It Is Well with My Soul

“All your waves and breakers have swept over me.” Psalm 42:7

Good morning, brothers. I am writing this blog on Sunday – the day before “Frankenstorm!” We have no idea what the outcome of this storm will be – but I am thankful that as believers it can be well with our soul no matter what storms we are facing.

This past few weeks there have been so many storms. Yesterday there was an earthquake in Canada that triggered the possibility of a Tsunami in Hawaii. Tropical storm Sandy is threatening to pound the East Coast with horrific devastation.

Last week a friend’s wife died at a very young age from a horrible battle with cancer. In South Jersey a little girl was brutally murdered by two teens over a bike. Another friend was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.

How do we respond during the storms of life? We trust and give thanks. I read this quote in Streams in the Desert – Make it your business to learn to be peaceful and safe in God through every situation.

Horratio Spafford knew so much about storms. A lost business in the Chicago fire. Three teenage daughters killed when on a trip with their Mom.

But out of that storm came one of the world’s most wonderful hymns:

When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll,
Whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say,
“It is well, it is well with my soul.

I believe that the reason Spafford could experience peace in the midst of the storm was because He had peace WITH God. He penned these words of the third stanza:

My sin – O, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin – not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Years ago I saw this bumper sticker:

I believe that we will only experience the peace OF God when we have peace WITH God. If you have been set free from your sin by trusting in the finished work of Christ on the cross on your behalf – you stand alone in His righteousness and can have HIS perfect peace. You can say with Spafford come cancer, earthquake, or tropical storm:

It is well with my soul – It IS well, it IS well with my soul. Do you have peace WITH God? If not, call me or email me today: 732-350-1187 or bwelte@americaskeswick.org.
Bill Welte is President/CEO America’s Keswick

Team YOU: Jeremiah 18-19; Proverbs 29; 2 Timothy 3

Motivations: Every generation must stand on the shoulders of the previous generation and reach higher. Augustine

Practice to Remember: Level 1:James 2:23; Level 2: James 2:14-26

Powered Up:  We lean to our own understanding, or we bank on service and do away with prayer, and consequently by succeeding in the external we fail in the eternal, because in the eternal we succeed only by prevailing prayer. – Oswald Chambers

A Prayer About Refreshment

I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint. (Jer. 31:25 NIV)

Well another week is over and I want to share a prayer with you for the weekend and pray that it will encourage your heart. I am loving this book of Gospel-centered prayers written by Pastor Scotty Smith:

Gracious Father, I am like a baby bird in a nest before this promise, with my mouth wide open. I am weary. I haven’t fainted yet, but I am weary. It’s heartening to know that I don’t have to pretend around you. I don’t have to feel guilty, feign strength, or make excuses.

You meet me in my weariness to refresh me as a loving Father, not reprimand me as a disgruntled coach. You meet me with the gospel, not a scorecard. So what am I weary about, Lord? I’m not really sure. I need you to help me sort all that out. It’s probably a combination of things.

Though I hate to admit it, I am getting older, and my energy level’s not exactly what it used to be. I know I must make more time to relax, rest, and replenish. And then there’s the “wars and rumors of wars” thing. I never saw the day coming when walking people rather than flying planes would be the delivery system for bombs. My weariness probably also has something to do with the energy it takes to stay connected to family and friends. Relationships are so complex, Father. No one knows that better than you.

How I long for the day when allbrokenness will give way to the perfect blessedness of loving well in the new heaven and new earth. That day cannot come a day too soon. We look forward to an eternity of no more pettiness or petulance; no more hard-heartedness or fragile-heartedness; no more hurt feelings or bullying egos; no more communicating in part or conflicting to win; no more passive-aggressiveness or active indifference; no more innuendo or bravado or anything else that hides the beauty of Jesus.

Indeed, Jesus, there’s no refreshment apart from you. You still cry out in a loud voice for the thirsty ones to come to you and drink. You still call to the weary and heavy laden to come to you for rest. Kiss my heart today with the Good News, the fresh news of the gospel, and it will be enough. Not for a month, or a week, but just for this one day, help me to love others as you love me. I pray in your faithful name. Amen.

Smith, Scotty (2011-09-01). Everyday Prayers for a Transformed Life: 365 Days to Gospel-Centered Faith (Kindle Locations 7399-7407). Baker Book Group. Kindle Edition.

Isn’t that powerful? I pray that this weekend you will be refreshed  body, soul, mind and spirit. Thanks for joining me on the journey. – Bill Welte is President/CEO of America’s Keswick and originator of the Freedom Fighter blog

Team YOU: Jeremiah 11-12; Proverbs 26; 1 Timothy 6

Motivations: Never underestimate the importance of simply being physically present in the place God wants you. You may not be asked to perform some dramatic ministry, but simply being there is a ministry. Warren W. Wiersbe

Practice to Remember: Level 1:James 2:5; Level 2: James 2:1-5

Powered Up:  The minimal prayer accompanying many projects in the church may indicate that what is being undertaken is simply what human beings can accomplish pretty well by themselves. Richard Lovelace

THE REWARDS OF SEEKING GOD’S FACE

“One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD And to meditate in His temple.” (Psalm 27:4)

            David was a man after God’s own heart.  He had a special relationship with God.  “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).

One reason for David’s intimacy with God was his sincere heart’s desire to seek God’s face.  He said in Psalm 27:8, “My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’  Your face, Lord, I will seek.”  Do you long to live in the intimate presence of God?  If you do, what are the rewards of seeking the face of God?  David explains.

Divine help comes from seeking God’s face (v. 9).  David knew he had to keep personal sin in check if he was to expect divine help in facing the challenges of his life.  You and I must do the same.

Divine care comes from seeking God’s face (v. 10).  Earlier in this psalm David mused, “For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock” (v. 5).  David knew that even if he couldn’t count on friends and family, he could count on God.

Divine guidance comes from seeking God’s face (v. 11).  When we foster an intimate relationship with God, the reward is the constant leading of the Lord.  “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. . . . He leads me beside quiet waters. . . .  He guides me in the paths of righteousness . . .” (Ps. 23:1-3).

Divine confidence comes from seeking God’s face (v. 13).  Even during the dark times of life, David was confident he would see the goodness of the Lord.  Why?  Because he knew that seeking God’s face brought hope.  What it did for David, it will do for you too.

Take some time today just to seek the face of the Lord.  Wait quietly before Him and enjoy the intimacy of His fellowship.  If you do, you’re sure to enjoy the rewards of that intimacy. Dr. Woodrow Kroll is the President of Back to the Bible and a contributor to the Keswick daily devotional, REAL VICTORY FOR REAL LIFE.

Team YOU: Jeremiah 9-10; Proverbs 25; 1 Timothy 6

Motivations: “The apostle Paul writes that we are not justified by works of the law but through faith in Christ Jesus. We are justified by faith alone, saved by grace alone because of what Christ has done on our behalf. The moralistic gospel may fill our churches with well-behaved people. But the result will merely be an improved version of the old man—not the new man that the biblical gospel promises. Without grace, we miss out on true life transformation…Grace accomplishes what moralism promises but can never deliver: a changed heart.” Trevin Wax, Counterfeit Gospels

Practice to Remember: Level 1:James 2:5; Level 2: James 2:1-5

Powered Up:  I can be active and pray; I can work and pray; but I cannot be busy and pray. – Eugene Peterson

 

Is Prayer A Mere Formality?

“Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23-24 (AMP)

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Wesley Grove Chapel in Yardville, NJ. I had been there to attend a Pastor and staff day of prayer retreat.  Pastor Don Shoemaker of First Wesleyan Church in Jersey City gave us a brief devotional on his thoughts on prayer. The one thing he said to us that struck me was we seem to treat prayer as a mere formality.  Is our prayer life the basic “Before I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take” kind of prayer life.

If this was really our daily prayer life he suggested that we pray transformationally. This would be to pray outside of our comfort zone, after all; you need to pray so that you can strengthen yourself in The Lord. This would mean exercising that faith muscle. For those of us who have been called to serve at a higher level we have to really understand that it is a privilege to pray. If you have a wanting to hear His voice, even if you think it has to be audible, you need to have vertical conversation constantly.

When we bring ourselves into the presence of His throne of grace we should be asking our Creator to do these three things in our daily walk…

Search Me!

Stretch Me!

Send Me!

Even though Pastor Don empathized that it may be a dangerous thing not to ask God to search our hearts, I would venture to say to not ask to be stretched and sent be as equally dangerous. It gives the impression that you have something to hold on to and it has the appearance to you that it can’t be surrendered.

Psalm 139 ends like this…”And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” David already knows that he shouldn’t be thinking himself free from wickedness so he asks YHVH to search his heart. David is also asking to be stretched for any grievous way; anything that would wound and grieve his own soul, grieve the hearts of God’s people or to grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

Then David asks to be lead in the way of the everlasting…SEND ME!! When Pastor Don brought this point up he backed it up with Isaiah 6:8…”And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” When David pen’s “in the way everlasting” he could have been thinking in the way of the old, the good old way, the ancient path in which those patriarchs before and after the flood. I will stretch this to say in the perpetual way, in a way that endures forever; to walk the path that Jesus gave direction to walk upon. In closing brothers I would challenge you to pray transformationally. Ask to be searched, to be stretched and to be sent so that when you lay yourself down to sleep, YHVH will hear your prayers as more than just a mere formality…Amen? – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and frequent Freedom Fighter Blogger

Team YOU: Jeremiah 7-8; Proverbs 24; 1 Timothy 4

Motivations: “Just like the sound barrier, there is a faith barrier. And breaking the faith barrier in the spiritual realm is much like breaking the sound barrier in the physical realm. If you want to experience a supernatural breakthrough, you have to pray through.”—Mark Batterson

Practice to Remember: Level 1:James 2:5; Level 2: James 2:1-5

Powered Up:  The prayerless life cannot cope with the attacks of corruption within and the crushing blows without. – Leroy Eims

Pray First

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3

It may seem like a little thing to you – but I seemed to always be losing my keys. My wife got me in the habit of hanging them up as soon as I come in the door and that has really helped. In fact so much so that last week I thought I left my keys at a church where I was speaking. I had everyone looking and they were nowhere to be found.

I had planned to run out to the church myself to look. I wasn’t frustrated, but I finally prayed about it. “Lord, You know where those keys are! Please help me find them.” That night when I came home from the office, I went to hang up the “borrowed” set of keys and there were the originals! Duh! I didn’t realize that the habit of hanging them up became so much of what I do that I never even thought to look there.

Sharing that story with my grandson, Tanner, he reminded me about the time I lost my cell phone. We had gone to the movies and when I came home I couldn’t find my cell phone. We looked everywhere. I was frantic.

Tanner said, “Pop, let’s ask Jesus to help you find it.” Smack! Double-smack. So we did. I then decided to call the theater to see if anyone turned it in. Nothing. I really felt compelled to drive to the theater to see if it was still in the area we sat.

When we arrived the ticket taker said I couldn’t go in since the movie was already started. I pleaded and he finally said yes. Thankfully there was no one sitting where we had sat, but it was sure darker than I thought.

Down on my hands and knees crawling with the muck of soda and spilled popcorn, I felt around and nothing. Seconds later my phone went off – it was on vibrate – but it lit up like a Christmas tree. I was excited enough, but Tanner yelled, “Yeah, Jesus!”

I really think that Abba Father wants to show us more of His power even in the small stuff of life. Why is it that we wait until we are desperate to pray? I want to get to that place where the FIRST thing I do is pray – not the last thing. Maybe my missing keys will be that constant reminder to PRAY FIRST. — Bill Welte is President & CEO of America’s Keswick

Team YOU: Jeremiah 5-6; Proverbs 23; 1 Timothy 3

Motivations: God designed it this way; He intended that His great power, wisdom, and love should become visible in very ordinary and otherwise inconsequential people. Ray C. Stedman

Practice to Remember: Level 1:James 2:5; Level 2: James 2:1-5

Powered Up:  Prayer is asking for rain. Faith is carrying the umbrella. Robert C. Savage

Welcome Your Trials as Your Friends

Welcome to this new week of blogs. I trust you have had a great weekend and that you had a blessed time worshipping the Lord at your church yesterday.

A number of years ago I was reading through the New Testament using the J. B. Phillips translation. I was reading through the book of James and at the same time was preparing a message called “One of Those Days – Facing the Storms of Life.”

I was fascinated with the way Phillips translated James 1:2-8 and found the verses to be riveted with such amazing truth:

When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives my brothers, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become men of mature character with the right sort of independence. And if, in the process, any of you does not know how to meet any particular problem he has only to ask God—who gives generously to all men without making them feel foolish or guilty—and he may be quite sure that the necessary wisdom will be given him. But he must ask in sincere faith without secret doubts as to whether he really wants God’s help or not. The man who trusts God, but with inward reservations, is like a wave of the sea, carried forward by the wind one moment and driven back the next. That sort of man cannot hope to receive anything from God, and the life of a man of divided loyalty will reveal instability at every turn.

Question – when was the last time you thought about your trial as a “friend?” Wow.

Years ago I remember listening to an interview that Larry King did with Joni Eareckson Tada. Towards the end of the interview King asked Joni if she were given the opportunity to re-write the script of her accident and her on-going condition, what would she change?

I was amazed when she responded immediately with saying that she wouldn’t change a thing because of the lessons she has learned being in a wheel-chair. She said that while it was painful and the road was hard, she has learned so much from the chair that she might never have learned without it. She said that the chair had become her friend.

Trials as friends! Think about it. Those trials come to produce in us endurance and to make us men and women of character.

So it you are facing a trial in your life – turn your “stinking thinking” around and welcome it as your friend. Look for the ways that God is building endurance and character into your life. – Bill Welte is President& CEO of America’s Keswick and a regular Freedom Fighter blogger

Team YOU: Jeremiah 3-4; Proverbs 22; 1 Timothy 2

Motivations: If you cannot mould yourself entirely as you would wish, how can you expect other people to be entirely to your liking? Thomas a Kempis

Practice to Remember: Level 1:James 2:12-13; Level 2: James 2:6-13

Powered Up:  Prayer is not a question of altering things externally, but of working wonders in a man’s disposition. – Oswald Chambers

A Prayer for Fresh Endurance and Encouragement

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. (Rom. 15:5–7)

Well we have completed another week in our journey. Today’s prayer is another one from the collection written by Pastor Scotty Smith in Everyday Prayers -365 Days to Gospel Centered Faith:

Heavenly Father, I’m like a hungry little bird with my mouth wide open this morning. I’m glad you’re the God who gives endurance and encouragement, for I’m starving for both. Bring an abundance of both, Father—“good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over” (Luke 6:38)!

I praise you for these twin sisters of grace. One without the other would simply not be enough. Endurance without encouragement can atrophy into heartless stoicism. Encouragement without endurance can wither into short-lived enthusiasm. Give us both, bunches of both.

Father, I’m not just praying for me but for the whole family of believers with whom I’m so privileged to walk. Along with endurance and encouragement, I ask you to give us a fresh supersized order of unity. How else will we be able to glorify you with one heart and one mouth? How else will we even want your glory above our own preferences and priorities?

Our church family is so much like the churches Paul was addressing in Rome. We come from many different backgrounds. We’ve been rescued from nonreligion and gospelless religion. We have different perspectives and varying passions. We are at different stages in knowing how to follow Jesus and knowing what following Jesus actually means. All in all, we are prime candidates for a fresh visitation of the Holy Spirit, for he is the true Spirit of Unity.

Father, whether or not we actually get to experience a full-bore revival, help us to accept one another just as Jesus has already accepted each of us. This brings you great praise. The gospel we already have is all the gospel we actually need. Our city and the nations of the world are desperate to see Christ-followers who know how to love one another when it’s easy and when it’s not. Let us be just such a people. We pray expectantly, in Jesus’ mighty and merciful name. Amen.

Smith, Scotty (2011-09-01). Everyday Prayers for a Transformed Life: 365 Days to Gospel-Centered Faith (Kindle Locations 7214-7232). Baker Book Group. Kindle Edition.

Thanks for joining me this week, my brothers. God bless you. – Bill Welte is President/CEO of America’s Keswick

Team YOU: Isaiah 63-64; Proverbs 19; 2 Thessalonians 2

Motivations: To put your trust in the world or in worldly men is to build your house upon the sand, for today they will raise you aloft and tomorrow will so cast you down that there will be no trace left of you, for they are in all things unstable. Sadhu Sundar Singh

Practice to Remember: Level 1:James 2:5; Level 2: James 2:1-5

Powered Up:  A prayer offered by the humblest and most obscure saint on the ground of the Redemption of Christ demands the complete attention of God and the performance of His program. Oswald Chambers

If He Calls You, He Will Do It!

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

I love the 5^th chapter of Paul’s letter to the church at Thessalonica. Hopefully you read that chapter yesterday if you are following the reading plan posted each day in our Freedom Fighter blog.

I want to highlight verse 24 today. It has been the testimony of my life for the past four decades. Some of you have experienced the truth of this verse in your life.

I have spent the last 16 years at America’s Keswick serving as the President/CEO of a 115 year old ministry that for 100 years was directed by the Raws family. I can’t tell you how humbling it has been to try and walk in the shoes of a family that not only had the privilege of birthing the vision – but who were deeply involved in every facet of the ministry.

My two predecessors, Roger Williams, now the Executive Director of Mount Hermon Christian Conference Center and John Bryant, Executive Director of Christ Home served America’s Keswick as Executive Director’s using their unique gifts during their years of service.

I never went to school to learn to be an Executive Director of a Christian Conference center let alone oversee an addiction recovery ministry. Looking back I can see how my life/ministry experiences were used in my life to bring me to this point in my journey but I have to admit, there are more days that you want to know, that I find myself saying, “What did I get myself into?”

Just this past week a situation came up that I was clueless how to handle, but yet God gave me the wisdom and insight to think it through and to handle it. I sat at my desk in amazement almost asking the question, “Where did that come from?”

You see when God calls you to do something, even if you don’t think you can do it – if the call is there – this verses reminds us that if He calls you – He will also do it. Wow! Throughout the Scriptures from Moses to David to Daniel to Paul – God has shown His servants that He will accomplish through them more than they could have ever imagined.

Has He called YOU to do something? Well let Him do it through you! – Bill Welte is President/CEO of America’s Keswick

Team YOU: Isaiah 61-62; Proverbs 18; 2 Thessalonians 1

Motivations: The god which the vast majority of professing Christians love, is looked upon very much like an indulgent old man, who himself has no relish for folly, but leniently winks at the indiscretions of youth. But the Word says, ‘Thou hatest the workers of iniquity’ (Ps. 5:5). And again, ‘God is angry with the wicked every day’ (Ps 7:11). But men refuse to believe in this God, and gnash their teeth when His hatred of sin is faithfully pressed upon their attention. Arthur W. Pink

Practice to Remember: Level 1:James 2:5; Level 2: James 2:1-5

Powered Up:  If we look on prayer as a means of developing ourselves, there is nothing in it at all, nor do we find that idea of prayer in the Bible. – Oswald Chambers

THE PROTECTION OF PRAISE

“If you search for good, you will find favor; but if you search for evil, it will find you!” (Proverbs 11:27 NLT)

Over the years I’ve met some pretty cool servants of the Lord. Many years ago when I served as Vice President of Ministries at Sandy Cove, I had the privilege of meeting singer/songwrite/author/speaker, John Fischer. John is a good friend of America’s Keswick and he wrote several devotionals in our daily devotional, REAL VICTORY FOR REAL LIFE:

Praise is a valuable weapon against the enemy. War cries, frontal assaults, or special words of exorcism can’t drive back the forces of evil. Neither can the brandishing of the sword or the charge of the brigade. What keeps the powers of darkness at bay is the simple and true praise of the Savior from a heart set free.

Christians are engaged in a battle, but going on the warpath won’t win this fight. It can even make matters worse. Christians can easily get caught up searching for evil in the world and trying to root it out, but by focusing on evil so much we bring the evil right to us. The best way to go after the enemy is with Christ on our minds and praise for Him in our hearts. We do this unconsciously, all the time. We sing a little song of praise as we go about our tasks, and unseen demons rush for cover. There are some things we are better off not knowing about.

Like the complicated etchings of the classical German painter Albrecht Durer that depict hosts of angelic beings and demons warring high in the sky over peaceful, tranquil landscapes, we have little knowledge of what is really going on at any given time in the heavenly realms around us. But we need not be conscious of this. We do not require sentries on the watch every hour, fearing attack. We do not have to check behind every door. It’s better that we don’t. (“If you search for evil, it will find you!”) We need only be in the presence and the praise of Jesus. The enemy flees at the mere sound of his name.

Jesus is our constant protection. He is our most valuable possession. The best protection against evil is a heart bent toward the good—seeking God in all things. Light does not fight with darkness. There is no wrestling match necessary. Light banishes darkness. They cannot occupy the same place at the same time. John Fischer

Team YOU: Isaiah 59-60; Proverbs 17; 1 Thessalonians 5

Motivations: When I was young I was sure of everything; in a few years, having been mistaken a thousand times, I was not half so sure of most things as I was before; at present, I am hardly sure of anything but what God has revealed to me. John Wesley

Practice to Remember: Level 1:James 2:5; Level 2: James 2:1-5 

Powered Up:  I question whether the people who continually ask for prayer meetings know the first element of prayer. It is often an abortion of religious hysterics, a disease of the nerves taking a spiritual twist. – Oswald Chambers

He Was First, He’ll be Last

“When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. But He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”  Revelation 1:17-18 (ESV)

Sometimes my wife sends me the Days of Praise e-devotionals she gets. When they hit the mark with her she passes them along to me with a one line zinger. She recently sent me something that struck a chord not so much with its content but with the how the end was summarized. It was based in Psalm 34:4, basically covered fear and that the Good News of the Gospel message can set us free from fear. I didn’t know that 19 times in the Bible we can find the words “fear not”.

The devotional ended with this. “Perhaps the greatest fear of all is the fear of death, but the Lord delivers us even from this fear, for He has conquered death. In His glorified body, He has said, “Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death” This got my wheels turning and I wondered what the nay-sayers of this time period would use this for.

I have a friend at work who is kinda in and out of Kingdom Hall these days. Pablo and I have many discussions on Kingdom principles and we both watch “Ancient Aliens” on the History Channel. He gives some of what is brought forth by that show as possibilities, I, on the other hand, compare the nonsense they talk about on how man was brought here by spacecraft’s and that it was really Duck Dodgers of the 21^st & ½ century as their pilot. I mean, if we’re going to get “Loony Tunes” with it might as well bring in Daffy Duck as comic relief.

But Pablo and I looked at what we read in Revelation 1:17-18 and we both said from the time John pen’s “I am the first and the last” that it would give the Ancient Alien theorists the wiggle room they need to have this discussion that Duck Dodgers brought us here and that he is coming back on 12-21-2012 to take us home…well maybe only 144,000 of us. But it’s the “fear not” part I that emphasis. Only the Tri-unity of loving and caring God could say these two words and have them bring true comfort.

To put this into perspective, Jesus was there at the beginning and we need to not just believe this because the Bible tells us so but to believe this by faith. As John Gill wrote, “He is the first and last in divine predestination (Isaiah 41:4), in the covenant of grace, in creation, in the business of salvation, and in His church, by whom, and for whom, are all things in it; He is the head of the body, the Son over His own house, and the firstborn among many brethren.” Jesus will be there at the end and we need to not just believe this because the Bible tells us so but to believe this because of the marvel of the common grace given to all just because He loves us, that in itself should reinforce your faith. If it doesn’t…fear not, neither be dismayed because if you want it to, it can. Amen? – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a regular blogger for Freedom Fighter

Team YOU: Isaiah 57-58; Proverbs 16; 1 Thessalonians 4

Motivations: I am ready to meet God face to face tonight and look into those eyes of infinite holiness, for all my sins are covered by the atoning blood. (Reuben Archer) R. A. Torrey

Practice to Remember: Level 1:James 2:5; Level 2: James 2:1-5

Powered Up:  God has so constituted things that prayer on the basis of Redemption alters the way a man looks at things. Oswald Chambers