Come Thou Fount

                         Here's a little part of the great hymn "Come Thou Fount.''

"Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee:
Prone to wander , Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love..."

The author of this hymn knew how his sin nature always tried to draw his heart away from the Lord. The same is true with us. WE ALL are prone to wander from the Lord. Satan is always trying to draw the heart of those who believe in Christ away from the Lord. We need to have check and guard our hearts against drifting from a close relationship from God. I encourage you, evaluate yourself and ask the Lord to help you stay close to Him.

Lesson from a TV Show

Not to long ago I was watching an old television show. I came in at the middle of it, but I caught enough to get the story line. There was a father who was upset with his son because he thought the boy was telling a lie that he just would not admit to. The boy was actually telling the truth, but his story seemed so far-fetched that his father just did not believe him. Finally, after having a talk with his son and looking into his honest and truthful eyes, the father began to believe his son's story not because it seemed rational or realistic, but because he knew the character of his son. In the end he found out his son was right all along and that he was telling the truth.

After watching this, it suddenly struck me that sometimes we are like that father and the Lord is like that son. The Lord gives us a promise that is true and sure, but maybe due to circumstances or feelings, we just do not see how what the Lord has said could be true and we doubt Him. However it is at these times when God's promises seem unrealistic and impossible that we need to fix our eyes on who we know our God to be. The Bible says over and over that God is faithful to His word. 1 Samuel 15:29; Romans 4:20-21; Lamentations 3:22-23,25; Psalm 36:5; Psalm 37:5 - all these are just a few passages from Scripture that confirm God's faithfulness.

So be like that father who looked past what seemed believable and looked to the character of his son. Our God is a merciful and faithful God. When we choose to trust in Him we will find, just as the father did with his son, that the Lord was speaking truth all along.

Sunday Scriptures

Have you ever wondered if you are secure in your salvation. You may think,"I know I trusted in Jesus to be my Savior, but can I lose my salvation?" The answer is NO. Here are just a couple verses proving this.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24: "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it."

John 10:28-29: "And I give them eternal life life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one."

John 4:24 : "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life."

If you have realized that you are a sinner in need of a savior and have asked Jesus, the Son of God, to be that savior, then you have eternal life. Don't let Satan lie to you, telling you that you are not saved. Choose to believe God. If you haven't accepted Jesus as your personal savior but you would like to, just see the page The Most Important Decision of Your Life just to your right and you will learn how to be saved.

The Bible

The Bible-it's God's perfect inherent word. Psalm18:30 says,"...The word of the LORD is proven..." That word proven means refined or pure. When the Bible speaks on a matter it is always true. How do we know that the Bible is from God? Well, there are two verses that clearly answer this. The first one is 2 Peter 1:20-21 which says"...that no prophesy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (Italics mine). The Holy Spirit superintended over what the authors wrote, leading them into exactly what to write, even to the exact wording using their vocabulary and personalities. Therefore the Scriptures in their original copies were directly inspired or "God breathed." Another passage that talks about how the Bible is from God is 2 Timothy 3:16-17 which says,"All Scripture is give by inspiration [lit. "God-breathed"] of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." The Bible is from the One true God, the God of the Bible. Another proof is all the fulfilled prophesies throughout Scripture. Only God could have given those precise and accurate predictions.

We see that the Bible is the word of God, but what are we doing about it? Are we letting it permeate and influence the way we think and the way we live our lives? Romans 12:2 says,"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." How do we transform our minds so that we can live the way God would have us to? Well, we just read it. 2 Timothy 3: 16-17 says that all Scripture" is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly furnished for every good work." Jesus in John 17:17 said,"Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth." ''Sanctification means to be set apart for a special purpose or use. Jesus was originally praying this for His disciples, but it is just the same for us. So I ask you, are you in God's word (the Bible) the way you should be? Are you making a special effort to spend time with your Savior Jesus Christ? We will grow spiritually no other way. God wants to set you apart for His great and beautiful purposes. He wants you to grow in your faith. So make a special effort to have a private time with God where you pray and read His word. It is the best thing for you.

The Bad Fruit

Just a few days ago I was rummaging through a bag of grapes to see if I could find some that were still fresh. I grabbed the main cluster of grapes and started pulling off the ones that were mushy and bad. It suddenly occurred to me that just as I was removing the sour grapes that made the cluster bad, so our Lord day by day, month by month, year by year purges from our lives the things that do not please Him. This process is called sanctification - the life-long process in which God makes us more like His Son, Jesus Christ. However, if we are constantly fighting God and stopping our ears whenever He convicts us of something in our lives, then we will only make the process harder on ourselves. God will have to break our will until we are on our knees in submission to Him. True joy and satisfaction comes from a life that is submitted to God. Just look at the differences between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit shown in Galatians 5:19-25 and you will see that life to the fullest comes from obedience to God. Look at what Hebrews 12:5-11 says:

"And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:'My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the LORD loves He chastens and scourges every son whom He receives.' If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening of which all have become partakers, then you are illigitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it"

So keep being submitted to God. He always works in you what is best.

Sunday Scriptures

"...Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today...The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace." - Exodus 14:13, 14

All those things that you face that only God can do something about, just give them to God and trust Him with it. He will fight for you and work His perfect will in your life. The Lord is here to help you in every area of your life.

He Restores My Soul

"The LORD...makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul." -Psalm 23:1-3

Have your ever felt like you just couldn't take anymore and that you just had to have some rest from your burdening responsibilities or the trials you face? Well take courage. The Lord is your shepherd and He knows how when His sheep need rest. I have seen it in my own life and in others. God gives us special times of restoration in which we are able to rest and regain our strength. If you are going through a trial or a hardship and you just feel like you are at your wits end, just remember, God will give you grace and strength to endure until He leads you into His time of rest for you. Just make sure you wait on the Lord for His time of rest for you; do not run ahead of Him. His timing is perfect.

His Unconditional Love

Have you ever batteled with feelings that tell you that God has stopped loving you, that you are not secure in His love? I imagine we would be hard pressed to find someone who hasn't struggled with this. However, the truth is that God love us NO MATTER WHAT.

Here's an example that illustrates this: I remember one time when I messed up big time. I went to my dad and mom about it and they were disappointed but they forgave me! Their love didn't end just because I messed up. No, but their love was not dependent on what I did; they loved me because I was their son.

It is the exact same way with our Heavenly Father. We sin and slip up all the time. Why does God not stop loving us? Because "...He made us accepted in the Beloved."(Eph. 1:6) Our Father's love for us is not dependent on what we have done. He loves us UNCONDITIONALLY because we are accepted on the basis of what Jesus Christ, the Son of God, did for us. If we have repented from our sins and trusted in Jesus Christ to save us from our sins, then we have God's unfailing, unconditional love. Jesus was our substitute when He died and shed His blood for us and through His ressurection God has applied Jesus' righteousness to us. In Christ, God views us as righteous; that doesn't mean we are perfect but positionally we are considered righteous in Christ. That is the reason we are loved unconditionally by God; because of what Christ did for us. We are "... accepted in the Beloved. Here is Romans 8: 35,37-39. It sums everything up.
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall triblation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Rom. 8:35, 37-39.

Here are some more comforing words from Jesus from John 10:28-30: And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one."

He will always love you and hold you in His all-powerful hand - no matter what.

Sunday Scriptures

I love these passages from the Bible because they are so true. They are Isaiah 25:4 and Isaiah 26:3-4.

Isaiah 25:4- "For You have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat; for the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.

26:4 - "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.

Bad Turned into Good

"And we know that alll things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren." - Romans 8:28-29

Have you ever worked really hard on something only to later on lose all the work that work that you did? Well, that happened with me not to long ago in my school work. I was assigned a paragragh to write by English teacher. So, I "brainstormed" as they call it, and wrote down all my ideas about what to write. After that, I meticulously wrote the paragragh and then edited it. I was really happy with what I had done. I showed it to my mom to see what she thought and then I stuck it in my grammar book. Later on, I was doing some other homework in my grammar book and when I was done, I accidentaly threw the paragragh that I had worked so hard on away. The next day I realized what i did and I was mortified. I couldn't believe it! Then it came to me that maybe there was something God wanted to teach me through this. I asked Him and then I realized that I needed to be more careful with all my work. I have the tendency in school to rush through things and not take notice of the things I need to. If I'm going to do good in school, I needed to learn to slow down and be careful with my work.

You know, God uses things that give us pain in life to teach us something that we could learn no other way. These lessons are invaluable. We all at one time have asked God,"Why" at one time or another. I know I have! We ask this question while were going through a time of pain , but what we don't realize is that God sees the end of the road. He is using that pain to teach us something much greater than the pain itself. I've seen it in others lives as well as my own. Yes, it's ok to feel the pain of a trial,but just remember that God is still good and will lovingly cause everything to work together for good for you. God is love, no matter what we feel and He is gradually molding us into His image. Stick with Him; you won't regret it.

Faith

" The LORD lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let God be exalted, the Rock of my salvation!" - 2 Samuel 22:47

Here's a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier. It is so true and applicable to all of our lives.

Faith

John Greenleaf Whittier

Nothing before, nothing behind;

The steps of faith

Fall on the seeming void, and find

The rock beneath.

There will be times in all of our lives where we have to take a step out in faith. We don't see how God's going to come through and it seems like if we did take that step of faith we'd be steeping right off into air. However, no matter what we feel, God's promises are true. "And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man that He should relent." - 1 Samuel 15:29. God is not going to go back on His word. He promises that when we commit our way to Him and trust Him, He will handle everything (Psalms 37:5). The Lord Jesus promised He would never leave us or forsake us (Mattt. 28:20, Heb. 13:5-6). We don't have to worry. The Lord is our Rock, our firm foundation. When we take that step of faith we will find the Rock underneath.

Sunday Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 2:14

I love this passage from 2 Corinthians. It reminds that in Christ we are more than conquerors.



"Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place." - 2 Cor. 2:14



So next time you feel like your back's against the wall and you're going down for the last time, remember Who is on your side and Who is holding you up.



"Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors though Him who loved us." - Rom. 8:37

Nighttime Reruns

Have you ever laid down to sleep at night and all of a sudden, all sorts of anxious and racing thoughts about the cares and concerns of the future come shooting through your mind? Well, they sure have mine! One thing that I've found that helps is when you pillow your head at night to instead of thinking about all the worries of life, to review the entire day in your mind looking for the many different ways that the Lord has helped you throughout the day. You will be so surprised as to how much God helped you and how He carried and supported you throughout the day.

This habit of reviewing the great things that God has done in that day will help you in so many ways. It has made me more aware of how the Lord helps me throughout the day even though I don't realize it that much. You will see God as your personal Helper and Strength.

All of us need to start having our eyes opened not only at night but all the time to the great things God does for us every day because He does do so much. I'm not perfect in this by any means. This is something that I, by the grace of God have to work on too. However when we do put this into practice we will find ourselves having more joy because we see that we have such a friend in Jesus.