Christmas Letter -- 2008

Hark the herald angels sing,

"Glory to the newborn King!

Peace on earth and mercy mild,

God and sinners reconciled!"

This is one of my favorite Christmas songs. I never really heard the lyrics before I had faith in

Christ. After October 25th, 1987, Christmas meant more to me than ever. The meaning changed from gifts, family, parties and all the trimmings -- to the awe and wonder of Jesus! I had heard the Nativity story all my life and understood that Jesus was God's Son Who came as a little baby to save the world. It was a fantastic story! However, the reality of this Nativity story became mine that day in October when I asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. I told Him that I had known about Him, but that now I needed Him to become real in my life. I knew about the Savior, but now I NEEDED a Savior.

Romans 10:11-13, says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED."
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;
for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED." That was one Bible version of that verse. Sometimes when I look up the same verse in different versions, I can better "fit" the meaning to what I want to convey. For instance, in The Message Bible, this verse says simply, "the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. "Everyone who calls, 'Help, God!' gets help."

"Everyone who calls, 'Help, God!' gets help" . . . incredibly simple and incredibly accurate. If we call upon His Name and believe we shall be saved. Simple. I LOVE what Max Lucado, author, calls John 3:16. He says that John 3:16 is the "Hope Diamond" of the Bible. "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." This is Good News and this gives us all great HOPE.

And what is saving faith? What is the difference between just knowing about someone and really BELIEVING IN THEM? This is my best demonstration on what saving faith is: Take a chair. Stand next to that chair. Look at the chair. Do you believe that that chair exists? Most would say, "yes." That is where I was before October 25th, 1987. I knew that Jesus existed. I believed that much. But that wasn't enough faith to be converted, inwardly changed by the Holy Spirit, or born again. Let me go back to the existing chair standing beside you. You believe that the chair is there. You might even believe that that chair can hold you if you chose to sit in it. But true saving faith, real faith, the "believe" that John 3:16 is referring to is this -- sit down in the chair and COMPLETELY RELY UPON IT TO HOLD YOU UP.

When we completely rely upon Jesus as our only way to eternal life. When we rely upon His finished work, His righteousness, knowing that we can never "do good enough" to earn our way to Heaven . . . when we call upon His Name as the answer to our "dilemma," then we receive all that the angels heralded that night . . . reconciliation with God, healing, deliverence, death holding no sting, peace and good will, and . . . a second birth.

"Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!

Hail the Son of Righteousness!

Light and life to all He brings

Ris'n with healing in His wings

Mild He lays His glory by

Born that man no more may die

Born to raise the sons of earth

Born to give them second birth

Hark! The herald angels sing

"Glory to the newborn King!"

The Gospel is Good News. It brings relief to our souls. We need help. And God offers it thru His Son, Jesus. He is the only Way, the only Truth and the only Life.

Quoting Max Lucado, "YOUR GOODNESS CAN'T WIN GOD'S LOVE. NOR CAN YOUR BADNESS LOSE IT. BUT YOU CAN RESIST IT." Let's not resist so great a Gift and so great a love.

Merry Christmas, from our house to yours. And may we all stay fully convinced of this Good News and believe, relying on Christ alone. Amen.

You Are Special!

I'm grateful that Max Lucado wrote this book. In it, he successfully presents similar experiences we all have. Unfortunately, in this imperfect world, elitism and exclusivity flourishes. You're not "good enough," is the message. You're not "qualified," "desirable," "stable," "a winner like us," or the "cream of the crop."


Even Rudolph the reindeer had to deal with this! :) Because of his shiney nose, he was not allowed to play in any of the "reindeer games." Poor Rudolph! (I always hated that part of the show!)

But who are these elitists who are giving us "dots" and making us feel "sub"-everything and inferior? They are "wemmicks" just like us! Every time they get stars they feel so much better. They even feel better when they give you dots.



But in Max's story, we are lovingly reminded and encouraged that God knows our name! He made us. If you've been given alot of "bad marks", don't worry! God doesn't care what others think about you. And neither should you. Who are they to give you "stars and dots?" WHAT THEY THINK DOESN'T MATTER!. Only what God thinks is important and He thinks you're pretty special . . . because you are His!


Punchinello ran into someone who had neither dots or stars. Her name was Lucia. Stickers wouldn't stick on her . . .dots or stars. This is our example. We shouldn't want anyone's marks! (anyone's approval or disapproval)


So why don't the stickers stay on Lucia? Because she has decided that what God thinks is more important than what they think. THE STICKERS WILL ONLY STICK IF YOU LET THEM! . . . If they matter to you. BUT,the more you trust His love . . . the less you care about their stickers.

Remember, you are Special because God made you and He doesn't make mistakes! And He sent His one and only Son for YOU . . . for our freedom and for our way Home. Many tried to put their "dots" on the Savior while he walked this earth. He was despised by many and counted among the sinners. He ate and drank with sinners. He loves sinners! He is a Friend to the sinner! He didn't care what the elite thought. He didn't seek out the elitists! He exposed them. He drapes his arm with a serving cloth and serves us, washing our feet, to lift us up! He sings over us with songs of deliverance and we are touched by the Master's Hand.

Jesus took the marks on His back for us. And He gives us the "stars" of God's approval. He exchanged our "dots" with His "stars." He laid His life down completely so that we might be Born Again into His Kingdom of Love. Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Father God and thank you, Holy Spirit, that You are not a respecter of people.

In Christ, we are all the same. Galatians 3:26 - 28 says, "26)You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27)for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28)There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."


There is neither Jew nor Greek, etc. In Christ the old, worldly lines of separation are all blotted out.

All are one in Christ Jesus. One person, as it were, one new man of which Christ is the head (Eph 2:15). All, without regard to race, or position, or title, blended into one whole.

Romans 2 describes the Impartiality of God, and in Galatians 2:6, Paul testifies that "(By the way, their reputation as great leaders made no difference to me, for God has no favorites.)" So don't believe the lies that you're not important to God, or to the Body of Christ. Each part is important and very essential. And we all play different roles to the edification of one another.

"Here we learn that the gospel is not ours, but God's; and that men are but the keepers of it; for this we are to praise God." (Matthew Henry)

So, let us all sit in the "woodshop with our beloved Eli" every day and believe what He says about us and rest. And let us encourage one another daily that what He thinks matters most. Reminding one another that we are all "wemmicks" and fall short of the Glory of our Maker. But in Christ, we are all one Body and He is our Head and there is no partiality with God. And . . .

WE ARE PRECIOUS IN HIS SIGHT! :)

In The Name Of Jesus

On October 3, 2007, while resting in Him, I heard Jesus say the following:





MY NAME . . .

MY NAME . . .

MY Name is ALL you need!

You don't need buildings, or programs, or teams, or meetings.

All you need is MY NAME!

My Name will do it ALL!

In My Name, you are free!

In My Name, others will and can be free.

n My Name is SATISFACTION.

And PURPOSE REVEALED.

My Name PROVIDES all your needs!

My Name scatters your enemies.

My Name is your high tower and fortress!

Christian -- Little Christs!

In Christ and thru Christ alone --

In My Name, you are ESTABLISHED as a Heavenly agent --

Sent out in My Name.

My Name is given to you as a Gift.

Wear My Name over your heart

Like a name tag, an identity badge.

Your identity is in My Name alone.

All you need or could ever want or would ever accomplish,

All your glory,

Is in My Name.

Resist all other "attachments.

Man-made attachments and/or ways.

You say a mouthful of love and power

When you say My Name!

My Name is the pathway to God's Heart.

In My Name is healing,

Wholeness,

Redemption,

And complete deliverance!

Fragrant -- Flowing -- Free!

You do not need restraints.

You need release.

Man restrains.

I release.

When you strain gnats,

You swallow camels!

In My Name alone is your Holiness.

In My Name alone is all your sanctification.

In My Name is all your glory, all your purposes, and destinations.

HERE I AM . . . I HAVE COME TO GIVE YOU MY LIFE . . . AND . . .

MY NAME!

It's All A Gift!!

1 Corinthians 14:18 . . . I, too, thank God for the Gift of speaking in Tongues! Because, my prayer language is a continual reminder to me that from beginning to end and all in between this salvation journey is all a gift. It has zero to do with any of my own abilities. Actually, I, like Paul, glory in my weaknesses. Why? Because His Grace and power shows up best in my weakness.



2 Corinthians 12:9 & 10 -- I am glad to boast at how weak I am; I am glad to be a living demonstration of Christ's power, instead of showing off my own power and abilities.



It's all a Gift! All of it. 1 Corinthians 1:19 for God says, "I will destroy all human plans of salvation no matter how wise they seem to be, and ignore the best ideas of men, even the most brilliant of them." v24) God has opened the eyes of those called to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, to see that Christ is the mighty power of God to save them; Christ Himself is the center of God's wise plan for their salvation. v)25 This so-called "foolish" plan of God is far wiser than the wisest plan of the wisest man, and God in His weakness -- Christ dying on the cross -- is far stronger than any man. v26) Notice, among yourselves, dear brothers, that few of you who follow Christ have big names or power or wealth. v27) Instead, God has deliberately chosen to use ideas the world considers foolish and of little worth in order to shame those people considered by the world as wise and great. v28) He has chosen a plan despised by the world, counted nothing at all, and used it to bring down to nothing those the world considers great, v29) so that no one anywhere can ever brag in the presence of God.



v30) For it is from God alone that you have your life through Christ Jesus. He showed us God's plan of salvation; He was the One Who made us acceptable to God; He made us pure and holy and gave Himself to purchase our salvation. v31) As it says in the Scriptures, "If anyone is going to boast, let him boast only of what the Lord has done."



It's all a Gift! Salvation, justification, sanctification, fellowship with the Holy Spirit, the blessed Fruit of the Holy Spirit, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, walking in the Anointing of the Holy Spirit, the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and even the Callings are a Gift. Whatever measure of faith and grace He assigns us, whatever process of growth . . .to be content to just be His and trust His heart for you is a Gift.



1 Corinthians 12:4 -- Now God GIVES us many kinds of special abilities, but it is the same Holy Spirit Who is the Source of them all. v5) There are different kinds of services to God, but it is the same Lord we are serving. v6) There are many ways in which God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work in and through all of us who are His. The Holy Spirit displays God's power through each of us as a means of helping the entire Body.



It's all a Gift! And the Holy Spirit has fitted us all together into one Body . . . we have all been given the same Spirit. v15) If the foot says, "I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand," that does not make it any less a part of the body." . . . God has put each part, each one of us, where He wants us. v21) The eye can never say to the hand, "I don't need you." The head can't say to the feet, "I don't need you." v22) And some of the parts that seem weakest and least important are really the most necessary. . . .So God has put the body together in such a way that extra honor and care are given to those parts that might otherwise seem less important. v25) This makes for happiness among the parts, so that the parts have the same care for each other that they do for themselves.

I'm a big believer in "Body ministry."



It's a Gift! Each one of us is a separate and necessary part! And it's His decision which part we are. Herein lies contentment! This puts the "cabash" on that worldly spirit that promotes hierarchical authority, selfish ambition and the human pride that revels in it.



It's all a Gift! There is no more boasting or confidence in the flesh. We rest, contented to be whatever part He makes us, knowing that His love is unconditional and His Friendship the apex.

We rest in the fact that it's really all about Him, and never can be about us. :)



As Kathryn Kuhlman once said, "It isn't golden vessels He needs. It isn't silver that He's asking for. He just needs yielded vessels." He is not a respecter of persons. He'll use every and any yielded vessel. And in case we think we are "it," let's not forget He ANOINTED a donkey to see a Heavenly angel and to speak! We are but dust . . insignificant dust . . yet, HE HAS CHOSEN US TO SHOW FORTH HIS GLORY AND TO REFLECT HIS IMAGE AND TO BE RECIPIENTS OF HIS GREAT LOVE . . . therein lies our significance.



He wants us to know that we can do nothing, but He also wants us to know that He can do everything.



So . . . back to the "tongues." I didn't read a book,or take a class,earn or do anything to speak in the Heavenly language He chose for me. And that same power that freely gives me the ability to pray in the Spirit, gives me the fruit of the Spirit and the Gifts of the Spirit and the Callings of the Spirit. All because of Jesus, and Jesus alone.

TRUE SHEPHERDS POINT TO THE CHIEF SHEPHERD. Here's a simple rule of thumb I've learned recently for discerning teaching: The actual source of all teaching and doctrine is revealed in whom it glorifies. In other words, teaching that emphasizes success through YOUR great discipline or even success through YOUR great faith also tends to aim the glory at YOU. Thus, it is frequently true that faith in faith glorifies your faith, and faith in self-discipline glorifies your self-discipline. BUT faith in God's grace and in the gift of His righteousness glorifies God, because A GIFT CANNOT BE BOUGHT OR EARNED; it can only be received.

Freely we receive . . . freely we give.

God's Works Are Perfect In Every Stage of Their Growth

Have you ever felt like you were being pressured to grow up in the Lord? That levels of maturity were more righteous than the newborn babe in Christ? I have. As a recovering legalist, I have laid aside other's expectations and assessments and now rest in the truth that I am His workmanship and I am right where He wants me to be and He is happy with me in whatever stage of the process I'm in.

From a parent's viewpoint I consider the difference in ages of all my children . . .23 years down to 5 years. Does my 23 year old bless me more than my 5 year old? NO! Should my 8 year old compare herself with her 21 year old brother? NO! At each stage of their growth, they are right where they should be and are such pleasure to me.

I think of the thief on the cross alot. He had such a short time between saving faith to Paradise with the Savior. Did he have time to mature? NO! He was perfect right then. This should bring us relief and rest from striving to appear mature and realize that it's His work in us as we trust in Him and we are right on schedule and pleasing just where He has us. There is no "place" we need to strive to get to. We are His beloved and we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus.

One of my favorite authors, Hannah Whitall Smith, wrote "THE CHRISTIAN'S SECRET TO A HAPPY LIFE." In Chapter 2 (God's Side and Man's Side), she clearly describes accurately what I'm trying to convey above . . .

She defines man's part is to trust, and God's part is to work. "Plainly the believer can do nothing but trust," she writes. "The Lord, in whom he trusts, actually does the work entrusted to Him."

In essence she writes: "The Potter And The Clay --

Sanctification is both a step of faith and a profit in the oven, and finally turns it out of his workshop, a vessel to his honour, and fit for his use."
Before, I was speaking of the clay's part in the matter. I am now speaking of the potter's part. These two are necessarily contrasted, but are not in the least contradictory. The clay is not expected to do the potter's work. It only yields itself to his working. It seems to me that nothing could be clearer than the perfect harmony between these two apparently contradictory sorts of teaching.
What can be said about man's part in this great work is that he must continually surrender himself and continually trust. But when we come to God's side of the question, much can be said about the many wonderful ways in which He accomplishes the work entrusted to Him. It is here that growing is important. The lump of clay could never grow into a beautiful vessel if it stayed in the claypit for thousands of years. But when it is put into the hands of a skilful potter it grows rapidly under his fashioning into the vessel he intends it to be. In the same way the soul, abandoned to the working of the Heavenly Potter, is made into a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use.


The Maturing Process
Having, therefore, taken the step of faith by which you have put yourself completely and absolutely into His hands, you must now expect Him to begin work. His way of accomplishing that which you have entrusted to Him, may be different from your way. But He knows, and you must be satisfied. . . .

It is the result of the work of God's Holy Spirit, who, by His energizing and transforming power, causes us to "grow up into (Christ) in all things" (Ephesians 4:15). We cannot hope to reach this maturity in any other way than by yielding ourselves completely and willingly to His mighty working. However, the sanctification the Scriptures encourage, as a present experience upon all believers, does not consist in maturity of growth, but in purity of heart.


From the moment the lump of clay comes under the transforming hand of the potter, it is, during each day and hour of the process, just what the potter wants it to be at that hour or on that day. Therefore, it pleases him, but it is far from being the vessel he intends it to be in the future.


A little baby may be all that he or she could be or ought to be, and may perfectly please its mother. Yet it is very far from being what that mother would wish it to be when it reaches maturity.

The apple in June is a perfect apple for June. It is the best apple that June can produce. But it is very different from the apple in October, which is a perfected apple.

God's works are perfect in every stage of their growth. Man's works are never perfect until they are in every respect complete. In this life of sanctification, all we can claim is that by an act of faith we put ourselves into the hands of the Lord for Him to work in us all the good pleasure of His will. Then, by a continuous exercise of faith, keep ourselves there. This is our part in the matter. And when we do it we are truly pleasing to God.

It may require years of training and discipline to mature us into a vessel that will be in all respects to His honour and fitted to every good work. Our part is the trusting. His part is to accomplish the results. Trust is the beginning and the continuing foundation. When we trust, the Lord works, and His work is the important part of the whole matter. . . "

Here is the link if you want to read this entire classic . . .for which I highly recommend because it brings such relief and it has Good News!

http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/hwsmith/haplife/content.htm

What is the Good News today? THERE IS NO CONDEMNATION IN IMMATURITY! God is the potter and you are the clay and His work in you is PERFECT in every stage of your growth in maturity. You don't have to fret or worry or strive to get into a "place" or "position" . . . you do not have to qualify. Jesus has qualified you already.

One of my all-time favorite verses is this: HEBREWS 10:14 (LBV) FOR BY THAT ONE OFFERING HE FOREVER MADE PERFECT THOSE WHO ARE BEING MADE HOLY.

Amen! I am always at the perfect stage . . . where He wants me while He sanctifies me and makes me a holy vessel unto His honor and glory.

In John 17:19, Jesus consecrated Himself towards this work . . "on their behalf I consecrate myself, in order that they may become perfectly consecrated in truth." Wow, what a promise!


Matthew Henry's Commentary explains:
Jesus entirely devoted himself to his undertaking, and all the parts of it, especially the offering up himself without spot unto God, by the eternal Spirit. The real holiness of all true Christians is the fruit of Christ's death, by which the gift of the Holy Ghost was purchased . . . .

So let us be relieved, resting and trusting Him. Amen.

God Is Easy To Live With

"Satan's first attack upon the human race was his sly effort to destroy Eve's confidence in the kindness of God. Unfortunately for her and for us he succeeded too well. From that day, men have had a false conception of God," . . . ." A.W. Tozer thus begins his relieving message to all of us who are in Christ.



Jesus said in John 17:3, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." He tells us in Matthew 11:29, "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS."



Jesus told us if we've seen Him, we've seen the Father. John 14:8-11 -- 8) Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”
9) Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? 10) Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. 11) Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do."

And Ephesians 1:17 says, "asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.



All He wants is for us to KNOW Him. To become acquainted and know and believe in WHO HE IS. And then rest in that. Take His easy yoke and rest. The Pharisees, and legalists everywhere, want to paint a different picture. They want you to see God in their "light of leaven." They preach forgiveness, yes, but they also preach another gospel . . . the one with a heavy yoke and a heavy burden of "assembling" yourselves for God. (As if this has anything at all to do with us.)



"Nothing twists and deforms the soul more than a low or unworthy conception of God," A. W. Tozer says. The legalists hold that "God is stern and austere, yet they manage to maintain a fairly high level (standard) of external morality; but their righteousness is only outward. Inwardly, Jesus said, they are "whited sepulchres" (tombs). Their wrong conception of God even results in a wrong idea of worship and devotion."



A. W. Tozer states, "To a Pharisee, the service of God was a bondage which he did not love but from which he could not escape without a loss too great to bear." The God of the legalist is not a God easy to live with, so his religion is grim and hard and loveless. "It has to be so, for our notion of God must always determine the quality of our religion." Grim and severe "Christianity" is the effect of an inadequate view of God. Instinctively, we try to be like our God, and if He is conceived to be stern and exacting, so will we ourselves be! From this failure to properly understand God comes a world of unhappiness among good Christians. The Christian life is thought to be glum, UNRELIEVED cross-carrying under the eye of a stern Father who expects much and excuses nothing. He is austere, highly tempermental and extremely hard to please. THE KIND OF LIFE THAT SPRINGS OUT OF SUCH LIBELOUS NOTIONS IS BUT A MOCKERY OF THE TRUE LIFE IN CHRIST."

I agree with Tozer that to paint such a picture of God is libelous, slanderous, even blasphemous. It is exactly what satan did in the garden.

Tozer goes on to say, "It is most important to our spiritual welfare that we hold in our minds always a right conception of God. If we think of Him as COLD and EXACTING, we shall find it impossible to love Him, and our lives will be ridden with SERVILE FEAR. If, again, we hold Him to be KIND and UNDERSTANDING (He knows our frame is but dust.) our whole inner life will mirror that idea."

"The TRUTH is that God is the MOST WINSOME OF ALL BEINGS AND HIS SERVICE ONE OF UNSPEAKABLE PLEASURE. HE IS ALL LOVE, AND THOSE WHO TRUST HIM NEED NEVER KNOW ANYTHING BUT THAT LOVE. HE IS JUST, INDEED, AND HE WILL NOT CONDONE SIN; BUT THROUGH THE BLOOD OF THE EVERLASTING COVENANT HE IS ABLE TO ACT TOWARD US EXACTLY AS IF WE HAD NEVER SINNED. TOWARD THE TRUSTING SONS OF MEN HIS MERCY WILL ALWAYS TRIUMPH OVER JUSTICE."

"The fellowship of God is DELIGHTFUL BEYOND ALL TELLING. He communes with His redeemed ones in an easy, uninhibited fellowship that is RESTFUL and healing to the soul. HE IS NOT HARD TO PLEASE . . .HE EXPECTS OF US ONLY WHAT HE HAS HIMSELF FIRST SUPPLIED!!!! HE IS QUICK TO MARK TO OVERLOOK IMPERFECTIONS WHEN HE KNOWS WE MEANT TO DO HIS WILL. HE LOVES US FOR OURSELVES AND VALUES OUR LOVE MORE THAN GALAXIES OF NEW CREATED WORLDS."

"Unfortunately, many Christians cannot get free from their PERVERTED notions of God, and these notions poison their hearts and DESTROY THEIR INWARD FREEDOM. These people serve God grimly, as the elder brother did, doing what is right and without enthusiasm (PERFUNCTORY = this is a key word) and without joy, and seem altogether unable to understand the buoyant, spirited celebration when the prodigal comes home. Their idea of God rules out the possibility of His being happy in His people, and they attribute displays of unbridled love and worship as sheer fanatacism. Unhappy souls, these, doomed to go heavily on their melancholy way, grimly determined to do right if the heavens fall and to be on the winning side in the day of judgment."


Many who do not rest in Christ alone have forgotten Isaiah 53:11! "As a result of the anguish of His (Jesus) soul, He (God the Father) will see it AND BE SATISFIED." (my emphasis) It is finished. Completed. Accomplished. Jesus (God's second Adam and beloved Son) lived the perfect life for us, fulfilled the law, and has thus SATISFIED GOD. Now, those who are in Christ alone, can abide and believe . . .NOT strive and try to satisfy God on their own. If God is satisfied with Jesus, why can't we be satisfied with Jesus alone? Why do we feel the driving force to add to what Jesus did. I believe it appeals to our pride. We want to get our hands in this equation somehow. But, this work of God is just that . . .a work of God, not man.

Tozer says, "How good it would be if we could learn that GOD IS EASY TO LIVE WITH. He remembers our frame and knows that we are dust. He may sometimes chasten us, it is true, but even this he does with a smile, the proud, tender smile of a Father, who is bursting with pleasure over an imperfect but promising son who is coming every day to look more and more like the One whose child he is. Some of us are religiously jumpy and self-conscious because we know that God sees our every thought and is acquainted with all our ways. We need not be!! GOD IS THE SUM OF ALL PATIENCE AND THE ESSENCE OF KINDLY GOOD WILL. WE PLEASE HIM MOST, NOT BY FRANTICALLY TRYING TO MAKE OURSELVES GOOD, BUT BY THROWING OURSELVES INTO HIS ARMS WITH ALL OUR IMPERFECTIONS, AND BELIEVEING THAT HE UNDERSTANDS EVERYTHING AND LOVES US STILL."

Thank you, Jesus, for drinking to the dregs our cup of wrath and exchanging with us your cup of blessing. May we, by faith, drink this cup to it's dregs, glorifying You. May we KNOW YOU, our King eternal and God our Father, more and more with the help of the Helper. Holy precious Spirit, HELP US TO KNOW HIM and BELIEVE. AMEN

Herein is the Good News . . . God is mad about you, not mad at you! :) What a relief.

Stay Thawed in the Gulf-Stream of God's Infinite Love

Psalm 147:16-18 --""He giveth snow like wool; he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels; who can stand before his cold? He sendeth out his word, and melteth them; he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow."


Below is an article I read today. You should be able to click below and witness some spectacular pictures:


(Greenland)—Award winning photographers Bryan and Cherry Alexander have worked in the Arctic for 37 years and have taken their share of amazing pictures during that time, but a recent sunrise over Inglefield Bay was so unusually spectacular—with clouds described as terrifyingly beautiful by Daily Mail reporters Caroline Graham and Claire Bates—that Bryan Alexander says he couldn't believe his eyes. "It was just before dawn," explained Mr. Alexander, when "I went outside and was immediately stunned by the beautiful and dramatic cloud formation...I have worked in the Arctic regularly for the past 37 years and I had never seen the sky like it. It looked apocalyptic and like a scene from one of the Lord of the Rings movies." (Photo: Barcroft Media/Bryan & Cherry Alexander)
According to a report in The Telegraph, he called it a once-in-a-lifetime photographic event. "It was an incredible experience and one which I describe it to my friends as a 'once in a lifetime sky'. It wasn't just me that was amazed, just about everybody in the village was, including an elderly Inuit hunter who told me that he had never seen anything like that before in his life."
That, and other pictures can be viewed by CLICKING HERE. (The photo they are describing is in the second row, middle.)
Source: Staff - The Telegraph U.K.


After seeing these pictures, and being in awe of my King, the Holy Spirit reminded me of the verse that says, "who can stand before the cold of the Lord?" (referenced above) I searched for that Scripture on line and I came upon a teaching from Charles Spurgeon. It is long, but a very good read. I have to read Spurgeon outloud because it just "works" better that way. :) Anyways, here's the link to the whole teaching and then following are some of my favorite excerpts:

Frost and Thaw by C.H. Spurgeon -- http://www.spurgeon.org/misc/frost.htm


"Your heavenly Father is as able to deliver you as he is to melt the snow, and he will deliver you in as simple a manner if you rest upon him. He openeth his hand, and supplies the want of every living thing as readily as he works in nature. Mark the ease of God's working,—he does but open his hand."

"So in providence the Lord has a thousand forms of frosty trials with which to try his people, and he has ten thousand beams of mercy with which to cheer and comfort them. He can afflict you with the snow trial, or with the hoarfrost trial, or with the ice-trial if he will; and anon he can with his word relax the bonds of adversity, and that in countless ways. Whereas men are tied to two or three methods in accomplishing their will, God is infinite in understanding, and worketh as he wills by ways unguessed of mortal mind."

"Let the south wind blow and the snow he melted": lo, it disappeared at the voice of his word. Believer, you cannot tell how soon God may come to your help. "He rode upon a cherub and did fly," says David; "yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind." He will come from above to rescue his beloved. He will rend the heavens and come down; with such speed will he descend, that he will not stay to draw the curtains of heaven, but he will rend them in his haste, and make the mountains to flow down at his feet, that he may deliver those who cry unto him in the hour of trouble. That mighty God who can melt the ice so speedily can take to himself the same eagle wings, and haste to your deliverance. Arise, O God! And let thy children be helped, and that right early."

""Who can stand before his cold?" For cold has a degree of omnipotence in it when God is pleased to let it loose. Let us thank God for the restraining mercy by which he holds the cold in check."

"Certainly there is much mercy in the frost, for pestilence might run a far longer race if it were not that the frost cries to it."

"Noxious insects would multiply until they devoured the precious fruits of the earth, if sharp nights did not destroy millions of them, so that these pests are swept from off the earth. Though man may think himself a loser by the cold, he is a great ultimate gainer by the decree of Providence which ordains winter. "

"Christian, remember the goodness of God in the frost of adversity. Rest assured that when God is pleased to send out the biting winds of affliction he is in them, and he is always love, as much love in sorrow as when he breathes upon you the soft south wind of joy. See the lovingkindness of God in every work of his hand! Praise him—he maketh summer and winter—let your song go round the year! Praise him—he giveth day and sendeth night—thank him at all hours! Cast not away your confidence, it hath great recompense of reward. As David wove the snow, and rain, and stormy wind into a song, even so combine your trials, your tribulations, your difficulties and adversities into a sweet psalm of praise."

"THOSE OPERATIONS OF GRACE, OF WHICH FROST AND THAW ARE THE OUTWARD SYMBOLS.There is a period with God's own people when he comes to deal with them by the frost of the law. The law is to the soul as the cutting north wind. Faith can see love in it, but the carnal eye of sense cannot. It is a cold, terrible, comfortless blast. To be exposed to the full force of the law of God would be to be frost-bitten with everlasting destruction; and even to feel it for a season would congeal the marrow of one's bones, and make one's whole being stiff with affright. "Who can stand before his cold?" When the law comes forth thundering from its treasuries, who can stand before it? The effect of law-work upon the soul is to bind up the rivers of human delight. No man can rejoice when the terrors of conscience are upon him. When the law of God is sweeping through the soul, music and dancing lose their joy . . .Every promising hope is frost-bitten, and the spirit is winter-bound in despair. This cold makes the sinner feel how ragged his garments are. He could strut about, when it was summer weather, and think his rags right royal robes, but now the cold frost finds out every rent in his garment, and in the hands of the terrible law he shivers like the leaves upon the aspen. The north wind of judgment searches the man through and through. He did not know what was in him, but now he sees his inward parts to be filled with corruption and rottenness. These are some of the terrors of the wintry breath of the law."

"This frost of law and terrors only tends to harden. Nothing splits the rock or makes the cliff tumble like frost when succeeded by thaw, but frost alone makes the earth like a mass of iron, breaking the ploughshare which would seek to pierce it. A sinner under the influence of the law of God, apart from the gospel, is hardened by despair, and cries, "There is no hope, and therefore after my lusts will I go. Whereas there is no heaven for me after this life, I will make a heaven out of this earth; and since hell awaits me, I will at least enjoy such sweets as sin may afford me here."

"When the Lord has wrought by the frost of the law, he sends the thaw of the gospel. When the south wind blows from the land of promise, bringing precious remembrances of God's fatherly pity and tender lovingkindness, then straightway the heart begins to soften, and a sense of blood-bought pardon speedily dissolves it. The eyes fill with tears, the heart melts in tenderness, rivers of pleasure flow freely, and buds of hope open in the cheerful air. A heavenly spring whispers to the flowers that were sleeping in the cold earth; they hear its voice, and lift up their heads, for "the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land." God sendeth his Word, saying, "Thy warfare is accomplished, and thy sin is pardoned;" and when that blessedly cheering word comes with power to the soul, and the sweet breath of the Holy Spirit acts like the warm south wind upon the heart, then the waters flow, and the mind is filled with holy joy, and light, and liberty."

"All departures from sound doctrine on the point of conversion arise from forgetfulness that it is a divine work from first to last; that the faintest desire after Christ is as much the work of God as the gift of his dear Son; and that our whole spiritual history through, from the Alpha to the Omega, the Holy Spirit works in us to will and to do of his own good pleasure."

"The second thought upon nature was the ease with which the Lord worked. There was no effort or disturbance. Transfer that to the work of grace. How easy it is for God to send law-work into the soul. You stubborn sinner, you cannot touch him, and even providence has failed to awaken him. He is dead—altogether dead in trespasses and sins. But if the glorious Lord will graciously send forth the wind of his Spirit, that will melt him. The swearing reprobate, whose mouth is blackened with profanity, if the Lord doth but look upon him and make bare his arm of irresistible grace, shall yet praise God, and bless his name, and live to his honour. Do not limit the Holy One of Israel. Persecuting Saul became loving Paul, and why should not that person be saved of whose case you almost despair? Your husband may have many points which make his case difficult, but no case is desperate with God. Your son may have offended both against heaven and against you, but God can save the most hardened. The sharpest frost of obstinate sin must yield to the thaw of grace. Even huge icebergs of crime must melt in the Gulf-stream of infinite love."

"All obstacles which hindered our pardon were removed by Jesus when he died upon the tree, and if you believe in him you will find that he has cast your sins into the depths of the sea. If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."

"If the Spirit enables you to trust in the finished work of Christ, you may go out of this house rejoicing that every sin is forgiven. Poor soul, do not think that the way from the horrible pit is to climb, step by step, to the top. Oh no; Jesus can set your feet upon a rock ere the clock shall have gone round the dial. He can in an instant bring you from death to life, from condemnation to justification. "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise," was spoken to a dying thief, black and defiled with sin. Only believe in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

"But how shall we thank him sufficiently for the thaw of his lovingkindness? How great the change which his mercy made in us as soon as its beams had reached our soul!"

"Believe in the Lord, ye who shiver in the frost of the law, and the law of love shall soon bring you warm days of joy and peace. So be it. Amen."

SO BE IT . . .AMEN! :) I hope you were able to see the pictures! And I hope you found RELIEF in this writing. May we all rest in the relief of the Good News today! Bless you.