TRUST IN THE LORD

“Blessed are those who trust in the Lord
and have made the Lord
their hope and confidence.
They are like trees
planted along a riverbank,
with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat

or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
and they never stop producing fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8 NLT
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Just before today’s passage Jeremiah said, This is what the Lord says: “CURSED are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.” Then in absolute contrast he writes, But those who TRUST IN THE LORD and have made the Lord their hope and confidence - THEY ARE BLESSED.”

Trusting in the Lord – that is, focusing our hope and confidence in Him is at the very heart of experiencing God’s blessing as we go through trouble. Some of you are living examples of this truth. In hard and frightening times your hope and confidence has remained strong because you are planted along God’s riverbank and your roots reach deep into the water.

All of us have learned that Trusting in the Lord does not mean that we will be spared difficult and hard times in this life. In fact Jesus tells us, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” Whatever He allows us to go through, if we continue to trust Him, and keep our hope and confidence deeply rooted in Him, will actually work out for our good.

Trusting in the Lord not only assures our survival, but enables us to live an abundant life even while we are hurting. Because our roots are deep in God’s water supply our leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. Seeing the promising comfort of our green leaves, hurting people are drawn to us. By God’s grace we will have opportunity to let them know where our hope and confidence is rooted. To the degree that we keep trusting in the Lord, we will continue to produce fruit - not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought that may yet cross our path. The bottom line is, we will be BLESSED!

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Thank you for being a faithful visitor to our blog site over the past few years. We have truly enjoyed meeting you here. Your email replies and the comments you posted have been a real encouragement to us. However, we believe the time has come for us to slow up a bit. So beginning with September, as the Lord provides, there will be just two posts a month.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN US

“We received the Spirit of adoption
by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
The Spirit Himself bears witness
with our spirit
that we are children of God.”
Romans 8:15-16 NKJV
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No matter at what age we put our trust in Jesus as Savior, God gave us His Holy Spirit. In fact Paul tells us, “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” As we grow in our understanding of God’s Word, we become more and more aware of the significance of the presence of the Spirit in our lives.

THE SPIRIT BEARS WITNESS:
One of the first things the Holy Spirit does in us when we become believers is, “He bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” When we put our faith in Christ we believed the promise that we had become children of God. The Holy Spirit speaks to our spirit reaffirming the truth that we indeed are children of God – in fact we have been officially adopted as joint heirs with His only begotten Son. And now, like His only begotten, we can call God Abba, Father. (“Abba” is the Aramaic term for “Daddy”) - an indication of an incredibly intimate relationship!

THE SPIRIT IS OUR SEAL:
Paul writing to the Ephesians said, “having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” In ancient times a king marked important documents with the imprint of his signet ring. The “seal” was a sign that the document was authentic. When timbers were shipped, the buyer’s “seal” was imprinted on each log, signifying ownership. A similar practice takes place in cattle country where ranchers brand their cattle and ship them to market. At market they are mixed with other cattle, but the brand or “seal” always settles the issue of ownership. The Holy Spirit living in us is God’s authentic seal which settles the question of ownership! We belong to God!!

THE SPIRIT IS THE DOWN PAYMENT:
When Paul wrote the Ephesians, “having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,” he added, “who is the guarantee (down payment or first installment) of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” Making a down payment on a house implies that we will make full payment in the future. By giving us the Holy Spirit, God has given us the first installment of our inheritance and has committed Himself to give us the rest of it in the future. Presently we experience only part of it, but in the future we will have it all to enjoy forever! What a matchless secure inheritance!!

GREAT IS HIS FAITHFULNESS

“The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.”
Lamentations 3:22-23 NLT
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A faithful person can be relied on and trusted in every situation. The closer the relationship, the more highly faithfulness is valued. While the faithfulness of a friend or business partner is highly valued, it cannot be compared to the value we place on the faithfulness of our mate!

There is so much unfaithfulness all around us in this world. A business partner goes back on his word, a friend betrays the trust we placed in him causing us deep disappointment and pain. But when a marriage partner who promised - “to love and to cherish; from this day forward, until death do us part” - has been unfaithful; that must be absolutely heart wrenching!

Our faithful LORD will never betray us and cause us such pain. His unconditional love never ends!! Even before we believed in Him, and still were hostile toward Him, He loved us. And now as believers, we have to admit that we are not always entirely reliable and trustworthy. Yet He continues to love us. Paul writes, “If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.” When we admit our shortcomings and repent, the Holy Spirit makes us aware that His faithful love has been there all the time! GREAT IS HIS FAITHFULNESS!!

In addition to our LORD’S faithful and unending love, “His mercies never cease.” If we stop to think, His mercies are really too numerous to count. Besides the mercies we can recall, there must be countless more of which we are totally unaware. All through life He has been graciously and faithfully pouring mercies on us.

Our LORD’S mercies begin afresh each morning. He never runs out. Every morning there is a new supply, perfectly designed to meet the needs of our day! Every morning when the alarm goes off and we put our feet on the floor – our LORD is ready with fresh mercies! GREAT IS HIS FAITHFULNESS!!

“Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.”
T. O. Chisholm

Turn up your sound as you click on the link below –
take a moment to worship our Faithful LORD!!
GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

WAITING UPON THE LORD

“Wait on the LORD:
be of good courage,
and he shall strengthen thine heart:
wait, I say, on the LORD.”
Psalm 27:14 KJV
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Lately my computer has been getting spells when it is soooo sloooow – I click on something and it takes fooor evvvver to respond. Frustrating!! All I can do is wait. Most prolonged waiting becomes annoying whether we are caught in traffic - standing in line – sitting in the doctor’s “waiting” room or staring at a computer screen that’s not responding. But the “waiting” referred to in today’s scriptures is something quite different.

The Hebrew word used here, I am told, is “qāwâ,” which does not mean to passively stand by doing nothing, but rather it implies our involvement. It means to be expecting the Lord to act – to be hopefully looking forward for his response. For us to be able to do that requires some effort on our part.

• First, waiting on the Lord requires: spending time studying his Word to get to know him better – to become aware of our shortcomings – to learn what pleases him, and to grow in faith.
• Second, waiting on the Lord requires: spending time in prayer honoring and praising him for who he is and all he has done – bringing all our needs to him and believing he will grant us what he knows will be best for us.
• Third, waiting on the Lord requires: spending time meditating on his limitless power – his absolute holiness – the endless wonder of his creation – his unconditional love that sacrificed his only son for our salvation.

The results of this kind of “waiting” is “he shall strengthen our heart.” The same truth is found in Isaiah 40:31 which many of us sang during the Charismatic Renewal in the 70’s - “They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

As we study the Word and put it into practice – pray in harmony with his will – fill our minds with the awesomeness of our God – "he will renew our strength" to faithfully walk with him – have the endurance we need to victoriously run the race of life, and have the incredible ability to fly above the storm.


Turn up your sound - click on the link below and be encouraged!

THEY THAT WAIT UPON THE LORD

BUT GOD

“My health may fail,
and my spirit may grow weak,
but God remains the strength
of my heart; he is mine forever.”
Psalm 73:26 NLT
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The other day I was reading Acts 7, and was struck with how often Stephen used the words but God in this chapter. In checking I learned that the phrase but God appears at least 50 different times in the Old and New Testaments. The words but God indicate that he is in control, he has the final word. He has made a difference in the past - is making a difference now– and will continue to make a difference in our world and in our personal lives forever.

Pondering this thought brought to mind a number of times when God intervened in my life bringing about wonderful results. My mother who had given birth to 10 children was in her 50’s when she was pregnant with me and felt so embarrassed that she tried to abort me – “but God“ protected my life and safely brought me into this world.

In my teens I was heading down the broad road of sin - “but God“ - had different plans for me. At the age of 21 his Holy Spirit convicted me of my sin and granted me grace to repent and trust Jesus Christ as my savior.

While attending Electrical Trades School I got a “Dear John” letter from my girl friend. My attempts to patch up the relationship failed. “But God” had someone else in mind for me. At the suggestion of my pastor, I enrolled at Sioux Falls College where I met and married Donna, the Sweetheart of my life, and the mother of our three precious children!

My intention at college was to prepare for a teaching career. “But God“ – opened an opportunity to teach an adult Sunday School Class which led into preaching every week – which led to changing my major from education to religion and graduating from The North American Baptist Seminary to enter the full time Gospel Ministry!

After 30 years of service in NAB churches, I received the fullness of the Holy Spirit by faith, and understandably, the denomination saw that as my having departed from the traditional Baptist Faith and so they severed relationships with me. “But God,“ has been more real and precious to me than ever and opened other avenues of service! I am in my 80’s now - “My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.”

I am sure you have had “but God“ experiences which would be an encouragement to the readers of this blog. Please feel free to post some as “comments.”

THE LOVE OF GOD

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life,

neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,

neither height nor depth,

nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39 NIV
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The song, “The Love of God” written in 1917 by Frederick M. Lehman and arranged by Claudia Lehman May was made famous by George Beverly Shea as he sang it around the world with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Crusades – on The Hour of Decision and his recordings. The secret behind the impact of this powerful song is the fact that its’ message is based on the word of God – John 3:16 and Romans 8:38-39.

God’s love is eternal – has always been – will always be! God not only loves, God is love. Human love, by- in-large, is conditional; we love people we are attracted to and enjoy being with. God’s love is unconditional; he loves us not only when we please him, but also when we offend him by our unbelief and disobedience. His love can never be earned or deserved – it is his free gift to all which can only be received by faith. 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.

The closest that human love can come to God’s unconditional love is the love parents have for their children. Donna and I have three, and it is impossible for us to imagine a situation where we would sacrifice the life of any one of them to save the life of someone else; no matter how needy or deserving that person may be. But God’s perfect, unconditional love sacrificed his one and only Son for a world full of totally undeserving sinners – which includes you and me! Even though we had become his enemies by turning our backs on him from birth, and had chosen to live our lives according to our own desires, yet his pure and measureless love made provision for our forgiveness.

“Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints' and angels' song.”

Turn up sound and click on the link to hear
George Beverly Shea sing: THE LOVE OF GOD

DON’T BE AFRAID

“Jesus spoke to them at once.

‘Don’t be afraid,’ he said.
‘Take courage! I am here!”
Mark 6:50 NLT
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As a youngster growing up on the South Dakota prairie, I remember frightening storms that came rolling in from the west. Dark clouds built up until they became an ominous black wall with lightning flashing and thunder changing from a rumble to loud crashes. Then about a half mile across open fields, black dust clouds would start rolling toward us and we knew this could be dangerous. We had seen enough flattened crops - destroyed farm buildings - overturned and mangled machinery - to get fearful thoughts as those dust clouds came flying toward us.

Our farm house was small and not that sturdy. I remember a particular storm that had us worried. The wind was so strong and the rain so heavy it was feared that the dining/kitchen window which faced west would blow in, so large pillows were held against the window to reinforce the glass. What made this storm memorable was that an itinerant German AG preacher, his wife and their teen age son had come to visit us that day. As the storm raged and we were filled with anxiety they were singing praises to the Lord until the storm died down. When the storm was over, the window was still intact – no buildings were damaged - only the tops of some hay stacks had blown off. Could the praises of God’s servants have made a difference?

We know the presence of the Lord in the midst of the storm can make all the difference! The disciples found that out one stormy night on the lake of Galilee. Jesus had told them to get in the boat and go to the other side while he went up into the hills to pray. When they were in the middle of the lake, a violent storm swept down upon them. They were in serious trouble as they struggled with the wind and the waves, trying to control the boat with their ores. Jesus saw what was happening and about three o’clock in the morning he came to them walking on the water. They were terrified! Jesus knew what was going on in their minds, so he called out to them: “Don’t be afraid, Take courage! I am here! Then he climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped.”

Life in this world can have its frightening storms. Some we see building up. Others hit us with hardly a cloud in the sky. Whatever the nature of our storm, Jesus sees what’s happening – he knows our struggle. Can you hear him over the noise of the storm? He is saying: “Don’t be afraid, Take courage! I am here!"