Marching Forth!

I have heard people refer to Christianity disparagingly as a "crutch" for those too weak to deal with life's problems.  They understate their case from a position of ignorance.  Christ is not a "crutch" to enable a person to limp through life:  Christ IS life.  Whether your crutches are made of wood or aluminum, they are objects useful only for a living person.  Crutches have no value for the dead.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  Those who sneer at the idea of trusting in Christ for atonement and salvation through faith as weakness have not considered their own sin and mortality according to God's standard of perfection.  Those who God makes to soar on eagle's wings have no need of crutches anyway!  Instead of propping people up with positive thinking and mental manipulation, God infuses strength into His people because He dwells within them in the person of the Holy Spirit. What a relationship is available to every person who ...

C.H. Spurgeon is quoted as saying, " If we do not have the Spirit of God, it were better to shut the churches, to nail up the doors, to put a black cross on them and say, "God, have mercy on us."  If you ministers have not the Spirit of God, you had better not preach and you people had better stay at home.  I think I speak not too strongly when I say that a church in the land without the Spirit of God is rather a curse than a blessing ."  This quote came to my mind yesterday as I met to fellowship with a brother in Christ.  This is a strong statement, and it is a true one. Unless we are led by the Spirit in our prayers and deeds, we do them in the power of our flesh.  If we are not led by the Spirit in our preaching, evangelistic efforts, conferences, and meetings, it would be better not to bother.  To suppose I can do work for God without God is pride and blasphemy.  Instead of allowing this admonition to be filled with the Spirit frighten us...

As a follower of Jesus Christ, I never need wonder about His ability to do anything.  Even so, sometimes the temptation presents itself!  The morning after Daniel was thrown into a den of ravenous lions, King Darius stood at the mouth of the den and called out in Daniel 6:20 :  ".. .Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions ?"  Daniel answered in the affirmative.  God had sent an angel to shut the mouth of the lions and they could not harm him.  Perhaps a skeptic might claim the lions weren't hungry after all.  Daniel 6:24 clear this up immediately:  " And the king gave the command, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions--them, their children, and their wives; and the lions overpowered them, and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den ." When we consider the ferocity of a lion, it ...

The Bible is filled with miraculous events, both well-known and obscure.  One event I thought strangest as a kid was the account of of Lot's wife demise as she fled from Sodom.  God sent angelic messengers to not only warn Lot and his family of the certain judgment of the region, but to lay hold of them so they might be delivered from death.  Genesis 19 records the event in detail.  Lot and his household were very reluctant to leave their home as we read in Genesis 19:16 : " And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city ."  Lot, his wife, and two daughters were brought outside the city and given clear instructions in verse 17 :  " So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, "Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be ...

The Gospel is so good it is staggering.  When we repent and trust in Jesus Christ, our sins are cleansed by His blood.  "Not guilty" only describes one effect of Christ's regenerating work.  By God's grace we are deemed righteous and without fault. I remember being in a university classroom on 3 October, 1995 when O.J. Simpson was declared "not guilty" of a double homicide by a jury after a nine month trial.  Most people in the class were outraged.  With the circumstantial evidence presented, they could not believe Mr. Simpson was innocent.  Similar comparisons have been drawn in the recent case of Casey Anthony and the death of her daughter.  After incredible media coverage, Casey went from incarceration and facing the death penalty to being declared "not guilty" and was released with time served.  Though I am not living in the United States, the negative public view of the verdict is felt across the world. Without going into details of eithe...

"But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection ."   Colossians 3:14 I am continually in awe of the dynamic descriptiveness of the Bible, the divinely inspired Word of God.  It is a book no man can master:  it is a book which masters us.  Learning the Bible and the truths it contains is not the end, but the chief end of scripture is to introduce us to Jesus Christ as our LORD and Saviour.  We learn of the perfect Law of God, the fallen state of all men, and how we are separated by God due to our sin.  We learn that God is righteous, just, and holy, and is no respecter of persons:  the soul that sins shall surely die.  But we also read that God is not willing that any should perish, and has revealed His great love for us through the death of Jesus while we were yet sinners.  If anyone repents and relies upon Christ as Saviour and is born again, the same will be delivered from death and provided eternal life in h...

When I was in the States, my folks bought me an Amazon Kindle which I have enjoyed very much.  Today I "kindled" The Overcoming Life by D.L. Moody.  It was not long before I read a memorable and valuable illustration I am happy to share: A gentleman in India once got a tiger-cub, and tamed it so that it became a pet.  One day when it had grown up, it tasted blood, and the old tiger-nature flashed out, and it had to be killed.  So with the old nature in the believer.  It never dies, though it is subdues: and unless he is watchful and prayerful, it will gain the upper hand, and rush him into sin.  Someone has pointed out that "I" is the centre of S-I-N.  It is the medium through which Satan acts. Our old nature is like that tiger in captivity.  We therefore must be vigilant to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ.  As long as we walk this earth in these bodies, there is a potential for a great fall.  Quoting a pas...

Yesterday Laura brought home a "replacement" bunny (now named "Oreo") from the pet shop.  This morning I overheard my son say, "Oreo!  Don't sit in your food pellets!"  One casual observation I have made over the years is rabbits are quite senseless when it comes to maintaining the purity of their food and water.  They will foul their water with their feet, tip over bowls which aren't heavy enough, and throw their food everywhere!  Our rabbits do not respond to verbal cues, but only seem to understand the universal language of food.  Yet as much as they like certain foods, it doesn't keep them from polluting it with their own waste. Sheep are similar in many respects.  A shepherd must carefully clear the field of poisonous, noxious plants.  In Phillip Keller's book A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 , he goes into great detail on this point and in addition the necessity to clean out water holes where the sheep drink.  The shepherd also creates ...

I had a thought in the shower:  why do I pray?  Do I pray to receive results?  Am I motivated by what God can do for me?  Is praying supposed to be like eating vegetables - maybe not my favorite part of the meal but I eat them because I know they are good for me? Then another thought occurred to me:  isn't praying out of obedience the best reason to pray?  Shouldn't we pray because we are humbled and privileged to enter into God's throne room of grace through the precious blood of Jesus?  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, " Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you ."  If I pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven..." I am a hypocrite if I do not pray earnestly and continually.  God's will is that every Christian be a praying Christian. Why do you pray?  Prayer is supposed to be more than mumbling words over food or think...

God sometimes places a strong emphasis on a particular theme over and over until I recognize it.  My morning routine involves rising before dawn, praying, reading a chapter of the Bible, focusing on a key verse, and writing the thoughts God provokes.  After I finished writing this morning, for whatever reason I decided to turn back a page.  To my surprise, I found the writing on the previous day was on the same subject:  the condition of the heart.  I had totally forgotten about what I had written the day before!  Since this theme keeps coming up in my writing, I had the idea of simply sharing these two devotions together.  Hope God shows you something awesome! 13/7/11 - 2 Chronicles 11:16:  " And after the Levites left, those from all the tribes of Israel, such as set their heart to seek the LORD God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD God of their fathers ."  Those who are loyal to God will seek Him at great expense....

Awhile back I turned on the TV and watched the first 10 minutes of a show called, "Deadliest Roads."  During the episode titled "Thin Air," one of the truck drivers was tasked to carry a statue of Buddha to another monastery higher up the Rohtang Pass in India.  As the monks carefully placed their golden deity in the back of his truck the driver asked incredulously:  "Is that your god?"  One of the men answered yes.  As he slowly drove up the mountain the idol was shown in the back of the cargo area, shaking with every vibration of the truck.  When I saw that golden idol sitting in the dark, carefully wrapped with protective cloths, I thought of Isaiah 40:18-20:  " To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him? 19 The workman molds an image, the goldsmith overspreads it with gold, and the silversmith casts silver chains. 20 Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution chooses a tree that will not rot; he see...

When I emptied out our letterbox yesterday, among the junk mail was a advertisement which promised "2 Hours of Heaven - only $79.00."  I suppose this could be correct - if a facial, a pedicure, eyebrow shape, and 1/2 of your back massaged is heaven!  For me, this promise of heaven was not reassuring.  We can pay money for insurance, but we still have little assurance in this world.  Even insurance companies who receive goods for services have the skillful knack of wriggling off the hook. Here's another example:  Zed's bunny CJ has a blocked tear duct, apparently a common malady among rabbits.  We took her to the vet, and shelled out what I consider to be a ludicrous amount of money for treatment (one could afford nearly 4 hours of heaven with that kind of money!).  I might be able to justify it if the treatment actually worked.  But after a couple weeks of medicine and careful cleaning, little CJ's eye is not better.  The vet wants us to co...

Last night I watched the highly-anticipated and fairly anti-climactic finale of the Origin series, a best-of-three rugby league matches between Queensland (Maroons) and New South Wales (Blues).  Like the five previous Origin outcomes, the Maroons once again proved they are the team to beat with a trouncing of the Blues 34-24.  It was a valiant effort from both sides, but the amazing initial 24-0 run by the Maroons proved too great a mountain to climb. Compared to American football, most rugby league matches are relatively free from catastrophic or season-ending injuries - which is good!  There were two notable injuries in the game, one to Michael Ennis of the Blues who was coughing up blood.  The other injury brought the game to a standstill for three minutes when Johnathan Thurston of the Maroons was carted off the field, having suffered a damaged knee.  After being carted off the field to applause with his head in his hands, the game promptly resumed....

" Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded ."   John 13:1-5 Humility of this sort is based on love and faith in God.  Jesus coming to earth as a man is divine condescension, God made flesh, dwelling among men.  Not only did Jesus live as a man, but He humbled Himself in the service of men for the glory of God.  Jesus washed the disciple...

I woke up on Saturday with a very debilitating headache, a rarity for me.  Located in the center of my skull, the pain throbbed continuously.  Sensitive to light and dizzy from quick movements, I lay in bed and wondered what had happened!  Cooking breakfast seemed out of the question, and besides I wasn't hungry at all.  For many this may be a common occurrence.  But for me, it was seemed more of a negative novelty.  I wasn't sleepy but lay wide awake with my eyes closed, trying to shut out the sunlight filtering into the room through the vertical blinds. There was nothing I could do but pray.  My typical morning routine is about an hour and a half of combined prayer and Bible reading before I make breakfast.  But what a wonderful time I spent with the LORD for a while as I lay hurting in bed Saturday!  The pain wasn't the focus of my prayer, but the pain enabled me to focus better on the LORD.  Instead of being distracted by the activ...

I have been reading The Soul Winner by C.H. Spurgeon, a book which emphasizes how the primary goal and focus of all believers is the salvation of sinners.  All the ministries of the church, all effort for the glory of God in the lives of a Christian, is that through our testimony people would come to salvation found only in Jesus Christ.  Having been a Sunday School teacher for many years, I found the following quote enlightening and invigorating.  As teachers of adults or children, we are not to be content with the mere transfer of information, but the transformation of a life committed to Christ.  Spurgeon describes how Elisha raised the dead son of the Shunammite in 2 Kings 4:29-37, and compares it to our work in saving souls.  The quote can be found on pages152-153: The position of Elisha in this case is exactly your position, brethren, in relation to your work for Christ.  Elisha had to deal with a dead child.  It is true that, in his instance, ...