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.