O Lamb of God I come….

John B. Gough once told of sitting in a church service one Sunday morning and hearing a hoarse, discordant voice singing behind him. The voice was so bad that he truly felt sorry for its owner. The closing hymn was, “Just As I AM, Without One Plea” and Gough cringed as he listened to the grating voice without much hint of melody or much tune. Between the first and second stanzas the organist mercifully played an interlude. While the interlude was being played, Gough felt a touch on his arm and the man behind him whispered, “Could you please tell me the first few words of the second verse. I believe I could pick up the rest if I knew how the verse began.” John Gough whispered back, “Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind…..” As he turned back to whisper the words, Gough looked into the face of the man with the awful voice and saw that he was blind. And when he heard him with his grating voice trying to sing the next lines,

           “Sight, riches, healing of the mind

           Yea all I need in Thee to find,

           O Lamb of God I come.”

 Gough said that he would like to lend him what voice he had, and help him sing if he could.

That’s how God feels toward me when I try to serve Him or believe. He will help me in my failures and  He is able to do it.

His Lordship…His Leadership….His Love, can be mine.

 I have decided not to settle settle for anything less!

In the Bonds of Calvary,

Stop The Merry-Go-Round

It seems that almost everyday I encounter people who are struggling because of things that were done to them or because of things that they have done in their own lives.

They grieve. They are sorrowful. They pray and spend time in our altars but the ghost of the past continues to haunt them and they seem never to be able to overcome those past events and walk in victory.

Some are even teaching that there is a “generational curse” and it will always keep you in bondage. That just can’t be.

I believe that we get caught up in our own “generational dysfunctions” and somehow we are unable to stop the “recycling” of learned behavior.

Here  are a couple of things that have helped me:  I consistently reaffirm my faith in God. I try to forget past failures. I continually strive to know who I am through Gods grace.

It works!

In the Bonds of Calvary,

Rising Up To Build

When we rise up to build, endeavoring to do God’s will and bring Him glory, the enemy will do all within his power to defeat and discourage us.

The harder we serve and the more we purpose to achieve, the more we can expect opposition in all its ugly forms.

Through prayer and perseverance, God emboldens us and empowers us to keep going, keep trusting and keep building.

I must persevere!

In the Bonds of Calvary,

Something New from God

 Whatever the future holds, one thing is clear, I can depend on God to see me through any challenge that life may bring my way.

God Promises Something New Every Day: 

God is still able to do the impossible  and deserves my praise.          

 God Pomises Help to me when I am in need

I cannot do it alone                                           
I cannot do it without God                         

God Promises Strength when I am Weak!

He does that…..With His abiding  presence ……..With His incredible power…………  With the promise of His imminent return…. 

In the Bonds of Calvary,

 

The Kind of Dad I’d Buy

In  light of Father’s Day coming up I wanted to share this poem by Helen Kitchell Evans

If I went shopping for a dad,  Here is what I’d buy:

One who would always stop to answer a little boy’s Why?

One who would always speak kindly to a little girl or boy,

One who would give to others a bit of sunshine and joy.

 I’d pick a dad that followed the Bible’s Golden Rule,

And one who went regularly to church and Sunday School.

I’d buy the very finest dad to place on our family tree,

And then I’d try to live like him so he would be proud of me.

In the Bonds of Calvary,

Are We Ready?

People have been predicting the end of the world and the return of Christ for years.

In fact, there has been a prediction that the Lord would return on Rosh Hashana for the last several years.

In 1988, I received a book from one of these predictors, which was mailed to every pastor in the country, and was entitled “Eighty-Eight Reasons Why Jesus Will Return in 1988”

He didn’t.

Then a fervor was generated by the book published in September 1992 which was called 1994?. They did not suggest that Jesus might come in 1994, they were unequivocal that He would come in September 1994.

I’ll be honest with you. I don’t know exactly when Jesus will return, and this kind of date setting does not thrill me. It can be a distraction and a negative witness, especially when the date comes and goes with no return of Christ. It gives the world an opportunity to mock all Christians.

The thing that I do know for certain, and the thing that all of this has reminded me of, is that Jesus could come at any time. 

 What if this were the last Sunday before the Rapture?

What if Jesus were to come back this week? According to all I can understand about the date of His return, it is possible for Him to come at any moment.

Are we ready for His return? Or have we become complacent? Are there things in my life that I need to change and would change today if I knew for certain Jesus would come back this week?

We need to be reminded of Jesus’ return and of the imminence of His return.

It’s so easy to think that Jesus may come, but probably will not come any time soon. Peter says that we should remember what the Word of God says concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In it we find sufficient warning to keep us on our toes, watching and looking for His coming.

In the Bonds of Calvary,

“The Hound of Heaven”

The British poet, Francis Thompson, wrote an epic poem known as “The Hound of Heaven.” In it he pictures someone fleeing God , only to find that the Lord patiently and triumphantly pursues him until the wayward one rests in the Lord. The central point of this poem is its astonishing assertion that sometimes human beings flee from God and that God actually pursues and follows human beings.
“I fled from God, down the nights and down the days; I fled from God, down the arches of the years; I fled from God, down the labyrinth of my own mind. In the midst of tears, I hid. Under running laughter, I hid from God. Up visited slopes I sped, shot precipitated over chasmed fears. … But those strong feet of God came after, ….. with unhurrying chase and unperturbed pace; with constant speed and divine instancy. …..And a voice, more persistent than the feet, spoke and said: You are my precious one. I will not let you go.”

Yes, that is the way God is. So persistent, so diligent, so untiring in \His pursuit of us when we are lost. I feel so comforted in knowing this.

 In the Bonds of Calvary,

He Gave Us the Book so that…..

There is a story about a teenage boy who was deeply interested in scientific subjects, especially astronomy. So his father bought him a very expensive telescope. Since the young fellow had studied the principles of optics, he found the instrument to be most intriguing. He took it apart, examined the lenses, and made detailed calculations on the distance of its point of focus. The youth became so absorbed in gaining a technical knowledge of the telescope itself that he never got around to looking at the stars. He knew a lot about that fine instrument, but he missed seeing the wonders of the heavens.

As Christians, to know all the facts and figures contained in the Bible is not the end for which God has given us this Book. The purpose is that we might see God and know Him.

In the Bonds of Calvary,

Are We Listening?

In 1984 an Avianca Airlines jet, flying over Spain, crashed into a mountain. Everyone on board the jet died instantly. When investigators found the “black box” they were amazed as they listened to the cockpit recording in the minutes just prior to the crash.
The plane’s collision avoidance system began to speak to the pilot, warning him of an object that was in the flight path of the plane. The computerized voice of a person speaking English was heard to say, “Pull up. Pull up. Pull up”, over and over again.
After a few moments of this, the pilot was heard to say, “Be quiet Gringo!” And with that, the pilot turned off the system. He just ignored the warning, flipped the switch and few moments later, everyone was dead.

Is it possible that the message that we are supposed to be hearing is being ignored?  Is He telling us to “pull up”?

Open my ears Lord……please!

In the Bonds of Calvary,

Four Ways God Answers Prayer:

1.         No      I don’t particularly like this answer because I often ask questions to which I expect a “yes” answer.   

2.        Slow   I am told that God is always on time….but sometimes I’m going, “really, I still need to wait?”

3.         Grow This is the part where He puts me back on the potters wheel and stretches me and molds me and forms me and grows me.

4.         Go   Like so many, I think  a “yes” would have been perfect. “Go” requires faith .

God IS still working on me and I am so thankful for that.

In the Bonds of Calvary,