Streams in the Desert.....

 Streams in the Desert

Nothing shall be impossible unto you (Matt. 17:20).

It is possible, for those who really are willing to reckon on the power of the Lord for keeping and victory, to lead a life in which His promises are taken as they stand and are found to be true.

It is possible to cast all our care upon Him daily and to enjoy deep peace in doing it.

It is possible to have the thoughts and imaginations of our hearts purified, in the deepest meaning of the word.

It is possible to see the will of God in everything, and to receive it, not with sighing, but with singing.

It is possible by taking complete refuge in Divine power to become strong through and through; and, where previously our greatest weakness lay, to find that things which formerly upset all our resolves to be patient, or pure, or humble, furnish today an opportunity -- through Him who loved us, and works in us an agreement with His will and a blessed sense of His presence and His power -- to make sin powerless over us.

These things are DIVINE POSSIBILITIES, and because they are His work, the true experience of them will always cause us to bow lower at His feet and to learn to thirst and long for more.

We cannot possibly be satisfied with anything less -- each day, each hour, each moment, in Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit -- than to WALK WITH GOD.
--H. C. G. Moule

We may have as much of God as we will. Christ puts the key of the treasure-chamber into our hand, and bids us take all that we want. If a man is admitted into the bullion vault of a bank, and told to help himself, and comes out with one cent, whose fault is it that he is poor? Whose fault is it that Christian people generally have such scanty portions of the free riches of God?
--McLaren

A True Servant..... Dr. Charles Stanley

 A True Servant

Dr. Charles Stanley

John 13:1-15

Do you equate success with wealth, acclaim, and power? If we measured by these standards, then Jesus, who was rejected by His community and didn't even have a house of His own, was a failure. But, of course, we know that's not the case. So God must use something other than these worldly goals to define success. In fact, Scripture is clear that Jesus Christ is our example--we should strive to be like Him.

So, what exactly was our Savior's mission? In today's passage, we see the answer through His actions: He came to serve. The disciples, wanting recognition and reward, were arguing about who'd be the greatest in heaven. In contrast, Jesus took off His outer garment and performed the task of the lowliest servant: He washed the dirty feet of His followers. The next day, Almighty God was crucified by His own creation. In allowing this, He offered salvation to all--even those who nailed Him to a cross.

Jesus deserved glory but chose sacrifice and pain. And He asks that we follow His example of service. With the exception of Judas, His disciples obeyed. In fact, they all faced great difficulty and most died brutal deaths because of their faith. But they willingly walked the path of humility because of what Jesus had taught them: "The last shall be first, and the first last" (Matt. 20:16).

How do you spend your resources and time? And which topics dominate your thoughts and conversation? These are a few indicators of the driving goals in your life. You may long for worldly recognition, but God has a higher calling for His children. Ask Him to foster a servant's attitude in your heart.

Hannah’s Prayer: 2 Important Lessons Her Faith Teaches Us Today..... By: Debbie McDaniel

 Hannah’s Prayer: 2 Important Lessons Her Faith Teaches Us Today

By: Debbie McDaniel

“Then Hannah prayed and said; ‘My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance. There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you, there is no Rock like our God.’” (1 Samuel 2:1-2)

Hannah’s story is one of the most well-known stories of faith-filled women mentioned in the Bible. Her longing for a child, and dark season of waiting, has brought countless women (and men) to pore over these pages of 1 Samuel chapters 1-2. At that time in the Bible, barrenness brought deep shame upon a family. Because children were counted as God’s blessing, to encounter infertility was a difficult burden for any couple to bear.

But God never makes a mistake. He never forgets to work on our behalf. And He never ignores our deepest prayers and longings. It’s just that often, many times, His ways are much higher than ours, and His timing is different.

Here are 2 Ways Hannah’s Faith Can Help Strengthen Ours Today:

1. She believed God would do what He said He would do.

“Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast…so in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, ‘Because I asked the Lord for him.’” (1 Samuel 1:18, 20)

As soon as Hannah was on her way, she was no longer downcast. She knew in her heart that God was at work. She had faith in her God who is always faithful. She didn’t doubt, she didn’t worry.

This section of Scripture also says that she “worshipped Him” before they left. She offered to God a sacrifice of praise of worship, believing in His power to do great things. It doesn’t say how long exactly it took. Maybe her faith was still tested. But in the “course of time,” meaning God’s anointed and appointed time, He did a miracle in Hannah’s life, and she conceived and gave birth to a son.

2. She gave God praise for the way He had worked.

“Then Hannah prayed and said; ‘My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance. There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you, there is no Rock like our God.’” (1 Samuel 2:1-2)

This beautiful, anointed prayer of Hannah can be read through the first 10 verses of Chapter 2. It’s similar in theme and thought to Mary’s prayer, the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55), spoken as praise to God over the child in her womb, our Savior Jesus. I believe God spoke these words straight to the hearts of these two faith-filled women. Their pregnancies and the births of their sons would impact people, nations, and our world today.

Samuel the priest, was also a prophet, counselor, and Israel’s greatest judge. He was the one who would anoint David as King, who was in the direct lineage of Christ. In fact, many agree that the last verse of Hannah’s powerful prayer is a specific prophecy of Christ the King, “He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed,” (v. 10).

There are never accidents in God’s timing and purposes.

Just as Hannah praised God for being a “Rock,” we too can lean fully on Him. In our ever-changing, hectic world, it may be difficult to know what, or who, we can really trust anymore. But God is secure, He’s our sure foundation, our solid Rock. We can rely on Him who never changes to hold us steady in every tumultuous time. Our God is forever faithful.

No matter what you’re facing today, hope in Him. He will never fail. And He is with you, always.

Existentialism… The Good Kind..... by Alex Crain

 Existentialism… The Good Kind

by Alex Crain

"Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple…"  - Luke 14:27 NASB

As chapter two of Francis Schaeffer's book, True Spirituality, comes to a close, the author highlights a crucial dimension of the gospel's first fruit (that of dying to self). It is that dying to self must be a continual reality. Schaeffer likens the proper mindset here to that of a philosophical existentialist…

"The existentialist is right when he puts his emphasis on the reality of the moment-by-moment situation. He is wrong in many things, but he is right here. Christ called His followers to continuously carry their own cross. He puts the command not in an abstract but in an intensely practical setting, in verse 26 (of Luke14) relating it to His followers' fathers, mothers, wives, children, brothers, sisters, and their own lives."

"He sets it among the realities of daily life. This is where we must die."

Christ is talking about putting to death what our hearts prefer; what we desire most. And we naturally prefer our own way. ol' blue eyes, Frank Sinatra, set our deeply ingrained theme song to music when he sang, "I did it my way." How can we possibly overcome our instinct to want our own desires fulfilled? It seems to be an impossible command.

Even if we know Proverbs 14:12 "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death," such knowledge by itself is not enough to subdue a sinful, stubborn will. When the heart wants something, it can charge ahead in a mad quest to get its way without a single thought about consequences.

Paul Tripp and Tim Lane, in their book how people change, cite no less than seven counterfeit gospels that prevent people from dying to self. They feed pride and give others the false impression that we're being true disciples. Because we are so prone to preserve ourselves, we can easily gravitate toward these false gospels. Their appeal is so insidiously strong because they allow us to deceive ourselves and others, AND dodge Christ's benevolent command to die to self. These counterfeit gospels are: formalism, legalism, mysticism, activism, biblicism, therapism, and social-ism.

Formalism says, "I'm always in church, but it really has little impact on my heart or on how I live. I may become judgmental and impatient with those who do not have the same commitment as I do."

Legalism says, "I live by the rules—rules I create for myself and rules I create for others. I feel good if I can keep my own rules, and I become arrogant and full of contempt when others don't meet the standards I set for them. There is no joy in my life because there is no grace to be celebrated."

Mysticism says, "I am engaged in the incessant pursuit of an emotional experience with God. I live for the moments when I feel close to him, and I often struggle with discouragement when I don't feel that way. I may change churches often, too, looking for one that will give me what I'm looking for."

Activism says, "I recognize the missional nature of Christianity and am passionately involved in fixing this broken world. But at the end of the day, my life is more of a defense of what's right than a joyful pursuit of Christ."

Biblicism says, "I know my Bible inside and out, but I do not let it master me. I have reduced the gospel to a mastery of biblical content and theology, so I am intolerant and critical of those with lesser knowledge."

Therapism says, "I talk a lot about the hurting people in our congregation, and how Christ is the only answer for their hurt. Yet even without realizing it, I have made Christ more Therapist than Savior. I view hurt as a greater problem than sin—and I subtly shift my greatest need from my moral failure to my unmet needs."

Social-ism says, "The deep fellowship and friendships I find at church have become their own idol. The body of Christ has replaced Christ himself, and the gospel is reduced to a network of fulfilling Christian relationships."
[From Paul Tripp and Tim Lane's how people change (New Growth Press, 2008)]:

Which one(s) of the counterfeit gospels do you most tend toward?

In the end, only God's grace can subdue the heart of man and turn its desires God-ward. And such grace comes only through the true gospel of Christ. When God brings me around to embrace by faith that it was my moral failure that caused the sinless Son of God to suffer and die and, because of that, God does not treat me as my sins deserve, I see then that anything in life can be received with thankfulness.

How can we carry our cross and die daily? Only God can enable us by His James 4:6 to embrace the good kind of existentialism, depend on Him moment by moment, and continually ring the death knell to "my way."

Intersecting Faith & Life:
Do you see your own need for God's grace every moment so that you can die to self, yielding your desires up to Him? If not, what's preventing that?

Further Reflection:
Read James 4:6

A Prayer to Overcome Evil..... By Beth Ann Baus

 A Prayer to Overcome Evil

By Beth Ann Baus

“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’  says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:17-21)

If you live on this earth you can be sure of one thing: you will witness evil. We should expect it and be prepared to react. How then, should we respond to evil?

Hate Evil. Romans 12:9 tells us “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.”This may seem obvious, but our culture has turned evil into entertainment. We pay money to see evil unfold on the big screen. We etch out time to sit in our own homes and watch evil prevail on television. Because of this, we often find ourselves numb to the actual presence of evil when we see it on the news or right before our very eyes. We must learn to recognize evil and hate it.

Pray against Evil.  Matthew 6:13 is a great example of praying for escape. “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Our pride often tricks us into thinking we can deal with evil on our own. We can’t, and if we try we will fail. We must pray to our Heavenly Father and ask for deliverance.

Expose Evil.  Ephesians 5:11 says “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” Our current culture is one that teaches complete tolerance. We are expected to accept and tolerate any and all behavior, even if the behavior directly violates God’s Word. While we are expected, as Christians, to respond to sin with a certain level of grace and love, evil should in no way, under any circumstance be tolerated. It should be exposed and we should take no part in it.

Speak truth over Evil. Jesus should always be our ultimate example of how to live our lives. In Matthew 4:1-11 and  Luke 4:1-14 we are given a wonderful example of Jesus responding to evil. In these verses, we read about Jesus being tempted by Satan in the wilderness. Imagine being face to face with Satan, the author of evil. How did Jesus respond? He quoted Scripture. Jesus is showing us the utmost importance of knowing God’s Word and being able to speak truth in the face of evil!

Let God handle what is Evil. Wars are waged to fight against leaders of evil nations, and there are punishments in place to deal with evil individuals. We should be thankful for the laws of our land and the protection provided by federal and local law enforcement, but we must also remember our responsibilities as individuals.

Let’s Pray:

Father God, we praise you for your love and faithfulness towards your children. We praise you for being a perfect, holy, trustworthy God that is bigger than all the evil we experience here on earth. We ask that you give us eyes to see when evil is before us, hearts to hate evil and the desire to flee from its presence. We ask that you would not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil and draw us closer to yourself. We ask for the long-expected Jesus to come quickly and make all things new. We ask these things His precious name. Amen.