“Every pilot knows the value of communicating with knowledgeable men during times of trouble. The natural reaction when having difficulty in the sky is to radio for help. We do not always do this in our daily living.

Our daily tendency is often to try and make it on our own. We admire the rugged. independent individual who ‘pulled himself up by his bootstraps.’ That is the American way. At times we are all a little like Frank Sinatra’s belting out for all to hear, ‘I did it my way.’

Jesus sings another song. Its words speak about fullness of joy and fruitfulness. The thesis of His song states, ‘Apart from Me you can do nothing’ (John 15:5). The title of His song is ‘Abide in Me and I in You’, or more modernly stated, ‘You’ll Be Fine If You’re Connected to the Vine.’

Stanza 1 says, ‘Abide in Me, and I in you. As the the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.’ (John 15:4)

Stanza 2 says, ‘I am the Vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.’ (John 15:5)

Stanza 3 says, ‘If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.’ (John 15:6)

Stanza 4 says, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.’ (John 15:7)”

from the writings of Dr. John C. Maxwell in THE WINNING ATTITUDE published by Thomas Nelson

What are you facing today? I am reminded of the the bumper sticker I have seen from time to time — “God doesn’t need a co-pilot!” Are you in contact with the control tower today?
Good words to contemplate on this beautiful Friday, May 27, 2005.

The world needs men who cannot be bought;
Whose word is their bond;
Who put character above wealth;
who possess opinions and a will;
who are larger than their vocations;
who do not hesitate to take chances;
who will not lose their individuality in a crowd;
who will be as honest in small things as in great things;
who will make no compromise with wrong;
whose ambitions are not confined to their own selfish desires;
who will not say they do it “because everybody else does it”;
who are true to their friends through good report and evil report, in adversity as well as in prosperity;
who do not believe that shrewdness, cunning and hardheadedness are the best qualities for winning success;
who are not ashamed or afraid to stand for the truth when it is unpopular;
who say “no” with emphasis, although the rest of the world can say “yes.”

from Ted Engstrom, The Making of a Christian Leader

“God can’t stand deceivers, but oh how he relishes integrity.” Proverbs 11:20

Good words for you to contemplate today. Have a blessed day “IN CHRIST.”

“Many of us prefer to stay at the entrance to the Christian life instead of going on to create and build our soul in accordance with the new life God has placed within us. We fail because we are ignorant of the way God has made us, and we blame things on the devil that are actually the result of our own undisciplined natures. Just think what we could be when we are awakened to the truth!
There are certain things in life that we need not pray about — moods, for instance. We will never get rid of our moodiness by praying, but we will by kicking it out of our lives! (Ouch!) Moods nearly always are rooted in some physical circumstance, not in our own true inner self. It is a continual struggle not to listen to the moods which arise as a result of our physical condition, but we must never submit to them for a second. We have to pick ourselves up by the back of the neck and shake ourselves; then we will find that we can do what we believed we were unable to do. The problem that most of us are cursed with is simply that we WON’T. The Christian life is one of spiritual courage and determination lived out in our flesh!”
Good words to contemplate on this Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Join us at America’s KESWICK for our COMMUNITY OPEN HOUSE . . . this Saturday, May 28, 2005 from 11:00 – 3:00! Games, food, helicopter rides, pony rides, and lots of great fellowship. For information . . . call
800-453-7942 or visit our website — www.americaskeswick.org.

We had the privilege of having Dennis Jernigan at America’s KESWICK for an evening concert. This song is the theme song of the ministry of America’s KESWICK. Please do duplicate these words. May they encourage your heart!

THIS IS MY DESTINY
All I was I lay aside now dead to sin,
To God alive! Born again into a new identity!
Once asleep to God in sin,
now wakened by the blood and cleansed!
Born again to be who he called me to be!
All I have I lay aside, run the race to gain the prize For the sake of knowing Jesus Christ in me!
I cannot yet fully see all I’m truly called to be, Knowing Christ reveals my hope and destiny!
He calls me child! He calls me to His side eternally!
He calls what once was lost now found, once bound to sin — now free!
He calls me holy! Calls me righteousness! By the blood redeemed!
He calls me overcomer, crowned with victory!
This is my destiny!
What once bound me is no more! What was stolen is restored by the resurrection power of the King!
What was all old has been made new; lies and doubts replaced by truth!
What was silent now resounds, “I am redeemed!
He calls me servant, calls me warrior;
Calls me royalty!
He calls me resurrected one! He calls me His redeemed!
He calls me higher, calls me far beyond my wildest dream!
He calls my heart to come and be all he can see!
This is my destiny!
He calls me chosen! New creation! Trophy of His grace!
He gives me strength to fight the fight and run to win the race!
He tells me he delights in me while singing over me, Accepting me as his beloved bride-to-be! This is my destiny!
THIS IS MY DESTINY!
Shepherds Heart Music, Inc.
>From the Dennis Jernigan CD THIS IS MY DESTINY!

It amazes me that YOU who made the whole universe,
with its infinite miles of space
and its gigantic celestial bodies,
are interested in my affairs/
But amazingly, You are!
You have given me a high position in Your concerns.
You have made me just a little lower than the angels.
You have given me worth and dignity
and afforded me a place of significance
in Your divine scheme of things.
You have given me a mind to reason,
plan, discover, analyze, and predict.
You have made me in Your image,
a creating, responding, living, and loving being.
You have given me a hand with dexterity,
and a mind to overcome physical limitations.
You have given me the capacity
to transform the raw materials of this world
into instruments for my use.
I sometimes take undue credit for my technologies,
not acknowledging that all my inventiveness depends on You.
and on the raw materials You have placed in this world.
Thank You, Lord, for the wonders of the heavens and the earth.
Thank You for the reminders they are of Your greatness.
O Lord, my Lord, how wonderful You are!
Your majesty is in everything I behold.
Your glory is proclaimed in the whole of creation.
The heavens and the earth combine to proclaim Your greatness! AMEN
from UNDER HIS WINGS by Ward Patterson ACCENT BOOKS.
Rejoice today, my friend, in who you are IN CHRIST.

O Lord, my Lord, how wonderful You are!
Your majesty is in everything I behold.
Your glory is proclaimed in the whole of creation.
The heavens and the earth combine to proclaim Your greatness.
You establish Your granduer from weakness and dependecy.
From the lips of infants and children
expressions of praise spring forth.
How often I have heard the profoundest wisdom
from the lips of small children!
Your glory puts to shame those who oppose You
and silence those who mock.
I see it in the heavens
where the vast expanse of space proclaims Your enormity.
Billions of stars proclaim Your workmanship,
moving in their galaxies,
sending forth their light,
and illuminating my night sky.
You have set the moon in it’s orbit,
reflecting into my night a message of Your glory,
sending onto my shores the surging tides,
and directing my thoughts to love.
Everything moves according to Your plan.
Everything hangs in space by YOUR Word.
Everything holds together by YOUR might.
When I look up, I feel so small.
I’m just a little human on the face of a tiny planet!
And yet, sometimes I think that everything
in the whole universe revolves around me.
I fix my own ambitions,
my troubles, my accomplishments, and my failures,
and I act as if the universe is holding it’s breath in expectation.
But the heavens put me in my place.
They remind me of how insignificant I really am.
They reduce me to realistic proportions
and remind me that I am unworthy of Your lovingkindness.
It amazes me that You who made the whole universe,
with its infinite miles of space
and its gigantic celestial bodies,
ARE INTERESTED IN ME!
O Lord, MY LORD, how wonderful YOU are!
Good words to prepare your heart for worshipping HIM today.

PSALM 1 — A Paraphrase
“Father, fill me 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 of 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 provision,
And Your presence.
I know that when I meditate on Your Word,
You refresh me.
You relieve my pressures.
You make life fruitful.
You keep me from spiritual drought.
You give me ease in my tasks and the joy of accomplishment.
But I forget this too soon
And I fall back into spiritual slothfulness.
My life becomes dry and lifeless.
I am beset by doubts,
defeats and enemies.
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 my Lord and Master.”
from UNDER HIS WINGS by Ward Patterson published by Accent Books
Good words to consider and ponder as you prepare for the Lord’s Day tomorrow.

“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” — Matthew 5:8
“Seeing God means much more than perceiving traces of Him in nature, in the Scriptures, and in His church. Seeing God means that the pure in heart begin to discern something of God’s true character. Anyone who is caught in a thunderstorm and hears the crash of thunder and sees what havoc the lightning flashes work, perceives that God is mighty. But to perceive God is eternally just and yet infinitely tender and that He is sternly severe and yet immeasurably gracious and to see the various attributes of Deity all blending into one another as the colors of the rainbow make one harmonious and beautiful whole — this is reserved for the person whose eyes have been first washed in the blood of Jesus and then anointed with heavenly eye salve by the Holy Spirit.
It is only such a person who sees that God is always and altogether good and who admires Him under every aspect, seeing that all His attributes are beautifully blended and balanced and that each attribute sheds additional splendor upon all the rest. The pure in heart shall in that sense see God, for they shall appreciate His attributes and understand His character as the ungodly never can.
When a man’s heart is clean, he will also hear God’s footfall everywhere in the garden of the earth in the cool of the day. He will hear God’s voice in the tempest, sounding in peal from the tops of the mountains.
He will behold the Lord walking on the great and mighty waters or see Him in every leaf that trembles in the breeze. Once the heart is made right, God can be seen everywhere. To an impure heart, God cannot be seen anywhere, but to a pure heart, God is to be seen everywhere — in the deepest caverns of the sea, in the lonely desert, in every star that germs the brow of midnight.”
Good words for us to ponder on this May 20th, 2005. Our Community Open House will be held on Saturday, May 28th from 11:00 – 3:00 PM. Great food, fun activities for all ages, helicopters rides and much more.
Bring your friends and enjoy a day at America’s KESWICK . . . “Where God speaks to hearts and transforms lives . . .”

“One of the best test’s of a man’s character will be found in the deepest and heartiest longings. You cannot always judge a man by what he is doing at any one time, for he may be under constraints that compel him to act contrary to his true self, or he may be under a temporary impulse from which he will soon be free. He may for a while be held back from that which is evil, and yet he may be radically bad; or he may be constrained by force of temptation to that which is wrong, and yet his real self may rejoice in righteousness.

A man may not certainly be pronounced to be good because for the moment he is doing good, nor may he be condemned as evil because under certain constraints he may be committing sin. A man’s longings are more inward and more near to his self than his outward acts; they are more natural in that they are entirely free and beyond compulsion and constraint. As a man longs in his heart, so is he. I do not mean every idle wish, but I refer to the strong desires of his heart. These are the lifeblood of a man’s nature.

You can know whether you are good or evil by answering the questions, ‘To which do you have the greatest desire? Do you continually long after selfish pleasures?’ Then you are evil beyond all question. Do you sigh to be and do that which is good — is this the great aim of your life?
Then in the core of your being there is some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel. Your heart-longings may furnish you with excellent helps for self-examination, and I beg you to apply them at once. The things of the heart touch the root of the matter.” from the writings of Charles
Haddon Spurgeon — A PASSION FOR HOLINESS IN A BELIEVER’S LIFE published by Bethany House.
Have a blest day in Christ!

of Charles Haddon Spurgeon
“I gather that in the church of God it is not merely her ministers that are to be most holy, but all her members — not her sacraments only, but her ordinary meals; not her Sabbaths only, but her workdays; not her worship only, but her daily labor.
Conspicuous holiness should be the mark of the church of God. We should not be noted for talent or wealth or loud professions but for holiness.
Somehow or other true holiness is sure to be spied out or remarked upon.
Like the violet, it tries to hide itself but is betrayed by its perfume.
Like the star, it twinkles with modesty but it is discovered to be sheltered from its enemies by its obscurity, but the holy city evermore stands on a hill and cannot be hid. Would to God that whenever people speak of the church to which they belong that may acknowledge its holiness! Would to God that whenever they speak of you or me they have no evil thing to say of us unless they lie. The world does not know how to name the thing it both admires and hates, but it soon perceives its existence and owns its power — the thing I mean is holiness, which is at once the glory and the strength of the people of God. Mo
Morality is a clean outside, but holiness is being clean within.
Morality is a dead body washed and laid in clean white linen; holiness is the living form in perfect purity. To be just to man is morality, to be hallowed unto God is holiness. The church of God must not be reputedly good, but be really pure. She must not have a name for virtue, but her heart must be right before God — she must have a clean inside.
Our lives must be such that observers may peep within the doors and see nothing for which to blame us. Our moral cleanliness must not be like that of a housewife who sweeps the dirt under the mats. We must be so clear of the accursed thing that even if they dig in the earth they will not find an Achan’s treasure hidden there. ‘Behold, thou desires truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part you shall make me to know wisdom.'” (Psalm 51:6)
Very powerful words this morning from A PASSION FOR HOLINESS IN A BELIEVER’S LIFE by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, published by Bethany House.
America’s KESWICK is a faith ministry and depends on the prayers and gifts of God’s people to carry out its mission and purpose. If you have been blessed by the daily ministry of FREEDOM FIGHTERS, why not consider a gift to America’s KESWICK. You can send your gift to 601 Route 530 WHITING, NJ 08759. When you send your gift, let us know that you are a FREEDOM FIGHTER PARTNER! May God bless you. To unsubscribe, visit www.americaskeswick.org.