Glorious Shade

The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. - Psalm 121:5-8

Though I have not spent as much time with the Lord lately as I would have liked, I have been overwhelmed with the feeling that I cannot get enough of Him. When the heat of daily life or trials exhausts me, I have been longing for the refreshing shade that can only come from God. God's faithfulness has been bombarding my thoughts and I have often been moved to tears when I consider all He has done for me. I have been convicted that I am not going to God as I ought to be and accepting the provision He has provided. He has been showing me that He longs for His children to take refuge in His shadow. He promises to keep us and be our shade. When we allow Him to be our refuge, the sun will not strike us by day, nor the moon by night. I am hoping to be able to take more advantage of God's kind provision in the days to come. I'm thankful for days when I'd rather be in His presence then anywhere else. It is evidence that there is a God working in this wretched heart of mine! How kind of God!

Not What I Once Was

I am a person who struggles with sin. I am a person who struggles with feelings of condemnation after I sin. I am a person who is not all that I should be. I am a person who is not all I want and hope to be. But...by God's grace, I am not all that I used to be. Though my imperfect walk as a Christian often brings me grief and frustration, I still see God's hand of mercy and grace at work in my life. I am so thankful for God's promise to continue the good work he begins in his children. That promise always gives me courage at the beginning of another day and hope for the future.

I am not what I once used to be! by J. C. Ryle

"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14

The regenerate man is a holy man. He endeavors . . . to live according to God's will, to do the things that please God, to avoid the things that God hates. His aim and desire is to love God with heart and soul, and mind and strength--and to love his neighbor as himself. His wish is to be continually looking to Christ as his Example as well as his Savior; and to show himself Christ's friend, by obeying whatever He commands. No doubt he is not perfect. None will tell you that sooner than himself. He groans under the burden of indwelling corruption cleaving to him. He finds an evil principle within him constantly warring against grace, and trying to draw him away from God. Yet, in spite of all short-comings, the average bent and bias of . . . his ways is holy; his doings holy; his tastes holy and his habits holy. In spite of all his swerving and turning aside, like a ship going against a contrary wind, the general course of his life is in one direction--toward God and for God. He will generally be able to say, with old John Newton, "I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be in another world.

But still, I am not what I once used to be! By the grace of God, I am what I am!"

"Let none conclude that they have no grace, because they have many imperfections in their obedience. Your grace maybe very weak and imperfect, and yet you may be truly bornagain, and be a genuine son of God and heir of heaven."

There is heaven in the depth of that word ............Father

Last night at our singles meeting we listened to a message on fighting the fight of faith with God's word. At one point in our discussion after, the truth was brought up that God is not just God, but Father. He loves for His children, whom He adopted, to approach Him as as "Father", just as He approaches us as sons and daughters. I thought it was so kind of God to reiterate that fact through this mornings devotional by Spurgeon. We serve a kind and faithful God!

Your heavenly Father.Matthew 6:26

God's people are doubly his children, they are his offspring by creation, and they are his sons by adoption in Christ. Hence they are privileged to call him, Our Father which art in heaven. Father! Oh, what precious word is that. Here is authority: If I be a Father, where is mine honour? If ye be sons, where is your obedience? Here is affection mingled with authority; an authority which does not provoke rebellion; an obedience demanded which is most cheerfully rendered--which would not be withheld even if it might. The obedience which God's children yield to him must be loving obedience. Do not go about the service of God as slaves to their taskmaster's toil, but run in the way of his commands because it is your Father's way. Yield your bodies as instruments of righteousness, because righteousness is your Father's will, and his will should be the will of his child. Father!--Here is a kingly attribute so sweetly veiled in love, that the King's crown is forgotten in the King's face, and his sceptre becomes, not a rod of iron, but a silver sceptre of mercy--the sceptre indeed seems to be forgotten in the tender hand of him who wields it. Father!--Here is honour and love. How great is a Father's love to his children! That which friendship cannot do, and mere benevolence will not attempt, a father's heart and hand must do for his sons. They are his offspring, he must bless them; they are his children, he must show himself strong in their defence. If an earthly father watches over his children with unceasing love and care, how much more does our heavenly Father? Abba, Father! He who can say this, hath uttered better music than cherubim or seraphim can reach. There is heaven in the depth of that word--Father! There is all I can ask; all my necessities can demand; all my wishes can desire. I have all in all to all eternity when I can say, Father. - Charles Hadden Spurgeon

Alas! Alas! Wise men pass a dressy lass

There is an article by an old Puritan author called "Before You Marry!". Yes, the exclamation point is actually included in the title. It gives some very good counsel to men and women before they marry and after, but for the most part the header I found funny. Each header has a short excerpt beneath it with either witty sayings or rhymes concerning the topic or just has some plain text to get to the point. Anyway, all that to say, I'm didn't post the article, but i did include a few of the headers. You sometimes can't tell by the title what the topic will be on until you start reading and then you understand why he worded the header the way he did.

-Before you marry, have a house wherein to tarry.

-Marriage is either kill or cure.

-Marry in haste, and repent at leisure.

-Right mixture makes good mortar.

-He who ‘courts in sport’ may be caught in earnest.
-He who marries a fool is a fool.
-A rich man may make a poor husband.
-Alas! Alas! Wise men pass a dressy lass.
-The house is the woman's dominion.
-Buttons all right are husbands’ delight.
-Expensive wife makes pensive husband.
-If your husband is a dog, don't be a cat.
-A fair face may be a foul bargain.
-The wife that loves the looking-glass hates the saucepan.

Always Finding Something To Annoy Us

I thought the following piece by John MacDuff was a fresh challenge to my heart about contentment. It is true that no matter how great of a situation or place I am in, my sinful eyes would be able to find at least one thing that would annoy me, but with God's help He can train my eyes to be content even in the worst of circumstances. Psalm 73 is a great reminder to me of where true joy and contentment is to be found. "God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever".

On a side note, the Grace Covenant Church women's blog is doing a series on Titus 2. This week's posts are on Loving Your Husband and I have already been provoked and encouraged by what I have read. You can read along at http://acupofgracegcc.blogspot.com/

We shall be sure to find something to annoy us! by John MacDuff

"But godliness with contentment is great gain."-1 Timothy 6:6

The believer is frequently exhorted to cultivate contentment, and there are many considerations by which the duty may be enforced. One thing is very evident—that there is no condition in the present world, which is free from trouble! Let us pitch our tent wherever we may—we shall be sure to find something to annoy us! And if there is no situation without some inconvenience—had we not better make up our minds to be satisfied with that condition in which we are now placed?We are too much in the habit of judging by outward appearances. But things are often very different in reality—to what they appear to be. If we judge according to appearance, we shall be led to regard the most prosperous—as the happiest individuals. But we are assured by universal experience—that to be great is one thing, and that to be truly happy is altogether another thing! Under the glittering robes of the proudest nobilities—there are hearts pierced with anguish, and wrung with grief! In splendid palaces—there are manybroken hearts to be found. To sit upon thrones may seem to be something very fascinating; but, "uneasy lies the head—which wears a crown!" This is a truth which receives fresh confirmation, from every passing year. Let us not then, regard those who occupy the high places of the earth, with feelings of envy. Instead of envying them—it befits us rather to pity them and pray for them! Reader, learn to distinguish between things that differ; and be well assured that things as they appear outwardly,and as they really are—do often differ, and that very substantially! Such knowledge will tend, under God's blessing—to make you more contented with your present lot, notwithstanding its trials and privations. It is not unusual—to be exposed to things which are grievous and hard to be borne. This is not some strange thing which is happening to us alone. Let us lay aside, therefore, all murmurings and complainings—and ever remember that God's arrangements are the wisest and the best!

How To Have Peace

I found the following definition of peace so helpful. It is easy to have "peace" when all within our lives is calm, but what about when storms around us rage? A lack of peace in my life is evidence that I'm at conflict with the will of God.

The peace of God means the absence of conflict with the will of God. It means harmony within, concord with his purpose for our lives.

Elisabeth Elliot shares about an elderly woman her and her family knew for a long time and how she always exuded peacefulness. If you had asked her what her secret was, Elliot says she would no doubt have given a little shrug and a little chuckle. The sweet old wrinkled face would have looked up quizzically. She would not have known what to say. She simply did what the Christians of Philippi were told to do: "Don't worry over anything whatever; tell God every detail of your needs in earnest and thankful prayer, and the peace of God, which transcends human understanding, will keep constant guard over your hearts and minds as they rest in Christ Jesus."

Colossians 3:15 suggests that the peace of Christ is the "arbiter" of our hearts, ruling out all faithless response to trouble, all distress, anxiety, fretfulness, frustration, and resentment. It establishes order. Those who accept the grace of this gift know tranquillity which can withstand all assaults, a stillness unbroken by the world's noise, and a repose in the midst of intense activity--repose which a nerve-racked world cannot possibly give. For only Christ himself, who slept in the boat in the storm and then spoke calm to the wind and waves, can stand beside us when we are in a panic and say to us Peace. It will not be explainable. It transcends human understanding. And there is nothing else like it in the whole wide world. - E.E.

Peace that guards our hearts and minds, as well as transcends understanding can only come from one place...Christ. And even though it is a precious peace, it is a gift the Lord loves to give His children. He is more ready to give than I am willing to ask. He has already given us His blood, so why would He withhold peace when we earnestly seek it? He wouldn't. So, I am hoping to follow the example of Elisabeth Elliot's friend Mrs. Kershaw and have an absence of conflict with the will of God. Only then can I have PEACE!

Mountain Of Fear

It's easy for me to allow fear to invade my life if I'm not faithful to guard against it. The really sad thing is that my fears are often unfounded and conjured up out of a million possibilities but not probabilities. I'm sure most of you have heard the saying to not make a mountain out of a mole hill. Meaning, don't make something big out of something small. Well, fear often has a way of making something big out of things that don't even exist.

Puritan John Flavel comments on this habit: “The rules of fear are not like the rules in arithmetic, where many nothings make nothing, but fear can make something out of nothing, yea, many things, and great things out of nothing at all. Take Psalm 53:5 for example, 'There they are, in great terror, where there is no terror!' Here was a great fear raised or created out of nothing at all; had their fear been examined or hunted home to its original, it would have been found a pure creature of fancy. In the written word are found all sorts of refreshing, strengthening and heart-reviving promises prepared by the wisdom and care of God for our relief.”

One great way to fight fear is with the truth of God's comforting words and promises found in scripture. When I let fear and doubt rule my life, I am calling God a liar. I'm saying that He can't be trusted. Can't work all things together for good. Can't love me enough to actually lavish His grace and blessings upon me. I honor God when I trust Him. And He IS so worthy of trust!

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Is. 41:10).