The privilege of His presence

 

  Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling: for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure

        Phil. 2:12, 13

It is not your business and mine to study whether we shall get to Heaven, or even to study whether we shall be good men; it is our business to study how we shall come into the midst of the purposes of God and have the unspeakable privilege in these few years of doing something of His work.

Phillips Brooks

Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).

Our existence is short in this life. In the time we have on this earth we should not spend too much time worrying about whether we are going to heaven or whether we are good. We are sinners one and all. Rather, we should strive to do what is right and pleasing to God for the privilege of His presence with us. His presence with us is all that matters. It is the pleasure of His good grace that saves us and grants us entrance to heaven. 

May the good Lord bless and Keep you safe.

Remember to "Always Love The Details." 

The Hem of His garment

 

Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress

Mt 8:6

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition (Washington, DC: National Council of Churches of Christ, 1993)

We, in this age of the church, are in the position of that sick servant at Capernaum. To the eye of sense we are separated from the Saviour. We see Him not—we can touch Him not—the hand cannot steal amid the crowd to catch His garment hem—we cannot hear His loved footsteps as of old on our threshold; but faith penetrates the invisible; the messenger—prayer—meets Him in the streets of the New Jerusalem; and faith and prayer together, the twin delegates from His church below, He has never yet sent empty away.

                                                                    Macduff

Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997)

We are in the position of living in an age where we, unlike the time when Christ physically walked the earth, are unable to "touch the hem of His garment". We are asked to believe something we cannot see, touch, taste or smell. Impossible you say! It is the reason many, both young and old, have fallen away from the Christian way and are following the way of the world. Unfortunately, it is a path to nowhere, where death is at the end of the road. The good news is that Christ is still among us and we can still touch the hem of His garment and be healed. The physical Christ now is the spiritual Christ, always present, never far from us. The grace of His presence is ever present and available. All it takes is to ask in His name. It is how we touch the hem of His garment. His spirit, the Father's spirit, The Holy Ghost is aways with us. Taste and see that His promises are always kept. He is always with us in ways that are miraculous and real. Belief will open your spiritual eyes to His presence. Talk to Him, confide in Him. Touch the hem of His garment.

May Christ Bless and keep you safe. 

Remember to "Alway Love The Details."

Burdens

 

  Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ

        Gal. 6:2

However perplexed you may at any hour become about some question of truth, one refuge and resource is always at hand: you can do something for someone besides yourself. At the times when you cannot see God, there is still open to you this sacred possibility, to show God: for it is the love and kindness of human hearts through which the divine reality comes home to men, whether they name it or not. Let this thought, then, stay with you: there may be times when you cannot find help, but there is no time when you cannot give help.

George Merriam

Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).

It is with going through life that we often find ourselves burdened. It is these times we will often find we are not alone. Others are there with burdens of their own. In these times we are led to share the burden of others as well as our own. In this way our burdens become less in our minds and our soul is lifted up. 

May the good Lord bless and keep you safe.

Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Still Waters

 

  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters

        Ps. 23:2

This suggests the rest into which our Good Shepherd leads His flock. Life is not all toil. God gives us many quiet resting-places in our pilgrim way.

Night is one of these, when, after the day’s toil, struggle, and exhaustion, we are led aside, and the curtains are drawn to shut out the noise and He giveth His beloved sleep, in sleep giving the wonderful blessings of renewal. The Sabbath is another of these quiet resting-places. God would have us drop our worldly tasks, and have a day for the refreshing of both body and soul.… Friendship’s trysts are also quiet resting-places, where heart may commune with heart, where Jesus comes, too, unseen, and gives His blessing. All ordinances of Christian worship—seasons of prayer and devotion, hours of communion with God—are quiet resting-places.

Far more than we are apt to realize do we need these silent times in our busy life, needing them all the more the busier the life may be.

J. R. Miller

Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).

Where are your places of rest where the Lord leads you? In this busy life they are the respite from the ever more frantic lives we live. It is where spirit and soul find peace, stillness to hear the voice of the Lord. A place to drink in the still waters is refreshment for our soul. 

May the good Lord bless and keep you safe.

Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Lingering

He had shown himself alive to them after his Passion by many demonstrations: for forty days he had continued to appear to them and tell them about the kingdom of God.

Ac 1:2–3

The New Jerusalem Bible (New York: Doubleday, 1985)

This lingering for forty days is the crowning proof of Christ’s tender regard for His little flock. He who had laid down His life for them is loath to leave them. Though they had forsaken Him, and doubted Him, they had not wearied, much less had they worn out, His love. He stays to look again, and yet again, and yet again, upon them, as if turning back and lingering to bless them. It is all of a piece with His life of love. Everywhere He meets them without a touch of upbraiding, without recalling a single memory of all His bitter suffering, revealing Himself to the disciples with a tenderness and blessedness indescribably beautiful.

How can He go till He has healed the Magdalene’s broken heart? He must linger till poor Peter can venture near to have his forgiveness assured. He must stay to strengthen Thomas’ faith. He must tarry with them till He has made them feel that He is just the same friendly, brotherly Jesus that He has ever been, caring for them in their work, watching them with a yearning pity, stooping to kindle a fire for their warmth, and to cook the fish for their meal, and then to bid them come and dine.

Mark Guy Pearse

Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997)

The Lord, upon rising from the tomb, lingered to reveal the truth of His purpose and of His risen personage to those who were His followers, that they might know He is the son of God. It is not lost on us that this truth is for us as well. Even though we were not there to witness this wonderous time with them, the gospel is left by those who were there so that we may also know the truth of His love and gentle heart. He lingered among the disciples and believers as if to say "I am here and still love all. Be of gentile heart and strong faith until I return again."

May the good Lord bless you and keep you safe.

Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Silent Love

 

  Always rejoicing

        2 Cor. 6:10

No Christian can ever know what is meant by those two little words, “always rejoicing,” but the Christian who takes up his cross and follows Jesus.

W. Hay Aitken

Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).

Love is silent but ever visible to the heart that sees the ever-present love of God in their life. Always rejoice in it.

May the good Lord bless and keep you safe.

Remeber to "Always Love The Details."