Struggling

So many are struggling with life these days. What is
God doing in His Church? Persecution in many
countries even to the point of death; relationships
blown to pieces in the West over the most crazy
issues, like politics! But, what is God's purpose
for His children?

He must increase, but I must decrease. 
                 John3:30

When you see a person who is close to grasping
the claims of Jesus Christ. And when you begin
to see that person in the middle of a difficult
and painful struggle, don't try to prevent it, but
pray that his difficulty will grow even ten times
stronger, until no power on earth or in hell could
hold him away from Jesus Christ. (OC)

Reader, I do not want to decrease. Not really. But,
I want my relationship with Christ to deepen. I
truly want this more than to be comfortable. It is
interesting that in the Christian faith, to go up is
to first go down.

May He be your vision and your purpose!

Risen and Hidden

In re-reading through the scriptures after the
resurrection I again noticed something new to
me. Jesus was mistaken for:

• the gardner
• a stranger in town
• a man walking on the beach.

God has been raised from the dead, but He is

not covered in glory with rays flooding from 

His hands. Granted people are not expecting

the resurrection and are not looking for Him,

but He looks rather ordinary to those who

knew Him. In each situation He says or does

something that reveals who He is. Walking 

into a locked room is one way of getting 

their attention, but for one person, it was

simply saying her name.

Jesus could have appeared as He did to John 

in Revelation 1:13-16, but He did not.

Reader, one of these days Jesus will appear

in all of His Glory, but for now He comes

to us in subtle ways that we will miss if we

are not looking for Him.

Thoughts on the Resurrection

In Luke 23 we find that when Jesus was dying the
women who had followed him from Galilee stood
at a distance and watching these things. Then in
verse 55 we read that "the women who had come
with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb
and how the body was laid. Then they returned
and prepared spices and ointments."

Chapter 24 we read that these women, at early
dawn, went to the tomb taking the spices they had
prepared. They found the stone rolled away from
the tomb.

In John 20, Jesus speaks first to a woman just after
rising from the dead. Her name is Mary Magdalene.
She had been hanging around the empty tomb. Her
life ended when Jesus died.

Where were the faithful disciples? In John 20:19 we
read, "On the evening of that day, the first day of the
week, the doors being locked where the disciples
were for fear of the Jews..."

Let me get this straight. The women stayed at the
cross until the very end, made sure of where He
was buried, prepared spices for his burial and then
went to the tomb before dawn--while the disciples
hid? (when is the last time you heard a sermon on
this????)

Reader, God has a special place in His heart for
His women!

The Face Cloth

In reading over the accounts of the resurrection of
our Lord, I found some things that I have never heard
preached on. In the next few days I will approach
them one by one.

Mary Magdalene ran and told the disciples that the
tomb was empty and that Jesus had been taken away.
They ran to the tomb and Peter entered to have a
look around. "He saw the linen cloths lying there, 
and the face cloth, not lying with the linen cloths
but folded up in a place by itself."

The face cloth is folded up? Folded? Who would do
that? The angels were busy rolling the stone away
and preparing for the coming visitors. The only
answer I come to is that Jesus Himself took the time
to fold the napkin that had been covering his face.
What a common ordinary thing to do! Jesus has
defeated death, the grave and the first thing He does
upon rising from the dead, is fold a cloth?

His Death

"He was wounded for our transgressions."

Last evening we sat around a table of candles with
bread and wine. As the service of scripture reading
and hymns progressed, the candles were snuffed
out until with the last hymn, all was shrouded in
darkness and we left silently from the place of
suffering.

O sacred Head, sore wounded,
With grief and shame weighed down!
O kingly Head surrounded
     With thorns, Thine only crown!
How pale art Thou with anguish,
      With sore abuse and scorn!
How does that visage languish,
     Which once was bright as morn!

O Lord of life and glory
     What bliss till now was thine!
I read the wondrous story;
     I joy to call thee mine.
Thy grief and bitter passion
     Were all for sinners' gain;
Mine, mine was the transgression,
     But thine the deadly pain.

What language shall I borrow
     To praise Thee, heavenly Friend,
For this Thy dying sorrow,
     Thy pity without end?
Lord, make me Thine forever,
     Nor let me faithless prove;
O let me never, never
     Abuse such dying love.
(Paul Gerhardt 1607-76)

Endurance

Reading through His last few days...
Pondering.
Jesus walked it out one step at a time. From
Gethsemane where He sweat great drops of
blood to, "It is finished," He was fully into
suffering at every level.

"With God one day can be a thousand years..."

The night of the Last Supper to the last breath
on the cross was almost a 24 hour day, but
what was it for our Lord and His Father?

"...looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter
of our faith, who, for the joy set before him,
endured the cross, despising the shame..."
(Heb 12:1,2)

Reader, what brings the "joy set before him?"
Is it not you?

"But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it
we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who
will transform our lowly body to be like his
glorious body, by the power that enables him 
even to subject all things to himself. Therefore,
my brothers, whom I love and long for, my
joy and my crown, stand firm thus in the 
Lord, my beloved." (Phil 3:20-4:1)

Jesus says to you, "Dearly beloved, My joy 
and my crown." 

So, dear one, put on the belt of truth and stand
firm!

Abundant Grace

(Review the March 7th post)

The past few weeks have been filled with pain, sleepless
nights, loneliness, dismay, raging negative feelings. In
addition to the wounded wing, I came down with a very
bad cold.You would think that a Christian of 65 years, one
who has proven Gods love and faithfulness over and over,
would be able to handle a few weeks of discomfort! But,
He withdrew and allowed me to flounder. I could not
pray, read scripture, was barely able to speak truth. God
hemmed me in and true comforters out. I did not hunger,
food arrived, tasteless as it is. Monday I awoke and
realized something had broken--other than my arm. God
was back,-- not that He had ever left. I had slept through
the night.

How does one shine for Jesus in utter weakness?
Actually, He is the light and we as the container are
clueless as to His brightness within.

In 2 Cor 12 Paul is pleading with God to remove an
obstacle in his life and Jesus says to Him,
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is 
made perfect in weakness."
Paul's response:
"Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my
weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest 
upon upon me."

Reader, what other god besides our God celebrates
weakness! When we are weak in body and soul, our
God is not fazed, does not reject, but calls us to lean
and be still.

"For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence."

Do You Now Believe?

"By this we believe..." Jesus answered them,
"Do you now believe? (John 16:30,31)

Our soul has gotten out of intimate contact
with God by leaning on its own religious
understanding. We should get in the habit
of seeking His counsel on everything,
instead of making our own commonsense
decisions and then asking Him to bless them.
(Oswald Chambers)

Oh, reader, is not intimacy with the living God
worth everything?

Three Questions

In the past few weeks I have wrestled with three
questions:

1. Is God good?
2. Is God sovereign?
3. Does God love Me?

My emotions take time to lie down but I have
been able to answer yes as I ;went on to do the
next three things.

Reader, you will know that you have pressed

through when you can:

1. forgive
2. let go, surrender
3. thank God for each place of anguish 

Shout for Joy!

Delighted to find the perfect draft on a rainy Monday!

'Shout for joy in the Lord, O you
         righteous!
Praise befits the upright...

Let all the earth fear the Lord;
Let all the inhabitants of the world 
        stand in awe of Him!
For He spoke, and it came to be;
He commanded, and it stood firm.'
(Ps 33)

Reader, there is a history here.
And God said...and God said...and God said--
and it was so.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the 
Word was with God, and the Word was God. 
He was in the beginning with God. All 
things were made through Him... 
(John 1:1-3)

So, shout for joy! This is your God!

Reader, I will tell you a secret:
I get far more out of writing these blogs than
you get in reading them...
The blog becomes God's love letter to me.

This Bird Can't Fly

Friday there was a 'trip' and a splat. The result was a broken
wing. The blog will be on hold until something can be
worked out. I did work on a few of them before leaving on
vacation, so check now and again. It is a shoulder injury
and leaves me with one working appendage--the left one.

Word for Today
'The steps of a good man are established by the Lord....
though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
for the Lord upholds his hand.'
(Ps 37:23,24)

Hardly a scratch, my face did not hit the pavement!
Let's see what God will do!
      

Loved with Everlasting Love

I pause and let the words of this hymn soak into
my very soul. Often this is what happens when
a person discovers God loves him. Outside of
my window a bird is pouring out his joy for this
new day. May the words give you great
encouragement:

Loved with everlasting love,
Led by grace that love to know;
Spirit breathing from above,
Thou has taught me it is so!
Oh, this full and perfect peace!
Oh, this transport all divine!
In a love which cannot cease,
I am His, and He is mine.

Heav'n above is softer blue,
Earth around is sweeter green!
Something lives in every hue
Christless eyes have never seen:
Birds with gladder songs o'er flow,
Flow'rs with deeper beauties shine,
Since I know, as now I know,
I am His, and He is mine.

Things that once were wild alarms
Cannot now disturb my rest;
Closed in everlasting arms,
Pillowed on the loving breast.
Oh, to lie forever here,
Doubt, and care, and self resign,
While He whispers in my ear--
I am His, and He is mine.

His forever, only HIs;
Who the Lord and me shall part?
Ah, with what a rest of bliss,
Christ can fill the loving heart!
Heav'n and earth may fade and flee,
Firstborn light in gloom decline;
But while God and I shall be,
I am His, and He is mine.

Reader, I could not find the 18,000 college students
singing this at the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship's
Missions Conference in Urbana, IL in 1968 on
You Tube. However, I still remember it. The music
was majestic! I have posted the hymn below. (But, if
you are under forty, you will probably not be
impressed!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJuRdcEIsxM

The Piercing Question

'Do you love Me?'
(John 21:17)

When the Lord asks us this question, it is impossible
to think, to respond properly, because the pain is
too intense. It causes tremendous hurt when any part
of our life is out of line with His will. The moment
of that pain is the very moment when God reveals
His truth to us. The moment we respond in agreement,
is the moment peace comes. (Oswald Chambers)

Dearest reader, let Him whisper that question
to you. Your answer may surprise you!

Finding Life

I was so eager to move to Weiser and connect with
roots from the past. Since leaving college I have
moved and moved and moved.
It is called the military.
But, there was one place that never changes--
Ruth's place--
and we came every summer to Weiser as our kids
were growing up. Our daughter bathed Noah in the
same tub that I bathed her in--even the decals have
not changed! The view across the Snake river
remains the same!

This morning I suddenly realized in a fresh way that
'I cannot get life from the past!' I cannot write the
present or the future from my past. My life is hidden
in the Eternal Christ in the now, who encompasses
the past and the future, but is lived out in the present.
I cannot re-write the past using the present.

Jesus says, 'I have come that you might have life
and have it more abundantly.' John 10:10

Joy fills my soul.