Marching Forth!

" Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD ; 2 Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive  t o the voice of my supplications. 3 If You, LORD , should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But there is forgiveness with You, t hat You may be feared. 5  I wait for the LORD , my soul waits, a nd in His word I do hope ." Psalm 130:1-5 Often we must be taken to our lowest point before we will look up and cry out to God in earnest.  It may be we have prayed to God many times, but there is desperation and consciousness of our personal need in the depths.  We do not like to see anyone down or low, nor do we delight in being cast down ourselves, but being low may not be low enough.  We should not labour moved by pity to hinder anyone from reaching rock bottom by trying to fix their circumstances, for in the depths is the exact place where God works to deliver and change people for good. Jonah is a man who cried to God out of the depths. ...

" You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep going astray, and hide yourself from them; you shall certainly bring them back to your brother. 2 And if your brother is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it to your own house, and it shall remain with you until your brother seeks it; then you shall restore it to him. 3 You shall do the same with his donkey, and so shall you do with his garment; with any lost thing of your brother's, which he has lost and you have found, you shall do likewise; you must not hide yourself. 4 You shall not see your brother's donkey or his ox fall down along the road, and hide yourself from them; you shall surely help him lift them up again ." Deuteronomy 22:1-4 When I was a kid, playing "Hide and Seek" in the backyard was good fun.  It was simple enough to understand and play.  The one who was "it" would stand at home base, and in our case was a pole or a pepper tree.  ...

Nothing is impossible for God.  As the Almighty God over all He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly beyond what we ask or think.  Whilst a lack of faith in God can limit Him ( Psalm 78:41; Matthew 13:58 ), God is gracious to do miraculous things we never asked for or expected.  When God says something, we know He will follow through.  How blessed we are to be those who believe and say like Mary, "Let it be to me according to your word." In the Gospel of Luke there are two times the scripture affirms through God all things are possible, and nothing is impossible for Him.  The context of these statements is most compelling.  The first is when Mary was met by Gabriel and was informed she would conceive and bear a son who would be called Jesus, the Son of the Highest, who would have an eternal kingdom.  She said, "How can this be, since I have never been with a man?"  Conception was not even conceivable because she was a virgin.   Luke 1:35...

Shortly before Jesus was arrested and crucified, He and his disciples gathered in Bethany for a meal.  During the meal, Mark 14 explains how a woman anointed Him with very expensive perfumed oil with an estimated value of a year's wages.  Good perfume is always expensive, but usually not that expensive.   Because perfume is valuable the use of it is for special occasions so it will last awhile.  When this woman simply poured out the entire contents of the perfume on Jesus in a moment, it is not surprising they viewed this as a gross waste.  They began to criticise the woman and murmured about how much it was worth.  Instead of wasting it, why not sell it and help the poor? Jesus didn't see it their way.  Mark 14:6-9 reads, " But Jesus said, "Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. 7 For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. 8 She has don...