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John 6:67

Our faith is so prone to change depending on our feelings. There may be times when we are so dejected and low that we even consider turning back. But where will we go? Who will have us?

Yesterday in my reading these words held my attention:- The writer was talking about three various phases of faith.

'The first phase of faith believes when there are favourable emotions, the second believes when there is the absence of feeling, the third form of faith believes God and His Word when circumstances, emotions, appearances, people, and human reason all urge to the contrary. May God give us faith to fully trust His Word though everything else witness the other way.'

Days may come when it is so hard to keep going. When we feel as though our prayers are not going beyond the ceiling. Endless, monotonous days with no change in circumstances, leave us dismayed and forlorn.

Within ourselves we may be saying that we just cannot go on. It is more than we can bear! Our paths remain crooked and the way is steeper than we could ever have imagined. Where is my Saviour when I need Him most? Have you asked that question recently?

Deep down we have a desire to be like Him, to walk closely with Him. We yearn for His favour and His blessings. We want His power to be demonstrated in our life. Instead however all we can see is a growing mountain of sin lying at our door. We are no longer aware of the blessedness of forgiveness and there is no peace in our souls.

Has the Lord changed? Has He turned His back on us? Is He saying to our soul today, 'will ye also go away?'
It is time for us to put feelings to one side and for us to return to our first works. Trust and obey. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

It was so simple when first we believed and the joy was tremendous. Why complicate things now? It is by grace that we are saved and that has not changed. We did nothing in the first place to earn our salvation and we can do nothing now to keep it. It is a gift from God. It is our duty to accept it. Will we have this man to reign over us?

Ask the Lord this day to give you back your focus, that you may indeed delight yourself in the one thing needful. He is the pearl of great price. Will you give Him away? Will you trade Him in order that your flesh may be satisfied for a little while? Will the flesh pots of this world fulfil your desires and make you happy? Will they bring you peace?

They may promise plenty, however their promises are empty and vain.

Christ alone can satisfy our longing soul. He alone has the words of eternal life. He is the bread of life, the water of life. He is life! The tomb where they laid His body is empty. Does that not speak to our souls about awesome spiritual power?

That same power is available to you and to me today. He can lift us from the dunghill and raise our spirits to feed on Him in heavenly places once more. It only takes a word from the Lord to change our lives. I often think of the power behind the words spoken to Matthew, 'follow me!'

He left all and followed Him.

Simon Peter replied, 'Lord to whom else can we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.' These are wonderful words! 'We believe and are sure!'

Let that be our goal today my friend. Let the world pass us by if it will, but we will make sure of our eternal salvation today.

If we are sure that He is Christ, then we will be sure that He will and has forgiven us of all our sins. If we are sure that He is the Christ then we can be sure of spending an eternity in glory with Him. If we are sure that He is the Christ then we can be sure that He loves us with an everlasting love.

He alone makes darkness light, crooked paths straight, rough places smooth, the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk. In other words He does all things well. The individual care that He has over His own, those who are called by His name is without question.

Nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. We are accepted in the Beloved. We are complete in Christ. Our lives are hid with God in Christ. It is no longer us that live but Christ in us, the hope of glory. Old things have passed away behold all things have become new.

I dearly want to encourage all those who are cast down today to be strong in the Lord and to be lifted up. If I could give you a helping hand I would. If I had a word in season I would give it to you.

I pray to God that each person who reads this post today will be blessed by God in such a way that all fears and troubles are put far from them. We would believe and be sure that Christ is the Son of God. Arise let us go hence.

LOL

Your brother in Christ

Iain

Originally posted to Thoughts on July 22, 2003

Iain's messages are so good that I thought I would revive this one.  Hope you enjoy!

Thank you, Judy.  That is indeed well worth "reviving".   

I wonder how Iain's health is doing. He was having terrible back pain if I remember right.

I'm in fairly often contact with Iain, and, surprisingly, last I heard he was doing fairly well.

Glad to hear that AL.

Hi, friends - I'm marking my spot today - hope tomorrow will find me here much earlier.

Ruth Ann

Hi everyone.  Not much to write about today.  Will soon leave for coffee and perhaps trying to walk at the gym.  We will be going to a buffet with the men's Monday lunch group today.  It is the same place we went a couple of weeks ago but only myself and one other man could attend that day.  I hope we have more turn out today.  Then have the rest of the day to concentrate on staying cool.

Judy, thanks for the devotional for this week.

Good afternoon. 

Another storm this morning.  Enough is enough! 

I did get the yard mowed yesterday.  It was getting tall with all the rain lately.  Parts of the yard still had water so it will really be tall the next time. 

Some of the fields are being drowned out.  Farmers do not like to replant but they will. 

Church services was very nice for Father's Day.  A great message. 

This week's promise: Blessings come from obeying God
What does freedom mean to you?

What joy for the nation whose God is the Lord, whose people he has chosen for his own.

Psalm 33:12 NLT

"I will cause your descendants to become as numerous as the stars, and I will give them all these lands. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed. I will do this because Abraham listened to me and obeyed all my requirements, commands, regulations, and laws."
Genesis 26:4-5 NLT

This week's promise: God will wipe away sorrow forever
Is God concerned about our pain?

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those who are crushed in spirit. The righteous face many troubles, but the Lord rescues them from each and every one.

Psalm 34:18-19 NLT

He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised, and we did not care.

Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God for his own sins! But he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the guilt and sins of us all.
Isaiah 53:3-6 NLT


Crying ones

Through the pain and sorrow of Christ's experiences on earth, God has experienced the depths of human grief.



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You that are called born of God, and Christians, if you be not criers, there is no spiritual life in you; if you be born of God, you are crying ones; as soon as He raised you out of the dark dungeon of sin, you cannot but cry to God.
John Bunyan

Where is everyone? 

Another big rain last night.  Water is across the road just west of me and the sump pump is running every minute or so. 

Well, my laptop is in the shop again.  When I opened the lid yesterday, I had received a MSN IM from my friend in Mexico.  Had his name at the top but everything else was white.  I couldn't close it.  I couldn't open MSN IM.  I couldn't get the task manager to come up to close it either.  So when I got all caught up, I clicked restart.  The laptop shut down but wouldn't restart.  I tried restarting it by Windows finding the problem and fixing it.  Didn't work.  I tried it again.  Still didn't work.  So I called PC Help.  They said it sounds like a corrupted starting file.  So off I went to deliver my sick laptop..again. 

The desktop works but it is soooo slow.  And I can't get the printer to work on the desktop.  It has probably bit the dust...it is old! 

Tonight is Beef and Boards to see 'High School Musical'.  We may be the oldest ones there since it is a young musical.  But anything with singing, dancing and acting is my cup of tea. 

And more rain on the way!  Please, if you need rain, Indiana will give it to you!

Etta Sue, I hold my breath every time I start my laptop.  My desktop needs repair (I think only a power supply) waiting for the extra money to get it fixed.  So if my four year old laptop gives out I'm in big trouble.

Good mid-morning to everyone. I have been busy this morning trying to get a few things done before I go to the Podiatrist.  

Judy thank you for today's promise, I am so glad that Jesus is right there beside us when we are brokenhearted  and crushed in spirit. I have had to lean on him so many times and could feel the comfort of his arms around me comforting me  when I gave it all to Him; I felt my burden lighten and my spirits lift. In my weakest moments He made me strong.
Hallelujah!!

Thanks again.

Marilyn, been there, done that, felt that!  In fact I have physically felt His arm around my shoulder.   

Hi everyone.  The day has really rushed by and now it is mid-afternoon.  It is very hot again here in Georgia but at the minute it is overcast. 

The lawn people were here earlier but still waiting for the trash company to come by.  We are in the midst of a change in our county regarding trash collection.  They have assigned areas and given one company all of the houses in that area.  It is effective on July 1st but the new company dropped off a new trash buggy and then after the collection last week the old company picked up the old trash buggy.  However, the old company should be picking up for the next two weeks.  People of pretty upset about the new plan, which had lots of opposition, and particularly by the fact that the full fee for 18 months will be added to our next property tax bill.  This will add over $300 to all property owners tax bill and will work a terrible hardship on many low income home owners.  If it is not paid they will file a lien on the property.

Last night I was able to get the new operating system for the iPod touch downloaded.  It allows you to put the individual applications into folders so was able to organize them and put the folders in alphabetical order.  I really like this new feature.  It has also added a spell checker.

Not much else going on here.  Etta Sue, sorry to read you are having problems with your laptop.  I seem to have some problems with my desktop and am going to have to run the windows repair program as some files seem to be missing that are needed to allow me to install new programs.  I have never run into this before.  Just have to be sure my file are all protected with backup.

Larry that is terrible, adding that to the yearly cost...Can anything be done about it?

We have had rain here for a couple of hours.  The gardens are doing so well.  John tilled the part we aren't using this year.  I had a small bag of fingerling potatoes that began to sprout.  Personally I don't care for the taste of a potato after it sprouts.  So I cut them in half and planted them.  They are growing, and now to wait to see if they produce any new potatoes.

John has headed out to Quebec we don't know where to from there probably the east coast.

Got to run, be back later.

I got the laptop back on our way to Beef and Boards.  Something still isn't right.  It took three tries and I finally got it to turn Windows on.  I guess I won't shut it off.  Just close the lid. 

Beef and Boards was High School Musical.  A little girl about the age of 8-10 sat beside me.  She sang every song.  Lots of young girls there tonight.  I liked the show.  Lots of singing and dancing.  Good show.

Hi everyone.  Will post early before coffee as have Bible study this morning as we continue to look at the book of Daniel.  Pat isn't going this morning and I don't plan on staying after the study to have coffee at Dunkin' Donuts.  I about froze in there last week.  Tonight is our last choir practice for a month.  Our choir director was ill on Sunday and had to go home after we sang the anthem.  Sure hope she is feeling much better now.

Judy, there have been hearings and protests from citizens but the county commission has the power to enact and enforce this trash situation.  We can only express our anger at the ballot box.

Etta Sue, unfortunately you will have to close down your laptop from time to time.  It doesn't sound like he has solved all the problems.  Did you try a system restore from a time when it was working ok?  I find this often solves a lot of problems.

Larry, I thought at first that was an exorbitant amount to pay for garbage/trash removal.  But then I remembered the lowest fee that I was quoted by our local collectors - $45 a month for two 30 gallon bags a week.  Less than two bags, no reduction.  More than two bags, an additional fee.  Since I can take my own to the landfill for $3 a bag and recyclables are free I thanked them kindly and hung up.  The problem with your situation is, of course, the lump sum for a year.

And that reminds me.  I need to go to the landfill today.   

All seems well with the laptop today.  But I didn't close it down. 

Now the desktop seems shaky.  I think I will install AVG on it and remove my old anti-virus that PC Help said wasn't that good when I took my laptop to them in April.  The desktop is old and slow like me. 

Today I am taking Ivalou to the dentist.  She seems to have a problem that she can't figure out.  She tries self-diagnosis so much instead of getting things checked out.  She wouldn't be going to the dentist but she got a postcard saying she was over due for an appointment.  So she goes today. 

Today is bright but hazy.  Rain is predicted!!  When driving through the countryside last night you could smell the damp musty odor.  Not pleasant. 

This week's promise: God will wipe away sorrow forever
Is God concerned about our pain?

Then Jesus wept. The people who were standing nearby said, "See how much he loved him [Lazarus]."

John 11:35-36 NLT

But as they came closer to Jerusalem and Jesus saw the city ahead, he began to cry.

"I wish that even today you would find the way of peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from you. Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you. They will crush you to the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in lace, because you have rejected the opportunity God offered you."
Luke 19: 41-44 NLT


Jesus' example

The story of Lazarus's death and resurrection (John 11:1-44) contains a profound teaching about sorrow. When Jesus arrived and was taken to the graveside, he wept openly. Onlookers were impressed with the power of his grief and immediately recognized it as an indication of his great love: "See how much he loved him," they said.

The tears Jesus shed that day forever validate the experience of human sorrow and grief. Even though we have the hope of resurrection and we know that for the believer physical death is not the final word, our tears and sorrow are appropriate and good. How comforting to know that God himself is willing to walk the way of sorrow with us! Is there any sorrow that you have been unable to express fully? You can share it with the Lord, for he understands your grief fully.

Hi to all,

very hectic at work so a "quick flyby"

If you have a chance, here's a very good website you might like to review and make you ponder...

http://www.greatdanepro.com/Pray%20For%20America/index.htm

Talk to you later

We had an exciting afternoon.  At about 1:41 there was an earthquake in the Ottawa and Quebec area. It was at 5.0 om the Richter scale.  We felt it at 1:44.  Apparently it was felt down to Chicago, and into Ohio!  There was also an earthquake in San Diego CA. Our whole house rattled!  The last one we felt up here was Jan.1 2000.

We are having a soft gentle rain.  Good for the garden, and water levels, which are down.

Well must go
JudyB

We haven't had an earthquake, at least that I know about, in almost 30 years.  That one was 5.6 but I don't remember where the epicenter was.

We've experienced mild quakes from time to time. First time my hubby and I were taking a class on the top floor of a very old building. All at once, the professor was being swayed one way, and our chairs went the other. I wondered if that old building would withstand the shock, and thankfully, it did.

There's a big fault near Memphis, TN, and we are about 3 hours drive away, so sometimes we feel those shocks.

I got a mistaken contact on my cell phone, and continued. So, I did a reverse number lookup - no one I knew. So, finally replied by saying that "you awakened an old lady from peaceful sleep." Next message was "Oh, so sorry. Wrong area code."

So, I decided to come to CP while wide awake in the middle of the night.

Hope all are doing well.

Ruth Ann

This week's promise: God will wipe away sorrow forever
Faith does not isolate us from sadness

Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise his holy name. His anger lasts for a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may go on all night, but joy comes in the morning.

Psalm 30:4-5 NLT

I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn't like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid.
John 14:27 NLT

Truly, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy when you see me again. It will be like a woman experiencing the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives place to joy because she has brought a new person into the world. You have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.
John 16:20-22 NLT

Ruth Ann, the middle of the night is such a scary time to get a phone call!