He Upholdeth!

Greetings!

UPHOLDETH!   A good old ‘King James era’  word simply meaning ‘to hold up;  to sustain or support;  to bear or carry;  to encourage or give aid.’

The writer to the Hebrews declares that the Lord Jesus, “being the radiance of the Father’s Glory, and the flawless image of His Person, UPHOLDETH ALL THINGS by the Word of His Power!” (Heb. 1:3)
He is the UPHOLDING POWER of ALL THAT IS!
By Him ALL THINGS HOLD TOGETHER!
By His all-powerful Word HE HOLDS THE UNIVERSE TOGETHER!

“The heavens are the mind of God; the systems are His Word;
The message of the All-in-one, the Ever-seen and Heard.
In planets He has marked His name, in galaxies His thought,
And the shapes of constellations are the dreams that He has wrought.
The star-swarms are His mirrors, and His glass the atom’s heart,
And earth’s a bright reflection of His never-resting art…”

Stanton A. Coblentz

We lustily sing the inspiring chorus:-

What a mighty God we serve!
What a mighty God we serve!
Angels bow before Him;
Heav’n and Earth adore Him;
What a mighty God we serve!

Having this awesome picture in our minds, of an awe-fully, wonder-fully, mighty Creator and Sustainer of the whole universe and all that it contains, just think about His unfailing promises to His beloved children:-

“…the Lord UPHOLDETH the righteous…Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord UPHOLDETH him with His hand.” (Ps. 37:17,24)

“The Lord UPHOLDETH all that fall, and raises up all those that be bowed down…” (Ps. 145.14-19)

“Fear not;  for I am with you;  be not dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you;  yes, I will help you;  yes, I will UPHOLD you with the right hand of My righteousness.” (Isa. 41:10)

If I were an artist, I would paint two pictures:

–The first one would be of a strong, omnipotent Hand cupped and holding the UNIVERSE with all the planets and galaxies of stars, nebulae and heavenly bodies.  (He even numbers them and calls them all by their names!! Ps. 147:4)

–The second one would show a strong but tender Hand upholding ME – upholding YOU – and imparting strength and stability, faith and HOPE.

I am reminded of the words of a simple old hymn:

“I am precious in His sight; He will hold me fast…
Those He saves are His delight; He will hold me fast…
He will never let me go; He will hold me fast…
For my Savior loves me so, He will hold me fast.”

Being assured of the ‘all-mighty’ Power of our God of Love, we pray with the Psalmist:
“UPHOLD me according to Your word, that I may live, and let me not be ashamed of my HOPE.  HOLD ME UP, and I shall be safe…” (Ps. 119:116,117)

Then shall our testimony be:
“Because You have been my help, therefore in the shadow of Your wings will I rejoice.  My soul follows hard after You; Your right hand UPHOLDETH ME.” (Ps. 63:7,8) Amen!

Oh! May the God of green HOPE
fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace,
so that your believing lives,
filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit,
will brim over with HOPE!

Romans 15:13 (Message)

In Agape,

Eulene

God’s Times

Dear Ones,

The Eternal, True and Living God – our Heavenly Father – created the entity called “Time” for a specific purpose, that He might bring into being a family of others like Himself – “in His image” – to whom He could show His matchless Grace, with whom He could share joyful fellowship, and upon whom He could bestow His infinite love and blessings.

“And we know that, for those who love God, all things are working together for good – for those, I mean, whom with deliberate purpose He has called.  For those whom He has known beforehand He has also predestined to bear the likeness of His Son, that He might be the eldest in a vast family of brothers.” (Rom. 8:28, 29 Weymouth)

He uses Time in order to work out His purposes.  For example, “when the FULNESS OF TIME was come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons…” The promise of a Redeemer was made right back in the Garden of Eden when the need for a Redeemer first became obvious.  But there was a specified Time ordained when that promise would be fulfilled.  (Gal. 4:4; Gen. 3:15)

It helps to remember that, from God’s viewpoint, “one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” God has set specific times for certain events in His economy.  There are “TIMES of refreshing” that come from the presence of the Lord.   Heaven is retaining the Lord Jesus until “the TIMES of the restitution of all things.” He has pre-appointed the TIMES of nations and the bounds of their habitation.  Paul’s letter to the Ephesians refers to a further plan of God to take place “in the dispensation of the FULNESS OF TIMES…”

(Ps. 90:4 & 2 Pet. 3:8; Acts 3:19, 21; 17:26; Eph. 1:9,10)

In our last letter we said that He holds OUR times in His hand.  God not only loves every one of His precious children, but He has a purpose for each one.  A literal translation of Jer. 29:11 says that He knows the purposes which He is planning for us, plans for peace, a future and a HOPE.

If the Almighty Creator “set lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years;” and if a human father has hopes and plans, and makes provision for his children; how much more does our Heavenly Father have desires, plans, and provisions for His children?   (Gen. 1:14)

And, again, since He knows the end from the beginning, and every intricacy of our beings, He knows just when to time every event.  This is expressed so beautifully by Annie Johnson Flint:-

God’s time is never wrong,
Never too fast nor too slow;
The planets move to its steady pace
As the centuries come and go.

Stars rise and set by that time,
The punctual comets come back
With never a second’s variance,
From the round of their viewless track.

Men space their years by the sun,
And reckon their months by the moon,
Which never arrive too late
And never depart too soon.

Let us set our clocks by God’s,
And order our lives by His ways,
And nothing can come and nothing can go
Too soon or too late in our day.

Annie Johnson Flint.

“And now, Lord, what do I wait for?  My HOPE is in YOU……

My soul, wait only upon God, for my expectation is from Him……

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits;  and in His Word do I HOPE.”

(Ps. 39:7;  62:5; 130:5)

“For the vision is yet for the APPOINTED TIME…

though it delays, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”

“But if we HOPE for what we do not see, then do we with patience wait for it.”

(Hab. 2:3; Rom. 8:25)

In Agape, Eulene

My Times

Blessings,

In the 31st Psalm David recounts a lot of his woes and griefs.  Then, in verse 14, he makes the remarkable declaration:  “BUT I trusted in You, O Lord; I said, You are my God.  MY TIMES ARE IN YOUR HAND…”

I understand that, if you quote this verse to the native of Congo, he will be forced to translate it in the wonderful words, “All my life’s Whys, Whens, Wheres and Wherefores are in God’s Hand!”

We talked about the Hand of God in a previous letter (December/08) and were reminded of what a glorious blessing it is to be held in the mighty hand of our Almighty God.  This phrase zeros in on another aspect of being in His hand – our times!  Our Whys, Whens, Wheres, and Wherefores!

God’s viewpoint is so far removed from our own.   He exists outside the entity of Time;  He is eternal – timeless – ageless.  He lives in the “eternal NOW.”  The illustration has often been used of someone watching through a knot-hole in the fence, a parade passing by.  One can see only what is passing in front of the knot-hole at a given moment.  But if the sights can be raised to gaze over the top of the fence, one can see the whole parade from beginning to end.

We tend to see things through the ‘knothole’ of human perspective;  God sees the beginning and the ending – and everything in between.   He declares, “I am God, and there is none else;  I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done…” (Isa. 46:9,10)

“There is a time to every purpose under the heaven” declares the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes.  Our Heavenly Father sees and knows all things, and He is “the same, yesterday, today and forever.” He has set each one of us in our place in the course of time;  He has ordained our time to be born, and our time to die, as well as our ‘times’ spanning the in-between.  Because God is pure Love and Wisdom, we can place our full trust in Him to guide us through life to His ultimate goal for us. (Eccl.3:1;  Heb. 13:8)

May we then sing with quiet confidence this beautiful old hymn.  (If you read it aloud, slowly, you will ‘hear’ each important word.):

My times are in Thy hand;  my God, I wish them there;
My life, my friends, my soul I leave entirely to Thy care.

My times are in Thy hand;  whatever they may be,
Pleasing or painful, dark or bright, as best may seem to Thee.

My times are in Thy hand;  why should I doubt or fear?
My Father’s hand will never cause His child a needless tear.

My times are In Thy hand;  Jesus, the crucified!
Those hands my cruel sins had pierced are now my guard and guide.

My times are in Thy hand;  Christ is my Advocate;
No earthly power from Love Divine my soul can separate.

My times are in Thy hand;  I’ll always trust in Thee;
Till I have left this weary land, and all Thy Glory see.
William F. Lloyd, 1791 – 1853

His tender hands have fashioned tiny things;
The wee blue petals of forget-me-nots;
A drop of mist;  an insect’s tissue wings;
A poppy seed;  a caterpillar’s spots;
The sensitive antennae of a bee;
Each amber globule of the desert sands . . .
Then shall I fear when He has said to me,
“YOUR DAYS, My Precious One, are IN MY HANDS?”

(Vivian Ahrendt)

At the beginning of another new year, keep this truth in remembrance:

Each day is in God’s hands – and there is no better place!

Now may the God of HOPE
make you full of joy and peace through faith,
so that all HOPE may be yours
in the power of the Holy Spirit.

(Romans 15:13 Bible in Basic English)

In Agape, Eulene

Enlightened Eyes

Dear Ones,

I’m sure you have heard of the famous Helen Keller who was an outstanding example of a person who conquered major physical handicaps.  A serious illness at the age of two destroyed her sight and hearing so she was unable to speak, and was entirely shut off from the world.  But she did learn to write and speak well enough to graduate from college with honors. She rose above her disabilities to become internationally famous as a noted lecturer and author, and to help handicapped people to live fuller lives.

I was reminded of her spectacular accomplishments under the most severe handicaps, when I read an essay which she wrote and published more than 70 years ago.  The article is entitled “Three Days to See.”  Helen thought “it might be a blessing if each human being were struck blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life.  Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight; silence would teach him the joys of sound.”

She commented that she occasionally tested her seeing friends to discover what they saw.  One friend who had just returned from a long walk in the woods replied that she had seen “nothing in particular!” Helen wondered how it could be possible to walk for an hour through the woods and see nothing worthy of note, when she could find hundreds of things to interest her through mere touch.  Helen imagined what she should like most to see if given the use of her eyes for just three days.

On the first day, she would see “people whose kindness and companionship” had made her life worth living;  “look into the heart of a friend through that ‘window of the soul,’ the eye,” and the expression of her countenance.  She spoke of catching a vision of the “eager, innocent beauty of a baby;”  “the loyal, trusting eyes of her dogs;” the books that had been read to her; take in the “beauties of the world of nature, and the glory of a colorful sunset.”

The next day she would “arise with the dawn and witness the thrilling miracle by which night is transformed into day,” and “behold with awe the magnificent panorama of light with which the sun awakens the sleeping earth.”  She would visit museums to see the “pageant of man’s progress through the centuries – the condensed history of the earth.”  Then she would take in the Museum of Art and look upon the paintings and sculptures of the masters that hitherto she had known only by touch.  She would attend a theater to see the fascinating performance of a famous opera.

The following morning she would again greet the dawn, ready to spend the day in the workaday world, watching people to try to “understand something of their daily lives;”  “taking in the kaleidoscope of color;” visit the workplaces, and the parks where children play, her “eyes open wide to all the sights of both happiness and misery ” so that she might “probe deep and add to her understanding of how people work and live.”  In the evening, before the permanent darkness returned, she might take in a hilariously funny play so that she might “appreciate the overtones of comedy in the human spirit.”

Helen was sure that if we knew that we were about to be struck blind, we would use our eyes as never before.  Everything we saw would become dear to us.  Our eyes would touch and embrace every object that came within our range of vision.  Then, at last, we would really see, and a new world of beauty would open itself before us.   And I think she was right!

If this is true of our physical sight, it is also true of our spiritual sight.  How long do we travel through life without seeing “anything in particular” in the realm of the spiritual realities?   I think we do not fully comprehend that we are essentially spirit beings living in temporary human bodies, and it is possible to experience insight that Paul calls “the eyes of the understanding.”

In his letter to the Church at Ephesus, Paul fervently prayed “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward  who believe, according to the working of His mighty power…..” (Eph. 1:17-19)

In our own modern speech, we often say, “I see!” or “Don’t you see?” meaning “understand” or “comprehend.”  The Scriptures frequently use eyesight as a symbol of understanding.  The second time Jesus saw the opportunity to feed a great crowd of people, the disciples couldn’t fathom how, even though he had miraculously provided for over 5,000 only a short time before.  His response was, “Having eyes do you not see?….How is it that you do not understand?” (Mark 8:18)

The Psalmist prayed, .. “Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law.”

(Ps. 119:18)

In the words of an old hymn, we pray:

Open my eyes – that I may see – glimpses of truth – Thou hast for me,

Place in my hands the wonderful key that shall unclasp and set me free.

Open my ears – that I may hear – voices of truth – Thou sendest clear;

And while the wavenotes fall on my ear, ev’rything false will disappear.

Silently now I wait for Thee, – ready, my God, Thy will to see;

Open my eyes…..my ears…..my heart; illumine me, Spirit Divine!

“The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, ENLIGHTENING the EYES.” (Psalm 19:8)

“And we know the Son of God has come and has given us UNDERSTANDING, that we may KNOW HIM Who is true…” (1 John 5:20)

“Now the God of all HOPE

fill you with all JOY and PEACE in the believing,

that you may abound in HOPE

through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

(Romans 15:13)

In Agape, Eulene

Seeing the Invisible

Dear Ones,

The story of Moses is an intriguing story:

From the time we see him as a helpless baby floating in a basket on the Nile River in Egypt,

–to his Princedom in the Court of the Pharaoh,

—to his flight to the backside of the Arabian Desert,

—-to his return to Egypt 40 years later, sent by God to deliver His people out of slavery,

—–to the forty years of leading Israel through the wilderness to the Promised Land,
——to his burial in Moab by God Himself,

we see a man who, by faith, endured, “AS SEEING HIM WHO IS INVISIBLE.” (Heb. 11:27)

Moses was just one of many who, through the ages, have acted in the Faith that is the “SUBSTANCE (underlying foundation) of that for which we HOPE, and the EVIDENCE (proof) of the REALITY of things which we DO NOT SEE.” (Heb. 11:1)

How DO we SEE that which is INVISIBLE?!  In his letter to the Romans Paul gives us a little insight.  He tells us that “the INVISIBLE THINGS OF GOD since the creation of the world are CLEARLY SEEN, being PERCEIVED through the things that are made, even His everlasting power and Divinity, so we really are without excuse.”  Jesus was “the image of the INVISIBLE GOD, the firstborn of all creation, for in Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, the VISIBLE and the INVISIBLE, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through Him, and for Him…” The writer to the Hebrews admonishes us to “look unto Jesus, the author (initiator) and finisher (perfecter) of our faith.  For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” If all of our activities were just as if we saw Him, how different our lives would be!   And very much more joyful, too.  As Peter said it:  “Whom having NOT SEEN, you love;  in Whom, though now you SEE HIM NOT, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” (Rom. 1:20; Col. 1:15,16;  Heb. 12:2;

1 Peter 1:8)

Faith moves into the Realm of God, and there in perfect peace,We find the Great Reality!  Our earthly strivings cease! That which is UNSEEN is GREATER than that which we now behold, the riches of eternity outweigh all earthly gold.

So we “look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are NOT SEEN; for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are NOT SEEN are ETERNAL.” Those who walked with Jesus saw and knew Him in His physical Being, believed and were blest.  Yet He said, “Blessed are they who have NOT SEEN, and yet have believed.” As incredible as it seems – the greater blessing is ours!  (2 Cor. 4:18; John 20:29)

A nineteenth century poet wrote the words to an old hymn that beautifully expresses this truth:-

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, Victorious, Thy great name we praise.

Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Not wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;
Thy justice, like mountains, high soaring above
Thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.

To all, life Thou givest – to both great and small,
In all life Thou livest – the true Life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish – but naught changeth Thee!

Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight,
All praise we would render – O help us to see
‘Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee!

(Walter Chalmers Smith, 1824-1908)

“Now unto the King eternal, immortal,

invisible, the only wise God,

be honor and glory forever and ever.

Amen.”

(1 Tim. 1:17)

In Agape, Eulene

Whatever You Do…

Dear Friends,

“One day in Edinburgh, as the new minister was making his initial calls, he called at the cobbler’s shop.  He talked loftily to the cobbler, as preachers are sometimes wont to do when certain fits of stupidity possess us!    When the cobbler answered back, the preacher in astonishment said, ‘Man, you should not be cobbling shoes;  you, a man with such thoughts and such a manner of expressing those thoughts!  You should not be doing secular work!’

“’But,’ the cobbler replied, ‘I am not doing secular work.  Do you see that pair of shoes there?’

“’I do.’

“’They belong to Widow Smith’s son.  Her husband died in the summer.  She nearly died too, but she was kept alive by her boy.  Now her boy has a paper route to help the widow keep the roof overtheir heads.  The bad weather is coming on, and God Almighty said to me, ‘Will you cobble WidowSmith’s boy’s shoes so that he won’t catch pneumonia and die this winter?’  And I said, ‘I will!’

“’Now you preach your sermons under God Almighty’s direction, as I trust you may, and I will cobble Widow Smith’s boy’s shoes under God Almighty’s direction.  And in the day when the rewards are given out, He will say to you and to me the same sentence, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant!’”

(Walter Binwell Hinson, from ‘Traveling Toward Sunrise‘)

God always has had a place for a great variety of vocations.  Gideon was a farmer, threshing wheat, when first we hear of him.  Joseph, a carpenter, made things of wood including, quite possibly, a cradle for the Baby Jesus.  Someone built the boat in which Jesus sailed on Galilee.  Dorcas, a Christian lady in Joppa, sewed garments for the needy.  Aquila and his wife, Priscilla, were tentmakers – an honorable and necessary trade.  Even the noted Apostle Paul supported himself by making tents.  From the little widowed mother who fed Elijah during the famine, to Joseph who used his organizational skills as Prime Minister under the Pharoah of Egypt, God had an appointed work for each.

“The gold for things of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of artificers.  And what skilful craftsman then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord? (1 Chronicles 29:5)

“Be strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.” (2 Chronicles 15:7)

“There are strange ways of serving God; / you sweep a room or turn a sod / and suddenly, to your surprise, / you hear the whir of seraphim / and find you’re under God’s own eyes, / and building palaces for Him.” (Herman Hagedorn)

Standing at the kitchen sink one day, wondering about all the ’secular’ things we seem compelled to do when there are so many ’spiritual’ things we might rather be doing, the Word was strongly impressed upon me that  “I am crucified with Christ;  nevertheless I live;  yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and THE LIFE THAT I NOW LIVE, I live in faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” It is in the life that we now live, that Christ desires to manifest Himself.   (Gal.2:20)

The men who built the cattle byre
That sheltered Mary and God’s son,
Could not have known their rustic skill
Would be renowned and glorious still
When centuries had run.

The manger framed by roughened hands
Where Christ was laid in shadowed gloom,
A country carpenter had made,
A product of his daily trade,
And never guessed for whom.

So we, who in our daily work
Can fashion great or humble things,
May trust, though how we cannot say,
That what we labor at each day
May serve the King of kings.

(Lawrence Ager from ‘The Guiding Light’)

Whatever the life that you are now living – homemaking, teaching, nursing, farming, office work, entertaining, or whatever else – know that, consecrated to God’s service, “if anyone’s work shall abide…(s)he shall receive a reward.” (1 Cor. 2:14)

“Let the beauty…and favor of the Lord our God be upon us; confirm and establish the work of our hands...  (Ps. 90:17)

“And EVERYTHING, WHATEVER YOU DO in word or in work, DO ALL things in the name of the Lord Jesus…” (Col. 3:17)

“May God, the giver of HOPE,

fill you with continual JOY and PEACE

because you trust in Him—

so that you may have abundant HOPE

through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

(Romans 15:13 Weymouth)

In Agape, Eulene

Pray Without Ceasing

Dear Friends,

“Be care-full for nothing, BUT in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God…” (Phil. 4:6)

The Amplified version amplifies the truth here just a little more:  “Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, BUT in every circumstance and in everything by PRAYER and petition (definite requests) with thanksgiving continue to make your desires known to God.”

Here is the alternative to being full of care – or filled with anxiety:-  Don’t worry about anything. But rather –  pray about everything; tell God your needs and always maintain an attitude of thanksgiving.

The little directive, “Pray without ceasing” I think has been a bit of a puzzle to some.   Perhaps that is because prayer has too often been thought of as a religious exercise that was a requirement for spirituality – a form of words to be spoken at specific times under certain circumstances.  As Eugenia Price says, the depth of its meaning is passed by as being impossible.  Or mystical.  Or out of reach.  For the old days, perhaps, when people had time, but not for today.  (1 Thess. 5:17)

But it IS for today.  If anything, more important than ever.  Really, this simple little verse tells us that we can live continually, minute by minute, in direct contact with our Lord.  All human hearts are created to be near the Heart of God.  We need to be in constant contact with our Heavenly Father.

I have certainly found in my own experience that I can “pray without ceasing” and still get my work done.  I can “pray without ceasing” and still drive the car and write letters and wash dishes and make beds and sleep and eat and laugh and weep and “live out my days as a member of the human race.”  One writer calls it living on two levels at once, and I think that is well said.  Living on the human level requires attention to the project at hand, sometimes with great concentration.  But on the Spiritual level, there is an ongoing awareness of the Presence of God.  Praying is being aware of God;  praying without ceasing is being constantly aware of Him.  It is wonderfully possible to be inwardly aware of His Presence even in the midst of pressures at work, demands at home, and fun at play.

Our loving Father invites us, no, commands us to pray “always with all prayer and supplication…with all perseverance.” Again, He tells us to “rejoice in all that God is planning for us, be patient in trouble, and persistent in prayer.” (Eph. 6:18; Rom. 12:12)

I like to use the illustration of a husband and wife in the home.  Though they are not always talking, there is an awareness of one another’s presence.  The minute one does speak the other responds.  There are times when they will sit down and carry on a lengthy conversation about a particular subject, or subjects.  At other times, it will be a question requiring an answer;  or a request requiring some action.  But always there is an awareness of the other’s presence, and the line of communication is open.

We are assured, over and over, of the continuing Presence of the Lord.  He has promised to “never leave you, nor forsake you.”  “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” More than that, He literally dwells in the heart of the believer – makes it His residence.  So what is required of us?  Simply to recognize and acknowledge His Presence, and respond with thanksgiving, praise, and worship.  And He invites us to express our requests.  (Heb. 13:5; Matt. 28:20)

Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire, uttered or unexpressed;
The motion of a hidden fire that trembles in the breast.

Prayer is the burden of a sigh, the falling of a tear,
The upward glancing of an eye, when none but God is near.

Prayer is the simplest form of speech that infant lips can try;Prayer, the sublimest strains that reach the Majesty on High.

Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath, the Christian’s native air;
His watchword on the daily path;  He enters Heaven with prayer.

(James Montgomery, 1771-1854)

King Solomon, in his wisdom, asserts that the Lord hears the prayers of the righteous and James tells us that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.  (Prov. 15:29; James 5:16)

May the God of your HOPE

so fill you with all joy and peace in believing –

through the experience of your faith –

that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound

and be overflowing with HOPE

(Romans 15:13 Amplified)

In Agape, Eulene

Be Careful For Nothing

Dear Friends,

There are several words in the Greek language that are translated with our English word “care,” or “careful.”  Some of them do mean to be thoughtful or mindful, or an object of affectionate care.

However, in Paul’s instruction to the Church at Philippi to “Be careful for nothing,” it is obvious that he means what I think the old English word originally meant:  “care-full” meaning “full of care.”  That’s why some translators used the word “anxious” in this instance.   Weymouth says, “Do not be anxious about anything…” And Phillips says, “Don’t worry about anything whatever…” (Phil. 4:6)

Corrie ten Boom is quoted as saying, “Worry does not empty tomorrow of sorrows;  it empties today of strength.”  How true!

Jesus reproved Martha for being “care-full and troubled about many things” in her daily service.  I confess there have been too many times when I needed that same reproof.  All too often the following verse has been true:

The Saviour says that I should cast on Him my care each day;
He also tells me not to cast my confidence away,
But Oh, I am so foolish that, when taken unaware,
I cast away my confidence and carry all my care!

It is easy in the natural mind to become anxious in the midst of the changes that inevitably challenge us as we travel on our journey through life.  We get comfortable with the familiar, and sudden change can seem formidable.  God does not want us to be full of care, but we can throw the whole weight of our anxieties upon Him, for we are His “personal concern.”  In another place Paul says he would have us be “without care-fullness” or “free from anxiety.”  Anxious care is in reality trying ourselves to do what we cannot trust our Lord to do!   We stagger about beneath a load which we have failed to turn over to our Heavenly Load-bearer.  (1 Peter 5:7)

The instruction in this verse in Peter tells us to cast ALL our care upon Him – not only the larger, but the lesser;  not only the spiritual, but the material;  not only in general, but in particular;  not only part of the time but all of the time.

* * * * * * *

I wrote the foregoing about four years ago when we were contemplating a major change – to downsize and make a move from our country home of twenty-five years!  The admonishment to “be care-full for nothing” was very fitting.  We are learning not to be care-full or anxious about such a challenge, but to cast our care upon Him Who cares for us.  And His unfailing care has been proven to us many times in many wonder-full ways.

Doesn’t it thrill your heart to know that the everlasting God, the Creator of all that is, and Upholder of the universe, invites us to call Him Father, with the assurance that He lovingly cares for us as “members in particular” of His great family?  We really matter to Him!  If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without our Father’s “participating Presence,” why should we be caught up with the worries of change?  Are not His children of vastly greater value?  (Matt. 10:29-31;  Luke 12:6,7)

“Cast your burden on the Lord (releasing the weight of it) and He will sustain you;  He will never allow the righteous to be moved…” (Ps. 55:22)

Many circumstances do arise in each life that, without the Peace of God, could cause great consternation.  But there is a wonder-full promise given in Jeremiah 17:7,8: “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose HOPE the Lord is.  For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreads out his roots by the river, and shall not see when heat comes, but his leaf shall be green, and he shall not be care-full (anxious or worried) in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”

“Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything”…but…”cast the whole of your care – all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all – on Him;  for He cares for you affectionately, and cares about you watchfully.” (Phil. 4:6;  1 Pet. 5:7 Amp.)

May the God of your HOPE

so fill you with all joy and peace in believing –

through the experience of your faith –

that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound

and be overflowing (bubbling over) with HOPE

(Romans 15:13 Amplified)

In Agape, Eulene

What Is Love?

Dear Friends,

There are few words in our language that are abused as much as the word Love. It is too often thought of as merely an emotion and sometimes it is, sadly, only a passing emotion. In the entertainment industry it is often nothing more than sexual infatuation. A person may appear to be a loving person, but that is sometimes found to be a facade that hides the real person. I recently heard the phrase, “Love is a verb,” indicating that it is an action word. That is true. However, unfortunately it is possible to perform all the actions that have an appearance of loving, but they may actually be very self-serving.

Someone said that we so often do not love things or people themselves, but we love the feelings they give us. “Chocolate makes my taste buds happy!” “That new outfit makes me look good!” “That new car drives so beautifully and adds to my prestige!” “My spouse does things to please me!” Love can be, and all too often is, a selfish kind of love. It’s easy to love for our own benefit; to make ourselves feel good. As long as our spouse, or our friend, or our child, makes us happy, we find it easy to ‘love’ them. But when they fall short of our expectations, the ‘love’ gets sorely strained.

So, what is it that really motivates our love for another person?

The Love the Scriptures talk about is AGAPE – that Divine Love that issues from the heart of God. That means UNCONDITIONAL, UNSELFISH, SACRIFICIAL Love. We’re talking about not just being willing to DIE for the loved one, but willing to LIVE for the loved one. To lay down our lives daily for those we Love. To Love the unlovely.

Paul asserts, in his classic 1 Corinthian 13 treatise on such Love, that
—we may speak like an orator,
—we may know all about and understand most everything,
—we may generously give all we have to feed the poor,
—we may have enough faith to move a mountain, and
—we may even offer ourselves to the flames as a martyr,
BUT if we do not have that Holy Spirit-bestowed Agape, we are nothing!
And it profits us nothing! Paul says – “absolutely nothing!”

Paul goes on to describe Agape:
—it is longsuffering and kind!
—it is not envious or jealous!
—it is not prideful or selfish!
—it is not easily provoked
—it takes no account of wrong-doing!
This kind of Love rejoices only in the truth!
—it bears all things!
—it believes all things!
—it hopes all things!
—it endures all things!

In spite of his call to follow Jesus, the impatient Peter had returned to his fishing business. But the risen Savior met him on the shore of Galilee and posed to him this crucial question: Do you ‘agape’ Me more than these (fish)?” Can we say we Love Him more than our work, our career, our home, our pet project? And is that Love then presented to others according to God’s priority list?:-
—first and foremost the Lord our God with all our “heart, soul, mind and strength;”
—then our spouse and family;
—”the brethren” and the world around us?

Jesus’ last commandment was to “LOVE ONE ANOTHER – AS – HE – HAS LOVED – US!”
Have we really thought about what that means? (John 15:12)

All of that is very daunting and, let’s face it, impossible – in or by ourselves! Our own human love falls short! We need an infusion of Agape from the very Spirit of God Who IS Agape. “We love Him because He first loved us.” declares the Apostle John. God is LOVING! God LOVES! “And we have known and believed the Love that God has to us. God IS LOVE! And he that dwells in Love dwells in God, and God in him.” This is AGAPE, and we receive it only through the Holy Spirit. John added, “If we Love one another, God lives in us, and His Love is perfected in us.” Our HOPE is set in this alone.
(1 John 4:7-19)

In the words of Ephesians 3:19, I pray that you will “EXPERIENCE the LOVE OF CHRIST which PASSES KNOWLEDGE.”

“May God, the giver of HOPE,
fill you with continual joy and peace because you trust in Him—
so that you may have abundant HOPE
through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
(Romans 15:13 Weymouth)

In Agape, Eulene

One Tick at a Time

Dear Friends,

This is a letter I wrote about 6 years ago when I was in the midst of canning cherries.  This year, it’s saskatoons, and the message is just as relevant. 

For my readers who may not be familiar with this fruit, the dictionary definition of saskatoons is:  “A shadbush of western North America, having thick leaves and a globular purple fruit.  The name comes from the Cree misaskwatomin meaning shadbush fruit.”  It is chiefly Canadian, and we even have the Canadian city of Saskatoon in the Province of Saskatchewan named after the saskatoon berry!  I could relate stories about the part that humble but delicious berry has played throughout my life since childhood.

But – back to the canning.  It so happens that there are many saskatoon bushes in the woods surrounding our country home.  They seem to have been particularly prolific this year and, besides enjoying them fresh, we have canned, frozen, and dehydrated quarts of them.

The main time-consuming work involved with saskatoons is not only the picking, but the sorting and cleaning after they’re picked.  As I started working at it, I thought, “Oooh! It will take many monotonous hours just to prepare them for canning!”  Then I remembered a timely little allegory that I had applied to my previous experience with the cherries:-

“A little clock which had just been finished by the maker was put on a shelf in his wareroom between two older clocks who were busy ticking away the noisy seconds.

“‘Well,’ said one of the clocks to the newcomer, ‘So, you’ve started on this task.  I am sorry for you;  you’re ticking bravely now, but you’ll be tired enough before you get through thirty-three million ticks!’

“‘Thirty-three million ticks!!’  said the frightened clock.  ‘Why I never could do that!’  And it stood still instantly in despair.

“‘Why, you silly things,’ said the other clock at this moment.  ‘Why do you listen to such words?  It’s nothing of the kind.  You’ve only got to make one tick this moment.  There, now, isn’t that easy?  And now another and that is just as easy, and so right along.’

“‘Oh, if that’s all,’ cried the new clock, ‘that’s easily done, so – here I go.’  And it started bravely on again, making a tick a second and not counting the months and the millions.  But at the year’s end, it had made thirty-three million vibrations without knowing it!

“Oh, if we would only learn to live by the moment, not the year!  ‘Day by day’ is the limit of the Lord’s prayer for us.  ‘Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,’ said the Lord.  And ‘as your days, so shall your strength be’ is the promise which four thousand years have not exhausted.  (A.B.Simpson)”     

(Matt. 6:34;  Deut 33:25)

Isaiah assured us that “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way;  walk in it, when you go right, or when you go left.’”  (Isa. 30:21)

He does not lead me year by year,
Nor even day by day,
But step by step my path unfolds;         
My Lord directs my way.

Tomorrow’s plans I do not know,
I only know this minute;
But He will say, “This is the way,
By faith now walk ye in it.

And I am glad that it is so,
Today enough to bear;
And when tomorrow comes, His grace
Shall far exceed its care.

What need to worry then, or fret?
The God Who gave His Son
Holds all my moments in His hand
And gives them, one by one.                

            (Barbara C. Ryberg)

“Day by day, and with each passing moment, / strength I find to meet my trials here;  / trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment, / I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.  /He Whose heart is kind beyond all measure /gives unto each day what He deems best – / lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure, / mingling toil with peace and rest.

“Ev’ry day the Lord Himself is near me / with a special mercy for each hour;  / all my cares He fain would bear, and cheer me, / He Whose name is Counselor and Power.  / The protection of His child and treasure / is a charge that on Himself He laid;  /  ’As your days, your strength shall be in measure,’   / this the pledge to me He made.

“Help me then in ev’ry tribulation / so to trust Your promises, O Lord, / /that I lose not faith’s sweet consolation / offered me within Your holy Word.  / Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting, / e’er to take as from a father’s hand, / one by one, the days, the moments fleeting, / till I reach the promised land.’                      (19th century hymn)

By the way, with a little inspirational music in the background, and “one berry at a time,” the picking and cleaning was finished very satisfactorily, and the finished product stored for winter use.  

In Agape, Eulene