Stuck in my mind...

I am sure that many of you could say these words with me - " in recent days I have experienced difficulty in my personal life". Agree? That is a true statement for me. But it is also true that in times of difficulty, the Lord is near to encourage and strengthen me. Praise God!
So for the last couple of days, the Lord has placed a song in my heart that encourages me very much. He has also strengthened me with the gift of assurance that I belong to Him and He has given me Scripture - some verses from the Psalms that I can cling to.
So here is part of the song:

My Redeemer
(  by Philip P Bliss 1876 )

I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His wondrous love to me;
On the cruel cross He suffered,
From the curse to set me free.

Chorus

Sing, oh sing, of my Redeemer,
With His blood, He purchased me.
On the cross, He sealed my pardon,
Paid the debt, and made me free.

 

I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His heav’nly love to me;
He from death to life hath brought me,
Son of God with Him to be.

 

( from cyberhymnal.org )

 

Now I would like to share some of the Scripture that the Lord is using to speak encouragement into my heart:

Psalm 33: 17- 18 An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.  Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;

Psalm 34: 6-8  This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

19 -  Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

22 - The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.

 

 

To anyone reading this who is suffering or troubled - may I encourage you to put your trust in the Lord and let Him take away your fears.

1st Advent Sunday - Peace

Sunday Sermon Review December 2, 2012  - 1st Advent: Peace
( from my home church that I attend regularly)

We Have Peace
Speaker - Pastor Ben

Luke 2:14 - Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

The service began with singing the song Hosanna. The song is written by Paul Baloche and is very meaningful to sing. Here are a few lines from the song.

Praise is rising, eyes are turning to You, we turn to You
Hope is stirring, hearts are yearning for You, we long for You
'Cause when we see You, we find strength to face the day
In Your Presence all our fears are washed away, washed away

Hosanna, hosanna
You are the God Who saves us, worthy of all our praises
Hosanna, hosanna
Come have Your way among us
We welcome You here, Lord Jesus

We celebrated the 1st Advent with the lighting of the first Advent candle and the Scripture reading from Luke 1: 26 - 55 which tells the story of the angel's announcement to Mary.
Luke 1:26-31
And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.

The message today was based on Philippians 4: 4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.
 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Pastor Ben came up to bring the message and here is some of what he said:
*Advent is a time of expectations -
Yet Christmas is a time of tension.
Our hopes and expections are not met
We have gatherings and Christmas parties yet many are lonely.

*Christmas is a time of joy -
 Joy is a major part of Christmas yet depression is rampant during the Christmas season.

*Christmas is a time of peace -
The message of the angels to the shepherds was a message of peace - Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. yet our lives are not filled with peace but rather with stress preparing for Christmas and with shopping.
Often family gatherings are marred by bitterness and unforgiveness.

**We heard Mary's story. Imagine her hopes and dreams. She was engaged to be married to Joseph. But everything changed for Mary when the angel appeared to her to tell her that she would be the mother of baby Jesus. How would she tell Joseph? How would she tell her family?
Mary's peace was broken by God entering into her world.
What would happen to your hopes if an angel showed up in your life?

The basis of our faith is that God shows up and when He does.... everything changes!
How do you have peace when God breaks into your life? and everything changes in your life?
Change is the opposite of peace.

Mary surrendered to God - Luke 1 : 38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.
God is the center of our peace.
Peace comes ( not in the absence of change ) but because we see God working in our lives.

We need a movement from God. We need more of God. We need to encounter Him more and more.

The reason we (Mary) can have peace when God shows up is that we ( Mary ) trust in God.
She ( we ) knows God and knows she ( we ) can trust Him.

Turn to God and trust Him. He loves us radically.
Peace is not passive - peace is active
Peace in the midst of our world being turned upside down.
Philippians 4: 4  Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice
The key is to rejoice in the Lord always - whether we feel like it or not.
Thank God for his love even when you don't feel like it.
We need to give thanks to God.
Draw near to God.
Bring everything to God in prayer.

We find peace when we find God. We can trust Him with our lives.

Song - Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

Living in Contentment...

1 Timothy 6: 6-8  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

We can all testify to the truth of the words spoken by Job of the Bible where in Job 1:21 he says Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
All of us come into this world with nothing and when we die we can take absolutely no material thing with us. We hear of people trying to take their possessions with them but in reality our "stuff" stays on the earth. I heard of a man who loved his violin so much he requested at the time of his death that he be buried together with his violin.
So the question we ask is this - If we cannot take any of our money and possessions with us, why do we stress ourselves to become rich here? Why not be content with the simple things of life. Many people will give up almost anything to earn a more money that they will never use. People give up the opportunity to spend time with their spouse or children, give up their health by over exertion and workaholism, unwilling to give up the day of rest for the Lord, etc for the sake of money.
Now the Bible does teach us that we ought to work, to put in a good day of work for the wages we earn but I am talking about the life that takes the desire to become rich to a point where discontentment sets in.
 2 Thessalonians 3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
We need to focus on living a life of contentment. The basic needs of life are food and clothing, and a place to lay our head at night. Above and beyond this is an "extra" from the Lord for our enjoyment.

But in 1Timothy 6: 6 it says But godliness with contentment is great gain. So we see that we need both together - godliness and contentment. This is best described as having a good understanding of the passing nature of life. We are born, the Lord gives us time here to live life, some get many years and others only a few but we all move on to death sooner or later. The things of this world are here when we arrive and we leave them behind when we pass away. We cannot find godliness nor contentment in accumulating things.
We desire that God work his character in us -  through the things that we experience in our lives. We accept God's will for our lives with the continuing thought in our life that as the old songs goes " This World is not my Home - I'm just a passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue." (that is heaven).  
Living in godly contentment gives peace in our hearts and a calmness. We sense this peace and calmness within our spirit when we see others around us searching for happiness in various unproductive ways - we see peope stressing with working overtime, buying a newer boat, or acquiring more land, or new farm machines, or going on that next vacation or whatever it is, you fill in the blank. We need to pray for them. We need to pray that the Lord continue to fill our hearts with contentment and also pray that the Lord open their eyes to see that the life they are living will never satisfy. That longing deep within the heart can only be filled by the Lord Jesus. More money or acquiring stuff will not satisfy or bring contentment. Only a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus will satisfy the longings of our heart. We keep our eyes on Jesus! We set our eyes on things above, looking and waiting for the appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
1 Timothy 6 11-14 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
¹² Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
¹³ I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
¹⁴ That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Peace and Comfort in Trying Times...

Isaiah 48: 17-18 Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.  O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:
 God has made each of the four season, each one comes with its own distinct gifts and beauty. Fall has arrived now and again we see how  God has made everything beautiful in its time. I took this photo of our small river that runs by our property. It reminds me to be still and reflect on the Lord and his care for us ( His children) in these dark times.

 This past week has brought much turmoil in the world. We see there is no peace in the Arab countries where the Muslims are violently protesting and we ask the question - Where is this all leading to? At just such a time as this we need to be still and remember our Father God Almighty is in control of all things and we need not fear. Psalm 46: 9-11 brings the comfort that we need for today - He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

God is in control, He is the one who will draw the line in the sand ( figuratively speaking) and will only allow the wicked to go so far with their evil schemes. He will raise His arm and put an end to all evil and God will be exalted in all the earth!

The Hope of Resurrection!

As Christians, we believe in the resurrection. We believe that Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and rose on the third day. The Bible teaches that we also will be resurrected - all people who have died or will yet die will be resurrected. Acts 24: 15 talks about this resurrection: ¹⁵ And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.
So having this hope in us that we will surely be resurrected, what difference does it make in us today as to how we live our lives from day to day? To know that this life is not all there is, but that there surely is a life hereafter, creates a desire and determination within us to do what pleases God and to be found acceptable to Him. Verse 16 of Acts chapter 24 says : ¹⁶ And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void to offence toward God, and toward men.
So we Paul says here that he makes sure (and so should we) that he lives in such a way as to have a conscience void of offence toward God and men. This would indicate that we keep short accounts with God and the people around us. This of course means repenting before God of our wrong doings, receiving forgiveness through the blood of Jesus. It is also doing right to the people around us, living by the golden rule which is found in Matthew 7:12 - ¹² Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
We are also instructed to live in peace in Romans 12:18 - ¹⁸ If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
Living in a right relationship with God and with the Lord Jesus, and working at living in right relationship with the people around us helps us to be prepared and ready to meet God whenever our appointed time comes.


An  interesting to note to add would be that both of these passages include the importance of the Law and the Prophets.
¹⁴ But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:   and in Matthew 7:12  Jesus uses that very phrase.
¹² Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.