The Storehouses

Have you entered the storehouses...which I reserve for
times of trouble?  Job 38:22-23

Our trials are great opportunities, but all too often we
simply see them as large obstacles. If only we would
recognize every difficult situation as something God has 
chosen to prove His love to us, each obstacle would then
become a place of sheltering rest, and a demonstration
to others of His inexpressible power. If we would look
for the signs of His glorious handiwork, then every 
cloud would indeed become rainbow, and every difficult
mountain path would become one of ascension, transfor-
mation, and glorification. 

If we would look at our past, most of us would realize
that the times we endured the greatest stress and felt that 
every path was blocked were the very times our heavenly 
Father chose to do the kindest things for us and bestow 
His richest blessings.

God's most beautiful jewels are often delivered in rough
packages by very difficult people, but within the package
we will find the very treasures of the King's palace and 
the Bridegroom's love. A B Simpson

Reader, everything I pick up these days from those who
lived, worked, suffered long ago, have almost the same
message. We are all living in very trying times and just
going to church once a week, and saying a quick prayer,
is not cutting it...

The Cross in Prayer

At that day you shall ask in My Name. John 16:26

We are too much given to thinking of the Cross as some-
thing we have to get through; we get through it only in
order to get into it. The Cross stands for one thing only
for us--a complete and entire and absolute identification
with the Lord Jesus Christ, and there is nothing in which
this identification is realized more than prayer. 

'Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before 
you ask Him.' Then why ask? The idea of prayer is not in 
order get answers from God; prayer is perfect and complete 
oneness with God. If we pray because we want answers, we 
will get huffed with God. The answers come every time, but 
not always in the way we expect, and spiritual huff shows a 
refusal to identify ourselves with our Lord in prayer; we are 
here to be living monuments of God's grace.

'I say not that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father 
Himself loveth you.' Have you reached such an intimacy with 
God that the Lord Jesus Christ's life of prayer is the only ex-
planation of your life of prayer? Has our Lord's vicarious life 
become your vital life? 'At that day' you will be so identified 
with Jesus that there will be no distinction.

When prayer seems to be unanswered, beware of trying to fix 
the blame on someone else. That is always a snare of Satan. 
You will find there is a reason which is a deep instruction to 
you, not to anyone else. Oswald Chambers

Reader, I am always challenged by Oswald Chambers. His
messages are from God's perspective, not mine.

The Whirlwind and the Storm

His way is in the whirlwind and the storm.  Nah 1:3

I remember when I was a young person attending school
in the vicinity of Mt Pleasant. One day I sat on the side
of the mountain and watched a storm as it moved through
the valley. The skies were filled with darkness, and thun-
der began to shake the earth. It seemed as though the lush
landscape were completely changed, and its beauty gone
forever. But the storm passed quickly and soon moved 
out of the valley. 

If I had sat in the same place the following day and said,
'Where is that intense storm and all its terrible darkness?'
the grass would have said, 'Part of it is in me.' The beauti-
ful daisy would have said, 'Part of it is in me.' And all
other flowers, fruits, and everything that grows in the
ground would have said, 'Part of the storm has produced
radiance in me.'

Have you ever asked the Lord to make you like Him? 
Have you ever desired the fruit of the Spirit and prayed 
for sweetness, gentleness, love? If so, then never fear the 
fierce storms that even now may be blowing through your 
life. Storms bring blessings, and rich fruit will be harves-
ted later. Henry Ward Beecher

Reader, it seems that storms flow through our lives on a
daily basis these days. The news we read seems to impact
us on some level. Hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, floods,
droughts are not 'over there.' Then there are the storms
that personally impact us. I know that my life has moved
into a new level of intensity. It is so important that we
take time each day to get quiet and seek Him through His
Word. He has much to say to us in these difficult times
but we have to stop and pay attention to that quiet Voice.
God is asking us to come into a new place of trust.

'God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in
trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be
removed, and though the mountains be carried into the
midst of the sea...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.  Ps 46

Test Me In This

Test me in this...and see if I will not throw open the flood-
gates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you
will not have room enough for it. Mal 3:10

Here is what God is saying in this verse: "My dear child,
I still have floodgates in heaven, and they are still in my
service. The locks open as easily as before, and the 
hinges have not grown rusty. In fact, I would rather, throw 
them open to pour out the blessings than hold them back. 
I opened them for Moses, and the sea parted. I opened them 
for Joshua, and the Jordan River was stopped. I opened 
them for Gideon, and the armies of the enemy fled. And I 
will open them for you--if you will only let Me.

"On my side of the floodgates, heaven is still the same rich 
storehouse as always. The fountains and streams will over-
flow and the treasure-rooms are still bursting with gifts. 
The need is not on My side but on yours. I am waiting for 
you to 'test Me in this.' But you must first meet the condi-
tion I have set to 'bring the whole tithe into the store-
house,' and thereby give me the opportunity to act.' 

I will never forget my mother's concise paraphrase of this
verse. The actual Bible verse begins with the words, 'Bring 
the whole tithe in to the storehouse' and ends with, 'I will...
pour out so much blessing that,' in effect, 'you will be 
embarrassed over your lack of space to receive it.' But 
my mother's paraphrase was this:
'Give all He asks and take all He promises.'
Samuel Dickey Gordon

Reader, with all of the 'blab it and grab it' we see today it
makes it difficult to receive what God wants to give to us.
At least for me. But, He is a generous God. Jesus said this:

'...give at it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed
down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your 
lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured 
back to you.' Luke 6:38

Paul says this:
...He that sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and 
he which sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully...
for  God loves a cheerful (hilarious) giver.' 2 Cor 9:6,7

As I was growing up we went to Chautuaqua summers and
the man who introduced the offering said that the word
'cheerful' meant, 'hilarious' in the Greek!  It made me want
to give lavishly.

Unmitigated Disaster?

And all things that are written by the prophets concer-
ning the Son of Man shall be accomplished...And they 
understood none of these things. Luke 18:31,34

God called Jesus Christ to what seemed unmitigated disaster. 
Jesus Christ called His disciples to see Him put to death; He 
led every one of them to the place where their hearts were 
broken. Jesus Christ's life was an absolute failure from man's 
standpoint but was a tremendous triumph from God's, be-
cause God's purpose is never man's purpose.

There comes the baffling call of God in our lives also. The call 
of God can never be stated explicitly; it is implicit. The call of 
God is like the call of the sea, no one hears but the one who 
has the nature of the sea in him. It cannot be stated definitely 
what the call of God is to, because His call is to be in comrade-
ship with Himself for His own purposes, and the test is to be-
lieve that God knows what He is after. The things that happen 
do not happen by chance, they happen entirely in the decree 
of God. God is working out His purposes. 

If we are in communion with God and recognize that He is take-
ing us into His purposes, we shall no longer try to find out what 
His purposes are. As we go on in the Christian life it gets simp-
ler, because we are less inclined to say--"Now why did God allow 
this or that?" Behind the whole thing lies the compelling of God. 
"There's a divinity that shapes our ends." A Christian is one who 
trusts the wits and the wisdom of God, and not his own wits. If 
we have a purpose of our own, it destroys the simplicity and the 
leisureliness which ought to characterize the children of God. 
Oswald Chambers

Reader, take this one in and ponder it. "If we do not have a pur-
pose regarding our own in life we enter into a simplicity and a
leisureliness that is supposed to characterize the children of
God." This was written long before our modern day when even
those who are Christians are constantly moving, never resting,
and feeling like they are getting nowhere and looking at nothing
but failure. We are constantly looking to the purpose instead of
the God of purpose. It even pursues us into old age!

The Long Haul

Then they believed his promises and sang his praise.
But they soon forgot what he had done and did not
wait for his counsel. In the desert they gave in to 
their craving; in the wasteland they put God to the
test. So he gave them what they asked for, but sent
a wasting disease upon them. Ps 106:12-15

In Hebrews 11:27, we read that Moses 'persevered be-
cause he saw him who is invisible.' Yet in the above 
passage, exactly the opposite was true of the Children 
of Israel. They persevered only when their circumstan-
ces were favorable, because they were primarily influ-
enced by whatever appealed to their senses, instead of 
trusting in the invisible and eternal God.

Even today we have people who live an inconsistent
Christian life because they have become preoccupied
with things that are external. Therefore they focus on
their circumstances rather than focusing on their God. 
And God desires that we grow in our ability to see Him 
in everything and to realize the importance of seem-
ingly insignificant circumstances if they are used to deli-
ver a message from Him.

We read to the children of Israel, 'Then they believed his 
promises.' They did not believe until after they saw--'
once they saw Him work, 'then they believed.' They una-
bashedly doubted God when they came to the Red Sea, 
but when He opened the way and led them across and 
they saw Pharaoh and his army drowned--'then they be-
lieved.' The Israelites continued to live this kind of up-
and-down existence, because their faith was dependent 
on their circumstances. And this is certainly not the kind 
of faith God wants us to have.

The world says that 'seeing is believing,' but God wants 
us to believe in order to see. The psalmist said, 'I would 
have despaired unless I had believed that I would see 
the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.'  
Ps 27:13

Do you believe in God only when your circumstances are 
favorable, or do you believe God no matter wha your 
circumstances may be?  C.H.P.

Reader, many of you are going through deep waters right
now and I pray that this will encourage you to trust God.
He not only knows your name but He knows what causes
you distress.

When I was doing visits to a care center with my dog, I
came across a new resident who was not adjusting very
well. She asked me to find a verse in the Bible. I was able
to locate it on a card at home and brought it to her the next
visit. Actually, God has placed this phrase in both
testaments!

Be strong and of good courage. fear not, nor be afraid 
of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with 
thee; he will not fail thee nor forsake thee. 
De 31:6 KJV

..."I will never leave you nor forsake you..." 
Heb 13:5 ESV--check out the whole verse!

The Brave Comradeship of God

Then He took unto Him the twelve
Luke 18:31

The bravery of God in trusting us! You say--'But He
has been unwise to choose me, because there is noth-
ing in me; I am not of value.' That is why He chose
you. As long as you think there is something in you,
He cannot choose you because you have ends of your
own to serve; but if you have let Him bring you to
the end of your self-sufficiency then He can choose
you to go with Him to Jerusalem, and that will mean
the fulfillment of purposes which He does not dis-
cuss with you.  Oswald Chambers

Reader, it is so very easy to fall into feeling that, either
God needs you very much, or God needs you not at all!
However, knowing that there is nothing in me but self,
does indeed free me from expecting myself to perform.
It is Christ in me that it is hope of glory!

PS My computer took an unexpected bath and needed
four days of rice bedrest. It appears to be working fine.
Unbelievable! Thank you, Father.