The God of my Life

In my short life I have been privileged to get to know some amazing saints of God. Some of those saints were missionaries who served God in foreign countries, some were pastors preaching the word faithfully, while others were laypeople serving God faithfully through their local Church. Many of these Saints have gone on to Heaven. Yesterday God delivered a powerful message through my Pastor Dr. Dickerson from Psalms 42 called "the God of my Life". It set me to thinking about many of the Saints I have known who are in Heaven now. I realized that these Saints had left a legacy behind with their lives that tells us that the one true God was the God of their life. It made me ask the question if my time came to go, or if your time came to go would we, would those that know us, be able to see that God was indeed the God of my life? Or would we look back on our lives and see that we served another god (the god of money, prestige, fame, selfish desires, etc,…)?

Then I thought well what about right now? Can you or I say that God is "God of our life" right now? Do we pant after him as the deer pants after water? Does our soul thirst for God as the Psalmist did? The psalmist in Chapter 42 was in despair yet his faith in God still held strong he still longed for and panted after God and sought him through fervent prayer.

What a challenge! To Serve God as "the God of my Life" through thick and thin. When life is at its best or at its worst. I pray that I will serve God faithfully and keep him God of my life that others may see Him and I pray that you would endeavor to do the same.

Lord help us, help me, to keep you as "the God of my Life" never serving or setting another god before you. Help us, help me, to thirst for you more, seeking you fervently always having faith in you my God!

Ebenezer (stone of help)

I Samuel 4:1 – 7:17

The Philistines came to do battle with the Children of Israel. Israel pitched beside Ebenezer (stone of help) and brought the Ark of the Covenant into their camp believing that doing so would bring the Lords blessing and help in defeating the Philistines. However Israel’s trust was not in the Lord of the Ark of the Covenant nor was their trust in the Lord of Ebenezer (Stone of help). Instead their trust was in the stone itself that they pitched beside and in the Ark of the Covenant. Why you may ask? Because they had turned aside from worshipping God and worshipped idols which could not help them. At this time bringing the Ark into camp and pitching beside Ebenezer (stone of help) was only religious rituals as there was no belief in God, or true worship of God from the heart. The result was that Israel was defeated in battle and ran for their lives leaving the Ark of the Covenant behind allowing the Philistines to take it as spoil.

However, despite Israel’s disobedience God did not abandon them. God showed his power to the Philistines by smiting their god Dagon and causing a plague of emerods (ulcer or tumor) on every city they took the Ark too. Finally the Philistines, in desperation, sent the Ark back to Israel by way of a cart pulled by a couple of cows. When the men of Bethemesh saw the Ark they rejoiced and offered up sacrifices unto God for bringing the Ark of the Covenant to them. However they failed to follow God’s instruction and looked into the Ark and were also smitten. Like the Philistines, in desperation they sent to another city telling them to come and get the Ark of the Covenant. This city was Kirjathjearim. Kirjathjearim took the Ark and started seeking to follow God as they sanctified (set apart) Eleazer to keep the Ark.

The Ark stayed in Kirjathjearim for 20 years. At this point Israel finally starts lamenting (groan, wail or cry) after the Lord. At this point Samuel (the priest/judge of Israel at that time) speaks to Israel and tells them how they may restore the fellowship with the Lord that they lost so many years before. He tells them to repent and return to the Lord with all of their hearts and to “put away” the strange gods they are worshiping. Israel listens and puts away the strange gods among them, repents and seeks after the Lord once more.

Israel, now having restored their fellowship with the Lord, is faced with the same enemy they faced 20 years before. The Philistines come once again to fight Israel. This time however Israel does not put their trust in religious rituals but instead seeks help from God by asking Samuel the Priest to pray without ceasing for Gods help for them as they realize that they need God’s help and cannot defeat the Philistines by themselves. Samuel does entreat the Lord and the Lord hears Samuel and the people and fights for them and delivers them from the hand of the Philistines.

Samuel, knowing how forgetful Israel is, has them raise a stone up as a monument and calls it Ebenezer (stone of help). He does this because the Lord helped them when they sought Him. He raised this stone so that in years after Israel could look at the stone and remember that when their trust was in the Lord he helped them.

Come, Thou Fount

v1. Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above;
Praise the mount I’m fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

v2. Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I’m come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wondering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

v3. O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wondering heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Author: Robert Robinson

Do you have an Ebenezer? I hope you do and I hope that your Ebenezer is the Lord God for he is the only Ebenezer that will never let you down and will always be your help. As the song above says he already has seen your need and shed his blood for you to help you. Have you trusted him today?

“The little engine that thought he could”

There is a little children’s story with a big lesson. The story is about a little steam engine that was traveling down the tracks when he saw a great big hill in front of him that the train tracks went over. He had never climbed such a big hill before. But he said to himself “I think I can climb that hill” and so he did. He succeeded climbing that hill in large part because of his attitude, for his positive attitude allowed him to use everything he had to climb that hill. Had he thought that he could not climb the hill from the get go he would most likely have failed to make it over the hill despite the fact that he really could make it. When traveling down the road of life we are faced with new “hills” that we have never climbed before. Some are bigger then they look while others are larger. However as a Christian we have a Savior that promised us that he would never put more on us then we could handle (I Corinthians 10:13) and that he would never leave us nor forsake us (Heb 13:5). He also tells us that we can “do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Php 4:13). So next time you are faced with a “hill” to climb remember the little engine that could.

Law vs Grace

Many people today live there lives as if the law as been made void. In the book of Luke chapter 16 we find a very interesting passage on just this subject. In vs 15 Christ tells the Pharisees that they justify themselves before men. They did that by following the law especially when they new others where watching. But in there heart they had no room for the truth of the law. In vs 16 Christ states that the time of the Law and the prophets as passed and that now everyone must pass into the kingdom of God. He then states that "it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail". Sounds almost like a contradiction until you read the rest of the chapter.

I often wondered at this particular passage until the other day during a Sunday school lesson that covered it. During that lesson the Holy Spirit connected those 2 verses with the rest of the chapter.

The remaining verses in this passage (18 - 31) Christ uses a story to explain his statements. The story consist of a rich man and a poor man. Both die, the rich man (because of his unbelief) finds himself in Hell and in utter torment. The poor man (because of his belief) finds himself in Paradise(Abraham's bosom). At this point in time because Christ had not yet died and fulfilled the law both Hell and Paradise where next to each other with a great gulf between them that no one could cross. Because of this a discussion starts between the rich man and Abraham. First off the rich man wants comfort from his torments. Then when he understands that his torments are comfortless due to his unbelief he then desires Abraham to send someone from the dead to tell them to believe so that they do not come into the place called Hell that he now resides in. Abraham's reply is that "They have Moses(a reference to the law) and the prophets; let them hear them." This is where the connection between vs 16 and this story lies. For without the law we would not know judgement nor would we know the reason for that judgement. Without the Law we would not know we are in need of a Savior.

When Christ died on the cross and rose again 3 days later he fulfilled the law in that the payment for breaking the law was pure clean sinless blood. Hence the reason Christ had to go to Calvary to save us for we could not do it ourselves as our blood is tainted with sin. Now we can live under Grace. Grace is simply the act of giving something good despite the fact the recipient does not deserve it. We find an example of this in Luke 15:11-32 with the story of the prodigal son. This son squandered his inheritance and did who knows what with his live. Then after everything was gone and he found himself in the pig sty he repented and came back to his father. His father could have disowned him as his son had disobeyed and gone astray. However the father welcomed him back with open arms placing him back into the family as his son just as if he'd never gone astray. When we repent and come to God seeking salvation he does the exact some thing as the prodigal's father did. He welcomes us with open arms and restores us into his family just as if we'd never strayed.

Even though after we accept Christ we are under grace that doesn't mean the law is to no effect. Yes the payment for the law as been payed but our bodies will still bear the consequence of breaking that law. Also as a Christian when we break the law we break the sweet fellowship we have with Christ until we get it straight. No we never lose our salvation. Instead just like with the prodigal son who never lost his sonship he only lost his fellowship that he had with his father until he came back sorry for his sin.

Being a Christian

Many that profess to know Christ believe that that is all there is to Christianity. But God says otherwise. In Romans 12:1-2 He begs the believer to be a living sacrifice to Him. This means to give up your own self desires that this world and the lust of the flesh would have you pursue after and to pursue instead after the things of God, to live for Him and Him alone. God commands us to be "doers of the Word and not hearers only" James 1:22. Why? because we are to be Holy as God is Holy I Peter 1:16. We are His representatives in this world because we carry His name. So be careful what you say and do. For many times we are the "bible" that people around us "read" that tells them wither God is really who they have been told that He is. When they see us living as we please not caring about the things of God. They are less inclined to listen to the Holy Spirit because in their mind they can say "Yes I know I need something I don't know what but those folk that say they are Christians sure don't look like they have it. So that must not be what I need."
Again be careful how you live your life, so that your life does not mar His name in the eyes of those around you. Speak plainly in both word and deed that others may hear and see your manner of life and have no excuse to refuse God's Wonderful plan of Salvation.

Faith

In Matthew 17:20 ( KJV ) the bible says:

And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you

I heard a story the other week on the radio that made me think of this verse. The story goes something like this:

One summer in a certain town the land had gotten dry from lack of rain. The garden that a young girl and her mother had was withering and dying due to the lack of water. One night when the mother was putting the young girl to bed and they where kneeling to pray the both realized that they needed rain and so they prayed to God that it would rain the next day. The next morning as the little girl was on her way out the door to catch the school bus her mother saw that she was carring her umberal. The mother asked her daughter why she was taking her umbrela to school as the weather man had no rain in the forcast for that day and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The girl replied by asking "didn't we pray for rain?". The young girl took her umbrela to school that day.

This story made me think and ask myself how often do I pray for someone or some issue in my own life and fail to do what the young girl in the story above did. How many times to I actually put Faith behind my prayers and actually believe that God will take care of the problem. Now no we can't order God around but he does say he does hear us and that he is concerned with our lives and problems. He tells us to pray to God and to lift each other up in prayer.

Are you Discourged ?

Are you bearing a load or burden and are at your wits end about what to do? I have been there before, let me share some verses with you about that.

Proverbs 16:3 says

Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.

Psalms 37:5 says

Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

These verses speak of living for God with your whole life and trusting in him for the needs that arise in the walk of life. In Matthew 6:25-34 God tells us not to worry about the needs that we have but to seek his kingdom first and foremost with everything we have and he will see to it that our needs are met. I have seen this work in my own life. For example a few years ago the car I had at the time gave up the ghost on me as the engine was going to need to be rebuilt before it could be used anymore. That very same week that I found that out God opened the door for me to buy a new(used) car with less miles on it and with a sound engine at a price that was not much more then having the engine rebuilt in my current car. Not only was it a better bang for the buck so to speak but it was a car model that I had seen years before that I very much wanted to own but never expected to.

God really does take care of his children. That example above is only one of many that I have seen God perform in my life and in the life of others. So if you are discouraged right now. Just commit that problem to Him and trust Him. He will give you peace, take care of what ever that situation is and will make sure that your needs are met.