It is not the multitude of hard duties, it is not constraint and contention that advance us in our Christian course. On the contrary, it is the yielding of our wills without restriction and without choice, to tread cheerfully every day in the path in which Providence leads us, to seek nothing, to be discouraged by nothing, to see our duty in the present moment, to trust all else without reserve to the will and power of God.
And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: Matthew 5:1 (KJV)
Prodigal: I’m not sure how that will look right now.
Me: Sometimes we need more in our vision.
This comes from the book Overcoming Spiritual Blindness by James P. Gills, M.D.
A living faith of true intimacy with God graces the believer with joyfulness, contentment, freedom from fears and excess, help in moments of hardship, anticipation of eternity, and peace that passes all understanding. There is a paradox involved in spiritual sight owing to the realization that the rewards for faith and service may not always be apparent to the natural eye. However, our spiritual sight reveals something else: faith determines our destiny.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10
In the fall of 1888 Hudson Taylor was ministering in Canada. During the train trip to Montreal, Taylor’s traveling companion, Henry Frost, read a critical magazine article entitled ‘Hudson Taylor in Toronto,’ Angered by the article’s contents, Frost tried to hide it under a stack of papers. Taylor, however, had heard about the article and picking it up read:
Hudson Taylor is rather disappointing. I had in my mind an idea of what great missionaries should look like. He being professedly one of the great missionaries of modern times must be such as they. But he is not. A stranger would never notice him on the street except, perhaps, to say that he is a good-natured looking Englishman. Nor is his voice in the least degree majestic. He displays little oratorical power. He elicits little applause…launches no thunderbolts. Even our (Jonathan) Godforth used to plead more eloquently for China’s millions, and apparently with more effect. It is quite possible that were Mr. Taylor, under another name, to preach as a candidate in our Ontario (pulpit) vacancies there are those who would begrudge him his probationer’s pay.
Taylor laid down the magazine and was quiet for a time. Then he smiled at Frost and said, “This is very just criticism, for it is all true. I have often thought that God made me little in order that He might show what a great God He is.”
And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. Genesis 32:1 (KJV)
This is from the book No Easy Road by Dick Eastman
Remember Enoch, a prime example. “And Enoch walked with God….” the Bible says (Genesis 5:22). What a thought-provoking epitaph! How could Enoch fail to know the will of God? He “walked with God”! When walking with God man understands unanswered prayer. He knows why problems often plague our way. How else could Paul accept his “thorn in the flesh” (II Corinthians 12:7)? Satan buffeted him daily, but God’s grace was sufficient (II Corinthians 12:9). Perhaps Paul knows today, while resting in Paradise, why God permitted his thorn. Paul, no doubt, sees value in it all, sensing the beauty of God’s will.
Only when he denies himself and lives close to God does man learn His beautiful will. When one really understands God’s perfect will, the effectiveness of prayer is staggering.
But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 1 Thessalonians 5:1 (KJV)
Some people think it takes mindless faith to believe in God, but it actually takes blind and reckless faith to look at this beautiful world and amazing universe and believe there is no God.
King David, a man after God’s own heart, said that only a fool says “there is no God.” He said these kinds of people become corrupt and “there is none who does good” (Psalm 14:1). That’s because if there is no God, then there are no absolutes, no moral law, and no final restriction on behavior. They can make up their own law and change it whenever they want. They are definitely not motivated by love.
Moses said, “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? (Exodus 15:11)
Me: Sorry, sometimes I forget, but I know someone who does not.
This is from the book God Will Make a Way: Stories of Hope
Shepherds in the Middle East name their sheep. While an occasional lamb might be killed for a festive occasion, sheep are kept primarily for their wool. Shepherds develop a close and long-term relationship with the sheep under their care.
A man visiting the Middle East could not believe that sheep actually knew their own names, so he challenged a shepherd he met to call one or two of his sheep. The shepherd obliged and called out “Neriah.” One of the sheep grazing nearby stopped eating and looked up. When the shepherd called out, “Come here,” the sheep came immediately. He called another and another, and each did just as the first.
“But how can you tell them all apart?” the visitor asked. “To me, one looks just like the next.”
The shepherd said, “Oh, no two are alike. Look closely. That sheep has lost a little bit of wool. That one is a little cross-eyed, this one is a little bowlegged, that one has a black spot on its nose.” The visitor noted that the shepherd knew each of his sheep by their faults and failings. He didn’t have a perfect sheep in his flock. Nevertheless, he cared for them and loved them equally.
How comforting to know that our heavenly Father sees us as we are and still loves us and cares for us. He knows each of us inside and out. He delights in our uniqueness, including those qualities that still are being perfected! We are not “just another person with a need or a fault” to Him. We are His dear children, whom He is helping in every way He can to grow up and be like Jesus.
In all that we need, and all that we lack, may we turn to Him.
For all that He gives, and all that He calls us to do, may we thank Him.
With all that we are, and with all that we have, may we praise Him!
The sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. John 10:3-4 (NKJV).
Some years ago, at Wellington, South Africa, where I live, we opened a Mission Institute–what is counted there a fine large building. At our opening services the principal said something that I have never forgotten. He remarked:
“Last year we gathered here to lay the foundation-stone, and what was there to be seen? Nothing but rubbish, and stones, and bricks, and ruins of an old building that had been pulled down. There we laid the foundation-stone, and very few knew what the building was that was to rise. No one knew it perfectly in every detail except one man, the architect. In his mind it was all clear, and as the contractor and the mason and the carpenter came to their work they took their orders from him, and the humblest laborer had to be obedient to orders, and the structure rose, and this beautiful building has been completed. And just so,” he added, “this building that we open today is but laying the foundation of a work of which only God knows what is to become.”
We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is of God. 1 Corinthians 2:12
