Never Forget

For This I Have Jesus

From RBC Ministries - Our Daily Bread

READ: Psalm 66:1-15
I will never leave you nor forsake you. —Hebrews 13:5In an evangelistic meeting in Ireland, the speaker was explaining what it means to abide in Christ and to trust Him completely in every trial. Concluding his message, he repeated several times, “It means that in every circumstance you can keep on saying, ‘For this I have Jesus.’ ”

The meeting was then opened for testimonies. One young woman said, “Just a few minutes ago I was handed this telegram. It reads, ‘Mother is very ill; take train home immediately.’ When I saw those words, I knew that tonight’s message was meant just for me. My heart looked up and said, ‘For this I have Jesus.’ Instantly a peace and strength flooded my soul.”
Three or four weeks later the evangelist received a letter from this woman. It read, “Thank you again for the message you gave that day. Life has become an uninterrupted psalm of victory, for I have come to realize that no matter what life brings, for this I have Jesus.”

That believer in Christ had found in her Savior the One who would be with her “through fire and through water,” and who would bring her “out to rich fulfillment” (Ps. 66:12).
If you are enduring a great trial of affliction, remember—for this you have Jesus! — Henry G. Bosch

I’ve found a refuge from life’s care in Jesus,
I am hiding in His love divine;
He fully understands my soul’s deep longing,
And He whispers softly, “Thou art Mine.” —Christiansen

If every circumstance finds us abiding in Christ, we will find Christ abiding with us in every circumstance.

"Creation is Groaning" isn't the same as "Murmuring and Complaining".

We have been talking about hope. Last night in Romans 8 we were reading these verses from God's Word Translation (20,21) Creation was subjected to frustration but not by its own choice. The one who subjected it to frustration did so in the hope that it would also be set free from slavery to decay in order to share the glorious freedom that the children of God will have.


We continued speaking about how we could not have hope unless God, who's image we were created in, had hope. This verses states that he does. In addition to this Philippians 1:6 states "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 Jesus. (NAS)" This assures us that God does have a plan, so our hope is to be established not in what we see happening around us but in the fact that God knows the struggles we must come through in order to form our personality, character, integrity and endurance to be transformed into His image.

I pray that we not be weak willed, that we percevere in His strength, through His spirit and demand that our spirit prosper even as our soul prospers. We do not have to sit back and wish....we can plow through with hope of reaching the finish line. I pray that we keep our eye on the road leading forward which is for our good, always asking for the correct path and following it.

With love,
Candace

Visions Become Reality

The parched ground shall become a pool . . . —Isaiah 35:7

We always have a vision of something before it actually becomes real to us. When we realize that the vision is real, but is not yet real in us, Satan comes to us with his temptations, and we are inclined to say that there is no point in even trying to continue. Instead of the vision becoming real to us, we have entered into a valley of humiliation.

Life is not as idle ore,

But iron dug from central gloom,

And battered by the shocks of doom

To shape and use.

God gives us a vision, and then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of that vision. It is in the valley that so many of us give up and faint. Every God-given vision will become real if we will only have patience. Just think of the enormous amount of free time God has! He is never in a hurry. Yet we are always in such a frantic hurry. While still in the light of the glory of the vision, we go right out to do things, but the vision is not yet real in us. God has to take us into the valley and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the point where He can trust us with the reality of the vision. Ever since God gave us the vision, He has been at work. He is getting us into the shape of the goal He has for us, and yet over and over again we try to escape from the Sculptor’s hand in an effort to batter ourselves into the shape of our own goal.

The vision that God gives is not some unattainable castle in the sky, but a vision of what God wants you to be down here. Allow the Potter to put you on His wheel and whirl you around as He desires. Then as surely as God is God, and you are you, you will turn out as an exact likeness of the vision. But don’t lose heart in the process. If you have ever had a vision from God, you may try as you will to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never allow it. - By Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

With You Always....Even Till the End of Time

When I was reading this I was thinking about why we would want to go it on our own. Yesterday we were reflecting on the verse from Jeremiah. God wants us to depend on Him. He wants to strengthen us, complete us, make us victorious in all things for His name sake. We however think it is an inconvenience to God. He does not see it that way. He is honored when we depend on him. Part of the problem is that we try to create God in our own image. That is one of the most common aspects of idolatry that we unknowingly commit. We preempt God's response to our neediness as if he were a mere mortal that is overwhelmed by our needs due to insufficiency of patients, kindness, maturity.... whatever the case may be.

God is omnipresent, he is able and he is willing. We just have to remember he is God and ask so that we may receive. I pray that we are conscious of how we relate to our God and that we mature into our head which is Christ, His beloved son. May His spirit search the depths of us and teach us where we lack wisdom.

Happy New Year to you all.
Candace

Always With You

Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go. —Genesis 28:15

The highway that winds around the southern shore of Lake Michigan can be treacherous in the winter. One weekend as we were driving back to Grand Rapids from Chicago, a buildup of snow and ice slowed traffic, caused numerous accidents, and almost doubled our drive time. We were relieved as we eased off the expressway onto our final road. It was then that my husband said out loud, “Thanks, Lord. I think I can take it from here.”


Just as he finished saying the words, our car spun around 180 degrees. As we came to a stop, hearts pounding, we could just imagine God saying: “Are you sure?”


Why do we sometimes try to go it alone in life when at every moment we have access to God? He said: “I am with you and will keep you wherever you go” (Gen. 28:15). And He assures us: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5).


Scottish mathematician, theologian, and preacher Thomas Chalmers (1780–1847) wrote: “When I walk by the wayside, He is along with me. When I enter into company, amid all my forgetfulness of Him, He never forgets me. . . . Go where I will, He tends me, and watches me, and cares for me.”

What a comfort to know that God is always with us—we don’t need to go through life alone! — by Cindy Hess Kasper

As I travel down life’s pathway,

Jesus keeps me day by day;

And although the road is winding,

Yet, with Him I need not stray. —by Bradshaw

God’s presence brings great comfort