“Thy people shall be a freewill offering in the day of Thy power” (Ps. cx. 3).

This is what the term consecration properly means. It is the voluntary surrender or self-offering of the heart, by the constraint of love to be the Lord’s.

Its glad expression is, “I am my Beloved’s.” It must spring, of course, from faith. There must be the full confidence that we are safe in this abandonment, that we are not falling over a precipice, or surrendering ourselves to the hands of a judge, but that we are sinking into a Father’s arms and stepping into an infinite inheritance.

Oh, it is an infinite inheritance. Oh, it is an infinite privilege to be permitted thus to give ourselves up to One who pledges Himself to make us all that we would love to be, nay, all that His infinite wisdom, power and love will delight to accomplish in us.

It is the clay yielding itself to the potter’s hands that it may be shaped into a vessel of honor, and meet for the Master‘s use. It is the poor street waif consenting to become the child of a prince that he may be educated and provided for, that he may be prepared to inherit all the wealth of his guardian.

http://devotionals.ochristian.com/a-b-simpson-devotional.shtml

 

 

Getting Through

I will hear what God the LORD will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints. —Psalm 85:8

Gone are the days when a real person greets you on the other end of a phone call. It seems as though whenever we try to “reach out and touch someone,” we are greeted with a computerized voice.

I’m glad this isn’t true of our Father in heaven. He is always there. No voice-mail boxes, no “press 2 for more grace” and no “call waiting” interruptions. Thankfully, “Call to Me, and I will answer you” (Jeremiah 33:3) has not been replaced by, “All lines are now busy. Your call is important to Me. Please stay on the line.”

Yet I wonder what kind of access He has to us?

Communication with God is a two-way street. He speaks to us through His Word when we come attentively before Him in prayer and through the clear voice of the indwelling Spirit. He paid a great price to keep the lines open so that we can experience the joy of being still long enough to know that He is God (Ps. 46:10). As my grandmother’s favorite hymn “In the Garden” says:

And He walks with me, and He talks with me, And He tells me I am His own; And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other has ever known. —Miles © Renewal 1940 The Rodeheaver Co.

The joy of hearing His voice is a call you don’t want to miss!

Is God getting through to you?

http://getmorestrength.org/daily/getting-through/

Weathering the Financial Shakeup (2)

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”                               Ps 23:1

If you’re in debt and worried about your job: (1) Don’t panic. Turn to the source of all wisdom and read these words: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Repeat it to yourself throughout the day. Tape it to your bathroom mirror where you’ll see it first thing each morning. (2) Take inventory. “Know the condition of your flocks [finances]” (Pr 27:23 NIV). Many people don’t know how much they owe or what their expenses are. List your debts and fixed expenses, set a goal to live on what you earn, and put some toward debt reduction. (3) Be disciplined. Head off problems before they arise by conquering the demon of instant gratification. When you don’t know the state of your finances you’re less likely to apply the brakes, and end up spending money you don’t have. (4) Be creative. When God created Paradise He watered it with four different rivers, so start looking for other streams of income. Walt Disney was fired by a big newspaper for lack of ideas. After auditioning him, MGM told Fred Astaire that he couldn’t act and wasn’t much of a dancer. Beethoven’s violin teacher declared him hopeless as a composer! It takes faith to see the opportunities, and courage to overcome the obstacles. (5) Be a giver. Hard times are the wrong time to stop giving to God. During a famine a widow gave what little food she had to God’s servant, Elijah. The result? “There was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family” (1Ki 17:15 NIV). It’s hard to explain rationally, but your giving turns on the tap of God’s supply.

http://theencouragingword.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/weathering-the-financial-shakeup-2/

Disappointing Sideshows

“For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.” 1 John 2:16

When I was a boy, one of the biggest annual events in town was the circus. My dad would take us early in the morning to watch the circus trains unload the tigers, lions, elephants, monkeys, and all the other animals and paraphernalia that made the circus so intriguing.

Once the circus was set up, great attractions were lined along the midway. The midway was the walkway leading to the big tent. Vendors hawked their wares, happy music played, the smell of hot dogs and cotton candy mingled in the air, and multicolored balloons bounced in the wind. With bursts of laughter and excited screams, customers twisted and turned on amusement rides. The midway was almost more than a boy could take.

The most intriguing sights of all for me were the sideshows. Large posters advertised all kinds of physical deformity and daring feats of bravery—a man with three eyes, a bearded woman, sword-swallowers, and fire-eaters. I would pull on my dad’s hand and beg him to take me to see them, only to hear him say, “Joe, it’s a waste of money. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”

This is the warning we see in 1 John 2:16. The world is a lot like the midway. Much of it is exciting. But as our Father walks us through experiences, He warns us of what will disappoint us, waste our resources, and distort and destroy us. It’s the sideshows that seduce us and endanger our experience here. Our world constantly puts us in tension with all that it offers.

This tension forces us to make up our minds about whom or what we will believe and follow. Will it be our Father or the sideshow?

When I grew up and went to the circus on my own, I couldn’t wait to put up my own money to see the sideshows—only to find out that my father had been right. My money was wasted.

It’s like that in life, but the stakes are far greater.

YOUR JOURNEY…

• What sideshows threaten to seduce and distract me?
• What will I do to turn from them?
• How can I learn to follow Jesus more faithfully?
• Where is my heart for God? for the world? How can I show my love for God today?

http://getmorestrength.org/daily/disappointing-sideshows/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GetMoreStrength+%28Strength+For+The+Journey%29

His Billows

“All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me” (Ps. 42:7).

They are HIS billows, whether they go o’er us,

Hiding His face in smothering spray and foam;

Or smooth and sparkling, spread a path before us,

And to our haven bear us safely home.

They are HIS billows, whether for our succor

He walks across them, stilling all our fear;

Or to our cry there comes no aid nor answer,

And in the lonely silence none is near.

They are HIS billows, whether we are toiling

Through tempest-driven waves that never cease,

While deep to deep with clamor loud is calling;

Or at His word they hush themselves in peace.

They are HIS billows, whether He divides them,

Making us walk dryshod where seas had flowed;

Or lets tumultuous breakers surge about us,

Rushing unchecked across our only road.

They are HIS billows, and He brings us through them;

So He has promised, so His love will do.

Keeping and leading, guiding and upholding,

To His sure harbor, He will bring us through.

–Annie Johnson Flint

Stand up in the place where the dear Lord has put you, and there do your best. God gives us trial tests. He puts life before us as an antagonist face to face. Out of the buffeting of a serious conflict we are expected to grow strong. The tree that grows where tempests toss its boughs and bend its trunk often almost to breaking, is often more firmly rooted than the tree which grows in the sequestered valley where no storm ever brings stress or strain. The same is true of life. The grandest character is grown in hardship. –Selected

http://devotionals.ochristian.com/mrs-charles-cowman-streams-in-the-desert-devotional.shtml

You Can’t Take It With You by Mark D. Roberts

Ezekiel 27:1-36

Your goods, your wares, your wealth,      your sailors, your helmsmen,      those patching your leaks,      your merchants, all your warriors in you,      and all the company that is with you—           they also sank into the sea’s depth           on the day of your demise. (CEB)

 

Ezekiel 27:27

My dad loved Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion. He listened to this radio program faithfully, often wearing his favorite shirt: a Prairie Home Companion t-shirt. So, when my dad died and the mortuary said we had to decide how he should be dressed for burial, my family and I were in full agreement. He would be buried in his favorite shirt.

I guess I could say that my dad managed to take this shirt with him when he died. But, of course, I don’t believe he actually wore that particular shirt when he joined the Lord in Paradise. In truth, my dad left all of his earthly possession behind when he died, just like every other human being.

So it was with the city of Tyre in the sixth century B.C. This city had achieved widespread fame as an economic powerhouse. Her superiority in trading allowed her to accumulate the best of the best by way of possessions. Ezekiel 27 enumerates some of her valuables, including: silver, iron, tin, lead, bronze, horses, warhorses, mules, ebony, ivory, turquoise, purple cloth, colorful brocades, linen, coral, rubies, etc. In a word, Tyre had it all.

And Tyre lost it all, like a ship going down in a storm. Everything she valued sank into the deep, including the people who made her so successful. Whereas once Tyre was praised for her beauty, now she has “become a terror; from now on you are nothing” (27:36).

The example of Tyre reminds me to hold onto my possessions lightly. They are not what makes life truly worth living. My stuff will not accompany me to the grave and beyond. So why do I worry so much about it? Shouldn’t I be investing my life in that which matters most? In people and truth? In serving God in the world? In love and justice? In worship and work?

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: Which of your possessions do you value the most? Why? How does it affect you to think that you will not be able to take them with you when you die? What really matters most to you in life?

PRAYER: Dear Lord, I confess that I sometimes act as if I can take it with me. I can get so wrapped up in my possessions: acquiring them, prizing them, worrying about them, fixing them. To be sure, you have given us the things in this world for our good. Yet how easy it is for me—and others, I expect—to love things more than we should, even to live for them.

The example of Tyre reminds me, Lord, to live for what really matters, to invest my life in you and your purposes. You have created me to work in your world, to worship you in word and deed, to love you and others in your name. Help me, Lord, to devote all that I am to that which will last. Amen.

http://www.thehighcalling.org/reflection/you-cant-take-it-you

“And after the earthquake a fire; and after the fire a sound of gentle stillness” (1 Kings 19:12, RV margin.)

A soul, who made rapid progress in her understanding of the Lord, was once asked the secret of her easy advancement. She replied tersely, “Mind the checks.” And the reason that many of us do not know and better understand Him is, we do not give heed to His gentle checks, His delicate restraints and constraints. His is a still, small voice. A still voice can hardly be heard. It must be felt. A steady, gentle pressure upon the heart and mind like the touch of a morning zephyr to your face. A small voice, quietly, almost timidly spoken in your heart, but if heeded growing noiselessly clearer to your inner ear. His voice is for the ear of love, and love is intent upon hearing even faintest whispers. There comes a time also when love ceases to speak if not responded to, or believed in. He is love, and if you would know Him and His voice, give constant ear to His gentle touches.

In conversation, when about to utter some word, give heed to that gentle voice, mind the check and refrain from speech. When about to pursue some course that seems all clear and right and there comes quietly to your spirit a suggestion that has in it the force almost of a conviction, give heed, even if changed plans seem highest folly from standpoint of human wisdom. Learn also to wait on God for the unfolding of His will. Let God form your plans about everything in your mind and heart and then let Him execute them. Do not possess any wisdom of your own. For many times His execution will seem so contradictory to the plan He gave. He will seem to work against Himself. Simply listen, obey and trust God even when it seems highest folly so to do. He will in the end make “all things work together,” but so many times in the first appearance of the outworking of His plans,

“In His own world He is content

To play a losing game.”

So if you would know His voice, never consider results or possible effects. Obey even when He asks you to move in the dark. He Himself will be gloriously light in you. And there will spring up rapidly in your heart an acquaintanceship and a fellowship with God which will be overpowering in itself to hold you and Him together, even in severest testings and under most terrible pressures.–Way of Faith

http://devotionals.ochristian.com/mrs-charles-cowman-streams-in-the-desert-devotional.shtml

The Pure In Heart Shall See God

They shall see Him in the crimson flush

Of morning’s early light, In the drapery of sunset,

Around the couch of night.

When the clouds drop down their fatness,

In late and early rain,

They shall see His glorious footprints

On valley, hill and plain.

They shall see Him when the cyclone

Breathes terror through the land;

They shall see Him ‘mid the murmurs

Of zephyrs soft and bland.

They shall see Him when the lips of health,

Breath vigor through each nerve,

When pestilence clasps hands with death,

His purposes to serve.

They shall see Him when the trembling earth

Is rocking to and fro;

They shall see Him in the order

The seasons come and go.

They shall see Him when the storms of war

Sweep wildly through the land;

When peace descends like gentle dew

They still shall see His hand.

They shall see Him in the city

Of gems and pearls of light,

They shall see Him in his beauty,

And walk with Him in white.

To living founts their feet shall tend,

And Christ shall be their guide,

Beloved of God, their rest shall be

In safety by His side.

- Frances E. W. Harper

http://christian-poems.ochristian.com/Poems_on_Heaven/The_Pure_In_Heart_Shall_See_God.shtml

The Eye That Never Sleeps

When the heavy, midnight shadows

Gather o’er a slumbering world,

And the banner folds of darkness

Are in gloomy pomp unfurled,–

Think, lone watcher, pale and tearful,

In thy sad, unpitied lot,

By the death couch waking, weeping,

There is One who slumbers not!–

One who, though no mourning brother

Share thy vigils lone and drear,

Loving, pitying, as no other

Loves or pities, watches near!

When the waves, o’erwrought by tempest,

Lift their strong arms to the skies,

And amid the inky darkness

Shrieks of winds and waters rise,–

Mariner, ‘mid doubt and danger,

Wildly tossed upon the deep,

Think, o’er all in power presiding

There is One who does not sleep–

One who holds the risen tempest

In obedience to His will,

Who, to still its wildest fury,

Need but whisper–”Peace, be still”

When, weighed down by heavy anguish,

Waking, sad, at midnight lone,

Sorrowing mourner, thou dost languish

For affection’s missing tone,–

When thy heart o’er buried treasures

In its uncheered misery weeps,

Think, that gently watching o’er thee,

Is an eye that never sleeps!

And, above the mournful shadows,

Lift thy heart so lone and riven,

Up to Him who ‘mid thy sorrows

Wooes thee still to hope and Heaven

- Mrs. J. C. Yule

http://christian-poems.ochristian.com/Poems_of_Praise_to_God/The_Eye_That_Never_Sleeps.shtml

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” Revelation 2:29

These words extend the message beyond the church to which they were spoken, and address themselves to every one to whom the word comes, and to whom an ear is given to hear and receive it. Thus each message sent to the churches becomes a message sent personally to us. If we have a spiritually circumcised ear, if we are willing to listen to the voice of the Lord, he speaks to us in every message as personally and as distinctly as he spoke to each individual church. It is indeed an unspeakable blessing to have this ear given to us that we may receive in humility, simplicity, and godly sincerity what the Lord speaks in the word of his grace. It is by his word that he knocks at the door of our hearts; and what a blessing he has pronounced on the man who hears his voice and opens the door when he hears the knock, like a fond and affectionate wife when she hears the knock of her husband at the door of his house: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20).

http://devotionals.ochristian.com/j-c-philpot-daily-portions.shtml