Marching Forth!

" I entreated Your favor with my whole heart; be merciful to me according to Your word ." Psalm 119:58 Even when we have learned, God continues to teach.  There is always a deeper level - a more personal application - for biblical truth beyond where we stand.  The necessity and value of an undivided heart is a theme I have often been reminded of lately.  Unless we come to a place of rest and complete neutrality on an issue when seeking God, clear direction from our heavenly Father will often elude us.  It is not that God has abandoned us, but our preferences cloud our judgment.  We can stumble through a self-induced fog, straining for clear vision of the path laid before us.  As long as we hold to our plans and ideas - even with the thought of bringing God glory - clarity of sight and sureness of footing will remain out of reach. In wrestling with God over direction of my life and even the church, only after I wholly yielded myself to God's plan did ...

The longer I follow Christ, the more I am struck by His objective claims.  The world says there are "many paths to God," but the Bible proclaims the opposite.  In our modern-day culture of relativity, people hate the idea of anyone claiming to possess absolute truth.  That is why people hated Jesus.  He stood up to the religious leaders of the day, boldly proclaiming He was the Son of God.  He transcended all earthly rulers in wisdom and power.  He performed mighty signs and wonders, and rose from the dead in glory.  He said without apology or caveat in John 14:6:  " I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me ."  No politician, prophet, or lunatic spoke as this Man.  In Christ we find no comfortable middle ground with this world. Following Jesus Christ is an exclusive, narrow way.  He will receive every sinner who repents and receives Him through faith.  The Gospel is incredibly simple...

While busy with custodial duties at church, I was listening to a talk by Britt Merrick, pastor of Reality Carpinteria.  He spoke from experience about how joy and suffering are coupled in the Christian life.  Instead of God removing suffering from life, He allows Christians to embrace genuine joy in the midst of suffering.  Just yesterday I finished reading a biography of Mrs. Spurgeon by Charles Ray.  Susannah was a godly woman who not only endured suffering, but continued to persevere and be profitable for God's glory in the midst of acute long-term illness.  She was a woman of maturity and faith, one who learned to trust in God no matter what.  In the book, there is an object lesson she shares which spoke deeply to my heart.  Ray begins this quote from Susannah on page 81: At the close of a very dark and gloomy day I lay resting on my couch as the deeper night drew on, and though all was bright within my cosy little room, some of the external dar...

" You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen ." 2 Peter 3:17-18 After I read this passage, I was led to consider the connection between grace and knowledge.  Without knowledge we are unable to appreciate or even acknowledge grace.  For instance, salvation by grace through faith is an unmerited gift from God.  Because of His great love for us, God the Father chose to satisfy divine justice through the sacrifice of His own Son Jesus the Christ on Calvary.  What a gift!  Not only can man be forgiven for his sins by repenting and trusting in Jesus as Saviour, but the righteousness of Christ is freely credited to each Christian born again through the Holy Spirit. There was a time when I was ignorant of God and His grace....