You Are In God’s Hands — Part 2

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You are in God’s Hands – Part 2

“My times are in Your hands …” Psalm 31:15
I shared with you several days ago the reminder that we are in God’s hands. The morning God spoke to me from Streams in the Desert, I came into the office and was checking my email and saw an email that was an advertisement from a company we do business with. I almost deleted it – but the Holy Spirit was prompting me to open it.
How amazed I was to read something that tied in with what God had given me from His Word and the devotional book:
Today is in God’s hand and so are you …

His hands are strong and will uphold you;
His hands are great and will enfold you;
His hands are gentle and will embrace you;
His hands are protective and will cover you;
His hands are reassuring and will quiet you;
His hands are powerful and will defend you;
His hands are parental and will train you;
His hands are masterful and will conform you;
His hands are compassionate and will care for you;
His hands are healing and will renew you;
His hands are calming and will comfort you;
His hands are giving and will bless you.

The hands that hold you will NEVER let you down! – Ray Lessin, DaySpring co-founder and writer

I couldn’t believe what I was reading! Thank You, Lord for the great reminder that I needed not just that day – but every day! Your hands will NEVER let me down! – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick
GPS – God’s Positioning System: Isaiah 23-27; Psalm 4; Proverbs 5
Compass Pointers: Faith and patience are conquering graces, and therefore must be always cultivated and kept in lively exercise. – Andrew Murray

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 27:1; Level 2: Proverbs 27:12-22
Anchored to the Rock: Pray for great things, expect great things, work for great things, but above all, pray. – R. A. Torrey

What Price Freedom

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WHAT PRICE FREEDOM

“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36)


            There is a story about a pig and a chicken that were walking by a church where a grand party was taking place. The pig was quite thrilled about the celebration and suggested to the chicken that they each make a contribution.

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            “Great idea!” the chicken cried. “Let’s offer them ham and eggs?” “Not so fast,” said the pig. “For you, that’s a contribution. For me, it’s total commitment.”

            For our founding fathers they were not just looking at making a contribution when securing our freedom on July 4, 1776 — they made a total commitment. The fifty-six men who signed their names to the Declaration of Independence did no knowing he risks that they would face.

            Five of the men were captured and tortured before they died. Twelve of the men had their homes looted or destroyed by the enemy. Nine of the fifty-six died in the war from its hardships and bullets. One was harassed and forced to move his family five times in five months.

            Thomas Nelson Jr. laid his life on the line by raising two million dollars on his on signature to help our allies. After the war he wiped out his entire estate paying back the loads. He was never reimbursed by his government and died bankrupt and was buried in an unmarked grave. Historians tell is that Thomas Nelson Jr. pledged his life, his fortune, his sacred honor. All that for our freedom!

            But One greater than our founding fathers gave an even greater sacrifice so that we could be FOREVER FREE and a part of God’s FOREVER family. God the Father gave His precious Son, Jesus Christ to secure our freedom from the bondage of sin. Jesus died on the Cross to purchase your freedom. His was not just a “contribution” but a total “commitment.” He gave His life so that you could live victoriously in this ever changing world.

            Take some time today as we celebrate our freedom as a nation to thank HIM for securing your freedom for all eternity.  “He sealed your pardon with His blood – Hallelujah! What a Savior.” Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick
GPS – God’s Positioning System: Isaiah 18-22; Psalm 3; Proverbs 4

Compass Pointers: I bear my witness that the worst days I have ever had have turned out to be my best days. And when God has seemed most cruel to me, he has then been most kind. If there is anything in this world for which I would bless him more than for anything else, it is for pain and affliction. I am sure that in these things the richest, tenderest love has been manifested to me. Our Father’s wagons rumble most heavily when they are bringing us the richest freight of the bullion of his grace. Love letters from heaven are often sent in black-edged envelopes. The cloud that is black with horror is big with mercy. Fear not the storm. It brings healing in its wings, and when Jesus is with you in the vessel, the tempest only hastens the ship to its desired haven.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 27:1; Level 2: Proverbs 27:17-22

Anchored to the Rock: Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening. Matthew Henry

He Hideth My Soul

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He Hideth My Soul
“He will hide me and set me high upon a rock.” Psalm 27:5
As I reflect on what the Lord has been showing me in recent days, I couldn’t help but think of this amazing hymn for us to focus on today – the Lord’s Day!
He Hideth My Soul

A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord,
A wonderful Savior to me;
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,
Where rivers of pleasure I see.


A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord,
He taketh my burden away.
He holdeth me up, and I shall not be moved;
He giveth me strength as my day!

With numberless blessings each moment He crowns;
And filled with His glory divine,
I sing in my rapture, “O glory to God for such a Redeemer is mine!”

When clothed in His brightness, transported I rise
To meet Him in clouds of the sky;
His perfect salvation, His wonderful love
I’ll shout with the millions on high!

Refrain
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock
That shadows the dry, thirsty land;
He hideth my life in the depths of His love
And covers me there with His hand,
And covers me there with His hand.


Take some time this morning to reflect on Him – YOUR wonderful Savior. – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick
GPS – God’s Positioning System: Isaiah 13-17; Psalm 2; Proverbs 3
Compass Pointers: “Many people pay lip service to the idea of grace, but they stop there. Their conception of grace is not so much debased as nonexistent. The thought means nothing to them; it does not touch their experience at all. What is it that hinders so many who profess to believe in grace from really doing so? Why does the theme mean so little even to some who talk about it a great deal? The root of the trouble seems to be misbelieve about the basic relationship between a person and God—misbelief rooted not just in the mind but in the heart, at the deeper level of things that we never question because we always take them for granted…the doctrines of grace presupposes, and if they are not acknowledged and felt in one’s heart, clear faith in God’s grace become impossible—The moral ill desert of humankind, the retributive justice of God, the spiritual impotence of humankind and the sovereign freedom of God.”
J.I. Packer ‘Knowing God’

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1:Proverbs 27:1; Level 2: Proverbs 27:17-22
Anchored to the Rock: If we think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts, we think rightly. The blood ceaselessly, and breathing continues ceaselessly; we are not conscious of it, but it is always going on.” Oswald Chambers

Today You Are In God’s Hand

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Today You Are In God’s Hand
Summon Your power, O God; show is Your strength. Psalm 68:28
The Lord blessed me again yesterday with the timeliness of His Words at a time when I was anxious and discouraged. Let me share with you what He gave me from Streams in the Desert (Zondervan):

The Lord imparts to me the underlying strength of character that gives me the necessary energy and decision-making ability in my life. He strengthens me “with power through the Spirit in my inner being” (Ephesians 3:16). And the strength He gives is continuous, for he is a source of power I cannot exhaust.

“Your strength will equal my days” (Deut. 33:25 – my strength of will, affection, judgment, ideals, and achievement will last a lifetime.

“The Lord is my strength” (Exodus 15:2) to go on. He gives me the power to walk the long, straight, and level path, even when the monotonous way has no turns or curves offering pleasant surprises and when my spirit is depressed with the terrible drudgery.

“The Lord is my strength” to go up. He is my power to climb the straight and narrow path up the Hill of Difficulty, as Christian did in Pilgrim’s Progress, and not be afraid.

“The Lord is my strength” to do down. It is often once I leave the invigorating heights, where the wind and sunlight have surrounded me, and begin to descend to the more confining, humid, and stifling heat of the valley below that my heart grows faint. In fact, I recently heard someone say, referring to his own increasing frailty, “It is coming down that tires me most!”

“The Lord is my strength” to sit still. And what a difficult accomplishment this is! I often say to others during those times when I am compelled to be still, “If only I could do something!” I feel like the mother who stands by her sick child but is powerless to heal. What a severe test! Yet to do nothing except to sit still and wait requires tremendous strength!

“The Lord is my strength!” Our competence comes from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5).

Thank You, Lord, for the reminder today that You, and You alone are my strength! – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick
GPS – God’s Positioning System: 2 Kings 16-17; Psalm 1; Proverbs 2
Compass Pointers: Gather up the stones flung at you with malice and build from them an altar of love to your Father in Heaven; fit them together with forgiveness and intercession for those who seek to hurt you. Rick Cruz Torres

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 26:28; Level 2: Proverbs 26:17-25
Anchored to the Rock: I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for that day. Abraham Lincoln

Psalm 1 — A Paraphrase

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Psalm 1 – A Paraphrase

Good morning, brothers. For those of you who have been following our 2011 Bible reading plan, tomorrow you will start to go through the book of Psalms for the second time. Psalm 1 is one of my favorites, so here is a paraphrase from a great series called Creative Praise – Under His Wings by Ward Patterson:

Father, fill be with Your blessings,
   for You alone can satisfy the longings of my heart,
Help me to walk in Your counsel, to know Your ways and follow them
   not haphazardly or spasmodically,
   but patiently, consistently, fully.

Help me to block out the voices that urge me to disobedience.
   Help me to recognize that sin is an abomination to You.
Help me to rein in my desires for the forbidden,
   my longings for the deceits of this world.
Help me to live a separated life
   without being cut off from those You have called me to love in Your name.
Help me to know what to shun,
   what to do, what to say, where to go.
Help me to direct my thoughts to You.
   I am prone to dwell on the destructive and harbor hurt
  rather than fix my mind on You.
Help me to delight in YOUR Word to me.
   Help me to pause in the hurry of my life
   to reflect on Your promises, Your provisions, and Your presence.

I know that when I meditate on YOUR Word,
   You refresh me. You relieve my pressures. You make my life fruitful.
   Your keep me from spiritual draught. You give me ease in my tasks and
   the joy of accomplishment.


But I forgot this too soon and I fall back into spiritual slothfulness.
   My life becomes dry and lifeless.
   I am beset by doubts, defeats, and emptiness.
  I feel condemned, guilty, useless, and crushed down.
  I just don’t feel comfortable with Your people anymore.

You know everything, O God. You know the way of truth and righteousness.
   Let me walk with You!
I don’t want to walk the way of futility and death. I want to walk with You by my side,
   trusting You, and knowing You as may Lord and Master. Amen

I sure needed to hear those words on this first day of July. How about you? Take some time today to read through Psalm 1. – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick
GPS – God’s Positioning System: 2 Chronicles 28; Psalm 150; Proverbs 1
Compass Pointers: It is not the quantity of faith, but the quality of faith, that is important. A grain of mustard seed and a pellet of dust are similar in appearance, but the difference is immense. The one has no life burning at the heart of it, while the other contains life as God kindled it. Faith that has in it the principle of life is a faith with God in it. Frederick Brotherton ( F. B. ) Meyer
Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 26:28; Level 2: Proverbs 26:17-25
Anchored to the Rock: The measure of any Christian is his prayer life. Vance Havner

Character Builder or Character Destroyer

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Character Builder or Character Destroyer 

Mathew 5:23-24  Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the alter and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother; then come and offer your gift.”

      WHAT! He’s the one that has to come to me, I’m not going to him. Do those words sound familiar. I bet they do.
      My brother was out here in Vt. for  couple of weeks and in those couple of weeks the family had planned to spread my dad’s ashes on the mountain side per dads request. My dad would travel up on the hillside with this ‘Ole Toyota land cruiser, it had the shifter on the column. He would cut firewood, listen to country music and just be out in the wilderness on that mountain. Kinda like the Walton’s, remember the Walton’s? 

      It had been a long time since I had seen my brother so I had no idea what to expect, considering the last conversation I had with him was not a good one. I have forgiven my brother for all those things that occurred in our past and have laid them down at the foot of the cross. I love my brother very much and desire the best for him. That’s what Jesus did for me, for you, for him and continues to extend His hand of grace for us all. Therefore my heart must do the same. Not an easy task but a necessary one. During that week as I shared with a dear brother in Christ, I had found out that he too was in a similar situation and knew where I was coming from. He gave good solid biblical counsel to which I embraced with much appreciation. As we ended our conversation he prayed for me, for my brother, and our family and before we hung up I said to him that I expect a miracle, whether it be here or back in California my heart was expecting a miracle. 

     I saw my brother 4 times during his stay and the two times in the middle were not good meetings. My heart was being tested and my character was being torn down and rebuilt. It could have been real easy to let what was said destroy all of what god had built in my heart. I fought back with what my heart knew to be true even though there was one point when I was second guessing what I knew. You all know who that was? UH HUH! That’s when I turned to my wonderful helpmate, my dear wife Robin. We talked, we prayed, we read the scriptures and came to this conclusion. What my beloved brother was saying was not of God. It was all evil speech, talk about being face to face with the devil. And yet as I looked deeper into my brother’s face, I began to see myself. OUCH! I was just like that once and that’s when the abundant grace of Christ came and I wept in my heart for him. I was praying for a miracle. 

    The last evening my brother was here, I had no intention of going over and seeing him. God had different plans. My youngest daughter Marissa kept bugging me to go over to see her uncle, I kept saying no. Each no that was said, broke her heart even more, the scene just a few days ago was still ringing in my ears and I couldn’t take that risk of it happening again with my daughter present and that’s when it hit. Why are you being so selfish?, asked the still small voice. I knew without a shadow of a doubt what needed to be done. Galatians 1:15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through his grace, Bring your daughter over there and let me do the rest said the still small voice.

    Had my heart not listened to GOD we would not have experienced God’s answer to prayer. My brother and I reconciled, we hugged, we talked, we took pictures, we hugged some more, For 1 solid hour God was present in the face of him, in all of us. As Marissa and I were leaving I said to her, that was my brother, God did that. Oswald Chambers says this in his devotional “My His Utmost for His Highest.” Leave room for God-  We tend to overlook the element of surprise, yet God never works in any other way. Suddenly–God meets our life–“…when it pleased God….” Keep your life so constantly in touch with God that His surprising power can break through at any point. Live in a constant state of expectancy, and leave room for God to come in as He decides. What is God doing for you today? – Keith Varga is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Micah 1-6; Psalm 149; Proverbs 30
Compass Pointers: Worship is the test of the authenticity of any conversion, whether to Christianity or some other religion. But the factor that distinguishes our faith from every other creed is the intimacy of our relationship with the living God. Tom Inglis

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 26:28; Level 2: Proverbs 26:17-25
Anchored to the Rock: If you can’t pray as you want to, pray as you can. God knows what you mean. Vance Havner

Don’t Fear the Red Sea

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Don’t Fear the Red Sea
The Lord said to Moses, “ … Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea.” Exodus 14:15-16
I am sure you’ve been there before – I know I have. So maybe right now like me, you are facing one of those “Red Sea” experiences and need this word of encouragement. It came in my June 25th reading from Streams in the Desert (Zondervan):

Dear child of God, just imagine the triumphal march! Picture the exalted children being constantly hushed and restrained by their parents from their outburst of wonder. Think how women must have experienced an uncontrollable excitement as they found themselves suddenly saved from a fate worse than death.

Imagine how the men who accompanied them must have felt ashamed and admonished for mistrusting God and for complaining against Moses. And as you envision the Red Sea’s mighty walls of water, separated by the outstretched hand of the Eternal in response to the faith of a single man, learn what God will do for His own.

Never dread any consequence resulting from absolute obedience to His command. Never fear the rough waters ahead, which through their proud contempt impede your progress. God is greater than the roar of the raging water and the mighty waves of the sea. “The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord is enthroned as King forever” (Psalm 29:10). A storm is simply the hem of HIS robe, the sign of HIS coming, and the evidence of HIS presence.

Dare to trust Him! Dare to follow Him! Then discover that the forces that blocked your progress and threatened your life become at His command the very materials He uses to build your street of freedom. (F. B. Meyer – famous Keswick speaker)

Years ago my mentor and friend, “Dr. B.” gave me a little saying on a post card that said this: THE RED SEA RED SEA BEFORE YOU – THE EYGPTIAN ARMY BEHIND YOU – HEMMED IN MY MOUNTAINS ON EITHER SIDE – LOOK UP! THINGS ARE RIPE FOR A MIRACLE!
Not sure what YOUR Red Sea is today – but know this – God is in the midst of your Red Sea experience. Dare to trust Him! Dare to follow Him! Look for YOUR miracle. – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick
GPS – God’s Positioning System: Isaiah 9-12; Psalm 148; Proverbs 29
Compass Pointers: Sin comes when we take a perfectly natural desire or longing or ambition and try desperately to fulfill it without God. Not only is it sin, it is a perverse distortion of the image of the Creator in us. All these good things, and all our security, are rightly found only and completely in him. Augustine
Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 26:28; Level 2: Proverbs 26:17-25
Anchored to the Rock: When we do not pray, we work against God. E. F. Hallock

Acquainted with Grief

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Acquainted with Grief
“He is … a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Isaiah 53:3
Chambers was right on with his insights regarding our sin in his June 23 post in My Utmost for His Highest:
We are not “acquainted with grief” in the same way our Lord was acquainted with it. We endure it and live through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of our lives we do not bring ourselves to the point of dealing with the reality of sin. We look at it through the eyes of REASON and say if a person will control his INSTINCTS, and EDUCATE himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of God.

But as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely SIN – and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable.

We have to recognize that sin is a fact of life, not just a shortcoming. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God must die in my life. The New Testament brings is right down to this one issue – if sin rules in me, God life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that.

The culmination of sin in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and mine – that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. We must mentally bring ourselves to terms with this fact of sin. It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it is the explanation of grief and sorrow of life.

Thanks, Mr. Chambers, for the reminder. It isn’t just a matter of agreeing with this truth, it is a matter of applying it to our lives. Think about it. – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick
GPS – God’s Positioning System: 2 Chronicles 27; Psalm 147; Proverbs 28
Compass Pointers: Whenever a man has seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ…at once he comes right into a head-on collision within his own personal living, with all of his principles and motives upon which he has lived until this moment…. if there is to be a continual manifestation of Holy Spirit life, there must be a constant submission to the crucifixion of the flesh, not simply sometimes, but always.
Alan Redpath

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 26:28; Level 2: Proverbs 26:17-25
Anchored to the Rock: The Bible is permeated by prayer. E. F. Hallock

Stop Lying to Yourself

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Stop Lying to Yourself 

     Ephesians 5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
            It is not the words outside your head but the ones inside. It is not the water outside the boat but the water in the boat that sinks it.
            When you wake up in the morning, do you lie to yourself by such statements as, “I am tired” or “I am hungry” or even “I am depressed”? These are very damaging thoughts. It is not only untrue (for they are only feelings) but it adds the  name of God to the lie. You may feel tired or hungry or even depressed but that is no who or what you are.
            You are not your feelings and Feelings are not who you are.

            If you speak the truth you become free to help yourself. So what can you say, using God’s name, that will help sustain you in your daily struggles? How about, “I am a child of God” (1 John3:1&2)? You may not feel like a child of God but that is just a feeling and not who you are. Try, “I am a winner” (Romans 8:37). I really like this one, “I am a friend of Jesus” (John 15:15) We need never to feel friendless!
            Remember, you are not your feelings and your feelings are not you!

                        God has made you more than that. 
How I must always recall
            That should I stumble or should I fall,
I need not define myself by what I did then
            For God has claimed me from way back when. 
I came to God who sent His Son
            To pay for the debt that I had run.
Thus day by day I find anew
            How God, himself, will see me through. 
How like the melting of the winter snow,
            Feelings come and feelings go.
Relationships will never change of fade
            For God, himself, will give me aid 
When my life has ended, my race run,
            Because of the work of His dear Son,
I know that my feelings may leave me numb
            But He’ll greet me with the words “Well done!”
Pastor George VanSandt is a Christian counselor and a frequent contributor to Freedom Fighter
GPS – God’s Positioning System: Amos 6-9; Psalm 146; Proverbs 27
Compass Pointers: God is often silent when we prefer that he speak, and he interrupts us when we prefer that he stay silent. His ways are not our ways. To live with the sacred God of creation means that we conduct our lives with a God who does not explain himself to us. It means that we worship a God who is often mysterious – too mysterious to fit our formulas for better living. It means that God is not our best friend, our secret lover or our good-luck charm. He is God. Craig Barnes
Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 26:28; Level 2: Proverbs 26:17-25
Anchored to the Rock: Prayerlessness is a sin against God and it is a sin that can find no excuse.  E. F. Hallock

Unadorned Worship

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Unadorned Worship

“And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8
I shared this devotional with you back in June of 2007. As I read it again, I thought how timely it is for us as we prepare to celebrate this Lord’s Day.
“I must make my spiritual life as simple as possible. God is the most complex being in the universe; yet when it comes to His relationship to people, He wants utter simplicity. The altar the Israelites were to build for God was to be on unhewn stones, with no tool or cutting instrument used upon it. (Exodus 20:25)
The message is clear. God knows man’s tendency to adorn, to artify, to decorate a thing until MAN’S talent overshadows the instrument itself. Medieval art is an example of that. God wants to make Himself so available, so disposable to man that He wants no hindrance to a hungry, seeking heart. That means no rules or conditions to keep people from God.

The Laodicean church was the model of organization and regulation – but it was DEAD! I can become so structured, so habitualized, so regular that my devotional life becomes a self-centered worship of RULES rather than GOD. My life with God must be spontaneous. God reserves the right to break in, change habits, start new directions, and otherwise keep me on tiptoe expectation. God is not finicky, but He understands human nature and He does not want us majoring on things that do not count.

I must not become upset if someone interferes with my schedule, interrupts my ‘quiet time,’ or tampers with my routine. God may be in that very interruption; calling me to HIMSELF instead of to the scaffolding I have built around Him. I must be a Nathanael in worship as well as in life, a person without twists or deviousness, but openhearted and direct in my communion with God. The ‘blessed’ ones of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-11) are those with qualities of utter simplicity and transparency; they carry away enormous bundles of the blessings of God.” Adapted from DAILY WITH THE KING – Moody Press
Something good to think about today, brothers. Enjoy your day worshipping HIM! – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick
GPS – God’s Positioning System: Amos 1-5; Psalm 145; Proverbs 26
Compass Pointers: For a small reward, a man will hurry away on a long journey; while for eternal life, many will hardly take a single step.Thomas a Kempis
Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 26:28; Level 2: Proverbs 26:17-25
Anchored to the Rock: Prayer is a divine imperative because God desires fellowship with His redeemed children. E.F. Hallock