Author: America's Keswick

The purpose of America's Keswick is to model and teach Biblical victorious living in Christ Jesus, to provide an environment in which Biblical life transformation takes place and to foster active personal involvement in the local church.

God’s Awesomeness

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God’s Awesomeness

“O the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments. and his ways past finding out.” Romans 11:33

I am sure you have been there. There are those moments in life when we experience God and we find ourselves at a loss for words. We are so keenly aware of HIS hand in a situation or we see something of His creation that just catches us speechless.

Devotional writer and famous preacher, A. W. Tozer says this about God’s awesomeness:

Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary lists 550,000 words. And it is a solemn and beautiful thought that in our worship of God there sometimes rush up from the depths of our soul feelings that all this wealth of words is not sufficient to express. To be articulate at certain times we are compelled to fall back upon “Oh” or “O” — a primitive exclamatory sound that is hardly a word at all and that scarcely admits of a definition.

Vocabularies are formed by many minds over long periods and are capable of expressing whatever the mind is capable of entertaining. But when the heart, on its knees, moves into the awesome Presence and hears with fear and wonder thing not lawful to utter, then the mind falls flat, and words, previously its faithful servants, become weak and totally incapable of telling when the heart hears and sees.

In that awful moment the worship can only cry, “OH!” And that simple exclamation becomes more eloquent than learned speech and, I have no doubt, is dearer to God than any oratory.

Brothers, have you lost the wonder of the moments? Are you so caught up in your agenda and your busyness that you have lost the wonder of it all? Are you missing those “OH” moments that God has for YOU? Then its time to step back and allow HIM to once again captivate you with what HE wants to do in YOUR life. — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK

It has been weeks since we have received feedback from you about the ministry of Freedom Fighters. We have had some technical difficulties since upgrading our server, and some of our brothers have been bumped off. If this ministry is an encouragement to you, take some time today to drop us a quick note. Thanks.

God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 30; Jeremiah 20-21; 2 Timothy 4

Great Quote: Thank God for the commonplace people! They turn our houses into homes; they make life restful and sweet. Jesus loves the commonplace. Here then is a great, comforting thought: we are all loved – the brilliant and the commonplace, the dreamy and the practical. Dr. John Henry J. H. Jowett

Twinkies and Root Beer

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Twinkies and Root Beer

The New Testament uses the term “friend” (philos) in two ways. The normal usage of this word is illustrated in the account of the prodigal son. See Luke 15:29 where the word friends is used here in the normal sense of special or trusted companionship. To better understand the point of the story I’m about to reveal I prefer to use Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary’s definition. “Of, relating to, or befitting a friend as: showing kindly interest and good will, not hostile, inclined to favor, cheerful and comforting.”

The story I am about to share was given to me sometime at least a year ago. A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pact of Root Beer and started his journey. When he had gone about three blocks, he met an elderly man. The man was sitting in the park just feeding some pigeons. The boy sat down next to him and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the man looked hungry, so he offered him a Twinkie. The man gratefully accepted it and smiled at the boy. His smile was so pleasant that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered him a root beer. Again the man smiled at him, the boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.

As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave, but before he had gone more than a few steps; he turned around, ran back to the man, and gave him a hug. The man gave him the biggest smile ever.

When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later; his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, “What did you do today that made you so happy?” He replied, “I had lunch with God.” But before his mother could respond, he asked, “You know what? God’s got the most beautiful smile I ever seen!”

Meanwhile, the elderly man, also radiant with joy, returned to his home. His son was stunned by the look of peace on his face and asked, “Dad, what did you do today that made you so happy?” He replied, “I ate Twinkies in the park with God.” However, before his son responded, he added, “You know, he’s much younger than I expected.” (The source and author are unknown).

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Embrace all equally! — Dr. Henry Lutz is a retired pastor and a friend of the ministry of America’s KESWICK

God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 29; Jeremiah 18-19; 2 Timothy 3

Great Quote: God’s Word will never pass away, but looking back to the Old Testament and since the time of Christ, with tears we must say that because of lack of fortitude and faithfulness on the part of God’s people, God’s Word has many times been allowed to be bent, to conform to the surrounding, passing, changing culture of that moment rather than to stand as the inerrant Word of God judging the form of the world spirit and the surrounding culture of that moment. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, may our children and grandchildren not say that such can be said about us. Francis A. Schaeffer

Check out this week’s Stewardship Insight from George: http://keswickgeorge.blogspot.com/

What Are You Thinking About?

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What Are You Thinking About?

“Oh, how I love thy law! It is my meditation all the day.” Psalm 119:97

Did you ever get a thought stuck in your brain and found yourself thinking about it all day? Isn’t amazing how so small and trivial can end up occupying your every waking thought. For some of you, you have been thinking about the Yankees winning the world series — well, some of you might be thinking it will be the Phillies!

God desires that we meditate on things that have eternal value. He desires that we meditate on HIS Word. Meditation has taken a bad rap over the years in evangelical circles because it is seen as something from Eastern religions. But meditation is something that goes back to the time of Joshua, and David devotes many verses in the Psalms to this topic.

Devotion author and pastor, the late Andrew Murray, gives us some insight about meditation that is worth considering:

Just as a person is trained to concentrate his mental powers to think clearly and accurately, a Christian needs to cultivate meditation. This power of meditation is developed, first, by presenting ourselves to God and His Word. His Word has no power of blessing apart from Him. His Word is meant to bring us into His presence and fellowship. Practice His presence and take the Word directly from Him, and be assured He will make it work in your heart.

[Meditation] is a process of letting the truth settle in and become part of us, not by striving but through a peaceful process. We plant or hide the truth in our hearts and let it germinate quietly. In meditation the personal application takes first place. This does not always happen with the intellectual study of the Bible, the object of which is to know and understand. By contrast, in meditation the chief object is to appropriate and experience. A readiness to believe every promise implicitly, to obey every command unhesistantly, to “stand perfect and complete in all the will of God” (Colossians 4:12) is the only true spirit of Bible study,

Meditation must lead to prayer. It provides material for prayer. It must lead us to ask God and to receive definitely what it has seen in the Word. The value of meditation is that it prepares us to pray for what the Word has revealed that we need or this is possible for us, That is where the rest of faith comes in, that looking upward with the assurance that the Word will be proven in us in power when we surrender to it.

In the course of time, the result of resting in meditation, after intellectual effort, will be that both the meditation of the heart and the effort of the intellect will be brought into harmony in understanding God’s Word. All of our Bible study will be made alive by the spirit of quiet waiting on God and a yielding of our heart and life to the Word.

Our fellowship with God is meant to last the whole day. If we secure the presence of God through meditation in our morning watch, we will be brought closer to the experience of David: Blessed is the man … whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and in HIS law doth he meditate day and night.

Brothers — if meditating on God’s Word was important for Joshua and David, should we not also make this a daily practice in our own lives? Let’s purpose together to meditate on God’s WORD. — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK

God’s WORD for US: Proverbs 28; Jeremiah 15-17; 2 Timothy 2

Great Quote: Like supernatural effervescence, praise will sometimes bubble up from the joy of simply knowing Christ. Praise like that is…delight. Pure pleasure! But praise can also be supernatural determination. A decisive action. Praise like that is…quiet resolve. Fixed devotion. Strength of spirit. Joni Eareckson Tada

Preaching the Gospel to Yourself

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Preaching the Gospel to Yourself

“May I never boast except in the cross of Jesus Christ.” Galatians 6:14

For many of us the gospel is what we share with those who are lost. It is what we first heard that opened our eyes to the need for a Savior. But the gospel is something that we should keep in front of us on a daily, moment by moment basis.

Dr. Jack Miller, founder of New Life Presbyterian Church and World Harvest Mission, taught that we should preach the gospel to ourselves daily. Author and speaker, Dr. Jerry Bridges, picks up on this theme in his book The Discipline of Grace — God’s Role and our Role in the Pursuit of Holiness:

Preaching the gospel to ourselves every day addresses both the self-righteous Pharisee and the guilt-laden sinner that dwell in our hearts. Since the gospel is only for sinners, preaching it to ourselves every day reminds us that we are indeed sinners in the need of God’s grace. It causes us to say to God, in the words of an old hymn, “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.” It helps us to consciously renounce any confidence in our own goodness as a means of meriting God’s blessing on our lives.

Perhaps more importantly, though, preaching the gospel to ourselves every day gives us hope, joy, and courage. The good news that our sins are forgiven because of Christ’s death fills our hearts with joy, gives us courage to face the day, and offers us hope that God’s favor will rest upon us, not because we are good, but because we are in Christ.

Bridges goes on to quote a letter he received from a pastor in Kenya that expresses so beautifully this truth:

Sin grieves God. We must not down-play the seriousness of it in the life of a believer. But we must come to terms with the fact that God’s grace is GREATER THAN ALL OUR SIN. Repentance is one of the Christian’s highest privileges. A repentant Christian focuses on God’s mercy and God’s grace.
Any moment in our lives when we bask in God’s mercy and grace is our highest moment. Higher than when we feel snug in our decent performance and cannot think of anything we need to confess.

Whenever we fail — and fail we will, the Spirit of God will work on us and bring us to the foot of the cross where Jesus carried our failures. That is potentially a glorious moment. For we could all that moment accept God’s abundant Mercy and Grace and go forth with nothing to boast except Christ Himself, or else we struggle with our shame, focusing on that as well as our track record. We fail because we have shifted our attention from Grace and Mercy. One who draws on God’s Mercy and grace is quick to repent, but also slow to sin!

Brothers, preach the gospel to yourself today. Run to the cross and bask in His mercy and grace!!! — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK

God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 27; Jeremiah 12-14; 2 Timothy 1

Great Quote: God is at work bending, breaking, molding, and doing exactly as He chooses. And why is He doing it? He is doing it for only one purpose — that He may be able to say, “This is My man, and this is My woman.” We have to be in God’s hand so that He can place others on the Rock, Jesus Christ just as He has placed us. — Oswald Chambers

God’s Wonderful Forgiveness

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God’s Wonderful Forgiveness

“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17

He is turning out to be one of my favorite contemporary authors. Dr. Paul David Tripp is the evening teaching pastor at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Tenth Pres has had some amazing Bible teachers in the pulpit, including Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse and Dr. James Montgomery Boice.

Tripp’s book, Whiter Than Snow — Meditations on Sin and Mercy (Crossway) is one that I have been slowly reading and digesting. It is available through the Keswick Online Bookstore (http://www.americaskeswick.org/233853.ihtml?id=233853). I want to encourage you to be a reader, brothers. This should be a MUST HAVE in your devotional library.

This reading is one God’s wonderful forgiveness:

In the pain
of my confession
it’s hard to collect
the fleeting pleasures
of my sin.
My shame
hides Your face.
My anguish
drowns out Your voice.
The lingering visions
of what I’ve done
haunt my soul
assault my heart
dominate my thoughts.
I want to undo
what I’ve done.
I want to turn back time
so that my thoughts would be
pure
and my hands would be clean.
BUT
lust was born
and the deed was done.
I can’t undo
what dark pleasure has wrought.
So I come to YOU
just as I am.
I bow before You
shamed and unclean.
The searching light
of Your righteousness
puts fear in my heart
and reveals more stains than
I ever thought I had.
I bow before YOU
because I’ve nowhere else to go.
I confess to YOU
because I’ve no other hope.
There’s no place to run
There’s no place to hide.
I can’t escape what I’ve done.
I can’t erase my stains.
So in my grief
I ask for one thing.
I long to hear YOU sing.
I long to see YOU rejoice.
For when my ears are graced
with YOUR song
and when I am blessed
by YOUR gladness
and when the angels celebrate
then I can be sure
that I’ve been given
the greatest of gifts
the miracle of miracles
the thing only love
could purchase
the blessing that only love could offer;
forgiveness!!!

May you marvel, wonder, and rejoice today, my brother, in HIS forgiveness! — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK

God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 26; Jeremiah 9-11; 1 Timothy 6

Great Quote: Teach me. O God, to use all the circumstances of my life to-day that they may bring forth in me the fruits of holiness rather than the fruits of sin. Let me use disappointment as material for patience: Let me use success as material for thankfulness: Let me use suspense as material for perseverance: Let me use danger as material for courage: Let me use reproach as material for longsuffering: Let me use praise as material for humility: Let me use pleasures as material for temperance: Let me use pains as material for endurance. John Baillie

It’s All About Him

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It’s All About Him

“Now to the King eternal … be honor and glory for ever and ever.” 1 Timothy 1:7

So much of our worship today is centered around what I am going to get from the experience. Did I like the songs the worship team did? What did I get out of the message? Too quickly we forget that the reason we gather for worship really has nothing to do about us but it has everything to do about HIM!

Psalm 1oo makes it very clear that worship has nothing to do with me:

Shout joyfully TO THE LORD (vs.1)
Serve the LORD with gladness (vs.1)
Come before HIM with joyful singing (vs.2)
Enter HIS gates with thanksgiving (vs. 4)
Enter HIS courts with praise (vs. 4)
Give thanks to HIM and bless HIS name (vs. 4)

We need to get on track as a people of God. When we gather together for corporate worship, our focus needs to be on HIM — the King eternal. He is the ONE who is worthy of our praise. When that happens, we will be truly worshipping. It isn’t about us — it is all about HIM!

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, THY great name we praise.

Unresting, unhasting and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;
Thy justice like mountains high soaring above
Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.

To all, life Thou givest, to both great and small;
In all life Thou livest the true life of all.
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish — but naught changeth Thee.

Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight.
All praise we would render; O, help us to see
‘Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee.

Lord, may our worship today be all about YOU and not about us! — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK

God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 25; Jeremiah 6-8; 1 Timothy 5

Great Quote: Worship is not taught from the pulpit. It must be learned in the heart. — Jim Elliot

Nothing of the Old Life

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Nothing of the Old Life

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

Oswald Chambers in his classic devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, gives us much insight into understanding that “the old is gone and the new has come” for those of us who are IN CHRIST! Allow these words to soak into your heart today, brothers:

Our Lord never tolerates our prejudices— He is directly opposed to them and puts them to death. We tend to think that God has some special interest in our particular prejudices, and are very sure that He will never deal with us as He has to deal with others. We even say to ourselves, “God has to deal with other people in a very strict way, but of course He knows that my prejudices are all right.” But we must learn that God accepts nothing of the old life!

Instead of being on the side of our prejudices, He is deliberately removing them from us. It is part of our moral education to see our prejudices put to death by His providence, and to watch how He does it. God pays no respect to anything we bring to Him. There is only one thing God wants of us, and that is our unconditional surrender.

When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins to work His new creation in us, and there will come a time when there is nothing remaining of the old life. Our old gloomy outlook disappears, as does our old attitude toward things, and “all things are of God” (2 Corinthians 5:18 ).

How are we going to get a life that has no lust, no self-interest, and is not sensitive to the ridicule of others? How will we have the type of love that “is kind . . . is not provoked, [and] thinks no evil”? ( 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 ). The only way is by allowing nothing of the old life to remain, and by having only simple, perfect trust in God— such a trust that we no longer want God’s blessings, but only want God Himself.

Have we come to the point where God can withdraw His blessings from us without our trust in Him being affected? Once we truly see God at work, we will never be concerned again about the things that happen, because we are actually trusting in our Father in heaven, whom the world cannot see.

Are you trying to hold onto your old life today? The old life was crucified with Christ! Let the old man die! Allow Christ to live HIS life through you today. — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK

God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 24; Jeremiah 3-5; 1 Timothy 4

Great Quote: The chief thing is, not to know WHAT GOD has said, but that GOD HIMSELF says it to us … We must have the words IN US, taken up into our will and life, reproduced in our disposition and conduct. We must have them ABIDING in us: our whole life one continued exposition of the words that are within, and filling us; the words revealing Christ within, and our life revealing Him without. — Andrew Murray

The Power of God’s Word

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The Power of GOD’S WORD

I enjoy sharing my heart with you each day and what God is teaching me in my walk with Him. I find that HIS Word is becoming more and more precious to me each day. As I was reading through the ONE YEAR BIBLE today (great tool guys!), today’s Psalm was one that I committed to memory YEARS ago. It was so powerful that I decided to let the WORD speak for itself today. Let it soak into your heart:

Psalm 91 (from the ESV)

He will dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

For HE will deliver YOU from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
HE will cover YOU with his pinions, and under HIS wings YOU will find refuge;
HIS faithfulness is a shield and buckler. YOU will not dear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, for the destruction that wastes at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.

Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place — the Most High, who is MY refuge — no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.

For he will give HIS angels charge concerning you to guard YOU in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.

Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because HE KNOWS MY NAME. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.

May HIS WORDS breathe strength, encouragement, and joy into YOUR heart today. — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK

God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 23; Jeremiah 1-2; 1 Timothy 3

Great Quote: If you thus pour out all your weaknesses, needs, troubles, there will be no lack of what to say. You will never exhaust the subject. It is continually being renewed. People who have no secrets from each other never want for subjects of conversation. They do not weigh their words, for there is nothing to be held back; neither do they seek for something to say. They talk out of the abundance of the heart, without consideration they say just what they think. Blessed are they who attain to such familiar, unreserved intercourse with God. Francois Fenelon

Broken Things

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A Broken and Contrite Heart

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” Psalm 51:17

This is a powerful word from STREAMS IN THE DESERT:

Those people God uses most to bring glory to Himself are those who are completely broken, for the sacrifice He accepts is a “broken and contrite heart.” It was not until Jacob’s natural strength was broken, when “his hip was wrenched” (Genesis 32:25) at Peniel, that he came to the point where God could clothe him with spiritual power. And it was not until Moses struck the rock at Horeb, breaking its surface, that cool “water came out of it for the people to drink (Exodus 17:6).

It was not until Gideon’s three hundred specially chosen soldiers “broke jars that were in their hands” (Judges 7:19), which symbolized brokenness in their lives, that the hidden light of the torches shone forth, bringing terror to their enemies. It was once the poor widow broke the seal on her remaining jar of oil and began to pour it that God miraculously multiplied it to pay her debts and thereby supplies her means of support. (See 2 Kings 4:1-7)

It was not until Esther risked her life and broke through the strict laws of a heathen king’s court that she obtained favor to rescue her people from death. (See Esther 4:16)

It was once Jesus took “the five loaves … and broke them” (Luke 9:16) that the bread was multiplied to feed the five thousand. Through the very process of the loaves being broken, the miracle occurred. It was when Mary broke her beautiful “alabaster jar of very expensive perfume” (Matthew 26:7), destroying its future usefulness and value, that the wonderful fragrance filled the house. And it was when Jesus allowed His precious body to be broken by thorns, nails and a spear that His inner life was poured out like an ocean of crystal-clear water, for thirsty sinners to drink and then live.

It is not until a beautiful kernel of corn is buried and broken in the earth by death that its inner heart sprouts, producing hundreds of other seeds and kernels. And so it has always been, down through the history of plants, people, and all of spiritual life — God uses BROKEN THINGS.

Those who have been gripped by the power of the Holy Spirit and are used for God’s glory are those who have been broken in their finances, broken in their self-will, broken in their ambitions, broken in their lofty ideals, broken in their worldly reputation, broken in their desires, and often broken in their health.

Yes, He uses those who are despised by the world and who seem totally hopeless and helpless, just as Isaiah said: “The lame will carry off the plunder.” Isaiah 33:23

This reading ends with this prayer … can you pray it today?

O, break my heart; but break it as a field
is plowed and broken for the seeds of corn;
Oh, break it as the buds, by green leaf sealed,
Are to unloose the golden blossom, torn;
Love would I offer unto Love’s great Master,
Set free the fragrance, break the alabaster.

Oh, break my heart; break it, victorious God,
That life’s eternal well may flow abroad;
Oh, let it break as when the captive trees,
Breaking cold bonds, regain their liberties;
And as thoughts sacred grove to life is springing,
Be joys, like birds, their hope, Your victory singing.

Are you willing to be broken for the Master’s use? — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK
God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 23; Jeremiah 1-2; 1 Timothy 3
Great Quote: Distress of soul and grief of heart can only bring on destruction of body. Joy alone is a healer, and ye can have it in the darkest hour if ye will force thy soul to rise to Me in worship and adoration. I have not failed thee and ye have not failed Me. Remember that I am in the midst when ye praise me. Never let any kind of anxiety crowd out thy praises. Frances J. Roberts