Friday, July 01, 2005

Sometimes

Sometimes:
I forget that life is short
Sometimes:
I forget that people are more important than things
Sometimes:
I forget that God is my Father and has promised to supply my every need
Sometimes:
I forget that my neighbours and friends still are not saved.

Help me oh, Lord to remember eternity
Help me oh, Lord to relax and trust you.
Forgive me Lord, for my many failures.
I do love you, Jesus!

The Longings of the Soul

The Psalmist David cries out "Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men." , "Oh, that I had the wings of a dove that I might fly away to be with you". Oh, yes there are deep lonings of the soul. Each of us at this point has various lonings of the soul.
Whether you love the Lord or not, your soul cries out to be fed. You soul yearns to have "rest", to be in completion, to be healthy.
We get so many hurts and bruises in life, some caused by ourselves, our own mistakes, our own sin, some caused by others who wanted to hurt us, some caused unintentionally by those that love us, some caused because there is sin in this world, therefore people get sick and people die.
Oh, the longings of the soul deep within us. "For He satisfieth the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness."
The longings of the soul can be deadened, put out like a fire dies, and sometimes we ourselves pour water on the fire and kill it. For our soul's longings, we sometimes say, "No, Lord, you ask too much of me." That's the first time we say this, but it may become a habit until at last the Spirit of the Lord is hushed, and He quietens down within your soul. " Quench not the Spirit".
Quenching a fire in the forest or in your wood stove means to drown it or to kill it. Someone said, " My soul shall never find its rest until it finds its rest in THEE." Ah, that's the way God made us. We'll never be satisfied, we'll never be at rest until we find our peace with God through Jesus Christ. We'll never truly be happy until we are in His will for us.
First, His will is "that all might be saved and come to the knowledge of God". Then there is the living for God, the serving God, the obedience to His will for our lives.
We can be saved and run from God like Jonah did, but the result of his flight was to be swallowed by a big fish. ........ Not too pleasant!!

Other Be: Attitudes

1. Be all of one mind
2.Be compassionate one of another
3.Be loving
4.Be sympathetic
5.Be courteous
6.Be full of blessing to others
7.Be careful what you say
8.Be wise and do good
9.Be seeking and practising peace
10.Be a follower of good
11.Be happy if you suffer for righteousness
12.Be not afraid of the enemy
13.Be not troubled by the enemy
14.Be careful to have Jesus in your heart
15.Be ready to give your testimony to anyone
16.Be leading a good life in Christ
17.Be willing to suffer for Christ

18.Be Baptized in Jesus name, so you can have a good conscience toward God because your
sins are washed away.
I Peter 3

Source of Life

Looking up into the bare trees one winter day wlile lying in the snow, I started to think of those trees, wondering how the tips of the branches way on top could stay living, looking vibrant and alive.
In my ponderings I realized that the source of nourishment didn't lye in any of the branches, but way, way down in the roots. The roots would soak up the water and gain nourishment from the earth and thewn send life up through the sap.
I started to think of the tree planted by the river of water, in the Bible and how Jesus showed us that we need to stay attached to the tree in order to get life. We, like branches, need to stay attached to the source of Life or we begin to die.
The branches on our yard that are dying , we throw on the burn pile. Our source of Life , as Christians, is in Jesus, and we need to stay attached firmly in Him.
Basically we are nothing without Him, but in Jesus, we blossom or bloom, become big branches or little branches, whatever He has for us.
He is our Life, our source of strength, our hope, and if we are attached to Jesus, we shall see Him someday and be with Him eternally. Jan/'99