Strong Faith (A Prayer)

Lord, help me to have strong faith today. Please grant me not just bold faith but meaningful faith. Lord, I don't want to just be a great lion of faith if their isn't the pursuit, the striving for holiness, the purpose in fulfilling Your will. Faith without works is dead. Please strengthen me as I face the day ahead. Allow the Holy Spirit to go before me to soften hearts and prepare souls to receive your gift of salvation. And may I be given the courage to speak Your word, to exercise faith and to help transform lives. I humbly ask these things in the precious name of the Savior, Jesus Christ, amen!
- JSS

A See-Saw Spiritual Life

A see-saw is a plank balanced in the centre of an upright support in such a way that each end can rise and fall alternately.  To function properly, a see-saw needs an equal load on both ends.  A single person on a see-saw is just a dead weight which will move neither up nor down.
Our spiritual life is like a see-saw.  God is the upright support in the middle which never moves.  The plank is our spiritual life.  On one side we must balance - ‘studying the Word’.  On the other side - ‘spiritual production’.  One without the other results in either a dead-spiritual-life or the production of dead-works.  Study without production is like a tree that never bears fruit.  Works without study inevitably result in the production of wood, hay and stubble to be burnt at the ‘Judgement Seat of Christ’.  As with most things there must be a balance.  However, one does come before the other - learning the Word of God always comes before production.  Yet if there is no production (applying those things we learn) there will be no movement.  Our spiritual lives should always be in motion.  If it is one-sided we should not be surprised when we become a spiritual dead weight moving nowhere.
- Taken from www.freechristianillustrations.com.
Designed by Ian & Sue Coate.
Used with permission.

Love: The Greatest Gift

I Corinthians 13:1-13 NKJV
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Dearest Lord, I need You and Your selfless gift of love. Without You I am nothing, I can't become anything and without Iove I can do nothing. I wouldn't even know what love is if it had not come from You first.
Lord, I need to understand how to love, how to give unselfishly and without restraint. So, Lord, lead me in love. Please teach me to wash other's feet like Jesus did. Teach me to love the unlovable and even my enemies.
Graciously humble me. Break my stoney heart and nurture a tender heart instead. I need a heart like Your son.
Heavenly Father, help me to extend Your mercy, forgiveness and grace. May true love work it's way through me to offer hope and healing. It's in
the precious name of Jesus, I pray, amen. -JSS

Trust The Creator

I have made the earth, and created man upon it; I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded. I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways.
Isaiah 45:12,13

HE who suns and worlds upholdeth
Lends us His upholding hand;
He the ages who unfoldeth
Doth our times and ways command.
God is for us;
In His strength and stay we stand.
Thomas H. Gill

YOU have trusted Him in a few things, and He has not failed you. Trust Him now for everything, and see if He does not do for you exceeding abundantly above all that you could ever have asked or thought, not according to your power or capacity, but according to His own mighty power, that will work in you all the good pleasure of His most blessed will. You find no difficulty in trusting the Lord with the management of the universe and all the outward creation, and can your case be any more complex or difficult than these, that you need to be anxious or troubled about His management of it?

Excerpt written by Mary Wilder Tileston from the book, "Joy and Strength" by Hannah Whitall Smith.
This is a Public Domain version of "Joy and Strength."

I Have Made Many Mistakes (A Poem)

I have made many mistakes.
I have plenty of regrets,
Or pain,
Or sorrow,
That I could focus on.
But I choose to learn,
To ask for forgiveness,
To live in peace,
To move on,
To walk courageously,
To love passionately,
To be that person
God created me to be,
And seize a hope,
A promise,
For a better tomorrow.
-JSS

Custom Made By God (Part 4)

How odd that in our day the U. S. government and the politically correct no longer refer to the unborn child as a baby. The fact is no one likes to think about killing an unborn baby so it has been renamed a fetus or an embryo or human tissue. God said it is His creation fearfully and wonderfully made. It is a baby custom made by God.

The LORD said to Jeremiah, “ Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations” (Jer. 1:5). Each one of us is custom made by God.

Selah!

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006. http://www.abideinchrist.com
Used with permission.

Custom Made By God (Part 3)

I worship a God who knows me and is near me.  He created me for today.  There is only one me.  I am a pattern that God will never use again.  In all the time to come, there will never be another me.  I am somebody. I am a unique creation of God.  Therefore, I must be found doing the will of God.  My responsibility is not to seek the praise of men, but to be what God made me.

Have you considered who you are in God’s eyes?  Have you in humility thanked Him for making you so wonderfully complex?  The Lord’s work is marvelous.

The Psalmist catches his breath and declares, “How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God!  How vast the sum of them!”  (v. 17).  “How weighty are your designs” (NAB).  “How immeasurable your concepts are” (R. K. Harrison).  “How hard it is to grasp your thoughts” (Jerusalem Bible).  “How deep I find Your thoughts” (NEB).  “How precious and weighty!” (Amplified Bible).

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006. http://www.abideinchrist.com

Used with permission.

Custom Made By God (Part 2)

God’s dealings with you and me are not a duplicate of His dealings with anyone else in time and space.  It is unique to me because I am unique.  There is no one else like me.  A person who wants to be something different from God’s purpose for him is like a cancer cell. We become like cancer cells in the body of Christ when we want to be like someone else and not what God wants us to be.  God deals with each child differently.  We do not trust Him when we ask that our experience duplicate someone else’s.  No one is inferior or unspiritual because his or her experience is not just like someone else’s.

Thank God that you are who you are. His resources have already been revealed in creating you.  "I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well" (Psalm 139:14).  Have you thanked God for making you just the way you are?   "My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them " (Psalm 139:15-16).

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006. http://www.abideinchrist.com

Used with permission.

Custom Made By God (Part 1)

Our great God and Savior knows everything, is everywhere, and is all-powerful.

The LORD God knows me because He made me, and since He made me, I am responsible to Him for my actions.  That’s probably the biggest reason why people do not want to accept the fact that God created man.  But whether a person acknowledges the facts about creation or not, he or she will still have to answer to Him personally.

The Psalmist David observed that the LORD God “formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13).  Our Creator not only created the first man Adam, but He continues to create.  There is not another person on the face of this earth with the same genes, DNA, and chromosomes.  I am a unique person, custom made by God for a specific purpose in history.  No one else can fulfill that purpose in history; no one else can fulfill my purpose.

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006. http://www.abideinchrist.com
Used with permission.

By The Babe Unborn (A Poem)

If trees were tall and grasses short,
As in some crazy tale,
If here and there a sea were blue
Beyond the breaking pale,

If a fixed fire hung in the air
To warm me one day through,
If deep green hair grew on great hills,
I know what I should do.

In dark I lie; dreaming that there
Are great eyes cold or kind,
And twisted streets and silent doors,
And living men behind.

Let storm clouds come: better an hour,
And leave to weep and fight,
Than all the ages I have ruled
The empires of the night.

I think that if they gave me leave
Within the world to stand,
I would be good through all the day
I spent in fairyland.

They should not hear a word from me
Of selfishness or scorn,
If only I could find the door,
If only I were born.
- G. K. Chesterton

Barbers Don't Exist

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: "I don't believe that God exists." "Why do you say that?" asked the customer. "Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things." The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop. Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and un-kept. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: "You know what? Barbers do not exist." "How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber. "I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!" "No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside." "Ah, but barbers DO exist! What happens is, people do not come to me." "Exactly!"- affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens, is, people don't go to Him and do not look for Him. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."
- Author unknown

All Creation Praise The Lord!

Psalm 148 NKJV
Praise the LORD!

Praise the LORD from the heavens;
Praise Him in the heights!
Praise Him, all His angels;
Praise Him, all His hosts!
Praise Him, sun and moon;
Praise Him, all you stars of light!
Praise Him, you heavens of heavens,
And you waters above the heavens!

Let them praise the name of the LORD,
For He commanded and they were created.
He also established them forever and ever;
He made a decree which shall not pass away.

Praise the LORD from the earth,
You great sea creatures and all the depths;
Fire and hail, snow and clouds;
Stormy wind, fulfilling His word;
Mountains and all hills;
Fruitful trees and all cedars;
Beasts and all cattle;
Creeping things and flying fowl;
Kings of the earth and all peoples;
Princes and all judges of the earth;
Both young men and maidens;
Old men and children.

Let them praise the name of the LORD,
For His name alone is exalted;
His glory is above the earth and heaven.
And He has exalted the horn of His people,
The praise of all His saints—
Of the children of Israel,
A people near to Him.

Praise the LORD!

Prayer Of Sir Francis Drake

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.
Amen

Written by Sir Francis Drake.
It is believed that this prayer is in the Public Domain.

The Power Of Belief (Part 5)

External Belief (continued)
Luke 8:49-51 NKJV
While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, “Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher.”

But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.” When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl.

John 7:37-39 NKJV
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

John 11:39-41 NKJV
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.”

Acts 8:12-13 NKJV
But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done.

1 John 5:4-6 NKJV
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

John 14:12 NKJV
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”