Marching Forth!

This morning I left the house early for a meeting in Chatswood with local Calvary pastors.  As I watched the sun rise before our meeting, the top edge of dark clouds far off shone with brilliant light.  The gleaming ribbon of light stretched across the horizon was beautiful and I tried to take a photo on my mobile phone.  Though it was gorgeous with the naked eye, the pictures did not do God's creation justice.  The bottom half of the screen was so bleached out I could see brightness but without much clarity.  Every picture I took was immediately deleted as I drank in the beauty of the cool autumn morning.  My phone could not contain or portray the reality of the splendour I saw with my eyes.  God knows our eyes are not capable of taking in the sight of the sun obscured by clouds:  how then can a man turn his eyes upon God and live?  Because of this God made a provision for our weakness as it is written in John 1:14 " And the Word became fles...

" Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls ." Hebrews 12:1-3 God knows that Christians need encouragement.  Weariness and discouragement are real adversaries faced by every Christ-following believer.  God has given me great encouragement today not only from Him but from His people.  At times I was filled with great excitement about the wonderful things God is doing in the lives of my brothers and sisters.  As if right on cue, the devil attacked my heart and mind through a ...

A couple nights ago I was startled during dinner by Laura's scream behind my back.  Laura had been baking cookies in the kitchen.  I didn't have to turn around because she ran to her chair at the table and sat down, her hands still covered with oven mitts.  Let me preface this by saying our kitchen and house is clean, is situated on a concrete slab, and I usually spray for insects once a month.  Yet despite our precautions, apparently a large cockroach had crawled into a drawer under the oven reserved for cutting-boards and Glad plastic containers and lids.  "And so what do you want me to do?" I asked.  But I already knew the answer.  It was time to wage war on the rogue insect! I was admittedly reluctant in emptying the drawer.  The last thing I was interested in while my food cooled on the table was to be surprised by some bug dropping onto me.  As I continued to remove item after item, soon the roach was spied by Abel crawling across the...

" Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit ." Psalm 32:1-2 Happy is the man whose sins are forgiven!  David goes on to describe the process in verses 3-5:  Psalm 32:3-5 reads, " When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long. 4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah 5 I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah ."  David freely confessed his sin before the LORD and God forgave him.  What a wonder, to be free from the guilt, shame, conviction, and condemnation our sin justly demands! Psalm 103:12 states, " As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us ."...