Sometimes when I see more and more people spitting at God and His Holy law in our land, I am greatly tempted to fear. I feel like Israel on the border of Canaan. The giants are so big and the city walls so solid. But God sweetly met me this week with Deuteronomy 1:29-31: "Do not be in dread or afraid of them. The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place."
Two days after reading the above quote I went back to that passage. That's when I discovered that God had said these words BEFORE Israel was sent to take the land. Guess what? After hearing these words, Israel DID NOT GO UP to take the land. And then God calls them rebels and murmurers and unbelievers. They actually accuse God of hating them and plotting their demise at the hand of the Amorites!
Grant me, O Lord, the courage of Joshua and Caleb to take the land. I repent of hard thoughts of you. Keep me from deceiving myself into believing that I can be AWOL and a soldier of the cross at the same time.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Toward Revival
Evan Roberts, Welsh miner turned preacher, prayed 11 years for revival. It came with fire. He gives four short pieces of counsel that are a constant challenge to me:
1. Confess any known sin.
2. Put away any doubtful habit.
3. Obey the Spirit promptly.
4. Confess Christ publicly.
1. Confess any known sin.
2. Put away any doubtful habit.
3. Obey the Spirit promptly.
4. Confess Christ publicly.
Monday, April 20, 2009
I, Myself and Me
I had a wonderful friend in Canada who has since died. She had lived through tough pioneering days in my village, and was a fine, generous Christian. One day she quoted this poem about selfishness:
I, Myself and Me
I, myself and me
Had a little tea party
In the afternoon at three.
T'was very small
Three friends in all,
I, myself and me.
Myself ate all the sandwiches
And I drank all the tea.
T'was also I
That ate the pie
And passed the cake to me.
Isn't that a wonderful little poem to use to teach our children about selfishness?
My friend also told me that when she was younger, her sister and her had gotten the rare treat of an apple to share. When they each got their half they began to quarrel about whether the halves were cut fairly. Their wise father looked at the apple halves.
"Yes," he said "this one looks bigger," and proceeded to take a large bite. He then looked at the second half and said "Now this one is bigger," and took a large bite from that one. In a professed attempt to even out the size of the halves, their father took another bite from the first and then the second, and third and fourth bites from each until the apple was gone. After that, do you think Reika and Minnie ever complained about their half of the apple being smaller?
I, Myself and Me
I, myself and me
Had a little tea party
In the afternoon at three.
T'was very small
Three friends in all,
I, myself and me.
Myself ate all the sandwiches
And I drank all the tea.
T'was also I
That ate the pie
And passed the cake to me.
Isn't that a wonderful little poem to use to teach our children about selfishness?
My friend also told me that when she was younger, her sister and her had gotten the rare treat of an apple to share. When they each got their half they began to quarrel about whether the halves were cut fairly. Their wise father looked at the apple halves.
"Yes," he said "this one looks bigger," and proceeded to take a large bite. He then looked at the second half and said "Now this one is bigger," and took a large bite from that one. In a professed attempt to even out the size of the halves, their father took another bite from the first and then the second, and third and fourth bites from each until the apple was gone. After that, do you think Reika and Minnie ever complained about their half of the apple being smaller?
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