I sang a song once, ’twas the joy of my heart. It carried a tear-drop to surface, on folk far apart. A plain song it was, without much buzz, but oil was hidden, ’twas oil of love. With one it brought laughter, with another, gave joy, some thought of heaven, I remembered my boy! My Mother, my Dad too, George and Merrilee, Bill Kraskie and Kevin, again I will see. I visited a place called Auschwitz, where they do a security check still. They must have guards, but not to hurt — no, they resist only liars and haters who try to erase this death-camp from historical record. But I was allowed to see the piles; of shoes, cups, prosthetic devises, eye-glasses, and a room of hair, (human). I saw a chamber, I saw an oven, a chimney; I saw names and faces, pictures of herded people. I read poems.…
Category: <span>Healing Cross</span>
Do you often grapple over the many decisions, including non-decisions, that brought you to your present circumstances? Lets try. There was the life changing time when Christ became real, the decision to marry, and the decision to have children. There was the decision for Bible College, moving to another state, finding a new job. These events are on the positive side of planning. Then there was the unforeseen happenings: the departure of a spouse, the death of a child, the loss of a job, the pains of sickness. On top of that are the many unthinkable mistakes, abuses, betrayals, and cowardly opting-outs. These were the lessons, hard to be learned, and may have stolen a large part of our lives. Nevertheless here we are. What are we to think about it all? The Apostle beautifully says: ” But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of…
“God just doesn’t throw a life preserver to a drowning person. He goes to the bottom of the sea and he pulls a corpse from the bottom of the sea, takes him up on the bank and breathes into him the breath of life and makes him alive.” R.C. Sproul “Men will never worship God with a sincere heart, or be roused to fear and obey him with sufficient zeal, until they properly understand how indebted they are to his mercy.” John Calvin “We shall never be clothed with the righteousness of Christ, except we first know assuredly that we have no righteousness of our own.” John Calvin “You contribute nothing to your Salvation except the sin that made it necessary.” Jonathan Edwards “The ultimate test of our spirituality, Is the measure of our amazement at the grace of God.” Martin Lloyd Jones “Faith, repentance and holiness are no less…
What am I going to do this year? The question runs In my mind In circles. The year is new and I just feel like I must make some resolutions, So let me think… what does a resolution mean? “The act of finding an answer or solution to a conflict, problem, etc.: an answer or solution to something. : the ability of a device to show an image clearly and with a lot of detail. Merriam-Webster I was encouraged by the definition but with dejection I mused, we can only look through a “glass darkly.” One day we will see God face to face, but not now; not this year; not in this lifetime. Nevertheless, I think I have hit on something. “The only thing you know Is that God knows what he’s doing.” “God does not tell you what He is going to do; He reveals to you who…
Charles Spurgeon speaks of The Holy Spirit from his sermon, “The Comforter.” “I am in distress, And I want consolation. Some passer-by hears of my sorrow, and steps within, sits down and assays to cheer me; he speaks soothing words but he loves me not; he is a stranger; he knows me not at all; he is only come in to try his skill. And what is the consequence? His words run over me like oil on a slab of marble. They are like the pattering rain upon the rock; they do not break my grief; It stands unmoved as adamant, because he has no love for me.” “But let someone who loves me dear as his own life come and plead with me, then truly his words are music, They taste like honey. He knows the password of the doors of my heart, and my ear is attentive…
The days are bitter-sweet, a joyful celebration, a frightful death. The days are dark, the night is bright, the lows are high, the highs are low. We are living in the last days. Paul called them perilous times where men would by lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 2 Timothy 3:5 Friends, turn away, turn away, He will guide us with His counsel and after lead us to glory. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same…
Through the cross of Christ we die to ourselves. He took us with Him to that death; He died ‘for’ us but also ‘as’ us. Our new life has co-crucifixion stamped all over it. Christ died, yea rather has risen and we with Him. We are risen unto eternal life. Eternal; have you thought of it? A life with no beginning and no ending resides in your being. It supersedes and replaces the mere natural life which has been corrupted by the deceitful lusts. That old life and old man are judged forever, and we know it, believe it and reckon it. Romans 6 teaches us. I am required to make the choice of living in the new, otherwise the old usurps and re-establishes itself. ‘Choices’ themselves reside in the new man; in the old I only have the illusion of free choice. I must take care to establish, feed,…
“In 165, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, a devastating epidemic swept through the Roman Empire.” “…it was the first appearance of Smallpox in the west, Zinsser (1934). “But, whatever the actual disease, it was lethal. During the fifteen year duration of the epidemic, from a quarter to a third of the empire’s population died from it, including Marcus Aurelius himself.” ” Then in 251 a new and equally devastating epidemic again swept the empire, hitting the rural areas as hard as the cities.” “This time it may have been measles.” “The Rise of Christianity” Rodney Stark “…the role they, (the plagues), likely played in the decline of Rome was ignored by historians until modern times.” ” again and again, the forward march of Roman power and world organization was interrupted by the only force against which political genius and military valor were utterly helpless — epidemic disease.” Zinsser…
Every day we: Have a new day to rejoice in, Have new mercies, are loaded with benefits, have daily bread take up a daily cross (in identification with His cross). are renewed in the Spirit of our minds. Every day we are counted as sheep for the slaughter as spoken of in Romans 8. But we are already dead, buried and resurrected in taking up our daily cross. We carry about in our body the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, that the life of Christ might be manifested in our mortal bodies. Death worketh in us that life might be worked in others. Though our outward man perishes, our inward man is renewed dad by day. Many have learned to live one day at a time. They take no thought for tomorrow; sufficient for today is the evil thereof. They forget what is past and press on…
“His mercy is judgment”; “His judgment is mercy.” — Preacher’s Homiletic. Psalm 62:12 tells us “Also unto Thee, O Lord, belongs mercy…” On the subject of mercy, John Chrysostom speaks. “She has silver wings like the dove, and feathers of gold, and soars aloft, and is clothed with Divine glory, and stands by the throne of God; when we are in danger of being condemned, she rises up and pleads for us, and covers us with her defense, and enfolds us in her wings. God loves mercy more than sacrifice.” (Matthew 9:13). Have you ever read James 2:13 where it is said, “mercy rejoices against judgment?” Can this be demonstrated? From Dr. Carl H. Stevens, “In word and deed I love them (others), beyond my understanding, not operating in morality which would legislate ‘an eye for an eye’ in revenge. It’s beyond turning the other cheek, it’s turning my…