I Cry Out!

Oh why do some things have to be so difficult; so emotional, so trying? I am really struggling right now. I am not a very patient person, and my patience is being tried. I so desperately want things to be in perfect harmony, focused on Christ and all he has done so that we all undertake the great commission. So why is there all this junk?

I struggle and struggle to the point of exhaustion and it is then that I become truly reliant on my God. What a wonderfully complex and powerful God we do have. I am reminded of Psalm 40:1-3;

1 I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. 2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.

Maybe that is it we must wait patiently and God will lift us out of our slimy pit as we wait, as we cry out and trust in the Lord. You know there is no other like our God. In Psalm 71 we read;

19 Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you?

20 Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up.

21 You will increase my honor and comfort me once again.

22 I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praise to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.

23 My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you— I, whom you have redeemed.

Though we see troubles many and bitter through Christ, God will restore and may we all shout for joy!

Grace and Peace

The Blessed Privilege of Loving Him

I have a good friend that I correspond with on a regular basis. He is a young man working with YWAM on staff at the University of the Nations in Hawaii. We have some of the best, deepest and most meaningful conversations (in writing no less). Recently he wrote to me with great joy and enthusiasm about recent efforts. It just lifted my spirits to read his note. In his note he reminded me of the “stunning power of the cross” and the incredible and indescribable love of our Lord and Savior. It reminded me of a brief writing I came across from Augustus Toplady the author of “Rock of Ages”. This writing is called “The Blessed Privilege of Loving Him”. Toplady writes:

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“Whom should we love, if not him who loved us, and gave himself for us? If the bliss even of angels and glorified souls, consists greatly in seeing, and praising, the Son of God; surely, to love, to trust, and to celebrate the friend of sinners, must be a principal ingredient in the happiness of saints not yet made perfect. Solomon, whose experience of grace was lively and triumphant when he wrote the Song of Songs, declares in the fifth chapter, "that Christ is altogether lovely" (5:16). Other objects may be overrated, and too highly esteemed; but so transcendent, so infinite, is the excellency of Christ, that he is, and will be to all eternity, more lovely than beloved. Yet, though all the love possible for saints and angels to show, falls, and will always fall, infinitely short of the Saviour's due: still it is a blessed privilege, to love him at all, though in ever so faint a manner, and in ever so low a degree. They, that love him at all, wish to love him more: and more and more they shall love him, through the ages of endless duration, in heaven, where they shall be like him, and see him as he is. “

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You know it is a blessed privilege!

Grace and Peace!

2009 - Happy New Year!

OK, how many of you had some type of New Year’s celebration? It’s kind of a tradition in this country. The New Year always brings with it a fresh start, a new beginning, an optimistic outlook. There almost always is a sense of great hope. There are resolutions, goals, objectives and typically a good start to these things. However, some quickly fade. Perhaps the focus is wrong, perhaps the focus is an internal focus.

Maybe we (I) should focus on something greater. Maybe as a foundation I should focus on all that Christ has done rather than all I need to do; maybe that as I focus on all that Christ has done, it will lead me to a fresh perspective, a new grateful attitude and a path for my life.

This brings to mind Luke 4:16-21

16He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,to release the oppressed, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

Can you see it; all that was done, all that continues to be done? With our “eyes fastened on Him may we all proclaim this New Year as the year of the Lord’s favor”! May we all with grateful hearts help to spread the good news, proclaim true and eternal freedom; help our friends and neighbors see the truth in Christ freeing them from the oppression of this world!

Grace and Peace