God calling- Height of the Storm

January 27  - Height of the Storm

"It is a part of My method to wait till the storm is at its full violence."

"Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." - John 6:68

I am with you both. Go forward unafraid. Health and strength, peace and happiness and joy - they are all My gifts. Yours for the asking. In the spiritual (as in the material) world there is no empty space, and as self and fears and worries depart out of your lives, it follows that the things of the Spirit, that you crave so, rush in to take their places. All things are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's. What a wonderful cycle, because ye are God's.

Be not afraid. Fear not. It is to the drowning man the Rescuer comes. To the brave swimmer who can fare well alone He comes not. And no rush of Joy can be like that of a man towards his Rescuer.

It is a part of My method to wait till the storm is at its full violence. So did I with My disciples on the Lake. I could have bidden the first angry wave be calm, the first gust of wind be still, but what a lesson unlearned? What a sense of tender nearness of refuge and safety would have been lost.

Remember this - My disciples thought that in sleep I had forgotten them. Remember how mistaken they were. Gain strength and confidence and joyful dependence and anticipation from that.

Never fear. Joy is yours, and the radiant joy of the rescued shall be yours.

"Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths." - Psalm 25:4

God calling - grey days

January 22  - Gray Days

You must say 'Thank You' on the grayest days.

Be not afraid. I am your God, your Deliverer. From all evil, I will deliver you. Trust Me. Fear not.

Never forget your "Thank you." Do you not see it is a lesson? You MUST say "Thank You" on the grayest days. You MUST do it. All cannot be light unless you do. There is gray-day practice. It is absolutely necessary.

My death upon the Cross was not only necessary to save a world, it was necessary if only to train My disciples. It was all a part of their training: My entering Jerusalem in triumph; My washing the disciples' feet; My sorrow-time in Gethsemane; My being despised, judged, crucified, buried. Every step was necessary to their development - and so with you.

If a gray day is not one of thankfulness, the lesson has to be repeated until it is. Not to everyone is it so. But only to those who ask to serve Me well, and to do much for Me. A great work requires a great and careful training.

"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy
God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold
thee with the right hand of my righteousness." - Isaiah 41:10

Reflecting God -Hope in the Darkness

John 9:1-12

Anyone on a cave tour has probably experienced moments without light. As a teen, my family visited one of those caverns advertised on barns along the roadside. Outfitted for tourists to examine with a guide, it included steps, a railing, and electric lights. I vividly recall the moment our guide stopped in a narrow passage well beneath the surface. After instructing us not to move, the lights switched off. More than simply blindness, the inky blackness was overwhelming, thick, and oppressive. Though we experienced only a brief period of darkness, it was a huge relief when light was restored.

We are told that during extended periods of darkness, depression sets in and life is drained from the body. For those who have been lost or trapped in darkness, a single beam of light can become a life-changing ray of hope.

Jesus, the Light of the world, has come “to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners” (Isaiah 61:1b).

Author: Gary Shank

Reflecting God - he is lord

Acts 5:27-42

Within the divided heart is a struggle for supremacy: Who will rule and reign? However, the heart surrendered to God desires only the will of God. In acknowledging His Lordship, obedience is settled with a resounding “Yes!” even before the question is raised, no matter what the circumstances of any given situation.

After miraculously setting the apostles free from a locked and guarded prison cell, the angel gave clear instruction. “‘Go, stand in the temple courts’ he said, ‘and tell the people the full message of this new life’” (Acts 5:20). There was no wiggle room; no ambiguity of meaning or intent. The only question was whether or not to obey the will of God.

Offended by the apostles’ teaching in the name of Jesus, the leaders were outraged by their presence. Following Pentecost, the apostles were transformed. Those who previously ran and hid in fear now acted with boldness of conviction and singleness of purpose. They were not concerned with themselves, but only obedience to God, regardless of the risk or cost

Reflecting God - prognosis: life everlasting

Psalm 103:1-22

Imagine sitting in a physician’s examining room awaiting test results. The doctor eventually enters clutching pages of documents. As the test results are read, many words are difficult to understand; those you recognize point to a serious diagnosis. Left unchecked, your condition is fatal.

Treatment options are presented for you to choose:

? Ignore the problem, refuse to acknowledge its existence, and live to the best of your ability.

? Treat the symptoms without changing the underlying cause.

? Aggressively attack in order to root out and eradicate both the disease and its cause.

Most of us would select the last option.

Sin is fatal. Left to run its course, it ends in death. Treatment is invasive, though much less painful than imagined, and extremely effective. And, while not covered by insurance, the price has already been paid.

Jesus, the Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world. He alone changes the prognosis from death to life everlasting.

Die on a cross part 2

No one wants to die on a cross-until he comes to the place where he is desperate for the highest will of god in serving jesus christ.  The apostle paul said, "i want to die on the cross and i want to know what it is to die there, because if i die with him i will also know him in a better resurrection" (see philippians 3:10-11).  Paul was not saying, "he will raise me from the dead"-for everyone will be raised from the dead.  He said, "I want a superior resurrection, a resurrection like christ's."  Paul was willing to be crucified with christ, but in our day we want to die a piece at a time, so we can rescue little parts of ourselves from the cross.

People will pray and ask god to be filled-but all the while there is that strange ingenuity, that contradiction withon which prevents our wills from stirring to the point of letting god have his way.

Those who live in the state of perpetual contradiction cannot be happy christians.  A man who is always on the cross, just piece after piece, cannot be happy in that process.  But when that man takes his place on the cross with jesus christ once and for all, and commends his spirit to god, lets go of everything and ceases to defend himself-sure, he has died, but there is a ressurection that follows!

If we are willing to go this route of victory with jesus christ, we cannot continue to be mediocre christians, stopped halfway to the peak.  Until we give up our own intrests, there will never be enough stirring with in our beings to find his highest will.

A.W. Tozer
The Radical Cross

Rend collective - more than conquerers

Die on a cross?

If we should suddenly be revealed those around us on the outside has Almighty God sees us within our souls, we would become the most embarrassed people in the world. If that would happen we would be revealed as people barely able to stand, people in rags, some too dirty to be decent, some with great open sores. Some would be revealed in such condition that they would be turned out of skid row.  Do we think that we are actually keeping her spiritual poverty a secret, that God doesn't know us better than we know ourselves? But we will not tell him, and we disguise our poverty of spirit and hide our inward state in order to preserve our reputation. We also want to keep some authority for ourselves. We cannot agree that the final key to our lives  should be turned over to Jesus Christ. Brethren, we want to have dual controls -  let the lord run it but keep a hand on the controls just in case the lord should fail!

We are willing to join heartily in singing ,  "to God be the glory," but we are strangely ingenious in figuring out ways and means by which we keep some of the glory for ourselves. In this matter of perpetually seeking our own interests, we can only say that people who want to live for God often arrange to do very subtly what the worldly souls do crudely and openly. 

A.W. Tozer 

The radical cross

Faith and Travel

This new year where is faith leading you?  Is it leading you somewhere you have been before?  Perhaps its leading you somewhere not worth going.  Or perhaps it is leading you the way of the cross.  Just make sure this new year that the way you are going is a way worth traveling, and don't try to travel it alone.  

Nothing to prove-Philips,Craig and Dean
Rita Springer - worth it all

Hebrews 11 

Faith Directed People’s Lives

1 Faith assures us of things we expect and convinces us of the existence of things we cannot see. 2 God accepted our ancestors because of their faith.

3 Faith convinces us that God created the world through his word. This means what can be seen was made by something that could not be seen.

4 Faith led Abel to offer God a better sacrifice than Cain’s sacrifice. Through his faith Abel received God’s approval, since God accepted his sacrifices. Through his faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

5 Faith enabled Enoch to be taken instead of dying. No one could find him, because God had taken him. Scripture states that before Enoch was taken, God was pleased with him. 6 No one can please God without faith. Whoever goes to God must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

7 Faith led Noah to listen when God warned him about the things in the future that he could not see. He obeyed God and built a ship to save his family. Through faith Noah condemned the world and received God’s approval that comes through faith.

8 Faith led Abraham to obey when God called him to go to a place that he would receive as an inheritance. Abraham left his own country without knowing where he was going.

9 Faith led Abraham to live as a foreigner in the country that God had promised him. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who received the same promise from God. 10 Abraham was waiting for the city that God had designed and built, the city with permanent foundations.

11 Faith enabled Abraham to become a father, even though he was old and Sarah had never been able to have children. Abraham trusted that God would keep his promise. 12 Abraham was as good as dead. Yet, from this man came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the grains of sand on the seashore.

13 All these people died having faith. They didn’t receive the things that God had promised them, but they saw these things coming in the distant future and rejoiced. They acknowledged that they were living as strangers with no permanent home on earth. 14 Those who say such things make it clear that they are looking for their own country. 15 If they had been thinking about the country that they had left, they could have found a way to go back. 16 Instead, these men were longing for a better country—a heavenly country. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God. He has prepared a city for them.

17 When God tested Abraham, faith led him to offer his son Isaac. Abraham, the one who received the promises from God, was willing to offer his only son as a sacrifice. 18 God had said to him, “Through Isaac your descendants will carry on your name.” 19 Abraham believed that God could bring Isaac back from the dead. Abraham did receive Isaac back from the dead in a figurative sense.

20 Faith led Isaac to bless Jacob and Esau.

21 While Jacob was dying, faith led him to bless each of Joseph’s sons. He leaned on the top of his staff and worshiped God.

22 While Joseph was dying, faith led him to speak about the Israelites leaving Egypt and give them instructions about burying his bones.

23 Faith led Moses’ parents to hide him for three months after he was born. They did this because they saw that Moses was a beautiful baby and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s order.

24 When Moses grew up, faith led him to refuse to be known as a son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to suffer with God’s people rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a little while. 26 He thought that being insulted for Christ would be better than having the treasures of Egypt. He was looking ahead to his reward.

27 Faith led Moses to leave Egypt without being afraid of the king’s anger. Moses didn’t give up but continued as if he could actually see the invisible God.

28 Faith led Moses to establish the Passover and spread the blood ⌊on the doorposts⌋ so that the destroying angel would not kill the firstborn sons.

29 Faith caused the people to go through the Red Sea as if it were dry land. The Egyptians also tried this, but they drowned.

30 Faith caused the walls of Jericho to fall after the Israelites marched around them for seven days.

31 Faith led the prostitute Rahab to welcome the spies as friends. She was not killed with those who refused to obey God.

32 What more should I say? I don’t have enough time to tell you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. 33Through faith they conquered kingdoms, did what God approved, and received what God had promised. They shut the mouths of lions, 34 put out raging fires, and escaped death. They found strength when they were weak. They were powerful in battle and defeated other armies. 35 Women received their loved ones back from the dead. Other believers were brutally tortured but refused to be released so that they might gain eternal life. 36 Some were made fun of and whipped, and some were chained and put in prison. 37 Some were stoned to death, sawed in half, and killed with swords. Some wore the skins of sheep and goats. Some were poor, abused, and mistreated. 38 The world didn’t deserve these good people. Some wandered around in deserts and mountains and lived in caves and holes in the ground.

39 All these people were known for their faith, but none of them received what God had promised. 40 God planned to give us something very special so that we would gain eternal life with them.