Marching Forth!

The world is filled with contrasts:  light and dark, hot and cold, health and sickness, fruitfulness and barrenness.  Almost every human experience or condition has an opposite.  We have experienced highs and lows, and when we are in the midst of one extreme the other is almost completely forgotten.  We have felt as free as a child leaving school for a long break, and we have felt like were weighed down with burdens far greater than anyone could bear.  I have found a relationship with God and the guidance of God's Word are critical to maintain a godly and good perspective.  And we need reminders - a lot of them. David was a man whose spirit rose in joyful worship of God, yet he also experienced low moods and depression.  In his writings we see him saying to himself at times almost to snap himself out of a funk, "What am I thinking?  Trust in God and hope in Him!"  Today my day began reading of such a place in  Psalm 42:6-8 :  " O...

Sometimes it is to the financial benefit of the buyer to remove the "middleman," one who increases the cost of goods due to their involvement.  For instance, when I planned to propose marriage to Laura I did not buy the solitaire from a shopping mall but from a gem cutter.  In doing so I avoided the markups which are common with jewelry sales and was able to buy a better ring than I could afford otherwise.  The middleman in this context can be an unnecessary man, and I believe this can be true in the arena of prayer. Paul said this in  Philippians 4:6 :  " Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God... "  This is a verse which divinely instructs and guides us, and it also convicts us when we have gone astray.  Being anxious is a normal human condition and common response to trouble, but anxiousness is not to mark a child of God.  Our prayers are also to be m...

" And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You ." Psalm 39:7 How many times have I placed my hope in something other than God!  Even when he was beset by sin, David concluded his only hope was in God.  God is good to allow difficult situations so those who trust in God will be cast down and realise their hope and expectations have been misplaced.  Pains have a way of revealing our devotion is tinged with selfishness, cares, and worry.   We pray so God will immediately change our circumstances according to our will, and our impatience displays a lack of trust in the God we genuinely trust. When our hope and trust is placed in God, we will find ourselves sustained and greatly helped even when dangers and troubles multiply.  If our hope for deliverance from sin or trials truly rests in our great God we will not fear, worry, or be impatient.  We will be grateful the Almighty God hears us and answers according to His will and timing....

How good it is to know we are made righteous, sanctified, and saved by the grace of God!  Many of God's blessings are conditional upon our obedience, but it would be a grave mistake to reduce our relationship with God to a business deal.  Trusting in Jesus is is not like a monetary transaction where the exchange of money confers rights to the buyer and responsibility to the seller.  We have no entitlements as children of God because we have earned them by our good standing with God or our efforts to please Him.  The blessings God supplies we have not earned but received by His grace.  All we deserve is judgment, wrath, and total destruction due to our wickedness, but God delights to bless those deemed righteous by His grace - as well as those who do not regard Him at all. Those who are born again through faith in Christ and the Gospel will desire and aim to walk in God's ways, and God does reward the humble and obedient.  These rewards are not dependent ...