Safe In The Arms of God....

Some of the fondest memories of my childhood included singing hymns from an old songbook. A favorite song of mine was and still is 'Safe in the arms of Jesus, Safe on his gentle breast, here by his love o'ershaded, sweetly my soul doth rest...'

As I meditate on God's goodness, protection and love I know that these words are true. As a child I always felt safe in my earthly father's arms but when I became an adult and moved away from home, my earthly father's arms were not long enough to keep me safe. I praise God that HIS arms are long enough, strong enough and always open to fold me in his embrace.

Often times our Heavenly Father protects his children by sending us 'friends' who show their love in tangible and intangible ways.  I felt the Father's arms around me this week as he kept my family safe on his 'gentle breast'.  He always answers the prayers of his children. Sometimes the answer may not be exactly as we desire but the answer is always what is best for us.  He keeps us safe in his arms.

I have no fear when you are near,
I have no need when your word I heed,
I have no want or desire that you do not fill,
My heart can rest as I abide in your will.

I have no burden that you do not share,
I have no need to worry or fear-
About the way you take care of me,
In your light my darkness flee.

You are my hope, my strength, my joy,
You are the anchor of my soul,
You dry my tears and bring relief,
In your presence I have no grief.

I surrender my anxious heart to you today,
My burdens are being washed away,
I feel the peace you bring to me,
My heart, my mind, my life is free.

Thank you Heavenly Father for keeping us safe!

The Greatest of These is Love - 1Corinthians 13

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Love In Action

What love does…

Shows Patience; Shows Kindness; Rejoices in Truth;            Protects Always; Trusts Always; Hopes Always;              Perseveres Always

What love doesn’t do…

Does Not Envy; Does Not Boast; Not Full of Pride;                   Does Not Dishonor Others; Not Self-Seeking; Not Easily Angered; Does Not Keep Record of Wrongs; Does Not Delight in Evil

Reflections

The reason love is so much better than the other gifts mentioned in the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 13 is because those gifts are temporary. We won’t need those other gifts beyond this life. Those gifts are imperfect and incomplete because completeness and perfection is an attribute of Deity and as humans we fall way short of perfection.  When we meet Jesus face to face we will realize that we only had a very limited vision of who he really is and what he desires of us.

If we have the gift of prophecy, eventually our prophecies will be fulfilled and when we pass from this life our voices will be silent.

If we have the gift of tongues, eventually our tongues will be silent and the gift will be gone.
If we have the gift of knowledge it is only good for this life and it is usually incomplete.

Faith is needed for salvation;

Hope is needed for encouragement and vision;
Love will last for all eternity:

When we get to heaven faith will vanish into sight; hope will disappear into reality but love will continue on forever. We will love God throughout eternity; we will love our brothers and sisters throughout eternity. Let us learn how to love today so we will have a running head-start on this greatest gift.

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Jesus walks on the water...

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 Do you feel that your life is being buffeted by the wind and waves of circumstances beyond your control? The following 10 verses from Matthew 14 may be of great encouragement to you…

  ²² Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. ²³ After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, ²⁴ and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.  ²⁵ Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. ²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

• The very thing that would make their life easier initially brought them tremendous fear.

 ²⁷ But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

• Jesus always has the answer to our fears. ‘It is I’
• These 3 little words are all we need - ‘It is I’; It is I, Jesus, I am here with you. I am here to help you. Do not be afraid…

 ²⁸ “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹ “Come,” he said.

• The question is do we wait for our circumstances to change like the other disciples did or do we take the chance and jump out of the boat like Peter did?

   Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

• Peter was getting out of the sinking ship. He would rather take his chances with the unknown than perish in the boat.
• Peter believed that it was Jesus. He started walking on the water to go to Jesus. Peter had faith when he started.    
•  What caused Peter to lose heart? He saw the wind… Peter knew what the wind was capable of; He knew that there was no reason why he should not be swept away by the wind into the turbulent waters and drowned.
• He was afraid and rightly so. A mere mortal man was not meant to walk on water; man was not made to stand up to the wind. Nature is a formidable opponent. Ask anyone who has survived an earthquake or a hurricane. There are always points in the storm when you are sure that you are going to die.
• There are also times in our lives when we have all shouted, ‘Lord, save me!!’ 

 ³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

• Isn’t it beautiful that Jesus immediately saves us? He will never let us sink. What a wonderful Lord and Savior he is!
• The gentle rebuke to Peter was, ‘you of little faith, why did you doubt?’
• Doubting will have us sinking in no time…

 ³² And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. ³³ Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

• All the disciples were saved. Those who stayed in the boat and Peter who chose to walk on the water.
• When God is with us the wind of change, fear and circumstances will always die down, they will disappear; fear does not last long in the presence of God.
• The only appropriate response in the presence of God is worship.
• The Spirit of God lives in our heart so we should always be worshiping.
• If we remain in a state of worship we are not be fearful
• When we have no fear, we are living in faith
• When we are living in faith, we rise above the wind and the waves of our circumstances.

Faith allows us to get out of the sinking boat,   

Faith allows us to face the storm, 

Faith pushes us to reach out to Jesus, 

Faith keeps our feet on top of the snarling water of death.

Doubting will cause us to sink,

Doubting will cause us to fear,

Doubting is the first step in failure,

Doubting will cause us to fall.

Crying out to Jesus is the answer to sinking,

Crying out to Jesus is the answer to fear,

Crying out to Jesus is the first step in getting rescued,

Crying out to Jesus allows us to rise from despair.

...and David encouraged himself in the Lord

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I Samuel 30:6  is where the topic of this post is taken from. 1 Samuel 30 is actually a great passage to read and meditate on as we go through trials and heartaches; a beautiful story of how to continue on when we have come to the end of our proverbial rope and our hope.

David had given up running from King Saul in the land of Israel and along with his 600 men and their families David went to live in the land of the Philistines.

He was emotionally drained, he was living a lie; he would plunder the Philistines and had to annihilate everything and everyone for fear that his activities would be reported to King Achish. To make matters worse he was asked to fight against King Saul and the army of Israel.

David was no longer physically living in the land of Israel but his heart never left. Somewhere in his mind he knew that he would be King of Israel and there was no way he could fight and kill his own people.

 

To David's relief the other Philistine kings did not trust him and he and his 600 men were sent away from the battlefield. This was like an answer to prayer they were happy to leave and return to their wives and children. However when they got back to their settlement they found it deserted, pillaged and all the women and children were taken. It seemed that the Amalekites saw a great opportunity to plunder when everyone else were preparing for battle. This was the last straw for David's men. They were emotionally drained, physically exhausted and completely desolated. Someone had to pay and the only logical person was their leader. They did not have the strength left to be rational. They did not care that David himself was hurting, probably even more than they were because he felt responsible for them.

 

This is where the child of God excels. When we feel that there is no one on our side; when everything is gone; when we are on the verge of being stoned - we have to encourage ourselves in the Lord.  We have to know how to turn to God when we feel that there is no one else to turn to.

 

If the child of God do not know, have not learned how to get strength and encouragement from God, he or she is in a dangerous place.  This is when thoughts of suicide, giving up, ending it all settles in the mind.  The believer is tempted to feel that nothing is left here for them and no one understands the depth of their despair. They have to know how to encourage themselves in the Lord.

 

The job of the mature Christian is to show the younger believers how to encourage themselves in the Lord; how to open God's Word  and learn from the experience of those who have gone before. This will allow them to have confidence in their time of trials that there is always hope; that there is always someone who knows, who cares and who understands. May we learn how to encourage ourselves in the Lord today!