Have Faith!

    Hello everybody! It’s spring and I’m happy! There may still be snow and chilly weather, but the sky is blue and the sun is shining! A while back I was thinking about faith and works. Here is a short story to illustrate my thoughts.

Three o’clock! School out! Matilda closed her books and yawned, and started thinking about all the things she had to get done: laundry, cleaning rooms, an essay she had to write, extra studying for a test coming up...She yawned again, “If I were diligent, I could get them all finished. Oh, if only I had diligence!” So she prayed, “Dear Lord, please help me to be diligent...” Then she went outside to enjoy the sunny day. At the end of the day, as she was getting ready for bed, she noticed her checklist had no checks. “I didn’t get anything done!” she wailed. “Why can’t I be diligent?” She had prayed for diligence, and she knew it was God’s will for her to be diligent, but what happened?

 

    Matilda had faith that God wanted her to be diligent, but she must not have believed that He would help her, or she wouldn’t have left her work. If she had faith, she would have started working, confident that God would help her to be diligent to get it all done.

    The Bible says in James that faith without works is dead. Have faith...and show it!

Trust God!

Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.”

-- Psalm 128:1-2

   A few days ago, we were reading the gospel of John, and I noticed this verse:

“Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.”

 -- John 6:27

   Isn’t it comforting to know that we don’t have to worry about the needs of this earth? If we trust in God and work for eternal treasure, He will provide all our needs.

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

–Matthew 6:19-21

   Now of course that doesn’t mean you can be lazy! God might be providing your needs by giving you a job. Since God provided the job for you, you should do your best at it; but you shouldn’t worry about your paycheck. God will take care of that. Remember, it isn’t you working that takes care of you, it isn’t any effort you make that provides for you, it is God! If it wasn’t God who was taking care of you, your labor would be in vain.

“Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” 

-- Psalm 127:1

   Trust God!

“They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even for ever.”

   -- Psalm 125:1-2

   It is so wonderful and easy to trust God. It seems strange that we might want to make it hard for ourselves by trusting in our own strength, our earthly smartness. We must try not to get caught up in the world’s affairs and fix our eyes on Jesus instead. He’ll take care of me; I know!

“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment?

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat?

Or, What shall we drink? Or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

-- Matthew 6:25-34

   As I continued my studies in the gospel of John, I noticed something quite interesting. The Pharisees would try to understand what Jesus said, but it was impossible. Their carnal minds tried to fathom God but failed miserably. They couldn’t hear His words because He was from God; they were from the Devil. No one can hear God’s words with his carnal understanding. He must be born again and receive the mind of Christ.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

-- Proverbs 3:5-6

A Day in my Life

 

Saturday, January 26, 2013

I got up with the hiccups at around 4:45 to get ready for the day. We were planning to leave for a chess tournament at 5:50. We were also going to deliver 30 propane pads to a propane company before the tournament. When we were all ready and our lunches were packed, we said goodbye to my eldest sister and my only brother and headed out the door. We put most of the things we were bringing such as coats, books, food, and chess clocks in a container in the back of the truck to save room for us in the cab. Papa got in on the driver’s side; I sat next to him in the way of the shift, then my little sister, and… “Scoot over for Mama!”… We just barely got the door shut. As we endeavored to give each other enough room to get buckled in, someone noted that we were six minutes late.

So, we drove away into the clear night with Papa calculating aloud how that since we lost six minutes we would have to drive at 120 mph for six minutes at some point in our journey. We were all glad we had to forgo that particular adventure! We soon were embarked on Highway 20 traveling towards a brilliant moon. When the moon was about to set, a cloud covered the middle and made it look like a Big Mac. It was quite the sight! We decided not to take I-35 because of the heavy load of concrete. I was appointed navigator and was quite happy that the maps and directions were not left in the back of the truck. We took the an exit and started south. We had calculated that we would get to the prpane company on time, and we probably would have. But when we got to a small town about 18 miles away, we saw that a long train was halting our progress. We were the second car in line waiting for the train to end. It zipped on past, the guard arms lifted, the car in front of us crossed, and right as we were going to cross, a light blinked and the arms came back down. Another train was coming from the other direction! We were glad to see it was also a fast one. I was surprised to find myself dizzy from looking at the product labels on the cars. We found the place where we were going to drop the concrete pads off and were glad someone was there to unload us. Now we were free to eat breakfast. We stopped at McDonalds for McMuffins and hotcakes and visited a gas station for doughnuts. Now back to my navigating…My printed directions had some missing steps and differed from its accompanying map. I had to do some guessing, but I must not have done too badly because we ended up where we were supposed to be. We drove around the building looking for where we should enter and finally found the right place.

We walked in and found a table on which to set our things. There was quite a bit of time before the tournament started, so we read a chapter from the gospel of John. Papa then gave us some pointers, and we went to play our first round games with me on board two and my sister on board three. She and I both won, but I noticed I definitely played some wrong moves. Then it was lunch time. I ate a doughnut and a wonderful turkey sandwich. Then the hiccups with which I awoke set in again and I remedied them by drinking water. After lunch, I walked about and was disgusted with all the liberal propaganda that adorned the walls such as “Celebrate our differences!” They also had exhibits of different students’ papers of their dreams in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.’s day. The papers definitely seemed liberal. It seems a bit strange that I once was so ignorant as to believe that schools are where students learn math, English, and science. I now think that while they do have some of the 3R’s, their main purpose is to keep the children occupied and brainwashed in the liberal way. To think that someday the authors of those papers and people like them will be in charge! They dream of good things: you won’t need guns or money; everything will be free, etc. But this would only work if this were heaven and all people were saints. They forget that it is impossible to have heaven on earth. It is interesting to note that when our government was founded, the federal government was split into three parts, judicial, executive, and legislative, so that no one part could take all the power without the other two checking it. It’s called the system of checks and balances. It’s based on the fact that people are naturally greedy. Humans have been naturally sinful ever since Adam’s fall. The Founding Fathers tried to use this fact to create our government. Democrats seem to believe that people are naturally good, which, I believe, is one major difference in the ideology of liberals and conservatives. Oh well, why be frustrated with the problems of this world? It’s not my home, and it will all be destroyed when Jesus comes back to judge the world. I should focus on laying up eternal riches in a place that will never pass away. Let’s see, where was I? Oh yes, this is supposed to be about a chess tournament!

It took quite a while for the next round to start, so I had a fun time playing catch with some friends until everyone was ready. I got hiccups again, right before my next game! So, I had to drink more water. At other times, when I’d get hiccups, I’d try to make them last as long as possible—part of my “scientific” experiments—but, in all my years of study, I’ve never had them so reoccurring. This round I played the girl who won the tournament. My dear older sister had told me a week or so before to remember the song “Don’t Fence Me In” and not to let my pieces get trapped, but somehow that’s exactly what happened! I lost. When my little sister finished (she won), we had fun playing more catch in the hall. Round three started, and my sister also play the girl who won. I played a girl who played quite well—until she gave away her queen. I won, but my sister drew. Round 4 pairings were up, and we were a bit sad that we had to play each other. If she could beat me, she would have a point-tie with the girl in the lead. Sadly, we drew. We now had to wait for the tourney to be over, so we went back to playing catch. The winner won the tournament with a 200 point upset in the last round. My sister got 3rd place.

So we set out for home. We stopped for supper and milkshakes, yummy! Away we drove towards home. The sky looked just like when we left home, except a bit cloudier, and the moon was on the other side. We arrived safely home and were happy to be reunited with the rest of our family!

 

Come to Jesus!

    Out of so many different church denominations and so many different ideas, how can you know what is the right way? God is the only One who can teach you the right way. You just have to listen. God says to "Give ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech."
    If someone wrote a book on a new theory they created, and you couldn’t quite grasp it, who would you rather have explain it to you, the author or a fellow reader? The Bible is God’s word. You should go to Him and learn from Him. Jesus said: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
     To the people who don’t know God, The Bible is confusion. Isaiah 28:9-13 says: "Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken." Without God’s Spirit to teach you, you’d never be able to understand.
     The only thing on this earth that is important is your relationship with Jesus. No matter what your status on earth, your status with God is what will matter in heaven. You can never spend too much time with Jesus. God watches over the sparrows, He’ll most certainly care for all your needs. Being with Him will never take you away from something more important—because there is nothing more important. When you’re busy planning all you need to do, remember, the only thing that is of eternal importance is spending time with Jesus.

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."

God is still watching us

    This world seems to be full of bad guys and sin. It almost seems like no one knows what good is anymore. You might be tempted to think that God must have forgotten all about us. But don’t be discouraged,“God is angry with the wicked every day.”  Judgment will come to the wicked.  The Devil is not going to win in the end. 
    Remember,

“When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed forever” (Psalm 92:7).

 

God knows what is going on, and don’t worry, God will be with His people always.

“Let all those that put their trust in Thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendeth them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in Thee. For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield” (Psalm 5:11).

God will see you through

   As you go through life, there are many problems to face. You might see dark clouds of trouble stretching as far as you can see. Don’t give up or try to face the storm by yourself. If you will just rest in Jesus, He will give you peace; and the problems won’t seem so unbearable. Everyone has troubles, but God can turn your problems into something good for you.

Like a song says,

 

 “For if I never had a problem, I wouldn’t know that He could solve them: I wouldn’t know what faith in God could do.”

 

 God isn’t bothered when we ask Him for help. No, He wants us to bring our troubles to Him and trust Him to see us through.

   Remember in 2 Chronicles 16:7-8 how it says:

 

 “And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him,

 Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the Lord thy God,

therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.

Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen?

Yet, because thou didst rely on the LORD, he delivered them into thine hand.”

 

   Asa had asked God to help them when they had an “host of a thousand thousand and three hundred chariots” to deal with, and God smote the Ethiopians for them. But then came another problem, and Asa tried to take care of it on his own. Maybe he thought that it wasn’t a big enough problem to bother God about and that they had enough money to hire some help. But God didn’t like it and Asa had wars from then on because he relied on something else.

   So let’s remember that if we will let Him, He will see us through.

We were quite busy last month getting ready my sister’s graduation party. Gardening, mowing, pulling weeds around buildings, cleaning the house, shopping, as well as lots of Bible reading pretty much filled up whole days. My family reads through the Bible once a year and when we complete our trip through the Bible, we begin our summer vacation and commence reading again with Psalms. Most years, we finish school on June 1^st, but since my sister was graduating, we wanted to be done with school on May 18^th, the date of the celebration. Quite a while before, we calculated how many chapters a day we would have to read, and it came up to about 12 a day! So began an exciting journey through Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, most of the latter prophets, John, and Revelations.

The book of Isaiah stood out to me the most. Isaiah 26:11 says, “Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works.” Remember in the New Testament how Paul says, “It is not I that live but Christ that lives within in me”? Another verse I like is Isaiah 30:15, “For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.”

The people wanted to prepare and worry instead of rest and trust because they thought it made more sense. And with carnal understanding, it did. But if only they could have seen the spiritual side of things. They would have seen that “In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength” (Isaiah 26:4).

You shouldn’t worry at all! Isaiah 51:13 says that they “feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor as if he were ready to destroy,” and they forgot the Lord. They worried so much about a problem that they lost sight of the solution.

Remember Isaiah 40:28-31, “ Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But 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.”