October 24, 2007

• Some
  of you have been going through some rough seas lately….feeling discouraged and
  confused about what the Lord might be doing or saying….wondering if he has
  forgotten you or has not heard your cries in prayer.   We have all
  been there haven’t we?   The key is too not faint…to keep strong in
  our faith.  BELIEVE and TRUST.
  My husband is
  always saying…”trust and obey.”  
  This wonderful
  devotional comes in book form but Back to the Bible will also send it to you
  daily.  This one was sent today.   How timely for those of you who are feeling
  angry or hurt or abused or forgotten. 
  Oh may I assure you that you are not!  
  

  
  A Bar of Steel by
  Mrs. Charles E. Cowman from Steams in the Desert

  “I will
  make thee a new sharp threshing instrument” (Isa. 41:15).

  A bar of steel worth
  five dollars, when wrought into horseshoes, is worth ten dollars. If made into
  needles, it is worth three hundred and fifty dollars; if into penknife blades,
  it is worth thirty-two thousand dollars; if into springs for watches it is
  worth two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. What a drilling the poor bar must
  undergo to be worth this! But the more it is manipulated, the more it is
  hammered and passed through the fire, and beaten and pounded and polished, the
  greater the value.

  May this parable help us to be silent, still, and longsuffering. Those who
  suffer most are capable of yielding most; and it is through pain that God is
  getting the most out of us, for His glory and the blessing of others.
  –Selected

  “Oh, give Thy servant patience to be still,
  And bear Thy will;
  Courage to venture wholly on the arm
  That will not harm;
  The wisdom that will never let me stray
  Out of my way;
  The love that, now afflicting, knoweth best
  When I should rest.”
  
  Life is very mysterious. Indeed it would be inexplicable unless we believed
  that God was preparing us for scenes and ministries that lie beyond the veil of
  sense in the eternal world, where highly-tempered spirits will be required for
  special service.

  “The turning-lathe that has the sharpest knives produces the finest
  work.”

  Do I hear an AMEN???
  

  
  Will and I have
  been going through the history of our world using Ray Notgrass’ World History
  study as a guide.  We began in Genesis
  and have gone through the Bible really studying and trying to grasp what God
  has done and what he is trying to tell us and really getting to know him.  This has been such a wonderful study….chock
  full of information and background concerning the times and deeper looks into
  the lives of men like David as well as the prophets and other kings and so
  forth.   The main thing that has really
  stood out to us is that we cannot faint.  
  When his people turned their backs on him and began to focus on
  themselves again ….well that is when things begin to get all messed up.  Why didn’t these people see what the Lord
  had done for them???  The lures of this
  world are just as bad as they have been all through time because “peoples is
  peoples.”   We have to keep our little
  lamps lit…and remember where those little oil lamps were…..on the feet, attached to the sandals.  Lighting only one step at a time on the path.

  Daily…moment by
  moment we must keep our eyes on the Lord and seek only the things He
  wants.  Allow him to prune from us
  things like pride and self-centeredness, anger and resentment.   Isn’t it hard?  It is….so many things around us…places….various seemingly
  harmless activities, ideas, even the news…sensationalism….oh and even so many
  churches today……. so many lures made up to look so good and right.  Isn’t that just like the enemy?  Be gone I say…get out of my way, stop
  clouding my view of my father in heaven. 
  Get that armor on friends.  Pray
  for the wisdom of Solomon and do not lend yourself to the false gods of this
  world like he did.  Be strong and faint
  not.  Rejoice to know when the heat is
  on…he is there…he is the one shaping us into the men and women he desires us to
  be.   Would it not be so much easier to
  just allow him to do his work in us when we know that is best?   I say all this…and mean it….but I also know that the fire is hot
  and uncomfortable.   Peeling away the
  layers of self everything must be done because don’t we want to please him and
  bear the good fruit? 

  Oh I know at times
  it is so hard….let us encourage one another. 
  May I encourage you to keep running the race.  Cling to him…study his word from beginning to end over and over.  Be strong and do not faint.   Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30: “Come unto me, all ye that
  labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I
  am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

  I offer this encouragement with
  all sincerity to my dear brothers and sisters.  I have learned so much from reading and listening to Elisabeth Elliot and at the beginning of all her radio programs she would say:  “You are loved with an everlasting love.” That’s what the Bible says. “And underneath are the everlasting arms.”

  Remember
  that my dear friends! 
  

   

  • 8:05 am
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