HIS HEART OF LOVE

Here are some verses that spoke to my heart yesterday in a powerful way:

“The Lord your God loves you. The kindness of God leads you to
repentance. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The Lord our God
is merciful and pardons even those who have rebelled against him. God
will be merciful if you confess your sins and give them up. Blessed is
he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. You forgave
the iniquity of my sin. In You the fatherless finds mercy. Return to the
Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and
abounding in steadfast love. I will heal their faithlessness; I will
love them freely. His steadfast love endures forever! For great is your
love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
(Deut. 23:5; Romans 2:4; 1 John 1:9; Daniel 9:9; Proverbs 28:13; Psalm
32:1; Psalm 32:5; Hosea 14:3; Joel 2:13; Hosea 14:4; 1 Chronicles 16:34;
Psalm 108:4)

Allow those verses to work into your hearts and minds. What wonderful
truth for us as we begin to prepare our hearts for the Lord’s day. I
read two powerful quotes yesterday that tie in with these verses. Let me
share them with you, and as a friend of mine wrote yesterday, these will
need time to work into your hearts . . .

“The whole of my life stood open to His view from the beginning. He
foresaw my every fall, my every sin, my every backsliding; yet,
nevertheless, fixed His heart upon me. Oh, how the realization of this
should bow me in wonder and worship before Him!” — A. W. Pink

“The King, full of mercy and goodness, very far from chastening me (for
my sin), embraces me with love, makes me eat at His table, serves me
with His own hands, gives me the key of His treasures; He converses and
delights Himself with me incessantly . . . and treats me in all
respects as His favorite.” — Brother Lawrence

WOW! I trust these thoughts this morning will cause you to rejoice in
His heart that is full of love . . . FOR YOU!

Have you registered for our special FREEDOM FIGHTER DAY on Saturday,
March 11? Mark Fisher, President of Sandy Cove Ministries will be
sharing how God transformed his life from a bondage to sexual sin.
Invite a friend and join us for this powerful day of teaching, worship
and fellowship. Call today for reservations: 800-453-7942

WHO IS YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER?

One of my key staff leaders recently attended a prayer summit and gave
me the notes from on of the sessions. I think you will enjoy these
truths about your Heavenly Father:

Your Heavenly Father is:

1. A perfect Father — “. . . be ye therefore perfect even as your
Father in Heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)
2. A Creator-Redeemer Father – “Is not He your Father that has bought
you? Has He not made you . . . ?” (Deut. 32:6)
3. A Saving Father – “You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my
salvation.” (Psalm 89:26)
4. A Righteous Father – “O righteous Father, the world has not know
You.” (John 17:25)
5. A Giving Father – “Every good and perfect gift is from above, and
comes down from the Father of lights…” (James 1;17)
6. A Grace-Filled Father – “God, even our Father, which hath loved us,
and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace.”
(2 Thessalonians 2:16)
7. A Rewarding Father – “Pray to your Father which is in secret; and
your Father which seeth in secret shall reward you openly.” (Matthew
6:6)
8. A Need-Knowing Father – “For your Heavenly Father knows that you have
need of all these things.” (Matthew 6:32)
9. A Guiding Father – “My Father, You are the guide of my youth. . . “
(Jeremiah 3:4)
10. A Prayer Answering Father – “Whatever you shall ask of the Father in
my name, He may give it you.” (John 15:16)
11. A Protecting Father – “Even so it is not the will of your Father
which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. (Matthew
18:14)
12. A Family Father – “A Father of the Fatherless . . . ” (Psalm 68:5)
13. A Providing Father – “Giving thanks to the Father, who has made us
to be partakers of the divine inheritance . . . ” (Colossians 1:12)
14. A Just Father – “Call on the Father, who without the respect of
persons judges according to every man’s work.” (1 Peter 1:17)
15. A Comfort-Giving Father – “And I will pray the Father, and He shall
give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever.” (John
14:6)

I hope this morning that these truths about YOUR Heavenly Father will
cause you to rejoice in Him today.

Our Freedom Fighter Day is coming up on Saturday, March 11, 2006. We
urge you to attend and bring a friend. Call today for reservations —
800-453-7942.

THE VALUE OF MUSIC

Dr. Mark Swenson writes in his daily devotional, A MINUTE OF MARGIN: “I
suspect God knew life was going to be difficult, so He gave three gifts
to ease our way.

The first is NATURE. No matter where we turn our eyes, the nature we see
will have a lifting effect. And it is free. If we were required to pay
rent for sunsets, I doubt we’d be able to afford even five minutes.
Every sunsets unique. Nature is free, is equally available to every
person, and has a powerful healing effect on the human spirit.

The second is LAUGHTER. We can’t explain what it is, where it comes
from, or why it works. Yet as a balm for frazzled nerves, laughter is
unique. Laughter is free, is equally available to every person, and has
a powerful effect on the human spirit.

The third is MUSIC. Again we can’t explain what it is, where it comes
from, or why it works. One person warbles her vocal chords while another
blows on his pipe — and somehow it soothes. Music is free, is equally
available to ever person, and has a powerful healing effect on the human
spirit.

Seventy-five percent of Americans use music to de-stress. In response to
the increasingly wearying conditions of everyday life, music therapists
are emerging all across the nation. Studies reveal that surgeons who can
choose their own music in the operating room have improved
cardiovascular parameters during stressful surgeries. If, on the other
hand, the music was chosen for them, there was no such benefit.

When God created music He somehow ordained that it would be able to
penetrate through multiple layers of our consciousness and go straight
to the depths of our spirit. It has been my own experience during times
of significant stress that music has helped me when nothing else could.
It sails right past all my defenses and snuggles up next to the pain.

Find the music that matches most precisely your need and play it over
and over, allowing it to massage your soul.”

“The Lord your God is among you, a warrior who saves. He will rejoice
over you with gladness. He will bring you quietness with His love. He
will delight over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17

Good words for today.

IS HE REALLY THE GOD OF THE IMPOSSIBLE?

“If you can”? . . . EVERYTHING is possible for him who believes.” — See
Mark 9:23

I wrote about this yesterday and shared devotional thoughts from STREAMS IN
THE DESERT. In reading today’s devotional from the same book, I read these
powerful words: “You just have to believe that He’s done it and it’s done!
The greatest problem with most of us is, after asking Him to do it, we do
not believe it is done. Instead we keep trying to help Him, get others to
help Him, and anxiously wait to see how HE’s going to work it out.

Faith adds God’s ‘Amen’ to God’s ‘Yes’ and then takes its hands off, leaving
God to finish the work. The language of faith is, ‘Commit your way to the
Lord; trust in him and he will do this’ (Psalm 37:5) . . . Active faith
gives thanks for a promise even though it is not yet performed, knowing that
God’s contracts are as good as cash . . . ” (from Matthew Henry as quoted in
today’s reading from Streams in the Desert)

Well I can hardly contain myself because I have an illustration to share
with you this morning. Last week, Tom Paschke, our Director of Housekeeping,
flew back to Seattle, Washington to spend a week with his family. Every so
often Tom questions where he should be — America’s KESWICK or Seattle. He
was in one of his seasons of discouragement when he left. On Tuesday night,
he and his cousin were walking to their hotel when a homeless man was being
harassed in front of the hotel. The men involved took off when the biker
police showed up. Tom and his cousin were questioned by the biker police and
asked for his identification. When the police came back, they arrested Tom.
On his record was a 1992 parole violation that was never handled, so he was
taken into custody.

Tom was totally blindsided about this as several years ago went back to
Seattle to have his record clear. He was helpless and so were we. At the
moment, there was nothing

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE

“It is possible for believers who are completely willing to trust the power
of the Lord for their safekeeping and victory to lead a life of readily
taking His promises exactly as they are finding them to be true,

IT IS POSSIBLE to daily ‘cast ALL your anxiety on Him’ and experience deep
peace in the process. (1 Peter 5:7)

IT IS POSSIBLE to have our thoughts and the desires of our hearts purified
in the deepest sense of the word.

IT IS POSSIBLE to see God’s will in EVERY circumstance and to accept it with
singing instead of complaining.

IT IS POSSIBLE to become strong through and through by completely taking
refuge in the power of God and by realizing that our greatest weakness and
the things that

upset our determination to be patient, pure or humble, provide an
opportunity to make sin powerless over us. This opportunity comes through
Him who loves us and works to bring us into agreement with HIS will, and
thereby supplies a blessed sense of His presence and power.

All these are DIVINE POSSIBILITIES. Because they are HIS work, actually
experiencing them will always humble us, causing us to bow at His feet and
teaching us to hunger and thirst for more.

We will never be satisfied with anything less — each day, each hour, each
moment in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit — than walking with
God. We are able to have as much of God as we want. Christ puts the key to
His treasure chest in our hands and invites us to take all we desire. If
someone is allowed into a bank vault, told to help himself to the money, and
leaves without one cent, whose fault is it if he remains poor? And whose
fault is it that Christians usually have such meager portions of the free
riches of God?”

from Streams in the Desert by Mrs. Cowman — published by our good friends
at Zondervan. You can order a copy of this powerful devotional from our
KESWICK ONLINE BOOKSTORE (www.americaskeswick.org), or call our on-site
store — 732-350-1187 ext. 31.

Join us for our special FREEDOM FIGHTER DAY coming up on Saturday, March 11.
Mark P. Fisher, Sandy Cove Ministries’ new President, will be sharing the
day with us and telling his story of how God has delivered him from a long
battle with pornography. Invite some men to be a part of this day that can
radically change their lives!!! To register or for fliers, call
800-453-7942.

YIELD YOUR WILL

“Love does not depend on your feelings. Your WILL is what God wants from
you. Run your household in a godly way, raise your children properly,
and give up empty pleasures. Seek to be simple, quiet. and humble. Let
your life be hid with Christ in God. This is what God is after.

When God asks you for something, do not refuse Him. Learn to wait for
God. Do not move until He directs you. Each day will bring its own
problems. As you deal with them you will grow deeper and deeper in God.

Let your faith strengthen you. When you feel absolutely weak, you will
discover a strength that is not your own. You will KNOW that the
strength is not your own. And if you go astray for a little while, then
you will learn humility as you return. Your Lord lives in the center of
your spirit. Return to Him there as much as you can. Surrender yourself
to God and learn to live by Him rather than out of your own strength.
Little by little this learning to live by your Lord’s strength unfolds
within you. No longer will you cling to things that you can see, but you
will cling to God, within you, and there you will find deep fellowship.”
— From the writings of FENELON — The Seeking Heart. You can order this
from the KESWICK BOOKSTORE — (1-800-453-7942 ext. 31)

“Will is the whole man active, and the whole active power and force of
the saint is to be laid at the feet of Jesus Christ. We busy ourselves
with work FOR Him while He waits for all our individual energy to be
curbed and submitted to Him that HE may re-direct it into the channels
HE wants.” — OSWALD CHAMBERS

Good words for today. Listen to the KESWICK TODAY radio broadcast this
week to find out how you can turn STUFF into treasures and build a godly
legacy for your family. Join us as we talk with Lauren Littaurer Briggs.
You can listen to the broadcast by visiting our website —
http://www.americaskeswick.org.

ENCOURAGE YOUR PASTORS

I am very concerned with what I am seeing happening in the church today.
During a recent conference at America’s KESWICK, I had the opportunity
to meet over 250 pastors and wives — men and women who are sold out for
Christ and serving on the front lines of the battle.

What we discovered is how many of these soldiers of the cross are
discouraged and on the edge of throwing in the towel. It was very
alarming to me to see these precious folks wounded and weary.

I am personally working with a number of godly men who faithfully
proclaim and teach the Word of God but who are being worn down because
they are expected not to be the shepherd of the flock as God has
intended them to be, but are being asked to be the “CEO” of a “church
business.” One dear brother in Christ was recently told that while he
was one of the godliest men that they knew, and that he handled the
Scriptures faithfully, was a good husband and father, he was lacking the
leadership skills to be the CEO of the church.

The expectations of our Pastors today are out-of-control. I am afraid
that if many of our employers placed on us the number of expectations
that we place on our shepherds, we would have buckled in and quit a long
time ago.

On this Lord’ day, I want to encourage you to encourage YOUR pastor.
Martin Luther said that encouragement is oxygen to the soul. Paul urged
the members of the church at Thessalonica with these words: “Now we ask
you, brothers, to give recognition to those who labor among you and lead
you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly IN LOVE
because of their work . . . ” (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13)

Sometime during the week, write a note to your pastor and his staff and
encourage them. Pick of the phone and tell the Pastor how his ministry
has impacted yours. Thank him for serving the Lord at your church.

Many years ago I attended a Bill Gothard seminar and we were encouraged
to write thank you notes to people who had impacted our lives. I wrote
to the Pastor who led me to Christ at age 3 and thanked him for pushing
a little kid aside. This dear servant of the Lord had led hundreds of
people to Christ during is 35 years of ministry, but he wrote back to me
saying that I was the first one to ever say thanks. He died several
months later.

Well, sorry for meddling this morning . . . well not really. Thanks for
doing the right thing this morning!

CONFIDENCE IN THE PROMISES GOD

“When my little son was about ten years old, his grandmother promised
him a stamp collecting album for Christmas. Christmas came and went with
no stamp album and no word from Grandma. The matter, however, was not
mentioned, until his friends came to see his Christmas presents. I was
astonished, after he had listed all the gifts he had received, to hear
him add, ‘And a stamp album from my grandmother.’

After hearing this several times, I called my son to m and said, ‘But
George, you didn’t get a stamp album from Grandma. Why did you say
that?’ With a puzzled look on his face, as if I had asked a very strange
question, he replied, ‘Well, Mom, Grandma SAID, and that is the same
AS.’ Not a word would sway his faith.

A month passed and nothing else was said about the album. Finally one
day, to test his faith and because I wondered in my own heart why the
album had not been sent, I said, ‘George, I think Grandma has forgotten
her promise.’ ‘Ph no, Mom,’ he quickly and firmly responded. ‘She
hasn’t.’

I watched his sweet, trusting face, which for a while looked very
serious, as if he were debating the possibility I had suggested. Soon
his face brightened as he said, ‘Do you think it would do any good for
me to write Grandma, thanking her for the album?’ ‘I don’t know,’ I
said, ‘but you might try it.’ A rich spiritual truth then began to dawn
on me.

In a few minutes a letter was written and mailed, as George went off
whistling his confidence in his grandma. Soon a letter from Grandma
arrived with this message:

My dear George,

I have not forgotten my promise to you for a stamp album. I could not
find the one you wanted here, so I ordered one from New York. It did not
arrive until after Christmas, and it was not the right one. I then
ordered another, but it still has not arrived. I have decided to send
you thirty dollars instead so that you may buy the one you want in
Chicago.

Your loving Grandma.

As he read the letter, his face was the face of a victor. From the
depths of a heart that NEVER doubted came the words, ‘Now Mom, didn’t I
tell you?’ George, ‘against all hope . . . in hope believed.’ (Romans
8:14) that the stamp album would come. And while he was trusting,
Grandma was working, and in due time faith became sight.

It is only human to want to SEE before we step out on the promises of
God. Yet our Savior said to doubting Thomas and to a long list of
doubters who have followed, ‘BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN AND YET
BELIEVED.” (John 20:29) — Today’s Freedom Fighter is from STREAMS IN
THE DESERT, available from the KESWICK ONLINE BOOKSTORE —
http://www.americaskeswick.org

EVERYONE NEEDS A BURNING BUSH

“I will not forget, Lord, what the burning bush means. What did it mean
to Moses? Exactly what You said it would mean: ‘This will be a sign to
you that it is I who have sent you’ (Exodus 3:12 NIV).

A sign! How many times, Lord, have You spoken to me through a sign?
Possibly none of them was as dramatic and arresting as a bush that
burned and yet was not consumed. But signs nevertheless. For the
important thing about a sign is not what it IS but what it POINTS to.
And Your signs have pointed me to the same all-powerful One as the
burning-bush sign pointed to Moses. The God of the burning bush was to
become the God of the Exodus. And the God of the Exodus became the God
of the Red Sea deliverance.

Moses was able to do such marvelous exploits because He believed in that
kind of a God. And he believed in that kind of a God because of what he
saw at the burning bush. The bush-burning experience created a
FOUNDATION for Moses’ faith. If God could do that —

All of God’s actions are designed to build a platform underneath our
faith. That is why I must have a personal burning bush. Someone else’s
experience is valuable to me only as an incentive. But that incentive
does nothing for me inwardly unless it leads me to a burning-bush
experience in which spiritual reality becomes conviction.

Every child of God needs his burning bush, the place where God is so
real he can no longer doubt, no longer equivocate, no longer rebel. He
will never be the same person afterward. His remaining life may have its
share of trials, burdens, and afflictions as Moses’, but it also will
have its victories and triumphs. The burning-bush tells us of a God who
is so real that He dares us to doubt.” from DAILY WITH THE KING —
published by Moody Press

“For I am confident of this very thing, that HE who began a good work in
you will perfect it until the day of Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)

Good words for today. Visit our website to find out about our special
FREEDOM FIGHTER DAY!!! Don’t miss it. — http://www.americaskeswick.org

HOW DO YOU SMELL?

One of Zach’s favorite shows growing us was BEAR AND THE BIG BLUE HOUSE.
Every morning he’d watch Bear go through the ritual of preparing his
house for his friends. Bear would pick up a scent and begin sniffing and
say, “I smell something . . . and . . . it’s YOU!

Our nose is an amazing organ. Did you ever notice that you can be
someplace and pick up a scent that takes you back to another place you
have been? We were just at another conference center on the weekend and
as we were walking around, there was a distinct smell that took me back
years ago to when I was a camper at Sandy Cove. Scientists tell us that
our noses are so incredible that its six million olfactory cells inside
of it can detect 10,000 separate odors and as many as a half-million
combination odors. Without this sense, we would not be able to tell
perfumes from poisons, the fragrance of a flower from the stench of a
dead animal, Coca Cola from 7-Up, or a gas leak from baked bread.

We have a friend of the ministry that before she was even near you, you
could smell her perfume a mile away . . . well not quite. It would be
funny as our staff would catch a whiff of the perfume, look at each
other and say, “So and so is here!”

I have been reading in my ONE YEAR BIBLE through the book of Exodus and
Leviticus as God gives Moses instructions about the building of the
tabernacle and the use of offerings. The incense that Moses was to make
was to made with the finest of spices and was to be a sweet aroma to the
Lord. The different sacrificial offerings were designed to be a soothing
aroma to the Lord.

As I was meditating on these truths this morning, I was reminded that we
are to present ourselves to the Lord as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1)
and was reminded that the fragrance of our lives does make an impression
on people. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth: “But thanks be to God
who always leads us in triumph IN CHRIST, and manifests THROUGH us the
sweet aroma of the knowledge of him. For we are a FRAGRANCE OF CHRIST to
God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;
to one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to
life.” (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)

When you walk in the room how do you smell? Is your life a sweet aroma
that points people to Jesus? Good thoughts to ponder on this Thursday,
February 16, 2006.

Listen to Dr. Fred Hartman as he shares more today on Bible Prophecy on
KESWICK TODAY. You can pick up the broadcast by visiting our website:
http://www.americaskeswick.org