ABIDING IN CHRIST
“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” Psalm 91:1

“I used to think there was a mystery about abiding in Christ, but I see now that abiding only means trusting Him fully. When you understand this, it becomes the simplest matter in the world.

We sometimes say, speaking of two human beings, that they ‘live in each other’s hearts.’ By this we mean that perfect love and confidence exist between them and that doubt of one another are impossible. If my trust in the fortress of the Lord is absolute, I am abiding in that fortress.
The practical thing to do since God is our Fortress and our High Tower is to surrender by faith to put ourselves and all our interest into this divine dwelling place. Then we must dismiss all care or anxiety from our minds. Since the Lord is our dwelling place, nothing can possibly come to any harm that is committed to His care.

As long as we believe this, our affairs remain in His hands. The moment we begin to doubt, we take our affairs into our own hands, and they are no longer in the divine fortress. Things cannot be in two places at once. If they are in our own care, they cannot be in God’s care. And if they are in God’s care, the cannot be in our own.

This is as clear as daylight, and yet, for the lack of a little common sense, people often get mixed up over it. They put their affairs in God’s fortress, and at the same time put them into their own fortress as well. Either trust the Lord completely or else trust yourself completely; but do not try to mix the two trusts, for they will not mix.

It often helps to put your trust into words. Say aloud, ‘God is my dwelling place, and I am going to abide in Him forever. It is all settled; I am in this divine habitation, and I am safe here. I am not going to move out again.” – Hannah Whitall Smith

Good word for today. Are you abiding and trusting?

Great quote: Your sorrow itself shall be turned into joy. Not the sorrow to be taken away, and joy to be put in its place, but the very sorrow which now grieves you shall be turned into joy. God not only takes away the bitterness and gives sweetness in its place, but turns the bitterness into sweetness itself.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon

110 YEARS OLD TODAY

“Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold ALL things are new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

A significant event took place on this day over 110 years ago today which changed the course in history for thousands of men whose lives have been impacted by the ministry of the Colony of Mercy.

On September 25, 1897, William Raws, a converted alcoholic, joined by his family and several friends, gathered together at the old homestead of the original Giberson Saw Mill, and pooled together their resources which amounted to $1.87, thus beginning the ministry of the Colony of Mercy. 110 years later, the Colony of Mercy still ministers to men bound in life-dominating addictions to alcohol, drugs, gambling, tobacco and sexual issues. Thousands of men’s lives have been transformed by God’s amazing grace and have been set free!

While the buildings and personnel have changed over our 110-year history, the message has never changed! It isn’t about reformation – it is all about TRANSFORMATION. William Raws believed that SIN was the root of all addiction and that Christ died so that men like him could be saved and enjoy a life of victory.

If you are reading today’s FREEDOM FIGHTER and are bound in addiction, you too can be set free, my friend. Pick up the phone and call today for help. Our staff stand ready to assist you in finding the ONLY lasting answer to addiction – JESUS CHRIST!

Great quote: “God sees me,” is the sweet solace of the true believer. He knows the way that I take, will make that rugged way seem smooth. If perils and distress so shake the heart that plenteous tears give evidence of suffering, these tears are marked on high, and tender compassion will wipe them all away. The day has not yet come when there shall be no more tears. But the day is always present when they awaken sympathy in the Redeemer’s breast. He who wept on earth will soon wipe all tears away! Henry Law

HOSPITALITY 101

“Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” Romans 12:13

A number of years ago I read a fascinating book on upcoming trends in our world. The book was entitled THE POPCORN REPORT by Faith Popcorn, and was a fascinating read on where she saw life in our world in the next several decades. One of the trends that she wrote about was the subject of “Cocooning.”

In her report she projected that people would be building large homes that would be multiple-family dwellings equipped with large entertainment centers where the nuclear family could be connected to the world without really having to leave the confines of their homes. Rather than go to restaurants, food would be delivered right to the door. Instead of getting to know your neighbors, your family would be your circle of influence. Popcorn predicted that young couples would return to live with their parents because of financial limitations, thus ending the period of the “empty-nest” syndrome.

Hospitality like customer service, has become a lost art. Our world which is now connected globally, enable us to cocoon, and still be able to enjoy the world through virtual reality without ever connecting with people.

God did not create us to live in isolation. He created us first of all to enjoy and delight in our fellowship with HIM, but also to enjoy being around like-minded brothers and sisters who love the Lord just like we do.

This past weekend we visited two special friends from America’s KESWICK.
Tom and Connie have been inviting to come stay with them and enjoy their favorite city, Washington, DC. We finally took them up on their offer, and what a great weekend we had of seeing the city, but more importantly, sitting around their living room and dining room table breaking bread and talking about the goodness of God. It was down-right cool!

They demonstrated to us real hospitality. And what is cool is that they have made their home available to provide care for Tom’s Mom and their daughter and two grandchildren. They have demonstrated with the example of their lives “biblical hospitality.” We left their home yesterday refreshed and invigorated after a long summer of ministry.

Thanks, Tom and Connie, for demonstrating to us genuine hospitality. We love you!

Great quote: I have not a shadow of doubt that if all our eyes could be opened today, we should see our homes, and our places of business, and the streets we traverse, filled with the “chariots of God.” There is no need for any one of us to walk for lack of chariots. That cross inmate of your household, who has hitherto made life a burden to you, and who has been the Juggernaut car to crush your soul into the dust, may henceforth be a glorious chariot to carry you to the heights of heavenly patience and long-suffering. That misunderstanding, that mortification, that unkindness, that disappointment, that loss, that defeat,–all these are chariots waiting to carry you to the very heights of victory you have so longed to reach. Mount into them, then, with thankful hearts, and lose sight of all second causes in the shining of His love who will carry you in His arms safely and triumphantly over it all.

Hannah Whitall Smith

WHO ARE YOU INFLUENCING

Don Keller is with the Lord today. I first met him in 1975. He had just gone through a divorce he didn’t want, and he was a single parent to two boys. Don had a wonderful heart for the Lord and for other people. He worked for Drakes Cakes for years; he was the resident junk food salesman in our church.

Shortly after I became the pastor of Berean Baptist Church in Magnolia, NJ, Don and his boys began attending the church and joined a few months later. The church owned an old school bus, and Don asked if he could try to build a bus route. The keys were in his pocket in short order.

Don went door to door every Saturday looking for people who might like to ride the bus to Bible School and church. He worked in the heat and the cold. He worked when the sun was shining and when it rained. He gave people his phone number and told them to call him if they needed anything. To a whole neighborhood he became “Uncle Don.”

No one but the Lord knows how much money he spent from his own pocket in ministering to the families on the bus route. He never asked for reimbursement; it was just his ministry to the Lord. His sacrifices went unnoticed to most people since he refused to talk about them.

“Uncle Don” had one goal in all he did. He wanted to see children and their parents come to the Lord. He believed God could save anyone, and he wasn’t shy about sharing his faith. People mattered enough that he had to share; he didn’t think he had a choice.

I learned from Don’s example. For almost eight years that I served that church, Don modeled faithfulness, humility and sacrifice. His gracious spirit shone through in all he did. In all his ministry, Don made a point of encouraging me anyway he could. He loved Jesus. He loved people. He loved me. Don is in Heaven today, but my life is richer for the years I got to serve God with him.

Someday I’ll be in heaven. I pray that someone will sense the same benefit from my life that I sense from knowing and serving with Don Keller. Does your influence in the people around you draw them to Jesus? May God give you and me that kind of influence!

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who sins souls is wise. (Proverbs 11:30) (Pastor John Strain – First Baptist Toms River)

Great Quote: Words are also actions and actions are kind of words. — Quotation from the Great Hall of the Library of Congress

The fall semester of the KESWICK INSTITUTE OF BIBLICAL STUDIES is about to begin. It’s not too late to register. Check out information on our
website: www.americaskeswick.org. Pastor John will be teaching a course on the book of Proverbs.

Encourage One Another

Scripture tells us much about how important we are to each other. We’re called a body, a family, a community of faith. Various New Testament writers tell us that we’re brothers and sisters in Christ. God clearly expects us to understand the importance of our relationships with other believers.

Over the last three weekends I’ve told you of several people who have made a real difference in my life by the way they lived their lives for Jesus. You probably know people like that, too. They’re people you’ll never forget. You don’t want to forget them!

For each of the six people I’ve written about, I know ten or twenty more that have brought blessing to my life. I can’t remember all their names, and I wish I could. They said something that encouraged me. They sent a card at just the right time to lift my spirits. Some of them just let me know they appreciated something I’d said or done as their pastor. The words they spoke are no longer remembered. The cards are long gone. The expressions of appreciation are forgotten.

Make no mistake, though. Those people, no longer remembered specifically, made a difference in my life at a specific time in my life. They chose to follow God’s promptings, and He used them to bless my life. If I were to go back to some of those churches, memories would come to the surface. I would be able to thank them for their kind thoughtfulness.

All of us know people who can suck the life right out of us. We all know others who always seem to have a good word at just the right time. You and I can choose which kind of people we want to be. We know God’s choice; He tells us in His Word. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up . . . .” (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

Choose to be an encourager. Choose to be a blessing. (Pastor John Strain – Fist Baptist of Toms River

Great quote: How often we look upon God as our last and feeblest resource! We go to Him because we have nowhere else to go. And then we learn that the storms of life have driven us, not upon the rocks, but into the desired haven. George Macdonald

THE DEVIL AND THE DUCK

This one was just too good to not share with you.

A little boy was visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods He practiced in the woods; but he could never hit the target.

Getting a little discouraged, he headed back home for dinner. As he was walking back, he saw Grandma’s pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and grieved! In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to see his sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.

After lunch the next day Grandma said, “Sally, let’s wash the dishes.”
But Sally said, “Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.” Then she whispered to him, “Remember the duck?” So Johnny did the dishes.

Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing, and Grandma said, “I’m sorry but I need Sally to help make supper.” Sally just smiled and said, “Well that’s all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help.”

She whispered again, “Remember the duck?” So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help. After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally’s, he finally couldn’t stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck.

Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, “Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.”

Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done. . .and the devil keeps throwing it up in your face . . . (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.) . . .
Whatever it is, you need to know that God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing. He has seen your whole life.

He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven. He’s just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you. The great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness, He not only forgives you, but He forgets.

It is by God’s grace and mercy that we are saved. Go ahead and make the difference in someone’s life today. When Jesus died on the cross; he was thinking of you!

I met someone yesterday that shared that their spouse has been struggling for years over God forgiving them for something that they had done over 70 years ago! He asked for God’s forgiveness and has never “felt” it! Praise God that when He forgives He forgets and remembers no more. The late Corrie ten Boom said, “When we ask for God’s forgiveness, He places our sins in the sea of forgetfulness and puts up a sign – NO MORE FISHING!”

Great Quote: One of the marks of spiritual maturity is the quiet confidence that God is in control – without the need to understand why He does what He does. Anonymous

PIRITUAL ABANDONMENT (Part 2)

Yesterday I shared Part 1 of a great devotional written by Jeanne Guyon on the topic of “Spiritual Abandonment.” If you missed it, you can go to the blog and pick up yesterday’s Freedom Fighter as well as past ones (http://www.americaskeswick.org/freedom/).

“The result of this attitude (spiritual abandonment) will, in fact, bring you to the most wonderful point imaginable. It is the point where you will break free completely and become free to be joined to the will of God! You will desire only what HE desires, that is, what He has desired for all eternity.

Become abandoned by simply resigning yourself to what the Lord wants, in all things, no matter what they are, where they come from, or how they will affect your life.

What is abandonment? It is forgetting your past; it is leaving your future in HIS hands; it is devoting the present fully and completely to the Lord. Abandonment is being satisfied with the present moment, no matter what that moment contains. You are satisfied because you KNOW that whatever that moment has, it contains – in that instant – God’s eternal plan for you.

You will always know that that moment is the absolute and total declaration of His will for your life. Surrender not only what the Lord does to you, but surrender your reaction to what He does.

Do you wish to go into the depths of Jesus Christ? If you wish to enter into this deeper state of knowing the Lord, you must seek to know not only a deeper prayer life but also abandonment in all realms of your life. This means branching out until your new relationship includes living 24 hours a day utterly abandoned to Him. Begin to surrender yourself to be led by God and to be dealt with by Him. Do so right now. Surrender yourself to allow Him to do exactly as He pleases – both in your inward life of experiencing Him and also in your outward life of accepting all circumstances from Him.

Great quote: If I fear to hold another to the highest goal because it is so much easier to avoid doing so, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
Amy Carmichael

SPIRITUAL ABANDONMENT (Part 1)

For the next two days I want to share a devotional from one of the classic devotional authors, Jeanne Guyon.

“Great faith produces great abandonment. What is abandonment? If we can understand what it is, perhaps we can better lay hold of it.

Abandonment is casting off all your cares. Abandonment is dropping all your needs. This includes spiritual needs. Let me repeat that, for it is not easily grasped. Abandonment is laying aside, forever, all of your spiritual needs.

All Christians have spiritual needs; but the believer who has abandoned himself to the Lord no longer indulges in the luxury of being aware of spiritual needs. Rather, he gives himself over completely to the disposal of God.

Do you realize that all Christians have been exhorted to abandonment? There must be abandonment in your life concerning all outward, practical things. Secondly, there must also be an abandonment of all inward, spiritual things. You must come to the Lord and there engage in giving up all your concerns. All your concerns go into the hand of God. You forget yourself, and from that moment on you think only of Him.

By continuing to do this over a long period of time, your heart will remain unattached; your heart will be free and at peace! So how do you practice abandonment? You practice it daily, hourly, and by the moment. Abandonment is practiced by continually losing your OWN will in the will of God; by plunging your will into the depths of HIS will, there to be lost forever!

And how do you begin? You must begin by reusing every personal desire that comes to you just as soon as it arises – no matter how good that personal desire is, and no matter how helpful it might appear! Abandonment must reach a point where you stand in complete indifference to yourself. You can sure that out of such a disposition a wonderful result will come.” From Jeanne Guyon – HIS VICTORIOUS INDWELLING (Zondervan) (732-350-1187 ext. 31)

Great Quote: When trust is perfect and there is no doubt, prayer is simply the outstretched hand ready to receive. Trust perfected is prayer perfected. Trust looks to receive the thing asked for and gets it. Trust is not a belief that God can bless or that He will bless, but that He does bless, here and now. Trust always operates in the present tense. Hope looks toward the future. Trust looks to the present. Hope expects. Trust possesses. Trust receives what prayer acquires. So, what prayer needs, at all times, is abiding and abundant trust. E. M. Bounds

PRIDEFUL FEELINGS

Everyone of us struggles from time to time with the issue of pride. It comes in many packages, but we need to keep it in check. Listen to the words written by Fenelon, hundreds of years ago:

“Whenever you see prideful feelings in yourself, or you feel that you know more than anyone else, or care for no one but yourself, then you must let all these attitudes drop like rocks in water.

Seek God and stop everything until you are calm and yielded to God once again. If business matters or your overactive imagination keep you from being quiet before God, then you must still bring yourself before God and want to be still. Wanting to be still and quiet before God is itself a prayer which strips you of self-will, and keeps you flexible in God’s hands.

Don’t congratulate yourself when you take a few steps towards God. The minute you take a few steps toward God. The minute you are converted you think you know everything about God. You give up your major vices and are ready to be canonized as a saint. You are not judging yourself by the standard of the gospel, but by how you lived your past life.

In the long run this attitude will get you into more trouble than committing a blatant sin. A blatant sin would trouble your conscience. But thinking you are well, when you are really not, will stifle your spiritual life. Serving God is not just a matter of avoiding evil, but of learning good. So don’t love God a little bit and think that is all there is to it. You can’t expect to live life as you please, then go to God as a last resort when you need help.

To just read the Bible, attend church, and avoid ‘big’ sins – is this passionate, whole-hearted love for God? You don’t belong to yourself – you belong to God! You can’t soften the gospel to adapt it to your weakness. Woe to anyone who tries to widen the narrow way!

The only way to love God is to love Him completely. You have to let everything else rule you – your emotions, the whims of others, your way wayward desires. Plunge into God and give everything that you are to Him.” The Seeking Heart – by Fenelon

Something to think about this morning. Are you struggling with prideful feelings? Surrender them completely to Him.

Great Quote: Those who say they will forgive but can’t forget, simply bury the hatchet but leave the handle out for immediate use. Dwight L Moody

THINK ON THESE THINGS … FINAL THOUGHTS

Finally, brethren, whatever is …

* True

* Honorable

* Right

* Pure

* Lovely

* Good repute

* Excellence

* Worthy of praise

Let your mind dwell on THESE things. (Philippians 4:8)

For several days we have dissected this verse that Paul gives us for controlling the things that we allow our minds to dwell on. The last one in the list is to dwell on things that are worthy of praise. What are things that are worthy of praise? The word means “things to applaud; commendable things.” When I think about this I think about the difference between one who sees the glass half-full vs. seeing the glass half-empty.

There’s a sad story about a man in the hospital whose bed was positioned next to the window. He described in great detail to the man in the next bed the things that he saw: the trees, the birds, the fountain in the park. Children playing. People sitting on the lawn with their picnic lunches. It was a scene of great beauty.

The man in the next bed became very jealous and angry that his roommate had the view all to himself. This was not fair. During the night the man by the window became very ill and had difficulty breathing. Rather than call for help, the man in the bed near the door allowed the man to struggle. Shortly afterwards, the man by the window died.

After the nurses wheeled the dead man out of the room, the other patient begged to be placed by the window. He was so glad that now HE would get the best view. Now in place, he leaned up to look out the window only to discover a brick wall.

The other man had filled his mind with things worthy of praise. Instead of “Stinkin-thinking,” as Zig Ziglar calls it – he allowed his mind to dwell on things that were worthy of praise.

Some of us get stuck in life because we allow our minds to dwell on things that are not even real. We conjure up in our minds what people are thinking about us or we allow our minds to read into situations that are unreal or not based on fact or truth. Rather than enjoying life as God intended it to be – we have a “brick-wall” view of life.

Will you purpose to commit this verse to memory? When you are tempted to think the opposite of the eight things on Paul’s list – take those thoughts captive on dwell on these things!

Great quote: We are locked in a battle. This is not a friendly, gentleman’s discussion. It is a life and death conflict between the spiritual hosts of wickedness and those who claim the name of Christ. Francis A. Schaeffer