appears to be
Naught but threads tangled hopelessly;
But in the front a picture fair
Rewards the worker for his care,
Proving his skill and patience rare.
Thou art the Workman, I the frame.
Lord, for the glory of Thy Name,
Perfect Thine image on the same.
--Selected
Classics: Joy and Strength
Obeying the Truth by Mary Wilder Tileston
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit.
1 PETER 1:22
THY wonderful grand will, my God!
Triumphantly I make it mine;
And faith shall breathe her glad "Amen"
To every dear command of Thine.
JEAN SOPHIA PIGOTT
YOU little think how much the life of all your graces depends upon your ready and cordial obedience to the Spirit. When the Spirit urgeth thee to secret prayer, and thou refusest obedience; when He forbids thee a known transgression, and yet thou wilt go on; when He telleth thee which is the way, and which not, and thou wilt not regard,--no wonder if heaven and thy soul be strange.
RICHARD BAXTER
Whatever the particular call is, the particular sacrifice God asks you to make, the particular cross He wishes you to embrace, whatever the particular path He wants you to tread, will you rise up, and say in your heart, "Yes, Lord, I accept it; I submit, I yield, I pledge myself to walk in that path, and to follow that Voice, and to trust Thee with the consequences"? Oh! but you say, "I don't know what He will want next." No, we none of us know that, but we know we shall be safe in His hands.
CATHERINE BOOTH
Classics: Morning and Evening
Free From Guilt by C.H. Spurgeon
"There is therefore now no condemnation."
--Romans 8:1
Come, my soul, think thou of this. Believing in Jesus, thou art actually and effectually cleared from guilt; thou art led out of thy prison. Thou art no more in fetters as a bond-slave; thou art delivered now from the bondage of the law; thou art freed from sin, and canst walk at large as a freeman, thy Saviour's blood has procured thy full discharge. Thou hast a right now to approach thy Father's throne. No flames of vengeance are there to scare thee now; no fiery sword; justice cannot smite the innocent. Thy disabilities are taken away: thou wast once unable to see thy Father's face: thou canst see it now. Thou couldst not speak with Him: but now thou hast access with boldness. Once there was a fear of hell upon thee; but thou hast no fear of it now, for how can there be punishment for the guiltless? He who believeth is not condemned, and cannot be punished. And more than all, the privileges thou mightst have enjoyed, if thou hadst never sinned, are thine now thou art justified. All the blessings which thou wouldst have had if thou hadst kept the law, and more, are thine, because Christ has kept it for thee. All the love and the acceptance which perfect obedience could have obtained of God, belong to thee, because Christ was perfectly obedient on thy behalf, and hath imputed all His merits to thy account, that thou mightst be exceeding rich through Him, who for thy sake became exceeding poor. Oh! how great the debt of love and gratitude thou owest to thy Saviour!
"A debtor to mercy alone,
Of covenant mercy I sing;
Nor fear with Thy righteousness on,
My person and offerings to bring:
The terrors of law and of God,
With me can have nothing to do;
My Saviour's obedience and blood
Hide all my transgressions from view."
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Covenant With My Eyes
February 11, 2012 — by Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Our Daily Bread Radio is hosted by Les Lamborn
Read: Job 31:1-4
I have made a covenant with my eyes. —Job 31:1
Bible in a year:
Numbers 21-24
Our friend is a computer “techie.” One night when our family was at his house, I noticed a verse taped to his monitor: “I have made a covenant with my eyes” (Job 31:1). Evidently, he understood the potential danger of spending hours alone in front of a computer with easy access to indecent images.
Our friend’s “reminder verse” is a quote from Job, and it continues, “Why then should I look upon a young woman?” Like many of us, Job had promised himself to stay free of lust. Reflecting on that oath, he said, “Does [God] not see my ways, and count all my steps?” (v.4). The Bible assures us that God does (Heb. 4:13), and that we are accountable to Him. This is why believers must “abstain from sexual immorality” (1 Thess. 4:3). While some want to debate the boundaries of morality, the Bible says, “Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5:28).
If you have made a covenant with your eyes, consider how Scripture might help you keep this pledge. Post a verse on your computer screen, television, or the dashboard of your car, and remember, “God did not call us to uncleanness” but to holiness (1 Thess. 4:7).
When lustful thoughts assail your mind
To play with immorality,
Remember that God’s will for you
Is holiness and purity. —Sper
A look that lingers can lead to lust.
(Rather than posting verses in conspicuous places in your environment, however, do the scriptural thing and hide them in your heart, that you might not sin against Him. If you are caught up in pornography, Jesus Christ is your Way out. Fallen people get their jollies exposing and looking at and condemning you for YOUR nakedness, and they will be properly rewarded, but people who really know Jesus clothe the socially and spiritually naked.)
Job 31
1I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
2For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
3Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?
4Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?
5If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;
6Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity.
7If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;
8Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.
9If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door;
10Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
11For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.
12For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.
As Kyle Idleman said on a recent "Life Today" broadcast, we tend to make our relationship with God a "Snuggie" religion, that is, we reduce it to terms which are comfortable for us.
Psalm 119
5O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!
6Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.
7I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.
8I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.
9Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
(It's not too late to turn back! If God wanted to condemn you, you wouldn't be reading this right now, BELIEVE me!)
10With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.
11Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
12Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.
Don't say the "sinner's prayer". Scream your lungs out for Jesus to save you, and don't let complacent "churchians" dissuade you until you are satisfied that you KNOW that the Living God has heard and responded to your cries for mercy. Accept NO substitutes nor counterfeits!
The Present Immanuel by C.H. Spurgeon
"He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever."
--John 14:16
Great Father revealed Himself to believers of old before the coming of His Son, and was known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the God Almighty. Then Jesus came, and the ever-blessed Son in His own proper person, was the delight of His people's eyes. At the time of the Redeemer's ascension, the Holy Spirit became the head of the present dispensation, and His power was gloriously manifested in and after Pentecost. He remains at this hour the present Immanuel--God with us, dwelling in and with His people, quickening, guiding, and ruling in their midst. Is His presence recognized as it ought to be? We cannot control His working; He is most sovereign in all His operations, but are we sufficiently anxious to obtain His help, or sufficiently watchful lest we provoke Him to withdraw His aid? Without Him we can do nothing, but by His almighty energy the most extraordinary results can be produced: everything depends upon his manifesting or concealing His power.
Do we always look up to Him both for our inner life and our outward service with the respectful dependence which is fitting? Do we not too often run before His call and act independently of His aid? Let us humble ourselves this evening for past neglects, and now entreat the heavenly dew to rest upon us, the sacred oil to anoint us, the celestial flame to burn within us. The Holy Ghost is no temporary gift, He abides with the saints. We have but to seek Him aright, and He will be found of us. He is jealous, but He is pitiful; if He leaves in anger, He returns in mercy. Condescending and tender, He does not weary of us, but awaits to be gracious still.
Sin has been hammering my heart
Unto a hardness, void of love,
Let supplying grace to cross his art
Drop from above.
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Check out the entry for today: "Ice Cream Social"
Albert Pike and Three World Wars
Pike and Mazzini |
"The Keeper of Manuscripts recently informed the author that this letter is NOT catalogued in the British Museum Library. It seems strange that a man of Cardinal Rodriguez's knowledge should have said that it WAS in 1925".In fact, the accusation—although not the specifics— can be traced to the earlier writings of the self-confessed hoaxsters Domenico Margiotta and Leo Taxil. There is no evidence that any correspondence ever existed. The British Museum has recently confirmed in writing to researcher Michael Haupt that such a document has never been in their possession. 1 |
SHERYL CROW LYRICS (excerpted)
All I wanna do is have some fun
I got a feeling I'm not the only one
All I wanna do is have some fun
I got a feeling I'm not the only one
All I wanna do is have some fun
Until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard
I like a good beer buzz early in the morning
And Billy likes to peel the labels
From his bottles of Bud
He shreds them on the bar
Then he lights every match in an oversized pack
Letting each one burn down to his thick fingers
before blowing and cursing them out
And he's watching the bottles of Bud as they spin on
the floor
And a happy couple enters the bar
Dangerously close to one another
The bartender looks up from his want ads
[Chorus]
Otherwise the bar is ours,
The day and the night and the car wash too
The matches and the Buds and the clean and dirty
cars
The sun and the moon but
[Chorus]
Luke 4
Saturday, February 04, 2012
Spurgeon's Evening by Evening
February 8
The Extent of Salvation by C.H. Spurgeon
"He shall save His people from their sins."
--Matthew 1:21
Many persons, if they are asked what they understand by salvation, will reply, "Being saved from hell and taken to heaven." This is one result of salvation, but it is not one tithe of what is contained in that boon. It is true our Lord Jesus Christ does redeem all His people from the wrath to come; He saves them from the fearful condemnation which their sins had brought upon them; but His triumph is far more complete than this. He saves His people "from their sins." Oh! sweet deliverance from our worst foes. Where Christ works a saving work, He casts Satan from his throne, and will not let him be master any longer. No man is a true Christian if sin reigns in his mortal body. Sin will be in us--it will never be utterly expelled till the spirit enters glory; but it will never have dominion. There will be a striving for dominion--a lusting against the new law and the new spirit which God has implanted--but sin will never get the upper hand so as to be absolute monarch of our nature. Christ will be Master of the heart, and sin must be mortified. The Lion of the tribe of Judah shall prevail, and the dragon shall be cast out.
Professor! is sin subdued in you? If your life is unholy your heart is unchanged, and if your heart is unchanged you are an unsaved person. If the Saviour has not sanctified you, renewed you, given you a hatred of sin and a love of holiness, He has done nothing in you of a saving character. The grace which does not make a man better than others is a worthless counterfeit. Christ saves His people, not in their sins, but from them. "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." If not saved from sin, how shall we hope to be counted among His people. Lord, save me now from all evil, and enable me to honour my Saviour.
“Have it your way”
Noun | 1. | whopper - a gross untruth; a blatant lie
lie, prevarication - a statement that deviates from or perverts the truth
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