For the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard...

You shall not go out with haste,…for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
—Isaiah 52:12

Security from Yesterday. “…God requires an account of what is past” (Ecclesiastes 3:15). At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise when we remember our yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present.

Security for Tomorrow. “…the Lord will go before you….” This is a gracious revelation— that God will send His forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our “rear guard.” And God’s hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience.

Security for Today. “You shall not go out with haste….” As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, forgetful delight, nor with the quickness of impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ. Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him. -Oswald Chambers image

He has come! the Christ of God...

He has come! the Christ of God;

Left for us His glad abode;

Stooping from His throne of bliss,

To this darksome wilderness.
 

He has come! the Prince of Peace;—

Come to bid our sorrows cease;

Come to scatter, with His light,

All the darkness of our night.
 

He, the Mighty King, has come!

Making this poor world His home;

Come to bear our sin’s sad load,—

Son of David, Son of God.
 

He has come whose name of grace

Speaks deliverance to our race;

Left for us His glad abode,—

Son of Mary, Son of God!
 

Unto us a Child is born!

Ne’er has earth beheld a morn

Among all the morns of time,

Half so glorious in its prime.
 

Unto us a Son is given!

He has come from God’s own heaven;

Bringing with Him, from above,

Holy peace and holy love.

... Horatius Bonar image

"Teach Us to Pray"

Bp. Julian Dobbs: Advent teaching Part III

Advent 2015 | Part 3 from Julian Dobbs on Vimeo.

Bp. Julian Dobbs Advent teaching Part II

Advent 2015 | Part 2 from Julian Dobbs on Vimeo.

Christ, whose glory fills the skies!

Christ, whose glory fills the skies,

   Christ the true, the only Light,

Sun of Righteousness, arise!

Triumph o'er the shades of night:

Dayspring from on high, be near;

Daystar, in my heart appear.

 Dark and cheerless is the morn

Unaccompanied by thee;

Joyless is the day's return,

Till thy mercy's beams I see,

Till they inward light impart,

Glad my eyes, and warm my heart.

 Visit then this soul of mine!

Pierce the gloom of sin and grief!

Fill me, Radiancy Divine;

Scatter all my unbelief;

More and more thyself display,

Shining to the perfect day.

-Charles Wesley image

"Thy kingdom come!"

"Thy kingdom come!" on bended knee

the passing ages pray;

and faithful souls have yearned to see

on earth that kingdom's day.
 

But the slow watches of the night

not less to God belong;

and for the everlasting right

the silent stars are strong.
 

And lo, already on the hills

the flags of dawn appear;

gird up your loins, ye prophet souls,

proclaim the day is near:
 

The day to whose clear shining light

all wrong shall stand revealed,

when justice shall be throned in might,

and every heart be healed;
 

When knowledge, hand in hand with peace,

shall walk the earth abroad;

the day of perfect righteousness,

the promised day of God.

-Frederick Lucian Hosmer image

Is the humanity of our time still waiting for a Savior?

The question is: Is the humanity of our time still waiting for a Savior? One has the feeling that many consider God as foreign to their own interests. Apparently, they do not need him. They live as though he did not exist and, worse still, as though he were an “obstacle” to remove in order to fulfill themselves. Even among believers—we are sure of it—some let themselves be attracted by enticing dreams and distracted by misleading doctrines that suggest deceptive shortcuts to happiness. Yet, despite its contradictions, worries and tragedies, and perhaps precisely because of them, humanity today seeks a path of renewal, of salvation, it seeks a Savior and awaits, sometimes unconsciously, the coming of the Savior who renews the world and our life, the coming of Christ, the one true Redeemer of man and of the whole of man.
...Pope Benedict XVI image

Bp. Julian Dobbs Advent teaching Part I

Advent 2015 | Part 1 from Julian Dobbs on Vimeo.

Arise, O LORD

God's love is big enough to touch any life...

God's love is big enough to touch any life, to make light out of any darkness. Jesus came that we might have life, so that no more would we have to die in depression, anger or pain. He loved people back to life. He would go anywhere, talk to anyone. And wherever He went, He would stop for the one-- the forgotten one, the one who was rejected, outcast, sick, even stone dead. Even a thief who was dying for his crimes on the cross next to Him. In the Kingdom of God's love there is no sinner who cannot come home. ...Heidi Baker image

Fernando Ortega's Greatest Hits

What precious perfume is locked inside your heart...

What about you? What precious perfume is locked inside your heart that could be lavished on our Lord? The little treasures you and I struggle to hold on to may hold back opportunities to worship Him with extravagant praise, releasing ministry and service to Him that will bless all those around us. ...Angela Munizzi  image

Reignite Your Prayer Life

By Don Whitney
October 10, 2015

How’s your prayer life?

Hardly any question — unless perhaps if someone asks about your evangelistic efforts — can cause more chin-dropping, foot-shuffling embarrassment for Christians than asking about their prayer life.

Why is that? Why do so many followers of Jesus suffer with such unsatisfying prayer lives and consider themselves hopelessly second-rate Christians because of it? the rest image 

(I bought Don Whitney's book Praying the Bible and was very blessed by it-well worth it to strengthen and enliven your prayer time through Scripture.  -Pat Dague)

"Lord Have Mercy"

Young Armenian Woman Sings Haunting Prayer in Former Cathedral

Songs in the night...

Any man can sing in the day. It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight; but he is the skillful singer who can sing when there is not a ray of light by which to read. Songs in the night come only from God; they are not in the power of man. ...Charles Haddon Spurgeon image

Our commitments to Christ...

Jesus did not say, "Come to me and get it over with." He said, "if any one would come after me, let that one take up his/her cross daily and follow me." Daily is the key word. Our commitments to Christ, however genuine and whole hearted it may be today, must be renewed tomorrow and the day after that. -Louis Cassel image

Christian hope...

“Optimism hopes for the best without any guarantee of its arriving and is often no more than whistling in the dark. Christian hope, by contrast, is faith looking ahead to the fulfillment of the promises of God, as when the Anglican burial service inters the corpse ‘in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Optimism is a wish without warrant; Christian hope is a certainty, guaranteed by God himself. Optimism reflects ignorance as to whether good things will ever actually come. Christian hope expresses knowledge that every day of his life, and every moment beyond it, the believer can say with truth, on the basis of God’s own commitment, that the best is yet to come.” ...J.I. Packer image

Behold the Lamb!

...Keith Getty, Kristyn Lennox Getty, Stuart Townend

Jesus is not some magic charm....He is the Lord

It makes no sense to take the name of Christian and not cling to Christ. Jesus is not some magic charm to wear like a piece of jewelry we think will give us good luck. He is the Lord. His name is to be written on our hearts in such a powerful way that it creates within us a profound experience of His peace and a heart that is filled with His praise. ...William Wilberforce image

God is waiting anxiously...

God is waiting anxiously to lead each of us in the dance of praise. God is on a mission - a quest. He is looking for worshipers. As he constantly draws each of us into a deeper and more intimate friendship with himself, he is creating within us hearts that will praise him.  ...Claire Cloninger image

There Are No Unanswered Prayers

Courtney Reissig
August 28, 2015

Excerpt:
Sometimes God answers our prayers immediately. We pray for a job offer in the morning and get a phone call by dinner. We pray for clarity in a difficult circumstance and find resolution by week’s end. But sometimes he answers prayers more slowly. Sometimes he’s working behind the scenes of our trials, yet we can’t see his handiwork—leading us to feel like our prayer has fallen on deaf ears. When we are in the position of waiting for God to act—to remedy a situation, to heal an illness, to bring a wayward child home—and we don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel, it can overwhelm us and cause unbelief to surface. Like most people, many prayers leave me wondering if I’ll ever hear an answer in this life.

We aren’t the first to experience such silence.

Abraham waited years and years for God to provide the promised son (Gen. 21:1–7). Joseph suffered silently and alone in Egypt until adulthood, waiting for God to reunite him with his family. On more than one occasion the Israelites faced captivity for hundreds of years as they waited on God to deliver them. They waited for the promised land in the wilderness. And they waited on the Messiah to be born.

In each of these circumstances, the waiting lasted far longer than anticipated. And at many points Israel trusted in what was seen, not in what was unseen.

When God is silent, we’re often tempted to doubt his goodness. We’re tempted to doubt his promises can really be true. We doubt he will answer our prayers. the rest  image

Because children have abounding vitality...

Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. ...GK Chesterton image

The Story

Jul 16, 2015

Fathers and mothers...

Fathers and mothers, do not forget that children learn more by the eye than they do by the ear... Imitation is a far stronger principle with children than memory. What they see has a much stronger effect on their minds than what they are told. ...JC Ryle image

If God wants you to do something...

If God wants you to do something, He'll make it possible for you to do it, but the grace He provides comes only with the task and cannot be stockpiled beforehand. We are dependent on Him from hour to hour, and the greater our awareness of this fact, the less likely we are to faint or fail in the crisis.   ...Louis Cassels image

The love, therefore, wherewith God loveth...

The love, therefore, wherewith God loveth, is incomprehensible and immutable. For it was not from the time that we were reconciled unto Him by the blood of His Son that He began to love us; but He did so before the foundation of the world, that we also might be His sons along with His Only-begotten, before as yet we had any existence of our own. ...Augustine of Hippo image

Feast of the Transfiguration 2015

These are the divine wonders we celebrate today; this is the saving revelation given us upon the mountain; this is the festival of Christ that has drawn us here. Let us listen, then, to the sacred voice of God so compellingly calling us from on high, from the summit of the mountain, so that with the Lord’s chosen disciples we may penetrate the deep meaning of these holy mysteries, so far beyond our capacity to express. Jesus goes before us to show us the way, both up the mountain and into heaven, and - I speak boldly - it is for us now to follow him with all speed, yearning for the heavenly vision that will give us a share in his radiance, renew our spiritual nature and transform us into his own likeness, making us for ever sharers in his Godhead and raising us to heights as yet undreamed of.
 

Let us run with confidence and joy to enter into the cloud like Moses and Elijah, or like James and John. Let us be caught up like Peter to behold the divine vision and to be transfigured by that glorious transfiguration. Let us retire from the world, stand aloof from the earth, rise above the body, detach ourselves from creatures and turn to the creator, to whom Peter in ecstasy exclaimed: Lord, it is good for us to be here.
...St. Athanasius on the Transfiguration image

I Need Thee, O I Need Thee

Before the ending of the day...

Before the ending of the day,

Creator of the world, we pray!

Your grace and peace to us allow

And be our guard and keeper now.
 

From evil dreams defend our sight,

From all the terrors of the night,

From all deluding thoughts that creep

On heedless minds disarmed by sleep.
 

O Father, this we ask be done

Through Jesus Christ, your only Son,

Who with the Holy Ghost and you

Shall live and reign all ages through.

-Ambrose image

What’s Technology Really Doing to the Bible?

Three reasons Bible engagement is down — and three ways we can change that.

by Rachel Barach
July 17, 2015

Excerpt:
For many of the nearly two billion smartphone users in the world, getting searchable Bible text in their language for free is merely a tap away. Digitization has meant mass distribution in the blink of an eye.

The American Bible Society’s State of the Bible 2015 study shows that 50 percent of Americans read the Bible online — that’s up 6 percent from the 2014 report.

Perhaps even more staggering is that all this Bible reading isn’t happening silently. Bible verses are being shared more than ever on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks.

It’s no wonder polls show people believe that having the Bible available digitally has helped them read it more today than in years past.

But is Bible engagement actually happening in our digital world?

The truth is, all this digital accessibility, all the hours spent reading Scripture on our laptops and mobile devices, all of these verses broadcast out to our friends via social media may not be having the impact we might expect on Bible engagement and Christian maturity — on our understanding and application of Scripture, on biblical literacy, on our connection to church and Christian community, on our lens for seeing and serving a broken world.
 the rest image

Praying the Bible: Book Review

July 15, 2015
by Tim Challies

Excerpt: This book is premised on the existence of a very common problem: That prayer is difficult. “I maintain that people—truly born-again, genuinely Christian people—often do not pray simply because they do not feel like it. And the reason they don’t feel like praying is that when they do pray, they tend to say the same old things about the same old things.” I would guess that this resonates with you and that many of your prayers feel just like that. The repetition in your prayers can lead you to assume that your prayers are meaningless and having no effect. When you are bored with your prayers you stop praying. When you stop praying you feel like a spiritual failure and count yourself a second-rate Christians. It’s a familiar downward cycle.

Now the problem here is not with praying about the same old things. We have to pray regularly and repetitively about certain matters—personal holiness, family members, our church families, our unsaved neighbors and relatives, financial care and provision, health and safety, and so on. “The problem is not that we pray about the same old things; rather, it’s that we say the same old things about the same old things.” The problem, then, is one of method.

Full review

(I just ordered it- here on Amazon)

The incentive to peacemaking is love...

The incentive to peacemaking is love, but it degenerates into appeasement whenever justice is ignored. To forgive and to ask for forgiveness are both costly exercises. All authentic Christian peacemaking exhibits the love and justice - and so the pain - of the cross. ...John R. W. Stott image

Happy July 4th, 2015

O God, our help in ages past,

    Our hope for years to come,

    Our shelter from the stormy blast,

    And our eternal home.

 

Under the shadow of thy throne,

    Still may we dwell secure;

    Sufficient is thine arm alone,

    And our defense is sure.
 

Before the hills in order stood,

    Or earth received her frame,

    From everlasting, thou art God,

    To endless years the same.
 

A thousand ages, in thy sight,

    Are like an evening gone;

    Short as the watch that ends the night,

    Before the rising sun.
 

 Time, like an ever rolling stream,

    Bears all who breathe away;

    They fly forgotten, as a dream

    Dies at the opening day.
 

O God, our help in ages past,

    Our hope for years to come;

    Be thou our guide while life shall last,

    And our eternal home.

-Isaac Watts

(picture by Raymond Dague)

 

"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." -2 Chronicles 7:14

The bible is one of God's greatest love gifts to you...

The bible is one of God's greatest love gifts to you. It is the world's greatest literary treasure. It is the foundation of the church and your faith. But there is always the danger that you may forget how personally God wants to give it specifically to you. He desires you to use it daily as your spiritual food, your personal prayer resource, and your weapon for spiritual conquest. ...Wesley L. Duewel image

Look how fears have presented themselves...

Look how fears have presented themselves, so have supports and encouragements; yea, when I have started, even as it were at nothing else but my shadow, yet God, as being very tender of me, hath not suffered me to be molested, but would with one Scripture or another, strengthen me against all; insomuch that I have often said, Were it lawful, I could pray for greater trouble, for the greater comfort's sake. ...John Bunyan image

Here lies the tremendous mystery...

Here lies the tremendous mystery – that God should be all-powerful, yet refuse to coerce. He summons us to cooperation. We are honoured in being given the opportunity to participate in his good deeds. Remember how He asked for help in performing his miracles: Fill the waterpots, stretch out your hand, distribute the loaves. ...Elisabeth Elliot image

Where does your security lie?

Where does your security lie? Is God your refuge, your hiding place, your stronghold, your shepherd, your counselor, your friend, your redeemer, your saviour, your guide? If He is, you don’t need to search any further for security. 
...Elisabeth Elliot image

Elisabeth Elliot 1926-2015

June 15, 2015

A wonderful woman of God.  I've read several of her books and used to listen to her radio program years ago.  I did not know that for the last decade or so she suffered from Alzheimer's. (click on the link for a great article: Alzheimer’s, the Brain, and the Soul)

I thank God for her life and how she was willing to be used by God to minister to so many.

Elisabeth Elliot, 1926-2015

Died: Elisabeth Elliot, Pioneering Missionary and Author, Passes Through Gates of Splendor  One of the most influential Christian women of the 20th century, Elisabeth Elliot, has died.

Elliot, the Christian author and speaker whose husband, Jim, was killed during their missionary service among unreached tribes in eastern Ecuador in the 1950s, passed away Sunday at 88, according to reports. She had been suffering from dementia.

 

She wrote two books about her husband’s martyrdom and the years she and her newborn daughter spent living among the Aucans, the tribe that killed him. Through the Gates of Splendor and Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testimony of Jim Elliot both became bestsellers...

The will of God...

“The will of God is not something you add to your life. It’s a course you choose. You either line yourself up with the Son of God…or you capitulate to the principle which governs the rest of the world.” ...Elisabeth Elliot image

8 Keys to Personal Prayer

Winfield Bevins
June 9, 2015

Prayer is first and foremost a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Some people think of prayer as a business transaction or as something they have to do just like checking something off a to-do list. But that isn't really prayer at all. Think of prayer in intimate terms, like a conversation between close friends. What are some words you think of when you think of an intimate friendship? You probably think of words like loving, caring, warm, sincere, personal and intimate. These are words that should be used to describe our prayer time with the Lord. Prayer should not be dry or stuffy; it should be warm and intimate.

Every believer can have a dynamic personal prayer life. The Bible gives us the keys we need to develop a powerful prayer life. The Scriptures are full of examples of men and women who walked with God and used prayer to impact their world, and you can do the same thing through prayer.

Here are 8 Scriptural ways you can develop a deeper more fulfilling personal prayer life here.  image

Some people have a warped idea of living the Christian life...

Some people have a warped idea of living the Christian life. Seeing talented, successful Christians, they attempt to imitate them. For them, the grass on the other side of the fence is always greener. But when they discover that their own gifts are different or their contributions are more modest (or even invisible), they collapse in discouragement and overlook genuine opportunities that are open to them. They have forgotten that they are here to serve Christ, not themselves. ...Billy Graham image

The conviction of His Spirit...

God will never plant the seed of his life upon the soil of a hard, unbroken spirit. He will only plant that seed where the conviction of His Spirit has brought brokenness, where the soil has been watered with the tears of repentance as well as the tears of joy. ...Alan Redpath image

"Let us make man"

"It was the whole Trinity, which at the beginning of creation said, "Let us make man". It was the whole Trinity again, which at the beginning of the Gospel seemed to say, "Let us save man"." ...JC Ryle image

Praying Most For What You Love the Most

by Matthew Holst
May 28, 2015

Your prayer-life is a measure of your spiritual maturity. Just about any decent book on prayer will tell you so. Your prayer lives exposes you to the reality that what is nearest and dearest to your hearts are those things for which you pray the most. It is an inescapable rule. In this respect, your prayer life may betray the public image which you, in turn, portrayed to others. Just a few years back, I became painfully aware that my prayer life was centered on...me. What a shock it was to realize that my prayers were essentially self-serving!

The practice of prayer has fallen on hard times in the church today. There may be many factors producing this rapid downturn in frequency and quality of prayer. Two of the most obvious are the affluence of western society and the lack of deeply spiritual representative prayer in our churches. the rest image

Holiness...

No amount of money, genius, or culture can move things for God. Holiness energizing the soul, the whole man aflame with love, with desire for more faith, more prayer, more zeal, more consecration-this is the secret of power. These we need and must have, and men must be the incarnation of this God-inflamed devotedness. God's advance has been stayed, his cause crippled: his name dishonored for their lack. Genius (though the loftiest and most gifted), education (though the most learned and refined), position, dignity, place, honored names, high ecclesiastics cannot move this chariot of our God. It is a fiery one, and fiery forces only can move it. The genius of a Milton fails. The imperial strength of a Leo fails. Brainerd's spirit can move it. Brainerd's spirit was on fire for God, on fire for souls. Nothing earthly, worldly, selfish came in to abate in the least the intensity of this all-impelling and all-consuming force and flame." ...EM Bounds image

United prayer...

"There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer." A.T. Pierson image

You will not stroll into Christlikeness...

You will not stroll into Christlikeness with your hands in your pockets, shoving the door open with a careless shoulder. This is no hobby for one's leisure moments, taken up at intervals when we have nothing much to do, and put down and forgotten when our life grows full and interesting... It takes all one's strength, and all one's heart, and all one's mind, and all one's soul, given freely and recklessly and without restraint. This is a business for adventurous spirits; others would shrink out of it. And so Christ had a way of pulling up would-be recruits with sobering and disconcerting questions, of meeting applicants - breathless and panting in their eagerness - by asking them if they really thought they had the grit, the stamina, the gallantry, required. For many, He explained, begin, but quickly become cowed, and slink away, leaving a thing unfinished as a pathetic monument of their own lack of courage and of staying power. ...AJ Gossip image

He shines on my path to show me the way...

Any lights shining on the wrong subject will mislead you. I focus on my Lord Jesus, the true light that enlightens every man. He does not blind me, dazzle me, or confuse me. He shines on my path to show me the way, shines on my thoughts to show me the truth, and shines on my life to lead me to Life, because He is the way, the truth, and the life. His light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot resist it.
...Luis Fernando Aragón image

Prayer and a holy life are one...

Prayer and a holy life are one. They mutually act and react. Neither can survive alone...We are in danger of substituting churchly work and a ceaseless round of showy activities for prayer and holy living. A holy life does not live in the closet, but it cannot live without the closet. If, by any chance, a prayer chamber should be established without a holy life, it would be a chamber without the presence of God in it. ...E.M. Bounds image

In the resurrection of Jesus from the dead...

In the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, we see God’s decisive victory not only over death but over all God’s other enemies as well. In that one climactic event, we see the certainty that someday, in the kingdom of God, there will be no more violence, war, jealousy, or death...These forces are still alive and at work in the world, but because of the victory that God won at Easter, their doom is certain. One day death will die. ...Stephen T. Davis image

Easter Sunday 2015

Morning 'breaks upon the tomb;

Jesus scatters all its gloom.

Day of triumph through the skies;

See the glorious Savior rise.

Ye who are of death afraid

Triumph in the scattered shade.

Drive your anxious cares away;

See the place where Jesus lay.

Christians, dry your flowing tears

Chase your unbelieving fears;

Look on His deserted grave,

Doubt no more His power to save.

-Will­iam B. Coll­yer image