Lion By The Stream (How Thirsty Are You ?)

In C. S. Lewis’s The Silver Chair, Jill finds herself lost and thirsty. She meets Aslan the Great Lion (Aslan is Lewis’s Christ figure in all of the Chronicles of Narnia books).

[First, she spots the Lion]

. . . she came to an open glade and saw the stream, bright as glass, running across the turf a stone’s throw away from her. But although the sight of the water made her feel ten times thirstier than before, she didn’t rush forward and drink. She stood as still as if she had been turned into stone, with her mouth wide open. And she had a very good reason; just on this side of the stream lay the lion.

[Second, she hears the voice of the Great Lion]

It was deeper, wilder, and stronger; a sort of heavy, golden voice. It did not make her any less frightened than she had been before, but it made her frightened in rather a different way.

“Are you not thirsty?” said the Lion.

“I’m dying of thirst,” said Jill.

“Then drink,” said the Lion.

“May I – could I – would you mind going away while I do?” said Jill.

The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.

The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.

“Will you promise not to – do anything to me, if I do come?” said Jill.

“I make no promise,” said the Lion.

Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.

“Do you eat girls?” she said.

“I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the Lion. It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.

“I daren’t come and drink,” said Jill.

“Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion.

“Oh dear!” said Jill, coming another step nearer. “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.”

“There is no other stream,” said the Lion.

[Finally, Jill trusts the Lion]

It never occurred to Jill to disbelieve the Lion – no one who had seen his stern face could do that – and her mind suddenly made itself up. It was the worst thing she had ever had to do, but she went forward to the stream, knelt down, and began scooping up water in her hand. It was the coldest, most refreshing water she had ever tasted.

*******

“Jesus, the Great Lion of the Tribe of Judah, offers this invitation to those who hear His voice:

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37).

And again,

“He who comes to me shall not hunger: and he who believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).

Have you dared come to the stream?

Have you the courage to trust the Great Lion?

May God grant you the faith to step toward Him, . . . and trust Him, . . . that you might live.

Your friend,

Dar

 

Oh’ Me Oh’ My, The Troubles I Go Through . . .

I don’t know what kind of difficulties you may be going through right now, but compared to Annie Johnson I have nothing to complain about . . .

Annie Johnson Flint was born on Christmas Eve in 1886.  Early in life Annie and her younger sister lost their mother and then their father. They were adopted by the Flint family. After graduating from High School, Annie began to teach but contracted a crippling form of Arthritis which left her with only the ability to type with her knuckles. It was about this time that Annie and her sister lost both of their adoptive parents and they were left with meager financial resources. Her arthritis continued to grow worse until she became bed-bound for the remainder of her life. Then she lost control of her internal organs and became incontinent which led to her having to wear diapers. Then, she started losing her sight and finally became blind. If all of that were not enough, Annie began a losing battle with cancer which finally took her life. But through it all she never lost her faith. In fact, it seems her faith in Christ grew stronger. Annie wrote many poems and hymns through her life as a testament to her Christian Faith. Here is “He Giveth More Grace.”

He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength as our labors increase;
To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials He multiplies peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.

 

Worth pondering – If you were to write a hymn or poem today, what would sound like? Anything like Annie’s? Just wondering.

Love and Blessings,

Dar

A Saint Patrick’s Day Prayer . . . “As I Arise Today”

As I arise today,
may the strength of God pilot me,
the power of God uphold me,
the wisdom of God guide me.
May the eye of God look before me,
the ear of God hear me,
the word of God speak for me.

May the hand of God protect me,
the way of God lie before me,
the shield of God defend me,
the host of God save me.

May Christ shield me today.
From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From everyone who desires me ill,
Afar and near,
Alone or in a multitude.

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit,
Christ when I stand,

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Amen

The God Who Is . . . Awesome.

“Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord.
Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy” (Habakkuk 3:2).

Oh, Lord God Almighty, may I never forget how awesome You are. May I continually stand in wonder and amazement of who You are and what You have done. Open my eyes that I may see You for who You really are and not who I might imagine You to be.

While I enjoy the benefits of Your great love and kindness toward me, may I never take You or Your love for granted. May I stand in holy reverence of You and bring honor to Your name in all that I do.

Oh, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, may Your mighty works and ways of ages past never come to an end. Do not forsake or leave me in my need of You. Hold me, Lord, near you. I desperately need You. If I ever begin to lose my sense of continuing need for Your power, presence, protection, guidance and continuing salvation,  then wake me from my slumber! May You O’ Eternal King, be lifted up and glorified by my every thought of You.

Oh, Savior, Strong to Save, may You, as You have promised and in Your absolute holiness, perfect justice and unquestionable righteousness, balance, one day, the great books of heaven.

But God of Abundant Mercy, God of Exceeding Patience, God of Abounding Forgiveness, remember those of us who cling only to the Blood Stained Cross of our Christ. Remember those of us who rely on the Perfect Life and Finished Work of Our Risen King!

May You, Oh, Lion-Lamb of God, Eternal God and Shepherd King be glorified in all my words . . . in all my speech may Your Name be Praised.

May All Honor, Glory and Praise be Yours To All The Nations until You come again.

Amen.

Dar

The God Who Calls Us Home – Right On Time

On October 17, 1651, after hearing of the death of his father, the brilliant mathematician, physicist, inventor and (whew!) philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote to his sister to comfort her in their grief. The letter itself is several pages in length due to Pascal’s uncanny ability to run on and on and on. For your benefit, the following is a brief excerpt of his note to his sister.

Here, Pascal reminds her that her ultimate consolation must come from God –

“. . .  we should seek consolation in our ills, not in ourselves, not in men, not in any thing that is created, but in God.”

Then in regards to the timing of their father’s death, Pascal comforts his sister with the consolation that their father has died . . . in the exact timing of God’s Providence –

” . . . [God’s] providence conceived from all eternity to be executed in the plenitude of its time in such a year, such a day, such an hour, such a place, such a manner; and, in short, that all that has happened has been from all time foreknown and foreordained. . . and in the inmost part of the will of God, in the justice of His decree, in the order of His providence. . . ” 

The bottom line is that Scripture confirms the reality that our lives are in the hands of our Sovereign Creator (thankfully). It was King David who wrote: “My times are in Your hands;” (Psalm 31:15a).  And again,“You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed” (Psalm 139:16).

Knowing that the number of our days are marked out before we give our first cry at birth should give us every reason to consider the value of each day and the overall purpose of our lives. Will we live out what God has gifted us to accomplish before we die? Will we have brought the glory to God our creator, with the potential for which He has prewired us?

With the Psalmist we call out to God, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).

May your days be met with a God-given sense of fullfillment and contentment in Him and to His Glory Alone!

God’s Best,

Dar

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Faultless Foundation of Faith

Foundations are important. A foundation for one’s life is the thing that helps us makes sense of our lives. It enables us to understand and interpret the world around us; the thing on which we build our lives on. What foundation are you basing your life on?

Socrates, considered one of the world’s great philosophers, shortly before his death, is reported to have said,

 “All the wisdom of this world is but a tiny raft upon which we must set sail when we leave this earth. If only there was a firmer foundation upon which to sail, perhaps some divine word.”

Socrates put all of his confidence in the collected thoughts and wisdom of philosophy and came up empty.

On the other hand, God’s Word offers us a sure and certain place on which to stand. The Sovereign LORD says,

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed” (Isaiah 28:16).

That stone, that foundation is Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers,

“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11).

God, who created this world and everything in it, also offers us a sure and certain foundation for all of life.  It is the only foundation that will withstand the tests, trials and travails of this world.  It is the only foundation that will endure into eternity.  This foundation is the very real and genuine  relationship we may have in Jesus Christ as our Shepherd King.

Napoleon Bonaparte was the Emperor of France and the King of Italy.  Before his death he stated,

“Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires; but what foundation did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded an empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.”

Jesus Christ died for us that we might live with him, through him and standing on him. There is no firmer foundation.

How about you? Are you trusting in the foundation offered in Christ or in someone or something else?

The offer is still valid in all fifty states and every country of the world. I just don’t know the expiration date. Do you?

Standing On The Rock, God’s Best,

Dar

Time To Turn The Page

Turn, Turn, Turn (to Everything There is a Season) – The Byrds

In October of 1965 the American rock group, The Byrds recorded “Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There is a Season).” The following month it became a No. 1 hit on the top 40 charts.

Almost all the words come from the book of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. The words make clear that time itself will bring about inevitable changes to our lives. But, on the other hand some changes are not inevitable, they are a result of our own choices. These changes have the potential to be positive, both for ourselves and for others, but we must be willing to turn to them.

There are some things in life we can’t change. For instance we can’t change our own personal histories. We can’t reverse the rising of the Sun and go back in time for a few redos of our life events. For most of us, there are a few things that, given the chance, we would really like to do over.

The lack of taking many of my classes in high school very seriously sort of jumps out at me at the moment. But if I think about wrong decisions in school, I have to be honest and say it all started in kindergarten for me. That’s when it was determined that I couldn’t be trusted with scissors in group activities. I had never been trusted with scissors before I got to kindergarten and I guess, as it turns out, for good reason.  But alas, the fact remains – what is done is done and anyway, hair does grow back.

With this New Year, we “turn the page of our lives” again. In a way it is a real opportunity, if we choose it, to have our own personal redo. Not a redo of the past but a present change of course and a future direction for our lives. For many of us that’s good news. What would you like to change (that can be changed) about your life this year? With God’s help change for good is not only possible but highly probable.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippian Church that “For I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” In Christ, we can turn the page. We can turn the page on wrong actions and life choices we have made in the past. We can turn the page on things that have kept us from enjoying the kind of relationship with Christ that deep in our hearts we long for. We can turn from grudges to forgiveness, we can turn idle thoughts into action, we can turn from our complacent self-centeredness to a renewed trust and service to our Lord and King, Jesus Christ. For it is in Jesus and Him alone that we find sure and certain strength for the road and guidance for our paths.

The last line of  The Byrds rock ballad, “Turn, Turn, Turn,” is a soulful pleading, “I swear it’s not too late”. And of course in Christ, as long as we have the breath of life, it is not too late – but why wait? Today is the day to turn the page and live a new song.

Turning The Page – In Christ, Through Christ And For Christ – A New Song I Sing!

Dar

A Purpose for Living in the New Year

“And this is His commandment: We must believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us” (1 John 3:23).

This is a great summary statement of the Christian life, something any follower of Christ can “hang their hat on”. The Apostle John, who knew Jesus so well, takes two related objectives for all Christians and sums them up in one easily memorable purpose statement. Take a moment and look at it with me.

First of all our faith starts with our belief in a particular person: We must believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. For people of faith our belief goes beyond just acknowledging who Jesus is, it must also mean that we trust in Him for everything about our lives. It means that we are grateful to Him for our very existence, that we owe the pardoning of our sins and restoring of a right relationship with God to Him alone. It means that we depend upon Him daily for all of our guidance, protection, provision and blessings in this present life. It also means that we are counting on Him and Him alone as our hope for the eternal life to come.

But the call of Jesus into the lives of  His followers doesn’t stop with belief in Him. It goes on to the second part of John’s statement (love one another, just as He commanded us). Jesus calls us to allow His transforming, life-changing love to work in us in such a way that it affects everything we do. All of our thoughts, speech and actions, as we ground ourselves in Him, will become channels or conduits to loving, caring for and helping others. Love in action is the natural result of our relationship with Christ. It’s the mark of the Christian in a world that desperately needs to experience the human touch of God in their lives.

In the busyness of modern life we are all confronted with a daily barge of ideas, goals and objectives. Information, challenges and requests for the commitment of our time and lives come at us from an assortment of avenues and angles. What shall we make of it all? To who and what will we ultimately give ourselves  and our lives to?

John takes these two commands of God and forms them into one because they are directly related and at the core of what it means to live a purposeful Christian life. To believe in Jesus means to trust Him. And to trust in Jesus means that we will, by the strength and wisdom that He gives us, love other people as He has loved us. Trust Jesus, love people.

Simple Strategies For Serving Our Savior,

Dar

 

 

The God Who Hears Us When We Call

“I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit” (Lamentations 3:55).

As we continue our journey through the scrolls of the ancient prophets, we often encounter the sometimes normal but often calamitous struggles of God’s people – people who were not too different from who we are. In fact, many of them were just like us. We can find ourselves in the pages of history long gone by. Human nature and the predicaments we find ourselves in have not changed . . . only the times and places.

In the midst of difficulty God’s people call out to God in prayer. Calling out to God . . . to call on the LORD – is to pray. It’s a spiritual phone call. But to say it is spiritual doesn’t mean that it is not real – it is. It may be one of the most genuine and authentic things we ever do.

In this passage from Lamentations, the writer is grieved over a very real event of history. The Babylonian army had just wiped out the kingdom of Judah, its capital, Jerusalem, its temple, and most of its people. In gut wrenching pain and sorrow he calls out to God.

We can see three things from what the prophet writes that are the same today as they were then  which can give us great confidence in our prayers:

First, God hears our prayers. We are never just praying to the air. We are never speaking words into an empty universe where our words echo endlessly. God actually hears our prayers. What the writer says then, is true today. . . “You heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear to my cry for help!'” (v. 56).

Second, God comes close to us when we pray. In some very real but unseen way, God enters into our space. He is present with us when we pray. . . “You came near when I called on you” (v.57a).

Third, God assures us and calms us as we speak to Him. No matter the circumstances, no matter the catastrophe or dilemma we find ourselves in, God’s reassuring promise rings true: “You came near when I called on you, and you said, ‘Do not fear!'” (v. 57).

Because of the prophets working knowledge of God and His ways, he had hope in a time of great personal distress and consternation. What was it that he knew about God that gave him this reason to call out and expect a caring response?

He may well have known many things, but by his own hand the prophet had just written these insightful and eternal truths about our God. “This I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:21-23).

Wow, what a God! And yeah, did I mention that our God is forever faithful, never-changing in His character or ways and continues to deliver on His promises. He can be counted on in times of joy and He can be counted on in times of darkness. Well, I guess I did now.

Speed Dialing . . . Always And Often . . . No Busy Signals.

Dar

The God Who Accomplishes His Purposes

” The LORD Almighty has sworn, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand“ (Isaiah 14:24).

What’s your anxiety level set at these days. There always seems to be something to turn the distress dial of our minds up just a notch. Have you heard anything lately about how  global warming is simply out of control? Have you checked to see what the local pollution levels are today? And do you even dare go outside?  Could there be another hurricane, tornado, hail storm, earthquake . . . etc., etc., lurking just off the radar screen?

If none of that bothers you, how about the world scene? Is there a country out there somewhere that seems to be at relative peace? Not if you are faithfully paying attention to the world news! How about our own country? Apparently our economy is out of control and there’s political bickering on a major scale.

It would be easy to let the accumulation of these things weigh you down. But don’t let them.

Digging through the Ancient Scrolls of Isaiah, we continue to uncover the truths about God that enable us to experience an unwavering confidence and security in the midst of a world of uncertainty. God speaks:

“Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,‘ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it “ (Isaiah 46:9-11).

It turns out that despite what the enemy would have us to think . . . the Creator of this world is still working His plans. His Plans for good and not evil. Plans that will give us a hope and a future. God is still in control and no matter what the circumstances of life appear to be at any given moment, we need to remember our Gracious, Loving and Personal God cares about us and has not abandoned us to the fates of evil.

No, in fact Scripture affirms that we are in fact . . . more than conquers through Him who loved us! Paul reminded the believers in Rome: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according too His purpose.” God’s Eternal Purposes will be accomplished! In Chapter 14:27, Isaiah tells us, “For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart Him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?”  The answer: no one, no thing, no event, no circumstance . . . absolutely nothing!

I don’t presume to know all of God’s will for your life but I’m pretty sure He wants both you and me to be at peace and not panic. Calm and not worried. Trusting and not hopeless. Believing and not anxious. As Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

In case you are wondering the answer to Jesus’ question is: yes! yes! yes!

Trusting Totally in the Tremendously Terrific God Who said, “Let there be . . . And there was” . . . And there will be . . . Trust Him!”

Dar