God's Thoughts.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. Know him in all your ways and he will direct your paths."
 Proverbs 3:5-6

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."
 Isaiah 55:8-9

I am always trying to understand the world and God - sometimes I am trying to understand God's dealings with the world.  I always want to know the "why" of everything. Sometimes I "lean on my own understanding" instead of trusting the Lord with all my heart. I do find however,  if something bothers me a lot and I ask God about it he usually shows me the answer.

When I look at photos of the galaxies and I see that God made the billions of stars I realize I need to let go of my understanding and always believe he knows what he is doing.  His ways are higher than mine. His thoughts are higher than mine. He has all the answers to all my questions, and if I don't know the answer now, I will know one day.

The Wind and the Spirit.

"Do not be surprised I said to you, "You must be born again. The wind blows wherever it wants and you hear the sound of it but do not know where it comes from or where it is going; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
John 3:7-8

The wind is a powerful force. It blows the seeds and pollinates the earth with plants, it causes the waves to roll on the sea, it keeps the air clean and moves the sand dunes. We cannot see it, but we can see what it does.

We cannot see the Holy Spirit, but we can see the results of his work on human beings. He begins to whisper to us as children, moving upon our minds to do good and think good thoughts. He leads us to people, books or movies that tell us about God. We consider these things and he impresses us with the truth. If we turn ourselves towards the Spirit of God and surrender to God we are born again. We enjoy spiritual things, we enjoy doing right, we change slowly into God's image.

When did our conversion begin? Who can say? Jesus seems to say we cannot pinpoint the exact time. I thank God he works so hard for us. I thank him for his patience. I thank him for his deep love.

The End of the World.

Picture found at:

http://www.jonathanselby.com/pg25pics.html

I remember as a little girl being taught about the end of the world and Jesus coming back to take us to himself. At our church and in our home we had pictures of this event and I would stare at them and wonder when he would return. This teaching never frightened me because of Jesus. I wanted to see him, and many times I would look up to the sky and hope this was the day he would return. I still look up and imagine him coming and look forward to that day with hope and joy

`Look, He is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. And all the families of the earth will mourn because of him. So be it! Amen.`
Revelation 1:7

Àfter he had said these things, he was lifted up while they were looking on and a cloud took him out of their sight...An angel said, `This same Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come back the same way you have seen him go to heaven.`
Acts 1:9-11

Jesus said, `See, I have told you ahead of time. If anyone tells you, `There he is, out in the desert!` Do not go. Or, `Here he is in the inner rooms!` Do not believe it. For as the lightening flashes from the east and shines to the west, so it will be when the Son of Man comes.
`Matthew 24:25-`27

Having Faith When You are Sick.

I read this story a few weeks ago. The bed-ridden man in this story had great faith and peace with God. I thought I would share it with you.

One of the happiest men I ever knew was a man in Dundee, Scotland, who had fallen and broken his back when he was a boy of fifteen. He had lain on his bed for about forty years, and could not be moved without a good deal of pain. Probably not a day had passed in all those years without acute suffering. But day after day the grace of God had been granted to him, and when I was in his chamber it seemed as if I was as near heaven as I could get on earth. I can imagine that when the angels passed over Dundee, they had to stop there to get refreshed.

When I saw him, I thought he must be beyond the reach of the tempter, and I asked him: "Doesn't Satan ever tempt you to doubt God, and to think that He is a hard Master?"

"Oh, yes," he said, "he does try to tempt me. I lie here and see my old schoolmates driving along in their carriages, and Satan says: 'If God is so good, why does He keep you here all these years? You might have been a rich man, riding in your own carriage.' Then I see a man who was young when I was walk by in perfect health, and Satan whispers: 'If God loved you, couldn't He have kept you from breaking your back?'"

"What do you do when Satan tempts you?"

"Ah, I just take him to Calvary, and I show him Christ, and I point out those wounds in His hands and feet and side, and say, 'Doesn't He love me?' and the fact is, he got such a scare there eighteen hundred years ago that he cannot stand it; he leaves me every time."

That bedridden saint had not much trouble with doubts; he was too full of the grace of God.

D.L. Moody

http://christianbookshelf.org/moody/moodys_anecdotes_and_illustrations/index.html

Growing in Grace.

I think every Christian wants to grow in grace. They want to become more like Jesus. When we seem to be so slow at growing; when we look at ourselves in despair; we need to remember it is Jesus who provides the growth. 

One of my sisters told me she didn't think she was changing for the better after a year of praying to be more loving. I told her she was wrong. I had seen a great change in her. She had more patience and kindness than ever before but she couldn't see it. I think we should look at Jesus and look away from ourselves. Perhaps we don't see ourselves the way God and others see us and we will  be discouraged.

These are some quotes from Henry Drummond on Christian growth.

Violent efforts to grow are right in earnestness, but wholly wrong in principle. There is but one principle of growth both for the natural and spiritual, for animal and plant, for body and soul. For all growth is an organic thing. And the principle of growing in grace is once more this, "Consider the lilies how they grow." 

The lilies grow, Christ says, of themselves; they toil not, neither do they spin. They grow, that is, automatically, spontaneously, without trying, without fretting, without thinking.

Earnest souls who are attempting sanctification by struggle, instead of sanctification by faith, might be spared much humiliation by learning the botany of the Sermon on the Mount.

If God is spending work upon a Christian, let him be still and know that it is God. And if he wants work, he will find it there—in the being still. 

Natural Law, Natural Growth, by Henry Drummond.

http://christianbookshelf.org/drummond/beautiful_thoughts/index.html

Who is for Me?

I read these verses last night and they encouraged my spirit.

"Who rises up for me against the wicked? Who will stand up for me against the workers of sin? Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul would have dwelt in silence like the grave.

When I said, 'My feet are slipping,' your loving kindness held me up O Lord.
When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul."

Psalm 94:16-19

I believe God stands up for us against the powers of darkness. Satan would have us discouraged and rebellious, but the Lord stands up against him and helps us. Where would I be without God? In the depths of despair.

When we are slipping in our faith, when our feet slip and we make mistakes or do wrong, God is there helping us. When we are depressed and discouraged, his words and Spirit cheer our souls. What a wonderful God we worship!

Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

When I said, My foot slippeth - When I found myself so weak and my enemy so strong, that I got first off my guard, and then off my center of gravity, and my fall appeared inevitable: -

Thy mercy, O Lord, held me up - יסעדני yisadeni, propped me. It is a metaphor taken from any thing falling, that is propped, shored up, or buttressed. How often does the mercy of God thus prevent the ruin of weak believers, and of those who have been unfaithful!

http://bible.cc/psalms/94-18.htm

Loving Jesus More.

 In the Song of Solomon, the woman who is betrothed speaks of the man she loves in beautiful language. She represents the followers of Jesus.

She says, "My love is dark and dazzling, better than ten thousand others...His mouth is most sweet, (that is the words of his mouth) yes he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved and this is my friend."

Song of Solomon 5:10, 16

I was reading an essay by John Flavel called, "Christ Altogether Lovely." It moved me to want to love Jesus more and truly appreciate him as I should. This is an excerpt from the essay.

 Esteem nothing lovely except as it is enjoyed in Christ, or used for the sake of Christ. Love nothing for itself, love nothing separate from Jesus Christ. In two things we all sin in love of created things. We sin in the excess of our affections, loving them above the proper value of mere created things. We also sin in the inordinacy of our affections, that is to say we give our love for created things a priority it should never have.

3. Let us all be humbled for the corruption of our hearts that are so eager in their affections for vanities and trifles and so hard to be persuaded to the love of Christ, who is altogether lovely. O how many pour out streams of love and delight upon the vain and empty created thing; while no arguments can draw forth one drop of love from their stubborn and unbelieving hearts to Jesus Christ! I have read of one Joannes Mollius, who was observed to go often alone, and weep bitterly; and being pressed by a friend to know the cause of his troubles, said "O! it grieves me that I cannot bring this heart of mine to love Jesus Christ more fervently."
http://christianbookshelf.org/flavel/christ_altogether_lovely/index.html